Pandemic hoarding

[SunnyDays]

Our biggest food bank in the province can buy $20 worth of food, for every dollar donated, so cash is definitely the way to go.  But when I see a screaming deal on something, I'll still buy it and drop it in the donation bin.

@Imma, aren't microwaves common where you live?  They cook potatoes in very little time, using electricity rather than natural gas.  I almost never boil potatoes.

[kite]

@Imma, aren't microwaves common where you live?  They cook potatoes in very little time, using electricity rather than natural gas.  I almost never boil potatoes.

Yeah, this didn't make sense to me.
There are a few kinds of poverty.  If you're too poor to cook a potato, you probably lack the facility to cook anything, and would gravitate toward ready-to-eat foods.
 

[TomTX]

Induction cooktops itself aren't expensive at all but they need to be installed by an electrician, you usually need some new wiring for it, and you have to buy new pots and pans that work for induction. All in all it costs at least €1000.

I'm puzzled here. I bought a quite functional induction hotplate from IKEA for under $50 a few years back - it just plugs into the wall and works great, even on our anemic 120V circuit. You can get an entire set of induction-ready cookware from Amazon (or Walmart or Target) also for under $50. Or use an old cast iron skillet. Or buy used.

[Imma]

I literally have never heard of boiling potatoes in the microwave. Yes, people have microwaves in this country but I have never met a person who boils potatoes in the microwave. How does that work? This is absolutely new information for me. Do you just put the potatoes in a microwavable container and then blast them until done? Do they taste the same?

Many people in this country already pay more than 25% of their income on their gas and electricity bill, and gas is the biggest part of that bill. What food banks like to receive is stuff like microwavable rice and canned vegetables because that's cheap to prepare (in the microwave or on the stove for a very short period of time). Many people on lower income avoid foods that need to cook for a long time, like dried beans, root vegetables, potatoes, kale and the like.

@TomTX I don't know what the regulations are like over there, but here you're not supposed to just plug an induction cooktop into the wall. You are supposed to use a seperate circuit for just the induction cooktop, otherwise it's considered a fire hazard. I don't think saving €500 to pay for an electrician to add a new circuit is worth it if your house burns down and insurance doesn't cover it because they consider it to be your own fault. Add in the cost of the cooktop itself, some materials to fix the kitchen wall after the new wiring has been added and a few pots and pans and you're easily spending €1000+.

Also, keep in mind that things are way cheaper in the US than they are in many other countries around the world. Our grocery stores sell groceries, not stuff, of course we have dollar (euro) stores and the like, but many things are simply more expensive here. I checked Ikea's website and they do have some sort of portable, one-pot sized induction plate for €40, the kind of thing that you would take on a camping trip, but the cheapest regular-sized induction cooktop is €250.

Obviously you can save a little money by getting the new cookware used, and that's what I would certainly do if/when we're making the switch to induction, but keep in mind on the used market, if someone's selling a whole set, it's usually because it's not working on induction. Cast iron is an expensive, new fangled hipster thing here, you're not really going to find that used or cheap. I see Ikea has a very, very basic induction-ready set for €10 so at least that's something (looks like a loss leader since all their other sets are over €50).

[Cranky]

You stick a potato in the microwave and cook it for maybe two minutes, turn it over and cook it for another two minutes. It’s like a baked potato but the skin doesn’t get crispy.

My (adult) kids spent a month in Italy and Greece this summer and came home with a deep hatred of induction stoves, so I guess we won’t be getting one!

The power situation in Europe really is frightening.

[SunnyDays]

I bake the potatoes in the microwave.  Poke a few holes in them with a knife first so they don't explode.  I guess you could mash them afterward, never tried it, so don't know how they'd turn out.  I see no reason you couldn't also boil them in a pyrex bowl - just peel and chop them into small pieces.  Neither of these methods will give you the dry, fluffy texture of an oven baked potato, but if it's a choice between no potatoes (especially free ones) and microwaved ones, I'll take the latter.

[eyesonthehorizon]

...I don't know what the regulations are like over there, but here you're not supposed to just plug an induction cooktop into the wall. You are supposed to use a seperate circuit for just the induction cooktop, otherwise it's considered a fire hazard. I don't think saving €500 to pay for an electrician to add a new circuit is worth it if your house burns down and insurance doesn't cover it because they consider it to be your own fault. Add in the cost of the cooktop itself, some materials to fix the kitchen wall after the new wiring has been added and a few pots and pans and you're easily spending €1000+.

Also, keep in mind that things are way cheaper in the US than they are in many other countries around the world. Our grocery stores sell groceries, not stuff, of course we have dollar (euro) stores and the like, but many things are simply more expensive here. I checked Ikea's website and they do have some sort of portable, one-pot sized induction plate for €40, the kind of thing that you would take on a camping trip, but the cheapest regular-sized induction cooktop is €250.

Obviously you can save a little money by getting the new cookware used, and that's what I would certainly do if/when we're making the switch to induction, but keep in mind on the used market, if someone's selling a whole set, it's usually because it's not working on induction. Cast iron is an expensive, new fangled hipster thing here, you're not really going to find that used or cheap. I see Ikea has a very, very basic induction-ready set for €10 so at least that's something (looks like a loss leader since all their other sets are over €50).

Tom & I are in the same approximate region & bought (presumably) the same model of single-burner portable induction hotplate from the same retailer at the same price - if it runs on our wimpy American power supply it will not require any fancy attention to install (that is, plug in) on heftier Euro circuits. I love mine, it's the fastest cooktop I've ever used. If I only need to run one pot it's very convenient & I'll use it over my ceramic induction stove.

I don't think the suggestion there was for a poor family to revamp their whole stove, but to give them electric cooking options at a price point that would be in reach in a few months of saving. Microwaves are fine for potatoes but sometimes you want to be able to brown things! You also don't need anything terribly fancy for induction - just anything that a magnet will stick to, which is to say not copper or aluminum without a layer of steel somewhere. I'd be very surprised if most households didn't have at least one steel vessel at hand, if they have more than one pot at all, which is enough when you're only using the one hob - did everyone there just go over to aluminum & not look back?

[Imma]

We don't eat baked potatoes here, so I think that's maybe why I haven't heard of anyone doing this. Still, worth a try!  We aren't huge fans of potatoes, but I've had baked potatoes in other countries.

This is the traditional Dutch way of eating potatoes: https://static.ah.nl/static/recepten/img_RAM_PRD143846_890x594_JPG.jpg

@eyesonthehorizon I'm pretty sure it would all work here, too, I'm just not sure if it's legal. A lot of people around us are making the switch to induction right now and I've heard lots of complaints about the cost of the necessary electric work. That's the biggest part of the cost. I think it's either a legal or insurance requirement that an induction cooktop runs on it's own circuit, so you have pretty much no choice but to comply (or take a really big risk). 

A friend of mine on a lower income has recently bought a plug-in electric hotplate.  You can just plug these into the wall, that's all legal, but they use much more electricity than induction. With the current high gas prices it might be slightly cheaper than cooking on gas but probably not a lot. And n=1 but I had a thing like that in my room when I was a student and it was terrible. Your food was either cold or burned.

I would indeed guess that aluminium cookware is by far the most popular form of cookware here. Other than the enamel cast iron Dutch oven that people used to have, and that you can still find in thrift stores (although the vintage ones are way too big for modern households without 8 kids), I would say that almost all pots and pans are aluminium and have been for at least half a century? Most people have been cooking on gas for most of the 20th century. You can certainly find expensive things like copper and steel and cast iron here but you'd have to go to a specialist cookware shop. Anyone who's buying their things from a department store is using aluminium. I asked a cast iron frying pan for my birthday and my relative had to go to a specialist shop to find it. And I still got a carbon steel frying pan instead, because I don't think my relative knows the difference. And they're a great cook, watch cooking shows etc. That's how unknown cast iron is here.

[Cranky]

Do people have crockpots? Instapots? Both of those are supposedly frugal on the electricity and do a nice job of cooking potatoes.

[Imma]

Do people have crockpots? Instapots? Both of those are supposedly frugal on the electricity and do a nice job of cooking potatoes.

I've been wanting one after reading about them on the internet.  They are definitely available here, but they aren't common. We are renovating our house next year and one of the things we're going to do is install solar panels, so once we have free electricity during daylight hours we're getting a crockpot to cook while we're working. Everyone's grandmother used to have those pressure cookers that you can put on the stovetop. In those days they all boiled their vegetables until they were mushy. They are considered old fashioned and "frugal freak" level frugality now but those are probably easier to find, used as well as new, than crockpots.

We are of course mustachians so we know about all of these things. But many people grew up with a parent who could only cook basic meals, they only know of one way to prepare things, and somehow they don't think of googling this. So they refuse potatoes at the foodbank because they only know how to boil potatoes in pot of boiling water. My friend took home a few buckets of potatoes that would otherwise have gone into the thrash.

Most women born before 1980-ish know the basics of cooking here, because back in those days, most women would attend special highschools for girls, focused on homemaking, not academic subjects. It's good that they all learned basic cooking skills, and they generally passed them on to their children, today's young parents. The downside is the methods these school taught were very rigid, there was only one way of doing things the Right Way. Back in those days the NL was also extremely culturally homogenous so there were no outside influences, no foreign cuisine etc. Honestly I feel those schools were designed to teach inefficient homemaking methods to keep women at home. The result is that many people can and do cook but we're not a nation of adventurous cooks, to say the least.

I think if the foodbank would hand out recipe cards to show people baked potatoes are a thing and are extremely easy to prepare in a microwave, people would be interested. Especially since all the toppings are cheap and potatoes are filling.

[Roadrunner53]

Yes, I have cooked 'baked' potatoes in my slow cooker (crockpot).  I also saw a lady on Youtube who cooked about 8 large baking potatoes in her crockpot and when they were done and cooled, she wrapped them in foil and froze them. She said when her husband grilled, they would pull them out of the freezer to heat up the potatoes. When I cook them in the crockpot, I add the potatoes, drizzle olive oil on them and then sprinkle salt over them. No water in the bottom of the pot, no liquid at all. Cook till you can slide a sharp knife into the potato with ease.

I have never done it but if water was added to the slow cooker and cut up potatoes were added, I believe they would turn out like boiled potatoes. I have added cut up potatoes to a stew in the slow cooker and they came out tender.

Have made 'baked' potatoes in the microwave but never poke holes in them. Never had one explode. They are definitely not as good a potato baked in the oven due to the soft skin. But if you are in a hurry, works for me!

I love my slow cooker! I use it all the time and actually had an instant pot but didn't care for it so got rid of it. I have 3 slow cookers. One is very large, around 7 quarts. One is small around 3 quarts and a rectangular one. The rectangular one I almost never use because it isn't quite deep enough if you are doing something like lasagna. It is my newest acquisition and not my favorite slow cooker.

[Cranky]

My church ran a monthly food pantry at a low income school, and we always had samples and recipes. People were really interested, and I was fascinated by how many people had never tasted hummus.

[StarBright]

My church ran a monthly food pantry at a low income school, and we always had samples and recipes. People were really interested, and I was fascinated by how many people had never tasted hummus.

It is great to know that there was interest for this! Our food pantry gets large donations of ingredients that people don't seem to know how to use (lentils, dates, figs) - and we've toyed around with doing samples and recipes. A lot of board members for my pantry feel like it would be wasted effort.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I too am rather gobsmacked by the price of groceries. Although some things haven't gone up, and that's nice.  The everyday price of 5# of potatoes is still $2.99 at the regional chain.  If I can't find them on sale I find this acceptable (I can't buy the large bags at Costco until it cools down here, hopefully in November).

The regional chain had USDA Choice chuck roast for $3.99 per pound, which is a good price now.  I looked back through this thread and saw that I paid $2.99 per pound in December 2020, which was a screaming good deal.  I bought 6 last Wednesday and might go back for more if I can find freezer space.  They are about 2.5 - 3# each, which should be two meals from each roast for the three of us.

For fresh produce we've mostly just moved down to the inexpensive basics.  Potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, green cabbage, zucchini, broccoli, bananas, and then whatever fruit is cheapest and any other vegetables on a good sale.  I have a freezer full of Pura Vida fajita veggie blend from Costco (probably 12 bags, I need to inventory again soon), purchased when they were on sale and then when Costco started clearing them out.  $2.50 per pound might sound expensive at first but it's a blend of red and yellow bell peppers, poblano peppers, and red onion, with avocado oil and seasonings, all prepped and ready to heat.  I can't do much better than that buying and prepping the produce myself.  And it does make things much simpler -- I cook the fajita veggies every time I make rice and beans.

We've had some unexpected major expenses lately, and while the money was there to cover them, I do need to replenish what we spent out of savings.  Food is usually the easiest place for me to cut in the budget, and even with inflation I know I can reduce the spending.  Our last BB box billed 7/9 and I have the next one set for 9/24 -- BB is still really expensive, even with the freebies, but I did decide to keep it and just get it less often, so that I can take advantage of their sales on certain items.  But one part of the strategy is to go ahead and eat down some of the pantry and freezer food.  I don't really expect food prices to fall all that much, except some of the highly perishable foods like meats, eggs, dairy, and produce, and some commodities like grains.  Even then, I think they will stay higher.  And then I think over time as inflation cools we won't see a lot of price increases on food for awhile.  So I'm telling myself to get used to these prices.

[TomTX]

A friend of mine on a lower income has recently bought a plug-in electric hotplate.  You can just plug these into the wall, that's all legal, but they use much more electricity than induction.

Which is why you buy an induction hotplate.

If you want a standalone device like a crock pot, I highly recommend getting the Instant Pot. Because of the pressurization, you can cook things much faster with lower total electricity usage than a crock pot (and if you have a recipe that must be slow cooked, the Instant Pot can do that too).

[Roadrunner53]

Speaking of bagged potatoes. I sometimes get a big bag of potatoes and make my own French fries and other things. I bought this commercial type FF maker to cut the potatoes into FF shape. The machine was about $75. A bit of an extravagance but I do love it. I found a way to make the FF process a bit quicker. Once the FF are cut they are put in a bowl of water. Then dried on a big clean towel. Then I put them in a two-gallon ziplock with some oil, pepper and salt. Last time I also used corn starch to coat them. I baked them in the oven till they were a bit soft. Took them out and let them cool. Then I bagged them for the freezer. The corn starch helps crisp them up when you cook them up to eat. From the same bag of potatoes, I made hassleback potatoes. I didn't freeze them. For the rest of the potatoes, I made mashed and froze them too.

I also buy the big bag of onions and chop a lot of them up, ziplock them and freeze. So handy when you need a cup or two for cooking.

[SunnyDays]

@Imma, potatoes can also be baked in toaster ovens and of course, in regular ovens.  You get a nice crispy skin that way, just wash them thoroughly first.

Maybe you could do up a few recipe cards for the foodbank to copy and hand out with potatoes.  It's a shame for them to go to waste.

[Roadrunner53]

Here is another idea to cook the potatoes. It is using a rice cooker. It basically steams them.

I don't think rice cookers cost much at all in electricity to use.

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PemCE_hVTg

[eyesonthehorizon]

@eyesonthehorizon I'm pretty sure it would all work here, too, I'm just not sure if it's legal. A lot of people around us are making the switch to induction right now and I've heard lots of complaints about the cost of the necessary electric work. That's the biggest part of the cost. I think it's either a legal or insurance requirement that an induction cooktop runs on it's own circuit, so you have pretty much no choice but to comply (or take a really big risk). 

A friend of mine on a lower income has recently bought a plug-in electric hotplate.  You can just plug these into the wall, that's all legal, but they use much more electricity than induction. With the current high gas prices it might be slightly cheaper than cooking on gas but probably not a lot. And n=1 but I had a thing like that in my room when I was a student and it was terrible. Your food was either cold or burned.

I don't think I was clear, Tom & I are both talking about the plug-in, single-hob, induction hotplate. It goes on your countertop, needing no special circuit; usually costs $/€ 50-60 as of the present, making it a cheap & accessible option. They can't even be compared to the old electrics, because their power output can be digitally controlled with instant response as you turn the power up & down; since all the heat happens as resistance right in the pan bottom & walls, the glass doesn't really get hot except where the metal touches it, & there can't really be hotspots if the pan is made of uniform material as all machined pans are. They are wonderful to use though they make some odd buzzing sounds as they come to temperature. I'm pretty sure mine is this for example: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/tillreda-portable-induction-cooktop-1-zone-white-10493520/

For cookware all you have to have is one pot or pan with at least one layer of steel or iron across the bottom. It helps if you have a way to lid it, too, but that's not strictly necessary for most things, even a cabbage leaf over the top makes steaming possible. I'm not sure how much it would cost to get a cheap steel pan but as stated, since hot spots aren't a concern, it doesn't have to be a "nice" steel pan with a thick bottom layer or anything.

I can vouch for those "oversize" cast iron dutch ovens, even if they seem too big - it's like a frying pan with walls, plus they're great for whole loaves of bread. I inherited one which I often wish were bigger. (Of course that's as an American with "leftover" culture, which I hear is less of a thing there; in my book it's a time- & energy-saver, rather than cook every night, to just cook a whole chicken at once & then refrigerate or freeze most of it, or make a week's worth of soup to do the same... but then our fridges are about twice the size in part because grocery stores usually require a trip miles away from home, usually by car, so people buy a lot at once.)

I still love the idea of recipe cards for the foodbank to hand out. Would people try adventurous recipes if they had them laid out - do you think the still-homogenous food is a matter of people feeling safer when they have had instructions to follow without needing to improvise, or is it just not wanting to try anything unfamiliar? It is hard to imagine people turning down free fresh potatoes as they're such a filling easy meal. Any combination of potatoes, oil, & spices or herbs is pretty comforting.

[Imma]

My church ran a monthly food pantry at a low income school, and we always had samples and recipes. People were really interested, and I was fascinated by how many people had never tasted hummus.

It is great to know that there was interest for this! Our food pantry gets large donations of ingredients that people don't seem to know how to use (lentils, dates, figs) - and we've toyed around with doing samples and recipes. A lot of board members for my pantry feel like it would be wasted effort.

I don't think it would be a wasted effort at all! I do think people need some help figuring things out. If you're on a low budget, you can't just risk trying things that don't work out because that's a waste of money, and you might not have certain things on hand that we frugal but rich mustachians have, like all sorts of spices.

I think if you made some samples that people could try first, make a short TikTok or Youtube video showing the process, and make sure all the necessary ingredients are either extremely cheap or available at the food bank, it would absolutely help people try new things with new ingredients. It could be a wasted effort if your community is very resistant to change, but you won't know until you've tried it. Little things can help people a lot - every time people tell me spices are expensive I tell them to go to ethnic grocery stores where they are dirt cheap, and people are like "wow, I'm not of that ethnicity, and I can just go in there and buy stuff?" Yes you can!!

[Imma]

@eyesonthehorizon I'm pretty sure it would all work here, too, I'm just not sure if it's legal. A lot of people around us are making the switch to induction right now and I've heard lots of complaints about the cost of the necessary electric work. That's the biggest part of the cost. I think it's either a legal or insurance requirement that an induction cooktop runs on it's own circuit, so you have pretty much no choice but to comply (or take a really big risk). 

A friend of mine on a lower income has recently bought a plug-in electric hotplate.  You can just plug these into the wall, that's all legal, but they use much more electricity than induction. With the current high gas prices it might be slightly cheaper than cooking on gas but probably not a lot. And n=1 but I had a thing like that in my room when I was a student and it was terrible. Your food was either cold or burned.

I don't think I was clear, Tom & I are both talking about the plug-in, single-hob, induction hotplate. It goes on your countertop, needing no special circuit; usually costs $/€ 50-60 as of the present, making it a cheap & accessible option. They can't even be compared to the old electrics, because their power output can be digitally controlled with instant response as you turn the power up & down; since all the heat happens as resistance right in the pan bottom & walls, the glass doesn't really get hot except where the metal touches it, & there can't really be hotspots if the pan is made of uniform material as all machined pans are. They are wonderful to use though they make some odd buzzing sounds as they come to temperature. I'm pretty sure mine is this for example: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/tillreda-portable-induction-cooktop-1-zone-white-10493520/

For cookware all you have to have is one pot or pan with at least one layer of steel or iron across the bottom. It helps if you have a way to lid it, too, but that's not strictly necessary for most things, even a cabbage leaf over the top makes steaming possible. I'm not sure how much it would cost to get a cheap steel pan but as stated, since hot spots aren't a concern, it doesn't have to be a "nice" steel pan with a thick bottom layer or anything.

I can vouch for those "oversize" cast iron dutch ovens, even if they seem too big - it's like a frying pan with walls, plus they're great for whole loaves of bread. I inherited one which I often wish were bigger. (Of course that's as an American with "leftover" culture, which I hear is less of a thing there; in my book it's a time- & energy-saver, rather than cook every night, to just cook a whole chicken at once & then refrigerate or freeze most of it, or make a week's worth of soup to do the same... but then our fridges are about twice the size in part because grocery stores usually require a trip miles away from home, usually by car, so people buy a lot at once.)

Yes, I figured out that's the one you guys meant, our Ikea also sells it. I know you technically can plug it in  - it's 10A x 230V = 2300 W, a circuit is 3680 W and our whole house is 35A x 230V = 8050W. So as long as you don't turn on your coffeemaker or vacuum while you're running the Tillreda, and you don't have something like a heatpump running on a different circuit, it's going to work. That doesn't mean it's strictly legal, that's a whole different question. It can't find anywhere whether this particular one would be legal to run on a circuit with more than one appliance, but it uses the same amount of energy as the smallest induction cooktop that is permanently installed, so I would guess it's probably against code - so should something go wrong, your insurance is probably invalid since you're doing something against code. I know they don't get hot, I mean more something like accidentally causing an electrical fire.

I think one major difference is indeed the size of the fridges and freezers there. In this thread I read all the time about great deals that people throw in their freezer but unless you live on a farm or something, most people here don't have that kind of space. Or they have to make odd choices - I used to have an extra freezer in my living room when I was on a low income (and most importantly my electricity bill was included in the rent!). We have the biggest fridge/freezer out of anyone we know and it's this one https://www.coolblue.nl/en/product/869348/samsung-rb36t602csa.html   . We live in a 68m2 house (730 sq ft) and that's by no means unusual. Most homes here are probably smaller than 1000 sq. ft. That also means that people generally have much fewer small appliances, fewer freezer space, but on the plus size it also means people on a low income generally don't need to drive. Everyone has gorcery stores within walking distance.

The thing with "too big" Dutch ovens is that they were designed for an old fashioned potbelly gas/coal stove with a flat surface on top,  they're too big to fit on a normal hob. In those days people cooked for an army. My great-gran had 10 kids so imagine the amount of food she had to cook every day. The potbelly stove would be burning anyway to keep the house warm, so energy-wise it wouldn't matter if you were also making a stew that needed to sit there for hours. It's all a bit different now with central heating. I remember we didn't have central heating until the mid-90s and my mum would put the leftovers on the gas heater until my dad came home from work.

@Roadrunner53 I also have a potato chipper! Thrift stores are full of them here, mine's inherited. In the 70s and 80s that was a very popular wedding gift. I think homemade fries are the absolute best. My friend's parents are on a farm and they have a huge freezer, once a year they sit down and peel and chip and fry together and fill a whole freezer with pre-made fries for a whole year. It's a pretty traditional thing here to eat chips with the whole family on Saturdays or Sundays, homemade or take-out. It's a bit of work but definitely worth it.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

After all of this talk about potatoes I decided to get 10# of russets from Aldi and some cream cheese so I can make "make ahead" freezer mashed potatoes.  My oldest can't have dairy (and doesn't like mashed potatoes), so when he's here I don't make them, but he's back to university.  I tend to forget this is a great way to make sure the potatoes don't spoil.  The last time I made them I adapted the recipe to the Instant Pot, so they're fast and easy.  I have a pot roast braising and there's nothing I love more with pot roast than mashed potatoes!

I splurged on local fresh strawberries today -- it's the very end of the season.  We've had so few strawberries this year.

[RetiredAt63]

After all of this talk about potatoes I decided to get 10# of russets from Aldi and some cream cheese so I can make "make ahead" freezer mashed potatoes.  My oldest can't have dairy (and doesn't like mashed potatoes), so when he's here I don't make them, but he's back to university.  I tend to forget this is a great way to make sure the potatoes don't spoil.  The last time I made them I adapted the recipe to the Instant Pot, so they're fast and easy.  I have a pot roast braising and there's nothing I love more with pot roast than mashed potatoes!

I splurged on local fresh strawberries today -- it's the very end of the season.  We've had so few strawberries this year.

I've never put cream cheese in mashed potatoes*, and never frozen cooked potatoes, except maybe as part of a stew.  Recipe please?

*My favourite mashed potatoes are potatoes cooked with whole cloves of garlic, drained, lightly mashed, a bit of cream and butter added plus salt and pepper, and then mashed a bit more.  I like them on the dry side, still with little chunks.  My MiL used to whip them with a lot of milk and they were so soft and squishy.  I know lots of people prefer them that way.  They were very good for making a depression in the middle to hold gravy.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I've never put cream cheese in mashed potatoes*, and never frozen cooked potatoes, except maybe as part of a stew.  Recipe please?

*My favourite mashed potatoes are potatoes cooked with whole cloves of garlic, drained, lightly mashed, a bit of cream and butter added plus salt and pepper, and then mashed a bit more.  I like them on the dry side, still with little chunks.  My MiL used to whip them with a lot of milk and they were so soft and squishy.  I know lots of people prefer them that way.  They were very good for making a depression in the middle to hold gravy.

My preference is probably for mashed potatoes made with butter and cream, but I do really like the cream cheese mashed potatoes.  They are drier/thicker than the "whipped" kind of mashed potatoes.  As a side note, I grew up with mashed potatoes being made with margarine and 2% milk, and never knew really great mashed potatoes until I was an adult.

The make ahead recipe comes from the book "The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet : A Month of Meals Made Easy".  When you defrost the potatoes they will absolutely look like they aren't going to be good, but they do reheat beautifully.  I often just use the microwave to heat them, or a pan, but the original recipe calls for freezing them in casserole dishes and reheating in the oven.

The recipe is given for various numbers of servings: 7 C., 14 C., 21 C., 28 C., 35 C., and 42C.  I will give the recipe for 14 C., because you can double it for 28 C. and triple it for 42C, or half it for 7 C.  These days I just do 5# of potatoes.

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

10 lbs. potatoes
2 eggs
1 t. garlic powder
2 t. salt
16 oz. cream cheese

Peel and quarter potatoes.  Place in saucepan, completely cover with water.  Bring to a boil and gently cook until tender.  Drain well.  In a large bowl combine potatoes, cream cheese, eggs, garlic powder and salt.  Mash well by hand or with an electric mixer.  Spoon potatoes into spray treated casseroles dishes (use whatever size you need).   You can also freeze in Ziploc freezer bags or containers.

(The recipe also calls for topping the potatoes with melted butter and sliced almonds, plus paprika for color.  I skip all of that.)

To serve, thaw completely and bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until top is golden.  If you want them last minute, defrost them in the microwave, then increase power and heat through.

Here is the recipe written out for 5# potatoes and cooked in the Instant Pot:

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, Adapted for Instant Pot
from The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30-Day Gourmet:  A Month of Meals Made Easy by Tara Wohlenhaus and Nanci Slagle


Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

5# potatoes
1.5 C. water
1/2 t. garlic powder
2 t. salt
8 oz. cream cheese
1 egg

Scrub potatoes well, the cut into large chunks (peel if you want)
Place into Instant Pot inner pot along with 1.5 C. water.
Place lid, check for sealing, and pressure cook for 10 minutes
Do a quick release of pressure (can allow to come down naturally)
Drain any remaining water
Add cream cheese, garlic powder, and salt
Use a hand mixer to mash potatoes
When partially mashed, add in egg and finish mixing until smooth
Taste for seasoning and add more if desired

For storage, spoon mashed potatoes into buttered oven/freezer safe storage container.  Cover and allow to cool completely in refrigerator before transferring to freezer.

To serve, thaw completely, remove cover if plastic, and bake at 375°F for 30-40 minutes or until top is golden.  Or you can defrost them in the microwave, then increase power and heat through.

[TomTX]

Yes, I figured out that's the one you guys meant, our Ikea also sells it. I know you technically can plug it in  - it's 10A x 230V = 2300 W, a circuit is 3680 W and our whole house is 35A x 230V = 8050W. So as long as you don't turn on your coffeemaker or vacuum while you're running the Tillreda, and you don't have something like a heatpump running on a different circuit, it's going to work. That doesn't mean it's strictly legal, that's a whole different question. It can't find anywhere whether this particular one would be legal to run on a circuit with more than one appliance, but it uses the same amount of energy as the smallest induction cooktop that is permanently installed, so I would guess it's probably against code - so should something go wrong, your insurance is probably invalid since you're doing something against code. I know they don't get hot, I mean more something like accidentally causing an electrical fire.

Do you not have something like the UL listing (underwriter's laboratories) which tests and validates electrical appliances and such? A single plugin appliance (working properly) should not be able to cause a fire. If it did pull too much power for some reason, it should trip the circuit breaker.

35A/230V single phase seems awfully low capacity for a house. My house is on the small side for this area, and it has 200A@240V at the main. Older houses in the USA would commonly have at least 100A@240V - anything lower than that would be very rare for a standalone house (not sure on the apartment/condo side)

Individual circuits for lower power devices like this hob are 20A@120V. I don't use the hob on a dedicated circuit and have had no issues.

[Imma]

Yes, I figured out that's the one you guys meant, our Ikea also sells it. I know you technically can plug it in  - it's 10A x 230V = 2300 W, a circuit is 3680 W and our whole house is 35A x 230V = 8050W. So as long as you don't turn on your coffeemaker or vacuum while you're running the Tillreda, and you don't have something like a heatpump running on a different circuit, it's going to work. That doesn't mean it's strictly legal, that's a whole different question. It can't find anywhere whether this particular one would be legal to run on a circuit with more than one appliance, but it uses the same amount of energy as the smallest induction cooktop that is permanently installed, so I would guess it's probably against code - so should something go wrong, your insurance is probably invalid since you're doing something against code. I know they don't get hot, I mean more something like accidentally causing an electrical fire.

Do you not have something like the UL listing (underwriter's laboratories) which tests and validates electrical appliances and such? A single plugin appliance (working properly) should not be able to cause a fire. If it did pull too much power for some reason, it should trip the circuit breaker.

35A/230V single phase seems awfully low capacity for a house. My house is on the small side for this area, and it has 200A@240V at the main. Older houses in the USA would commonly have at least 100A@240V - anything lower than that would be very rare for a standalone house (not sure on the apartment/condo side)

Individual circuits for lower power devices like this hob are 20A@120V. I don't use the hob on a dedicated circuit and have had no issues.

1x35A is the standard here for older, smaller houses. These days, code requires 3 x 25A for an new build and when we're ripping out the electricity we're upgrading to that as well. That should be enough for all regular appliances, a heat pump, solar panels, an electric car (which we don't even have). The biggest capacity a regular house can get is 3 x 63A. That's less than 200 but I suppose since our homes are smaller on average, we have fewer appliances, smaller freezers, people don't typically have a/c here, people don't usually have pools, so this is sufficient for almost all houses. If not, they'd have to apply for a small business connection.

I honestly have no idea if we have something like the UL listing? I know it's mandatory for vendors to include that kind of information at the point of sale but I have no idea where it comes from. A single plugin appliance should theoretically not be able to cause any kind of issues but of course the lab doesn't know what else is plugged in in that circuit. If you go over the capacity it should trip the circuit breaker, but it's also very risky to stay "just under" capacity. It doesn't trip the circuit breaker but the wiring isn't designed for it.

This is how I actually caused an electric fire in my own home a few years back. Our house is older so before we moved in we had the electrical installiation checked and certified, it met all the requirements in the code at that point. We have four circuits in total, one for the heating system, one for the washing machine, one for all the outlets upstairs and one for all the outlets downstairs. We had some nice audio equipment in the living room and some kitchen appliances, all plugged in in the downstairs circuit, apparantly that used about 75% of the capacity on that ciruit and in the long-term that damaged the wiring so much it caused an electrical fire. Thankfully it was contained and didn't spread through the whole house, but after that we were advised that you're not supposed to structurally use more than 50% of capacity on one ciruit. You can incidentally go right up to capacity but not all the time.

Back in the days when the house was last rewired, it was mandatory for a washing machine to have it's own circuit and that's no longer mandatory, so maybe in the future that will change for induction cooktops as well.  We fixed our issue by plugging in some kitchen appliances to the washing machine circuit.

[Roadrunner53]

K_in_the_kitchen

I jotted down the mashed potato recipe and look forward to making it with Costco potatoes. How do you like: The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy" recipes? I looked up the book on eBay, but it seems there are several versions. One is with Nanci Slagle, Tara Wohlenhaus and another with just Nanci Slagle. Which version do you have?

I have some freezer meal books but eh, not thrilled with them.

On another note, chuck roast is one of my favorite meats and the price of $3.99 you quoted was so great. I just looked online at our grocery stores and the prices here are about double that! Stock up while you can!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

K_in_the_kitchen

I jotted down the mashed potato recipe and look forward to making it with Costco potatoes. How do you like: The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy" recipes? I looked up the book on eBay, but it seems there are several versions. One is with Nanci Slagle, Tara Wohlenhaus and another with just Nanci Slagle. Which version do you have?

I have some freezer meal books but eh, not thrilled with them.

On another note, chuck roast is one of my favorite meats and the price of $3.99 you quoted was so great. I just looked online at our grocery stores and the prices here are about double that! Stock up while you can!

I don't have the book anymore, but it was the 1999 edition with both authors.  I wonder what happened that one of the actors got dropped from the newer edition?  I never really used the book that much, except for the mashed potatoes.  Not only were we vegetarian at the time, but so much make ahead food has tomatoes, and I'm allergic.  I'll do the make ahead mashed potatoes and double batch baked goods to freeze, but other than that I don't purposely cook for the freezer.  I freeze all sorts of leftovers, and some meals I know will have extra to freeze, but mostly we eat what I cook and leave the freezer for meats and produce.

I do have room to freeze a few more chuck roasts, if I find time to get back to the store.  But I'm also planning a ButcherBox order in late September and need room for that.

[jrhampt]

Why is there egg in the recipe for mashed potatoes, do you think?

[RetiredAt63]

Why is there egg in the recipe for mashed potatoes, do you think?

Yes, that surprised me too.

[Roadrunner53]

K_in_the_kitchen

I jotted down the mashed potato recipe and look forward to making it with Costco potatoes. How do you like: The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy" recipes? I looked up the book on eBay, but it seems there are several versions. One is with Nanci Slagle, Tara Wohlenhaus and another with just Nanci Slagle. Which version do you have?

I have some freezer meal books but eh, not thrilled with them.

On another note, chuck roast is one of my favorite meats and the price of $3.99 you quoted was so great. I just looked online at our grocery stores and the prices here are about double that! Stock up while you can!

I don't have the book anymore, but it was the 1999 edition with both authors.  I wonder what happened that one of the actors got dropped from the newer edition?  I never really used the book that much, except for the mashed potatoes.  Not only were we vegetarian at the time, but so much make ahead food has tomatoes, and I'm allergic.  I'll do the make ahead mashed potatoes and double batch baked goods to freeze, but other than that I don't purposely cook for the freezer.  I freeze all sorts of leftovers, and some meals I know will have extra to freeze, but mostly we eat what I cook and leave the freezer for meats and produce.

I do have room to freeze a few more chuck roasts, if I find time to get back to the store.  But I'm also planning a ButcherBox order in late September and need room for that.

Thanks on the book information. I don't have much room in my freezers either, so freezer cooking isn't probably a good idea for me. I also have a Butcher Box order coming in early September. I get tempted with too many 'specials' but add them to my cart and then before I get billed, I kick some out of my cart. You probably have had it happen to you where you procrastinate and then when you decide to buy something on special, it is gone. So now, I just put it in the cart and decide later on.

As far as the mashed potatoes, I am definitely going to make them and freeze them. I have been buying the premade ones at the grocery store and I know that is way expensive. This way, it will be more cost effective. I have never made mashed potatoes with eggs. Why do you suppose that is added to the recipe?

[Imma]

K_in_the_kitchen

I jotted down the mashed potato recipe and look forward to making it with Costco potatoes. How do you like: The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy" recipes? I looked up the book on eBay, but it seems there are several versions. One is with Nanci Slagle, Tara Wohlenhaus and another with just Nanci Slagle. Which version do you have?

I have some freezer meal books but eh, not thrilled with them.

On another note, chuck roast is one of my favorite meats and the price of $3.99 you quoted was so great. I just looked online at our grocery stores and the prices here are about double that! Stock up while you can!

I don't have the book anymore, but it was the 1999 edition with both authors.  I wonder what happened that one of the actors got dropped from the newer edition?  I never really used the book that much, except for the mashed potatoes.  Not only were we vegetarian at the time, but so much make ahead food has tomatoes, and I'm allergic.  I'll do the make ahead mashed potatoes and double batch baked goods to freeze, but other than that I don't purposely cook for the freezer.  I freeze all sorts of leftovers, and some meals I know will have extra to freeze, but mostly we eat what I cook and leave the freezer for meats and produce.

I do have room to freeze a few more chuck roasts, if I find time to get back to the store.  But I'm also planning a ButcherBox order in late September and need room for that.

Thanks on the book information. I don't have much room in my freezers either, so freezer cooking isn't probably a good idea for me. I also have a Butcher Box order coming in early September. I get tempted with too many 'specials' but add them to my cart and then before I get billed, I kick some out of my cart. You probably have had it happen to you where you procrastinate and then when you decide to buy something on special, it is gone. So now, I just put it in the cart and decide later on.

As far as the mashed potatoes, I am definitely going to make them and freeze them. I have been buying the premade ones at the grocery store and I know that is way expensive. This way, it will be more cost effective. I have never made mashed potatoes with eggs. Why do you suppose that is added to the recipe?

I suppose it does make the mashed potatoes more creamy??

I got a large box of eggs (15 eggs) at a big discount the other day so I'm looking for recipes with eggs. Today is the first cooler day after a heatwave here, so I can finally cook again instead of making sandwiches and salads. I also bought some cheap green beans and vegan burgers so that would be a filling and cheap meal.

On the upside, we ate quite a bit of bread during the heatwave so I finally have some freezer space again. Bread always takes up so much space but I always try to have a spare bread for work lunches.

[SunnyDays]

Tortillas are a great substitute for bread.  You can freeze lots of them in very little space and they come in different flavours.  Just fill them and roll them, and you can slice them into little rolls too.

I've never tried cream cheese in potatoes, but do put in regular cheddar.  When frozen, the cheese helps it not get so watery after thawing.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Why is there egg in the recipe for mashed potatoes, do you think?

I'm not entirely sure -- I always assumed it was part of what makes them freeze well.  Many recipes add egg yolks to make mashed potatoes creamier, but I'm thinking that using the whole egg(s) has more to do with binding the mashed potatoes together so they reheat nicely.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Tortillas are a great substitute for bread.  You can freeze lots of them in very little space and they come in different flavours.  Just fill them and roll them, and you can slice them into little rolls too.

I've never tried cream cheese in potatoes, but do put in regular cheddar.  When frozen, the cheese helps it not get so watery after thawing.

Since the cream cheese is used in place of milk and butter, I think it must be there for the same reason, to help the potatoes not go watery after defrosting.  These are definitely thicker, richer mashed potatoes than the whipped type.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Thanks on the book information. I don't have much room in my freezers either, so freezer cooking isn't probably a good idea for me. I also have a Butcher Box order coming in early September. I get tempted with too many 'specials' but add them to my cart and then before I get billed, I kick some out of my cart. You probably have had it happen to you where you procrastinate and then when you decide to buy something on special, it is gone. So now, I just put it in the cart and decide later on.

As far as the mashed potatoes, I am definitely going to make them and freeze them. I have been buying the premade ones at the grocery store and I know that is way expensive. This way, it will be more cost effective. I have never made mashed potatoes with eggs. Why do you suppose that is added to the recipe?

Yes, I learned to jump on the specials when I see them, or see they are gone.  I hadn't been looking but started again recently.  Right now I have a bacon blast (10 of the BB bacon packages for $65), some bags of the hamburgers (2# for $12), a boneless pork chop blast (10#/20 chops for $68), and several bags of the gluten free chicken nuggets for $10 each (my at home college kid eats -- and pays for -- these and gets about 6 servings per bag).  Like you I go through before the box processes and unload anything I've changed my mind on or won't have room for.

I've decided I want to freeze the mashed potatoes in small covered casserole pans, so I can heat them in the toaster oven.  I've never done it that way before, but I use our new(ish) toaster oven often now.  Heating them up in the microwave works well, but I do have to stop and stir them several times so they heat evenly.

My guess is that the egg helps bind the potatoes together so they defrost nicely.

[Michael in ABQ]

I got a large box of eggs (15 eggs) at a big discount the other day so I'm looking for recipes with eggs. Today is the first cooler day after a heatwave here, so I can finally cook again instead of making sandwiches and salads. I also bought some cheap green beans and vegan burgers so that would be a filling and cheap meal.

It's hard for me to consider 15 eggs a lot. That's about what we'll use to make scrambled eggs for breakfast for the whole family. We buy 15 dozen eggs at a time from Costco these days. It lasts about a month. However, that's a family of 8, not two people.

[Dicey]

After reading this Yahoo article:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/dented-dated-discontinued-salvage-grocery-181110289.html

I went down this rabbit hole. I think I have a new hero!

https://www.javaholdings.com/faqs.html

Oh, I also followed the path to "Buy Salvage Food". Unsurprisingly, the three in my region are all Grocery Outlets stores I know well. Funny, I know of a couple outlets they don't mention. Y'all know I was hoping to find another source, right?

[Imma]

I got a large box of eggs (15 eggs) at a big discount the other day so I'm looking for recipes with eggs. Today is the first cooler day after a heatwave here, so I can finally cook again instead of making sandwiches and salads. I also bought some cheap green beans and vegan burgers so that would be a filling and cheap meal.

It's hard for me to consider 15 eggs a lot. That's about what we'll use to make scrambled eggs for breakfast for the whole family. We buy 15 dozen eggs at a time from Costco these days. It lasts about a month. However, that's a family of 8, not two people.

Eggs come in boxes of 10 here, and 10 is the regular size. 15 is an "XL" sized box. We use 4 eggs for scrambled eggs, and we only eat it during the weekend. Now we have lots of eggs I'm planning to make egg salad this week, for sandwiches to take to work. We have a big fridge by European standards but I'm afraid 180 eggs wouldn't leave space for anything else.

I can't imagine the amount of food you guys go through in a week. I assume our half a dozen eggs and one bread a week isn't even enough for one day for your family! I grew up cooking for six and when I first moved out it took me some time to adjust to cooking for one. I only had a mini fridge in my apartment in those days so I couldn't really store any leftovers.

[Michael in ABQ]

I got a large box of eggs (15 eggs) at a big discount the other day so I'm looking for recipes with eggs. Today is the first cooler day after a heatwave here, so I can finally cook again instead of making sandwiches and salads. I also bought some cheap green beans and vegan burgers so that would be a filling and cheap meal.

It's hard for me to consider 15 eggs a lot. That's about what we'll use to make scrambled eggs for breakfast for the whole family. We buy 15 dozen eggs at a time from Costco these days. It lasts about a month. However, that's a family of 8, not two people.

Eggs come in boxes of 10 here, and 10 is the regular size. 15 is an "XL" sized box. We use 4 eggs for scrambled eggs, and we only eat it during the weekend. Now we have lots of eggs I'm planning to make egg salad this week, for sandwiches to take to work. We have a big fridge by European standards but I'm afraid 180 eggs wouldn't leave space for anything else.

I can't imagine the amount of food you guys go through in a week. I assume our half a dozen eggs and one bread a week isn't even enough for one day for your family! I grew up cooking for six and when I first moved out it took me some time to adjust to cooking for one. I only had a mini fridge in my apartment in those days so I couldn't really store any leftovers.

We go to Costco every two weeks and typically buy 8 gallons of milk and sometimes have to stock up in between (and that's with one kid not drinking milk). A loaf of bread can be gone in a single meal. Our monthly grocery spend is about $1,400. That includes gluten free products for my wife which tend to be 50-200% more expensive. She has her own gluten free bread, but we usually make gluten free pancakes or waffles for everyone as otherwise we'd have to have two waffle makers to prevent cross-contamination. We have a second full size refrigerator in our garage to store the box of eggs, extra milk, extra fruit and vegetables, multiple loaves of frozen bread, etc. We've optimized to only going grocery shopping once a week. Costco every other week, and an online pickup order from the commissary on base every other week (staggered). It's rare for either bill to be under $250.

[Dicey]

I got a large box of eggs (15 eggs) at a big discount the other day so I'm looking for recipes with eggs. Today is the first cooler day after a heatwave here, so I can finally cook again instead of making sandwiches and salads. I also bought some cheap green beans and vegan burgers so that would be a filling and cheap meal.

It's hard for me to consider 15 eggs a lot. That's about what we'll use to make scrambled eggs for breakfast for the whole family. We buy 15 dozen eggs at a time from Costco these days. It lasts about a month. However, that's a family of 8, not two people.

Eggs come in boxes of 10 here, and 10 is the regular size. 15 is an "XL" sized box. We use 4 eggs for scrambled eggs, and we only eat it during the weekend. Now we have lots of eggs I'm planning to make egg salad this week, for sandwiches to take to work. We have a big fridge by European standards but I'm afraid 180 eggs wouldn't leave space for anything else.

I can't imagine the amount of food you guys go through in a week. I assume our half a dozen eggs and one bread a week isn't even enough for one day for your family! I grew up cooking for six and when I first moved out it took me some time to adjust to cooking for one. I only had a mini fridge in my apartment in those days so I couldn't really store any leftovers.

We go to Costco every two weeks and typically buy 8 gallons of milk and sometimes have to stock up in between (and that's with one kid not drinking milk). A loaf of bread can be gone in a single meal. Our monthly grocery spend is about $1,400. That includes gluten free products for my wife which tend to be 50-200% more expensive. She has her own gluten free bread, but we usually make gluten free pancakes or waffles for everyone as otherwise we'd have to have two waffle makers to prevent cross-contamination. We have a second full size refrigerator in our garage to store the box of eggs, extra milk, extra fruit and vegetables, multiple loaves of frozen bread, etc. We've optimized to only going grocery shopping once a week. Costco every other week, and an online pickup order from the commissary on base every other week (staggered). It's rare for either bill to be under $250.

@Michael in ABQ, that brought back a memory. I'm from a family of eight. Our refrigerator had a pull-out tray for milk. It held exactly nine half-gallons. We also had a drive through dairy in the area, long before Costco existed. Going with Dad on a milk run was a favorite mini-excursion.

[TomTX]

This is how I actually caused an electric fire in my own home a few years back. Our house is older so before we moved in we had the electrical installiation checked and certified, it met all the requirements in the code at that point. We have four circuits in total, one for the heating system, one for the washing machine, one for all the outlets upstairs and one for all the outlets downstairs. We had some nice audio equipment in the living room and some kitchen appliances, all plugged in in the downstairs circuit, apparantly that used about 75% of the capacity on that ciruit and in the long-term that damaged the wiring so much it caused an electrical fire. Thankfully it was contained and didn't spread through the whole house, but after that we were advised that you're not supposed to structurally use more than 50% of capacity on one ciruit. You can incidentally go right up to capacity but not all the time.

Interesting and unfortunate for you. US (residential) electrical codes are based around the idea that you should limit a continuous, long-term draw (3+ hours) to 80% of the rated capacity of the circuit. 100% of rated capacity draw is  fine if under 3 hours - but brief spikes (such as starting a motor) can go well over without issue.

[Dicey]

I was doing so well on working down my pantry...yesterday, Grocery Outlet had 28 oz. cans of Muir Glen Organic tomatoes for 99 cents. Whole, Diced, and Crushed. Some fire roasted, some with basil. I bought 30 cans. They also had half gallons of whole organic milk for 1.99. I bought three and will freeze them. Score!

[Hadilly]

@Dicey, thank you for the heads up! I stopped in at my Grocery Outlet and bought 12 cans of the fire roasted whole tomatoes. Excellent price!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I was doing so well on working down my pantry...yesterday, Grocery Outlet had 28 oz. cans of Muir Glen Organic tomatoes for 99 cents. Whole, Diced, and Crushed. Some fire roasted, some with basil. I bought 30 cans. They also had half gallons of whole organic milk for 1.99. I bought three and will freeze them. Score!

Those are some excellent scores!  I used our last can of diced tomatoes yesterday, but we aren't stocking up on them anymore.  I can't eat tomatoes (allergy since childhood) and my youngest detests tomatoes in any form.  With my oldest away at university, we just don't use them often, so I decided we should devote the pantry space to other foods.  But organic 28 oz. cans at that price would have tempted me to get a few.

[Dicey]

@Dicey, thank you for the heads up! I stopped in at my Grocery Outlet and bought 12 cans of the fire roasted whole tomatoes. Excellent price!

Hooray! I usually shop at GO on Senior Mornings, for the additional 10% discount. At that price, I was pretty sure they weren't going to last, so I happily paid the "premium".

[Roadrunner53]

We don't have GO stores here but I would have gone hog wild on those tomatoes for that price! I LOVE tomatoes! What a great find!

[Rosy]

My church ran a monthly food pantry at a low income school, and we always had samples and recipes. People were really interested, and I was fascinated by how many people had never tasted hummus.

It is great to know that there was interest for this! Our food pantry gets large donations of ingredients that people don't seem to know how to use (lentils, dates, figs) - and we've toyed around with doing samples and recipes. A lot of board members for my pantry feel like it would be wasted effort.

I don't think it would be a wasted effort at all! I do think people need some help figuring things out. If you're on a low budget, you can't just risk trying things that don't work out because that's a waste of money, and you might not have certain things on hand that we frugal but rich mustachians have, like all sorts of spices.

I think if you made some samples that people could try first, make a short TikTok or Youtube video showing the process, and make sure all the necessary ingredients are either extremely cheap or available at the food bank, it would absolutely help people try new things with new ingredients. It could be a wasted effort if your community is very resistant to change, but you won't know until you've tried it. Little things can help people a lot - every time people tell me spices are expensive I tell them to go to ethnic grocery stores where they are dirt cheap, and people are like "wow, I'm not of that ethnicity, and I can just go in there and buy stuff?" Yes you can!!

100% yes to everything that Imma said:).

I've never been to a food pantry but in the past, I lived in an apartment complex and had several neighbors who would get free food from a nearby church charity program. They simply handed out a box of food of whatever they had.
Quite often people were stumped as to what to do with some items or an old lady ended up with more butter than she could use in a year and didn't even know she could freeze it.
But we became a group of friends and would simply share the bounty, me and a young man next door would come up with recipes for "odd" items and make a big batch to share.
One time they got huge bags of frozen dried apricots - they would have ended up in the trash if not for us. Those were some of the best apricots, made great desserts.   

[Dicey]

My church ran a monthly food pantry at a low income school, and we always had samples and recipes. People were really interested, and I was fascinated by how many people had never tasted hummus.

It is great to know that there was interest for this! Our food pantry gets large donations of ingredients that people don't seem to know how to use (lentils, dates, figs) - and we've toyed around with doing samples and recipes. A lot of board members for my pantry feel like it would be wasted effort.

I don't think it would be a wasted effort at all! I do think people need some help figuring things out. If you're on a low budget, you can't just risk trying things that don't work out because that's a waste of money, and you might not have certain things on hand that we frugal but rich mustachians have, like all sorts of spices.

I think if you made some samples that people could try first, make a short TikTok or Youtube video showing the process, and make sure all the necessary ingredients are either extremely cheap or available at the food bank, it would absolutely help people try new things with new ingredients. It could be a wasted effort if your community is very resistant to change, but you won't know until you've tried it. Little things can help people a lot - every time people tell me spices are expensive I tell them to go to ethnic grocery stores where they are dirt cheap, and people are like "wow, I'm not of that ethnicity, and I can just go in there and buy stuff?" Yes you can!!

100% yes to everything that Imma said:).

I've never been to a food pantry but in the past, I lived in an apartment complex and had several neighbors who would get free food from a nearby church charity program. They simply handed out a box of food of whatever they had.
Quite often people were stumped as to what to do with some items or an old lady ended up with more butter than she could use in a year and didn't even know she could freeze it.
But we became a group of friends and would simply share the bounty, me and a young man next door would come up with recipes for "odd" items and make a big batch to share.
One time they got huge bags of frozen dried apricots - they would have ended up in the trash if not for us. Those were some of the best apricots, made great desserts.   

❤️

[K_in_the_kitchen]

So ButcherBox has been holding their "Member Specials" week and what I've observed is the prices mostly aren't better than any other offers.  Today they have a ground beef blast (10#) for $65, which is the same price it was when I put it into my box a few weeks ago.  The burgers blast comes in more expensive than the price for burgers a few weeks ago.  I still think the best prices of the year that I've seen were for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

We're doing a combination of conventional and pastured meats.  I can't bring myself to buy regular ground beef, and at $5 per pound it isn't that much less expensive than the grass-fed and finished ground beef from Sprouts or ButcherBox.  But we've gone to conventional chicken because there is a major price difference for what is a minimal difference.

I'm also serving smaller meat portions, and reminding everyone why.  I cooked a 1# pork tenderloin this week, wrapped in 10 ounces of bacon, so 26 ounces of meat pre-cooking. The 3 of us ate it for 2 meals, even though that meant hardly more than 4 ounces per serving.  I just think they have to get used to it.  We've been spoiled over the years with enough income to serve hearty portions of meat (when we've eaten meat). The one kid can easily eat 3-4 chicken thighs or 2 burger patties (1/3# each).  Due to various allergies and preferences, we don't eat a lot of the kinds of meals that naturally stretch the meat, like chili, spaghetti with meat sauce, etc.

I'm continuing to mix in a pound of BB breakfast sausage each time I make a batch of ground meat for tacos and burrito bowls.  We didn't like it as breakfast sausage, but it tastes okay mixed with the ground beef.

We got a Sam's Club membership for my son at college, and I'm the other family member on it so I can use it too.  It was $45 and then we got $45 off our first purchase.  I've found items at Sam's that they don't have at Costco, like the big bag of coleslaw (which I usually cook), and milk chocolate chips.  They also have the 50 pack of plain Lay's potato chips, which I know the Costco Business Center has, but I don't live near one and they don't deliver to my address either.  My kid is taking these to school in a packed lunch twice a week.

On the "stocking up" front (other than meat), I grabbed 6 cans of corned beef hash at Aldi this week, since they had it back in stock.  The price is 24’ more per can than it was at the beginning of the pandemic.  It's high in sodium and rather unhealthy in my book, but my kid eats it and I've decided it's not a battle I want to fight with someone who is now a young adult.  I might have sprung for a case, but my Aldi has gotten really strict on not allowing customers to buy cases of canned goods without putting the order in with the manager ahead of time.

And on the use the pantry items and cook to save money side of things, I've been working some white bread and rolls into our meals, as I have white flour stored in buckets that needs to be rotated through.  I'm using a recipe attributed to the Amish, and the dough is versatile enough to use for several kinds of baked goods: sandwich and toasting bread, dinner rolls for soup, cinnamon rolls, New England style hot dog buns, etc.  I alternate cooking with whole wheat so we aren't only eating white flour products.