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Showing posts from March, 2011

More Cheap Food

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Quiznos sent me a coupon where you can get any small sub & a cookie for $2.99. Click here for the coupon.

Make Your Own Cleaning Supplies

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This is awesome.  Kim (one of my very favorite people) sent me a link to a video that shows all kinds of recipes to make your own cleaners.  It's dirt-cheap & the lady says they work great.  You'll also have fewer dangerous chemicals in your house & her recipes are all safe to mix with each other. It's definitely worth checking out.  I went to this site & entered my (junk/coupon) email address & was able to find a printable recipe list.  On the video, she recommended adding some essential oils (she uses grapefruit and peppermint, but not together!) to cover any smell from the vinegar. If you want to watch the video, it's right here . A lady who spoke at our Money-Saving Workshop makes her own liquid laundry detergent that's even safe for "H.E." machines.  If you're interested, I'll ask her for it & try to post it for you. Since I haven't tested these myself yet, I'd love feedback from anyone who has experience

Just the Inspiration I Needed...

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Well, it's official.  I'm finally gonna take the plunge.  I want to make my own bread. Molly O posted some stuff on her blog that gave me the structure, encouragement & exact method that I needed. (That's her & her sweet family in the photo.) I usually get really pumped up about starting a new project & then get frustrated and give up.  Molly broke it down so well & told us why she does each particular thing. It's (understandably) a royal pain to track down each stinkin' ingredient individually & drag 'em all out to then begin the entire process.  Her post is a God-send (...and a good read with lots of pictures!). Here's the link to that post on  Mocha Drop Mama. Mmmm...I can smell the fresh-baking bread now.  AND the cold, hard cash this is going to save me!

Cooking With Sale Items & A Stockpile (Pt. 2)

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This series of posts is in response to Julie's request that I explain how I feed my family.  We eat a combination of the random fresh items that were on sale & non-perishable items from our stockpile. In Cooking With Sale Items & A Stockpile (Pt. 1) we talked about how to begin stocking up.  Basically, if you buy the right stuff at the right time, the stockpile just kind of magically happens.  If you only buy things when they're dirt-cheap, you can automatically afford to buy lots more of them & poof!... you've got a stockpile!  That way, you'll never get stuck paying more than you absolutely have to. So, what's in our stockpile?  Canned Black beans Pinto beans Chili beans Green beans Corn Tomato paste Petite diced tomatoes Ro-Tel Evaporated milk (for casseroles) Tuna Creamy soups for cooking Chef Boyardee pastas Black olives Chunky (meal-type) soups Peaches Spaghetti sauce Pineapple Enchilada sauce Refried beans White beans

Cooking With Sale Items & A Stockpile (Pt. 1)

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Julie had a brilliant suggestion: "...post what you are making for dinner using the things you bought that week and what you use from your storage. That way people can see how effective your strategy really is." Good question.  Complicated answer.  :) How does it all work?  How do we save the most grocery money?  ...& preferably not raise a family solely on Ramen noodles. We combine our stockpiled pantry items with whatever fresh ingredients are at their lowest price. This topic will take a series of posts.  This post will discuss starting a stockpile.  Don't worry.  It's not intimidating...actually, with a tiny bit of effort, it kinda just happens by itself! My garage contains cans, boxes & bags of non-perishables.  It also contains a bucket of wheat (for whenever I get a bread machine), a refrigerator & 2 freezers. It's about to contain my stockpile of shampoo, soap, toothpaste, lotion & medicine, too because my ketchup & other

Freezer Experiment #1

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This is the 1st post in a series about freezing.  Freezing might seem pretty basic & mundane, but I'm determined to learn how to do it the right way.  My hubby doesn't hate many things, but he does hate freezer burn... and leftovers.  Hence, the challenge...and this series. "Freezer Cooking" is all the rage right now.  I'm considering trying it on a somewhat small scale.  Also, we just got a new freezer, so I'm excited to fill it up with healthy, yummy food. (...and with food prices increasing at a faster rate than they have in the last 36 years, it might not be a bad idea to have some stuff in the freezer.) Experiment #1 was a complete success! I've heard of people using ice cube trays to freeze little bits of various liquids & purees in individual portions. Then, you're supposed to pop the cubes into a freezer bag, so you can have small portions of these fabulous ingredients at your fingertips. A few factors came together, so I fin

Free Food!

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You can get a FREE order of Skillet Queso & Chips at Chili's when you sign up for their Email Club.  Here's the link. (Thanks, Screaming Penny )

Frugal Recipes

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I have changed the Frugal Recipes page to allow you to post your recipes directly.  It saves the step of emailing them.  I'm looking forward to cooking some new things.  :)

Calling All Cooks!

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Two heads are better than one, right? Well, we've got hundreds of heads here, so let's put them all together to help each other's dinner tables be more exciting. I'm looking for frugal recipes.  Give us your exotic, your rustic & everything in-between! I will begin posting your frugal creations this weekend.  Please email them to stefanowiczcoupons@gmail.com and write RECIPE in the subject line. Yum!