Helpful tips to save you time and money
- You can save money by planning your meals. Set 20 minutes aside each week or every other week to plan you meals for the week. Mondays: Pork, Tuesdays: Chicken, etc. Add different side dishes for each night, rice, pasta, etc. Once you have your list, shop for those items. This will save you time trying to figure out what you are having for dinner every night. Not only will you save time, you will also spend less money on gas going to the grocery store several times each week.
- Place 1 or 2 laundry baskets in your trunk or minivan. When you leave the grocery store, place your bags in the laundry baskets. Once you arrive home, carry the laundry baskets in, this will save you time carring bags from your car into the house.
- Write out a grocery list on an old envelope and put redeemable coupons inside.
- Freeze meat and marinades together in plastic zipper bags. When the meat thaws, you're ready to cook. You'll also use less marinade, so this is a money saving tip too!
- Before placing hot dogs into your freezer, take them out of the package and place links into small plastic bags, (2 hot dogs per bag). This will make it easier to seperate when you are ready to use. them. Use a soup spoon handle to seperate frozen links instead of a knife, the knife tip could break off into the frozen hot dog.
- The same general food safety guidelines apply to hot dogs as to all perishable products — "Keep hot food hot and cold food cold." Although all hot dogs are fully cooked, always reheat before eating. Make sure hot dogs reach 165 °F or are steamy hot throughout.
- Before opening a package of bacon, roll it into a long tube to loosen the slices and keep them from sticking together.
- Use one email address as your online cook book or archives. Send all of your recipe newsletters to that address and create a folder to store recipes in. Copy and paste recipes that you find online and email them to yourself.