The trip to the grocery store this morning said it all. The bill for this one visit was the same that I was spending for the entire month just a few years back. Granted, there are three growing boys in the home, but something still has to give.
The best way to beat the rising costs at the grocery store is to use what you buy. It may seem silly, but most of us have freezers and pantries packed with items that will go bad before they get used. Here are a few tips to make sure that doesn’t happen and to help you stretch that grocery budget a little farther.
1. Make a list of everything you have in your panty. It is best to break it down by categories (fruits, vegetables, condiments).
2. Do the same for other areas in your home (frig or freezer).
3. Now look over the lists and make a menu for the next week or month with the items you currently have.
4. Use the menu to create a grocery list for those items that have to be bought on a regular basis (or might be needed for a particular dish).
Just this quick little project will help you cut back on your groceries and save a bundle along the way. Plus you will find that knowing what you are going to cook makes it easier to actually cook the meals as well.
It is important to eat healthy, but keeping healthy foods fresh is not always easy. It seems that every time I purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, no body eats them (but if I don’t have them around, you can bet it will be the one thing that they ask for). The healthy choices sit on the table or in the fridge until they are mushy, brown, and fit only for composting.
This house is full of growing boys, and I want them to reach their full potential. It is also important for me to stay active and involved in their lives. A good, healthy diet will keep me on track to accomplishing all the goals needed for everyone in the home.
Throwing out food that has spoiled is not as painful when its vegetables that we grew in the garden. After all, it didn’t really cost us anything to have it around. But fresh fruit or vegetables are expensive when you buy them at the store – or the farmer’s market or road side – and we don’t have the budget to be throwing stuff out (I can just see the dollar bills floating to the ground to be carried off by the wild animals).
Keeping food refrigerated helps keep them longer. Apples are especially good about keeping. If the food (especially carrots, onions, and celery) seems near its end, it could be time to chop it up into cooking size and then freezing it for quick fix meals. There are also many new storage containers that are helping to extend the life of the fresh choices we all want to make.
By finding ways to keep food longer I can make eating a healthy, fresh, and balanced diet an easier task for everyone.
I love to cook, but a few months back my range decided to quit. I had to get creative in order to cook meals. Fortunately, we were blessed with several crock pots when we got married. It only took me ten years to get to really use them.
Don’t get me wrong, at least one crock pot gets used a couple of times each winter to make stew. But when the stove and oven are gone, EVERYTHING gets cooked in the crock pot. I made crock pot lasagna, crock pot tamale pie, and even crock pot cake and other desserts.
Christmas brought me a surprise gift of a new range, but I haven’t retired the crock pots this go around. Instead, they have found a prominent place in my menu. When I know I have a day full of activities, I plan a crock pot meal. This week alone, I have used my biggest crock pot three times. I haven’t even bothered to put it in its usual home under the cabinet. It sits proudly next to the toaster (and has been getting even more use).
As long as people keep publishing great new recipes (especially online and for free) and as long as I have children that will keep me going all day and a husband that wants a family meal at the end of that day, I will probably find the crock pot the one appliance I truly can’t do without in the kitchen.
Do you have a favorite kitchen tool or a secret short cut that keeps you sane come meal time?