The zealous housewives dream of finding a way to save money on food without affecting the quality of the dishes. The basic tips are known to many: plan the menu in advance, go to the store with a list of necessary products, cook from fresh vegetables, meat, poultry, and not expensive semi-finished products. However, there are several more, as they say, "life hacks" - not obvious ways that greatly simplify life.
Freeze!
How not to count the amount of products, and every now and then there are extra supplies - egg whites or yolks, a few tablespoons of cottage cheese, cauliflower stalks, a little broth or sauce. Usually this food "bored" in the refrigerator until it spoils, and it is much more economical to freeze it. Buy more special heavy-duty plastic bags with zip closure, ice containers and go!
Place the egg whites in the ice tray, and after freezing, put the cubes in bags so they take up less space. Put the freeze date on the bags - nothing can last forever! To defrost the protein, it is enough to put it in a bowl and refrigerate a few hours before cooking. Egg whites are great for meringues, protein creams, bodybuilder omelets, or a biscuit called angelic because of the delicate, airy texture that comes from the use of whipped egg white.
To freeze the yolks, add a pinch of sugar or salt to them - this will prevent them from coagulating - and then freeze and thaw just like the whites. The yolks are used for baking, including for greasing the dough, they are an excellent thickener for cream and various soups, excellent homemade noodles are obtained on the yolks.
Fresh cottage cheese tolerates freezing well, maybe it will not be so tasty if it is eaten raw with sour cream or jam, but you will be able to collect a little cottage cheese ns cookies, casseroles or curd cakes in a container. When gratin or casserole leaves you with hard stalks of vegetables, they should not be "used up". Freeze them a little at a time, and soon you'll have enough for a puree soup or just plain vegetable puree.
A little leftover broth is a great base for a thick, aromatic sauce. Many housewives cook a lot of meat-bone or fish broth in advance, freezing it in portions and preparing delicious soups and gravies on this basis, add to stews and roasts. It will turn out especially economically if you boil the broth on pre-set aside and also frozen bones.
Remember that you can also freeze bread, and then make toast with it, or dry and grind bread crumbs.
The advice to freeze seasonal vegetables, berries and fruits seems to be hackneyed, but it is quite effective, however, there is another way to save money. At a time when lovers of organic food are busy preparing it, prices for factory-made frozen foods are falling significantly. By the way, many vegetables, berries or fruits cannot be frozen in an ordinary freezer; they require shock freezing, which can only be carried out with special equipment. Another plus - you pay only for good products, you do not have to sort out berries, cut off dubious pieces from vegetables and fruits, throw out crumpled and spoiled ones.
Menu and shopping planning
Yes, planning a menu and making a shopping list is a common tip found in articles for hosts looking to save money, but this tip needs some further explanation. A well-planned menu is not only about thinking about what you will cook next week and prescribing food, planning your menu correctly by standing by the fridge-freezer and peeking into kitchen cabinets. After all, it is there that you can find "forgotten" products, still edible, but not eternal. There you can also see that the rice, which you thought would be enough for the curry added to the menu, is lurking somewhere on the bottom, and the couscous is completely over, but the bulgur bought at a discount, just in case, will be enough for the whole family and neighbors on the staircase cage.
Also, when planning the menu, it is not at all superfluous to ask the household about their plans for the week. Someone may have a business lunch that he forgot to warn you about, the child may recall additional activities for which you will need to prepare a snack, and you yourself may remember that you have a meeting late on Wednesday and you need it also somehow taken into account.
A shopping plan is also great, but it needs to be flexible. There are products that you may not find on sale - consider in advance what you can replace them with. And it so happens that you come to the store and there are large discounts on oatmeal, which are not on the list now, but you know for sure that your family eats them every day and they will definitely come in handy. To take or not to take? What if you already have 10 packs at home? Write lists of the most "hot" products and do a quick inventory revision before going to the store. This will help you navigate the discount offers, because taking five packs of sugar when you run out of one at home is saving, and buying the same amount of product when you have not yet run out of the 20 kilogram bag "for jam" you bought last summer is a waste.
And further…
If you need a few drops of lemon or lime juice, don't cut open the whole fruit. Pierce the skin with a toothpick, squeeze out the amount of fresh juice you need and, covering the hole with the same toothpick, put the fruit in the refrigerator.
If you are not a fan of dairy products and your milk often turns sour, use a dry product. Powdered milk can give a rich texture to creamy soups, omelets, puddings, it is stored for a long time, it also contains the necessary calcium and protein, and if you choose skim milk, then this will be an additional bonus for those who follow the figure.
Measure products. Most often, they throw away cereals, boiled cereals, pasta, which are used as a side dish. It is worth remembering once that one cup of dry rice for three is enough for your family, so that you no longer cook too much.
