Queercents

There is a new TV show on TLC called “Extreme Couponing.”  The people featured in this show have taken coupon clipping to the extreme. They spend several hours a week collecting coupons and preparing for a shopping trip in order to maximize the amount of money they can save at the grocery store.

I’m all for stretching your food dollar, but I have mixed feelings about spending so much time collecting coupons. I agree that it makes sense to look at the food ads each week, and to only collect coupons for items that you typically buy. Purchasing an item simply because you have a coupon for it doesn’t save you any money if you are buying something you don’t want or need. I also think the advice to look online for coupons and to write to companies to request coupons for items you like is a great idea – and one that I never would have thought of myself. But how many of us have six to eight hours a week to dedicate to coupon clipping?

Queercents reader have offered their own mixed reviews of coupon clipping in the past. One of the tips that readers have shared resonates with me: generic store brands are often cheaper than the name brands, even with a coupon. The ultimate key to maximizing your grocery savings and sticking to a food budget is being aware of food prices so that you can know when you’re getting the best deal. I used to keep notes in a little binder that I kept in my coupon organizer (see – I’m not TOTALLY averse to clipping coupons) where I could write down the prices of items that I frequently purchased. I would note which store I was shopping at so that I could compare prices while I shopped. I don’t need that little notebook anymore, because the numbers are pretty cemented into my brain at this point. But if you’re just getting into setting healthy food budget habits, this is a trick that might work for you.
Read the rest of this entry »

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and many of us are looking for ways to keep our food expenditures down on a holiday built around gluttony. In fact, a new poll from First Command Financial Services reveals that 40% of Americans are tightening up the belt this year at Thanksgiving. CNN Reports that:

“People are looking at areas in their life where they do have some control over the spending and Thanksgiving is one of those areas where people can go overboard,” said household savings expert Jeanette Pavini.

If you’re one of those families that is either cutting back, or a family that always looking to stretch your food dollar, here are a few tips to help you stick to a budget this Thanksgiving.

1. Keep your guest list short. I love a big party as much as the next gal, but cooking for a large crowd is both resource intensive, as well as time consuming. Limit the number of invitations you extend, and you’ll see the benefits add up at the cash register.

2. Go potluck. In years past, I insisted on doing all of the cooking at Thanksgiving. I love to cook for others, and Thanksgiving was the perfect time to go all out with my culinary prowess. No more! If you’re hosting, offer to make the turkey and one or two key side dishes, but ask your guests to bring a favorite dish. Aunt Marjorie will be so flattered when you ask her to bring that green bean casserole of her that you love so much. Read the rest of this entry »

Packing your lunch is such a great way to stretch your food dollar. If you figure that the average lunch out will cost around $10, you can save $50 a week by brown bagging it on a a daily basis. The biggest challenge, though, is keeping your lunches from getting ho hum. Here are a few quick and easy salad recipes that should prevent the lunchtime doldrums.

Carrot Salad
1 pkg shredded carrots
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups cashews
1 can pineapple tidbits, drained

Mix all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then divide the salad into individual lunch containers. This will last 3-5 days in the fridge, so it will be a great side in your lunch for the whole week.

I have swapped out the pineapple with mandarin oranges before, and I’ve also substituted dried cranberries for the raisins. When I don’t have cashews on hand, I like to use almonds or pecans – whatever’s in the cupboard. Trader Joe’s has these amazing honey sesame cashes that really put this salad over the top. It’s such a cheap and versatile recipe. And you don’t have to use packaged shredded carrots – you can peel whole carrots and put them in the food processor to reduce the overall cost of preparing this salad. But if you’re a busy gal on the go like myself, sometimes paying for a little convenience is worth it!

You can read more salad recipes here and here.

Soups are another cheap and easy lunchtime solution, and with Fall weather, they’re the perfect way to take time out of your busy work day. Here’s a recipe for vegetable soup. If you pack a bowl of this with some salad and a nice piece of bread, you’ve got yourself a very hearty lunch! Read the rest of this entry »

Fall weather is finally here, and you know that Halloween is right around the corner when you start seeing pumpkin stands on every corner. My partner and I have fun each year searching for the perfect pumpkin. We had a fabulous time tromping through our local pumpkin patch, and this year we’ve got three giant orbs adorning our living room.

The question on my mind is this: how do I stretch my food dollar by making the most of the pumpkins we’ve selected?

Carving
The first tip for pumpkin lovers is to hold off on carving that pumpkin until right before Halloween. I know that it’s hard to resist the temptation to put a face on your orange friend, but carving the pumpkin exposes the skin and the flesh of the pumpkin to bacteria that will cause your pumpkin to start to decompose. Try to cook your pumpkin the day after Halloween, because the longer you let it go, the less likely you are to be able to utilize the squash.

Picking a Pumpkin
Different pumpkins serve different purposes. The green and the white varieties are pretty flavorless, and are best used for carving only. Smaller orange pumpkins, called Sugar Pies, have a very sweet flavor, and are therefore suited for baked goods, like pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread. Fairytale pumpkins, like the squat, round pumpkin I’m holding in the photo, are terrific in soups, or in roasted dishes. Try to keep this in mind when you’re shopping for a pumpkin. Those green and white pumpkins might be cute, but you won’t enjoy eating them later in the season.

Recipes
What would a Stretch Your Food Dollar article be without recipes? I thought I’d share my tips for roasting pumpkin seeds, and give you a recipe for a vegan pumpkin cheesecake. If you’ve got tips and tricks for cooking up tasty pumpkin treats, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section. Read the rest of this entry »

Clint mentioned last week that he’s been bringing his lunch to work in order to stretch his food dollar. He’s a smart cookie. If you figure that the average lunch costs around $10, you could be saving $50 a week by bring your lunch to work. The challenge with bringing your lunch is that lunchtime can get kind of ho-hum if you just bring a sandwich or a frozen meal every day.

I’m a big believe in sack lunches. I’ve shared recipes with you all in the past for soups, salads, and sandwiches. Here are a few more salad recipes that actually get better after being in the fridge for a day or two. Make up a batch on Sunday night, for example, and you’ll have lunches ready to go for Monday and Tuesday. Both recipes are vegan-friendly, but anyone will enjoy these flavor-packed dishes.

Black Bean Salad
1 can black beans, drained
1 red bell pepper, seeded and minced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and minced
1 can corn, drained
3 green onions, minced
1/2 cup minced cilantro
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lime (or lemon)
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of your ingredients. Stir until everything is evenly distributed.
2. Pack about 1 cup of salad in individual plastic containers. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

After making this recipe, you may decide that you like more/less onions or cilantro. Adjust the recipe according to your own taste buds. The kitchen is, after all, your own creative work space. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you ever feel like you’re uninspired in the kitchen? I’ve written about getting into a food rut before, but this is a constant challenge that all home cooks face from time to time. Food ruts can be dangerous, because it’s easy to start relying on convenience foods and restaurants to fill the void – and there goes the food budget.

One of my goals for 2010 is to try at least one new recipe each week. So far, I’ve been exceeding my goals. I’m so excited about trying new recipes that I’ve been making 2-3 new things each week. I’m still in the honeymoon phase of my New Year’s resolutions, but I think this one’s going to stick.

I think that one of the biggest hurdles that people face when they start cooking for themselves is the overwhelming fear that you’re going to fail. Don’t worry if a recipe doesn’t come out great – you don’t have to be perfect. Even experienced cooks make mistakes. Last week I made bowtie pasta with pesto and peas. Not the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but at least I tried something new. If you make a dish that doesn’t turn out the way you anticipated, just move on – it’s not the end of the world! Read the rest of this entry »

As the New Year approaches, many of us are reevaluating our budgets, looking at our goals from the past year, and setting resolutions for the year to come. Maybe you stuck to all of your goals, and maybe you fell off the wagon near the end of the year. Either way, January is a great time to recommit to fiscal responsibility.

Setting a food budget is an important part of your overall budget. Unlike your rent, insurance, or cell phone bill, your food budget is unlikely to be a fixed amount each month. You have more flexibility with this spending category, but that can be both a pro, and a con. How do you decide what a realistic number is for your household’s food budget?

Each year the USDA compiles statistics about the average cost of food in the US, and it offers guidelines for families to help them set a realistic food budget. In 2009, the average household of two probably spent $350 – $450 a month if they were on a thrifty or low-cost eating plan. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re in a rush to get some last minute gifts together, either for a friend or a coworker, or you just want to get down with your bad self in the kitchen, fudge is an awesome holiday present. Although the fudge is easy to prepare, you do want to budget enough time for the candy to cool before you cut it and package it up. I would plan to make the fudge the night before you plan to give it away.

Here’s a recipe for grown up fudge. Just a few tips before you get started. For starters, use a larger saucepan than you think you will actually need. Think twice as big. The first time I made fudge, I ended up with hot chocolate lava all over the stove, counter, and kitchen floor because I didn’t use a big enough pan.

Second, you’re going to need a kitchen thermometer that reads up to 236°. (This is not the same kind of thermometer that you use to take your temperature.) You should really consider keeping one in your kitchen, anyway, so that you can ensure that you’re cooking meat to the proper temperature. Maybe you already have one with your BBQ grill. If you’re got a digital thermometer, you won’t need to calibrate the thermometer before you get started. The easiest way to calibrate your thermometer is to stick it into a glass of ice water and set the needle to 32° when the needle stops moving on its own. And always make sure you sanitize your thermometer before and after each use.

OK, now for the good part: the fudge! Oh, did I mention that this recipe is vegan? Read the rest of this entry »

Fall is officially here, and not just because it’s the end of September and the calendar says so.  I know it’s Fall because winter squash is starting to show up at the grocery store. Winter squash is a great way to stretch your food dollar because it will keep on the shelf for quit some time, thanks to the thick skin that most winter varieties, like butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash, have.

This week my favorite grocery store had acorn squash on sale for 37 cents a pound! The easiest way to prepare acorn squash is to cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, place it face down on a cookie sheet that has an inch of water in it, then roast it in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. You have two options at this point.

Stuffed Squash
Make a stuffing with cooked rice, chopped celery, carrots, and onions, and some vegan sausage. Season it with sage and paprika, salt and pepper. If you really wanted to be fancy you could add some chopped pecans to the stuffing. Put the stuffing in the hallowed-out center of the acorn squash, then put it back in the oven for about 5 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

OK, so that was a cheap shot at the members of Congress who are spinning their wills on the health care reform debate. I don’t know why we can bail out the banks and the auto executives, but we can’t ensure that Americans have health insurance . . . but that’s not the point of this post.

I’m actually going to talk about pork today – you know, dead pigs. My local supermarket was advertising pork chops at 67 cents a pound this week, and pork tenderloin was only $1.79 a pound. Maybe it’s the swine flu that’s caused pork prices to plummet. Who knows? Regardless of the reason, pork is apparently an excellent way to stretch your meat lovin’ food dollar these days. So here are two recipes to make use of those cheap cuts of meat. (But when you look at this little guy’s face, do you really want to eat him?)

Grilled Pork Chops
pork chops (1 per person)
paprika
ground coriander
salt and pepper Read the rest of this entry »