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Boxed goods are convenient for the most part. However, they are not the best healthwise or moneywise. A bag of regular white flour can add a lot of variety in your meals. A 50lb bag of flour is cheap and can go a long way.
There’s a ton of foods you can make with regular flour. Biscuits, pancakes, waffles, pot pie, bread, pizza, pigs in a blanket, and it just keeps going.
With just a few ingredients a host of treats can be quickly made. With a little planning, you can have more advanced bread and treats. Some bread needs to sit for hours or even overnight to rise. It is well worth it.
Some of our favorites are pizza. The same pizza crust recipe can be used to make garlic bread, pigs in a blanket, and even German flammkuchen. Flammkuchen is much like pizza but crème fraîche is used instead of tomato sauce. Any ingredients can be put on it. Bacon and caramelized onions are one of our favorites.
Flammkuchen Dough Recipe:
2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
½ c water
2 Tbsp olive oil
Flammkuchen Toppings
1 c crème fraîche, or 1 c Greek yogurt, or slightly over 1 c plain yogurt, strained *
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ lb bacon, diced
2 onions, halved and sliced thin
ground black pepper (to top)
Cornmeal (for the pan)
Roll out personal-sized dough balls on a surface sprinkled with flour or half flour and half cornmeal. Put the dough on a baking tray that is lightly sprinkled with flour or is nonstick. Spread the sauce on the dough and add toppings. Bake at 500 for about 12 to 15 minutes.
Pot pie can be made using leftovers and healthier alternatives to processed foodlike products that are available at the grocers. There are a ton of recipes for pot pie. We love many of the English style pot pie recipes and most often make pot pies with leftovers.
Pancakes and waffles are always a treat in the house. With our four boys, it is a given that someone will want pancakes or waffles every day. Plug in the waffle maker or put the frying pan on the stove on low to get it up to temp before mixing the ingredients. A nice hot pan or iron is best to start with to try to avoid that first pancake or waffle that is just a little off.
Biscuits and rolls go well by themselves or with a meal. The problem with biscuits is melting the butter before the dough gets to sit. After a couple of batches you should have it down. Those cardboard tubes of ready made biscuits will pale in comparison to the ones you make at home with butter and a little TLC.
There’s literally a ton of recipes that can be made from a bag of flour. None are cheaper to buy premade. None are as tasty as what you can make either. Having flour and other staples on hand at home can help spread out the grocery budget and bring variety to the household. Whether it’s in good or bad times staple ingredients is a smart way to eat. You can feed a family of 4 for what you would feed one person off a dollar menu if you are smart about your food prep and planning.
If you are looking to reduce your expenses and increase your dining experience consider going to staple ingredients. You will be surprised at the amount of meals and types of meals you can create. It doesn’t take any longer to make dinner than it does to get the family ready and go sit somewhere to eat. You might as well eat healthy and economically.
