Hope, my set amount is also $.99 a pound for fruit. We live near Harry &David store and they had so many case lots of fresh fruit this summer for $.45 lb. OR LESS that I ended up buying over 300 pounds of fruit that I froze, canned and dehydrated. I managed to do this within my grocery budget too because my vegetable garden was producing so well. We are vegan and will be enjoying our hauls of fruit all through the Winter.
@@kencurtis2403 I ended up getting pears, apples, apricots, rainier cherries, nectarines, and peaches. All Harry and David quality AND this summer they had coupons if you spent $49 you got 10$ off! It was amazing!
Ideas for the ginger dressing..... stir fry cabbage, celery, onion, red bell pepper, and soy sauce in sesame oil and add some of your sauce. Use it for potsticker dipping sauce. Use it for onion pancake dipping sauce. Make a noodle veggie stir fry with it. Use it in a miso soup. Make a salad with edname, carrots, lettuce, crunchy noodles, almonds, oranges and dress with the ginger sauce. 😋
There's noway I'm making a list that detailed. I raised 5 kids, bought straight from the sale rotations to stock my pantry, each week I did that, and I checked my freezer and pantry every week and just filled the holes, along with sale rotation and I always had what I needed. I always checked perishables like lettuce and made dinner around things that I needed to get used up before they went bad, some dinners were all things that needed to be used. I even worked a second job where they let us workers take foods (fried chicken strips, potato wedges, burritos) home that didn't get sold, so we'd plan meals around that til it was gone, and I tried to get those things gone first ahead of what was in the freezer. My mom brought her leftovers sometimes and those would get used in meals immediately too. I pinched every penny when it came to food, we never starved and just to save money to have pizza on the weekend, I started doing bologna sandwiches on Thursday night for dinner, but I made it special like a buffet for the kids and they could build their own sandwich with choices like cucumber, onion and tomato, we called that night big fat bologna sandwich nightlol, so it did turn out to be a pretty healthy meal and there again I used perishables that needed to get used.
I'd never spend that much time on lists either Renea. I'm just not quite as focused and detailed as Hope, but I get the gist of her process and do much the same in my head instead of writing it down. I can't say I absolutely don't forget something once in awhile, but I do a pretty good job most of the time, especially now that it's just the 2 of us. I make a lot use of my freezer by cooking up anything that is close to going bad and putting it in my freezer. Sometimes I cook up an extra meal or two and freeze individual portions so my husband can survive on weekends that I go out of town to visit my grands too.
Baked potatoes, fried potatoes and onions, mashed potatoes, potatoe soup, potatoe salad, sliced with a drizzle of olive oil salt and pepper then bake. Girl you are set for the whole month on potaoes!! Buns also make great little pizzas. You did an awesome job! 👏
Dehydrate the potatoes for hash, casseroles, soups and stews. You don't need a food processor or a mandolin. All you need is an old fashion potato peeler. The shreds of potato come out thin and dehydrate quickly. Easier to make in to powdered mashed potatoes too. This method works so well you can have a collection of various potatoes that are not available from a lot of the food companies.
When I take my mushrooms out of the container and put them in a paper lunch sack, they last in the fridge twice as long! I hope this helps. Blessings on your day!😊
@Sarah Ritter - TY for the mushroom tip Sarah👏👏.....can’t tell you HOW many times I’ve thrown away mushrooms bc as a single person I just couldn’t use them up fast enough. Throwing food away feels SINFUL to me🤦🏻♀️ I’ll pass the tip along👍
@@dianeshover1465 my pleasure!!! You are not alone. I threw away so many mushrooms before learning this tip. Now, before I put away anything else, I transfer my mushrooms to the lunch sack, fold down the top, and put them in the fridge. They do very well!! I hope your day is filled with joy!😊
We don't have Kroger, but I love the Trader Joe's natural, 2 ingredient peanut butter. Yum! Ps, did you know if you store the natural peanut butter jar upside down, there is less separation and it is easier to stir too 😉
We love mushrooms. We buy them fresh, cut them up, and freeze them. When we want a pizza jazzed up a bit we use these, green frozen diced peppers, and onions.
I went to Fry's Grocery Store today which is Kroger's to others. Their sale good until November 8th is Kroger Turkey $0.79 a pound with a $25 purchase. Butterball Turkey $0.99 a pound. Marie Callender Pies, fruit and cream, $4.99! I would love to have room in my freezers for some of those pies, rats. 15 pound bone in hams were around $20.00. Arizona here, what a good sale and I have absolutely no room in either fridge or freezer.
Roasted Brussels sprouts with fresh minced garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil roast at 425 for 35 minutes stir. Take out oven and toss in balsamic glaze. Yummo
I’d be making portobello meatballs and flash freezing them on a pan to grab a handful for pasta, soup, or subs! My freezer is currently full of 25 jars of pumpkin purée I made for $1! Haha
YES!!!! about the peanut butter. If there are more than 2 ingredients on the label back on the shelf it goes. I don't even read the label. If the ingredients area has too much ink, back it goes. This even works in languages you don't know.
We love Costco's peanut powder and make our own PB from it, it's organic, nothing exta added and it is sooo delicious! I use the powder for all sorts of things besides making PB, it stores beautifully too.
Great vid guys, thank you. I would never have thought of freezing dips because of the chance in consistency, but using them as dressings is a fab idea. BTW Gyros is pronounced "yee-ros". And "poke" as in "poke bowls" is pronounced "pokay", like crochet.
For mushrooms or most other veggies, I will sometimes just either saute them and freeze them or denydrate them. I love pre sauted frozen mushrooms. I just grab a handful and throw them in the dish I am cooking.
Love your videos! Have gathered so much info from the two of you! love the chemistry between you two (the blooper at the end are my favorite!) btw, its PO-kay bowls! I love them too!!
I just remembered another recipe. I shave brussels sprouts with my food processor. Then I put in chopped and toasted pecans , dried cranberries and a maple syrup vinaigrette. I try not to use oil so I just replace it with an equal amount of water and it has not ever let me down. We love it!
I love the fact that you plan ahead for things like your sons' potluck party, and for having lots of people over around Thanksgiving! This is such good information; I tend to blow the budget bigtime when guests/ potlucks/ unexpected events occur. I am going to PLAN AHEAD to have some snack foods/ easy things to prep for potlucks on hand. Sending a massive salad to a potluck with those discounted salad mixes! Wow! PS My price shock of the week was going to my local ethnic store and seeing iceberg lettuce priced at $6.79 yesterday! Nope! # food prices in Vancouver , BC right now!
🤣 Larry is so funny. I love all his facial expressions. He's thinking to himself "Honey, the hot dogs go on the hot dog buns, not the hamburger buns." 😂 Seriously though, these are great ideas Hope! Thank you!
Another app that’s amazing is cook list it’ll keep everything that you bought when you link your app grocery wise and keep items such as pantry fridge and freezer on the apps
The veggie salad kits are great for dehydrating. They are already chopped. The dehydrated veggies for a healthier ramen noodles, hot/cold pasta recipes, frittatas, soups and stews. A 32 ounce mason jar holds 12-16 of the small shredded cabbage bags. You can also freeze dry the veggies as well.
@@sharonfleshman6961 The very thin angel hair green cabbage dehydrates real fast. Suggest using a dehydrating machine not the oven. The oven gives a burnt flavor. Check Linda's Pantry channel, Mary's Nest, Rose Red Homestead, Rain Country and there is one called something like Provident or Prudent Prepper/ Preparedness or Sutton Daze for dehydrating tips and tricks. Will send you another reply with the correct channel name. She has a new book with many details on dehydrating. If you use the standard shredded cabbage I take out the thick parts and save those big pieces in the freezer for soups and stews. Same thing with stalks from collards, kale and other greens. Leeks are good to dehydrate. The dark green portion of the leaves most people throw away make good powdered ingredient for home made spice blends.
@@sharonfleshman6961 Purposeful Pantry is the channel that specializes in dehydrating food and has a new book. I always put the food on parchment paper. The cheap dehydrating machine work well. I have the cheapest model from Walmart. Note: If your heater stops working in the winter the dehydrating machine at it's lowest setting can be a temporary room heater. And if you are dehydrating something it adds back moisture into the air if your area has real dry winter air. If you use the machine a heater of for moisture only use the machine for an hour or two at a time and let the machine rest for about four hours in-between.
@@sherlynpatterson4304 Thank you for the info. I will check it out. I have electric heat in each room so it should be unlikely that all of them would go out at once unless the electricity was out. There are a couple of indoor kerosene heated that have been tempting me. I live in Oregon where needing humidity unlikely as well. I do however live near a grocery liquidator and can get 4-5 lbs of shredded cabbage or carrots for two dollars. It's interesting to see how frugal living and even prepping can be so unique to each person. Off to check out that channel now.
For the potatoes you can make a potato bar set up with all your toppings that you can put on it for the tzatziki sauce you can also use that on vegetable sandwiches it’s a good replacement for mayonnaise for sandwiches as well and it’s just really good to have with vegetables as well raw vegetables and tzatziki sauce is a really really good!
I love mushrooms, but everyone in my home does not love the texture. I typically puree them to use in roasts and other sauces to bulk up the nutritional content.
Mushrooms I immediately put into a brown bag when we get home. They always last us longer. If they start to get a little dry. I slice and put on the dehydrator.
That ginger dressing would be great for dressing hot stir fry noodles with cooked vegetables and a protein; maybe peanuts or cashews. Add Brussel sprouts to the stir fry; cut them in half. Serve over a medley of rice and beans.
Thank goodness I had just eaten before I got on. You guys would have made me hungry. I had ground beef fajitas with yellow sliced bell pepper, onions, and spainish onions topped off with white shredded cheese. I always eat late because I go to bed usually around 2 or 3 in the morning, because I catch up on News, You-Tube and e-mails. I really enjoyed your video. Have a great night. All the best and GOD BLESS!
99c a pound is a great price for pretty much all fruit except bananas, but bananas are the most economical fruit we buy. No matter what I usually try to have some kind of fresh fruit in the house for my family to eat. Apples, bananas, clementines, berries and melon are usually the rotation depending on the season-except bananas those are year round. Oh, and I like to swing by Kroger early once a week to see what they have in the $1 produce bin. I’ve gotten dragon fruit, plantains, mangoes and artichokes and a few other more expensive items (especially tropical fruits) that were ready to eat for super cheap. I live in the PNW and a dragon fruit costs $8 off the shelf 😮
I love these videos! I also go to Kroger and get some great buys on markdown. This week I got 4 zucchini in a red mesh bag for $1 yep I look in the produce section and they have these red mesh bags of fruit and vegetables for just $1. I have gotten in the past apples, avocado , 2 small heads of cauliflower grapes, grapefruit, strawberries, potatoes usually 4 large bakers or 6-7 smaller ones in these bag's depending on what is offered that day. Then I hit the dented can markdowns and have gotten soups, pasta sauce and vegetables for a fraction of the cost. I scour the shelves for close outs this week I found Kroger brand creamy peanut butter for $1.95 for 28 ounce jar! Keep up the good work you guys 😉
I use the Debbie Meyer green bags,which extend the life of my produce greatly. An example is with strawberries. The green bags kept them in good condition for 11 days! Just watch for moisture in the bags from the produce as that will affect the longer storage time, especially with leafy greens. A paper towel will help with that. Great video!
That’s a great haul. That sounded like a really nice date night. Great price on those mushrooms, I love to catch them on markdown and stockup. I like to slice and lay on cookie sheets and freeze then vacuum seal and freeze. I also like to dehydrate them to use in my homemade cream soup base. We raise most of all of our vegetables, fruits, berries, peanuts, popcorn, that we eat and we preserve it all by either pressure canning, waterbath canning, dehydrating, fermenting, freezing, pickling etc. we also breed and raise heritage poultry, for eggs, money, layer replacements and meat. That allows us to purchase food items that we can’t grow, raise or make ourselves. 88 cents for 5 lbs of potatoes is a great price even though we grow them I would have tried to buy at least 100-150 lbs, to pressure can by themselves and in stews and soups, shred and make hashbrowns, French fries, twice baked potatoes, dehydrate slices, diced and store in quart jars with oxygen absorbers also make up scalloped and augratin potato packets. The more you can make from scratch the more you can save. The only bargain I found today was bananas for 30 cents lb and I bought 20 lbs to eat fresh, dehydrate for chips, and froze for banana bread, muffins etc. We aren’t vegetarians so I’m always looking for meat bargains and stretching meat further by adding oats, breadcrumbs, pasta, veggies, rice etc. Really enjoy your videos and new info on saving money and frugality. Everyone sharing ideas helps each other in these very expensive times. Oh yes, if you have an aldi in your area they are having a special sale for Thanksgiving essentials which are going to be priced at 2019 prices. It’s reduces everything by 30%. Have a blessed day
Our Hyvee had them for .88 a bag also. I bought 6 bags and put 1 bag in my potato basket that I use for every day. The rest I canned for storage. So my family is set on potatoes for the winter. Love those deals.
What a haul- love it! We like to freeze grapes 🍇laying the grapes out individually on a sheet pan to freeze and then putting them in gallon bags to keep as a refreshing snack. (They basically melt in your mouth like a popsicle ☺, but it may be best to cut each one in half as they begin to thaw for children to enjoy.)
Stock what you can store for a long time in the pantry or freezer when prices are low. Take advantage of perishables but only for a few days of use, unless you can cook/blanch/dry/freeze. I always get fresh seasonal fruit for a week, some keep longer than others. I get what’s the best $/lb available. Some goes for veggies. Keep bread in the fridge or freezer to keep it longer. Sometimes, frozen or canned fruit makes more sense financially depending on how you use it. Same goes for veggies, including potatoes.
we get 3 50 pound bags of potatoes every fall from our local farmer and they get eaten before spring comes. they store well in our cool laundry room and come in paper bags. Never store potatoes in the plastic bags they come in from the store. love this video thank you Hope and Larry
I always try .99 or less for fruit. If I can't getting for that low I will do under $1. But I love veggies and fruit so I will try to other products cheap or clearance. I like mushrooms. There are a lot of veggies I love. That is awesome that your kids can cook. The salad kits are awesome. They can be very handy and some times I add other veggies to it. With the buns you could use them in stuffing
So happy you scored so many great Deals. I love markeddown sauces or chutneys, because I can use them as a flavouring liquid in my homemade Red lentil Tofu. It makes a big difference having the Taste incorporated instead of just marinated in tastiness. And my second idea and family recipe staple: creamy mushroom pasta: Pan fry mushroom stems, onion and garlic. Combine in vitamix with 2 Tbsp sunflowerseeds and water to make creamy sauce. WHile doing so pan fry mushroom slices untill well dark and meatlike. Pour sauce on and let it boil once. Salt, pepper and nutritional yeast to taste makes a rich, kidfriendly sauce
I live on my own so I have to be creative to make on sale items things last. I'm with you with regards to a huge haul of potatoes! Over the last few months potatoes in my area have been $5.99 for 10 lbs. When they went on sale for $1.99 I bought several bags! Anytime I have something to bake, I'll cut up potatoes into chunks and roast an entire cookie sheet full, then I store them in the freezer for use later on.
Caesar dressing on a pasta salad with crunchy broccoli, onions. You could even shred some brussel sprouts and use the Caesar dressing for a slaw dressing. Or a maple drizzle and balsamic vinegar on sauteed brussel sprouts. And hot dog buns make great garlic toast.
Just had to come and share my markdown score from yesterday at Kroger. Picked up a produce red bag for a dollar with 5 lemons and 1 grapefruit. Got home and discovered the lemons were all organic--current price $1.29/lemon! I squeezed them all and froze the juice in an ice cube tray--about half a tray's worth. 🍋 We LOVE Brussel sprouts too--going to watch for those on markdown as well!
I shop early for the Kroger markdowns, then come home and menu plan. Last week for under $7 I purchased a roast and several small sweet potatoes. I baked the sweet potatoes and also fried some. I have one more that will be make into pecan and maple mashed sweet potato side dish.
Enjoyed your video! We found 80/20 ground beef in one pound packages for $2.99 at Kroger yesterday. Husband came home after work and had stopped there to buy some items. When he showed me the ground beef, I about fell out of my chair! It’s been around $6.99 per pound for a long time, so I got in the car and raced to the store and bought 3 more packages. We have very limited freezer space, so this amount was doable. What a score! I’ve never heard of the term “poke bowls”. But it sounds yummy, so will have to further investigate….😉🤩 I can’t get over how many great deals you found!😱
I learned recently how to freeze fresh mushrooms (on RU-vid of course!🤣). Slice them and lay on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and freeze. When they are frozen you can put them in a zipper bag.😁 When you defrost, it's good for cooking but not good for salads.
I love all your ideas for these products. I wish you would do more vegan cooking videos. I recently went vegan and love saving money. Keep the videos coming.
Blessings Larry and Hope from Chicago. I purchase now as I prep. I shopped at the farmers market and dehydrated and canned every item. This Wednesday was the last day so I stocked up on Oyster Mushrooms, Beefstake tomatoes, Brussel sprouts, Garlic, Pickled Okra, pecans and smoked string cheese. My freezers are full so I only buy what I can dehydrate, ferment and can.
I love all of your tips! I use brussels sprouts in soup. I cover the brussels sprouts with vegetarian broth and may throw in some onions and Black pepper. If I do not have vegetable scraps to make my own vegetable broth I use better than bouillon brand paste to make my stock …watch how much you use because of the sodium content. Although they do have a low sodium vegetable version. when the brussels sprouts are tender I blend them with an immersion blender. If you like a thicker soup you could add some potatoes or some soaked raw cashews.. taste it when you are done and adjust your seasonings. I hope you get to try it and enjoy it!
You shop like me: loss leaders and Mark downs and closeouts. I also like to use the 99 cents per pound rule. I bought 40 lbs of apples and canned applesauce and apple pie filling.
I like the idea of a list of meals I can make from my base meals. I am currently bulk cooking up different proteins like lamb and beef (just plain in water) in my slow cooker and freezing single serve portions. I keep cooked veggie rice in the freezer or use 2 minute noodles, so some options with different sauces, gravies or curries will be good for variety, Ty!
Hope, you could laminate your Inspiration worksheets and put them all in a 3 ring binder alphabetically. I like using mushrooms for flavoring in my cooking. I use them in pastas, eggs, and stews.
I freeze grapes. Wash, take the stems off, package & freeze. My grand children love them frozen. Other things like mushrooms freeze well after cooking.
Your family is a jewel. My son just turned 15 and he is my sioux chef 😊. The Japanese dressing/Marinade is absolutely amazing on the grilled or roasted portobellos. grilled in a pan with some onions and carrots and served over brown rice, sprinkled with sesame seeds muah! My favorite thing to do with the cabbage salad kits is make stir fry, serve over rice and use the add ins on something else like some wraps or a bean/pasta salad. Thanks for the planning tips. I would love to see an example in depth of that piece. I am going to rewind/rewatch. I need to get more organized, it would free a lot of my worries.
I bought 35 lbs of the 88¢ 5 lb bags too. Plan to make lefse. And am going to try cutting into cubes and blanching the freezing. Also I want to try dehydrating.
In the past I would make a marinade from Ginger Miso salad dressing. For the people who like pork loin this is a good marinade. Save about a half cup of the dressing try o mix in with the juices from the roast and add one diced tomato or a few chopped cherry tomatoes (10). This will make a real yummy gluten free tomato, ginger, miso gravy for potatoes.
Hope, I've been buying sale potatoes in my area, then canning them. My troops like home canned potatoes but not commercially canned. Being Southerners, we cook green beans and potatoes in a skillet for a meal stretcher. Love em!
This is a comment from another video from you guys. My husband has been looking to get an e bike for awhile. I had him review your RU-vid on them and he bought one today. ❤
I get so excited when fruit goes on sale because my kids love fruit. Typically I will pay $1.49 or less for fruit for my price point. Hope, the buns with pizza sauce and cheese is a great idea, we call it poor man's pizza in our house! My son loves helping make them and then we pop them in the air fryer for 5 mins at 400 and they are perfect! I love watching you guys and look forward to your videos every week 🙂 I'm hoping my Kroger has some good markdowns for me this week!
Many years ago I saw KD Lang cook a tofu dish on TV. She cooked the tofu plain (fry or bake) and added the seasonings or marinade on top as a dressing. Game changer! So much more flavourful. Please everyone who loves tofu try this.
I have found the produce markdowns at Kroger but not all the others. I'm vegan so that's all I have found. I will look for more! Thank you. LOVE portabella mushrooms!
We’re not vegan, but my mom always made a great mushroom pilaf with almonds when I was growing up. At 59 years old, it’s still something I make routinely. Anytime I get mushrooms on clearance I always make that mushroom pilaf! Yum!
Great finds Hope!! Thanks for sharing the ideas. I found mushrooms for .99 a few weeks ago too and bought up a few packs. I cooked up a couple of batches of stuffed mushrooms, which my husband snarfed up like candy. I froze the rest to put on pizzas, omelets, tuna salad, and sandwiches. Sometimes if I have items that are close to going bad, I use them to cook up an extra meal and freeze individual portions so my husband can survive when I go out of town to visit my grands. I love to freeze meals in small aluminum pans I pick up at the dollar store, so he can just pop them in the toaster oven. Way healthier than TV dinners!
Hi Hope and Larry. I bought a huge box of mushrooms and froze the extra ones I'd sliced and then decided I wasn't going to use immediately. They worked well when I threw them into a wok with some sweet chilli sauce and had them in a cooked breakfast.
You can shred Brussels sprouts as a salad veggie and dress them with a vinaigrette. Or put the shreds into the pan with shredded potatoes and mushrooms.
Oh I LOVE a good clearance shopping haul! For my supermarket in the uk you have to almost fight for the clearance items (people get very pushy 😂)but so worth it! I’ve got vegan sausages/meetballs/meals for pennies!
I am very fortunate to get free food through my volunteer work. We sort perishable food items donated by grocery stores (including Trader Joes!) into boxes and send them out on a truck to deliver to low income neighborhoods. Sometimes we get so much of one type of item that we can't put it all out on the trucks. The volunteers can take what would otherwise be given to the pigs. Any fruit and veg that look rather nasty are given to us. Salad mixes with salad dressing can't go on the truck. Even if the greens are too funky you can still use the salad dressing and toppings. Sometimes in the Trader Joes' donations are meat or meal items that can't be put on the truck. All of the produce has to be dealt with in the day and a half after I volunteer. I've learned how to turn all of it into usable food. Peppers are put in the air fryer to roast and then frozen individually before storing a a bag. Can we say red pepper soup? Bananas, baby kale and baby spinach go into the dehydrator. (As do peppers and tomatoes but I already have lots of those). That soft avocado gets mashed up with some lime juice. Beans and some other vegs get blanched and dunked into cold water. Soft berries get turned into a sauce or mixed with sugar and into the fridge. Still there is some food that goes bad before I can work with it (this is food that is at the end of its shelf life). That food goes to the deer or the compost pile. My menu planning is based on what free food comes my way. It is always creative and done quickly.
I got 5 lb of potatoes for .99, and Hope I too bought a lot, 70 pounds to be exact. I also bought 46 lb. Of sweet potatoes at .55 a pound. It is a week long sales ad. After 4th day there were tons left. I also got celery, 14 stalks to dice and freeze, since it is on sale now. I will make stuffed baked potatoes at least once or twice a week. I have seen many new recipes that show serving soups and chili's in the edible potato skin, and save the potatoes for another meal. This is the only week of the year to get sweet potatoes on sale, so we always stock up now for our years supply. As they get older, I will can or freeze, or dehydrate them to extend their life.
I’m running behind on the video went back and started watching it from the beginning I’ll have to check my local Hy-Vee for those type of sales mushrooms can be frozen
I love mushrooms! I find that if I keep them in my lock and lock containers with a paper towel on top, they will keep longer. I use them in lots of soups and salads or omelettes. You certainly got some great savings!
Love your videos:) Have always gotten the Red bags but will now ask them to mark down slightly bruised bananas:) I love to freeze my mushrooms to make my fried mushrooms and onions(not vegan) to add to my steaks.
