Mom’s Money

Cook Like You Mean It

Back when I was growing up, cooking was a job.  My Mom started early in the morning, baking bread and getting things ready for dinner.  Now, I’m not proposing that we go back to those back-breaking days.  But, there are some lessons to be learned here. 

Right off the bat, you’ve got to have a plan.  Stopping at the grocery store or convenience store on the way home from work and picking out what you’re going to make just doesn’t make sense.  You are going to choose all the easiest, fastest, deli-ready, food items you can pick out in the quickest time possible.  You’re hungry, after all, and your family is waiting for you.  It takes less time than you think to sit down once a week, plan a menu, and shop for the ingredients.  Add up all those stops at the grocery store and convenience store during the week and you’ll see that, for the same amount of time, you could have your meals planned and prepared.

Get your groceries ready for cooking when you bring them home.  As part of your shopping trip, you should be cleaning and cutting up vegetables you know you’ll be using.  If your week’s recipes call for diced celery, onion, or green pepper, get them all rinsed and chopped.  What a time saver to have bags full and ready for your recipe.  You can enlist the help of your children if they are old enough.  Have a counter in your kitchen clean and ready with chopping boards, knives, and colanders.  Consider frying your ground meat or chicken.  That way all you have to do is throw it in when the recipe calls for it.

The greatest money saver and time saver of all is “cook once, eat twice”.  Yes, I learned from my Mother and Father that once you have the oven heated, and the pot on to boil, you might as well make a double batch.  It sure saves on the fuel bill.  And you will have a freezer full of quick meals if you package your double batch in individual servings.  Because, you know there are going to be days when you just can’t cook.  Oh, yes, don’t forget the grab-and-go lunch.  There’s another way you’re saving money… no more eating out for lunch. 

When you are rushing into dinner time, unprepared and over-spent, you are always going to be unsatisfied with the meal you’re serving your family.  Take a page out of our Mother’s and Grandmother’s cookbook;  Plan, Prepare, and Cook Like You Mean It!