Friday, February 13, 2015

Saving Money on Food - Frugal Fridays

In our house one of our big expenses is food. Well, what isn't a big expense any longer?
This week I am focusing on saving money this week on food costs.


Rising food costs make it so expensive to stock your pantry and fridge doesn't it? After a stock up at Sam's Club last weekend I want to try and extend the days between shopping to save on my grocery budget. I am digging in and stretching the food we already have.

 I made my first batch of bone broth. Sam's has organic chickens now and they are very reasonable so after we ate a roast chicken for dinner I put all the bones in a crock pot and made a rich batch of healthy bone broth. I have froze it for now but I will use it to make soup this week.


Know what's in that bag? A bag I saved from the deli to boot? A couple pieces of chicken no one ate but still good. It went into the freezer to be added to my pot of soup this week. I just cannot bring myself to throw away food, especially meat.

Even the chickens benefited with some veggie lasagna for dinner. No one finished the last piece so I let the girls have it and they loved it.

Tomorrow I will make a batch of blueberry banana bread using bananas up and blueberries that are too soft. I will freeze the rest of the berries for use later.

I will be able to harvest enough greens and bok choy tomorrow for a stir fry for dinner.

We always prepare lunches at home and when we run out of cold cuts or sandwich fixins I have to get creative. One of my go to meatless lunches is wraps. I take a tortilla and fill with salad greens, mushrooms, left over grated cheese, olives and cucumbers. Whatever crunchy things you can rustle up. I then put a little salad dressing and roll it all up.

So the plan is to eat in and use up what we have and make snacks from scratch.
Please share in the comments what you did this week to save money.

6 comments:

  1. Great post. I am stretching my budget by using more rice and pasta in my meals twice a week and this calls for less meat or none at all. Maybe just a fabulous garlic mushroom sauce over noodles. That uses some leftover mushrooms and tastes so good. A simple tossed salad and that makes a wonderful meal.

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  2. A friend of mine has taken the pulp left from juicing veg and fruit and used it in stews. I haven't tried it myself, but she says it's delicious.

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  3. I've stayed out of the stores!
    Brenda

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  4. I have been cooking large batches of economical meals in my crockpot, such as beef stew and chili, and using it for meals then freezing the rest. I can usually get 3 dinners from each, one to eat right away, two to freeze. That means in a week or two I will use them and not have to buy anything. I am also doing a lot of menu planning, I find that planning in advance helps me save the most money.

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  5. Sounds like you're saving a lot with your frugal ways. Love it! We do a menu-by-the-month plan that I made myself for our family. It helps with expenses, but also time shopping for ingredients and in the kitchen. We have leftovers at least once a week, but everything we eat is homemade. I made chicken broth overnight in the crockpot (so easy) after the rotisserie chicken was eaten for supper. I use it to flavor soups, noodles, rice, veggies.
    I didn't realize Sam's had organic chicken. Maybe consumers are making progress with purveyors!

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  6. When making those wraps, it would be really good to open a can of some type of beans, (Northern, white, red, etc) rinse well and add 1/2 cup to the wrap. You could heat them on the stove or in the microwave. It would supply protein to the meal, and beans are really good for you.

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