Save Money By Using Your Food
ByWith food being so expensive nowadays, I took on a challenge I saw in Body and Soul Magazine. The article suggested recording how much and what kind of food you waste during a week.
I was appalled with my results. That certainly doesn’t help the food budget.
So the next week I was much more conscious. Here are some changes and ideas:
- Only shopped for enough produce for 3 days
- Added leftover rice to the black bean soup
- Added leftover vegetables and fruit to salads
- Made soup from some leftovers
- Chopped up the rest of the green pepper and onion to freeze before they went squishy
- The chicken fajita stuff from dinner made it into a breakfast omelet
- When I had tomato soup, I added it to my menu plan for lunch two days later
I found just being aware is what has made the difference. Every day I peek and see what needs to be used soonest. So those fruits and vegetables get used first. Leftovers might become breakfast or lunch. And really it only take a few seconds to evaluate the fridge as long as it’s not overstuffed.
The second idea that helped me the most, is to see what leftovers I had right after meals, before they are even put into the fridge and incorporate them into my menu plan for 1-2 days afterwards.
I feel very new to this sort of thing. I think my Mom and Grandma were much better at it. So if you have any tips to give me on making the most of the food in my fridge, please leave me a comment.
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Salad by SuaveHouse
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I like to save the veggie broth from when I cook vegetables. After a month or so, I have enough broth to make soup. If I save leftover bits of vegetables and meat, I can add those to the soup and have “free” soup.
Another thing we do to cut down on waste is to label each child’s plate if they were full or couldn’t finish because of time. We label the food or drink and put it in the fridge so they can have it later.
I like to go through the fridge daily to throw things into the freezer that might go off. this includes leftovers (sometimes there’s only enough for one meal but it’ll work for a day one of us is not home around supper time) as well as veggies – some veggies aren’t nice once in freezer but all work very well in soup.
Oh, and I posted a pic on my new photo blog http://marcia-project365 – on using leftover food… around 4 – 5 Jan
Oops, that’s http://marcia-project365.blogspot.com
Thanks for the great ideas everyone!
Here’s a fun website you can look at. You just check boxes that show the ingredients you have on hand and they show you what you can make with it!
http://www.cookingbynumbers.com
Thanks Debbie!
Beth,
I just put all the leftover dibs and dabs (not enough for a meal) into a large container in the freezer. I add the leftover pot roast, chicken, broth and veggies, a little at a time. When it is full, I put it into a large pot with some additional veggies (a can or bag of mixed veggies) plus a can or two of tomatoes (whole or diced, your choice)and some water, as needed. A great pot of soup because you have all the seasoned juices from the leftovers. All you need is some hot bread. A perfect winter meal.