12 things not to buy .....

Never say never, but...

• Bread crumbs.  Why pay upwards of 2.00 a pound for someone else’s dry bread and throw your heels away. Anytime you have bread heels or rolls that are gong stale, process them in the food processor and put them on a pan with sides in the oven that you have just used.    Or put them in the oven to dry and then grate them if you don’t have a food processor.   I used to grate them on the deck with a sheet pan under the box grater.   
• Breading ( shake n bake ).  Mix in equal parts dry breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and chopped nuts.   A low carb version of breading that tastes delightful. 
• Chicken stock in boxes or cans .The  cost is prohibitive.  At three dollars, that’s most of the budget for a five dollar dinner.   In order to maintain a four dollar a day budget for a family of four, you need five dollar dinners,    Use chicken bouillon, or make it from scratch. The same holds true for veggie stock or beef.   
• I used to say pizza sauce, but I discovered pizza sauce at the DT.   Freeze it in ice cube tray,  and pull out 2cubes per pizza.   
• Meals in bags in the freezer case especially those that   you add the meat to.   It is basically sauce, starch, and veggies.   Do it yourself, find the recipes for the sauces your family likes.   Most of them take a few staple ingredients.   
• Hamburger/tuna meal boxes.  Even at a dollar, it’s a huge waste.  The one my daughter and I dissected, had 4.2 ounces of pasta and 1.57 ounces of a cheese sauce that had no cheese in it.  You added milk to make it cheese.  Much better off buying a box of pasta and using real cheese without the preservatives.   You can still get Barilla pasta at the DT. 
• Frozen pancakes or waffles.   Flour is really cheap in large bags at Costco.   I suspect Sams club would be the same.  Even buying a ten pound bag from the regular store is much cheaper than buying ready made.  You can use bisquick or a recipe for a mix and do it ahead of you are in a hurry,   You can freeze your own and use cereal box liners between pancakes. Or make french toast and freeze.   
• You will find some cream soups in my pantry on a limited basis.   Cream soup mix takes just a few minutes and saves a lot of money.   Even with coupons, the cost is becoming prohibitive on a five dollar dinner budget.  If an ingredient costs more than the protein, there is a problem.   
• Shortening, lard and some other oils.   The information that I found says that hydrogenated oils thicken your blood.   Canola oil and some vegetable oils along with olive oil are better alternatives.  Butter in moderation is better than some of those fake butters. Palm  oil is bad for you.  If it is bad in Nutella, it is equally bad in your fake butter.   Some fake butters may be better than others. Read the ingredients and look them up.   You can usually find the ingredients in line before you go to the store.   
• Parmesan cheese in the green cans.  It’s old.  It has wood pulp in it.   Look closely at the ingredients, they try to hide it on heir description, but it’s there.   
• Look closely at the boxed Mac and cheese ( homemade is better) .  Some have TSP in them. You can also find tsp in some kids cereals.  TSP is a detergent that we used to sell at the paint store where I worked. It was used to degrease and clean walls before painting.  You needed to use rubber gloves to protect your hands.   Enough said. 
• Fake maple syrup.  Real maple syrup is worth the cost,  it knowing children they don’t know the word moderation.  I’d
• If you  can, making a fruit syrup and controlling  the sugar  would be a good alternative.   At least they would be getting the benefit of the fruit.