In my attempt to be a thrifty medical student, I am trying to be really good about money for food expenditure over the coming months. While a designated budget will, of course, have to go towards filling my apartment with the smell of delicious cookies and other baked goods, I am cutting money where I can.
First off, I decided to really limit the grocery shopping until I have eaten the reserve of food in my cabinets. I scoffed at the people who stocked up for Hurricane Irene because I had enough food to last a month or more. As a person new to the cooking-every-meal-living-on-my-own thing, I have a lot of compulsive supermarket purchases that I really need to eat. My cabinets are stocked with non-perishables and my freezer is packed with frozen food oddities. So I'll be getting creative with what I have in the cabinets and being thrifty the few times I head to the grocery store.
I had to make a run for some essentials... milk, eggs, and soda (can't kick the habit) and I stopped by the produce department at Shoprite. They often package up fruits and veggies that are about to go bad and sell them for very cheap. I found 5 organic apples and a lime for $0.93. Of course the apples were brown and I assumed (correctly) mealy inside but I bought them to make applesauce.
My Recipe (which means I didn't actually measure anything)
1. 5 crappy apples of varying varieties, pealed, cored, and cubed
2. 1/3 cup water
3. Cinnamon stick + a sprinkle of ground cinnamon
4. Sugar (I added just about 2 tablespoons but you can add more)
5. Juice of half a lemon (this is my key ingredient as it really helps to bring out the flavor)
Put that all in a pot and simmered on medium heat for about 20 minutes stirring with a mixer blade (to break up the apples) as it cooked. It came out delicious. It's low on sugar, tastes so much better than a mealy brown apple, and really cost me hardly more than $1.00 to make. It'll probably last me a few breakfasts as I am a pretty light eater when it comes to morning. Hello thrifty!
Did I mention this makes the kitchen smell fantastic! Hopefully I'll start buying some more "bad" produce and see what I can whip up on the cheap.
PS. Did I mention this tastes 10x better than anything you can buy in the store?
First off, I decided to really limit the grocery shopping until I have eaten the reserve of food in my cabinets. I scoffed at the people who stocked up for Hurricane Irene because I had enough food to last a month or more. As a person new to the cooking-every-meal-living-on-my-own thing, I have a lot of compulsive supermarket purchases that I really need to eat. My cabinets are stocked with non-perishables and my freezer is packed with frozen food oddities. So I'll be getting creative with what I have in the cabinets and being thrifty the few times I head to the grocery store.
I had to make a run for some essentials... milk, eggs, and soda (can't kick the habit) and I stopped by the produce department at Shoprite. They often package up fruits and veggies that are about to go bad and sell them for very cheap. I found 5 organic apples and a lime for $0.93. Of course the apples were brown and I assumed (correctly) mealy inside but I bought them to make applesauce.
My Recipe (which means I didn't actually measure anything)
1. 5 crappy apples of varying varieties, pealed, cored, and cubed
2. 1/3 cup water
3. Cinnamon stick + a sprinkle of ground cinnamon
4. Sugar (I added just about 2 tablespoons but you can add more)
5. Juice of half a lemon (this is my key ingredient as it really helps to bring out the flavor)
Put that all in a pot and simmered on medium heat for about 20 minutes stirring with a mixer blade (to break up the apples) as it cooked. It came out delicious. It's low on sugar, tastes so much better than a mealy brown apple, and really cost me hardly more than $1.00 to make. It'll probably last me a few breakfasts as I am a pretty light eater when it comes to morning. Hello thrifty!
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Did I mention this makes the kitchen smell fantastic! Hopefully I'll start buying some more "bad" produce and see what I can whip up on the cheap.
PS. Did I mention this tastes 10x better than anything you can buy in the store?
This. is. awesome.
ReplyDelete(Just like you.)
Are these your edited pics? The applesauce looks fabulous! Are you serious about the "offensive" blog???!
ReplyDelete@Da Momma not sure what you are asking. The boat in the previous post is my edit for the day. The first two pictures on this post were taken with my iPhone and edited with instagram. The third was straight out of the camera.
ReplyDeleteI. Love. you.
ReplyDeletePS - I also have a freezer and pantry full of compulsive purchases. Give me more ideas!