Make Your Own Garlic Mayonnaise!

 

Save money by making your own garlic mayonnaise: mix 2 tablespoons store-bought mayonnaise with 1/4 teaspoon chopped garlic, 1/8 teaspoon dried dill and a few drops olive oil. The olive oil gives the mayonnaise a slightly golden hue and suggests it’s homemade.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 108

Every week grocery stores have sales on select items like these: whole chickens for 99 cents per pound, 8 ears corn for $2, 3 8-ounce cans tomato sauce for $1, cherries for 99 cents per pound. Shopping these sales can save you considerable money over time. Some stores may quietly offer daily sales of perishables—meat and fish, fresh fruit and vegetables and bakery items—if you know where to look. They’re usually hidden in some obscure corner at the back of the store. If the expiration date is close at hand, you can pick up items at half-price or less, although you will need to cook or freeze them within 24 hours.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 107

How often do you find yourself throwing out stale bread?  Here’s an easy way to use up those long-forgotten part-loaves hiding in the back of your fridge.  Make fresh bread crumbs.

Mom Money-Saving Tip 106

Shrimp Risotto

Shrimp can be an expensive ingredient, so consider slicing them in half lengthwise.  That way you seemingly double the amount of shrimp you are using.  This trick works especially well with large shrimp.  Cut them after they’re cooked, rather than when they are raw, if possible, because it’s easier.

                                                         
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Mom Money-Saving Tip 105

Don’t feel like buying freezer ice packs to use when transporting food to a potluck.  Fill several plastic water bottles with water, leaving the top 2 inches near the lid empty.  Store them in the freezer until needed. 
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Mom Money-Saving Tip 104

Grocery stores often have an out-of-the-way corner full of net bags containing fruit or vegetables a little past their prime.  My local supermarket likes to sell its excess apples or oranges this way for 99 cents per bag.  The other day I found a 2-pound bag of fresh okra as well as a 2-pound bag of fresh yellow squash, each at 99 cents.  There were a few blemishes, but I overlooked them.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 103

shrimp / 16-20 per pound

Cooked, peeled shrimp almost always cost more than uncooked, unpeeled shrimp.  So you can save money by doing the cooking and peeling yourself.  Also, you are less likely to overcook the shrimp since you will be cooking it only once.  A shrimp stir-fry dish, for instance, will taste fresher when you start with raw shrimp.  If the shrimp are already cooked, add them to the dish at the last moment so they don’t get overcooked.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 102

What should you do with leftover fresh parsley?  It doesn’t cost much, so there’s a great temptation to 1) let it rot in the fridge, or 2) toss it out.  Here’s a third option.  Microwave it until it dries out. It takes less than 2 minutes to go from fresh to crunchy. Then crumble it with your fingers and store it in a closed container.

Money-Saving Tip 101

Need 2 cups grated cheddar cheese and you have only a block of cheddar?  Cut a 1/2-pound piece and grate it.  How big is a 1/2-pound piece?  Use a food scale, if you have one.  Otherwise, just keep grating until you fill a 2-cup container with grated cheese.

Budget-wise you’re way ahead if you grate your own cheese. Consider this:

A 2-pound block of cheddar cheese (which is 32 ounces) costs $5 or $6--or 16 cents per ounce.  Two cups of packaged grated cheddar cheese weighs 8 ounces and can cost as little as $3--or 32 cents per ounce. Thus, packaged grated cheese costs about twice as much as cheese you grate yourself.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 100

If you have stale French bread, slice it into 1-inch pieces and heat the slices for 30 seconds in a microwave.  They will soften up, although they probably won’t taste very good. Lay the softened slices on a baking sheet and top with olive oil, chopped garlic, oregano and other spices.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and serve as garlic bread slices.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 99

The concept of ‘reverse engineering,’ which means taking something apart to see how it works, came in handy recently when someone brought a dish of glazed carrots to a potluck I attended.  The carrots were delicious and looked easy to make.

I thought, ‘Here’s how I can use up that bag of mini carrots I had bought as a snack but sits untouched in the fridge.’  I like roasting vegetables so I roasted my carrots in a little olive oil for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  Then just before serving I stirred in a teaspoon of honey.  Healthy and frugal at the same time!

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 98

Here’s how to recycle leftover mashed potatoes:

* Add them to soup as a thickener

* Use them as an ingredient in Clover Leaf Potato Rolls  - click for recipe!

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 97

My friend Rukhi gave me this tip, which can save both money and time.  When there’s a sale on onions or a glut of tomatoes from your garden, here’s how to make use of them before they spoil:

Cook several large onions (peeled and cut in quarters) with a similar amount of whole tomatoes in 1 cup water over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes, or until the onions have softened.  Pull off and discard the tomato skins.  Drain and discard the cooking liquid.

Make tomato puree by blending the cooked onions and tomatoes in a blender or food processor.  

Freeze the mixture in 1-cup amounts in plastic storage containers or small freezer bags.  When you’re cooking soups, sauces or stews, add a bag.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 96

Don’t grocery shop when you’re hungry.  You’re much more likely to make impulse purchases that you’ll regret.  Stock up after lunch, not before dinner.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 95

Reluctant to throw out mixed lettuce leaves that are no longer at their best?  Add them to a stir fry or soup.  They will shrink when cooked but will add a bit of flavor and a lot of color.  And you won’t feel guilty about wasting food.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 94

After years of tossing out half-used cans of tomato paste, I finally realized I had another option: tubes of tomato paste.  They offer the very useful option of squeezing out however much tomato paste you need.  

Naturally you are paying for convenience.  A 4 ½-ounce tube of Mutti Double Concentrated Tomato Paste, which contains about 8 tablespoons paste, is selling for about $7 on some websites.  A same-size tube of Amore Tomato Paste is $3.99 at my local supermarket, while a same-size tube of Napoleon Tomato Paste is $2.28.  Meanwhile, a 6-ounce can of store-brand tomato paste, costs 79 cents.

Wonder how that cost breaks down per tablespoon?

Mom Money-Saving Tip 93

If you love fresh cherries but are shocked at the price, look for twinned cherries. Some stores refuse to sell this odd-looking fruit.  But those that do, sell them cheaper.  There is nothing wrong with twinned cherries. Twinning occurs when the weather is too hot when the cherries are in the process of budding.  Twinned cherries are a double-barreled eating pleasure.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 92

Here’s a way to re-purpose leftover cooked corn on the cob.  Put several ears on a non-stick frying pan, turn the heat to medium-high and let the kernels heat up and start to brown.  Turn the ears every minute or so that different kernels brown.  Serve while the corn is still hot.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 91

To keep bread from getting stale, do not refrigerate it.  Store it at room temperature or in the freezer.

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 90

Why buy breadcrumbs when you can easily make your own?  If you’re dealing with traditional store-bought bread, 1 3-ounce slice makes about 1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs. If you dry it in the oven, the slice makes 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs.

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