Food Economy

I hear lots of people, mostly moms, complaining about the rising cost of food these days.  I have seen it myself in our increasing grocery budget.  I have discovered some tricks for making every last dollar (and calorie!) count in the food we bring home and avoiding waste.  I'll share with you some of my most-used methods for making my grocery dollar stretch:

1. How to use less-than-optimal produce:  someone peels a banana, doesn't finish it, and leaves it.  A peach gets too soft or bruised for eating.  Carrots go soft in the fridge.  Do you normally throw it away?  Cut off the bitten end, throw it in the freezer in a ziploc bag, and dig it out next time you are making a smoothie (for the fruits).  Combine all your vegetable trimmings and make stock for soup.  There is a lot of nutrition there--don't waste it.  I even save the liquid from canned fruits that are packed in juice (not syrup) and use that in smoothies too.  It's also easy to 'hide' things in sauces, smoothies, quick breads, etc (think chopped tomato in spaghetti sauce, mushy pear in banana bread).
2. What about food kids leave behind:  most importantly--don't eat it yourself!  It's still wasted when you carry it around on your butt.  My next post is going to be tips for feeding children in order to minimize this situation, but it still happens.  First off, determine if the food can be saved.  Many times my children still want to eat their food, they just got too full so I will wrap it up and put it away for later.  If it's not worth saving, or unsafe to do so, can you feed it to a pet?  Our dog throws up if he eats anything other than dog food, bread, cheese, milk, or eggs.  But we also keep chickens and they get everything that isn't ingested otherwise.  My garbage disposal doesn't see much.
3. Leftovers...is this a bad word in your house?  I actually like leftovers because it means saved time later.  In fact, I often cook to intentionally make leftovers.  Here are a few favorites:  leftover rice makes great fried rice (throw in any leftover meats, veggies, even scrambled eggs); when you make pancakes or waffles, store the leftovers as batter and cook in the next few days (leftover pancakes and waffles are always too dry); leftover meats are great in sandwiches, soups, and with a little BBQ sauce and some buns you can make a whole new dinner; leftover baked potatoes are awesome when you grate them up and make hash browns for breakfast (no need to peel); or if you are just plain tired of the particular food you have on hand, stick it in the freezer to pull out on another day when you need a quick meal.  Many times while cleaning up dinner, I'll package serving-sized containers of our meal for my son and husband to take to work the next day--easy clean-up and lunch is made.  Score.  Several years ago I bought some thermos-type bottles and my children like to take leftover soup, pasta, etc to school to break up the sandwich monotony.
4. Milk about to expire:  make some homemade pudding, shake/smoothies, even just stir up a pitcher of chocolate milk and watch it disappear after school.
5. Stale bread or rolls: make toast, breadcrumbs to store in the freezer, french bread pizza, english muffin pizzas, croutons (you'll never buy them again), or french toast.  With dry tortillas, make chips, tostadas, or toasted strips to top salads.  

When you are faced with food that no one wants to eat as is, use your imagination.  Can it be used as an ingredient in something else?  Can you dress it up to look and taste better?  Can you save it for later when you will want it?  Don't forget the internet.  I've never been the first one to search for a way to use leftover _____.  The more we are given, the more responsibility we have.  We are very blessed to never go without and have the responsibility to use what we have and not let it go to waste.