Home Cooking

Sorry for the long absence – this has been a rather crazy semester. Actually, I am looking forward to this crazy first year of teaching, advising and committee work to come to an end. Then I have three long months to look forward to – spent on my dissertation. My deadline for getting that done is September 30th. But more on that later. Today, I want to talk about some of my ways of saving money in this horrendous economy.

The more I hear about the economy, the more nervous I get. It is getting very bad out there. So, I usually respond by doing things which are within my power. One of these things is cooking at home. It saves money, allows you to tailor your meals to your taste-buds and is a way of de-stressing.

1. I have started making ghee (clarified butter) at home. I mentioned this before (September 13th, 2008) and it saves quite a lot of money.

2. I have stopped buying beans in cans. We are now buying dry beans and soaking them overnight. It is much cheaper than buying cans and the extra work is not that much of a hassle. Also, and I learnt this from Food Network, you can be a more versatile cook with dry than with cooked beans.

3. I have started making more meals with lentils. I love lentils but Gregg has never been crazy about them. But lentils with ground beef/chicken with rice or couscous has changed his mind.

4. I am making flan – not from scratch but from the Goya packets. It took me some time to learn how to make the caramel sauce properly but now I have mastered it. It is so much more healthy than the store-made apple pie and is also cheaper.

5. I am making better use of leftovers and eggs. To this end, I bought a great nonstick pan which goes from the stovetop to the oven. Eggs for dinner can be good if spiced up with leftover meats and veggies. This is new for me because ordinarily, I hate eggs.

Things I still do even though it may be cheaper to stop doing them:

1. I still buy cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies. This is a staple of Indian food and it really saves time when I do not have to cut up tomatoes and chilies.

2. Coupon cutting is only done when it is easy (something catches my eye) or when I am making a bigger purchase (like bedsheets or something). I have stopped going through books of coupons and cutting everything out. It takes too much time and driving from one store to another to get a deal is just not my thing.

3. Switch stores: I love my current grocery store – Stauffers. It is local to PA and has great selections. It would be cheaper to switch to Walmart but I cannot do it.

4. Giving up on one nice meal a week: As I said before, I like cooking and experimenting and once a week, I try out something new and slightly complicated. I still do this though it is sometimes a little expensive because I do not have all the ingredients I need at home.

5. Buying healthy snacks: I still eat crappy snacks like potato chips but have been buying pistachios, fried peas and other slightly more expensive but healthier snacks.

_______________________

Other News:

School: Has really exhausted me this past year. But I have only a month to go – the last day of school is April 24th. In fact, the last day to turn in grades in May 7th. But this is also advising time which is turning out to be quite hectic. This is also the time of year when I am most irritated with my students because they realize that their grades are more than halfway there and that they need to do very well in the final month in order to increase their grades.

Giggs: He is now a year and 3 months but his puppy behavior is still in full force. He is now a little over 10 pounds.

Trip to India: I will write more on this later but Gregg and I just bought tickets to go to India for 3 weeks in December. This will be Gregg’s first trip there and my first in 8 years. I am so excited!!!