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Frugal
Recipes
General Tips
1.
Avoid processed foods and convenience foods. Food loses many
vitamins and minerals during processes like freezing and long
shelf storage. Plus, processed foods are often low in fiber,
low in nutrition, high in calories and may contain harmful
additives,
preservatives and
trans fats.
Make
your own foods from scratch like:
Use
nutrient dense, fresh ingredients without additives or preservatives.
Your pocketbook and your health will both reap the benefits.
2..
Salad Dressings - save money on expensive salad dressings
by making your own dressings
from scratch. Make your dressings even healthier by
using fresh ingredients when possible and serve over in season
fresh vegetables.
The next time you are tempted to buy commercial dressings,
check out both the price and the list of chemical ingredients
on the bottle. Many commercial dressings contain artificial
preservatives like sodium
benzoate. Do you really want to ingest even small amounts
of chemicals that come with emergency first aid instructions
from exposure to larger amounts? It is easy to make your own
healthy dressings for less than half the price of most commercially
prepared dressings.
3. Eat main dish vegetarian meals
at least once a week. Meat is often the most expensive
part of the grocery budget, so cutting back on meat one or
two nights may help to stretch your food dollars quite a bit.
4.
Eat more potatoes
. They are inexpensive and yet chock full of fiber, vitamins
and minerals. They are an especially good source of potassium,
and in alternative medicine are often cited as being good
for high blood pressure and heartburn (acid reflux).
Instead making convenience foods like frozen French fries
or tater tots, learn to make your own healthy and inexpensive
oven fries from
fresh potatoes.
One night a week have a baked potato night. Make a
baked potato or two for each person in the family and lay
out all sorts of goodies for a baked potato bar with items
such as chili, sour cream, chives, bacon, cheddar cheese,
black beans, and butter. For information on buying potatoes,
click
here.
5.
To save money and improve your family's nutrition, avoid
buying highly processed, sugar laden, low fiber breakfast
cereals, often packaged with BHT.
For simple, quick and healthy breakfasts, I bought an omelet
maker at the local Walgreen's store for ten dollars. It
was one of the best purchases I've ever made.
For
breakfast I scramble eggs, add some veggies and cheese and
pour the mix into the omelet maker. In about 6 minutes I lift
the lid and my family has perfect omelets made with eggs,
cheese and vegetables for breakfast. They taste great served
with yogurt, fruit and a slice of toast, or better yet, home
made pancakes.
6.
Take a tip from the past and use a crock pot as a an old fashioned
stock pot. As you cook during the day, add to the stock pot
liquid from any boiled vegetables, unused liquid from canned
vegetables, scraps of meat, bones, etc. in order to get every
last piece of flavor and nutrients out of your food. You can
then use the stock in dishes like soup, gravies, and sauces.
You can also use the stock instead of water to make rice more
flavorful and nutritious.
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"The
stock pot is a standard fixture in French kitchen, but
it is little known in America, though its introduction
would be a great economical convenience. It is always
kept simmering to receive trimming of meat, bone, remnants
of fowl or game--in short, to be a save-all for the
conversion of worthless scraps into wholesome nutriment.
Whether flavored with vegetables or not, the contents
of the stock-pot will prove invaluable, both to furnish
occasional basins of soup, and to assist in compounding
all sorts of made dishes, where something better than
mere water is required to moisten them."
Excerpt
from: Home Comforts...Art of Living Well and Cheaply,
edited by Edwin T. Freedley, 1879
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