Thrifty Thursday

Leftovers.

I know, when we had teenagers in the house, we didn't have a lot of leftovers. When we did have them, it was because whatever I made was just so bad that nobody wanted to eat it.

But now, we find ourselves with leftovers that we can't finish before they go bad. Even worse, when I make them into something new, the something new isn't getting finished before things go bad.  What to do? What to do? 

Enter my giant freezer. I have been making a roast of some type on Saturday night. Sunday finds me taking the leftovers and making them into other things, and then freezing these things into smaller portion sizes that will feed the two of us.  So, when I would have made a 9"x13" pan full of chicken and dumplings, I am now freezing two 8"x8" size pans.  That's enough for us to have dinner, plus leftovers for lunch for a couple of days.

The huge pot of chili?  (I honestly don't know how to make a small pot of chili.) I'm freezing leftovers in quart size containers that we can take out and easily reheat for dinner on a busy night.

But what about the odds and ends of meat? Meat is getting too expensive and needs to be saved up when you have it. I've been taking those weird odds and ends of meat and then tossing the meat into a food saver bag before I suck all the air out of it and toss it in the freezer. I'm not positive what I'm going to end up doing with that meat, but I do know that I just bought myself some time to figure it out.  Pot of soup? Stir Fry?  I will figure that out on the day when I pull it out of the freezer and need to make something with it. 

Believe it or not, this has actually made a huge dent in our bottom line.

Fruit.

I've gotten absolutely obsessive about fruit lately.  I'm making a point of pulling out what I know we can eat and then freezing the rest. I'll have a lot of frozen fruit for my yogurt, muffins, and oatmeal this fall and winter. 

Veggies.

I've been freezing and dehydrating extra veggies as they come in. I'm putting the dehydrated veggies aside for soups this winter.  My goal is to eventually mix them all into the portions I'll use for soup. But for now, I'm saving the veggies in separate bags until I have enough to put together a bag for one pot of soup.

So, what kinds of things are you doing with your leftovers? How are you stretching out your food budget?

Thrifty Thursday

 Maintain your car. 

When I was growing up, I remember hanging out with my Dad over the hood of the car. Most Saturdays would find him tinkering with the engine in some form or another and me watching eagerly, waiting to see what new wonder I was going to see. (You would honestly think I would have become a car mechanic instead of a librarian...)   

I also remember one time when Dad rebuilt the carburetor and had pieces leftover when he was finished. That car broke down on his way home when we were in Virginia. If I remember correctly, that was well over $200. I mention this because if he’d taken it to the mechanic instead of attempting to fix it himself, it would have cost less than $50. I remember this because Mom kept mentioning it when they were arguing. 

I mention all of this because it’s actually really funny that when I was in my teens my dad kept telling me (nagging me) about how a car needs to be maintained and why. 

If a car is not fully maintained, it will be more likely to break down. Breakdowns lead to costly repairs. Repairs that could have been avoided if you had paid a measly $40 for a new part two months ago instead of the $400 now.  (Like that time we broke down on a highway in Texas hours after he had worked on the engine, and he had to walk 2 hours to get to a gas station to find a tow truck to come and pick us up. Funny now, kind of funny then.) That repair ended up costing over $700 in 1970’s money, and 2 extra days of his leave while the car was fixed before we could head home. 

Tires. Your properly inflated and rotated tires ensure not only a longer life for your tires, but they also increase gas mileage. Not sure what pressure your tires should be inflated? On most cars, there is a tag with that information around the frame of the driver’s side door. In some cars, it is just inside the door frame, below where the latch is located. On others, it is on the door frame on the floor. Your foot crosses over that tag every time you get into the car.  

As an adult, I have always maintained my car on a schedule. Oil changes, tire rotations, belts, etc.

I have an excellent relationship with my mechanic. One that involves him not talking down to me or telling me why I'm wrong or what I don't know. I tell him when something isn't quite right with my car and he will find out what's going on. I am well aware that my mechanic is a gem. I found him after trying 3 other places that did not meet my standards. (Talk to ME. Don't try to sell me things I don't need. Don't ask me when my husband will be in.)

I bought my first car in 1989. It was a Honda Civic. We have owned 3 Honda Civics in total since that time. You could lay that on the engineering of the Honda Motor Corporation, but our second cars have always been used. We've bought 3 second cars since 1990. Kia, Honda, and Mercury. We tend to drive our cars as long as we can because new cars are expensive and maintenance is cheap in comparison to the cost of a new car.

Seriously, this is the one area that makes a big difference in your bottom line. Maintain you car.

Thrifty Thursday

If you work outside of the house, what do you find yourself doing for lunch every day? It's all too easy to stop somewhere fast, drive through a handy window somewhere, or stop in the cafeteria to pick up something fast so you can get back to work quickly. 

I admit - I close 2 nights a week at work, and the temptation to run across the street to one of the many restaurants is strong. Besides the usual fast food places, we have Indian, Ethiopian, and Japanese restaurants. I had never tried Ethiopian Food before that restaurant opened. It was love at first bite. But with a dinner from one of those restaurants running over $20 for just me, eating out has become a once a month treat.

As a result, I have begun prepping my lunches for the week on Sundays. 

This past week, I roasted 3 pounds of russet potatoes and a great big onion. I portioned them out into 5 containers.

But then, what do I put on those potatoes?

We had taco salad Saturday night. When I made the protein mixture, I stretched it out with 2 cans of black beans and corn, along with a can of diced tomatoes. I then took the extra protein mix and added a heaping quarter cup to the potatoes.

Now, because it's just the 2 of us at home, we had extra taco meat left over. I put it into a freezer bag and labeled it so that we could use it later.  I pulled it out last night for a quick dinner. I made a fusion stir fry.  We sliced up a head of broccoli, and stir fried that. We added that to cooked Ramen Noodles and the leftover taco meat.  I then added my sauce that I first started making back in college.  I don't think it's authentic anything, but it always adds a nice punch to whatever I make. 

3 pounds of russets, 1 pound of ground beef, 2 cans of corn, 2 cans of black beans, 1 bag of salad, 1 big onion, 1 head of broccoli, 1 package of gluten free ramen noodles, and 1 bag of corn chips.   The salsa I used? I canned that last summer at the height of tomato season.

That served me 5 lunches, husband took the leftover stir fry for lunch today, and the 2 meals for the two of us for a total of 10 servings.  

My favorite Stir Fry Sauce:

3 TBSP Soy Sauce

2 tsp corn starch

2 TBSP Dry Sherry

 1 tsp ginger

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Mix the ingredients together, set aside.  Pour over ingredients in skillet at the end. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Like I said, I don't think it's authentic anything. Maybe authentic 80's college student?

 

Thrifty Thursday

 How do you dry your clothes?  In the dryer? On the line?  According to The Spruce, it costs $0.45 per load.  (https://www.thespruce.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-an-electric-dryer-1387954)  That might not seem like much, but it adds up fast.

We do 5 loads of laundry a week.  If we dried all 5 loads in the dryer, that would cost us $2.25/week, which ends up taking the cost out to  $117/year.  "No big deal" you say.  That's a minimal expense.

That Spruce's estimates are based upon a 12 cents per killowat hour. In Maryland, looking at the rates for BGE, they charge a flat 11 cents an hour or if you have a time of use meter it is 7 cents for off peak hours and 36 cents for on peak hours. It's still not outrageous.

But, in a world where we are facing rising energy costs, how stable are those numbers? My guess is that the cost for energy is going to continue to rise over the next year. And I'm all about saving a few dollars here and there.  $117 may not seem like a lot, but that is two tanks of gas for our Civic, or a decent amount of groceries.  

We have a time of use meter, and we have been consolidating our dryer usage for as long as I can remember. We do laundry on the weekend, when the rates are low. We don't live in an HOA neighborhood, so we are able to hang our laundry outside when the weather is nice.  

When the weather is not nice, or when we lived in an HOA neighborhood, we hung all of our shirts on hangars to dry, and placed on the top of the door frames around the house to dry.  There is always some stuff that goes on a drying rack in the bathtub.  But, we try to run all of the jeans at once, and all of the towels at once. Sheets and pillow cases get their own special turn in the dryer.

We're not saving huge amonts of money, but small amounts here and there. And those small amounts of money begin to add up over time!