Two great ways to save GOBS of money:
1) Bake your own bread
2) Make your own soups
I buy beef neck bones and made soup stock and always buy whole chickens (unless there’s a sale I can’t pass up), save out the backs, tail, and wing tips to make chicken stock. Lately I’ve been canning what stock I don’t use up...need freezer space this summer for squash.
I have Bouillon cubes for emergencies, but like my homemade stock better.
And I make my own pizza.
I make exceptions for some of the chain baguettes which are par-baked and the store just finishes them, those are excellent, much better than I can do without a fancy oven.
Soups are a favorite here as well, considering the cats sometimes hide my teef.
/johnny
I have been doing this for 45 years, and it is completely worth making your own bread and soup!
When I was feeding 4 hungry kids, and hubby was starting a business, cooking from scratch was essential, and getting weaned from recipes was more important than cooking from scratch.
Now, stay with me here. Learning to have a house full of staples, and then combining them into simple healthy meals is the secret. Every time you “read a recipe”, and have to go to the store to buy an ingredient, you are wasting time, energy and money. And, if you are hauling kids along, you know what happens! They beg for stuff, and it becomes a negative experience for all.
So, learn to cook the basics. Rice, baked potatoes, pasta, (legume beans).
Get the spices, seasoned salt, and dried herbs you like. Stock your favorite pasta sauce, broth or bullion, canned items like clams, anchovies, olives, tuna fish, salmon, etc...Dehydrated chopped veggies, like in my last post...
Add sausage, hamburger, stew beef, other cheaper cuts of meat and fish to your freezer, buy butter in season, and freeze it. Powdered buttermilk is great for baking, which leads me to....
You get the idea. You make your meals from what is in the house. Learning to bake your own bread actually saves you a lot of money, so take the time and learn how. I used to do it by hand when I was young and energetic.
Start with basic white sandwich bread until you get the feel” for what the dough should look and feel like. Buy yeast in bulk, and store it in your freezer. Learn the basic proportions from the back of the bag of flour, and I recommend King Arthur flour, and keep trying until you get good at it.
My family got together and gave me a wonderful mixer two Christmases ago, and my bread is even better than ever. It is a Bosch Concept 7000, and I adore it! Much better than the Kitchenaid, in my opinion.
If you combine good ingredients, go lightly on the salt and other seasonings until the end, when you taste and adjust according your preferences, you will be a great cook before you know it.
The secret is to stay out of the market except for weekly or bi-monthly trips, and learn to cook from your pantry.