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5 Tips To Save Money In The Kitchen
Photo Credit: Doug Floyd
Here are my top 5 tips to save money in the kitchen:
- Get that last serving of dressing from the bottle! When you think you've gotten all the creamy salad dressing from the bottle, add a couple of tablespoons of fat free half and half to the bottle. Screw the cap on and shake it up well. Now you have at least one more serving of lite creamy salad dressing! I do this all the time with my light Caesar salad dressing.
- Clean the inside of the jar to save money and recycle! Certain foods that are really sticky like peanut butter or light mayonnaise can be a bear to clean out and recycle. But here's a way to get at least one more serving from the sides of the jar AND make the jar clean enough to recycle without washing. Use a mini spatula/scraper to remove that last bit of peanut butter or mayonnaise on the inside of the jars. You will be amazed how much of it you are able to scrape out and use!
- Save that bread! One of the foods that people end up throwing away most because it gets moldy or stale before they can use it all up is bread and bread products. So freeze what you don't think you'll use in 3-5 days and when you are ready for the next batch of bread, just take it out of the freezer and it will defrost within a few hours. This works well for sliced bread, buns and rolls too.
- Save money when you buy meat by making your portions of meat smaller. Dishes like stir-fries, meat and veggie kabobs and casseroles work well for this. Where as a pound of meat might have served about two people before, with smaller meat portions it can serve four well.
- Keep your refrigerator and pantry well organized so you don't forget about products you've bought and need to use soon. For example, once you've cut into the block of cheese, it's days are numbered. Make sure you see it in the cheese drawer so you can use it up before you have to throw it out. Once you've opened up that box of whole wheat crackers, Keep the inside plastic well sealed (so the crackers stay crisp), and keep the box front and center in your pantry so you'll remember to include them in the near future. Same goes for the vegetable and fruit crisper. Know what's in there so you can use them within a few days after purchase.
And remember that going to discount food stores only works if you only buy what you truly need and will use. Those coupons and "2 for 1" deals only save you money if it's for items you really want and would buy anyway.
What are some of your best tips to save money in the kitchen?
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: healthy diet, food budget, saving money
19 Comments:
Great tips! Thanks!
Plan your weekly meals to use up items from previous meals. For example, if a stir-fry recipe calls for half an onion, make onion soup a day or two later to use up the rest of it.
Use leftover chicken broth to make minute rice or instant mashed potatoes, instead of water.
Freeze foods not often used in single-serve baggies and pull out of the freezer as needed. Herbs, cheese, and cold cuts work well here.
To save money on bread, we get ours at the "day old" store. It is not stale bread,but is still tasty and tastes the same as the stuff you bought at the regular store yesterday and are eating today. But it is a lot cheaper.
When my grocery store has a special on ground meat, I buy several 1 lb. packages and freeze them. I can stretch one pound of ground beef a long way. And having it in 1 pound packages makes me get creative about stretching it. For example, for meatloaf I use oatmeal - not the instant but the regular kind - as a meat stretcher. It's cheap (I buy it in bulk at the local discount grocery) and adds nutrition to the ground meat. I can't depend on an extra 1/2 pound of meat to make more chili - I have to add more beans. Instead of the extra 1/2 pound of meat in the spaghetti sauce, I add some additional vegetables. It's healthier and cheaper and yet still tastes really good.
Switch to a plant based diet and save on your food, your hospital bills, and outlive your friends.
1. I can think of some others. Stock up on what you use when it is on sale. The price the next week will probably shock you.
2. Eat less.
3. There are certain very health foods that aren't that expensive yet. Like banana's.
4. Scour the newspaper for coupons of things that you already use and try to use them when the things are on sale.
It's tempting seeing all the new things and the wonderful pictures, but ask yourself if the price is STILL too high even with the coupon? If so, don't buy it.
5. Make less driving trips to the store. Walk or ride a bike if you can. Let's minimize how much the Bush Crime Family takes away from us. Use the money you save in gas to buy Exxon stock.
6. Steadfastly REFUSE to buy anything unreasonably priced. Laugh out loud in the grocery aisles wnen you see the prices. (That won't help save, but it feels good.) :)
7. Finally, remember that most people in the world eat only a small portion of what you eat and are still alive. To say that 30 percent of the world is starving is probably an understatement.
When you freeze that bread put a second bread wrapper over it and it will hold up better and not get freezer burn at all.
I purchase only what is really a good sale. Most of the time I can shop at the Shoppers Grocery that I pass to and from work. That way I save on gas. There is also a small Save-a-Lot grocery near work (7 blocks away) that has good prices. I walk there during my lunch break so that I get my exercise and save gas.
Buy frozen vegetables instead of fresh. Its been proven that they do have the same amount of vitamins and nothing is lost in the freezing process. No more brussel sprouts gone yellow, spinach turned to liquid,etc. Also, use a lettuce crisper.
I plan my meals on a week to week basis by planning from the grocery store weekly paper. I know my prices and know when I can get a good deal. When regularly used items go on sale I buy extra. When meats go on sale, extra is bought and frozen.
I freeze leftovers and use for another meal. Leftover spaghetti sauce is frozen and later used from a baked chicken parm. Leftover chicken/beef broth is frozen and used later on for soup. Crackers also freeze well. Just stick the unopened stacks in the freezer.
Save up the ends you cut off from vegetables, meat bones, and even shrimp shells, in a bag in the freezer. Once you get enough to fill up at least half of a decent pot, put them in & cover with water, put the lid on and let simmer for several hours, until there's about only half the liquid left. I don't combine meat bones with the shrimp shells, but do one or the other with the veggies. I also throw in herbs that have gotten a bit old, like garlic. You can add salt if you like, but you'll still get a lot of flavor if you don't. After cooling down,
you can then freeze it into usuable portions, and it makes a great base for soups and sauces, and you aren't wasting anything.
Where I see good sales on meat in the family pack, I buy extra and separate into smaller servings at home. THis is great for ground chuck, one family pack at 5lbs, can be made into chili, spagehtti sauce and several different casseroles and a couple of soups. Also if I can get the family pack of chicken breast you can make stir fry and oven baked chicken breast. I also buy a lot of frozen vegetables that go great in casseroles and stir fry,also as a side dish with a single serving of meat.
Instead of throwing away half a bunch of parsley, thyme, rosemary, or any herbs you have left over, chop them, or strip them(rosemary & thyme), and spread them on a paper towel. I place the paper towel in a flat round basket and place it in a quiet corner in my kitchen for a day or two. They will dry nicely, and have much more flavor than what you have on your spice rack. Put them right in with your dry spices.
Again great ideas. I do "lose" things in my frig... how do I re-crisp celery that has become limp?? anonymous me
To re-crisp celery, simply cut off part of the bottom root type area, wet a paper towel with cold water, apply it to the cut bottom end of the celery, place the celery bunch in a plastic bag and secure the bag with a twist tie and place back in the frig...this also works for head lettuce. When the paper towel with the lettuce or celery dries out, simply repeat above steps, but use a fresh paper towel each time so the "rust" on the paper towel is eliminated.
Store a cut onion or slice with your cheese. In my experience, the cheese will never grow mold but it does absorb the onion flavor--so best for nachos, salads...
Store your celery in aluminum foil and it will last longer.
Ok.Creamy salad dressing.A little low fat or fat free milk will do very nicely,forget the H&H.I don't use bottled creamy dressings.I use a little butter milk or plain yogurt,or both mixed together.
I also make my own sauce.When canned tomatoes are on sale I buy the crushed w/puree.If they don't offer crushed I buy whole and use my hands.There's no fat,no sugar and no salt;add you own spices.
I don't eat regular pasta, but that dosen't mean I'm willing to spend $2 and change for mulit grain either.It does go on sale.Not 5 bxs for $2 of course but I do get them at $1 per 16oz box.There's not a big choice here though.You have angel hair,mini penne,or cork screws.One box lasts about 6 weeks.And,any left over sauce is turned into veg soup at the end of the week.I buy frozen veggies when they're on sale. I use them with pasta and garlic.Throw some in a pan with onions and two eggs and into that veg soup.When Perdue's perfect portions are on sale and I have a coupon from their web site (only)I buy a bag.There are 10 boneless skinless pcs of breasts in that bag,that's a lot of chicken! Cut back on meat.I go to the deli and buy 2 slices of Boars Head roast beef.I brown 1/2 a red pepper and an onion then toss in the beef just to heat it and get the juices on the pepper and onion with a little brown rice.I'm talking about only feeding myself.I know it's not easy I raised a child,too.But be careful not to let left overs sit in the frige too long,throwing out food is throwing money out the window.If you use coupons get them from a web site, not the Sunday paper.Why? because the super markets jack up the prices first then give you that discount.
Happy saving..
Want a quick cuppa? Heat your cupful (mugful) in the microwave, not the kettle. Uses much less electricity, and helps save the planet, as well as your wallet.
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