Sunday, January 5, 2014

Kitchen Basics

The kitchen is a good place to start when trying to save a little money.  The first thing is to make sure you have basic things on hand to be able to make food from scratch.  This is a challenge for some, I know.  But think about where your grocery dollars are going.  How much are you spending on packets and boxes of convenience foods that only feed one or two people.  We'll cover more about convenience foods later on.

For now we will focus on the basics I keep on hand for my family.

Flour
Sugar
Butter (this is the one area of the grocery budget I refuse to skimp on)
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Yeast
Salt
Pepper
Eggs
Seasonings
Peanut Butter
Jelly
Green Beans
Carrots
Onions
Potatoes
Pasta
Cheese (My husband works for a cheese factory, so this is cheaper for us than it is for most)
Meat
Milk 

Of course we have more than this in our kitchen at any one time, but with these basic thing I know I will always have bases I need to feed my family.  Many families could also cut corners by making meatless meals.  This is not allowed in our family.  My husband has very few requests when it comes to what I feed him, but having meat as part of his supper is his one desire.

With the list above I can make soups, pizza, bread, pasta dishes, sandwiches.  The list goes on and on.  Not to mention this also gives me what I need for homemade treats like cakes and cookies.

Take a look around your kitchen.  What can you do with what you have on hand?  Supercook is a fun website I like to use for inspiration.  You enter what ingredients you have on hand, and it pulls recipes from several sources on the internet that  you can make with those things.  You will be surprised at how much you can make with what you have already.

What are the must haves in your kitchen?

  



2 comments:

  1. I would say all these are essentials but one you missed that is a must on my list is garlic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I did miss garlic. Shame on me. Yes, garlic should be on my list.

      Delete