Stretching your dollar ... Creative Cooking
We have done the grocery shopping, it is now time to cook the meals. There are many ways to do this but I prefer to cook and freeze meals so that during the week when things are really busy we have the meals waiting to come out of the freezer and no need to go pick up fast food instead. |
| photo via Piyachok Thawornmat / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
Breads, Cereals, Rice and Pastas
The amount you eat may be more than 1 serving. A dinner portion of pasta would count as 2 or 3 servings.
½ cup of cooked pasta or rice
½ cup of cooked cereal
1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal
Milk, Yogurt and Cheese
1 cup of milk or yogurt
1 ½ ounces of cheese
Vegetables
½ cup of chopped raw or cooked vegetables
1 cup of raw, leafy vegetables
Fruits
1 piece of fruit or melon wedge
¾ cup of juice
½ cup of canned fruit
¼ cup of dried fruit
Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs and Nuts
2 ½ to 3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry or fish
1 egg or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter or 1/3 cup of nuts count as 1 ounce of meat
If you are thinking of doing freezer cooking my best advice would be to start out small. Instead of doing a whole months worth of freezer meals try doing just a week. I also start with our tried and true recipes that my family loves and I know they freeze well. It is the perfect way to ease into freezer cooking. Below I will post links to some of my favourite freezer cooking websites to help get started.
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| Photo via piyato / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
- eat a meatless meal once a week (or more)
- never eat out
- eat from our stocked pantry
- eat leftovers
- get creative with your leftovers (make up new recipes)
- scrap out the last little bit from the jars or cans
- cook from scratch
- bring your lunch from home
- grow your own produce
- eat less (most people are eating more than the proper serving size.. see above)
- I can not stress a meal plan enough.. ALWAYS have one!
- base most of your meals on rice and beans (helps eat less meat)
- don't drink pop/soda, drink water instead!!!
- make your own applesauce and pudding cups for lunches
- make your own baby food
- always take your own snacks and drink with you when heading into the car then you are not tempted to stop for fast food saving dollars!
- cook with a crockpot to avoid using the oven and heating up the house (also uses less hydro)
Freezer meal websites:
Once a Month Mom
30 Day Gourment
Everything Mom
Bulk and Freezer Cooking
You can find the rest of this series here:30 Day Gourment
Everything Mom
Bulk and Freezer Cooking
I plan on posting my freezer cooking next week after I do it later in the week. The links will be updated then.
Week One - Stretching your dollar ... not your budget
Week Two - Setting your food budget
I've started making larger meals so when I go back to work we have a bit of a stock pile in the freezer. So far meatballs for 3 meals, 'almost lasgana' for 3 meals, and enough taco meat for 5 meals. That's pretty much just in one week. Yesterday evening I thought I really would like french toast....so tonight it's meatless and the kids will also love it.
ReplyDelete@VMS and ScrapbookingOasis
ReplyDeleteI know it is great.. wish others realized how much it makes life run easier with just some time.
Some wonderful tips here ::)
ReplyDeleteFab post,we really should plan ahead better...
ReplyDeleteFantastic tips. I really need to work on serving sizes, and getting creative with the leftovers.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love cooking aand baking and I always have. Since all of my children have grown up and left the nest though it almost doesn't seem woth my while unless they come home for holidays then watch out. (Debbie C)
ReplyDeleteIt does take planning doesn't it! Some people think it can't be done... eatting healthy on a budget... but effort needs to be put into it and is so worth it! Great tips...thankyou. I think it's a skill needing taught to those who never had it roll modeled to them for sure.
ReplyDeleteThese are really great tips! Money is a bit tight right now and this is very helpful. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI love doing freezer cooking - good way to buy bigger packages of vegetables etc and use them all up before they go bad. And it is so nice having meals in the freezer that you can pull out. (Judy Cowan)
ReplyDeleteI use leftovers from our supper for my boys lunchtime at school or supper the next day.We never eat out or buy any sweets,I bake too which is much cheaper than buying any goods.
ReplyDeleteLynn M
Everything we eat bakery-style is homemade. I buy flour at Costco and that makes a huge difference.
ReplyDeleteThese are some really great suggestions. I never thought of making my own pudding cups!
ReplyDelete