Photo Courtesy of stevendepolo of Flickr

This is what the Well Done Chef! is planning for the family the week of July 26th to August 1st, 2009.

I will be working in the night for the 29th, 30th, and the first. Add to that the inventory which must be made on Saturday, and you have a basket of fun! Here is what I have planned for the week:

Also, did you hear that the Taco Bell dog died? So sad, so we are going to eat tacos on Monday in tribute.

Sunday Dinner – Macaroni and pork sausage saute with market vegetables.

Monday - Beef tacos with sour cream, tomatoes, cheese, salsa.

Tuesday - Pineapple pork with Jasmine scented rice, brocolli chow mein, pork and chive dumplings.

Wednesday – Grilled pork chop with rosemary and sage, garlic mashed potatoes, crisp yellow beans.

Thursday – Pepperoni pasta ruffles with tomato and cucumber salad.

Friday – Hotdogs with fries and cheese curds. (Called poutine here.)

Saturday – Risotto with garlic sausage, garden peas, thyme and lemon.

The Elusive Roasted Chicken by Machine is Organic of Flickr fame

This is what the Well Done Chef! is planning for the family the week of July 19th to July 25th, 2009.

Seems like the menu planning is going well. I only ate out once last week, that was Wednesday. See, after working a lot, sometimes you jsut do not feel like cooking. I will just have to redouble the efforts this week. The key to this menu is the pre-preparation. Some things need to be done the night before.

Sunday Dinner – All Dressed Pizza with a nice Italian salad.

Monday - Lime and maple pork loin with roasted peach salsa, green beans.

Tuesday - BBQ Beef burger with onion Kaiser, pickled onions, garden fresh Romas, bib lettuce, served with home cut fries.

Wednesday – Roasted chicken, Tuscan style, green pea rissotto and sauteed zuchinni.

Thursday – Garden tomato soup with lemon and rosemary Chicken and braised fennel.

Friday – Shepherd’s Pie with veggies and dip

Saturday – Penne with Alfredo sauce, minestrone.

The Vegerator by konomike of Flickr

There is nothing worse than saving a few bucks on groceries only to have it go to sludge in the bottom of your crisper. Worse, in a professional kitchen, it is those nickle-and dime produce that can really affect your bottom line. Either way, it makes sense to protect your investment and get the most time out of your purchase. Smart buying means that you only buy as much as you need. What happens when the sale is jsut too much to pass up?

Follow these few tips below to save your produce from going to the crisper in the sky:

Celery

Celery will be happiest if you wrap it in aluminium foil and keep it in the crisper. Take off the plastic bag and wrap it tightly, and your celery will last for months in the crisper. I am not sure why this is, but I can tell you that for about 6 weeks, it will still be crisp as the day you bought it.

Carrots

Finding about carrots was a little difficult, but a good resource here tells us all about how to store them. Of course, it is all about what you buy in the first place. Choose bright orange colored carrots without cracks in the skin. If they have tops, it is important to cut them off. Place them into their own, new plastic Ziploc bag. If your carrots ever get limp, you can slice off the top of the carrot, and refresh them in a bowl of ice water just before you use them. It could take up to a half hour to get the carrots back into shape.

Onions

Okay, this one is a little weird, but it works. Take the best onions you have, remove all loose skin, shoots, etc. Now put them in a pair of panty hose, knotting the panty hose after every onion. The makeshift mobile can now be hung, and everytime you need an onion, you just cut above the knot. The clerk may look at you weird (if you are a guy) when you are purchasing the panty hose, but if it is in the name of saving our produce, why not?

Garlic

You should buy the garlic when the skins are tightly wrapped around the cloves, and there are no green shoots. To store them, either buy a garlic keeper, or make one yourself. Keep the garlic in a dry, cool place to keep for maximum time. (I can usually get about 2 months.) That means it needs to go in a cupboard, not on your kitchen counter.

That covers the basic kitchen staples. Are there any tips that you have for keeping your produce fresh?

Photo Courtesy of Mike Johnson - TheBusyBrain.com

This is what the Well Done Chef! is planning for the family the week of July 5th to July 11th, 2009.

I did not truly stick to last week’s menu, due to veto by L.  Isn’t that always the way it goes?

Sunday Dinner – A crappy McDonald’s Craving. Sheesh, the drivethru took so long, I probably could have made it myself! Interesting note: making Faux Orea Cookies a la Ricardo with L.

Monday - Lime and Palm Sugar Pork Chop with pineapple and mango salsa, green beans.

Tuesday - BBQ Beef burger with onion Kaiser, pickled onions, garden fresh Romas, bib lettuce, served with home cut fries.

Wednesday – All Dressed Pizza with Cheesy Caesar salad

Thursday – Garden pea soup with mint, lemon and rosemary Chicken with braised fennel.

Friday – Shepherd’s Pie with veggies and dip

Saturday – Penne with Meat Parma Rosa sauce, minestrone, (Meat sauce mixed with Alfredo) (Never ate this last week, so here it is.)

my cookbooks by mimundo of Flickr

This is what the Well Done Chef! is planning for the family the week of July 5th to July 11th, 2009.

Sunday Dinner – Barbecue ribeye steak with French fries, mixed salad greens with Balsamic dressing.

Monday - Chicken with fig sauce, couscous. (I will be using fresh figs for my sauce!)

Tuesday - BBQ Pork Chop with potato salad, grilled peppers.

Wednesday – All Dressed Pizza with Home Made Fries

Thursday – BBQ Beef burger with all the fixins, Caesar salad

Friday – Shepherd’s Pie with veggies and dip

Saturday – Penne with Meat Parma Rosa sauce, minestrone, (Meat sauce mixed with Alfredo)

book shelf project 1 ~ striatic {notes} by striatic of Flickr

This is what the Well Done Chef! is planning for the family the week of June 21st to June 27th, 2009.

Sunday Dinner – Barbecue Chicken with French fries, barbecue sauce.

Monday – Pork Chop with mashed potato, carrot salad

Tuesday - Mediterranean style chicken with black olives, lemons, couscous.

Wednesday – Smoked BBQ Pork Ribs with Asian slaw

Thursday – BBQ Beef burger with all the fixins, Caesar salad

Friday – Shepherd’s Pie with veggies and dip

Saturday – Penne with Parma Rosa sauce, minestrone

Sunday – Pizza all-dressed with fries

Borscht to be By Noel Zia Lee of Flickr

You say that you want to be frugal? Are you tired of buying all sorts of groceries, jars, and spending thousands of dollars? I know, I have been there. How do you keep track of all those meals?

The answer lies in a little piece of geekdom that I would like to pass on to you: a meal calendar. Not just any meal calendar, a spreadsheet. You heard me right. A spreadsheet.

Sure, you could not be bothered about using a spreadsheet, right? I hear you. It can be a pain, until you get used to it. Why use it?

1. You will plan your meals for the week, and know what you need to purchase. This is so important, yet a lot of people do not do this. Having a plan will help you out in the long run. Not only in time, but in money.
2. You will be able to make a shopping list. How may times have you gone to the store, only to wander aimlessly down the aisles? It happened to me a lot back in the day.
3. You can do this with your loved ones. Get them on board with the whole meal plan. They will have an input, so everyone is happy.
4. You can follow the nutrition of your family easier. It is really hard to follow that. If you are plopping a Side Kick (TM) with your premade pork loin, and microwaving some weird canned corn, can you tell me how healthy that is going to be for your family? You can always mix and match yourself this way, avoiding that dreaded 5-time-this-week broccoli episode.
5. You can plan out what tasks need to be done. This is critical in the Well Done Kitchen! If you know that tomorrow you are going to need to make a risotto, then you can pull out the items you need to defrost the night before, and do a little of the advance preparation. For risotto, chopping up an onion, garlic and shallots will help you speed along faster the next day. Who needs a Side Kick(TM)?
6. You can make notes on the spreadsheet. This is critical as well. Maybe something went wrong, maybe your wife hated the chicken you made the night before. Write it on there. You will always have that note, and the next time you make it, you have the note to remind you. Also, it helps on the next step.
7. You can copy and paste. Now, this is not going to help you out very much in the beginning. Use the menu planner for a month or two, and now dinner becomes even easier to plan in advance. You can just highlight a whole cell, and paste it into your new calendar.
8. You can print it out. Having the calendar there is a good way to stick to the plan. It seems that having the paper there does something to make people want to follow it. Monday could be Pizza Day, which kind of makes it official.

So, without further ado, here is the file:

Weekly Meal Planner

I came across a great post in my reader today, which I feel needs comment.

The part that floored me was the figure, 54 million barrels of oil. I was so floored about it, I went and Googled it.  (You can just see L rolling her eyes now, can’t you!) Here is a place that says our bottles might as well be one quarter oil. This post states that some states have put a tax on bottles because they are filling landfills. And you thought that they were recycled. Not so.

This report from the Toronto Sun quotes Elizabeth Griswold as saying only 35% of bottles are actually recycled.That is a pretty alarming number.

I have a simple solution, and it will really only cost about 5$ per person. Here it is:

This would solve a lot of problems with our bottled water.

See, we have been conditioned to believe that our water supply is so unsafe that we need to buy this bottled water. How sick is it that when you factor in costs, we pay less for gas than we pay for bottled water? The solution is simple:

Start using my Waternater, (yes, it actually is called that) and let’s spend our money on what really counts, food!

Recently, I came across this post in my RSS feeds, which got me to thinking. As a WellDone! Chef, frugality is part of my job description.

The WellDone! (Frugal) Shopper

What is the first thing you think of when you get that grocery flyer in the mail? “Chuck it!” Perhaps you pass by a sign in the supermarket that shouts SALE! BUY ME NOW!! BEST PRICE!!! Is it no surprise that the number one expense that gets cut in these hard times is food? Hardly.

Photo 1089123_70224712 courtesy of stock.xchng

So, how does the average Joe save a lot of money when they go grocery shopping? A quick google search yields some not-so-surprising results. Almost all of the blogs, magazine articles, forum posting all basically say the same thing. I won’t even repeat them here, I will let you find that out for yourself.

What makes this post different is I am not here to regurgitate all that loose verbal stool. How does the WellDone! Chef! save money while he shops at home? Well, he treats it just like he would when he is purchasing from his suppliers at his restaurant. What follows is a no-nonsense list about shopping the chef way, which by extension, is the frugal way. (After all, how do you think we make our salary with all those expensive dishes?)

Eat what is in season. This is so simple, and yet, we ignore it. I can almost hear what you are saying. “Jason, I live in Canada, and right now, gravel and snow cones are in season. How the hell am I supposed to live off of that?”
Have no fear. I did not say you had to buy off of Joe Farmer. What you want to do is buy the items that are at their peak, because they are usually cheaper at that time of year. You are better off to buy your strawberries at the peak of the season, even if they are available year round. Their commute to you table is a short one, so they will be full of flavor. Have you ever eaten a strawberry in December? They taste like the cardboard they are packed in.

If you have trouble wrapping your head around what is in season, try this handy web tool to find out.

Check all sources for what you are going to buy, then make your menus on that. This one is easier than it sounds. In the cheffing business, we have a harder time than you all when it comes to suppliers. You receive flyers all the time that tell you what is on sale. What you need to do is base your menu off of that. If you see that chicken is on sale at the local A&P, then make sure you have chicken on the menu a few times. Perhaps broccoli has just come in, great! Chicken with broccoli.

Shop around. A lot of people swear against this, with the logic that, “they just do not have the time.” Of course they don’t. See, they are buying all sorts of convenience stuff, stuff that is not on sale, and stuff that ought to be outright illegal to charge. Why? They have no time. Probably because they are working so hard to pay for all the extra money that they are spending to save time. Ironic, no?

Try to buy local. Try farmers markets, or even farmers themselves. You will be pleasantly surprised how much you can get, and at the quality you will receive as well. See, the farmer is infinitely prouder of his produce than that minimum wage kid stacking vegetables in the produce section.

Food Cost! This is a sticky subject. Listen up. If you were to have a job where you ass is on the line by how much you are spending on food, and you bought all your stuff at the same place to make it easier on you, would you fire yourself? I would. If you are realistically budgeting $100 per person for a two week period, then that amounts to $7.15 a day to spend on everything food wise. That’s drinks, food, everything. Quite a challenge. If you follow these steps, it becomes easier.

Bigger is not necessarily better. Are you getting a sweet deal on that 20 pound bag of potatoes. One you cannot pass up? Good for you, unless those potatoes go rotten. Now, throwing half the bag away is no longer a good deal, no matter how much you paid for them. Either split them up with someone, or bite the bullet and pay a few cents extra for a smaller product. This ties in a bit for the next point.

Cheaper is not necessarily better. What? You did hear me right. See, those 99¢ red peppers are not a good deal if they go rotten in your fridge after a day. They look okay, but sometimes they are so old that they rapidly decompose, and take everything else down with them. Savings? Nope, waste. You’re fired at that point. Quality always trumps price. Write that down. Five times. Now get a tatoo. Never forget that. Contrary to what other sites/people tell you, if you are spending any amount of money on a product that you will eventually throw away, you are not being frugal.

Learn how to hack up meat. This is the most controversial hint. Sure, we have no time to do this right? Here’s a quick test. Take a look at some chicken breasts next time you are in the meat section of the market. See the price on those bad boys per kilogram? Now, compare that to the price of a whole chicken. Wow. Remember, every time a butcher puts a knife to the meat product, the cost doubles, and sometimes triples. I giggle when I see those nicely done up pork roasts with the convenient spice rub already on them. Look at the price, and you might die on the spot. 4 times as much as normal prices. Here’s the kicker. The product is usually on its last legs, and they are manipulating it even more, and charging you for it. Crazy, huh?

That is what I can figure for now, and more will be coming at a later date. I have given a lot of things to think of here, so it is only responsible of me to follow up on this later. Look forward to more frugal tips that you may not have seen before.