"cshenk" wrote in
:

Just curious what tips the rest of you might have? I've been getting
a fair number of emails direct (names NOT to be mentioned here but
there are about 15) asking for information but afraid to post because
some here get really rude about this one.

My own way: Mostly fresh foods, few packaged pre-processed items.
Crockpot (low cost to run) and chest freezer (efficient model, lets me
get bulk loads and store flour in an area where bugs are a big
problem).

Lets let the lurkers lurk quietly while we see what others use?



"cshenk" wrote in
:

Just curious what tips the rest of you might have? I've been getting
a fair number of emails direct (names NOT to be mentioned here but
there are about 15) asking for information but afraid to post because
some here get really rude about this one.

My own way: Mostly fresh foods, few packaged pre-processed items.
Crockpot (low cost to run) and chest freezer (efficient model, lets me
get bulk loads and store flour in an area where bugs are a big
problem).

Lets let the lurkers lurk quietly while we see what others use?


Depends on what one considers "eating well" which would probably vary
wildly by individual.

For me (married no kids) we buy a lot in bulk. The people at Costco know
us well. I like Costco because while the prices are not always "cheap"
you can find high quality food for a better price than most supermarkets
or specialty stores. Some of their pastas, olive oils, spices, cheeses,
and meats, are really good deals considering the high quality of the
food.

We buy quite a bit there in bulk. Everything from meats to cereal. We
can't normally eat their bread (most require you to buy 2 loaves) quickly
enough before it goes stale, but often we can split that with my parents
or sister. We have a small chest freezer so storage of bulk chicken
breasts, ground beef/turkey, etc., is no problem.

While some may argue that they aren't cheap and may no save you that much
money I find our FoodSaver vacuum sealer to be indispensable. We've found
that we can really keep things like cheese and sliced meats much longer
in the fridge when sealed. Again we buy the rolls of sealer bags in bulk
from Costco at a pretty decent price; maybe close to the cost of ziploc
bags.

I was shocked at how well the smoked salmon did when sealed and frozen.
You'd be hard pressed to know it was. We also use it on veggies. If we
buy bulk things like brussel sprouts, green beans, and asparagus we
usually blanch them, move them to ice bath, and them seal them with
salt/pepper or spices and butter. Sometimes a little bacon/ham in with
the green beans/brussel sprouts. These can then be pooped in the
microwave for a couple minutes for a quick and tasty vegetable side dish.

Not quite as good as fresh but pretty darn close. That yields 2 bonuses.
One: we make use of buying bulk veggies, and two: we have quick healthy
foods for weeknights where we don't have time to cook.

I'd consider our diet “healthy” given that we incorporate a lots of fresh
or minimally processed foods. Dry beans are about as cheap and healthy as
you can get. Once you master the pressure cooker you can even turn them
out in short time. We do this a lot on weekends where we cook a lot of
food for the coming week.

Aside from the vacuum sealer we tend to use more Tupperware or reusable
containers rather than using rolls of foil, plastic wrap, or ziploc bags.
Over time I'm sure those things add up and we're not creating as much
waste. I'm not an diehard environmentalist but I do try and consider
that everything I pitch in the trash is not just magically disappearing.
It's going somewhere and the less I send there the better.


Whew. Long post and I'm sure more thoughts will surface while this thread
grows. I think most of what we do is pretty common sense and I"m sure
others have some pretty neat ideas. We don't really focus too much on it
but for us I'd asy *buying bulk* is the primary way we save on food
costs.