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Topics: Groceries |
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| 11 Cost-Cutting Grocery & Cooking Tips |
Submitted by:
auntbea
01/12/2009 10:18 PM
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Editor's Note:This tip was originally submitted as a comment in response to the tip Cut Down Your Grocery Bill:
- Make a trade-off if you hardly use milk but like to keep it on hand for cooking. Just hubby and I but I like to cook with milk, not powdered or canned milk. At Meijers you can purchase their regular milk or you can purchase their organic milk. My niece tested their organic milk on her kids, found the kids benefited health-wise (less phlegm and coughing) and of course, the cows use fewer things like antibiotics and such. I found that the Organic milk had far better dates on it. I think the milk is ultra-pasteurized but it doesn't seem to affect the taste. Better to use a milk that expires in a month than to use one that expires in two-three days.
- Invest in one of two "make-ahead" cookbooks and develop a set of recipes that will allow you to cook in bulk (spaghetti sauce, chili, etc.) and when you cook these items make extra and freeze it. Cooks Illustrated and Southern Living both have great make-ahead cookbooks. Look on ebay for them.
- Make your own cookbook of recipes that allow you to cook ahead or in bulk. Keep it close by when you are planning your menu list and grocery list.
- DO USE the food-saver unit & bags for freezing meats. Keeps your meats and poultry a lot fresher longer than regular means.
- Don't think your refrigerator freezer will fit the bill when it comes to stocking up. A good chest type or upright freezer WITHOUT A AUTO DEFROST is the best for freezing foods. You SHOP in your main freezer once a week and you STORE IN YOUR REGULAR REFRIGERATOR FREEZER. Keep a full pantry of things you actually cook with like chicken stock, plain tomatoes, etc.
- Hamburger is hamburger until you add in your spices and seasonings. That is what makes a difference between spaghetti and chili.
- In a pinch, diced canned tomatoes make an excellent subsitute for the lesser flavored hot house tomatoes. I will mix cherry tomatoes and drained petite diced tomatoes in a taco salad. Save the drained tomato juice in ice cubes to add more flavor to a soup or even cooked rice.
- If you've never cooked with a pressure cooker - the new kind, not your Momma's old Mirror, now is a great time to check them out. They make short flavorful work of any food you'd want to cook. Potatoes or soup beans cooked with chicken stock added to the water never tasted as great. I have an electric and non-electric cooker. I use a defuser under the non-electric for delicate things that might scorch a bit (rice for instance).
Pressure cookers (each brand) has a learning curve but it is a realtively easy curve. There are some great cookbooks out there for pressure cookers. One of the best, used in conjunction with an electric pc is from HsN. Simple, basic foods that teach you how to revamp your cooking style. PC's can make short tender work of the usual meat counter's selection.
- Plan your baking ahead. Boxed cereals are great in muffins! (Raisin bran, oatmeal etc).
The discount fruit cart in the back of the produce section is where I find perfectly overripe bananas for banana nut bread. If you aren't ready to bake the bread, mash the bananas and freeze it into portions you would need for your bread. I sprinkle a little fresh lemon juice over the bananas as I mash them.
- Multi-task those potatoes! There are some great mashed potato recipes out there that when made up, taste super-great and a lot better than Bob Evans. Plus, they will last 1-2 weeks in your refrigerator.
Baked potatoes, when not eaten can make into (1) potato salad, (2) soup (3) hash browns or frozen for another day.
- Bagged carrots - the kind that are whole carrots complete with peelings, taste a whole lot better than those peeled varieties. How hard is peeling a carrot, even when you're pressed for time? If you are cooking them plain, add in a dash or two of salt and pepper and about an equal amount of sugar for delicious carrots. Cook until tender. Don't over do the sugar, perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. Kids devour them because they taste good and they taste fresh. No canned aftertaste.
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