There
are two ways to save big money on food. The first big savings is achieved
when you learn to make
your own product. You can do that with entrees, but also with staples
like bread, hot salsas, green and red, salad dressing, jam, pickles, pies
and cookies. In the case of salad dressing, you get better quality as OLIVE
OIL is very cheap at a barrio market, 32 oz for 3.99 on sale. I go to big,
elegant Mexican or Arab/Persian or Oriental markets for my organic corn
tortillas, (no preservatives,) dried mushrooms, buckwheat soba noodles,
soy sauce, lobster sauce, olive oil.. No super market has those prices
although supers have terrific salad dressings, they're only part olive
and they are ten times the cost. My way, the garlic you squeeze in is fresh,
onion pieces are raw, Braggs or soy sauce, real LEMON JUICE is fresh. Oregano,
Worstershire sauce. NO STORE BOUGHT dressing has all that.
Sweets? Your candies are tempting in big glass jars where kids can see them. Your fruit candy ( Pinatas I call them,) of dried fruits and lemon rind, juice are wrapped individually, jarred. YOUR JAM has local fruits found on trees in your suburb or bought on sale at the smaller non -chain markets that have bargains, special weekly offers. In 2010 I get Chilean nectarines in dead of winter 99c. (Til the quake came,) and last summer California nectarines for 49c. Early Spring I'm getting strawberries for jam a buck to $1.50. Wait til you see a dozen kiwis for a dollar, then peel lemon rind into them, strips, add lemon juice, grated apple (pectin,) to thicken it, you have jars and jars of a superior jam for no money.
The
second way to achieve savings is to keep ANY FOOD fresh longer so there's
no throwaway or staleness. FREEZING gets me two weeks out of a loaf
of bread. Two months out of a lb of TOFU. a Month out of a pound of
bacon. (My super market chain marks down bacon when it gets near a due
date. I pay $1.49 an lb. Freeze it in a dozen little baggies and it takes
one month for me to finish it. They stay fresh. I get a month out
of a lb chunk of sale cheese. (Ralphs chain (KROGERS) has aged cheddar
house brand, on sale very often, 3$ an lb. My Mex Market's sale price is
$1.99 but not aged cheddar, I freeze it in a baggie as that much would
get moldy in a week. Frozen it never does. The great BIBLE Bread (Ezekiels)
gets frozen, the whole loaf. I need some, no mold, it's there. I remove
slices re-seal the bag. I need Tofu it's already been cut into a half dozen
chunks by me, each thrown in a baggie with what you'd need for a single
bowl of soup. Once sliced it is marinated in sesame oil, Braggs or soy
sauce, and frozen in single serving, marinade and all. I don't use alum
for wrapping, just plastic bags. Alum gives Alzheimers.
Sometimes my super market sells bacon ends way cheaper than brand name bacon. Each piece gets pulled out and laid in a piece of plastic. Roll plastic to cover, then in goes a second slice. Close plastic, Bend, freeze. Do about a dozen of those double pckgs. Come Midnight, I want eggs, a single strip rolls out of the plastic, rest goes back in freezer. I have all the bacon I need, or dare to eat, in a month long period and it only cost 2$, no waste. All summer long the alleys near my house drip fruit, grapes, apricots, citrus . I can't afford a 3$ box of pectin, and I always have sale fujis in the house, 25c an lb today. Peel apple, grate into jam, the pectin in the apple clots your jam. SEE THE FOOD INDEX PAGE
Today in 2010, Chicken quarters are 49c an lb on sale, at Arab market. (Twice size of any big super in town.) And at Mex Market today, quarters 59c. lb in a ten lb bag. Last week Krogers/ Ralphs had whole California foster Farm chickens 67.c an lb. Buy a few, freeze them whole. Just get the paper bags of guts out of them so you can just throw into an oven frozen. The liver, kidneys get one minute in hot butter, chopped with raw onions, butter, spread on toast. To avoid VIT B Deficiency you need liver once a month minimum.
THE SALSA THING. Salsa verde keeps
like jam in a jar. Sliced Tomatillos get
simmered with cleaned up jalapenos in a cup of water. Take off fire.
In
saute pan, oil, onions, garlic. Give it a minute to soften, then add
the
green tomatillos, all soft now, mash. Add cilantro, salt, cook a tiny
bit,
2 min, then cool, throw into old glass jars.
RED FRESH SALSA. Tomatoes (take
seed, plant in garden) cilantro, onion,
jalapeno. Blend or cut together. Doesn't keep long. Only make enough
for
three days at a time.
TORTILLAS Buy the ones with no preservatives.
Real mex markets have them.
Buy big big bag. Break it down into three bags & Freeze two, a
dozen to a bag.
SEASONING SALT-
Pals give me boxes of their old spices. I mix the savories,
cumin, salt, paprika,garlic power, oregano, celery seeds, throw it
in old
spice jars, i also save those. The sweet ones, allspice, cinnamon,
ginger, go in
my endless fascination with pumpkin pies.
NOTHING CHEAPER than PUMPKIN PIE.
I grow pumpkins on my curb strips
figuring few barrio thieves can carry away a big one, or cut one free
but all can grab CORN or string beans so those don't go out there.
Nor
do raspberries. I make a butter crust pie as lard doesn't taste as
good,
I know I tried. And I bake crust empty 15 min to get it slightly crisp,
then fill, bake an hour, slow oven. Cool, cut into 8 pcs and freeze
7.
In about two weeks that's gone, I have to find another pumpkin, make
another pie. I usually have pumpkins around the living room all winter
long.
QUESADILLAS - Slice a few small pieces of onion & cheese
onto a pre-heated
(over the flame,) tortilla. Lay them in thick skillet (I use antique
iron) or saucepan
until cheese melts. Serve with salsa verde. If jack cheese, add crushed
garlic.
So, Have any of your own special innovations as tips for me?
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