Good Deals & Batch Cooking – Supermarket Bargains Turned into Frugal Meals #frugal #cooking #freezer
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I went shopping for the best deals then batch cooked them for Frugal Ready Meals. Frugal Queen in France Like the menu board …
everything looks so good. i hide lots of things in chili to stretch the mince. i often add sweet potatoes or rutabaga- or if i have leftover butternut squash or celery root it all goes in to the pot. luckily with all the spice and textures- much of those veggies cook down and just thicken everything so the veggie police never know!!! lol
Batch cooking makes so much sense. I love the idea of not needing to cook every day!
I've had a dehydrator for several years, mainly using it for cherry tomatoes and grapes. This year though, I've been drying everything I can lay my hands on – potatoes, carrots, celery, corn, peas, green beans, kale, cabbage, apples, pineapple, oranges, onions, leek, red peppers, even cucumber chips (delicious), along with my tomatoes and grapes. I've discovered you can "dry can" these in Mason jars using a vacuum sealer you can buy reasonably just for this purpose. In the past, I've stored dehydrated fruits and veggies in ziplock bags in a cool, dark cupboard in the basement, and they've been just fine, so you don't have to spend money on canning jars. I just happen to still have my great Aunt's collection of jars and lids. What's nice with dry canning is you can reuse lids that have been used before. I plan to try making venison jerky this fall, to save on freezer space.
Thank you for sharing this informative video. I never thought of cooking in big batches and Freezing them especially the lentil soup 🍲. We love lentil soup and never thought of adding to beef to make it go further. AMAZING 👏.
I love watching your Channel as I learn so much from you. I cook and freeze leftovers if no one wants it the next day. Always save those leftovers and enjoy for another day. Makes for quick and easy meal. Have a Blessed Day!🌄
Freezing the soup/sauces is so much better and speak saving than how I currently do it in tubs 👍 Also I'm really on the fence whether to invest in an instant pot or just go for a slow cooker as I've never had either, would you recommend the instant pot overall? Me and my partner are trying to think of ways we can reduce our utility bills here in the UK and find a cheaper alternative to using the oven/hob.
Very well done ! 🤗🍃🍂💐💗✝
Jane, every time I watch you batch cook, it inspires me to do the same. Have a good day.
A very useful video. You refer to instant pots is it possible for you to do a tutorial on how to use one and what to look for when buying one. Can they replace two or three separate utensils
Thank you Jane. I love to do batch cooking. Great ideas on saving money 😍
You can add plain oats to bulk out mince dishes
I only cook twice a week for us. I'm working from home. Cook 2 to 2.5 lbs of chicken thighs, ground ragu, stew meat or a roast.
What a brilliant vid Jane, am deffo going to be cooking these recipes this week,
how money saving are these, am gob smacked and also very happy, thank you
so much for these meals, more of the same please, love to you and Mike and see
you soon for your next vid. Take care.
Good morning France. It’s 6:45 a.m. and I have a huge pot of tomato sauce from my garden. Will can this after. Always feels good to see pantry being stocked up.
I freeze my cooked chicken with a bit of stock to keep it yummy
I do similar Jane and now that I have my lovely Instant Pot I do even more! I always use every scrap of a chicken for meals and stock too! Unfortunately I can’t give the skin to my dogs afterwards as it gives them extreme “ flatulence “ 🤣🤣🤣
Note to self: Never watch the cooking portion when hungry! 😋❤️
Your videos are fantastic. Your recipes are wonderful.
I add I cup of red lentils to my spaghetti sauce with vegetables(no meat). My indulgence is to add one cup of red wine to the sauce.
Very nice! I make lasagna sauce that way too, pad it with minced veg. It just has so much flavour and it was a great way to sneak extra veg to kids!
I love watching your cooking, it gives me great ideas.
Chilli is a staple in my house, it's so good, hearty and wonderful with garlic bread and or corn bread.
Love this. When I don't feel like cooking it's wonderful to pull a meal out of the freezer.
I freeze my ingredients for meals flat the way you do I also pad our meals with vegetables I hadn't thought of putting them in the liquidizer though. Do you add liquid?
Hello Jane and Mike, another great video
Enjoyed watching the batch cooking, gave me a few ideas. Thanks for making this video.
The other day ground beef and ground pork were on sale, so I bought a big pack of each. I mixed them together and made 8 burgers, 8 hamburger steaks, 1 pack loose beef/pork, 4 mini meatloaves and 80 meatballs.
Jane, you do such a wonderful job showing us how to shop economically and also make very creative meals. Mike is a lucky man to have you as such a good cook at home! Batch cooking and freezing ahead is so smart. If you are busy working outside the home or just have a very busy and tiring day working around the home, being able to take something from the freezer and by just thawing and reheating having an easy and tasty meal ready for you. It is also economical to buy items on sale and clearance items. Many times here in the US when you buy what they call a family pack or a bulk pack which is just basically a large package of some type of protein typically different cuts of beef, you can buy it at a lower price. This is a great example of how you can take hamburger and turn it into chili, lasagna, meatloaf or other casseroles or just burgers on a bun and you've taken the same protein and made it taste so different in each dish. Thank you so much for sharing your methods with us and thanks to Mike for doing a great job filming. Hello to Dolly and Mary and I hope they enjoy their chicken bones but do be careful as chicken bones can sliver easily especially after they've been cooked and we would hate to see anything happen to those adorable little dogs of yours!
My favourite tip is to make good use of rotisserie chickens. Why not have someone else's energy cook it, so long as its purchase price isn't increased? I can buy reasonably priced whole rotisserie chickens for £3.99 from the wholesaler Costco and as you say Jane, what you see is what you get when it's cooked already. I keep a mix of of seasonings and herbs I can rub onto the skin if we're eating it on the day of purchase from the bone, and either way, some of it is always stripped off the bone, for several more meals. And of course the carcass goes straight into a pan to boil up for stock.
Batch cooking is the single best way to save money in the kitchen. By the way I have been making Bacon and Lentil soup for years, following your recipe, from your previous blog days. Must have made it hundreds of times and always give you a thought. It was the first time I ever used lentils in cooking and now they are a staple. Thanks Jane.
Wonderful ideas for batch cooking! The bacon lentil soup sounds divine!! I'm definitely going to give that one a try!
In the U.S. are fed all manner of things that they shouldn't eat, grains, corn , oats etc. that are usually sprayed with Round Up that has glyphosate (banned in Europe and South America) – they normally should eat grass. Also since cattle are often kept in poor conditions, they are given antibiotics that are then passed on to the human that eats it. Additionally, they are given growth hormones so they get bigger and fatter and can fetch more money at the market – also passed on to humans. So in the U.S. grass fed beef is really expensive – often $10 per pound or more and on offer it's between $7 and $8 per pound (1/2 a kilo). All that said, I love your batch cooking videos! You really know how to stretch the food! Thank you!