tonight I'm using left over roast beef (on the day we had it I diced it up for soup)--- but pot pie sounds better for some reason. I am adding a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and making a homemade pie crust and gravy.
when we buy a whole pork loin in a bag (the kind that is sealed up air tight)...... we cut what we can for pork chops then I take the not so nice end and freeze them after I have 3 or so I put them into the crockpot and add bbq sauce, shred for bbq pork sandwiches--- which we had last night (after you shred the pork you add more sauce)
THAT'S an idea I'm going to have to try!!! I do the same with steak. I buy a whole sirloin when it's on sale, and have them cut it for me. By the time I use them all up, they usually have it on sale again.
I love love love this topic. I quit my job to stay home and we were living on my dh's salary that was less then a third of mine. I had to get creative to feed us. First if you know anyone who hunts get some venison, or if you can buy beef by the half steer or something like that. We have a few friends who hunt and keep us well stocked in deer, my dad buys FFA steers and we can half with him. The beef is about $1 a pound and includes steaks and such not just hamburger. If you can't do that remeber the cheaper cuts of meats, and the bone in chicken save money. bone in thighs are 99 cents a pound now, and chicken breast are $2 a pound. Stock up on sales then use them before they go bad. Cut back on cheese usage, it is expensive and not all that healthy anyways. Use half of what is called for in casseroles, and such. Use potatoes, beans, rices, pasta, or bread as fillers in every meal. We very rarely would have meat as the main entree. Hamburgers, meatloaf, pasta sauce, meat balls, sloppy joes- you can use oatmeal, or bread crumbs to strech the meat. Another is to shop sales, but not coupons. I am a huge fan of coupons at walgreens and cvs (for another thread, but I am adicted to that.LOL). But other then that I dont' use them. I do not hardly every use them in the grocery store because we can 90% of the time buy cheaper store brand items. With the exception of a few items like olive oil and frozen pizza. Use a budget and a menu. The best way to save money on food is to use the food you buy and don't buy things you won't use. Make sure the fridge, and pantry are cleaned and organized before you go to the store ( 2x a month so you don't over buy) so you know what you need and don't buy things you already have. Another last thing is that you need to make sure and cook from scratch. No bags, or boxes, mixes or such. I do use frozen veggies or canned veggies. But other then that eveyrthing is chopped at home, and cooked here to. Pancakes are cheap and easy from scratch ( my 4 yo can mix them up by himself), but they are twice the price if you buy a mix.
When dh and I first got married, dh told me that he didn't like to eat leftovers. I told him that he'd have to get used to it, because I wasn't going to throw away good food. He's been eating leftovers for 24 years now. :angel: Sometimes I cut back on the amount of meat in a recipe, but dh is a meat lover, so he likes a lot of meat. He also doesn't much like veggies. Lately I've been trying to use potatoes more often, because they're one of the cheaper veggies, dh likes them, and they can be used so many ways. For me, I use a lot of brown rice and barley (I rarely eat meat). I cook up a batch of one or the other and add it to lots of dishes (I mostly eat different foods that my family does). I almost always have one or the other in the refrigerator to use at a moment's notice.
In the past we wasted a lot of food. Now I make smaller portions and freeze leftovers if I know we will not eat them right away. Great thread.
does anyone know what you can do with beef brisket, they had it on sale I bought one, made sandwiches with it but whatelse can I do with it?
We just grilled our beef brisket this past sunday, I made a nice rub and Mac cooked it in a pan on indirect heat in apple cider (keeps moist)--- it had already been trimmed of fat so we were worried it wasn't going to be juicy. OH I wish we had cheap brisket I'd load the freezer with it. I have found some crockpot recipes I would love to try.
Amy, our local HEB does a meal of the deal, where you buy a brisket and you get some free things to go with it. So, I got a couple of them, they are fully cooked and ready just heat and serve. I was just wondering what else I could do with it, because having beans with it or making sandwiches with it.
Oh hey Kris if its already done then how about making it into a shredded sandwich-- if you don't want bbq sauce how about mixing it with Italian salad dressing and heating through...... serve on a hoagie roll. make it into a sloppy joe like sandwich with a ketchup/brown sugar base sauce stir in some taco seasoning and make it a shreded taco filling (or even enchiladas!)-- or toqitos (I love those things!) creamed chipped beef on noodles or toast (make a white gravy with it stirred in)
Amy, thanks so much you have alot of wonderful ideas. Have you thought about writing or should I say making your own cook book, or book with short cuts, get what I am trying to say.
Thanks for the complements Kris....... but I'm too lazy to make my own cookbook...... I just use all the ideas I get from the other cookbooks and cooking shows I read and watch.
thats what I mean Amy, I want someone to put all those neat ideas into one book and sell the book, so you don't have to go through tons of books to find one thing. KWIM... You are so good at it. Our Little Miss Martha Stewart. LOL
we have what we call find all nite. i pull everything out of the fridge the same nite every week and what ever you find you get to eat. my kids like it. also i take left over veggies and throw them in a bowl. it might not be but a tsp full .i freeze it eventually i have enough for a stew.
well the other night I put a beef roast in the slow cooker it was a big one. We had hot roast beef sandwich with potaoes a day later, well I still had left over beef roast, I was racking my young (29) year old brain on what to make and guess what I come up with, I made a homemade beef pot pie and the gang sure loved it. I had left over baked potatoes I cut up into small pieces, add a package of frozen mix vegs. and make some gravy and mix it all together in a pie shell and baked and then make more gravy to go on top. It was great. Just thought I would share and let you all know young people can think and come up with some wonderful ideas too.
Well, we buy our bread from the bread store. That helps a lot. Because if you spend 5 bucks you get a loaf for free. We stock the freezer with it and then use it as we go along. Last time we got 8 loaves of bread for 5 bucks. This year I'm looking into buying beef from one of the mom's at our charter school she told me about .72 cents a pound for whatever cuts I need. That's soo up my alley. I also halve chicken breasts when making dinner and bulk up on veggies and salad at meal times and that seems to go over well. When we crave pizza we make our own, and spend half of what we would to buy pizza at the parlor. I make my own sauce and slice olives myself since the cans of whole olives are cheaper than sliced.
Here's our family's frugal contribution. First, we always buy chicken when it's on sale and put it in the freezer. Then, whenever we cook it, or cut the breast meat off to make stir fries, we keep all of the bones for a stock, and to get the very last bit of the meat off the bones. This usually gets turned into home-made chicken and noodles or chicken noodle soup. Carol
