Four things I always used to end up throwing out but felt I had to have on hand for my weekly cooking-- Celery, Onions, Garlic and Carrots.
Currently it isn't such an issue for me since we have an extra fridge and I can store potatoes and onions in there.. but chances are -- if you were anything like me you spent a lot of time tossing nasty bags of onions, carrots, celery and even fresh garlic. If you cook at all from scratch you need these things on hand in the kitchen. Maybe not every week -- but most of the time you will find you need them. And -- they go bad before you can use them if you are anything like me. Here is what I started doing with them instead of tossing them to the garbage man every month.
Celery -- store it wrapped in aluminum foil. It lasts much longer than in the bag-- much, much longer. Menu plans help here -- know ahead of time what you will be cooking when you do your weekly shopping. Some things only fresh celery will work for -- like say in chicken salad, or as celery sticks, but if those aren't things you use a lot of why not considering buying only as you need it in small amounts for those items -- one rib of celery can be purchased from the grocery store the week you need it for chicken salad-- instead of a whole big package. If I do buy a large package of celery -- I use every bit of it, I take out what I will be using that week-- and leave that in the fridge drawer wrapped in foil-- then I chop the rest --reserving the ends and the leaves for my soup bag in the freezer. Then I either dehydrate or freeze the rest of the chopped celery in a Ziploc bag. Anytime I need it to cook with -- (the base of almost any good soup is started with onion and celery) I just pull it out of the freezer pre-chopped and toss in the right amount! And the best part is -- I save on time too. I don't have to pull out the cutting board, knives, etc, I don't have to wash the cutting board, knives, etc, and honestly it doesn't take more than one more minute to chop the whole thing up --than it does to just chop two ribs. Each time I want to cook from scratch it's ready and it doesn't go to the garbage man-- I'm saving money and time!! ** Once celery is frozen it will get limp and isn't good for things where you want that celery crunch-- but ... it's great for casseroles, soups, and sauteed.
Onions -- store them out of the plastic bag in the fridge if you have space. I buy the bigger bags when they are on sale cheap -- never more than $1 a pound. $1 a pound for onions is not a sale! Then I take them home -- take out the Cuisinart or my KA food slicer or even a regular mandolin or a knife and chop them all up at once. I save the skins and ends for my soup bag in the freezer. Then I package them in quart sized Ziploc bags and freeze them flat on cookie sheets-- label them of course and I keep one in my inside freezer all the time! I never have to pull out a cutting board to make anything with onions!! It's all done ahead of time. Sometimes I like to have fresh red onions for a dish or on top of burgers or something -- so those I buy one the week I need it and I have a couple of recipes that also use them in them sauteed, so I use the slices or whatever for burgers that week--then slice the rest of the onion and put it in a baggy in the freezer for later. I use freezer bags for onions or my vacuum sealer to keep the odors in a bit better.
Fresh Garlic -- It freezes well too!! I peel all the cloves at once -- or actually put a kid to work doing that-- then I freeze the cloves in a baggy kept in the door of the fridge--then all I have to do is mince it and put it in whatever dish I'm making. It just turns to a nice fine mush when you run it through a garlic press frozen! If you want -- you can buy a big package from Sam's of just the cloves and freeze those. I'd recommend freezing them in smaller containers --vacuum sealed and keeping them that way to avoid freezer burn.
Carrots -- the whole carrots are cheaper than the baby carrots usually -- but if you won't take the time to make carrot sticks or cut them up then don't waste your money on them. When I take stock of my fridge and move leftovers every week -- I pay careful attention to the condition of the carrots-- if they look like they are getting old--either drying up or looking more moist-- the precursor to the slimy carrots, then I plan for a carrot salad for the menu in the next few days or start putting them out for lunches, setting them out at dinnertime on the table with ranch dressing. Shredded Carrots are wonderful alone in a vinaigrette dressing as a side dish, they can be cooked up as a fresh side dish--with a bit of butter, orange juice and honey is my favorite way, or I often times make a carrot salad with shredded carrots, raisins, and apple or pineapple chunks--then a dressing of mayo-- a little bit and orange juice or even lemon juice-- you could add honey or sugar to that too, but I don't. There are tons of recipes for this salad out there -- just google and you will find them and the possibilities of what you can add to it are endless. Salads and side dishes extend out your meals and make it possible to feed your family for less. I've also frozen and dehydrated shredded carrots -- this way they don't need blanching before you freeze them! And they can be used for carrot cake, tossed into meatloaves, or muffins or even cookies, spaghetti sauce and pancakes. Just be sure to label them before putting them away in the freezer. ** oh and if you have kids they love to grate things like say, carrots!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Frozen potatoes!
One of the things that oftentimes went bad in my house was a big bag of potatoes-- I bought them when they were on sale and then we maybe had them two times a week so they didn't ever get used up -- they sat inside on the floor of the cabinet and basically got rotten pretty quickly. That was -- until I figured out how to freeze them. Now I plan ahead after looking at the sale ads and buy a big bag or two of them ,or wait till I have a surplus of them around the house and then I do a potato day, afternoon or evening. I make my own french fries, mashed potatoes and even twice baked potatoes. Here's how:
Homemade Oven French Fries
Chop potatoes up like you would to make French fries, I leave the peelings on them --in part because I'm lazy and partly because there are more nutrients that way.
Toss chopped potatoes in oil-we use EVOO, and seasonings—I sprinkle salt and a little Cajun seasoning on ours—go light on the Cajun stuff if you have little ones who will be eating them.
Bake on greased or non stick cookie sheet.
400 degree oven for 30 min.
Let dry on paper towel or brown paper bags to absorb any extra fat.
Package and freeze once they have cooled.
To reheat from frozen or somewhat thawed—
Bake at 475 for 20 min—you may need more time if you have bigger pieces.
**I also like to make roasted potatoes in chunks-- with other spices, I chop the potatoes in a small chopped shape and then use spices like thyme, salt and pepper, garlic salt or garlic powder and rosemary. With the olive oil they are really tasty -- you just need lower cooking times and watch out for burning when you reheat them. These would be awesome for a brunch or as a side dish for any meal.
Twice Baked Potatoes
One of the things that oftentimes went bad in my house was a big bag of potatoes-- I bought them when they were on sale and then we maybe had them two times a week so they didn't ever get used up -- they sat inside on the floor of the cabinet and basically got rotten pretty quickly. That was -- until I figured out how to freeze them. Now I plan ahead after looking at the sale ads and buy a big bag or two of them ,or wait till I have a surplus of them around the house and then I do a potato day, afternoon or evening. I make my own french fries, mashed potatoes and even twice baked potatoes. Here's how:
Homemade Oven French Fries
Chop potatoes up like you would to make French fries, I leave the peelings on them --in part because I'm lazy and partly because there are more nutrients that way.
Toss chopped potatoes in oil-we use EVOO, and seasonings—I sprinkle salt and a little Cajun seasoning on ours—go light on the Cajun stuff if you have little ones who will be eating them.
Bake on greased or non stick cookie sheet.
400 degree oven for 30 min.
Let dry on paper towel or brown paper bags to absorb any extra fat.
Package and freeze once they have cooled.
To reheat from frozen or somewhat thawed—
Bake at 475 for 20 min—you may need more time if you have bigger pieces.
**I also like to make roasted potatoes in chunks-- with other spices, I chop the potatoes in a small chopped shape and then use spices like thyme, salt and pepper, garlic salt or garlic powder and rosemary. With the olive oil they are really tasty -- you just need lower cooking times and watch out for burning when you reheat them. These would be awesome for a brunch or as a side dish for any meal.
Twice Baked Potatoes
Scrub and rinse all the potatoes you are using. Put however many potatoes you want to make in the oven and bake them. (I start this step first then start chopping potatoes for french fries and mashed potatoes)
Bake Potatoes for Twice baked potatoes at 400 degrees for about an hour. Let them cool. Once they are cool enough to handle I cut them in half the long way, scoop them out leaving a bit of meat on the sides of them. The scoopings go into a bowl and I add any or all of the above in whatever amounts I feel like. ( You could of course use a recipe-- I just don't and I taste as I go) Sour cream, cream cheese, butter, cheddar cheese or other cheese would be good too-- Edam, Swiss, blue cheese, Fontina, milk, cream or half and half --whatever I have on hand, garlic-fresh or garlic powder, finely minced onions, bacon bits. Then I blend them up in my KA or with a hand mixer and scoop them back into the shells. I sprinkle some extra cheese on top of them and then lay them out on cookie sheets to flash freeze. Once they are frozen firm they can be sealed in a bag-- vacuum bag or just a plain freezer Ziploc works too. To reheat I usually don't thaw them first and just cook them at about 350 degrees for 30-45 min. I mark on the label the reheating info and the baking temp.
Mashed Potatoes
I don't really have a recipe again -- but this is one I would recommend you try one small batch, see how you like it and if you do then you can make more of them to freeze.. potatoes are one of those things that tend to change texture and some folks like them fine after they are frozen, others don't. Personally in mashed potatoes as long as they have cream cheese mixed into them -- I think they reheat fine. So I add cream cheese to mine -- something about it helps the texture IMHO. I could never make enough mashed potatoes to feed my group very many meals -- I have two girls who think they are a food group all to themselves, so in our house I don't make a lot and they are kind of a treat. But when I do I make huge batches and freeze them.
****The texture of the potatoes in the oven fries and the twice baked potatoes is something I think most everyone would like. Mashed potatoes sometimes are not as well received-texture wise once frozen and thawed. I personally don't like potatoes that have been boiled and frozen in soups, etc.. so for those things I put the potatoes in them before I heat and serve. Some folks don't care and think they are just fine. That said, the idea is not to let perfectly good food go to waste and to instead make sure that every dollar spent on food -- gets used to it's fullest! And that's how you really save your money.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Today's project - Apples
I had a lot of apples rattling around in the fridge.. every week for the past three weeks when I've gone to Loving Hands I've come home with a 3 pound bag of apples-golden delicious ones. Add to that the back stock of apples I had already sitting around -- some apples I bought for Thanksgiving to make a pie with and never got to - and a bag of apple slices that needed to have something done with them and well it looked like applesauce time to me!
I took my corer and my teenage daughter, washed the apples with some vinegar water in the sink and let her core them while I chopped. Once they were all chopped I added a bit of water to them in a big pot on the stove --well two pots really and let them cook until they were all squishy and soft. We did that on Thursday -- but today I'm going to be running them through the KA attachment --the food strainer one and making lovely fine applesauce. I'm planning to can the applesauce -- but if you didn't want to you could just freeze it in Ziploc bags. I'm trying to make room for my after baby meals right now .. so cleaning out the freezer and emptying it -- is top priority for me.
If you find yourself overrun with apples -- but no time to make applesauce you could even cut them up, core them and then put them in the freezer until you do --or you until you get enough to make applesauce. The more different varieties you have -- the better it will be and the sweeter ones like golden delicious tend to make sweeter applesauce. If you didn't have a food strainer attachment -- you could leave the applesauce chunky, peel the apples and run them through the blender -- might need to add more water when you do this, or the food processor works too! If you peel and chop before you put them in the freezer bag -- then all you have to do is cook them up on the stove like you would a veggie and serve!
***Add cinnamon, sweetener of your choice--honey is quite good, or even some fresh frozen cranberries! --YUMMY..
I took my corer and my teenage daughter, washed the apples with some vinegar water in the sink and let her core them while I chopped. Once they were all chopped I added a bit of water to them in a big pot on the stove --well two pots really and let them cook until they were all squishy and soft. We did that on Thursday -- but today I'm going to be running them through the KA attachment --the food strainer one and making lovely fine applesauce. I'm planning to can the applesauce -- but if you didn't want to you could just freeze it in Ziploc bags. I'm trying to make room for my after baby meals right now .. so cleaning out the freezer and emptying it -- is top priority for me.
If you find yourself overrun with apples -- but no time to make applesauce you could even cut them up, core them and then put them in the freezer until you do --or you until you get enough to make applesauce. The more different varieties you have -- the better it will be and the sweeter ones like golden delicious tend to make sweeter applesauce. If you didn't have a food strainer attachment -- you could leave the applesauce chunky, peel the apples and run them through the blender -- might need to add more water when you do this, or the food processor works too! If you peel and chop before you put them in the freezer bag -- then all you have to do is cook them up on the stove like you would a veggie and serve!
***Add cinnamon, sweetener of your choice--honey is quite good, or even some fresh frozen cranberries! --YUMMY..
Friday, January 16, 2009
Lunch on the Cheap!
As part of my crusade to cut food spending I decided that we threw away way too much lunch meat. The kids for some reason never realized it was in the drawer, and I tended not to eat it and it goes bad fairly rapidly -- and in truth with all the nitrates, high sodium, and other added chemicals, etc..it's really not that good for you. So-- instead I decided to try to keep other things on hand for lunches that were more in line nutritionally with what I wanted the kids and I to eat. So-- no more lunchmeat, and also about that time we were going through two entire bags of potato chips a week. Even with my shopping mean and getting them for no more than $2 a bag.. that was still $4 a week on just chips, or $16 a month on potato chips-- without counting what we ate in tortilla chips every week.
So if you don't eat potato chips and you don't eat lunch meat, you're eatin lots of PB and J right? --well not exactly. Two of my kiddos have severe peanut allergies so that's not gonna work. First off-- the kids pack their own lunch the night before, before they have their evening snack. It's their job not mine and they know what they like so there is less waste-- they have of course been instructed in things like -- no more than one juice box a day, no you can't pack all cookies and no other things, etc... and for the most part they stick to it.
Things I keep on hand for lunches include:
*Lots of little thermoses-- we've had to change this policy recently but at first I bought bunches of short thermoses at places like the thrift store, goodwill, and garage sales so there was always something available for them to pack leftovers in. The kids did hotdogs for a while and lots of soup-- much cheaper than lunchmeat-- however, if you are doing canned soup-- there is alot of the same chemicals, msg (yummy neorotoxins) , etc.. that we now try to avoid. And we just won't even discuss the health benefits of hotdogs...lol (We have now switched to homecanned or frozen soups, meatballs and sauce, etc.
*Tiny little containers that seal well -- like 1/4-1/2 cup size for packing things like ranch dressing or peanut butter for dipping carrots, celery or apples in. --We've also had discussions about how it's not neccessary to fill the container with ranch dressing only enough to dip in.
*Plastic silverware-- when they return it I wash it and reuse-- but it's not one I harp on--bigger battles exsist.
*Meatballs- I make them up in packets of three or four meatballs with sauce --after spaghetti night with the leftovers, yep I just make them up the night we eat spaghetti-- that way they don't end up stuffed to the back of the fridge and rotten next week.
The kids can bring a bun and put them on it and make a sandwich or they can thaw some noodles-- yep those are in the freezer too in individual packs--easily thawed in a colander in warm tap water--seriously 2 seconds!
*Cheese and crackers
*Hard boiled eggs-- I boil at least a dozen a week -- maybe more now that I'm pregnant -- I label them on the end with a B --(some folks do the date)-- in water washable marker--using different colors each week so I know how old they are--should one happen to escape me and the kids. I keep them loose in the meat drawer--unpeeled. They eat them just as is--peeled, dipped in salt and pepper or with salt and pepper sprinkled on them, we make deviled eggs for snacks, or egg salad, or they love them mushed up with a fork and a tiny bit of butter, salt and pepper and then put in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds--covered!
*Egg Salad for sandwiches or my girls love to eat it just plain or with crackers
Egg Salad
6 boiled eggs--peeled and chopped fine with a pastry blender in a bowl
1/4 cup mayo
1 tsp mustard, dry
1/4 tsp salt
dash of pepper
mix it all together and walla ! Cheap great complete protien for sandwiches.
*Premade burritos -- this is one I learned from my mom-- you make up a big batch of burritos and the leftovers can be heated the morning of school and then cut into somewhat largish peices and smashed into a thermos.. they stay warm all day that way -- some kids can use a microwave at school and if that's the case you can just pack the burrito in some saran wrap and they can heat in the saran wrap and eat it that way --- about 1 min for heating time. I've taken this a step further and I make the burritos up with whatever is left over on taco or burrito night -- beans, cheese and meat and stuff em in a tortilla --wrap em in saran wrap and put them into a container or bread bag in the freezer so they all stay together and none of them become dregs on the bottom of the freezer when you clean it out.. label with a sharpie marker as to what they are and the date you made them.
*Chicken, Turkey, Tuna, Ham, Steak -- any meat -- salad.
You can chop in a blender or food proccessor or just chop finely any meat -- minute steaks are especially yummy in the blender with just mayo, if there are leftovers-- (my kids actually fight over the leftovers of those) -- But anyway! Mix about 2 cups of meat, about 1/4 cup of mayo-- I don't like much, some mustard if you choose, 1/2 cup of nuts if you like them, or celery, or pickle relish, a hard boiled egg or two--extends it out a bit more to make more servings. --- This one is one you can do the bulk of the work ahead of time-- you would just chop several bags worth of meat at the same time and then stick that in the freezer in baggies.
*Cheese sandwiches
*Spiral Sliced Ham and Sliced Turkey breast from the big bird. -- A big bird or a big ham will yeild alot of meat --both for casseroles, soups etc. and for lunch. If you use the cooking bags or make it on the weekend it isn't a whole ton of work to bake one.. just takes baking time, then you have to be on the ball enough to package it all up into a few days supply of meat in baggies and freeze those. I buy several hams, or turkeys when they are on sale for the holidays and cook about one a month if I can.
*Soups, Casseroles, whatever --frozen in individual servings so you can easily reheat-- quiche would be great this way --that's where all those containers come in handy.
*Homemade hot pocket style sanwiches-- I've never done them so I don't have a recipe -- but I keep intending to..lol
*Cups of unsweetened applesauce-- one of the few prepackaged things I buy. I buy them in bulk when they are on sale since they are shelf stable.
*Fresh Fruit-- whatever is on sale --kids are instructed to bring home anything that doesn't get used--even nasty bananas.
* Popcorn or pretzels instead of potato chips--cheaper and better for you.
*homemade quick breads-- apple, banana, whatever, slices can be prepacked and frozen
* drop cookies and bar cookies-- same thing frozen in serving size baggies for the freezer put them inside another container so you don't find them lost on the bottom of your freezer. You can make a triple or double batch of cookies next time you make them and package up half the cookies this way and let the kids eat the other half fresh or do a baking day.
*muffins-- homemade and frozen
*** Time saving tip! -- Egg salad, tuna salad and even PB&J freezes! Have the kids help you on an assembly line one night and make up a ton of sandwiches. I pack mine in the sandwich sized fold over or zipper bags -- then I put them back in the bread bag the bread came in and label the bags with premade address label stickers and/ or sharpie--if you use sharpie --do it before the sanwiches are in the bags. The night before the kids pull them out and put them into their bag in the fridge and by the time they eat them they are thawed and perfectly fine!
Hope this helps all who had requests for easy money saving lunch ideas! I'll try to keep posting so keep coming back for more.
So if you don't eat potato chips and you don't eat lunch meat, you're eatin lots of PB and J right? --well not exactly. Two of my kiddos have severe peanut allergies so that's not gonna work. First off-- the kids pack their own lunch the night before, before they have their evening snack. It's their job not mine and they know what they like so there is less waste-- they have of course been instructed in things like -- no more than one juice box a day, no you can't pack all cookies and no other things, etc... and for the most part they stick to it.
Things I keep on hand for lunches include:
*Lots of little thermoses-- we've had to change this policy recently but at first I bought bunches of short thermoses at places like the thrift store, goodwill, and garage sales so there was always something available for them to pack leftovers in. The kids did hotdogs for a while and lots of soup-- much cheaper than lunchmeat-- however, if you are doing canned soup-- there is alot of the same chemicals, msg (yummy neorotoxins) , etc.. that we now try to avoid. And we just won't even discuss the health benefits of hotdogs...lol (We have now switched to homecanned or frozen soups, meatballs and sauce, etc.
*Tiny little containers that seal well -- like 1/4-1/2 cup size for packing things like ranch dressing or peanut butter for dipping carrots, celery or apples in. --We've also had discussions about how it's not neccessary to fill the container with ranch dressing only enough to dip in.
*Plastic silverware-- when they return it I wash it and reuse-- but it's not one I harp on--bigger battles exsist.
*Meatballs- I make them up in packets of three or four meatballs with sauce --after spaghetti night with the leftovers, yep I just make them up the night we eat spaghetti-- that way they don't end up stuffed to the back of the fridge and rotten next week.
The kids can bring a bun and put them on it and make a sandwich or they can thaw some noodles-- yep those are in the freezer too in individual packs--easily thawed in a colander in warm tap water--seriously 2 seconds!
*Cheese and crackers
*Hard boiled eggs-- I boil at least a dozen a week -- maybe more now that I'm pregnant -- I label them on the end with a B --(some folks do the date)-- in water washable marker--using different colors each week so I know how old they are--should one happen to escape me and the kids. I keep them loose in the meat drawer--unpeeled. They eat them just as is--peeled, dipped in salt and pepper or with salt and pepper sprinkled on them, we make deviled eggs for snacks, or egg salad, or they love them mushed up with a fork and a tiny bit of butter, salt and pepper and then put in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds--covered!
*Egg Salad for sandwiches or my girls love to eat it just plain or with crackers
Egg Salad
6 boiled eggs--peeled and chopped fine with a pastry blender in a bowl
1/4 cup mayo
1 tsp mustard, dry
1/4 tsp salt
dash of pepper
mix it all together and walla ! Cheap great complete protien for sandwiches.
*Premade burritos -- this is one I learned from my mom-- you make up a big batch of burritos and the leftovers can be heated the morning of school and then cut into somewhat largish peices and smashed into a thermos.. they stay warm all day that way -- some kids can use a microwave at school and if that's the case you can just pack the burrito in some saran wrap and they can heat in the saran wrap and eat it that way --- about 1 min for heating time. I've taken this a step further and I make the burritos up with whatever is left over on taco or burrito night -- beans, cheese and meat and stuff em in a tortilla --wrap em in saran wrap and put them into a container or bread bag in the freezer so they all stay together and none of them become dregs on the bottom of the freezer when you clean it out.. label with a sharpie marker as to what they are and the date you made them.
*Chicken, Turkey, Tuna, Ham, Steak -- any meat -- salad.
You can chop in a blender or food proccessor or just chop finely any meat -- minute steaks are especially yummy in the blender with just mayo, if there are leftovers-- (my kids actually fight over the leftovers of those) -- But anyway! Mix about 2 cups of meat, about 1/4 cup of mayo-- I don't like much, some mustard if you choose, 1/2 cup of nuts if you like them, or celery, or pickle relish, a hard boiled egg or two--extends it out a bit more to make more servings. --- This one is one you can do the bulk of the work ahead of time-- you would just chop several bags worth of meat at the same time and then stick that in the freezer in baggies.
*Cheese sandwiches
*Spiral Sliced Ham and Sliced Turkey breast from the big bird. -- A big bird or a big ham will yeild alot of meat --both for casseroles, soups etc. and for lunch. If you use the cooking bags or make it on the weekend it isn't a whole ton of work to bake one.. just takes baking time, then you have to be on the ball enough to package it all up into a few days supply of meat in baggies and freeze those. I buy several hams, or turkeys when they are on sale for the holidays and cook about one a month if I can.
*Soups, Casseroles, whatever --frozen in individual servings so you can easily reheat-- quiche would be great this way --that's where all those containers come in handy.
*Homemade hot pocket style sanwiches-- I've never done them so I don't have a recipe -- but I keep intending to..lol
*Cups of unsweetened applesauce-- one of the few prepackaged things I buy. I buy them in bulk when they are on sale since they are shelf stable.
*Fresh Fruit-- whatever is on sale --kids are instructed to bring home anything that doesn't get used--even nasty bananas.
* Popcorn or pretzels instead of potato chips--cheaper and better for you.
*homemade quick breads-- apple, banana, whatever, slices can be prepacked and frozen
* drop cookies and bar cookies-- same thing frozen in serving size baggies for the freezer put them inside another container so you don't find them lost on the bottom of your freezer. You can make a triple or double batch of cookies next time you make them and package up half the cookies this way and let the kids eat the other half fresh or do a baking day.
*muffins-- homemade and frozen
*** Time saving tip! -- Egg salad, tuna salad and even PB&J freezes! Have the kids help you on an assembly line one night and make up a ton of sandwiches. I pack mine in the sandwich sized fold over or zipper bags -- then I put them back in the bread bag the bread came in and label the bags with premade address label stickers and/ or sharpie--if you use sharpie --do it before the sanwiches are in the bags. The night before the kids pull them out and put them into their bag in the fridge and by the time they eat them they are thawed and perfectly fine!
Hope this helps all who had requests for easy money saving lunch ideas! I'll try to keep posting so keep coming back for more.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
How do you cut the food budget!!
About two years ago -- After hubby complained that our food bill on average ranged anywhere from $600-$900 a month, I got to thinking.....
Well ok at first I thought, "How could I possibly save more money on groceries--it wasn't cheap to feed our family of then 7. What did he think I was -- a miracle worker?" At that time I cooked according to a weekly menu-- usually based on the sale items of the week or what I had available to me in freezer stock, made alot of our own cookies, quick breads, etc.. most every evening meal was cooked from scratch and I spent a good deal of time in the kitchen. If I didn't have a recipe I couldn't make it.. I was a good cook, but just not willing or able to "step out of the box" a bit to substitute out ingredients. If the recipe called for red pepper and all I had was green pepper --then it was off to the store! I envied those cooks who had the courage to cook without a recipe-- or were so daring to substitute a green pepper for a red one in a recipe.
After Xmas that year I was cleaning out the fridge and found several grocery bags of food that was all bad.. potatoes, onions, celery, lettuces, carrots, meat, etc.. and that didn't count the stuff I threw down the garbage disposal--several meals worth of lunchmeat, soups, main dishes, bits of pork chops, chicken breasts, etc.... All things I had bought thinking I would make -- this or that recipe with them -- and then never got around to it, lost the recipe, the kids decided that week they didn't like oranges--etc.. I sat down at the computer one day and got to thinking about how much food I'd thrown out -- maybe four grocery sacks full! And that was just the fresh produce. And then I thought about my Grandma Mabel -- how she had raised 6 kids -- mostly growing boys through the depression era. They had lost their farm, they had a garden but I thought to myself, "Man, she would be rolling over in her grave thinking how wasteful her granddaughter was!" It was then that I thought -- well, heck why couldn't I cut at least a hundred dollars off our budget every month? That wasn't so much to ask. So I set a goal for myself and -- thought back to things I'd seen her do and things I'd seen my aunts and mother do when times weren't so easy and the money had to come from somewhere -- and started applying that to what I did.
Today about two years later -- I'm so happy to announce that my food budget is down to around $300-$400 a month! That feeds a family of 5 kids -- ages 15, 13, 11, 9 and 2, and my pregnant self and my dear sweet hubby. Grandma would be so proud! So -- how did I do it? Well-- I'll tell you.
Well ok at first I thought, "How could I possibly save more money on groceries--it wasn't cheap to feed our family of then 7. What did he think I was -- a miracle worker?" At that time I cooked according to a weekly menu-- usually based on the sale items of the week or what I had available to me in freezer stock, made alot of our own cookies, quick breads, etc.. most every evening meal was cooked from scratch and I spent a good deal of time in the kitchen. If I didn't have a recipe I couldn't make it.. I was a good cook, but just not willing or able to "step out of the box" a bit to substitute out ingredients. If the recipe called for red pepper and all I had was green pepper --then it was off to the store! I envied those cooks who had the courage to cook without a recipe-- or were so daring to substitute a green pepper for a red one in a recipe.
After Xmas that year I was cleaning out the fridge and found several grocery bags of food that was all bad.. potatoes, onions, celery, lettuces, carrots, meat, etc.. and that didn't count the stuff I threw down the garbage disposal--several meals worth of lunchmeat, soups, main dishes, bits of pork chops, chicken breasts, etc.... All things I had bought thinking I would make -- this or that recipe with them -- and then never got around to it, lost the recipe, the kids decided that week they didn't like oranges--etc.. I sat down at the computer one day and got to thinking about how much food I'd thrown out -- maybe four grocery sacks full! And that was just the fresh produce. And then I thought about my Grandma Mabel -- how she had raised 6 kids -- mostly growing boys through the depression era. They had lost their farm, they had a garden but I thought to myself, "Man, she would be rolling over in her grave thinking how wasteful her granddaughter was!" It was then that I thought -- well, heck why couldn't I cut at least a hundred dollars off our budget every month? That wasn't so much to ask. So I set a goal for myself and -- thought back to things I'd seen her do and things I'd seen my aunts and mother do when times weren't so easy and the money had to come from somewhere -- and started applying that to what I did.
Today about two years later -- I'm so happy to announce that my food budget is down to around $300-$400 a month! That feeds a family of 5 kids -- ages 15, 13, 11, 9 and 2, and my pregnant self and my dear sweet hubby. Grandma would be so proud! So -- how did I do it? Well-- I'll tell you.
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