Post by jimcobb on Jan 28, 2023 3:37:48 GMT
My friend Daisy Luther has a book out entitled BE READY FOR ANYTHING. One of the things I really like about her book is the chapter on how to deal with financial problems. It seems that few preparedness writers/instructors ever touch on this topic, despite how important it is.
In that chapter, she talks a bit about how to feed your family when you don’t have money for the grocery store. She shares a few great ideas, and I’m going to add some of my own to the mix as well.
One suggestion she has is to make a list of seven meals that your family likes to eat. Then, as you’re able to afford to do so, purchase enough ingredients to make four of each of those meals. Concentrate on shelf-stable options, though frozen products are certainly acceptable. Meats should be broken down and repackaged in meal-sized servings for the freezer. While most of us prefer garden-fresh vegetables, having canned or frozen varieties on hand is better than going without altogether.
If you do this, you’ll have 28 meals on hand, ready to go at a moment’s notice. Not 28 servings, but 28 full meals for the entire family.
The idea here is to put together a small variety of food that will keep for a fairly long time, but that you know immediately how to put to use. This isn’t “survival food” that’s been specially packaged to withstand the apocalypse. We’re not talking about end of the world preps here. Tell you what, though. If the family’s primary breadwinner loses their income, it might certainly feel like the end of the world.
Or, hell, think smaller. This approach is awesome for families that have a lot going on (sports, concerts, recitals, etc.) and you don’t want to always fork over money to buy overpriced takeout meals. Push comes to shove, you know you have everything at home that you’ll need to slap together one of your family’s favorite meals.
Learning how to cook from scratch has many benefits, one of them being budget-friendly. Don’t get me wrong, we love to grab a pizza and wings from a local restaurant as much as the next family. But, if the budget is thin that week, I can just as easily defrost a package of chicken wings to toss on the grill while a homemade pizza bakes in the oven.
Cooking from scratch boils down to using the least processed versions of ingredients that you can handle and that you can afford. For example, rather than buying a bag of salad mix, you buy lettuce, red onion, spinach, radishes, and what not to clean, process, and mix yourself. Instead of buying a bag of frozen boneless chicken breasts (which may have things added to them to make them juicier), you get whole chickens and break them down yourself.
You don’t have to go all-in with scratch cooking, either. A hybrid approach can still save you money. Incorporate some shortcuts, such as using frozen pizza dough that you bought on sale rather than making it entirely from scratch.
It is totally up to you on how far you want to go with this. You might be content to just dip a toe into it here and there, and that’s fine. Others might end up diving deep and making just about everything from scratch, and that’s awesome. Either way, you’ll learn new skills and be in a position to make better use of whatever food you have on hand.
Here are a few tips for those who are just getting started with scratch cooking.
Read the recipe all the way through at least twice before you do anything. Watch for instructions that involve letting things sit for a length of time as this will obviously impact how long the overall meal will take to prepare. Make sure you understand all of the instructions.
Prep all of your ingredients before you get started. Not only does this ensure you have everything, but you won’t have to scramble trying to find a certain ingredient at a key step in the recipe. I love to use small glass bowls to keep ingredients organized. I mince all the garlic, dice the peppers, and do all of that other prep work before I get started on the cooking the meal.
Invest in good quality knives. You don’t need to spend hundreds on each knife, and you don’t truly need to buy a ton of different ones. Most often, I’m able to make do with a chef’s knife and a utility knife. Then again, I’m not a professional chef and anyone who is would probably cringe watching me at work in the kitchen, LOL. You should also learn how to handle knives properly and safely, as well as maintain them. Remember, a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife.
There is tremendous satisfaction in sitting down to a meal that you’ve actually cooked, rather than something that was just unboxed and heated up. If you want to increase your self-reliance, working on your kitchen skills is a great way to pursue this.
In that chapter, she talks a bit about how to feed your family when you don’t have money for the grocery store. She shares a few great ideas, and I’m going to add some of my own to the mix as well.
One suggestion she has is to make a list of seven meals that your family likes to eat. Then, as you’re able to afford to do so, purchase enough ingredients to make four of each of those meals. Concentrate on shelf-stable options, though frozen products are certainly acceptable. Meats should be broken down and repackaged in meal-sized servings for the freezer. While most of us prefer garden-fresh vegetables, having canned or frozen varieties on hand is better than going without altogether.
If you do this, you’ll have 28 meals on hand, ready to go at a moment’s notice. Not 28 servings, but 28 full meals for the entire family.
The idea here is to put together a small variety of food that will keep for a fairly long time, but that you know immediately how to put to use. This isn’t “survival food” that’s been specially packaged to withstand the apocalypse. We’re not talking about end of the world preps here. Tell you what, though. If the family’s primary breadwinner loses their income, it might certainly feel like the end of the world.
Or, hell, think smaller. This approach is awesome for families that have a lot going on (sports, concerts, recitals, etc.) and you don’t want to always fork over money to buy overpriced takeout meals. Push comes to shove, you know you have everything at home that you’ll need to slap together one of your family’s favorite meals.
Learning how to cook from scratch has many benefits, one of them being budget-friendly. Don’t get me wrong, we love to grab a pizza and wings from a local restaurant as much as the next family. But, if the budget is thin that week, I can just as easily defrost a package of chicken wings to toss on the grill while a homemade pizza bakes in the oven.
Cooking from scratch boils down to using the least processed versions of ingredients that you can handle and that you can afford. For example, rather than buying a bag of salad mix, you buy lettuce, red onion, spinach, radishes, and what not to clean, process, and mix yourself. Instead of buying a bag of frozen boneless chicken breasts (which may have things added to them to make them juicier), you get whole chickens and break them down yourself.
You don’t have to go all-in with scratch cooking, either. A hybrid approach can still save you money. Incorporate some shortcuts, such as using frozen pizza dough that you bought on sale rather than making it entirely from scratch.
It is totally up to you on how far you want to go with this. You might be content to just dip a toe into it here and there, and that’s fine. Others might end up diving deep and making just about everything from scratch, and that’s awesome. Either way, you’ll learn new skills and be in a position to make better use of whatever food you have on hand.
Here are a few tips for those who are just getting started with scratch cooking.
Read the recipe all the way through at least twice before you do anything. Watch for instructions that involve letting things sit for a length of time as this will obviously impact how long the overall meal will take to prepare. Make sure you understand all of the instructions.
Prep all of your ingredients before you get started. Not only does this ensure you have everything, but you won’t have to scramble trying to find a certain ingredient at a key step in the recipe. I love to use small glass bowls to keep ingredients organized. I mince all the garlic, dice the peppers, and do all of that other prep work before I get started on the cooking the meal.
Invest in good quality knives. You don’t need to spend hundreds on each knife, and you don’t truly need to buy a ton of different ones. Most often, I’m able to make do with a chef’s knife and a utility knife. Then again, I’m not a professional chef and anyone who is would probably cringe watching me at work in the kitchen, LOL. You should also learn how to handle knives properly and safely, as well as maintain them. Remember, a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife.
There is tremendous satisfaction in sitting down to a meal that you’ve actually cooked, rather than something that was just unboxed and heated up. If you want to increase your self-reliance, working on your kitchen skills is a great way to pursue this.