I am a gadget nut, I really am, I love gadgets and comparing gadgets. I’m also a former scientist, and these two characteristics combine to help me solve gadget problems.
One gadget I have been comparing since the late 1980s is the bread maker. I like bread makers for a couple of reasons. First, I think that they are amazing. Dump in some ingredients, press a button, and you get bread! Second, many different ones have been manufactured over the decades, and I have found that subtle differences can significantly affect the finished product. Third, I can acquire machines that were hundreds of dollars new for pennies on the dollar used. I have purchased many bread makers at thrift stores for less than $10, some as low as $4.99. Granted, they were often grubby, but a little soap and water easily fixes that problem.
Over the years, I have tested 30 different bread makers. Yes, thirty. I have used high-end brands, such as Zojirushi, Panasonic, and Breville; classic household brands, like Oster, Breadman, Cuisinart, and Regal; and newer value brands, including KBS, Kitchen Arm, and Osipoto.
On my last birthday, my wife gifted me two bread makers she thrifted: one was $4.99, and the other was $10. I thought they were the perfect gifts, as she put considerable time into finding and cleaning them. My wife isn’t into bread makers, so her efforts were absolutely a gift of love.
Premium brands are great, but let’s face it: a top-of-the-line Zojirushi now sells for $500, and the other high-end brands aren’t much cheaper. Less expensive brands may not be as durable, but they can also make excellent bread. And let’s not forget those used bargains that can be picked up at thrift stores. Not everyone can drop $400-$500 on a bread maker, but everyone deserves great bread. Getting a reasonably good bread maker at an affordable price can be a reality with a little effort.
In my bread-making travels, I have discovered that bread makers fall into three categories.
The first category: breadmakers that reliably make great bread. They may have a glitch or two when making a new recipe, but those glitches are easy to correct.
The second category: bread makers that generally do pretty well, but they have a singular problem, usually underproofing or overproofing. These problems can be corrected with a little experimentation. I most often see this issue in older bread makers, and it may be due to miscalibration over time. For instance, the baking chamber may heat up a bit more than intended during the proofing period. This is the category I’ll be exploring today.
The third category: machines that act oddly but consistently, suggesting they were designed for a different environment. Perhaps a place where the temperature is different, or the flour is different, or where a different strain of yeast is used. These machines tend to over proof 2 pounds loaves and under proof 1.5 pound loaves. I have seen this characteristic across several machines, suggesting that the problem is a programming issue. These machines can also work properly with ingredient adjustments, but new corrections may be necessary for each bread type and loaf size. If you make one or two types of bread, then this is no big deal. However, if you like to make many types of bread, these machines can be a pain.
The two used machines that my wife found were different models of older Oster bread makers. One made perfect bread, but the other tended to overproof. Since the bread makers were a gift, I felt compelled to put on my scientist hat and fix the second machine’s problem. Since these machines are old and not programmable by customers, I had to use my chemistry knowledge to fix them.
I thought it would be useful to write about overproofing in general, and then look at how I fixed the overproofing in my old Oster machine that my wife gave me.
A case of severe overproofing. The bread looked great until the baking process started, then the whole top exploded.
Some easy chemistry.
Gluten is what makes bread chewy, stretchy, and delicious. Gluten is formed in the process of kneading. Too little kneading and you will have inadequate gluten; if you knead your bread too much, you can break down the gluten. It is hard to over-knead bread by hand, but a machine can over-knead dough.
Yeast is a living organism that converts the starches and sugars in bread dough to alcohol (burned off during baking), flavor compounds, and carbon dioxide gas.
During the fermentation process, yeast grows and divides, releasing carbon dioxide, which is trapped in the bread by the stretchy, elastic gluten. If the yeast doesn’t grow enough, you will have a low rise. If your gluten is inadequate, it will be unable to contain the carbon dioxide, and you will have large holes in your bread and a collapsed top during baking. A collapsed top can happen if too much yeast produces too much carbon dioxide gas, if the gluten is too weak to contain the gas, or if both occur.
It is the balance between carbon dioxide production and the strength of the gluten that determines a properly raised bread dough. Not enough carbon dioxide because of inadequate yeast or too much gluten, and you will have a poorly risen loaf. Too much yeast activity or not enough gluten development will cause your bread to overproof and collapse during baking. Why does baking cause it to collapse? The heat makes the carbon dioxide expand; if the gluten is weak, it can’t contain this additional pressure and bursts.
Properly risen bread is dependent on the interplay between yeast and gluten. If you understand this sentence, you can fix your over-proofing issues.
Let’s look at three levels of “fixes,” from simplest to most complicated. Every user of a bread maker should implement level-one fixes automatically, as they are good bread-making practices. The other two levels should be applied in order if level one fails to produce decent, correctly proved loaves.
Please note that every ingredient impacts the rise of a loaf. However, some ingredients, such as sugar and salt, also affect the quality of the bread. Although these ingredients can be altered, doing so will likely have an adverse impact on the bread and should only be done when simpler options are exhausted.
Additionally, all-purpose flour has less gluten than bread flour and can lead to overproofing if the recipe calls for bread flour.
Always explore a new machine by making the recipe for basic white bread in that machine’s manual. If you bake a successful loaf, you know that the machine is working properly. Recipes from third parties, especially from individuals, may work well in one machine, but not another. However, you can then use your successful basic recipe to decode the differences between the two and get the new recipe to behave. If the basic recipe is overproofing and you are using good practices, then move on to level two, then three.
For me, overproofing is the most common problem that I encounter. If there is an interest in underproofing solutions, I can write about that in the future.
Level One Fixes (good practices)
Check out your ingredients. Are you using the recommended yeast type? The correct type of flour? The correct salt type? Salt inhibits yeast, and large-grain salts are less salty by volume than table salt. Adjust accordingly.
Check out the temperature of the ingredients. They should be at room temperature for consistency.
Measure correctly. This is incredibly important. I use a food scale to measure my flour, as using volume measurements for flour is notoriously inaccurate. Additionally, I use measuring spoons for low-volume items like salt and yeast and level them off. Some food scales can be inaccurate when weighing items under 10 grams, which is why measuring spoons are better for small quantities.
Make sure the dough ball looks good during kneading. I check after a minute or two of kneading. If the dough ball looks too slack, I’ll add 1T of flour and repeat every 30-60 seconds until it looks good. Since I weigh my flour, I usually don’t need to add any, or if I do, only one tablespoon. The converse is also true. If the dough ball looks dry and ratty, add 1T of water every 30 seconds or so until it is smooth, round, and slightly sticky.
Check your room’s temperature. If it is too hot, your bread may overproof. Look for obvious problems, like exposing your machine to direct sunlight, which will heat it up.
Level one quick fix
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of figuring out why your bread is overproofing, use your bread maker to knead and ferment the dough, but then place the dough in a bread pan for its second rise and bake it in the oven. Some home bakers do this, but I’m a lazy guy and want a “door-to-door” solution.
Level two fixes
Try a different high-quality brand of bread flour. Bread flours can vary from brand to brand; look for one with higher gluten content.
If using bread maker (instant) yeast, try active dry yeast, which is slightly less powerful.
Try reducing your yeast by ¼ teaspoon.
Try a commercial dough enhancer. However, dough enhancer ingredients vary by brand. Some can actually make the dough softer or encourage yeast growth, which can have the opposite effect that you want.
If your bread maker allows custom programming, reduce your last rise time by 5-minute increments until you achieve an adequate, quality rise.
Level three fixes
Now it is time to put on your scientist hat. Let’s learn a little more chemistry.
Professional bakers use a variety of additives to create a perfectly consistent loaf. Some of those additives make the crumb softer, some preserve the bread longer, some help the yeast along, and some help the gluten. Since we are dealing with an overproofing problem, we need to either reduce the power of the yeast or strengthen the gluten so the carbon dioxide bubbles don’t burst during baking (and collapse the top of the bread).
Here are some additives that can help correct overproofing by strengthening the dough’s gluten.
Vital Wheat Gluten (VWG). VWG is gluten in concentrated form. If you add this to bread flour, you increase the flour’s gluten content and strengthen the dough. I often start at 2 T per loaf and adjust accordingly.
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C). Vitamin C strengthens disulfide bonds in gluten, making gluten stronger and less likely to burst when baking. I use a tiny amount of vitamin C powder. My Vitamin C came with a little plastic scoop that is likely less than 1/16 of a teaspoon. That is the amount that I add. You can also use vitamin C in the form of lemon juice, about 1 tablespoon per typical loaf. As an aside, using Vitamin C in baking does not increase the bread’s Vitamin C content, as the vitamin is destroyed by heat.
Calcium Sulfate (Gypsum). Provides calcium ions that strengthen gluten’s bonds. If you are going to use Gypsum, you should only add the tiniest pinch, or 0.1% of flour by weight. If you want to go this route, I would suggest using Calcium Sulfate as part of a bread conditioner product. These products will contain other ingredients, such as VWG, which increase their volume, so it is easy to measure out the “diluted” calcium sulfate. For instance, the instructions may say to use 1 teaspoon of conditioner for every cup of flour. However, conditioners sometimes contain a variety of other enhancers, some that may be used to soften, not strengthen, the dough. Using them may complicate your discovery.
Potassium Bromate. This chemical is an oxidizer and works like super Ascorbic Acid, but don’t use it. Why? Because only a tiny amount is needed, and if you use more, it can be quite dangerous and possibly even contribute to causing cancer. The amount to add is ridiculously tiny at 1 teaspoon per 800 cups of flour. Therefore, it is likely that you will over-add this chemical, and that is bad. This chemical is permitted in the US because, when used in proper amounts, it is converted into a harmless compound during baking. However, the EU and other places have banned it in baking. Potassium Bromate is too dangerous for a home baker to experiment with.
The goal is to find the right balance by using the correct amount of yeast vs gluten. In this series of experiment I’m using the basic white bread recipe developed for this bread maker. I always follow level one protocols.
I did come up with a solution, but the process took me several weeks because I was eating most of the bread as I baked it. If a bread is mildly overproofed, it is still perfectly good bread; it just doesn’t look great. When conducting any experiment, it is best to change only one variable at a time. However, my goal was to correct overproofing, not to publish a scientific paper, so I sometimes changed two variables at a time. Not best practice, but it still worked. Let’s get into it!
Despite doing everything correctly, this initial test loaf rose spectacularly and then collapsed during baking. A case of classic overproofing.
Here is my first attempt at a fix, using vital wheat gluten and a commercial dough conditioner. This loaf is much improved, but I wonder if the gluten is too strong, as the bread didn’t dome.
Here is a slice from that loaf. Not terrible, but note the big air bubble, and there is some minor collapse on top.
The next experiment. I reduced the vital wheat gluten to 1 tablespoon, removed the dough conditioner, and added Ascorbic Acid. This loaf doesn’t look too bad. However, some collapse is likely due to overactive yeast.
The final experiment. This loaf looks good. A decent dome, and it is well risen. All I changed was to make a very small reduction in the yeast.
A decent crumb! I believe our experiment was a success!
I saw that some online creators were making their own lunch meat using a contraption called a “Ham Press.” This intrigued me. I initially tried it using the recipe from the ham press I purchased on Amazon (for around $24), and I deemed that experiment a failure. The product tasted OK, but the texture was weird, and the color was sort of yuck brown and grey.
I’m not one to give things up easily, so yesterday I tried again. This time I used ground chicken instead of the “tube” turkey that I had used before. I also changed the spices around, omitting those that likely gave my first attempt its gross color. Lastly, I did the experiment more simply using basic equipment. Why? Because it was easier.
I’m pleased to report that I did get a final product that was pretty good.
Here are the positives:
-The taste was much better than deli chicken.
-It is less expensive than deli chicken.
Here are the negatives:
-The texture was slightly different than deli chicken.
-Making deli meat involves some labor.
-One pound of chicken yielded slightly less than 15 oz of deli meat. This is likely due to all the water injected into the meat, which was lost during cooking.
Let’s take a closer look!
To one pound of ground chicken, I added 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, onion powder, and salt, plus 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. I also added around 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of gelatin. I mixed it all up with my impeccably clean hands.
I packed the meat mixture into my ham press and sealed the press. I placed the press into a Dutch oven with simmering hot water (around 200°F/95 °C). I waited until the slurry’s internal temperature reached 170°F (75 °C), which is about 5 degrees higher than the safe cooking temperature for chicken. It took around 90 minutes to reach the correct temperature.
I rapidly cooled the ham press in an ice bath. Then it was placed in the fridge overnight.
Here it is removed from the ham press. I ran the press under warm water to help the deli meat release. The yield was not quite 15 oz.
I used a meat slicer to slice the block, but a knife or mandoline would also work.
Here is an individual slice. Honestly, it looked good, and it tasted great. Its flavor was much better than deli chicken. It was less salty and tasted like real chicken.
But here is the real problem: what a mess to clean up! Cleaning a slicer can be tricky as you are handling a very sharp blade. This is a consumer-level slicer. I also have a commercial-level slicer, and that thing is outright dangerous to clean, as it has a huge circular blade that has to be removed and is extremely sharp and slippery. When cleaning any slicer, I recommend extreme caution and cut-proof gloves. Also, watch your feet. If you drop the blade, you could cut off a toe!
The slicer is all cleaned up and ready for its next job.
So what is the bottom line? Yes, it is less expensive to make your own chicken deli meat, and it tastes better. However, it did require work, and cleaning the slicer was no fun.
I know we are all suffering from inflation and the Trump tariff taxes. For me, it would only make sense to use two ham presses at their full 2-pound capacity. That would yield 4 pounds of deli-meat. This would justify cleaning the slicer. I would freeze the excess meat for future lunches. With that said, I have another idea that should be an even easier way to get better/cheaper deli meat at a lower cost. More on that idea in a future post.
Yesterday was an interesting day as I was invited to a retirement party for my long-time friend, Steve. My history with Steve goes back to the early 1990s, when, along with my other friend, Ralph, we embarked on a 30-year adventure.
My connection with the two had been cursory. I had just started to date my wife, who was the clinical director of the eating disorder unit at the hospital where I was the medical director of the chemical dependency program. My wife was leaving her position to enter a PhD program when we started dating. Her boss, another doctor, had a big going-away party for her at her Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home in horsey country, and my future wife brought me along. Ralph had been working on the eating disorder unit, and rumor has it that he asked his wife, “What in the world is Dr. Kuna doing here?” Little did either of us know that would be the start of a 30-year friendship.
Steve and Ralph were working for the doctor who threw my wife’s party, and that doc was good friends with the doctor I was working for. Steve and Ralph were talking about moving on, and my boss saw an opportunity, but he didn’t want to jeopardize his relationship with their boss. “Mike, I want you to meet with these two doctors with the idea of having them join us.” He was my boss, and so I did what I was told. In the end, this turned out to be a fortunate request.
The three of us hit it off, and it was clear that we would work well together. That meeting eventually led us to form Genesis Clinical Services, which at one time was the largest psychiatric clinic in the suburban county where it was based.
To be honest, I don’t think any of us really knew what we were getting into. We were doctors who wanted to take care of patients. How hard could it be to manage over a dozen clerical staff and even more clinicians? OK, we were extremely naive.
The three of us automatically fell into our roles, most likely based on our personality types. Ralph loved the business aspects of Genesis and gravitated to all things numbers. Steve is an extremely likable person. I used to joke, “Everyone loves Steve.” However, that joke was more true than fiction. Steve was our marketing person. In our little family of three, I always felt like the crazy uncle who lived in the basement. What would my role be? What were my skills that went beyond being a good doctor? What could I bring to the table? I’m a creative guy who seems to grasp complicated technical subjects easily. Those traits would have to do. I taught myself desktop publishing and started to write the clinic newsletter. I taught myself how to use multi-track audio editing software, built a portable recording studio, and produced a psychiatric podcast for the clinic. I taught myself web design, then taught myself portrait photography so I could create the clinic’s first website. I coded the first interactive clinic note system for the clinic, and so on. My weekdays were spent seeing patients, and my weekends were spent learning and applying technology.
Since we all had different roles, we never stepped on each other’s feet. I can’t recall ever having a serious disagreement with Steve or Ralph during those years. We would meet weekly to discuss the clinic and to catch up with each other’s lives and families. I always looked forward to those meetings. However, these were also stressful times for me as I was chronically ill, constantly fatigued, and struggling to get through the day. I was working 60 hours a week, plus all of the technical projects. I don’t know how I did it, but it was necessary, so I did it. As you may recall, the problem that I was having was an unusual reaction from a common medication that I was taking. No doctor, including me, could figure out that this was the issue, so I carried a variety of diagnoses from MS to Myasthenia Gravis. I finally made the connection decades later. I was grateful to solve my problem, but I just wish I had done so earlier. That was then, but I like to stay in the present. Now, I’m feeling healthy and excited about life.
I thought I would just stop by the party to let Steve know I was there. I was certain that I would be one of many well-wishers and a minor one at that. After all, I have been retired and away from the clinic for over 8 years. I approached a circle of people with Steve in the middle. I entered and gave him a hug, and we talked. I told him that I would just be here for a minute, but I wanted to congratulate him on his retirement. “Mike, stay around. I’m giving a little speech, and I’m mentioning you in it.” I stayed, and Steve, in Steve fashion, said some very kind things about me. It made me tear up.
I asked him about his plans, and he told me about some upcoming travels and a book he was planning to write now that he had time. I smiled, as his comments seemed to echo my thoughts when I retired. You see, no one mentors you on how to retire, so most of us try to make it an extension of our work lives, minus the stress.
I wanted to give him more information. I wanted to tell him what I had learned in 8 years. I wanted to inform him about the art of retirement. However, I knew that he wouldn’t listen. Not because he is obstinate, but rather because that is the way it is. We can’t learn what we don’t know. No book, no class, and certainly no “wisdom” from an old retired doctor can teach someone how to move from a work life to a retired life. It is something that you have to experience. A natural process that, if done thoughtfully, can lead to a happy retirement life.
I woke up early this morning thinking about Steve’s retirement party and thinking about cartoons. Surprisingly, these two thoughts are more connected than you may think. You see, when I was a kid, my life revolved around TV shows, especially Saturday morning cartoons. Those shows gave me such pleasure that the thought of not having them in my life caused me distress. I remember thinking, “I know some day I will be too old to watch cartoons and that will be a terrible, terrible day.” But, do you know what? That day came and went, and I didn’t even notice it. One day, I had moved on, and cartoons were no longer important to me. Other things were now important; the transition was natural and painless. And so it is with retirement. If you constantly think about how your life is different, it will be a miserable experience, perhaps a slow death. However, if you just let it happen and navigate reasonably, it can be a wonderful, even glorious time. I was so happy to be a doctor. I am so happy to be retired. Two different experiences, same Mike.
When I retired, my sister told me, “Mike, from now on everyday is Saturday!” To my friend, Steve, I would like to say, “Happy Saturday!”
From right to left: me, Steve, and Ralph from Steve’s retirement party.
Steve in the early 2000s. I had just taught myself portrait photography, and I was very excited to use my new DSLR. I don’t think Steve looks that different now. Not fair!
Ralph, from that same photo shoot. My first attempt at “professional portraits.”
I’m proud of my kids. Oh, you have noticed that? Yep, it’s true. I have 4 kids, all different, but each amazing in my book.
One of the things I did with the three youngest was to teach them how to cook. We did it as a fun activity, as we all made dinner together for years. My kids are now adults, and they will ask me for the recipes that we made together. However, there is an additional twist to this story: I now ask them for their recipes too!
My one daughter loves the website budgetbytes.com, which offers simple, economical recipes. For the last year, she has made Italian Wedding Soup from a recipe there. It is part of her regular dinner rotation. She will make a pot of soup and then divide it into individual containers, giving her around 4 days of dinners. This allows for an easy meal when she comes home from work. “Dad, you have to try this soup. You can make it in under an hour, and it is delicious!” Well, I had to try it, and she was right.
My son is in graduate school and still lives with us. He was my co-captain on this recipe, which made its assembly even simpler. Has inflation and the Trump tariff taxes got you down? Try cooking at home to save money!
Let’s get into it.
Put all of the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl and mix them up. The best way to do this is with clean hands, but you do you.
Form the mixture into small meatballs, using about 1 tablespoon of mixture for each. I initially used a cookie scoop, but I found that it was easier to eyeball the amount. Here too, hands work the best. Set the meatballs aside.
Finely chop the vegetables. Here is an example of the size you should have.
Add some oil to a large pot and saute the onions using medium heat. After a minute or two, add the garlic. I’m using jar garlic, but regular cloves would be best. To be honest, I almost always use jar garlic as I have it on hand.
Add the chopped celery and carrots and mix them in. Cook the mixture for another couple of minutes. Stir now and then.
The vegetables will look more translucent as they soften.
Now add the Italian seasoning. If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you could use oregano. I “cooked” the seasoning for around 30 seconds to allow it to bloom.
Now add 6 cups of chicken broth. I’m using the boxed stuff, but you could also use a chicken base. My daughter often uses bouillon cubes. Best would be homemade stock.
Bring the soup to a boil and drop in the meatballs. I’m using my hand, but you can use a spoon. Drop them close to the boiling soup to prevent spraying the hot soup on you. The meatballs need to cook for around 10 minutes before you go on to the next step.
Now add 1/2 cup of a “small pasta”. I’m using orzo. I’ll continue cooking the soup for 9 minutes, or until the orzo is soft. There is a lot of boiling going on, so you may be evaporating quite a bit of the liquid. This can make the soup too salty. If that is the case, just add some water back to the soup (around 1/2 to 1 cup) to rebalance the salt. Taste before you do this.
You can also reduce evaporation by covering the pot. You may have to turn down the heat to prevent a boil-over, as the cover will trap more heat.
When the soup is completely cooked, add around 4 cups of spinach. I just eyeballed it and added the spinach by the handful.
The spinach will wilt in a few seconds. Soup is served!
I topped my bowl with a little Parmesan Cheese and served it with a crescent roll. It was delicious! Three adults ate the soup, and at least two portions remain for lunch. This soup is very economical. Its taste is familiar, yet slightly exotic. A great soup to add some variety to any rotating meal plan. It was simple to make and uses very basic ingredients. The meatballs added something, and they were also simple to make. We will definitely make this soup again.
I thought it would be interesting to do a post on making a pot of stew, as such dishes are so incredibly flexible and forgiving. This will be a beef stew, and I made it quickly in a pressure cooker (Instant Pot), but it can also be made on the stovetop or in the oven. It would just take longer and use more energy. With inflation and the Trump tariff taxes, cooking at home has become a must.
There is no formal recipe; I’ll describe my method more in the step-by-step photos below.
Place your electric pressure cooker on “sear” and preheat for about 5 minutes. Add some oil, and when the oil is hot, add your seasoned stew meat. Don’t overcrowd the meat. If you have a lot of meat, brown it in two batches. I just sprinkled a little seasoned salt on the meat, but you could use whatever you like, or just salt and pepper. Browning the meat adds flavor and makes it juicier.
The brown meat was removed, and I deglazed the pot with a little red wine. Anything acidic works well for deglazing, but in a pinch, a little water will also do the trick. We had some leftover wine in the fridge, so this was a good way to use some of it up.
I added one coarsely chopped onion to soften it. I often use jar garlic as it is so convenient. However, my Costco-sized jar was almost empty, and I couldn’t even scrape out the last of its contents. I added a little water to the jar, shook it up, and poured that liquid into my stew pot. Stews are extremely forgiving.
Now for some spices. Spices add a bit of sophistication to a stew, but you can just use salt and pepper if that’s all you have. There are many spice options, but I added roughly a teaspoon of thyme and rosemary. I also added about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper. I’ll be using some beef base, and that is pretty salty. Additionally, I’ll adjust for salt at the end. You can always add salt, but you can’t remove it. I also added 2 bay leaves. Do bay leaves do anything? They seem to, but I can’t clearly put my finger on what.
I also added a few tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. This stuff gives the stew umami. Naturally, this is optional.
I added a couple of stalks of celery and some cut-up carrots. How much? As much as you want. I think I have 3 stalks of celery and around 4-5 carrots.
I then added 3-4 peeled and cut-up potatoes. The pressure cooking process will make the potatoes very soft. My mom would boil the potatoes separately and then add them when the stew was done. That is the best practice, but I’m lazy, and I don’t mind soft potatoes.
In goes the browned stew meat. I think I have around 2 pounds, but you can get away with 1 pound if that is what you have.
This is what the pot looks like at this point. You only want to fill a pressure cooker around 2/3rds full. I sometimes exceed that, but that’s not the best practice. Never go all the way to the top; the most I will go is about 3/4 of the way up, and that is definitely pushing the pot. Some foods that foam should only be filled 1/2 way up, such as oatmeal.
Adding beef stock will enhance the stew’s flavor, but it is not a requirement. You can use a homemade stock (best) or a boxed stock. I’m using this beef base, which contains salt. I just realized that my beef base had expired. Alas, I used it anyway, and it was fine.
Here I am adding around 3 cups of stock. If I were using only 1 pound of stew meat, I would add 2 cups of stock. However, you can be flexible here.
Oops, I forgot to add the peeled parsnips. That was the whole reason that I was making a stew. I had a bunch of carrots and some parsnips and wanted to use them up. No worries, I can add them now. When it comes to vegetables, I think carrots and celery are a must. However, you can add whatever else you like. Corn, green beans, peas, other root vegetables; you name it. I really like peas in stew, but my wife hates peas, so no peas for us.
I changed the pot’s control to “pressure cook” and set the timer for 40 minutes. When that is done, I’ll wait 10 minutes before I release the steam for a semi-natural release. Read your pressure cooker’s manual and safety information before operating. To open the pot, the pressure has to be completely down.
You may notice that this electric pressure cooker is not an actual Instant Pot. However, the brands are more similar than they are different. I have had this pot for a very long time, and I’m very happy with it.
If you were doing this on a stovetop, you would bring the mixture to a boil, then down to a gentle simmer (with the pot covered). In that case, you would stir the contents every once in a while. I think you would need to cook it for at least 4 hours under those conditions. Compare that to the total time for the pressure cooker, which was around one hour.
After the stew was done, I mixed a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch in a little cold water and stirred it into the boiling stew to thicken it. Flour could also be used, but cornstarch will give you a clearer final product. I also adjusted the salt and added a little garlic powder (I like garlic). Lastly, I added a few squirts of Frank’s hot sauce. Not enough to make the stew hot, but enough to liven it up a bit. Shhh, that is my secret, don’t tell anyone!
Here, the stew is plated up and served with some garlic toast. It was delicious! It served four of us, with several going back for seconds. There was enough left over for a couple of lunches, too!
Stew is a great way to use up vegetables and to stretch your meat. I hope my descriptions showed you how flexible it can be. There are no real rules, except that you need an onion, celery, carrots, and some stew meat. Build on that theme and make a hearty dish that can feed an army, but also freezes well for easy future dinners.
Many years ago, I went to get a haircut. The line was short, so I thought I would be in and out, but the stylist was gabby and spent an inordinate amount of time with the person she was working with. I had to leave; in those days, my time was not my own. When I finally got a haircut, I watched what the stylist did. I’m a baldish guy, and all that she did was run the clippers over my head, similar to the way that I cut my lawn; that was it. That day, I went out and bought some clippers and started to cut my own hair. Those clippers reached the end of their life, and I replaced them a few months ago with a cordless set from Wahl for $36. Recently, Amazon “tickled” me to do a review on the clippers, so I went back to their product page. Those same clippers are now over $47, a more than 30% price increase in just a few months. Inflation and the Trump tariffs are real, and both are impacting everything from appliances to utilities to medication costs, and especially food.
But what foods should a senior make? A common option for seniors is to buy frozen meals. However, inexpensive frozen dinners are pretty terrible, and better quality ones can be quite expensive. I often have an emergency pot pie or a frozen dinner on hand, but neither is part of my regular diet.
I found this photo from 2009. I was having this for dinner at work. Wow, it looks pretty terrible, and look at those portions. The apples look like a tablespoon’s worth, and the corn isn’t much better. So much for cheap frozen dinners.
I know many seniors live on very limited incomes. Some are already doing things to reduce their expenses, following the use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without rule. However, one of the main and never-ending expenses in life is food. You can’t avoid buying it, even when the cost doubles. Food is one of life’s great joys, so it should be more than rice and beans, but then how can you save money? One way to deal with rising food costs is by using rational thinking. We eat well at our home and enjoy our food. Yet, I am careful with my purchases and try to avoid food waste whenever possible. I have attempted to be conscious of what I buy during my retirement years. I understand that I’m in a spending phase of life, not an earning phase. I am adopting many of the tricks I learned from watching my mother cook, who had to feed 7 on a single salary, as well as the methods I used when I was a poor medical student and resident. Could I spend more? Sure, but why? There is no status in overspending.
Through my years of talking to patients, it was apparent that many, including seniors, never learned the frugal habits I did. If this post helps a single person become more food-secure, it is a post worth writing. It is meant as general ideas to spark your own plans. You may have restrictions that will alter what you can eat. You need to determine your needs. Remember, you do you.
My current household consists of three adults. However, I lived many years as a single man and student with very limited funds. I discovered what worked for me, and you will need to do the same, as one size doesn’t fit all. Here are some general considerations.
If your food situation is dire, please check out options such as senior lunch programs, SNAP benefits, free or reduced-cost meals from Meals on Wheels, and local food pantries. I’m going to list many suggestions, but they assume that you have at least some discretionary funds. No one should go hungry.
Consider where you shop. This will be limited by what is available in your area. Generally speaking, Walmart is less expensive than other stores, and Aldi is less expensive than Walmart. I try to do most of my shopping at Aldi because I like its smaller stores, better prices, and more limited selection, which leads to less decision fatigue. I’m in and out in no time, and I save quite a bit of money to boot. With that said, I will shop at other grocery stores for items I can’t get at Aldi and to take advantage of their sales.
I like to have certain fresh vegetables on hand that keep well for a long time. Celery, carrots, onions, potatoes, and the like. These vegetables are inexpensive and extremely versatile.
I do some unconventional things. I know you are not supposed to store potatoes in the fridge because their texture can be altered, but I often do because they tend to stay fresher longer. It is a compromise that I make.
Fresh fruits can be expensive, but some, like bananas, are always reasonably priced. I’ll watch for sales on other fresh fruits. Instead of tossing out overripe fruit, I try to repurpose it. For instance, I’ll use overripe bananas to make a delicious smoothie.
I’m not afraid to buy canned vegetables and fruit, and I particularly like having a jar of applesauce around. Applesauce is extremely versatile. It can be eaten as a standalone dish, mixed into oatmeal, utilized in baking, and more.
Frozen vegetables and fruits can be more cost-effective than fresh, and should be considered when possible.
Both canned and frozen fruits and vegetables offer good nutrition. Plus, there tends to be less waste as fresh items go bad quickly.
Some people save quite a bit of money by using coupons. I’m not great at doing that, but when I do, it has saved me some cash.
Reduce the amount of meat that you use. Many cuts of meat have become extraordinarily expensive. However, meat adds flavor and interest to many foods. Try to use meat as an accompaniment rather than the main ingredient. Soups, stews, and casseroles are excellent in this regard.
I made a delicious cream of chicken soup from the carcass of a Costco roasted chicken.
Consider meatless meals. The options are endless. The internet is awash with vegetarian recipes, but there are many options that you likely already know. How about scrambled eggs on toast for a light lunch or potato pancakes with applesauce for dinner?
Potato pancakes are simple to make and really tasty.
Reduce your waste. Plan your menu from your refrigerator. If you know that a salad’s life is ending, eat it now. I have taken wilted salad greens and tossed them into a soup for greater nutrition and less waste. If you use only ½ of a can of tomato paste for a recipe, put the other half in a container or small Ziploc bag and freeze it for future use. If you are sick of eating that big pot of stew you made, freeze the leftovers for an easy lunch or dinner later. Is bread often going stale? Don’t leave it out, freeze it, then thaw what you need by leaving it on the counter, toasting it, or using the microwave.
Eat what you like, but also try new things. If you can’t stand a new food, that’s fine. However, if a new food is OK, you will probably learn to like it after a few exposures. A good place to start is beans and lentils. They are delicious when made with a few spices, dirt cheap, super healthy, and can be incorporated into a thousand dishes.
This 15-bean soup was fantastic. My sister gave me some leftover ham from Easter that I vacuum sealed, froze, and used months later. I’m using a pressue cooker, but you could also make this soup using a large pot.
Cook from scratch! It is less expensive, healthier, and more nutritious. The more you cook using basic ingredients, the faster and easier it becomes. Basic ingredients can be used in many different ways. Frozen pancakes are tasty and easy to prepare. However, if you have a sack of flour, you can make pancakes, waffles, and a thousand other foods.
The more you cook from scratch, the easier it gets.
Consider hybrid cooking. It’s OK to use prepared foods/ingredients sometimes, but the more prepared a food is, the higher the cost. However, some prepared foods can be bargains. I will sometimes use a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup in a casserole when I’m too lazy to make a cream sauce. When I was single, I often had a box of instant rice and a box of instant mashed potatoes on hand, as I could easily make the right no-waste quantity of a side dish. Certain foods, like frozen meatballs or pierogies, are nice because you can easily use part of the bag to turn a mundane dinner into something special. Life is all about balance.
Sometimes it is reasonable to use prepared foods. Here I’m using some cream of mushroom soup to make an easy tuna fish casserole.
Come up with a cooking-and-eating pattern that works for you. When I was single and working 60-80 hours per week as a resident physician, I would make a meal for two and immediately portion out half for dinner and the other half (using a Rubbermaid container) for lunch the next day. My adult kids have their own ways of saving on grocery bills. My one daughter makes a meal for 4 and divides it up into 4 containers, so she always has a nice dinner waiting for her when she returns home from work. My other daughter makes breakfast foods that keep well for several days in the fridge. She will also batch-cook meals, then freeze portions that she can easily pull out and microwave.
I used a container very similar to this one when I cooked for two and saved the second portion for the next day’s lunch. However, they now have many more options for food containers.
My daughter sent me this photo. She made this large lasagna and portioned it into 4 meals for 4 days, plus 1 or 2 to freeze.
My other daughter made a pot of red beans (for red beans and rice). She then vacuum-sealed and froze individual dinnersfor future meals. Like father, like daughter?
Make your own coffee. You are probably already doing this. However, if you like to go out for coffee every day, you are wasting a lot of money. I go to coffee places on occasion to meet friends. However, I always make our morning coffee at home. Since there are three of us, I make a big pot that is consumed by 9 AM. However, if it were just me, I would either make a smaller quantity or use a capsule coffee maker, like a Keurig. Yes, coffee capsules have their own issues, and they are more expensive than ground coffee, but they are still considerably less expensive than going out for coffee. Looking for the cheapest option? Instant coffee is less expensive than ground coffee and easy to make. The taste is slightly different, but people get used to it. In fact, Europeans drink more instant coffee than ground coffee.
It is much cheaper to make your own morning coffee.
Consider tea. Coffee is getting more expensive. If you feel you can’t afford it, but you need a caffeine fix, brew some tea. It is less expensive and delicious.
Reward yourself. Life isn’t all hard tack. Many cookies are very simple to make. Bake some sweet treats and portion them out. Cookies freeze especially well, but so do other desserts. Add a little sweetness to your day!
Many cookie recipes are simple. Freeze a batch and take out a couple for a dessert or treat. Personal confession: I will eat them frozen on occasion.
Be unconventional. Breakfast food for dinner? Why not! Leftover dinner food for breakfast? Of course! You are retired, so you no longer have to abide by food police rules.
Think outside the box. Microwave a potato for dinner and then top it with whatever you like. Traditional add-ons like butter and sour cream, or how about some leftover chili or even canned chili? I microwaved a sweet potato and topped it with butter, a little brown sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg for a quick lunch. I have taken leftover mashed potatoes and mixed them with chives and an egg, and fried up potato pancakes for a creative dinner. How about scrambled eggs with a side of pork and beans? Don’t knock it, it is surprisingly good.
Soups, stews, and casseroles are your best friends. There is no better way to stretch meat or make a meatless meal. The options are absolutely endless, and these dishes are extremely flexible. You made soup, but ran out of noodles? Use rice, potatoes, or pasta; it is all good.
We frequently have soups, stews, and casseroles for dinner. They are real comfort foods. I’m serving this soup with some homemade bread.
Do you remember the commercial that announced, “Wednesday is Prince spaghetti day!” Why not designate one night a week for a pasta dish?
Spice it up! Adding spices can turn a bland meal into a delicious one. Additionally, different spices can transform the same ingredients into a totally different dish. You don’t need every spice under the sun, but consider having more than salt and pepper. Inexpensive brands include Aldi, dollar store brands, and Walmart’s house brand. Some spices that I always have are oregano, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, thyme, cumin, rosemary, and cinnamon. Don’t run out and buy all of these; pick up one or two as needed. Spices don’t go bad; they just become less potent over time. Ignore their expiration date.
You can buy spices affordably if you know where to shop. Aldi sells spices for very reasonable prices.
Fake vanilla if you bake? Most people can’t tell the difference between imitation vanilla and real vanilla in baked goods (it is a different story with cold items). If you can’t afford the real stuff, don’t be afraid to go imitation.
If you can’t afford vanilla, go with the imitation stuff. Most people can’t taste the difference.
Consider protein extenders. TVP (soy protein) can be soaked and added to many dishes to extend meat and increase the meal’s nutritional value. Think meat loaf, tacos, and spaghetti sauce. The same can be said using beans and lentils as extenders.
TVP is a great way to extend your ground meats.
Learn the art of substitution. I’m constantly substituting one thing for another. No black beans? I’ll use pinto beans. If I don’t have all the spices listed in a recipe, I’ll use what I have on hand. If I don’t have an onion for a dish, I’ll use dehydrated onion or even a packet of onion soup mix. You get the idea.
Consider old-fashioned breakfasts. Traditional foods like Oatmeal and Cream of Wheat are cheap and filling. Add extras to customize these bland foods to make them your own. I like adding a big spoonful of peanut butter to my cooked oatmeal, but there are many more ways to up your porridge game. When I make oatmeal, I cook it in a bowl in the microwave. It takes less than two minutes to cook, and I don’t have a pot to clean. I always use an oversized bowl to avoid boil-overs.
Dress up your oatmeal to elevate a bland dish and turn it into something special.
Spare the fruit! I’ll use over-ripe bananas to make banana bread, and I’ll mash over-ripe strawberries and raspberries and add them to yogurt. Of course, I toss out moldy fruit. A thick slice of homemade banana bread with some butter or jam is a wonderful way to start the day!
Don’t toss out over-ripe bananas, make some yummy banana bread!
Make your own yogurt. Nothing could be simpler, and it is considerably less expensive to make yogurt than to buy those tiny 6-oz tubs at the grocery store. Yogurt incubators are cheap, but you don’t even need to buy one. There are recipes that use an Instant Pot, others that incubate in an old cooler, and even some that use a slow cooker. I like to add some granola, fruit, and a little honey to my homemade yogurt. It tastes so much better than the stuff at the grocery store.
This yogurt incubator was less than $20, but you can also make yogurt using equipment that you likely already have.
Here is my homemade yogurt after incubating milk for 8 hours. Amazing and delicious!
Peanut butter! I love peanut butter, and it is one of my breakfast staples. I mentioned peanut butter in my oatmeal, but I also like it on a sliced apple or banana. Another favorite is peanut butter with jam on toast. A fast and easy breakfast or snack!
Peanut butter on a cut up apple makes an easy breakfast.
Bulk up canned soups. If you’re going the canned soup route for an occasional lunch or dinner, add ½ to a full can of drained vegetables to add nutrition and bulk. String beans work well here.
Bulk up boxed pasta dishes. I usually make pasta from scratch, as it is quick and easy. In fact, I make a “world-famous” mac and cheese. However, sometimes it is just easier to use one of those boxed pasta dishes. Consider tossing in some canned meat (like tuna or chicken) and some frozen veggies to turn a side dish into a delicious main-course casserole. This is something that I do when I’m camping, and it is surprisingly good.
Consider the humble frozen pizza. When both my wife and I worked, we were pretty beat by Friday, and neither of us wanted to cook. Originally, we would order pizza, but carryout pizza has gotten pretty expensive. A number of years ago, I started making frozen pizza for Friday dinner. If the kids were with us, we would make two. If it were just the two of us, I would make one and have the leftover slices for lunch the next day. Frozen pizzas vary from OK to pretty awful. We watch the sales and can often get a decent brand for around $6, which is fairly inexpensive. With that said, I would encourage you to make highly processed foods an extra rather than the main offering in your diet.
Are you feeling salty? If you are in need of a salty snack, consider popping some popcorn. I’m not talking about the microwave stuff, I’m referring to regular popcorn. You only need a pan with a lid, popcorn, and some oil; special equipment isn’t necessary. Put some oil in a pan. Heat a single layer of kernels on medium heat until you start to hear popping and shake the pan now and then. When the popping slows, remove from the heat. Add a little salt and butter, or another flavoring, to make your treat even more special. Why buy pre-made popcorn when homemade is so much better and cheaper?
Homemade popcorn tastes better than pre-popped popcorn, and it is less expensive. You don’t need any special equipment to make homemade popcorn.
Consider other ground meats. Ground beef prices got you down? Consider ground chicken or turkey. You may find that frozen ground meat in tubes is even cheaper (but often of somewhat lower quality). When I was a struggling resident, I sometimes found that pre-made hamburger patties were less expensive than ground beef, and I would use a couple of them when making meatloaf or meatballs.
Frozen tube ground turkey is very inexpensive, but I prefer the slightly more expensive ground turkey at the meat counter.
Consider dry beans. Cooking dry beans is easy and costs about one-third as much as canned beans. Make a pound and freeze them in 1-2-cup portions, adding some of the cooking liquid to keep the beans moist.
How about Meatless Monday? Consider having one day a week as completely meatless. You would be surprised how many delicious meatless dishes exist.
Caution with Costco. If you are struggling financially, you won’t be going to Costco. However, if you are retired and trying to economize, you may belong to a warehouse club. Warehouse clubs can be wonderful, but also dangerous. It is easy to go in for two items and wind up spending $300. There can also be waste issues. That 10-pound bag of potatoes is only a deal if you eat all of the potatoes. You may be better off spending a few pennies more per pound for a smaller quantity of a food that you will actually finish. Where does Costco shine? Their meat is very high quality, their $5 rotisserie chicken is a steal, and many of their cleaning products are good values. You may also find that some of their pharmacy items are decently priced. You may like buying other items at a warehouse club, but think twice before you do. If you know you will finish the food, go ahead. However, if it is something new and in large quantities, consider buying a smaller package at a regular grocery store to test it out first.
Slowly stockpile. I have extras of certain foods, like canned tomatoes, flour, canned/frozen fruits/vegetables, and pasta, always on hand, as they are so useful to use in so many different dishes. You don’t have to buy everything at once, but if possible, slowly build up a little backup pantry. In the long run, this will reduce your food costs, as you can shop sales and always have something to make, so you won’t need to hit the drive-through.
I like to stockpile certain staples. Here I have some cases of tomato products. However, you can buy an extra can every time you go grocery shopping and achieve the same goal.
Eat what you have, not what you want. Shop your pantry and fridge and make what you have. If you are throwing out a lot of food, you are wasting money.
Consider portion control. Folks, I’m a big guy in all ways. I’m 6’3” and have constantly battled my weight. I like to eat. I have long ago tried to eat sensibly to manage my weight. This is also a great way to reduce food costs. By eating normal-sized portions, groceries last longer, and it is better for my health. I’ll never be a skinny minny, but I would like to continue to be healthy and active in my senior years. I like to eat in what I call “cafeteria style.” What are the portion sizes that I would get if I were eating in a cafeteria? Those are the portion sizes that I eat. Of course, sometimes I fail. I’m not perfect,t and I don’t expect you to be perfect either.
Spend money to save money? WHAT???
The following suggestions are just that. I’m not telling you to go out and buy everything on this list. It is likely that you already have many of these things. If so, I would like to encourage you to utilize them. You may choose to buy one or two additional items when you can. Don’t forget that thrift shops and garage sales may have these for pennies on the dollar.
I love machines, and I like most kitchen gadgets. However, there are some standout appliances and tools that make cooking much easier and more cost-effective. These are items that let me save money by giving me options when I cook. I’m not listing some gadgets that I love, like a stand mixer. A stand mixer is great, but only if you bake a lot, so it is not essential for most seniors.
Cooking tools and appliances to consider.
A decent 8” chef’s knife. I use a chef’s knife multiple times a day. You don’t have to spend a lot on a decent knife. Food service knives work well and cost between $10 and $30. I have used the same food service chief’s knife for over 20 years. My secret? Every time I take it out of the drawer, I run it through a pull-through knife sharpener. The pull-through sharpener I use was less than $10, and I have used the same one for years. It is likely that all you will need is the pull-through, but I like a razor-sharp knife, so I go the extra step of formally sharpening my knives a few times a year. I taught myself how to sharpen knives professionally, and it was surprisingly easy.
If possible, also pick up an inexpensive foodservice paring knife for smaller jobs. Additionally, you should have a real cutting board. Cutting on a glass plate can quickly ruin any knife, and it is dangerous.
Oh, and for those who watch those YouTube videos that show metal being ripped off a knife when using a pull-through sharpener, destroying it, that’s BS. Remember, I have been using one on the same knife daily for 20 years. The result? It looks no different, and it is as sharp as a razor.
I bought this ten-dollar food service chief’s knife 20 years ago, and I use it every day. I keep it sharp using a little pull-through knife sharpener.
General utensils. I’m assuming you already have these, but you should have some basic utensils, such as a potato peeler, a turning (pancake) spatula, a silicone spatula, and so on.
A few decent pots, pans, and bakeware. You probably already have these. What if you don’t, and you don’t have the cash? Try a thrift store! You can often substitute and adapt. Before I had a loaf pan, I would make free-form meatloaf on a cookie sheet.
A microwave oven. You probably have one already. For some, this may be the only cooking appliance that they have. If you are in the latter category, don’t fret, you can still make meals and save money. Sure, you can reheat in a microwave, but you can do so much more. You can make rice and pasta in a microwave. You can bake a cake in a microwave, you can make scrambled eggs in a microwave, cook fish and chicken in a microwave, and on and on. When I was single, I cooked entire meals in the microwave as it was fast and didn’t involve heating up the oven. And yes, it is safe to cook chicken in a microwave, follow an established recipe, and use a meat thermometer if indicated.
You probably already have a microwave oven. Don’t fret if that is your only cooking appliance. You may be surprised by how many dishes you can make in a microwave.
A slow cooker. You probably already have a typical one. However, a 2-3 quart one is better when cooking smaller quantities. When I was a medical resident, I bought a basic 3-quart slow cooker for $9, which still works today. At the time of this writing, you can buy a small slow cooker for under $20. Slow cookers are super useful and very economical to run. As a resident, I made many simple meals in a slow cooker, and it was a joy to come home to the smell of dinner waiting for me. Here are a couple of my very simple, poor resident dinners.
-Put a drained can of sauerkraut, around a teaspoon of caraway seeds, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and a grated apple in a slow cooker. Season a couple of pork chops and add them. Cook on low for 6-8 hours and serve with instant mashed potatoes and applesauce.
-Add 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (undiluted), ½-1 pound stew meat, ½ packet of dry onion soup mix, 1 drained can of mixed vegetables (or any other canned vegetable or thawed frozen vegetable), and 1 drained can of whole potatoes to a slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours (or more). Serve with bread and butter.
I’m not claiming that the above recipes are gourmet; there are certainly better ways to make pork chops and stew; however, they were quick, easy, and tasty. I made a number of other slow-cooker recipes, and you can find many recipes online.
I bought this 3-quart slow cooker in 1985 when I was a resident, and it still works today!
A pressure cooker. A stovetop unit starts at around $40, and an electric one starts at $70-80, so a pressure cooker is not an inexpensive purchase if you are on a strict budget. If possible, go with an electric version (e.g., an Instant Pot) as it is easier for first-timers to use. You may find deals around Black Friday, or you may have a generous friend or relative gift you one for your birthday.
Pressure cookers do so many things well. I grew up with my mom using a stovetop pressure cooker at least once a week, and I use an Instant Pot multiple times a month. Pressure cookers are extremely energy-efficient and cook food in about ⅓ of the time it takes in a regular pot. Pressure cookers are great for soups, stews, tough meats, dry beans, and so much more. Using a pressure cooker will pay for itself in the long run. However, you can make the same foods traditionally; they will just take longer and use more energy.
I love my electric pressure cooker. Here I’m making a one-pot spaghetti. I’m serving it up with a homemade loaf of herb-and-cheese bread.
Food storage containers. Needed for so many reasons. In a pinch, you can use decent used carry-out containers, but the ones from companies like Rubbermaid, Pyrex, and Tupperware are the best and will keep your food fresher. When I was single, I would sometimes have small amounts of leftover food that didn’t make it into my next day’s lunch. How would I store it? In a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag. Well, actually, I probably used the house brand of the bag, but you get the idea.
Having some food containers of different sizes will serve you well.
A vacuum sealer. The Food Saver brand is the most popular, but there are many others that work well and are less expensive. I just saw one in Aldi’s “aisle of shame” for $19. A vacuum sealer lets you seal food in an airtight bag, preventing freezer burn while keeping it perfectly delicious for up to a year in the freezer. Refrigerated food will also last 2-3 times longer when vacuum sealed. I have saved thousands of dollars over the years using a vacuum sealer. I’ll buy meat in bulk and freeze it. I’ll save leftover soups and stews and serve them up months later. I’ll even vacuum-seal ½ of an avocado to keep it from turning brown. This week, we bought some chicken breasts on a super sale. We baked them, cut them into chunks, and vacuum-sealed them into meal-sized portions. To the freezer they went. They will be perfect for fried rice, a chicken salad, a tossed green salad, casseroles, and more. I’m a huge fan of vacuum sealers. Pro Tip: Buy off-brand Food Saver-type bags online as they are considerably less expensive.
A simple vacuum sealer can save you thousands of dollars over time. Here, I’m vacuum sealing some leftover soup. Months later, it will be as fresh as the day I made it. I froze the soup in a “Souper Cube” and then placed it in the Food Saver bag for a future meal. Oh, you can boil it directly in the bag or microwave it in the bag. If you do the latter, poke a hole in the bag to let the steam out.
I bought bulk ground beef on a super sale and vacuum-sealed it in 1-pound bags. The hamburger will be good as new even a year after its sealing date.
Consider a dedicated freezer. A freezer?? You likely think I’m crazy, but you can buy a simple freezer for very little. Check out Marketplace, as used ones are always being sold there. However, a new small freezer can be had for less than $200. In addition, freezers use very little electricity. I like the standard ones because they are cheaper, more energy efficient, less mechanically complicated, and keep food fresher since they don’t go through a nightly defrost cycle. A freezer lets you buy items on sale. A freezer means that you will have food available when you don’t want to go to the store. A freezer will allow you to cook in batches or to save leftovers. Make a small pan of lasagna, eat one portion, and freeze the other three. Now you have frozen dinners that are much less expensive yet better in quality than the stuff you buy at the market.
Our 20-year-old basic freezer has saved us thousands and is extremely energy-efficient.
When I was a resident physician, I saved up and bought a small 5-cubic-foot freezer and used it constantly, since my crappy apartment had a very old one-door fridge with a freezer compartment about the size of a shoebox. I remember helping a nurse write her personal statement for medical school. I like to write, and I served on my school’s admissions committee, so I had an idea of what reviewers look for. She thanked me by baking a variety of delicious cookies, which I kept frozen. Every night, I would take a couple out for dessert or for a treat with a cup of hot tea. I still have fond memories of those cookies; they really brightened my day. We bought our current freezer over 20 years ago; it is around 12 cubic feet, and it just keeps going. It is one of the best purchases we have ever made. By the way, she did get into med school.
Buy a bread maker. Whoa! Am I crazy? No! Guess what? You can pick up a used bread maker for pennies at a thrift store. I have bought several between $4.99 and $10.00. You can buy cheap store bread for a couple of bucks, but it is pretty terrible. Bakery-quality bread can cost $4-6 a loaf. I make my own bread, rolls, and even hamburger buns for next to nothing. It is fun, and the results are bakery-quality delicious. I just toss in some ingredients and press a button. Homemade bread doesn’t contain preservatives; if you know you won’t eat it in 3-4 days, cut the loaf and freeze half. If you take the frozen bread out the night before, it will taste as fresh as the day you baked it. Oh, and there is nothing like the smell of bread baking!
If you have a bread maker, you can have bakery-quality bread for pennies. I have a couple of them. My wife found me this one at a thrift store for $5.
I make a lot more than bread in my bread maker. I also make dough that can be turned into many delicious treats. Here, I’m making some dinner rolls.
A hand mixer. Great if you bake a lot. Otherwise, not needed.
A toaster oven. We love ours, as it is quick and energy-efficient. I have a friend who picked up one at a garage sale and used it for years. However, if you have an oven, that may be all that you need. An air fryer is basically a toaster oven with some extra features, so it can be considered as well.
A rice cooker. This is another unnecessary item, but a great one. Yes, you can make rice in a rice cooker, but you can also make many other dishes, from cakes to homemade mac and cheese. A rice cooker can be a good, inexpensive option if you don’t have a formal kitchen. College kids use them, as do van dwellers, sometimes as their only cooking device. Many rice cookers are very inexpensive.
If you are on a fixed income, it is important to be conservative with your finances. Yet, you have to eat. Making delicious food is one way to save money. I hope the above suggestions spark your own ideas for stretching your pennies. To reiterate, there is no status in overspending.
Peace
Mike
Photos are mostly mine, with some stock photos from websites. All images are for educational purposes only.
I like to experiment, and when I came across a YouTube video on homemade deli meat, I was intrigued. This led me down a rabbit hole of other videos, all with the same conclusion: homemade deli meat was significantly less expensive and more delicious than the stuff that you buy at the deli counter. All I needed was a “ham press,” a device that would let me make deli meat, and they were only around $25! I was in.
I’m using a lot of my gadgets, but you absolutely don’t have to be gadget-rich. I’ll list alternatives in the photos below. I’m following a recipe that came with the ham press, but there are many, many variations on this theme. My results were… well, I’ll get to that. Let’s get into the recipe, shall we?
These are the dry ingredients. Other recipes are much simpler. All of the spices were at 1teaspoon, and the unflavored gelatin was at 2 teaspoons.
I used this ground turkey. It was around $3.50 a pound, but if I had gone to Aldi, it would have been $2.50 a pound. If my experiment worked out, I could eventually make deli turkey for $2.50 a pound. In my area, the real stuff is between $10-12/pound, so that could be a real savings
I mixed the spices, gelatin, and meat in my KitchenAid. However, you could absolutely do this by hand.
Per the instructions, I added 2 teaspoons of olive oil.
I then pressed the mixture into the ham press. The press provided plastic liners, but in the YouTube videos, the demonstrators just pressed the meat mixture directly into the cylinder. Some used a little cooking spray to help with removal.
Here are the other parts that came with the ham press.
This spring contraption “presses” the meat mixture during cooking.
You have to force the lid against the spring. The milling of the ham press parts is pretty rough, so I wound up cutting myself.
Here is the complete assembly. You need to cook the meat at a low simmer, so I’m using a Sous Vide at 185°F (85 °C). You cook until the thermometer inserted into the press reaches… well, some recipes say 165°F and others say 185°F. I went with 170°F (77°C), as poultry should be cooked to at least 165°F (74°C). You absolutely could nix the sous vide and just use a pot on the stove with the water simmering. It took around two hours to reach the desired temperature.
I then placed the press in an ice bath to rapidly cool it. After that, it went into the fridge overnight.
I used a meat slicer to slice the loaf. True confession: I bought this slicer during COVID, but this is the first time that I used it. I’ll probably do a review on it in an upcoming post. Of course, you could just use a knife.
Here is the result, Yep, not picture perfect. The slices taste pretty good, actually better than traditional deli meat, as that is overly salty. But the texture? Could be better. So the verdict on this meat press is pending. I’m going to try it on some chicken breasts when they go on sale, as the problem may have been in the ground turkey tube slop. At this point, I can’t recommend making your own deli meat, but stay tuned for trial number two.
As a kid, I disliked anything that had lentils in it. However, as an adult, I really like lentils. It is funny how that works.
I make a couple of different red lentil soups; this one is a bit spicier, and it is my adaptation, so I can’t credit another source. The great thing about this soup is that you can go from start to finish in less than an hour. I’m serving it up with some Naan bread, which is more South Asian, but that is the way I roll.
If you want it less spicy, use less chili powder. Let’s take a look at the recipe.
Here we have one carrot, one parsnip, and one onion diced. One and a half cups of red lentils, rinsed. One teaspoon of cumin, a pinch of Chili Powder, 2 cups of water, 4 cups of chicken broth, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, and a little salt and pepper. At the end of the recipe, the juice of one lemon and some chopped cilantro are added.
Cook the onion until somewhat brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the spices and tomato paste, and stir for about 1 minute.
Add two cups of water. Add the carrot and parsnip.
Add the red lentils. You could use other colored lentils, but the red lentils look the best.
Add 4 cups of chicken broth. If you want a vegetarian dish, use vegetable broth.
Partially cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
While the soup is cooking chop up some fresh cilantro and slice a lemon in half.
When the vegetables are soft, remove half of the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Then return this mixture to the soup pot.
Add the juice of one lemon to the soup and mix.
Decorate the soup with some of the cilantro.
Add a bit more cilantro to each serving. Here I’m adding some toasted garlic Naan bread.
This is a simple, delicious recipe. Give it a try.
When I was growing up, I didn’t think much about meal decisions; I ate what I was given. Some meals excited me, and others were less interesting. Things are different now that we live in a world of restaurants, drive-throughs, and DoorDash. It is common to ask the question, “What do I have a taste for?” These selection options have also drifted into home cooking. Have you ever looked into a full cupboard or refrigerator and said to yourself, “There is nothing good to eat!” If so, you may be wasting food and increasing your grocery costs, something that can be especially stressful amid inflation and the Trump tariffs.
I have talked endlessly about the benefits of cooking at home, especially cooking from scratch. However, to achieve cost savings, you need to prepare what you have. If you find yourself buying groceries only to throw them out at the end of the week, you are needlessly wasting your hard-earned cash. With that said, I am also guilty of tossing wilted salads and leftovers that are past their prime. However, I am making efforts to reduce these behaviors, and those efforts are easier than they may appear.
When I was a resident physician, I was very poor. I was in the process of getting a divorce, and I needed to pay my divorce attorney, who seemed to think of me as an ATM rather than a client. I had a small child who stayed with me on the weekends, so it was impractical to share an apartment; I had to rent my own. Additionally, I was paying child support. Money was extremely tight, and the most I could spend on my weekly groceries was $20, or about $55 in today’s money. That cash had to fund three meals a day, as well as other necessities like toothpaste, laundry detergent, and the building’s pay washer and dryer. Resident physicians were not paid very well in those days, and even when I became Chief Resident of Psychiatry, I was only given an additional $100 (before taxes) a month. For that $100, I not only had to do all my regular doctor work, but also administrative duties for a 4-year residency program, including scheduling, monitoring, disciplining, training, interviewing candidates, and other responsibilities.
Aldi stores existed, but not in my area, so I shopped at “the Jewel,” our local grocery store chain. In those days, they had a generic aisle that carried inexpensive foods. These foods were clearly a cut below house brands and were objectively of a much lower grade. Once, I opened a can of green beans to find an entire plant inside, including stem and roots. The refrigerated section of the store included cheap items, like hamburger meat mixed with TVP and a generic bologna made with mystery meat products, possibly yak? One highlight was turkey legs, which, for some reason, were pretty inexpensive in those days. These were the foods that I could afford, so these were the foods that I bought.
With my doctorly, administrative, and parenting responsibilities, I didn’t have much time for elaborate meal prep, so I came up with options that were both easy and tasty. I also developed hacks to save money. For instance, it was sometimes cheaper to buy frozen hamburger patties than fresh hamburger (even the TVP stuff), so I would use 1 or 2 patties to make meatballs or a meatloaf. I had more of these simple but effective hacks; I’ll save those for another post. I figured out how to make meals cheaply and simply. I would make dinner for two and then immediately portion my meal in half. I would eat one portion for dinner and place the other in a Rubbermaid container for my lunch the next day. This simple meal prep allowed me to make two meals at once, saving me both money and time.
Most of my kids are now living independently. We cooked together for years, and they are wholly comfortable in the kitchen. They have professional, demanding jobs, so their time is limited. They are also in the early stages of their careers, and they understand that eating out all the time will hamper, not enhance, their financial progress. Based on this, they have adopted their own meal prep styles.
My one daughter has been meal prepping her breakfasts and lunches. She likes breakfast soaks (oatmeal, fruit, chia seeds, etc.), and will make 3-4 at a time. She also packs a dense bean salad for work. Apparently, these salads stay fresh for days. She picked up an Instant Pot on Black Friday and has started batch-cooking dinners. As I write this, she sent me a photo of some red beans she made and another of her using food cubes and a vacuum sealer to portion them for future meals.
My daughter sent me a photo of her batch of red beans. It made eight portions, so she needed to freeze some.
She froze portions in food cubes and then repacked them with rice for a complete red beans and rice dinner. These vacuum seal bags can be dropped in boiling water to cook or you can make a little slit in them and cook them directly in the microwave.
My other daughter has a repertoire of dinners for 4 that she has gleaned from home, friends, and a website called “budgetbites.com.” She is comfortable eating the same dinner for 4 days in a row, and that is exactly what she does. She recently sent me a photo of a roll-up lasagna that she made. It was inexpensive and made more than 4 meals, so she froze a portion or two for emergency backups. She also has my love of vacuum sealers, so those extra portions will stay fresh in the freezer for a very long time.
My other daughter found this recipe for lasagna roll-ups on budgetbytes.com. It made more than 4 portions, so she freezed a few extra meals.
Here are the lasagna roll-ups baked. Delicious!
I have a son in a PhD program who still lives at home. He is quick to grab our dinner leftovers to take for his school lunch. He likes home cooking, and the price is right!
My son will pack leftovers from our dinner for his school lunch. When he gets hungry dinner is just a press of a microwave button away.
I’m incredibly proud of my kids and their frugal habits. Each has adapted a version of batch cooking that works for them, and I’m certain that they will modify those behaviors as their needs change.
I enjoy watching food prep videos where the presenter prepares elaborate batch meals or transforms a single ingredient into 5 different dishes. However, for my kids and me, that is just too much work. Each of us has developed ways to save both time and money using batch cooking. I’m not pushing any of our methods; rather, I would like you to think about what would work for you.
Abandon the idea that every meal needs to be exciting. Buy basic foods and build a reasonable pantry over time. Explore recipes that you like. You don’t need 100 of them. My one daughter has around 10-12 dinner menus that she rotates, each serving her for 4 days. This makes her grocery shopping very easy. Since many of her menus use similar ingredients and spices, she always has what she needs on hand.
Consider purchasing the right tools for the job. My other daughter has slowly curated items to make her meal prep easy and fun. Mason jars for her soak breakfasts, an Instant Pot, food cubes, and a vacuum sealer to freeze extra meals. Yesterday, she told me that she would like a Dutch oven for her upcoming birthday. My son has a favorite commuter mug and a quality packable/leakproof food container for school. What is that container? A Tupperware one that my wife found at a thrift store that he claimed as his own.
There is no sense of deprivation; there is a joy in reducing decision fatigue and a sense of security in saving money. How great it is to know that a homemade dinner is waiting after a long workday, ready for a quick reheat. Running late in the morning? No problem, grab that jar of cold soak and eat it at your work desk. Trying to save money as a student? Easy when you have a completely delicious lunch waiting for you that only requires the press of a microwave button.
Come up with your own ideas, the ones that work for you and your lifestyle. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect. This is not an all-or-none behavioral change. Perhaps you want to meal-prep only a couple of lunches per week. That’s OK. Maybe you can’t stand leftovers. Freeze them and eat them later. That way, they are no different than heating up a purchased frozen dinner, except the quality will be better and the cost lower. Feeling left out when everyone goes out to eat? Join them, just don’t do it every time. It is all OK.
We love bananas at our house, so it is a good thing that they are fairly affordable. That said, we often discard the overripe ones, even though I’m always trying to gauge the right quantity and pick the proper greenness. It seems that they can go from optimally delicious to over-ripe in a matter of hours. Inflation and the Trump tariff taxes are straining our grocery budget, and it is criminal to throw out food. Overripe bananas can be used in a variety of recipes. They can serve as an egg substitute, be blended into a smoothie, or, in the case of today’s recipe, be used to make a simple and delicious banana bread.
There are many recipes for banana bread, but I like the classic Betty Crocker recipe from my 1990s cookbook. I believe we got that book as a wedding present, and it has been well used. I also have a 1970s edition that I bought new. Yes, time marches on! Classic cookbooks like Betty Crocker’s are wonderful because they are written for the average user. They tend to be straightforward and limit the use of exotic ingredients. They are also well tested, so users are more likely to achieve good results. This recipe is a heritage recipe, meaning that it has been popular since the mid-20th century. Let’s take a look at the ingredients.
The ingredients are straightforward, but we will make a few substitutions. You can freeze bananas in their skins for later baking use. You can also peel and mash them, adding 1T lemon juice to prevent oxidation. If you do the latter, note that 1.5 cups of mashed bananas is enough for this recipe.
These bananas are no longer edible in our home. However, they are perfect for smoothies or banana bread.
The recipe calls for 1/2 C of buttermilk, but you don’t need to go to the grocery store; just make your own. Add 1/2 T of vinegar and enough milk to bring the total volume up to 1/2 C. Let the mixture stand for around 10 minutes before using. We are not using vinegar for flavoring, so any vinegar can be used. White vinegar is very inexpensive and always good to have in your stockpile, as it has so many uses.
Cream the sugar and the butter. If you forgot to take the butter out to soften, you can soften it in the microwave. All microwaves are different, but usually 15-20 seconds is enough to turn a rock-hard stick of butter into soft butter. Don’t overdo it, as a few extra seconds can melt the butter, leaving you with a greasy mess to clean up. I started at 15 seconds, then added 3 more, and the butter reached the perfect consistency.
Here, I creamed the butter and sugar. Did I do a perfect job? Probably not, but it is good enough. I scraped down the sides a few times. You can absolutely make banana bread by hand, but an inexpensive hand mixer is a worthwhile investment, although not absolutely necessary. After the butter was creamed, I added the eggs.
Here is the mixture with the eggs beaten in. I scraped the bowl with a spatula during this process to make sure everything was mixed in.
I missed taking a photo of myself adding the bananas. I just broke the bananas into pieces and used the mixer to mash them into the batter. If I didn’t have a mixer, I would have mashed them separately and then stirred them in.
I then added the homemade buttermilk and the vanilla and mixed them in. I’m using real vanilla, but you don’t have to. Cooks often say real vanilla is the best, but that may not be completely true. Manufactured vanilla doesn’t have all of the volatile compounds of real vanilla, so real vanilla is the best choice with unheated foods, like a milkshake. However, most of those compounds are lost in baking, and in baked goods, most people can’t tell the difference between the two. Real vanilla is very expensive; manufactured vanilla is very inexpensive.
Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. When measuring flour spoon it into the measuring cup and then level the cup with a knife.
Pro tip: if you want less mess, convert the volume measurements to weights and use a food scale. Then no measuring cups are needed! However, since not everyone has a food scale, I’m going with standard Imperial measurements.
I could keep using my hand mixer, but it is gentler to fold the flour in with a spoon or spatula. When mixing the other ingredients, mix for as long as necessary. However, you should mix the flour only until it is incorporated, as you don’t want to develop gluten. Developing gluten is great for bread, which is why you knead it. However, it makes cakes, muffins, and quick breads tough and chewy, so avoid excessive mixing once you add the flour.
Here is the batter ready to go into the pans. At this point, you can add your extras. Walnuts or chocolate chips are fantastic additions. However, one of our family members doesn’t like nuts, and another dislikes chocolate (I know, hard to believe).
Pour the batter into 2 greased loaf pans. I’m using 8″ pans, but 9″ pans also work. I like the smaller pans as the loaf will be a bit taller. Per the recipe, bake at 350°F (180°C) for 1 hour in 8″ loaf pans and 1.25 hours in 9″ loaf pans. However, my bread only took 45 minutes to bake. Set your timer for less time than the recipe states and check. You can always add time, but you can’t take it away. The bread is done when the batter pulls away from the pan, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Here are the breads out of the oven. Allow them to cool for around 5 minutes before turning out. We will eat one and wrap and freeze the other for a future treat.
Quick breads are delicious, and once you make one, you have the skill to make any other variety. A slice can be a dessert, a snack, or something to take with you on your morning commute. A nice piece of homemade banana bread and some home-brewed coffee beats an expensive trip to a coffee shop every time.
There you have it, a really delicious treat from food that most people toss in the trash. A penny saved is a penny earned!
