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Save Time, Money and Energy with Make Ahead Meals

May 4, 2010 By The Recipe Mom 1 Comment
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Close your eyes and imagine walking into the kitchen once a month to cook dinner. Oh the thought huh? It can be more than a thought it can be a reality. On top of that those meals can be nutritious. Impossible to do you might say. No it’s a real possibility and it can save you time, money and energy too. There are numerous people doing it all around the world. Meal preparation is an important factor when trying to plan for a family or a stressful month. The more prepared you are, the easier it will be to have great-tasting and healthy food on hand even when you don’t feel like cooking.

This little feat can be accomplished two ways. The first is to prepare, cook and freeze. This gives you a meal that can be reheated in a flash. The second is to prepare, freeze and then cook. There are benefits to each. Let’s take a look.

Cook First and then Reheat

For those with time constraints, such as a second job, kid’s soccer practice or even a late night out with friends, cooking first is the way to go. Just as the title conveys, this involves cooking all of the food first, letting it cool down and then storing it in the freezer to be used at a later date. The best part about this preparation method is the almost-instant door to table effect.

Since this food is already cooked, it only needs to be warmed up to your liking which can be accomplished within a few moments of walking in the door. Unlike the freeze first method there is no fresh cooking. If you are not a fan of eating leftovers, this may not be the ideal preparation method for you.

Freeze First and then Cook

Combining all of the ingredients into a big pan and then freezing is a great way to have a home cooked meal on limited time. These meals can be prepared well in advance, taken out to thaw that morning. At dinnertime they can be easily slipped into the oven to cook through. This completely cuts out the prep time for that meal on that given day. Imagine getting home from work and pulling the bake set out of the refrigerator and popping it in the oven while you take off the day with a warm shower. By the time you are done, so is dinner.

This is a great way to get the home cooked taste without all of the work. By freezing first, the freshly cooked taste remains intact and nothing beats a good hearty meal to end the day. The only negative to this solution comes into play when the amount of cook time is greatly reduced. These meals still need to be cooked. The reheat in the microwave factor doesn’t apply.

With techniques such as these your food can be ready in a flash. It saves you time after a busy day, energy that most of us don’t have to spare and money. It’s much cheaper to cook at home. With these techniques you buy once instead making a trip to the store every other day. Try a day of cooking and freezing and see if how good it feels and how great those fast and easy meals can taste.

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Saving Dollars with Meal Plans

April 24, 2010 By The Recipe Mom Leave a Comment
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When it comes to saving money a meal plan is very important. It saves you money, time and keeps your kitchen life in order. Meal plans can be monthly, weekly or even nightly depending on the lifestyle. Each type of meal plan has its benefits as well as its hindrance but they can do one thing well. Save you money!

Different Plans for Different Lifestyles

By the Month – These meal plans are extremely helpful for families on the go. Monthly meal plans help big families and active families to see what is for dinner on any given night. It also allows those who are doing the planning to fit certain foods around the monthly schedule. For instance, on a night where all three kids need to be in different places within thirty minutes of each other, pizza might be a good alternative. Monthly menu plans may also include pre-preparation and freezing, making it easier as a grab and go type meal.

By the Week – Weekly meal plans are usually more typical due to the frequency of store visits. Most families abide by the weekly meal plan, buying just enough food for that week, so a minimal amount goes bad. This meal plan is best for a family that may not be on a tight schedule, but on a schedule none-the-less.

Every Night – Nightly meal plans offer the most flexibility when it comes to meal plans. These meal plans are usually for people who live near a store or market and are extremely health conscious. This specific meal plan usually includes copious amounts of fresh fruits and veggies. Since the meal planner has all day to come up with what they would like for dinner, these meals are usually more in depth when it comes to preparing.

Saving the Dollars

Meal planning in itself is a giant cost savings habit. It is a habit because in today’s microwave society, where we want everything instantly. It is extremely easy to stop at the drive through or order out if in a pinch for time. The savings comes in with advanced planning.

If you spend ten dollars a day for food at a restaurant, you can easily spend $200 a month, which equates to $2,400 per year. If you also figure that meal planning allows you to eat those same meals for five dollars a day, well you can calculate the savings.

Food is much less expensive if purchased in a store. Just take a look at the cost of a steak in a restaurant versus buying that same cut in a store and cooking at home. Funny how when we stop and think about it we can really see the dollar differences. The cost saving is ridiculous.

Try each type of these meal planning ideas to see which one works best. Remember everyone needs a break sometimes so when planning throw in a night out. This will ensure you aren’t chasing the money at the end of the month. If you stick to your game plan you will not only save the dollars but deliver great tasting and nutritious meals every time.

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Have Fun Saving and Sharing Tips

April 15, 2010 By The Recipe Mom Leave a Comment
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Finding great deals is an exciting adventure, but it is not an adventure to relish alone. By sharing shopping tips with friends and family, everyone can participate and be enveloped with the excitement of scoring the best deals. Here are a few ideas on how to share some shopping tips with those you love.

Over the past year, with the recession growing on people’s minds, the use of coupons has become an art. Help others find this fine art and teach them what you know. Compare receipts after every shopping trip to see who saved the most, both in total dollars and percentage of the final bill. For instance, one person may have saved $100 on their trip, while the other saved almost 80%.

Get together for coupon clipping and see who can find the most coupons for a certain item, or who can find the biggest coupon amount. Rotate homes each week and make sure you have some food at this get together.

List an item each week and see who can get it the cheapest. Let’s take Cheerios as an example. By the end of the week, the goal is to be able to combine the most coupons and store deals to get a box of Cheerios the cheapest. Of course, this is only one idea as far as making a game with your shopping habits.

Another possibility is to go through the week and see who can find the best deal, not even worrying about the category that it is in. Let’s say someone found a pair of shoes that were originally $300 and ended up with them, in hand, for $50, while another person purchased a certain brand of cereal for free, even though it never goes on sale. This game will have to be judged on a personal system, between friends because it is difficult to assign a point value across categories. The winner is whoever the group thought got the best deal on what they bought.

This goes right along with making a game of frugality. Invite a group of friends over and have each one bring a dish. To add to the difficulty, create a spending cap when making the dish. For instance, no prepared dish will be over five dollars. This forces people to get clever with their shopping and allows everyone else in attendance to get different ideas for frugal shopping and cooking. If the honor system won’t work for you, then have everyone bring in their receipts and award a prize to the best dish and also the least expensive meal.

The point is, when you share your shopping tips with others, everyone can win. Money is saved and fun is had at the same time. By sharing shopping tips with friends and family, you have just one more avenue to connect on, and isn’t that the whole point? Sure, saving money is great, but why not have some fun with those closest to you at the same time.

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The Butcher, Fish Monger and Local Produce Markets

April 8, 2010 By The Recipe Mom Leave a Comment
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The local grocery store is the one place most all of us go to shop. Yet it might not be the cheapest place or the most time friendly way to do our shopping. Befriending the butcher is the oldest trick known to shopping. It started back in medieval times and continues today but not as strong. With supermarkets importing much of their food, finding the right place to shop is growing more difficult by the day.

Depending on your shopping habits and how much money you wish to save, the factors on where to shop will be a huge decision on where to shop. Many of the smaller cities still have a butcher, fish monger and even a local farmer’s co-op where many items can be purchased for a fraction of the cost. Larger cities, with a greater industrial industry seem to be moving away from these localized specialty shops for more of a bulk shopping club type store.

The Butcher

Finding a local butcher is the best thing to do if your family consumes large amounts of meat. The butcher can provide certain cuts that you may not always find in larger supermarkets. Not only can they make specialty cuts of meat for you, they always know what is fresh and can provide tips on how to prepare certain types of meat.

Many butchers also can provide lower prices on meat because they are distributing operations. When the meat has to be sold to a supermarket, you have to pay the mark-up from the butcher as well as the supermarket that bought the product. Many butchers, if you get to know them over time, will be able to let you know exactly when meat goes on sale.

If you are looking for the best possible deal, inquire about purchasing an entire portion of a feed animal, or splitting one with your friends. Buying a whole cow or pig will stock your freezer, allow you to get the cuts you desire and can hold a huge reduction in price due to the quantity. This is the way to go when looking for the cheapest, but best quality meat that money can buy.

The Fish Monger

For the seafood lovers out there, finding a fish monger to befriend can also aid in cost savings. The fish monger has the inside scoop as to what fish is the most fresh and can prepare different cuts depending on whether you are planning for sushi, a catfish fry or a high quality tuna steak. If you get to know the fish monger, he or she can also suggest new items that you may like, but would have never thought about buying in a local grocery store; they may just turn out to be your favorite type of seafood.

The Local Produce Market

Between farm co-ops and local open-air markets, local produce is, almost always cheaper than buying from a store. Many shops import their produce, which means the goods are plucked from the ground or tree well before they are ready. This is done in hopes that by the time it is unpacked at the store, it is still in a semi-decent quality. Getting your produce from a local farmer will help support a local business as well as offer the freshest produce your money can buy. It is a win-win situation.

Take a look at the family eating habits. Then keep an open eye for local retailers who respect the food you eat instead of trying to make a dollar off of everything you buy. Not only can the butcher, the fish monger and the local produce market save you money and time but they can change the way you look at making those delicious meals.

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