Not long ago, an acquaintance emailed me with a question about what Fresh Fields Market is like, and I told her it was fantastic, but expensive. That led to her explaining to me how she bargain shops. I pondered her clearance shopping habits for a bit, and whether her methods of shopping would work for me. I've got to get a handle on my budget because last year, with all the traveling and the moving, my credit card balances are way up and my expenses are more than what I take in. I really need to find another job, one that pays at least 10K more, but I know that would entail another move to a bigger a city, like Atlanta, and I just don't want to leave my little cocoon here.
So, since I've made a budget for 2006, my first ever, and this precludes eating out except on very rare occasions, not even for lunch or McDonalds, I've been cooking more. I've always enjoyed cooking, and now I'm finding that I'm enjoying it again. I've been experimenting a lot, and Elisabeth has been pretty happy with dinner lately.
Anyway, this little email exchange made me ponder what frugality really is. I told her that the cheapest is not necessarily the most frugal, and I believe that sincerely. I think frugality entails buying the best quality that you can afford, and then making it last and stretch and not wasting anything. That's the way that I used to cook, before Mom and Dad moved in with us and Mom did all the cooking. I told my acquaintance thats why I always take the bones home with me, and the drippings from the crock-roasted chicken - so I can make soup and not waste even the bones. I need to get back to that -- and I need to eat less meat and more vegetarian peasant comfort foods which ought to help the bottom line.
I do LOVE my kitchen gadgets. As budget saving measure, I'm trying to always eat at home unless we are going out to a NICE restaurant - no more quick runs for a sub or a hamburger for us - so I'm really making use of my crock pot(s). In the move, I lost the jiggly weight for my two pressure cookers (had already lost one, so I just had the one weight for both), and I decided that it was time to upgrade to a new one. Its kind of weird, but we'll see..... Its a multipot Fagor - it comes with a 4 qt and a 6 qt pot, a glass cover and a pressure cover. It was hard for me to figure out whether it was at pressure or not, since there is no jiggling noise and almost no escaping steam. But, they are supposed to be fool proof nowadays, and everything worked out pretty yummy. I miss my old one, though - I like the jiggly sound.
I had a small pork loin roast which wasn't completely thawed and I thought that since it was slightly freezer burned, it would be best braised with some strong flavors. So, I thought maybe it would be tasty Spanish style. I cut it into 4 thick steaks. I coated them with salt, pepper, lots of paprika and rosemary, and then browned them well in olive oil in the new cooker. When browned, I added an onion sliced, about 3 garlic cloves minced, more EVOO, salt and pepper, about 3 or 4 small potatoes in eighths. Added in about a tsp of fresh orange peel minced, deglazed with the juice of the orange and some vermouth, and added the pork back in. Cooked for 10 min at pressure, then added some frozen peas on top and let them steam in the residual heat while I set the table. Yummy! And I have dinner for Thursday night left over!
So, this was truly a frugal meal. I used meat and peas that had been frozen too long and someone else might have thrown away, added some flavorings that I already had hanging around, along with some potatoes, and had dinner ready in about a half hour. To top it all off, I was frugal with my time as well, since the leftovers will feed us on Thursday night. And I've got a new "keeper" original recipe as well.
So, is it more frugal to buy macaroni and cheese in a box or eat up stuff that's in the freezer? I don't know, but I do know this: we certainly enjoyed our dinner tonight!
Mom and Grammie must be proud of me right now.
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