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| NOM - frozen pizza... |
Cooking at home is way cheaper than eating out. If you don’t
believe me crunch the numbers. We were eating takeout for several lunches and
dinners through the week, and even occasionally breakfast (both of our offices
have cafeterias). That makes for an expensive habit!
Making extra of dinner and bringing leftovers for lunch, or
making a giant crock of soup or stew and portioning it out for the week’s
lunches is easy. There are tons
of articles out there on how to make
cooking easier. You still have to put in time and effort, but a lot of it
is prioritizing. What’s the most expensive thing and how can you do it for
less? What just isn’t worth the time (either to make it or wait for it)? For
example (of the not worth it),
chopping or shredding carrots is an absolutely dreaded chore for me that I
decided was not worth the kitchen time, but I hated the idea of spending that
much more per pound when I could do it myself. I’d buy whole carrots and have
them wilt in the drawer, waiting for me to chop them, which is just silly and
wasteful. I finally gave in and bought precut matchstick carrots (with the
excuse that Max likes them) and it was so worth it.
The most
expensive things we eat and our two major dinnertime hang-ups: pizza and
Chinese take-out. I already make a good pizza, I just needed to make it more
convenient – enter flatbread. My fried rice was lacking, but I spent some time
last week perfecting my method (including time spent researching other recipes
and consulting a friend) and now have a good system, start to finish is all of
15 minutes!
Sunday I spent a huge amount of time in the kitchen in the
name of quick and convenient. J
Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? In reality, the time spent in the kitchen
was relatively minimal – it’s not like I stand and watch the bread rise, I do
something more productive (or relax, it is my day off after all) during those
45-60 minutes. But the kitchen was busy all day to make:
Chicken Broth – see the
tutorial here, this time I added thyme and tarragon to the mix for added
flavor. This is the base for my daily lunch of soup or stew.
Frozen Individual Pizzas – make a flatbread (I
like this recipe), top with pizza sauce and shredded cheese. Freeze
individually on a square of parchment paper, when frozen stack them (still with
the parchment paper) in a gallon freezer bag and put back in the freezer. Reheat in the microwave approx
4 minutes (careful, it’s hot!) or in the oven at 425-450 for 8-10 minutes or
until done. Hubby lives on frozen pizzas for lunch, and these are much
cheaper than the $2.50 apiece he normally pays for the “healthy” kind that are
full of sodium.
Naan flatbread – again, I
like this recipe. We use some store bought sandwich bread, but frankly all
of us prefer the Naan for our
bread needs, especially Max who will eat a whole piece on his own in
record time.
Rice – 12 cups of it (cooked). We got a bag of rice at our favorite bulk store quite
some time ago and it’s high time I used it. Between fried rice, and hubby likes
to eat plain rice drizzled with a little sweet and sour sauce, I’m keeping this
staple ready to go in the fridge.
The fridge/freezer is now stocked with frozen pizza, rice,
bread for sandwiches, soup, and the regular staples like milk, eggs, cheese,
fruits & veggies. That’ll take us through the week, and for less money!
(BTW, I recently started Atkins, which out of
all of the above things only the broth applies. I’m still figuring out how to
do the diet as inexpensively as possible, I’ll keep you updated. In the
meantime, at least my boys eat frugally!)
2 comments:
We have a grocery budget of $50.00 a week. (2 of us). To me it's always like a game trying to see how much we can get for our $50.00!
Love your tips!!
LuLu~*xoxo
Oh, I *have* to try that naan recipe! It looks wonderful, and I am all about bread. I love breads! ;)
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