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CreamyGoodness

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When I was a bachelor I had a job that paid more than I knew what to do with. That ended... and so did the way I bought groceries. Instead of just "buying what I need" I started looking at price tags, contemplated using leftovers, and planning meals out a week ahead of time. Given the world economy, I doubt I'm alone.

So, I thought I would start a thread to share our tips and tricks at the supermarket. I certainly don't consider myself a guru and I'm not preaching or talking down to anyone. Some of these items won't apply to everyone (you might be allergic to gluten or vegan or you might have a gaggle of kids and the equations change), but hopefully everyone will learn something. I hope to get some ideas too. Oh, and if your locale has different prices or availability, I can only really claim to know my little corner of NYC, so your mileage may and will vary.

So, in no particular order, without further ado, are the following.

1) Butter- if instead of buying the 4 sticks of butter package, buying the 1 pound solid block will save $1 or more. Buying just 2 sticks at a time usually means you are paying an extra dollar on every pound of butter. And if it is the little lines on the packaging that makes you stick with the sticks (get it?), just remember, you are a brewer! You have a digital scale!

2) Clorox costs $4.99 a gallon. The store brand costs $0.99 a gallon. I can't imagine Clorox being a bleachier bleach (though I'm not a scientist and I could be wrong) so this is a definite UP YOURS Clorox.

3) Fresh herbs. You need a tablespoon of parsley, but you can only buy it by the bunch, so about 90% goes to waste. Instead of buying dry parsley, which has likely been on a shelf for a year and a half, just freeze the rest in a ziptop bag (store brand works just as well as ziplock) with a paper towel in it.

4) If day old or 2 day old Italian or French bread is on sale (if you are tight with the baker or bakery department you might be able to sweet talk them into giving it to you for free), take it home and make homemade breadcrumbs (these freeze nicely, and dont have the preservatives that the 4C stuff does. Oh yeah, and the storebought breadcrumbs are like $4. F that.) Also, if you have some extra eggs and milk and cheese in the house, you can make savory bread pudding with just about any leftover breakfast meat and/or cheese. Thats a meal right there (or a killer side dish). It might even get you laid. Story partially fabricated.

5) 100% Fruit Juices- not fruit cocktails... I just found out that something like 90% of store brand cranberry juice is made and bottled by Ocean Spray. Plus its like $2 cheaper. On a similar note, I will not buy Schwepps seltzer or tonic water because a 2-liter bottle of "Vintage" store brand is $0.99 as opposed to $2.99.

6) Celery. I cook with a lot of fresh celery, but I could never use it fast enough before it got limp and nasty. So I threw a lot away. Now, thanks to my hero Alton Brown, I get a big jar with about 2 inches of water in the bottom and stand the celery up in it roots side down in the fridge. It lasts a ridiculously long amount of time this way, and I only use 1 bunch when I used to use literally 5 or 6 over the same period of time. Also, dont forget, any stock or soup you might make isnt going to suffer if your celery (or carrots for that matter) are a little limp.

7) I used to buy loose onions by the pound every single day when I needed them. I always wound up throwing half a large onion away, or relegating it to the stock pot. Now for $0.99 I get a bag of smaller onions (I think it comes out to like 2 pounds). Being Italian, I cant live without onions, so this is a godsend.

9) Buy a gallon of whole milk as cheaply as you can manage. Get a big pot, add a little salt to taste, and boil for a while being sure to not scald or curdle. Remove from heat, cover, and add about a tablespoon of white vinegar. Stir and allow to sit covered for 30 minutes to an hour. Pour your new pot-cheese or farmer's-cheese through cheesecloth and a collander and squeeze tightly. You can even put this cheese in a mold and press to a desired shape. The milk-whey that came out can be boiled AGAIN and made into ricotta. I have found that this process impresses one's motherinlaw.

10) The whole chicken. This is the holy grail of thrifty meals, in my opinion. For often less than $5 I buy a whole chicken on a Friday afternoon. That night we'll have a roast chicken with the pan juices and root veggies in the pan making a thin gravy or sauce for the chicken and to put on top of the rice. I save any sauce we havent eaten and put in the fridge in its gravy boat. Now, after we are done, I take the leftover chicken (as well as the neck, heart, and gizzards) and put in a stock pot with some onion, garlic, fresh herbs, carrots and celery (as well as a little turmeric and pepper corns) and make chicken stock. After jarring and freezing the stock I pick over the carcass and get together all the little bits of boiled chicken and I put this in a bowl with Sazon Goya, celery, mayo and a little pepper and make chicken salad for lunch the next day.

Also the next day I return to the gravy, which has solidified and separated. I do reuse the "gravy" layer, but really what I am after is the pure white fat layer on the top, which I use instead of butter to sautee onions for some dishes.

Oh yeah, I save the chicken liver in a little milk until I gather enough of them together to make balsamic chicken liver crustini or until I get a hankering for chopped liver/pate.

So yeah, I think 10 items should get the ball rolling. If this thread is a success I will post more as I think of them. Happy cooking and eating, HBT. :mug:
 
Great tips on #3 I do different, let´s say you like basil (as me you have an italian backgroud so you have to like basil) instead of buying the leaf I buy the plant, take what I need, and the little basil keeps growing and fresher this way, same thing can apply to every aromatic even if you live in an apartment!
 
Also my wife makes soap at used olive oil that we buy very cheap at bulk and fresh in her hometown in Andalucia, fresher organic and good soap (you can use some of the aromatics that you have in your plant pots)
 
Great tips! I don't do any grocery shopping, but Bob does and we're the ultimate bargain shoppers on everything.

Bob has a couple of tips:

1. We all know this, but never go to the store hungry, or after work to pick up a few things. If you go to buy bread and milk, you will walk out with chips, soda, olives, some cheese, and probably forget the milk.

2. Make a list, and unless there is a enormous sale on the exact brand of toothpaste you need and will not be able to live without it, stick to your list.

3. Cook on Sunday, during football halftimes and post-game analysis. (this is my tip- I rarely cook otherwise!). Plan your meals so that today you're making a meal that will have leftovers for Tuesday. For example, today we're having lamb roast with garlic and rosemary, potatoes, and veggies. The leftovers today will go into Tuesday's spicy stir fry. Soup made today will be eaten tomorrow. We're retired (mostly) but not having to plan/cook weeknight meals means big savings- both time and money. Make Chili on Sunday for Tuesday, and it'll be better then anyway. Freeze leftover meat from main dishes for tacos on Thursday. One of the reasons we spend so much at the store is because we need something NOW. Planning at least a few meals for the week will make a huge difference.

4. This goes back to #2, but only buy what you need. Americans throw away more foodstuffs than you can imagine. You don't need two kinds of salsa today. You really really don't.

5. In contrast to #4, each time you shop, buy a pantry item. It makes cooking so much easier, when you're pressed for time (and money) to have a well-stocked pantry. Chicken broth, canned tomatoes, etc, are commonly used and often go on sale. Buy a can of chicken broth when there is a sale, and hold onto it. If you eat other things, like Thai peanut sauce, curry paste, anchovy paste, black olives, etc, buy one item one sale each time you go to the store. It'll cost under $1, and then you'll have a well stocked pantry.

6. Think "outside the box". This week, we've eaten squid ($4.99 for two pounds at an Oriental place in Minneapolis- four meals worth!), pork roast, salmon "meat loaf" from canned salmon, roast chicken (last Sunday), stir-fried chicken with red curry sauce (from that leftover chicken on Tuesday!), etc. You don't have to eat the same things all the time, and it makes meals fun, interesting, and cheap!
 
if you really want to max out your herb's grow your own and dry them your self. We grow basil, thyme, sage and rosemary every year and at the end of the season i cut em down and dry them. with the basil i make a big patch of pesto and freeze it. The best thing about it is my thyme, rosemary and sage come back every year. tip 10 is nice we do the same thing eat 1/2 the chicken pull off the meat and make stock out of the bones. then the next day i make white chicken chill
 
Plant vegetables. It costed me three dollars and five minutes of time to plant four Brussels sprouts. They produce sprouts all winter. As the planet heats up, fuel costs increase, and the population grows you can expect food to get more and more expensive. I expect more people will start their own gardens. It's so easy even a pretty lazy person can manage it.

Also, make your own compost from spent grain and coffee grounds. You can get free huge bags of grounds from Starbucks. Mix them in a 3:1 ratio.
 
You don't need two kinds of salsa today. You really really don't.

I never ever thought I would ever have a reason or chance to disagree with you. But wife and I are self professed salsa whores, though, so I may be biased. And on that note, plant a garden, there's my money saving tip.
 
As someone who does most of the shopping(and cooking, I am a chef) I couldn't more more then #10. Any animal you buy bigger and break down yourself is a huge money saver. Chicken, whole pork loin(chops) etc will save money in the long run.
 
Other things we like to do is make our own bread or pizza dough. homemade pizza cost like 2 bucks
 
My favorite money saver for large meals is the 10lb bags of chicken leg quarters. 1 bag will fill up a webber kettle grill, and once you get the hang of controlling the temp all is well. I can feed 10 people Chicken, homemade coleslaw, baked beans, and desert for under 30 bucks. Once they eat it once, they request it for the next gathering.

I also tend to make a lot of basic spaghetti using a mix of Italian sausage and ground beef. I buy a 3 lb pack of ground beef, 1lb of sausage, and brown them together in a large pot. If I don't have time to make a full blown sauce right then, I split it up into 4 equal parts and freeze for later use.
 
My favorite money saver for large meals is the 10lb bags of chicken leg quarters. 1 bag will fill up a webber kettle grill, and once you get the hang of controlling the temp all is well. I can feed 10 people Chicken, homemade coleslaw, baked beans, and desert for under 30 bucks. Once they eat it once, they request it for the next gathering.

I'm a huge fan of the chicken leg quarters. I bought 2, 10-pound bags of them for $0.59/pound earlier this year and put them in the freezer. I made a huge pot of homemade stock that became delicious soup with some of them.

We'll bake a few of them and pull the meat for sandwiches, burritos, or other meals, and I love them on the grill with some good rub, too.

For stock, I keep a ziplock bag in the freezer and toss in vegetable pieces that are starting to get a little old (slightly limp celery, carrots getting to the end of their lives, stalks and stems from herbs,etc..) and things like the root ends of onions. I use that for my homemade stock.

We usually use the bulk area of the grocery store for items like dried beans, nuts and rice as well. It tends to be a little cheaper than the pre-packaged versions.
 
+1 to pretty much all of these.

I am a big fan of buying a larger piece of meat and breaking it down. I try to buy whole chickens rather than chicken breast, then break it down to all the cuts we need (freeze what we aren't going to use right away.) I keep a gallon ziptop bag in the freezer and add the wings to it as I go and we use them once enough have built up. Of course, the carcass goes in the freezer for stock unless I have time to make it then. I also like to buy a big pork loin and cut half up for chops and then use the other half for roasting.

One of the biggest things we have done to cut down on our grocery bill is to stop buying processed convenience foods. We try to make as much from scratch as we can. I have gotten into making bread and I make 2 loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread nearly every Sunday. We almost never buy pizza ~ I have been perfecting my pizza dough recipe for the past 3 years and have it nearly where I want it. We only buy what we can use within it's life expectancy and I take leftovers to work the next day when there are leftovers... We used to throw away a lot of food and we have cut that amount to very little.

I think that as homebrewers, our built-in DIY ethic can serve us very well to save money. We haven't bought laundry detergent at the store in nearly 2 years. I have been making all different vinegars from cider to malt to wine. We have also planted vegetables and herbs. I built a sub-irrigated planter for the deck just outside the kitchen door for herbs like basil, oregano, chives, etc.
 
Growing a garden is great; the seed packets are cheap, they'll survive with little to no attention and you get to watch the cool stuff grow. Right now we have way more tomatoes than we know what to do with, even after salsa and spaghetti sauce up the wazoo. My boss had more zucchini and peppers than he and his family could eat, but his tomatoes didn't produce, so we traded. So not only grow a garden, but convince your friends/family/neighbors to do so as well.

If you've got the space to store it, buy what you can in bulk.
 
For a lazy cook like myself, I recommend flat breads. They are cheap to buy and at 5 to 20 cents apiece, they won't break the bank. This allows you to take any meat, veggies, etc that you have laying around and throw them together into a quick and tasty wrap. You can even do a peanut butter jelly wrap.

Crock pots are amazing. You can make an entire week's worth of meat overnight while you sleep and the cheapest cut of beef with generous spices becomes a delicacy. You can use the liquid in the bottom of the crock pot for a gravy, sauce, or just measure it out and throw it into a rice cooker or a pot and make the most incredible rice with it.

Make your own fancy vinegar.

Meatballs freeze really well. Find a recipe you like, make about 6 to 10 pounds of them, throw them in the freezer. That, and some spaghetti sauce, and you just need to boil pasta for a 10 minute meal. Or you can make meatball sandwhiches. Or chop the meatballs and toss them in an omelette. Or drench them in barbecue sauce for a sloppy joe. It's a very flexible little ball of meat.

1 banana, 1C fruit juice, and 2 to 3 big handfuls of frozen fruits makes the BEST blended smoothie you will ever have in your life. And it's cheap.
 
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned coupons. I used to go to the store and buy the Sunday paper for $1.50 just for the coupons. If I use 2 coupons it covers the cost of buying the paper.
Plus the Denver Post had a special in the grocery store where they gave me a $10 gift card for signing up for the paper. For $1.60 a week I get Thurs-Sun and often times Thurs has coupons in it as well.
A lot of coupons are cyclical and I only use them if it makes the purchase cheaper than store brand. I usually save $10-$15 a week couponing!
 
BREAD BOX. This antique miracle of science keeps your $1.30 investment fresh for weeks. If you don't want to invest in the fancy wooden one with the garage door thingy on the front, the microwave achieves the same effect. (Just explain to your girlfriend why the bread is in there ahead of time!) And +1 for the herb garden! Basil (also a pinch of cinnamon and a dab of hot sauce) makes the cheapest condensed tomato soup into a bachelor delicacy that you can dunk your tuna sandwiches in day after day after day after day! Oh Oh Oh, and buy the cereal in the dog-foodesque bags. Nutritionally the same, sans the fancy cardboard marketing!
 
Dont always assume the name brand is better quality. When I work in meat processing we would make a product all day and then label it boxes under 3 different brand namesand sell it for 3 different prices. the only difference was the box it was in, but between the cheapest Brand and expensive brand wad about a 4 dollar difference in price
 
Couponing is the way to go. My SWMBO and I swear by it. First couponing tip is to go to websites like southernsavers.com or commonsensewithmoney.com. These websites post couponing scenarios for the various regional and national chains, which shows you what's on sale in the circulars that week. Then, they list the coupons you can use to save money in redplum, smartsource, P&G and other inserts, links to printable online coupons and where to find in-store coupons.

For items not on sale, visit www.hotcouponworld.com and search their robust coupon database for more coupons from inserts and printables.

Remember with coupons, it's often possible to stack them. This means you can combine a store coupon with a manufacturers coupon. Shop at stores that honor double coupon days (like Kroger). Always present the store coupons first and then the manufacturers coupons.

Next, walmart will price match anything, including groceries. Bring your local circulars with you and have them price match any sale items from the circulars to reduce your price per item BEFORE applying coupons. You MUST bring in printed local ads though, so just bring the ads and circle/dog ear those items you're buying.

Save your coupons! Buy at least one Sunday paper a week and save the coupon pages. Three months down the road, something might go on sale or be in a scenario where it's almost free. If you keep your coupon inserts, you'll be ready for it. Also, it's a good idea to have your friends and relatives give you their coupon inserts if they don't use them. Try not to steal them from coin operated newspaper racks but buying up day old Sunday papers for a discount from a store is fair game.

Lastly, learn to stockpile. It's worth it to have a chest deep freezer that isn't a kegerator and some spare shelves for stockpiling the items you need. When you find a great deal on common everyday items like shampoo, toothpaste, paper towels/TP, etc.... buy as much as you can.
 
The one thing I'm really lacking is freezer space, which stinks.

Another thing I do is I reuse my fry oil (I only fry things once in a blue moon). If need be I strain the oil.

Also, parmesan or other hard cheeses are easy to grate, especially if you have a cuisinart, so you save a buck here and a buck there whenever you by a block of it. Also, it stays fresher this way, and you get the rind to put in soups.
 
Great thread.

A few themes:
You do the work: Buy whole chickens, whole carrots, whole fruits, etc...slice/chop/peel yourself.
Grow your own: Herbs are HUGE cost savers, root veggies don't need much space, and tomatoes are easy
Reuse: Pan drippings into sauce / carcass into soup / oil multiple times / leftovers in soups, omelettes, etc

PS - dandelions are edible. Spray less, pick more. Balsamic + honey counteracts bitterness.
 
Great thread.

A few themes:
You do the work: Buy whole chickens, whole carrots, whole fruits, etc...slice/chop/peel yourself.
Grow your own: Herbs are HUGE cost savers, root veggies don't need much space, and tomatoes are easy
Reuse: Pan drippings into sauce / carcass into soup / oil multiple times / leftovers in soups, omelettes, etc

PS - dandelions are edible. Spray less, pick more. Balsamic + honey counteracts bitterness.

The Greeks call that horta. Great with a little lemon at table. Also, if you pull them early in the season, the root is palatable, and tender.
 
some more tips:

1. Age your own beef! -- 'Family-packs' of steaks are usually $1-$2 cheaper per pound but I also don't believe in freezing them. When I buy a pack for me and SWMBO, we'll cook two and I'll dry age the rest for 2-3 weeks. Dry aged steaks are usually $20-$30/pound retail and we stopped going to steak houses regularly since my aged steaks are so much better.

2. Green onions. Seems silly to save the $0.88/bunch but it is too easy. Cut down your onions to the white root with an inch or so of stalk left. Replant. They grow like weeds as long as they are getting water. They are also fairly hardy when they are not. I use a ton of green onion but a dozen or so roots replanted supplies the house all year. In the winter, we just move it to indoors by a window. Top off with fresh soil and mulch once a year and it'll never need fertilizer.

3. Whole fish. Same deal as whole chicken or larger cuts you break down yourself. Fish fillets are usually $8+/#. Whole fish is $2-$3. Go whole and filet it yourself and then use the rest for fish stock and make Thai soup, chowder, gumbo, or any other seafood soup. More work but the homemade stock will make your soups taste more gourmet while saving on the filet.

4. Dead bananas get turned into EBNB.

5. BMC or Subpar Homebrew gets turned into Beer Bread.

6. Food saver is my best friend. I never throw out protein since it's usually the most expensive part of a meal. Fresh meat is best, but frozen meat beats no meat!

7. Don't be afraid to ask about saving money. I asked the local big-box grocery butcher about saving money and he let me in on the discount schedule: starts on Tuesday, ends on Thursday. Now Tuesday is grocery day instead of Sunday.

8. Asian Markets. Seriously. They smell weird, you can't read at least half of the signage, but their prices are generally lower. They are usually friendly with custom orders too. Example: XL Shrimp is $9+/# at the local grocer. At the Asian place, XL Head-on shrimp is $5.99 -- even after head weight, you're saving at least $2/#. Sliced ribeye is $5.99 per pound. Ask the butcher for a few pounds unsliced and you got ribeye for under $6/# while the big box grocer will want $8.99+. Like Yooper mentioned, if you are a foodie and adventurous, you'll love these places: squid, sting ray, cheap white fish you can't pronounce, shellfish you've never seen, but it's all fresh and relatively cheap.
 
Buying any cut/sliced/diced/shredded vegetables or cheese is a waste. If you have a grater and a knife you can buy the ingredient in whole and process yourself in a few minutes.

Your freezer is your friend, especially if you have a chest freezer. If you are going to make a meal for one or two out of something, you can usually buy the ingredients for many more servings, prepare and cook it for marginally lower costs and spend slightly more time to produce extra servings. Freeze them and bust them out for meals when you don't want to cook. Time and cost efficient.

Buying whole birds is really cost efficient. The best time to buy is pre-thanksgiving. All the grocery stores put turkeys on deep discounts to get you in the store. Last fall I saw turkeys going for as little as $.29/lb. You can buy a few turkeys, give them a basic bake in the oven, break them down and freeze. Cheap and healthy meat. You can eat for a while on a few turkeys. Other birds can also be used to greater benefit, too. I usually make a duck on valentine's day. After I chop off all the meat I make stock out of the carcass. Then I freeze the stock. The stock forms a thick layer of fat that can be peeled off and added like butter to various foods. The stock itself makes the best risotto and soups. It can class up a cheap chicken crock pot meal, too.

It's usually cost inefficient to buy groceries for one person, sometimes even for two, because you usually have to buy food in larger quantities than you could use before you got tired of eating it. Freezing the leftovers sometimes helps but not everything can be frozen. An easy way to get around it is to prepare all your meals for the week on the weekend so you can use more of each ingredient you buy. It will also prevent you from stopping for less healthy fast food because you know there's already a meal prepared at home.
 
Word up on whole chickens and crock pots. If you put a whole chicken in a crock pot, you actually make money. :p

Butcher shops and meat markets.

You have to shop around a little to find one that suits you because some are way more expensive than the grocery store and some are cheaper but lower quality. We found one by us and even though we spend $100-$200 a trip, that's meat for 2-3 months for two people. And we're talking steaks, lean ground beef, chickens, pork, roasts and sausages. Yeah, some of it comes frozen and we do freeze most of it at home. Whatever. Wrapped in the butcher paper it comes in and maybe bagged into a ziplock, it holds just fine.

We've also taken to the farmer's markets, like EACs do. ;) Some stuff is a little more, but some is the same as the regular grocer. All of it though has been better quality. Jams and jellies with actual food as ingredients. Fresh fruits and veggies.

When we do go to a regular grocery store, we go where it gives us discounts on gasoline. Kroger gives .10¢ off per gallon at Shell. It's only .10¢, but we're not put out to get it.

Store brands. They can be hit or miss in price and quality. I want Q-tip brand cotton swabs, damn it. They cost more, but the store brand sucks. Kroger ketchup is just fine. Watch though. The store brand is not always the least expensive.
 
8. Asian Markets. Seriously. They smell weird, you can't read at least half of the signage, but their prices are generally lower. They are usually friendly with custom orders too. Example: XL Shrimp is $9+/# at the local grocer. At the Asian place, XL Head-on shrimp is $5.99 -- even after head weight, you're saving at least $2/#. Sliced ribeye is $5.99 per pound. Ask the butcher for a few pounds unsliced and you got ribeye for under $6/# while the big box grocer will want $8.99+. Like Yooper mentioned, if you are a foodie and adventurous, you'll love these places: squid, sting ray, cheap white fish you can't pronounce, shellfish you've never seen, but it's all fresh and relatively cheap.

Asian markets, FTW!!! Great selection of crazy things you'd never find elsewhere. Anybody up for a Durian Popsicle? :cross:

For the shrimp heads, fry 'em right up and eat 'em whole! Tastes like fried shrimp dipped in butter... and speaking of saving money, the look on your friend's face when you eat 'em is priceless!!!!
 
like others, i recommend a food saver (got the large mouth canning jar attachment also). it has paid for itself with me being able to buy bulk (this includes hops) and freezing the extra. i even helps keep stuff longer in the fridge. the canning jars are reusable, so if i am able to use them it keeps me from wasting money on the bags. throwing out food that has gone bad is just throwing away money. might as well toss dollar bills in the trash. the food saver extends the amount of time you have to use something.

one thing i would also like to recommend is make a weekly menu, you can plan on making extra of something and using the leftovers somewhere else. for example, spaghetti and meatballs one night (making extra meatballs) and having meatball sandwiches for lunch a day or two later. it really doesn't take that much more time to make 20 meatballs instead of 10 and you have lunch made already. pretty much the same idea as cooking a whole chicken. with chicken you can plan on roasted chicken one night and tacos or enchiladas with the leftover pulled meat. with a menu laid out, you have a list of ingredients that, as long as you stick to the list, will keep you from impulse buying. also look to where you can substitute an ingredient or switch menu nights in case of sales.

its weird for me, having been through culinary school and over the years cooking in some amazing restaurants, with some amazing ingredients, one of my favorite things to cook at home is a big dutch oven of gumbo (all from scratch, including the andouille) . i can sit and eat it for days straight and not get tired of it. i tend to bulk up the rice in it as a filler which stretches it out an extra day or two. rice is cheap.

with food prices going up across the board, stay away from the processed foods and put up a good effort to learning some simple scratch cooking. the internet is your friend.

good luck

b
 
Here's another one, root veggies with the leaves attached. For example radishes with leaves cost $0.99 a bunch locally. Radish greens have a nice peppery kick to them, so they are nice in most salads. Its almost like getting free salad greens.

Same can be said for beets. The greens can be cooked and eaten the same way you would kale or collards.
 
CreamyGoodness said:
Same can be said for beets. The greens can be cooked and eaten the same way you would kale or collards.

my wife's family uses them to make beet rolls, just like cabbage rolls but with the beet leaves instead
 
BREAD CRUMBS +1 from old bread are SO much better.

Have the butcher or meat area cut a whole pork loin into THIN steaks. Amazingly, 1 thin pork chop with a few well chosen side items is a meal.

Awesome point about buying greens with the veg. Actually carrot and celery greens are fantastic in most soups.
 
This list is amazing! I'm amazed that Creamy actually posted something worthwhile! ;)

Oh come now!

The cat whizz thread was full of good, time honored life lessons, opportunities for inspiration and personal growth, and might possibly have increased my IQ ever so slightly.

Why, I am a better man because of such threads.
 
never buy instant rice. Here a 1kg(2.2lb) box sell for around 8 or 9 dollars.
a 18 pound bag of jasmine rice sell for about 15 dollars and does not take that much longer to cook
 
I'm going to take some flak for this one I'm sure, but I always have a box of storebrand instant mashed potatoes. Not only can I get some mashed potatoes inside 10 minutes that dont taste half bad, I also have a thickening agent for everything from croquettes and crabcakes to beef gravy.
 
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