CreamyGoodness
Well-Known Member
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.
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.