Reply #14: Cook from scratch and make friends with your freezer. [View All]

[mcscajun]

Remember: It's more than just a place to make ice cubes and store frozen veggies and ice cream.

Those little Ziploc and Glad "disposable" freezer containers are great, and you don't have to throw them out. They clean up very neatly in hand washing. I don't have a dishwasher, so I couldn't tell you anything about that. A cheap roll of freezer tape and a marker pen, and you're all set.

One jar of pasta sauce can cost far more than a large can of good quality crushed tomatoes or tomato puree, and it's likely to spoil before you finish it as a single. Buy the crushed tomatoes and puree to make a 'from scratch' sauce, fry up a mess of meatballs or sweet sausage, put the whole business in Ziploc freezer containers in portion sizes, and you're covered for a few weeks of good pasta meals.

Gradually wean yourself from 'brand loyalty' -- you won't abandon all your favorites, to be sure, but once in a while, try the generic brand -- if you can't really notice much difference, then you've made another saving choice.

Almost any food a single person (*or sometimes a couple*) is likely not to consume before it spoils can find safety in the freezer until its time has come.

My freezer routinely contains homemade soups, a stew or chili, spaghetti sauce with and without meats, butter, english muffins, unbaked scones, and other breads, all in portions so I can pick out what I want at a moment's notice. Sometimes there will even be a delicacy or two, like homemade wontons that can be thrown into chicken broth, or fried for snacks.

If you're going to be on a budget, you've got to really cook.

You don't have to cook every night, though. Most of what I mentioned above can be done on a Sunday set aside for the purpose once or twice a month...more often in colder months, naturally.

Buy "family pack" meats when on sale and freeze them in portions as well. Any bread likely to spoil before use also heads for the freezer, and bacon gets wrapped in 2-3 strip packages and frozen for easy use later.

The key is eliminating waste, using NO or nearly NO "convenience foods" and making as much of your own stuff as possible.

Plus, it's important to adhere to the three rules of supermarket shopping:

Don't shop when you are hungry.
Don't shop without a list.
Don't shop when you are tired.

The # 1 Rule of "Bargains" = Nothing is a "bargain" if it will spoil before you finish it.

I'm reminded of an ex-husband cajoling me to buy the large can of olive oil, when I knew as just two of us, we'd never get through the can before most of the oil went rancid. ICK.

I'm going back to baking bread as soon as a) it gets colder, and b) I get a new range. My oven's been busted a LONG TIME. I can't afford to be without it anymore.