It seems like to Americans, food is all about convenience. There's fast food establishments in every town. The grocery store is chock full of ready-to-eat or heat-and-eat fare. Even the health food stores stock organic "TV dinners" as I call them.
The hard truth is, if you want to save money on food, you have to get inconvenienced. Instead of that $1 packet of taco seasoning mix, make your own for pennies. Well, maybe nickels; I'm not sure, I haven't really priced it out in forever, so I'm not sure what exactly my homemade taco seasoning costs now days. But it sure isn't a dollar!!
Taco Seasoning
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp crushed dried red pepper (or slightly less ground cayenne pepper)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Mix all ingredients. Sprinkle over 1 pound cooked ground beef (drain the meat first). Stir in 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Makes enough filling for 8-10 tacos or burritos.
Same goes for pizza sauce, which is easy peasey to make.
Pizza Sauce
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine (optional, but really adds to the flavor and the alcohol cooks off, if that's a concern to you)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1/4 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer about 10 minutes. Makes approx. 3 cups of sauce. Leftover sauce stores well for about two weeks in the fridge.
Spaghetti sauce isn't hard either, and you can throw tons of veggies in there, utilizing what's on overload in the garden (yes, you can put zucchini in your spaghetti sauce! Cut it up small and the kids--or husband--won't notice, especially if you have other chunky things in the sauce). It's pretty much tomato juice, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning (or oregano, marjoram, basil, rosemary, thyme, and sage), some garlic, some onion and whatever veggies (such as peppers, diced summer squash, mushrooms, that dang zucchini), some red wine, some grated Parmesan cheese. . .and simmered awhile. You can use a little corn starch to thicken if you're in a hurry.
Another biggie for me is shredded cheese. Cheese comes into this house in block form only. It is then shredded using the Power Shredder, aka my Kitchenaid with slicer/shredder attachment. Operating the Power Shredder is a favorite task of DS2. If an 18 year old boy can get that excited about shredding cheese for his mama, that's an awesome thing! Even without a Power Shredder, you can use a regular hand-held grater/shredder. You just probably won't have a teenage boy falling all over you offering to help.
In addition to costing less per pound, a benefit of shredding your own is that it then doesn't have those added things (chemicals, YUCK!) to prevent clumping that the packages of shredded cheese from the store contain. We shred, then package into Ziploc sandwich baggies in 2-cup quantities (a lot of my recipes call for 2 c shredded cheese) and stick the baggies in the freezer. When I need cheese, I partially thaw it, add it when the recipe says to, and cook. No different than cheese kept in the fridge, except it will keep forever without molding (so doesn't need added chemicals to retard fungal growth either!)
Take some time to learn where the 'must sell today' stuff is kept. Some stores have a special area for close-dated meats, others have 'clearance' veggie racks. At the grocery store, I always take a few minutes to check the 'clearance' veggie rack. That's where the old/blemished fruits and veggies are sold at a discount. I got a lovely 5 pound bag of 'gourmet yellow potatoes' (Yellow Finn, I believe) for 15 cents a pound, or more than 50% off their regular cost, a few weeks ago. Heck, they were cheaper than your common white potato.
It's always great to find bell peppers on the clearance rack. Cut out any bruises or soft spots, dice, freeze on a cookie sheet, then pour into a Ziploc freezer baggie and put back into the freezer. Now you have peppers to add to any recipe at any time instead of having to run to the store and pay top dollar for a pepper to add to your spaghetti sauce (or pepperoni calzone, or pizza, or sauteed onions and peppers, or stir fry, or. . . ).
Speaking of pepperoni, look for it in the deli case instead of presliced in those little 3-4 oz packages. Not only will it taste better and be less greasy, it is so much cheaper!! Yes, it's not in those tiny little circles ready to put on your pizza. But, you can quarter each piece, and make tiny triangular wedges to put on your pizza! Be unique! Call it gourmet pizza!
I buy my pepperoni by the pound at the local meat market and they slice it for free. Then I take it home and throw it in the freezer. When I want to cook with it, I pull out however many slices I think I'll need, make two quick cuts on the stack of slices, and I have pepperoni ready to use!
The best way to save money on food is to buy ingredients, not mixes. No cake mix, no brownie mix, no refrigerated cookie dough or biscuits. These are not horribly difficult things to make. Whip it up in five minutes with the ingredients in your own pantry, and you are now at the same place you'd be if you'd used a box of mix or tube of dough: put it in the oven and cook it. And you'll have spent alot less money.
Speaking of buying ingredients, the best place I've found for buying spices (like you'll need for taco seasoning and pizza sauce) is the natural food store (aka health food store). They sell them bulk; you scoop out what you need into a baggie, they weigh it and charge you by the ounce. You'd be surprised how large of volume an ounce is for some herbs and spices. Look at those little bitty spice jars in your cupboard. The ones you probably paid $2 or $3 each for. How many of them say .5 ounces? How would you like to pay 50 cents for .5 an ounce of a spice instead of $3? Check out a natural food store near you.
Get inconvenienced. Save some money.
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