Old-fashioned hacks from grandma’s kitchen
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT ARE WISE WORDS FROM A FRUGAL AND CREATIVE GENERATION
Gran’s wisdom is more valuable today than it ever was. Her frugal tips and creative thinking held her in good stead when it came to rising food costs. Today, however, we’ve almost lost the art of making-do. Add to that our inability to use every part of an ingredient, and the result is we are throwing money away.
So what can we do to save our wallets and sanity? We begin with the source of all wisdom: Gran’s pantry.
A definition of the word “pantry” simply tells us it’s a room or cupboard to store food in. But a pantry symbolises much more. It’s the spark of menu plans, a symbol of organisation, a running list to build your budget upon, and a gentle reminder that #yougotthis. Let’s hark back to the tips Gran would have lived by to create abundance.
1. BUY THE BASICS AND THINK CREATIVELY
The whole idea of cooking is to be creative with what you have. Basics help keep us full and keep things cheap. Next time you look in your pantry, pay attention to the staples and write down five things you can make with them over the next week. Found a bag of flour? Turn it into 2-ingredient flatbread. Rice? Make a fancy pilaf! A pack of oats? Make crumble topping and freeze it. Lentils? Make a coconut and lentil curry! There’s no end to the number of ways you can turn “basics” into something tasty and fulfilling.
2. KEEP ITEMS IN AIRTIGHT CONTAINERS
Remember Gran’s old food storage containers? My grandmother had a pantry full of them. She would keep plenty of dried ingredients – beans, rice, flour, oats, semolina and more. She believed that the key to preventing an ingredient from spoiling was to keep it airtight and use it often.
3. MIX UP INGREDIENTS
Do you remember seeing cloves in the sugar to prevent clumping? What about a bay leaf in the flour container to ward off weevils? Gran had tips to keep ingredients fresh while in storage. That meant there was often a bit of mixing going on in the pantry. Keep a few grains of rice in your salt shaker to prevent salt clumping, and use spices in your airtight containers to keep insects at bay.
4. IMPROVISE
Grandma couldn’t just run to the shop all the time. If there was no sugar, she would either pop in to see her neighbour or simply substitute. Use a bit of Gran’s ingenuity and improvise. You could substitute sugar for apple sauce or jam. If you have no cream, you can use evaporated milk. Try a banana in place of butter in sweet dishes. No eggs for a cake? Try using oil. A complete list of substitutes can be found at taste.com.au
5. REGROW VEGIES FROM SCRAPS
Remember the small recycled glasses of herbs on Gran’s windowsill? Not only were they pretty to look at, but they were also a wonderful money-saver. Don’t throw out ingredients you can regrow. Instead, cultivate your own shallots, beetroot, celery and herbs from leftovers or small cuttings. You’ll feel chuffed that you grew them yourself!
6. START CELEBRATING FRIDGE-RAID FRIDAYS
At the end of the week, my Gran would throw everything into a one-pot dish that would bubble away on the stove (or bake in the oven), like a pantry casserole. It was a delicious way to use up produce, so nothing went to waste. Raid your fridge on Fridays and make a dish (or two) with what you have. I say “celebrate” because a simple mindset change in how we look at leftovers will help us think of creative solutions. Use up your leftover vegies and meats and celebrate that nothing is going to waste.
7. SHARE YOUR ABUNDANCE
The times call for us to be indoors, but that means our lives are increasingly insular and small moments of bliss are often rare. So, do like Gran did and share your oversupply. Did your backyard cucumber crop have a bumper season? Have you made a batch of pickles for the winter? What about a few extra muffins to freeze for later? Why not drop some off at your neighbour’s place and share the love. It’s sure to come back to you one day when you need it.