Chicken stock saving tip - where I live, in Ireland, portioned chicken is a lot more expensive than full chicken. I buy full chicken, take it apart myself, use the carcass to make chicken stock! not only its cheaper to buy the whole chicken and portion it, but also you get free bones to make chicken stock. Sometimes when I need just chicken thighs, the already deboned stuff is significantly more expensive, so I buy the thighs with bones, take off the bone myself. if there isnt enough bones to make stock, I freeze them, and then make stock when I have enough bones in the freezer! So the real cost is only electricity and some veggies. Sometimes I save my veggie scraps and freeze them too, once I get enough of those and bones the stock is basically just the costs of electricity/gas to cook it and its super low waste!
The other thing you can do is save all of your carrot peels, onion skins/ends, and celery tops in a container in your freezer. They still add great color and flavor, but they are the stuff you'd normally compost.
He actually has a money saving oriented chicken video where he butchers a whole chicken into individual pieces and makes a bunch of food with it, including stock. I don't know why he didn't mention it here haha.
I think its same in some parts of US too! I too get whole chicken or rotisserie chicken for eating+ broth purposes. Costco rotisserie 5$, grocery store chicken 10$ organic for 12$. Meanwhile 3 thigh pieces cost 10$ 🤷🏻♀️ midwest prices so definitely will differ in your city but generally it is cheaper for whole chicken.
And I put the broth into sterilized jam jars, so you don't use extra electricity for the freezer. Moreover, it is more environmentally friendly, because you reuse glass and do not use polluting plastic.
Biggest cost of home made bread is preheating the oven and then baking it for close to an hour. This is 80% of the cost of the loaf. If you can do 2 at the same time it cuts the cost of each immensely.
I'd never considered using the whole bag of flour. Pre-heat oven once, bake 2 loaves and then a batch of rolls to freeze. That's a week of bread while I'm doing laundry. Cool.
And, at least in winter, you should be able to bump thermostat down while the oven is on? I also leave oven door open after to get all the heat out of it into my house!
You can easily bake the bread without preheating the oven if you use a dutch oven style pot... Put bread in cold oven at 430 F Fan assist for 55 minutes, then remove lid for 5-10 minutes if you want it darker. Even better - leave oven door open afterwards to 're-use' the heat until oven is cooled down.
@@househaxs For me preheating and running the oven for 1h costs more than 1kg of flour. Flour is $0,5/kg (even cheaper in bigger bulk) here but electricity due to the war is up to $1/kWh some days. I could buy a equal size bag of flour as Mike for $1, $7-8 is insane! And im in Sweden which in general is more expensive than usa.
Modern ovens are often more efficient than you think (this was my own finds when I wanted to know some cost breakdowns for electrical items in my kitchen). Once they have reached the desired temperature, they ‘switch off’ temporarily until the temperature drops (I don’t know how much). Obviously, if you open the oven door to check a lot, this will increase the amount of electricity used. I’ve just cooked a (yeast used) whole meal bread loaf. Took 25 mins, no where near an hour.
You can save even more by saving the chicken bones you would normally discard. I always keep a bag in the freezer with rotisserie chicken bones, adding to the bag until I get enough for a full batch of broth. Same with vegetable scraps, you can use the tops and peels from carrots, onions, and celery. The cost is essentially free since it's all things you would otherwise throw away or compost.
Jessica, I do the same with 2 large freezer bags. The bones from every beef, pork, chicken, lamb meal go into this bag along with every scrap of carrot peel and the ends of every root veg. Onion, garlic & ginger peel, stocks of lemon grass that might have already been roasted in a chicken. Stalks from parsley. It all goes in. I used to do long simmers but now I don’t. I realized the flavours are better with 1-2 hour simmer, an overnight rest and then a 30 min simmer before straining. I don’t know if the morning simmer is needed but I do it just in case.
That's the deciding factor for me. I'll make homemade stock instead of tossing the ingredients for it, but I just keep a few of those dirt cheap 32 oz broth containers for less than $1.50 at Aldi handy if I don't. Not as tasty, sure, but most of my family is allergic to flavor anyway. 🤣🤣
@@paulagaudet7528 I'd say the morning simmer is worth it. Kinda like with Posole, the more you let the stock sit and reheat it later on the more flavor comes out. Just make sure to refigerate after.
A couple of tips: For Jerky use the leanest cuts you can find n definitely marinade over night. And instead of buying stock ingredients save Veggie scraps n things like Rotisserie Chicken carcasses.
One tip I'll add for storing the stock: if you reduce it by half before storage, you'll have room for so much more in the freezer. I simply don't have that much space to spare in mine!
I make all kinds of stock regularly, and ALWAYS reduce it, then freeze in ice cube trays (then pop out once frozen and transfer to a plastic zip bag). 2 TB of concentrated stock is a big flavor bomb for a humble pan sauce. Just be sure to label the major flavor profile (chicken, pork, beef, lamb, ginger, citrus, etc) so you can predict how it will influence your final dish.
I love the concept. I have one suggestion tho, instead of measuring the savings in terms of how many times more cheap is it to make it that to buy it, measure in terms of weekly grosseries savings. For example, on the sprouts at most you saved 3 dollars even tho it was 10 times cheaper. However, the stock was only 6 times cheaper than the most expensive option but it saved you 14 dollars. As a home cook trying to save money, big ticket items like that give me more bang for my (work) buck
Sure, but the sprouts also involve basically no time investment, whereas stock is likely to take several times as long, even though it's also mostly hands-off (which also depends on your living conditions, like if there are kids around that you might not want to leave a simmering pot going unattended).
Hello! I hope you're having a wonderful day! A couple tips for making the beef jerky. If you want to store it more long term, it is best to cut off as much excess fat as you can because the fat can spoil and hold more moisture, therefore potentially ruining your jerky (if I remember correctly). Another smaller tip is when your jerky finishes, pat it down on both sides with paper towel to remove the excess grease. When the jerky cools down, it will turn white and almost look a little like mold. I had several people turn down trying my jerky when I first start making it for this reason. I'm just a hobbyist when it comes to jerky but these are the things I've learned over the years. Have a great day!
@@naomimccowen2720 yes, please elaborate on that.. i often find myself having to throw away veggies gone bad (or having to quickly use them before they do!)
3:59 at this point you can remove the loaf from the oven. Let it cool slightly and place in the freezer. This is great when you are making multiple loafs. You can remove one from the freezer and bake again in a hot 400 degree oven for 20 min.
My grocery store sells "turkey backs" and "chicken backs" that have a generous amount of meat still on them, and they are only about $1. So I buy a few, and put them in the instant pot for an amazing stock to use throughout the week.
I wish more grocery stores would sell useful off cuts and bones and stuff. I think as a society we've moved past the "everything has to be perfectly presented" phase and would rather have inexpensive, healthy whole foods. This would help the supply chain as well. Although I would prefer that everyone decentralize as much as possible
Awesome video! I’ve been grinding through your videos! Compared to other channels, you really show how accessible more advanced/technical cooking techniques are. It’s really changed my cooking- from fermenting to things like this! As an addition to cost savings for the stock, I save my veggie scraps in the freezer and add that instead of using full carrots or other vegetables.
Can’t compare lentils with other sprouts because the cost of seeds are the biggest difference. Lentils are very inexpensive. If you know where to get alpha alpha or broccoli seeds in bulk for a good price please add a link. Love your videos. You brought my cooking abilities to next level. Thanks!
Yes. I like watching this sort of thing, but I was disappointed that this wasn't a more serious comparison. I would have liked to see the several different seeds sprouted and then compare them to the same varieties store bought. He doesn't count cost of power or how much water used or how much time spent. I used to read stuff that included stuff like that, but it's decades old.
@@dawnellherrera9338 If you get a stacking sprouter that has four sprouting trays I have found that you can have up to four types of seeds that all are in the process of sprouting by day three. I never had to soak the seeds overnight because you would pour fresh water over the top tray and it would drip down through to the others via gravity. After 20 minutes at the most you pour off the water in the bottom collector tray and put the stack of trays back onto the collector tray. I could get the equivalent to three 4 ounce packs of grocery store sprouts every five days. If you go to an Indian/Middle Eastern store they have a ton of exotic seeds like fenugreek and mustard in cheap bags ready to start the sprouting process. Even bird seed has sprouting possibilities such as sunflower or millet seeds.
Have you ever considered making a German/Austrian style bread? We have a huge culture around bread and somewhat around 300 types of it. Its quite different to your sourdough bread. Pretty much always dark and often made with a lof of seeds. Outside of these two countries I have never found something comparable (except in special bakeries led by germans or austrians). I think it would be a realy interesting video to see you try that out.
@@peteroz7332 we also use mostly sourdough for it. Some bakeries have a sourdough starter that dates back multiple centuries and those usually are the best ones.
@@peteroz7332 We don't tend to specifically sourdough because it is implied in most styles of breads. But often it is a mix of levain and packaged yeast to get the benefits of both.
Huge fan of homemade stocks. Absolute necessity in our home. My lady's joints have taken a beating over the years. Great to sip on a cold night or while nursing a cold. Great nutritious alternative to ramen broth, just add your noodles to it along with whatever else you like in your bowl. Great for rice dishes, couscous or various grains to make your side dish a bit heartier.
Oh wow!!! I've done sprouting before but never thought about sprouting LENTILS! The problem I've had with other seed sprouting is when a seed doesn't sprout...and then you chomp down on it crack a tooth--made me scared to sprout. I doubt this would be a problem with lentils. Thanks! Also, thanks for the encouragement on making sourdough. I'm getting ready to start the sourdough journey. I'm so excited!
One thing in these "Price break down" videos people never look at is the price of cooking. It's not massive, but it's significant. If you're baking something for, say, an hour, it's 35c or so added onto the cost, depending on your location and fuel source. What does that dehydrator cost to run per hour?
Even at US average costs, an electric oven will only use about $0.21/hour. Personally, where I live it's more like $0.08-$0.12. I have different rates depending on the time of day (more expensive when people get up in the morning, and come home at night, moderate through the day, cheap at night). I tend to do longer cooking at night, mostly, which gets me the lower end, but the higher price I listed is mid-day rates. Now, a dehydrator is more of a factor. A big one like that might be using around 1 kWh, so for 12 hours, at average US prices, you're at $1.70 of electricity cost. Even here though, it's only about 5% of the total cost.
Nobody ever includes the time of prepping, cooking and cleaning up. I cook 3 meals a day. I'm in the kitchen all day. I hate it. No joy. But I hate fast food and prefer my own food. But my time is the most expensive item.
@@sunflowerbaby1853 For me, the time/energy/"spoons" investment is greater, since my ADHD brain has trouble with organizing the process enough to be efficient, a single meal-prep can take five or six hours (yet only provide a handful of meals, especially if my family comes along to take servings because hey, I happen to have made food while they were in the area), and the cleanup stage is disheartening (I use way more dishes than I need to). A single meal-prep can literally be the only substantial thing I accomplish during a given day. I can't imagine being the one in charge of meals for an entire family regularly.
Am definitely going to pursue making sprouts. I've been making veggie stock for a couple years now. Price: Free! Just keep a gallong ziploc in the freezer, put veggie trimmings/scraps in until it's full. Dump into crock pot and cover with water. Let simmer overnight, cool enough to handle and squeeze all the stock out of the veggies. That's it, super simple,... and did I mention it's free?!
(16:09) wonderful video! i think you should make this a series! as an extremely broke 20 year old who loves to cook, i’m looking for ways to save money by cooking. love the videos!
I agree, that would make a good series. By the way, if the sprouts interest you, you might want to read up first. They can cause illness from bacteria growth, plus 22 people died in the UK from them. Good article at University of Connecticut: "Seed and Bean Sprouts".
I like pre-cooking sauces and keeping them in the fridge, as cost-reduction comes down to energy consumption aswell. So everytime you cook/ bake your carbs, proteins, vegetables you don't have to worry about that extra pan or pot. Teriyaki is my favourite - super long-life and only gets better. I use garlic, ginger, green onion, equal parts light & dark soy, mirin, sake.
another benefit I’ve realized about a quality stock is the protein included. if collagen etc is actually dissolved within it, it will be filling in addition to nutritious!
As someone that makes jerky all the time because the store bought stuff generally sucks (and my mom always made it while I was growing up so I've always had the homemade stuff to compare to), I just wanna say that london broil makes great beef jerky and is frequently on sale (as low as 3.99 per pound these days where I live). Would also recommend marinating it in low sodium soy sauce for at least 12 hours. And on a related note, if you ever have access to venison then you should make some jerky out of it because deer jerky is even more delicious than beef jerky.
I still have great nostalgia for the dried venison I had once when I was a teen -- have tried venison a few times since then but never really got that "oh man, this is the best meat *in the world* " feeling like I did with that original one 😋
This video right here is one of the reasons I love your videos so much! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into researching and sharing your tips, it's so helpful, Mike ☺
12:54 the difference is you bought the bones just to make the broth. We save our bones from other meals which would otherwise be trash so our homemade stock is basically free so it really does actually save us some money.
Oops the water for the huge bread batch is going to be 1700 grammes (g) or 1700 millilitres (ml) or 1.7 litres. Great video! Sprouted seeds/ lentils are a huge source of fresh crunch in the winter for me. So many different types to have a go at, too.
Actually, you're supposed to thoroughly cook sprouts (or don't eat them) - suggests the US gov. A really helpful article is by the University of Connecticut: "Seed and Bean Sprouts". Sprouts have gotten thousands of people ill, plus 22 died in the UK. The plants themselves can have pahtogens internalized, plus bacteria reproduces rapidly in a warm, moist environment - - which is what you have when sprouting.
Regular lentils cannot be eaten raw and need to be cooked fully to be edible. Whereas, sprouted lentils go through germination, which breaks down certain nutrients, making them easier to digest, and they are perfectly acceptable to eat raw.
@@jimbojones8978 you're talking about whether lentil can be eaten raw, but wow's talking about bacteria 🦠. The lentil itself may be fine to digest but still get you sick from bacteria that was already inside the lentils when you bought them. If he's right then pop them into boiling soup or a toaster oven first to kill the 🦠.
The only thing I don’t make myself are the spouts, since my family aren’t big eaters of sprouts. That being said, most of my broths, bread and jerky are made at home. Canadian prices are much higher here, but I’m still saving a lot of money by making it myself. Thanks for the cost analysis Mike. It really put things into perspective.
Do you have a video on making sprouts from start to finish? Covering all of the types, methods, times, etc? I've never seen this before and didn't even know it was possible. Interested in the topic for sure. I'll be doing some research. Great video!
So easy...just remember to rinse 2-3x a day/ I use a piece of cloth or a dish cloth for the top/lid. U can run water in, and drain w/o removing the cloth. A rubber band keeps the cloth on the jar.
This was very helpful. Having “homemade” ingredients is wonderful. Please consider more of this type of video. After all, we can control our quality as well.
I make chicken stock from Costco’s rotisserie chicken. It costs $4.99 and I get at least 12-16 cups of stock. Although I do use veggies scraps I save. Plus I use the meat in salads, quesadillas, sandwiches, etc. The best 5 bucks I spend!
I always just save the ends of bread loves to make croutons or breadcrumbs with. It's free basically since you had the bread anyway, and no one likes sandwiches made with the ends.
with the increase of price of energy recently, it would be nice if you would have add those costs as well. (at least for those products that you were cooking over night/long time - break/stock/beef). But in general awesome ideas to start :)
If he actually used the energy cost, it would be pretty close to a wash in price and you'd be wasting your hours of work though. Most foods are sold with pretty low margins and economies of scale always apply. This only works as saving time if you dont value your time at all. Prep + cleaning time is probably the biggest price tag here.
He's American, right? Electricity prices in the US haven't changed much, and American electricity prices are 50% higher than where I am in Canada. Even the dehydrator is only ending up as about 5% of the total cost of the jerky (about $1.70 for the 12-hour run at 1 kW). Time is definitely more of a factor, but people have weird conceptions of time, like if they didn't do A with it they'd do B with it, when in reality, a lot of our time is effectively lost in the midst of everything else we're doing. Also, certain things don't really take much time. Making the sprouts here takes less than 5 minutes of actual time, even if you dawdle. Making stock takes maybe 30 minutes total, the rest being time it's cooking that you don't need to pay too much attention to it. If you were only making a tiny portion, that might not be worth it, but you can make a lot of stock at once. Bread tends to be more of a time hog though, and tends to make a mess.
One of my best personal savings, is scouring the supermarkets for marked down food, you usually get like 20% or so off, and i often find ingredients i can use to make burritos, cheap and filling. Maybe not as healthy as the stuff you’re showing off, so i guess i’ll have to try some of your tips out!
Hey man, I just want to say I've been subscribed since 2015. You helped me get through freshmen days and then some. If you ever have the time to host an online cooking class I'm down.
I'm a bit experimental in my home cooking (only ever need to cook for myself). I don't use oil for stovetop cooking (or ever, if I can get away with it). When I'm winding down with a soup or stew in the evening, what's really useful & cheap is Breakfast Broth. Without oil, stir-fries need sauce or some extra liquid in the pan. I save the remaining pool for another dish with different ingredients, or keep it warm on the stove to pour over some veggies for a post-meal-prepping snack.
I've been subscribed for years now, but I'm just now starting to binge all your videos and I honestly think some of the things I've learned will change my life. I have so much motivation to cook that I haven't had in a long time thanks to you.
As has been pointed out already, the ingredients of sour dough bread cost about 20 cents, but I literally get emails from the gas company if I run the stove or boil some beans for an hour at this point, which likely costs about $5 an hour at current rates.
An induction burner (like in the video) will significantly reduce your the energy cost component, and it allows you to simmer the stock in another section of your workspace, leaving the stove top free.
this is such a great video! I think it'd be cool to have you do a timer for each thing as well. That way, you can do a financial cost breakdown but also a time cost breakdown. Like the bread would not be a "regular activity" for me just because it takes 3 days, but would be a nice thing to do when it's a slow week around here.
It’s probably like 2 hours tops of hands on time over the course of 3 days. Most of the time is just letting the bread sit in the fridge. 5-10 minutes to combine everything. 5-10 minutes per stretch and fold. 5-10 minutes to shape, 5-10 minutes to prep baking. Bread making is very cost effective for the total hands on time involved.
If time is an obstacle and you're not picky about the artisanal vibe, you might consider investing in a bread baker machine. I bought one at my local thrift store a few years ago for ten bucks, and it's one of my favorite kitchen appliances. I just need five minutes to add the ingredients and then hit the start button. That's it. The bread baker does the rest. I make fresh bread every week this way, and I love it. I haven't bought bread at the store in at least five years (I was bread baking this way even pre-pandemic). That bread baker has saved me hundreds of dollars, and the bread it makes tastes better than store-bought.
First thanks for all your great work and shared knowledge! Second but In the same vein I would share some of my knowledge. From one pro home cook to another might I suggest you trim the fat more off the round roast before dehydrating into jerky. Most people find it unappetizing and it lessens the storage times as the fat will go rancid before the dried meat would go bad otherwise. Also if you have a smoker rather than a dehydrator you can get an extra level of flavor from using smoke to cure the jerky, but you can come close with liquid smoke in the marinade. Thanks again!
It's more like $0.25/loaf using US average electricity rates. And that's assuming you're only baking 1 loaf at a time. Gas is generally comparable, or less (in the US anyway).
@@BarryPiper Correct, but do consider that the time spent cooking isn't contrasted with no time spent, but the additional time of acquiring the alternative. That time cost will vary significantly.
Going to do the sprouts and bone broth. I already do sauerkraut - home made can't even be compared to store bought in my opinion, so I'd make it even if it costed more, which of course it doesn't. Had to stop making bread when I went low-carb, but I am finding that I'm spending a lot on bone broth. I make my own yoghurt, which isn't cheaper than buying plain, because for some nutty reason, whole milk is in the specialty food section or my local grocery store. But at least I know what's in it. Thanks for another great video!
For the bread, I just don’t see the long term difference. You can get 3-4 loafs at Costco for around the same price… maybe a bit more. BUT, three days to make these factors into my decision. Time is valuable. I would be more than willing to pay a few dollars more versus spending hours and days cooking bread every single week… am I alone in this? Now, I know I am very privileged to have access to Costco. If I didn’t then I might explore making it at home. But that’s not my current situation.
Not you are not, he doesn't consider time, effort and gas/electric bill, they should be included in the price, your time and effort has a price even tho most people ignore it. I think sometimes it's nice to have a homemade thing, because the taste is better and you also choose the quality of ingredients and etc, but not always.
Time is a resource too, and making your own bread takes effort. Not to mention the sourdough starter was premade and sesame seeds are expensive. I'm not knocking making bread at home, but looking at it as purely a financial win is misguided.
Stock - once you pour off the rendered fat, add a bit of hot water to the pan to dissolve the brown bits on the bottom. Then just dump it straight into the pot. No missed pieces and not a bunch of time spent scraping the pan. Also, I roast the veg with the bones because caramlised veg equals richer flavour too.
I make hummous and not-quite hummous (basically everything but proper tahini, although I toast sesame seeds for some of that flavor) and it's a lot cheaper than commercial versions, which often disappoint flavor-wise anyway. I'll spread my mushed-up, spiced chickpeas on a flat pan bread (often store-bought) and add green olives and/or home-pickled red onions. And that's another great item to make -- vinegar-steeped (I'm not bold enough to attempt lacto-fermentation) pickled vegetables!
I think you need to add the cost of energy in those breadown. On something like a bread, it's not negligible (and a good idea to cook multiple at once)
Ovens average out to about 3000kwh of electrical usage. Depending on energy expenses that is roughly 40¢/hr to run your oven assuming it's electric. Alternatively you could use an air fryer which uses closer to 1700watts, but doesn't usually get over 400°
@@jamestaylor9887 thanks for making the math. On a dutch oven, there is a long preheating too but shouldn't make a huge difference if you cook multiple breads in a row. Still profitable so !
You can also look into other cooking techniques beyond the air fryer. I believe there are such things as stove top breads and such that can still be cost effective if your electric bills are on the "high end" of per kw/h usage. If you are in luck, your electric company might offer incentives to use electricity off peak hours (usually into 10AM then after 7PM and surely after 5PM for the most stressful) to get ahead of the game.
@@heidihenninger6253 You can negate this by simply fridging it. Refidging any cultures will majority "slows things down" so you don't need to keep on "upscaling" the starters just to keep it "alive". If you wanna say keep only a quart jar of it instead of eventually landing yourself in a food grade bucket, you can.
Thanks for your videos. I watch them all the time! I’m wondering if you can do a video about how to make a stock that is naturally gelatinous. I have seen so many people make this gelatinous stock and I’m really curious about how to do it from your perspective. Thank you!
I do my own mung bean sprouts at home as well as make my own stock, usually turkey or chicken. I also make my own yogurt and kombucha and save money there as well. Thanks for the other tips.
I have been growing sprouts for years but no success with Mung beans as they grow roots and become hard before I can eat them what is your secret? Do they need to be in the dark only? Thanks!
@@linedezainde I grow alfa alfa sprouts and mung beans and I always grow them in a dark environment. They grow better and tastes better. Sun might make the prettier but not tastier.
For homemade stock, I've been saving all my onion and garlic 'waste' (anything I'd toss in the compost went into a freezer bag) I made a turkey stock with a deboned turkey (sucker was massive) the stock was beautiful, all the collagen from the bones had made it gel and it was so rich and vibrant.
I don't do this often because I live by myself. But I made turkey stock when turkey was cheap over the holidays. It was fabulous and I freeze it ice cube size so I can pull what I need for a small meal!
Hey man - The stock would even be cheaper if you saved your own chicken and beef bones. I like to cook a whole chicken once every week to week and a half. Once everyone is done, I rip the meat off of the carcass and put it in the freezer. When I get around 3 of them, I make my stock. And even cheaper if you save the ends that you cut off of onions, (onion skins too), carrots, celery, etc. I occasionally put that stuff in the freezer also. Can get it to where you are almost making it for nothing except electrical or gas cost.
Wow great tips love the sprouting lentils idea! I made chicken jerkey for my dogs ($20.00 a bag in the pet store). You guys got a new place and its lovely🐸
I started making my own sourdough in 2018. I was going to make Navy Bean soup and wanted a nice loaf of bread. I paid $9 for the loaf then. I haven't since though. I have two loaves in the middle of a 72 hour cold ferment. I'm baking tomorrow.
I love your videos, but i must check 5 times/videos for the conversion from imperial to metric units. It would be nice to add on editing, just a little text on screen with imperial and metrics units :) (when you are talking oz and F°) Keep going the amazing content!
And you are even switching to metrics units (like every Pro chef... and home cook) on some instance, confusing your main Freedom audience. A little text would be nice for 'murican and normal people... :D :D
You need to factor in the cost of energy, especially in the current energy crisis. Pre heating my oven and then cooking for 40 minutes costs £1-2, its the main reason I've stopped making my own bread, Nice Bread where I'm from (UK) costs £2-4.
You’re so right. I’d also include the time you spend making the food. My time in the kitchen takes away from time I could be spending elsewhere and doing something else like home repairs.
Yeah, I could definitely understand this as a consideration. At least in my area of the US, we have a lot of processed junk at our stores. So to get something high quality, especially if it’s organic, would be at least £4-5.
TBF... Jerky requires an investment. Cheapest investment is making a biltong box... but dehydrators can run into the thousands. I just picked up a dehydrator on sale to start making carne seca. Excalibur was the brand ... got it on amazon.
As a pro chef, I can explain the cost difference. Materials are the same but when you add in labor and time, the costs go up. Not all of the products are sold by the spoilage date. That equals lost profit, so they have to boost the sale price to make up for it.
I suggest you read up. Whether commercially done or sprouted at home, it is the perfect environment to rapidly grow bacteria. Plus, the seeds/beans can be from a plant with pathogens internalized. University of Connecticut has an article: "Seed and Bean Sprouts"
@@wownewstome6123 oh whoa interesting…. Thanks for pointing that out lol, I’ve started to grow some already since lots of articles say there’s increased vitamins but I’ll refrain now. I wonder why that’s different from plants grown from seeds though, eg basil which would still be raw?
I used to sprout green French lentils all the time, they are a bit more delicate than brown lentils. OMG, so good!! I put them on everything. The sprouting-in-the-dark info goes around because of mung bean sprouting techniques. They change their character and tenderness if grown freely in light, but this is not really the case with most other seeds/beans, at least not noticeably. Direct sunlight will cook them, so don't pick a sunny patch of counter, but I had mine in front of my north window in my kitchen with no problems. (Being me, I needed to keep them by the sink so I would remember to rinse them.)
Great video as always, super helpful tips. I never thought to grow my own sprouts like that. BTW, a few years ago you did a video on a healthy(ish) donut. Any chance you could challenge yourself to do something similar with pizza? Not a cauliflower or something base. Real base, real cheese/toppings, etc. But as healthy as possible?
What you have when sprouting is a moist, warm environment with nutrients - - all things that help bacteria multiply rapidly. The US gov suggests people don't eat them, or at least cook them thoroughly.
Now finally that I've seen your process I'm finally go and build a sprouting glass. It's not even that store bought sprouts are way more expensive, they're also not always available where I live, especially not when I want them.
Besides the cost, a huge advantage of making your own jerky is you get to control the recipe 100% to your liking. For example, I like more spicy and less sweet so I can customize accordingly. (full disclosure, I have never made regular jerky, I have only made mushroom jerky. But the idea is the same)
I'm really curious to learn about sprouting seeds and how does that change their nutritional value and their culinary value? Is there any content about this?
What a helpful video. I don’t eat bread - it’s a texture thing - but I do make my own sprouts, broth and jerky. I just started making sprouts and I really need to get one of those sprouter pans. Looks so much easier.
You may want to read the article "Seed and Bean Sprouts" at University of Connecticut's site. *The US gov advises people to not eat sprouts,* or to cook them thoroughly. Not only does bacteria grow on them rapidly (since a moist, warm environment), but they have caused outbreaks of E. Coli, etc. 22 deaths in the UK.
@@wownewstome6123 I cover both my store-bought and homemade sprouts for about 30-45 seconds in a bowl of boiling water. Then drain, cool, dry and eat. This came from a suggestion by Dr Berg on his TH-cam channel. He says it brings out certain nutrients in the sprouts. Don’t know how true that is but it feels like I’m cleaning them so I do it. I don’t notice a difference in taste or texture, altho they do darken a little so maybe they’re cooked. I’ve never gotten sick from sprouts but then my sprouts never last longer than 3-4 days in the fridge. I eat a lot of it!
@@minnap At least you are trying, but *it takes 1 - 3 minutes of a rolling boil to kill pathogens in drinking water,* per EPA. gov. (Depends on your altitude.) From LeafTV: Rinse, then boil sprouts for 4 - 6 minutes! Then put in ice water, then drain.
@@minnap I've given up on Dr. Berg. He's not a medical doctor. If I make comments on food or health, I provide sources: studies, universities, clinics, specific medical doctors, or gov sites.
@@minnap I understand you haven't gotten sick from sprouts, yet, but of the 22 who died from sprouts, how many times did they eat them (raw) before dying? We will never know. Best of luck to you, in any case.
If you want actual savings on stock you might want to consider a pressure cooker. I don’t have a quality comparison, but you extract a ton of flavor from bones in less than 2h.
I downvoted, but I used to make TH-cam videos and hated when people downvoted and didn't tell me why - so here goes... Basically a lot of this stuff feels out of reach. First is the time commitment. Multiple days? That's gotta be too much for most of your viewers. Then on top of that you're only saving money when compared to higher end products. Basically you are saying, "spend more time on something so you can afford the better quality" - but I would rather spend less time and just get slightly above average quality so I can focus on other things in my life.
First off, with bread, you ONLY need the most time on day one to get things made, then an hour each day to handle the dough, if that long, then place it back in the bowl with a damp towel, and let it sit the rest of the day. Next day, to the next stage in maybe 20 minutes, place in the bowel with damp towel, then on the final day, bake off and there, you do not need to babysit the oven while it bakes, an hour per batch, if you nave 4 loaves, you can often do 2 in the oven if you have 2 vessels to bake it in, but that is it, the rest of the time is hands off, so you CAN do other things while it sits in between times of handling. For dehydrating, much of the time is cutting the meat and a few minutes to marinate, then sit in the fridge to marinate while you do other things, then when ready to dehydrate, you take several minutes to place on the racks, load the machine and turn on. At that point, it's HANDS OFF until done. It's not all constant work from start to finish and plenty of time to do other things in between.
made homemade sprouts after watching this, cannot believe how easy and awesome they are! Love your videos, I have revamped my kitchen and meal prepping since starting to watch, even started my own continuous brew kombucha! thanks for all the tips and the approachable nature of your vids; so many of these videos remind me of the DIY woodworking videos I watch where they utilize all sorts of insane tools and skillsets, but you keep it pretty simple and I have made some great food cause of it!
I save all bones from eating chicken wings and other meals that come with bones in a plastic back in the freezer door. When it gets full, I make broth with it. It's free, so I love that. To save space in your freezer, you can lay flat and freeze sandwich bags of stock. Once frozen, you can stack them like a bookshelf. It defrosts faster and easier to portion control too.
Vegetarian stock: I save all my garlic onions, carrots etc skins, roots, etc adding day by day to a bread bag in my freezer and when I have enough to get to the fill line on my Instant Pot’s liner, I add water to that line, process 30-40 Minutes, natural release. Then drain, squeeze out remaining stock & its done. I add 3-5 bay leaves, marjoram, thyme, sage, oregano, turmeric and fenugreek. If doing spanish type soup with it, cumin.
I make excellent chicken broth from the carcass of my Costco rotisserie chicken. Basically my broth is made from something that I used to throw away. So…it’s free, right?
Thank You! Yes, it is. He really missed the boat on this one. I roast a chicken every 3 weeks or so and save the carcass and tomato, carrot, onion and celery scraps in my freezer. I fire up my pressure cooker for 2 hours with aforementioned stuff that would otherwise require disposal with a tablespoon of vinegar. I make a stock that is probably every bit as good as his and my only costs are tap water, vinegar and and the electricity for my Instant Pot. He’s a very resourceful cook, but he’s got quite a ways to go on home economics.
I buy 25 lb bags of bread flour at costco and then add vital wheat gluten (Anthony's from Amazon) to turn it into "premium" bread flour. For my recipe I use 21 oz flour (2 oz come from the starter) and 1 oz VWG, total cost under $1 per extra large (~2 lb) loaf.
For super lazy people like me that want to spend less on both money and time in the kitchen, spaghetti sauce. It's very easy to make and taste better than anything you can buy premade at the grocery store, especially since you can put in the ingredients you personally prefer. Takes about 1 or 2 hours to prepare and 4-5 hours to cook, where you only need to check it every ~30 minutes, for about 30 to 40 servings depending on how much you make/eat. You can freeze it in containers and it will stay good all year long.
Also, salsa. And actually, the health benefits of homemade salsa shouldn't be overlooked. It's already a good way to add flavor without much in the way of calories, but what really made me think twice about the distinction was the 21-Day Fix, which lists homemade salsa as a serving of Vegetables but store-bought salsa as a serving of Fruit -- purely because of the sugar content!
Making yogourt at home is much cheaper than store bought and is super easy to do. One kg (or a litre, same thing) costs me just over 1,25 $ to make. Store bought yogourt is easily 4 or 5 times the cost of making it at home. Don't waste money on buying an electric appliance to make it. All that is needed is to keep the containers at an even temperature, something that can be achieved by placing them in a cooler.
The stock idea is legit. I usually pressure cook it in an InstantPot, but I use a Costco chicken carcass after pulling all the meat off of it. I also keep the parts of vegetables you'd normally throw out: broccoli stems, carrot peels, onion peels/ends, and celery tips. I keep these items in a bag in the freezer so that I can make this around once a week when I'm lazy and bring home a Costco chicken.
The stock argument could actually be much more intriguing if you get bone beef in or whole chicken and butcher it yourself the bones will technically be free and you end up with a a ton of shredded chicken (in my experience about 1 portion per chicken)
Hey! Considering you used a dehydrator to make the jerky, but talked about sprouts and said you can't grow OUTSIDE during winter - a small, self-contained hydroponic system with 9 to 12 net pots available for growing - you can have fresh lettuce (to go with your sprouts) and/or a couple of your favorite fresh herbs like basil for making fresh pesto! These small hydroponic kits are so easy to use and while you would have that first time expense (probably cheaper than the dehydrator!), it can be used over and over again. Considering that you can harvest a whole head of "live lettuce" like the bags in grocery store with root on them and be REALLY fresh because it was growing only a moment before, you are not just saving money but getting the best fresh lettuce available. Just thought I'd share...I have three of the hydroponic systems and they produce for me from mid-fall to early spring inside my house.
Dude, when he showed the flour price I almost choked..but I live in Germany were you would be tarred and feathered for meddling with anything bread related
When I make stock I use leftover veggies that I have previously frozen. Veggies leftover from when I make a salad or any other dish that has vegetables. There is always some leftover vegetable matter that goes into my stock. I also put in herbs and spices. This makes a far superior stock
"How to make cheap stock" *Spends the same equivalent price of store bought stock and doesnt account for the energy spent on leaving a slow cooker on for almost a day*
@@Bramble20322 Those cheap store bought stocks taste like crap though, and you don't know the ratio of water/bones they use. They definitely don't solidify and gel the way a nutritious collagen filled bone broth would.
Stock Tip: Keep a bucket in the freezer and throw whatever type of leftover chicken bones, vegetable scraps, herb scraps etc. I especially like to save bones from large chunks of meat and chicken that my husband smoked in the smoker. I have so much stock in the freezer from doing it this way. I consider this a cost of $0, bc everything was either going to be tossed or composted 🎉 😊
if you don't have dehydrator - but have a cool dry space - look up the process of Biltong. A South African favourite. It's more preserved meat (vinegar and salt bath) than jerky which is flavoured and dried. Definitely doing the sprouts.
Mike,it’s even cheaper, faster and waaayyy easier to make a no knead bread. I make one loaf a week on my 15 minute break in the morning on Mondays and bake during my lunch break.
I have been making no-knead bread in cast iron enamel posts for 10 years now. We don't buy store bought bread except for bagels (working on that one too) I make 8 loaves at a time and freeze them. (2 month storage time) 25 lbs of flour makes 16 loaves and my Sam's club carries that bag for $10-11. Great value!!
nice cost saving ideas! Would also add that making your own sauces at home e.g. simple teriyaki sauce or curry sauce is not too much effort and saves a ton of money as you don't need to buy the whole bottle and usually costs only a few cents to make. Snacks such as popcorn and mochi are also super simple to make at a fraction of what they can be bought for in store. A lot of people don't know mochi can be made in the microwave from glutinous rice flour, water and sugar for like 10x less the cost of buying in store. it only gets laborious when you start to roll it with fillings.
@@333whiteraven We do have a lot of raised gardens and try to grow as much as we can. That is our organics. But what you said that organics in the store/market not being healthy ... I didnt know, for us its the cost, no chemicals should be cheaper product but its more expensive and we don't see the point. Thanks Raven for the tip
@@mikevp5303 I see the point, but not so much the costs and DO buy when the cost difference is minimal, the same for grass fed or cage free anything because the way beef is raised on regular farms is an environmental issue, and the meat may be good, but not always the most healthy compared to grass fed (and grass fed is tastier too). By the same token, it should NOT cost 2x more than regular product. I live where I can get anything organic, or regular easily enough, but it's the costs as my budget is very limited right now. That said, anything store bought/processed that is organic, I find does not taste all that great, often lacking seasoning (salt mainly) and can taste odd or bland. Organic beans and all that, sure, why not? Especially if they don't cost that much more than non organic product.
Great Job on the cost efficient savings ... I'd like to see alot more of these . I've been watching you for 3 years now and appreciate your efforts. Thanks Mike Dennis (Canada)
I know what you means but there are times and situations where it's actually can be. For example, most of us aren't gonna run out and get a Harvest Right Freeze Drier even if we really like freeze dried foods, for our pets, etc. So ya, there are still reasons to be had to buying we just MIGHT wanna dial it back quite a bit though!
@@MisterFuturtastic Very true, I think the west coast (or Oregon and Washington anyway, as much of our electric comes from hydro) can be less, but California may have to use other sources and deal with brownouts at times per year and thus can cost more.
Great video. Thanks Mike! I know Josh is doing is own thing with YOU ENJOY LIFE but would love to see him make an appearance on your channel some day for old times sake. I got into cooking around 2015 and the Brothers Green videos taught me so many awesome lessons. Thank you both!
Chicken stock saving tip - where I live, in Ireland, portioned chicken is a lot more expensive than full chicken. I buy full chicken, take it apart myself, use the carcass to make chicken stock! not only its cheaper to buy the whole chicken and portion it, but also you get free bones to make chicken stock. Sometimes when I need just chicken thighs, the already deboned stuff is significantly more expensive, so I buy the thighs with bones, take off the bone myself. if there isnt enough bones to make stock, I freeze them, and then make stock when I have enough bones in the freezer! So the real cost is only electricity and some veggies. Sometimes I save my veggie scraps and freeze them too, once I get enough of those and bones the stock is basically just the costs of electricity/gas to cook it and its super low waste!
The other thing you can do is save all of your carrot peels, onion skins/ends, and celery tops in a container in your freezer. They still add great color and flavor, but they are the stuff you'd normally compost.
He actually has a money saving oriented chicken video where he butchers a whole chicken into individual pieces and makes a bunch of food with it, including stock. I don't know why he didn't mention it here haha.
Besides, you could probably compost the solids leftover from the stock when you're done.
I think its same in some parts of US too! I too get whole chicken or rotisserie chicken for eating+ broth purposes. Costco rotisserie 5$, grocery store chicken 10$ organic for 12$. Meanwhile 3 thigh pieces cost 10$ 🤷🏻♀️ midwest prices so definitely will differ in your city but generally it is cheaper for whole chicken.
And I put the broth into sterilized jam jars, so you don't use extra electricity for the freezer. Moreover, it is more environmentally friendly, because you reuse glass and do not use polluting plastic.
Biggest cost of home made bread is preheating the oven and then baking it for close to an hour. This is 80% of the cost of the loaf. If you can do 2 at the same time it cuts the cost of each immensely.
I'd never considered using the whole bag of flour. Pre-heat oven once, bake 2 loaves and then a batch of rolls to freeze. That's a week of bread while I'm doing laundry. Cool.
And, at least in winter, you should be able to bump thermostat down while the oven is on? I also leave oven door open after to get all the heat out of it into my house!
You can easily bake the bread without preheating the oven if you use a dutch oven style pot... Put bread in cold oven at 430 F Fan assist for 55 minutes, then remove lid for 5-10 minutes if you want it darker. Even better - leave oven door open afterwards to 're-use' the heat until oven is cooled down.
@@househaxs For me preheating and running the oven for 1h costs more than 1kg of flour. Flour is $0,5/kg (even cheaper in bigger bulk) here but electricity due to the war is up to $1/kWh some days. I could buy a equal size bag of flour as Mike for $1, $7-8 is insane! And im in Sweden which in general is more expensive than usa.
Modern ovens are often more efficient than you think (this was my own finds when I wanted to know some cost breakdowns for electrical items in my kitchen). Once they have reached the desired temperature, they ‘switch off’ temporarily until the temperature drops (I don’t know how much). Obviously, if you open the oven door to check a lot, this will increase the amount of electricity used. I’ve just cooked a (yeast used) whole meal bread loaf. Took 25 mins, no where near an hour.
You can save even more by saving the chicken bones you would normally discard. I always keep a bag in the freezer with rotisserie chicken bones, adding to the bag until I get enough for a full batch of broth. Same with vegetable scraps, you can use the tops and peels from carrots, onions, and celery. The cost is essentially free since it's all things you would otherwise throw away or compost.
Jessica, I do the same with 2 large freezer bags. The bones from every beef, pork, chicken, lamb meal go into this bag along with every scrap of carrot peel and the ends of every root veg. Onion, garlic & ginger peel, stocks of lemon grass that might have already been roasted in a chicken. Stalks from parsley. It all goes in. I used to do long simmers but now I don’t. I realized the flavours are better with 1-2 hour simmer, an overnight rest and then a 30 min simmer before straining. I don’t know if the morning simmer is needed but I do it just in case.
That's the deciding factor for me. I'll make homemade stock instead of tossing the ingredients for it, but I just keep a few of those dirt cheap 32 oz broth containers for less than $1.50 at Aldi handy if I don't. Not as tasty, sure, but most of my family is allergic to flavor anyway. 🤣🤣
Yep - this is exactly what I do.
@@lmelior In my experience... screw em, cook for yourself.
@@paulagaudet7528 I'd say the morning simmer is worth it. Kinda like with Posole, the more you let the stock sit and reheat it later on the more flavor comes out. Just make sure to refigerate after.
Thank you for teaching many people how to cook, and save money.
A couple of tips: For Jerky use the leanest cuts you can find n definitely marinade over night.
And instead of buying stock ingredients save Veggie scraps n things like Rotisserie Chicken carcasses.
this. who makes stovk with chicken wings ahhhhhh!
One tip I'll add for storing the stock: if you reduce it by half before storage, you'll have room for so much more in the freezer. I simply don't have that much space to spare in mine!
I make all kinds of stock regularly, and ALWAYS reduce it, then freeze in ice cube trays (then pop out once frozen and transfer to a plastic zip bag). 2 TB of concentrated stock is a big flavor bomb for a humble pan sauce. Just be sure to label the major flavor profile (chicken, pork, beef, lamb, ginger, citrus, etc) so you can predict how it will influence your final dish.
Yeah, just don't pump the sto... I mean the stock cube! ;)
I reduce the stock and I cool it and pour it into plastic bags. I put the plastic bags in the freezer flat and they take up much less room that way.
You can also pressure can your own stock to make it shelf stable. It’s super easy!
I love the concept. I have one suggestion tho, instead of measuring the savings in terms of how many times more cheap is it to make it that to buy it, measure in terms of weekly grosseries savings. For example, on the sprouts at most you saved 3 dollars even tho it was 10 times cheaper. However, the stock was only 6 times cheaper than the most expensive option but it saved you 14 dollars. As a home cook trying to save money, big ticket items like that give me more bang for my (work) buck
Sure, but the sprouts also involve basically no time investment, whereas stock is likely to take several times as long, even though it's also mostly hands-off (which also depends on your living conditions, like if there are kids around that you might not want to leave a simmering pot going unattended).
Hello! I hope you're having a wonderful day! A couple tips for making the beef jerky. If you want to store it more long term, it is best to cut off as much excess fat as you can because the fat can spoil and hold more moisture, therefore potentially ruining your jerky (if I remember correctly). Another smaller tip is when your jerky finishes, pat it down on both sides with paper towel to remove the excess grease. When the jerky cools down, it will turn white and almost look a little like mold. I had several people turn down trying my jerky when I first start making it for this reason. I'm just a hobbyist when it comes to jerky but these are the things I've learned over the years. Have a great day!
Your videos have been helping me SO MUCH lately! Broke up with fast food and am finally getting over my fear of cooking
This internet stranger is SO PROUD of you!!!!! Cooking and baking can be so much fun!
Unrelated but storing veggies was my break through to using them. The hack is most things can be stored in water.
@@naomimccowen2720 , could you expand more on that? I would love to learn.
If you want some quick, healthy meal prep ideas, be sure to check out the 'Downshiftology' channel. She makes it seem effortless!
@@naomimccowen2720 yes, please elaborate on that.. i often find myself having to throw away veggies gone bad (or having to quickly use them before they do!)
3:59 at this point you can remove the loaf from the oven. Let it cool slightly and place in the freezer. This is great when you are making multiple loafs. You can remove one from the freezer and bake again in a hot 400 degree oven for 20 min.
This right here makes it ideal for making in mass and being able to keep up with the food needs of a family of 7.
My grocery store sells "turkey backs" and "chicken backs" that have a generous amount of meat still on them, and they are only about $1. So I buy a few, and put them in the instant pot for an amazing stock to use throughout the week.
I wish more grocery stores would sell useful off cuts and bones and stuff. I think as a society we've moved past the "everything has to be perfectly presented" phase and would rather have inexpensive, healthy whole foods. This would help the supply chain as well. Although I would prefer that everyone decentralize as much as possible
Awesome video! I’ve been grinding through your videos! Compared to other channels, you really show how accessible more advanced/technical cooking techniques are. It’s really changed my cooking- from fermenting to things like this!
As an addition to cost savings for the stock, I save my veggie scraps in the freezer and add that instead of using full carrots or other vegetables.
Can’t compare lentils with other sprouts because the cost of seeds are the biggest difference. Lentils are very inexpensive. If you know where to get alpha alpha or broccoli seeds in bulk for a good price please add a link. Love your videos. You brought my cooking abilities to next level. Thanks!
Yes. I like watching this sort of thing, but I was disappointed that this wasn't a more serious comparison. I would have liked to see the several different seeds sprouted and then compare them to the same varieties store bought. He doesn't count cost of power or how much water used or how much time spent. I used to read stuff that included stuff like that, but it's decades old.
@@dawnellherrera9338 If you get a stacking sprouter that has four sprouting trays I have found that you can have up to four types of seeds that all are in the process of sprouting by day three. I never had to soak the seeds overnight because you would pour fresh water over the top tray and it would drip down through to the others via gravity. After 20 minutes at the most you pour off the water in the bottom collector tray and put the stack of trays back onto the collector tray. I could get the equivalent to three 4 ounce packs of grocery store sprouts every five days.
If you go to an Indian/Middle Eastern store they have a ton of exotic seeds like fenugreek and mustard in cheap bags ready to start the sprouting process. Even bird seed has sprouting possibilities such as sunflower or millet seeds.
Have you ever considered making a German/Austrian style bread? We have a huge culture around bread and somewhat around 300 types of it. Its quite different to your sourdough bread. Pretty much always dark and often made with a lof of seeds. Outside of these two countries I have never found something comparable (except in special bakeries led by germans or austrians). I think it would be a realy interesting video to see you try that out.
yet, the sourdough is the healthiest for human consumption... 🤔🤷♂️
@@peteroz7332 we also use mostly sourdough for it. Some bakeries have a sourdough starter that dates back multiple centuries and those usually are the best ones.
@@LunaWxlf 😮👍👍 wow, those must taste great 🙃
@@peteroz7332 We are pretty picky about our bread. So where ever we go we usually complain and compare the bread we have in austria and germany.
@@peteroz7332 We don't tend to specifically sourdough because it is implied in most styles of breads. But often it is a mix of levain and packaged yeast to get the benefits of both.
Huge fan of homemade stocks. Absolute necessity in our home. My lady's joints have taken a beating over the years. Great to sip on a cold night or while nursing a cold. Great nutritious alternative to ramen broth, just add your noodles to it along with whatever else you like in your bowl. Great for rice dishes, couscous or various grains to make your side dish a bit heartier.
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Oh wow!!! I've done sprouting before but never thought about sprouting LENTILS! The problem I've had with other seed sprouting is when a seed doesn't sprout...and then you chomp down on it crack a tooth--made me scared to sprout. I doubt this would be a problem with lentils. Thanks!
Also, thanks for the encouragement on making sourdough. I'm getting ready to start the sourdough journey. I'm so excited!
One thing in these "Price break down" videos people never look at is the price of cooking. It's not massive, but it's significant. If you're baking something for, say, an hour, it's 35c or so added onto the cost, depending on your location and fuel source. What does that dehydrator cost to run per hour?
Even at US average costs, an electric oven will only use about $0.21/hour. Personally, where I live it's more like $0.08-$0.12. I have different rates depending on the time of day (more expensive when people get up in the morning, and come home at night, moderate through the day, cheap at night). I tend to do longer cooking at night, mostly, which gets me the lower end, but the higher price I listed is mid-day rates.
Now, a dehydrator is more of a factor. A big one like that might be using around 1 kWh, so for 12 hours, at average US prices, you're at $1.70 of electricity cost. Even here though, it's only about 5% of the total cost.
Nobody ever includes the time of prepping, cooking and cleaning up. I cook 3 meals a day. I'm in the kitchen all day. I hate it. No joy. But I hate fast food and prefer my own food. But my time is the most expensive item.
@@sunflowerbaby1853 actually prep and total time is listed on damn near every recipe website at least.
@@sunflowerbaby1853 For me, the time/energy/"spoons" investment is greater, since my ADHD brain has trouble with organizing the process enough to be efficient, a single meal-prep can take five or six hours (yet only provide a handful of meals, especially if my family comes along to take servings because hey, I happen to have made food while they were in the area), and the cleanup stage is disheartening (I use way more dishes than I need to). A single meal-prep can literally be the only substantial thing I accomplish during a given day. I can't imagine being the one in charge of meals for an entire family regularly.
Am definitely going to pursue making sprouts.
I've been making veggie stock for a couple years now. Price: Free! Just keep a gallong ziploc in the freezer, put veggie trimmings/scraps in until it's full. Dump into crock pot and cover with water. Let simmer overnight, cool enough to handle and squeeze all the stock out of the veggies. That's it, super simple,... and did I mention it's free?!
(16:09) wonderful video! i think you should make this a series! as an extremely broke 20 year old who loves to cook, i’m looking for ways to save money by cooking. love the videos!
I agree, that would make a good series. By the way, if the sprouts interest you, you might want to read up first. They can cause illness from bacteria growth, plus 22 people died in the UK from them. Good article at University of Connecticut: "Seed and Bean Sprouts".
I like pre-cooking sauces and keeping them in the fridge, as cost-reduction comes down to energy consumption aswell.
So everytime you cook/ bake your carbs, proteins, vegetables you don't have to worry about that extra pan or pot.
Teriyaki is my favourite - super long-life and only gets better. I use garlic, ginger, green onion, equal parts light & dark soy, mirin, sake.
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another benefit I’ve realized about a quality stock is the protein included. if collagen etc is actually dissolved within it, it will be filling in addition to nutritious!
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As someone that makes jerky all the time because the store bought stuff generally sucks (and my mom always made it while I was growing up so I've always had the homemade stuff to compare to), I just wanna say that london broil makes great beef jerky and is frequently on sale (as low as 3.99 per pound these days where I live). Would also recommend marinating it in low sodium soy sauce for at least 12 hours. And on a related note, if you ever have access to venison then you should make some jerky out of it because deer jerky is even more delicious than beef jerky.
I still have great nostalgia for the dried venison I had once when I was a teen -- have tried venison a few times since then but never really got that "oh man, this is the best meat *in the world* " feeling like I did with that original one 😋
This video right here is one of the reasons I love your videos so much! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into researching and sharing your tips, it's so helpful, Mike ☺
12:54 the difference is you bought the bones just to make the broth.
We save our bones from other meals which would otherwise be trash so our homemade stock is basically free so it really does actually save us some money.
Oops the water for the huge bread batch is going to be 1700 grammes (g) or 1700 millilitres (ml) or 1.7 litres. Great video! Sprouted seeds/ lentils are a huge source of fresh crunch in the winter for me. So many different types to have a go at, too.
Actually, you're supposed to thoroughly cook sprouts (or don't eat them) - suggests the US gov. A really helpful article is by the University of Connecticut: "Seed and Bean Sprouts".
Sprouts have gotten thousands of people ill, plus 22 died in the UK.
The plants themselves can have pahtogens internalized, plus bacteria reproduces rapidly in a warm, moist environment - - which is what you have when sprouting.
Regular lentils cannot be eaten raw and need to be cooked fully to be edible. Whereas, sprouted lentils go through germination, which breaks down certain nutrients, making them easier to digest, and they are perfectly acceptable to eat raw.
@@jimbojones8978 you're talking about whether lentil can be eaten raw, but wow's talking about bacteria 🦠. The lentil itself may be fine to digest but still get you sick from bacteria that was already inside the lentils when you bought them. If he's right then pop them into boiling soup or a toaster oven first to kill the 🦠.
The only thing I don’t make myself are the spouts, since my family aren’t big eaters of sprouts. That being said, most of my broths, bread and jerky are made at home. Canadian prices are much higher here, but I’m still saving a lot of money by making it myself. Thanks for the cost analysis Mike. It really put things into perspective.
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Do you have a video on making sprouts from start to finish? Covering all of the types, methods, times, etc? I've never seen this before and didn't even know it was possible. Interested in the topic for sure. I'll be doing some research. Great video!
check the blog post, Alex created a full chart for this!
@@LifebyMikeG thank you!
So easy...just remember to rinse 2-3x a day/ I use a piece of cloth or a dish cloth for the top/lid. U can run water in, and drain w/o removing the cloth. A rubber band keeps the cloth on the jar.
You can also make stock from leftover bones of roasts, rotisserie chicken, etc. Which makes the stock nearly free.
This was very helpful. Having “homemade” ingredients is wonderful. Please consider more of this type of video. After all, we can control our quality as well.
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I make chicken stock from Costco’s rotisserie chicken. It costs $4.99 and I get at least 12-16 cups of stock. Although I do use veggies scraps I save. Plus I use the meat in salads, quesadillas, sandwiches, etc. The best 5 bucks I spend!
Homemade Croutons are another one! They take a couple of minutes to make, and you can add your own herbs!
They're a great use of bread leftovers too :)
Also bread crumbs. They don't take long in the oven and you can make them plain or add seasoning or even parmesan. 😋
I always just save the ends of bread loves to make croutons or breadcrumbs with. It's free basically since you had the bread anyway, and no one likes sandwiches made with the ends.
@@BankruptMonkey Those are great as toast though.
with the increase of price of energy recently, it would be nice if you would have add those costs as well. (at least for those products that you were cooking over night/long time - break/stock/beef).
But in general awesome ideas to start :)
If he actually used the energy cost, it would be pretty close to a wash in price and you'd be wasting your hours of work though. Most foods are sold with pretty low margins and economies of scale always apply.
This only works as saving time if you dont value your time at all. Prep + cleaning time is probably the biggest price tag here.
He's American, right? Electricity prices in the US haven't changed much, and American electricity prices are 50% higher than where I am in Canada.
Even the dehydrator is only ending up as about 5% of the total cost of the jerky (about $1.70 for the 12-hour run at 1 kW).
Time is definitely more of a factor, but people have weird conceptions of time, like if they didn't do A with it they'd do B with it, when in reality, a lot of our time is effectively lost in the midst of everything else we're doing. Also, certain things don't really take much time. Making the sprouts here takes less than 5 minutes of actual time, even if you dawdle. Making stock takes maybe 30 minutes total, the rest being time it's cooking that you don't need to pay too much attention to it. If you were only making a tiny portion, that might not be worth it, but you can make a lot of stock at once. Bread tends to be more of a time hog though, and tends to make a mess.
One of my best personal savings, is scouring the supermarkets for marked down food, you usually get like 20% or so off, and i often find ingredients i can use to make burritos, cheap and filling.
Maybe not as healthy as the stuff you’re showing off, so i guess i’ll have to try some of your tips out!
Hey man, I just want to say I've been subscribed since 2015. You helped me get through freshmen days and then some. If you ever have the time to host an online cooking class I'm down.
I'm a bit experimental in my home cooking (only ever need to cook for myself). I don't use oil for stovetop cooking (or ever, if I can get away with it). When I'm winding down with a soup or stew in the evening, what's really useful & cheap is Breakfast Broth.
Without oil, stir-fries need sauce or some extra liquid in the pan. I save the remaining pool for another dish with different ingredients, or keep it warm on the stove to pour over some veggies for a post-meal-prepping snack.
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Saving $, mostly unprocessed ingredients and it's healthier. Big win 🔥
I've been subscribed for years now, but I'm just now starting to binge all your videos and I honestly think some of the things I've learned will change my life. I have so much motivation to cook that I haven't had in a long time thanks to you.
th-cam.com/video/Csq5gh7s87w/w-d-xo.html
As has been pointed out already, the ingredients of sour dough bread cost about 20 cents, but I literally get emails from the gas company if I run the stove or boil some beans for an hour at this point, which likely costs about $5 an hour at current rates.
An induction burner (like in the video) will significantly reduce your the energy cost component, and it allows you to simmer the stock in another section of your workspace, leaving the stove top free.
@@bettejain 'expensive gas, just get an electric car *forehead*'
this is such a great video! I think it'd be cool to have you do a timer for each thing as well. That way, you can do a financial cost breakdown but also a time cost breakdown. Like the bread would not be a "regular activity" for me just because it takes 3 days, but would be a nice thing to do when it's a slow week around here.
It’s probably like 2 hours tops of hands on time over the course of 3 days. Most of the time is just letting the bread sit in the fridge. 5-10 minutes to combine everything. 5-10 minutes per stretch and fold. 5-10 minutes to shape, 5-10 minutes to prep baking. Bread making is very cost effective for the total hands on time involved.
If time is an obstacle and you're not picky about the artisanal vibe, you might consider investing in a bread baker machine. I bought one at my local thrift store a few years ago for ten bucks, and it's one of my favorite kitchen appliances. I just need five minutes to add the ingredients and then hit the start button. That's it. The bread baker does the rest. I make fresh bread every week this way, and I love it. I haven't bought bread at the store in at least five years (I was bread baking this way even pre-pandemic). That bread baker has saved me hundreds of dollars, and the bread it makes tastes better than store-bought.
First thanks for all your great work and shared knowledge!
Second but In the same vein I would share some of my knowledge. From one pro home cook to another might I suggest you trim the fat more off the round roast before dehydrating into jerky. Most people find it unappetizing and it lessens the storage times as the fat will go rancid before the dried meat would go bad otherwise. Also if you have a smoker rather than a dehydrator you can get an extra level of flavor from using smoke to cure the jerky, but you can come close with liquid smoke in the marinade.
Thanks again!
Don't forget energy costs with the sourdough - it's around $1/loaf depending on lots of factors.
Yes I was a little disappointed that he didn’t go into the details on how much energy costs or gas costs were or at least how he was factoring it in.
th-cam.com/video/Csq5gh7s87w/w-d-xo.html
It's more like $0.25/loaf using US average electricity rates.
And that's assuming you're only baking 1 loaf at a time.
Gas is generally comparable, or less (in the US anyway).
The time, also. I mean my time isn't free!
@@BarryPiper Correct, but do consider that the time spent cooking isn't contrasted with no time spent, but the additional time of acquiring the alternative. That time cost will vary significantly.
Going to do the sprouts and bone broth. I already do sauerkraut - home made can't even be compared to store bought in my opinion, so I'd make it even if it costed more, which of course it doesn't. Had to stop making bread when I went low-carb, but I am finding that I'm spending a lot on bone broth. I make my own yoghurt, which isn't cheaper than buying plain, because for some nutty reason, whole milk is in the specialty food section or my local grocery store. But at least I know what's in it. Thanks for another great video!
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For the bread, I just don’t see the long term difference. You can get 3-4 loafs at Costco for around the same price… maybe a bit more. BUT, three days to make these factors into my decision. Time is valuable. I would be more than willing to pay a few dollars more versus spending hours and days cooking bread every single week… am I alone in this?
Now, I know I am very privileged to have access to Costco. If I didn’t then I might explore making it at home. But that’s not my current situation.
But homemade bread is so much tastier than mass produced bread and it’s not chemical-laden. IMHO.
Not you are not, he doesn't consider time, effort and gas/electric bill, they should be included in the price, your time and effort has a price even tho most people ignore it. I think sometimes it's nice to have a homemade thing, because the taste is better and you also choose the quality of ingredients and etc, but not always.
You are not alone. Millions of sliced bread costumers would agree
Time is a resource too, and making your own bread takes effort. Not to mention the sourdough starter was premade and sesame seeds are expensive. I'm not knocking making bread at home, but looking at it as purely a financial win is misguided.
@@carolestephens8198 chemical-laden? We're talking about a loaf of sourdough, not sliced Wonder Bread.
Stock - once you pour off the rendered fat, add a bit of hot water to the pan to dissolve the brown bits on the bottom. Then just dump it straight into the pot. No missed pieces and not a bunch of time spent scraping the pan. Also, I roast the veg with the bones because caramlised veg equals richer flavour too.
Key part of the cost-effective recipes, remember us the average people😂😂 are going through financially, hard times, so this really helps❤
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I make hummous and not-quite hummous (basically everything but proper tahini, although I toast sesame seeds for some of that flavor) and it's a lot cheaper than commercial versions, which often disappoint flavor-wise anyway. I'll spread my mushed-up, spiced chickpeas on a flat pan bread (often store-bought) and add green olives and/or home-pickled red onions. And that's another great item to make -- vinegar-steeped (I'm not bold enough to attempt lacto-fermentation) pickled vegetables!
I think you need to add the cost of energy in those breadown. On something like a bread, it's not negligible (and a good idea to cook multiple at once)
Ovens average out to about 3000kwh of electrical usage. Depending on energy expenses that is roughly 40¢/hr to run your oven assuming it's electric. Alternatively you could use an air fryer which uses closer to 1700watts, but doesn't usually get over 400°
@@jamestaylor9887 thanks for making the math. On a dutch oven, there is a long preheating too but shouldn't make a huge difference if you cook multiple breads in a row. Still profitable so !
You can also look into other cooking techniques beyond the air fryer. I believe there are such things as stove top breads and such that can still be cost effective if your electric bills are on the "high end" of per kw/h usage. If you are in luck, your electric company might offer incentives to use electricity off peak hours (usually into 10AM then after 7PM and surely after 5PM for the most stressful) to get ahead of the game.
There is also the cost of the flour to keep the sourdough starter fed and alive.
@@heidihenninger6253 You can negate this by simply fridging it. Refidging any cultures will majority "slows things down" so you don't need to keep on "upscaling" the starters just to keep it "alive". If you wanna say keep only a quart jar of it instead of eventually landing yourself in a food grade bucket, you can.
Thanks for your videos. I watch them all the time! I’m wondering if you can do a video about how to make a stock that is naturally gelatinous. I have seen so many people make this gelatinous stock and I’m really curious about how to do it from your perspective. Thank you!
I do my own mung bean sprouts at home as well as make my own stock, usually turkey or chicken. I also make my own yogurt and kombucha and save money there as well. Thanks for the other tips.
I have been growing sprouts for years but no success with
Mung beans as they grow roots and become hard before I can eat them what is your secret? Do they need to be in the dark only? Thanks!
@@linedezainde I grow alfa alfa sprouts and mung beans and I always grow them in a dark environment. They grow better and tastes better. Sun might make the prettier but not tastier.
For homemade stock, I've been saving all my onion and garlic 'waste' (anything I'd toss in the compost went into a freezer bag) I made a turkey stock with a deboned turkey (sucker was massive) the stock was beautiful, all the collagen from the bones had made it gel and it was so rich and vibrant.
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I don't do this often because I live by myself. But I made turkey stock when turkey was cheap over the holidays. It was fabulous and I freeze it ice cube size so I can pull what I need for a small meal!
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I love your channel! Don’t stop what you’re doing man
Hey man - The stock would even be cheaper if you saved your own chicken and beef bones. I like to cook a whole chicken once every week to week and a half. Once everyone is done, I rip the meat off of the carcass and put it in the freezer. When I get around 3 of them, I make my stock. And even cheaper if you save the ends that you cut off of onions, (onion skins too), carrots, celery, etc. I occasionally put that stuff in the freezer also. Can get it to where you are almost making it for nothing except electrical or gas cost.
This is an excellent video!! I want to try it all. Please do another video!
Wow great tips love the sprouting lentils idea! I made chicken jerkey for my dogs ($20.00 a bag in the pet store). You guys got a new place and its lovely🐸
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Only discovered this channel a few months ago and the content is amazing. It’s reignited my love of cooking.
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I started making my own sourdough in 2018.
I was going to make Navy Bean soup and wanted a nice loaf of bread. I paid $9 for the loaf then.
I haven't since though.
I have two loaves in the middle of a 72 hour cold ferment. I'm baking tomorrow.
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I love your videos, but i must check 5 times/videos for the conversion from imperial to metric units. It would be nice to add on editing, just a little text on screen with imperial and metrics units :) (when you are talking oz and F°) Keep going the amazing content!
And you are even switching to metrics units (like every Pro chef... and home cook) on some instance, confusing your main Freedom audience. A little text would be nice for 'murican and normal people... :D :D
You need to factor in the cost of energy, especially in the current energy crisis. Pre heating my oven and then cooking for 40 minutes costs £1-2, its the main reason I've stopped making my own bread, Nice Bread where I'm from (UK) costs £2-4.
That’s exclusively an EU issue
You’re so right. I’d also include the time you spend making the food. My time in the kitchen takes away from time I could be spending elsewhere and doing something else like home repairs.
Yeah, I could definitely understand this as a consideration. At least in my area of the US, we have a lot of processed junk at our stores. So to get something high quality, especially if it’s organic, would be at least £4-5.
Still the self made is half the price and better…
Sun oven! Make your own!
TBF... Jerky requires an investment. Cheapest investment is making a biltong box... but dehydrators can run into the thousands. I just picked up a dehydrator on sale to start making carne seca. Excalibur was the brand ... got it on amazon.
Great tips! I will adapt your approach while also factoring in the time spent cooking and cleaning up (in addition to energy cost mentioned earlier).
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As a pro chef, I can explain the cost difference. Materials are the same but when you add in labor and time, the costs go up. Not all of the products are sold by the spoilage date. That equals lost profit, so they have to boost the sale price to make up for it.
Whoa did not know lentils could so easily be sprouted home???? I feel like I’m seriously missing out now! Gotta try this ASAP
I was always taught to sprout in the dark.
I suggest you read up. Whether commercially done or sprouted at home, it is the perfect environment to rapidly grow bacteria. Plus, the seeds/beans can be from a plant with pathogens internalized. University of Connecticut has an article: "Seed and Bean Sprouts"
@@wownewstome6123 oh whoa interesting…. Thanks for pointing that out lol, I’ve started to grow some already since lots of articles say there’s increased vitamins but I’ll refrain now.
I wonder why that’s different from plants grown from seeds though, eg basil which would still be raw?
I used to sprout green French lentils all the time, they are a bit more delicate than brown lentils. OMG, so good!! I put them on everything.
The sprouting-in-the-dark info goes around because of mung bean sprouting techniques. They change their character and tenderness if grown freely in light, but this is not really the case with most other seeds/beans, at least not noticeably. Direct sunlight will cook them, so don't pick a sunny patch of counter, but I had mine in front of my north window in my kitchen with no problems. (Being me, I needed to keep them by the sink so I would remember to rinse them.)
You absolutely need to have your own TV show. One of the best youtubes around! Thank you.
Great video as always, super helpful tips. I never thought to grow my own sprouts like that.
BTW, a few years ago you did a video on a healthy(ish) donut. Any chance you could challenge yourself to do something similar with pizza? Not a cauliflower or something base. Real base, real cheese/toppings, etc. But as healthy as possible?
What you have when sprouting is a moist, warm environment with nutrients - - all things that help bacteria multiply rapidly. The US gov suggests people don't eat them, or at least cook them thoroughly.
Now finally that I've seen your process I'm finally go and build a sprouting glass.
It's not even that store bought sprouts are way more expensive, they're also not always available where I live, especially not when I want them.
Besides the cost, a huge advantage of making your own jerky is you get to control the recipe 100% to your liking. For example, I like more spicy and less sweet so I can customize accordingly. (full disclosure, I have never made regular jerky, I have only made mushroom jerky. But the idea is the same)
I'm really curious to learn about sprouting seeds and how does that change their nutritional value and their culinary value? Is there any content about this?
What a helpful video. I don’t eat bread - it’s a texture thing - but I do make my own sprouts, broth and jerky. I just started making sprouts and I really need to get one of those sprouter pans. Looks so much easier.
You may want to read the article "Seed and Bean Sprouts" at University of Connecticut's site. *The US gov advises people to not eat sprouts,* or to cook them thoroughly. Not only does bacteria grow on them rapidly (since a moist, warm environment), but they have caused outbreaks of E. Coli, etc. 22 deaths in the UK.
@@wownewstome6123 I cover both my store-bought and homemade sprouts for about 30-45 seconds in a bowl of boiling water. Then drain, cool, dry and eat. This came from a suggestion by Dr Berg on his TH-cam channel. He says it brings out certain nutrients in the sprouts. Don’t know how true that is but it feels like I’m cleaning them so I do it. I don’t notice a difference in taste or texture, altho they do darken a little so maybe they’re cooked. I’ve never gotten sick from sprouts but then my sprouts never last longer than 3-4 days in the fridge. I eat a lot of it!
@@minnap At least you are trying, but *it takes 1 - 3 minutes of a rolling boil to kill pathogens in drinking water,* per EPA. gov. (Depends on your altitude.) From LeafTV: Rinse, then boil sprouts for 4 - 6 minutes! Then put in ice water, then drain.
@@minnap I've given up on Dr. Berg. He's not a medical doctor.
If I make comments on food or health, I provide sources: studies, universities, clinics, specific medical doctors, or gov sites.
@@minnap I understand you haven't gotten sick from sprouts, yet, but of the 22 who died from sprouts, how many times did they eat them (raw) before dying? We will never know. Best of luck to you, in any case.
If you want actual savings on stock you might want to consider a pressure cooker. I don’t have a quality comparison, but you extract a ton of flavor from bones in less than 2h.
I downvoted, but I used to make TH-cam videos and hated when people downvoted and didn't tell me why - so here goes...
Basically a lot of this stuff feels out of reach. First is the time commitment. Multiple days? That's gotta be too much for most of your viewers.
Then on top of that you're only saving money when compared to higher end products. Basically you are saying, "spend more time on something so you can afford the better quality" - but I would rather spend less time and just get slightly above average quality so I can focus on other things in my life.
First off, with bread, you ONLY need the most time on day one to get things made, then an hour each day to handle the dough, if that long, then place it back in the bowl with a damp towel, and let it sit the rest of the day. Next day, to the next stage in maybe 20 minutes, place in the bowel with damp towel, then on the final day, bake off and there, you do not need to babysit the oven while it bakes, an hour per batch, if you nave 4 loaves, you can often do 2 in the oven if you have 2 vessels to bake it in, but that is it, the rest of the time is hands off, so you CAN do other things while it sits in between times of handling.
For dehydrating, much of the time is cutting the meat and a few minutes to marinate, then sit in the fridge to marinate while you do other things, then when ready to dehydrate, you take several minutes to place on the racks, load the machine and turn on. At that point, it's HANDS OFF until done.
It's not all constant work from start to finish and plenty of time to do other things in between.
made homemade sprouts after watching this, cannot believe how easy and awesome they are! Love your videos, I have revamped my kitchen and meal prepping since starting to watch, even started my own continuous brew kombucha! thanks for all the tips and the approachable nature of your vids; so many of these videos remind me of the DIY woodworking videos I watch where they utilize all sorts of insane tools and skillsets, but you keep it pretty simple and I have made some great food cause of it!
I save all bones from eating chicken wings and other meals that come with bones in a plastic back in the freezer door. When it gets full, I make broth with it. It's free, so I love that.
To save space in your freezer, you can lay flat and freeze sandwich bags of stock. Once frozen, you can stack them like a bookshelf. It defrosts faster and easier to portion control too.
Vegetarian stock: I save all my garlic onions, carrots etc skins, roots, etc adding day by day to a bread bag in my freezer and when I have enough to get to the fill line on my Instant Pot’s liner, I add water to that line, process 30-40
Minutes, natural release. Then drain, squeeze out remaining stock & its done. I add 3-5 bay leaves, marjoram, thyme, sage, oregano, turmeric and fenugreek.
If doing spanish type soup with it, cumin.
I make excellent chicken broth from the carcass of my Costco rotisserie chicken. Basically my broth is made from something that I used to throw away. So…it’s free, right?
Thank You! Yes, it is. He really missed the boat on this one. I roast a chicken every 3 weeks or so and save the carcass and tomato, carrot, onion and celery scraps in my freezer. I fire up my pressure cooker for 2 hours with aforementioned stuff that would otherwise require disposal with a tablespoon of vinegar. I make a stock that is probably every bit as good as his and my only costs are tap water, vinegar and and the electricity for my Instant Pot. He’s a very resourceful cook, but he’s got quite a ways to go on home economics.
I buy 25 lb bags of bread flour at costco and then add vital wheat gluten (Anthony's from Amazon) to turn it into "premium" bread flour. For my recipe I use 21 oz flour (2 oz come from the starter) and 1 oz VWG, total cost under $1 per extra large (~2 lb) loaf.
For super lazy people like me that want to spend less on both money and time in the kitchen, spaghetti sauce. It's very easy to make and taste better than anything you can buy premade at the grocery store, especially since you can put in the ingredients you personally prefer. Takes about 1 or 2 hours to prepare and 4-5 hours to cook, where you only need to check it every ~30 minutes, for about 30 to 40 servings depending on how much you make/eat. You can freeze it in containers and it will stay good all year long.
Thanks for the tips!
Also, salsa. And actually, the health benefits of homemade salsa shouldn't be overlooked. It's already a good way to add flavor without much in the way of calories, but what really made me think twice about the distinction was the 21-Day Fix, which lists homemade salsa as a serving of Vegetables but store-bought salsa as a serving of Fruit -- purely because of the sugar content!
Making yogourt at home is much cheaper than store bought and is super easy to do. One kg (or a litre, same thing) costs me just over 1,25 $ to make. Store bought yogourt is easily 4 or 5 times the cost of making it at home. Don't waste money on buying an electric appliance to make it. All that is needed is to keep the containers at an even temperature, something that can be achieved by placing them in a cooler.
The stock idea is legit. I usually pressure cook it in an InstantPot, but I use a Costco chicken carcass after pulling all the meat off of it. I also keep the parts of vegetables you'd normally throw out: broccoli stems, carrot peels, onion peels/ends, and celery tips. I keep these items in a bag in the freezer so that I can make this around once a week when I'm lazy and bring home a Costco chicken.
Peel broccoli stem and cut into sticks. Delicious to use with dips.
You just changed my life with the sprouts
The stock argument could actually be much more intriguing if you get bone beef in or whole chicken and butcher it yourself the bones will technically be free and you end up with a a ton of shredded chicken (in my experience about 1 portion per chicken)
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Hey! Considering you used a dehydrator to make the jerky, but talked about sprouts and said you can't grow OUTSIDE during winter - a small, self-contained hydroponic system with 9 to 12 net pots available for growing - you can have fresh lettuce (to go with your sprouts) and/or a couple of your favorite fresh herbs like basil for making fresh pesto! These small hydroponic kits are so easy to use and while you would have that first time expense (probably cheaper than the dehydrator!), it can be used over and over again. Considering that you can harvest a whole head of "live lettuce" like the bags in grocery store with root on them and be REALLY fresh because it was growing only a moment before, you are not just saving money but getting the best fresh lettuce available. Just thought I'd share...I have three of the hydroponic systems and they produce for me from mid-fall to early spring inside my house.
Wow!
Food in your area seems very expensive compared to here in the UK.
😮shhhhh, they will all be putting their prices up after reading your comment!!! 😅
Dude, when he showed the flour price I almost choked..but I live in Germany were you would be tarred and feathered for meddling with anything bread related
When I make stock I use leftover veggies that I have previously frozen. Veggies leftover from when I make a salad or any other dish that has vegetables. There is always some leftover vegetable matter that goes into my stock. I also put in herbs and spices. This makes a far superior stock
“How to save a ton of money by making your own beef jerky…”
*whips out a $5,000 dehydrator*
"How to make cheap stock"
*Spends the same equivalent price of store bought stock and doesnt account for the energy spent on leaving a slow cooker on for almost a day*
@@Bramble20322 Those cheap store bought stocks taste like crap though, and you don't know the ratio of water/bones they use. They definitely don't solidify and gel the way a nutritious collagen filled bone broth would.
Stock Tip: Keep a bucket in the freezer and throw whatever type of leftover chicken bones, vegetable scraps, herb scraps etc. I especially like to save bones from large chunks of meat and chicken that my husband smoked in the smoker. I have so much stock in the freezer from doing it this way. I consider this a cost of $0, bc everything was either going to be tossed or composted 🎉 😊
What kind of bucket do you use for the freezer?
@@nicole-m8i9s i just use a square ice cream bucket. Fits nicely.
if you don't have dehydrator - but have a cool dry space - look up the process of Biltong. A South African favourite. It's more preserved meat (vinegar and salt bath) than jerky which is flavoured and dried.
Definitely doing the sprouts.
Mike,it’s even cheaper, faster and waaayyy easier to make a no knead bread. I make one loaf a week on my 15 minute break in the morning on Mondays and bake during my lunch break.
Do you have a link to the recipe?
This is a fantastic video. And all of the materials that you are giving for free is very generous! Thank you!
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I have been making no-knead bread in cast iron enamel posts for 10 years now. We don't buy store bought bread except for bagels (working on that one too) I make 8 loaves at a time and freeze them. (2 month storage time) 25 lbs of flour makes 16 loaves and my Sam's club carries that bag for $10-11. Great value!!
care to share your recipe?
nice cost saving ideas! Would also add that making your own sauces at home e.g. simple teriyaki sauce or curry sauce is not too much effort and saves a ton of money as you don't need to buy the whole bottle and usually costs only a few cents to make. Snacks such as popcorn and mochi are also super simple to make at a fraction of what they can be bought for in store. A lot of people don't know mochi can be made in the microwave from glutinous rice flour, water and sugar for like 10x less the cost of buying in store. it only gets laborious when you start to roll it with fillings.
I think one of the best savings is from homemade popcorn, which also appears in your videos pretty often :)
This was an excellent video. I’d like to see more cost savings videos for different foods. Thanks.
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A lot of us avoid the organic isle because of the cost. Can you make videos on regular ingredients Please
Plus organic isn't always healthier. It's a gimmick that allows farmers to charge more because their yields are smaller.
@@333whiteraven We do have a lot of raised gardens and try to grow as much as we can. That is our organics. But what you said that organics in the store/market not being healthy ... I didnt know, for us its the cost, no chemicals should be cheaper product but its more expensive and we don't see the point. Thanks Raven for the tip
@@mikevp5303 I see the point, but not so much the costs and DO buy when the cost difference is minimal, the same for grass fed or cage free anything because the way beef is raised on regular farms is an environmental issue, and the meat may be good, but not always the most healthy compared to grass fed (and grass fed is tastier too). By the same token, it should NOT cost 2x more than regular product.
I live where I can get anything organic, or regular easily enough, but it's the costs as my budget is very limited right now.
That said, anything store bought/processed that is organic, I find does not taste all that great, often lacking seasoning (salt mainly) and can taste odd or bland.
Organic beans and all that, sure, why not? Especially if they don't cost that much more than non organic product.
@@333whiteraven it's not about being more healthy for you it's about being healthy for the environment
Great Job on the cost efficient savings ... I'd like to see alot more of these . I've been watching you for 3 years now and appreciate your efforts. Thanks Mike Dennis (Canada)
Cooking is never a waste of time nor money. Cooking is amazing and very therapeutic. I love it! Thanks for the tips!
I know what you means but there are times and situations where it's actually can be. For example, most of us aren't gonna run out and get a Harvest Right Freeze Drier even if we really like freeze dried foods, for our pets, etc. So ya, there are still reasons to be had to buying we just MIGHT wanna dial it back quite a bit though!
Oh yea! I did my own cost analysis a couple of years ago! Amazing savings and delicious bread!!!
these days u should add eletricity costs aswell, love ur vids :P
The problem here though is that energy costs are so different in different areas.
@@MisterFuturtastic Very true, I think the west coast (or Oregon and Washington anyway, as much of our electric comes from hydro) can be less, but California may have to use other sources and deal with brownouts at times per year and thus can cost more.
From desiccated to growth. Lentils are amazing!
Great video. Thanks Mike! I know Josh is doing is own thing with YOU ENJOY LIFE but would love to see him make an appearance on your channel some day for old times sake. I got into cooking around 2015 and the Brothers Green videos taught me so many awesome lessons. Thank you both!
He is and yet he isn’t 😅
@@YOUENJOYLIFE My man!! This made my day.