- Use the oven full. This is easiest with a fan oven but with can be done with any oven. Good choices for lower shelves in a non-fan oven are meringues, rice pudding, sliced tomatoes and cooking granola.
- Add pulses to meat dishes and use dried pulses, pre-soak, boil for 10 minutes then add to casseroles.
- Home made marmalades and jams are not cheaper than the cheapest shop bought but better. They are far less expensive than equivalent quality products.
- Make your own stock.
- Use left over vegetables in casseroles.
- Make your own bread. We calculated that our bread maker paid for itself within 100 loaves. We eat at least a loaf a day. Additionally, home made bread tastes so much better.
- Probably heresy, but value plain flour makes a fine white loaf, in the bread maker.
- Make home made soup. We had a flyer through, this week, advertising soup which cost 8 times the price of our home made lentil soup. Some vegetable soups may be even less.
- Grow herbs on the windowsill.
- Don't take recipes too seriously-substitute. My children say that I am always doing this but there is no reason why sultanas can't do for currants. Don't take this too far-like with like.
Over to you. How do you save in the kitchen?
Very good advice. I never take recipes too seriously, else I'd be running to the grocer all the time. :-) Blessings!
ReplyDeleteGood ideas, thank you. I find that writing a meal plan for the week saves money also. To make sure we save even more I tend to write a list of what we have left in the house before I plan the meals for the next week too. I list foods under 'fresh', 'frozen' and 'cupboard' and then sit down and work out how many meals I can make from what we have left.
ReplyDeleteAlso, lentil soup left overs make a good base for a curry (with spices and meat/veg added), or a base for a pasta bake (with mince added). Another thing I find helps is making sure I label any left overs so that I can be sure to use them up in good time. Otherwise I forget when I cooked them and they end up going to waste because I have left them too long!
...by the way the picture at the bottom of the post looks yummy! Is it pea and ham soup?
ReplyDeleteNaomi, I think the soup in the picture is broad bean although I do make pea and ham quite frequently.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using lentil soup left overs for a curry-hadn't thought of that.
The biggest way we save is by using left overs, even if there are just a couple of portions I put them in the fridge and use them the next day.
ReplyDeleteAlso when we can, buying short dated/reduced food, and eating it quickly.
Our local fruit stall is so much cheaper than Tesco or any supermarket, so we all our fruit and veg there (except potatoes cos I like the ones I don't have to wash).
And like you say, I've found home made soup to be very much cheaper (and generally preferred) to shop soup (esp when cooking for 14)
Love
Hx
I always double up with everything. That way I can give myself "days off" cooking by just picking something out of the freezer, it saves money in the long run too. I like to get the kids to bake with me that way it's easier to make sure the oven is full like you say above and there is always a full load waiting to go in, I think it helps when you have assistants to do this. I'd say the slow cooker is a definite saver too even though mine isn't working at the moment. Grow your own and use what you have always helps. I also use Naomi's idea of writing down what meats I still have in the freezer before I go shopping. Great ideas, thanks for sharing....
ReplyDeleteElaine, I need to double up more. I find that when I remember to do this, the second version needs to be hidden so it doesn't all disappear. Great idea to have your assistants providing oven "fodder".
ReplyDeleteHenrietta,
ReplyDeleteI went to my local veg stall, this morning and couldn't believe how cheap it was esp the mushrooms which have been getting so expensive in the supermarket-very bad as I love this. Will have to frequent it more often-good for the children's education too as it is near the library!
Do you have a view on veg stalls that are by busy roads? I wonder about pollution affecting the veg.
ReplyDeleteJo-no, I don't but guess it could be an issue. No idea of the evidence either way-do you know?
ReplyDelete