Slicing food costs
Part of the whole living while unemployed involves reducing costs. A typical day with me working away from home in another city was eating out (sometimes breakfast, lunch and dinner). This was expensive and not very good for me either.
I had started to clean up my act (due to some bad blood test results) by making breakfast peanut butter on whole wheat toast and lunch a can of soup or frozen lean cuisine, with some additional fruit (grapes, apples or clementines) or veggies (mostly cherry tomatoes, celery, baby carrots, or slices of peppers). I grant there were still cookies and other treats in the picture but we had removed fast food from the mix pretty painlessly.
Now I'm here at home most of the time and fancy myself a great cook so there have been significant changes again. First I have to use what is here (I have a huge pantry area in my basement) and determine what I will replace. Of course necessities like bread, eggs, milk, and toilet paper need to be taken care of as needed.
Right now I'm wondering if Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a necessity or should I just use up all the various oils I have on hand first. I happened to run into Tarragon Wine Vinegar last week so while Balsamic is nearing empty it's not pressing.
I have spent times in my life being poor and times being maybe not rich, but comfortable. While its easier to be comfortable the "poor years" taught me to always know where the clearance is even in food stores. I visit those spots when I shop even in the comfortable times. Once you have bargain hunted and "scored big time" you will understand.
There are tons of blogs out there on cooking more for less money. You may want to try these:
http://www.5dollardinners.com/2009/03/menu-plan-monday-march-16th.html
http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=288541
My recipe blog often has economic recipes but certainly these dinners for under $10 qualify
http://bluesbabys-rants.blogspot.com/2009/03/meals-under-10.html
and if you are willing to try to become a Coupon Queen you may want to look here:
http://bluesbabys-rants.blogspot.com/2009/03/amazing-coupons.html
http://www.dealseekingmom.com/
I had started to clean up my act (due to some bad blood test results) by making breakfast peanut butter on whole wheat toast and lunch a can of soup or frozen lean cuisine, with some additional fruit (grapes, apples or clementines) or veggies (mostly cherry tomatoes, celery, baby carrots, or slices of peppers). I grant there were still cookies and other treats in the picture but we had removed fast food from the mix pretty painlessly.
Now I'm here at home most of the time and fancy myself a great cook so there have been significant changes again. First I have to use what is here (I have a huge pantry area in my basement) and determine what I will replace. Of course necessities like bread, eggs, milk, and toilet paper need to be taken care of as needed.
Right now I'm wondering if Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a necessity or should I just use up all the various oils I have on hand first. I happened to run into Tarragon Wine Vinegar last week so while Balsamic is nearing empty it's not pressing.
I have spent times in my life being poor and times being maybe not rich, but comfortable. While its easier to be comfortable the "poor years" taught me to always know where the clearance is even in food stores. I visit those spots when I shop even in the comfortable times. Once you have bargain hunted and "scored big time" you will understand.
There are tons of blogs out there on cooking more for less money. You may want to try these:
http://www.5dollardinners.com/2009/03/menu-plan-monday-march-16th.html
http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=288541
My recipe blog often has economic recipes but certainly these dinners for under $10 qualify
http://bluesbabys-rants.blogspot.com/2009/03/meals-under-10.html
and if you are willing to try to become a Coupon Queen you may want to look here:
http://bluesbabys-rants.blogspot.com/2009/03/amazing-coupons.html
http://www.dealseekingmom.com/
posted by Bluesbaby at 12:49 PM
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