OLD MOTHER FRUGAL DOES MATH

Browsing for marked downs, “Manager Specials” and clearance items is what Old Mother Frugal does. It’s her “jam” as the current generation of kids likes to say.

Not quite sure when that fruity spread on peanut butter sandwiches became something other than a fruity spread but apparently it did.

Back to the discounted items. This type of shopping does save money which extends the grocery budget but occasionally requires outside-the-box thinking.

Strategy #1 is to think “can this item be deconstructed” to create other meals?

For example, last summer a grocery store was selling ‘gourmet bleu cheese burgers’ at half price.

There were some solid pieces of bleu cheese in that burger. It was one, ample half-pound gourmet burger but Old Mother Frugal needed to feed two adults.

Plucking out the cheese for another meal which required cooking (was not going to eat raw cheese that came in contact with raw ground beef) was the first step.

Bleu cheese used as a stuffing with spinach, asparagus or ham in a chicken breast enhances the flavor of the chicken breast for an elegant yet inexpensive stuffed breaded chicken breast dinner because the expensive cheese was free.

With the remaining ground beef, two ‘quarter pounders’ were constructed as dinner for two. That is how Old Mother Frugal solved the problem of how to buy one, marked-down gourmet bleu cheese burger and turn it into four separate dishes. Two stuffed chicken breasts, two quarter-pound hamburgers.

Strategy #2 is to speculate if there are alternative uses for the food item.

Is a box of Earth Mother’s Organic Barley Baby Cereal just for babies? Is its sole purpose just to be eaten as cereal? Can this 59 cent marked-down box of barley cereal be useful in Old Mother Frugal’s pantry? It sure is.

Multiply out the serving size with liquid component and there is no reason why Old Mother Frugal can’t have a bowl of this cereal for breakfast. In most cases, one-quarter cup of uncooked cereal with about ½ cup of water/milk/whey over heat equates to an adult serving of hot cereal.

Other ‘outside the box’ uses for barley cereal is a substitution for bread crumbs or oatmeal in meatloaf. Want different grains in your multi-grain pancakes? Use barley cereal!

Strategy #3 is sorting. Old Mother Frugal looks towards the frozen food section for bargains too and once home, the sorting begins.

Frozen mixed vegetables? Separate out the broccoli from the cauliflower. Those bags of California Blends…separate out the multi-vegetable sliced carrots, green beans, red peppers, etc into smaller sealed plastic bags. It’s a mindless task; you can do it while watching TV. Grab a packet as you need one for your meals.

Frozen pasta meals are good for two different meals. Old Mother Frugal emptied a bag of a chicken carbonara and counted no less than 22 pods of garlic-butter in the bag. Removing half the pods and returning them to the freezer, Old Mother Frugal has instantly created sauce for another pasta meal.

Add leftover chicken or ham pieces to the pasta, one of those frozen vegetable bags mentioned above (green beans or peas) with the garlic-butter packets and presto!

The only technique to make this meal faster to put on the dinner table is to make the pasta in advance and freeze it.

The next time you are in your grocery stores, reflect on these Old Mother Frugal strategies of deconstruction, alternative uses and sorting to see added value to your purchases.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Add, subtract, multiply or divide when you buy an ingredient or an entire entry to extend its use. You will create a bonus meal which in turn extends your grocery budget dollars!