Making More Meals with Less!

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My new blog contest will be discussion about how you are keeping your grocery bills under control while food and grain prices skyrocket. I want you to talk about how you are stretching your food dollars by making MORE WITH LESS.

More with Less has been one of my most favorite cookbooks, next to Sue Gregg books that I have been using for over twenty years. I like the way they have time saving recipes and lots of “gather up the fragments” ideas to use up a little or this and little of that. Nothing goes to waste. The food is delicious and nutritious.

To get you started, I will tell you I have been making a game of using up dribs and drabs in my freezer and on my pantry shelves while improvising recipes as I go. I have only bought eggs, milk, fresh veggies, yogurt, butter and cheese for the last three weeks. My goal is to keep going until the shelves need restocking!

For example I made Stir Fry with vegetables on hand and a small amount of leftover roast beef (about two servings of beef) that fed six last week. Tomorrow night I’m making leftover Chili Soup with the following ingredients I found in my freezer today: Leftover pinto beans, baby sausages, and frozen corn. I will be adding onion, cumin, chili powder, garlic, Monterey Jack cheese salt and pepper and a dollap of sour cream in the soup. I used corn chips as a compliment to this soup.

When my husband saw this soup he thought, “What is this?” But it came out quite well, after adjusting the seasonings. Our friend Laura joined us for dinner and thought it was great. I surprised myself it concocting something yummy with leftovers.
Prize winners will be judged based on creativity and originality of their ideas. Specific ideas with pictures and recipes will get top ratings. (Email digital photos in jpg format to marilyn@urbanhomemaker.com so I can post them.)

I will be awarding a copy of my ebook, Fast and Healthy Menus for Busy Moms to the top 10 Winning posters.

I will award a Grand Prize of all four of my ebooks to the best overall entry: Fast and Healthy Menus for Busy Moms, Breakfasts for Busy Moms, Sensational Summer Salads, and A Beginner’s Guide to Baking Bread. (A $34.00 value)

Comments

11 responses to “Making More Meals with Less!”

February 6, 2008

Lynne in NC

This is one of my goals for 2008 — using up what I have in storage.
Thank you for motivating me further through this contest. I am looking forward to reading (and seeing) all of the submissions.
As always, your ideas and products help me to maintain a happy home.

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February 6, 2008

Karen

In order to save on our food bill lately, we have tried to be faithful in four areas. First of all, when I make out our menus every two weeks, I try to get as many “carry-overs” as I can. These are meal ingredients that were purchased on the last grocery visit that we did not eat. I plan meals for the entire 14 days, but I have made a better effort lately of using up all of our leftovers before moving on to something new. Some days it may only be a side dish, but on others we may have enough to make an entire meal, which is the second way we are saving. In our menu plans every other Friday’s lunch is leftovers. The children and I eat whatever odds and ends were left over throughout the week in spite of our efforts to serve them with the next meal. This usually means that everyone gets something different, or only a spoonful or two of something, but we are always filled when we finish, and the children have learned to be quite creative with food combinations! I also have learned to save EVERYTHING that is left over. If it is possible, I freeze these small portions to use in soups or casseroles later. The last way we save is not on our actual food bill, but does affect our budget. Any scraps left on plates after a meal are tossed into a small pail that is fed to our flock of laying hens at the end of the day. Some days we must supplement with their regular feed, which they get each morning, but when we can offer them our table scraps, it cuts down on their “grocery bill” as well, and saves us a little bit more money.

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February 6, 2008

Deb Allen-Tuott

Making Meals w/ less

One day I made a crockpot rice breakfast dish overnite to serve the next day . This was very new and different for my children. I had enough leftovers to take and make into a yummy rice pudding for dessert. I have 6 children -3 are big eaters and while I prefer my children have seconds , a dessert once in awhile is great especially when it is whole grain!!!! They loved the pudding and didn’t even realize it was leftover breakfast!!

Crockpot Breakfast Rice (I doubled this for my family of 8)

4 c Long grain brown rice
4 c unsweetened apple juice
4 c water
2 c. raisins
4 tsp ground cinnamon

Crockpot Rice Pudding

Take 8 cups of leftover breakfast rice from above and add:
9 large eggs
4 1/2 c. of milk
1-2 c. brown sugar
6 tsp. vanilla
3 tsp nutmeg
1 addl. cup of raisins
2-3 T of butter optional

Combine and cook in crockpot for 1-2 hours or till thickened. Stir during the 1st 30 minutes. ( You can also cook this on the stove w/ a cover on low heat stirring more often so the milk doesn’t burn.)

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February 7, 2008

jenny M

Well- I’ve been dating everything when I buy it so that I make sure I use it. I stretch taco, enchilada, burrito meat by adding rice to the mixture- we get double the meals. I’ve also been paying better attention to the food pyramid and realizing that we are over consuming dairy and that once we have gotten our calcium for the day, we drink water instead.

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February 9, 2008

Erica Burgan

I try, as often as possible, to take advantage of the community food bank’s Harvest Club. For $22 (it just went up from $18), anyone can purchase a “box” of food. It is really a FULL shopping cart full! Yesterday, for example, I came home with a dozen eggs, gallon of milk, 1 lb. of ground beef, a whole chicken, package of hot dogs, several cans of corn, several boxes of crushed tomatoes, Oreo cookies, Nestles giant chocolate bar, two apple pies, 4 heads of cabbage, 4 bunches of leaf lettuce, big box of baby spinach, several bags of leaf lettuce, several bags of salad mix, two pkg. of celery hearts, 2 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 5-6 loaves of bread, hamburger buns, 3 large pkg. of flour tortillas, several cans of applesauce, apple jelly, peanut butter, box of elbow macaroni, can of chicken noodle soup, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff I can’t remember right now. Talk about a bargain!! Of course, since we live in the main agricultural area for lettuce for the U.S., we get ALOT of produce in the winter. Not so great a deal in the summer. But this REALLY helps my family keep our budget low, and the items that we don’t eat or is too much to consume before going bad, we give to a men’s rehab center that really needs the help. So we are able to share alot and still save alot!

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February 11, 2008

HeatherJ

This one won’t win me the book, but I find it extremely helpful to put a piece of paper (usually a spent envelope from a bill ~ no waste!) on the fridge with a magnet. I keep a running “tally” of what leftovers are available at any given time… for instance:

1 serving spaghetti
3 hard boiled eggs
2 servings broccoli salad
etc…

As they are eaten, I scratch them off the list. Some evenings we are all eating a different thing, but that’s okay. Kind of fun for the kids, really… like ordering from a menu.

This way things are less likely to get pushed to the back and forgotten!
Works for the freezer, too.

Hope this helps someone!
~HeatherJ

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February 19, 2008

Kristin

I freeze chicken broth in ice cube trays and use them as a way to flavor dishes. Doing this allows me to use less meat. I also use the broth in place of oil or butter.

For example, if I am preparing chicken broccoli casserole, I will steam the broccoli in a few cubes of broth. This gives a nice chicken flavor to the broccoli and I can use less meat in the recipe without loosing the chicken flavor.

This also works great for boiling pasta. Just add a few cubes of broth to the water. The noodles come out chicken flavored and less chicken can be used in the recipe. I have also used this method when I needed to prepare an inexpensive pasta dish but have no actual chicken on hand. The pasta is chicken flavored, add some leftover or fresh chopped veggies, mayo or oil and spices. I have prepared this dish for church functions and homeschool parties when I could not afford to provide a meat based dish.

I also use the broth in place of oil or butter for stir-fry recipes. I just throw a couple of broth cubes in the skillet with veggies and stir-fry them in the broth instead of oil or butter. You may have to add a cube or two while it is cooking if it gets too dry. This works well with stir-fry chicken as well, it gives extra flavor.

One of our favorite dishes is rice and veggies. I add the broth to the rice as it cooks and also to the veggies when stir-frying. I really load up on the veggies to make it a hardy meal and the chicken flavored rice is a nice substitute for chicken.

In case you are wondering how I get the broth if I am making all these “chickenless” dishes…I make chicken salad the first of each month (hubby thinks it is a basic need for living) I freeze the broth from the cooked chicken into ice cube trays then I pop them out of the trays and store them in a zipper freezer bag.

I am able to prepare several dishes each month at very low cost using this method. The savings allows me to bless my husband with the chicken salad, which I love to do.

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February 25, 2008

Janet Duff

Before sharing a few things I’ve been doing, I’d like to thank everyone else for sharing such great tips!

I have also been exploring the back of my pantry and discovered a few forgotten ingredients.

My best inspiration has been the set of Sue Gregg cookbooks that I purchased this month. The Lentil and Rice Casserole made great lunches for my daughter and I. We ate it in burritos and also as a Taco Salad topped with the usual taco trimmings. It always smell great while it is baking.

My husband and family don’t particularly like leftovers, but I have been tryings ways to make them look ‘fresher’. I think it helps to put them in the ‘special occasion’ dishes rather than the every day bowls I ususally use. I also think it helps to have fresh baked bread or a special dessert to distract them. I’ve also stopped announcing that we’re have ‘leftovers’ and apologizing for it.

I also have a tendency to get in a rut and prepare the same things over and over. Browsing the resources and recipes on http://www.urbanhomemaker.com gives me fresh ideas. I purchased a turkey on special recently and plan to use the recipe for preparing the turkey ahead and refreezing that I found on the website. It would be great to take to our next church dinner and share with our church family without the last minute rush.

I live near a discount grocery store and visit more often to take advantage of changing inventory.

Giving thanks always to God for His care and bountiful provision.

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February 28, 2008

Mrs. Kelly Martin

Such great ideas so far! WOW! One of the simple things that I do in our home in order to keep a food pantry (because everyone gets scared of that idea, wonders how on earth to do and how to actually afford it…..) is simply the cans of food that we don’t use that week, I slip into our food pantry. (Which is actually a closet on the side of my kitchen).

God has blessed me with this dilengence I must add. One month my Beloved was layed off of his job, and money was so very tight. But because I had been just “slipping cans into the food pantry”, our dinner table was never an issue of stress for me or my sweet husband. I didn’t have to worry. God had given me the insight to just put a few cans back here and there, and all of the sudden my pantry is full and we are able to shake off an worries.

Just a little at a time…and even these little changes will bless your family in times of stress.

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February 28, 2008

Malia

We have been using our own milled wheat for several years. We have learned to use a good combination of hard white and hard red wheat and have replaced any store-bought flour with this combination. We use it for pancakes, waffles, bread, cookies, etc. My family MUCH prefers whole wheat home-made bread to any other variety.

We are just now starting to learn to use the soft white wheat. I am looking forward to learning how to make my own buns for burgers and barbeque.

Love your site!
Malia Russell
http://www.homemaking911.com

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March 4, 2008

Kelley

I don’t know if this is still open or not but I’ve enjoyed reading all of the ideas! With gas prices skyrocketing and food prices going up, yet our income staying the same, we’ve had to become creative with our food budget. We’ve implemented several strategies. We are teaching our children portion control. Rather than heaping their plates full and throwing much away, we are teaching them to start off small and if they are still hungry, go back for seconds. We also have a C.O.R.N. meal once per week (Clean Out Refrigerator Night). What we don’t use up that night, we have for lunch the next day. Left over veggies and bits of meat go into a freezer container for a pot pie or soup. I have even added left over cheese sauce (homemade of course) to this container and it made a wonderful soup! Last week, I had left over gravy and used this as a binder for the pot pie. IJust added the contents of the freezer container and put a crust on top. It was delicious. We have also been having soup or beans/cornbread at least once per week. This really helps cut down on food costs and is very nutritious. Beans are very inexpensive and good for you! We try to use powdered milk in cooking recipes and found a source for raw milk. We try to make all of our own bread but will visit the day-old bread store for hot dog buns or hamburger buns. We try to make everything we can from scratch (cheaper and healthier). Rather than using canned beans for recipes, we just cook our own dried beans in my pressure cooker. We try to use less meat and stretch meals by using more pasta, veggies or rice. I do make a menu for two weeks at a time. This cuts down on my gas costs going to the store as well as those impulse buys. Breakfasts are usually simple things such as grits, oatmeal, cinn rolls, smoothies, waffles or muffins. Even leftovers can go into the muffins (left over apple slices and be diced and tossed in, left over corn for corn muffins, etc.). In doing some of these things, I realized how spoiled we had become and how frugal past generations lived. It really has not been that difficult and praise the Lord, we have been able to stay within our budget these past few months, even with the rising costs.

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