The Tightwad

If you are really in a pinch and need to save some money in your budget, try shopping in your own pantry first.  Many people have things stocked up and sometimes do not even know what they have in their pantry.  Go through all the food you have stocked up in both your pantry and freezer and figure out what you have.  Go through your cookbooks and see what dishes you have all the ingredients.  Make a list of these and put them on a menu for the week or for the month depending how many dishes you have the ingredients.  Next, figure out food (in your cookbooks) that you have part of the ingredients and you can cheaply buy the rest of the ingredients.  Now put these on your menu and make a shopping list of only these items that you need to finish the menu.

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