Tips On How To Save In The Kitchen

This is a follow-up story to yesterday’s post regarding the ever increasing food costs. High Food Costs Are Eating Me Up The responses I received were all saying the same thing. EVERYONE is experiencing higher food prices at the grocery stores, everywhere, and not just here in the United States either. Our very own blogger seekingdivineperspective at https://seekingdivineperspective.com/ suggested I offer some saving tips on how to save in the kitchen. I can only offer the tips that personally work for me, but I do believe they can help everyone as well.

• Buy in bulk when you can, if you have storage space and/or freezer space. Even though it is just the two of us, we buy things in bulk as much as possible. We cut and divide things into smaller portions and freeze the rest. We especially do this for our meats. But we actually purchase a lot of thigs in bulk. For instance, I buy a 25 lb bag of flour at Costco that is cheaper than a 5 lb bag at the store. Of course I am going to buy it in bulk.
• Make as much from scratch as you can. I rarely buy pre-made or pre-packaged items. Yes, I do buy some items that are already made, like pasta sauce. Can I make it? Of course I can, but it is usually cheaper and easier to buy it already made. But things like pre-cut vegetables or meats that are already marinated, are much cheaper and usually healthier and better tasting if you do it on your own.
• Buy store brands rather than name brands. Store brand foods are almost always the same identical items you purchase with the fancy, more expensive name recognition. We shop at Costco all the time. We love Costco. The Costco/Kirkland brands are the same exact items you purchase with the name brands. They just use their own labels, because they too know that it is much cheaper to buy things in bulk.
• Waste not want not. You know how I have an alter ego whom I lovingly refer to as “The Queen of Leftovers”. I do my absolute best to re-use, repurpose and recycle everything, and that absolutely includes food as well. Both of my parents were products of both the great depression and WWII, so this philosophy is a concept I grew up with and it has always been a part of how I live my life.
• When entertaining, instead of having to prepare it all by yourself, have a potluck. You can still enjoy your friends and family, but at a fraction of the cost because everyone is contributing. Not only is this a more cost effective way to entertain, but it is also a lot of fun. You get to try many other styles of cooking and new recipes, and everyone gets to shine for a bit. I absolutely LOVE potlucks.
• If possible, DON’T buy a lot of specialty foods. Those are ALWAYS more expensive.
• I rarely buy organic foods. I buy local foods, but I rarely buy specifically organic foods. In all honestly, I have found that organic is NOT all that it is cracked up to be. This has to be a personal decision, and it will be different for everyone. But usually organic foods are much more expensive because they do not produce or yield as much as “non-organic” foods. And a lot of people have been fooled to believe that organic foods are better for the environment. NOT TRUE! To produce organic foods, it requires more water and more land to yield the same amounts.

List of Cons of Organic Food

• Easily Goes Bad. Compared to non-organic food, organic produce has the possibility of going off a lot quicker. …
• More Expensive. …
• Minimal Chemicals Allowed. …
• No Health Benefits. …
• No Nutritional Proof. …
• Even Low-Level Pesticides Can be Harmful. …
• Pesticide Contamination. …
• High Bacterial Levels.
•  In March, a Consumer Reports analysis found that, on average, the prices on organic foods were 47% higher than on their conventional counterparts. 

Organic Food Pros	Organic Food Cons
Less air pollution	Lower variety of products
Less soil pollution	Limited shelf life
Less need for antibiotics	Small companies may suffer
Animals are treated better	Quality greatly varies across producers

While organic crops are often promoted as being nutritionally superior to conventional or GMO, there is little evidence to support this claim. In fact, numerous studies (all from Google) have found no significant nutritional advantage of organic over conventionally grown foods.  A recent study found that because organic agriculture is now done mostly by big corporations instead of not local producers, and the lower yields combined with the intensive use of machinery means that overall, in terms of emissions and pollution, organic agriculture is usually worse than conventional.

Many consumers believe that the Organic label means the food has superior nutrition and is safer, especially in regard to pesticide residues. This is not true. Studies have shown no appreciable difference in nutrition between crops grown either organically or conventionally.  Organic agricultural production still uses pesticides and herbicides that USDA’s organic certification standards have okayed. Just because something is labeled “organic” does not mean that no pesticides or herbicides were used. It simply means that the ones applied met the USDA’s production standards for the term. In general, pesticide levels in both organic and non-organic foods were within allowable safety limits. A recent USDA survey reveals some shocking facts. According to an annual summary of pesticide data, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed that a whopping 21 percent of organic samples tested contained pesticide residue.

***All of these tips on organic foods was taken from Google. Do your own research and make the decisions that are best for you and your family based on your own studies.

I hope these tips help. Right now, we are all doing our best to help make ends meet. All we can do is to do our best. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.