Another great strategy for saving food costs: own and effectively use a freezer
As a single person, the effective use of a freezer will keep you from eating the same meal night after night. As a family (or single), a freezer will allow you to take advantage of all the seasonal sales, and also give you options for the bounty gardens produce (yours or the neighbors :))I currently own two freezers, an upright freezer (yes, this is my freezer) and a chest freezer. I tend to find things go into the chest freezer and never come back out if I don't carefully organize things. With an upright freezer, careful organization keeps you from getting your toes broken when things fall out and hit your feet when you open the door. I use plastic bins to keep my things organized in both freezers. (Thank you, Simplified by Bobbi!)
An obvious use of freezers are putting in the loss leader items you find, such as corned beef, turkeys, hams, etc, that you can buy at great prices and stock up a years worth.
Another option I love is pre-preparing meals in meal size portions and freezing the. I do this with a lot of foods... meatloaf, chicken in sauces, etc. Then, all I have to do is pull out a bag, let it thaw in the fridge over night, and the next night, throw it in the oven. All the tedious chopping, mixing, etc is already done. This is great time saver! There are several awesome cook books and websites out there that will help you do this.
One of my favorite things to put in my freezer in ground beef or ground turkey, already cooked and ready for recipes. When I find great sales on ground beef, I stock up, usually 10 lb at a time. Per pound of ground beef I use one onion chopped and 1 tsp of crazy mixed up salt. Brown until done. I bag this up in freezer bags, label, and freeze. It is ready for all of my meals calling for browned ground beef this way. Yes, it is a lot of work to cook 10 lb at a time, but I only need to clean up after it once, and it is more time efficient to do it all at one time too! Then, when I making tacos, cheeseburger pie, spaghetti with meat sauce, shepherds pie, etc... one step is already out of the way.
Do you use your freezer to cut down on food costs? What is you favorite way to save on food costs with your freezer?
"The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down." Proverbs 21:20 NIV
I had NEVER heard that term before! I am always watching sales, but have never bought for like a years worth, but I see now how certain things would be so worth doing that like turkeys, corned beef, ham. oh...here's a tip for anyone out there who has passed up a turkey sale for any reason on big turkeys. I usually buy a big one and have the butcher cut it in half and freeze each half. if it's already frozen, they will still usually cut it for you. gives you a lot more options than cooking a big turkey. even a half at a time makes a lot of meals!!
ReplyDeleteHaving them cut that turkey up for you is a fabulous idea. It always takes some creativity for me to come up with meals I don't get tired of, especially since I am not a fan of white meat. I tend to either put it in soup or make turkey salad for the freezer.
ReplyDeleteI just had a thought...a lot of people like one or the other and not usually both...dark...white meat. maybe sharing/splitting the cost of a big turkey with someone would be a great idea. like a co-op kinda thing. have the butcher cut the whole thing up just like they do chickens. instead of in half like I've done, have them cut into...leg and then breast quarters. would be sooo much cheaper buying it at a great sale price and then getting it cut up and split the cost with a friend who likes white meat.
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