Giveaway – Share Your Ideas and Win!
Becentsable is giving away over $300 in prizes. Enter today to win! Share with us how you save money or time in the kitchen. Let’s work together to make menu planning fun and easy!
- Pizza, Spaghetti and Tacos, Yum!
- Pizza, Spaghetti and Tacos, Again?
- Pizza, Spaghetti and Tacos, Oh No!
Do you feel like you are stuck in a dinner rut? Don’t give up! Many of us, including myself, struggle with the area of menu planning!
Menu planning can save a ton of time and money! I believe that planning out your menu before you shop is the single most effective way to reduce your grocery bill. When you carefully create a weekly menu, you can reduce the amount of food you waste because you have a plan for everything you have purchased. You will also save yourself time and money at the grocery store, when you have a complete shopping list and only buy what you need for your menus.
Email your ideas, suggestion and savings to becentsable@gmail.com by Wednesday, January 12, 2011. They can include the following ideas:
- Money or time saving recipes
- Menu planning ideas or tips
- Tips or tricks to help you save money or time in the kitchen
Share your ideas with us! You could be a winner!
Use of my crock pot is my time saver. Each night while cleaning kitchen after dinner I also prepare the next nights meal in the crockpot. I make soup, casseroles, roasts, chicken, ribs, etc. The possibilities are endless. Mix all ingredients in crock pot, refrigerate until next day and then put on low to cook 8 to 10 hours. Come home, set table, prepare a quick side dish if needed and dinner is served. Also nice for those nights when it is impossible for the family to eat together.
I also put meals together in gallon zip lock freezer bags so I just have to dump in crock pot in the morning, set temp and away we go for the day. Those store bought crock pot meals are just too expensive and full of sodium. One of my favorites: your favorite chicken pieces, or a whole chicken (handle w/care. Wash, pat dry, mix other ingredients and freeze immediately!), bag of frozen mixed vegetables, bag of frozen potatoes, spices of your choice (thyme, sage, rosemary, marjoram, peppercorns, garlic glove, chopped onion). Add to crockpot frozen along with one can of chicken stock, broth or water and bouillon. Cook on low for 10 hours, remove chicken and vegetables and thicken juices w/cornstarch…serve.
My sister-in-law shared this idea with me and it has proven to be a great idea. After a meal, if I have leftover vegetables, I place the leftovers in small containers in the freezer. In a couple of weeks, I empty my refrigerator of all frozen veggies. I dump them in a crock pot, add some broth, and have a great vegetable soup. In addition, you can add browned hamburger, chicken, or turkey. My kids love it!!
I also love the crockpot! We have a crock pot meal about every other week. For the times between, I do weekend bulk cooking, then freeze. I have in been stockpiling my freezer with ready made meals. So we have chicken enchilladas, lasagna, meatballs and soups ready to be heated then served. It has saved us time and money.
We also have been doing the weekly meal planning. This has helped because my husband now will start dinner. He knows what we are having and will go to the freezer, then heat it up. Very helpful when you are tag teaming going to sports or evening events.
I also love my crock pot, but if it’s a dinner where no one has thought ahead to put something in the crock pot….well, that’s where my tip comes in.
I buy ingredients for quick meals like tuna, pasta, cr mush soup, peas, and put them all in one basket in the pantry – instant tuna n nooldes – even my 13yo can fix b/c the hardest part is boiling water, or opening the cans.
I do the same thing for chicken alfredo – can of chicken bag of pasta & jar of alfredo sauce. Again fast easy & realy in minutes.
Having these ready & go to meals helps me as much as cooking the ground beef b4 freezing in portions. We still get into ruts like everyone else but it does help if time is an issue.
I have each member of my family pick a night to cook their favorite meal. we plan ahead the Sunday before so I make a menu for the next week. I know exactly what I need to buy and we will sometimes make it ahead of time and freeze it if we have something that night that we would be rushed. I also make a lot of crock pot meals so that it can be cooking while I am doing other things. I cook my meats all at once then freeze them so I can just pull them out of the freezer and heat them up. I enjoy because it gets everyone involved in meal time and we are saving money and not eating out because we planned ahead of time.
I always tend to have way too much for us to eat & my family is not good at eating leftovers before they go bad. So I always freeze my leftovers immediately after dinner for a rainy day. I keep Zip Lock storage containers because they are easy to write the dates on. I freeze almost everything even gravy! Because Stove Top, Chicken, Cream of Chicken Soup (or gravy ) makes an awesome bake…(mix the chicken & soup (or gravy depending on your preference) put in bottom of casserole & prepare Stove Top according to the box then top chicken and soup (or gravy) with Stove Top Bake at 350 it’s wonderful!! Plus my children love it!!
i buy the really large pack of hamburger and split it up for tacos,burgers and chili then freeze the rest. the really large pack of meat is alot cheaper and it makes multiple meals.
I save all veggie trimmings & freeze them in quart size freezer bags. When I have several bags full I put all in a soup pot with water to cover & simmer several hours. Strain & freeze the stock in clean yogurt containers (we have quart size ones) & you have your own salt free broth to use when recipes call for vegetable broth. Also put the used plastic bags back in the freezer to fill again.
I love lasagna, but with only my son and I, a 13×9 is way too much and wasteful if you don’t eat it all. Last year I was having surgery and was looking for planned ahead meals for the freezer. Instead of a 9×13, we used 3 9×5 bread loaf pans and made the layers as usual. We lined the loaf pans with heavy duty foil and wrapped tightly. Once frozen, we removed the pans. When cooked, half of each ‘loaf’ was enough for one person, with a vegetable/salad side.
When I buy a bag of onions I dice the entire bag and store in Ziploc bags in the freezer. I use a marker to write the number of onions that are in the bag. For example: 1 onion, ½ onion….this helps when a recipe calls for one onion etc…..
Also, when I see fruit or vegetables starting to go bad in my fridge I dice and freeze too. Everything can be used at some point. For instance I may have bought apples to eat as a snack, but when I freeze them they can later be used for baking an apple pie.
I love my crockpot for busy days,I like to buy hamburger in large pack,and divide it up put in the freezer…I like to make two or three different meals and freeze the other two.I also so stock up on pastas and rice when on sale for my pantry so I plenty on hand for want ever at the last minute dinner!!
I buy all my meats in bulk and split up into meal size portions. I make meatballs for spaghetti and freeze, can or freeze all my pasta sauces(made from homegrown tomatoes, garlic, onions, and herbs. I also buy flours, sugars and oils in bulk when possible. Make my own baking powder and extracts from scratch. Ive found they keep better and taste better than store bought brands. Plus, I am really starting not to trust manufacturers and the agencies that regulate them. Too many recalls!
I go through my cupboards and take stock of everything I have before I go shopping. Then, I build my list around what I have.
I have right now, chicken stuffing, chicken gravy, mixed vegetables. So, I will purchase chicken thighs, cook them, dice them and make a casserole with all of this
I have tons of tomato sauce, and my kids love pizza, so I will pick up english Muffins on Sale this week (BOGO) and mozzarella cheese and that will be another meal. I will probably pick up salad stuff for this meal as well.
I have a container full of pineapple juice in the freezer, so I am going to pick up some Kielbasa and make a sweet and sour stir fry with the rice and colored pepers I have that need to be used up.
Those are just 3 ideas that anyone can use, or modify to their liking.