Fruit leather - if you don't want to use the oven forever you can get a cheap dehydrator from Wal-mart for $20-$30. Also great for just dehydrating fruit...I love to have lots of produce on hand, sometimes we don't eat as much as I buy though and if it looks like somethings going to go bad before we can eat it I'll dehydrate it. (Fruits & veggies - use the veggies later in soups). Or whenever I can get a lot of something at the farmer's market for a good price, I'll dehydrate a bunch. Dried peaches, strawberries, apples, etc all are good snacks or add-on to cereals. (We also do oatmeal in the crockpot overnight occasionally and add dried fruits the night before, & nuts, and all are nice & soft & yummy by morning).
Burritos- we almost always have bean burritos in the freezer. If I get eggs cheap, I'll make breakfast burritos too. Bean burritos are so easy, just cook a couple pounds of pinto beans in the crockpot (I use fresh garlic, cumin, chile powder, tiny bit of cayenne powder, and a little garlic salt....fresh oregano or basil if I have it), blend up in a food processor or mash by hand w/ a potato masher if you don't have a food processor, and spread on tortillas...w/ or w/out cheese, chopped onions.... (I very strongly prefer the texture w/ the food processor, plus the garlic gets blended up that way too, which is good for your immune system).
Pancakes - replace L'eggo waffles, once a week (usually for dinner!) I'll make pancakes but make a double batch and freeze the rest to pop in the toaster later. (Haven't found a good, simple waffle recipe yet that we like or I'd do that too)
Breakfast cookies - just 'discovered' these (via a link shared on FB)
in December but we loved the first batch we made, so made a triple batch and froze them. It's great to take a few out of the freezer, pop in the microwave (or toaster oven but ours broke) and have hot homemade cookies anytime. I use dry beans that I've cooked myself instead of canned, and the last time used a dried berry mix instead of just cranberries...I also add chocolate chips.
http://www.egglesscooking.com/2009/1...kfast-cookies/
I like to make my own salad dressing, not sure about how "frugal" that is though, seems to cost more that way (when sales & coupons combined frequently net free dressing, or $.50). Sometimes just use olive oil and a squirt of Bragg's liquid aminos though, so maybe that's cheaper? (We've had the same bottle of Bragg's for over a year so even though it's not cheap to purchase, it lasts, ....)
Freezer meals....common, but more often than not I'll cook 2-3 times what we'll eat and then freeze a meal or two for use later.
If you don't have a lot of freezer room, skillet meals & stir fries freeze well in ziplock bags flat, not a lot of room. If you want to freeze a casserole before you put stuff in the pan, line w/ aluminum foil, then when it's frozen you can pop it out of the pan, make sure it's completely wrapped in aluminum foil, and put it back in the freezer. Then just pop it back into the pan when it's time to cook.
This, absolutely!!! I save beef & pork "leftovers" (fat trimmings, bones, etc - leftovers before cooking) (seperate from each other of course) until I can make broth from them...but chicken/turkey are a great place to start, just stick the whole carcass leftover into a pan & boil!! I love to use bone broths for cooking beans!!
I also save veggie trimmings (onion peels, celery tops, odds-n-ends) for veggie broth....
Freeze in 1 or 2 cup containers, then dump into a ziplock freezer bag, and you'll be able to just pull out a "square" (or 2 or 3) when needed.
Burritos- we almost always have bean burritos in the freezer. If I get eggs cheap, I'll make breakfast burritos too. Bean burritos are so easy, just cook a couple pounds of pinto beans in the crockpot (I use fresh garlic, cumin, chile powder, tiny bit of cayenne powder, and a little garlic salt....fresh oregano or basil if I have it), blend up in a food processor or mash by hand w/ a potato masher if you don't have a food processor, and spread on tortillas...w/ or w/out cheese, chopped onions.... (I very strongly prefer the texture w/ the food processor, plus the garlic gets blended up that way too, which is good for your immune system).
Pancakes - replace L'eggo waffles, once a week (usually for dinner!) I'll make pancakes but make a double batch and freeze the rest to pop in the toaster later. (Haven't found a good, simple waffle recipe yet that we like or I'd do that too)
Breakfast cookies - just 'discovered' these (via a link shared on FB)
in December but we loved the first batch we made, so made a triple batch and froze them. It's great to take a few out of the freezer, pop in the microwave (or toaster oven but ours broke) and have hot homemade cookies anytime. I use dry beans that I've cooked myself instead of canned, and the last time used a dried berry mix instead of just cranberries...I also add chocolate chips.http://www.egglesscooking.com/2009/1...kfast-cookies/
I like to make my own salad dressing, not sure about how "frugal" that is though, seems to cost more that way (when sales & coupons combined frequently net free dressing, or $.50). Sometimes just use olive oil and a squirt of Bragg's liquid aminos though, so maybe that's cheaper? (We've had the same bottle of Bragg's for over a year so even though it's not cheap to purchase, it lasts, ....)
Freezer meals....common, but more often than not I'll cook 2-3 times what we'll eat and then freeze a meal or two for use later.
If you don't have a lot of freezer room, skillet meals & stir fries freeze well in ziplock bags flat, not a lot of room. If you want to freeze a casserole before you put stuff in the pan, line w/ aluminum foil, then when it's frozen you can pop it out of the pan, make sure it's completely wrapped in aluminum foil, and put it back in the freezer. Then just pop it back into the pan when it's time to cook.
Quote:
| I was going to add that making your own bone broths is another great money saver. I save all leftover chicken and pork bones in the freezer (separately) until I have enough for a batch. I like to use 2 whole chicken carcasses or 1 with some extra bones and maybe a couple legs with meat thrown in. I make a batch every couple weeks and then make a nice pot of homemade chicken noodle soup (homemade egg noodles!) that day and save the rest for other meals. Pork takes a while for me to get enough so I just wait until I have a gallon freezer bag full. Not only is it much more delicious and saves money but I love knowing exactly what it in there! |
I also save veggie trimmings (onion peels, celery tops, odds-n-ends) for veggie broth....
Freeze in 1 or 2 cup containers, then dump into a ziplock freezer bag, and you'll be able to just pull out a "square" (or 2 or 3) when needed.
