Five Frugal Things -- Laika Studios & BTS Tuna
1) My husband somehow convinced his higher ups to switch where his work vehicle is stored overnight, which means he's back to being able to cycle to work! He's been talking about replacing our gas guzzly minivan with a compact car, but we can now delay this large expense for the near future. We have a second car, (a Subaru Outback) which we bought from a neighbor last summer and quickly became our primary vehicle.
We bought the minivan brand new in 2005 and it's hard for me to think of getting rid of it, as it has no serious issues, but would sell for almost nothing. She's ugly, but reliable.
We previously owned a Prius, but gave it to our youngest when they took a job with a long commute. We miss the Prius. Such a zippy lil' car!
Ugh . . . I hate buying cars!
2) I baked a batch of Reese's Pieces cookies from a kit I bought on clearance last year. It required an egg and two tablespoons of butter, and turned out very yummy -- especially while warm!
This kit normally sells for $3.49, so $1.22 is a welcome bargain.
Please note that the cooling rack is a recent Goodwill bins find and the perfect vintage spatula came to me from a neighborhood "free box."
3) My kid and their partner stopped by the house to pick up mail, so I shared the last two cookies, as well as a library book about Laika Studios. I knew this book would fall within their interests and since Laika is a Portland based stop-motion movie studio, so it was the perfect library loan-within-a-loan.
In another world, I'd work for Laika Studios creating tiny stop-motion characters, plus the bits and pieces that shape their world.
When I was in middle school I drew up detailed architectural plans for a "Gnome Home" based on the popular Gnomes book and constructing many household items based on Rien Poortvliet's magical illustrations.
The only item I have left from that phase is this hinged chest, which thirteen-year-old me built and painted. I remember that I had to go to a specialty store to buy the miniature hinges.
4) My mother liked my Ralph Lauren inspired shirt, so I offered to add embroidery to her denim jacket. I figured less was more, but she just sent me an email that just said, "Keep going, keep going!" so I guess I'll be sewing a bit more decoration.
5) I'd seen a few online recipes that featured a specific Korean hot tuna, so I stopped into H Mart to see if they carried it. Not only did they stock this specific item, but it came with a commemorative BTS tin and stickers. (BTS is an insanely popular K-Pop boy band.)
The "recipe" (if you can call it that) is to simply mix the tuna, (which includes carrots and potatoes) with rice and then scoop it up with nori sheets. Very tasty, filling and not over the top spicy.
It wasn't cheap cheap, as I paid $13.50 for four cans of tuna, but it did make for an inexpensive and healthy meal. So . . . expensive for tuna, but inexpensive for a meal? Does this make sense? Either way, I now have three cans in my pantry that'll serve as a last minute lunch for "future Katy."
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
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Katy, consider the cost as the means to having a new culinary adventure. Wonder how a tuna and pasta salad would taste…add some celery?
I love that Gnome book! I used to read it to students when I was teaching and they loved the illustrations.
My SUV is not economical to drive either, but it comes in so handy for family trips with its' third row of seats, not to mention all of the cargo space. Best of all, it is fully paid for and has been trouble free. It is ten years old and the only thing I've had to replace is tires (once). I can live with that.
I came across some marked down cookie dough, too, a while back. I knew that the chocolate chips and the peanut butter alone were worth more than the marked down price so I went ahead and bought six. It is so nice to have them in the freezer.
My neighbor gifted me with blackberries, huge sweet, juicy blackberries. I ate most of them just out of hand, but when I was down to the last cup or so I decided to bake a coffee cake with a blackberry streusel filling. I shared half with the neighbor.
This week he brought me more blackberries. They are hybrid berries that his Mom and Dad grow. This time I decided to make a sour cream blackberry pie. He brought me about three cups of berries which was just the right amount for an 8-inch pie. It is so nice to have generous neighbors.
Last fall a local market ran baking specials on white sugar and flour, at $1.00 a bag. I stocked up with 5 bags of each. I am so thankful that I did. It was a great price, a real loss leader even at that time and I continue to be grateful every time I bake a loaf of bread or make a pie.
With the weather being so hot I have been walking in the neighborhood very early, usually just as soon as it is light enough to feel safe. I have also been doing all my exercising at home rather than driving to the gym and saving up my errands to run them all together. It is efficient and saves gas at the same time.
That meal is very similar to one of our faves that we call “tuna rice”:
Steamed short grain rice
Can of tuna in oil mixed with a little mayo and soy sauce
Eaten in nori with homemade Kimchi
I had that same Gnome book as a child and young teen and spent hours poring over it and then drawing the adorable gnomes. I even remember creating tiny gnomes out of clay. They closely resemble Swedish tomtes (elves) which were often mentioned by my Swedish mother and her family. My great grandmother supposedly saw some in the woods in Sweden as a child. It took until I was about forty when my mother sprung the news on me that our Mormor had made the whole thing up!
1. I picked another small bowl of raspberries from the yard. They seem to be slowing down but we'll get another crop in the fall. I recently learned this is a type of Raspberry bush which puts out two crops a year, summer and fall.
2. I picked two more tomatoes for DH's salad.
3. I got paid again for working two days this weekend at the deli. I like this retirement gig of no set schedule, just getting asked to come in if someone calls in sick or is on vacation.
4. I found a penny in the deli parking lot for the found change jar.
5. I was not put to shame by a very wise and knowing Wolfe Blitzer.