Five Frugal Things, Fridge Clean-Out Edition
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The other day, I did a fridge organization/clean-out, and so I have a bunch of food-waste-avoidant stuff to share with you.
1. I froze grapes and mango
We had three almost-finished bags of grapes in the fridge. And you know that no one usually bothers to eat the last few grapes in a bag.
(Or is that just at my house??)
So, I sorted thru them, composted the really bad ones, and cut the wrinkly ends off the salvageable ones.
After a rinse, I threw them into the freezer for smoothie usage.
I put the ones that were still good for eating into a bowl on the counter, and they were gone before the end of the day.
(Which is always what happens when I put produce out. Good to remember!)
While I was at it, I cut up a mango that was pretty squishy and froze it for smoothies too.
Oh, and I froze the last of a bag of spinach. So handy to be able to do that, and the frozen stuff works just as well in smoothies as the fresh spinach does.
2. I made pudding with slightly sour milk.
The milk wasn't bad with a capital B, but I didn't really want to use it on cereal. So I made a batch of this from-scratch chocolate pudding.
3. I cut up and washed some lettuce.
There were a few bad leaves on the outside, so I peeled those off and then cut up and washed the rest.
One step closer to an easy salad!
(I use that Oxo salad spinner ALL THE TIME. I got it years ago on a Cook's Illustrated recommendation, and I'm super happy with it.)
4. I made carrot bread.
I have an abundance of carrots at the moment, and I discovered that a few of them had some bad spots. I cut around those, peeled them, and made a loaf of carrot bread.
I used this recipe from The Kitchn, but I didn't make the glaze and I didn't add nuts. And I also used less sugar than called for.
This uses 2.5 cups of carrots in just one loaf, which is pretty fabulous.
I'm thinking I'll also make some of these fabulous roasted carrots so I can use mine up.
Luckily, carrots keep really well, so I'm not in a huge rush.
5. I used up eggs and milk by making Pfannekuchen.
After the pudding, I still had some milk left to use up. And I happen to have a wealth of eggs from a local friend who has chickens.
So I made some pfannekuchen for the girls for dinner.
I didn't have apples, so I thawed some peaches (from my freezer stash due to my bruised peach purchases this summer!) and used those instead.
So. Now my fridge is nice and organized, and I don't think I have anything in there that's on the brink of going bad. Yay!
Your turn! Share your own Five Frugal Things in the comments.
(They can be food-waste related or not. Up to you.)
Just wanted to share an idea about the grapes - we started to wash and "de-vine" all of our grapes as soon as we buy them and put them in a bowl in the fridge. I swear I have not thrown away a grape since! It becomes such an easy snack when they are in a bowl instead of the bag.
I do the same thing! If they are ready in the bowl then the kids will eat.. plus it makes it quicker to bag up for lunches!
I absolutely need to do this! Thank you for the tip.
I believe grapes last longer if left on the vine, so I snip them into small clusters, which yields the same result and they look pretty in a bowl. It's also a favorite easy-peasy summertime buffet addition. Three colors of grape clusters in my thrifted grapevine bowl and I'm set. It always gets remarked upon and the grapes gobbled up and it takes no cooking at all, for the win!
My biggest frugal win of the week is that I didn't want to go to the grocery store, as our budget was about up. So we had to use all the food we had, scraping together some meals by yesterday. But we made it!! So instead of frugal things, I had a frugal week! 🙂
I am trying to do this each week.I always spend too much when I go to the store for one dinner,etc.I find it a challenge to see what I can come up with to eat with food on hand
Love this list- it reminds me of Food Waste Fridays and encourages me to be more creative with food that's dying in the fridge. My husband and I love your Pfannekuchen recipe. He actually started mixing it up yesterday morning and then realized we didn't have any milk! 🙁 He mixed in some apple cider instead and it was still quite delicious.
I miss Food Waste Fridays too! Sometimes we forget about some of our veggies and fruit in the fridge, and they go so bad we just can't eat them anymore. I wonder if I should follow Kristen's footsteps and post pictures of all of my food waste to use shame as a motivation to be more careful about our groceries. It's been a challenge! >_<
Most of mine always seem to be food-related, as food is more or less my life . . .
1) I am stubbornly continuing to process and preserve all the tomatoes and apples that are coming my way. This is something I really don't want to be doing now particularly, seeing as how I'm due to have baby #4 any day, pretty much, but I know that tomatoes in any form (as well as applesauce or whatever) will be welcome in March. I could have done without the fifty pounds of feral apples my husband and sons picked on Saturday, though. Some of them will be made into applesauce and donated to the church harvest supper, however, so at least I won't be trying to store it at my house.
2) We're cutting up the second lamb today. Ultimate cheap meat, I suppose, even if I don't care for it as much as other meats. This time I think I might make most of the stew-type meat into curry instead of chili. Continually adding to my freezer food so we can all eat with minimal work post-baby. Restaurants aren't really an option here.
3) I made two extra bakings of bread and put them in the freezer for after the baby arrives. Those 8 loaves should mean I won't have to bake bread again for almost two months. Though I suppose them I'll have to freeze my sourdough starter, too. I don't think it can sit in the fridge for two months and stay active.
4) I made some apple cider vinegar, too, with the cores and peelings left from making an apple crisp one night. I made vinegar last year, too. One batch turned out well, the other not so well. We'll see how this one goes.
5) My husband gets the last one--he made sun-dried tomatoes last week during our crazy hot weather by putting trays of tomato slices on top of the car (just had to remember they were there before going anywhere 🙂 Ultimate cheap food preservation. The sun is free! Whee! They turned out really well.
#5 -- how clever! must try this as we live in SoCal where it's almost always sunny.
1. I picked up a small package of bone in chicken breasts at Krogers. I sliced meat from the top and made fajitas using some need to be used soon peppers, onions and lemons from the fridge. I went through the fridge last night to see if there was anything that needed to be pitched so I can clean it out tomorrow.
2. Big Lots had 20% off this weekend so I stocked up on fire roasted diced tomatoes and several other staples. I also found several of my favorite cleaning solutions including vinegar so I stocked up on those also.
3. I found two pair of isotoner gloves at the thrift shop for .99 each. They'll come in handy this winter and I'll be able to keep a pair in the car.
4. I dug up the two sweet potato plants in the garden. They sure look funny but they're 'sweetening' beside the garage. If they're good, I'll plant more next year but 2.00 for an experiment is a pretty good investment.
5. A friend and I made four adorable stuffed owls using two old suit jacket I picked up at the thrift shop. We even used lining for two of the beaks and buttons for eyes and, well, buttons. For stuffing, we used a couch pillow she had that was ruined. Such fun and so cute!
I made french toast casserole with odds and ends of bread (last bun, heels, stale bread). I just made strips instead of whole pieces so no one noticed that they were various types of bread. I made cole slaw for a pot luck and my family (it's a very frugal dish cost wise and I had cabbage and carrots on hand). I made a vegetable soup which consisted of any veggies I needed to use up and a few small portions I had frozen for when I made soup. We ate at home or packed our meals for the road even during a busy soccer season. I made several home made snacks this week so avoid the grocery store ( pumpkin bread, oatmeal cookies).
I tossed a small pork roast(got it for free with my store policy that it is free if it doesn't ring up correctly!!!) into the crock pot this morning with a jar of frozen pork broth.. Will have that available for the boys to eat before we go to sisters Volley ball game tonight...
planning to make a batch of home made rolls or bread to be served with the pork...
cleaned out the fridge this morning... tossed the last of the salad as it was looking yucky.. cut down a small watermelon and cantelope...
tossed all my expired coupons from my binder, sorted all the new coupons and filed them.. looked at the walgreens and rite aid ads and made a list and pulled coupons to go pick up some great deals later today..
Scored a great deal on new volleyball shoes... The season is almost over but my daughter has holes in her knee pads(ordered on amazon prime!) and her shoes are shot! Finding her size locally has proven to be hard.. supplies are depleted.. Online I found things from $90-$115.... called EVERY local shoe and sport store.. finally found a place that had them and had a few pairs in her size (11)... Drove 25 minutes across town to get there.. and found a pair that FIT!!! Suggested retail price $120.00(heck no).. store special pricing.. $69.99... That is what I figured I was paying.. until they rung up $49.99!! Yeah!!!
I need to get better about going through the fridge and looking for produce going bad so I can freeze it up, use it up or re-purpose it. One of the biggest wasters of foods in my house is having two small kids that have big eyes and small stomachs.
One thing I've been doing to combat that is to save their leftovers in separate (labeled!) containers and offer them the food as part of their next meal. It's still not perfect but it's still been an improvement.
I love the idea of washing, cutting up and setting out fruit on the counter. I think that will also work in our house so I'm definitely going to try it. Thanks!
My kids started school today, they start a little later here.
1. For her first day my daughter wore a dress I bought used (used clothing from other countries gets sent and resold here) for about 50 US cents. It's in great condition and feels like quality.
2. While most of their supplies we bought new, they're using the backpacks they've had for a couple of years. We simply gave them a wash first.
3. We're saving a lot by choosing a cheaper school, than the one we were originally considering. This one seems like it'll still be a good quality.
4. We'll also receive a discount, since we have 2 kids in the school.
5. I can't think of another school related one, so how about that I've been using the tube of toothpaste for a few days now, that one of my family members said was done. I simply cut it open and keep it in a little bag.
Oh, wow, that IS a late start! Does your summer break start later then too?
A new store opened up in town (Fresh Thyme) They had some great grand opening, loss leaders in their ad last week. We were able stocked up on enough chicken that we should be good for 8-10 weeks. I love my free deep freezer. I also made a trip to the local bakery/thrift store. I got enough loaves of bread to last us thru the month of October, plus various buns - again love my deep freezer. We pulled up the garden over the weekend. Now time to figure out what to do with the produce that was discovered in the process..
Fresh Thyme just opened near me also! Heading there as soon as my baking is done to snag produce I am donating to the teachers conference dinner tomorrow! .68/lb of grapes is a great deal!
Oh, I super duper love-love-love Fresh Thyme! There was one that opened by me in Michigan, and I saved SO MUCH money shopping there. Plus, I felt like they really knew how to handle produce, because it was always, ALWAYS so good. I never bought a bad avocado there. Anyhow...I've moved to South Carolina and alas! no Fresh Thyme here! There are other stores, but nothing that compares! Especially of note, no stores that sell so much in bulk.
Oooh, Fresh Thyme is wonderful! I was able to get an enormous amount of cherries to freeze as well as 50 lbs of peaches to freeze. Such good prices and most all of their produce looks beautiful and tastes delicious!
I have no idea how "Pfannekuchen" is correctly pronounced, but in my head I pronounce it Fanny Cushion. Because I'm a child like that.
1. I did not leave the house this weekend so no money spent.
2. The part of our land behind the house is terrible with weeds and weedy-type bushes. we spent several hours over the weekend cleaning things up a bit instead of having someone come in with heavy equipment an getting it all done in a few minutes.
3. I ate the couldn'ts. As in we couldn't eat it all yesterday so I ate it today.
4. I cooked up a double batch of extra lean ground beef to make a few quick meals this week instead of being tempted by take-out.
5. Packed both our lunches this morning, as I do every workday.
It's kind of like that, actually! But the kuchen part (as I've heard it), is pronounced kind of like "koo-kin".
However you say it, it's super tasty.
1. This is a silly one but I decided to throw caution to the wind and tried the bologna from Aldi. Sure I only saved $1.50 vs a lb. of Wunderbar from the deli but it was fine and it's keeping me supplied with sandwich meat for a while.
2. Worked a ton of overtime last week (not that I had a choice) and avoided eating out except for the times work provided it for us.
3. Got an email for my free birthday burger from Red Robin which I will definitely be taking advantage of!
4. Did a cleanout of the chest freezer last week only to discover we had multiple turkeys so we thawed one out and had a sort of early Thanksgiving at my place yesterday. I gave most of the leftovers to my parents but we have enough that tonight we won't need to make dinner.
5. Doing the weekend meal prep (or at least planning) has really reduced a lot of the stress with making meals and makes it much less tempting to go out to eat (not that we did anyway but ya know)
1. I'm starting a fridge clean-out because we're going away for a month in two weeks: so last night older mushrooms, a cut zucchini, cut red pepper, cut onion, half a broccoli crown, and a partial jar of curry sauce went into a beef curry over left-over rice.
2. Used most of a free can of porch enamel on my two porch decks. I still have some exterior primer that I bought when I started to do all my steps and decks with water-based stuff from the Hazardous Waste Depot (they put out cans that are half-full or more and let people take them).
3. Bought some beef on half-price special and cut it up for stir-fries and stew, freezing the individual packages.
4. Our local chain book store had a bunch of remaindered books at half the remainder price, and then marked down 75% from that -- I walked out of the store with $72 of remainder books for $1.76! Some will be Christmas gifts.
5. We ate out with a coupon on a really hot night -- and brought home enough fries for two breakfast home-fries.
#4 -- Wowwee -- that is amazing for books!
1. I had frozen beef bones and a fresh bone from a roast I just cooked. I roasted the bones and made 3 quarts of broth in my pressure cooker. I am chilling it and will remove the fat layer and freeze it today.
2. I made jerky in the dehydrator. I made it out of pre-chopped organ meat that I get cheaply from a local farm. The dogs love their new jerky treats. We use treats when giving meds to the dogs and as positive reinforcement.
3. We processed our year-long fermented hot peppers into pepper sauce. We grew the peppers, and just added a little whey and salt to ferment, then some vinegar to the strained sauce, so it cost us very little.
4. Due to a lot of expenses for the car and for medical, our budget is taking a hit, so I skipped the groceries this week, with the exception of milk and a single small package of meat I had already ordered from a farmer.
5. This is a little silly, but my olive trees finally produced olives -- six of them. I am dry brining them because they aren't edible fresh, and I refuse to throw out the very first olives we got from our tree. I also happen to love dry-cured olives. In that same vein, we are getting our first lemons on our Meyer lemon tree, and one lemon was about to touch the ground, so I rigged a sling to keep if off the ground. We may only get 4 or 5 lemons this time, but I am not letting them rot or go to waste.
The idea of a lemon sling made me smile. I would totally do that too.
#1 - what do you use the frozen fat layer for?
Oh, I get it...you freeze the broth, not the fat layer...duh!
I had a very similar food waste-avoidant weekend myself!
1. I found pears, strawberries, cranberries, and an orange we needed to use. I roasted the pears and topped them with a cooked fruit topping and pecans. Tasty!
2. I blended my roasted pumpkin into pumpkin puree. I then used the puree to make pumpkin cookies and pumpkin cinnamon rolls, which I froze for later.
3. Today we had banana-Nutella crepes for breakfast so I could use up some bananas that were going bad. Frugal plus: the crepes were homemade.
4. Mr. Picky Pincher did lawn work instead of hiring someone to do it.
5. I raked in some extra freelance work for an easy $75.
That was a good idea on the pudding. I wouldn't have thought to use going-sour milk. My five:
1. I made two Christmas presents free because I used supplies from last year.
2. I packed Dear Husband's lunches.
3. I meal planned to the extent we had no food waste at all, ate everything we bought.
4. I read the fine print on a bill before I paid it . . . it wasn't a bill at all. It was a solicitation disguised as a bill!
5. I watered down the dish washing soap and my shampoo so we could go one more week without buying some more.
I'm enjoying your posts, Kristen!
Erm...I cleaned my fridge out yesterday and it wasn't pretty. I'm blaming two weeks of not feeling well! And will get back on track with this week!
1) I made a menu plan and grocery list. I've been so bad about making meal plans!
2) We had leftovers for dinner last night, rather than me running to the store for ingredients for something else (we had more leftovers than I realized, so that worked to my advantage).
3) I really need new clothes! I spent two hours in a thrift store and found ONLY one thing: a pair of jeans. BUT! that's a pair of jeans for less than $5 that I didn't have to buy new. (On the flip side, I then went to Target and bought two dresses. I have been thrifting and thrifting and thrifting trying to find decent clothes!) I wrote out exactly what I have and what I need, so I will not over buy in one area. I'm finding things, just not as fast as I'd prefer.
4) I am continuing to homeschool my daughter. Private schooling would cost too much anyhow, but don't think I haven't been tempted!!!
5) I made my own pie crusts, after almost buying the ones at Trader Joe's for $3.99. They turned out well! It has been a long time since I made pie crust so I was not feeling confident that they would turn out!
1) Kids took lunches to school almost every day.
2) We took drinks with us into the baseball game yesterday. The Rangers allow food/drinks so it doesn't cost too much to go to a game (although we do splurge and get a few food items).
3) Just got my Dinnerly box today! Hopefully I will be able to make three meals this week with it and save us money from eating out.
4) Working on fixing the drywall in my son's bedroom ourselves.
5) Made dinner one night even though I had been painting all day. Saved us money and was good!
That pic of chocolate pudding makes me wish my milk was going bad too. 🙂
You could pretend it's going bad. 😉
Oddly enough, we had a power surge and our refrigerator died this weekend. We are getting a new one so our food is getting a thorough clean out. Some food is currently in the neighbor's refrigerator and freezer.
Oh man, I'm sorry about your fridge!
The last of the grapes never used to get eaten in our house either until I started freezing them and putting them in a container for the kids to eat frozen. Now they love eating frozen grapes more than fresh grapes!
1) Cleaned out fridge/pantry and found stuff to make a nice crock pot of chicken and wild rice soup tonight.
2) Tried a new recipe and made some gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin muffins for my kiddos with stuff from the pantry clean out. They were yummy and as a bonus my house now smells like fall.
3) Gathered up some stuff to take to a local consignment shop tomorrow.
4) We have been making the most of the local library lately. We rented a movie (new release), kids checked out books and even magazines, checked out an audio book for the first time for the kids, and requested that my library buy Erin Odom's new book so I could just check it out from the library instead of buying it. They said to expect it by the end of October and that I will be the first person to get to check it out.
5) We made the most of the the outdoors this weekend. The weather is beautiful so we went for a hike and visited my parent's farm an hour away and cooked out with them. They gifted us with the cookout leftovers and a peck of apples from the orchard.
I see more frugal fun in the future this month. We found out this afternoon that our heat pump needs to be replaced. Yikes!
Oof. That happened to us in both of the houses we've owned. Such an expensive replacement!
* Got 2 Halloween costumes for the kids at the thrift store. 5$ for both.
* Saved about 500$ on pest control services (?). We have mice in the attic. A family member came to fix it (that is is line of work) for free. Gave him homemade salsa, apple sauce and a (regifted) bottle of wine as a thank you.
* Meeting up with a girlfriend tommorow. Will go for a walk and talk. Free+exercice = win-win!
* Got myself a SAD therapy lamp. While it's not cheap at 215$ it sure beats therapy and medication! Winters are brutal where I live, I need the light.
* I don't eat between meals and I don't eat sweets/deserts. Saves money, better health, slow weight loss, all positive results!
Nice pudding save on the milk!
Mine are mostly food related, too:
1. Bought ridiculously cheap pork country ribs, froze half, and used the other half in a crockpot recipe for which I had everything, including leftover salsa verde. However, salsa was muy caliente, husband was coughing and tearing up so we "brothed" it down and added beans, etc. Will further adjust for rest of the the week with all manner of bland additions. Still pretty cheap and tasty.
2. Eating breakfasts in and bringing lunches to work (usually salad leftovers) and (delicious) ginormous honey crisp apples from the markdown section.
3. Cleaned out the freezer -- sadly threw away last of the vintage mixed veggies, purchased back in the day, and some fancy pants tortillas that just didn't sniff right. But -- made room for pork and chicken bought very very cheaply as well as some discounted frozen meals for the 2 of us when time is short.
4. Have been under-buying groceries to avoid the dreaded waste (thank you, Kristin and everyone!) It is working!! Frugal fail -- 1/2 watermelon (so unlike me) and a couple strawberries gone bad. Keeping to lists and the occasional great deal which cannot be ignored.
5. Tonight is reduced price stirfry kit with very cheap chicken breast and some additional red pepper and onion (Aldis). Eat up the last of the grapes (love the suggestion to freeze them) and the half of mango I almost tossed before I realized it was a squishy, golden, toothsome treasure.
6. Wearing same old clothes and shoes, reading library books,
1. We had breakfast for dinner on the meal plan this week. Easy & cheap!
2. I printed some things off at the library, using the free 5 prints/day this library gives us. But I also paid an overdue fine while there. You win some, you lose some.
3. Bought bulk meat & brown rice during good sale.
4. Paid more than I usually do ($36) for a higher quality pair of jeans that I think/hope I'll get longer wear out of. Inspired by your recent post!
5. Made delicious smelling sugar scrub from ingredients at home (coconut oil, white sugar, vanilla extract, orange essential oil). My toddler helped & it was sweet to share the process with her. But the she was stung at the park right after. Definitely a high/low day.
Breakfast for dinner is the BEST. So cheap, so easy, so yummy.
Great idea re the grapes, I also really like the look of the carrot bread I will try that. I cook for one or two which is challenging for some ingredients. One tip I have picked up is to peel a piece of ginger by scraping with a metal teaspoon (the peel comes off really easily), finely chop and then make a tray of teaspoon measure blobs and put in the freezer, when frozen you can put them into a container to freeze, I have used mine in stirfries, salad dressings, fried rice and others. I also have a tupperware ice-cube tray with lid dedicated to korma curry paste. Each slot holds 1 tbsp of paste (Australian measurement) and the rubber bottom makes it easy to pop one or two out when needed, no more sad curry paste going off in the fridge.
..I should add that the curry paste will stain the icecube tray hence I keep that one for curry pastes only.