The Supermarket Trifecta

Trader Joe opened a store a few miles from here.  And Walmart, also a few miles away, just added a HUGE grocery department.  The competition must have caused our local supermarket to offer a whole slew of BOGOs.  (Buy One Get One, in retail parlance.)  We saved hugely shopping at all three stores one week.  French cheese at Trader Joe's, Polish ham at Walmart, and a pound of fresh mushrooms for 88 cents at the local store, where they're having an anniversary sale.  It's not a bad trip to drive up Route 1 and hit all three stores.  We take our own shopping bags and load 'em up with bargains.  Christmas baking and shopping should be a dream. 

With pears on sale, I'm trying a dessert with pears, apple jack and hazel nuts.  Real uptown.  
Tonight we're have a classic Quiche Lorraine with Trader Joe's cheese, and bacon (BOGO) and pie crust from the supermarket. 
 Chicken Chasseur a few nights ago.  Fresh tarragon, the mushrooms (again) egg noodles.  Wine and brandy.  Cooking up a storm and loving it.  Photo of Chicken Chasseur below.  Brussels sprouts (so good for you) on sale too.  When great food is a bargain, one likes to cook even more.  

Here is a recipe from Bobby Flay  (Food Network) that is very close to the one I used. Chicken Chasseur 

Chicken Chasseur from Cook's Illustrated 

 

Living Large In Lean Times

The New York Times today has a review of Clark Howard's book, Living Large in Lean Times.     Lots of advice to hanging on to your money, and according to the review, some good, some weird.   It's been on the best seller list for a while, so you should have no trouble finding it, and maybe you can even get it used on Amazon, a practice I resort to occasionally, because I see MY book out there for sale, especially in MA where we live.   Sauce for the goose.  If  you have intimations of "saving money" as a New Year's resolution, you might want to dip into this book. 


We returned from the grocery store with the Christmas roast, an expensive business to be sure, but no more than the organic turkey breast.  We've having broccoli, salad, potatoes and apple cake for the rest of the dinner, so only the roast is pricey.  


I'm making rice pudding from the old Betty Crocker cookbook.  No eggs, and it cooks to a  creamy, dreaminess that is so comforting without breaking the caloric bank.  Not always easy to do.  Old Time Rice Pudding


 Every week you should be saving 15-30% at the grocery store using coupons and specials.  Try to do that.  And try not to do what I did today, and buy a roll of heavy duty foil when I had just bought a new one.   Well, it was on sale and we'll use it next summer.  Cold comfort.   Do you turn the thermostat down at right?   And also if you leave the house for the day?  I hope so.    Paring cheese is  in the details.  No bargains on cheese at all in the grocery store.  Trader Joe's is the place for cheap cheese.  You may not even need to pare it.  


Happy Holidays to all.  Here is a photo of my mother-in-law with the Christmas goose, years ago, back in Germany. 

Supermarket Sticker Shock

This morning's Boston Globe heralded the bad news that anyone who has shopped for produce already knew.  Prices are up!  Lettuce and tomatoes are outtasight!  


Rising Food Prices  


You may want to consider making slaw or carrot salad for a while.  Vitamin C is in cabbage and potatoes and orange juice is still a good buy.  I always loved the carrot salad with raisins and canned pineapple.  Root vegetables are still reasonable, i.e. carrots, rutabagas, turnips (yech!)  potatoes and parsnips (yum!).  Carrot soup is delicious, so think outside the box.  Lettuce is a quick crop and should be back in the stores at a reasonable price in a few weeks. 


Oh!  Did I say "cool weather crop"?  Now is the time to think GARDEN!  You can do lettuce, peas, and spinach while the temperatures are still cool.  Of course February is waaayy to early in New England.  We had more snow last night.  But consider. 


Soup and stews are an excellent way to cook cheaper.  Chicken and dumplings anyone?  Our supermarket had whole chickens for 99 cents a pound.  Consider eggs and the main dishes of frittata, omelet and strata.  Some wonderful soups use cabbage as an ingredient.  Look up the Yakisoba recipe on prior posts.  Onions, Carrots and Cabbage, all cheap.  And use one pork chop instead of two.  


There are always ways to economize, and with oil and food prices rising and the instability (understatement) in the Middle East, it may be time to hunker down.  Again.  


Read your supermarket flyer and plan a week's menus around the sales.  But you already do this, don't you?  Make  your own muffins.  So easy.  Spend the weekend cooking and baking and week nights won't be such a madhouse.  Get the kids involved.  Make Mexican or Indian.  Try some vegetarian dishes, like curried chick peas.  So good, so cheap.  Instead of a salad serve slice carrots and cucumbers.  Be creative.  Be cheap.  

Make your own pizza and save!

Tips from Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart didn't always have houses in East Hampton, Connecticut and Maine.  As a young woman she learned frugality, and although today she has no need to pinch pennies, she still understands that saving and frugality are Good Things. 


Food Saving Tips From Martha  


Fresh herbs are expensive and oh so tasty, so do pay attention to Martha's tips on how to save them.  Herbs also contain micro-nutrients that we all need.  I hope  you have an herb garden every summer.  I use the basil, sage and oregano that I dry all year round.  The oregano is particularly tasty.  Alas, I cannot keep a rosemary plant alive in the house after bring it in in the fall.  This year's died early.  Once I kept it going until March and then it died.  What is my problem?  

We are eating white chicken chili that rocks.  Made totally from scratch without cheese or sour cream from fresh peppers, chicken and herbs.  Google White Chicken Chili and Cook's Illustrated.  It's not often low cal food tastes so good. 


Yours in frugality, 


The Cheeseparer