Cheap and tasty tips for cooking more frugally
Everyday food costs can be reduced in three ways: by purchasing cheaper products, by reducing energy used in cooking, and by freeing up time that could be spent on other activities.
Cutting back on the cost of staple foods can be accomplished in three ways: by purchasing cheaper products, reducing the amount of time spent preparing, and freeing up more time for other activities.
Cheaper products
Don't be afraid to buy things that are on sale in stores. Promotions are made up of many different parts. This means that a promotion is not just because a product will go bad in a few days, which is usually the case with fresh produce but also depends on how stores plan their marketing for the next day.
So a sale doesn't always mean the oldest product on the shelf, especially if the sale is on something that can stay on the shelf for a long time; we can buy more, like canned goods or pasta. But fresh items on sale because they are about to go bad, like meat, can be frozen after they are bought to save money.
It's also important to remember that fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season will be the cheapest. Carrots, potatoes, celery, and parsnips are cheaper in the fall than at other times of the year, so we should use them now. You can put vegetables in a lot of different dishes, from pasta to meatballs.
To make meatballs cheaper, we can add breadcrumbs, which can be slightly dried (but not moldy) bread that has been dried and risen ahead of time. To finish the mix, we can also add rolled oats or half-rolled oats and half-grated vegetables.
Energy saving
Buckwheat can be swollen instead of boiled to save electricity, gas, or the wood used to heat the oven. Buckwheat doesn't have to be boiled. We can cover it with water the night before, put it in the fridge, and the next day it will be ready to eat after just a little heating.
In the same way, pearls, lentils, peas, and beans should be soaked before cooking so that they cook faster. Every minute of cooking uses energy that we have to pay for.
Peas and lentils are the cheapest ways to get the protein that you can find in stores. You can buy a whole package of peas, and it's a good idea to eat them every day. You can also chop vegetables more finely to cut down on cooking time and energy use.
For instance, small pieces of potatoes can be boiled for three to five minutes instead of a half hour or more. You can also save energy by turning off the oven just before the food is done cooking. The heat in the oven will be enough to cook the food all the way through.
Saving time
People often choose to buy ready-made, more expensive foods instead of cooking them themselves because they don't have enough time. But you can always find recipes that don't take a huge amount of time. For example, instead of buying expensive sweets for your next party, it would be better to make chocolate mousse.
Chocolate mousse
Ingredients:
One bar of dark chocolate (100 grams);
50 grams of butter;
Two eggs;
80 grams of sugar;
Sweet cream;
vanilla essence;
berries for decoration.
Preparation:
Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it with the butter in a water bath or the microwave, but don't let it get too hot. The chocolate and butter should be warm, but not hot, before adding the two egg yolks. Mix the ingredients well.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites with the sugar until they are stiff. Mix the chocolate, butter, and egg yolk mixture with the egg white mixture. Then, fold the whipped cream, a teaspoon of sugar, and a little vanilla extract into the creamed mixture.
Put the mixture in the dishes with a spoon, and the dessert is done. It's best to make it the night before the party so that the chocolate mousse can be set in the fridge. The dessert can be topped with berries from the garden or the wild.
