How to Save Money in the Kitchen: 20 Tips, Tricks & Hacks
Welcome to Loving Life on Less. My name is Liz. My husband is David. Today we share tips on how to save money in the kitchen. It’s a compilation of viewers’ money-saving kitchen tips. I asked you what you do to save and you didn’t disappoint. Here are your tips for how to save money in the kitchen.
1. Use vinegar instead of eggs
User Kobomotaci says vinegar is an excellent egg replacement in baking. With eggs going up in price, this is a great idea. Half a tablespoon of vinegar equals one egg.
2. Frozen berries
Charlene says frozen berries are often cheaper than fresh and you get a lot more. Also, forage you own or pick from a local farm.
3. Keep a dry sourdough starter
This viewer keeps a dry starter for sourdough. It doesn’t have to be fed. It’s kept in a lidded container in the fridge.
4. Make cheese from yogurt
Also, make cheese from yogurt. Strain plain yogurt through muslin for a few hours. Keep the leftover liquid (the whey) for making scones, soups, and thickeners.
Mix a teaspoon of salt into the strained yogurt and hang it in the muslin for a few hours. You’ll get soft cream cheese. If you can access cheap yogurts, this is a great tip.
5. Make daal
Sallyann1 says daal, a red lentil curry, is one of the cheapest and most filling meals. You can add anything to it, like squash or pumpkin if you like it sweet and tangy. It’s a great recipe for your repertoire.
6. Use bananas in baking
This viewer suggests using black, ripe bananas in baking. They don’t need as much eggs or sugar, because they are sweet and tangy.
7. Use onion skins
Samantha says onion skins make a lovely cup of tea when steeped in hot water. The tea doesn’t taste like onions; It’s surprisingly refreshing. You can also dye wool and fabric with onion skins. They leech out a brown dye. Onion skin, which we normally put in the trash, has lots of uses.
8. Use a timer
Patti says when she's cooking or baking, she uses a timer to keep food from overcooking. You’ll also save on excess use of energy.
If you set a timer just before the end of the cooking time and turn off your appliances, you can also cook with residual heat and save money.
9. Use nettles
Tara says she uses nettles as spinach replacements, and in quiche, white bean and lentil soup, pancakes, soups, and stews. She dries them in the oven overnight using residual heat. Sometimes she powders dry nettle for baking and smoothies.
Nettle pesto
This viewer makes nettle pesto. I’ve had nettle pesto. It’s really good in soup, quiche, and on top of pizza. It’s a free replacement for spinach and has all the nutrients and vitamins plus some.
Nettle infusion
She drinks a nettle infusion almost daily for its health benefits. When you look at the nettle’s mineral and vitamin content, it passes spirulina, which people pay a lot for. And, nettles are organic and free.
10. Cut out sugar
Dinah suggests a habit of having just three meals a day. She cut sugar out, which meant she didn’t have cravings. It was easier to feel full and content on three meals and save money on snacks.
11. Make soup
Betty suggests making soup in the slow cooker to last most of the week. Before dinner, serve the soup with bread. It will fill people up and you can have more costly main meals.
12. Use cinnamon
Staci says you can make a cup of tea by adding one teaspoon of cinnamon to hot water. I read that cinnamon was good for suppressing appetites as well, so if you’re dieting, cinnamon tea may head off cravings.
13. Use applesauce
Marybeth Smith suggests a quarter cup of applesauce in sweet baking to replace one egg.
14. Use less laundry detergent
She also recommends using less laundry detergent than recommended. The load still gets clean.
Adding cheap soda crystals to laundry
Another viewer, NA, suggests adding cheap soda crystals to laundry detergent to make it go further. I noticed the price of soda crystals has risen and it’s cheaper to buy laundry detergent, but if you can get soda crystals cheaply this is good advice.
15. Use protein powder
Natalia uses one level tablespoon of protein powder to equal one egg in baking. You can’t tell the difference. So, if you have protein powder that you don’t use anymore, it’s a great way to use it up.
16. Eat lentils and beans
Rainbow says she eats lentils and beans. They are cheap and healthy. She soaks them overnight and cooks them in the pressure cooker for efficiency and economy.
17. Make rice pudding
You can also make rice pudding in the slow cooker with normal rice (not pudding rice), oat milk, and honey. Cook for six hours continually checking on it. It makes a nice, sweet pudding that’s really filling and cheap.
18. Forage for wild garlic
Anne uses wild garlic. She washes, chops, freezes it, and uses it like an onion. Here in the UK, at the beginning of spring, the woods and overgrown areas have wild garlic. If you can identify it, it’s absolutely gorgeous in salads, garlic salt, and quiches. It’s the most delicate garlic flavor.
Make sure you can 100% identify anything you forage before eating.
19. Freeze excess food
Patti says, use your freezer to store excess food. Don’t let food go to waste.
20. Make peanut butter & Nutella
Beryl suggests making your own peanut butter and Nutella. Buy cheap peanuts in bulk, put them in the blender, and blend until smooth. If the peanuts aren’t salted, you can add a quarter teaspoon of salt. Drizzle in a tiny amount of cooking oil, about half a teaspoon (more if you like it smoother).
If you like Nutella, but not the price, you can make something similar. Use peanuts, which are cheaper than hazelnuts. Blend the peanuts. Then blend in two teaspoons of cocoa, two teaspoons of icing sugar or honey, and one teaspoon of oil. You will get a lovely chocolate nut spread, cheaper than the store-bought stuff.
How to save money in the kitchen
Thank you to my viewers for these excellent suggestions on how to save money in the kitchen. What frugal kitchen tips would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments.
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