In
this I'll give you a few suggestions that have helped me save money by cooking
smart. Again, please add your own tips
and suggestions in the comment section so that others may benefit from both of
our ideas.
Many
times I've picked up a recipe, scanned the ingredients and decided that it will
become dinner, only to find out that I was missing an ingredient, sending me
off to the grocery store to buy that one missing item. This taught me to READ every recipe
completely and check to be sure I have all ingredients that will be
needed. If not, I'll add that ingredient
to the shopping list and usually consider another recipe that I do have the
ingredients.
I
also like to clean as I go. I've been in
many kitchens where the cook puts everything used in the sink to be cleaned all
at once. Might sound like it's a time
saver but I personally hate to work around dirty dishes. It also allows me to use the same pan more
than once if needed. Example - if I've
browned meat to add to a casserole I can wash the pan I used to for the meat to
cook my sauted broccoli. Not cleaning as
you go and reusing pans can fill up the dishwasher very quickly.
Use
your food processor to chop your vegetables.
A few years ago I bought a medium size Ninja mainly to chop onions and
peppers. I've learned that this little
device is wonderful! Where I used to
hand chop my chicken for salad, shred my cabbage for slaw and hand chop my
nuts, I now place them in the chopper and let it do the work saving me loads of
time. It's small enough that I don't
have to store it on the counter but can put it away in the cabinet. It's easy to clean. And even though I can only put one cooked large,
boneless chicken breast halves in at a time, it takes just seconds to chop,
empty and reload.
Another
item that I've invested in was a pair of kitchen shears for snipping fresh
herbs, dried fruit and even cutting uncooked meats into bite size pieces. They are easier to use than a knife and
chopping block, clean up easily and are actually a lot faster.
Part
3, which will be the final in this series, will be on shortcuts for stocking up. Here's hoping you will learn from some of my
mistakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment