Wednesday, August 17, 2011

How to Cut Your Grocery Expenses

To help you cut your grocery costs and still providing plenty for healthy, nutritious and tasty meals, there are basically only a few things to remember. All this is because we need to find way to have foods that are both tasty and nutritious without having to spend a lot to obtain them.

The cost of food. However, before you get into the details of how to lower your grocery bill, always define the costs of your food. Food costing is generally used by professional cooks to determine their budget for food for a given week.


Make a simple price book to determine which store near you has the best prices. The easiest way to do this is to identify the fifteen to twenty-five most common things you buy, then shop at a bunch of different stores and compare the prices on these items. The store with the lowest average price on the things you buy should be the store you shop at regularly. I was surprised when I did this test myself, because I discovered that the store I thought was low priced was far from the least expensive option on the stuff I actually bought routinely.

Make a meal plan. Plan out what you’ll eat a week in advance before you leave for the grocery store. Know the next seven breakfasts, lunches, and dinners you’ll have, then make sure you have all of the ingredients for them. If you don’t, add that ingredient to the shopping list (it’s right on your fridge, right?). 

Enjoy your shopping!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Cool Kitchen Tips the Green Way


A Greener Garden: Harvesting The Crop

The sun has been shining all over the country and with the recent heat wave your home garden should be producing more fruits and vegetables than ever. We've picked out a few of the most common homegrown crops and found out the keys to a good harvest.

Cool Kitchen Tips

Haven't you always wanted a wise old chef to invite you over for a sit down during which they layout a few of the most simple, yet effective, cooking tricks and tips. Well wait no more and take a peek at these old, yet true, cooking tips!

Pasta Pomodoro

Welcome to Italian 101. First up in this lesson is a common vegetable to Italian cuisine the tomato. Now in Italian you will say Pomodoro. Enjoy a quick and light meal with this delicious and classic sauce.

Mushroom Saute

I've been on a real mushroom kick recently. Those delicious fungi have really been tempting my taste buds. So I figured a quick experiment in saute land would be warranted.

Chicken & Veggie Potstickers

An order of five Jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) generally ran me about fifty cents the last time I was traveling in China. During these cost efficient times I feel in love with the doughy balls of goodness and have learned to replicate them!

Source : The Chef Wannabee Newsletter