The cost of going organic, gluten-free, or making other healthy changes to your diet can be costly. If you're used to preparing meals with lots of shortcuts like packaged marinated meats, boxed mixes and frozen meals, buying the equivalent option in a healthier version is quite pricey. Take frozen waffles. If I wanted to, I could get a box of Eggo frozen waffles for $1 on sale somewhere in the next week or two. Store brand flavored syrup? Bet I could find it for $1 too. Margarine costs under $1 at most stores as well. If my kids want frozen waffles now, I have to buy gluten free. That usually means they are also vegan, dairy and nut free - processed in a dedicated facility. All that care costs money. Hence, my new frozen waffles cost over $4 a box. Plus, my kids will only eat real maple syrup and I only use real butter. The price adds up.
Thankfully, I've never been a big fan of frozen waffles - or pizza - or any of those other easy grab meals that families so often turn to when schedules get busy. For this reason, I think I will successfully stay within my weekly food budget. That's great news for a family still trying to regain its financial footing. I was quite pleased to find a lot of gluten free items at Kroger yesterday. My eyes were opened. Not only did they have everything I was looking for, but they had so much more! Things are stashed all over the store and it's a bit like going on a scavenger hunt, but at least they're closer to home and available at a lower price. (Note to self: plan on spending 1 1/2 hours each trip) Everything I bought was on sale and that included GF pastas, a GF cake mix I'm dying to try, and GF snack bars for Saturday's soccer matches.
Don't already have a food budget? Or perhaps you'd like to start keeping track of what you spend as you transition to a new, healthier lifestyle? Starting one is easy. Start by keeping track of what you spend now with any one of the free, downloadable spending trackers available from Microsoft online or other programs. After you get a month or two on paper, you can start to see places you can cut back. You can also see how you stack up compared to the average US family at the USDA's website.
I am quite proudly in the "Low Cost" category - despite eating like royalty most of the time!
Showing posts with label Recession Strategies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recession Strategies. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Friday, March 13, 2009
Leftover Ideas
Okay, so it took me a little while to get back to this topic. Things around here have been hectic to say the least. In my last post I mentioned turkey leftovers. November is the usual time you might think to discuss such a thing, but truth be known, we love a good roasted turkey breast most any time of the year. If purchased on sale, they are very economical and lend themselves to an enormous number of leftover dinner ideas.
Every family has a different strategy when dealing with leftovers. I know at least one family that just throws everything away because they "don't do leftovers." Well, that's all fine and good as long as there aren't any starving children in Africa - but that's not the way I was brought up. Wasting good food is just sinful but the trick is to make something as delicious the second time as it was the first. I know some who wrap it all up and stick it in the refrigerator and once a week heat everything up and serve a family-style hodge-podge with them. We tried this once and my children fought over the one thing they both wanted, we picked at the rest, and it all ended up in the trash. If this strategy works for you, by all means continue. If not, here are some practical suggestions:
1. Leftover steak was meant to be eaten the next day with fried eggs for breakfast. Throw some buttered texas toast or homemade hash browns on the plate and your husband will follow you around like a puppy dog for the rest of the day.
2. Always freeze leftover meats like pork, chicken or turkey. If it was a dish served with a sauce or gravy, you can freeze that separately if you want. Leaving it plain lends the meat to more versatility later on.
3. Bread freezes very well! With the exception of foccacia bread and a few others, most breads taste very close to their fresher states once pulled out of the freezer. We learned this when we owned a restaurant that was constantly throwing out old bread. If you know you need to prolong it's life a little longer, place it in a labeled heavy freezer bag and wait until you need it again. It also defrosts very quickly, in about 30 minutes.
4. Save your leftover mashed potatoes!! I know they are terrible re-heated the next day; but add an egg and a little milk, shape into small patties and fry in butter and voila! you have potato pancakes that your children will beg for.
5. Never, never, never serve something the same way twice! Inevitably, the re-heated version will not even come close to the fresh version of the day before. A better solution is to find a way to recreate your leftover items and make something entirely new. You can also incorporate some fresh ingredients into the meal and it becomes a regular meal - not the leftovers your loved ones may secretly dread.
Finally, I want to share a great recipe that I use for leftovers. Every time Baxter makes Boston-Butt, we end up freezing a portion of the pulled pork. I am also in the habit of freezing the dark meat from chickens that I've roasted or poached. Once I have between 4-6 cups of meat, I make Brunswick Stew. The last time I made it was during the snow. Here's my recipe:
Every family has a different strategy when dealing with leftovers. I know at least one family that just throws everything away because they "don't do leftovers." Well, that's all fine and good as long as there aren't any starving children in Africa - but that's not the way I was brought up. Wasting good food is just sinful but the trick is to make something as delicious the second time as it was the first. I know some who wrap it all up and stick it in the refrigerator and once a week heat everything up and serve a family-style hodge-podge with them. We tried this once and my children fought over the one thing they both wanted, we picked at the rest, and it all ended up in the trash. If this strategy works for you, by all means continue. If not, here are some practical suggestions:
1. Leftover steak was meant to be eaten the next day with fried eggs for breakfast. Throw some buttered texas toast or homemade hash browns on the plate and your husband will follow you around like a puppy dog for the rest of the day.
2. Always freeze leftover meats like pork, chicken or turkey. If it was a dish served with a sauce or gravy, you can freeze that separately if you want. Leaving it plain lends the meat to more versatility later on.
3. Bread freezes very well! With the exception of foccacia bread and a few others, most breads taste very close to their fresher states once pulled out of the freezer. We learned this when we owned a restaurant that was constantly throwing out old bread. If you know you need to prolong it's life a little longer, place it in a labeled heavy freezer bag and wait until you need it again. It also defrosts very quickly, in about 30 minutes.
4. Save your leftover mashed potatoes!! I know they are terrible re-heated the next day; but add an egg and a little milk, shape into small patties and fry in butter and voila! you have potato pancakes that your children will beg for.
5. Never, never, never serve something the same way twice! Inevitably, the re-heated version will not even come close to the fresh version of the day before. A better solution is to find a way to recreate your leftover items and make something entirely new. You can also incorporate some fresh ingredients into the meal and it becomes a regular meal - not the leftovers your loved ones may secretly dread.
Finally, I want to share a great recipe that I use for leftovers. Every time Baxter makes Boston-Butt, we end up freezing a portion of the pulled pork. I am also in the habit of freezing the dark meat from chickens that I've roasted or poached. Once I have between 4-6 cups of meat, I make Brunswick Stew. The last time I made it was during the snow. Here's my recipe:
Brunswick Stew
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 whole green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4-6 cups cooked and chopped pulled pork, chicken, turkey, or a combination
3 (14.5oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes with liquid, chopped
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup hickory flavored BBQ sauce
salt and pepper to taste
hot sauce to taste
2 cans creamed style corn (the best that you can find)
Heat oil in a large pot, add onions, celery and green bell peppers and saute until onions are translucent. Pull off the heat and add meat, tomatoes and liquid, ketchup, and BBQ sauce. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce. Return to med-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. During this process, if your stew is short on liquid, you can dilute with water as needed. Stir in creamed corn and cook an additional 30 minutes or until desired consistency. Taste and adjust your seasonings.
It looks like we're going to have one more chilly weekend and I plan on serving up some brunswick stew. I'd love to hear your leftover ideas and recipes!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Recipe Search
Just to let you know, I actually use the search box to the right of your screen. It took me a while to remember to try it out after I installed it; but now I regularly go to it when I need a little help. This week alone, I have used it three times.
On Thursday night, we had Rachael Ray's Sloppy Joes and they were terrific! I don't do MSG, so the powder crap is out. Despite the fact that my kids have very sophisticated tastes when compared to my own palette at their age, they still like sloppy joes. If you want to prepare this classic dish, I highly recommend her version. Use very lean, all-natural, hormone-free ground beef and bakery made whole wheat rolls to make them healthier. Even with the meat and bun upgrades, this dish also passes the "recession test."
Tonight, rather than spending two hours looking through cookbooks, I typed in "roasted turkey breast" and decided to try Ina Garten's version, using rosemary and white wine. I also needed to refresh my memory on how to make butter beans (lima, to those of you not raised in the south) and ham-hocks for my side dish. I rounded off the meal with my very own creamed potatoes and we had an elegant, southern-style dinner. Everything was DE-lish!! The turkey breast was purchased on sale, as were the potatoes and the frozen beans. All-in-all, the whole thing cost around $10 to prepare. For a family of four, that's just plain cheap. Plus, the turkey breast is ample enough for plenty of leftovers. Just wait until you read about what I do with those!
On Thursday night, we had Rachael Ray's Sloppy Joes and they were terrific! I don't do MSG, so the powder crap is out. Despite the fact that my kids have very sophisticated tastes when compared to my own palette at their age, they still like sloppy joes. If you want to prepare this classic dish, I highly recommend her version. Use very lean, all-natural, hormone-free ground beef and bakery made whole wheat rolls to make them healthier. Even with the meat and bun upgrades, this dish also passes the "recession test."
Tonight, rather than spending two hours looking through cookbooks, I typed in "roasted turkey breast" and decided to try Ina Garten's version, using rosemary and white wine. I also needed to refresh my memory on how to make butter beans (lima, to those of you not raised in the south) and ham-hocks for my side dish. I rounded off the meal with my very own creamed potatoes and we had an elegant, southern-style dinner. Everything was DE-lish!! The turkey breast was purchased on sale, as were the potatoes and the frozen beans. All-in-all, the whole thing cost around $10 to prepare. For a family of four, that's just plain cheap. Plus, the turkey breast is ample enough for plenty of leftovers. Just wait until you read about what I do with those!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Recession Strategies: Part I
In the spirit of wishing to pass on some great ways to save money while still providing your family with delicious and nutritious meals, I have decided to devote a weekly post to the idea. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that families from my generation get familiar with their kitchens. Even if you still have a well-paying job and decent benefits, you have no doubt felt the economic pinch somewhere in your life. One of the easiest ways to save money is to prepare your meals at home. I have friends who own restaurants and I believe in supporting locally owned businesses when we can, however, eating out gets expensive real fast. If you are looking to make the transition from take-out to homemade, there are a few tips that can make it easier. I want to focus on time-saving strategies and quick meal ideas as well as recipes using few and commonly found ingredients. I discovered a web site today where the sole purpose is to share recipes that are inexpensive to prepare - cheapcooking.com is a great place to get meal ideas that are guaranteed not to break your bank. Please share your own "recession minded" cooking strategies here as we try not to sacrifice taste, nutrition or family time.
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