Cooking Spray

How to Replace Cooking Spray

Here we gooooo!  For starters I just want to remind you I am starting off with baby-steps, some of my posts will be very simple and basic, others will be items I have already been doing homemade, and then the remaining will be where I will have to put my game face on.

I have decided to start with items that go into a lot of our meals but don't make up the main course. The items pictured are some of the ones I would like to replace during my cooking series. I love the idea that I could create much of what is in front of me without going to the store using basic ingredients I already have in my cupboards. I don't know about you but any spontaneous trip to the grocery store usually results in coming out with more than I intended and spending more than I had hoped to! Some of these items will need ingredients that are not currently on my grocery list but I anticipate most of these additional costs will be much less than what I am currently spending on the store bought items. However, on the other hand there will be some items that will have minimal to no additional cost because the items can be made using everything I already keep stocked.  Either way the unnecessary stuff is getting eliminated!

Which leads me to today's culprit ... cooking spray. This is one of those items I have strictly used out of convenience which is a huge factor when it comes to buying and preparing any kind of food. The extra dollars spent to avoid another stop when you have to haul the kiddos in on a no-nap-day or the "I just want to get home from work" so the local grocery store is WAY more appealing than the Aldi 15 minutes out of the way.  

So, cooking spray is getting replaced with butter or your favorite oil. I transitioned from non-stick cookware to stainless steel a few years back which did take some time getting used to. I now love cooking on it and couldn't image anything else, but this has meant there is a much needed step of pan prep! I have started leaving a partially wrapped stick of butter in a small covered dish in my fridge (you could leave this out right next to your stove) so it's as simple as grabbing the partially wrapped end of the stick and giving my pan a quick coat. The great thing about this replacement is your options are endless! There are so many oils to pick from you can adapt this however you wish.  On a side-note, a silicon basting brush can come in very handy as well.

Additional Cost: minimal - none ... Butter is always on hand in this house :)
Savings: approximately $1.50-$4 depending on quantity and brand
Environmentally Friendly: YES, eliminated one more aerosol can!

Today's Question: What is the first item from your pantry you would replace?