Cooking saving hack Part 2 - Breakfast at half the time and water!

Save! Depends. You'll probably save more time than money.

The long and the short of it

Boil your eggs and steam your buns at the same time! (Ok that sounded just a little rude :p)

Added tips!

Bring your eggs to room temperature first. Cos one of my eggs burst open during boiling. Not much mess just that the boiled egg isn't going to be a looker.

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Behold! The lazy man, save cooking time and save water all-in-one pot breakfast!

All my eggs and buns in one basket.

I know I know... it's all a little bit underwhelming. But Hey! You save water, time and gas.
It's still money saved no?

Any worries about the water not being safe and cleaning up to be more of a hassle... well those aren't true.

I've thought about it (all of a grand 30 seconds) and came up with the following Q&A to allay thine fears:

Q: You disgusting person you!    What if the egg breaks during cooking and it coats your pot with egg bits! Won't it be hard to clean?!

A: Using another pot will result in the same mess what...

Q: You unhygienic animal!    Won't it be unhygienic what with the metal steamer insert?!
A) It's boiling water... People use that to sterilize canning jars... It's safe. Period.

Q: Liar!    Won't it take longer to steam with more mass in the pot?
A) Yes it will but erm not noticeably. Anyway you don't watch the water to wait for it to boil so I guess you ain't gonna catch and save on that 0.5 millisecond extra gas used in the cooking of those 2 eggs.

Q: You heathen!    It's against Nature to eat eggs with buns! The pairing of the two are against my religion!
A: Fine. Steam the eggs and boil some sausages instead... Or steam the buns and boil sausages instead... Go think up your own combination / combo...

Q: You're a destroyer of worlds!   Cooking eggs other than by itself in pure unadulterated water is against the laws of the galaxy and will cause a cosmic imbalance that risks turning the world onto itself, causing a massive super nova to erupt! Thus destroying the world!
A: Go jump in the lake you mad F***...

Waste not any chicken

Save!  -Depends.

The long and the short of it:

Remember those Cold storage / Jasons half priced roasted chickens? Save the bones to make some damn delicious soup!

Additional or local tips!

No need for any salt or seasoning when cooking. Cos the birds are already seasoned for you! Use bones from 2 birds for a solid soup.

Use a pressure cooker to speed things up!

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Who doesn't love a good chicken soup?

Photo from Simple Bites

Being a person who abhors waste, I will save the bones from previously roasted chickens to make into soup! I've like 4 chicken carcasses in my freezer now waiting to be cooked. Hmmm yum yum.

Basically just follow any typical chicken soup recipe (here's one recipe that I reference). My chicken soup is also a lot simpler. I just add some thyme and bay leaves, potatoes and onions plus some chicken pea to have that option into making it a full meal.

There you go. Good healthy non-canned chicken soup that's rich and full bodies with a nice roasted edge. And yes, the soup will look brown because it's made from flavourful roasted chicken bones!

But do you save anything?
If you cook with chicken stock cubes then you probably save nothing.
If you cook your own chicken soups then this will probably save you $5-6 per soup since you still have to buy chicken bones or a whole chicken to make the soup base.

Half priced chicken!!!!!

Save!  - $6 per bird!

The long and the short of it:

Cold storage / Jasons has half priced roasted meats just before closing time! Usually at 9.30pm.

Additional or local tips!
Sometimes they will put up the sign at 9.30pm sometimes they will sneakily not put up anything! And sometimes they won't have it at all. So it's a game of chance and chicken.

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I swear Cold Storage does one of the best roast chickens in town for its price and convenience. Their other roast meats aren't too bad either. Their smoked duck steak is another to die for.

Now these roasted items are normally ok priced. They aren't expensive. I mean one whole uncooked bird already cost $4-6 and you still have to use electricity to cook it with herbs and spices and what nots. So $14 for a whole family sized roasted bird is pretty decently priced.

Smoke duck breast. TO DIE for.

Meat overload. Can get a bit jerlat

It looks ugly but tastes damn delicious. Smaller birds yield much a more tender meat while the larger birds have tougher breast meats.

So then, what makes this a frugallivingsg article you say?

Wait for it... (literally)... at 9.30pm, sometimes... sometimes... something magical happens.
The roast meat counter will have a fire sale and everything cooked for that day will be going for 50% off!!!!    *Goes wild!*

A whole roasted chicken is so versatile that I can make 14 meals out of that one single 50% off bird! Frozen and consumed over 2 weeks. And they were all delish. My saliva is flowing just thinking about those 14 plates of pasta.

My 14 meals of pasta from one bird!

Groceries on fire sale that are not for the faint of heart - Expired foods

Save!  - Depends on how much you spend on groceries and how often you get a chance to pick up quick sale items from the supermarket

The long and the short of it:

Expired foods are ok. If they aren't turning green or white with mould and other weird fungi, it's fine to eat them.
Additional or local tips!
Check out the supermarket about 30min before closing time to pick up Quick Sale items which needs to be sold by the end of the day otherwise they will get chucked. These items will normally be at 50% off.

Alternatively, come in early in the morning. These should be the two timings when items get labelled for Quick Sale.

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Now I'm a big proponent of this.

Expired or expiring foods are OK. 
If they aren't turning green or white with mould and other weird fungi, it's fine to eat them.

One big big example is... sliced bread. My parents always makes sure there is a loaf of clean white Gardenia sliced bread lying in the kitchen. It's the daily breakfast food, a versatile staple. They go through a loaf about once every 4 days but if not... they toss out the remaining slices, sometimes even whole loaves even if it is perfectly edible.

Why? Because of this...

They throw out perfectly edible food. And YET they lecture me on starving children in Africa when I was younger!

Hell, they've even gone one step further and toss out the bread on the day of expiration! It's not even about expired food anymore, they are tossing out expiring food because they can.
It's just too wasteful! It's like Singaporeans are too rich or something...


So what's a kid gotta do to convince the parents? Hahaha I started horrifying them by buying close to expired groceries before proceeding to cook and eat them. I've survived for about 3 yrs now having eaten some food items that are long past their expiry dates so there, it's fine.

Now there are obviously certain things that you should not eat in this manner. Namely, eggs, diary products, oils and canned foods which are bloated or have turned black when they should not. But honestly, even if these items have not gone past their expiration date, I wouldn't eat them if they have obviously turned bad. So just use your common sense. But in case you need some help to start off. Below are some examples:

• White bread that's white. No wispy fungal spores or mould is safe to eat.
• Vacuum packed preserved meats such as sausages, smoked meats and bacon. Best if frozen. Frozen goods last indefinitely.
• Canned foods such as beans. No tomatoes cos the acidity might eat through can. I've had that happen to me so don't chance it.
• Dried goods. Beans. herbs, mushrooms... Dried goods if kept properly dried will last indefinitely.

If you need more convincing, here's an article from TIME magazine that supports this. It's aptly named - Only Suckers Abide by Food Expiration Dates.

Oh and on top of saving food, you'll save money cos near expired items in the supermarkets have to be cleared asap and will often be sold at deep discounts.

Save more on groceries by not buying from supermarkets!

Save! $5-10 depending on what you buy for groceries and how much food you go through each month.

The long and the short of it

Go direct to suppliers or pseudo suppliers for certain groceries. Especially pantry items.

Local tips!

Look up Phoon Huat or Kwong Cheong Thye. These are the two I know. If you know more, please share!

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When you think about groceries shopping you think supermarkets such as NTUC, Giant, Mustafa, Sheng Siong or even the wet market. For most items yes, it will be cheaper to get at the supermarkets but there are some items that can be gotten cheaper at... the suppliers of course!

I've looked up and did a rough comparison and if you're buying the following, it's actually cheaper to get from... Phoon Huat!!!! (HUAT AH!)

Items that are definitely cheaper:
- Unsalted butter (if you bake)
- Sun dried tomatoes
- Cooked whole beans
- Nuts (raw or otherwise) *heard victoria market carries them at good prices too but haven't checked. Thing is, confirm cheaper than supermarkets can le.
- Vinegars
- Oils
- Frozen fruit meats
- CHEESE!!!! OMG GOD DAMN CHEAP! (Ok not cheap but cheaper. Soooo much cheaper)
(1kg Mozzarella is only $11.80! Eat till cheese come out of the ears!)

Just be sure to call them before you head down so you don't make a wasted trip and plan your journey so your cost savings don't end up spent on petrol or the bloodsucking SMRT and SBS. I personally like the Aljunied MRT branch cos its super big and tends to have items in stock. Calling before hand is important.

Phoon Huat catalogue here but no price list. Sadz.

On the other hand, Kwong Cheong Thye is where you can get your chinese / asian cooking sauces and also other ingredients. However, they only have 1 retail outlet near Aljunied MRT.

My mum only goes there to buy the Yu Sheng veges and sauces for CNY (HUAT AH!!!)
I saw other nuts and assorted pantry items too.

Cooking saving hack Part 1 - Planning to eliminate waste

Save! Maybe about $0.50 on heating and water per cook, depending on how frequent you cook and the proportions. If you cook often, this adds up.

The long and the short of it

Plan your meals so you only need to cook once in awhile and have little to no waste. It's also more environmentally  friendly!

If you cook pasta, cook it with a stew to use the starch water.

Save any fat rendered out from crisping bacon or roasting chicken.

Local tips!

Use sturdy reusable plastic food containers to freeze your stews and meals for another day.

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I hate food wastage and I try my best to use up all and I mean all that I put in the pans. I just hate throwing out anything in the kitchen. The best way for processed food bits is to the compost heap (which I don't have and don't know how to start... yet) or into the stomach.

Fat Drippings
Starting off, I save all fat drippings and freeze them to use in mashed potatoes, bruschetta, salads or for simple stir-fries. Chicken fat, bacon fat whatever fat that's rendered off, I pour off and save. These drippings are flavor bombs and can and should be reused! There are entire forums dedicated to this (e.g. Chowhound, SeriousEats, CookingJunkies)
You might say the fat is unhealthy etc but you should just listen to common sense, which is to have everything in moderation.

As long as you're not drinking it by the gallon, you'll be fine...

Image taken from Butterbeliever, like many a home chef converted, also thinks like I do!

Pasta Water
For awhile now, I have been thinking of how to save my pasta water as I hate to pour them into the sink since:
1) it's a waste of about 2-3 litres of good clean food grade water (the horrors of waste!)
2) starch being starch, it might clog the drain

So I thought, since I love to do up big batches of stews and need water and starch from potatoes to thicken them, I might as well cook these two meal items together. Cooked pasta water becomes the water base for stews and the pasta starch will also help to thicken the stew! 
2-in-1 ah!
Just moderate the salt level accordingly i.e. use less salt in the pasta water.

So now, I try my best to plan pasta with a stew. Then I'll partition the stew into plastic food containers (reusable ones mind you) and freeze them for later consumption.

Frozen foods can last indefinitely but the tasty stews normally don't last more than 2 weeks. Just remember to thaw the stew first before you pop it in the microwave. No point wasting good energy heating up frozen food. Let Singapore's sunny weather do that for you.

So this is a simple cooking hack. Save energy, save your pockets and save the Earth.


What are some of your cooking hacks to save on gas and food waste?
Share them with me in the comments section!

BYO Popcorn

Save! Potentially $8 per movie trip. That's a savings of $96 a year assuming 1 movie a month for an average moviegoer.

The long and the short of it

BYO popcorn!

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Popcorn prices are just ridiculous. It's mark up is probably... oh... about 1000000%. 

Seriously! Have you ever checked out how much one packet of dry unpopped corn kernels cost? Even the super bloody atas brand kind in atas supermarket cost only $5.80 for a box of 4 servings!

If you pop the corn yourself from scratch then the mark up just becomes ridiculous.

So if you have a microwave, learn how to pop your own corn and BYO. You have a bag right? Use it. Be a ninja!!!!!

 

Recipes:

- http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_popcorn/

- http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/perfect-popcorn-recipe.html

(I love Alton Brown!)

- http://www.recipegirl.com/2011/10/13/how-to-pop-popcorn-on-the-stove/

(You don't even need a freaking microwave to pop corn but ok lah not as convenient.)

Oils oils oils ooohlala

Save! - About $5 per meal so if you do the maths, let's say we have this once every 2 weeks, that's about $130 per year... though I think it's a bit hard to eat too much tuna and sun-dried tomatoes

The long and the short of it

Eat the tuna, save that oil for a pasta or omelette later. Works the same way for anchovies or sun-dried tomatoes.

Local tips!

Ayam brand tuna FTW cos all the other brands suck bricks and are pretty much inedible, keep the oil for some pasta or omelette (Basically white people food).

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Packing oils used in common pantry items is one of the most overlooked areas in frugal cooking. Think of that can of tuna with its luscious tuna infused oil, or that jar of sun-dried tomatoes sitting in that yellow sunny liquor of flavor. How many times have you scooped out the ingredients and tossed out the flavor bank that are the oils, steeped in and concentrated with all the flavors of the ingredients?

So reconsider saving these oils and reusing them in pastas and omelettes for a quick meal or snack. Below are some suggestions that would make some decent dishes.

Tuna pasta

Cook your pasta in some nicely salted water before tossing the cooked pasta in some flavorful tuna oil to get some nice and nutritious tuna pasta together with whatever goodness that has come from the fish. Good enough to stand on its own or as a side dish to an accompanying seafood dish.

I personally can just eat this all on its own.

Sun-dried tomato pasta

Same as above, just use sun-dried tomato oil and this pasta will shine all on its own or as carbo for any mains. I usually mix it with some diced sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or artichoke hearts, depending on what I have in the pantry. If I have any canned artichokes, I will toss in some of that oil too.

3 minute sun-dried tomato omelette

Beat two eggs and throw in a teaspoon of sun-dried tomato oil. Microwave it on high for about 2-3min or until its set. Yes microwave it. It works. For that extra bit of luxury, add in a drop of truffle oil or toss in some bacon bits.

Oh and some final words.

Sure, fats and oils have amassed a sort of bad reputation over the years due to negative marketing but are they really that harmful? There's been a counter movement and research to suggest that fats aren't as bad to our health as they had seemed. And why do I say marketing? Because a lot of health foods and what I would like to call health fads are backed primarily by marketing. Fruit juices are healthy? Haha what a joke. Are fats and oils unhealthy? Sure they are, if you drink a bucketful of it every day.

The key to good health is always to do things in moderation. If you're eating a spoonful of it every other day, you'll live.