Your Money
SAVE ON FOOD BILLS
A gourmet chef shares 7 easy ways to cut costs in the kitchen
Strategies for saving money on food go only so far at the grocery store. To stretch your food dollar further, you can also economize in the kitchen.
For pro-level cost-cutting tricks, I turned to the Culinary Institute of America, one of the nation’s most prestigious schools for professional chefs. Here are seven do’s and don’ts from David Kamen, CIA’s director of continuing education and consulting.
1. DON’T trim too much.
Sharpen your knife skills to get the most out of meat and veggies. For example, instead of indiscriminately lopping the tops off peppers and strawberries, simply cut around the stems. “Take out the center piece and leave the rest of it—that’s all good stuff!” Kamen says.
2. DO buy frozen veggies.
They can save you money and time since they require no prep, are always on hand and can be stored for long periods. You can use just what you need for a recipe—no need to buy a full head of broccoli or a bag of spinach. “They’re good quality because they’re picked at the height of the season and frozen,” says Kamen.
3. DON’T scrap the scraps.
If you have leftover bits from cutting up veggies and meat, save them for making stocks and sauces. Put them in a pot, add water to a level of two inches above the scraps and simmer for 40 minutes. Pour the strained liquid, once it’s cooled, into ice cube trays. The frozen cubes can be stored in plastic freezer bags.
4. DO stock leftover helpers.
Kamen buys fresh, peeled garlic and keeps it in the freezer so it’s available for making dishes with leftovers. He also keeps canned tomatoes in his pantry: whole and diced, as well as tomato sauce and puree. “You can make chunky Provençale sauce with diced tomatoes or spaghetti sauce with puree,” says Kamen.
5. DON’T let food go bad.
One of Kamen’s family favorites is “must-go pasta”—a dish made with things in his fridge that must go. “First, develop the flavor,” he says: Toss a few sliced cloves of garlic in a pan with onions and olive oil and sauté until it smells good. Then add cooked leftovers, such as chicken cutlets, carrots and potatoes. After that, build your sauce with broth or add leftovers like chicken gravy or tomato sauce. Season the mix and simmer, then toss over pasta.
Salads are another great way to use up leftovers. Variety is key; mix textures, colors, flavors and temperatures.
6. DO plan on leftovers.
Kamen recommends buying and making more than you’ll eat at one meal, especially when you can purchase high-cost items on sale. For example, instead of making two salmon fillets for himself and his wife, he makes three and uses the third the next day to add to salads.
7. DO buy a meat thermometer.
Food, particularly meat and fish, often gets wasted when it’s overcooked. Instead of eyeballing that expensive steak or fillet, use a thermometer and temperature guides, Kamen advises. And remember that residual heat will continue to cook the meat or fish after you plate it. So pull it out before it quite reaches the temperature you want, “and let it rest a while,” he says. “That’s what restaurants do, and it usually comes out perfect.”
Lisa Lee Freeman is a journalist specializing in shopping and saving strategies.
See how Kamen jazzes up dishes with a vegetable peeler at aarp.org/peeler