Miami Produce Savings

If you live in Miami-Dade county, it is worth a once-a-month drive to Lorenzo's Italian Farmer's Market. They are just north of 163rd street on Dixie Highway. Their produce prices are now about 20% LOWER than Publix prices and their produce is usually locally grown. They have GREAT stuff. Plus they have a corner in the back with quick sale items that are great if you plan to cook them the same day or the next day. I once found a package of hen-of-the-woods mushrooms marked down to $1.29/lb from $12.00/lb!! I made mushroom ravioli that night and it was heavenly! This last shopping trip I got some lovely fingerling potatoes from the quick sale area. I got two pounds for $1.25. They were divine - roasted with butter, parsley, salt and pepper. An example of the savings: their zucchini and yellow squash at regular price are $0.99/lb. Publix had these on SALE for $1.29/lb.

They also have an Italian Market just south of the Farmer's Market. Bargains are more scarce there but they have the quality of Whole Foods at a Publix price. For example, I got their hand-made-on-premises Italian sausage for the same price as Publix, $3.99 a pound, but made the same day so it was much fresher and much more flavorful. They also have Italian cheesecake for $7.99 - I think the same cheesecake at Publix is around $12. They have fresh pasta as well. Not as much of a bargain but oh, SO good! But if you are really into saving money make your own. It is very cheap and super easy. You will need a pasta roller. Look for a post later about making homemade pasta for pennies a pound.

Hope this is helpful!

Dried beans, people! Do you have them?

Cos you need them. If you are coming up short every month and you stay at home with the kids you HAVE the time for dried beans. They are easily 1/3 the cost of their canned variety and are easily used as a meat substitute. Today I am making an Indian chickpea dish, Chickpeas Moghlai-style, from Madhur Jaffrey's highly-recommended "World Vegetarian". Now, obviously, given the last recipe I referred to, we are NOT vegetarians. We are realists. Most of the rest of the world's population subsist on vegetables first, meat second. My parents' generation had meat only one or two times a week, and sometimes not even that frequently. They were older... born during the Great Depression, poor, and had to eat beans and rice many an evening. And get this - if you make it right, beans and rice are REALLY GOOD. I mean DELICIOUS good. And cheap. And you know I loves the cheap.

So grab yourselves a copy of Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. I am not getting paid to endorse this. I am not even sure I am not blogging into the wind. But believe me, in lean times that cookbook is a lifesaver. It offers vegetable based meals that are easy on the wallet and are not only Indian, but Caribbean, Central and South American. All good stuff and most don't require any expensive ingredients.

Also, if you have to buy some spices for the dishes, keep them in the freezer. In fact, I keep ALL my spices in the freezer. They last longer as long as you only take them out long enough to measure out the correct amount and put the bottle back immediately. Do not let condensation build up inside the container. Water, light and humidity are the enemies of spices, but I have stretched the life-span of all my spices and herbs by freezing them and handling them carefully (i.e., briefly) when I use them.

Money Saving Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

My 3 year old asks for me to make this about once a week. It is from All Recipes (a site I use frequently). You can change up the veggies to suit what you have on hand.

Two things I do differently:

1. Because it adds more flavor, I usually sweat the carrots, celery and onion in one the healthier tub margarines you can buy before adding them to the broth. Butter is so expensive I save it for things that REALLY need it for flavor. My favorite margarine is Move Over Butter, made from vegetable oil and buttermilk. It is yummy AND less expensive than other "healthy" butter substitute spreads. I can only find it at Winn-Dixie, though. 
2. I mix the dumpling dough in my food processor. SO much easier and comes together in seconds. 

I won't reprint the recipe here just add a link to it since there are really no significant changes I make to it myself. It will serve you for a couple of days and if you buy chicken leg quarters in bulk you can sometimes find them as low as $.79/lb on sale. Skin them before you make the broth and you save time having to skim the fat later.

Chicken Stew with Dumplings from All Recipes.

RE: CLJ Mom's Meatloaf Comment

CLJ - I forgot to add that I usually grind up my oatmeal in my food processor so the toddlers don't recognize it. They are 2 and 3 and can be picky at times. You CAN use it whole, tho, doesn't change the taste at all and the texture just a little. Probably better to have the whole grain of the oatmeal but if I can sneak the flaxseed and the oatmeal in there without being noticed I feel a little better about them eating red meat.

Also, it may sound paranoid but I always buy a roast and grind the meat at home. The meat tastes a LOT better ---- worlds different from ground beef you buy at the store and I don't have as many fears about e-coli. You know, I have found it pays to know your butcher. Even at a large, big-box chain store like BJ's those butchers will take the time to talk to you about the meats you are choosing and they have all agreed with me that the best way is to buy the whole cut and grind just before cooking. Just too much air and moisture is worked into the ground meat from the surface of the roast as the cell walls are broken down and the moisture combined with the air provides a perfect breeding ground for nasty buggies. 

It is cheaper, too. And I am all about the savings. Typically at my BJ's the eye of round 5 pound roast is around $2.59 a pound (smaller cuts cost more), while the hambuger runs anywhere from $2.99 to $3.25 a pound depending on fat content. At regular grocery stores the cost for ground beef, unless it is on sale, is even greater. 

I hope I don't have to tell you not to buy what they call "chubbs" - those sausage looking tubes of ground beef. YEARS ago I used to work at a meat processing plant (Bryan Foods, since defunct) and that is the worst, lowest grade ground beef you can buy. If that is all you can afford, I have a GREAT lentil curry recipe I can give you. ;^). Seriously, don't eat that stuff. It should be outlawed.

Apologies

Just re-read a lot of my posts. Typos a go-go... sorry about that. That drives me crazy!!  I vow to do better.

How to Give Back When You Ain't Got Nuthin' Much To Give

This is really only for you true SAHMs out there. If you have a job where appearances count, or if you are really concerned about your appearance this is not advice for you. 


However, if you are confident in who you are, and how you want to affect the world, this is right up your alley.


Donate your hair. Seriously. I started doing this when I had my first baby. Hormones make your hair grow fast and thick. Once you get ten inches you can donate your hair to Locks of Love. Children who have lost their hair due to any medical diagnosis (mainly alopecia, but from other reasons as well) will get a real hair wig made from your hair. It takes about a year to grow 12 inches. People generally grow one inch per month. But due to breakage it will take you about a year to accrue enough hair to donate. 


Like I said: we don't have extra money to donate to causes. But I can grow hair. And I stay at home and don't have a dress code. It makes me happy to think that a child has nice hair because I have been patient enough to donate. Whenever I shampoo or condition my hair I think I am doing it not just for me, but for someone else who will really appreciate nice, silky smooth hair. 


Whatever you believe, whomever is your god, it is good to contribute to the self esteem of a sick child. 

Road Tripping Part III - Those that are left behind

There they are. The onions. On the counter. Staring you in the face. Telling you "I'll sprout if you leave me, see if I don't!" Those guilt inducing bulbs. Oh, and the garlic! Don't get me started with the garlic. It'll sprout on you even if you DON'T leave. You know you will have to do something with them so they can be useful once you get home.

So chop those babies up. Onions are easy. Chop them as you would for any recipe and store in quart sized freezer bags. After they have frozen, break them apart a bit by squeezing the bag so you don't have just one big brick of onions but a lovely, shakable bag of individual ones that you can measure out easily.

The garlic is tougher. The best way I have found is to mince the garlic and mix it with a bit of olive oil then freeze in those small plastic ware containers. After your trip when you are ready to use some, let it sit on the counter a bit and then you can spoon out what you need then pop the rest back in the freezer. Of course you can always call their bluff, leave them on the counter, let them sprout and plant them when they get back. That'll show 'em. Then, hey, free garlic! Don't try this with the onions though. They will just rot out of spite.

Carrots and celery. The first thing I would suggest would be that you cut a bunch up into little sticks, soak for 1/2 hour in cold salted water, drain and bring them on the road for healthy snacks. But if you have a bunch (pardon the pun) here's what you do: Handle the celery much like you would the onion. Slice, freeze, break apart in their little baggies so they rattle around in there. Done.

Carrots are more complicated. The easiest thing to do is to give them to a carrot loving friend. Or you could blanch them and freeze them in a little bit of blanching water to use later in soups.

Eggs. If you like egg salad. Make that and take it on your trip, knowing it will only last a day or so. If you don't like egg salad. Boil them and either take them with you or leave in the fridge. If your trip isn't very long they will still be good when you get back. If you are in for a long road trip, don't boil them but separate them and freeze the yolks and eggs separately. Use a cheap ice cube tray, spray with cooking spray and freeze one egg white or one egg yolk per section.

Potatoes. Oh, those wretched potatoes. If you leave them they will sprout. If you try to freeze them in any partially cooked form they will be yucky. Either make a nice potato soup and then  freeze it (using up a little of your onions and celery BTW) or give them away.

As far as fruit is concerned your best bet with anything other than citrus is to take it with you to use as snacks on the road. Grapes, apples, mangos, berries - make a lovely fruit salad and you'll have a nice dessert along the way. Bananas need to be left out of the salad. They do very bad things to a fruit salad. It isn't pretty.

Now your citrus is easy. Zest the peel of all your citrus, store in leftover spice jars, little plastic containers or freezer bags and freeze for use in recipes later.(see previous post, Lemons on Sale). In addition to slicing the lemons and freezing, you can also juice all of your citrus and freeze the juice (just be sure to label them so you aren't left with mystery juice),.

Happy trails.