Money Saver Weekend Cooking Frenzy

Busy days can lead to frustration when it comes to making dinner. Who has time to fix a meal when they don’t get home until 6pm or later? Better yet, who feels like cooking a meal after a hard day’s work?  So, what’s a girl to do in order to avoid frozen dinners or worse yet, fast food?  Use your weekends off to prepare all your meals for the upcoming week.

We’ve all been there at least once and if you’re like me, more times than we wish to admit.  We go to the grocery store and spend a ton of money so that there will be food in the house. We then make a promise to cook each and every night since the food is already there and ready to be consumed.

But, guess what happens? I come home from work late and I am tired. Everyone else is tired from work and school and no one wants to cook. It falls on me to cook so I suggest that we order take-out food. We spend twenty or thirty dollars on food for one meal when we have a freezer full of food. Have you been there, too?  Not a very good choice when we’re trying hard to save money, right?

One way I’ve found to stop this endless cycle is to pick one day on the weekend and have a cooking party. Yes, you read that right – a cooking party. I make a menu for the week and thaw out the food on Friday. Then, on Saturday morning I get to work. The kids can help me if they choose and when they do, they get a say in what we will be eating.

For your weekend cooking party, decide on the menu early. This ensures that everything needed is present and accounted for. Start with the meats. They will take the longest to cook so get that going and try to have a variety so you’re not bored with the same meats all week long.

Side dishes should be prepared, too. It seems like such a small thing to cook the main part of the meal and save the rest for later. What usually happens is no one feels like cooking anything. Avoid the drama by cooking everything at the same time.

Cooking that much food for later requires containers to hold it all. There are two ways this can be done. One way is to use containers that are large enough for each side dish and the main meat courses. Each day, take a meat and two sides out of the fridge and heat it up for dinner.

The second way gives the family a little more of a choice each day of what they want to eat. When the food cools (everything needs to cool before placing it in containers), have each person scoop what they want to eat into a serving container. Have one meat and two sides per container. In the absence of the family you can do it yourself. Label each with what is inside. During the week, everyone can pick from a variety of dinner combinations.

Each works, but it is up to you to decide which is better for your family. Cooking on the weekend saves time and money because you’ll be less tempted to go out when you’re tired from working all day.  Not to mention, for once you’re sure to use the leftovers!

If your food makes more meals than you could eat in a week, freeze several of them for another time. Simply thaw each meal the day you plan to serve it.  Yes, you will have to make an investment in dinner size containers, but it pays off the more you use them.  Once you see how much stress you relieve and healthier your family is eating it will be well worth the initial cost.

Make That Fruit Last Longer – Dry It

 
We try to save money on our food bills but with a family, that is a trick in itself. Fresh fruits and veggies seem to cost more and spoil sooner. If you and your family love to eat fresh fruits, one way to be sure they won’t spoil is to dry them.

 
Dried fruits can serve as a healthy alternative to candy. Instead of reaching for chocolate or a piece of hard candy, the kids will reach for a dried pineapple or apple slices. The sweetness of the fruit is concentrated when it is dried and bursts forth with every bite.
 

Learning to dry fruit is a fairly easy process. You don’t need to buy any fancy equipment. Investing in a few sealing jars would be nice so that storing the fruit will be easier, but it isn’t a necessity.  Sealing jars can be found fairly inexpensive at many supermarkets.

 
To start, gather all of the fruits you want to dry. Most fruits make good choices. Some of the more common ones are: pineapples, apples, plums, grapes, apricots, and tomatoes (yes they are a fruit!). If you favor lemons, limes, or other citrus fruits, you will be drying the peels and not the fruit itself.

 
All fruit and equipment need to be clean and thoroughly dried before beginning. Drying racks are needed if you plan on air drying outside or using an oven. Some pieces may be done before others so rotating the trays in the oven gives you a chance to remove any fruit that is already dried and replace with another.

 
Slice the fruit into small pieces. Apples need to be cored and peeled before slicing. Tomatoes can be cut into slices or quarters and salted before drying. Grapes and plums are okay as is because the skin doesn’t affect their taste.

 
If you prefer to use the microwave to dry your fruit, place small batches in the microwave on the turntable tray. Fruit pieces should be evenly spaced to allow for air circulation while drying. Set the microwave to the defrost setting in order to dry the fruit. It will take about thirty to forty-five minutes. Check after thirty minutes and gradually add time as needed. It is not recommended that tomatoes be dried via the microwave because they should be dried at approximately 120 degrees for about twenty-four hours.

 
You can eat some of these tasty treats as soon as they are dried or you can save some for later. If storing for later, let the fruit cool before placing in sealing jars or plastic bags. Dried fruits will keep for up to two weeks in a cool dark place. However, these fruit treats are so scrumptious they may not even last for that long.

 
Dried fruit has a multitude of uses.  It can be eaten as is or as a flavorful addition to ice cream, salads, pizzas, and more. Drying your fruits will save you money because it makes the fruit last longer than normal, avoid spoilage and gives you a reason to eat more of it. 

Valentine’s Day Food Choices that Rekindle the Flame

 
When Valentine’s Day rolls around, love is in the air. If you want love to be in the bedroom, choose dinner fare that will lead in that direction. Certain foods are known aphrodisiacs and can inspire romance.

What is an aphrodisiac? It is something that arouses our libido. It can be a scent, an image, or even a food. Eating that particular food will get the eater hot and bothered in a good way.

If that is the direction you are looking to go with your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day, then look no further than the kitchen. They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. On February 14th, we will wow his or her brain to turn on the rest of their body.

Here are some of the foods you might want to add to the menu on Valentine’s Day.

1.  Oysters – these hard-shelled ocean beauties have long been used to initiate sexual desire. People who never even dared touch an oyster were looking to the slimy delights to help them turn on the charm. Oysters can be eaten in a number of ways from on the half shell to dipped and fried in batter. However you can get them down your gullet, they are said to be a natural aphrodisiac.
2. Chocolate – Over the last couple of years, everyone has been touting the amazing properties of chocolate. We aren’t just talking about any chocolate but dark chocolate. It contains the largest percentage of cacao and produces those “feel good” endorphins that make us ready for anything. Even the Aztec ruler, Montezuma, used to indulge in a drink made with cacao before spending the evening with his concubines.
3. Hot Peppers – Have you ever eaten something very hot and felt the warmth run through your body? The substance in hot foods like peppers and cayenne pepper is called capsaicin. It causes a thermogenic reaction in the body that speeds up the metabolism. Combine that with some chocolate and oysters (maybe not all together) and you could have an evening of love that is made to order.
4. Alcohol – Here we are specifically talking about wine and champagne. Some would argue that the reason that alcohol acts as an aphrodisiac is that it lowers our inhibitions. Even so, we wouldn’t do anything that we didn’t already have in our minds to do. The alcohol is a convenient excuse to have some fun. Let the bubbles tickle your nose and light a fire in your loins.

There are plenty of other things that act as aphrodisiacs, too. If a food gives you that “all over” good feeling, use it to get you in the mood on Valentine’s Day and every day of the year.