Cheap Cooking Tips
by Tash Hughes of
Word
Constructions
When you are operating on a budget,
every cent can be important. It isn’t easy to make a
little money go very far, but we all need to eat to
survive and to enjoy life.
Enjoyable food doesn’t have to be
caviar, champagne and gourmet, as long as it is fresh
and full of flavour food can add pleasure to even the
tightest budget.
Here are some simple tips for
eating well on a budget:
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Splash out and buy a few herbs and garlic.
You can add a lot of flavour and interest to any meal by
adding a pinch of herbs or a clove of garlic rather than
adding commercial sauces or frying the food
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Visit your butcher towards the end of
trade, especially the end of trade before a weekend, as
they often reduce prices to sell things quickly. This
also applies to green grocers and bakeries.
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Buy in bulk for non perishables such as
tinned tomatoes, oil, vinegar and pasta – but check that
the bulk price really is less than the usual price.
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Grab opportunities. For instance, if you
see a box of tomatoes very cheap take them home and make
huge batches of pasta sauce to freeze for later use. If
you make chutney, jam or preserves this can be a very
effective way of eating delicious food for less.
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Learn to cook only the amount needed or be
sure to use left overs otherwise you are wasting money
when you throw out the uneaten portions.
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You may be surprised to find that homemade
soups are quick and easy to make, fill you up and cost
less than a take away meal would. Try some chicken
stock, water and a tin of creamed corn, or boil some
bacon bones and split peas. It really is that simple!
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Use every part of the food that you can.
For instance, keep all chicken bones and then boil them
up to make chicken stock. You can add onions and other
vegetables as you make stock, but you don’t have to.
Once made, the stock can be used as chicken soup or form
the base of other soups and casseroles. Chicken stock
adds a lot of flavour to dishes and this home made stock
is much cheaper than stock powders and the like.
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Grow some herbs and vegies in the garden
or pots. The result is fresh and tasty food that costs
practically nothing, yum!
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Buy generic products instead of branded
ones, and shop around. Some generic items won’t suit
your taste so it is then worth paying more for another
brand – it isn’t a saving if you buy the cheaper item
and don’t eat it.
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Look out for discount shops and discount
racks in major stores. You will often find perfectly
good food here that is close to the use by date so they
want to sell them quickly. As long as you use the
product soon, you won’t notice the difference between it
and an unreduced item. Remember that the use by date is
actually a guide so many foods are fine for a period of
time beyond those dates anyway.
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Be willing to experiment. Use a little
imagination, some left overs and herbs to create some
great meals. If you have a collection of left overs,
serve them up like a smorgasbord and enjoy the variety!
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Find some simple recipes that you are
happy to eat once a week or so, even if they’re a bit
less exciting. One very cheap meal a week may allow for
one delicious not-so-cheap meal a week, too. Noodles
with some vegies, scrambled eggs with tomato, spaghetti
with yoghurt and garlic, toasted cheese sandwiches and
baked potatoes with cheese and ham on top are some
basics you can fall back on.
Tash Hughes is
the owner of
Word Constructions and is available to solve all
your business writing problems! From letters to
policies, newsletters to web content, Word Constructions
writes all business documents to your style and
satisfaction.
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