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10 Smart Ways to Save Money When Cooking

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Let’s face it. Cooking for a family costs a fortune, especially for those who are interested in working with high-quality ingredients that offer a lot of nutrition. Based on some extensive research, 62% of the average annual expenditures goes to housing, transportation, and food. With around 13% of our annual expenditures, food can be the easiest place to start if we want to save some money.

Luckily, there are some great ways to make healthy, filling meals without going over your budget. Keep reading the tips below to find out more.

1. Stock Up

Keeping a well-stocked pantry reduces the need to head to the grocery store as often, so you end up spending less on food each month. The trick is to buy a few extra dried or canned goods each time that you go. For added savings, check out the weekly ads at the grocery store first. That way, you can tailor your shopping list to what they already have on sale.

2. Eat Less Meat

Meat is the most expensive part of any meal. So one of the best ways to cut your food budget in half is to start making meatless meals. The trick is to use a cheaper vegetable-based protein in them instead. Some good ones to try are peanut butter, nuts, tofu, and beans. Or you can throw in a few eggs. At just a couple of dollars for a dozen of them, they are one of the best bargain-buys you can get.

3. Plant a Vegetable and Herb Garden

No matter where you live, there is always a way to grow a few vegetables or herbs. Use flower pots out on the balcony or windowsill. Or ask your friend or neighbor to borrow a little yard space. Just be sure to only plant vegetables and herbs that you know that you will eat a lot of.

4. Repurpose Food Scraps and Leftovers

Getting your family members to eat the same old meal two or more times in a row is next to impossible. So the best way to make sure that leftovers don’t go to waste is to either freeze them for another day or use them in a brand new way. For example, scraps of meat taste great in omelets, and vegetables can be tossed into a big pot of soup.

5. Try Out Store Brands

Paying for name-brand items costs a lot more than just picking up the store-brand version. And there is no difference in the quality. In fact, if you compare the labels of both of them side-by-side, you can see that the ingredients are usually identical.

6. Forage for Fruits and Nuts

A good portion of the fruits and nuts that trees produce end up going to waste because no one picks them up off the ground. Also, many people forget that they don’t have to buy everything from the store all the time. If you don’t happen to have any fruit or nut trees growing nearby, head to your local park. Just be sure to contact your local officials to make sure that it doesn’t go against any city regulations first.

7. Have a Meal Plan

Planning your meals makes saving money so much easier, especially if you stop to calculate the cost per serving of each meal. It doesn’t have to be an exact amount. Just estimate as closely as you can how much each of the ingredients that you intend to use will be.

8. Don’t Shop When You are Hungry

Never go to the store when you haven’t eaten in a while. It will make it harder to avoid buying snacks and other things that you don’t really need. If possible, try to wait until after you have just eaten a healthy meal. That way, your brain will be more focused on choosing other healthy items to add to your cart.

9. Buy Frozen Foods Instead of Fresh

Fresh food is best because it has the highest nutritional quality. But unless you have to feed a large number of people, a lot of it can end up going bad before you have a chance to eat it. So the next best option is to head to the freezer section. With the proper technique, the frozen food will taste just as good once it thaws, but it will cost a fraction of the price of buying it fresh.

10. Buy in Bulk

Many stores sell foods with a long shelf life in bulk packages, such as flour, salt, and pasta. They are helpful to have because they can be used to stretch other fresh or frozen ingredients that you get later on. Just be sure to compare the unit price before you buy them to see how much you will be able to save. Some stores sell items in a larger size without reducing the cost.

Final Thoughts

So, if you feel like you are spending a lot of money on cooking items and products, then you should definitely do something about it. Even though cooking with high-quality ingredients can be, sometimes, pretty expensive, there are a lot of alternative tips and tricks for you to try.

I hope these 10 tips will help you manage your cooking budget better and actually make you spend your money more wisely.

A Dad’s Guide To Matching Pasta With Sauce

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When you’re looking for a fast, easy, crowd-pleasing homemade dinner option for your family, it’s hard to beat the appeal of pasta and sauce. Whether you cook with spaghetti, rotini or something else, there is a world of options available for making that pasta delicious. Make some fettuccine Alfredo, spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna Bolognese or bucatini with tomatoes and cream. One factor to keep in mind as you’re planning your meal, however, is that not all kinds of pasta complement all sauces interchangeably. In fact, the shape and size of pasta have a direct impact on the best sauces to go with it.

How can you know what pasta to use with what sauce? To help you make the most of your meal plans, here are a few key pairing tips to keep in mind:

  1. Skinny noodles are versatile. Pair spaghetti or angel hair with tomato sauce, meat sauce, cream, vegetables, oil/butter or seafood.
  2. Flat noodles absorb sauce. Long and flat ribbons of noodles are great for thick sauces, as they have more surface area for soaking up sauce.
  3. Tube pastas pair well with thinner sauces. Short and long pasta tubes like macaroni or rigatoni work beautifully with holding thin sauces.
  4. Tiny pastas are ideal for soups. Wondering what to do with a tiny pasta type, such as pastina? Try it in soup. Other good possibilities include salads and baked pasta dishes.

When it comes to pasta and sauce, you’ll get more from your mealtime when you think strategically about your pairings. The tips above are a great place to start. Are you interested in learning more about pasta types and sauces? Check out the full breakdown of smart pairings in the helpful infographic from DeLallo Foods below.


Matching Pasta With Sauce Guide from Italian Food Supplier DeLallo Foods

No Time for Dinner Duty? 5 Man-Approved Slow Cooker Recipes any Dad can Pull off

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Being a great dad is all about balance. You have to provide for your family, take care of your kids, and make time for yourself to relax and recharge. And, even if your partner makes it look easy, doing all that while keeping up with cleaning, cooking and your daily to-do list can be a major challenge.

Things like cooking and cleaning can be the last thing you have time for when you’re home alone with kids, and it can be really stressful to try to do everything at once. But next time you are in charge of getting dinner on the table, try out one tried-and-true trick that all the moms know about: the slow cooker!

Read on for a list of slow cooker recipes that are good enough to serve on football Sunday, but require no fuss and even fewer ingredients.

1.     Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast

This will make a basic pot roast meat in a snap, with absolutely no effort. If you want to add some chopped carrots or potatoes, they will cook along with the meat. Or just serve it with a bagged salad and some baked (or microwaved) potatoes.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 5 1/2 pounds pot roast

Just throw the canned soup, soup mix and water into the slow cooker and stir. Add the meat and coat it with the liquid. Leave it on high for 3-4 hours or low for 8-9 hours.

2.     Slow Cooker Barbecue

This is the perfect barbeque recipe if you want some no-fuss barbeque meat. You can get some buns and use it for barbeque sandwiches. Serve it for lunch with a pickle and some chips. Or use it as a topping for a baked potato dinner.

Ingredients:

  • 1 (3 pound) boneless chuck roast
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 (18 ounce) bottle barbeque sauce

Put the meat into the slow cooker first. Sprinkle it with the garlic and onion powders and salt and pepper. Next, pout the barbeque sauce over everything. Let it cook on low for 6-8 hours. Before it’s done, shred it and cook for one more hour.

3.     Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

This sounds fancy, but it’s super easy to make and absolutely delicious for tacos, nachos or any other Mexican-style dish. To make tacos, just buy some tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese or sour cream.

Ingredients:

  • 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
  • 1 (1.25 ounce) package dry taco seasoning mix
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • 3 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Rinse and chop the cilantro. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just get it in pieces. Put the salsa, lime juice, taco seasoning and cilantro into the slow cooker and stir. Put in the chicken and sitr it all to get the juice covered. Cook 4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Shred the chicken when it’s done and serve.

4.     Slow Cooker Taco Soup

This taco soup has a long ingredient list, but most of it is canned so you only need to throw it into the slow cooker. This soup is so good. The kids will love it, and it’s grown up enough to serve to friends.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 (16 ounce) can chili beans, with liquid
  • 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans with liquid
  • 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, with liquid
  • 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
  • 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers
  • 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

Cook the beef in a skillet until it’s brown. Drain it and put it in the slow cooker. Add the onion, chili beans, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce, water, diced tomatoes, green chile peppers and taco seasoning mix. Stir. Cook on low for 8 hours.

5.     Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Wings

If you don’t already have the ingredients at home, this recipe might rack you up a few dollars at the store. But, after that, you can make these wings over and over. Simply add everything to the slow cooker and you have wings for the kids’ lunch and tomorrow’s game all in one!

Ingredients

  • 5 1/2 pounds chicken wings, split and tips discarded
  • 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle chile sauce
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 3 drops hot pepper sauce
  • 1 tablespoon salsa
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Put the chicken in the slow cooker. In a separate bowl mix together the chile sauce, lemon juice, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, salsa, chili powder, garlic powder and salt. Pour the mixture over the chicken and cook on low for 5 hours.