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Keeping groceries fresh for as long as humanly possible plus using food to the last drop, or crumb as the case may be, are two of the best ways to save money. Here are some tips that should help you get the most food use for your money.
- Save your fresh herbs in the freezer. You can do this in bunches or cubes and either whole or chopped. They won’t have the same picked fresh flavor but they will last longer than they would in your fridge.Save empty butter wrappers folded (messy side inside) in the fridge – when you need to grease a pan, take one out and grease away. Cheaper than spray for sure.
- Leftover baked or mashed potatoes can be made easily into potato cakes. You can add whatever fixings you like to the cakes like veggies or turkey sausage and top with gravy, sour cream, or other goodies (salsa is fun).
- To keep homemade cookies fresh place a small piece of sliced apple in with them at the bottom of the jar. This should keep them moist for as long as you have them – good for homes like mine because my son is only a semi treat muncher. Our cookies always get dry before we eat them unless we do this trick.
- ALWAYS make all your pancakes or waffles right away. Every time I leave batter in the fridge I forget about it. A better option is to use all your batter at once then freeze the extra waffles or cakes, which heat well in a toaster oven or microwave. NOTE: The first time I froze pancakes I did it wrong. Do not place them in a container and allow them to freeze, you’ll never be able to get them apart one-by-one. Instead, place extras on a cookie sheet, place in the freezer for 30 mins til mostly frozen, then put them into a container or wrap them together.
- Dried out cheese is gross in slices but still works in wet dishes like lasagna or a casserole. Grate it finely and add it to your dishes.
What other ideas do you have?
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875 days ago
[...] just one of her tips from a post about extending the life of your groceries, which is a key way to trim a few bucks from your budget each week. Add a [...]
I’m glad you shared some of your idea. I sometimes forget to put the herbs in the freezer but I make sure to put the vegetables first in the vegetable bin below the chiller.
Oh and I think the apple thing with the cookies in between is a great idea. I didnt know this, and will surely share it with my friends.
Thanks for the great ideas!!! Keep em’ coming please!
If your freezer looks like mine, there’s no room in it for a cookie sheet. I put wax paper between waffles and pancakes to keep them from sticking together when I freeze them.
I actually freeze left over mashed potatoes in 1 cup portions. Then I use these portions to make Parker House Rolls (which call for mashed potatoes). The recipe will say use unseasoned mashed potatoes, but I don’t care, I go ahead and use my mashed potatoes that have seasoning (salt) in them. I just warm them up in the microwave until they are lukewarm feeling or not too hot for the yeast. I use a thermometer to test how hot the potato’s are so it’s not above what the yeast package says the warm water temperature is to be at.
So since I use the seasoned potato’s, I just omit the salt that the Parker House Rolls call for in the recipe.
I also make potato cakes with left over mashed potato’s like you do. We add in onions usually, sometimes cheese.
The apple thing in cookies works really well, especially for peanut butter cookies.
I also make up all my pancakes or waffles at one time. I just put waxed paper between them before I freeze them. Parchment paper would probably work to.