Thrifty menus

The first thing to realize is that the best thing you can do to save money on your food budget is to learn to cook. In most instances, cooking without convenience foods is much cheaper. Lots of us don't get shown the basics as kids, my own mother was a great cook, but had a low tolerance for anyone else in the kitchen, except when baking for Christmas. I probably learned more basics from my dad fixing Sunday breakfast or grilling sandwiches for lunch. I can cook reasonably well now, and if I can turn out an edible meal, almost any one can. Fortunately, my daughters, who were turned loose in the kitchen at an early age, are much better already than I am.

If you're just starting to learn to cook, look for a cook book that covers the basics in simple terms. One source a lot of people don't think of are kids' cookbooks. Some of them are really gimmicky and useless, but some of them are excellent for instructions on making basic things like scrambled eggs, pancakes, French toast, grilled sandwiches, salads, and burgers. Try your local library and check out anything that looks good. If you can't bring yourself to start with a child's cookbook, the older editions of the Betty Crocker cookbook are a good place to start. If you have a few basic skills already, two of the best general cookbooks are The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and The Joy of Cooking. These may be a little intimidating for those who have never even grilled a cheese sandwich. Over the years, I've collected several cookbooks useful for lower budget cooking. One is the Vegetarian Epicure (my first cookbook, a gift from a high school friend). Her focus isn't thrifty, but there are some real gems in there, and the food is yummy. We're not vegetarians, BTW, but good food is good food. The other is a 1950's Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook, long out of print, but there are some wonderfully thrifty recipes there, including a progression of soup recipes starting with one for "poor man's soup" which is a simple dumpling soup that could be made for about a dollar (less if you use powdered milk instead of fresh) for four servings.

Everyone's tastes differ, but the following can be made for a reasonable cost and aren't difficult - scrambled eggs, French toast, pancakes, omelettes, grilled cheese,
dinner salads*, spaghetti, hamburgers, pizzas, tacoes, shish kebabs, BBQ, baked beans, cheese quesadillas, grilled chicken, biscuits and gravy, and potato soup. Don't forget to make sure you also have some fruits or vegetables and whole grains with the main dishes that don't include them. Using some convenience foods like canned cream soups can be a time saver, but if you're really pinched for money, they're an expensive addition, plus they're very high in sodium.

For more experienced cooks, stir fries, casseroles and soups are great both for nutrition and thrift. But don't just rely on cookbooks, find a basic, generic recipe and create your own without the pricey ingredients. A quiche, for example, doesn't actually REQUIRE cream and expensive cheeses. You start with a crust (we microwave a potato and slice it into the bottom of a pie plate for a crust), put in a layer (about a cup) of some chopped vegetable (I like spinach) and about 2 ounces of grated cheese. You can add some chopped cooked meat (a couple of slices of crumbled bacon or a little ham work well), beat together two eggs, about a cup of milk, and a little salt and pepper, then pour this mix over the other ingredients, sprinkle some more grated cheese on top, and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. It's supposed to take about 45 minutes at 350F, but ours tend to be done in as little as 30 minutes.

Ground turkey bought frozen in one pound chubs is one of the cheapest meats you can buy now. Ground turkey needs different seasoning than ground beef; for those who aren't used to it, don't try cooking it up in to a burger first thing. Start with substituting it in dishes with a lot of seasoning or a sauce, such as spaghetti and meat balls. You can make decent turkey sausage for biscuits and gravy out of it if you season it well with some of the same spices used for sausage. We really like ground turkey, but I don't think we'd use it for burgers even now.

*dinner salads - Usually called a chef salad. Start with whatever base salad green or greens you want, usually lettuce and/or spinach. Wash everything, then tear the greens up and cut up whatever raw vegetables you have and want to add - tomatoes, carrots, squash, radishes, onions, cucumber, etc. For protein, add some diced cooked ham, chicken, or turkey, if you like, and/or shredded cheese. This is a good way to use up leftover meat, but if you don't have leftovers, you can cut up a piece of sandwich meat. Top with the dressing of your choice, toss, and serve. For a family, you can put the ingredients in separate bowls, and everyone picks which ingredients to add for themselves.