How do YOU Save Time & Money in the Kitchen?

by The Meal Makeover Moms on June 13th, 2009

Two weeks ago, we announced a giveaway for a $100.00 Visa gift card and lots of other cool stuff — a reusable grocery tote, potato peeler, and kitchen timer — courtesy of the US Potato Board. To enter, we asked you for your best-ever tips for saving time and money in the kitchen. We received over 100 amazing comments filled with clever ideas.  We listed a bunch below so read on!

But before we get to that, we’d like to congratulate our winner, Alison C. from Burlington, VT, mother of 6-year-old Davin, who told us she goes in with either her sister, parents, or friends to buy in bulk, share, and save money.  Alison has recently lost some weight, due to eating healthier and finally exercising regularly (she just ran her first half marathon!), so she’ll be using the gift card for new clothes that she desperately needs.  Well done Alison!

As we read through your comments, a lot of you told us how you like to set aside a day to plan your weekly menu and then shop just once for only those items.  Other ideas included buying produce from small, local farms or farmers markets, planting a backyard vegetable garden, using the slow cooker to cut food prep time, and doubling or tripling favorite recipes and then freezing the leftovers for later use.

Below are additional tips from YOU!

Jennifer:  I get together with 5 other friends and we cook several freezable meals in 4 hours. Last time I spent $60 and got about 12 meals for our family. The other great part is now I just have to pull something out of the freezer on busy days.

Pam from It’s Time for More Coffee:  I save time and money by buying ground beef in bulk. I brown a whole bunch at one time and freeze it in one pound portions. The frozen, cooked beef is a snap to add to pasta sauce, soups, or casseroles!

Jane:  I double or triple recipes that I like and freeze some meals. I have an extra freezer in the laundry room. Recently, I determined that I was wasting some of this food because I forget all I had in the freezer, so I bought a magnetic white board that I keep on the laundry room freezer. When I store a meal in there (or even when I buy frozen meals from Costco), I list it with the date on the white board. Then when I am meal planning for the week, I can also check the freezer door to see what I already have and what needs to get eaten. Once I take it out of the freezer, I mark it off the white board. This also helps me plan when it is time to restock.

Cindy: I love new red potatoes. For a summertime shortcut, I’ll boil up a large pot of red potatoes. Some will be tossed with butter and parsley and served right away. Some will be turned into potato salad. Some will be saved for a later meal – fried potatoes served with scrambled eggs for brunch or a potato/sausage dinner. Yum!

Ashley:  Create a price book. List what you normally buy and what it costs. Record sales prices and dates. Stock up when you find a good buy! Then, prep the food and get it in the freezer.

Stephanie from Clear Shining After Rain:  My best time and money-saving tip is to try to use up everything you buy. I play a game:  Can I make dinner with what I have on hand? EX: I was going to make English muffin pizzas recently. I had everything but pepperoni. It was too late to go to the store. So I scrounged around until I came up with Canadian bacon. Voila! I chopped it up and it made a great pepperoni substitute. The idea is to save money by using what you already have on hand. Be creative!

Alayna from Zady Ball: I’ve started saving a TON of money by doing couponing. It is a little overwhelming at first, but by using the tools on the Internet, it is really a piece of cake! My favorite couponing website is Pinching our Pennies - SO much good stuff and great ways to save lots on your groceries!

Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie: Well just this past week I made my very first pie from scratch. I had avoided doing this because I thought it would be hard but it wasn’t at all and I’m thrilled with the $$ I saved not having to buy store bought crust. Yay!

To read all the terrific ideas we received, check out our May 29th post. On a final note, feel free to download some of our free time-saving tools on MealMakeoverMoms.com.  We have a 7-Day Menu Planner and a really cool Supermarket Shopping List.  Enjoy!

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1 Comment | Filed Under Giveaways, Potatoes 

One Response to “How do YOU Save Time & Money in the Kitchen?”

  1. Stephanie Reed on June 14th, 2009

    Thanks for featuring my comment and congrats to the winner!

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