So, I’m wondering how others out there economize on their weekly grocery bill while still managing to make tasty, healthy meals for their families. With the cost of gas, combined with the cost of oil for our furnace, combined with the general economy, I’ve really been trying to stay within a budget when shopping lately. This is hard for me because I’m one of those people who tends to use the debit card without writing it down, sometimes a few too many times, and then regret it later when I realize how much I spent on, well, nothing. This really isn’t good now when I get socked with a huge oil bill every 4 to 6 weeks.
A few weeks ago I decided to try a little experiment at our house with dinners. I have an issue with leftovers (as in don’t like to eat them) but was starting to realize just how much food I was throwing out each week. This combined with my effort to streamline my grocery bill started to get me thinking creatively. I decided to sit down and try to think of something “new” that I could make for dinner from the leftovers the night before. The ultimate goal here is to use everything, or almost everything, I buy, without tossing food that started to grow green in the fridge.
And I’m pleased to report that I made out pretty well. Here’s an example. On night one, I made pot roast with carrots and potatoes. All of the carrots and potatoes were used up, and the next night I took some of the left over meat, shredded it up, mixed it up with some sautéed onions, garlic, tomatoes, cumin, chili powder and other Mexican spices, and turned it into beef empanadas. All I needed to do was use some puff pastry dough, fill it with the beef, add in a little cheese, and viola, I had an entirely new, no longer seeming like a left over, meal. I combined this with a green salad topped with a corn and black bean salsa (corn, black beans, onions, fresh cilantro, lime juice) and had a Mexican meal. I then used the left over corn and black bean salsa to make a Mexican lasagna by layering it between flour tortillas with cheese and chicken.
By the end of my first week of this little experiment, I had cut my grocery bill significantly. And I was feeling better about not throwing away so much food.
How do others get creative when you need to cut the grocery bill? Has anyone tried this Grocery Game thing online? www.thegrocerygame.com
Any other good recipes for leftovers or budget conscious cooking without eating pasta every night or Hamburger Helper?
Good Web Site for Budget Friendly Meals
Tips to Eat Healthy on the Cheap
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27423189/
Do you like soup?
In our house, almost every meal today becomes tomorrow's soup. This is a good thing for us because my boy likes hot lunch in his backpack and soup in a thermos is always a hit.
Regularly I roast a chicken or a turkey and enjoy the first meal with mashers and veggies. Then the next day we will enjoy chicken tacos or burritos and then I'll boil up the chicken and make a nice pot of soup. This always feels good, to get a few meals out of a five pound chicken or turkey.
I try and cook extra whenever I cook so I can create tomorrow's delicious meal as well. If we have steak today, tomorrow it's steak soup. If I prepare a side dish of butternut squash tonight, then tomorrow it's soup, the same with lentils or lobster or meatballs or whatever?
I have a crock pot given to me by a dear friend, but I have yet to really learn how to use it daily.
Hit or Miss for Soup
I'm not a huge soup person. But I do use my crockpot all the time. In fact I'm using it today for spaghetti sauce. I assembled it all last night and then just turned it on this morning, so it will be ready to rock when I get home.
I find that no matter what you cook, the crockpot makes it taste better. Funny how that works. I do roasts in it all the time.
Super easy (and very New England) one for the cranberry pot roast. One roast, one can of cranberry sauce, one can of water, a cube of beef bullion, and forget it.
Or, super easy chicken pot pie, cook some chicken in the pot with a can of chicken stock, diced celery, carrots and onions, salt, pepper, thyme. Pull out the chicken, then add a can of cream of chicken soup to what's in the pot. Puree, pour over chicken in a dish, top with any form of dough (even premade crescent rolls or bisquits from the grocery) and you have a quick pot pie.
I feel like I sound like a nutty cooking person on Food TV.