Get Out of The Kitchen - Cooking in Bulk - Freezing in Bulk - Buying in Bulk [Kindle Edition]

Rhonda Grice shares some good ideas in Get Out of The Kitchen - Cooking in Bulk - Freezing in Bulk - Buying in Bulk. Unfortunately, she badly needs an editor (Grandma noticed more than a few "wrong word" spelling errors) and a couple of lessons in food science!

One of the most glaring errors Grandma came across was this statement: When I get a bag of potatoes I try to peal (sic) half of the potatoes all at one time. . . . . . once the potatoes are peeled you can store them in water in the refrigerator for a week or two.

Leaving aside the fact that bells peal and one peels potatoes, no you absolutely cannot keep peeled potatoes a week or two in the fridge just by changing out the water every 3 days. Sure, they will look approximately the same, but we eat potatoes for their nutritional value. Much of the starch and nearly all of the vitamins in potatoes are water soluble. Every time you change the water you are throwing away the stuff that makes the potatoes worth eating in the first place. The few minutes you might save by only cleaning up potato peels once instead of a couple of times simply are not worth the "convenience."

Grandma had one other huge issue with Rhonda's information. That is where Rhonda writes "I do like to buy seasonings at Sams Club in the large containers whenever possible, however the dollar stores are now carrying seasonings for about 50 cents a jar. They are smaller but the price is still good."

Even if you use a lot of spices in your cooking, as Grandma definitely does, it is very hard to use up those industrial sized containers of spice you find at Costco or Sams. Even with a houseful of kids to feed, Grandma didn't use a full pound of any one spice in an entire year. Spices lose their potency over time. In general, you shouldn't keep spices around longer than a year. Buying most of them in bulk simply gives you more to throw away. There is one other thing to remember about spices: you get what you pay for. Those $0.50 bottles of spice at the Dollar store are old, stale and of very low quality. Buying them is a false economy. A far better plan is to find a store like a natural food coop or Whole Foods where you can buy spices in the bulk section. You won't get a jar (you can recycle spice jars) but you will get premium spices at a mere fraction of what you would pay for them elsewhere and since you can buy in even a tiny quantity, your spices never have a chance to get stale.

There is no Table of Contents, but the book is quite short.

Your call.

This is a nice starter book with good ideas. I wish it had a bit more in the way of what exactly to cook and freeze. I am very lazy. The bonus section was very useful. My freezer is a mess.
I see another reviewer didn't care for the bulk seasonings. I buy these items in bulk all the time. I typically use them in a timely manner. Even if I need to toss some older stuff out, it is usually only a dollar or two more than a very small jar from the market. Very worth while to buy these items in bulk unless you like bland food.
Thanks for the inspiration.

Even though I would consider this book a basic sort of guide, I learned some good tips I didn't know. If you've never lived with frugal family members, you don't know this stuff without researching it folks. It could have been longer (I counted 9 1/2 pages, not including the table of contents, etc.) and there were two mini-advertisements (link to her website; link to her other books). I liked that the author writes in an upbeat, pleasant tone. Some of the frugal books I've read seem to have a fear element involved and you won't find that here. Four stars.
*I am not an author, I do not know the author, I have not received, and have no expectation of receiving, anything of value for this book review.