Seven Ideas For The Frugal Cook

With the increasing possibility that food prices will skyrocket in the New Year, it's more important than ever that you learn how to be a frugal cook.  With some simple adjustments to your current habits you can save a lot on your food bill.

First, plan ahead.  Develop a meal plan and stick with it.  Check your local store flyers to see what food items are on sale.  Try to add meals to your week based upon what is on sale. 

Go through your cookbooks and choose recipes that use vegetables that are in season.  Fall crops include all of the heartier vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips and potatoes. Stews are great fall and winter recipes because they use these fall crops and cheaper cuts of meat, like stewing beef.  Make some nights meatless.  Beans and rice or vegetarian chili are just two examples of classic meatless meals, but search your receipt books for more. 

Use a slow cooker for cheaper cuts of meat.  They are many recipes available for cheaper cuts of meat, but they usually involve longer cooking times to soften the meat up, so plan for extra cooking times when using a slow cooker.

Second, make a list of all the items that you will need at the grocery store.  Group the list so that all the same items from the same section of the store are together to make your shopping trip go more smoothly.  Buy only the items on the list.

A third way to be a frugal cook is to make use of all leftovers.  Either freeze them for later use or make creative use of your leftovers.  Your leftover stew would make a nice pot pie.  Leftover potatoes can be added to Shepard's pie, or hamburger as filler.  Just get creative with what's before you.  

Growing your own herbs is a fourth way to be a frugal cook.  If you are using less flavorful cuts of meat, herbs and spices can go a long way to boost the flavor, so you should make good use of them.  Since herbs can be a very expensive item to purchase at the grocery store,  you'll want to consider growing your own.  Most can be easily grown in a summer garden and then dried for later use or grown on kitchen window sills. 

Tip number five is about finding ways to salvage items when you think they can't be used.  Two common problems arise from sugar and salt.  Don't throw out your brown sugar when it turns hard.  Simply put an old bread crust into a sealed bag along with the brown sugar and you will notice that it re-moistens itself in about a day or so.  Sugar is getting more expensive all the time, so this simple thing can really save you money. 

Salt can appear to be ruined when it clumps together. To prevent your salt from clumping in high humidity areas, add a few grains of rice.  This will absorb the extra moisture and save you from having to buy more salt.

Sixth on our list of ways to be a more frugal cook is to plan for convenience.  If you know that a particular night during the week will be hectic, plan an easy meal for that night.  When you are particularly tired you'll need a meal that is easy to cook or one that has been frozen and just needs to be microwaved.  Pre-planning for those difficult nights will save you from dashing off to the nearest fast food place just because you are hungry and too tired to cook.  Those extra meals out can really add up.

Seventh, grow your own vegetables.  Now is a good time to start to plan for a vegetable garden.  If you have health problems that make a traditional garden difficult, then try container gardening.  Just about any vegetable can be grown in the right container.  Containers can be raised up to a higher level for those who can no longer bend over or kneel and are much easier to keep weeded than traditional gardens.

So, there you have it - seven easy tips for becoming a more frugal cook.  Let's hope food prices don't go up, but if they do you are now know seven ways to be a frugal cook