Five Frugal Things -- My Freezers Are Out of Control!
1) We still had miscellaneous leftover toppings from last week's Family Dinner night, so I mixed up another batch of pizza dough for last night's dinner.
I wasn't patient enough to let the oven fully heat up to 450 degrees, (nor did I want to waste that much natural gas) so our crusts weren't as pretty as they could've been. No worries though, as they were still tasty and we have enough leftovers for tonight's dinner.
The toppings were especially enjoyable as I was able to use up shredded mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, the last scrapings of carmelized onions and spinach from the freezer. Did you know that bagged spinach can be chucked right into the freezer? Perfect for pizza toppings or mixed into other hot dishes like egg dishes or lasagna. It's a great anti-food waste hack.
Why is it so satisfying to use that very last bit of something? Such a dopamine hit!
Pizza really is the perfect meal to enjoy while watching TV. My husband and I are on the third season of Silo and we are 110% hooked!
2) I doubled the dough recipe and par baked two backup crusts for our next pizza night. (Also chucked into the freezer.) A favor to future Katy.
3) I took a page of New Seasons Market coupons and passed them along to a neighbor. They'd been hanging on the side of our fridge, but I had an "ah ha" moment that even with coupons, this store is still expensive. Also, the store is anti-union and I prefer to spend my dollars at employee owned Winco Foods.
My neighbors do most of their shopping at New Seasons, so at least someone will get some use out of these coupons.
4) Kristen from The Frugal Girl sent me a text nudging me to join in on her Freezer Challenge, which prompted me to send her photos of both my upstairs freezer:
And my basement freezer:
Rude! How (how?!) did she know that my freezers are crammed full of mystery and freezer burn? Rude.
Seriously though, my freezers are officially out of control and some external motivation might be exactly what what the nurse ordered.
In my defense the basement freezer does have some water filled jugs at the bottom, leftover from when the freezer was pretty empty and I wanted to minimize the electric bill.
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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1. I also get a dopamine hit when I use something up. I made a large pot of minestrone soup which I'll share with family. It used up the rest of a bag of carrots and the remainders of a frozen bag of green beans.
2. I stopped over to my mom's house to help her trim a bush. She'll come help me with a couple projects that require two hands.
3. I sold one daughter's Tamagotchi and another's American girl doll and clothing. I get rid of clutter and the kids get some much appreciated cash.
1. DH wanted to check out the Aldi that is in bikeable distance, so we did that. It is conveniently next to a Goodwill, and DS#2, who has lost a lot of weight, found some new sweatpants and two good sweatshirts he liked. He got an Old Navy sweater and a Nautica sweatshirt, both in very good condition.
2. I also found a delightful Lands End fleece full-zip sweatshirt--these go for about $45 dollars, and all the fleece and sweatshirts were under $6! DH found a pair of sweatpants as well, and all told we got five items for $30. Not bad at all.
3. The Aldi, it turns out, has lactose free ultrafiltered milk, which I prefer, and much cheaper than Fairlife at Kroger or Meijer. I didn't need milk today, but DH can stop there another time when I do need it.
4. When we got home I noticed that the sweatpants DS#2 had gotten had a rip along a seam at the knee--even for me that's an easy fix and it took me five minutes.
5. Our youngest came with us and was pleased to find a type of snack he enjoys, cheaper at Aldi, and for him that was a nice reward for being willing to bike 7 miles with us!
Meant to add that my fleece was from the men's section--I perused the women's section but all the clothes there were dreadful, either out of style or the wrong sizes and nothing that I'd want to wear. The men's section had better brands and everything looked great. DH made the rather morbid observation that women tend to live longer, so the clothes that families will donate after a death will be older styles, whereas men tend to not live as long, so the donated men's clothing are from younger people....I tend to think, too, that women shop at thrift stores more often for their clothing--at least I saw only women browsing in the clothing section--so their area gets picked over pretty quickly.
So my hot tip is if you can't find anything worth wearing in the women's section, hop over to the men's section and you might find something fairly unisex and nice!
Along those lines, I was skeptical when a friend told me she'd switched to buying some styles of men's shorts at the thrift store - she's in love with the huge pockets and nice length options - but guess what? She was right. If you can guesstimate your waist size you might try men's shorts...I bought a pair in linen and they're in the running for my fave pair this season. And it didn't hurt they were on clearance for a dollar!
Alas, I have the proverbial child-bearing hips and men's pants and shorts don't work for me. I need to add I have a great pair of men's hiking boots which I bought years ago...maybe 20 years...and are still going strong. They're a bit wider than women's boots and work well for me.
I volunteer at an upscale charity thrift shop and I concur with your suggestion. Last time I worked I saw young men perusing the outerwear women’s racks too. I often see women buying menswear.
Karen A., I've been shopping in the men's section of thrift stores for years. As the punch line of a long-ago joke went, "Trick or treat for Unisex" (instead of UNICEF)!
And regards to all your guys, not forgetting the Commodore.
Karen A.,
Two of my college gal pals discovered that men's clothing, such as shirts, jackets, shoes,and jeans, are much sturdier in construction than women's, and tend to last longer. At the time, they were also cheaper, although I'm not sure if that holds true today.
Also, I once attended a business meeting chaired by the organization's (female) state president. It was a dressy business affair. She had on a really nice tailored jacket over a tailored blouse and straight skirt. It looked very expensive. She was a short, very petite woman and someone asked where she got the nice outfit. She said the Oxford shirt and tailored jacket were from the boys's Dept. at a nice dept. store and she'd pair them with a straight skirt from the ladies' petite section. The stuff from the boys' Dept was less expensive and more of a classic look than the fads you encounter in women's clothing stores, she said. No one would've ever guessed she wasn't wearing women's clothing, however.
I read that if the waist of the pants, men's or woman's can go around you neck comfortable then that's your waist size. Comes in handy when looking for jeans
Jugs of frozen water in a chest freezer also help save your food if you have a prolonged power outage. After a tornado sideswiped our neighborhood 25 years ago and we had no power for five days, I put several big cat litter jugs full of water in the bottom of the freezer just for that reason. (Clean, washed out jugs, of course.)
LOL I have water-filled milk jugs in the bottom of my deep freeze from years ago! I have been working my freezer challenge for several months. Now if I can just keep from adding more!
I got a $5 black summer/fall linen dress (haggled down from $10!) off FB Marketplace. It’s a size up for me but I like the fit except, the cap sleeves were too gaping in the arm pit. I am not a seamstress but I do basic hand sewing and mending as needed. I thought, what do I have to lose: I’m in it $5; I like the fit; it’s solid black; I have the time and black thread. And it has pockets! I got out my sewing box, measured off how much to close under the arm on each cap sleeve (6 inches), and stitched along the seam. 15 minutes later I was satisfied. Cheap buy and fix all around.
On sale, has pockets, and it's a solid black dress?! Yes please!!
I also need to work on my freezers - I've been picking up loss leaders and marked down meat, and when I got home with 5 frozen pizzas the other day I had no room!
Last night's dinner was a random assortment. A breakfast casserole my 17 year old wanted, and then one of the pizzas for my husband and other kid. I made a fruit salad with random stuff that needed used. Half a nectarine, a plum, about a cupful of grapes, and a pear. All of it diced up and tossed together was pretty tasty!
Tonight's dinner is breakfast since I have lots of eggs, and my mom is visiting and wants pancakes. Tomorrow night will be chicken parm using up half a bag of breaded chicken tenders in the freezer and a partial jar of spaghetti sauce in the fridge.
I never have good luck when freezing pizza dough. Thankfully I just use a "one bowl, throw everything together and forget about it for 90 minutes" recipe.
1. I portioned and froze the double batch of chicken that I made the other day. I got 8 bags of 10oz portions which can be thrown into pot pie, stir fry, with gravy and mashed potatoes, etc. Future me will thank me.
2. I did some freezer organizing while putting away the chicken. I'm used to a tiny narrow freezer and using a chest freezer as my main freezer. Our apartment freezer is just a regular 'on top of the fridge' set up and I have to remind myself not to stock up too much. Now things are a little easier to see and less likely to be missed!
3. Since we skipped chicken pot pie last week, I already had pie crust in the freezer and it'll make dinner easy to throw together today. I think I will get back in the habit of making a double batch of pie crust through. It's so much easier than making it day of.
4. As part of my fridge clean out, I made a dairy free sour cream cinnamon coffee cake to use up some of our expiring eggs. It was my first time making (and I think even tasting) coffee cake. My husband, kids, and I all liked it! I'd say it's a keeper!
5. I have one last egg to use up and an eyeballing the zucchini hiding in the fridge drawer. I have shredded carrots in the freezer, thank you past me, and carrot zucchini muffins sound yummy.
Ahahaha: "freezers crammed full of mystery and freezer burn!!" That just says it all doesn't it. (*and* sounds very familiar - I'm working on a slow and steady 2-freezer clean out over here as well)
I walked to the post office today to mail an eBay package. It was my first sale in a while, since I was on "time away" the whole time I was sick.
I found two pennies!
I was given three pounds of hot dogs, all frozen together! I partially thawed them so I could separate them and refroze them in packages of two. Lots of hot dogs, I know, but I couldn't pass them up.
I have learned that my hiatal hernia is contributing to acid reflux (which I don't even feel) and that has been generating really annoying phlegm in my throat. The solution is sitting upright for at least an hour after eating. Also drinking water a lot -- but not with meals. And not going to bed until three hours after my last meal. It's been quite a relief. I thought it was allergies -- not so! There is also medication, but I'm trying these simple solutions first. The financial tie-in -- I'm eating less.
I have surpassed 200 days on Duolingo. I'm learning French, not for any reason except mental stimulation. And fun. Only the free version, of course.
1. I found a dime in the Dollar Store parking lot.
2. I made a boiled dinner in my cast iron Dutch oven. I heard of a tip for extending a food budget by using more cabbage. It's filling and cheap. So I included it.
3. Any tips on getting rust off the cast iron? I've only used the Dutch oven for making no knead bread before. It was covered with a layer of rust after the boiled dinner. So quickly too.
4. I joined the local gym for $1 to be followed by a $10 monthly fee and a once a year $49 fee. I resisted joining a gym because I love to hike outdoors but after last winter here in New England and being shut in the house due to repeated snowstorms and extreme cold I have trouble thinking of having to deal with it again. Hopefully this coming winter won't be as bad but I can get moving if it is.
5. My former boss asked me to work again tomorrow at the deli. Yes please. We deposited our checks from working at the primaries earlier in the month. We're saving for an out of state wedding and a vacation we decided to take in the same state after the wedding.
The rust is likely very superficial and the boiling eater probably removed its protective grease layer. I have four cast iron pans and regularly just wipe then down with fat after use.
Don't use soap on them just cheap salt and a bit of water--then a light fat wipe down.
If your cast iron Dutch oven well seasoned? If it rusts easily, it sounds like it’s not. Lots of online advice for seasoning cast iron. First scour rust off, vinegar can help, wash with soap, then immediately rub down with very light coat of oil (I use Cisco for seasoning) and hest in oven at 350. Take out periodically to rub out excess oil. Repeat process. Cast iron must be seasoned and to keep rust at bay. Though rust is its enemy, it can be restored.
I endorse what Mary says about seasoning cast iron. And although I donated my 7-qt. cast iron Dutch oven a while back (since it was getting to be too heavy for me to lift empty, let alone full), I maintain my prized collection of frying pans by periodically frying bacon and making "no @#$!! sugar in the cornbread" in them. The bacon "keeps them skillets good and greasy," and the cornbread scours them out. (Yes, my Southern roots are showing here. 😉 )
And I've been dragging my feet about joining a local gym, since I loathe any form of exercise that reminds me of high school gym class--but I need to do this, for the reasons Christine mentions. I missed too many walking days last winter because of snow and ice.
Ugh - exercise for the sake of exercise is just not my thing. So much better to get a workout by weeding, planting, harvesting, hauling supplies or even cleaning/de-cluttering/organizing the house.
Thank you so much everyone for the advice. I have seasoned my Dutch oven in the past but it hasn't been done lately so that may be why the rust showed up. I will do it again and continue it periodically. I got a little lazy about it. It sounds like grease is its best friend! Lol.
After you use the cast iron and wash it. Place it on a low/warm stove burner to dry. Or if you've recently used the oven, place it inside to dry. I store my cast inside the oven because our house is so small 🙂
I've been following The Frugal Girl's freezer clean-out, and I am SO with you! I only have 3 fridge-freezers (no deep freezer) and the one in our basement we tape shut with duct tape. But with the inflation, I can't seem to walk away from when I find a deal!
1. I canned 2 quarts and a pint of tomato sauce today. I'm hoping that the last jar will seal. Normally, I would just freeze it, but.... see above.
2. 1 canned eight 1/2 pints of strawberry-balsamic jam, which I hope will thicken as it cools. 4 will go into my Christmas gift box and 4 are going to colleagues as I ran out of jars that I can can, but fine in the refrigerator. I used 2 bags of strawberries from the freezer.
3. We were out of Worcestershire sauce, but it was on sale at BJ's, and then it was 2300 points at Fetch.
4. The big pan of mac & cheese that I made for my partner's brother & kids used 3 blocks of cheese and all of the homemade breadcrumbs from the freezer, so 4 things cleaned out!
5. I did got to Costco to buy 3 bags of pumpkin seeds, as it was the last day of the sale, (saved $12) and the line for the checkout went the entire length of the store and back again! Luckily, the self-checkout had no line (which I don't think most people realized) so I was able to get out quickly.
Your freezer burn mention reminded me of a long ago story. When my husband and I married at the very young age of twenty we purchased an old dilapidated farmhouse across the field from his parents. We were very thrifty but could not afford a freezer at that time. In town there were freezer lockers that you could rent. After a couple years the owners decided to shut down operations and everyone had to retrieve their food. Of course there was old, badly freezer burned food at the back of the locker. When I got it home I threw that stuff out. A little while later I heard a noise outside. It was my father-in-law digging the old food out of my garbage can because ‘I was throwing out good food.’ Needless to say I was very mortified but chalked it all up to some Great Depression ptsd that he probably had. Funnily enough, my SIL told me something similar had happened to - he retrieved some stuff from her garbage can at one point also!
Katy, I hope you'll join Kristen in the freezer challenge. A pantry challenge and a fridge challenge would be fun, too!
1. Free entertainment via the new Vizio TV: I found episodes of Dark Shadows on one of the free streaming things! It was so old an episode that it was in black and white, and Willie Loomis was just on the verge of finding Barnabas's coffin. Will enjoy seeing the old scary soap opera once again!
2. Enjoyed the free lunch at the church, then went to work Sunday and they had free soda pop and chips for us to snack on, courtesy of the weekend manager.She offered me some extra chips and cookies which I took home.
3. (Not sure if I posted this before or not; apologies if this a rerun. I know I wrote it but I think that was the day the computer crashed:) A charity keeps sending me stuff I don't need, so I took their free Christmas cards and donated them to a thrift shop which sells greeting cards. [Now, if I only knew how to recycle the tons of address labels I keep getting from dozens of charities!]
4. Found out the protest group has a guy who paints protest signs in his garage. The group stands on a highway overpass every Sunday, holding up signs and banners so that motorists can see their (anti-Trump, pro-environmentalism) messages. Will contact him to see if he wants the box my TV came in, the big cardboard sheet that was used as packaging, and other big pieces of cardboard that can be used as signs. Reuse before recycling again!
5. Did not kick out CNN, MS NOW and Politico from attending press conferences just because they reported the unflattering truth about me. But there is a glimmer of hope: even Fox News is joining in on the push back and refusing to participate in the Orange Ogre's press conferences! [Fox is turning against him! Never thought I'd live to see that happen!]
Not being able to recycle address labels from charities is a huge bummer. To stop them from coming, contact each charity via their website or phone and ask to be removed from their mailing list. I've found this to be the most effective way to combat postal waste. Taking the time upfront saves time and resources later. I am ruthless when it comes to junk mail and it pays off in the end. If there is a charity that you do want to hear from, ask them to contact you by email only.
I do this, but I also like catalogchoice dot com, a free service that can contact charities for you. Not all charities are listed, but most of the common ones are.
It does take a while to slow down, but eventually it stops the deluge of junk mail and often crappy “gifts”. Good luck!
1) Used my newly acquired national park pass to get in to Zion yesterday, and didn't know that you also get a free guest (DH), so by today, the pass will have paid for itself. We are heading to Bryce Canyon.
2) Packed a lunch for hiking, ate breakfast in the car, and came back to the condo when the weather shifted & looked dicey. Made dinner at the condo & shared wine.
3) Spent $0 at the visitor's center, even though I thought about purchasing something.
4)Received $37 in a privacy settlement of some sort.
5) Wrote the thank you note (brought from home) & added the gift cards I bought as a thank you for my friend, for letting us stay at her condo.
* Actually using the Netflix (with adds) subscription to watch King of Queens on my own, and The Mentalist with my teenager. We barely use it otherwise (if it was just me, it would get cancelled).
* Also working on using up the food in the freezers and pantry.
* Taking an extra shift this week (maybe 2, will see)
* Loading my Kindle with free books, and using my free Kindle Unlimited trial (will cancel once it's over)
* Got 6 bottles of Maui hair conditioner on sale for 2$ each (reg: 14.99 each)
1. I made zuchinni bread with a gifted zuch. Yummy.
2. Everyone loved last night’s cheap casserole.
3. Got 70 cents off a gallon with grocery points! $58 to fill my tank as opposed to $78 last time.
4. Bought Timothy hay off of market place for my guinea pig for less than half of retail.
5. Listed a bunch of costumes on market place hoping to sell them for Halloween.
I am having a "work with what you got" day around the house. Used some cotton flannel fabric from the thrift store and a bag of on-sale store brand white rice to make a hot pad for my aching back. Also took six used color catcher sheets and stitched them together to make a large dusting cloth. Both these projects used up the last few feet of thread on some old spools.
Lately in the afternoons I like to have a cup of decaff coffee. A box of 10 Eight O'clock brand K cups is $10, so I bought a 12 ounce bag of the same brand of coffee on sale for $6.49 and made up some reusable K cups. Also tidied up the fridge freezer to make space for storing the decaff coffee and the bag of regular coffee.
Had one of the homemade freezer meals for lunch today, served on a lovely Lenox salad/pasta bowl that was 35 cents at Goodwill.
I'm excited to see what you come up with based on your freezer contents! 🙂
I am having a "work with what you got" day around the house. Used some cotton flannel fabric from the thrift store and a bag of on-sale store brand white rice to make a hot pad for my aching back. Also took six used color catcher sheets and stitched them together to make a large dusting cloth. Both these projects used up the last few feet of thread on some old spools.
Lately in the afternoons I like to have a cup of decaff coffee. A box of 10 Eight O'clock brand K cups is $10, so I bought a 12 ounce bag of the same brand of coffee on sale for $6.49 and made up some reusable K cups. Also tidied up the fridge freezer to make space for storing the decaff coffee and the bag of regular coffee.
Had one of the homemade freezer meals for lunch today, served on a lovely Lenox salad/pasta bowl that was 35 cents at Goodwill.
I just finished the audiobook called Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. This is an excellent book & the narrator is great. I am old so I’m familiar with a lot of phrases etc but I cannot recommend this book enough. It brought me to tears in places & it is very moving.
Chari, I read that book and second your recommendation!
Week no. 2 of Kristen's freezer challenge.
Out: 2 chicken carcasses, last years roasted red peppers added to lentil dinner, walnuts turned into spiced nuts, bacon ends and pieces rewrapped for easy use.
Bananas turned into morning muffins, frozen eggs turned into veggie frittata.
Made sour dough bread.
Planted the hydrangea starts into gallon pots. Planted the dappled willow starts into 3 gallon pots.
You startled me with the hydrangea and dappled willow starts - I didn't think they needed freezing first, LOL. Actually, you have reminded me that I have hydrangea starts that I should plan to plant on - not for another couple of weeks, though, we haven't had that decent fall rain that tells the perennials that it is safe to be transplanted...
We are on a "get on with it" by doing a bunch of home maintenance stuff ourselves.
1. Hubby showed me how to change the furnace filter which is harder than it should be. I might be able to do it if I had to but at least I now know what needs to be done.
2. I climbed on the kitchen counter and cleaned the difficult to reach mini-blind over the kitchen sink. Washed the window and, since we don't open it, took off the screen and stored it. Nicer view now.
3. I washed the front porch. Hubby prepped the wooden threshold for painting, primed it and put on two coats of paint. He also touched up some spots in the porch paint.
4. Walked to the library to return books and get exercise while using no gasoline.
5. Accepted a fleece dog coat from a friend. I will have to alter it slightly to fit our dog but he will be happy on cold days with no rain to have the warmth.
Juhli, glad you're safe after climbing on the kitchen counter. A friend of mine STOOD on top of her counter to clean and fell backward, hitting the kitchen island on her way down to the floor. I still wince whenever I think about it. She was pretty banged up and has a permanent hematoma on her bum.
I have never frozen rice before.....interesting