Monday, September 22, 2008

No more Take out!

How many times are you:

  • Just too tired to cook
  • Haven't a clue as to what to fix for dinner
  • Haven't thawed any meat from the freezer for that nights dinner?
Many companies and stores thrive on our disorganization. Truly they do. Think about the commercials for the fast food restaurants. Applebee's carside to go, KFC (their whole marketing approach is that you only have time for sit down dinners when you buy their product) Mcdonalds, Wendys and Burger king along with all the other fast food joints also want you to buy into their prosucts to save you time.

Even the grocery store has gotten into the gimmick. The deli screams "here I made your potato salad for you, and have the rotisserie chicken already prepared"

Walking down the grocery store aisle they practically scream your name.
Campbells soup- you don't have time to make homemade soup - buy me
hamburger helper- you dont have time to make a pasta dish - buy me
stove top stuffing- No one makes their own stuffing anymore - buy me
I could go on and on - and don't even get me started in the frozen food section.

Organization is the key element to saving money in almost any situation. As wives and keepers of the home we can save a lot of money at the grocery store by being organized and shopping wisely.

Fix your own frozen dinners and have them labeled in the freezer when you have had one of those days and do not feel like cooking. There are lots of Once and month cooking sites on the internet. You can freeze lots of things other than lasagna and casseroles. Cookie dough and pies can be frozen as well. The freezer is your friend - he loves to be taken advantage of for your benefit.

Do some research and learn to make your own mixes using herbs and spices.

Set aside one day and plan your weekly menu. Do as much preprep as you can. Do you have a dish that requires a lot of cut up veggies. Go ahead and cut them up and put them in a container in your refrigerator.

Plan your menu around the sales ads. This can be lots of fun and creative if you turn it into a game.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

We stopped what I call easy food years ago. Now when it's late or I'm tired we had eggs and bacon / or spag. for dinner. I make up a big batch of spag, sauce with the meat and freeze it it quart bags. And we always have eggs. Sorry stores and fast food place, I'm keeping my money.
Have a great week. And thanks for the post.
Becky

Nancy M. said...

You are right, organization is a must. This is an area I really fall short in. I have been freezing some leftovers and that worked well last time.

Anonymous said...

We live too far away from town to get takeaways...I cook bacon and eggs or tomato pasta if I run out of time. Great post!

Thank you for commenting on my blog today!

love, Tina :)

Patty said...

that was one of the benefits to once a month cooking. With just the two of us, I don't bother doing it any more but when the children were all home, it was such a time saver and took care of the "i don't knows"

Ali said...

Great post!!

I often fall into the trap of buying convenience foods b/c I haven't prepared ahead sufficiently. Love this article!

Anonymous said...

Hi Caroline,

This is in reference to your comment on raising-goats.blogspot.com. I think you should just make do with what you have (or have not) when you are talking about milking Goats. You might find milking Goats without a stand will be a bit 'back breaking' (low set teats) but some sort of elevation will work fine.

I use a very short stool and lean onto the Goat as i milk her. But be warned, you have to get used to the smell and the lingering 'afterscent' on yourself the whole day.

Happy Milking!

50s Housewife said...

So true. Great post!

Diane said...

We're big fans of breakfast for dinner when I've just run out of time to fix the real deal. We NEVER eat out and feel good about it. It's always good to get back to the basics - and to know exactly what your family is really eating!