to review the checklist below.
Do the menus:
Use the Ready, Set, Shop! Menus for This Week template below to assist in menu planning. The Ready, Set, Shop! Shopping List template on p. 21 can help organize your shopping list for a speedier trip to the market.
To save even more time, keep a master list of all the meals you plan, making it easy to select from these tried-and-true combinations rather than planning new menus every week. You will soon accumulate a large list of economical meals.
PLANNED-OVERS
Leftovers may be your budget’s best friend, but no one wants to see the same dish three times in one week. You can save time and money while avoiding mealtime boredom by using planned-overs, foods intentionally left after a meal for use in another meal. Using planned-overs is quite different from reheating yesterday’s supper for today’s lunch. When you use planned-overs, you are planning ahead for leftovers.
Many of the recipes in this book are designed around the planned-over concept. For example, the chicken left from “Marilyn’s Spicy ‘Fried’Chicken” is ready for use in “Southwestern Chicken Wrap-Ups”. You can plan to use the extra turkey from “Golden Roasted Turkey Breast” in “Tempting Turkey Pot Pie”. (See Recipes: Meat and Others for recipes.)
If you start thinking about your meals in terms of planned-overs, you’ll find easy and interesting examples everywhere. Make a pork roast with vegetables on Sunday, and plan to use the leftover pork later in the week to flavor black beans and rice.
A large round steak in a family pack can provide at least four meals. Cut the steak in half lengthwise, then slice one portion into thin strips (across the grain for tenderness) for use in stir-fry and burritos or fajitas. Freeze the remaining half. You can defrost it at a later date and cube it to make hearty beef stew. If you have scraps left, dice them to use in vegetable beef soup. Be sure to label and date your planned-over foods so that you’ll know what you have on hand and use it safely.
NO TIME TO PLAN?
Begin by reviewing the One Week’s Sample Menu at the end of this chapter, which can be individualized to suit your needs. These low-cost meals are planned around recipes found in this book. Use the menu as a starting point to plan your week and make a shopping list. If you are still overwhelmed by the thought of planning a week’s worth of menus, start by planning five meals.
Planning five meals will take only five minutes-time you can surely find while waiting for a doctor’s appointment or for a pot of pasta to boil.
COST-WISE COOKING
“I said to my wife, ‘Where do you want to go for our anniversary?’She said, ‘I want to go somewhere I’ve never been before.’I said, ‘Try the kitchen.’”
—Henny Youngman
Cooking is becoming a lost art, but it is one that you’ll need to rediscover if spending less and eating healthfully is your goal. Fast foods and convenience foods do save time, but they are real budget-busters. Don’t assume that saving money requires you to become a master chef. Start by looking for recipes like those in this book-quick to assemble, with few ingredients and simple cooking techniques.
STOCK UP
Keep your pantry stocked with low cost, healthful grocery staples to save time and trips to the grocery store. With a few basic foods from these parts of the MyPyramid, you’ll be ready to cook cost-wise meals in just a few minutes.
You should also have the right kitchen tools on hand to make cooking easier. Important pieces for healthy cooking include a pressure cooker, good-quality sharp knives, a grill, and nonstick cookware. Less expensive tools that should be in your kitchen are a cheese grater, kitchen shears, a steamer basket, a kitchen scale, a cutting board, and a microwave.
READY, SET, SHOP! SHOPPING LIST
Fill out this shopping list and take it with you on your next trip to the grocery store to keep your fridge stocked with all the good-for-you essentials that you need in your diet.
NOW YOU’RE COOKING!
Once you’re in the kitchen, make the most of your time and money by cooking and baking in large quantities and freezing a portion for future use.
This technique-one way to get planned-overs-is known as batch cooking, and it can be as simple as cooking a few extra chicken breasts to freeze for later use. The idea is to cook once and serve the food two or three times. For example, if you are making pasta at your evening meal, throw some extra noodles in the pot to use in a cold pasta salad for tomorrow’s midday meal. Or prepare a large quantity of a standard recipe, such as “Spunky Spaghetti Sauce” (see Recipes: Meat and Others), to use immediately, then freeze the remainder for use in lasagna or stuffed peppers. Make a large batch of waffles on Sunday morning, serve a few for breakfast, and freeze the rest to pop in the toaster on a busy weekday morning.
You may not have time to cook during the workweek, but you may have some free moments
