Yesterday I wrote about the ungodly amount of stuff that I keep in my freezers. Since most of that was on sale or purchased in bulk, it is definitely a cheaper way to get/keep your food supply. But, since this week's focus is reducing food waste, I thought we'd touch on that.
Baking: I bake often. Like, every day. One would think that as a family, we're either A.) bigger than barns from eating all that stuff, or B.) have baked goods up to our noses. Actually, neither is true. Whenever I bake, we eat it for that meal and I freeze the rest for another time. Most of my muffin recipes make 48 mini muffins. The daycare kids eat between 10 and 24 usually, depending on what meal they are served at (unless it's chocolate chip and then I never make enough). The others get stored in a gallon freezer ziploc bag for another use. The uses vary from I don't feel like making more muffins, so we'll eat from the "stash," to the girls or hubby need a little something extra in their lunch so I'll throw a couple muffins in. Then, there's the late night, the little guy isn't in bed yet, but I want something to eat and I can shove a whole muffin in before he notices. I do the same thing with waffles, brownies, cookies, pancakes, and rolls (any bread really). This reduces food waste by not letting food sit on the counter and get stale, or worse yet, we eat it when we aren't really hungry making it pointless consumption. I'm becoming very big on "eat to live, not live to eat." Also, by keeping a nice stash in my freezer, I don't have to buy as much food. If I were to throw away 10-20 muffins every time I made them because they got stale or moldy, I would need to make more at a later time, spending more money and using more food.
I'm a leftover kind of girl, but I don't necessarily want to eat the exact same thing over and over--enter the freezer. I do this a couple different ways. First, I can make a soup for dinner. The family eats it and I save extra out for lunches the next day. Then I freeze the rest for a quick meal another time, and because it's frozen, we might eat it next week or next month and it's still as good as the first time. The second way is to remake a dish. If we were to save the leftover veggies from dinner each night (supposing there are any) and I keep them in a bag in the freezer at some point, there will be enough for a vegetable soup or chicken pot pie. Even if it's only a couple spoonfuls, that is food that would otherwise be throw away and now I'm using it to complete another meal (saving both money and reducing waste). I also save leftover taco meat, sloppy joe meat and sausage crumbles. They can be reused by themselves in their original state or mixed together to make something completely different-in Hamburger Helper or enchiladas perhaps.
Freezing is a good way to keep produce from spoiling. I often buy several pumpkins in the fall and bake them. Then I puree the pumpkin and freeze it in half-cup portions for pumpkin muffins and bread. I do the same with butternut squash. Last year, my garden produced several zucchini squash. I shreddedall of the extras and froze them, portioned in ziploc bags so I have them ready to go when I want to make zucchini bread or cookies.
The same principle works well with cream of mushroom (chicken or whatever cream soup you use). I make a large batch from scratch and freeze it in my muffin pan. Then I pop them out to store in bags in the freezer. One half-cup "muffin" equals one can of your "cream of ___" soup. By making a big batch of soup like this and freezing it, I don't waste the container of mushrooms that I needed to buy and only used 2 mushrooms for another recipe. I can use the rest up on the soup and have it ready to go when I make casseroles or porqupine meatballs.
Lastly (and I only remember this because I did it yesterday), you know that little bit of spaghetti sauce that is left in the pan after a big spagetti dinner. It isn't really enough to make another serving, but seems like too much to throw away. Put it in a jar in your freezer. If you do this 2-3 times, you will have enough sauce remnants to use when you make pizza. Yesterday, I made a smashing cheese pizza from scratch in 30 minutes. Part of my speediness was being able to defrost the sauce that was in the freezer, it only took 5 minutes and was from another pizza making last month and Monday's spaghetti lunch. If I had throw out the leftovers on those other occasions, I would have had to open another can of tomato paste and sauce, plus add the seasonings and simmer it. So, not only did I not waste food, but I saved myself some time in the process. Gotta love the win-win!
What sort of things to you freeze that reduce your overall food waste?
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
My favorite waste reducing appliance: the freezer part 1
When it comes to food waste, I've already admitted that I was horrible. But, that was then, and I'm much better now. The appliance that helps me reduce food waste the most is my freezer. I should say freezers, because I have a collection. I have my big refrigerator/freezer upstairs. Then downstairs I have a small chest freezer (I think probably a 6 cu.ft.), a large chest freezer (maybe 16 cu. ft) and a second refrigerator that has a small freezer up top. Each has a specific purpose and helps me be thrifty, healthy and maybe one day green.
Our upstairs freezer holds the day to day items that we use. In it, you can find leftovers, baked goods, flours (whole wheat and gluten free), flax seed, half bags of frozen veggies, ice packs and the occasional box of ice cream.
The downstairs big freezer is a 1950's model (so not energy efficient). However it works and why throw something away that works? Plus, I try to help it be more energy efficient by keeping it full and opening it as few times as possible (I dig meat out once a week for the whole week). My disclaimer is that every other day or so, I crack the lid, reach in and make sure it is still working, because if it dies and we don't catch it... oh my, I don't even want to think about it! (enter shudder and cry smilie guy here). We store our meat, cheese and butter in this freezer. Currently there is about 50 pounds of ground beef, 3 or 4 whole chickens, about 6 pounds of chicken legs, 12 pounds of boneless/skinless chicken breasts, 7 pounds of shredded cheese, a turkey, a brisket and a couple packages of porterhouse steaks. The freezer isn't completely full right now as I'm getting ready to divide up my 50 pound bag of oats into icing buckets and store it in the freezer. Hopefully that will happen this weekend.
Next to the big guy is my smaller chest freezer. We got this when we were apartment dwellers and needed a place to keep the meat my parents gave us. When we moved into our house, we moved the meat to the big freezer and the smaller freezer became the fruit and veggie freezer. Big bags of blueberries, mango, strawberries, corn, peas, green beans, broccoli, etc. are in there as well as my 50 pound bag of white wheat flour.
The small freezer above the second fridge holds produce from the garden. There are 6 gallon bags of tomatoes and 1 gallon bag of individually packaged shredded zucchini in there, and some odds and ends in the door (miscellaneous bag of English muffins and some boo-boo packs for the dc kids).
And just to round out the group, I'll tell you that the second fridge holds all the extra milk, sliced and shredded cheese (would freeze it but we use it too fast), butter from the freezer that is thawing, and overflow produce that won't fit upstairs or falls later in the menu plan.
You can definitely tell that my freezers help me stockpile foods items, and while that may be thrifty (to buy great quantities when items are on sale), you may wonder how that reduces waste. I'll get to that part tomorrow! I've got some carrots to peel before the babies wake up (if you've ever tried to peel carrots and hold a squirmy baby, you would agree! LOL).
Our upstairs freezer holds the day to day items that we use. In it, you can find leftovers, baked goods, flours (whole wheat and gluten free), flax seed, half bags of frozen veggies, ice packs and the occasional box of ice cream.
The downstairs big freezer is a 1950's model (so not energy efficient). However it works and why throw something away that works? Plus, I try to help it be more energy efficient by keeping it full and opening it as few times as possible (I dig meat out once a week for the whole week). My disclaimer is that every other day or so, I crack the lid, reach in and make sure it is still working, because if it dies and we don't catch it... oh my, I don't even want to think about it! (enter shudder and cry smilie guy here). We store our meat, cheese and butter in this freezer. Currently there is about 50 pounds of ground beef, 3 or 4 whole chickens, about 6 pounds of chicken legs, 12 pounds of boneless/skinless chicken breasts, 7 pounds of shredded cheese, a turkey, a brisket and a couple packages of porterhouse steaks. The freezer isn't completely full right now as I'm getting ready to divide up my 50 pound bag of oats into icing buckets and store it in the freezer. Hopefully that will happen this weekend.
Next to the big guy is my smaller chest freezer. We got this when we were apartment dwellers and needed a place to keep the meat my parents gave us. When we moved into our house, we moved the meat to the big freezer and the smaller freezer became the fruit and veggie freezer. Big bags of blueberries, mango, strawberries, corn, peas, green beans, broccoli, etc. are in there as well as my 50 pound bag of white wheat flour.
The small freezer above the second fridge holds produce from the garden. There are 6 gallon bags of tomatoes and 1 gallon bag of individually packaged shredded zucchini in there, and some odds and ends in the door (miscellaneous bag of English muffins and some boo-boo packs for the dc kids).
And just to round out the group, I'll tell you that the second fridge holds all the extra milk, sliced and shredded cheese (would freeze it but we use it too fast), butter from the freezer that is thawing, and overflow produce that won't fit upstairs or falls later in the menu plan.
You can definitely tell that my freezers help me stockpile foods items, and while that may be thrifty (to buy great quantities when items are on sale), you may wonder how that reduces waste. I'll get to that part tomorrow! I've got some carrots to peel before the babies wake up (if you've ever tried to peel carrots and hold a squirmy baby, you would agree! LOL).
Monday, March 28, 2011
Week 13:Reduce Food Waste
As I look back on my life I see some definite failings in the area of food and thriftiness. I vividly remember not that many years ago buying groceries on Saturday afternoon and then throwing most of the produce away that was in the refrigerator and replacing it with what I had just purchased. And, then the next Saturday-yep, the same thing. I don't dare imagine how much money I threw away by not using the food that I had purchased, which is why this week is devoted to reducing food waste.
I had this whole litany of tips in my head for this post, but they were tossed aside this morning when a daycare mama brought me a present (not really!). She brought me a bag of Cookie Diet Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and said that they were the nastiest cookies she (or anyone else brave enough to try) had ever eaten. Great! Thanks. Bring your nastiness to me. But, then I decided that since good money had been spent on these "cookies," I would try to salvage them. I actually just looked up the price of these things and OMGoodness that is ALOT of money!
I broke off the edge of a cookie and tasted it. Yes, I would have to agree-not tasty! I broke my piece in half and tried to feed it to my guy but he sniffed it and said "gross!" After pondering my options, I decided a muffin might be the best course of action. I threw the bag of cookies (6) into the food processor and ground them up into bits, similar to granola. Then I started adding with reckless abandon.
6 Cookie Diet Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, pulverized into crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup of sugar (evaporated cane juice)
2 eggs
Pulse to blend wet ingredients and cookies
Then add:
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups whole white wheat flour
Pulse until completely blended.
I tasted my concoction and it was sooooo much better, but I decided I needed to give it a little ooomph! I dumped in 1/3 of a bag of mini chocolate chips and mixed that in. I filled my mini muffin pan using a 1 tbsp. scoop and baked them for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
We changed up our menu plan and had these muffins for morning snack. Every child ate 2 and most ate three muffins (even the child from whose home the cookies were delivered and my kiddo who had declared them "gross"). It was a stunning victory. Now, the problem is that this mama is going to bring me the remaining 46 bags of cookies. I just know it! LOL
Now, am I suggesting that you run out and buy hideously overpriced, bad tasting cookies so you can remake them into something edible? Heck no! But, we've all made some less than stellar dishes, or let the bread sit out and get stale or let the grapes sit in the fridge a day or two too long. Instead of throwing that food (money) in the trash, how about brainstorming other ideas to reuse and reinvent that food into something new and maybe even better?
I had this whole litany of tips in my head for this post, but they were tossed aside this morning when a daycare mama brought me a present (not really!). She brought me a bag of Cookie Diet Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and said that they were the nastiest cookies she (or anyone else brave enough to try) had ever eaten. Great! Thanks. Bring your nastiness to me. But, then I decided that since good money had been spent on these "cookies," I would try to salvage them. I actually just looked up the price of these things and OMGoodness that is ALOT of money!
I broke off the edge of a cookie and tasted it. Yes, I would have to agree-not tasty! I broke my piece in half and tried to feed it to my guy but he sniffed it and said "gross!" After pondering my options, I decided a muffin might be the best course of action. I threw the bag of cookies (6) into the food processor and ground them up into bits, similar to granola. Then I started adding with reckless abandon.
6 Cookie Diet Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, pulverized into crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup of sugar (evaporated cane juice)
2 eggs
Pulse to blend wet ingredients and cookies
Then add:
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups whole white wheat flour
Pulse until completely blended.
I tasted my concoction and it was sooooo much better, but I decided I needed to give it a little ooomph! I dumped in 1/3 of a bag of mini chocolate chips and mixed that in. I filled my mini muffin pan using a 1 tbsp. scoop and baked them for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
We changed up our menu plan and had these muffins for morning snack. Every child ate 2 and most ate three muffins (even the child from whose home the cookies were delivered and my kiddo who had declared them "gross"). It was a stunning victory. Now, the problem is that this mama is going to bring me the remaining 46 bags of cookies. I just know it! LOL
Now, am I suggesting that you run out and buy hideously overpriced, bad tasting cookies so you can remake them into something edible? Heck no! But, we've all made some less than stellar dishes, or let the bread sit out and get stale or let the grapes sit in the fridge a day or two too long. Instead of throwing that food (money) in the trash, how about brainstorming other ideas to reuse and reinvent that food into something new and maybe even better?
Sunday, March 27, 2011
I'm ruined!
Hello all! We just got back into town from a weekend trip to Kansas City. My side of the family (my sis, bro and their families) decided that instead of spending a lot of money on Christmas gifts that the kids really didn't need, we would get them an experience. We chose to take all 6 of them (ages, 10, 8, 5, 3, 2 and 2) to see Toy Story 3 on Ice. We also checked out Hallmark's Kaleidoscopes, T-Rex Cafe and of course the motel swimming pool (deemed the favorite activity by the kids-isn't that annoying?).
My family ate out 6 times in the past two days and I can't say that I enjoyed it at all. First, the cost of feeding 5 people 6 meals was astronomical, budgeted for, but astronomical the same. We spent more in 2 days on food that we do in 2 weeks normally. Second, I kept analyzing the nutrition (or lack thereof) in our meals. Before leaving Saturday morning, I fixed egg and cheese omelets and whole wheat cinnamon toast with butter. I packed almonds and raisins for snacks on the road. Doing well so far, right? Then it was a downhill spiral with with Kraft mac 'n cheese kids meals, soda, french fries, hot dogs, fruit loops, Taco Bell and frozen custard with candy bar add-ins.
Everything I put in my mouth I was thinking about HFCS, GMOs, vegetable oil with an imbalance of Omega-6 fats, bleached flour tortillas filled with parabens... You get the idea. Ask me how I feel? Horrible. I'm bloated, nauseated and have a horrible headache. My little man has horrible diarrhea. The older daughter is complaining of not feeling well. The other two are fine, but they probably eat more junk food than the rest of us combined. They must be used to it.
I firmly believe "everything in moderation." Obviously, there was no moderation this weekend, but there wasn't much opportunity to eat well. Even the salad options that I had offered little in the way of health-covered in fried chicken strips or pre-coated in Caesar dressing. Plus, I have trouble paying $15 for a salad. It's a salad for goodness sakes.
We are taking our big family vacation in June. We will be driving from Missouri to Maryland and taking about 9 days (2 driving out, 5 there and 2 driving back). Between now and then, I need to come up with some strategies to balance our eating. It will be easier as we'll be staying with my sister-in-law and I can cook at her home, but there will still be lots of "on the road" time and eating out. I will be scouring various menus of the most convenient fast food places to come up with some acceptable options for me and the kids (I wouldn't think of telling Hubby what he can and can't eat-that would go over like a lead balloon). I'll also come up with some simple meals that we can pack before we start our daytrips so that we eat at least one meal "picnic style" and then eat out the other one.
This weekend was certainly an eye opener about what I can and cannot eat and what I need to do to prepare us for the big trip.
Other than the food (and no one had any problems with it but me, I'm sure), a good time was had by all and we're already brainstorming ideas for the Christmas trip of 2012!
Now, I need to go grocery shopping and pick up the produce for this week's menu.
My family ate out 6 times in the past two days and I can't say that I enjoyed it at all. First, the cost of feeding 5 people 6 meals was astronomical, budgeted for, but astronomical the same. We spent more in 2 days on food that we do in 2 weeks normally. Second, I kept analyzing the nutrition (or lack thereof) in our meals. Before leaving Saturday morning, I fixed egg and cheese omelets and whole wheat cinnamon toast with butter. I packed almonds and raisins for snacks on the road. Doing well so far, right? Then it was a downhill spiral with with Kraft mac 'n cheese kids meals, soda, french fries, hot dogs, fruit loops, Taco Bell and frozen custard with candy bar add-ins.
Everything I put in my mouth I was thinking about HFCS, GMOs, vegetable oil with an imbalance of Omega-6 fats, bleached flour tortillas filled with parabens... You get the idea. Ask me how I feel? Horrible. I'm bloated, nauseated and have a horrible headache. My little man has horrible diarrhea. The older daughter is complaining of not feeling well. The other two are fine, but they probably eat more junk food than the rest of us combined. They must be used to it.
I firmly believe "everything in moderation." Obviously, there was no moderation this weekend, but there wasn't much opportunity to eat well. Even the salad options that I had offered little in the way of health-covered in fried chicken strips or pre-coated in Caesar dressing. Plus, I have trouble paying $15 for a salad. It's a salad for goodness sakes.
We are taking our big family vacation in June. We will be driving from Missouri to Maryland and taking about 9 days (2 driving out, 5 there and 2 driving back). Between now and then, I need to come up with some strategies to balance our eating. It will be easier as we'll be staying with my sister-in-law and I can cook at her home, but there will still be lots of "on the road" time and eating out. I will be scouring various menus of the most convenient fast food places to come up with some acceptable options for me and the kids (I wouldn't think of telling Hubby what he can and can't eat-that would go over like a lead balloon). I'll also come up with some simple meals that we can pack before we start our daytrips so that we eat at least one meal "picnic style" and then eat out the other one.
This weekend was certainly an eye opener about what I can and cannot eat and what I need to do to prepare us for the big trip.
Other than the food (and no one had any problems with it but me, I'm sure), a good time was had by all and we're already brainstorming ideas for the Christmas trip of 2012!
Now, I need to go grocery shopping and pick up the produce for this week's menu.
Friday, March 25, 2011
I made an oops!
This morning I got ready to finalize my grocery list for next week. We are headed out of town on Saturday morning and probably won't be back until later Sunday afternoon. I wanted the list ready to go, so when we got home, I could just run out and pick up the few things (produce and milk) that we needed. The problem? I didn't make a menu. When I did my initial menu for the month of March, I made it for four weeks and needed it to be for five. Oops!
Since I have no money coming in next week, it meant that I had to do a "from the pantry" week. This wasn't be too hard since I have several staples that I purchased in bulk. My biggest thing was to use up what we already have so I don't have to buy much. I think I did a pretty good job. You will notice several of what would be considered to be more convenience meals. They will still be from scratch, but they are made from the basics that we always have on hand. Also, there are a lot of "eggy" dishes. I have 9 dozen eggs. I purchased 10 dozen at the beginning of the month, my father-in-law has brought me another 6 and we've been/will be out of town for two weekends, so there is no shortage of eggs in this house. That's ok-we love 'em and eggs are very versatile.
So, here it is:
Monday-3/28
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Strawberries
Morning Snack: Veggies and Hummus
Lunch: Spaghetti, French Bread, Clementines, Salad
Afternoon Snack: Smoothie, Graham Crackers
Dinner: Taco Salad, Spanish Rice, Corn
Tuesday-3/29
Breakfast: Pancakes, Smoothie
Morning Snack: Almonds
Lunch: Cheese Pizza, Green Beans, Cantaloupe
Afternoon Snack: Carrots with Peanut Butter
Dinner: Fried Rice, Teriyaki Chicken
Wednesday-3/30
Breakfast: Egg Muffins, Apple Juice, Toast
Morning Snack: Smoothie
Lunch: Chicken Strips, Broccoli, Blueberries, Breadsticks
Afternoon Snack: Squash Oatmeal Muffins
Dinner: Ham & Beans, Cornbread
Thursday-3/31
Breakfast: Granola Bar, Oranges
Morning Snack: Raisins
Lunch: Waffles w/ Cranberry Syrup, Smoothie, Apple Slices, Corn
Afternoon Snack: Popcorn
Dinner: Cheese Omelets, Bacon, Toast, Fruit (whatever misc. fruit is around)
Friday-4/1
Breakfast: Freezer muffins (I have a few of several different kinds hanging out in my kitchen freezer), Orange Juice
Morning Snack: Cereal
Lunch: Egg Salad, Peas, Banana, Crackers
Afternoon Snack: Brownies
Dinner: Grilled Cheese, Pretzels, Cut up veggies
Saturday-4/2
Breakfast: French Toast Casserole
Lunch: Meatball Sliders, Pea Salad
Dinner: Chicken Lasagna
Sunday-4/3
Breakfast: Leftovers
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Will pick up when doing monthly grocery shopping or we will eat out if I do well budget-wise while shopping! :)
Grocery List
Strawberries $1.18
Carrots $1
Broccoli $3
Grape Tomatoes-if I can find some at a reasonable price $2
Lettuce $7 for 2 pkgs.
Spinach $4
Apples$5
Bananas $2
Mushrooms $1
Crackers-one of our stores has these B1G1Free $4
Sour cream-for making ranch dressing and for taco salads $1.25
Organic tortilla chips $3
Small container plain yogurt (to use as starter-I forgot and ate all of my batch without saving some to start the next batch) $.50
3 gallons whole milk (2 for drinking/baking, 1 for yogurt) $10
Total = almost $44
This is about average for what I spend on "off" weeks. Plus, grocery prices are increasing every week it seems. It is getting harder and harder to spend less on groceries and still maintain quality. I am trying to justify the cost with the hope that eating better will mean less spent on medical. Of course, as I type this, I'm dealing with a horrible sinus infection and have spent well over $150 treating it in the past two weeks and I'm no where near healed. Ugh!
Since I have no money coming in next week, it meant that I had to do a "from the pantry" week. This wasn't be too hard since I have several staples that I purchased in bulk. My biggest thing was to use up what we already have so I don't have to buy much. I think I did a pretty good job. You will notice several of what would be considered to be more convenience meals. They will still be from scratch, but they are made from the basics that we always have on hand. Also, there are a lot of "eggy" dishes. I have 9 dozen eggs. I purchased 10 dozen at the beginning of the month, my father-in-law has brought me another 6 and we've been/will be out of town for two weekends, so there is no shortage of eggs in this house. That's ok-we love 'em and eggs are very versatile.
So, here it is:
Monday-3/28
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Strawberries
Morning Snack: Veggies and Hummus
Lunch: Spaghetti, French Bread, Clementines, Salad
Afternoon Snack: Smoothie, Graham Crackers
Dinner: Taco Salad, Spanish Rice, Corn
Tuesday-3/29
Breakfast: Pancakes, Smoothie
Morning Snack: Almonds
Lunch: Cheese Pizza, Green Beans, Cantaloupe
Afternoon Snack: Carrots with Peanut Butter
Dinner: Fried Rice, Teriyaki Chicken
Wednesday-3/30
Breakfast: Egg Muffins, Apple Juice, Toast
Morning Snack: Smoothie
Lunch: Chicken Strips, Broccoli, Blueberries, Breadsticks
Afternoon Snack: Squash Oatmeal Muffins
Dinner: Ham & Beans, Cornbread
Thursday-3/31
Breakfast: Granola Bar, Oranges
Morning Snack: Raisins
Lunch: Waffles w/ Cranberry Syrup, Smoothie, Apple Slices, Corn
Afternoon Snack: Popcorn
Dinner: Cheese Omelets, Bacon, Toast, Fruit (whatever misc. fruit is around)
Friday-4/1
Breakfast: Freezer muffins (I have a few of several different kinds hanging out in my kitchen freezer), Orange Juice
Morning Snack: Cereal
Lunch: Egg Salad, Peas, Banana, Crackers
Afternoon Snack: Brownies
Dinner: Grilled Cheese, Pretzels, Cut up veggies
Saturday-4/2
Breakfast: French Toast Casserole
Lunch: Meatball Sliders, Pea Salad
Dinner: Chicken Lasagna
Sunday-4/3
Breakfast: Leftovers
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Will pick up when doing monthly grocery shopping or we will eat out if I do well budget-wise while shopping! :)
Grocery List
Strawberries $1.18
Carrots $1
Broccoli $3
Grape Tomatoes-if I can find some at a reasonable price $2
Lettuce $7 for 2 pkgs.
Spinach $4
Apples$5
Bananas $2
Mushrooms $1
Crackers-one of our stores has these B1G1Free $4
Sour cream-for making ranch dressing and for taco salads $1.25
Organic tortilla chips $3
Small container plain yogurt (to use as starter-I forgot and ate all of my batch without saving some to start the next batch) $.50
3 gallons whole milk (2 for drinking/baking, 1 for yogurt) $10
Total = almost $44
This is about average for what I spend on "off" weeks. Plus, grocery prices are increasing every week it seems. It is getting harder and harder to spend less on groceries and still maintain quality. I am trying to justify the cost with the hope that eating better will mean less spent on medical. Of course, as I type this, I'm dealing with a horrible sinus infection and have spent well over $150 treating it in the past two weeks and I'm no where near healed. Ugh!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
I've figured out the art of baking with whole wheat, for the most part...
... and it only took 50 pounds of flour! LOL! Just kidding, sort of! For a while now, I've been baking with whole white wheat in muffins and cookies with great success, but until last week I had little to no success making whole wheat yeast breads. After learning about the "sticky dough" concept while baking the 100% whole grain wheat bread last week, I decided to apply it to the other yeast breads I had been trying to bake.
Monday I used the garlic twist recipe to make breadsticks. Instead of using 2 1/4 cups of flour and extra for flouring the counter while kneading, I used 2 cups and kneaded the dough mostly in my stand mixer. I added just enough flour to keep it from sticking while I rolled out the breadsticks. They came out light and fluffly. I buttered them right when they came out of the oven and sprinkled them with garlic powder. Now that I know these are really good, I'll mix garlic powder, chives, parsely and dill into the dough for a more flavorful breadstick. Keep your eyes out for that recipe. We're having spaghetti next week and these breadsticks would be a perfect accompaniment.
Of course, I still have my moments. I made chocolate chip mini muffins this morning and I put both mini muffin pans in the oven side by side to bake. 10 mintues later the burning smell emerges from the kitchen. Yep-burned all 6 muffins on each edge. They were supposed to bake 9-11 minutes-10 was obviously too much and the reason that I don't put both muffin pans in at once is because it blocks the air flow-burning the edges. Yeah. It was painful to dig out the six on each side and run them down the garbage disposal. Fortunately the 36 muffins in the middle came out unscathed and were promptly devoured before pictures could be taken. I'll have to get pics of those. They are yummy!
My last hurdle is French Bread. I made it a while back and wasn't super crazy about the end result. It made good French Toast, but occasionally I want to do something different with my French Bread-like eat it as bread! LOL! My goal is to get a loaf of this made by the weekend!
So there are my bread escapades for this week! I hope to make a hamburger cabbage casserole to share. I've got half a head of cabbage that needs to be eaten, soon! And, I can work on using the last of those canned tomato sauces I have in my basement. As my 3 year old would say, "Yep! That's a plan!"
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Week 12: No more cans!
Just to start, I apologize for falling off the face of the Earth! We were out of town this weekend, and so far this week, I have the remnants of a sinus infection, two daycare babies who are teething and have at least one drop-in daycare kiddo (and on Thursday, I'll have two). This week has been crazy and there's been no time for blogging during nap... maybe tomorrow! LOL!
Of course, I've still been cooking. I've made breadsticks (I revamped the garlic twists recipe.), oatmeal muffins and strawberry jam (canned 5 pints). Hopefully I'll get the chance to blog about those things sometime this week.
Also, this is a new week, so there's a new baby step. I will no longer buy canned foods. The vast majority of foods are put in cans lined with BPA. The few that aren't are much more expensive due to the extra cost of the BPA-free lining, and aren't carried in my regular grocery store. I could get things online, through Amazon or similar places, but I am choosing to find alternatives.
I haven't purchased canned vegetables in years. My family likes fresh or frozen better and since I have tons of fridge and freezer space, but very little pantry space, that has always worked in our favor. Until recently, I kept a small stash of canned fruit for an"emergency." After the same four cans stayed on the shelf for 7 or 8 months, I decided that an "emergency" probably wasn't going to happen, and if it did, canned fruit probably wouldn't solve the problem. I let my daughter make a couple of fruit salads to get rid of those.
The two items that have been the biggest to overcome are tuna and tomato products. This past month I stopped buying tuna in a can and purchased the pouch instead. So far I'm happy with it. I bought 7, but I've only used one, so I don't have a lot of experience. The one thing that I did notice was the lack of water/oil to drain from the pouch. That's a plus-I hated getting tuna water on my hands when I drained the can!
Tomato products are my last hold out. Typically I try to keep a case of diced tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato sauce on hand to make my own spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce or for use in casseroles, chili, etc. Originally I planned to get rid of all the cans except the tomato ones, but after doing more reading on BPA, I know that I need to stop buying them as well. So right now, I have 5 cans of diced tomatoes, 8 cans of tomato paste and 4 cans of tomato sauce. When those are gone, there will be no more. So, what will I do? One thought was to never eats tomatoes again, but I know that isn't realistic. =) I have 5-gallon bags of tomatoes in my freezer from last year's garden. I will start by using those and then I'll have to buy tomatoes/sauce until summer canning begins.
I will have to do some cost analysis, because it might be cheaper to buy organic pasta sauce ($2.50/ 32 oz. jar) than it would be to buy an equivalent amount of tomatoes to make it, especially since tomatoes aren't in season now. That is also something that I might be able to find coupons for to make it more affordable. I will definitely have to do some checking on that.
My only other food that I usually buy in a can is diced green chilies. I don't buy that many (maybe a dozen little cans a year), but I use them in white chicken chili. Surely there's a jarred variety of those I can find.
So, that's it. Just a few more cans and we will be a can-free house. Is anyone else "can free?"
Of course, I've still been cooking. I've made breadsticks (I revamped the garlic twists recipe.), oatmeal muffins and strawberry jam (canned 5 pints). Hopefully I'll get the chance to blog about those things sometime this week.
Also, this is a new week, so there's a new baby step. I will no longer buy canned foods. The vast majority of foods are put in cans lined with BPA. The few that aren't are much more expensive due to the extra cost of the BPA-free lining, and aren't carried in my regular grocery store. I could get things online, through Amazon or similar places, but I am choosing to find alternatives.
I haven't purchased canned vegetables in years. My family likes fresh or frozen better and since I have tons of fridge and freezer space, but very little pantry space, that has always worked in our favor. Until recently, I kept a small stash of canned fruit for an"emergency." After the same four cans stayed on the shelf for 7 or 8 months, I decided that an "emergency" probably wasn't going to happen, and if it did, canned fruit probably wouldn't solve the problem. I let my daughter make a couple of fruit salads to get rid of those.
The two items that have been the biggest to overcome are tuna and tomato products. This past month I stopped buying tuna in a can and purchased the pouch instead. So far I'm happy with it. I bought 7, but I've only used one, so I don't have a lot of experience. The one thing that I did notice was the lack of water/oil to drain from the pouch. That's a plus-I hated getting tuna water on my hands when I drained the can!
Tomato products are my last hold out. Typically I try to keep a case of diced tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato sauce on hand to make my own spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce or for use in casseroles, chili, etc. Originally I planned to get rid of all the cans except the tomato ones, but after doing more reading on BPA, I know that I need to stop buying them as well. So right now, I have 5 cans of diced tomatoes, 8 cans of tomato paste and 4 cans of tomato sauce. When those are gone, there will be no more. So, what will I do? One thought was to never eats tomatoes again, but I know that isn't realistic. =) I have 5-gallon bags of tomatoes in my freezer from last year's garden. I will start by using those and then I'll have to buy tomatoes/sauce until summer canning begins.
I will have to do some cost analysis, because it might be cheaper to buy organic pasta sauce ($2.50/ 32 oz. jar) than it would be to buy an equivalent amount of tomatoes to make it, especially since tomatoes aren't in season now. That is also something that I might be able to find coupons for to make it more affordable. I will definitely have to do some checking on that.
My only other food that I usually buy in a can is diced green chilies. I don't buy that many (maybe a dozen little cans a year), but I use them in white chicken chili. Surely there's a jarred variety of those I can find.
So, that's it. Just a few more cans and we will be a can-free house. Is anyone else "can free?"
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