Making Do Without Missing A Thing--Six Kitchen Appliances that will put CASH back in your pocket--week three

   If you are serious about saving some serious money off of your grocery bill , then this next post is for you. You see, I am an all-or-nothing kind of girl, and tend to throw myself whole-heartedly into things that I have a passion for.

Ha ha! Digging the apron!

   I am no different when it comes to saving money. Once I started finding what worked, it became kind of fun to find out just how far I could push the envelope, and find something else that I could do from home in the "groceries department" that would make that money go even further.

  It has taken me down some fun, and very different roads over the years. Some I would go back to, some are now a way of  life, and some I am quite sure if I tried again I would get voted off the island.   

Immediately.

   My husband is hilarious, and frequently has been known to say things like: "If we are going down the crazy-talk path, can you please give me a heads up?". However, this is also the same man who has caught the "crazy fever" and calls to tell me that something is on sale for X-amount (think: super cheap) and asking me how much he should bring home. He never balks at my suggestions anymore with a raised eyebrow that communicates to me he is deeply considering committing me somewhere. He has humored odd smelling concoctions, and built numerous odds and ends of things for me to feed these "hobbies"over the years. He doesn't blink an eye when I tell him "I was reading the market report and it looks like ginger is going up so would he please pick up around 3 lbs for me NOW??". Nope. He just does it.
   He used to question me. Not anymore. He doesn't sigh or roll his eyes when I walk around the backyard talking about the dwarf fruit trees I want and how we can plant some of the yard to berry bushes. Nope. He just listens attentively and we are on the same page, because he has benefited from the same pattern and way of life that we live now, and it works well for us.

   Not that he hasn't had his share of some of the bad side of it. Someday I will have to share the story of how he had a terrible cold and someone had told me about garlic (read LOTS OF GARLIC) opening up the nasal passages. However, enticing as that might be to you, I will save it for another time and place where it fits in the story of today. And if he doesnt find out and kill me before I can share it. :)

    We are covering the last post about how to make the appliances in your kitchen work for you by putting more money in your pocket.

   We have talked about the freezer, and how using it short term can really save you some big bucks with stocking up during sales, or holding your doubles you make from just regular cooking each time. We have covered the stand mixer and its ability to help you make more of the basic things that would be considered staples in your kitchen, such as bread, pasta, etc. Next came the grain mill and how having one makes it possible to save on the basics of life,  through purchasing grain in bulk that stores for a very long time, giving your family the freshest, and cheapest, staples on the block.
   The last post we covered how using a crockpot can save you significant money in electric costs, and time as it does all the work for you;, cooking your meal while you are busy, thereby giving you a day "off". It even allows you to make expensive yogurt, and thereby cream cheese, or even Greek yogurt in just a few hours without a lot of work, or babysitting an appliance.
   Our last post I found myself a touch annoyed with my prattling on about crockpots and how effective they can be in cutting more money off of your grocery bill. Not that it isnt true, or important. It was that I wanted to get to the real heart of what I do to save some serious money on groceries, and share it with you.

   So Today is THE day, folks, and  these are the appliances that with a little time and a little effort, can turn your kitchen into a money-saving machine. You will find yourself wondering what else you can do with them, and with some research, or joining one of the great communities I am blessed to be a part of through FaceBook, you will always have or find a new way to use them to shave a little more money off.

   I am an avid gardener, and that has helped us to save literally hundreds off of our grocery bill yearly. I do not, for one minute, believe that people simply can not garden or find access to fresh produce, unless you live in a "dead zone" such as certain inner city neighborhoods I have been through in my life. (Then you have a whole different set of problems!)
   I live in Minnesota--the land of the frozen tundra (and a million frozen fish), and I still manage to have a vibrant, thriving garden each year. We have moved nine times in 14 years, and I firmly believe that where there is a will, there is a way. If you rent your home, ask permission, and if you cant use the yard, then look into container gardening. If you live in an apartment, look into using available windows, or if all else fails, search for the local farmer's markets.
   But what is the benefit of gardening if you cant eat all that you produce, right? It just sits in the fridge and goes to waste if you cant figure out how to cook it, or store it.
   And this is where the real money can be saved with two simple appliances.

   Enter in a dehydrator, and a pressure canner.

   Now, perhaps you are thinking that you have never heard of either one, or even that if you HAVE heard of either, you would have no idea how to use it. Consider me the friendly neighbor who lives next door, that is always bringing you over homemade goodies. Such as bread and a jar of strawberry jelly. Or a pot of soup because I heard you were sick. We get into a conversation and you find out that not only do I garden every year (you have enjoyed the bounty of that too, by the way, and have heartily thanked me.), but I do  the same kind of canning that your grandmother used to do. Or...well...sort of. Its hard to explain, but times have changed and with that time has come new methods and things we have learned over the years.
   And then while you are eating my bread and jelly I cause you to keel over in shock as I tell you that with my gardening, canning, and dehydrating we provide right around 60-70% of  everything our family consumes for an entire year. Everything. The fruit. The veggies. Even the seasonings.
   Because even though I love gardening, I really love having full cupboards and a lot of ingredients to cook with even more. Below are two basic options for dehydrators--the one I invested in is on the left, and another common one that people use is on the right.

http://www.groworganic.com/excalibur-dehydrator-black-9-tray.html

 

www.nesco.com

              Still, you don't have to garden to enjoy either one of these amazing hobbies (read: "ways of life"). You can use your regular grocery store to take advantage of these appliances, stock up your pantry, provide the ingredients in your meals, all for a much smaller price than buying them ready-made off of the shelf.
   Besides, I promise you, the very first time you crack open a jar of salsa in January with the winter winds howling outside.....the first time you open a jar of dried basil from the farmer's market or your garden for a batch of spaghetti and garlic bread....when you realize how simple and easy and frugal and satisfying it can be to put away as much, or as little, as you want of any fresh, frozen, or homemade product any time you want....you will be where I am.

  Addicted to canning and dehydrating and loving every minute of it. :)

   You know in the last post when I gave you my recipe for Chili? I would like to give it to you again, but with explaining my ingredients to you so you understand just how little that recipe costs me.

                                                     For an entire crock pot of soup.

 Heather's First-Prize Chili (yes, I toot my own horn occasionally, LOL)

3/4 lb ground beef or venison (free--my husband butchers meat for a portion every fall)

1 onion, diced, (for free--1/4 cup diced and dried onion from my garden)

olive oil (I have to purchase at $18 for a gallon, and this is one TBS. 256 Tbs in a gallon=.07 each TBS)

1 tsp garlic powder, chili powder, and cinnamon (garlic powder and chili are homemade. Cinnamon costs about .02 each use for a TBS.)

(put these in the bottom of your crockpot and saute until beef/venison is no longer pink.

add one can dark red chili beans ( I recently paid .30  can for these, but can home can dried beans for far less then that) and one can black beans (.30 again)

Add in one can chili tomatoes (free-homecanned), one jar chunky spaghetti sauce (free--homecanned), and one jar salsa (free--homecanned)

then add one large jar's worth of beef stock. (I made this in the crockpot from a bone -in roast that would have gone to waste otherwise. I simmer all my bones from chicken, turkey, beef or ham to make my stocks, and then either can it up or let it cook down to freezer stock)

   *cover and let this simmer for 8 hours on low. If you like your chili thick, make sure your crockpot lid is tilted the last hour for it to thicken up, or you can use cornstarch by taking one cup of the juice out, adding 1 TBS of cornstarch and stirring it in, then adding it back into the pot. 

   So, if you follow my calculations, you see that for a large crock pot of chili, using both my canner and my dehydrator, I made an entire meal (and we normally get two to three meals out of it) for around .69 for everything. If I could have used home-canned beans from a package of dried beans I purchased at the store on sale, it would have been even less.
                                   How is that for saving money on groceries?

   There are very very few things that can not be dehydrated or canned. If you are in the grocery store and see a great deal on produce or a lot of other basic things, you can take immediate advantage of it, take it home, and six months later still be benefitting from that great sale. For example, one of the things I just dont grow in my garden (dont ask me why because its not an easy answer) is celery. I can normally get great bags of celery for $1 each right around Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I stock up. I love to add dehydrated celery to soups, and stews, because dehydrating intensifies the flavor of whatever food you are working with. I can fit SIX bags of celery in a single Quart jar in my cupboard. And as long as I keep it out of a moist environment, that celery will still be just as awesomely good years later as it was the day I dried it.
   Or how about herbs? How much do you pay for those little jars of seasonings in the baking aisle each time you want to make a special dinner? A single herb plant, most of which will happily grow in your kitchen window, can give you enough herbs for filling a jar for you and every grandma, grandpa, aunt and uncle in your family come Holiday baking time. I grow a wide variety of herbs and they are beautiful, rewarding, and very aromatic. But put a couple of trays of fresh basil in my dehydrator to dry and about an hour later I think I have died and gone to Heaven, because the smell is just that good!

my Presto Pressure Canner

   Or how about being able to go straight to the shelf one night and choose between a beautiful jar of sweet and sour chicken (home canned) or a hearty soup (again, home canned) that you have already put all the effort into? All that is required of you at that point it heating it up and serving it with either rice or bread. (Oh wait, and those are homemade too! The rice can be ready in minutes if you made "minute rice" from home using your dehydrator. And the bread is something you probably already have on hand from your stand mixer and grain mill for pennies on the dollar.)

  What if you have kids? One of my kids' favorite things are snacks from the dehydrator or canner. I am talking homemade granola, taffy roll-ups that are made from homemade yogurt and mixed with fresh fruit or canned fruit, or hand pies I made using my apple pie filling from a jar, and the home made pie crust. Or  when I break out the home canned fudge topping they fight over who gets to take the ice cream from the freezer. :)
   This is a way of life and it is completely attainable for the average American. You can be sure of what is in your food because you were the one who put it up. You can accomodate food allergies, because you were in charge of the ingredients. You can feel that rush of pride each time you pull something off the shelf and heat it up for your family...or empty a jar of applesauce into a bowl for serving at the dinner table with your meal, because it is a tangible result of all your hard work and intentional purchasing.
   And the best part about it is realizing with a little time and the desire to make an effort, a determination to make the most with what you have, that you can accomplish far beyond your wildest dreams in providing for your family and doing it on a really small budget.
   Next week I am going to be teaching on how to use both of these items in depth. I feel that these skills are so important for the serious minded shopper/saver, that it would be silly for me not to share about it and show you how easy these appliances are to use, and how they can make an astounding difference in your grocery shopping and planning.
   You can still buy all those same things I listed in the Chili recipe at the store, and following my tips and tricks so far still achieve a significant savings for your grocery budget. But if you want to open up your world, and your mind, to a whole new host of possibilities, check back with me next week to start learning how simple and satisfying it is to use a dehydrator and pressure cooker.

Many Blessings to You and Yours,

Heather