Getting through on a budget

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Replies

  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    The crock pot is your friend...make big batches of soups, stews & meats while they are on sale and freeze in meal-sized portions. Also, at the end of the week if you end up with leftover produce, chop it, throw it in the crock pot with a can of tomatoes & beans, a piece of turkey sausage, some dried spices....a couple hours later.....ta-da...soup!

    Also, if you haven't done it yet, for the next couple weeks (or years), keep a diary of EVERY SINGLE PENNY you spend--just like MFP works to keep you mindful of eating and what junk you need to cut from your diet, a daily financial log will help you find where you're spending on useless crap. Get rid of that student debt as quickly as you can...they may "negotiate a lower payment" BUT at what cost to you? Believe me, any breaks they appear to be giving you is always going to be in their favor.

    Crock pot is great for cheaper cuts of meat that could be chewy or tough using other cooking methods. Also cut down on meat and add more vegetables. They add bulk and fill you up for not a lot of money.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    Dried beans are cheap, nutritious, and tastier than canned. If you soak them in water in the fridge during the day, they'll cook quickly at night; you don't have to soak them, though, if you don't mind extra cooking time. Add rice or some other grain and you have a complete protein. I find that if I cook beans until they're edible but still fairly firm, they freeze well. I do keep canned beans for convenience, but I try to use dried ones when possible.

    If you buy frozen vegetables in bulk, it's easy to do inexpensive, tasty soups and stews. Spices are the key to variety: the same ingredients can taste wonderfully different with the right choice of spices. Import grocery stores that cater largely to immigrants are a good source for spices, with a larger variety and much lower prices than supermarkets. They're also good sources of inexpensive rice and beans.

    If you eat meat, use a moderate amount for flavor and texture, not as the main event. Vegetarian and vegan dishes are often inexpensive. Post Punk Kitchen (http://www.theppk.com) has lots of good vegan recipes. For vegetarian dishes, I like Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.
  • Melo1966
    Melo1966 Posts: 881 Member
    Chicken, Tuna, eggs, frozen veggies and potatoes (not as evil as people have you think).
  • jennisky
    jennisky Posts: 5
    My freezer is my best mate when it come to saving - DON'T THROW OUT ANYTHING!!!!
    If you see reduced fruit anytime - BUY IT, make your own raspberry jam, or freeze fruits and use them another time in muffins, coulis, or just defrost and add to yogurt (I use an old jam jar - half fill with yogurt, add frozen berries, they're defrosted in time for lunch and keep the yogurt chilled through the morning).
    All the best.x

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