Back to Basics

:cue collective groan:

Nothing epitomizes the differences in spending between my husband and I than lettuce.

While Greg is an excellent steward of our savings, his day-to-day spending on groceries pales in comparison to mine. Not that he doesn't try to save money.

Greg will clip coupons, hunt for loss leaders and stock up when he sees a particularly good savings, but he has demons too. Because he lives alone and must cook for himself so often, he saves time by buying prepackaged, pre-sorted, and pre-washed lettuce.

There are other time-saving foods he buys, but the lettuce always stabs me int he heart. Oy!

Greg claims it tastes better, and of course it saves him loads of prep time. 

At first he scoffed at my salads, cursing their ancestry because it didn't include six different micro-greens. But the other day, I noticed a change. He was beginning to like my salads again, especially now that I added spinach, baby carrots, homegrown cherry tomatoes and onions, and a sprinkling of feta cheese. Sometimes I'd shake things up with other extras depending on whether I have them in the house, like mushrooms, olives, radishes or avocado.

While I'm satisfied with a simpler salad, the trick to satiating his palate was to enhance plain greens with the extras.

Granted, it won't keep him from buying the prepackaged salads when he's on his own, but at least he's knows there are alternatives. Marriage saved!

There are so many prepackaged foods on the market today, it boggles the mind. While some are necessary for quick work in the kitchen--like canned goods--most are designed to dupe you into thinking that you are way too busy and important to do it yourself. Flavor and palatability be damned.

The most outrageous one I've seen is bread with the crust snipped off. Honestly, how hard is it to take off the crust? At least then you'd have something to feed the birds.

The one time saver I use is canned refried beans. Yes, I can make my own, but it takes hours of boiling whole beans and then refrying and mashing them.

Do you like to use prepackaged foods? Is there one prepackaged food you'd hate to do without?

Next to food staples going on sale the week before Thanksgiving, after-Christmas shopping is my second favorite day to find sales.

It used to be my very favorite day, but after you get a few decades under your belt there's very little you need around the house. I use after-Christmas shopping to stock up on generic gifts for neighbors or drop-in friends. I also stock up on things like gift bags and tape.

In the old days, before stores got smart, they used to mark down holiday themed paper products to up 75% off. It was the same roll of paper towels--just with snowmen on them. I would buy them by the CASE. 

Then one year, the stores figured it out and they stopped stocking them, or stocking so few that nothing was ever left over. I was very sad.

But...since I don't use a lot of paper towels, I'm still living on the rolls I bought twelve years ago. It brings fond memories when I see those snowmen.

By the time this post airs, I'll probably be on my way home from shopping. I usually go very early in the morning and hit the stores as soon as they open. By me, that's Target, Walmart, and Kohl's. Here's what I do to prepare for my shopping assault.

• Plan your itinerary by hitting the store that opens earliest first.

• Go with a plan. I happen to need disposable baking tins for the casseroles and pies I'll give away as gifts next Christmas, so I'll buy those supplies now while they're marked down.

• Never take children. And only take a spouse if you can rely on him to take orders and do reconnaissance at the other end of the store while you're hunting down the most expensive Christmas ribbon for next year's tree.

• Go early. Some stores open at 6 or 7am. If you want the good stuff, you need to get there when they open.

• If you missed the first rush, give it a day or two and wait until stores mark things down to 75% off. Most of the things on clearance will be Christmas lights, wrapping paper, and bows.

• Don't bother with the cheap perfume or cosmetics. Even at discount, it's not worth the value. Instead spend your dollars on clothing which will continue to drop down in price through January. 

• By all that's holy, don't dawdle. The time to graze the aisles was Christmas Eve. This visit is purely mercenary. You want to pounce on the high quality items that didn't make it off the shelves on 12-24. There's a limited supply so it's important you know how your store is mapped out.

• Don't second guess yourself. Your main aim is to get quality goods at rock bottom prices. If it looks cheap even at discount, it's not worth buying.

Finally, when the shopping is done, treat yourself to a latte and the warm glow of money well-spent.

It didn't occur to me until Marlene Dotterer and Mike Keyton asked on my author blog about how long eggs will keep.

It's one of those things where I've known the answer for so long I wasn't aware that it wasn't common knowledge.

This is referring specifically to commercially produced eggs. 

Surprisingly, we're not big egg eaters here, but I do use a lot of eggs in baking. It's not unusual for me to store eggs for up to two months before I use them up. Some of the chicken forums I'm on regularly preach that fresh farm eggs will keep up to three months. Mine have never lasted that long so I can't verify that. 

Back when I didn't have many chickens, I used to freeze eggs for use in the winter. If you'd like to stock up on fresh eggs for the winter, follow these tips.

Important: Never freeze the egg in the shell.

To freeze whole eggs

• Gently stir the yolk and white, but try not to stir any air into the mixture.

• Make small batches and label accordingly.

• Freeze for up to one year.

To freeze egg yolks

• mix in 1/2 teaspoon of salt per one cup of egg yolks or mixture 

    use this for savory recipes like omelets, mayonnaise, and sauces

• mix in 1 tablespoon of sugar per one cup of egg yolks

    use this for sweet recipes like puddings, ice cream, or cakes 

Note: You must use either salt or sugar to keep the egg yolks from getting lumpy.

To freeze egg whites

• no salt or sugar needed. Freeze and label.

I don't use a lot of eggs at one time so I like to pour the mixture into ice cube trays. Freeze them and once they're hard, transfer them to freezer safe containers or plastic bags.

Ice cube trays vary in size, but mine is just about right to give me enough for one large egg per cube.

Don't forget to label! Especially if you freeze both sweet and salted eggs. I only do the salted egg mixture so I've never mixed them up.

If you haven't already started thinking about Christmas then you haven't been inside a store. They seem to have started extra early working to part us from our money.

I try to buy thoughtful gifts as opposed to expensive ones. For example, if I know someone is a clothes horse, I might buy one great pashmina as opposed to an overpriced sweater. If I have an electronics junkie on my shopping list (you know who you are) I'll opt for an extra special gadget cover or accessory rather than buy the next "big" thing in electronics.

We want to buy our loved ones so many nice things, but that's the eggnog talking. Don't overspend just to hear the oohs and ahs. That glory is short-lived and fleeting--followed by credit card bills.

Instead start new traditions where gifts are secondary to the season. 

Sound dull? It doesn't have to be. Think back to when you were a kid. What was it you loved most about the season? For me, it was decorating the tree. For you, it might be the food, or the carols, or the relatives...well, maybe not the drunk uncle.

Scale back and reconnect with simpler pleasures.

• Get a tree from a tree farm.

• Decorate as a family. (Don't forget to play Christmas music while you decorate.)

• Visit a friend or relative you haven't seen in a long time.

• Bake cookies with the kids.

• Tour the Christmas lights in nearby neighborhoods.

• Bring pet food to your local shelter.

• Start a family food drive and donate to your local food bank.

• Build a snowman

It's started. It's the season I've waited for all year. 

No, not Thanksgiving or Christmas. It's super sales on many food items.

I noticed it last week at my (kind of) local Kroger grocery store. There were fantastic buys on major brands of canned vegetables, fruit, cake and bread mixes, and butter. I'm still waiting for oil to go on sale. That usually happens a little closer to Thanksgiving.

Last year, turkeys did not drop as cheaply as they did the year before. I'm curious to find out what the rock bottom price will be in my area.

We used to raise our own turkeys, but we haven't done that in a while. Maybe next year. 

Our home grown chickens taste infinitely better than store bought. Contrary to popular belief though, home grown is not cheaper than store bought chicken unless they are raised entirely on pasture. But I don't mind. At least I know there are no "extras" like hormones and obscene chemicals that do who knows what.

Here's your assignment: 

Scan your local grocery store flyers from now until Christmas. Jot down ALL the products you normally buy that are on super sale. Then buy in bulk. Buy enough to last you a minimum of four months, if not twelve. It will be that long before they go that cheap again--if ever again.

I cover this more deeply in my Smart Grocery Shopping book coming out in 2013, but with Hurricane Sandy pounding the East coast, I thought I should mention what the rest of you can do now before disaster strikes.

Remember that most power outages only last a few hours and at most a few days. Hurricane Rita, which is constantly overshadowed by Katrina, left us in the dark for 21 DAYS. That is extreme and atypical. Most people won't suffer as long.

Hurricane Rita taught me to prepare for the absolute worst. So if my pantry seems overstocked to you, that's experience talking. Here's a quick checklist of things you should have on hand.

• Canned goods

These should be prepared meals you can eat without heating (if necessary). Ravioli, tuna, and cooked chicken are the easiest to eat out of the can.

• Crackers

These keep a long time.

• Bread

If you have a large family, that bread won't last long. If you anticipate a natural disaster, stock up on bread--enough for at least one sandwich a day per person.

• Nuts and dried fruit

Not only do they store well, but they are a great source of energy. They taste good too.

• Comfort food

Especially important with kids because they'll develop meal fatigue quickly. If you expect disaster, stock up on cookies and candy and dole them out after meals.

Cooking: If your stove works or you have an outdoor grill, you can cook your foods. I cannot stress enough how quickly you will tire of canned foods. There were days during the Rita cleanup when we'd rather not eat than consume another canned meal.

If you can cook your food in any way, it will go a long way to keeping morale up.

Water: Bottled water is good, but also fill up your tub so you have water to flush toilets. I just learned about the WaterBOB. It's $30 bucks at the dealer, but Amazon was selling it for $21 (at the time of this post). 

The stored water is safe for up to 4 weeks. What most places don't tell you upfront is that technically, you should only use this bladder once. I'm sure you can use it again if you're careful, but it isn't meant as a reusable bladder.

Drinking water: Stash a few packages of flavored drink mixes for when you get tired of plain water.

Non food items

• Manual can opener

Everyone should have one of these.

• Matches

• Paper plates and plastic cutlery

• Vitamins

I'm not a big fan of pills, but if you have children or the elderly with you, it wouldn't hurt to keep some extra vitamins on hand.

• Prescriptions

Your prescriptions are a different matter. Even if the coming disaster looks minor, make sure you have a good supply of all your prescriptions.

I don't know about you guys, but I prefer to pour my salt or sugar onto a spoon rather than shoveling it out of the container. That's why I love this tip.

Basically, you take the top of a used-up salt container and recycle it to make a new pour-top container.

Here are the steps.

You need:

• scissors

• pencil

• empty salt container with spout

• canning ring

• mason jar

1. Cut the top off a spent container of salt--the ones with the pour spout.

2. Carefully trace the outside of the canning ring over the original pour top.

3. Cut your newly sized pour spout out of the old one.

4. Snap into the inside of the canning ring. (You might have to trim it to make sure it's snug but not crushed in there.)

5. Fill jar with sugar, salt, soap, or anything else you need to pour in abundance.

6. Screw on lid.

Voila!

Is there anything else you can think of that needs pouring?

With all the reported deaths from rawhides produced in China, I promptly trashed every rawhide in my pantry. The deaths have mostly occurred in small or elderly dogs with immune deficiency issues, but I wasn't taking any chances.

These days I give my dogs a store bought hard cookie that'll keep for weeks and a soft one I make at home.

The soft cookie has no preservatives so it'll only keep a few days in the fridge. Just freeze what you won't use right away. 

My official taste-testers give this cookie two-paws up.

1 lb. beef liver
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 eggs 

1 tablespoon of canola or olive oil

 

(optional: 1/2 cup of soft cooked sweet potatoes, mashed and mixed into liver mixture) 

Puree liver in food processor. Pour into a bowl. Add eggs, oil, flour and cornmeal and mix. Generously grease cookie sheet and spread mixture into it. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until mixture is cooked through with no pink in the middle.