Two Frog Home

Frugality Tip #3: Cook from Scratch

One of the biggest expenses for most households beyond housing is food.  With food prices on the rise by leaps and bounds, it would seem this is an important area to learn some frugal tips. One of most frugal skills a person can learn is to cook from scratch.  I know plenty of people who see this as very time consuming, however; with some planning and knowledge, scratch cooking can be just as fast as a lot of boxed meals.  A well stocked pantry is priceless.  Keep your pantry stocked with food that you and your family enjoy.  Here’s a quick look at what Jeff and I keep stocked:

• Pasta varieties
• Dried Beans in all our favorite varieties
• Canned and frozen fruit & veggies (home canned & store bought)
• Various sauces (spaghetti, enchilada, salsa, etc.), soup stocks
• Dried herbs & spices
• Grains (oats, millet, rice, wheat berries, etc.)
• Vinegars
• Oils (olive, sesame, etc.)
• Canned and frozen meat & fish (home canned & store bought)

That’s a very brief summary.  We buy things in bulk and find ways to keep it all safely stored.  We buy things like grains and beans in 25 pound sacks.  Let me tell you the savings there is huge.  For example, the last time I bought organic black beans at my local health food store the price was 89 cents a pound.  5 pounds of dried beans translates into roughly 17 pint jars ($4.45) of cooked black beans - a 1 pint can of organic black beans at the grocery store is $1.75 on sale (17 cans = $29.75).  That’s roughly a savings of $25.30!  I like to can my beans, so that when I get home from work I can just pop the top and reheat for a quick meal.  Before, I started canning them, however; I would soak overnight and cook them in the crockpot while I was work. 

Buy meat in large quanities whenever you can afford it.  Its generally cheaper, but not always and of course there’s the whole storage issue, do what works for you.  I buy large quanities from local farmers, this is still a little more expensive than the super cheap cuts at the grocery store, however; it fits more closely with my values.  I do understand, however; that sometimes price has to be the deciding factor, depending on the person’s financial situation. 

Cooking from scratch does not have to mean super gourmet fancy meals like those you see on the Food Network.  We eat very simple meals: bean burritos, roasted chicken with veggies, soups, salads, etc.  I enjoy cooking when I have time, but I promise you I don’t spend more than 30 minutes making dinner after work, most of the time its quicker than that.  I make and stick to a meal plan every week and that has been the biggest life saver in several ways: it saves time, saves money (no quick trips to just pick something up), and its much healthier because the food is generally more nutritious.

Learn to make a couple of basic soups and vary them based on what you have stocked in your pantry.  We eat a lot of soups to keep us warm in the Montana winters, and I rarely follow a recipe.  Soups are the most basic food: throw some veggies, maybe some meat, maybe a grain or pasta, some herbs/spices, and some broth/vegetable juice in a pot, cook, serve, eat.  If you a have a crock pot, throw it all in before leaving for the day and when you get home, dinner is quickly served.  Add some homemade bread and my dear you have a 5 star meal in my opinion.

Learn to eat with the seasons.  Chances are that asparagus and watermelon in January is outrageously expensive and not very good, but those same items in season are not only cheaper but much tastier.  I understand the urge for some green in the middle of a long winter, choose wisely.  Its about choice and personal values, not deprivation. 

Stock up when you see a good sale (if you can afford to pay for it in cash not credit).  If you like to eat tuna and its regularly 75 cents a can and you see it on sale for 45 cents a can, stock up.  Keep a price book, so you know without a doubt when you see a good deal.  I use the SplashShopper program on my palm pilot for my price book, but before I went high-tech I used a small spiral bound notebook.  A great free price book template can be found at Organized Home. 

Grow it yourself.  A garden is a great way to save some money on your grocery bill.  It doesn’t have to be huge, anything you grow yourself will be a price savings whether its a pot of herbs on your apartment balcony or an entire acre.  Chances are it’ll taste better, too. 

Preserve it yourself.  Learn to can, dehydrate, freeze, ferment, etc. your own homegrown food or food you’ve bought in bulk.  It’ll probably taste better and won’t be full of chemicals and preservatives.  I know these are big skills for folks to learn; take a class, find a friend to teach you, advertise for a mentor on freecycle, once you learn, I promise you’ll be glad you did.  (If you can’t find someone locally, email me - mtkatiecakes@yahoo.com I’ll help, but its nice to have some one actually walk you through the process the first time you can).

Find support.  Last year, we found a great deal on organic grass-fed beef, the catch: we had to buy an entire cow.  That’s a ton of beef, we can’t store it and it would take forever for us to eat that much.  We found 3 other couples willing to go in on the cow with us.  Again, advertise on craigs-list and freecycle, I’m willing to bet you’ll find someone if you don’t already know a friend or two willing to split large quantities of items at a discount.

Having all these things you bought in bulk, grew yourself, etc. will only enable you to cook from scratch in a way that doesn’t feel like a ton of work and will prevent multiple trips to the grocery store in the same week or even day.

I’m sure I’ve missed some big tips, here, please feel free to add your own in the comments section.  In the end, please remember that frugality like anything else is very individual, find what works for you and stick with it.

While we were waiting for news on the house on Saturday, we tried hard to just zone out.  The best way to do that seems to watch the boob tube.  We don’t watch a ton of television and I’m always surprised by the commercials when we do. 

The first was for Home Depot (I think) talking about a new line of outdoor furniture, made and designed by an interior furniture company.  The idea being that you can make your outdoors an extension of the indoors “in style”.  Part of the tag line said something to the effect of “have the coolest yard in the neighborhood”.  While nice outdoor furniture may be a nice addition, it doesn’t have anything to do with how cool your yard and/or home is, you and your attitude do that not the things contained on your property.  Our outdoor furniture is a mish mash of items found second hand and/or given to us, one of neighbors has the matching set with the big gazebo, etc.  yet in the summer our yard seems to be the gathering place of the block, not because of the furniture but because of the hospitality and gardens (expectations of home baked goodies probably don’t hurt either).

All this brings me to Frugality Tip #2: Don’t Buy the Hype.

Beware of commercials and ads, their sole purpose is to entice you.  We all need things from time to time, even want things and that’s ok, but be sure you want it because you want it not because of some hollow promise from an ad agency.  Don’t buy the hype, realize that materialism is a reflection of who you are inside, is that what you want the rest of the world too see when they look at you?  Be sure your spending habits reflect your belief system.  Is it really the furniture that people come for when they visit?  Remember that its not money most folks want, they want love and attention, give that and the returns to you will be much greater than some high from nice furniture or from that shopping spree.

I can tell by the recent web stats that my recent ”Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make Do” post has been a big hit and there have been a lot of searches on recession, saving money, and frugality leading people here to Two Frog Home.  In order to serve those folks and perhaps get the input of readers in the comments section as well, I’m going to do a series of posts / tips on frugal living and how I currently apply it to my life. 

Tip #1: Change Your Thinking

Changing how we do thing is never an easy thing, not for me, not for most folks I imagine.  We humans seem to like routine and habits, and breaking those are uncomfortable, a touch scary, and just plain hard no matter how much we may want the change.  If that’s so, then how do we do that in terms of how we think about money, spending, and frugality?  Simply, baby steps.

I think the first step is to get rid of entitlement thinking.  How many times have you heard or said the following: “I work hard, I deserve this (boat, RV, designer shoes, trip to Mexico, etc.)”?   How hard we work has nothing to do, necessarily, with how much we earn.  It’s how much we earn or don’t earn that should determine what we deserve to spend money on.  I agree that most of us work very hard, however; the hardest physical labor jobs also tend to be the lowest paying in my experience.  Working hard doesn’t give us license to spend beyond our means, it just means that we should enjoy our time off and relaxation more in my opinion.  I suggest changing that thinking to: “I work hard and I deserve a debt free life” or “I work hard and deserve a savings so that someday I don’t have to work so hard”.

I think its vitally important to stop attaching happiness and/or joy to shopping and things.  For a lot of people, I know thats very hard and if you have to get professional help.  However; as long as a person is seeking happiness through spending money, there can never be frugality.  This applies to thrift store / yard sale shopping too.  I know many folks who think its ok to spend money because its cheap or used or whatever, however the thrill of the hunt is really what gets them excited its not so much the stuff that eventually clutters up their space and mind.  Money wasted is money wasted doesn’t matter if it was a $150 pair of designer shoes or 5 kitchen gadgets for 50 cents each that you never use.  Change your thinking to one of “do I really need that” that involves thought before plunking down your change instead of “I really want that” and impuse buying.

Finally, change your thinking of buy now, pay later to buy now, pay now.  Paying later removes the reality of money from our spending, if the money and potential savings and/or waste isn’t real we can’t change how we think.  Make your earnings, money, and spending real to you.  Personalize it in a way that has meaning so that you show what you value through your check register.

In the same vain as yesterday’s Ignorant is Bliss post, I’ve been thinking about frugality.  There are numerous articles talking about a possible recession and/or depression in the U.S.  I’ve been reading many of them with great interest.  The pollyanna that I am sees this as a great opportunity to really see how resourceful I am.  I understand the economic news is devastating for many people, I understand the poorest of the poor will need help, and I’m willing to step up where I can.  I also know that many people are living well beyond their means and for them this is where the blissful ignorance will have to end.  I’m hoping that all this talk will be a wake up call for us as society.

I know people are feeling the pinch, financially.   I talk to many of these folks in a variety of ways, whether its the gal on the cross-trainer next to me in the gym, someone in one of my continuing education classes, or random folks in the grocery store.  I use Jeff’s favorite phrase of “tightening up the belt” often with these folks.  It never ceases to amaze me how that bristles some people’s feathers.  When I taught my frugal living class, I had one student who very much wanted to learn how to live within her means but still be able to go out to eat at expensive restaurants 4 nights a week.  The idea of giving up on luxuries to save or be frugal seems so hard for a society that feels entitled to the “American Dream” of more, bigger, better.

Grandma’s favorite saying of “use it up, wear it out, make do,” is very much a frugal philosophy we apply to our lifestyle here at Two Frog Home.  Imagine what an impact that would have on our environment, our communities, and our homes if that was picked up as modern movement as hip as the current “go green” movement has become.  It won’t become as popular, however; because it doesn’t benefit all the companies going green in order to get your dollars.  You won’t see Walmart using that as a slogan because it encourages you not spend money in their stores, but you will see them hawking cheap T-shirts made from recycled plastic bottles because its hip and it makes them money.

In talking with people, I understand that a lot of people don’t know how to practically apply the “use it up, wear it out, make do” philosophy.  So far in their lives, they haven’t had to be frugal or they’ve used credit cards to spare themselves from any perceived deprivation.  Let me share how we apply grandma’s philosophy and frugal living daily around here.

First, let me share one of my most favorite quotes by Amy Dacyczyn (of Tightwad Gazette fame) “Frugality without creativity is deprivation.”  For me, that’s key.  No one wants to feel deprived, myself included.  The trick is learning to make do creatively with what you have until you can afford, without credit, to buy whatever you want.  I’ve learned that making do for a period of time, generally leads to not wanting/needing the gadget anyway.  I find great satisfaction in doing myself (or asking Jeff to do it) without relying on outside sources and/or conveniences.  Doing for myself and waiting for items, makes that item more valuable somehow. 

Instead of buying the newest fashion trends, why not wear out the old standards in your closet and repair them when possible.  There’s something to be said for wearing something so often that it requires multiple repairs.  It means I’ve worked hard and that I’m stretching my dollar, saving by repairing instead of buying new.  I assign financial worth to that, if I repair of jeans, I put $15 dollars into savings, figuring I’ve paid myself for some future need/want/desire.  I do find immense satisfaction when I have to cut something up for rags, because that means we’ve worn that article of clothing completely out and the pieces that remain will serve us in another way. 

Getting creative with making do can extend into every aspect of our lives.  Instead of running to the grocery store to get one item that’s missing from the recipe, get creative with substitution’s.  Would it really hurt to leave that particular ingredient out?  Instead of running to the store for paper towels, make do with those old T-shirts.

Practical things we do that save money and in turn add to our savings:

• We rarely eat out
• We buy in bulk
• We eat whole foods in their natural form, not pre-boxed/convenience foods
• We buy used
• We bargain hunt and wait for the best deal before buying whenever possible
• We freecycle
• We garden and preserve our own foods
• We repair and otherwise adjust our own clothing (take in, shorten, etc.)
• We wear everything out and try to repair everything before buying new (Jeff has alot of mechanical aptitude which comes in handy)
• We pack our own lunches
• We don’t use paper towels, paper plates, etc. (I just see that as throwing money away)
• We use natural and cheap cleaners like vinegar
• When we do have to make a major purchase, we save to buy the best we can afford, because we want quality equipment that will last and not need to be replaced
• We don’t upgrade every time the newest model comes along
• We don’t buy into every toy/gadget that comes along (we still don’t have an I-pod)
• We use the library instead of buying new books

I could go on and on, but I think I’m making my point. 

In the end, I do believe that Jeff and I have been blessed in that we both have jobs that pay above minimum wage and seem to be steady.  However, the rest has been the result of hard work on our part.  We are debt free and have a healthy savings to cover us in case of job loss as well as money saved for property downpayment and repair (looking for cheaper houses means fixer uppers).  We don’t indulge in a lot of luxuries but we don’t feel deprived.  I do feel like a good amount of frugal living is done inside ourselves in that we have to choose what is important and make sure our spending habits reflect those priorities.  We have to choose and learn to be content with what we have and ignore what the “Joneses” are doing.

Finally, a huge thing is getting support from partners, family and friends.  Find people who are choosing to live within their means and learn from them.  The internet is full of frugality resources, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t say the book Your Money or Your Life will change the lives of everyone who reads it, at least it did mine.  Research and learn from folks who lived through the depression, find what works and get creative and maybe whatever comes this way won’t feel as bad as the media makes it seem.

100 Things :: 11) I bring my lunch.

I almost called this one - I brown bag it.  However, I bring my lunches in beautiful, reusable handmade tote bags, not the disposable plain brown paper sacks.

I do bring my lunch to work everyday and I pack Jeff’s too.  We also pack our lunches when we go for hikes, scenic drives, various festivals, etc.  It just seems a better way to ensure our health and our frugal nature.   It also seems the most ethical way to keep disposable items from getting into landfills.

Our lunches are pretty standard - soups in winter, salads in summer.  We usually have some kind of fruit, fresh in season, home canned when not in season.  We pack wraps and sandwiches on occasion.  We don’t generally have leftovers for lunch, however; because we save those for dinner.  I like to include homemade bread, biscuits, muffins, etc when I can as well.

I like packing Jeff’s lunch too in that I find it a great way to connect with him in the middle of a hectic work day even when we aren’t eating a meal together.  Occasionally I tuck a little love note or treat in his bag too, just because.

I’m grateful for my little tote bag sitting in the office kitchen/break room because its an insurance policy of a little bit of home in my office.  It’s also a promise of a healthy nourishing break mid-day to just rejuvenate and in some small way reconnect with my love.

Jeff and I don’t eat out much.  Generally we feel its too expensive for so-so quality.  I like to cook and we both like to eat what I cook, so eating out isn’t something we do.  Yesterday, however, we did decide to eat lunch out.  This may have been our third meal out for 2008 and the first two were work related functions for one of us.

We hit the book sale as promised (it was a great disappointment - the first time I’ve said that in the 8 years I’ve been going).  On the way home, Jeff said we should stop at this new place called “The Pita Pit”, several of the guys he works with had been raving about it.  We figured it’d be a fun treat.  Jeff had the “Dagwood” pita which I think was a bit like a club sandwich and I had the Falafel.  I haven’t had falafel in a long time and was looking forward to it.  Since it was a treat we decided to have the combo which included a bag of chips and a drink, being a treat we ordered Cokes.  The total bill came to just under $16.00. 

Maybe that’s about standard for drive-thru, I don’t know, but it seemed a little steep to us.  The food was so-so, not a place we’d eat again, so the price seemed even higher.  However, worse than the price was how we felt the rest of the day.  Lethargic, at best.  We both felt drained and honestly hungry at the same time.  We were tired and both of us kept grazing the dried fruits and nuts in the pantry to fill up.

In the end, I think I learned that while eating out can be a treat and should be a treat.  We just have to be extremely choosy in where we decide to have those treats.  We need to pick places that have a good reputation for whole food ingredients and from scratch cooking.  We also need to avoid the Cokes no matter how much of a treat we’re having.  We don’t drink soda as a general rule, its not something we stock in our pantry and no doubt it was the sugar rush and inevitable crash that hurt us more than the rest of the so-so meal.

Jeff needed to run to town to look for a new light fixture for one that blew out this morning.  I tagged along and we decided to check the thrift stores before going to the hardware store for the needed fixture.  We scored in more ways than one, Jeff found a great light fixture for $1.50 and I found 69 canning jars for $5.00 (a mixture of wide mouth & regular pints and quarts)! 

I must say that’s a God thing.  I let my desires for more self-sufficiency and the needed jars be known and low and behold the jars appeared.  I’m grateful, honestly, I rarely find jars at the thrift store, they always seem to be scooped up before I get there. 

Further along the thrifty score line, Jeff snagged an older KitchenAid mixer at a yard sale yesterday for $10.  The mixer had its bowl but no paddles or attachments.  It works wonderfully, and will most likely be used for my grain grinding adventures.  The grain mill seems hard on the mixer, this way we’ll have something as a back up.

Tomorrow is the annual AAUW book sale bargain day - $3 a sack for used books, we’ll be hitting that too.  Sometimes thrifty scores can be just the thing to lift the spirits.  That and lots of gorgeous sunshine and temperatures in the 60s, finally. 

I was visiting over at Moonmeadow Farm earlier today, she always has interesting news tidbits on her sidebar.  Today, I read a good bit of the ones she had posted, including several on recession/depression and rising food prices.  All of which go hand in hand with my thoughts on self-sufficiency and the need to be more so.

Do I believe, Jeff and I will see a time where we don’t shop at stores? No.  I don’t know that we’ll ever have the kind of property necessary to raise everything we need, especially grain.  However, I do believe we can work on growing and preserving as much of our own as possible.  I also believe we can work on bartering and buying from within our own community.

The folks over at Path to Freedom, have been doing a lot of writing about the need for a resurgence of the victory gardens concept.  I understand gardening is a lot of work and its not work everyone enjoys (unlike the gardening addict that I am).  However, with the price of food and fuel these days, I don’t know how long many people can hold out before gardening becomes more than a hobby and it becomes necessary for survival. 

For me, everything starts at home.  Home is more than just the building I live in, home is my heart, it is the center of my love with Jeff, simply home is everything.  So what can I do beyond gardening and canning?  Jeff is fond of saying “its time to tighten up the belt,” and while I think we already have the belt pretty tight, we can and should do more.  Frugality isn’t about deprivation in my mind, however; a person does need to learn the difference between deprivation and making do.  In learning to be more frugal and making do with what we have, we can be more prepared to not only help ourselves in times of struggle, but also help others, and donate to more worthy causes.  We can buy more food for the food pantry, spend money on necessities for shelters, etc.  We can grow an extra bit of food and donate the saved seeds.  We can do all this from home and maybe, soften the blow of whatever this way comes for us and those around us.  And if it doesn’t soften the blow, at least we’ll have given it a shot from home and have done our best to take care of ourselves. 

Last week one of our local grocery chains had their biannual case lot sale.  The sale is exactly what it sounds like, good deals on entire cases of goods, traditionally its things like canned veggies, bottled water, sugar, all purpose flour, canned chili, ramen noodles, etc.  Looking at our depleted pantry we decided to take advantage of a few of the deals - mostly we bought canned green beans, corn, peas, and mushrooms.  We also got some 4 gallons of distilled water for $2.50 (I only use distilled water for ironing and my new iron really puts out the steam hence the water needs refilled often).  We don’t buy things like canned chili or cases of condensed cream of mushroom soup.

The deal on canned veggies was good and a case of each gets us a long way until we can start harvesting some of our own again.  I do always feel a little guilty about stocking up on these non-local, non-organic goods, however my pocket book thanks me and it is always good to know that we have a well stocked pantry, just in case.  The purchase did remind me of how much further we have to go in producing and canning more of our own and/or locally grown goods.  

Our growing season is so short here, and I’m learning to do with it what I can, but oh I’m so jealous of all of you who are already planting outside.  We’re still getting snow.  Jeff and I canned a good bit of stuff last summer (check out my pantry building page), but we have a long way to go to get us through an entire Montana winter.  I need more jars, too (honestly I can’t believe I’m saying that - I can’t imagine how many jars a large family must need).  I’ll be on the lookout for those as soon as yard sale season begins in another month.  I like to can more than freeze simply because freezing requires a stable power source, and I’m not sure we’ll always have that, freezing also requires a lot of freezer space, obviously and that isn’t something I want to invest in (see my thoughts on not always having power).  I don’t dry enough foods and that is something I may start dabbling in again this summer.

This winter just seems especially long to me, and I’m experiencing my own version of cabin fever.  Cabin fever seems to be expressing itself in the fear of not being self-sufficient enough alongside the urge to just start digging in the dirt and getting my hands dirty.  The upside is the daylight hours are getting longer and longer (that is something that is so sublime about Montana summers).  Even more on the upside is that seeds are started indoors and soon, I’ll be canning again.  

PS: I’m starting to think folks who practice home canning have their own seasons - preparing to can, canning, and eating the canned goods.

100 Things - #9 I never leave home without my coffee mug.

I do always take my coffee mug with me whenever I leave home.  We have coffee every morning, but sometimes there’s just need for more and I like to have my travel mug with me instead of using the disposable cardboard and/or styrofoam kind.  There are several gas stations in the area that sell coffee refills for 50 cents a cup, too, making my travel mug a slightly more frugal choice, because the same places charge 99 cents or more if you use their disposable containers.  There are several gas stations that sell my favorite locally roasted coffee too for 50 cents a refill, the roaster’s cafes sell the exact same thing for $1.50 a mug.  I know how to bargain hunt. 

On weekend yard sale trips or scenic drives, Jeff and I both take our mugs along and these are the times when we splurge on fancier drinks like a latte, occasionally.  Though we’ll drink plain drip gas station variety as well.  Like my cloth shopping bags, I’m just glad to know there is a coffee mug in the car, just in case.