Using It Up

For years I made grocery lists according to what we wanted to eat for meals. Lately, I buy what is a on sale for a great price and then make it work for meals. I think it's the next level of grocery shopping.

Last week Top Foods had carrots on sale 2 lbs. / 69c. Good, nutritious food, good, money saving price. I bought several bags. I've been getting really creative with how to use them and realized yesterday as I made a carrot raisin salad to go along with dinner that I've used up the five bags I bought! I made several soups and stews that I filled with carrots, added carrots to our sloppy joes, doled them out as before meal appetizers, added them to three freezer chicken crockpot meals, and made a double batch of carrot raisin muffins.

When I think about it, this is how most of the recipes we know and love today were born. Women had what they had and they used it. If there were apples available, they baked them and fried them, stewed them and put them in to pastries. How funny that today we decide that we want an apple pie and go out to buy the ingredients.