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Save money and feed your family with leftovers!
By Elizabeth | July 6, 2008
Desperate Cooking for Tight Budgets by Sandra Jensen, reprinted by permission.
Have you decided to cut corners anywhere you can in order to pay bills and save money? Do you need to feed your family this week with little or no money, or the ability to go grocery shopping? Don’t panic! You might just have enough on hand to get through.
Here’s how: Grab paper and pen.
Walk through your kitchen, taking inventory of everything you have in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer, organizing your list into categories, such as meats, vegetables, pasta, etc.
Sit down and think creatively. Consider what veggie and/or pasta you can team with which meat to make a meal. Broaden your normal menu; be brave enough to serve some things you maybe wouldn’t normally serve. Think outside the box and serve breakfast for dinner!
Carefully write out your meal plan for the week, and be diligent to stick to it!
Here are a few kitchen budget-savers I’ve learned:
Eggs can really stretch a dollar! Breakfast casseroles, quiches, or just plain scrambled eggs with cheese are always hits. If you’ve got a handful of hash browns or a potato you can shred up, that will stretch them too. You’d be surprised how just a few slices of bacon, or a piece or two of ham that wouldn’t be enough by themselves can work for a dish like this!
If you’ve saved small amounts of burger, sausage, chicken, pork or bacon and frozen them in baggies, you’re really doing good! Even ½ – 1 lb can be stretched in many dishes to feed a family!
Bisquick (or generic baking mix) is a lifesaver – for pancakes, biscuits, potpies, dumplings, and crusts.
If you have staples on hand such as flour, sugar and oats, you can mix up your own muffins or granola bars for breakfast, sack lunches or snacks for after school or in the car when you’re on the run (lots cheaper than stopping off for fast food!)
Use those lonely boxes of Jell-0 and pudding for desert or stretching lunch boxes. A can of fruit or a little sliced up fresh fruit can jazz up the Jell-O. If you find some Cool-Whip in your freezer, the kids will think you’ve gone all out for them!
Make a pot of soup or a potpie with the little bits of vegetables you have left in the frige or freezer.
Use that rice with some carrots, mushrooms and green pepper to make a stir-fry (almost anything goes!) If you don’t have any meat, use a couple eggs instead.
Think you can’t do anything with one small carton of yogurt? You can make smoothies using it plus a handful of frozen berries, or a banana (over-ripe works best) and a shot of juice or milk.
A can of cream of celery, mushroom, or chicken soup can stretch a little meat a long way! Use it in the crock-pot or for a casserole, serve with a vegetable and some noodles, rice or biscuits and you’ve got a delicious meal!
Think you’ve got nothing for desert? Just a few apples dipped in peanut butter, or some oranges scrubbed and quartered on a plate are great. How ’bout that lone cake mix – make it as is, or add a can of crushed pineapple and brown sugar on the bottom for a pineapple upside-down cake.
Odds and ends of bread, or the crusts you’ve saved in the freezer can now be used for French toast, homemade stuffing or croutons, or bread pudding.
Thinking to toss out the last of that potato chip or Doritos bag? Don’t! Use those crumbs on top of a casserole for added crunch and flavor!
You’ve heard the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention”? Being desperate in the kitchen is how I’ve come up with these tips. As you stroll through your own kitchen, you too, will concoct clever ways to put delicious meals on your table without breaking the bank.
About the Author: Sandra Jensen is a dollar stretching mother of four boys. She’s learned a trick or two about feeding a hungry family on a budget. Grab her ebook, Freezing It and Loving It, today:
Topics: Menu Monday | 15 Comments »
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15 Responses to “Save money and feed your family with leftovers!”
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July 6th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
That is really budget saving technique. that will help a lot without loosing a balance diet.
Really helpful
July 6th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Eggs are a GREAT idea. Cheap, healthful, nonfattening, high in protein…it really doesn’t get any better than that. We’re trying to save money at the moment, and our fridge is stocked with eggs for all sorts of different things – breakfast for dinner, egg salad sandwiches, poached eggs on toast….mmm.
July 7th, 2008 at 1:30 am
What great ideas. So glad I stopped by and read this post!
Ericas last blog post..A Cheap, Easy, and Delicious Summer Dinner
July 7th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I have an Uncle who refuses to eat leftovers. Personally I think many dishes are actually better the second time around. But even if I didn’t, I am far too frugal not to eat leftovers.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Liz-I could eat a ham and cheese omelet for dinner any time, but my husband has this rigid ideas of what constitutes dinner food, and eggs aren’t on it!
July 8th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Erica-Thanks! I’m glad I use the Comment Luv plugin, because I want to come read your “Cheap, Easy, Delicious Summer Dinner” post! :)
July 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I really need to start living on this blog – I’m having a hard time budgeting and cooking foods that we ALL like. I end up wasting so much food buying things for all three of us – my cooking organizational skills are a MESS right now.
hollis last blog post..Mommy’s Little Helper. [Flickr]
July 9th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Lots of great ideas there, it sounds like a good buy.
There’s at least one recipe site I know of (allrecipes?) that lets you search by what ingredients you have (and leaving out ones you don’t). The Internet is a great place to find lots of recipes.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I really love the ideas that you shared. Thank you so much.
Amie Whittles last blog post..
July 15th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Love the list! Never thought of using crumbs of chips before.. sounds yummy! Thanks for sharing.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Great idea.
November 10th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
[...] it. A few measures had to be taken like remove the kids from daycare, change our living habits by cooking some cheaper meals (I would have more time for that), take advantage of energy plans we have (and that sometimes we [...]
March 9th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
A little bit of planning and you can really save money on your groceries. We plan our meals weekly and plan on eating left overs for one or two nights. If it looks like there will be extra, I put it in the freezer to use as lunch in a week or two.
April 25th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Not only are these fabulous tips on saving money, but saving ourselves from wasting food as well! The majority of the world’s food is not dispersed evenly, leaving so many people with nothing to eat. It’s a shame for those of us who have access to food to waste it friverously.
Another great tip: boil a huge pot of potatoes with the skin ON. They will last up to 5 days, are inexpensive, high in nutrition, and are ready-made to mash, use as home fries, or just heat up and have a boiled potato with dinner.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Really useful money saving tips. Thanks for sharing.