Saving Money on Food, Part 2

·       Meat is probably your most expensive food item, so it’s a good idea to learn ways to stretch it to a maximum. Watch for inexpensive cuts of meat to go on sale, then purchase as many pounds as you can afford. Trim off the fat and cut into 1” chunks, then freeze until you decide to cook the meat in a recipe. Defrost.

·         My big money-saver with meat is to buy cheap but lean cuts of meat on sale, trim off the fat, cut into little cubes (about 1") and put into freezer bags, then use as needed. I utilize this meat in soups, stews and casseroles. Since cheap meat tends to be tough, one way to tenderize it is to cook it in a crockpot with the rest of the ingredients for the meal. If you happen to have a food processor, you can also chop it into ground meat and use accordingly.

·         A money-saver for fish -- sometimes sandwich boards appear around town with an announcement of fish or shrimp for sale at the Bellingham Marina. Follow the sign's directions and you will find a fisherman selling freshly-caught seafood off a boat. Sometimes you will find significant savings over purchasing from a market.

·       Purchase spices in bulk from the Co-op or from grocery stores. You can purchase spices and other ingredients used in South Asian recipes at the International Video Store, which has Asian ingredients in the back of the store.

·       Instead of eating frozen dinners, take-out or restaurant foods, use your freezer to stock entire meals that can be microwaved when you don’t feel like cooking. People who don’t particularly like to cook will find it more enjoyable if they listen to a book on tape or CD or while they prepare their food. If you cook on Sunday afternoons, KUOW radio (94.9 FM) has a series of storytellers that make the work fly by.

Another way to make cooking more pleasant is to get together with one or more friends. Each person puts in his or her share for the cost of ingredients, then you prepare the food together and divide up the finished products. It works best to make one or two main dishes, a side dish and a complex carbohydrate dish such as a mixed grain pilaf. 

Make enough of each recipe for six or more servings, then put each serving in a freezer bag with the name of the dish and the date inscribed in permanent marker pen. Flatten each bag and squeeze out all the air, stack flat until they are frozen, then you can stack the bags upright so they take up less freezer space. You can save money on freezer bags if you belong to Costco or purchase them on sale. Reuse the bags by carefully washing and thoroughly drying. 

·       Dried herbs and spices are cheapest when purchased in bulk in small quantities so they stay fresh. Yes, herbs and spices do go stale, and stale flavoring agents don’t make very tasty food. You can find herbs and spices at the Co-op and in some grocery stores. The most expensive way to purchase them is in little bottles in the supermarket. On the other hand, buying huge bottles at discount stores is not a good idea unless you use huge quantities of a particular spice; you’ll only end up with something stale and flavorless if it’s still sitting in your cabinet a year later. By the way, an herb is a leaf such as tarragon, while a spice is a seed such as aniseed, or part of a flower such as cloves.