I am an American girl, and I love my big 20 oz. steaks. The best diet I’ve ever been on was when I was diagnosed with anemia and ate a steak and a half every day to try to get all the iron I needed. So when my boyfriend, who was basically born cooking, showed me this Mennonite (aka Amish) cookbook he liked, I rolled my eyes. Please! Cut back my meat consumption? Buy in bulk? Never! Such a hassle, right?

Wrong. I guess because my boyfriend was the one who told me about it I felt I was obligated to at least give it a try. So I started off with something simple–a recipe for making pancake mix. The thing I love about pancake mix is that it’s extremely versatile. You can make pancakes really quickly in the morning so you don’t have to stare at the same bowl of cereal every day. You can make them more interesting or “gourmet” if you will, by adding bananas, chocolate chips, apples, or blueberries, etc. to the batter. You can put whipped cream on top and really indulge. But even better you can use that same basic dry mix for shortcakes, biscuits, quick breads, dumplings, waffles the list goes on and on. So there’s a recipe for a bulk amount of mix in the cookbook and I tried it. I went to a store that sells in bulk and bought all the ingredients and put it in a big plastic container and there you have it. I haven’t bought pancake mix in months, and I’m still using the same mixture.

I realize that, for one, not everyone is as into pancakes as I am, and number two, buying in bulk isn’t always practical for everyone. In a lot of ways it’s not practical for me, I live by myself and buy all my own food. I am busy and on the run a lot and so, for me like many others, having a prepackaged snack to grab whilst on the run is just more worth it. But in some cases, like buying a 10 lb. bag of flour (it never goes bad so long as it’s kept dry) and using it for a year, or buying chicken breast 12 pieces at a time and freezing them until you need them (they, too, keep for about a year when frozen), these ideas are practical. Not only that, but you’ll put away some money to spend later, if you want to spend it on shoes or new jeans or that fabulous scarf, do it!

And feel good about it, because guess what? Buying in bulk and packaging things yourself or making these types of recipes helps the world. Over the next few posts, I’ll give you a new idea every day and you can try whichever ones you feel work for you. I’m aiming to give practical solutions to a busy world. The best part is they’re all going to make your life more chic today, and in your own way, you’ll be saving the world.

Image Copyright © Kevin Logan Photography

Filed under: Living