My frugal Friday tip is how to save money when using recipes. Sometimes there are ingredients in the recipe that really don't add much to the final product. I made lasagna my own way for years and then found a recipe that was really good, but it did contain some ingredients I hadn't been using that added to the final cost. Last night I decided to make the lasagna recipe, but didn't have any Ricotta Cheese. I made the lasagna anyway and GUESS WHAT? My family liked it much better. I also have discovered that if you add a cup of water to the sauce you don't have to cook the noodles first, they just cook in the pan in the oven. I guess other people already knew that, but I didn't. This in itself saves about 30 minutes of cooking and preparation time and some electricity, too.
I have found this to be true lots of times. Some recipes call for spices that I don't usually have in stock and are quite expensive. I have tried the recipe without them and it turned out great.
Of course, you have to be careful not to leave out something that really does makes a difference. You could experiment to see if those expensive ingredients are really needed.
Debbie J.
Go to
http://www.biblicalwomanhood.com/blog.htm for more frugal tips.
