Frugal Mania

There is a popular misconception these days that plants exist for the sole purpose of being pretty. Houseplants are great (as long as you remember to water them), but they do not have to be just something to look at.

An herb garden in your kitchen is not only attractive; it is also cheap and extremely cost effective. If you doubt this fact for even a moment, take a quick look at how expensive fresh herbs are the next time you go grocery shopping. I can’t understand why anyone would pay two or three bucks for a tiny packet of fresh herbs when they could grow their own for about the same cost.

I bought a rosemary plant at a clearance sale and dropped it into the ground outside my mother’s house. That was three years and countless recipes ago and still the plant is nearly three feet tall and just as fragrant and beautiful as ever.

So, you don’t want to deal with the headaches of having a full-fledged garden. You can grow delicious cherry tomatoes in a hanging basket on your front porch. Not only will it look great, it will add a home grown flavor to your favorite salad.

The fact is that there are tons of hybridized vegetable plants these days that are made specifically for growing in containers. Why not have a few plants on your porch that actually earn their keep for a change?
Don’t hand me the tired old excuse that you don’t have a green thumb. The only difference between someone with a green thumb and someone without one is that one of the two have taken the time to educate themselves.

Search engines are easy to use, and information for neophyte gardeners is plentiful on the ‘net.

No excuses, get out there and grow something!

The single best money saving (and thus frugal) tip I know is one that I grew up with. I always saw it as common sense and only came to understand it as frugal in recent years when I discovered that not everyone lived this way.

The trick starts with meal planning, but it goes deeper than just making a list of meals for the upcoming week and shopping accordingly. It involves selecting meals that can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. When I make lasagna, for example, I always make two and one goes straight to the freezer.

If you start planning meals that way, you will find that you can prepare higher quality meals that generally cost more to make and involve a lot more prep time, without wasting your precious time or money.

Here are my favorite make-ahead meals, all four of which can be easily prepared on a tight budget:

• Spaghetti
• Chili
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Vegetable Soup

In addition to complete entrees that can be prepared ahead of time, there are several other time saving methods I use in the kitchen that I find indispensable:

• Brown hamburger meat with chopped onions and peppers and freeze them in 1-pound portions. The next time I want to make chili or spaghetti I take it out, thaw and add it right to my sauce on the stove.
• When I bake poultry, I shred the leftovers and freeze them in containers. They hold up well and are quick to thaw for a barbeque chicken sandwich, chicken salad, or great tacos or burritos.
• Make a big batch of pancakes and/or waffles (the recipe is basically the same) and freeze them. They will thaw in a flash in the microwave (pancakes) or toaster (waffles), ready for a quick and hearty breakfast anytime.

If you would like my recipes for anything mentioned here, please just ask. I’d be more than happy to share them (and actually plan to do so over time). You can always check out the Frugal Mania Recipe Archive page for other great meal ideas on a budget.

Vinegar has been around for centuries and although relegated to the confines of the kitchen in today’s society it has enjoyed a great number of uses of which there are many you may never have heard of.

In that vein, I would like to share my top 10 uses for vinegar you never knew:

1. Wiping down your walls with a strong vinegar solution will eliminate mildew and the collection of dust.

2. A solution of vinegar and water in a spray bottle will make a strong and impressive window cleaner, just without the cost and artificial coloring. If you replace the paper towels with old newspaper, your windows will be streak free.

3. Soaking fish in vinegar before cooking will make them more tender and flavorful.

4. Soaking tough raw cuts of meat in vinegar will make the meat more tender.

5. Vinegar applied to the skin can relieve dry, cracked and chapped areas quickly.

6. Rubbing vinegar into your pet’s fur will remove the odors left over from a chance encounter with a skunk.

7. Adding vinegar to your laundry’s rinse cycle will eliminate any residual soap and brighten your whites.

8. Cold vinegar will take the sting out of sunburn and can also prevent incidental burns from blistering.

9. Make your own sour cream by blending together 1 cup of cottage cheese with ¼ cup of milk and a teaspoon of vinegar.

10. Keep cheese fresher longer by storing it wrapped in a cloth soaked in vinegar (keep it in a sealed container, of course).

The word organic seems to conjure mental images of high dollar produce at your nearest Whole Foods market, but in reality organic food truly is the best for you.

Now I need to add to that statement by saying that in order to be truly organic, food that is grown should be grown without the use of any chemical-based (or otherwise artificial) pesticides, fertilizers or other such additives. These foods are grown using completely natural methods - in other words, letting Mother Nature do what she does best and trusting that the resulting produce will be tastier, healthier and well worth the effort.

It can definitely be costly to buy organic. Yeah, I realize that you are nominating me for the Understatement of the Year award at this point, but it had to be said. Still, it is entirely possible to eat a healthier organic diet and still be frugal. In fact, you can do so for around seven bucks a day and you don’t even have to take my word for it - an article at MSN Health & Fitness not only tells you so, they detail how it can be done! This is the first time I have been so absolutely impressed with an article of this type in the mainstream media, and it is handled clearly and realistically.

To be fair, writer Lynn Welsh did write an article for a local Madison, WI newspaper a couple of years ago that also included some excellent tips on this subject, but the former is far more detailed.

Accept the fact that if you want to accomplish this lofty goal you are going to have to make some definite dietary changes. Less meat, poultry and seafood, more beans and rice and other vitamin-rich items.

Reading this article has given me the desire to start working on a new project that I think will be incredibly helpful to fans of Frugal Mania. It is going to be a lot of work on my part but there will be little doubt that it will bring about the opportunity for more people to live a healthier, more frugal lifestyle without resorting to random hit-and-miss frugal living tactics.

I’ve already said more than I should have about it at this point, so you’re just going to have to wait to find out what I’m talking about!

Tuna salad is a perennial favorite for many families.
It can also be simple and inexpensive to make and enjoy. Here is my own personal recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 can, chunk light tuna in water
• 2 Tablespoons, mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon, yellow mustard
• 1 hard boiled egg, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons, onion, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons of sweet relish
• salt & pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Drain tuna and add to a small bowl.
2. Add chopped egg, onion and relish and mix well.
3. Add mayo and mustard and stir well to mix thoroughly.

SERVING OPTIONS

• Tuna Salad Sandwiches: There’s nothing better than two slices of wheat bread, some fresh sliced tomato and a good helping of tuna salad.
• Tuna Salad Salad: Take a bowl of your favorite salad greens, toss in some carrots, celery, tomato (or anything else you like), add a touch of homemade dressing (like my simple balsamic vinaigrette) and a scoop of tuna salad. Simple, delicious, healthy and frugal!
• Tuna Melt: Two slices of bread, a slice (or two) of cheese and tuna. Make it in a pan like you would make a grilled cheese and you have a warm and delicious quick meal that is sure to please.

MICHAEL’S NOTES
When I make tuna salad I usually make a double batch so that I have enough for two sandwiches and a salad proper. That means I have prepared three lunches for myself at one time which can be a tremendous time and money saver. Another added benefit is that already having something ready and waiting in the fridge means that I am far less likely to skip a meal (which I do way too often anyway). Skipping meals can lower your energy and your productivity as well as leading to inevitable overeating later.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It isn’t too late to jump on the Coupon Train - click here to find out more!

I can’t think of anything I like better than fresh, homemade chicken salad, and most people seem blissfully unaware that it is one of the simplest and most inexpensive delights in the kitchen. Here therefore, is my own personal basic chicken salad recipe:

Michael’s Chicken Salad
INGREDIENTS
1 cup, chicken, finely chopped
3 Tablespoons, mayonnaise
1 piece, bacon, crumbled (or 1 Tablespoon bacon bits)
2 Tablespoons, celery, diced
2 Tablespoons, purple onion, diced finely
grapes, cranberries, apples or raisins
salt & pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Empty chicken into a small bown.
2. Add celery and onion and mix well.
3. Add mayo and stir thoroughly to mix.
4. Toss in bacon bits, sliced grapes, apple chunks, cranberries or any other similar extras (even strawberries!) and fold in until just blended.

MICHAEL’S NOTES
There are tons of variations for chicken salad. Sometimes I forego the mayo in favor of balsamic vinaigrette. Sometimes I add vegetables and fruit that others might think is just crazy. Blueberries, for instance, are absolutely delicious, as are fresh herbs - whatever is on hand at the time, but usually rosemary, basil and chives. Give it a try and whatever you do, don’t let your ideas be limited by what you see in any recipe (especially one of mine). Recipes should exist only to serve as guides from which you can create your own individual masterpiece!

Another absolutely delectable option is the addition of curry seasoning. That simple alteration, a short stint in the microwave and a bed of rice make for a meal I could eat every day of the week.

For links to all of the frugal recipes posted at Frugal Mania visit the Frugal Mania Recipe Archive.

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t actually love ramen.

It has been literally years since I actually needed to live off the stuff, which is a rite of passage most any college student can sympathize with. Still, there is a simplistic beauty to that little package of flavor (and sodium) that I have never been able to escape. Even still there are times when I can find myself bored with the same old thing and I need to shake things up a bit.

I think what helped me to make the most of this uber cheap foodstuff is that I never saw it necessarily as a meal unto itself, but instead viewed it as a canvas on which I could work some amazing act of frugal culinary magic. Truth be told, I’ve come up with so many frugal meal ideas with ramen that even my often fickle partner doesn’t complain when sitting down for a meal anymore.

The two most obvious ideas I’ve had are also the most simple:

Frugal Leftovers
Whenever I cook up a four-minute bowl of ramen heaven, I use the time to raid the refrigerator an find that wayward piece of chicken left over from a recent (at least I hope it is recent) meal, or better yet, the chunks of steak I so carefully brought home the night before after a rare trek for a meal on the town. I keep several flavors of ramen noodles on hand, and match the flavor packet to my meaty leftovers whenever possible. This makes my meal heartier and uses up my leftovers at the same time. SCORE!

Frugal Veggies
At times I forego the flavor packet altogether, instead opting to saute a couple of cups of my favorite (in season, mostly) chopped veggies in some olive oil with a bit of chopped garlic. The flavor that sweats from the veggies (especially when I include onion, garlic and peppers in the mix) is so rich that the salt-intense flavor packet is rendered entirely unnecessary , and can be saved for flavoring an otherwise bland soup mix later.

What’s your favorite frugal way to use ramen?

One of the most common wastes of your shopping dollars covers a huge range of items that we call convenience foods. The truth is that these items are anything but convenient for your wallet, but thankfully they are all but entirely unnecessary. All it takes is a few minutes of your time and you won’t believe how much money you can save, sacrificing nothing at all.

A lot of people will say that they are willing to pay a little more for the added convenience and that is your choice, but you should at least give home made convenience foods a fair chance before you nix the idea altogether.

In order to bring the unconvinced toward the light, I will be sharing some of my personal favorite convenience food recipes over the coming weeks. Give them a shot – you won’t miss out on a thing and you will save more money than you can imagine. This week we will take a look at making your own spice blends at home.

Homemade Salt Substitute
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dill
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. powdered lemon rind
1 tsp. oregano

Just mix and serve in a spice shaker.

Homemade All Purpose Spice Mix
1/3 C grated parmesan
1/4 C sesame seeds
2 TBSP paprika
1 TBSP poppy seeds
2 TBSP chicken boullion
2 TBSP dried parsley
1 TBSP onion flakes
1 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP celery seed
½ TBSP sea salt
½ TBSP black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a zipper bag or jar and use on meat, fish, poultry, even steamed veggies.

I’ll be sharing some more great convenience food recipes over the coming weeks, but in the meantime, you should check out these great chicken recipes by Shelly over at Earthly Eating.

A few years ago I found myself in a predicament. I had thawed too much ground beef and it was going to spoil if I didn’t use it. While racking my brain to figure out something that I could make with what I had on hand, I realized that I had everything I needed for a hearty pasta fagioli soup. ever since, it has been a staple food in my home. My Italian partner walks around with a grin every time I make it, so my hunch is that it should be pretty popular around your house too.

Michael’s Simple, Cheap Pasta Fagioli

THE INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 sm onion, chopped
• 6 C stock
• 1 can spinach (small can)
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 C navy beans, cooked
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 8 oz shell pasta
• 1 bay leaf
• seasoning to taste

THE PROCESS

1. Pour the stock, spinach (drained), garlic and tomatoes into a large crock pot and cover.
2. Brown the ground beef with onion, drain and add to crock pot.
3. Set crock pot on high, cover and leave it alone for 2-3 hours.
4. Boil pasta & carrots together, drain.
5. Drain navy beans and rinse (if canned).
6. Add pasta and beans to crock pot and set to low heat for 30 minutes.

HEALTH NOTES
Want to try it out but you’re concerned about your health? Try these substitutions:

• If you want to use ground beef, don’t bother buying the expensive lean stuff, just rinse the ground beef and onions thoroughly in a colander after browning them and you will remove just as much fat.
• If you’d rather use something a bit healthier, replace the ground beef with ground turkey or chicken. Both are priced fairly inexpensively.
• Use what you’ve got! Leftover chicken, turkey, beef cut into small pieces will work just as well and get rid of some leftovers in the process.
• To cut down on salt, add a bit of lemon juice to the pot. The citric acid will flavor it and you won’t feel the need to use so much salt.

I just threw this recipe together based on what I had in the cupboard, so it will probably vary the next time I make it, but I wanted to save the recipe nonetheless, since it turned out so well and cost very little.

Author’s Note: Wow, it seems as though I am on a food kick lately, but I just can’t help myself. Food expenses account for one of the biggest dents in the average budget and I want you to save everywhere you can! This frugal tip has actually been around for hundreds of years, but westerners have only recently caught on.

Technically called “Obento”, the Japanese origin is actually not as glamorous as you might think. It basically means “boxed lunch”. But bento is nothing like what your mother sent with you to school in your Scooby Doo lunchbox. This stuff is art. The Japanese believe that food should be as appealing to the eye as it is to the stomach, and after many years of creating and eating my own bento lunches, I can’t say that I disagree.

Food art is not frugal in and of itself, but with bento, you are controlling portions and making simple foods take on an artistic appearance. Apples become bunnies, cheese and lunch meats become flowers…you really wouldn’t believe everything you can do!

There are websites aplenty that sing the praises of bento, and just as many that offer recipes and preparation tips for beginners and aficianados alike. My favorite, bar none is Lunch in a Box, hosted by Biggie - a work-at-home mother of a preschooler who can do things with food that I can only strive for.

There are thousands of designs for bento boxes sold by all sorts of companies worldwide, but you don’t need to spend a lot of money - or any, for that matter - to start enjoying bento for yourself. When I first started, I simply used a divided Rubbermaid meal storage container. In time, you may want to invest in an honest-to-goodness bento box and if you are curious about where to find one, Ebay has quite a few on sale at all times.

I purchased my first bento box (I know own several) from the host of Bento TV, who also sells bento boxes and accessories on Ebay, as well as having regular videos on her website to help bento beginners hone the craft.

One of these days I will get around to sharing a few of my own bento creations with you, but I am usually so busy eating it that I forget to take pictures!

A lot of people are intimidated by the idea of making their own salad dressing. This recipe illustrates well why so many restaurants use balsamic vinaigrette as their house dressing. It’s simple to make with almost no prep time whatsoever and it stores well if you have leftovers.

Don’t forget it’s also delicious and really easy to do, and from a money standpoint, this recipe costs me pennies to make per batch.

This recipe yields about 1/2 cup, enough for 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
3 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon sugar (I use turbinado or honey when I have them)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS
Just mix everything together.
Yeah, that’s really all there is to it. Really easy and much less expensive than buying it at the supermarket.

The olive oil is key in this recipe; it has a distinct flavor that will be missed if you make this dressing with another oil. If you’re feeling adventurous, try playing with the spices or adding some freshly chopped herbs. It’s your kitchen, your rules!

One closing note on storage: if you do store leftovers in the fridge, the olive oil is going to separate and solidify. That’s natural and it is perfectly okay to eat. All you need to do is take it out of the refrigerator and let it warm to room temperature for half an hour or so. Then when you are ready to use it, just give it a good shake and you’ll be ready to eat.

Frugal – It isn’t just for breakfast anymore, but it is entirely possible to be frugal and eat a healthy breakfast at the same time. In fact, you will find that you feel better and are more productive if you do eat the first meal of the day in the morning.

• Oatmeal is your friend. Not only is it inexpensive, it has tons of health benefits, including lowering bad cholesterol. It is simple to prepare and doesn’t take much time, either.
• Trent at The Simple Dollar offers several frugal breakfast food options that are cheap and delicious. I especially love the Swiss Breakfast mix.
• There’s nothing quite like homemade pancakes and waffles, but who has the time to prepare the mix, cook them and then eat? One of the most common sense tips I ever discovered was to make a big batch and freeze them. Frozen waffles that you made yourself are healthier and much less expensive than the prepackaged fare offered in the frozen food aisle.
• Elementary Chef has a fantastic recipe for baked oatmeal that you have got to try. DELICIOUS!

Look for more frugal breakfast ideas next week! Have one to share? Send me a comment and it may just find its way into a future post!

In my house we eat a lot of chicken, often as much as 5 days a week! Depending on how I buy my poultry, it can prove to be pretty expensive at times. Though I love boneless chicken breasts and chicken tenderloins, they are often the most expensive cuts at the supermarket so I am always on the lookout for cheaper ways to buy chicken. It is the frugal maniac in me, what can I say? Even when I get a great deal, I seem to always be on the lookout for a way to make it even greater.

In most cases, buying whole fryers is the way to go, because there is so little prep involved beforehand it is cheaper pound-for-pound. I know when I was first starting out on my own I didn’t buy them all that much, mainly because I didn’t have the slightest idea how to cut up a whole chicken when I didn’t want to cook the whole thing. If you are in the same boat you can rest easy, because I have found a couple of videos that will help you. I only wish I would have had these years ago!

In these two videos, you are guided on a step-by-step process for quartering a whole chicken:

The videos mentioned this, but I need to reiterate something - don’t toss those chicken bones and carcasses! The inedible bits (including fat, bones, tendons and joints) can be tossed into a crock pot for a few hours yielding cup after glorious cup of delicious chicken stock that you can freeze for later use in soups, stews and other recipes. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, check out this recipe for Indonesian style Chicken Breasts courtesy of Stephanie over at Elementary Chef. I made it a few days ago and it was a big hit!

Saving Big on Produce

With the price of everything skyrocketing these days, saving money on food is something most of us can’t afford not to do. Here are a few ways you can save big bucks on your produce:

• Grow it Yourself
  This is common sense, really. Spending a few dollars on seedlings can amount to huge savings over the growing season. Susan Walsh at Earthly Garden offered some great information on growing your own vegetables and fruits and yes, you can grow just about any of them in containers. Are you a beginner? There’s a great series on growing that starts at the beginning - seed starting.
• Farmer’s Markets
  Almost every community has a local farmer’s market where you can get fantastic locally grown produce for a fraction of what you’d pay at the supermarket. It tastes better, too.
• Freeze It
  Many produce items will freeze impeccably well. Tomatoes for example, can be cut up and placed in a zipper bag (juice and all) for later use in your soups, stews and sauces. Peppers and onions can be chopped and bagged (together or separately), as can corn, green beans, and quite a few other produce items that you plan to cook with.

Where have I been? To busyland and back, that’s where. I’m running to keep up. Fortunately for me soccer season is over for my boys and coach dad. And that reminds me . . . I’m suppose to be calling about basketball sign-ups today. *sigh* The to-do list is never too-done, right? But, alas, Thanksgiving is planned and shopped for. Embarrassingly I overspent by a landslide after adding dishes per request and reviewing portion sizes. I heard on the news this morning that the price of turkey has gone up this year and I agree. I swear my little five-pounder was only around $10.00 last year. Honest! This year it was around $15.00.

So, where’s the menu I promised? Here is what we’re so very blessed to have this year for Thanksgiving dinner:

Turkey
Ham
Macaroni and Cheese
Cornbread Dressing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Two types of rolls
Biscuits
Green Beans
Carrots
Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Cherry Cream Cheese Pie
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cranberry Grape Juice
Cranberry Sierra Mist

This will feed us on Thanksgiving and straight through until the weekend is over. Given what I did and did not have on hand already(such as the turkey brine ingredients that I assumed I had already but did not) I probably spent about $70 on Thanksgiving. That’s four days of meals for five people. We’ll have leftovers of turkey pitas, turkey salad, turkey and ham sandwiches, etc. I also will cook a whole chicken to use in the cornbread dressing, so we’ll have those leftovers as well.

Now, enough talk about the planning and preparing! I’m ready to eat!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you are blessed this entire holiday season.

——————————————–

Will you be watching any football over the Thanksgiving holiday? We’re big Auburn Tigers fans here and our rival game with the Crimson Tide is Saturday. War Eagle!