Low Cost Substitutions--Foods

I've been working on this post off and on for a while, and it's time to put it to bed.  Some convenience foods are really nice to have for recipes in a pinch or a quick snack, but so often they are not only higher priced but bad for you.

Cream of Chicken Soup

Case in point-cream of (whatever) soup.  It's high in sodium and usually also has MSG in it.  If you want to make some tuna noodle casserole, the ultimate comfort food, you can use a can or two of cream of mushroom soup, spend some time making your own roux.  I like to use this recipe.

9 cans of cream soup (change servings and units)

Change to: cans of cream soup US Metric

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Ingredients

• 1 cup powdered milk
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup instant bouillon granules
• 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Store in an airtight container.
3. For the equivalent of 1 can of cream soup, mix 1/3 cup of dry mix with 1 1/4 cups of cold water. Cook in sauce pan until thick.
4. Entire recipe makes the equivalent of nine cans of cream soup.

The best part about this is that you can adjust it to your liking by changing the flavor of boullion you use.  The recipe makes the equivalent of 9 cans of soup, and it's very inexpensive.  My helpful hint for the day is this: don't use 1 1/4 cups of water and then wait for it to cook down.  Use more like 3/4 cup of water and it will thicken much faster.

Microwave Popcorn

Next up, the ever popular microwave popcorn.  Filled with transfats, too much sodium, and more fat and calories than you can shake a stick at, it just isn't worth it for a snack.  It's convenient, though, and much easier than some of the more traditional methods for making popcorn.

Did you know that you can make your own microwave popcorn with a plain brown lunch bag?  Use about 1/4 cup of unpopped kernels, then salt or the seasonings of your choice.  You can put a little oil or butter in the bag with it, but you don't even have to do that.  Fold the top of the bag down and cook it just the same way you would any bag of microwave popcorn.

For some other really great ideas, including a milkshake that doesn't use ice cream, head over to Hillbilly Housewife.  She has some great ideas, so be sure to look around the site while you're there.

I decided to split this up, and will have some low cost cleaning alternatives in a later post.  Keep checking back!