Hey all, things are getting tough out there so I wanted to seek out what your tips are for getting a little more value out of cooking

My tips:

  • I throw all my vegetable trimmings into a freezer bag for stock later
  • Breaking down a whole chicken can be cheaper than buying specific cuts. This varies a lot depending on the sales.
  • Save the drippings in your pan after cooking meats. I put them in containers and label them, then use them for flavouring or roux
  • This one will sound weird, but I smell the potatoes at the store. After a while you’ll be able to smell a difference in which ones will last longer.

In general I just try and find ways to use up all the bits of food that get discarded.

I’m still only a novice chef, so any of your tips would be greatly appreciated.

  • just_another_person@lemmy.world
    151·
    2 days ago

    I have so many, but you’ve named a few. Let me throw a few things in:

    1. make and freeze stock with ALL the trimmings from veggies you don’t normally eat. Celery leaves, meat bones, stalks from parsley or Cilantro. Save them all, or boil them down.
    2. Use grocery delivery apps to find cheap deals around you, like Instacart or similar with wide searches. I regularly want to find a specific ingredient, but it might be 2x the price at “Store A” vs “Store B”. This app makes it easy to find deals. Don’t buy from them, just use it as a search engine.
    3. Dry ingredients are always 3-4x cheaper than canned ingredients. Dried beans, dried mushrooms, fruits…etc.
    4. Go check the butcher aisle for “last day” deals. Most stores want to get rid of meats within a few days of their sell-by date, and discount them heavily.
    5. Get a cheap dehydrator. Got some herbs turning or pepper flesh looking sad? Dehydrate them and save them for years.
    6. Never shop the spice rack at your local stores. They are 20x the price of buying a slightly larger amount direct from the maker, or somewhere like Costco. Salt, Pepper, Garlic…etc.
    7. Never waste meat. If you think it’s going to go to waste, and it’s not past expiration or smells bad, just boil it down into a broth and freeze it.
    8. NEVER buy any marked up spice mixes at the store. They’re all just cheaply available spices mixed up for a markup. If you eat a particular dish that requires a specific mix, just make it yourself!
    9. BUY CHEAP FLOUR. Even if you don’t want to make bread, flour is so useful in a lot of dishes. Get it when it’s on sale, and keep it around.
    10. It’s SUPER CHEAP to dress a dish up that is seemingly not that exciting. Herbs are usually cheap, so get some chives for those eggs, basil for some pasta, bay leaves and parsley in all your soups…etc
    11. BARLEY is insanely cheap. Drop it in any soup or rice dish and elevate it.
    • wise_pancake@lemmy.caOP
      5·
      2 days ago

      These are great tips, never would have thought of checking grocery delivery apps!

      NEVER buy any marked up spice mixes at the store.

      This is way easier than it sounds too, and with a good base of spices you can make a lot of different mixes.

      Never waste meat

      Yep, and every part of the meat is useful.

      Dry ingredients are always 3-4x cheaper than canned ingredients.

      Dried peas and lentils are great. I make a delicious pea soup and the recipe is basically “throw ham bones in a pot with dried split peas and simmer for 3 hours”. It’s very cheap and nutritious. There’s an asian grocery store near me that sells ham bones for cheap, which makes the soup easier to make whenever. I’ll add barley into vegetable or chicken soups too.

      Actually on that note: the asian grocery near me has all the less desirable cuts of meat. There are a ton of older recipes that help make those into awesome food.

      For example pork hock ragout was a favourite growing up.

      • just_another_person@lemmy.world
        3·
        2 days ago

        Yep, if you just need to use something in the future, find the cheap dried versions, or the adjacent ingredients for broths. Some stores even freeze and sell the marrow bones which makes great bases for Ramen, Pho, or Stew broths. 3-4x cheaper than the fresh version for sure. No difference at all.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
      2·
      1 day ago

      Careful with the store delivery apps. The prices are occasionally marked up. Wegmans does this. I save $30 a trip by shopping myself