I wish

I almost wish we didn't have the cooking network and DIY and all of those channels (not that I watch them). But it seems to me that we are raising everything to high art. How many people watch a cooking show and think 'well, I could never do that'. Quite a few I imagine. I guess my point is that we should try things. Just like art and music and singing shouldn't only be in the realm of professionals. So shouldn't cooking and exercising and things like that. Anyone can do it and anyone should. Take back your life and realize how many things you can do.

Food ideas

I'm always looking for new, good, inexpensive food ideas. I found this today at Spunky Eclectic and it looks like it fits the bill. You could make it as fancy or plain as you wanted. Good for you, good for the environment and good for your pocketbook. If I have time, I'll try it this weekend and let you know.

Freezer food

For Christmas my sis gave me a book about cooking for the freezer. What? The freezer doesn't eat? Hmmmm. What it means is that you cook for a day, freeze all the meals and then you can eat for a month. I'm going to start this by starting slow. I'm going to make several different dishes and make enough for at least a week if not more. What I have planned so far is breakfast burritos, waffles, meatloaf and some kind of soup. I will also make bread and cinnamon rolls on the weekend. I'll let you know how much it costs and lists of ingredients and recipes if you want to try something similar. This should be interesting.

Quick snack

Sometimes my boys want a quick snack and I've started making a list of things I've come across that are quick and cheap and good. That way if they want something, I have a list of ideas.
One of their favorites is cinnamon toast. I just toast whatever bread we happen to have, then butter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Lately I've had red sprinkles to put on top as well. It's a hit!

Potato recipe

Here's a little recipe I made up a few years ago. Someone had given me instant mashed potatoes. I know, yuck. So I developed this to make them more edible and they turned out really good. I was impressed with myself.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make four servings of the instant mashed potatoes according to the recipe. Stir in 3 eggs. Then add a few spices you have on hand. Salt, pepper, garlic, oregano. Any thing like that but not too much. Grease a cookie sheet and then put large spoonfuls of the mixture on the sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Remove and serve immediately.
Easy, cheap and tasty.

Katie

A Good Lunch

Do you want a good lunch? Are you tired of bringing leftovers from home? But eating out is too expensive? Learn the cheap, but good lunch.
If you have a decent grocery store nearby it's easy.

Store brand box of crackers on sale $1.50
Avocado on sale $1.50
Bring your own water $0.00
Total $3.00

The crackers are a bonus because they can last 3 days.

Bagel $.55
Yogurt on sale $.50
Total $1.05

You get the idea. One piece of fruit with a bagel. Just hunt for combinations that you wouldn't otherwise think of. Look for things on sale and base a meal around that.
Be creative!

Any questions or comments, let me know!
Thanks

Grocery Shopping

You see a lot of tips on how to save money shopping but here are mine.
1. Make a list before you go. Then you don't forget anything and you aren't as tempted by things you don't need.
2. Always check the per unit price. Usually a bigger size is a better per unit price, but not always. I have found things on sale where 2 of the smaller size was cheaper than 1 of the big size.
3. Just buy what you need. Don't be tempted by the 10 items/$10 kind of pricing. It encourages you to buy a lot of something whether you need it for not. Just buy the 2 items for $2 if that is all you need.
4. Buy things in bulk. If you like oatmeal, buy it in bulk. If you buy spices, buy them in bulk. I have glass canning jars that I refill with oregano, basil and garlic powder. Health food stores generally have spices in bulk and they are much cheaper. For oatmeal, I bought the container once and now I refill it with oatmeal that costs $.89 an ounce. And the oatmeal tastes better too.
5. Buy the brand that is on sale. Unless you know for sure that the cheaper brand is no good, you can save a lot of money on store brands.
6. Don't go grocery shopping when you are hungry. You will end up picking up a lot of things that look good but that you don't really need.
7. Do plan to buy just one goodie for yourself. That way you don't feel like you are being mean to yourself. Sometimes my goodie is V8 juice, so it doesn't have to be something sweet.
8. Buy vegetables. They are good for you and generally cheaper than prepackaged, premade things.
9. Steer away from prepackaged meals. Some seem cheap if on sale but really, you only get one meal out of each one so they really aren't that cheap.

If you take just a little extra time, you can save yourself a bunch of money.
Let me know if you have any comments or other ideas!

The death of cooking.

Do you know how to cook? I mean really know how. I'm not talking just heating up frozen dinners or chicken nuggets. I'm not talking about buying cinnamon rolls in a can and putting them in the oven. Real cooking is going the way of many other skills. We watch and listen to singers and decide that we could never sing because we can't sing as well as they do. We watch New Yankee Workshop and decide we could never make anything as beautiful as Norm Abram can make it. Skills like this have become relegated to the realm of professionals. Therefore we are required to just buy things ready made. Food has become the same way. With people like Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray and Mario Batali out there, we can't make food like they do so we shouldn't even try. Just buy it ready made and you are good.
I say, let's take back the skills. We hear that homemade food is better and cheaper and that is true. But who has the time and skills to do this? Everyone does. Living cheaply means that a few skills need to be learned or relearned. The trick is not to change everything you do all at once. Decide this week that you want to cook one thing from scratch. Plan ahead of time what you want to make and what you need. Using recipes from these shows is fine. Inspiration is always a good thing. At first you may not have many of the ingredients called for but as you do this more and more, suddenly you will have on hand many of the basic things you need for good cooking.
Just take one small step at a time. In the future I'll be giving you a few basic recipes I have used over and over. I use them because they are fast, and good, and versatile.


Let me know any comments, ideas and questions you have about my posts.
Thanks!