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In this video, I share 10 thrifty kitchen tips to incorporate every week into your Traditional Foods Kitchen. Plus, in this blog post, I have a FREE checklist for you to print out and put on your refrigerator to help make these tips become a habit!
Make Being Thrifty a Habit
You may have heard people say that it will become a habit if you do something for 28 days. Well, that’s why I created this free checklist for you. I want you to download, print out, and attach this checklist to your refrigerator or pantry door. And I want you to incorporate at least 5 of these tips each week as you prepare your meals.
(And if you have any additional tips you’d recommend, share them in the comments below. 😊)
Check off those tips that you accomplish for the first week. And for each of the following weeks, try to incorporate a few different tips into your meal prep. Hopefully, by the end of the month, you will have tried each of the 10 tips at least once, and they will have become a habit.
But don’t worry if you haven’t mastered these thrifty kitchen tips after a month. Just print out another checklist and keep going. You can do this!
Before you know it, you are going to start seeing the payoff in your grocery bill. You will be spending less and eating better!
Thrifty Tips for the Traditional Food Kitchen
In my checklist, I walk through the tips every traditional foods home cook will want to make a habit of. My tips include cooking with scraps to keeping a soup container in your fridge.
The tips work well together too. For example, your soup container represents another way for you to cook with scraps. You’ll collect little bits and bobs of this and that over the week, which you can turn into a full meal. It’s so rewarding when you learn how to run an efficient no-waste kitchen!
And don’t worry, I have videos and printable recipes that walk you through how to incorporate each tip I share. You’ll find these accompanying videos in this blog post and in my thrifty kitchen tips checklist video.
So let’s start with Tip #1: Don’t Waste! This essential tip is the foundation of your Traditional Foods Kitchen. Eating real food really is not expensive, as long as you learn how to make use of every bit of food that you buy. Buying real food is a lot less expensive than buying packaged and prepared foods.
Using the Thrifty Kitchen Tips Checklist
As you work your way through the checklist, you will see that many tips revolve around Tip #1. When you learn not to waste, you begin creating full meals from what others would consider scraps.
Here are a few videos to help you get started creating delicious and nutritious meals and snacks made from scraps:
Make As Much as You Can Homemade
To have a thrifty Traditional Foods Kitchen, instead of buying expensive items at the store, you’ll want to learn how to make these items homemade.
Think about the different items that you purchase at your grocery store. Are they expensive? Are they made with the ingredients you want? Instead of buying these expensive items at the store, learn how to make them cheaper and with the ingredients you choose.
Making items homemade helps you establish your Traditional Foods Kitchen and adds to your kitchen skills. These are skills you’ll have for a lifetime and those you can share with your family and friends. In addition, learning how to make homemade food will be much less expensive and much healthier for you.
In the following videos, I show you how to get started making a few pantry staples with easy recipes covering Slice-and-Bake Crackers to 1-Minute Mayo.
And did you know that you can even make your own homemade ketchup? Plus, for extra added nutrition, you can even ferment it!
These homemade items are just a start! In my How to Stock a Pantry for the Traditional Foods Kitchen video playlist, I show you how to stock your four-corners pantry with everything from homemade cottage cheese, salad croutons, salad dressings, seasonings, and even yogurt…without a machine!
The Thrifty Soup Container
As you’re working towards using every last bit of leftover food, you may still wind up with a few scraps that you can’t envision turning into a meal. You might be surprised!
Here’s Tip #10: Start a soup container. As you go through the week, keep a lidded container in your fridge and fill it with scraps you’re not sure what to do with. Even onion skins and carrot shavings are worth saving. They are loaded with nutrition!
During the week when the container becomes full, you can cook all the scraps and puree them into a delightfully creamy and nutritious soup. Served with a thick slice of sourdough bread, you have a complete meal.
If you’re not in the mood for soup, you can take those scraps, put them into a freezer-proof bag or container, and transfer them to the freezer, where you can store them until you are ready to use them to make bone broth.
Make Bone Broth Inexpensively
In the following video, I show you how to make a chicken bone broth literally for pennies in the slow cooker. (If you’re new to cooking traditional nutrient-dense foods, start with a roast chicken. You’ll have a delicious meal and the leftover carcass to create bone broth.)
Want to make your bone broth on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot? I’ve got you covered with step-by-step instructions in the following videos:
More Thrifty Kitchen Tips
This blog post is just the beginning. In addition to watching my thrifty kitchen tips checklist video and printing out your checklist, watch the following video for five more kitchen and cooking tips to help you create a no-waste kitchen.
Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
No matter where you are on your Traditional Foods journey, this FREE 36-page Pantry List can help you know what you need to stock your Four-Corners Pantry, which consists of your:
- Working Pantry
- Refrigerator
- Freezer
- Extended Pantry (also known as your Prepper Pantry)
This Pantry List eBook is the perfect accompaniment to your Thrifty Kitchen Tips checklist. You can print out and keep both in your Kitchen Journal.
Plus, this comprehensive pantry list is chockfull of links to videos and printable recipes, showing you how to use what you stock up on. You will find this essential list invaluable!
Kitchen Academy Videos
Are you looking for more traditional foods videos? I invite you to join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members of this optional paid YouTube community get access to exclusive videos, live streams, and other members-only perks. Plus, your YouTube comments include a special members-only badge.
In the following members-only video, I talk about Traditional Foods on a Limited Budget.
Stay in Touch with Mary’s Nest
- Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
- Subscribe to Mary’s Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
- Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy (Optional Paid) - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
- Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook (Optional Paid) - Get a printed book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.
I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!
Shop for items used in this blog post or video
Favorite Kitchen Supplies
- Favorite Aprons
- Whisk
- Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
- 8-Quart Instant Pot
- Ball Electric Water Bath Canner
- Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
- Flour Sack Towels
More Kitchen Supplies with Promo Codes
Use promo code MARYSNST for a one-time 15% off Masontops and Breadsmart products on Amazon.com.
- Mockmill Grain Grinder and Whole Grains (including Einkorn, Emmer, and Spelt)
Learn more about Mockmill electric grain mills for making fresh flour and their Flake Lover's Flaker that flakes whole grain in minutes.
Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide
- Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
- Visit my Shopping Guide page
Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Lehman's, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, Plan to Eat, and More!
Recommended Reading
Disclaimer:I am not a medical doctor, a medical professional, a dietician, or a nutritionist. All content found on the MarysNest.com website, including text, images, videos, eBooks or eGuides, social media, or other formats, were created solely for informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or proper nutritional advice. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have watched in a video or read on this website. Use caution when following the recipe in this video. The creator and publisher of this video and website will not be held responsible for any adverse effects that may arise from the use of this recipe and method or any other recipe and method on this website or corresponding video channel.
If you have a mailing list, I want to be on it.
Hi Karen,
Thanks for your comment and for wanting to be part of my mailing list. You can sign up for my newsletter list at https://marysnest.com/newsletter . I periodically send out newsletters to let folks know about my latest traditional foods recipes and videos, Prepper Pantry tips, free downloads, and more!
Love and God bless,
Mary