Thursday, April 10, 2008

Frugality

OK everyone. I think everyone is trying to save some money, and they say the most flexible part of your budget is your food budget. So what food ideas do you do to save a little money here?

Things we do

Eggs- we go through almost a dozen eggs when we eat them as a family, but that is still never more then a couple dollars.

Pancakes and waffles- we make them homemade, there are some really great pancake and waffle recipes on the Internet and it only costs pennies per meal to home make then. We also make syrup. It's just sugar, vanilla, butter and water and it's so much better fresh.

Beans- just take the extra planning ahead and cook dried beans, they are alot cheaper then canned and you can cook a pound or two at a time in the crock pot then just freeze them in baggies.

Spaghetti- Obvious. We make our sauce. It's just a can of diced tomatoes and some seasonings, then you can add any vegies you have if you want- spinach, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, etc.

Burritos- This is really cheap and they end up looking pretty good. It's just a tortilla shell with re fried beans inside. Then you top it with cheese, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, etc. Serve it with seasoned or regular rice.

Garden- It is gardening time. I love to garden until it gets hot, but its still worth it even if you let it get overgrown with weeds. I already have peas and lettuce coming up. We do zucchini and other squash, it freezes well sliced or shredded. Scout loves zucchini bread so we shred it and freeze it to use in the winter.

Canning- I can my extra tomatoes, I always get too many. Sometimes I will can them as spaghetti sauce or salsa, but usually just whole because it's fast. I also will can peaches if I get them at a good price. If you see a pressure canner, let me know, I have been wanting one for years, they cut the canning time in half and then you are able to can pretty much anything. I want to be able to make extra of the soups we like and just can the leftovers.


If anyone wants help with a garden or canning let me know, I would love to help! Canning really is funner with more then one person.

4 comments:

Lady Carolyn said...

I have that garden space on the side of the house. I tried last year, but it dried out or slugs or somsuch thing, and it totally bombed. this year is kinda late to startnow, isn't it? If not then I'd love help. I finally found a filidendrine that i didn't kill. my green thumb seems to be perking up from a steely grey.

but i actually enjoy canning. I've never done it on my own, but I'm totally on board!!!

Brittney said...

No it's not to late to start a garden. The early stuff like peas and lettuce can still be done in the next few weeks and pretty much everything else just needs to be planted by the end of May. My peas and lettuce are just starting to come up and the radishes and beats haven't sprouted yet.

We should get together sometime this fall and do canning. It's not any more of a mess to do a ton then just a few.

Amy said...

I am in on the canning! Especially the tomatoes. I love canned tomatoes and by the end of the season when all the tomatoes sprout like crazy we can't eat them all, so they go to waste.

Lady Carolyn said...

girls day of canning! yea! Richard would totally watch the kids if it involved feeding his appetite. LOL