Money Saving Cooking Tips

CHEFTALK

Money saving cooking tips

A few blogs ago I promised to give money saving cooking tips how to prepare fresh, healthy home cooked meals that fit your budget.

My point was, quote: “I reject to believe that you have no choice or that your only choice is a 99 cents fast food meal because the organic aisle is too expensive. To me that is just a cheap excuse.” End quote.

This was based on a study with the outcome that white bread and ground chuck were on average cheaper than healthy organic products and that is why consumers grab processed food instead of cooking with fresh ingredients.

Now, I do believe that organic artisan bread is healthier than factory made white bread but I also (strongly) believe that you do have a choice and there are more options than the organic isle.   

When preparing this article, I wondered myself what the best way would be to explain the subject.

You would probably say, easy talking for a chef.

Maybe it is, but read on, I am sure you will find something helpful.

Tip 1:   Vacuum to safe money

                                         www.vacupack.com www.vacupack.ca

My first tip may sound exaggerated, but vacuum – sealing tools are truly revolutionary when it comes to preserving food in your freezer and refrigerator. The ugly food destroying freezer burn is eliminated and your food stays fresh and delicious for months in the freezer. In the refrigerator vacuum prolongs shelf life significantly. If that does not save money?

  

Tip 2:  Use cheaper cuts of meat

Great Roasting Meat

A cheaper meat cut is not necessarily ground chuck. Pork, lamb, beef have many cheap(er) cuts that are delicious.

You need to get familiar with some different cooking techniques but making a roast it as easy as searing a steak.

Shoulders of pork of lamb cost $ 2.00 to $6.00 per pound compared to steaks $10.00 a pound. These shoulders make a great roast and make one (or two) at a time, use what you need for dinner and use the rest for other means, these roasts make a great sandwich filling (cheaper than cold cuts), or filling for a pasta or a rice dish later in the week. On top of a cracker with a bit of mayonnaise and a salad leave it makes a nice snack to go along with a drink on a weekend.

Consider investing in a slow cooker, these cheaper cuts are fantastic to use in stews, turn the slow cooker on before you go to work and dinner is ready when you come home. 

Tip 3:  Think ahead

Buy meats on offer and prepare all at once and use the balance in a stir fry. Or marinate what you do not use immediately, vacuum and freeze, this way you always have something on hand when there is no time to shop. This saves energy and your time.

Pre-prepared vegetables keep well when vacuumed and frozen; take advantage when you find offers.

Tip 4:  Serve the right portioning

This is not good

Have a look at how much you really need to cook and put on a plate. Tons of good food are wasted daily because of over-portioning.  

Tip 5:  Clever ways to use left overs

Overripe fruits are sweet, take advantage and turn them into dessert toppings by simmering them for a couple of minutes with sugar, a bit of water, a slice of lemon and a cinnamon stick , vacuum and freeze.

Tip 6:  Make the best of fruits

Turn overripe bananas into banana bread, this can be done in an hour inclusive baking, lovely for breakfast or a snack when the kids come home from school. A lot cheaper than throwing them in the rubbish and buy ready- made jars of toppings and packets of snacks.

Tip 7:  Make your own juices

Delicious

When the store has overripe fruit and sells it cheap, blend it with a bit of water or that little leftover of milk or yogurt. 

Delicious drinks/smoothies, I do that all the time and make healthy fruit juices for less than 0.50 cents per glass. If you know how packed fruit juices are filtered you will follow this tip.

Tip 8: Do not throw bread away

Do not throw stale bread in the bin, grind it in a food processor, fresh or wet breadcrumbs are a fantastic binding agent for sauces and stews. Easy to vacuum and frozen they last for months. If you have a lot consider a bread and butter pudding.

Tip 9: Think traditional

Two eggs, a cup of flour, 2 tbsp of oil and a bit of salt makes dough that gives you enough pasta for a family of four. It takes five minutes to make the dough, then ten minutes to make pasta from the dough and it cooks in three minutes.

With some left over bacon, mushrooms, broccoli or zucchini half an onion and two more eggs you make an unmatched traditional Carbonara. How does that sound?

Fry the bacon, add the vegetables until soft, boil the pasta, add the pasta straight from the water into the bacon vegetable mix. Off the heat, add the whisked eggs and toss. That’s how they make pasta dishes in Italy. Absolutely divine.  

            

Tip 10:  Spend wisely     

                

Invest wisely, buy fresh food that fit your budget and remember that recipes are ideas that sprung from somebody’s mind, change to your liking, recipes are no laws.

Shop Smart, Cook Clever, Waste Less

I compiled these budget friendly tips so that you will not be locked up in your kitchen every day. Be inspired and cook healthy foods.

By: Marinus Hoogendoorn

CHEF TALK, Part 2

CHEF TALK

FROM ME TO YOU

My aim in CHEF TALK is to share some of my cooking experiences with you and to provide insight and ideas as to how and what to do when choosing products you may not be too familiar with and also how to work recipes.

With that in mind I will also explain how to make best use of a vacuum sealer.

Many home cooks often see a recipe that looks fantastic, appetizing, delicious, and has a pretty picture and decide to cook that to surprise the family.

I also try to surprise the family when I cook. Then the most exciting part of cooking is to see happy faces around the dinner table. Besides getting the results you desire of course.

Finding a recipe is easy, finding a good recipe is another story. The same goes for reading recipes which require a decent knowledge of cooking.

Some people only need the idea, which a nice picture often provides, but most of us will still need the ‘how much of this and how much of that’ part.

It can be quite tough however to see or read from a recipe (if you are on the right track, replacing parts of the recipe or omitting ingredients). Stacks of recipes from the internet are not workable, many are good, no denial, but which is which.

What do you do with leftovers if the quantities given are too large?  

Best is to start with an example and work through that recipe.

I love crackling pork. Millions of people love crackling pork, the sound alone makes your mouth water.

Crackling pork is a must have meat dish to have on a regular basis especially for Australian and British meat lovers. 

FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT, CHOOSE THE RIGHT CUT OF MEAT:

There are basically two types of crackling pork, one made from bone-in cuts, like pork loins with ribs and whole pork shoulders, the other one made from bone-less cuts of meat, like pork belly or pork loins without ribs.

Choose the cut of meat that suits your family best but make sure that your cut of meat has the skin intact.

In order to get that lovely ‘crackling’ effect, you need to score the skin of the meat, preferably vertically in one direction and about the size of a finger apart from each other.

This type of scoring makes it easy to slice the meat after cooking, because you can follow the score lines and is essential to get the crackling right.

Pork skin is pretty tough and you will need a really sharp knife to achieve good scoring, make sure that only the skin is cut, the scoring should not go all the way through and reach the lean meat.

A Stanley knife works well. Another good tool is your butcher, he will be pleased to help you out. It is a good idea also to tell your butcher how you want your cut of meat.  

Now you have the right cut of meat and you are almost there.

You only need to cook it. Sounds simple and it is, because you started on the right foot.

The recipe for crackling pork is maybe the simplest you have ever seen.

It is comprised of the scored cut of meat and crushed rock salt. That’s all.

Next pressure points to look at are your oven temperature and the cooking time.

Rub crushed rock salt on the skin side of the meat. Make sure the salt penetrates the score lines. 

When you do this, the salt extracts moisture from the fat under the skin and the fat will start bubbling around the whole piece of meat.

You can rub the salt a day before cooking, but that is an option not a necessity.

TIMING:

Your cooking time should be: 35 minutes per pound of bone-in meat.

25 minutes per pound of bone-less meat.

NOW THE CRUCIAL PART:

Pre-heat your oven to 400 F or 240-250 Celsius. You need this heat to get the crackling going.

Place the meat on an oven tray and position the tray in the center of your oven, allow roasting for about 30 to 35 minutes.

You should now see that the skin is getting blisters. When that is the case, lower the heat to 325 to 350 F or 180 to 200 Celsius and continue roasting as per the given time.

Likely your piece of meat will be about 1 ½ to 2 kilos, if your meat is boneless you need 1 hour to an hour and a half of total cooking time.

Check with a meat thermometer to be sure that the roast is cooked. The thermometer should point at 170 F or 74 Celsius. 

Remove from the oven and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.

Slice and serve.

To accompany the roast, choose roast potatoes, garden vegetables and apple sauce.

What you have achieved is a great dish, because you had: 

The right recipe

The right preparation

The right cooking method

NOW THE VACUUM PACKING PART:

http://vacupack.com/vacuum-sealers-home-style/vacupack-vacuum-sealer/vacupack-elite-vacuum-sealer-home-unit.html






From a good butcher you will get the best cut of meat you are looking for but you may not use the meat the same day you purchase it.

If so, vacuum seal the meat and it will stay in perfect condition, up to 4–5 days chilled.  If you need to keep it longer, vacuum seal and freeze  it and it will stay in perfect condition for at least 3-4 months.

I mentioned earlier that your piece of meat will likely be 1 ½ to 2 kilos so it may well be that you have some balance.

If so, let the roasted meat cool through completely, best overnight, slice it (without the skin) as thin as you possibly can.

Portion the slices and vacuum seal in smaller vacuum bags, the roasted meat becomes an extraordinary sandwich filling. You can store the sliced roasted meat chilled and keep up to two weeks.

Use your vacuum sealer for raw/fresh produce but also for cooked produce. 

Ensure that you work clean. Good hygiene lengthens storage time and product freshness significantly.

Enjoy the ‘Crackling Pork’ !! 

Written for PMG

By (Professional Chef) Marinus Hoogendoorn 

Culinary expert in recipe development.  

www.vacupack.com

1-800-227-3769

  

          

         

   

Free SousVide Cooking Web Site Recipe

We now have a free recipe web site with over $5,500 different recipes. 

Check it out: 

http://www.sousvide-cooking.com

VacUpack 4 mil bags!

The VacUpack 4 mil pre-cut bags are now available.

These bags come in 3 sizes:

6"x10" 8"x12" or 10"x15"

The VacUpack bag material in both rolls and the new pre-cut bag is an innovative way of thinking green with current manufacturing abilities, inspired by a growing trend of consumers who care about truly saving money and making less impact on Earth and global warming.

The VacUpack bag material is thicker, stronger and has more nylon fiber than any other bag on the market today. This idea of going with better quality is a way of giving customers deep price breaks with re-usability, and durability and aim toward a greener out look dealing with plastics.

Other bag manufactures are all competing for cheaper thinner less expensive bag materials. The result is hundreds and thousands of bags used only one time and most time not being adequate for the job intended.

Professional Marketing Group Inc. stands alone in offering quality and durability rather than disposable. If a bag material is only good for a single use or breaks open in a freezer resulting in loss of products are you ahead or behind? The few pennies one saved buying the cheapest thinnest bags on the market, will result in hundreds of dollars in loss of products and repetitive bag purchases? In our research we have found the cheaper thinner bags are far more expensive to the consumer and much more profitable to the manufacture with frequent repeat business. Customers have been duped into believing that a cheap price is a less expensive option. This is a false sense of savings!

Professional Marketing Group Inc. believes in going "Green for our Environment". Although a viable technology has not been developed to replace plastic bags for vacuum packing at this time. When one thinks green it has a domino effect all the way down the line with the results being better products and quality.

Thinking green! We can all lessening the amount of plastic in disposal sites. Manufacturing a product for durability and re usability is much less expensive and far less polluting in the long term! The savings and environmental green thinking are seen in many area's.

1) Less product in dump sites. Quality products are used many times not just once! Less buying less disposal.

2)Less manufacturing of products equals less manufacturing pollutants.

Working to lessen the manufacturing turns the thinking towards offering the best product for the customers intended use.

3) Quality is utmost of importance!

To slow down the current trend of fast use disposable products manufactures must replace products with top quality products that will last.
Environment green thinking gives the customer true savings and better use of the money spent. A win win for everyone!

We can all limit the amount of waste and trash we put into the Environment. Manufacturing a better quality vacuum pack bag resulting in less waste of the precious food products, less air pollutants and much less plastic being disposed of. In the long term buying quality is much less expensive and less damaging to our Eco system and budgets.

Example: 100 bags of the thin 2.5 or 3 mil bags will be used for 100 items and then disposed of. Our test results show some bags will work fine but there will be a loss of 25% to 50% in the freezer. This is a 50% use rate doubling the price of the "inexpensive" thin bags.

Example #2: 100 bags of the VacUpack 4 mil bag. These bags will be used for 100 items with only a 5% loss in the freezer. The next 95 bags will be opened and reused again. This just made these bags almost 50% less expensive. It is not uncommon for these same bags to be used 3-5 times using up all the bag material inches at a time. The better quality bag just became far less expensive than the supposed cheap bag.

How do you know if you are buying a cheap thin bag? There is a test you can do! You can see it demonstrated in the video at http://www.vacupack.com/

Tear test!

Cut a small slit in the side seam of a bag material. Tear it across the width of the bag. You will see some bags tear with little to no resistance while others are a little better. The VacUpack bag is hard to tear. The nylon fiber in the bag gives it resistant and strength. Making a bag less expensive the manufactures have removed a large percentage of nylon and replaced with high poly content. This results in a bag that punctures easily is less durable and is prone to become brittle in the freezer. When the high poly bags are frozen microscopic holes appear allowing air to enter in the bag and thus results in freezer burn and loss of products.

Join with us in taking steps to protect our environment, and save money. All while using the very best products on the market today.

Vacuum Packing Berries!

The Season is Here!

Berry season that is! Aug of 2008 we are all busy with the seasons bounty of fruit and vegetables.

A tip for freezing berries! If we plan to make jam and are just out of time for the moment. We will wash and place berries any type in a vacuum sealing bag, then evacuate the air, place in the freezer. This is a very simple quick freeze. The fruit is ready to pull out at a later date to make jam, pies, compotes or other wonderful items.

Decorative Frozen Berries! If we want the berries to be individual and stay looking like a berry not a colored mush ball! Wash berries like strawberries or blue berries that are firm fruits. Black berries or raspberries one must carefully wash as to not squish the item. After cleaning we place each berry individually on a cookie sheet without touching each other. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least 3 hours until frozen hard. Then remove, place carefully in a vacuum seal bag and evacuate the air. Replace back in the freeze as soon as possible. Do not let berries defrost! When you want to have berries in smoothies, on cereal or any decorative item the berries will come out of the bag individually and pristine condition with no freezer burn or ice crystals.

Good luck with your berries and remember keep them sucked up tight! Thanks for reading PMG

Vacuum Sealer Rolls in Bulk

We quarantee this bulk vacuum packer roll is a better alternative than any name brand Foodsaver bag or roll. These bulk rolls have been on the market for a "couple of years", with great success. Since 1984 we have offered "Full Replacement or Refund Guarantee on all products we sell" find out for yourself.

Vacuums & Seals as well as Any Store Brand Bag, Guaranteed!

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Refill Bags for Your VacUpack® ! Pro-2300 or any FoodSaver.

Six 50 Foot Rolls

8" Wide
300 Total Feet

Save Money

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Caculate the Savings!


"The Multi-Layered Mesh Fiber Bag" 50' Foot Rolls
300 Feet - Only $75.97

Here's our policy!

Since the first product ever sold by PMG our logo has been "Accent on Innovation, Emphasis on Quality" We always strived to offer our customers top quality merchandise without the hype. There are many products to choose from, some are great most are disposable retail products designed to last just past warranties. These accessory bags for vacuum packers are not produced by the name brand manufactures, but they are designed to work in all types of home-style vacuum packers both nozzle and channel styles. Because they do not have all the expensive advertising on TV and in major retail stores the wholesale cost is less, this results in saving to our customers. We do not buy these from a "butcher supply" but straight from the manufacturing source. As for the home user looking to save a few dollars for your home butchering, shopping, garden, or storage use, step outside the "Name Brand Box" and try this bulk roll bag for you home vacuum packer.

Here's Why These Rolls Work So Well

Home style vacuum packers/sealers both nozzle and channel styles no matter whom they are manufactured by, require a bag that is embossed (textured) on one or both sides. The embossing allows the air to be draw out of the bag when it is clamped together. This new technology and design on bag material has a mesh inside a flat pouch the same flat pouch commonly found in commercial bags. This innovative design has proven to be a great alternative to the past 22 years of bag technology. The bag material is a 3.5 Mil on a continues 50 foot roll instead of a precut flat pouch. The roll will not fit into your home style vacuum packers, but this inconvenance of re-rolling and cutting off a smaller roll or putting the large roll behind your machine has given us good feedback from our customers. A good quality textured or embossed bag or the new mesh bags seem to work the same in all machines. But the price savings of the new mesh bag has made them quite popular with our customers.

"They are a different bag!"
This next statement is a correction on poor information being distributed by novice sellers that hurts consumers.
These bags "should not be used" by Butchers and other Food Processors across North America in their businesses! These bags are "are not" proven to prevent freezer burn better than leading freezer bags.
If your food is getting freezer burn when using a home-style vacuum packer it is the poor quality of vacuum being drawn from the machine, it is not the bag! If the bag is sealed in the freezer and you are getting ice crystal on your food there is not enough vacuum being drawn in the bag. This is common with the Name Brand retail machine as they are disposable poor quality equipment. Don't be fooled by hype stories that make is sound like many butchers use these bags in their every day business. These bags were designed for home use not commercial, any commercial company using these bags for business is not informed as to the laws and regulation surrounding processed foods since 911.
If freezer burn is happening to your food with your "Name Brand" home style vacuum packer check out our Ebay store for top quality equipment for both home and commercial use.

These bags are boilable for a brief time, microwavable, and reseal able.
Email us or call, if you have any more questions, we are here to give you the correct information about vacuum packing not the hype and inexperience of an Internet designer. Our business is vacuum packing and has been since the first home style machine was produced in 1984!

REFERENCE NOTE:
These are for use with home-style vacuum sealers, nozzle or channel style vacuum sealers. If you have any question as to whether they will work properly with your vacuum sealer, contact us first. If you use the nozzle style VacUpack, the channel style Pro-2300 or the other brand of channel machine including all the disposable Tilia FoodSavers®, Rival, Deni, Black and Decker, virtually any other consumer channel-style vacuum sealer, they will work perfectly....Guaranteed!

Please send us an e-mail or call !
If you have any questions or concerns about these replacement bags, please drop us an e-mail or call. We will be happy to give you all the correct details and specifications of bags and machines. 1-800-227-3769

Check these bags out at http://cookshacksmartsmoker.com

Or in our Ebay store at http://stores.ebay.com/Vacuum-Packers-Sealer_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm