I haven't been posting nearly enough frugalities. This is my blog to chat about my adventures, but its also supposed to have regular postings on what I do to pinch a penny, health-up the pantry and wildcrafting. I'll try a tip a day for the next week and see how well that goes.
Today's tip: Homemade is always cheaper and convenience is not lost with the 2-for-1 rule.
All extreme couponing aside (I still haven't completely managed to grab that particular brass ring yet), a little basic corner anyone can cut, involves a healthier/better/bigger product for less money. I hate cooking. Nothing irritates me more than hearing, "What were your plans for supper tonight?" after a long day.
If you are at all like me, you don't have that amazing gourmet cook husband that will not only cook fantastic suppers every night, but will also actually pick up his underwear from the livingroom floor AND take off his boots at the door, kids, or a sterile bubble of perfection surrounding your 6-figure income, I will describe convenient cooking tips at Chez Edwards.
When I make anything that involves assemblage, I set up a time and place to make as many as possible at once. While I can't (and won't) give up cooking all together, I can get rid of the kids and hubby for a few hours to give me quiet and space to power cook. Not only do I manage to create a from-scratch meal for the night, BUT, for the same money as 1 high sodium, preservative rich, mystery meated, and plasti-packed BPA item, I can make at least 2, with real ingredients, non-toxically packed, and more good stuff in them. One to feed the spawn that night and 1 to throw in the freezer that can be yanked out anytime and conveniently cooked. 2 or more meals with only 1 mess. Oh YEAH.
Assuming that you are a bargain hunter and carefully shop for the best price on your groceries, you can vary your results. For the sake of simplicity, I like Aldi. You can go in and get a good price on really nice products without spending tons of time comparing prices. Seriously, if you haven't shopped Aldi, you should. I am really impressed. There is a lot of information I can share here, so ill only focus on one of the most expensive:
Meats: This is a big variable. Fresh meat is expensive no matter where you buy it. My family hunts and we can process everything ourselves, so we have venison. I also barter with neighbors and a couple of members in the nearby amish community. I also have neighbors that utilize the local food pantry and give me the items they don't want--usually whole chickens, venison, and whole hams; canned and dried beans, rice, oatmeal, grains--stuff that they don't know what to do with, they think is too much hassle, or there is simply too much of it to use in a timely manner. So, for me, its free. Shop around for good prices on meats on shopping day and throw it in the freezer for 2-for-1 cook days. Always shop for the rainy-day. Have a deep freeze and keep your eye open for a deal. A great time for deals is right after a major food holiday. Christmas and Thanksgiving. Ham is something my family LOVES and we just can't make it ourselves. Its insanely expensive most of the time, especially in the form of lunch meat. Post-Christgiving will yield you great ham deals.
Lunch Meat: Another incredibly expensive convenient item. A spiral cut ham cleaned off the bone will give you several pounds of sandwich meat already sliced. Separate the slices into 1 pound packages and freeze what your not using. Keep and freeze the bone for black eyed peas, or soups. After you have gotten what you can from the bone, hand it to your dog to buy his love. A 10$ ham can foster a ton of love and adoration if used to its completeness.
How about roast beef? There again, a roast sliced up will give you pounds of sandwich meat. No slicer? A sharp knife will work until you save up leftover grocery money to get one. I got mine for 30$ used. Really nice quality. FYI, when slicing meats you will have lots of tiny little chunks and pieces. Home made lunch meat is not compressed and processed to slice all perfect and uniform. Collect those little bits and pieces and bag them up. Use them in soup, hot dishes, salads.
Over and above any advice I have, I want my readers to know that if you are using meat, that meat was once a live, warm, breathing animal that died to nourish you and feed your family. Most of the time, how that animal made it to your freezer is out of your control; however, the least that any of us [consumer] can do is to respect that gift and use that gift to its very limits before discarding any waste. Yes, yes, you can choose to not eat meat. I have my own opinions on this and will share them another time.
Lastly, we are such a horribly wasteful nation. We battle and scrape to produce as much as possible and it sickens me to see half or more of that product thrown away. Animal or vegetable, this disgusts and saddens me. Even more so when there are people starving on the street while a grocery store throws away pounds and pounds of produce that is perfectly useable, but a date has passed rendering it "unsafe."
Instead of boycotting the use of these items, how about working to make a point to utilize as much as possible. You are only a family of 2? Go ahead and cook that whole chicken, eat what you want for dinner and then clean off meat and freeze it in small amounts for soup or sandwiches. Experiment with flavors and create a ready-made favorite at home. Take the bones and boil them for soup base and broth. Can it or freeze it. One less thing to have to pay for to make Christmas dinner when its time. Take your cooked and cleaned bones to the local animal shelter for dog treats. If you feel your stockpile is not getting used quickly enough, share with others. Make that soup and bring some to an elderly neighbor, bring some hot homemade soup to someone in need. Share with the homeless on a cold day. Ask a church if there are people who could help you use up your stockpile. Teach others how to do what you are doing. Teach them how to save money and use the resources they have to get as much as possible from what they do have. The more people that know how, the less waste. The less waste, the less land needed to grow crops, less animals need to die, and less people will be starving because of something as simple as ignorance.
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