Save Money Every Time You Do One of These
Here are a few things to learn to make and do in the kitchen. Not only will your food taste better, but you will also save money!
Make your own pie crusts. I avoided this for the longest time then finally decided I was tired of spending money on the premade ones and never having one defrosted when I needed it. Practice makes perfect. If you have a good mixer or food processor, it does most of the hard work for you. But you can use a cheap pastry blender if you don’t have a good mixer.
Make a basic white sauce. Learn this and you’ll open up a lot of doors! It’s used in pot pies, macaroni and cheese (by adding cheese), and so many other things. Every time a recipe calls for a can of creamed soup (cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, etc.) you can make your own equivalent. Make a cheese sauce to go over vegetables. Some recipes that start with a white sauce include:
Cut up a chicken. Compare the prices per pound for whole chickens versus parts. You will usually come out ahead. When you buy a whole chicken, there’s usually a plastic bag with the kidney, heart, liver, gizzard and neck. Take this out before you cut up or cook the chicken. You can use everything but the liver when you make chicken broth. Cook up the liver and eat it if you like liver. (Or feed it to your dog or cats if you don’t.) Here’s a picture with all the innards labeled for you. Here’s a video on Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube channel that shows you how to cup up a whole chicken.
Make soup. Soup can feed a crowd and keep your budget on track. Make your own broth and the cost goes down considerably. Soup is a great way to use up small bits of vegetables or leftover meat. Some of our favorite soups include: