I love saving time in the kitchen whenever I can. But I also like keeping my budget in line, and today’s prices are making that harder. So, when you see your grocery bill, if you feel sticker shock, remember that healthy food doesn’t HAVE to be expensive. But convenience foods often are.
One of Gretchen Rubin’s Secrets of Adulthood (author of “Better Than Before” and several other great books and the Happier Podcast) is this: “The opposite of a profound truth is also true.” In keeping with that, sometimes it’s best to save time…and sometimes it’s best to save money.
Don’t be afraid of work
You’ve probably heard me say before that I’m lazy. I’ll often take the quick way out of anything, and one of my favorite things is to “shortcut” a recipe so I can get finished faster. But when making hashbrown waffles for Valentine’s breakfast, I did the opposite. I did the work!
The recipe I was using (see that here) called for 3 cups of frozen shredded hashbrowns, but I decided I would shred the potato myself. It turned out to only take one large “baking” russet potato.
Good tools can make a world of difference
Perhaps because of the tool I had to work with (cooking at my daughter’s place so not my normal grater), the shredding turned out to be even easier than I expected.
It was easier to shred against the long side of the potato and those long pieces would have been unmanageable in the mini-waffle makers. But my daughter simply grabbed the kitchen shears and cut them down to size right in the bowl. (Love kitchen shears!)
Some helpful tips
I soaked the pieces in salt water to keep them from turning black on all sides – that wouldn’t have made for a very pretty waffle! Then I gave them a good squeeze in a reusable produce bag before adding the other ingredients (a trick I learned from @wholefoodfor7 on Instagram).
Normally, I would stick with the arrowroot flour to stay away from wheat gluten, but since I was at my daughter’s, I just used the flour she had there. Fun fact: you can sub out all-purpose and arrowroot flours with a 1:1 ratio. So, this recipe called for ¼ c arrowroot, and I used ¼ cup all-purpose.
Healthy food doesn’t have to be expensive
Commercially prepared hashbrowns generally have something coating each piece so they don’t stick together…many times that’s dextrose…a sweetener. If you’re going for Whole30, dextrose is a no-no.
Yes, it’s easier to open the bag BUT how much is the cost of that bag of frozen hashbrowns versus the cost of one large potato? Chances are very good you’re paying more for the convenience when you reach for the commercial bag.
Choose your priority
It comes down to a choice you have to make. Where does it make sense to save time and where does it make sense to do the work and save money? And it’s okay if that changes from time to time or even meal to meal. Do what helps you most for your best health AND your best budget.
If you need some help on cutting skills to make “doing the work” easier, check out these cutting techniques…
- Dice That Onion Before It Brings You To Tears! (in video form here)
- The easiest, fastest way to cut bell peppers (in video form here)
