Thursday, January 21, 2010

Thrifty Thursday: Less is More

I am trying to practice this a bit in the kitchen. Less of the pricier ingredient in your meal, is more money left over.
For example, when I bake Chocolate Chip cookies, I have been putting about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips in them, instead of the full 2 cups.
When putting the ground beef in the chili, or the spaghetti sauce, or the lasagna, use less.
More beans, less ham in the soup.
More potatoes, less chicken in the curry.
Less mozzarella on the pizza.
I am using less shallots, more plain ole' yellow onion.
What else can be decreased in the various recipes you gals make?

5 comments:

Melissa Joy said...

I think this is a great principle to point out, Erin! Thanks!
Like you said, I do this with meat, cheese, and really almost any dairy product. I have rarely found it to have an adverse effect on flavor or texture.
I also find that I let it overflow into the size of the overall recipe. I frequently make *way too much* for our little family. As in, even too much for leftover night. Hmm. This has taught me to carefully plan how much I am making at a given time. So not only does the "less is more" principle apply to the expensive ingredients within a meal, but I've also learned to apply it to the size of the meal overall.
Another solution to that personal problem of mine is to freeze half of it and have that dinner again in a week or two (of course that doesn't work with certain meals... like last night's Asian chicken salad...), but my freezer is super tiny. So I can't do that very often... :)

paisley and lace said...

I've been making the plain olde oatmeal cookies from the back of the Quaker Oats box rather than a goumet dessert with ingredients I need to make a trip to the store for. They are actually pretty good, and everything is just in the cupboard. I buy oats in bulk at Costco, so we seriously always have oats!

Brittany Martin said...

I also substitute "plan ol' onions" for leeks (unless I can get them cheap at the produce market).

Brittany Martin said...

I also substitute "plan ol' onions" for leeks (unless I can get them cheap at the produce market).

Melissa Joy said...

I think this is a great principle to point out, Erin! Thanks!
Like you said, I do this with meat, cheese, and really almost any dairy product. I have rarely found it to have an adverse effect on flavor or texture.
I also find that I let it overflow into the size of the overall recipe. I frequently make *way too much* for our little family. As in, even too much for leftover night. Hmm. This has taught me to carefully plan how much I am making at a given time. So not only does the "less is more" principle apply to the expensive ingredients within a meal, but I've also learned to apply it to the size of the meal overall.
Another solution to that personal problem of mine is to freeze half of it and have that dinner again in a week or two (of course that doesn't work with certain meals... like last night's Asian chicken salad...), but my freezer is super tiny. So I can't do that very often... :)