Making Use of Dried Bread

If you have dried out bread or the ends of loaves, let them dry out and crush in food processor or blender to make bread crumbs. You can add seasonings to them to make seasoned bread crumbs instead of buying them. Or before letting the the bread dry out, cut into small squares, brush with oil and sprinkle with seasoned salt or other seasonings. Bake at 200 degrees until they are dried out and you have homemade croutons.

You can bag the bread crumbs and croutons and keep in the freezer so they last longer.

Saving a bag of Potatoes

The other day I realized I had almost a 10 pound bag of potatoes that was starting to go bad. I made a batch of scalloped potatoes which the leftovers I froze.

Then I looked on the internet to see if there was a way to freeze potatoes. There were some tips on freezing french fries and hashbrowns. For french fries, wash, peel and cut into strips and either fry part way or bake part way. I put the strips in a plastic bag with some oil and salt until they are all coated. Bake on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees until light brown. Let cool, bag and freeze. When you are ready to use them, finish baking at 425. I tried them and it did work. So I have two gallon bags of french fries instead of throwing them in the garbage. And instead of buying frozen french fries.

For hashbrowns, the tips said to wash, peel and grate the potatoes. Fry until they start browning, then cool, bag and freeze. When ready to use, finish frying like you normally would.

Cheap Cake Mix

One of the sale items at SunMart are Pillsbury Cake and brownie mixes 10/$10 (you get them for $1 each even if you don't buy 10). They are regularly $1.95. The sale runs through Saturday 6/6.

I usually buy a few when they are on sale to have on hand. Since it is just me, sometimes I bake up something and freeze the extras.

One cookbook I like is the Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn. Her other cookbooks are Chocolate Cake Doctor, The Dinner Doctor, Cupcakes Cake Doctor and What Can I Bring Cookbook.

The Cake Mix Doctor has recipes to spruce up ordinary cake mixes that taste more like scratch with simple ingredients.

When using cake mixes its easy to add ingredients to them to make a change. A couple weeks ago, I had a white cake mix and a can of cranberry sauce. I made the cake as usual and added the cranberries. The other night I mixed up a chocolate cake mix per directions. I filled muffin tins a little under 1/2 with the mix. Then I mixed a block the cream cheese with some mint flavoring and a little powdered sugar. I put a spoon full of this mixture in each cup. Then I put another layer of the cake mix. And baked as usual.

So one tip to save money is to try to buy items you use regularly when they are on sale. And using items you have on hand. Sometimes you can substitute things for other things that you have on hand.

Saving Money with a Menu Plan

Michelle at leaving excess has a post on her menu plan for the week. There are many other blogs that list their menu plans.

If you take a few minutes each week to set up a menu plan can make it easier getting dinner on the table each night. When you know what you are going to make each night you can have everything on hand and get things ready if you need to the night before. This is one way to save you from stopping for take out as much.

When planning your menu it is helpful to be looking at the grocery store fliers to see what is on sale and try to plan around things you have on hand and are on sale.

Also, like Michelle mentions you can make an extra amount of something one night to use as part of a different meal later in the week. Her case was rice. But if you make chicken, etc and use it in different meals.