- Hey, Freebs Nation,
it's Jordan Page from
funcheaporfree.com
And tonight, we're gonna get cooking.
You wanna cook with me? Let's cook.
(upbeat music)
(soft music)
So for those of you
who don't know,
I am a budgeting and productivity
and grocery shopping ninja.
I teach and preach it all across the Web,
on national TV segments,
including Rachael Ray,
and I've been doing it
for years and years.
One of the things that I like to do is,
help a family really
tighten up on their budget,
by cooking good, homemade
food for their family,
using first, what they have on hand,
and only running to the store
when absolutely necessary.
(McEwan yelling)
This allows you
to use your grocery budget
mostly for stocking up
on items that you can keep on hand,
and then supplementing of
course with like fresh produce
and things like that each week.
This is called shelf cooking.
If you're not familiar with it,
(clapping)
get familiar,
it'll change your life.
I gotta be fast.
My kids, my big kids anyway,
are about to come
barreling through the door.
I've got my little buddy
over here having a snack.
McEwan, say, hi!
The babies are laying down,
and so I've got a quick
moment, and it is 4:48,
and the kids are going to be
starving when they get home
from playing with friends.
I like to have dinner on the
table between 5:30 and 6:00.
So tonight I'm going to
do a little shelf cooking,
and I want you to cook along with me.
As many of you know,
first thing I did was, I
went through my fridge,
and looked at a bunch of
the ingredients that I had,
that I really needed to use up,
including bell pepper.
(McEwan yelling)
I've got onion, some tomato sauce.
In my freezer, I have
a bunch of ground beef,
so I pulled some out,
and it's been thawing out
in the fridge all day,
and it's just about thawed
out enough that I can cook it.
So I decided to make a family favorite,
which we call tamale casserole.
It's really yummy,
but the best part is
that it's easily frozen.
So I'm actually going
to double the recipe,
cook one tonight, and freeze
one for another busy night,
(clapping)
getting two out of one.
Bam!
(upbeat music)
All right, while I wait for
the cornmeal to get thick,
I am adding my next few ingredients.
So this called for eight
ounces of tomato sauce,
but I'm doubling it, so I need 16 ounces.
Well, what do you know?
I opened my fridge and
have this 24 ounce jar
of spaghetti sauce that I need to use up,
but about this much is gone,
so I bet you anything that
this is right around 16 ounces,
and it's the same as tomato sauce,
just adds a little extra
flavor, which is great.
And so I'm just gonna use
this, which is shelf cooking.
It's adapting and use what you have,
rather than letting this go to waste,
and opening something brand-new.
It's inventive, guys. And it works.
(upbeat music)
I added just a little
bit of water to this jar,
to make sure to get all of
the stuff out of the bottom.
Every drop counts.
(upbeat music)
The recipe does not really
call for kidney beans,
but I'm gonna add these for
a little bit more protein,
and to stretch the meal even farther.
(upbeat music)
Sorry, TV's on, it's really loud.
But meanwhile, while that's baking,
I'm gonna put together a kind of a,
cottage cheese, Cool Whip salad,
which is a nice, light
side on this hot day.
And it's stuff I already have on hand
in my fridge and freezer,
that I need to use up.
(upbeat music)
All right, it is done,
nice and golden and bubbly.
And I've got a second one that is ready,
I'm just letting it cool off a little bit,
and then I'm gonna double-wrap it in foil,
label it and put it in the
freezer for another day.
And, I have my fruit salad.
I just need to add some
grapes and bananas,
at the last second.
I also have chips and salsa
that's gonna go with it.
(record scratch)
I've got this chili sauce
that I want to use up,
so I'm gonna go to Favoreats,
or you can go to wherever you want.
For dish type, I'm going to say main dish.
And for ingredients, I'm
actually going to type in,
chili sauce, and see what pops up.
Ooh, weeknight turkey enchiladas.
I don't have ground turkey,
but I have ground beef,
but we're already doing Mexican.
Ooh, firecracker salmon.
That could be good.
I do have some salmon in my freezer.
Ooh, Sesame chicken. That looks good.
Ah, the best meatloaf recipe.
I haven't made meatloaf in a while,
and I do have ground beef to use,
so I'm going to click on that,
and I'm just going to skip way down,
and just look at the recipe,
see what the ingredients are.
Eggs, milk, breadcrumbs,
which, I have breadcrumbs.
Ground beef, onion, chili sauce,
Italian seasoning, parsley.
I have all that.
More chili sauce, ketchup and
brown sugar for the topping.
That actually looks like a winner,
so I'm gonna write down meatloaf.
I got to wrap this up because
my kids got to head out
to their different activities,
but I hope you guys enjoyed
cooking with me today,
and I hope you see that by
using ingredients you have,
you really can make some
awesome, awesome meals,
without having to run to the store.
Right, guys?
- [Boys] Right.
- Okay. Get this thing off of me.
And if you enjoyed this
video, give me a thumbs up.
And be sure to subscribe.
Be sure to follow me on Instagram,
@jordanpage
I share tons of meal ideas over there,
and also on my new blog,
shelfcooking.com
All right, you guys, I
gotta go feed my family.
I will talk to you soon. All
of the recipes link below.
Have a good day!
- Bye!
- Oh. What do you think?
(children chatting)
What are you doing?
(children chatting)
Is that yummy?
(children chatting)
You love eating.
(children chatting)
You missed.
You gotta keep it in your mouth!
You gotta keep it in your mouth.
- [Boy] Devereux!
- That little tongue
doesn't know what to do.
- [Boy] Devereux!
