Five Frugal Things | 50 pounds of flour!
Keep reading for the flour. 😉
1. I planted some gingerroot.
I noticed my that current pieces of ginger were getting a little dried up, but also that they looked like they were starting to sprout.
I did some googling and learned that ginger can indeed just be stuck in the ground and it will probably grow.
So, that's what I did. We'll see what happens!
2. I made banana muffins with my ripe bananas.
No one here wants to eat them when they're this spotty. Blech.
But these same bananas as banana chocolate chip muffins?
They were gone in less than 12 hours.
Weird how adding chocolate, sugar and flour makes these so much more delicious than plain bananas. 😉
3. I roasted my parsnips (plus some carrots).
Hungry Harvest has been very generous with the carrots lately, so I am working through a surplus.
And they also sent me some parsnips. I know a lot of people hate those, but I really like them.
However, I am the only one in my family who feels that way. 😉
Anyway, I sliced up all the parsnips and some of my carrots and I used my easy roasted carrots recipe to cook them.
Lisey ate the carrots, I ate the parsnips, and now my root vegetable surplus is looking a little better.
4. We used failed jam as pancake topping.
I've made peach freezer jam a bunch of times before, but this batch I made last August just did not jell.
I mean, it's thicker than it would have been with no pectin, but no one in their right mind would call this jam.
So, it's been sitting in the chest freezer, and this week it occurred to me that soupy jam might make a really good pancake topping.
I was not wrong.
And now I'm very pleased that I have several more jars of this in the freezer.
(Speaking of homemade jam, if you want a fun project and you can get your hands on some pectin, try this recipe for homemade grape jelly, using store-bought grape juice.)
5. I ordered some flour online.
Flour has been pretty difficult to come by locally (everyone is baking now!), so I did some poking around online and found a restaurant supply website that sells 50 pound bags of King Arthur flour for a good price.
(It worked out to be about $3.65/five pounds.)
This is the flour I swear by for pizza dough. It seriously is a complete game changer and if you haven't tried making pizza with it, I really think you should!
(Here's how to make really great homemade pizza)
My order is going to be delayed until April 27 due to supply issues, but that's fine. I definitely have enough flour left to hold me over until then.
(This is the site I ordered from; they're all out of stock now, but you can sign up to be notified when they have more in stock. I ordered the Special Patent flour, which is the same as King Arthur Bread flour. And the Sir Galahad is the same as their all-purpose flour.)
1. A friend gave us basil, kale and a spinach-like plants that we planted. My favorite plants are edible ones. Might have to try your ginger idea.
2. My kids have been coloring pictures on scrap papers my husband gave them.
3. Made Spaghetti sandwiches with leftover noodles. Lots of carbs! Haha
4. Planning to do a simple self made Bible curriculum for homeschooling next year. It'll not only save money, but hopefully be more relaxed and personalized.
5. Doing the norm of cooking at home, reusing gray water, ect...
Is this Katy from purposelyfrugal? I use your pizza muffin recipe all the time!
Yes, it's me! Glad you use it....I haven't used it in years! lol
1. I'm only getting the groceries I put on my list because I'm using the Concierge service at Sam's Club. There have been no impulse purchases.
2. Since we are Staying Home there is very little shopping occurring, just an occasional online purchase.
3. Our trip to AZ scheduled for this week was cancelled (of course). We'll save on air fare (the amount spent can be used later), hotels, rental car, etc. Instead we will go to a new, to us, park for our anniversary to hike. We'll pack lunch.
4. I picked up a couple hosta plants from the curb while walking. There's a lady in our neighborhood that loves to share her excess. Last night she had hostas out. I dropped them off to new neighbors that love to plant things.
5. There isn't much we're doing these days that isn't frugal.
My first five frugal things and this hasn't even been too frugal a week - I sent a friend of mine flowers and wine, as she's a doctor and working in hospital daily, and spent a lot on food shopping! But I'll try and think of some things! Thanks Kristen for the fun challenge!
1) I haven't been able to go out for coffee or food. I was trying to cut back on that anyway but that has forced me to cut it to zero.
2) I can't go to the cinema. While it's a saving, I'm really excited to go again once things are relatively back to normal!
3) I need new running shoes and can't buy them. I could get them online, but prefer going to the shop as they take time to assess your gait and measure your feet, and I have annoying feet which are between sizes!
4) I had to cancel two vacations. Currently battling the airline for a refund on one (fortunately hadn't booked anything for the second). If I can't get the money back, it luckily wasn't too expensive a flight, but I'd prefer not be out of pocket! My hotel was going to be cash on arrival so I didn't lose money for that. I'm very sad that I had to lose out on my holidays, even though it's small in the scheme of things, but am positive it will make me truly appreciate the next trip I take when it's safe to do so.
5) General day-to-day life has slowed down. Whilst I always tried to borrow books from the library, I haven't ordered any which I can't get there, and have been reading those I already own. I'm doing yoga at home via free tutorials and talking to my friends on the phone more.
Amazon has a great selection of running shoes. I also have a hard to fit foot so I bought several pairs and sent back what I didn't want. Returns are a hassle, but I'm so glad to be running still. 🙂
Especially if you already have a pair you like - I’ve had good luck finding last year’s model still in stock in my size via Amazon.
Brooks is my go to running shoe and you can order off RunningWarehouse.com with free shipping & returns. They have a large variety of brands so if you know one that fits your foot, they're a great place to order from.
I ordered 100 pounds of flour directly from King Arthur at the beginning of March, but your price is much better. I was just thinking last week that I should really try out one of those bulk restaurant suppliers (since I apparently cook almost as much as a small restaurant :-), and now I'm definitely going to.
As for frugality, I guess I'm just keeping on with all the regular stuff. I did save our school some money, though, by volunteering to make cookies for all the students coming tomorrow for a "pick-up parade." They're going to drive past the school to wave to the teachers and collect all the personal things left at school. One of the teachers suggested giving them all ice cream sandwiches as a treat, but I thought that would be a nightmare with kids in a car (or maybe that's just my kids?), so I volunteered to make cookies. I can do this because the entire student body numbers less than 50 kids. That's still around a hundred cookies, but doable. And I have enough flour. 🙂
You know fresh ginger freezes well too- peel it and then freeze and just take what you need out for a recipe. I have not been grocery shopping since March 12th and still have plenty of food! I could use some 1/2 and 1/2 but that's about it necessity-wise. My Thursday produce delivery has been the Godsend- fresh veggies, a loaf of bakery bread and a dozen eggs (every 2 weeks for the eggs) weekly. I'm not a big meat eater and still have a little left in my freezers- I have an old refrigerator in the garage so that;s the second freezer. I think with my stimulus $$ I'm buying a small freezer and getting rid of the old fridge. Both my refrigerators are old- 23 and 19 years old. Can you believe that and only one repair in all these years and that was the water dispenser? I live alone now so maybe it's the opening and closing of the doors that helps age them?? Or am I just lucky? PS I still have flour and butter!
We mix my jam flops with plain yogurt. We mix good homemade jam with yogurt too, but soupy jam works just as well.
1. My husband picked up our 50 lb. bag of flour yesterday. He also bought bulk roasted cornmeal and salt. We buy from a local Mennonite bulk food store. But this is our normal routine; we have 7 children, so it just makes money sense/cents 🙂
2. My daughter wanted to sew on something, and I suggested she mend a pair of shorts that had a hole in a pocket; her older brother was wanting to wear shorts, and these were his size.
3. I made an Easter dress for the same daughter. This was NOT frugal, but the sewing skills I learned in the process will hopefully pay off in the long run.
4. I am currently using up an oatmeal-buckwheat porridge that few children liked by making it into a pancake of sorts. If they put syrup on it, they should eat it.
5. I rinsed, baked, and crushed egg shells to use in our garden when we plant tomato and pepper plants later.
So weird, we have flour here in Central Florida and I haven't seen it run out, even got bread flour at Sam's. 🙂
Well, apparently everyone here up north has decided to bake!
Flour is sold out online at a lot of websites too, so Florida must be kind of an anomaly.
Maybe it's too hot down there for everyone to be feeling like baking. 🙂
North Florida is out of flour too. I got 30 lbs from Walmart online--it arrives today. I usually have 20-30 lbs at home all the time, but my mother took up stress baking so she has gone through my supply and we bake a lot in normal times (plus, we haven't been able to find any since the start of March).
I live here in Norwich, VT where King Arthur in based and the local stores are out of flour. If you go directly to their retail store you can usually get some but need to call in advance for pick up these days because of the shutdown
I'm a North Florida gal too and we've been out!
I haven't had any trouble getting flour, if not this trip then the next one. I know others in my area have and I don't know why my experience is different.
I can't think of any frugal things except for not spending at all. Should I make a list of what I'm not buying? That could get ridiculous, like Katy's Lear Jet.
My grocery trip this week was $315! I really wish I had the data to determine if I'm spending more or if it just seems like it because it's all at one time.
I'd love your banana muffin recipe. I've got a few VERY ripe bananas that weren't eaten from my online order. I've been saying, "I'm going to make muffins." But I haven't found a recipe I'm excited about yet.
I think it's linked in the post, but here's a link for you! https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/wednesday-baking-chocolate-chip-banana-muffins/
I love a great deal and love to bargain shop, but I have really limited my driving around to lower exposure to the public ( husband has some medical issues that make him higher risk)
1- much lower random spending saves money( even if it was on food we would still use)
2- less gas needing to be purchased
3-no online shopping since I don't know how long until I can return in store if it doesn't work!
4-DID buy batteries! lol Office max had a 100% back in perks on AA and we needed those.. so I bought those with in store pick up.. THEN made a second purchase to buy a 4pk of 9V we also needed and used my soon to be expiring perks on file to pay towards those. (paid .80 for 4 batteries)
5- We did run out of shredded cheese from my shopping stockpiles so when I was picking up prescriptions at my local store I grabbed a couple storebrand blocks of cheese to shred- cheaper, no anti caking products, arm workout.. people will eat all the foods if they have cheese!
6-The husband did research on how to sterilize face masks so after dinner is done cooking we monitor the oven temp and when it hits the 180* we put a slab of wood in the oven and place my sons face masks on it to *cook* off any germs he might have picked up from his grocery store job. ( If nothing else it makes my husband feel better)
1. After two weeks of there being no sugar at all in the grocery store there was lots this morning. Yay!
2. I made my own fabric face mask because wearing one is strongly advised for grocery shopping. I tweaked the pattern a little and it fits very well.
3. My daughter has us working out together twice a week to whatever on-line class she’s discovered. Sunday was yoga. I was very wobbly and fell over more than once. Laughing a lot is a good workout, isn’t it?
4. My washer broke but luckily it’s an easy fix and the part should be here by the end of the week.
5. Heavy rain was forecast for Tuesday but we ended up with about half of what we were expecting, which means the flood risk for the city has been lowered. I feel very grateful for that.
Kristen, where did you get the flour? was it bread flour? can you get smaller quantities? And other flour like whole wheat?
I linked to the store in the post above, but they are out of stock of everything right now, and it only comes in huge bags. It's a restaurant supply store, so 5 pound bags aren't a thing they carry. : )
The patent flour I ordered is indeed bread flour; it's just labeled differently when its sold for commercial kitchens.
1. Not going anywhere is very frugal
2. Got a cute Fourth of July porch decor for free on free cycle
3. Walking my neighborhood for exercise
4. Using up leftovers for lunches
5. Buying stocks on sale due to current stock market drops
Last night, I didn't want to cook, so I thought about ordering pizza. However, I got up and made tacos.
Today is my middle son's birthday. I bought a few cake boxes a couple of months ago that were marked down to .25 and the same for the frosting! I had him pick on of each and that's his bday dessert. 🙂 (baked the cake while making the tacos.)
Before our stay at home order, we decided to put up some shelves to hang our coats from. We bought some boards and stain instead of buying premade shelves.
Waited until the very last moment to get gas in my van. Hubby filled it for me--cost 22.00! It was 1.32 a gallon. Same price it was in October of 1999. (When my oldest was born.)
Took advantage of some free streaming different companies offered. Made sure to cancel on time!
And a not: I took advantage of my employer's "self quarantine leave". I will have two weeks off of work, but haven't decided if I want to use my pto to cover one of the weeks. After a week of nightly nightmares (the running for your life kind), my husband said it was time. Two nights nightmare free, so it was the right choice.
Question: Where/how does one store a 50lb bag of flour, assuming you can get your hands on one?
Well, I've never done it before, so I am figuring this out for the first time.
I think I will put the whole thing in my chest freezer for 24 hours, just to make sure any mites are killed (I do this with my wheat berries too). After that, I think it should be safe to just store it in my laundry room in the bag it arrived in, and as I need more flour, I will scoop it out into my kitchen flour container.
That's kind of what I was thinking, or at least decanting the flour into a few larger containers, keeping one in my pantry and the others in our extra freezer in the basement...? I love this idea, it's finding the space/storage to do it! I've never decanted 50lbs of flour before, lol.
May I suggest putting the bag into a sealable container of some sort so critters can't eat through the bag. A Rubbermaid bin is classic, or an old fridge or freezer - even if they don't turn on, they are well-sealed and keep the vermin out.
We have several large buckets from grocery store bakeries (that frosting comes in) that we use to store the flour in our basement where it is cool.
1) Sticking with my routine where, every day, I organize or clean one area of the house & list an item on eBay. These two tasks work well together, as I often find things to donate or sell while I'm organizing. I then list them on eBay. While sales have been slow, I typically have 1-2 per week. It also keeps me walking to the mail box a few blocks away for extra exercise.
2) My parents would have been here this week for spring break. We are super disappointed not to have them, and would have definitely preferred their visit. That said, we received a credit for the flights, and have saved the money we would have spent during their visit ($300 or so)
3) We had an oven fire when our element exploded?! It was quite exciting, but only because no one was injured & it was easily contained in the oven. My husband has ordered a part & will replace it himself.
4) We traded oranges from our yard for yeast, and used the yeast for hot cross buns
5) A neighbor gave away bundles of herbs from her garden, and we did a contactless pickup.
6) We've been walking our elderly neighbor's dog for a month, as she struggles to get out. She gave us a bag of lemons this week, which was an unexpected & lovely surprise.
I resized thrift store curtains into 2 living-room side panels. I found a piece of solid fabric (in my stash - also thrifted) to lengthen the panels and create tie-backs. It was a challenge but I liked the print enough to try to salvage them. I’m very happy with the result.
I’ve also baked chocolate chip banana bread, using up my frozen overripe bananas.
Last night’s supper was blackened fish filets topped chopped salad. I didn’t have much more than a handful of lettuce left but I found lots of things (half an apple, part of a cucumber, bits of broccoli, a red pepper, some celery) that, finely chopped, made up a brightly coloured and tasty salad.
I sautéed mushrooms in thyme and garlic and froze them to avoid having them go bad. They’re now ready to add to whatever dish I may need them for.
I’ve been enjoying reading online books and magazines from the library.
Walks outside are free. We just zigzag from one side of the street to another if we encounter other walkers heading our way. It’s been lovely to see rainbow pictures drawn by the neighbourhood kids stuck on windows along the way. It’s a kind reminder for all of us to be hopeful for better days ahead.
When I read your comment beginning "I resized thrift store curtains...," I had immediate flashbacks to (1) Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp and (2) Carol Burnett as Scarlett O'Hara. Hope you don't mind, and thanks for making me smile!
Ok first question! Have you tried Five Roses flour?! Awesome for bread making. I learned how to make challah bread sweetened and unsweetened!!! Married for 24 years I thought I’d never get the right recipe! No more questions, ha ha. I’m pretty sad that my two peach trees where just about to burst into bloom and snow appeared! Last year the blooms froze too I am guessing we won’t have peaches again this year.
OK I ordered - put my name down for - the Special Patent Flour. Let’s hope it becomes available soon. I make all my own bread, have done for about 30 years now. I have enough flour right now to last me for about 3 weeks.
Janies Mill has flour.
I've spent some money to save money in my first one:
1. Since our soil is horrible for growing veggies, I bought some more good soil for my raised beds, or more accurately, really big containers. I'm trying to improve our soil, but we have a way to go yet! I'm planting all edibles in these.
2. I ordered a birthday gift for free with my Swagbucks on Amazon, and they are shipping it free to the recipient. Contactless birthday gifting and really cheap for me. Granted, I have to pay for Prime membership, but I use it, a lot.
3. I used the baking soda/boiling water/aluminum foil method to get some tarnish off of some silverplated silverware I was re-organizing. Note, this is not for use on hollow handled knives.
4. I also used Swagbucks to order some cassava flour online -- I don't use wheat flour but once or twice a year -- and a salt and pepper set that is supposed to guarantee keeping the moisture out of the salt. We eat sea salt and Himalayan salt, which clumps badly in Florida humidity -- especially this week!
5. I'm using my indoor rack for drying laundry in this rain, with the exception of heavy items or things we need in a hurry. It takes longer, but my clothes do dry. I was inspired to try hanging laundry anyway on rainy days by the Amish in Ohio, who had their clothes hanging on lines under roofs one rainy day when we were going to Kidron.
1) I continue to list items for sale on eBay. Although I am not selling as much as usually do and my average selling price is lower, I am still making a little money which is very much appreciated.
2) Digging around in the freezer, I found a bag of cranberries. I made a loaf of GF orange- cranberry bread and a small batch of sauce that I will eat with my oatmeal.
3) I have been making sure that I use all food resources wisely. I wrapped up the bone in the Easter ham to use later, making chicken stock from frozen carcasses, roasting vegetables to use in salads and so forth.
4) I haven’t given in to online shopping.
5) I cut gardenias from my garden and made several sweet-smelling arrangements around the house
I already posted about flour, but I have to give a shout out to Southwest Airlines. They cancelled our flight in March and they gave us travel funds but I'm not sure we would both be able to make a trip by the expiration date, (they were in our individual names and couldn't be transferred.) I emailed them since I read that the Government told them to return actual money if they cancelled and told them I didn't know if my husband would even have vacation when this mess is over. Anyway, they are crediting my card with $1066! 🙂
1. I put the stalk end of the Romaine lettuce in water, and it has sprouted seven stems 2 inches high in less than a week. I’m so excited to have lettuce growing on my kitchen windowsill. We travel extensively for work, and this is as close to a victory garden as I can expect to have.
2. My daughter and I challenged each other to make a 2-week menu plan and not shop. I normally make a weekly menu, so this was good for me as well. I am thinking I can stretch it to a third week because we keep having leftovers to use up and I don’t want to add things to the freezer (see FG freezer challenge ).
3. I sold an old iPhone on swappa and a travel bag on eBay. $$ in my pocket.
4. I bought three pair of discounted shoes online from DSW. If I return the one pair I can’t wear via mail, I will have to pay $8.95. Returning them to a store is free. Our store is closed currently, but I have 60 days so am hoping the store opens by then.
5. Not necessarily frugal for me, but I was able to give away several dozen plastic eggs to others before Easter. It did empty the space and hopefully brightened some children’s day.
1. Picked up a brand new log rack from Buy Nothing Group
2. We have been looking for a fireplace screen online for a couple of weeks. We found one in someone's trash yesterday while on a walk! Gave it a quick coat of spray paint and it looks great. Saved us $75.
3. Our neighbor made myself, my husband, and our son a cloth mask. They are selling for $10 each around here.
4. Made banana muffins and banana pancakes to use up over ripe bananas
5. Husband earned $1000 extra at work because of an idea that is being considered for patent
I so wish there was a Buy Nothing group here! I looked, and none are close enough for me to be allowed to join.
I love my local Buy Nothing Group. I have given so many things to neighbors and they have been so kind in return.
We love our Buy Nothing group, but it has all but shut down during the pandemic. All posts must include why the items being offered/requested are essential. That said, our admins say it’s pretty easy to hold that position if you wanted to start a group in your neighborhood.
I did online grocery order/curbside pickup for the first time today. I was able to get 5 lbs. of King Arthur flour, but they were unable to fulfill my yeast request (even with substitutions allowed). So, I won't be trying the homemade pizza recipe this week, BUT . . .
Thankfully, last week I found the No Knead bread recipe and made a loaf over the weekend and I still have 4 1/2 t portions of yeast in my little packet so I can make more of that! We loved the bread, by the way.
So thankful for all these great, frugal recipes.
Oh, that's so frustrating! I hope you are able to get some yeast soon.
So we have another member of the 50lb flour club! I normally get mine at the KAF HQ in Vermont but since I can't do that now but ...
1.) I contacted my local restaurant supply warehouse to see if they can order me a 50lb. bag. I have about 12 lbs. of KAF left so I'm fine but if I can't get up to Vermont any time soon (or Costco for that matter) it would be nice to get them locally.
2.) Continuing to work on cleaning out the freezer and eating all of our leftovers to avoid having to go out to the store.
3.) Continuing to read the books I already have, watch the movies I already own and not buy anything. Honestly, I haven't really spent much on myself in a while (even before Covid.) I just don't have time to enjoy them all!
4.) Got my stimulus check and plan on doing the responsible thing with it and put it into savings.
5.) Surprised my wife by shopping an online sale and bought her some nice new clothes for when she goes back to work. I also got some shirts for myself.
So, since you are a regular member of the 50 pound bag club, do you have any tips for the rest of us as far as storage goes?
If at all possible, put the bag into your chest freezer for two days to kill off any weevil eggs which may have hitched a ride in there.
I use 5 gallon food safe buckets from Lowe's or Home Depot. You can optionally line them with a ZipLoc Big Bag (as they are food safe.) Then I use a Cambro style container for storage in the cupboard.
FFT, Spring Things and Good Neighbors Edition:
(1) I have just "hit the cycle" (as they say in baseball) with the leg of lamb I purchased on super-special at Price Chopper on Saturday. Cooked the lamb on Saturday (Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything recipe; the lamb was great but the veggies in the bottom of the pan came out crunchy). Deboned the leg and used the bones, the gristly bits, and some of the crunchy veg to make a stock on Sunday; ate some of the rest of the meat for dinner Sunday night. Used the stock, the rest of the meat, the rest of the crunchy veg, some lentils, and a can of diced tomatoes to make a soup on Monday. DH and I finished the soup for lunch today (Wednesday). Not a scrap was wasted.
(2) A neighbor brought over on Monday a generous wedge of the Easter ham she'd made for herself and her DH. I'm going to put some of the ham and some of the overwintered arugula I have coming up in the back garden into a frittata tonight. The rest of the ham will probably go into a split pea soup tomorrow. (My neighbors don't call me the Soup Nazi for nothing.)
(3) Went out and bunched errands this morning while the home care aide was here to stay with DH. Bought a 40# bag of horse bedding pellets for $6.99 at Country Max. It's impossible to tell these pellets from the Feline Pine pellets that are currently selling for $26.99 per 40# on Amazon. Cha-ching!
(4) My tomatoes germinated this morning under lights in the basement, joining the onions, shallots, and leeks that are now well up. Cucumbers and mini basil to follow. And another purchase at Country Max = 14 Yukon Gold seed potatoes at .79/# (came to about $1.50). I grow these in containers.
(5) DH and I will soon be putting up our mini greenhouse (just a 4-tier set of shelves with plastic to cover them, but that's all I need). The greenhouse was a generous donation from other neighbors 2 years ago. As noted previously both here and on the NCA blog, we are extremely fortunate in our neighbors. (This has become increasingly important as DH's condition continues to deteriorate.)
It's so much fun to see the baby plants coming up. I always feel worried that mine will not appear, and then when they appear, I am massively gratified.
We are one of those households experiencing job lay-off and hour reduction, so we have kicked frugalness into very high gear.
Last summer I consistently found amazing clearances food deals at our local grocery store and bought en masse when I could. I got embarrassingly huge amounts of some very random food items. They are now coming in very handy for stretching out the time between grocery runs.
A few years ago we put out a floating raft for a loons nest on our lake. Their previous nest was getting flooded out in wet years. We brought it in for a remodel last weekend due to a bald eagle attacking the loon on the nest last year. From scraps and metal “junk”, we added a canopy and did it up with natural sticks and branches so it cost zero for the redo. If they nest this year, we can watch from out living room window, so that will be free entertainment!
We’ve started washing ziploc baggies again. It’s been some years since we did that regularly.
We used scraps from the junk pile to make a raised bed garden for an elderly relative. She hasn’t been able to garden for years due to a bad back. She’s thrilled, and it cost zero!
I found pork sirloin steaks on sale, and bought a large stock up quantity. They are cut in consistent grilling thickness. But the sizes of each steak were inconsistent. So before repackaging into vacuum sealed bags, I trimmed them all to a consistent size that is a “regular” portion size each (none are extra large), three steaks per bag. Then the trimmings I put into three ziploc baggies and labeled as cutlets. It’s like getting the three extra baggies worth for free, at least in my head, because I still have the same count of pork steaks!
I am now reusing dryer sheets a few times. I figure that two used sheets is like the equivalent to one new dryer sheet?
Some of our onions began to sprout, so I learned that I can make a shallow cut and peel off useable layers. But save the root portion along with the sprouted part, and it can be planted. These will go into my garden when it’s planting time! Same with some potatoes that sprouted. I cut off the sprouted eyes and now have a great quantity to plant, while still using the remainder of each potato for meals.
Five frugal things is a bit harder these days as some spending is naturally down, but when we do go grocery shopping there are fewer sales and choices to be had.
1. The Easter Bunny brought the kids a toy that Santa forgot in a hiding place 🙂 Good thing too, as I couldn't go shopping this year.
2. Cooking and baking from scratch and using up all leftovers efficiently, as per usual.
3. Ordered cloth masks from a home seamstress, more expensive than doing them yourself, but less expensive than ordering from an online business, plus supporting someone who is unemployed right now.
4. Putting away all freelance income into savings.
5. My HS senior is set to graduate this spring. Sadly, we are saving money in all his senior spring activities being cancelled. I would rather not have saved money this way but trying to look ahead into the future rather than what he's missing now.
I've been feeling so bad for all the seniors who were supposed to graduate this year. I know in the grand scheme of things, it will not seem like an enormous deal, but when you are 17/18, it definitely does feel like a huge loss, I am sure.
Yep, as a parent of a 2020 HS graduate, the disappointment runs deep. Thank goodness for Zoom and Facetime 🙂 We are going to light up the exterior of our house (think Christmas) with lights in his school colors for the month of May. It will be a surprise for him!
Hugs to our fellow Class of 2020 quarantine buddies.
Thank you, Kristen and Cathy! That's a great idea about the lights on the house. I have to see if we can find some in burgundy 🙂 I am about to order some photos of him for graduation announcements, but feeling really down about the whole thing. For my son, I think the biggest disappointment is all these senior projects (Habitat for Humanity trip etc) that they had been planning for months and all the camaraderie that goes with it that he's missing.
1) Before the pandemic I purchased 18 dish cloths (wash cloth size) and started using them instead of paper napkins for our family use. I just throw them in with the weekly towel wash. I will still use regular cloth napkins for guests (whenever that happens again).
2) Friends gifted us some vegetable seedlings. I'll try my hand at growing vegetables... first time in years.
3) My sister made us both masks. The fabric is brightly colored crabs. My husband is struggling a bit with the design. 😉
4) I have stopped putting partial food items in plastic zip bags and now use storage containers I already have on hand. Yes, I should have been doing it all along but actually am now.
5) Cleaned out closets and placed some almost-new items on Marketplace at quick-selling prices.
Gave some folks some deals and made a little pocket money.
The peach pancake topping sounds awesome! Glad you found a use for it!
1. I used a butternut squash in a recipe on Monday and saved all of the seeds I could from it. Seeds are apparently "non-essential" here in Michigan but I've realized that we eat a lot more butternut squash than we used to, so I'm planning to plant the saved seeds and hope we can get some produce from them. I have one started from seeds I saved in February and it's growing well, but I want to get more going.
2. I did a pantry inventory yesterday and used up a couple of things in snacks and lunches.
3. I had a fair amount of bread and buns that were getting past their dates, so I made french toast this morning to use them up.
4. Our library is doing a Facebook live storytime each Wednesday and we were able to participate in that today.
5. My last shopping trip was a week before Easter and I didn't put a ton of thought into Easter baskets for the kids, but was able to do some "shopping" through some boxes in the basement and ended up with the kids getting a lot of fun stuff. My in-laws live overseas and left a number of things for the kids to be given sporadically, so we thought this would be a great time to get out a number of those. It's an especially good time to have new books since our library has been closed for a month and is at least 2 weeks away from opening again. (Unrelated, but happy: my oldest is in kindergarten and it's fun to see her be able to read books on her own. I love that some of the books she got are ones that she can confidently read to her baby sister.)
It's really hard to have the library closed, isn't it? I can imagine that's especially hard when you have little kids because their books don't last them but so long (whereas Sonia's enormous novels can last her for a while).
My husband works for Webstaurant!!! So glad they were able to help. Purchasers are working hard to keep items stocked!!
Oh, that's so fun! Tell him I appreciate my upcoming flour. 🙂
I saw a person that I follow on Twitter also resorted to a 50 pound bag from a local restaurant supplier. She was playing flour fairy and delivering big ziplock bags to friends and family 🙂
Aww, that is a great idea!
I wanted to drop off flour (part of my 50 lbs) at a neighborhood "take it if you need it" table, but a friend said probabaly no one would take it as the flour isn't in it's original bag. 🙁 I also wanted to drop off some to the over 55 rental apartments where my late father-in-law lived. Many folks there are dependent on the shuttle van to take them to the grocery store. There might be the same issue with the flour not in it's original bag. What is your opinion?
Put a note on each bag with your name and phone number and explanation of what you are doing. I would accept that!
Especially if people there remember your father-in-law. Maybe include his name in the note, to explain why you thought of them.
I'm going to address this very thing in my FFT below. Gosh, now off to write it...
1. Made face masks from old t-shirts and shoelaces and one mask with the elastic from an old pair of pants and a pillowcase that had holes in one spot. Re-use win!!
2. Made fruit compote from dried fruit since it's hard to get fresh fruit locally right now and thankfully compote keeps for a while.
3. Went through my bins before I was tempted to shop for lotions/cosmetics and realized how much I still have on hand and that I really don't need to buy more.
4. Made my own disinfectant spray with bleach as we have no other choice right now. Not a fan of bleach but it's what we had and we can't find any alternatives nearby. Fortunately I had a clean spray bottle and followed the CDC guidelines to mix it.
5. Thankful we started using cloth napkins a while ago. Paper ones are wasteful and also hard to find now.
1. bought a 2nd hand chest of drawers for the nursery. instead of new.
2. pick up free baby swimmers on the local pass it on page.
3. haven't needed to shop, but for milk, eggs and bread, all week as I'm on a freezer and pantry mission.
4. found a great mobile deal so switching over and ordered the new sim.
5. got a free basket from mum and going to attempt to stage my own newborn photo shoot once baby arrives
ps with ginger. hubby is Indian so we have ginger all the time for chai. we just store it whole and grate from frozen. might help you out
1) store price matched a ham that was $4.99/pound to $1.27 pound
2) baked bread at home
3) used leftover ham and homemade bread into sandwiches for lunch this week
4) defrosted frozen gravy from Thanksgiving to use for Easter ham
5) used 20% coupon to buy spices from Big Lots
1. Our neighbor is culling his chickens and asked me if we wanted a few for eating; he won't butcher them and was going to throw them in the garbage. They are old and past laying. We took three and I butchered them and froze two. The third is in the slow cooker now. The meat of old layers is tough but okay if in soups or stews or chopped finely for chicken salad sandwiches.
2. Had the seamster take a break from making masks to making four pot holders. My old ones are so thin I might as well use just my hands to take things out of the oven.
3. I am six feet tall and had a newspaper pile that was taller than I am. I finally used some twine to bundle them into manageable pieces and have them in the garage waiting for the recycling place to reopen. This is not really frugal, but it makes me feel better to have that mess somewhat organized.
4. My friend broke her leg badly enough that she was admitted to the hospital for surgery. We went to her house and picked up her dog until her son could come up from Anchorage; he is furloughed and she will not be able to manage on her own for some time, so he is moving in with her for the foreseeable future. When he came to pick up the dog, he brought us a case of toilet paper as a thank you for caring for the dog, since he knew the stores in Fairbanks had been sold out. I did not have the heart to tell him how I had accidentally ordered case upon case of the stuff before the virus all started. I thought it was a lovely way to show his appreciation.
5. This is gross but thrifty: husband went to the store to buy milk and saw the butt end of a hunk of bologna in the deli case, seriously marked down. He brought it home, ground it up, added mayo and pickles, and is using it as a sandwich spread---"just like Mom used to make." I can hardly stand to be in the kitchen when he is making sandwiches for himself from it but it ends up being about 50 cents a sandwich, so I'll live with it.
Here shelters and veterinarian offices are still open. Call and ask, they may be able to use your newspapers to line cages. I give mine to a friend that has birds.
When I buy a "hand of ginger", I wash and dry it and take off the amount I need. Then I cut the rest into 1" chunks, toss them in a container and into the freezer. Frozen ginger does not lose any of it's flavor (texture might suffer, but I hate biting into chunks of ginger anyway). It peels very easily when frozen (scrape it with the side of a spoon!) and you can use it immediately--it doesn't really need to thaw to be chopped or grated. I know you are working on emptying your freezer, but it's always nice to have a small container of ginger in the freezer so it's one specialty ingredient I rarely have to buy and never have to throw any excess away.
That is a great tip I will use!!
Found on youtube: SILVER SNEAKERS just for us older kids...74...
Cost?...nothing...
I never liked powdered ginger but I love fresh frozen sliced ginger with a slice of frozen lemon and stevia a couple of times a day...
1. Bought a half-price box of Malt-O-Meal on a whim and discovered I really, really like it.
2. Aside from one full grocery store deli meal three weeks ago and frozen pizza yesterday, have been cooking scratch meals. This isn't out of the ordinary, but there are a lot of extra people all the time, so it feels like an accomplishment.
3. Gave blood at a Red Cross mobile, which this month means $5 from Amazon as a thank-you gift. Go give blood! It's the best medicine.
4. Parked a bunch of stuff in the Amazon cart and — miracle of miracles — it's still sitting there. Sometimes that pause is worth it.
5. Out of the blue sold a beef to someone who wants to pick it up from the locker in late May. That'll work perfectly for us. It's a little nerve wracking — we usually eat our own beef and this is the first we've sold to a non-family member.
Is it frugal to add $10 of donuts to a Walmart pickup order?
Asking for a friend.
Also, storing flour — if you have a space that's 60 degrees or cooler and stays around 40 percent humidity or less, that's a great place for flour. If you don't, OR if you can't/won't be able to use it within, say, three months, it may start tasting rancid. That's when it should be frozen. A deep freeze is best; a frost-free fridge freezer will let it start tasting like freezer after a while.
In a weak moment, my “friend” added candy to her online grocery list. Lo and behold, they were out of it!
I also got 50 lbs of flour, from Winco. They had 1 bag left, so I grabbed (hubby did) it! How are you storing your flour? I am giving my daughter 10 lbs. It is nowhere to be found out here in San Diego.
How do you store your flour.
Last week, I received a Recipe Chain Letter. I've never participated in one before, but this time, I figured, "why not?". I've had some lovely and completely unanticipated results.
1. I connected with a friend-of-a-friend who gave me a link to her fabulous recipe website, which is giving me new recipe inspirations: http://www.getcookingsimply.com/
2. I shared two of my favorite FG recipes with her and she loved them. Go, Kristen! Of course, I made both recipes for my family this week out of ingredients I had on hand, for the win.
3. When I asked if she needed any supplies, so told me she was okay, but she has befriended a refugee family of five, and that they could use a few things. So...
I was able to create a care package entirely from my pantry. It included flour, EVOO, salt, baking powder, baking soda, tea, dried beans and lentils, TP, and I don't remember what else. My new friend picked it up and delivered it to them the day before Easter.
4. I had an unopened 25-lb. bag of flour, but wasn't sure how to divide it to share. I rooted around and found a bunch of cans with lids in my garage storage, including a #10 coffee can. I then found a bunch of unused plastic bags, the type that are included when you buy par-baked pizza crusts (yeah, I cheat, but I only buy them when they're super cheap), so they're big, and perfectly clean. I lined each can with a new bag, filled it to the top with flour, tapped it to settle, smooshed out the air, used a twist tie to close the bag, then popped the lid on the can. It broke the flour down to useable portions that will stay stable until they're needed. Worked great and cost me nothing!
5. That opened up a few more spaces in my pantry and larder, which is one of my shelter-in-place goals. I even defrosted my stand-up freezer, for only the second time in seven years. Happily, there were no science project surprises in there.
The bag-in-can sounds great for flour sharing!
And what a great gift for the refugee family.
Have found that many of our normally frugal habits, which helped us retire at age 60 , serve us very well during this pandemic:
1. I gave my husband a haircut with our clippers.
2. Cut my own bangs with my craft scissors.
3. Cooking every single meal from scratch.I usually cook a lot, but we do go out to lunch twice a week,usually.So this is a savings, and the cooking also keeps my mind busy.
4.Using Cloud Library to borrow books and read on my ipad.Would be going CRAZY since our library dates are soo important..I miss the dates with my husband but at least I can borrow books!!!!
5. Absolutely NO food waste. Some weeks I am afraid I did have a little waste but not since March 7.. since we've been sequestered-- and I can sort of see the writing on the wall with food supply.. I salvaged fresh spinach about to go round the bend..it gets sauted with olive oil and garlic. And even a small amt. of leftover soup gets stretched by adding some leftover rice to it and it becomes another lunch.
6. Savoring "Free entertainment:" sunrise,sunset, the alignment of the planets with the Moon at 4 A.M. today, music, conversation,board games, playing cards, free livestreams on youtube,such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Yes! Frugal, DIY habits are really having their heyday right now.
As someone else said, we're not spending much money these days during SIP (what my husband has taken to calling shelter in place ), but here goes anyway-
1) Found garlic finally, a few weeks back, and peeled and froze the whole thing immediately. Used three cloves from freezer yesterday and couldn't tell the difference. Will now start doing same with ginger root per a suggestion here ... Thank you!
2) Packing lunch each day to eat while out on our daily long walks. So nice to eat outside away from the house since we're there the other 22 hours of the day currently.
3) Enjoying playing games after dinner with my husband, pulling out long unused games from our cupboard. We played Clue last night, and found an old note scribbled inside from our youngest daughter that she had won the last time it was played, 15 years ago(!).
4) Zoom continues to fill in the gap of spending time with family and friends. and such a small but mighty investment of $15 a month. Just the cost of wine savings alone has offset the cost (all Zoom get togethers are BYOB ). This weekend we're playing Outburst with our family remotely. which should be lots fun.
5) Discovering all kinds of places via our daily exercise walks around our community that we never knew about. I think this is going to lead to a lot of future savings in that instead of resorting to paying to be entertained (think movie rentals, meals out, pay-to-enter places) we now have a growing list of free things to do and explore once SIP provisions loosen up. Just yesterday alone we discovered a tree full of nesting heron, a butterfly preserve, and a park ideal for dinner & a sunset once we're permitted to be out beyond our once a day walks.
1. Made polenta one night and homemade pitas & hummus another night for cheap vegetarian meals from the pantry to delay going to the grocery store.
2. Trimmed my own ends on my hair.
3. Have been using scholastic’s free online books to do home preschool with my oldest.
4. Made moon sand from flour and baby oil for a fun free activity for the kiddos.
5. Hubby made a water table for the kids using old palate wood we already had and a bus tub I got on amazon for $17.
Oatmeal cookies for my type 2 diabetic husband as a treat with milk before going to bed...
I ordered flour last month from Azure standard. No shipping charges if you check the "drop" choice. It came on a giant truck. We met the truck behind sam's and everyone picked up their order. 25lbs of organic bread flour was 24 and change. They have a TON of items, not just flour. Cheese, grains, everything a person could possibly want.
Would you mind giving us your review of the bread flour you bought from Azure Standard?
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing, Kristen! How do you plan to store the flour?
We do a lot of the DIY projects. Friday is usually, but sometimes Sunday, depending on what we have going on is pizza night during the colder months as we don’t do much baking during the hot summer months.
The pizza are flatbread made with the pizza dough, but about 6” x 12” as everyone wants something different and the smaller ones allow more options without someone complaining or picking off toppings. We make up the dough from scratch, then let it rise before shaping into smaller balls to stretch out. Hubby will start to bake them and turn them once so the sauce does not make it soggy. After they are started, he finishes them on the pizza brick (450 degrees) for a crispy crust. Getting the oven up to temperature first is the secret of great pizza.
Time to start the tomato plants in another couple weeks. And other plants to follow in starter paks to put in the garden. End of may, direct planting of seeds for cucumbers, beans, squash, corn and pumpkins are the plan.
Hubby is keeping my teen boys well groomed, haircuts every three weeks is their schedule. I got a trim back in March, so I am not due until next month.
We are eating frozen vegetables and fruits from the freezer, we need to make room for this year’s crop.
We are still urning some wood during the cold nights, hope to be done in the next week.
Glad you were able to find a flour fix!
Here's my 5:
1) The state park has been free this spring, so we go 2-3x/week! It's normally $7/visit.
2) Found clearance sourdough bread, mushrooms, and yogurt.
3) A friend was spring cleaning & offered her things up on facebook. We got a free Curious George DVD from her that my girls have loved during all this time in.
4) We have had friends bring us: dinner, kid's clothes, Easter baskets, face masks, chocolate and Kleenex. God is so good! It's been one year since my husband lost his job & we are still looking for full-time employment. These blessings found on our porch have meant a lot to us, especially now!
5) For a craft/cultural study of international jewelry making, we rolled beads from old magazine pages (cut into long triangles/rolled and glued around a pencil). It was so fun & they turned out really unique!