Thanks for these tips.
We have started buying canned chicken for anything that calls for chicken. I don't like raw chicken anywhere in the house. I can deal with raw steak and HB medat becuase I can tell when it's cooked well enough (it's no longer red, haha). I eat lots of red meat. Basically every other meal. I would like to try salmon, but I don't think there's anywhere to get fresh fish here. Again, I'm afraid to cook it because I don't know how to cook it, and I don't want to undercook it (same reason we won't handle raw chicken in the house).
I tried to buy prepackaged salads, but they'd always go bad before I could eat them all. My wife doesn't eat anything green, so it's just me for veggies. I buy the frozen bags of veggies, but I end up throwing most of it away as I can't eat a bag myself. And I can't rewarm it since it's been cooked (at the factory) and warmed (by me in the microwave) already. So I feel those are a waste of money.
Anyway, as I said I'd like to see a thread. I don't want to start it becuase I don't want to get in trouble if there's already one out there that I can't find. But thaks for the tips. Will continue to go onlin for ideas.
There are a lot of self imposed limitations in this response. If you truly want to break out of the food rut you are in, and cut costs from buying prepared foods, you will need to change your mindset and face some of these fears.
1. There is no reason to be so afraid of chicken. It's much easier to overcook it than to undercook it. I promise. I cook a LOT. My biggest issue is NOT overcooking chicken. It cooks so fast. It's literally no different than red meat in that respect. And for the record, red meat that has no more pink is also overcooked. If you like it that way, great. But my point is that you are already skilled at overcooking meat, so chicken will be easy peasy.
2. There is no reason to worry about taking frozen veggies or any other frozen food, cooking it, and then refrigerating it and reheating it again. Literally nothing wrong with that. I feel like you are misunderstanding the guideline where it pertains to raw meat. When raw meat has been frozen, then defrosted, you should not then freeze it again in the raw state and defrost it again to cook it. But if you buy raw meat, put it in the freezer and then defrost it to make, let's say, grilled chicken (or steak or hamburgers), once it's cooked, it's absolutely FINE to put that cooked meat BACK in the freezer and then defrost and heat to eat later. As an example, every Sunday, I grill up 2 lbs of chicken tenderloins. I then cut them into chunks, then bag in ziplocs and freeze. Every day they are needed for a salad, I pull out a bag and microwave or just let defrost and eat cold in the salad. This way, I am not forced to eat all the chicken within a certain time frame.
On the other hand, "leftovers" should be consumed within 3 days of being cooked if they have only been refrigerated. Bacteria will start multiplying rapidly after this point so food is not necessarily safe beyond 3 days. Although, people push this guideline ALL the time.
3. Salmon is easy to find everywhere. If you can't find it fresh or vacuum sealed, buy it frozen. Almost every supermarket with a butcher counter has salmon. Don't be afraid of it. You cook it the same way you cook red meat. Until it's no longer pink. It will turn whitish with sort of a pale pink undertone when it is done. It should not be translucent, but opaque. You can also just buy canned or pouch salmon (like tuna).
4. Look for bagged salads that have 2 servings. Brands like Taylor Farms are great. They include the salad mix, dressing and toppings. It's easy to divide the salad into 2 containers to pack along for lunch. You can buy 2 salads a week and just purchase the ones with the furthest out dates. These salads are frequently on sale 2 for $5 where I shop. We buy 3-4 every week. No waste. In the event that the lettuce mix goes bad, you don't have to throw out the whole thing. Pull out the dressing/topping packet and save it for another salad later. You can eat lunch all week for under $10 by using these salads and some grilled meats you buy in bulk or canned chicken, as you mentioned. You can also buy canned salmon and canned tuna, which are both great salad additions.
) but save the leftover green mixes and use it for wraps or different salads the next day. My favorite new hack is the ones that are cabbage based chopped salads is to take the unused mix and turn it into coleslaw!
i bought a small foldable squeegee to keep in the shower but despite having well water we've not had much reason to use it.
