I decided from time to time to publish notes in which I will tell you how I can reduce the costs of certain categories of the budget.
Today I decided to start with food costs, which in any family make up a significant part of the monthly expenses. At first, in my view, and then in my practice, ideas appeared regarding how you can not spend on the power of the lion’s share of income, but there is delicious and healthy food. I will tell you about my experience and give several examples of what exactly I cook and eat. I will not give the recipes the recipes themselves, since the corresponding sites are full, however, I hope that my tips will be full enough for you to find the recipes of the dishes that interest you yourself.
I want to make a reservation right away that the written below requires a little to move away from the stereotypes of power and attitudes towards it (in terms of what some consider with food and what is a snack before eating), but the result is worth it: now, having bought only tomatoes and garlic , I know that having added breading crackers to them, after 30 minutes I will get a modest, but delicious dinner.
Several features of my “diet”
I don’t eat meat
I eat little bread and pasta (with the exception of pasta)
Otherwise, I am absolutely omnivorous and not without the desire to get from food not only saturation, but also aesthetic pleasure.
The content of my refrigerator will not surprise anyone: oysters and lobsters are not stored there, but mice are not found there either – a refrigerator, like a refrigerator, and a set of products is quite ordinary. The main rule that I adhere to when filling it is the maximum compatibility of products and the most complete use of available. Now in more detail.
1. Experiment
Try to constantly experiment with products – find new recipes and embody them in your kitchen. The undoubted advantage of this, in addition to savings, will be 1) finding very simple recipes that save a lot of time 2) acquaintance with various national cuisines.
I recently conducted an experiment with such a banal vegetable as turnips. It turned out that the baked turnip with apples is very tasty, moreover, super -economic. A huge field for experiments is provided with ordinary eggs: they can be frozen, and then spread the yolk on bread, and the protein is used for the preparation of an omelet, you can also prepare acute aioli sauce, squirrels for baking. Japanese cuisine – just a storehouse of interesting “inventures” with this product, Italian cuisine – will teach you how to quickly cook vegetables, and Spanish and Portuguese – fish.
2. Use the products completely
We do not even realize how much food we throw. It is necessary to learn to plan food in such a way as to use the available products to the maximum. At first, this seems to be some kind of holoby: “Well, why will I use these waste?”But in the long run it turns out that such” redness “brings real material benefits in the ideas of funds that are always not enough.
For example, boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes, a decoction can be used to bake cuckper flour cakes. In cakes, then you can wrap the salad, vegetables (meat, fish), season with sauce – and the excellent snack is ready. Instead of cakes, you can make corn acute chips such as the Nachos – then huge expanses for experiments with Mexican cuisine 🙂 From one trout of medium size you can: make 3 fish steak, salivate fish for sandwiches, boil a rich fish soup. I sometimes buy a fresh baguette, which I never have time to eat to the end – after 2 days it dries … and becomes an excellent material for the preparation of breadcrumbs of crackers!
3. Freeze the prepared food in the freezer
It often happens to me that on some days I spend all evening in the kitchen, and then I don’t eat at home at all, or I have no desire to cook anything. Odim from the options for leaving the situation are fruits such as avocado: poured with lemon and ready. The second exit from the situation is to cook and freeze food.
Everything that I cook in the kitchen is about 2-3 meals. I eat one portion at once, and I freeze the rest until the moment I have a state “I do not want to cook today”. It works great for both the first and second dishes. The only nuance: potatoes are not recommended to defrost in the microwave; Still, the rest is excellently experiencing a link to the freezer. In addition, this approach allows you to diversify nutrition and not sit for half a month on the only pasta (this is figurative).
These are some of my small tricks that help to keep themselves within the budget. Someone may object that the lack of meat is a huge saving article. I agree only partly. I do not eat meat, but I buy it for a cat among other products (he needs a separate food with dietary meat), which is about 2 kilograms of paired beef or lamb output for a month. This is quite comparable with my monthly meat consumption earlier.