We didn’t really do any shopping on our recent trip except for a few groceries that we ate in our condo rental.
We stopped at the College of the Ozarks as we left Branson. We had their very fancy brunch buffet which was truly first rate and just delicious.
In their gift shop area, we bought a bag of stone ground cornmeal. They raise the corn and grind it there at the college.
It’s even in a muslin bag.
I wanted to try it so I baked cornbread muffins for our supper.
I used our favorite recipe, this cornbread is just slightly sweet and perfect to eat with soup or stew.
It was easy to find my recipe since I redid my recipes a month or so back.
Most of the recipes are ones I’ve had a while. I prefer recipes that just use ingredients, over recipes that call for a package of something or prepared storebought ingredients. Basic recipes are usually the thriftiest and they are also best for homemakers like me that keep a pantry.
Below are the finished cornbread muffins and the pot of vegetable beef soup.
Close up of the soup - I used some cooked roast beef from the freezer, onion, celery, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, corn, canned diced tomatoes and some beef bouillon.
Thrifty tip - some produce is priced per pound and some is priced per item.
Aldi’s cabbage was $1.19 a head. It was very obvious that the heads were very different sizes so I picked out the biggest one I saw.
My head was marked as weighing 2.5 pounds. I knew it was bigger so I weighed it when I got home.
It weighed almost 4 pounds!
So when produce is priced per item, look them over and pick out the biggest or heaviest one to get the most for your money.
I do that with boxes of strawberries or blueberries, the clamshells. I will pick out the strawberries that look best and weigh the three or four best looking boxes and buy the heaviest. I don't like recipes that call for boxes of something. Not only is it more expensive, I might not have that box of something.
ReplyDeleteI love corn bread. I can eat a whole pan by myself. We have to store it here in the fridge as it is so warm and it gets bugs so quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhat a deal on your cabbage! Great tip! We love cornbread also! Glad yours was so good!
ReplyDeleteI did the actual maths, you paid 37 cents/lb for the cabbage-nice!
ReplyDeleteThat all looks so good! Now you can make something cute from the pretty muslin bag!
ReplyDeleteYour soup looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteHow cool is that about them growing and grinding the cornmeal right there. :) Thank you for sharing your cornbread recipe and your soup really does look delicious!
ReplyDeleteI love your cookbook. Also I have started doing this... weighing and checking for the biggest and best item. The other day it was pre bagged tomatoes. They varied by quite a bit per bag much more than I would have expected. This is a good tip!
ReplyDeleteCornbread has always been a favourite here especially with pumpkin soup. The "kids" still love that.
We are in hot weather here now... when we come to autumn I will be right back to soup! xxx
I do the same with lettuce as you did with the cabbage. Some heads of lettuce are rather 'loose' and light, while others will be quite dense. It makes a huge difference. The bag of stone ground corn is very interesting. It must be fresher than what we buy in the store. Could you tell the difference in your muffins? I started something similar with my recipes except used one of those old self stick photo albums and am not happy with that, so 'someday' I will do it over like yours.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration, Rhonda...that's what's for supper tonight.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great deal on the cabbage. Those muffins and the soup look so delicious!
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a wonderful time in Branson.