Get organized in the kitchen, and feed the family fast, cheap and easy with these articles and resources.
Learn menu planning, tackle kitchen cleaning chores, save money at the supermarket and build an organized pantry to make kitchen chores fly!
Learn menu planning, tackle kitchen cleaning chores, save money at the supermarket and build an organized pantry to make kitchen chores fly!
Save at the Supermarket: Boost Your Price Power!
On any trip to the grocery store, it's the first and simplest question: what's the price?
Time was, it was easy to know the price of any grocery item; before computers, each can, carton and bottle sported a physical price tag. To increase prices, grocers had to re-tag food items, a labor-intensive process that made food costs clear and minimized wide swings in pricing.
Hello, 21st century! Today's computer-powered POS systems allow grocery stores to change item prices with a few keystrokes at the home office. Last week's $2.49 bottle of salad dressing? Today, it'll cost you $3.69! More »
Beyond the Shopping List: Core Concepts for Supermarket Savings
Is your family looking to lower spending at the supermarket? Armed with a menu plan and a shopping list, you've taken the first steps toward establishing a grocery budget and are paying less for food.
But for many, the process isn't a happy one. Mornings aren't the same when a favorite coffee blend is replaced with a generic grind, while the family is getting mighty tired of downsized dinners. Sure, you're saving money--but are you getting the most food value for what you spend? More »
Chill Out! Cut Energy Use In Refrigerator And Freezer
With food prices soaring and energy costs at record highs, it's time for an energy-saving tune up for your refrigerator and freezer.
Keeping food fresh--while conserving energy--can bring a helpful boost to the strained food budget.
Try these tips to minimize energy use and save money on groceries: More »
New Year In The Kitchen? Clean Out The Refrigerator!
Think about it! The refrigerator holds it all: food and finance, weight and well-being, organization and chaos, all rolled into one big cold box. Dive into that baby with a detached eye, a hardened heart and one small hour of time and you're on the road to weight loss, better household management, and a healthier budget.
The timing couldn't be better, because I know what your refrigerator looks like! Plastic food storage containers pile in unsteady ziggurats in every corner--and why is it that the largest bowls and boxes hold the smallest amounts of food? More »
Menu Planning: Save Time In The Kitchen
What's for dinner?
It's the question of the hour. Too many home managers look for answers in the supermarket at 5 p.m. Harried, harassed by by hungry children, they rack their brains for an answer to the dinner-hour question.
Three meals a day. Seven dinners a week. From supermarket to pantry, refrigerator to table, sink to cupboard, the kitchen routine can get old, old, old.
No wonder we hide our heads like ostriches from the plain and simple fact: into each day, one dinner must fall.
What's the answer? A menu plan.
Menu planning doesn't have be complicated. A small investment of time can reap great rewards: More »
Summer Cooking Tips: Cool Off in the Kitchen!
Who can imagine summer without summer food? Steaming corn-on-the-cob, each kernel bursting with sweet flavor. Burgers and barbecue. Ice cream sundaes. The crisp red smile of a watermelon wedge, dripping with sweet juice.
There's a darker side to summer meals. Food budgets groan under the strain of substituting quick-cook steaks and chicken breasts for thrifty stove-top casseroles. Ravenous children make the refrigerator door thump-thump-thump like a dog's tail. Catch-as-catch-can mealtimes, eaten on the run, substitute convenience for nutritional value.
What's a summer cook to do? More »
