The Frugal Lifestyle

[Bit]

Originally Posted by Medusa

I have my favorite "cheap ass" discussion every night with Jack over dinner (I dont know how she tolerates me).

*laughing* I dunno how Gryph tolerates me, either.

Have you noticed that after a while of cooking at home, you can't tolerate most fast food? Or is that just me? What a distressing surprise that was! I just cannot handle the grease anymore.

Which is pretty funny when you consider that I am NOT a diet cook and I'm all verklempt cuz I didn't realize that I ran out of butter, lol.... but there's such a difference in how my system tolerates what I cook, and most fast food.

I suppose it's just as well, since cooking at home is so much cheaper, eh?

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by Medusa

I wear my "cheap ass" badge proudly

Since moving to Arkansas, our monthly financial output is significantly lower. Not just because we don't have a mortgage payment but we also chose to pay off our truck as well.

The biggest difference since coming here is that we RARELY eat out anymore. In Los Angeles, it was nothing for us to eat out 2 - 3 times a week. Being in the sticks like we are here, we can't just run down to the nearest Outback Steakhouse and drop $60 on a meal. Nope. It's more like I buy groceries once a week and we eat at home every night....AND we eat much better.

I have my favorite "cheap ass" discussion every night with Jack over dinner (I dont know how she tolerates me). It goes like this:

Me: "Honey, you will never guess how cheap this dinner is!"
Jack: "I'm sure you're gonna tell me!"
Me: "Well, this piece of roast is HALF of the roast we ate last week that I froze, so that part is $2! The potatoes and carrots are another $2! The onion and gravy MIGHT come out to $1! And the rolls come out to .25 each! So that means that for $6, we are going to get TWO meals EACH. WEEEEEEEEEEE - BABE! THAT COMES OUT TO $1.50 PER MEAL!"

And really, when you think about easily spending $6 for a sack of crap from McDonalds or Wendys -its fabulous!

hahahahahahahahahaha

My housemate is like that. We're both coupon clippers and really shop the sales, but she also has access to the base shopping which has phenomenal deals, so she's always breaking stuff down like that for us. I'm the only one who tolerates her because, secretly, I want to be able to buy 4 bottles of Garnier shampoo for $1.50 too.

[violaine]

reading about coupons, i saw a woman at the market the other day who was flipping through a binder in her buggy. 4x6 clear photo spaces were used for her coupons. pages could be added to the binder.. her book was full of coupons and pages !

[Bit]

Hey! What a cool idea, violaine!

I'm not using too many coupons these days but Kroger does send me coupons on Kroger products... OH how I love that! So I just have a small coupon holder for those.

Has turkey gone on sale for everyone now? I was telling Gryph last night, you can't get even the cheapest-worst-for-you hot dogs for 39 cents a pound!! (Honest, I don't think I can buy ANYTHING for 39 cents a pound anymore--even rice is 50 cents a pound!) This is when I most wish for a big freezer, and this is the time of year I buy the most food. If I have my druthers, I will buy at least two more turkeys--they're small, just 12 to 15 pounds--and I'm considering buying a big stock of sweet taters, too. They're 49 cents a pound and not likely to get any lower than that anywhere. We're likely to have them baked and topped with cheddar cheese for dinner--carrots and sweet taters both have this affinity for cheese, which I discovered by accident--and then I'll have to make sweet tater casserole too, which is, I think, the equivalent of a spicy sweet tater pie without a crust.

The turkeys (I would love to buy half a dozen!) will make main dishes and sandwiches, plus of course there will be stuffing... and the carcasses make wonderful broth when you leave a little meat on the bones, which is fine with me. I might even go all out and make soup from one this year, although truly the broth is great for making rice or noodles and I consider it an ingredient all on its own. I get a lot of food value for that thirty nine cents!

Now if they will only put the winter squashes on sale also--slow roasted Delicata winter squash makes the best pumpkin bread I have ever had! Plus, yanno.... they're great baked and topped with cheese.

[Medusa]

OMG!
I love this time of year too bit! The cheap turkies and sweet potatoes! The celery for .39 ! The eggs for .69!

I need to figure out how to get a cube-type freezer myself because I have heard they are much lower on energy than other freezers and are on sale at sams right now for $99. Imagine how many turkies could fit in that!

My granny used to cook sweetpotatoes down to a mush and freeze them in plastic containers for breads and such

[apretty]

Originally Posted by Medusa

OMG!
I love this time of year too bit! The cheap turkies and sweet potatoes! The celery for .39 ! The eggs for .69!

I need to figure out how to get a cube-type freezer myself because I have heard they are much lower on energy than other freezers and are on sale at sams right now for $99. Imagine how many turkies could fit in that!

My granny used to cook sweetpotatoes down to a mush and freeze them in plastic containers for breads and such

i've been secretly wanting a little freezer for the garage--i bought a new fridge for the kitchen that's counter-depth (shallow!) and there's really a LOT less room in it and the freezer is tiny, it's been a constant struggle for the 8 months that i've owned it, trying to make everything fit--all year we need ice and when we buy a bag there's little room left for anything else. do you know how much electricity those small freezers take?

[Bit]

Wow, your sale prices are even better than ours, Dusa!

Chest freezers for $99 at Sam's Club? Woohooo! But it would be $145 for me, because I'd have to buy the membership... not that I mind a membership, but I'm having a hard time justifying the outlay right now.

apretty, I'm willing to bet those freezers run between $25 and $35 a year on electricity, if that... the newer ones are truly much more efficient. I've heard that chest freezers are more efficient than upright freezers, also, because when you open an upright freezer, all the cold air sinks down to the ground.

[Medusa]

Originally Posted by apretty

i've been secretly wanting a little freezer for the garage--i bought a new fridge for the kitchen that's counter-depth (shallow!) and there's really a LOT less room in it and the freezer is tiny, it's been a constant struggle for the 8 months that i've owned it, trying to make everything fit--all year we need ice and when we buy a bag there's little room left for anything else. do you know how much electricity those small freezers take?

I read somewhere that those little ones can be anywhere from $3-$10 to run a month depending on if they are energy-saver or not.

Im in the same boat as you are with the freezer space here - I have a biggo 22 cubic foot side-by-side but for some reason, they decided to put a HUGEEEEE ice-making thing in it and it takes up about 1/3 of the freezer space. The fact that I have a 25-lb turkey in there means that I have even LESS space than usual.

But yeah, CHEAP to run!

(let's get matchies!)

[Waldo]

Originally Posted by tmbyfem

Instead I learned to love my slow-cooker again, freezing the extras for later on. I also threw out shocking amounts of fresh food doing a weekly shop so learned to shop Euro style, buying only the fresh things I needed for the next day or so. It really made a difference in reducing food waste.

Being frugal on many things still allows me the occasional splurge and has made me appreciate it that much more when I do.

I should really get a slow cooker. I hate coming home and cooking a meal for myself so I wind up going out more often than not. During the summer or when the weather is decent I will throw something on the grill, but once winter sets in... not so much.

Originally Posted by Medusa

I need to figure out how to get a cube-type freezer myself because I have heard they are much lower on energy than other freezers and are on sale at sams right now for $99. Imagine how many turkies could fit in that!

When I was a kid my parents bought a used cube freezer from a hunter. Damn thing smelled like pheasant for months. Lots and lots of Arm & Hammer later it was great. We used to make reubens and freeze them so we could just pop a couple in the oven for dinner during winter months.

[tmbyfem]

Originally Posted by Waldo

I should really get a slow cooker. I hate coming home and cooking a meal for myself so I wind up going out more often than not. During the summer or when the weather is decent I will throw something on the grill, but once winter sets in... not so much.

I'm not a big fan of cooking solo for the same reasons but had to adjust when things got tight. I much perfer to cook when I have someone to share it with.

So when I make a crock-pot of chili or spaghetti sauce I'll divide it into thirds. One third I eat fresh, usually its enough for a couple days worth of dinners and/or lunch. I split what's left into two freezer bags.

This helps in two ways... one I don't get sick and tired of eating the same thing for days and days but most importantly, after a long day at work I can make a quick tasty meal. I take it out of the freezer and put into the fridge the night before to defrost. When I get home all I need to do is warm it up and boil some pasta or make a salad. There's dinner sorted and I have enough left over for lunch or dinner the next day. Easy peasy!!