Hi, first of all I am finally back and ready to start blogging. Today I thought I'd join the Frugal Friday tips and post a few misc tips that I use all the time. Don't forget to pop on over to Life As Mom to find all kinds of fabulous tips from other frugal bloggers. I always learn so much from them.
Ok, my frugal tips are............
1. I like to buy trays of chicken breasts (I quit buying the frozen--fresh is so much better and ends up being more economical), large pork roasts and beef roasts. Watch for sales of course. Then when I get home I get out my big stock pot and start cooking up the meat. I'll season each a little bit, but I keep it simple so I can later add spices for Italian dishes or Mexican dishes etc. After the chicken, pork or beef is cooked I remove any bones, skin etc and then shred the meat up and measure out 2 cups and place the chicken, beef or pork into quart size freezer bags and label. It makes a really nice convenience food item and it really stretches the meat so much further. I've discovered that I was really over doing it before and now I can make all kinds of quicker meals with less meat--or actually a better proportion of meat. Saving time and money.
I also save the broth from each meat in quart size canning jars. Just pour it into the jar, cool in the fridge and then pop into the freezer for later use.
2. Use those cereal bags. This one is something I recently learned. Now I'm talking those cereal bags inside the boxed cereals. If you look at them they are a nice heavy wax type paper most of the time and great for storing food and non-food items in. Just yesterday I saved my rags that I polish with in one. Keeps them stored neatly and they won't get their oily residue on other things in the closet and I didn't have to waste a nice ziplock baggie on them. They also make great little travel trash bags too. The ideas are endless. Oh and save the boxes to use for crafting too--tons of uses there.
3. Make A Mix Cookery I've had this book for years and have just recently started using it. It makes mixes for all kinds of baked goods and more. What I like about using this method is that if I decide to make muffins for dinner I can pull out my mix add my wet ingredients and be done in a jiffy. It's a bit dangerous having the versatile brownie mix on hand, but oh so nice! Lots of convenience here and cheaper too. There's also More Make a Mix Cookery--that one I still need to add to my collection of recipe books, but in the meantime the other book is keeping me busy.
4. The Bulk Food section in the grocery store is a great place to save money. I'm talking about the big barrels of bulk foods where you measure out what you want. I have found my biggest savings has been in spices and yeast. For instance a pound of cinnamon costs 2.27. Well a pound of cinnamon is a lot and when you buy it prepackaged you only get a few ounces for that same price ore more and I've found all of the spices to be a huge, huge savings plus they are so much fresher and it's a cheaper way to experiment with new spices. For the cost of a pound of bulk yeast, ($2 something per pound) I would end up spending $12.00, buying it in jar form off the shelf (probably more if bought in the packets). That's a savings of about $10.00. And if you don't think you'll use all that yeast before it expires, put it in a jar and store it in the freezer. It will save indefinitely that way. I have saved my yeast for years this way and have never had a problem.
Well, that's just a few ideas for now. Don't forget to check out the rest of the Frugal Friday ideas--there's a ton of them!
Ok, my frugal tips are............
1. I like to buy trays of chicken breasts (I quit buying the frozen--fresh is so much better and ends up being more economical), large pork roasts and beef roasts. Watch for sales of course. Then when I get home I get out my big stock pot and start cooking up the meat. I'll season each a little bit, but I keep it simple so I can later add spices for Italian dishes or Mexican dishes etc. After the chicken, pork or beef is cooked I remove any bones, skin etc and then shred the meat up and measure out 2 cups and place the chicken, beef or pork into quart size freezer bags and label. It makes a really nice convenience food item and it really stretches the meat so much further. I've discovered that I was really over doing it before and now I can make all kinds of quicker meals with less meat--or actually a better proportion of meat. Saving time and money.
I also save the broth from each meat in quart size canning jars. Just pour it into the jar, cool in the fridge and then pop into the freezer for later use.
2. Use those cereal bags. This one is something I recently learned. Now I'm talking those cereal bags inside the boxed cereals. If you look at them they are a nice heavy wax type paper most of the time and great for storing food and non-food items in. Just yesterday I saved my rags that I polish with in one. Keeps them stored neatly and they won't get their oily residue on other things in the closet and I didn't have to waste a nice ziplock baggie on them. They also make great little travel trash bags too. The ideas are endless. Oh and save the boxes to use for crafting too--tons of uses there.
3. Make A Mix Cookery I've had this book for years and have just recently started using it. It makes mixes for all kinds of baked goods and more. What I like about using this method is that if I decide to make muffins for dinner I can pull out my mix add my wet ingredients and be done in a jiffy. It's a bit dangerous having the versatile brownie mix on hand, but oh so nice! Lots of convenience here and cheaper too. There's also More Make a Mix Cookery--that one I still need to add to my collection of recipe books, but in the meantime the other book is keeping me busy.
4. The Bulk Food section in the grocery store is a great place to save money. I'm talking about the big barrels of bulk foods where you measure out what you want. I have found my biggest savings has been in spices and yeast. For instance a pound of cinnamon costs 2.27. Well a pound of cinnamon is a lot and when you buy it prepackaged you only get a few ounces for that same price ore more and I've found all of the spices to be a huge, huge savings plus they are so much fresher and it's a cheaper way to experiment with new spices. For the cost of a pound of bulk yeast, ($2 something per pound) I would end up spending $12.00, buying it in jar form off the shelf (probably more if bought in the packets). That's a savings of about $10.00. And if you don't think you'll use all that yeast before it expires, put it in a jar and store it in the freezer. It will save indefinitely that way. I have saved my yeast for years this way and have never had a problem.
Well, that's just a few ideas for now. Don't forget to check out the rest of the Frugal Friday ideas--there's a ton of them!
