Saving in the Kitchen

[sunshine]

Saving in the kitchen

* Conserve electricity when baking and cooking. Turn
off the burner three minutes before your pasta or rice
directions call for. The residual heat will finish the
cooking. When baking a chicken or meatloaf, bake
potatoes with it for use in the next day's casserole.

* Bake. Once a month, take a few hours to bake
muffins, breads, and cookies from scratch for the
month ahead. You will be less tempted to purchase the
expensive prepared baked goods. Most baked goods
freeze well.

* Store food properly to avoid spoilage. Speak with
your grocer about the proper way to store fruits and
vegetables. Always seal herb jars tightly, as dried
herbs lose flavor quickly. Freeze meat if you will not
use it within five days.

* Be an aggressive consumer. If the oranges you bought
turned out to be dry, return them. If your yogurt
tasted off, take it back. Do not settle for sub-par
food. You would
take back a defective battery; take back poor-quality
food.

* Evaluate your eating habits. Junk-food junkies will
find that their favorite snacks not only do a number
on their heart and waistlines but deplete their food
budget quickly.
For example an apple costs 30 cents, and a
less-filling candy bar costs 50 cents. Cut back on
soda and other sugar- and caffeine-based beverages.
Keep a pitcher of water
in the refrigerator to encourage your family to drink
it.

* Take advantage of bulk bins. When trying new pasta,
grain, cereal, or dried fruit, use the bulk bins. You
can buy just enough to decide whether you like it.
If you do not like it, you will not have wasted a full
package. Bulk-bin flour, sugar, spices, cereal, and
pasta are usually priced lower than the prepackaged
variety.

* Rearrange your plate. Filling your plate with
vegetables, legumes, grains, pasta and fruit, with
meat on the side, will help your budget and your
health.

* Use cheaper substitutes. When faced with a recipe
that looks tasty but calls for expensive ingredients,
be creative. That beef stir fry looks good. Use the
same sauce but substitute garbanzo beans or chicken
for the beef strips.

* A substitute ingredient need not taste exactly like
the ingredient called for. Sure the flavor will change
but it could change for the better. Try shredded
carrots in lieu of more expensive (if you do not get
it free from a gardener) zucchini. Substitute corn for
peas, vanilla for many extracts, and bread crumbs for
cracker crumbs.

* Alter recipes. Try adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup less sugar
in your baking and drink mixes; you probably will not
notice a difference. Reduce the amount of cheese you
add to
casseroles and sauces by one fourth. Recipe writers
often round off amounts to make ingredients are easy
to measure, when usually a smaller amount will do.

* Analyze recipes carefully. If an ingredient seems to
be included only for color but offers no essential
flavor, try eliminating it.

* Stretch recipes. When your cookie recipe calls for
one rounded teaspoon of dough, try a level teaspoon
and remove from the oven sooner. Make a larger number
of small
muffins with your muffin batter. Dilute concentrated
juice a little further. Add extra potatoes, beans, and
vegetables to casseroles and soups for additional
servings (seasonings may need to be adjusted
slightly).

* Make your own salad dressing. You will be pleased
with how easy it is and how much money you will save.
Easy vinaigrette dressing: Mix 1/2 cup white vinegar,
1-1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper, 1/2 t. dry mustard, and
1 minced garlic clove. Add 1 cup salad oil and stir
until blended. Keep refrigerated in a tightly covered
container.

* When using fresh garlic, save the four inner cloves.
Plant them in the ground, or in a planter, about 1/2
inch deep. Dig up when plant is about 1-1/2 feet tall
and has begun to dry, in about five months. Soon you
will never need to buy garlic again!

* Embrace variety. Avoid the rut of eating the same
fruits, vegetables, and meat all year long. Enjoy
different foods when they are in season and,
therefore, cheapest. Eat tangerines in the winter and
grapes in the summer. Enjoy summer corn and savor
winter squash.

* Make sure your food is a nutritional bargain. That
$1.50 per gallon of orange flavored drink may be cheap
but it is made of water, sugar, and artificial
coloring with none of the Vitamin C of orange juice.
Orange juice is the better bargain, filled
with Vitamin C and folic acid. Just 8 oz. has 150
percent of an adult's daily Vitamin C requirement.

* Compare prices of different versions of the same
food. The fresh, frozen, and canned versions can
differ greatly.

* Waste not. Overripe bananas, pears, apples, and
other fruit can find a second life in breads, sauces,
and desserts. Place in airtight container and freeze
until you have time for baking. When baking,
substitute fruit puree for up to half the amount
of oil called for in a recipe.

* Discover alternative proteins. Legumes are a great
buy and very versatile. Try cooked beans and lentils
in place of ground beef in casseroles, stews, and
soups. Substitute beans for meat in a stir-fry.
Experiment with tofu and texturized vegetable protein.

* Do not limit your grocery shopping to grocery
stores. Health food stores often have good buys on
herbs, spices, and grains. Visit the farmer's market
for top-quality produce
at low prices. Your gas station just might have a
bargain on milk. Take advantage of u-pick strawberry
fields in July and apple orchards in the fall.

[Darlene]

Great tips, thanks!

[homesteadmamma]

Great tips Denise. Thanks.

[marym]

Thank You! Great tips. I have a tip that I use: When cooking eggs turn the burner off when the eggs are half way cooked. There is enough heat in the pan to finish the cooking.

[Katybird]

Thanks for the tips! They are great.

[Dedlered]

Wonderful tips, thank you so much

[baxjul]

Great tips, thanks

[Valerie in WA]

Good stuff - thank you!

[SewCrafty]

Originally posted by marym
Thank You! Great tips. I have a tip that I use: When cooking eggs turn the burner off when the eggs are half way cooked. There is enough heat in the pan to finish the cooking.

Actually once they come to a roiling boil you can turn them off, put the lid on, and time for 15 minutes for large eggs.