Tuesday note day.
A few months ago I set out to scratch cook anything that was cheaper to scratch cook, It gave us the benefit of being cheaper and of avoiding preservatives and things we didn't want to eat.
Scratch cooking without spending all day in the kitchen was a priority, I realize that not everybody is retired and people have lives. While eating is a necessary part of life, it's not everyone's entire life.
The start of that mission was to find the cheapest price on quality ingredients, Buying bulk was the answer to some of those things.
The next step was to find easy ways to cook /bake the things o could cook/bake efficiently. I happened on to peasant bread, It is the cheapest , easiest bread you will ever make. Next to it is refrigerater bread and pizza dough. None of them have kneading, some of them don't have rising time, They aka taste food, Our pizza dough is thin crust, It's what my husband prefers and I like a chewier crust, but I'm diabetic and thinner ismbetter for me. Having a few go to breads that you can almost have memorized cuts costs dramatically. A loaf of scratch bread 🍞 costs about twenty five cents or less. A pizza dough to fill a cookie sheet costs .17 and takes less time than you think, It's a matter of mixing the dough ( I use a food processor) , letting it sit for 10 minutes while you assemble the toppings, and rolling or patting it out. It's a favorite thing to do for our year old and she's getting really good at it. Pizza once a week is a winner for the whole family and easily fills a meal plan square.
I have had a slow cooker for years, They are getting really inexpensive for basic units, Imwoukd buy one with a timer in it, it's another way to cook scratch and not take a lot of time doing it. The common name these days is a dump dinner. There are ways to omit those cans and jars if ready made ingredients and still not take a lot of time. Cream soup base is easy, Hey, if my culinary challenged husband can do it, anyone can! Lol. To his credit, he did build our house with a carpenters hammer, two thirty dollar drills, and a twenty five dollar skill saw. No small Feat!
Another way to cut the ready made ingredients is to make your own spice blends. It only takes minutes and you control the salt and the heat of the spices. A good way to teach children counting or fractions. Non alternative math! Lol 😂 This new math kills me. One plus one is fourteen? Too bad my banker doesn't think that! Lol.
Pre cooking some meats before you freeze them saves time. You are cooking bulk meats and portion controlling them. It takes the same amount of time to cook three pounds of hamburger as it does one pound of hamburger. You just use a bigger pan. It makes some meals a snap. Things like getting Mexican sloppy joes in the slow cooker takes minutes.
Scratch soups are filling, cheaper than canned soups and have a lot less sodium. Slow,cookers are a hit here. A few ingredients and you're out if the kitchen . Throw a loaf of bread in the oven and you have a glorious meal - sometimes for next to nothing.
My objection to cooking dry beans from scratch instead of using a can of beans was the time factor. Intellectually I knew that canned beans had more salt in them. But , beans and rice have a very short referigerster life and don't freeze well and keep their texture. We have foir people in our home. I have to cook small quantities. The thought of soaking beans overnight and then changing water and cooking the, was not my idea of fun. Que insta pot. It's as easy as put beans in pot. Add enough water to cover beans, don't fill pot more than 1/2 full when cooking anything that expands, Cover,
set to seal mode, and push the bean button. Done.
The basis for chilli, soups. Refried beans. A stretcher for tacos 🌮.
Using scratch ingredients and passive cooking is the key to cooking efficiently and saving money while feeding your family good food .
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