Frugal Kitchens 101- Buttermilk

I have to share with you that my newest favourite ingredient to cook with is cultured buttermilk. Buttermilk adds an incredible flavour to most dishes and it is one of the best meat tenderizers you will find. I was first introduced to buttermilk when I started making fresh butter as a newlywed and while that buttermilk is excellent the buttermilk called for in most recipes is cultured buttermilk. Several year ago I attended a house party of one of my mentors. He had used herbed cultured buttermilk as a marinade for chicken breasts. Well I think I was pretty much hooked right there and then. The results were wonderful. So over the years I have worked cultured buttermilk into both baking, cooking and deep frying to the point I keep a couples of L of it going because it is so easy to make. As I open a L I remove 250 ml to use as as a starter then start a new L of buttermilk that day so I always have plenty of buttermilk ready for cooking and baking. I usually start a batch of sour cream using buttermilk starter the same day as well. Homemade buttermilk and sour cream is cheaper per unit price than store bought and you elimimate those pesky containers too. This is extremely important!

In many cases being frugal in the kitchen means not only saving money but getting a better quality product for less money. More so today being frugal means being eco-friendly as well. I can buy a 500 ml container of store brand sour cream for about $2.50 which means I have to go to the store and I have that plastic container to deal with. Or I can make the same 500 ml amount for a cost of about $1 at home using whole milk and a mason jar. So not only is this saving me money it is very eco-friendly because I'm reusing a jar I already have. Anytime you can eliminate that packaging you are going to save money but eliminating the packaging means a lot more than that. It means you have taken one step closer to being eco-friendly :)