Q&A | paper products, overstocking, oatmeal rolls, and bacon tips

These first two questions come from RV Sarah (here’s her Meet a Reader post!)

1) Do you include paper products (paper plates, napkins, toilet paper, paper towels, etc) in your grocery totals? Or, if not now, did you include those things when you had a house full of kids you were raising? Or do you keep those in a separate category in your budget?

Yup, I lump it all together into one budget item. However, I use very few paper towels, and I almost never have paper plates on hand. So, napkins and toilet paper are the main paper products I buy.

Plates are just so easy to wash in the dishwasher, I find it simple to forgo paper plates.

And generally, I prefer to use cloth dishcloths/towels vs. paper towels. I mainly use paper towels for things like draining fried foods or patting meat dry before cooking, so a roll lasts me a long time.

Going back to your question, though, I don’t think it much matters if you divide edible vs non-edible grocery items in your budget. It’s just a difference in categorization, not actual spending. 🙂

2) In one of your recent posts (Hoarding [Maximalism] Vs Minimalism) you mentioned that you try to simplify your food stock at home (I’m paraphrasing) by not carrying too much extra. Do you not worry about things like impending strikes that might impact merchandise stock or any of the other possible variables that could cause store shelves to go empty? It seems that, more often than not, if I hold off on buying something then when I DO go to buy the product, the price has increased significantly. That drives me batty! In fact, the way the online stores like Amazon constantly change the prices so drastically in either direction is enough to make a person nuts! When do you think it’s worth it to have extra food/paper products/toiletries around?

More context is that I am a worrier (not extreme but maybe more than “normal” – – – whatever that is). And I grew up in a house where my mom was always either running out of things or going to the very last drop of something before replacing it. I have distinct memories of all 6 of our family members trying to squeeeeeeze a tiny drop of toothpaste out of the tube waiting for “shopping day” when my mom would pick more up. (Part of that was her extreme frugality and holding off on buying anything until absolutely necessary.) So I have an aversion to running out of things. And the final piece of this puzzle is that I now live in a place (Arizona) where, in the winter, we suddenly have a million extra people (snowbirds) and the stores have a hard time keeping up. I’m finding it really difficult to navigate my worries with what’s a reasonable, rational mindset for the stock I keep. One of my intentions for 2025 is to simplify our food, overstock and grocery bills.

I think your history makes your feelings so understandable!

In terms of my own food stock at home, I try not to keep more around than I can reasonably use before it expires. But this is less about maintaining a minimalist pantry and more about trying to avoid waste. I try to buy what I will use, and I try to rotate through the food I buy so it doesn’t expire/mold/etc.

I never run as low as it sounds like your mom did; I always have a decent supply of food in my pantry and my chest freezer. And in terms of non-edibles, I keep an extra pack of toilet paper, and a few extras of things like toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, floss, and bar soap.

Basically, I have enough of a cushion that if I don’t get to the store right on time, or if a store is out of something for a bit, I’m not gonna go without.

And that also saves me from having to do things like a last-minute run to CVS and pay a super high price for toothpaste or toilet paper.

(Also when a snowstorm is in the forecast, I am never the person that has to scramble to the store to buy toilet paper and bread. Ha.)

As with almost everything else in life, the “right” amount of stock for you might not be the same as for someone else. Your own comfort level, your storage capacity, and the particular variations in your area (like your snowbird situation!) will need to guide you.

Molasses oatmeal bread, but as rolls

I made your oatmeal bread recipe and it was just delicious!!!! Wanting to make dinner rolls out of the recipe, but unsure of how many it would yield. Any suggestions on dividing the dough into rolls? Do you think 12 per loaf?

-Danielle

I’m so glad your bread was delicious. Yay you!

Here’s how I’d guesstimate this: each loaf of oatmeal bread has about 3 cups of flour in it. My basic roll recipe has about 2 1/4 cups of flour per 12 rolls.

So by those rough proportions, I’d say 12 rolls per loaf might give you pretty big rolls. I’d be inclined to try 18 to start with.

These are oatmeal rolls I tried from a totally separate recipe (I think from Cook’s Country?)

Like I always say….these are opportunities to try it and see! You could make a whole recipe of dough (two loaves worth), divide one half of the dough into 12 rolls and the other into 18, and see which end product you prefer.

Then write it down on the recipe page, and you’ll be all set for next time.

Cooking bacon

This is sort of a question for you guys! We had a little discussion in the comments the other day because Dori asked how I cook my bacon.

Since I’m making such small quantities these days, I usually just fry it up on the stovetop. I know baking bacon is super easy and produces delightful bacon, but turning on a whole oven for 2 servings of bacon seems a little wasteful to me.

So then I wondered about baking it in the toaster oven! I have never tried that, but it might work out great.

Have you guys tried that? And do you have any tips or tricks or warnings?

Give us bacon tips! And any other topics here are fair game as well.