Save A Few Bucks in the Kitchen, Part 2

If you missed it, here’s Part 1 on how to save a few bucks in the kitchen. These are just some small tips and ideas that I use to stretch a few bucks when I buy and prepare meals and food for my family.

Add something cheap. I don’t mean cheap in quality, but something that’s just usually inexpensive. When we make homemade burritos, I used to have to use two pounds of ground beef to get a decent sized burrito for each of us, but I hated using so much meat for one meal. Now I use one of my “pounds” of ground beef with a packet of seasoning mix as usual, and then add in a can of refried beans, mix it together in the pan and heat through. The beans stretch out the meat perfectly for my family of five, and the seasoned meat seasons the beans as well. It’s perfect.

Get an apron. I’m a “neat cook,” which means that I clean up as I go — I can’t stand having a big giant mess to clean up after I’m done making a meal, so I put things away and wipe up as I’m cooking. However, accidents happen, and on more than one occasion I’ve been stirring or mixing something and had either droplets or globs of it end up on my shirt. More often than not, especially if what I’m working on is tomato based, the shirt becomes stained and is relegated to the rag drawer. The cost of the apron (and you can find them for less than $10) has saved me much more in the cost of new shirts.

What are some ideas you’ve discovered to save some money in the kitchen?

[image: flickr]