Kitchen

[brewhaha]

If you've got the time you can save a dime.

[Yahooey]

On 5/24/2014 Skylands said:

On 5/24/2014 Yahooey said: I grow basil in the summer. Harvest and make pesto which I then portion out and freeze. Easy peasy. Doesn't take a whole lot of room in the freezer. Easy to make and ready made pesto is pricy in the market.

Homemade pesto is SO MUCH better than the store stuff. How do you freeze yours? Ice cube trays or? Do you put a layer of olive oil on top?

I did the ice cube tray but the trays were so oily to clean afterwards. I popped them out once they were frozen and wrapped them in plastic wrap. I then thought - what about wrapping them in plastic to begin with. I scoop out a few TBS and wrap in plastic. It freezes well. Easy to remove the wrap when needed. Takes the shape of a flat packet. That's what I do when I open a can of tomato paste too. I place TBS in plastic too. The tomato paste in a tube is a lot pricier.

[curlywhitedog]

Spending money instead of time is important when I'm entertaining and in a race against the clock. Why peel carrots and cut them up for the crudites when for pennies more you can buy the mini ones in the bag ready to eat. Same for things like celery sticks, cut up cauliflower, etc. If I'm making a dish that requires lots of prep work I will often reach for things I can buy that will save me time while cooking. Why bother cutting up 2 or 3 onions when for pennies more you can buy them cut, frozen and ready to use.

It's as important to me to save money as it is to anyone else but I'm not willing to save the few dollars at the cost to my sanity.

Maria