Making Extra Time in my Day!

Hello Everyone!  I hope ya’ll are doing well! I am enjoying the spring weather and hoping that it lasts.

I wanted to thank everyone for the great response that I received on my last post. Just to give an update, I am thoroughly enjoying this new lifestyle. I haven’t been to the store since my monthly trip and it is wonderful not having to wonder what I am going to cook each meal.

I’ve had several people tell me that they like the idea of monthly grocery shopping but don’t think that they can do it because they don’t know what to do about all of the fresh produce and the large amount of space needed. So, I decided to show you how I handle that issue.

 I have a small kitchen and I also use a lot of vegetables. Some of you might not know that my husband is from India, so although (thankfully) he is not vegetarian (I love the food, but am not very good at cooking it), we do eat quite a lot of vegetables.  I also refuse to waste food. Therefore, I have learned how to make the most of the vegetables that I buy and use them completely.

 I admit, when you first bring all of the groceries in, it is rather daunting.  But, it needn’t be. I start by putting away all of my frozen and refrigerated food. Then I put away my canned goods.  I try not to buy many canned vegetables, usually just tomato products and occasionally English Peas or canned Great Northern Beans. Why do I not buy canned vegetables? Because, frozen usually tastes better and I can cook all or part of a package. This allows me to buy large packages of frozen vegetables that can be stacked in the freezer and take up less room.  I buy beans dry and cook them from scratch. I can buy a pound of dry beans for around the same price as a can of beans.

After putting up my canned goods, I start on my meats.  I buy what is on sale, usually family packs. Since there are only 2 of us, I go ahead and divide my meat up into a serving size for 2 people and put in the freezer.

Next comes the produce. I have discovered that cutting up vegetables is the most time consuming part of preparing a meal. Also, I hate crying over chopped onions every night while I fix dinner. So, I chop all of my vegetables ahead of time and put them in Ziploc bags in the freezer. I usually leave a few onions whole in case I decide to make tuna salad or something where fresh onions with crunch are needed, but the rest go into the freezer. Then whenever I cook, I reach into the freezer, pull out the amount of chopped vegetables needed and cook them. I do not chop my potatoes, ginger, cilantro, or chilies.

As I chop the vegetables, I place all of the scraps from the vegetables into a stockpot. After I am done chopping, I cover all of the scraps with water and boil.  After cooking, I strain the vegetables and keep the liquid. I end up with the most wonderful vegetable stock! There is usually enough for 2 meals. I consider this free food! I use the stock to make homemade potato soup or tomato basil soup!

The strained vegetables go in the compost pile for the summer vegetable garden. I hope this has answered some of your questions!  Until next time!