A Bazillion Ways to get the Most out of Everything.
In the crazy pace we've set for ourselves, we've come to a place where convenience is paramount. Unfortunately, many of us are getting to a point where convenience is unsustainable, either financially or from an ethical perspective.
We need to reduce spending. We need to reduce waste. Two birds, I say.
It's inconceivable to me, that amid concerns about micro-plastics, scandals about waste shipped to poor countries and battling straws, anyone would use a drink container that wasn't personal and reusable. I use six straws a year, but I always have a beverage in a single serve (not single use) container when I'm out. This single change could give exponentially more significant relief to our environment. In a single day out, bringing my own drinks would save me between five and ten dollars. If I only go out three times a week, that's at least sixty bucks a month.
Parchment paper is indispensable; I really can not do without it with my current cookware (I will be purchasing and reviewing some silicone bake ware in the future). Parchment can, however, be used several times over before you need to throw it away. Store it, cleaned of crumbs/debris, in a bag in the freezer. (I make a cloth freezer "junk bag" out of old shirts which I'll post at some point. After four or five uses it's time to toss the paper - you'll find it becomes very fragile and quite dark.
It's old school, but I still wash my aluminum foil and reuse it until it's too ragged to continue before I recycle it. My refrigerator often has tinfoil hat days when I tent it all on top to dry in the path of the fan.
Broccoli elastics! Seriously, some of this produce comes with elastics that could hold a jet together. It sounds small, but I will use elastics for some crazy stuff. I'm going to need an entire article for this one, though. Soon.
If you can manage it, even a tiny window garden can lift your spirits, and make a meal a little less horrible. I mean, can liven any old dish. Green onions will grow, easy as anything, from the ends that you chop off and throw away. Lots of things can be grown from scraps, article to come, but green onions are fail proof. Great little project for a young kid. Mint will grow readily from a broken sprig also, rooting in the area of the leaf nodes. Don't plant mint directly into your garden, it's incredibly aggressively spreading.
Save some of those medium sized, glass jars. You'll find that mason jar lids fit some of them, or, more importantly, the rings do. Mesh from a cheap colander will turn that jar and ring into a DIY bean sprout jar that's easy to rinse/drain many times a day.
If your milk comes in bags, those bags are great for short term storage 'solutions'. I use them for leftovers one or twice before sending them to recycling. Likewise any plastic food bag (frozen produce, dry goods) that I can't avoid acquiring. Don't use them more than a few times, especially if you're using them in the freezer. The plastic changes over time and can absorb odours.
On the days that we have meat, I cook it in ways that allow me to save and collect roughly a quarter cup of liquid from every two servings of meat prepared. With a dedicated ice cube tray, this quickly becomes a supply of fortification for skimpy meals at the end of the pay period. Even just potatoes or noodles can become something delightful with a gravy or savoury sauce.
Grate the zest off your citrus fruits (scrub it first) as you eat or use the fruit. You can quick freeze it on a slip of parchment, then bag it. It'll keep for months. Be careful to avoid getting any of the white pith when grating the zest.
Banana bread is great when the fruit is too far gone (they've gone too far) for fresh eating, but I love the flavour of fresh bananas. (Having fresh anything by the end of the pay period can be a bit of a trick, so by any means necessary.) I slice and freeze a few pounds of bananas (about 5 lbs, peeled and cut) when they are at the peak of flavour. Yoghurt is also super cheap. You don't need any particular flavour (great place to use a Tbsp of freezer jam), and you'll find that plain goes on sale more than flavoured.
Buy ingredients that can be used for a multitude of things. Like the example above. Plain yoghurt makes a cheap banana/fruit smoothie, but also makes a wonderful addition to cakes, dressings, fruit salads. The idea is to have cheap food that doesn't feel and taste like cheap food, and this is an easy way to do it.
Buy flour and more eggs rather than boxed mixes of things. A cake mix will only ever be a cake. Flour will be tortillas, pancakes, gravy, dumplings, crepes, a crispy coating, loaves of bread, fluffy biscuits.
I use mostly powdered milk, and have taken to adding it in powder form to my coffee, rather than a coffee 'creamer'. I make up only what I need, I mix it a little strong for flavour and I never have any waste.
Sweet potato fries will never be crispy in the oven, stop murdering the bloody things trying. I'm sorry, but it had to be said.
Make freezer jam at home and never buy store jam again. Banish the image of hunching over a cauldron forever and a 'cooked' tasting product. No-cook, bursting with fresh flavour freezer jam recipes will net you roughly twice the jam the same price will get you in mass produced stuff, and has only three ingredients.
