Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Using what's in the pantry

A contemporary kitchen pantry in a U.S. house.Image via WikipediaOne of my goals for 2009 is to cut back on expenses. In doing this I am trying to cook at home more using what's in my pantry. Translation: more "home-cooked, made from scratch" meals instead of "pop-it-in-the-microwave/oven/
toaster-bam-it's done-type" meals.

Do you know how difficult this is?!? I actually have to PLAN MY MEALS! No more waiting until 5:00 to decide what we are going to eat at 6:00! Geez...what was I thinking?

Thank goodness there are helpful websites out there that I am relying on daily to lead me in the right direction in this new undertaking of mine. My prayer is that this WILL get easier as I continue to do it. I am actually thrilled that I haven't gone grocery shopping in a few weeks but we are not starving to death...and I am still managing to crank out healthy meals every night.

Here's some of my favorite websites I use for recipes...what are yours?
Supercook
AllRecipes
Betty Crocker
Meals For You

Oops, it's 5:20 - guess I better go figure out what to make for dinner tonight!
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5 comments:

Claire said...

Me, too!!! In the past two days, I've cooked:

Bean/tuna salad
Bean soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Poor Man's Shepherd's Pie (so appropriate right now)

I love, love, love All Recipes. I have a huge notebook stuffed with printed out recipes from that site.

Now, I need to learn how to truly get our grocery bill down. I hate coupons, but I'm trying to use them. I also have a small warehouse store down the street where I've been getting great deals (two 1/2 gallons of milk for $4.90! And no hormones!).

I'm going to check out those sites you listed. Thanks! :)

Anonymous said...

I have been trying to do the same thing here lately. I haven't been grocery shopping in 2 weeks. We want to buy an upright freezer so I can stock up more. My goal is to do my shopping ONCE a month. =)

Rebekah said...

I get in the habbit of cooking the same things. I try to mix it up. And I have learned how to make several different things with the same staple I keep in the pantry.

Anonymous said...

I have been trying to cut down on our shopping and cooking more from sratch too. I try to write out a list of meals(at least a week at a time - 2 weeks this time) on my calendar and shop/cook from that. I have been doing this for about 3-4 months and it has really helped our grocery bill. I love the Hillybilly Housewife for great/cheap recipes.

K.I. said...

I too am big on trying to keep basic ingredients around and then actually use what we have instead of going out for more. I do this with cleaning supplies too and just make my own from a few ingredients rather than buy all sorts of other ones.
I use coupons alot and try and do just two main trips per month to the store. Then we just make a couple small trips for perishables. This seems to save money. The less I'm in stores, the less I spend over all. My husband picks out a few easy frozen meals for busy nights but otherwise I try and cook and use up leftovers, etc.
Sorry I haven't visited in awhile. We're finally getting into a rountine here! Nice to be back!