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.
If you have freezer space, buy meat that’s discounted because it’s going to expire soon and throw it in the freezer.
Properly packaged (vacuum sealed is usually your best bet) the meat will last basically forever as long as it stays frozen. I’ve pulled frozen meat out of my freezer that was a few years old that was perfectly fine.
It doesn’t stop the process of things expiring, it just kind of pauses it. If you throw it in the freezer 2 days from expiring, you gotta plan on using it within about a day or two of taking it out (although you can fudge it a bit, if it doesn’t look or smell weird it’s probably fine but do that at your own risk)
My schedule works out that I can do a lot of my grocery shopping in the middle of the day during the week, and it seems like Tuesday or Wednesday is when a lot of stuff gets marked down at my local grocery stores, I assume their meat shipments come on Thursday and they’re trying to clear space for it. I pretty much just buy whatever’s on sale, and throw it in the freezer. Sometimes I even luck out and get some really premium stuff- I’ve gotten wagyu steaks, duck breasts, beef tenderloins, etc. Even marked down they’re a little spendy but I save them for special occasions (got a tenderloin I’m gonna pull out of the freezer for Valentine’s Day and make a Beef Wellington)
And really, having a dedicated freezer is pretty great in general if you have space and especially if you’re able to shop around and buy in bulk.
I also have a full sized deli slicer. I won’t necessarily recommend you buy one of those, but I got mine for free, so I’ve started going to a restaurant supply store and buying whole deli meats and cheeses. That can be a great buy if you have the ability to store it. I’ll slice down the whole thing and portion it out into 1lb packages, vacuum seal and freeze them, then I’m usually set for a couple months. I break the cheese down into 1lb-ish blocks to freeze and slice them down as needed.
For lunch meat, making your own can also save you a bit of money and get you a better product. I’ll buy up some chuck roasts or those butterball boneless turkey roasts when I find them on sale, season and roast (or smoke) them to my liking, and slice those down. Miles better than the roast beef or turkey you get from a supermarket deli, and if you shop smart it’s a good deal cheaper. (Those butterball roasts, for example, are usually around $12 around me, and get you about 2 or 3lbs of meat after roasting it, 1lb of deli turkey is usually about that same price or more, and trust me, this is better)
It does help that I work night shift, so on my days off I’m usually up by myself most of the night with nothing much to do except food prep.