I Saved $230 A Month at the Grocery Store with Extreme Cooking
In case you haven’t noticed, grocery prices are climbing fast. Two weeks ago, I could buy a gallon of milk for under $3. Today it’s $3.48 at the cheapest store in town. Extreme times call for extreme measures and so, a few months ago when prices started to rise I tried my hand at couponing. Not the kind where crazy people buy 80 bottles of mustard for a dollar, but using coupons to purchase things I would normally buy and use. And while there were some good deals to be had (I once got 6 bottles of Spray’n Wash for $4), if you happen to live in a state without double-coupon deals, it’s a lot of work for a few dollars off. However, those dollars add up and there were times I saved close to 30% off my grocery bill. But I knew I could do better. I was still spending $400 or more a month to feed my family.
When I heard about Once-A-Month Cooking, I was attracted to the idea to save my time. I had no idea that it would cut my grocery bill in half. The book itself merely sparked an idea. I’m sure it has wonderful recipes but I didn’t try any of them (except a fall pork roast that was very good). My kids are picky so I knew if I tried this I would have to use tried recipes they’ll eat. Once-A-Month Cooking suggests you shop on one day and then rest. Then the next day cook for 8 hours and fill your freezer with food for the whole month. I’m a homeschooling mom of two very needy little girls. The idea of trying to cook for 8 hours gave me an instant migraine. To spare me a possible nervous breakdown, I decided to try cooking for just two weeks first.
My Autumn Pork Roast in the crockpot with dried cranberries, fresh apple preserves and apple juice
I shopped for 10 days’ worth of dinners and spent $170. I went home, put the baby to bed and set the older one up with a craft and poured myself a big glass of red wine. The iPod was set on shuffle and I started cooking. I chopped up chicken into bite sized pieces and put them in freezer bags, I started spaghetti sauce, browned 6 pork chops, sauteed vegetables for lasagna and chopped up 6 sets of veggies to make stir-fries. Three hours went by and I was done! There was a lot of clean-up to do, but the food was all prepared or semi-prepared and ready for freezing for later use. I had two lasagnas, six stir-fries, a pork roast, six pork chops, three bags of spaghetti, two chicken potpies, and more. What I thought would last 10 days lasted 22. I got through almost an entire month on $170. The only trips to the grocery store I made over the next few weeks were for butter, milk and eggs.
Next: The other benefits of cooking ahead…
Tantrum in aisle 4. Not mine, but I've been there.
Not only does cooking ahead save money, but it saves time. Shopping once a week with two children is a nightmarish scenario. When I say I would rather poke sharp sticks in my eyes than maneuver through WalMart with a full cart and two whiny, crying beggars it’s not an exaggeration. I will literally do anything to avoid it (even shop at 9pm when I’d rather be in bed). Cooking ahead also stops the plague of missing ingredients. Menu planning isn’t the answer to an organized life. I’ve planned my menus for years but inevitably I’d be cooking my planned dinner and find I was missing a key ingredient. This caused me to have to send my husband to the store after a hard day when he’d rather be playing on the floor with the girls. Now that my dinners are all cooked at one time, all the ingredients are conveniently already in there! The only things I’m left to prepare every day are easy sides like salads, garlic bread and the occasional can of corn.
Speaking of having nothing to do every day but throw some corn in the microwave, cooking ahead saves energy. I guess you could say it’s “green.” (It remains to be seen if I can get a 500 billion dollar loan from the Obama administration. Perhaps I should apply for one.) Any person responsible for cooking nightly meals for the family can tell you the sheer terror one feels when staring at frozen chicken at 4:30pm. Cooking ahead takes all the stress out of dishing up a great meal. My favorite pre-made meals are slow-cooker dinners. The browned, frozen pork chops are the perfect ingredient for the crock pot. I take them out in the morning, plop them frozen in the slow-cooker and toss in some apple juice and cranberries, or soy sauce and orange juice, or any number of other things that are good on pork and forget about it. When dinner time rolls around, all I have to do is set the table and heat up some rice and veggies. It has given me an extra hour and a half to take care of other important things, like trolling Facebook… I mean, laundry.
There's even time to snooze now...
Next: No more rotten vegetables and wasted money…
Church ladies make the best dinners!
No matter how hard I tried not to waste food before I started cooking ahead, the bags of rotting produce at the bottom of my produce bin always mocked me. Every time I’d find a rotten vegetable it was like watching money fly into a fire and it made me feel like a failure. I was constantly forgetting about that bunch of cilantro I meant to use for a dinner that never materialized or the pepper that grew mold before I got to chop it up. With cooking ahead, every single item gets prepped and stored in the freezer right away and lasts so much longer. I haven’t found one rotten piece of produce since I started this project. Another bonus is my refrigerator bins are much less crowded and the only things in there are items we eat every day like fruit.
Cooking ahead can save your family money, time, energy and food, but would you believe me if I said it could help your community? I belong to a mom’s group called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and whenever one of our moms has a new baby we sign up to bring her a meal for a week. Before I had a freezer full of meals I would get a call to provide another family with a meal and it was overwhelming. It meant I had to cook two meals that day and I’m embarrassed to say sometimes I couldn’t do it. But now, if I get that phone call, I’m already prepared and my only problem is deciding which meal to bring! I’ve been on the receiving end of a meal prepared by awesome church ladies and I can tell you, it’s a huge blessing. Cooking ahead has given me the ability to be a blessing to others.
If you struggle with organization, eat out and spend more than you would like or would like to feed the family something other than last minute frozen pizza, give this method a try! It seems far more daunting than it actually is. Peace is a priceless commodity these days and you can have it every night for dinner if you just cook ahead.
Dudes can do a week at a time. 2-3 large meals, so you have leftovers for the other days of the week. Stew is a real deal! Get a big crockpot and make stew. And buy Tupperware. Don’t get the cheap stuff. You will eat better. You will spend less. You will order in less. You will have more money for beer.
You will also lose weight, because you will get out of the lousy habit of gorging yourself, eating everything in sight. Why? Because you will want the food to last another meal. Either 2 massive meals or 3 good-sized meals and less cooking? Hmm….
Yes this is my method too. It somehow helps me to calculate better the quantities when I organize dinner/parties with my best friends and/or family-which I love to do even during hard times. I Learned how to prepare a hungarian gulash with the pressure cooker, reducing the cooking time from 4 hours to like 45 minutes
Isn’t freezer space a serious limiting factor? I don’t see how a normal freezer could hold dinners for a family for a month.
Any serious parent has already invested in a chest freezer.
I just bought mine. 7 cubic ft under $200. I plan on doing just what this lady is talking about. In this economy it’s insane not to.
Yes, you’re right. A normal freezer will not do. We invested in a big freezer for the basement. We got it on sale for under $200. It paid for itself in one month.
Yes, a freezer is very helpful, but if you are very careful about not just “stashing” in your freezer, you can get a lot more in than you might imagine. Instead of using plastic containers for everything, use heavy duty freezer bags for liquid-type items. Wrap pre-cooked things like lasagna, meats in plastic wrap and then squares of foil. You will be amazed at how little space things take up. Just make sure to use things up within two weeks or so, for best flavor/freshness.
I am surprised, as a full time career women and single mother, I have been using this system for close to 25 years.
You forgot to mention, if you are able to buy wholesale, it is well worth investing in as much as your freezer will hold (mine has 400 litres).
Secondly, when the children get older, it is useful to devise meals which can then be heated in the micro-wave, thus enabling the children to “cook dinner” for the family once in a while.
Nice article and your husband is a lucky man.
Now you have inspired me to start this up again. I did this a couple of times, and it really does save time and money. But I hate going to the grocery store so much I have just been winging it for a while. Ironically that makes me go to the grocery store more! And I know exactly what you mean about prices; have you seen how incredibly expensive butter has gotten? $4.59 a pound, and there are almost never discounts.
I also homeschool (but only one) but I have four kids, and the afternoon activities make cooking dinner a nightmare. Thanks for a great article. I’m going to sit down and plan today.
Braums is the best buy for butter. Here in Oklahoma… Land O Lakes is about $5.25. Braums Butter is $3.50.
It’s a bit more expensive when you have a family of six! However, I’ve been gradually moving toward pre-prep of nearly everything over the last year – like grilling chicken and cutting it into strips, then storing for later use in fajitas or stir-fry. With my family, I guarantee you I will never be able to store a month’s worth in our full-size freezer, though.
It has saved us money, but it also requires that you be organized and willing to eat whatever comes out of the freezer at the end of the month. I’m thinking that if I did more stews and soups, especially spicy ones, toward the end, it might be more palatable.
AFA the expensive butter – look at buying it in bulk at Sam’s. I pay around $10 for 4 pounds of good stick butter. I put one pound in the fridge for immediate use, then put the rest in the freezer. I do the same thing with shredded cheddar cheese, except I buy the giant bulk bags and divide them into freezer bags, alloting about a pound of cheese or a bit less to each bag. I get restaurant-quality food, but save money over the grocery store. It’s worth forgoing the coupons.
I read PJM for its political analyses and never expected this article — this is GREAT!! I work FT, have one hungry teen still at home, and have classes two nights/week…..and the same rotting produce issues and the same irateness over them. To say nothing of the rising food bills!! Thank you SO much for printing this!
I am sooooo glad this is inspiring you to try it. You are going to LOVE the result. I would love to hear from you about your experience with cooking ahead also. Please email me at intolerantfox@gmail.com or post your experience here. Good luck!
Thank you for the insightful advice! I too face the problem of foods wasted because they were forgotten about. -.-
Great article. I recently went to a Tupperware party and purchased their line of “Fridge Smart” storage containers for produce. I was not sure they were going to work as well as promised, but they do. They are worth the investment, (not cheap, but effective) I used to throw out tons of produce, not so much anymore. Debbie Meyer green bags also help prolong life of the produce.
Ok, I have to try this.
Good advice. We don’t go the whole 9 yards and do the once a month cooking, but we try to make big family dinners every Saturday and Sunday night, enough to provide a stock of portioned and frozen left-overs for the week. Plus, any bones go in the stock pot Sunday night so there’s always good soup on hand.
An important point on the economics: cooking this way is cheaper also because it avoids pre-made processed food items. It’s a myth that the poor buy junk food because they can’t afford quality food. Junk food costs more!
Save money, save energy, save time… and save your sanity.
Since we’re empty nesters who both work, my wife and I do a lot of our cooking on Sunday and warm it during the week. By preparing food ahead of time, we can come home from work tired and be eating dinner within minutes. Fortunately, we’re not picky eaters and don’t mind having the same thing more than once or twice a week.
Some foods warm better than others. Spagetti sauce often gets better and so can chili. Pork or chicken adobo (a favorite Filipino dish) just gets better for 3 or 4 servings. I made a pot of chili yesterday and we’ll be eating that several times this week.
As tightwad mentioned in #12 below, WalMart does price matching. We use that all of the time and it can save quite a bit of money. Last Saturday, we saved about $8 on less than $50 of groceries. It adds up. We’re fortunate that we live within a few miles of several grocery stores. We use WalMart as our main store but Albertson’s has better meat and King Sooper’s has better vegatables.
I’ve been doing this for some time as a batchlor. I get help from Bette CosCo and Burke and James. I prefer Zip locks. Again I am losing weight and saving money. While I’m cooking I’m catching up on my reading.
I have been making a menu for years and that saves some money but probably not as much as the once a month cooking. If you stick to the menu though it does help.
Walmart will match any advertised price on like items (i.e., if Walmart sells a fruit by the pound, the advertised price must sell it the same way). You have to have the flyer with you. It takes a few minutes preparation, and a few extra minutes in the checkout line, but the savings are measurable. For us, it’s more effective than couponing, because we don’t buy a lot of the kinds of food that are couponable. The savings in gas and time from being able to shop at one place are also decent. Note: Walmart doesn’t have as much variety as traditional grocery stores, but the regular prices are lower than any other grocery store I’ve seen.
It’s really good for stuff like soft drinks and toilet paper, since there are always sales somewhere on that stuff but who wants to go to three stores to get the sale prices. Yesterday, we saved a dollar per 12-pack on Cokes vs the Walmart price, which is already lower than the non-sales price in any other grocery store.
In combination with pre-cooking, the savings would probably be even more.
Target will do the same, but Target’s regular prices are higher than Walmart’s on most items. (note: Target now has a credit card that gives 5% back for stuff bought at Target). If you don’t mind going to two stores, the best strategy would be to do price matching at Target with the 5% card, and then do the rest of your shopping at Walmart. Most people would save 25% or more vs regular grocery stores, plus coupon savings, plus gas and time savings.
It is not just the credit card that Target is offering 5% on but also a debit card. I asked about it last time I was in there. If you want to sign up for it, bring a blank check (void it out). I would have signed up right then and there but I make it a rule not to bring my checkbook. Also 1% is put back into the community of all you purchase. Of course, there would be some debate about what they donate to but you can’t control everything right?
I cannot speak to the economics of this idea, nor the mechanics of it, but I know what I like and, in the unlikely event that my wife suggested this, I would respond, “Hey, I have to go to work every day, you can cook every day!”
I mean, seriously. I like a sizzling steak for dinner, with fresh-cut tomatoes, maybe some raw spinach or chilled Brussel sprouts. I *don’t* like week-old frozen pork chops, elderly vegetables, dated chicken.
I am not crouching in hill in Kandahar, I don’t see why have to live on MREs.
Dear Sir,
I would love to serve you one of my home-cooked meals and hear you ask for seconds or thirds. Freezing my prepared foods in no way alters their deliciousness. Now, if I’m making steak (which I don’t do very often in this economy) then I would make it fresh. But if you like chili, I would dare you to find better than mine even out of the freezer. Also, I do serve fresh veggies and other sides at dinner time, but that’s all I have to do so I’ve cut down on the prep work and the amount of time I spend in the kitchen. Further than that, cooking is only one of the many things us stay at home moms do all day. There is laundry, breaking up fights, teaching (for us homeschoolers), science projects,ironing shirts, eradicating pet hair build up…there is a lot to do. And cooking ahead helps me do it better.
LOL on the MRE’s. I’m with you on the grilled steak. We live in Florida, we grill lots of stuff. Just can’t be cooked a month in advance.
Obviously, fresh vegetables, salads or things that are intended to be eaten fresh.. are better eaten fresh. But this doesn’t apply to a very large lot of things. For instance, in the italian cuisine (yes, I eat italian food like 3 times a week) the tomato sauce is not fresh, is not even fresh in Italy, why you should have to prepare it every time? And it is an important component for the pasta. The genovese pesto is not to be frozen but anyway conserved under olive oil cover. It’s not the Kandahar way, that’s the Italian way.
If I move to hungarian food (my 2nd favorite) all the stews can be frozen without any problem. Indian food: except for the rice, it can be frozen too. Latin American food can be also frozen, all depending on the ingredients.
OTOH, I like rice very fresh. Regarding rice, I think I won’t accept any frozen, conserved, recomposed or whatever rice. Rice is the thing I want fresh and I cook it every time. So, you can also chose what to freeze and what to eat fresh.
Of course, also depending on your time. I live alone, so I go to work every day, I prefer not to do a heavy cooking everyday, but rice (15 minutes cooking) can be done everyday.
Perhaps related to the topic of wasting vegetables, I make juice before dinner, to cut our appetites, to ingest more nutrients, to check what’s getting too old to cook with, to get more “live” food, and to chat with my wife — that list is in ascending order of importance, BTW. LOL.
About 20% of the juice comes from what most would toss — stems! of cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, collard greens, and kale — for daily cruciferous. Another 10% comes from tails of spinach, chard, and parsley, for more green, leafy ingredients. The rest is some mix of beets or beet leaves, ginger, jalapenos, whole lemons, carrots, celery bottoms and hearts, whole cucumbers, whole apples apple cores left over from pastry making, bell pepper tops and seeds left over from oiling peppers, and vegetables on the edge, for still more nutritional variety and to balance the taste.
To make this work, I buy with this habit in mind. The wife says I can’t boil water. To be the resident expert in this, I don’t have to.
Some have asked for the recipe for the pork roast pictured in the article. This is very easy. Over the harvest, my family and I went to an apple orchard and picked organic apples which I peeled, sliced and cooked in sugar and cinnamon and then canned. You could use the apple pie filling in the store. Basically put a pork roast in the slow cooker and season with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Then pour pie filling over it, a bag of dried cranberries and one cup of juice (apple or orange but any juice will do) then you cook on low all day and serve with rice or noodles or sweet potatoes! It’s delicious.
I’m gonna try this. Always looking for new ways to make pork in the crock pot.
I saw pie filling so thought I’d comment again…I shop at Food Maxx (they also match prices) since we don’t have a Super WalMart (yet – city is fighting it) in our area. Food Maxx sells apple pie filling for $4.99 a can!! Cherry pie filling is higher than that. I was in sticker shock over that. Needless to say, at holiday time, I am buying a frozen pie and baking it. I am disabled so can’t spend long periods of time standing. However, a lot of these ideas I COULD do and will give it a try. Gotta do something about the price of our groceries. We are on a fixed income but prices are not.:(
Nice to see the gentlemen chiming in here! Great article, so helpful…and entertaining too. Have to try this again. Did it years ago when my children were young and it was really a time-saver.
This is sorta SOP here…
My being a single fella, it naturally evolved from the reality that purchasing the big container of chops, sausages meant trying to get the balance to keep….simply cooking the whole whack made preserving in “tupperware” or zip-locks much simpler—biology 101.
Then cooking up a big pot of goulash…basically everything in the pot…whether cooked separately or not…a balanced diet easily nuked…
Then there is the energy factor….which I exploit even further…heating with a wood stove enables signifigant savings in electricity….the nuker is the most used appliance…
Then there is the bonus of feeding guests with tasty, nutricious meals on short notice….I have never been accused of serving “left-overs”…or institution type grub….
Knowledge and experience with spices is an enormous help…
I pay someone else to come in and do the same thing. Basically, she commandeers the kitchen for about six hours once a month. She’s a vastly superior cook to either of us and- compared to takeout and going out to eat because those are the real alternatives in this household- it still saves money. Plus, we never eat the standard meal sizes so it goes a lot further than one would think.
I think one great benefit of cooking in advance, no matter who does it, is that the kids learn to eat a greater variety of foods. If the meal is already prepared, no amount of complaining is going to change what’s for dinner. That ends up to be a very good thing in the long run.
Boy did this bring back memories! I had three boys three years apart – the youngest two are twins. They’re grown up now, but I remember the horrors of going to the grocery store with them – it was a total nightmare. It took awhile but I came up with a sure fire solution. With the cooperation of my husband I would only take one child each time I went to the store and they got to go in rotation. It became a treat for them to go with me because they got to pick out one box of special cereal (read sugary junk) – and the rest of the cereal was the staples – like Cheerios. They looked forward to their turn and were on their best behavior because picking out cereal (and alone time with mom) had turned into a “BIG DEAL.” It was about the only time I could count on my wild animals being oh so good! Oh, and they quit complaining about the boring (but healthier) cereals they had to eat once the “good” stuff was gone.
And I still try to do some pre-planning and prep for my lunches. Now I buy enough lettuce for a week, along with the rest of my salad stuff. I prepare my lettuce all at once and keep it in a ziplock bag in the fridge. This is where a salad spinner is incredibly handy. Because I’m rinsing off all the sand and stuff on the lettuce, its got water on it when I put it in the bag. This keeps the lettuce extremely fresh for as much as 4 days. And I’m picky about fresh – I won’t buy bagged lettuce because it always smells like its moments away from rotting. Other veggies can be cut up ahead of time with the lettuce – like carrots and celery. I cut up my peppers and cukes each morning and put them in a baggie along with the lettuce – instant salad. Everyone at work is totally jealous of my salads.
I’ll also buy a large tub of cottage cheese at Costco (its half the price as the same stuff at the grocery store) and large bags of frozen mixed berries. Dump berries in container – break down cottage cheese into another smaller container – and I have my (extremely filling, low calorie) breakfast for two days. Repeat on Wednesday.
COUPONS = $ Dat da TROOF!
I used to live where grocery store would double or triple coupons.
Now I live where stores offer “buy one get one free” deals.
EITHER WAY:
1) Make your shopping Mantra: ONLY “ON SALE”, and “WITH COUPON”!!!
2) Start a coupon club among neighbors, or
3) Go dumpster diving (MY varant is the “paper recycling” site).
30 year ago, stores used to PAY ME to buy food/etc.
NOW, they’ve wised-up, but I *still* save THOUSANDS every year.
Make a game out of it…eat and live well!
Milk is $3.50 a gallon? Really?!
I don’t drink milk very much — I can’t get through a half gallon before it goes bad — so I’ve bought some powdered milk. Per gallon, it’s actually cheaper (just a big, probably enough to make up for shipping), and it lasts two years!
Same here until I discovered one of my all-time favorite household tips: sprinkle a pinch of salt into any milk, cream, or half and half as soon as you open it and the shelf-life will be extended impressively. You can also freeze milk, cream, and half and half. You won’t be able to whip the cream, but it’ll be fine for all other cooking apps. Oh, and yogurt seems to freeze well, too. I buy the (outrageously expensive) Greek yogurt just to use a relatively small amount in a couple of favorite recipes.
Other favorites to freeze are lemons and limes. The limes tend to become “ugly fruit” if left in the freezer long enough, but the appearance doesn’t affect the flavor…….and even the stoniest of these fruits will release tons more juice than they would normally have done without freezing. You can either nuke ‘em or if you’ve planned ahead, thaw them overnight in the fridge.
BTW, I have this pork in the slow cooker now and the smell is divine.
I live in the People’s Republic of Illinois so yes, it gets that expensive. Since this article published it dropped down a bit but it will rise again and I have two growing little girls who drink tons of the stuff. I probably go through 3 gallons a week.
II can freeze the Bolognese ragú for months, and it will still be very good. I use to freeze the tomato sauce (not ketchup) for italian pasta. I take it out when I need it, and can give it mediterranean flavors directly from my “Armageddon” garden (rosemary, oregan, sage, basil, chives).
Yes, keeping an armageddon garden is also good thin to save money.
Maybe next time you can leave a tip about how if you do cook ahead and the person you live with has an uncontrollable appetite and eats it all before you have a chance to enjoy the time off what should be done. Frozen? The food doesn’t even have a chance to cool off.
you need to stabilize their appetite. a pound of black-eyed peas simmered with a bay leaf for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until soft. Drain, then dress with slight oil- not necessarily olive oil- vinegar- white vinegar and cider vinegar both work- salt and pepper.
Or, can of refried beans mixed with a can of Rotel, nuke four minutes, stir, nuke again. Serve with chips.
both keep a person’s blood sugar stabilish, and the fiber keeps them level for a few hours.
It’s my go-to right after-school snack for the boys.
I started making my own beer. Better than the store stuff anyway!
I’m glad you mentioned beer! My next article is about home-brew…I’m working on it right now! Just bottled an English Brown Ale. Stay tuned…
The local grocery stores here in Eastern Washington almost always have various meats and poultry that are close to their expiration date at reduced prices. It’s been a long time since I’ve paid full price for those and the savings are significant. I also buy staples–flour, sugar, legumes and such in bulk and I can feed myself very, very well for less than $150 a month.
I waited long enough to comment that, probably, most of those who would comment have do so.
I know that, this is an honest article because of the entirely ingenuous admission of this weak area in parenting, . . . Lemme tell ya, Kid, children are “picky eaters” because they were trained to be that way; and too bad, but, the character flaws which evince in a “picky eater”, will show forth in other ways, as easily, . . . and worse.
You and your husband need to look around and get some new ideas, if in the very least, because, training the finicky traits out of our children is something which good parents do for the larger Society, but also, for the children’s future happiness at such a time as they will be engaged in managing real issues of character, . . . on their own, . . . wondering what’s wrong, . . . G0D Bless, . . .
I’m in agreement with you here. I admit that I’ve failed to train my kids to eat what I want them to eat. I can’t tell you how depressing it is when I give in a feed them buttered noodles for 200th time. However, I have a rule at dinner time that what I make is what they eat and if they don’t eat it they go to bed hungry. Sometimes they eat it and sometimes they don’t. But I haven’t wavered from that rule. If anyone has any ideas on how to train them to eat better I’m more than open to hearing it. However, because of my garden, my girls do love fresh veggies so there is no problem getting them to eat salads and greens and fruit. The big problem in my house is the protein intake. I literally have to pop it in their mouth while they’re whining. It’s frustrating.
If you haven’t already considered it, and if your children like smoothies, one thing you might do is add egg white protein powder to them, or any other shake-style beverages. Egg whites of course are a spectacular source of complete protein, and completely fat free. And at 24 grams of protein per 120-calorie scoop, there is almost nothing else that packs such a protein wallop for the calories. “Vitol” brand, that you can buy online, comes in vanilla and chocolate, and is a good buy. The completely flavorless type that’s available for baking use seems to be more pricey.
And if they like meat loaf, or at least hamburgers, you can also fortify those foods and still stay under the radar with the powdered milk Crawford mentions above (and I would choose skim).
My parents solution to this conundrum was to require us to eat a specific number of bites of everything that was served, based on our age (6 years old, eat six bites). We had two options; sit at the dinner table until we finished what we were required to eat, or save it for later (when bedtime rolled around, the second option was the only option). Until we finished those required bites of food, that was all mom & dad would serve for food. It would be re-warmed for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. Needless to say, we developed the skills to eat food we disliked very, VERY, quickly. They only had to this a few times, and now as an adult I have developed a much wider range of tastes than I otherwise would have (although I am still somewhat picky).
I tried the go to bed without food, but because of my upbringing (abusive) I could not stand the idea of my children going to bed hungry!! I vowed to change the mistakes my parents made and not ever repeat ANYTHING that felt similar! (I used to cook something special to ensure that he ate enough calories every night, but that costs too much money, dirties too many dishes, and creates a much more picky eater!)
So here is my solution to my picky 4-year-old’s eating: In my home, you MUST try one bite of each item served for dinner (save any breads), if at that time, the child decides they do not like the dinner, then they may have LEFTOVER dinner from another night!
That is it, no exceptions to the tasting! With this rule, my son has tried many new things and found that he likes them, and if it is chili or something spicy.. he will actually request a meal from a previous night that, prior to my new rule, he thought he didn’t like!!
Good luck.. parenting is a learning curve, what works for one child does not work for the next, and each personality and taste and temperment are different, so keep trying new ideas with each child!
PS, I am a mom of three, 19, 13 & 4, they are all healthy, no one is over- weight, under-weight, and are all physically active!!
… ooops one more thing… the smoothie idea is good, but my kids had texture issues, so no smoothies!
But… a big pot of Quinoa (sp?) made ahead of time and put in the fridge works for this. Heat it up with a little bit of milk and sugar and serve! Add their favorites like honey, banana slices, strawberries, cinnamon, brown sugar, maple syrup…etc.
Quinoa is VERY high in protien and can be purchased inexpensively in bulk at Trader Joes, Whole foods, SunFlower etc. Be sure to rinse well and I prefer the red to the regular!
Ah, but for this to work, both parents have to be on the same page. After my ex & I split, my oldest son lived w/him for several yrs. Sad to say, this man would not eat anything that might be construed as a casserole, and very few soups. He expected fresh steaks, chops, seafood, chicken, etc. every night. Sides weren’t very important to him. Also unfortunately, this was during the time the lil’ feller’s tastes were being formed, and he became a picky eater. When he came back to live with me and my younger son, it got so bad he wouldn’t even eat spaghetti sauce if it had a speck of green in it — no basil, oregano, thyme, parsely; but of course, he loved pizza. I held my ground, though, and while it took yrs. to undo the damage, he in no way was a poor/bad person in any other thing during that time.
I cooked this way for yrs., when the boys were at home. I HAD to coupon and searched like mad for bargains. There were times I had $50/wk. for *everything* one purchases at the grocery store (laund. soap, d.w. soap, razors, paper goods, etc.) for a family of 4. Buying in bulk, all at once, and using coupons was the only thing that made sense. Sat. making up the menu/list and couponing; Sun. to cook it all up. I was a full-time mom, and full-time employee. As the boys aged, it was a great help when we had stuff/events almost every night. They could “heat-n-eat” the moment they got home from school by scounting the small tupwre in the freezer, or pull out a larger one after checking w/mom if we were all eating at the same time.
IMHO, getting the kidlets involved in the side dishes is the *only* way to gently start them helping in the kitchen. Scrub the potatoes, put ‘em in a pot ready to boil (or ready for nuking), tearing lettuce for salad, unloading d.w. and setting table … every moment counts for working families (and really, aren’t we ALL?!). That’s what my mom did when I was little, and I ended up doing the harvest cooking at age 9 — 2 meals/day, 6 days, 5-6 people — and I just turned 54. These things just SEEM in the hazy, distant past, but they’re really not.
This is a great idea. Now I have a chance of actually using ginormous bags of veggies from Costco before they go fuzzy. Also, freezing preserves the vitamins they will certainly lose sitting in the fridge for a week.
Another good idea is to take advantage of sales before holidays. Like right now, before Thanksgiving, grocery stores offer loss leaders like free pies or turkeys with purchase and staples like flour, sugar, chicken broth, etc., become really cheap. Time to stock up. Last year I bought 6 frozen cherry pies for $2 each and we ate them all winter. One pie is usually like $8. Good deal.
Cheap and filling, standard Hungarian winter recipe: recession food.
1 head cabbage, washed, core removed, finely chopped into smallest possible pieces, use a Chinese-style chopper or food processor.
1 package wide egg noodles.
salt, pepper, sugar, oil.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok, add the finely chopped cabbage and cook stirring for about 30-40 minutes until the cabbage is reduced in volume and golden-brown (caramelization). Add salt, pepper and sugar.
Cook noodles according to package directions, drain, add a bit of salt, pepper and sugar.
Mix the noodles with the cabbage. Serve hot or cold.
Very filling and good for you.
After two hours, find your gym membership card and do a 1 hour workout or go for a long walk, to work off the calories.
Wally
Auckland, New Zealand
Megan, Find a traders joes near you and shop once a week — they bring in conventional and organic dishes from all over the world and it will save you cooking time and they are cheaper than whole foods.
Troy, this would defeat the purpose! I don’t WANT to shop once a week! I want to shop as little as possible because I have two whiny beggars to drag with me. I HATE shopping. So this tactic has allowed me to literally only go to the store once a month. My husband does egg/milk runs after work for me. And Trader Joe’s, while nice, is too expensive for us. We’re mostly Aldi people over here!
I commend you all for being able to save so much money on food.
It would not be possible for me to get by on $170 for a month’s worth of food for just two of us. I can’t even imagine trying to feed a family of four on that amount of money.
I do not eat meats or poultry from animals given antibiotics or hormones so I buy organic. This also applies to eggs. I only buy free range. And as much organic vegetables and fruits as possible.
All of that makes the food more expensive. It also actually tastes better. For instance the difference between a conventionally grown baking potato and an organically grown one is quite obvious. The color of a conventionally grown potato is white and has very little flavor whereas the organic potato has a golden hue and has a lot of flavor.
I do cook things like stews and pasta dishes and freeze portions for later use and certainly appreciate the time saved by having a ready cooked meal.
I am willing to cut down on many other things and I save money in other areas but food is just not one of them.
Megan, your blog is an ususual but refreshing addition to PJM. Thanks
Here are a few contributions from the upper end of the age scale….
In 1948 we got our first refrigerator, to replace our icebox, and a large chest freezer that went into the basement. The chest freezer was a mistake because I was too short (4’9″) to reach anything near the bottom without climbing into it. Later we replaced it with a big upright freezer. I could reach everything except the top shelf items and I had a stepstool to access those.
FISH: We liked to fish, both on the ocean and in mountain rivers and lakes. In the pre-plastic container days I froze fish in washed milk cartons. Now I use air-tight reusable freezer containers. I wrap each piece of fish in plastic wrap and store the batch in single layers in the containers. Then I fill the containers with cold water, seal them, and freeze. The fish doesn’t get freezer burn, doesn’t dry out, and tastes almost as good as fresh. A commercial fisherman taught us that trick. Stonger tasting (by nature) fish I let thaw in a pan of milk in the refrigerator. I use the ‘fishy’ milk in sauces, soups and casseroles.
TOMATOES: We grow far more tomatoes than we can use so I give lots to neighbors and friends. The rest I wash, chop coarsely (I compost the cores), and freeze in ziploc bags. They’re wonderful in whatever cooked dishes you make that require tomatoes, and have a much better flavor than the canned from the grocery store. They’re too mushy for tossed salad, though.
BUTTER: I buy real butter only when it’s on sale; we never use margarine. This week Publix brand is two pounds for $5.00. Leaving the paper wrapper on each cube intact, I wrap each in plastic wrap and freeze all but one cube. Or put four cubes in an old airtight Tupperware container just the right size. We use very little butter, but our great-grands love to make cookies with me when they visit.
HERBS: I chop fresh seasonal herbs and freeze them in non-stick miniature muffin pans with a small amount of water, then pack the ‘cubes’ into freezer containers. (Don’t forget to label the containers!) I just drop as many as I want into into soups, stews, sauces, etc.
QUICHE: For 60 or so years quiche, along with fresh fruits and juices, has been a favorite ‘full house’ family breakfast. I bake a variety in non-stick regular size and mini-muffin pans and freeze them. Bake them, frozen, on a rimmed cookie sheet at 350F about 10 minutes for the minis and 15 for the larger ones. We’ll have 47 family members for that meal this year, and I can do all the cooking ahead of time. I make the crusts from scratch, but circles of dough to fit the pans can be cut from refrigerated pie crust from the supermarket. The results just won’t be quite as tasty as mine
FIRST AID: For minor injuries requiring ice, I keep several small ‘zipper’ bags containing water plus a bit of rubbing alcohol in the freezer, 1 or 2 tablespoons of alcohol per cup of water. I zip each bag than put it zipped-end first into another zipper bag and zip that. I freeze them flat, one atop the other, in a baking pan. When they’re frozen I can tuck them in between other frozen items. The alcohol keeps the water from freezing completely, so the bags become pliable fairly quickly. They’re especially useful for the current skinned knee generation. I discovered Walmart carries, in its crafts department, sealable plastic bags in several sizes. I now keep some little ice packs in the freezer for little ‘owies’.