Cooking, Freezing and Baking

Over the past couple weeks, I've been doing my best to find ways to reduce our grocery bill and reduce our food waste. I've bought more sensibly and have actually made a lot more food for a lot less money. (I'm also sure that God had a hand in stretching our finances.)

Here's what I've made (regrettably I didn't take any pictures):
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup - I use the word soup lightly though, because after I served the first serving almost all the soup absorbed into the noodles. But even though there's very little soup, it was still very delicious for the first batch of leftovers. I have a huge freezer container frozen for a later date. But here's the best part about all this....the cost of 12-15 servings $9. And the ingredients were completely organic, except for the noodles. Next time I'll be making my own noodles, so that will reduce the price too.

Homemade Potato Soup - OMG this is the first potato soup that I've ever liked. It was so rich and divine. YUM-O. I have another huge freezer container frozen for a later date. The price: $6.50 for 12-15 servings with organic potatoes and antibiotic and steroid free milk.

Homemade Turkey Chili - Adrian gave me her recipe for Chili Beans. I used that as a starting point for my tasty concoction. I used all organic ingredients. 8 servings - $5

I've also frozen two large containers of shredded cabbage and carrots. I found a steal of a sale on cabbage and I bought several pounds. I had the organic carrots left over from the chicken noodle I made earlier. I'm praying that the cabbage freezes well. I've been told that it does, but this is my first attempt.

I'm hoping to start making homemade breads soon. I have a few recipes to try, so I'm hoping to find a winning one. I bought yeast a few weeks ago when it was on sale for 25 cents a packet. It's usually about 70 cents a packet. I have been baking biscuits and cornbread lately so we've saved a lot on buying rolls and sandwich bread. I'm planning to spend some time in the near future to freeze some biscuit dough for quick use.

Today I'm going to be baking and decorating a cake for a party tomorrow. I'm looking forward to making my own buttercream frosting again. I have a much better recipe now and some experience with it under my belt. I'll post pictures of how I decorate the cake too. I love decorating cakes with some great tips and a bag. It's like painting on a cake. One of these days I'm going to buy one of those air guns to decorate food with. I think that would be such fun. It will bring back childhood memories of using my dad's air paint gun to make t-shirts and art prints.

~*Melody*~