Shred Your Own!

Here's a simple savings tip - Shred your own cheese!

Here's an example - According to peapod, 8oz of pre-shredded Sargento Mild Cheddar is $3, or $6 a pound.  Stop & Shop brand cheeses can come down to about $4.49 a pound.

When you buy the blocks of Stop and Shop brand cheese, you can get a 10oz bar for $2.50, which is about $3.97 a pound.


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Cheaper Greener Coffee!

I stumbled across a post today at Tree Hugging Family about permanent coffee filters!  This seems to me like a great way to help the environment, and eventually save some money.  There are plastic and mesh ones, as well as ones made of hemp!  Check out the post here .

Katharine

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Today was World Vegetarian day...

And we missed it!  Vegetarianism is a great way to save money.  For us omnivores, money spent on meat is a large portion of our grocery budget.  If you've never gone vegetarian for a week, give it a try!  You will save a bunch of money if you do.

Check out Serious Eats for some great vegetarian meal ideas.
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Free Food -- It's out there people!

...And I'm going to tell you where/how to get it! Kathy suggested this idea when I first told her about some freebies I get and even if this isn't available to you in you area, maybe you can take some of the ideas and put them into action.

The first place is church--oh yeah! Now, I'm Christian and I go to a Baptist church, but this will apply to any religious group that gathers regularly. I get most of my breakfast right after/during morning bible study! Coffee, pastries, etc. Yum! After the church service, its time to go downstairs again for a light lunch (they usually have cheese slices, bagels, and fruit) and also to get some very important freebies. My church has a deal with our local Panera bread store that someone from our church will come in on Friday and pick up a huge crate of leftover bread. Then on Sunday this crate is put out during fellowship and people are invited to take bags of the bread, rolls, bagels, and other goodies. This has really helped my family save money and live more frugally in these difficult economic times. I am so grateful that someone thought of this idea.

Next freebie place: work. I work in an office and coincidentally (or not) I am a serious coffee AND tea drinker. This takes care of me all day, which means, not only do I not have to transport my own beverage from home, but I'm not tempted to buy one from the dining room when I'm tired of plain water. Besides this offering, I recently found out that my company allows employees to take one piece of handfruit (ie a banana, apple, or other) from the dining hall every morning for free! I usually bring this fruit home or have it at lunch since I've already eaten breakfast in the morning.

Other things I always keep an eye out for are special events at restaurants and other retail places. It's always fun to go out and also get a special treat!

Let us know where you find your free food!

Alison
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Fun, Frugal, and Retro Recipes!

Now, when I say retro, I don't exactly mean what everyone else does...I go way back. Think 1924 ala Fannie Farmer! For those of you who don't know, she was the legendary founder of the Boston Cooking school and author of several versions of her own cookbook. I found a totally free, online version at: http://bartleby.com/87/

See? You're saving money already--I saved you from buying a cookbook! My favorite recipes in here are the simplest. Pancakes, biscuts, and potato recipes are great for beginners. She just states everything so clearly. Well, except baking instructions...since she was working on a woodstove/oven you're going to have to guess.

Being frugal starts with being simple to me. That doesn't necessarily mean protein, potatoes, and veg every night! Being creative is important too. I just try not to get to bogged down in details.

My new motto: simple fun, simple finances, simple food.

Cheers,
Ali

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Frugal Menus: An Alison Example

There seems to be a significant issue in menu-planning, so to expand on this I'd like to share with you all an example of a one week menu (scroll down). Now, I'm only including three main meals--of course, there are little additions, such as snacks (homemade goodies, fruits, etc.). Please feel free to ask questions, and since this is a work in progress for me, I welcome all constructive criticism!




Sunday

1. Cereal, fruit, and coffee
2. Cheese/onion/lettuce sandwich, chips, and juice
3. Pasta w/tomato sauce, spinach, and milk

Monday

1. Muffin, scrambled tofu, and coffee
2. Pasta salad, yogurt, and juice
3. Hot dogs w/saurkraut on whole wheat bread, baked beans, and milk

Tuesday

1. Muffin, yogurt, and coffee
2. Chips and baby carrots w/hummus, milk and cookies
3. Rice, Chinese veggies, chickenless nuggets, and seltzer

Wednesday

1. Cereal, pineapple, and coffee
2. Hummus sandwiches w/lettuce, onion and tomato and iced tea
3. Ziti and cannolini bean sauce, mixed vegetables, and milk

Thursday

1. Muffin, scrambled tofu, and coffee
2. Cheese/onion/lettuce/tomato toasted sandwich and juice
3. Nachos w/beans, cheese, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and milk

Friday

1. Cereal, fruit, and coffee
2. Tofu salad sandwich and iced tea
3. Spaghetti w/tomato sauce, crumbles, and milk

Saturday

1. Muffin, yogurt, and coffee
2. Hummus sandwich w/lettuce, onion and tomato and juice
3. Burgers, mashed potatoes w/gravy, broccoli, and milk

Happy Frugal-ing!
Alison

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Frugal Food Help: Menus, Katharine-Style!

My menu planning for the week is significantly different than Alison's, and for good reason.

• Alison lives at home with her parents, who have last say.  I live with my roommate, L, and we make our menu together.
• Alison's family is vegetarian, so their options are a bit more limited.  Now, I don't eat fish or shellfish of any kind, so I'm not exactly free as a bird over here, but we are mostly limited by my likes and dislikes... with notable the exception of L's dislike of snow peas... I mean of all things to not like..

Here is how L and I plan our menu for the week.

1. First, we use what we already have. We look in the fridge for things that have to be used in the next week.  We think of meals that incorporate those items.  We try to make a whole week's menu on what we already have in our fridge/freezer.
2. If we can't do that, we try to think of meals that won't require us to buy much.  An example would be...  If we have ground beef that has to be used, are we going to make tacos or hamburgers?  Well, do we have rolls or tortillas in the freezer?  Would we have to buy things for an appropriate side dish?
3. The next thing we do is throw in a meal that is 'vegetarian'.  And by this I don't actually mean, not containing any meat, but more, a meal where the focus of the dish is not meat.  Pasta with sauce is a good example.  Whether the sauce contains meat or not, its significantly cheaper than having steak for dinner.
4. If we have to shop, we make a list.  Now, we don't necessarily stick exactly to the list, but we are close.  Sometimes we pick up fruit juice in addition to the list, or another treat, but we limit is as much as possible.
5. When we go shopping, we go full.  We try to go right after lunch, before normal people are out of work.  Being a student has distinct advantages sometimes.  When we go to the farmer's market, we go right after breakfast.  We walk there, I'd say its about three miles, do our shopping, and treat ourselves to a slice of pizza for $1.25.  Then we take the T (that would be the subway system in Boston) back to our apartment.
6. We make sure to eat things that might spoil first.  Usually, this means things that have been hanging around in our fridge a while.  Heavy cream for making pasta sauces or vegetables that are getting questionable.

We keep our menu plan on our fridge, so that we know what we are supposed to be making for dinners.  We  sometimes switch meals around, but try to do it only for what won't spoil, and usually based on time constraints.

How do you plan your weekly meals?

Katharine

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Frugal Food Help: Menus!

So, from time to time I've chimed in with little ideas or recipes meant to make the worry of providing for yourself and/or your family less stressful on you and your wallet. Lately, a project I've been working on for myself has been menu planning, which I share with my mom, who cooks for herself, my dad, and sister.
Probably my number one reason for having menu plans does not apply to many of you (unless you're a young twenty-something/college student on your own)--if I don't have a plan, I could frugal myself to death. A terrifying thought, but basically what I've been known to do is eat very small portions of food to stretch my budget. Thus, menus!

I'm going to recommend planning your menus on a weekly basis. Having two such menus is optimal. I, personally, do this in order to mix and match daily menus according to what I've bought and what my schedule is like. Lunch also generally derives from dinner of the previous night. Yay for time saving! Let me give an example:
Yesterday for breakfast I had a corn muffin, yogurt, and pineapple. My pineapple was the IGA deal (16oz pineapple for $0.50), the corn muffin was homemade, and I used a coupon on the yogurt ($2.79-0.50=$2.29/2lb Columbo yogurt). Lunch was ziti w/cheese sauce (cheese sauce from the night before, ziti from the day before) and salad. Then, dinner was with my family and my mom served homemade pizza with mushrooms and onions!

As you can see, I try to have protein, starch, and fruit/veg at every meal. It just helps me feel full longer and I think its generally healthier. If anyone would be interested I'd be happy to post full weekly menus and more recipes. I think you'd be surprised with some of the info--I love retro things, so I have recipes and menus from the 1920s-1960s. Lots of fun and new (sort of!) ideas puts a different spin on cooking. Also, I'm currently looking for a lentil soup recipe with a tomato base, so if I find a good one, I'll share it here (free Muir Glen tomato products + lentil--good source of cheap veg. protein = great meal!).

Happy weekend!
Ali

P.S. - Check back on Monday for coupon deals and steals of the weekend!
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Frugal Fun in Toronto!

Exciting news! On Thursday I will be leaving for Toronto!! As you can tell from my use of exclamation marks, I am so very excited about this. However, I am also a little nervous. I'll be staying with a friend who is, let's say, a little more financially secure than I am and also a LOT less frugal. Needless to say, if anyone is from the Toronto area/familiar with it, I would love love love any suggestions of free, frugal, and fun activities!

So far we've planned to visit the University of Toronto (I'll hopefully be meeting with someone from the Museum Studies Program), the Parliament building, and an art museum that my friend told me is free at a certain time. I love museums, parks, and historic things in general, so suggestions of that nature would amazing. Also, any food freebies/cheap eats--I would much rather spend my money on fun than food.

My plan for travel is, I think, quite excellent and frugal. I will be taking a Greyhound bus from New Haven to Toronto. Roundtrip I am paying a total of $88! I feel that this is a pretty good deal, especially since it would have been $97, but because I registered for greyhound Road Rewards I'm getting an extra 10% off. At this point, I unfortunately have to discourage any excitement about the new Greyhound Neon busline from Penn Station in NYC to Toronto. They advertise low-fares, even 1 seat per bus that is sold for $1, but my advice is to not get on the Neon bandwagon. Sure, it sounds great, but you will never find the $1 seat and the customer service people will definitely not help you (even if you offer them a special review on your blog)...Take the regular Greyhound line, its cheaper in almost every senario and without the disappointment of not getting the dream fare.

Also, since the busride is 14+ hours, I will be trying to entertain myself. Sleep sounds most promising, new downloads from Publicliterature.org will take up a lot of room on my MP3 player, and I will be carrying a bag full of meals and snacks (any advice on meals that travel well without a lunch box/cooler?).

Happy Travels!

Cheers,
Ali
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Favorite Frugal Recipes

I make no secret of it, though you may not know, but I love food! I like expensive food, I like cheap food, I like fancy cuisine, and I like food that people turn their nose up at! Do you have a favorite frugal recipe? Most of the recipes we make at my apartment are very frugal, or close to free! My roommate and myself spend less than $30 a week on groceries, combined! Now, I know there are many bloggers who are better at this than I am, but here are some of my Favorite Frugal Recipes!



Pasta with Sauce

This is as simple as you can get! A pound of pasta and a jar or less of sauce, costs less than $4 (and closer to $2 if you buy on sale or use coupons), and makes about 8 servings! Alison has a great post on her almost free pasta sauce coming up! Estimated cost? 25 to 50 Cents a serving!

Healthy Tip: Mix frozen vegetables and shredded or ground meat in with your sauce for a fully balanced meal!



Mexican night

I was really lucky about a month ago, and acquired about 40 tortillas and mixings at the end of a club event. Tortillas freeze well, but the trick is to freeze them flat! My last 'gift' from my parents was a Costco sized container of taco seasoning which you can add to any ground or shredded meat for a great mexican meal! Buy shredded cheese when it is on sale and make a cheese quesadilla for the ultimate frugal mexican meal! A ten pack of tortillas and a pound of shredded cheese should run you about $5 total, so 50 cents a serving for quesadillas! If I have sour cream or salsa on hand, I dress my tortillas up that way, but we buy the large jars of salsa, so the cost per meal is very low.

Healthy Tip: Make vegetable tacos! Stir fry green beans, onions, thin carrot sticks, peppers, mushrooms, etc with some taco seasoning, or add to a Quesdilla!



Casserole

Casseroles are amazingly cheap, and make many servings, which can be packaged and either frozen or eaten later. My family's traditional casserole is not the most healthy though. We use leftover ham (blended into tiny crumbles), a can of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup, refill the can with milk, and a pound of cooked pasta (spaghetti or shells). Mix it all together and add some of whatever cheese you have laying around on top for crunch, and cook @ 375 until you can't see the milk in the bottom of your casserole dish. This makes easily 8 servings for about $5, so about 63 cents a serving. It's not the most healthy, and is quite salty, but I've been thinking about adding some frozen corn for a bit of sweet.



Fried Rice

Though I don't make it very often, I really like fried rice, and this post over at Apartment Therapy is what really inspired my post today! I haven't made fried rice in ages, and it is really cheap, and a change up from what I've been making lately, so maybe I'll give it a try later this week. To be really frugal, stir fry some mixed vegetables, with some onions, garlic, and either teriyaki or soy sauce. Add in the rice, and cook until warmed through. Then make some room off to the side, and cook your egg, for a bit, and then scramble it in! Eggs are some of the cheapest and healthiest protein you can eat, according to this post at Serious Eats!

~Katharine

So what is your favorite frugal recipe?