You're standing in the grocery store, staring at incredibly good marked down deal, and trying to figure out if it's worth getting or not... like my bananas from a few weeks ago... the whole box was $2.99, but there are only two of us eating bananas and there is no way we could eat through all those bananas before they went bad. I brought home the box (shoulda seen Strider's face when I asked him to carry it in from the car; it's fun being married to a husband who appreciates cheap deals) and we used the bananas in four ways.
1) Shared them with family: Some of the bananas went to my mother-in-law and mom. This is always something to consider when looking at a deal; are there other people who could benefit from it? Call them to see about splitting the costs, or simply share your surplus.
2) Eating ~ Strider had a banana in his work lunch for many, many days.
3) Freezing for Smoothies ~ I peeled and individually wrapped the nicer bananas in saran wrap and stuck them in the freezer to throw into smoothies.
4) Freezing for Banana Bead ~ I peeled the more browned bananas and put them in ziplock bags, 3-6 per bag.
Other ways to stretch grocery dollars with steeply discounted prices:
Milk ~ Recently I found two half gallons of milk marked down to .80/each at our grocery store. We didn't need milk, but I scooped them up anyway... $1.60 for a gallon of milk is an incredible price. They now sit in my freezer, waiting to be used for bread and muffin baking this winter. I don't like drinking milk that has been frozen, but it works well for baking.
Bread ~ Bread can be frozen (which is why we're still eating some of the yummy cinnamon raisin bread I found for .59/loaf at the discount bread store), but if it's gone to the dry and stale stage or you don't really have a lot of freezer room, you can toast it, throw it in the blender, and have breadcrumbs. Voila! Breadcrumbs are great as casserole toppings, to help with meatloaves, for providing breading for fried goods. You can buy bread crumbs at the grocery store, but they're usually insanely overpriced.
Ground Beef ~ When I get bulk packages of this on sale, I tend to just divide the raw meat into uncooked pound size portions and freeze them individually. This is because we have a deep freeze... and I really think an extra freezer is one of the best investments a family can make... but they do take some saving up to get. If your freezer space is limited, you can batch cook the ground beef (adding in onions and some seasonings) and then freeze it in quart sized bags.
Apples ~ Last year apples went on sale for .59/lb and I made crockpot apple butter for the first time ever. It was fantastic and we're still eating some of the stuff I stashed in our freezer (we didn't have a chest freezer at that point, either. I made sure to put it in compact containers and then put them in the door of our kitchen freezer).
Strawberries and other berries ~ Flash freeze these. Rinse them, lay them out flat on a cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet int he freezer for an hour or so. Then freeze them in ziplock bags. Use them with the frozen bananas for smoothies!
Yogurt ~ freezing yogurt does not harm the beneficial cultures. There's another smoothie ingredient ready to go! :) Or a way to get cheap frozen yogurt.
Peppers and Onions ~ lightly sauteed with garlic, thrown in bags or containers, and you're halfway there for pasta sauce!
** What are other things you've purchased on major clearance and used/preserved creatively? **
And stay tuned for a post on how to find ways to help build up savings for something like a deep freezer!
Ummmmmm....flash freezing demands open space in the freezer..... :--)
ReplyDeleteThat's my problem!
DMartin
There is a thrift store in a town not anywhere near close to ours, but we go to that town to visit the Aldi twice per month. That thrift store has a partnership with a local bakery wherein the bakery donates all of its day-old bread and the thrift store doles it out, 4 bags to a customer, for free. We take advantage of this, because I cannot make bread for free. We freeze the bread in our deep freeze, and take out a loaf at a time to use. So far we haven't had any reach the "bread crumb" stage. :-)
ReplyDeleteAlso, my hubby's work often purchases pumpkins for decoration in Fall, then wants to toss them out a month later. My hubby always gets permission to take them, then brings them home to me to process for pumpkin puree. I have been making pumpkin pies up to nearly a year later--when it's time for more pumpkins to show up! My newest plan is to freeze the puree in smaller containers--gallon sized containers are a bit hard to thaw. ;-)
Oh how I love my deep freeze. About a year ago our local grocery had 90% lean ground beef on sale cheaper than the cheap stuff. I bought 50lbs (I called ahead and let them know I intended on buying that much, when I arrived they had my order ready to go!). We spent the weekend preparing and freezing my haul. My husband used about 15 lbs making hamburger patties to be flash frozen and grilled later, I mixed 10 lbs with the proper meatloaf ingredients shaped into a loaf the best I could and froze, the rest I browned with onions and froze in 1 lb portions to be used later in various recipes. We are still working on our hamburger. I will probably be a little sad when it is gone! :)
ReplyDeleteI have cut eggplants into chunks & frozen to add to stir fry or other multi vegetable meals. For the bananas I freeze them in the peel, they seem to keep just fine and its easier (for me) to just chuck a bunch of into the freezer.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to use day-old or slightly stale bread is to make french toast. Large batches can be cooled on cooling racks, rebagged in the bread sack and then frozen. Pop a couple of pieces in the toaster and you have a quick, homemade breakfast.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these tips. Even though I can't get great sales like you, I am getting garden blessings from friends. I'll try some of these ideas.
ReplyDeleteI live in a fairly culturally bland suburb, so when we visit my father in Montreal I go to his neighborhood Asian grocery to stock up on nonperishable supplies. A giant can of hoisin sauce cost $8; today I transferred it into a half-dozen jars of a size that sell for about $2.50 each here.
ReplyDeleteI would like to hear more about why you think a deep freeze is such a good investment. I've never found myself in a situation where having one would have saved me money. The freezer above my fridge is big enough to hold several meals' worth of meat as well as vegetables, fruit, ice, and leftovers. Maybe it's because I have a large family, so we can usually eat up even bulk buys pretty quickly without the need to freeze? Or maybe I just don't have the opportunity to get the right kind of really good deals? The example people always give me is a side or a quarter of beef, but that costs far more than beef from the grocery store.
I am really enjoying all your posts of late, HG!
ReplyDeleteWe have an extra upright freezer and love it. At the moment I'm hoping we can upgrade to one that is self-defrosting as ours is in our dining room and not convenient to defrost.
ReplyDeleteI tried flash freezing chunks of watermelon and cantaloupe but that didn't work out. What did work was putting them in the blender and pouring the puree into ice cube trays to freeze. Perfect for smoothies.
Any time chicken goes on a good sale we buy tons then bag it into enough for a portion. I also pick up odds and ends of meat when they are on a deep clearance and put in the freezer for the next batch of stock.
HG, it would be cheaper to just freeze the bananas in their skins. :) They turn really dark and look bad, but the inside is as good as ever. And they are easy to peel when they're frozen.
ReplyDeleteI think you should try frozen milk again, but this time make sure to let it COMPLETELY thaw in the fridge for a few days, and then shake it before you drink it. When I do it that way, I really can't tell the difference between frozen and "fresh" milk. Or, maybe your taste buds are just more sensitive than mine :)
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