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Tip Store: Cooking: Preparation

PREPPING FRUIT AND VEG SAVES MONEY, TIME AND ENERGY

​When I get home from shopping. I fill the sink with cold water, add about half a cup of vinegar and pop in my fruit, then let them drain. Then add the veggies, let them drain and cut everything up and pop into containers, then they are ready to go when needed.
Contributed by Irene Wilkinson

​A Little Prep Saves a Lot of Dollars

​Quick oats are amazing and the little instant packets from the stores are a great time saver. Simply rip open, add milk, microwave and they are ready. The cost of convenience is rather high when you work out exactly how much you are paying 

Rather than spending anywhere from $6 to $10 on a box of name brand quick oats sachets I make my own! Buying some Homebrand quick oats costs around $1 for a large bag. I get some zip lock bags- around 100 of them for $2 when on sale and create my own. Simply portion out 1/3 cup of oats into the bag and seal. Pop in the cupboard and keep the measuring cup handy. 

In the morning you simply put 2/3 water in with the oats and place in microwave for 90 seconds. Add some milk and honey and you have a filling breakfast for less than 10c per serve- (baggie and oats). From each bag of $1 quick oats I get approximately 25 packets of my own quick oats.
Contributed by Stephanie Friend, 19th May 2016

Keeping Lettuce

Wrap a lettuce fully in paper towel and put in a zip lock bag and then in the fridge.. Do not wash the lettuce before doing this. When you want some lettuce just take of a few of the outer leaves each time and wash and use. I have found the lettuce last for ages and is perfect when travelling in the outback in the caravan when fresh vegies can be hard to get.
​Contributed by Bron Casement, 20th March 2014

​Two Recipes Same Prep Time

I noticed a lot of cuisines have the same or similar ingredients, so I always have canned tomatoes, canned beans or chickpeas, dried chilli, coconut cream, tomato paste, rice, pasta, pepper and dried spices on hand. I always buy the same fresh vegies in bulk, usually from fruit markets, saves when you buy whole pumpkin and 1kg bags of carrots and pre-packed potatoes also whole bunches of celery. The fruit markets run bulk buys on canned tomatoes combined in a sale with canned beans. Today I cooked a vegie korma and a bolognaise style sauce using the same vegies, which both incorporated chopped brown onion, garlic, celery, carrots, green beans, butternut pumpkin, tinned tomatoes and spices. First the veg korma. I fried half my prepared chopped brown onion and garlic in oil, added chilli flakes and 2 tablespoons of dried korma powder (from fruit market). After a minute or so, I added half of my prepared diced carrot ($1.98 bag 1kg), butternut pumpkin ($1 each this week), chopped green beans ($2 for a 500g bag) and added diced potato. After another minute or so in went canned tomatoes, 2 cups of water with a vegetable stock cube. I simmered the mix until the carrot was tender then in went the canned chick peas. Simmered again until the mixture was reduced and thick, then I removed it from the heat and added coconut cream (69c at Coles or you could use a little fresh cream). The amount I made served 6. Now for my bolognaise sauce. I fried the rest of my onion, garlic and chilli flakes, same as with the korma dish. Next in the pot was some dried Italian herbs, then my carrots, celery, beans, then 500g minced beef. After the beef browned in went the canned tomatoes, salt and pepper, 2 cups water, a stock cube, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and a dash of hubby's red wine! If you want chilli con carne, tweak this with more chilli flakes, dried cumin and paprika, add a can of red beans and leave out red wine. I make a big pot of basmati rice, perfect for the korma and chilli con carne, and for the bolognaise sauce I do some pasta. Perfect for Friday nights as we like to settle down to the football, the family serve themselves, however much they want of either dish, and the rest goes into take away food containers with rice or pasta at the bottom and one of the two sauces on top. The lid is labeled either korma or bolognaise and they are put into the freezer for a quick lunch or easy dinner.
​Contributed by Cathy from Sydney

​Putting Those Appliances Hiding in the Cupboard to Work

Approximate $ Savings: $300 plus per year
​ How easy is it to just forget about using some of those handy time and money saving appliances we all have lurking in the back of our cupboards. Mine was a yoghurt maker given as a Mother's Day present many years ago, used quite a few times and then after many moves forgotten about, or I just became to lazy. We love Greek yoghurt on and in everything and use a lot each week, costing me anything up to $12 - $14 a week. Like a lot of people I want to cut down on my grocery bill, so decided to get the yoghurt maker out and give it a go. The mix for 1kg cost $3 and tasted great, is also low fat and has all the goodies in it that yoghurt should. MOOing our Greek yoghurt is saving me upwards of nearly $10 per week, all because I decided to drag an unused appliance out of the cupboard.
- Contributed by Anita Taylor-Halpin, 1st February 2013

​MOO Ring Tin

Approximate $ Savings: $20.00

​ I needed a cake to cook a gluten free cake which required a cake tin with a hole in the middle, very hard to find and they were about $29.00 so I made my own. I took a round cake tin and placed 4 egg rings on top of each other in centre, sat a glass in the centre of the rings, then poured the mixture into the tin. I removed glass and cooked the cake - perfect!
-Contributed by Cynthia Nielsen, 12th July 2012

​MOO Cake Mixes

Approximate $ Savings: $2-$5 depending on brand of packet mix used

Great tip, Make up your own cake mix by putting together all the dry ingredients for your favourite home made cake and store in a zip lock bag, then when you need it in a hurry just add the wet ingredients and bake. This save a lot of time when baking. Just put together a few at a time and you will never have to rush and grab a packet mix when you need a cake or cupcakes in a hurry. The bag of dry ingredients last for ages made up in the pantry and you can re-use the zip lock bags and make up more when needed.
​- Contributed by Sharon Moon, 19th March 2012

​Feeding Hungry Hoards with Once-a-Month Cooking

Approximate $ Savings: $200 per month

I am a working mother of four active and hungry teenagers who are always bringing their friends. I have lately stumbled upon a number of websites for once a month cooking and freezing. I have made and frozen cookie dough, lasagnes, carrot and zucchini slices and much more. This is wonderful when they have friends over for dinner because instead of ordering pizza I can grab out some ready made meals and add garlic bread or salad. It takes a bit of planning and a huge cooking day but it is sure worth it.
​Contributed by Janelle White, 9th July 2010

​Simple, Handy Funnel

​One problem with refilling peppermills is getting the peppercorns into the mill without them going everywhere. If the peppercorns overflow, you've got quite a mess to deal with. Here's a tip to avoid the overflow: cut the bottom off of an empty pop-top water bottle, turn it upside down and use it as a funnel. The neck of the water bottle is wide enough to let the peppercorns in without the jamming that happens when you use a regular, narrow necked funnel.

​Cut Out the Pre-prepared Foods and Slash Your Grocery Bill

Approximate $ Savings: $100

I have managed to save $100/fortnight on my shopping bill by cutting out buying packet foods and pre-prepared foods. I only buy fresh fruit and vegetables now with the exception of frozen peas! I also go shopping with my children! I have read a lot of people saying that you shouldn't go shopping with your children because they want everything etc. Well I find that if I have my children with me that it makes me shop faster and I only get what's written on the list. My daughter (she is 2.5) likes to "help" push the trolley whilst my son (he is 13 months) sits in the seat. We make it a little bit of a race and see how quickly we can get around the supermarket. I also have started buying a monthly "food" magazine from Woolworths called "Good Taste". I sit down once a fortnight with my little pile of magazines and plan my menu around recipes from there and basically only put on the list things that I need to add to the recipes. We are eating much healthier meals that are always different and are so easy and cheap to cook. They even have in the magazine the approximate cost per serve so you can work out roughly how much it will cost.
​- Contributed by Emma, Waverley, 7th July 2008

​Crockpot Cooking Temperature Guide

If you want to cook over the whole day basically you set on high for red meat or dried peas/beans/lentils etc. With fresh veg or chicken only - set on low as this cooks a lot quicker - assuming all is diced like a stew. Larger pieces like fillets and roast potato size vegies I would use high. So if you want a quicker meal say (3hrs) - keep pieces small and no red meat or dry vegies. You can use rice, mince and any combination of vegetables and flavourings you like. It really is easy to use.
​- Contributed by Leeny, 23rd September 2005

​Fridge Smarts

Approximate $ Savings: $4000 per year

​ Sometimes you have to spend money to make money... or save money at least! Recently I invested in some of the Tupperware 'Fridgesmart' containers to store fruit and vegetables in the fridge. Since doing this I have found that my fruit and vegetables can be stored for about 4 times longer than just putting them in the crisper. I was reminded of just how good they were when recently I had forgotten about a bunch of celery that was in one of the containers (that had been there for almost 4 weeks!) I opened up the container expecting to see that it had gone off, however it was still crisp and looked as if I had only just bought it! I ended up using it in both a soup and a stir fry over the weekend. I know that Tupperware often isn't cheap (these containers cost approx $80 for a set of 3) but since purchasing the 'Fridgesmart' I have not thrown out ANY fruit or vegetables whatsoever. I have also heard that the average family throws out approximately $4000 worth of fruit and veg that goes to waste in the bottom of the fridge! When looking at these statistics I say this is money well spent. My additional tip is that if you wipe the inside lid of the container with paper towel every so often to remove any condensation, your fruit and veg will last even longer.
- Contributed by Louise, Bexley, 6th July 2007

​Reduce Oil Saturation When Frying

Mixing a spoon of salt in the oil when cooking fried food, greatly reduces oil consumption
​- Contributed by Amil, Chadstone, May 12th 2005

​Crockpot Flavour Boost

Using your crock pot, another good tip using the packet mix of e.g. Continental red wine Casserole. Use according to directions and put in slow cooker, they taste and smell great. Plenty of other casserole sachets in supermarkets if you're out of time.
​- Contributed by Joanne, 8th January 2006

​Mealtime Help from the Crockpot Fairy

Let me be your fairy Godmother. I have the answer. A lot of busy women complain about meal time. This tip is my very favourite. Do you know what the easiest and most healthy solution to busy meal times is? OWN A CROCKPOT. I used to own a shop which resulted in me dragging myself through the door right on tea time tired and sooooooo not keen to cook. You can put a combination of anything "meat & veg" with a bit of stock, watered down sauces or soup and it makes a very good flavoured meal. Make it in the morning or the night before and it will cook slowley and be ready at anytime you want to eat. You will do your family a healthy favour and save a lot of money too. I picked up an extra one at an op shop so I could cook a couple at once for lots of freezer meals. Hope this helps. Your crockpot: can be used for porridge ( add dried or fresh fruit and a little vanilla)- yum roasts and other things can be cooked in it too. Meat falls off the bone. The reason I said watered down sauces is because a crock pot seems to produce a richer flavour compared to other methods of cooking so you need very little flavoring other than the natural flavours of the vegetable or meat. I have found this is great to get soup really nice! eg: Any vegies, a bit of dried soup mix, garlic, herbs if you like and couple of stock cubes with water. Easy and even the kids like it.
​- Contributed by Leeny, 16th September 2005

​Egg Wash

When you run out of eggs and need and egg wash for dipping chicken, veal or pork to coat in breadcrumbs, make a mix of custard powder and milk.
​- Contributed by Marilyn, Glenmore Park, May 21st, 2004

​Edible Toothpick

​Try using raw spaghetti instead of toothpicks to secure stuffed chicken breasts or other meats. The pasta cooks with the meat so it's a great edible solution!

​Perfect Microwave Rice

For perfect rice, it's the microwave for me every time. Boil the kettle and use twice as much water as rice (i.e. 1 cup rice, 2 cups water) and microwave on high for 10 mins (no peeking!) and it's done. Just don't overfill the rice cooker or it'll boil over and then you'll have to clean gluggy water off the bottom of the microwave.
​- Contributed by Leeanne, Nunawading

​Fresh Tortillas

​Tortillas gone flat and stale? Here is the way to revive them. Wrap them in wax paper, and put them in the microwave for 20 seconds on high power.

​Crumb Saver

​When you use breadcrumb or flour mixtures to coat fish, chicken or vegetables, instead of throwing it out when you're through, put it in the freezer, clearly labeled, and use it again the next time your coating food. It will stay fresh, and being frozen, any small pieces of food left in it won't go off. Just be sure to use it for the same thing each time.

​Not a Cheese Ball

​Cheese is quite expensive. I was looking at the outrageous prices pre-shredded cheese. Aldi sell a 1kg block of tasty cheese for $4.99, Bilo have a 1kg block for $6.39. At $3.99 for 500g of grated cheese, it's almost double the price. When I want grated cheese, I simply buy a big block, grate it all and add just a dusting of cornflour and toss it together. The cornflour (it is a very light dusting) stops the cheese from glugging together and sticking in a huge ball. It can be frozen this way and used a little at a time. Whether it is used right away or refrigerated, it doesn't stick together; so a little cheese goes a lot farther on a casserole or pizza.

​Tomato Substitute

​If you have a recipe that calls for tomatoes or tomato paste, substitute a can of tomato soup. You will have the same flavour, without the overpowering richness of tomato paste or the expense of fresh tomatoes.

​Raw Can Save...

​Where possible, having raw fruit and vegetables eliminates the need to cook at all, and with a very few exceptions, is of better food value than when cooked. You will save money, time and energy by eating your fruits and vegetables raw as is or in salads.

​Brown Sugar

​If you use brown sugar so infrequently that it turns rock-hard between uses, stop buying the stuff and make your own as needed. Measure out granulated sugar in the amount of brown sugar required. Stir in enough molasses to make either light- or dark- brown sugar. Colour is the key.

Saving Tomato Paste

​Don't you just hate the recipes that call for 1tbsp tomato paste? What to do with the rest of the can? I put plastic wrap on a tray and spoon tablespoons full on the tray. Put in freezer-when frozen put in plastic bag in freezer and it's there when you need the next tablespoon for a recipe.

​Homemade Tomato Paste

When my tomatoes are ready for bottling, I take about half of them, slip the skins off, then run them through the food processor. Then I pour them into a new, washed without fabric softener, pillowcase. I hang it from a doorway and put a pan under it and leave it hang overnight. The next morning, you'll have THICK tomato paste. Put it into ice-cube trays and freeze. When it's frozen, pop it out of the trays and into ziplock bags and keep in the freezer. When you want tomato sauce or paste just take out as many cubes as you need. Thaw and cook as usual. Less heat in the kitchen from bottling them and less space taken up in the pantry by big jars. You can even add spices, etc., and then just thaw and heat. Simple!
​- Contributed by Jenny, Diamond Creek

​Dehydrated Tomatoes

​Each year when we have an abundance of tomatoes from our garden we dehydrate the extras. They are very good to just snack on and we really enjoyed them all year in recipes that called for sun-dried tomatoes. We stir-fry in olive oil with Italian seasoning, onions and garlic, and add rice for a quick and tasty savoury.

​Creative Crumbs

​Don't throw away those cereal crumbs! There are some great uses for what's left in the bottom of those cereal boxes that you don't care to eat as actual cereal: use as an ice cream topping or yoghurt topping, use on top of casserole recipes instead of those buttery crackers, replace breadcrumbs with them in meatloaf recipes, or to crumb patties etc. Special K, Corn Flakes, Weetbix and similar unsweetened cereals make great casserole toppers.

​Using Bulk Mince

​I purchase lean mincemeat when it is on sale, and make it into a meatloaf mixture. Half of the meatloaf goes into foil lined baking dishes so it is the proper shape. Then I take the foil and meat out, wrap it tightly and freeze. The rest of the mixture gets divided up into meatballs. I freeze it into sticks of 8 meatballs in a plastic freezer bag.. When I want to cook dinner, I can just place a meatloaf into the oven and cook or I can pull out one stick of meatballs per person and cook.

​More Juice

​When I have to squeeze the juice from citrus, I put the fruit in the microwave for a few seconds first. (A lemon just out of the fridge gets about 35 seconds in an 800-watt microwave.) Not only is it easier on your hand, but you get a lot more juice out of it, too!