Frugal Friday

This has been a stellar week.  I discovered a Pennsylvania Dutch Farmer's Market down the road from where I work.  The prices were phenomenal, but my BIG FIND of the day was the bulk foods store within the market.  Next time I go back, I'll be better prepared with a list of the spices I need.

Pennsylvania Dutch Farmer's Market:   $7

3 cloves of garlic, 3 red beets, a huge box of ginger, a bag of spinach, and a bag of sweet peppers.
I refilled our ginger jar with this box.  It was a perfect fit!

Cook Once, Eat Twice

This is a nifty little strategy where you cook one big meal or roast one night, and then use those ingredients to make meals on other nights.

This past week, we roasted a chicken and made a big pot of vegetable soup.

From this combination we made:

1) Chicken Pot Pie with left over chicken and the rest of the vegetable soup.

2) Spinach chicken salad with leftover chicken and the spinach from the Pennsylvania Dutch Market.

3) Chicken Broth with the bones of the carcass.  Several hours in the soup pot later, and I had a batch of chicken broth that I turned into broth cubes to use later in recipes.


Laundry

Now that the weather is cooler, it's taking longer for the laundry to dry on the line outside.  Regardless, I'm still drying clothes outside.  I put the wash through at night, after the rates drop, just before I go to bed.  This week, I've been running the laundry outside in the dark.  I have the clothes on hangars, and I've been taking them out and hanging them up by flashlight.  It takes me a good 10 minutes to do, but that spot gets some fantastic morning sun.  Since it's fall and the sun has shifted, it's not getting that afternoon sun that REALLY gets the clothes dry fast.


Snacks

Hands down, one of my favorite snacks is Cranberry Walnut Power Balls.  I found the original recipe here on Common Sense Homesteading.  I've modified it a little bit for my own taste.  I don't like walnuts, so I use chopped pecans instead.  Another problem is that I can never find mini chocolate chips.  So, I use the soy free, dairy free chocolate chips so that the girl can eat some, too.  You know I use gluten free oats in the recipe.




Spice Mixes

We are out of taco seasoning mix.  Rather than buy one of those expensive little envelopes that have some questionable ingredients, I make my own.  I follow this recipe that I found here on All Recipes.  I use an old spice bottle to hold the spices in.  A full bottle usually keeps us in spices for 6 months.


Salad Dressing

I'm thick into the middle of a diet, and that means lots and lots of salads.  Unfortunately, I love salad dressings.  They are expensive and full of additives that I really don't need.  I found a great recipe on All Recipes for Italian Dressing.  I really like this recipe, as I mix up a large quantity of dried herbs and store them in my cabinet until I'm ready to use them.  When I need some dressing, I mix a couple of teaspoons of the spice mix into vinegar, olive oil, and water and shake it well before serving.  (I especially like the fact that I can keep the sugar in, use a sugar substitute, or use absolutely no sugar at all - it's MY choice!)

Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I am into my "acquire turkeys" mode.  Our grocery stores run a promotion that allows you to get a turkey for free if you've accumulated a certain amount of grocery points.  We're working towards our first free turkey.  I like to see if I can track down at least 3 turkeys to cook with over the course of the year.  Good thing we have a big freezer!