Category: Freezer Cooking

Simple Food

8/17/2020

Have you ever noticed how time-consuming consuming food can be? First we have to decide what food to eat. Then we have to acquire the food. Next, we have to prepare the food. After that, we actually eat the food. And finally, we must clean up from preparing and eating the food. And this cycle never ends. Most of us perform each of these tasks several times, every single day. It stands to reason that any effort to simplify our lives must include simplifying how we consume food.

Whether you are cooking for a large family or eating alone, a little planning can go a long way toward saving valuable time, effort, money and energy in the kitchen. Knowing in advance what's on the menu will allow you to take advantage of some shortcuts and ultimately leave you feeling less stressed and more satisfied by your meals. As you may have gathered, I'm a big advocate of meal planning and have created this free guide and menu planner to help teach you just how easy peasy it can be. But whether you plan a week's worth of dinners in advance or not, here are a few tips to help you simplify your eating:

Keep a list of your favorite meals and add to it as you try new things. Include a few "pantry meals" that require only ingredients you tend to keep on hand for a last-minute rescue when needed.
If cooking for multiple people, choose dishes that can be easily modified to suit everyone's diet and taste preferences to avoid feeling like a short-order cook.
Create a shopping list before heading to the store to ensure you don't forget key items you need and cut down on impulse buys.
Eat meals that center around the same ingredients to avoid food waste and to save time on prep.
Prep ingredients for several meals at a time in advance or purchase ingredients that are already partially prepared. (Salad bars are a great place to purchase pre-chopped veggies for any meal.)
Cook extra and divide the leftovers into individual portions to freeze or refrigerate for later use.
Minimize the number of dishes you use in preparing food to make cleanup quicker and easier. (One-pot meals are the best!)
Use pre-made mixes to save time without sacrificing that homemade yumminess.
Create and store frequently-used herb/spice combinations in larger batches in order to save time.
Use your grill! Grilling adds tons of flavor with little to no prep work and no pots or pans to wash.
Eat the same breakfast and lunch every day (or have 2-3 you alternate between) to simplify your shopping list.
Identify a healthy take-out dinner alternative for nights when life makes cooking impossible. (My go-to "emergency dinner" is a rotisserie chicken, loaf of fresh-baked bread and bagged caesar salad picked up from the grocery store on my way home.)
Plan your cooking around your calendar. Busy days should require less time in the kitchen.
If you don't enjoy cooking, just keep it really simple: grilled or baked meat/protein + vegetables + (optional) starch.
Look for recipes requiring 5 or fewer ingredients. (Check out the recipes in our Meal Planning and Recipe section.)
Do a "dinner swap" with a friend. You each make a large batch of a dinner entree. Divide your batch in half; keep one half and swap the other. This way you only have to cook once but end up with two different meals.
Memorize your favorite recipes to save time, or create a "cheat sheet" of the measurements to hang on your fridge so that you don't have to look it up each time.
Involve the whole family in the cooking and cleanup to lighten the burden and teach kids some life skills.
Learn and master time-saving kitchen hacks. (Follow @Blossom on Instagram for some really clever videos.)
Eat breakfast for dinner. (This was my mother's favorite cooking cheat. I mean, what's easier after a busy day than whipping up some scrambled eggs or a bowl of cereal?)

The most important rule of all to follow when it comes to cooking and eating your food is to enjoy the moment! Take a much-needed break from your daily stresses as you eat. If you're eating with others, enjoy the time together and some good conversation. If you're eating alone, enjoy the quiet solitude and time to reflect. Either way, put your phone down, turn off the TV, and give yourself some time to unwind. Eating should be about replenishing your mind and soul, as well as your body. Be present in the moment. You invested a lot of time and effort in creating it...make it worth it!

With a few tips and a healthy appetite, even keeping food simple can be easy peasy.

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Waste Not, Want Not

6/25/2014

2 Comments

Make your own vegetable broth in minutes for FREE!

By now you should know that I'm a big fan of keeping things simple and affordable. One of my favorite places to practice this is in the kitchen. Some of the best culinary inventions were born of a need for frugality, convenience, or both (Think pizza, soup, and croutons). For someone like me who is one part lazy, two parts budget-conscious and three parts control-freak, finding ways to reduce waste in the kitchen satisfies my need for easy, cheap yet homemade cooking in one fell swoop. What could be better than saving myself time, money and guilt all at the same time? (Well, besides eating all the yummy results of my efforts?) All it takes is a freezer, a little planning and a few new habits in order to get started.

Whether your freezer is stocked full of ice cream and frozen pizza or you use it primarily for taking advantage bulk deals on meat and other expensive ingredients, here are a few items you can store in this under-utilized appliance to you save time and money and reduce waste:

Vegetable Scraps - Start saving all those cores, ends, leaves, husks and peels in a zip-loc freezer bag. (Make sure they are clean and only save scraps that are not beginning to rot.) No need to separate by vegetable...the more variety, the better. When the bag is full, dump the contents into a large stock pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30-45 minutes, then strain for a tasty homemade vegetable broth for use in soups and stews. (Tip: Skip the salt; you can add it to your recipe later and eliminating it from the broth gives you more options in how to use it.)
Bread ends and stale (not moldy) leftover bread and rolls - Process into crumbs using a food processor to make homemade bread crumbs or cut into cubes, spritz with oil or butter, season and bake until crunchy for homemade croutons.
Crushed chips, crackers, or pretzels - Don't throw out those last few crumbs with the bag...freeze them for later. These make a great crunchy topping for casseroles, soups and salads.
Leftover coffee - Bottom of the pot gone cold? Pour it into ice cube trays and use it to chill your iced coffee without watering it down. (You can also keep a pitcher of the leftover coffee in the refrigerator for use in iced coffee drinks.)
Bones - Any kind of bones can be boiled with some of your vegetable scraps for a tasty broth.
Butter wrappers - These are convenient and less messy than cooking spray for greasing baking pans.
Juice from cans of fruit or tomatoes - Pour these into small containers or ice cube trays and use to cool drinks without watering them down, in smoothies, and to thin or add flavor to soups or stews. Toss fresh fruit in leftover pineapple juice to keep it from browning.
Herbs - I hate having to spend $2 on a huge bunch of parsley or cilantro when I only need 50 cents worth. Instead of letting it rot and wilt in your fridge, chop it up and freeze it in ice cubes for later use or add it to your vegetable scrap bag to flavor your next batch of broth.
Ripe bananas - Peel them, mash them and freeze them for later use in delicious banana bread and muffins.
Sweet Potatoes - Did you buy the 5 lb. bag when you only needed 2? Wash them, prick with a fork and nuke in the microwave on high for about 5 minutes or until soft. Scoop out the center and mash and freeze for use in lots of yummy recipes.
Leftovers - Even if you have just one serving left over from dinner, freeze it for a tasty brown bag lunch at the office one day in the future when you don't have anything else prepared. This takes the pressure off yourself to eat it before it goes bad. You can also make extra and freeze individual portions for this purpose. Leftover pasta, rice, barley, etc. thaw nicely and work well in soups, salads and casseroles.

The sky is the limit on other things you can freeze, from lemon zest to extra frosting or cookie dough. Be realistic when you are shopping and only buy what you need, but when you find yourself with obviously more than your family can easily consume, freeze it before it goes bad. Not only will you reduce waste, but these little gems just may come to your rescue the next time you find yourself in a pinch.

Share the wealth! Comment below and let us know what you save and how you use it.

Update 2/28/2015: I have discovered an even more convenient way to make the vegetable broth. Just dump everything into the slow cooker and cover with water. Cook on low for several hours and before removing the vegetable scraps and straining the broth. This broth is amazing in this slow-cooker potato soup recipe from Budget Bytes (replaces the chicken broth).

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Simple Food

Waste Not, Want Not

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