Five Frugal Things | chicken fingers

1. I used up my panko

I discovered a container of panko in my pantry that really needed to be used (those do go stale after a while; I think the oil in the crumbs goes rancid). Mine was fine, but I knew it didn't have a lotta time left.

So, I breaded a few chicken tenderloins to put on top of some green salads for Zoe and me.

I don't use panko all that often, so next time I'm going to throw the opened container in the chest freezer to extend the usable life.

2. I fried the chicken in reused oil

I had a container of oil in the freezer from the last time I fried tortilla strips, so I thawed that and used it for my chicken tenderloins.

And afterward, I strained it and froze it again.

Oil is fine to use several times (read more about that here), and I know a lot of people store it at room temp between uses. But it's so easy to freeze, and I have the space, so I figure, why not?

(I would probably not reuse, say, fish fry oil to make chicken tenders. But tortilla strips leave almost no flavor behind, so this combo was fine.)

3. I made a batch of yogurt

It's sort of funny that I still do this, because it seems like something that might fall by the wayside during a busy season.

But it requires very little hands-on time, and since I have made it so many times, it also requires almost no thinking.

So I just make a batch every few weeks when I am already going to be home for most of the day (like a day off from nursing, when I spend the day writing blog posts and doing homework.)

Once it's done, then I have plenty on hand for making overnight oats, eating with fruit after a shift, or making smoothies.

Here's how I make yogurt with no special equipment.

4. I got a $69.95 refund

Ok, so you know how I got that promotional offer for the pink scrubs? I forgot to cancel the membership deal that got me the discount in the first place, so then I got a $69.95 charge for a "VIP credit" that is good for a $100 or less item.

But I didn't love the way the Fabletics scrubs fit me, and also, there's really nothing on the site that is $100, which means the $69.95 isn't even a good deal.

I cancelled the membership, but thought I was stuck with that $69.95 credit. However, I googled and found out that you can request a refund!

I used the chat feature and got my refund secured. Whew. I will never order from that site again, largely because it's very annoying to use. It loads so slowly, it's almost like being on dial-up again.