Reducing expenses

[savingdogs]

That oven spagetti meal sounds yummy...can you give me the recipe a little more detailed?

 

[Shiloh Acres]

That oven spagetti meal sounds yummy...can you give me the recipe a little more detailed?

LOL, I was afraid someone would ask for a recipe. Its something that we had at a church dinner a few months ago, and I liked it, so Im in the process of developing my own version (theirs had big chunks of bell peppers and onions, which doesnt go well for me).



I can give you what Ive developed so far.



I usually cook up chicken breasts, oven roasted, in advance and slice or shred them for recipes. I spice them with basil, oregano, etc. for this just sprinkle on top and roast till done (or almost done). For the amount I make, I use about 1-1/2 chicken med-large breasts, shredded.



I cook either all angel hair, or half angel hair and half regular spaghetti for the pasta. I like a mix better but its more trouble because I do keep it al dente, so I cook them separately. The angel hair I just boil very briefly, only a few minutes. It will cook more in the oven. It doesnt have to be piping hot going in, so you can just boil the spaghetti and put it in the dish, then use the same water to boil the angel hair.



The casserole dish (I use about a 10 x 16 x 3 inch dish, so the amounts I do give here are for that amount it makes a lot so you might want to cut it at first until youre sure you like it?) gets about half filled with pasta. I add a cheese sauce now thats the part Im still working on. I had some jarred sauce, which Ive used twice and works ok. Ive also made sauce using cheese and milk, adding some garlic and a little onion. I want a thick white light-tasting sauce, and not too much of it. You dont want it sloppy just enough to moisten the pasta and then a bit more than that. I toss in some diced lightly cooked tomatoes about two cups worth or so. Then I mix that all up, and add the chicken pieces, and mix it up again. I usually add some garlic and a little onion. I usually top it with a layer of finely shredded mozzarella or parmesan/mozzarella mix (the parm is better I think mozzarella alone is kinda bland. Sometimes I use other cheeses.). I cover the pan with foil. If everything is at least warm-ish, you only have to put it in the oven briefly to heat it all up and melt the cheese on top maybe 12-15 minutes at most, and I make a lot so you might need less time.



Sometimes I use more tomatoes, but I actually find I like to taste the rest without too much tomato added, even though I LOVE tomatoes.



Like I said, Im just fiddling around with it. Its not much of a recipe so far, but I hope you get the idea. It really IS delicious. I like it with bread that has been sliced, buttered, and a bit of minced garlic and parmesan cheese sprinkled on, and toasted while the casserole heats, and a green salad.

I hope that helps.

 

[savingdogs]

I think we will have that for dinner some night soon!

 

[tortoise]

Thanks for the tips Shiloh.

I need to keep track of how much cheese we use. Because I know it's cheaper bulk and I know we use a lot of it. But my fiance thinks that buying a 5lb brick (at $1.00/less than grocery store SALE price) is not worth it. He's thinking that buying bigger packages is not always worth it because it sits around forever and it takes a long time for it to pay off - and usually the price difference is pennies per ounce.

I think I use 1/2 pound cheese per 12" pizza. Maybe I could cut that back a bit - measure it out instead of using "handfuls." ?? What do you guys think? I guess too much cheese can make homemade pizzas NOT cheaper that store pizza?

Who makes pizza? How much cheese do you use?

Anyways what I was trying to say before I got sidetracked is that if I know how much we use per pizza, per week, per month, then I won't have to deal with his "bulk is not better" point of view. And if I know how much I use I might find ways to cut back a little bit?

 

[Wifezilla]

Does he not understand per unit cost or how a freezer works???

 

[savingdogs]

Cheese is quite high in sodium, you might have more than one reason to think about limiting it......just try using less and see how you like it.

I make yummy tamales with an old recipe, but I cut the fat by 1/2 and the salt I cut down to 1/4 and they still tasted great. Next time I want to try even less fat.

 

[Wifezilla]

Cutting fat is NOT smart. Your body needs fat and reducing fat usually means more carbohydrates...which is just sugar.

 

[patandchickens]

Who makes pizza? How much cheese do you use?

When I make pizza for us (2 adults, 2 young kids who eat almost as much as adults do when they are in the mood) it consists of a dough recipe using 2 3/4 c flour made into two pizzas that are, I dunno, maybe 12-14" diameter each. For this I usually use about half a standard-sized ball of mozzarella (sez '340 g' on the package) so I think I am using about little over a third of a pound of it, divided between the two pizzas, which works out to a bit over a sixth of a lb of cheese per 12-14" pizza?

A half a pound of cheese for that size pizza sounds like an awful lot. I bet you would (or could easily *get to*) like it just as well with rather less cheese than you're using. Try it.

(BTW, try sprinkling a bit of granulated garlic -- not garlic powder, not dehydrated garlic, *granulated* garlic) on the pizza cheese before putting it in the oven. Makes it extra tasty and buttery-tasting, for some reason)

Personally I'd buy a smaller amount of REAL, PROPER cheese than use larger quantities of Kraft or Cracker Barrel or similar brands... for a lot of cheeses, you do not need to break the bank to get a lot of flavor out of a modest amount of cheese. (And I still spend a significant part of our food budget on cheese... but I buy what's on loss-leader sale that week, which still allows me to buy some decent imported cheeses for little or no more than I would for the Kraft 'orange stuff'. Although, the kids do get the orange stuff for lunch most days unless they insist on camembert or havarti or something instead LOL)

Another tip that might be worth knowing if money is tight but ya like yer cheese -- for gratin-style dishes or for pasta that you toss with just some butter (or olive oil) and grated Parmesan-type cheese, in many cases you can substitute dry breadcrumbs for up to half the cheese and it is just as good or better (tasting) as if you'd used all cheese.

Pat

 

[freemotion]

I always use at least a pound of cheese on a pizza for the two of us. Especially with brain cooties, cutting back on the type of fat that is in cheese is not a good idea.

You can get decent cheese for a lower price if you shop sales and in bulk. You can also repackage bulk cheese and freeze it. I find that shredded cheese does not keep its quality like block cheese does.

I also find that it is worth it to get better brands on sale than to get the store brands, which are usually rather bland. I look for Cabot sales. We can get 3 year Cabot cheddar, which is a little grainy/gritty but seriously flavorful, and mix it with cheaper storebrand cheese for some seriously good eating. I am happy to pay $4 a pound for decent cheese, and will go up to $6 per lb for something really good. Then on sale, we often find decent cheese (like Cabot 8-10 oz bars) for about $3 per lb and freeze some, but if you don't open a package, it will keep in the fridge for quite a while.

Whole one lb blocks of mozzarella are usually $1-2 less per lb than shredded versions. That adds up.

Sodium will not CAUSE most blood pressure issues, but can exacerbate existing conditions. It is the typical American diet. So clean up your diet, save money, and you won't have to worry so much about the sodium in the cheese.

When saving money, you are the only one who can decide which areas to cut and which to keep. Prioritize certain things and save elsewhere so you can have what is important to YOU. For me, good food is a priority, toilet paper is not, and I am happy with homemade cleaning products and fem. supplies, etc. I am willing to spend a little more for certain food items, such as bison instead of ground beef, at a dollar or two more a pound. The fact is, the cleaner our diet, the lower our grocery bill. We spend a fraction of what people all around us spend, and eat what amounts to a gourmet diet that is VERY healthy. Being healthy saves money, even if you have great health insurance.

I, too, have to argue with dh on occasion about stocking up certain items when a really good sale comes along. Sometimes you just have to "pull rank." "Do you want me to cook? Well, I need a stocked pantry! So there!" Usually works for me!

 

[tortoise]

I always use at least a pound of cheese on a pizza for the two of us. Especially with brain cooties, cutting back on the type of fat that is in cheese is not a good idea.

You can get decent cheese for a lower price if you shop sales and in bulk. You can also repackage bulk cheese and freeze it. I find that shredded cheese does not keep its quality like block cheese does.

I also find that it is worth it to get better brands on sale than to get the store brands, which are usually rather bland. I look for Cabot sales. We can get 3 year Cabot cheddar, which is a little grainy/gritty but seriously flavorful, and mix it with cheaper storebrand cheese for some seriously good eating. I am happy to pay $4 a pound for decent cheese, and will go up to $6 per lb for something really good. Then on sale, we often find decent cheese (like Cabot 8-10 oz bars) for about $3 per lb and freeze some, but if you don't open a package, it will keep in the fridge for quite a while.

Whole one lb blocks of mozzarella are usually $1-2 less per lb than shredded versions. That adds up.

Sodium will not CAUSE most blood pressure issues, but can exacerbate existing conditions. It is the typical American diet. So clean up your diet, save money, and you won't have to worry so much about the sodium in the cheese.

When saving money, you are the only one who can decide which areas to cut and which to keep. Prioritize certain things and save elsewhere so you can have what is important to YOU. For me, good food is a priority, toilet paper is not, and I am happy with homemade cleaning products and fem. supplies, etc. I am willing to spend a little more for certain food items, such as bison instead of ground beef, at a dollar or two more a pound. The fact is, the cleaner our diet, the lower our grocery bill. We spend a fraction of what people all around us spend, and eat what amounts to a gourmet diet that is VERY healthy. Being healthy saves money, even if you have great health insurance.

I, too, have to argue with dh on occasion about stocking up certain items when a really good sale comes along. Sometimes you just have to "pull rank." "Do you want me to cook? Well, I need a stocked pantry! So there!" Usually works for me!

I try to keep cheese to $3/lb. For whatever reason Co-jack is the cheapest here. Mozzerella is the cheapest. I've been getting "Fancy" brand shredded cheese in 2 lb bags. If I buy those 5? 6? pound blocks at the country store, it's $2.50/lb. The good cheese in the grocery store is $6/lb.

There is one that goes on sale, but ALL the kinds of cheese have the same "squishy" texture and are impossible to shred. I think it is Our Family brand?

My fiance will only have the cushy expensive toilet paper. I'm with him on that one. We both grew up in miserly families with the "crunchy" 1 ply see-though toilet paper.