Every time you walk into the kitchen to make dinner you're saving money, considering the average U.S. family of four spends nearly $240 a month eating out. The trouble is that today's families often don't have enough time to put a home-cooked meal on the table every night.
Busy mom of two and author Alicia Ross, who co-wrote "Cheap. Fast. Good!," recommends batch cooking as a way to save money and time in the kitchen.
Batch cooking involves cooking larger batches of meals and storing them for later when there isn't time to cook. For anyone looking to get started, Ross recommends getting a vacuum sealer, such as those sold by Rival Seal-a-Meal or FoodSaver.
She explains that a vacuum sealer will pay dividends in the money and time you will save by keeping food fresher up to five times longer, so that it tastes as good as the day you prepared it. It helps retain food's nutritional value, too, so that you can feel good about serving batch-cooked meals to your family.
In addition to investing in the right tools, Ross offers the following tips:
? Double up. Make a double batch the next time you cook and save the extra meal for later. It takes just about the same time to prepare two meals as one and you only have to clean up once!
? Cook with friends. Make batch cooking a social event by inviting a friend or two over to cook together. Share favorite recipes to keep meals interesting or cook in your own kitchens and swap vacuum-sealed meals later.
? Batch cook ingredients separately. You can also stock up on some basic building blocks. Browning batches of ground beef, poaching or grilling chicken, and baking potatoes ahead of time are easy ways to cut down on meal prep time. Plus, this helps you make the most of sales on bulk purchases.
? Make your own conve-nience items. Grocery stores are packed with convenience items-such as shredded cheese-all at a price. Taking some time to make your own and storing them in vacuum-sealed packaging for longer storage pays in dividends.
? Cook meals that you are going to enjoy. Thrifty cooking doesn't mean you have to pass on great taste.
? Use a menu plan. You'll shop less often and will be less tempted to buy items that you don't need and won't use. Read the grocery ads and take advantage of sales.
Author: Stacey Moore
Author Bio:
Products that earn the ENERGY STAR prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. EPA and DOE. For more information about ENERGY STAR, visit www.energystar.gov. Using energy efficiently at home can be as easy as changing a light bulb.
