Milk is expensive and anyone raising kids knows its worth its weight in gold. So to make it go further I kept powdered milk in the house and that is what I used for cooking. Any thing that called for milk in the recipe I used that instead. It's also used in most bread machine recipes and I use my machine often!!! I also use can milk for cooking. I've never used anything but canned milk for my sausage gravy and I get raves over it. It gives it a richer flavor.
I do coupon shopping but not as extreme as some do. I also shop sales. There are many sites out there to help with this. Couponmom.com is one of my favorites. If you don't have a ton to spend right away by one extra thing at a time. I stock up mostly on health and beauty, cleaning supplies and meat. For instance watch your grocery sale ads. Many times you can find whole boneless pork loins for about $20. Your meat guy will cut them into pork chops for you at no cost. Then bring them home bag them up per how many you will need and freeze them. If you can manage to buy 2 of them you can cut the second one in halves or 3rds depending on the size of your family and freeze them. When your ready. Throw that in the crock pot and let it slow cook all day until it pulls apart easily with a fork. Add BBQ sauce and you have pulled pork BBQ for sandwiches. This also works great to take camping. It's also a lean meal and the left overs are even better.
Lets face it some of our biggest expense at the grocery store is health and beauty and cleaning supplies. So watch those local sales and clip the coupons. If your on a budget like most. Start stocking away by budgeting in one sale item a week. For instance, if you see laundry soap on sale and you have a coupon and it makes a good deal budget it in whether you need it or not. Do the same thing every week and you soon get to the point that you never have to pay full price for anything you buy and you never run out.
I have 2 containers in my freezer. One is for left over chicken the other is for left over veggies. Even if all that is left over is a single chicken wing or a spoonful of veggies they go into those containers. When both containers are full I put it all in the crock pot with chicken broth and rice and seasoning and make a yummy filling soup with corn bread. My family loves it.
I also buy smoked hams when they are on sale and buy the largest one i can afford. I make a nice ham dinner with it. Then with the left over ham I make scalloped potatoes and ham in the crock pot one night and then with the ham bone and what's left I make a big pot of beans and ham. So for about $10-15 I get 3 hearty meals out of it along with any sandwiches my family eats.
When thanksgiving rolls around. Turkeys go on sale for VERY cheap. I buy the big bird for our thanksgiving meal and then buy 2 smaller birds to throw in the freezer for later in the year. Who says turkey is only for thanksgiving??? And there are always left overs to make turkey salad out of for sandwiches and turkey gravy to eat over egg noodles or mashed potatoes. And you can always make a turkey shepherds pie instead of ground beef.
How many of us have kids or our selves that don't like the heals on a loaf of bread? Well I have 2 solutions for that. One is to make grilled cheese and flip it over so you can't see that it's a heal. The kids will never know ;) the second is that I keep a cookie sheet in my oven and toss the heals in there to dry. You don't have to use the oven just leave them in there for a couple days. When they are dry as a bone put them into a ziplock bag and crush them into crumbs. Put the crumbs into and air tight container and put it in the freezer. You'll never have to buy bread crumbs again and nothing goes to waist.
Well that's it for this post but I will be adding to this food section as time goes on and will also add tips for other areas of our lives like saving on power and how to make your clothes last longer etc. I really hope some of what I have gained through the years will help someone else. Waste not want not, and every little bit counts.
