When I was younger I remember looking into my grandma’s
pantry and cupboards and wondered to myself…”how was she going to feed everyone
when there seem to be nothing to fix?”
When dinner time came I was amazed to see all the yummy food before me,
she seemed to have whipped it up out of thin air…because I did not see any of
those yummy things in her pantry or cupboard when I looked inside of it.
That is what you call being a industrious woman in the
kitchen! I now have my own “Grandma’s Pantry”…I
have worked hard over the years to get to that point and it has been so
rewarding because I can fix just about any good simple recipe in a minutes
notice.
With a few important ingredients on hand in my pantry I can fix several healthy fulfilling home cooked meals.
I don’t buy a lot of convenience food because they tend to
be expensive and not very healthy to eat everyday especially if you also like
to visit the restaurants once a week.
There are a lot of ingredients in those foods that are NOT HEALTHY at all
and you pay in more ways then one when you stock up on convenience foods. I have learned how to make a lot of the convenience
foods from scratch and I store them for future use. I save a lot of money on my grocery bill by
doing this, plus they are healthier this way.
I LOVE TACOS!! It is my favorite food but I do not spend a
$1 or whatever the cost is for a packet of taco seasoning. I make my own homemade taco seasoning with
(salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, dried onions,
sugar, oregano, cumin). I have total
control of the taste and salt content of my seasonings. The best part is I am able to use some of the
same ingredients for my Chili Seasonings, Spaghetti Sauce, Seasoning of Meats,
Stews, and Soups etc. I could not do all
of that if I was to purchase a taco seasoning packet, I would need to purchase
more pre-packaged or pre-made foods to accomplish chili seasoning, spaghetti
sauce, stews etc.
So as you can see you get less then what you pay for when
you purchase convenience foods.
I also do not use recipes
that require me to purchase an item that I would only use for that specific recipe
…ex: Dry Sherry, Hollandaise sauce.
These would not be beneficial to me and my dinner preparations because I
would only use them once for that specific recipe. I fix simple meals and use recipes that use
simple ingredients it ensures that my food bill stays low.
With adopting the “Grandma’s Pantry” cooking techniques, I
spend less money on my grocery bills and feed a family of 5 for $250 - $400 a
month. I use what I have and I have
learned how to substitute certain things with what I have in my pantry.
I will be posting more information on how to make your
grocery bill dollars stretch without having to use coupons to save money. I will also talk about the possible pitfalls
of using coupons in a later post.
You can find out some of the ingredients I keep in my “Grandma’sPantry” by clicking the link.
