How to adjust a recipe

Many recipes sound really good, but have real expensive ingredients or start with a mix. A lot of times a minor adjustment will make the same dish just as good, but cheaper.

Blueberry pie or cobbler first comes into mind. Blueberries have been inexpensive a lot lately. Blueberry pie filling is a little blueberries and a lot of " sauce".
all that "sauce" consists of is sugar and cornstarch. To make a blueberry cobbler, grease a 8x8 pan. Put washed and drained blueberries in it. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of sugar (less if using sugar substitute) and a tablespoon of cornstarch. Toss berries.
Make the cobbler part from the Bisquick box. Put the blueberry mixture in the oven for an extra 5 minutes, or until the berries are bubbly. Then add your cobbler mixture and finish baking off. My daughter and I tag team this and have a cobbler together in five minutes flat!

You can do the same thing with blackberries. They may need more sugar.


Any recipe can be made cheaper if you substitute for the ready made part. Cream of mushroom soup is often the base of some casseroles. Use a thin white sauce.
White sauce is 1T fat ( butter, olive oil,vegetable oil) in a saucepan. Barely heat and add 1T flour and make a paste. Whisk in quickly a cup of milk, cream or chicken stock and milk mixture and whisk until thick. This makes 1cup of sauce. Multiply the recipe for how many cups you need.

This is the base for Mac and cheese. Make two cups of white sauce , after it is thick, add grated cheese. I use whatever cheese is in the cheese drawer of the fridge. Bits and pieces of different cheeses make a good Mac and cheese. I top it with dry bread crumbs mixed with parsley and parm that I have run across the micro plane. It makes the cheese real fine grate. Bake at 350 until heated through. About a half hour.

Often times if I don't have a fresh herb in my garden, I use more dried herbs instead.


Bisquick biscuits are really fast and easy and a lot less expensive than the ones out of a tube.

Hamburger helper is noodles and sauce. It often costs more than the meat you put In It.


Toppings to cover chicken are just breadcrunbs mixed with herbs and cheese. A few minutes work, and the are 4.00 a pound where I looked.

Take a calculator and figure out how much some things in small packages cost per poumd. It will really surprise you.

Thanks for stopping by

Jane