Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Month of Saving Day 4

Today is kind of a no-brainer, but something we have not been good at recently. It is really two-fold:
1. Make what you can from scratch. While this takes more time on the front end than preparing something out of a box, it is usually better tasting and better for you on the flipside. It's amazing how many things I usually have the ingredients for in the cabinet that I either never use or just don't want to take the time to prepare myself. We delivered some homemade cookies over the weekend and the feedback we received from a man whose wife cooks primarily out of a box was, "It's probably a good thing my wife doesn't know how to make these." Cookies are not the only thing we are making from scratch around here... pie crusts, noodles (Grandma Kessie I need your recipe), cakes, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, bread, etc. Flour has many more uses than a box mix of any kind. I am not a chef by any stretch of the imagination, but with some patience and a little creativity, we have had some pretty stellar meals around here recently!
2. Eat leftovers. I used to be the queen of not eating leftovers. For some reason, I felt it just wasn't necessary, so we didn't do it. We wasted WAY too much food. I am embarrassed to admit this, but we probably threw away more than we were eating at home. Due to the "NO EATING OUT" commitment I talked about on Day 1, we have had no choice but to eat leftovers. Man, some things leftover are FABULOUS!!! Lasagna, chili, pot pie, white chili, to name a few. Last night we had a turkey pot pie, and today, we finished it at lunchtime. It was stinking delicious!

So, while I can't put a concrete number on the savings we will incure by making food from scratch and by eating leftovers, I would say it is safe to say that for every homemade meal and every meal where we are eating leftovers, we are saving ourselves a meal out. Cha-ching!

Stay tuned tomorrow for another exciting experiment!

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