The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Jeff. Jeff writes about reducing waste, saving money and building freedom at his website, Sustainable Life Blog.
I have been living on my own for over 10 years now, and after a bit of thought, the one thing that can save you loads and loads of money over time is to eat food that you prepare at home, instead of purchasing take out or heading out to a restaurant. While I still eat out more than I like (which honestly pains me because I live in a small town and honestly think I’m a better at cooking than every dining establishment in my town but 1), I’ve cut way back over the years.
This has saved me a boatload of money over the years and I’ve really grown to like cooking. it’s turned into a fun and fulfilling hobby for me.
So, now that it’s summer time and it seems like there’s always a party to attend or some other function to take advantage of the nice weather everywhere around you it makes cooking at home much harder. I get that, and I’ve fallen victim to that same struggle just this week.
However, since I know it costs a ridiculous amount of money and I’ve been cutting back HARD, I wanted to share a few easy to prepare and quick recipes with you that you can throw together in less than 15 minutes. These dishes are all great and fairly cheap. Without further complication, here are some of my favorite recipes (taken from a New York Times article quite a while ago).
Crab Sandwiches
Combine crab meat (can use real or imitation) with a bit of mayo, Dijon mustard, chives, tarragon and salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well. Serve mixture in a sandwich – tastes great if you toast the bread first – with potato chips on the side. I really like this one because aside from the crab meat, I typically have all of these laying around the house. I also try and keep some crab meat in a can on hand so I can whip this up for dinner quickly. The crab meat makes this a bit more expensive than other recipes in this list, but it’s still cheaper than eating out.
Tuna Pasta
This is one of my favorites. As soon as I tried this recipe, I fell in love with it and I started making it for dinner guests. One of those guests was my wife, and she soon fell in love with the pasta (and with me). Very quick to prepare and cheap, it’s fantastic. The cornerstone of this recipe is the tuna, and you need to make sure you get tuna in olive oil, and not tuna in water. I’ve found the most common brand is this genova tonno, and you can get it for about 2 bucks a can. Here’s how you make it:
Start your pot boiling with water and add pasta. The best pasta for this is rigatoni, farfelle, penne or similar. Spaghetti or similar does not work well with this. Boil your water add your pasta then get to the rest of the dish. Combine your tuna, halved grape tomatoes, black olives (whole or slices), chopped mint, lemon zest (I usually forget about this and don’t add it) and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper and adjust spices as necessary. Toss pasta with tuna mixture, cut with olive oil as needed.
These are two of my favorite recipes to eat during the summer. Both are quick, easy and cheap! They also don’t need anything that you cant store in your pantry for a while (except for the cherry tomatoes) so you can keep ingredients for this on hand and use it as a go to recipe if you’re out of ideas.
How about you all? What are some of your go-to recipes to make sure you eat at home? Do you have other ideas for saving money on at-home meals?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy http://cdn.morguefile.com/imageData/public/files/m/MaxStraeten/07/l/1406189189fgnxh.jpg
