There use to be such a thing where moms would put together a list of what was needed and go directly to the grocery store or drug store to fill their pantry with all the tings they wanted to buy. 

Today, more and more moms are building their pantry by making a list based upon what’s on sale. This way of thinking can really help us trim down our monthly grocery budgets. Sometimes, you can purchase items to keep on hand in your pantry before you need them at a reasonable  good price.

Some handy stockpiling tips:

Inventory Sheet: Always clean out your freezer, fridge and pantry to always know what you have on hand. Make sure to update the list each time you pull something out or add to it.

• Freezer Inventory Sheet
• Pantry Inventory List

Create Extra Space: If your home doesn’t have a lot of that extra storage space, be creative  i.e.) long platic bins or tubs can store those bathroom toiletries. A small area in the hall closet or garage can work too.

Invest in a Full-Size Freezer or Extra Fridge: One of the best investments we did at the end of last year was put an extra fridge/freezer out in our garage. It allows me to stock up on meats and veggies when their on sale and store a lot of my make-ahead meals.

Know what staple items your family uses: It makes no sense to start creating a stockpile on items your family doesn’t use on a routine basis unless you plan to donate those items. Keep a stockpile of only items your family will use. You can start by making a list of staples your family uses and build it from that. You’ll save a lot more!

How are you storing your family’s favorite recipes and weekly menus? Do you have a favorite organized format for quick reference? Have you found a way to easily rotate your menu? Please leave a comment in the section below, I’d love to hear what you do!

Over the past year, I’ve found an easier way to store my family’s favorite recipes and weekly menus. I was doing some research online and came across MomsToolBelt.com.

For only $5 a year, I have access to “tools” for managing the household, recipe organization, meal planning forms,  homeschooling, and everything else a busy mom needs to manage life at home.  I’ve created a binder system; similar to my home management binder. Nothing fancy, but I can keep it handy and it’s ready to use anytime I need it.

This helps to keep all my weekly recipes along with my meal plans organized and I can refer to previous meal plans easily.  When it’s time to do my menu planning, I can easily pull out the binder and flip through to find recipes to include for the week.

The crock pot  is one kitchen appliance that I don’t think I could live without as a working mom outside of the home. The mission of this great appliance is to make your life easier and your meals tastier.  Today’s guest post is from Mariana Ashley. Mariana is giving us 5 Reasons To Use Your Crock Pot More Often. So come home to savor a great meal- and enjoy the extra time with your family because you didn’t have to cook.

Enjoy today’s post!

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If you cook often, you have probably already discovered the magic that is the slow cooker. Don’t have time to slave over a stove? Just throw it in! Need breakfast ready when you wake up? Let it cook over night! But, as handy as it is to use our slow cookers, it’s easy to brush the slow cooker aside and stick with our regular cooking routine. With a little planning, though your slow cooker can really be your kitchen savior. If you’ve forgotten what makes a crock pot so great, read on, and get going on some of those recipes you’ve been meaning to try today!

1.      Save Time

This is the most beautiful part of using a crock pot. When you use a slow cooker, the machine does all the work for you, and you are free to do other things. If you have some busy days ahead, plan to throw a meal in the slow cooker in the morning, cook it on low throughout the day, and enjoy a warm and delicious dinner when you get home. It’s also great for stay-home moms who need all the extra hands they can get throughout the day, but still want their loved ones to come home to a hot meal.

2.      Save Money

If you plan efficiently, using your slow cooker can cut your grocery bill significantly! You can buy less expensive meat, because the crock pot will naturally tenderize it while it slow cooks. You also save energy costs if you use a slow cooker frequently. It takes much less energy to leave a slow cooker on all day on low than it does to fire up a 350 degree oven. Slow cookers also allow you to use very simple ingredients and make them taste great. All the flavors will soak together during the cooking time, and you are left with a delicious meal for much less.

3.      It’s Healthier

As opposed to frying or baking, the slow cooker is a much healthier cooking option. Meats can simply cook down in their own sauce, and veggies cook in steam and liquid, rather than by frying or baking. You can also easily create healthy meals that would take more effort on a stove top, like soups, stews and oat meals.

4.      Easy Prep and Clean Up

One of the best things about using a slow cooker is the absolute lack of complicated prep and clean up. The most you may have to do is brown meat before you put it in the slow cooker, mix liquids in separate bowls, or chop veggies or other produce on a cutting board. Also, there are no pans to clean when it’s all done.

 5.      Big Portions in a Snap

If you need a large amount of food, but don’t have the time to create a huge feast on your own, you can use your slow cooker to make full meals for groups. You can fill it to feed groups of up to 15. Or cook for your family and have enough left over for a full second meal the next day.

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.

Having a well-organized freezer, is essential when it comes to meal planning. Keeping your freezer clean and organized can help you keep track of what you have and use it in a timely manner, avoiding unnecessary food waste.

Today’s guest post is from Ana Brady. Ana shares tips on how we all can organize our freezer to save time and money.

Enjoy today’s post!

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Before I moved in with my husband I hardly ever used the freezer. Now the freezer is my new best friend and it can do magic. Ever since I gave in to advice from many sources and started freezing food, I started noticing how I’m spending less money on food, and more time with my kids.

Whenever I cook meals (usually on weekends), I make large quantities and freeze meals for the week to come. It’s maybe a bit more of a hassle on weekends, but it definitely pays off on work days. My freezer is now packed with freezer bags filled with chopped up ingredients, or ready-made meals. No more junk food for me.

In order for this to work, though, you really need to have a clean and organized freezer.
Throwing away food from a messy freezer where no food is labeled and you never know what’s edible will NOT contribute to saving your budget.

Here are a few tips on how to organize your freezer a little better:

8 Great Tips on Freezing Food and Saving Time/Money

1. If you’re completely reorganizing your freezer, you should clean it first. Take out everything, throw away food with an unknown “best before” date (hopefully you’re throwing away food for the last time), turn off the freezer and clean it. When you’re done, turn it on again and make sure it’s set to 0°F. This is very important.
2.  Separate your freezer into sections where you’ll keep different kinds of food. For example, left is for meat, right is for vegetables, door pocket for ice-cream… Whatever makes the most sense to you.
3. Groceries and cooked meals should all be kept in waterproof food packages – plastic bags, containers, aluminum foil, etc.
4. Watch out for freezer burns. If there’s any air left inside the food packaging, it dehydrates the food and makes it inedible. If you don’t want to waste food, make sure you package your food well and avoid freezer burns
5. Once you defrost food, you should not freeze it again. That’s why it’s smart not to pack food in large quantities, but in smaller packagings. The best way to do this is to pack one serving size in one bag/container. Ice cube containers are also a good way to freeze small quantities of food (for example, baby food). Once frozen, ice cubes can be placed inside a plastic bag.
6.  Labeling food plays a major role in not letting food go to waste. Use strong freezer labels for your food packaging, and neatly note what is inside of it. Write down the date you bought or prepared the food, and the date it is best used by. That way you’ll always know what you’re dealing with in your freezer.
7. Whatever food can be pressed, that’s the way to keep it inside the freezer, so as not to take up too much space. That’s very valuable when you have many bags and containers in the freezer, like I do.
8. The right way to thaw food is to take it out of the freezer the day before you want to use it, and put it in the fridge. Defrosting in the fridge, it thaws evenly and keeps all its nutrients, moisture, etc. If you forgot to do it the night before, one more acceptable solution is to thaw your meal in cold water, but don’t take it out of the secure food packaging.

When you realize how easy it is to whip up a healthy meal quickly, using what you have in the freezer, you’ll be better equipped to lay off junk food.

About the author:

Ana Brady is a full time mom and writer. She works with a group of designers on a project on food packaging labels, and she spends time writing about nutrition, family, healthy living, and other fun stuff.

To get the most out of your every food dollar, learn how to avoid waste, using leftovers wisely, and cut energy costs.

When you think about it, you don’t want to save money at the grocery store only to throw away much of that hard earned savings in the kitchen, right?

What is saving money?

Saving money seems to be something that we all struggle with at one time or another in our lives. Sounds like a fairy tale for some of us, doesn’t it? But truly, saving money is a good thing. And something we should aspire to, especially in the kitchen.  Saving money in the kitchen can actually one of the easiest tasks.

Save: to avoid unnecessary waste or expenses; productive without waste

Here are some tips on saving money in the kitchen:

1. Preventing Spoilage

Spoiled food is simply money lost. You can greatly reduce kitchen waste if you store all your foods properly so they do not dry out or go bad. Make sure your refrigerated items are wrapped or covered and that the containers they are stored in are sealed to keep air out. Some tips for storing some hard-to-keep foods:

• Green peppers can be chopped and frozen in a plastic bag for use as needed.
• To keep parsley fresh, wash gently in cool water, cut off the stem ends at an angle (as you would cut flowers), then stand the parsley stalks in a glass of cold water. Slip a plastic bag over the glass of parsley and store in the refrigerator. The parsley should keep for 10 days. Parsley can also be frozen. Just chop it up, store in a plastic container. And because it does not freeze completely, you can spoon out just the amount you need.
• Don’t slice a lemon when you only need a few drops of lemon juice. Instead, puncture it with a toothpick. The lemon will keep longer whole than halved.

2. Recycling

Much of what gets thrown away in our kitchens can be used. Some tips for putting new life into items that usually get tossed out:

• Single rolls will be perfectly good if you spray them lightly with water, place them in a paper bag or bundle them loosely in foil, and warm in a 375 degree oven for about 7 minutes.
• Turn pickle juice into a salad dressing by mixing it with vegetable oil and some dried herbs. Use it to marinate thinly sliced cucumbers or beets.
• Save the nutritious water from cooked vegetables to use as a base for soup or a substitute for chicken or beef broth in recipes.

3. Substitutes

We all know that recipes are not carved in stone.You will enjoy them just as much if you use less expensive ingredients. A little experimentation can produce some wonderful tasty dishes that cost less than “the real thing”.

• Try using pork or lamb instead of beef; they are often cheaper per serving.
• If crab is too expensive, try tuna.
• Make your own natural food snacks from dried fruits and nuts.

4. Leftovers

Last night’s leftovers can be today’s main course, salad, or sandwich, or they can be frozen for use later as ingredients in soup or casseroles. Some tips to remind you of the many uses of leftovers:

Vegetables

Leftover vegetables can spoil more quickly than you might think. Either use them or freeze them right away.

• Mashed potatoes can be shaped into patties, roll in flour and dip in beaten egg and then in bread crumbs, and cook 2 minutes on each side.
• Cold cooked vegetables make a great salad. Just toss with dressing.
• Freeze leftover vegetables to use in casseroles or soup.

5. Poultry, Meats, Fish

A number of recipes I make are using  leftover chicken and turkey, beef or pork. Some ways to use these leftovers:

• Dice cooked chicken for use in soups, salads, sandwiches, or chicken pot pie.
• Chopped chicken, turkey or leftover beef mixture is great in spaghetti.
• Turn leftover spaghetti sauce into chili by adding pinto beans, onions, beef and chili powder.

6. Dairy Products

Lots of people are not sure what to do with the other half of an egg where the recipe calls for egg yolks but not the whites, or vice versa.

• To saved unused egg whites, freeze them in ice cube trays, one white per segment. They will thaw easily for later use in angel food cakes, meringues, macaroons, and soufflés.
• Use uncooked egg yolks for making mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce, or custards.

Saving Energy

You can definitely cut back on your utility bills with efficient use of your kitchen appliances. You’ll find, over a period of time, the small savings will add up.

• Your oven will do double duty if you cook two items rather than one whenever possible.
• Turn off the oven after most of the cooking is done. There will still be enough heat to finish things off.
• If you have an electric stove, be sure the bottoms of your pots are smooth and lie flat on the stove.
• Put a lid on the saucepan when you are boiling water. The water will come to a boil faster.
• Whenever possible, use your toaster oven or electric skillet instead of the oven.
• Whenever possible, cook stews, pot roasts on top of the stove instead of the oven.

 What do you do to save money in the kitchen?