Save money - eat healthier - Cook it yourself!

All of the recipes you'll find here and at www.carlcooks.com are made from healthy ingredients rather than processed food - that's because we don't want to fill our bodies with chemicals from food any more than from prescription drugs.

But if that isn't enough, how about cooking to save money? Some things take so little time to do that buying the expensive packaged variety is just silly. For instance, salad.

Not only do you run the risk of buying contaminated lettuce - remember the scare last year - you pay dearly for that little bit of convenience. Not only that, bagged lettuce wouldn't last for weeks in that case if they weren't treated with something - do you REALLY want to eat preservatives?

A little bag of already cut up lettuce costs $3 or more - while a head of lettuce runs about a dollar. And you can choose the extra stuff you want to put in it - carrots, celery, a bit of spinach, a little onion. Most of those things will last in your refrigerator for quite a while, but if you don't think you can use it all before it goes to waste, split your salad fixin's with a friend.

Now consider a can of soup as opposed to the homemade variety. 12 oz. of Progresso chicken soup costs in the range of $2.50 - $3.00. You can make it yourself with one potato (can be cooked, leftover), one carrot, 1/2 cup of frozen peas, a couple of boullion cubes (or chicken broth) 1/2 cup of pasta shapes or noodles, 1/2 cup of cubed chicken (leftover), and enough water to make 2-3 cups of soup.

(Add the pasta after everything else is almost cooked - otherwise it will turn to mush. If you're using cooked potatoes, put them in toward the end as well.)

I prefer making enough for 6-8 cups of soup, because I'm lazy. I want extra to put away for tomorrow or the next day.

Since at least part of that list can come from leftovers that would otherwise sit in the refrigerator until they turned into a green science project, the cost is minimal - and the soup tastes better. You also get the benefit of controlling the sodium level - add enough to please your taste buds. Use Sea Salt if you have it.

Some of the things I see for sale shock me - Like the potatoes in a plastic bag that are already peeled and cut up - so you can microwave them and then mash them. Why pay 3 or 4 times extra just so you don't have to peel a potato? You still have to mash them yourself!