Sometimes I like to get fancy spreads for bread at the grocery store. I especially like the bruschetta toppings at Harris Teeter and various hummus spreads.
In particular, I’ve been trying to add more fresh vegetables to my diet. I hate salad, so I find a tomato-based bruschetta topping to be a perfect way to add more ‘veg’ to my diet. Problem is, these spreads are often over-salted, especially the ones with nummy little capers. To combat the saltiness, I take one small Roma tomato and half a small white onion and chop up both. I mix the tomato and onion into the bruschetta topping, putting half into a separate tupperware container. I mash up the tomato a bit with the mixing fork, but not too much, I like it to be kind of chunky. The original container (which has printing to tell me what it is) goes straight into the freezer. I can keep it there for a month and thaw it out when I want it. The other container is for immediate consumption or over the next few days. I figured for a $2.99 4oz container of bruschetta topping, 90 cents for a Roma tomato, and 50 cents for half a white onion, I’m doubling the size of topping, without doubling the price.
Another thing I like to do is make pre-packaged pasta stuff, like Lipton Noodle mixes, or Bertolli frozen dinners for two. To stretch them out, I will add in some extra pasta. For the Lipton stuff, I usually add some extra water and dry pasta at the beginning so everything cooks evenly. For Bertolli frozen meals, I pre-cook some pasta and throw it in towards the end. This means I might cook an entire box of pasta on one night, save whatever I don’t eat for leftovers, and use that to throw into the Bertolli meal as it’s finishing cooking. (When the frozen sauce chips are all liquid, but the dish is still not ready to serve.) Usually this means I can get one extra serving out of the package, and I’m eating less sodium. (Him of Make Love Not Debt advises adding a cup of red wine to the Bertolli meals for tastiness. I’ll have to give this a try.)
What do you do? Do you water down your juices or juice concentrate? Do you use a third of the powdered mix and add more sugar to Kool-Aid?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t buy any prepackaged foods like the dinners you described, but I definitely water down the cranberry juice & 0-carb lemonade that I buy.
I totally do the prepacked pasta thing. Lean Cuisine sells a “skillet” pasta dish. You heat it on the skillet, cover for x number of minues on simmer and voila! I always buy a zuccini, small onion and a couple of carrots and throw them in at the beginning. The Lean Cuisine thing can be found for like five or six bucks and with the extra buck in veges, it’s enough for two with leftovers.
Now you are deleting my comments. You have every right to do it but its revisionism and censorship. Not very liberal of you. And I didn’t attack you or call you any names.
This doesn’t speak well to the integrity of your site. Sorry I visited it.
I don’t water down my groceries except add more to them like the pasta or the vegetables. I do like your bruschetta idea and have to try that when I’m eating fancy bread. thanks for the tip!