Getting Creative with Almost-Expired Food

Using what you have in your pantry is important when food prices have risen so much. Creating meals from your pantry can reduce your weekly food budget or allow you to skip a shopping trip or two. It also prevents food waste. Sometimes you are faced with just a few strange items to use up before they expire or go bad. This is where you have to get creative. I’ll offer you some tips, as well as links to a couple of recipes that will help you create real meals from a collection of end-date food. This post is part … Continue reading →

Meals to Make from Bread

Stretch out your food budget by not letting anything go to waste. When you are faced with dinner time and there is “nothing” to prepare, take a look into your pantry. There are so many things you can make with what may be available. Today let’s take a look at bread. You can usually find bread in most people’s kitchens, and it is great for turning into meals and side dishes. This post is part of the Ideas for Cooking from Your Stockpile series. Main Meals: Try these ideas to make bread, fresh or stale, into a main meal. The … Continue reading →

Ideas for Cooking from Your Stockpile

With food prices continuing to rise, stockpile cooking is a great way to stretch out that food budget and minimize food and money waste. Whenever money is tight, you should always start with what you already have. Having a robust pantry allows you to make many different meals, but what if you find your pantry slimming down? With less bargains available, I have been seeing some shrinkage in my pantry. That is why it is so important to get creative and use up what you have. Now, when I mention cooking from your stockpile, I really mean your pantry, your … Continue reading →

Five Reasons to Stockpile Food

Among frugal living people, there is sometimes the debate about stockpiling food. Critics of stockpiling food point out that the money used on stockpiled food could be put in a bank to earn interest instead of invested in food that might go stale or bad. They may say that with a general income that keeps pace with inflation, there is no sense in stockpiling. Or they say that the stockpile takes up too much room in the home, costing you livable space. All those reasons may be valid, but I still have to say that I am pro stockpiling. Recent … Continue reading →

The Ethics of Samples

Free samples can be wonderful. Trying out a product can save you from costly mistakes in buying it, if you find that you don’t like it. You can be adventurous and try out something new that you might not otherwise have experienced. For some, the super sample people, it is an opportunity to reduce your budget by taking advantage of getting things for free. I know one lady who never buys perfume, because she is stocked with samples from the fragrance counter. And the samples may even come in handy when you your supplies are running low. For example, let’s … Continue reading →

Postal Increase: Stock Up on Stamps

Sending snail mail is one of the most frugal things you can do, because you really get a lot of service for a little stamp. Imagine, you can send a letter anywhere within the United States for only 41 cents. You can’t even buy a candy bar for that amount without some serious couponing. And, it doesn’t take that much more to send a letter overseas. But, as you may or may not know, the postage rates are going up here in America, starting on May 12th. The first class stamp will rise from 41 cents to 42 cents. Media … Continue reading →

Three Ways an Organized Pantry Saves Money

One of the great pitfalls of frugal grocery shopping and stockpiling can be an unorganized pantry. Unfortunately, a pantry that suffers from disorganization can wind up costing your money instead of saving it. Here are three ways why it pays to take the time to organize your food. The biggest cost to your food budget can be food that expires or goes stale before you can use it. When this is the case, it doesn’t matter that you only spent 50 cents on a jar of pasta sauce if you never use it. One recent study suggests that Americans throw … Continue reading →

My Bakery Stockpile

This past weekend, I made a visit to our friendly neighborhood bakery thrift store. You may have read some of my earlier blogs all about this wonderful store. It is a place where I can get breads and other Pepperidge Farm goods for deep discounts. I like to keep baked goods and the ingredients to make baked goods well on hand. This means that I am always seeking ways to add to my stockpile. I do this through that bakery thrift store, but also through buying baking ingredients in bulk and with sales and coupons. Sometimes, I can even stock … Continue reading →

Stockpiling Pizza

Pizza is such a great family food. Everyone seems to love it, and it is great to have on hand for parties. But, buying pizza out can get pretty expensive, so I usually make it myself. For about $2, sometimes less, I can make two large pizzas. There are sometimes, though, that it is really helpful to have stockpiled pizza on hand. Birthday parties, are a good example of when having lots of pizza that can be made quickly is convenient. And there are those weekends, when we are rushing out to one activity or another, leaving little time to … Continue reading →

Meal Planning, Saving Food and Cluttered Pantries (2)

After spending all that time cleaning out my cluttered pantry yesterday, I was absolutely amazed by what I found. More than enough meals to cover several weeks without more than a $10 grocery bill to boot! Since I had so many items I had forgotten about, and found a need to incorporate them into meals in the upcoming weeks, I set out to create a good meal plan. Here are a few tips to help you after you clean out your pantry: Canned Veggies go great in casseroles, soups, add them to some noodles to create a pasta dish. Canned … Continue reading →