A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned -
Benjamin Franklin

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Eat What you Have

One week a month don’t buy any groceries and use what you have. Only buy produce and dairy products if necessary.

After a rigorous spring cleaning, which included the kitchen cabinets, I realized that three quarters of the stored food had expired.

Go through your pantry and freezer and see what you can use. Any doubts if something is still fresh, check on Still TastyWhen re-stocking the pantry, put newer cans and packages to the back and use older products first.

During the month put any left over vegetables into a zip lock freezer bag or a Glad container and put in the freezer. You can use these for soup during the no grocery shopping week. If they’re raw, you will need to Blanch them before freezing.

One easy slow cooker meal is taco soup. Put whatever vegetables you want to use in a slow cooker, add a package (or two if you have a lot of vegetables) of taco seasoning. Optional: Add chicken or beef cut up small. Cook thoroughly for 5-6 hours. Serve with rice.

If you have a lot of canned tomatoes, make spaghetti sauce. 

While looking through my pantry I found enough ingredients to make Ginger cookies. This recipe was on a blog and I wish I’d made a note of who to thank for it. I had all the ingredients except molasses so I substituted that with brown sugar.

2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 tbsp. ground ginger
2 teasp baking soda
1 teasp. ground cinnamon
½ teasp. salt
¾ cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg, unbeaten
¼ cup molasses (I substituted ¼ cup of brown sugar)

Sift flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a sifter.
Cream shortening until soft, add sugar(s) gradually then beat in egg and molasses.
Mix dry and creamed ingredients together.
Form teaspoonfuls of dough into small balls.
Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 350 for 12-15 minutes (tops should be lightly browned)


You may also find you have ingredients on hand to make Chocolate Brownies in a Mug