Saturday Share - Save Big Bucks on Food, Part 2

Good morning! I have my coffee so grab yours and let's get into Part 2 of Save Money on Food Budget.

Last month, I wrote a long post for Saturday Share: Save Big Bucks on Food, Part 1. It had to be Part 1 because it was so long!

I may have said everything I needed to say, but I thought I'd recap the 2 Rules and give you some resources to help you out.

https://slingwords.blogspot.com/2024/10/saturday-share-save-big-bucks-on-food-part-1.html

BASICS OF SAVING MONEY ON FOOD

(1) Change how you think about putting a meal on the table.

Many people pick up dinner on the way home from work. I understand the thinking. "I'm tired. I don't feel like cooking. This is easy." Rethink the so-called "convenience" foods of stopping at a fast food drive-thru, a deli counter, ordering for pickup, or eating out at a sit-down restuarant.

Instead, go straight home and prepare a simple and delicious meal where you control the ingredients. It's entirely doable if you take time to plan ahead. This method initially requires you to Think, Commit, Plan, Prep, and Follow Through.

Think about the time involved to stop and pick up food when you could go straight home after a long tiring day. Make a commitment to do things differently. 

A rotisserie chicken gives more than 1 meal.

Take a weekend or even a week to get set up for cooking at home. Make menus, buy ingredients, etc. and prep a week's worth of salads, side dishes, or whatever in advance. 

Then you just pull a container out of the fridge and you're ready to finish it up. Read Part 1 for details. 

(2) Embrace some or all of these genius food management strategies mentioned in Part 1 and those below.

Cooking is an art form, but it's an art form anyone can learn. To learn or to gain inspiration for delicious, cost-friendly meals that are easy to make, try some of my favorite YouTube Channels

COOKING WITH YOUTUBE

1. Epicurious with professional chef and culinary instructor Frank Proto. In my opinion, he's a rockstar in the kitchen. He's at the high end of the cooking scale. He can teach you how to make restaurant quality food. Try his Best Spaghetti and Meatballs You'll Ever Make.

2. Allrecipes with Nicole. She's my favorite. The mission of Allrecipes is: "...to help cooks of all interests and skill sets discover, and share in, the thrill of home cooking.

Try Nicole's 3 Meals from a Rotisserie Chicken. While there, subscribe and go to the channel. You can find her recipes by looking for her smiling face.

3. Julie Pacheco is one of the slow-cooker-queens on YouTube. She has nearly a million subscribers. She creates family friendly meals using a slow-cooker which makes putting dinner on the table a matter of throwing things in the Crock Pot in the morning, turning it on, and coming home to dinner ready to eat. Her most recent video as of my writing this is 5 Cheap and Easy 5-Ingredient Dinners.

4. Eating on a Dime is Carrie, a mother of 8 kids, whose mission statement is: "From crock pot recipes to freezer meals and one pot dinners, I am on a mission to help other families eat well on a budget without spending their entire life in the kitchen." That's what we're looking for, right? 

Her latest video is Easy Keilbasa and Potato Soup. 

I think this is enough to get you started. Get excited about cooking, serving better food than you get elsewhere, and saving money while doing it.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I'm a home cook and proud of it. Of course, my family is now spoiled. They'd actually rather eat at home than at a restaurant because I've taught them how to handle the question of, "What's for dinner?" with style and grace while saving money. You can do it too. Good luck. 

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