Hilly Billy Housewife Challenge

[aklap]

Well...hubby you can do as you wish...leftovers can be sent to WI I like leftovers!!!
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[nancw]

I am way impressed with the thriftyness of you all. I used to think I was doing well when I did most of my shopping at Safeway (pre-GF), and routinely saved 20%+ using coupons and shopping sales. Now I have to go to 4 stores a week chasing sales, GF and organic stuff. I wish we had Trader Joe's here. I go to the one near my Mom's in Mass. when I visit. Mucho better deals than I find at Whole Paycheck & Wild Oats.
A friend gave us a gently used fridge/freezer recently, so now I can stock up on refrigerated and frozen goods. It has made a huge difference. I actually keep more food in storage now than I ever did pre-GF. With all the challenges of staying GF, it makes it much easier to plan and execute a good meal.

Re: your hubby who won't eat leftovers after they are a day old - I am the same way. I don't know why this is...though since I've gone GF this is more true than ever. Something my brain makes me do I will eat frozen & reheated, just not refrigerated then reheated after a day or so...
DS won't eat any leftovers, so maybe it's genetic!

[ostrich]

[Torrey]

Hey Fid,

I don't eat leftovers either...never have...
I'm not sure how it was when I was growing up (don't remember!), but my mom recently told me that she doesn't eat leftovers...I think she must have inadvertently passed that on to me...seriously, because I never touch leftovers...
_________________
~Torrey

August 24, 1975
GF BD July 12, 2004

[isto]

Certain things, like left over meat, you could freeze until he doesn't really remember having it, then unthaw and make it into a completely different recipe.

We had friends who raised rabbits for food. Their children would name the rabbits and treat them as pets, then be upset when the rabbits were butchered for food. Our friend said whe had to freeze Fluffy until the children could no longer remember which rabbit it was. Then they would eat it.

[kmdiva8985]

My family doesen't eat left overs either but my fiance will eat anything, so when he comes to visit he eats all the left overs that none of us have touched (guess I won't have any problems in a few months.) He knows however that he has to be careful because my family has a really bad habit of not throwing things out..........

Does anyone know the cheapest place to buy XG?

[plain_old_donut]

There are many ways to deal with the "leftover" issue.

The first is learning to make the right amount of food to avoid them. If you always have leftovers, you're fixing too much food. Fix less food, and round out the meal with extra bread or salad or fruit - something that won't be considered leftover if there is any left.

Another option is "planned-overs". If you know your family is only going to eat 1/2 a pan of lasagna, get a smaller pan, make 2 and freeze one before you bake it. Or just prepare extra ingredients, like ground beef or cooked chicken, and freeze the extra before it becomes part of a dish that can be considered "leftover'.

And, of course, there is always this approach: Fix what you have planned, even if it's leftovers, and tell your family that if they don't eat this, they'll soon be fixing their own meals, because you'll have to get a job (or a second job) to pay for all the wasted food.
(My family doesn't like to cook - they eat whatever I fix for them!)

[ostrich]

[baldridgem]

I wont eat left overs. Especialy meat-it has an off taste.
There's just the two of us so we try to fix just enough for one meal.

[nancw]

Another leftovers issue I've read about is the rapid growth of yeast, molds and bacteria that can occur in refrigerated leftovers. Maybe a lack of desire to eat leftovers is a self-defense mechanism?
I don't have the citation to where I read this, sorry.

[Fidissimus]

Yeah, so I'm not sure why he won't eat left overs... He'll eat them maybe the next day and then that's it.

Before I met him I used to batch cook on Sundays and then freeze the majority of it but keep a day or two worth in the fridge. After a while I'd go to the freezer for dinner, especially if I'd worked a late shift and was too tired to cook. It's not much different than buying a frozen TV dinner (except it's good and I know exactly what went into it). I also used to do a big grocery shopping twice a month or so to make this all happen.

However once DH entered the picture things changed. He likes to shop every night for whatever he's in the mood for making. He'll shop just for that meal. He usually makes just enough for maybe one round of left overs - any more than that and he'd let them rot.

So we've got two pretty distinct meal planning styles. It's hard to be thrifty with his method especially if you look at the saving tactics that were mentioned above like buying in bulk and freezing, etc.
_________________
Cheers!
Jenn

GF BD: Feb. 2001
Free of wheat, barley, rye, oats, dairy, eggs, almonds, pineapple and brewers yeast.
http://graindamaged.blogspot.com/

[ostrich]

Have you explained to him about how much money you'd save if you went with your cooking method? Sit down and redo your budget to show him if necessary.
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[cultureslayer]

Leftovers are great! I can eat a meal without cooking. The only problem is that to have leftovers that means I do have to cook at some point.
_________________
Lauren
Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

[aklap]

bump for Steph
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[amazon]

My hubby is horrible about leftovers. He just wn't go into the fridge and make a bowl of leftover spag sauce. And I make it from scratch. Soooo I fix it for him then he has to take it.
I to freeze alot of things. Spag sauce soups stews broths from turkey or roast for later use in soups. I could live on soups. How do you keep eggs and milk from bursting when you freeze them. I'm gona feel stupid if you say you dont freeze the egg in the shell.
Beans are cheap. And my new favorite is using smoked turkey legs to season. You get a ton of meat of them unlike hamhocks which I consider a waste of money now. And turkey legs are cheap. One will do a pot of beans for my family of 3 at a tune of 1.50 a leg, .80 beans and one onion. Gotta love a three dollar meal.
Beef has gotten crazy expensive. Is there a cow shortage I don't know about? If pork tenderloin is cheaper than count me in it's my favorite meat. Pork roast. 1st nite dinner 2nd nite burritos etc lunch sandwhiches.
I buy chix thighs in the big bag and cut up and skin myself. It's a good aggresion release. Every woman should have a meat cleaver.
Oh and there is always the meatless meal. It hard to do with some men but they figure its better than cooking. We do alot of salads always trying something new. We had a small amount of leftover brisket so ontop a salad it went with feta. yum yum.
One brisket will make as many as 6 meals. I cut into three seperate pieces and freeze. Each one provides leftovers.