Tuesday- how did she do that. .....

Let’s talk about easy hacks that save time and/or money.

1. After making chicken breast or thighs on the insta pot, or on the stove, save th chicken stock for soup.  You can freeze it in ice cube trays or just keep it on a jar in the fridge if you are going to use it soon,   
2. Save heels of your bread for bread crumbs.  Why pay two dollars or more a pound for someone  else’s dry bread. Just break it up and put it through the food processer and put on a sheet pan on an oven you have usd and turned off.   
3. A small spatula gets all of the mayonnaise oit if the jar.   
4. Pickle juice can be used again by adding jalapeños , or carrots and cauliflower, blanched green beans, etc. I would hear the pickle juice and blanch the veggies. 
5. Leftover piece of chicken that’s too small for another meal.  Make chicken salad sandwich.  Just add mayo and pickles .  
6. A u tube friend ( April Holly Smith) cooks a bunch of potatoes 🥔 ahead and keeps them in the refrigerator.  She calls them refrigerator potatoes. Then you can use them through the week. She has a lot of grocery Hauls and ideas in food, 
7. Portion control, portion control, portion control.   If you don’t serve more than one mealsmworth of food, no one can eat more than one meals worth of food.   No one person needs to eat the most of a two pound roast.   If you are expecting to get another meal out of it, don’t put all of it on the table.   Teach children to look at who hasn’t eaten yet before they serve themselves .   
8. Yogurt parfaits are a good addition to a breakfast for dinner meal that is shy on protein,   
9. Milk that is near its pull date?  Make pudding.  Or bread pudding f you have bread going stale.   
10. Leftover rice can become rice pudding, or added to a soup. 
11. If you use half of something, make a concentrated effort to plan how you are going to use the other half. 
12. Leftover chili. Have burrito bowls or rice and beans to stretch it and not have the same thing two days on a row.  It is especially hard to cook a smaller amount of somethings  or there are only two or three in the family, 
13. Taco meat can be tacos, taco soup, or nachos,  
14. Cooking a bulk hamburger meat and de fatting it then portion controlling it in quart bags saves a lot of to,e.  You are more likely to de fat a large batch, than you are if you are cooking a smaller amount at dinner time,   Out the quart bags in a gallon bag and label.  You have double bagged you meat and have better organization in the freezer. 
15. Dollar store baskets in the freezer and refrigerator are an easy inexpensive way to organize . 
16. Containing all of one item is a good way to avoid that mystery thing in the back of the freezer or fridge. 
17. Meal plans are a great time and stress saver. Posting them tells other family members that you plan on using that leftover rice or whatever for another meal.   
18. Having a certain amount of “free” foods tells older children that they can snack on all they want of those foods and you are,nit depending on the ingredients for a meal.  We had top ramen, PBand J. Beef and bean burritos, and air popped popcorn .   
19. Keeping a small stock of food, preferably a four to six week supply, means you don’t have to go to the store of you are sick or have that dreaded s word.  (Snow and ice ) .
20. Always keep a few easy easy meals in your freezer/pantry for times when the resident cook is sick, or not available.   That frozen pizza is nit so bad if you have the flu or are away.   It’s insurance against the take out demons,