Five Frugal Things -- Dry Cake
1) We enjoyed a bonus birthday dinner at the house last night and I tried the internet recommended substitutions to my box cake. Butter instead of oil, three eggs instead of two and milk instead of water.
I do not recommend.
If anything the cake was worse, which I think was from substituting the canola oil with butter. The cake was definitely on the dry side and that's on no one's wish list!
However, it gave me a chance to bust out my curb picked cake stand, which is an enjoyable addition to any day. It's just so darned cute!
2) Dinner was "Burrito Buffet," which centered on home cooked rice and pinto beans, with a variety of add ons, including:
- Seared red pepper slices.
- Waffle iron tater tots for that crispy addition.
- Shredded cheese.
- Lettuce.
- Saved tortilla chip shrapnel.
- Sour cream, Taco Bell sauce packets.
- Guacamole.
- Pickled red onion.
Everything was already on hand so I didn't have to do any additional grocery shopping. My family ate hundreds of these burrito buffets when the kids were growing up and let me tell you it's a powerful tool for a frugal life. Infinitely adjustable and cheapaf!
3) I drove over to the auto supply store and bought a replacement lightbulb for my kid's headlight. My internet research suggests that the lightbulb replacement would cost $150-$300 were they to have it done professionally -- which makes the $19.99 I paid much more enjoyable. The directions for almost any task are on YouTube, so it's not like you need automotive experience to do your own simple car repairs.
For those whose last math class is decades in the past, it's better to pay twenty dollars instead of three hundred.
4) I still haven't sold the lucite table table that I thrifted last month, so I decided to try and spruce it up a bit. It has a number of scratches, (mostly superficial) and I remembered that my step father had some plastic polishing products in his basement. He has them for his motorcycle windshield, but I figured they'd work for my table.
He brought the products by and it'll be fun to see if I can use them to get my table looking better. You know I love me a project!
5) We gave our kid tickets to an upcoming expensive concert instead of any things. Experiences over stuff, bay-bee!
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
The birthday cake may not have turned out that great but it sure looks fancy in that found cake stand. Looks like a cake you would see in a restaurant. Very nice!
I find that cakes sitting on a cake stand, even with a lid, dry out fast. Might that be part of the problem? Not sure how long the cake was in the cake stand before you served it.
1. A friend wanted an outdoor rocking chair for her hubby for Father’s Day. I found a free one on line and nearby. I picked it up for her yesterday and dropped it off.
2. When I dropped the ticket off my friend gave me fresh corn husks for my guinea pigs and snacks she got at a food pantry that her family won’t eat but mine will.
3. Got a free slurpee at 7/Eleven with my 30 day free trial of their Gold Club
4. Needed a few upholstery tacks to repair a free needle point seated chair I curb picked. Found a container for 25 cents at our local ReStore. Once fixed I’ll post the chair for sale as it’s not my jam but someone put so much work into that needlepoint seat I didn’t want it just chucked into our incinerator.
5. One of our friends won a seat on our county democratic committee in the election this past Tuesday. Since we helped with his campaign we were invited to his celebration party this Sunday at a local park
I'm discombobulated today as my dear mother-in-law passed away this morning and my daughter was stuck on a trip from hell that got her stuck overnight in Chicago. Add on needing to be at daughter's apartment to let in the fridge delivery people and move all contents of her fridge to temporary accommodation while the fridge has its 24 hr settle-in.
So I un-frugally forgot to stop at the bakery while I was nearby and had to go out again this afternoon as dh doesn't have enough bread for tomorrow.
I did plant cucumber, dry bean, and chard seeds, as well as 3 loofah starts.
I un-frugally bought dh a chocolate cream pie in honor of his mother. She loved people through food.
I'm sorry about your mother in law. Condolences to you and your family.
I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother-in-law. A special pie for DH in her honor is a good tribute.
Supposedly you can use carbonated water in cake mix instead of liquid! I'm not sure about the egg swap. I'm vegan so I try a lot of different baking dairy alternatives.