Cheese

I know this will be a random topic, but I just shredded, and "seal a mealed" 5 lbs of cheese, so I figured it warranted a post.

I am a huge thrift buyer.  I am not an extreme couponer by any means.  I do the love the show.  It fascinates me, but I don't have that kind of time to do that.  Still, I try to be as frugal as humanly possible, which sometimes frustrates hubby, but most of the time, he appreciates it. Buying in bulk isn't always a savings.  But, when it is, I take full advantage of it.  If I find cheese for a crazy good price, I buy as much of it as I feel like we can afford at the time.  Fact, cheese freezes really well (if you don't mind that cheese frozen in a block can be kind of crumbly afterwards, which I don't).  I recently got a great deal on a 5 lb block of mozzarella cheese at Sam's Club.  Thank goodness for my grater option on my food processor, it only took me about 10 mins to shred it all.  After I had it all shredded, I added about 1/8-1/4 cup of flour to it, and tossed the cheese (this keeps it from sticking to each other and becoming a huge globby mess), and then put it in seal a meal bags.  Make sure if you do it, not to use the vacuum option, or the cheese will get stuck and globby.  I saved 1 lb of it wrapped in tin foil in the fridge.  Did you know that cheese wrapped in tin foil in the fridge lasts FORVER (ok, not really forever, but a seriously long time).  It keeps the mold off of it, and also keeps it from drying out.  Seriously one of the best tips I've received.

This time of year is a great time to get good deals on Turkey.  I love to buy an extra turkey to keep in my deep freeze, and one to cook up, cut up, and freeze the meat from.  It's usually cheaper than chicken, and you can use it in place of it, in pretty much anything you use chicken in. 

This week, I cooked up 10 lbs of chicken breasts (shredded it, and froze it), and 10 lbs of hamburger (seasoned, browned, and froze) for our deep freeze.  It will get us pretty far.  I am hoping most of the winter.  As we speak, I am cooking up a ham shank to cut up and freeze, and with my turkey points from the local grocery store I will do the same with a turkey later this week.  $40 worth of meat will last us for months if I plan our meals right.  It helps me cook quicker meals to have the meat already cooked and ready to go. I hate buying the hamburger, freezing it, then thawing it, then cooking it.  much easier this way if you have an hour to take care of it.  Besides the fact that buying hamburger in bulk can save you about $.90 lb.  That's a HUGE savings!