Substitutions suggestions frugal tips

[ladytoysdream]

Was wondering what things you may have run out of, and had to sub in to make do ?

Today I was making some muffins and did not have a cheap sandwich baggie to grease the pan. So I used a coffee filter.

The other day I ran out of paper towels, and noticed hubby was not complaining. When he needed a paper towel to drain some fried food, he grabbed a brown paper lunch bag instead. Which is totally fine with me, as normally, he can go through quite a few paper towels.

Recently he was complaining about hand towels. Not my fault, he keeps taking them outside for grease rags. So today I see that he is using my suggestion to use a washcloth to dry his hands instead. Makes it easier on the laundry too. Less big towels to wash and dry.

[Momto2Boyz]

Hmmm...looking at your list, I don't have much to substitute in that category!

To grease my muffin tins/pans, etc., I simply use my clean hands. I just pour a bit of oil in and swipe it around with my hands.

As far as draining greasy foods, we just put them in our metal mesh strainer.

And as far as hand washing, we always have dish towels at the kitchen sink or washclothes in the bathroom.

As far as rags go, I cut up old ruined T-shirts for cleaning and Dh uses them out in the garage as shop towels.

We use cloth napkins, so I don't ever have napkins or paper towels.

I think there are still alot of things that we can simply do without rather than subsituting other things! But we learn as we go!

[zakity]

We went completely paperless except for cheap napkins that are for kitty puke messes or for taking on picnics.

We also cut up old towels and clothes for rags and shop rags. Actually, depending on what it is depends on if it is a rag or a shop rag. Undies are always shop rags first. It bugs me to clean with them for some reason.

We use our hands to grease pans too.

We use the metal strainer also. And, for bacon, we use the bottom of the grilling pan (that came with the oven) and the cake/cookie cooling rack. It works great!

I also put a small pan under the metal strainer and save the grease. Depending on what the grease is depends on what we use it for. The sausage grease is saved for biscuits and gravy and the bacon grease is saved for gravy and for seasoning my cast iron. I put the grease in old yogurt containers labeled "grease" and we toss them in the freezer. We only use those containers for grease because I swear you can never get the grease back out of it.

[MomToTwoBoys]

I use up the aluminum cans that I had soup in before when I drain things like hamburger. I put the can beneath the strainer and drain it, then move the can to another spot and let the grease harden. I then toss the entire thing, can and all. I could just scoop out the grease and throw that away, rewash the can and then recycle it... which I think I'll do for now on.

I found that when I run out of smaller trash can bags, I reuse the bags that the paper towels and toilet paper come in.

I stopped using grocery bags for DH's lunch and went right to a lunch bag.

If I run out of something, I either find ways around it or wait until I can get more later on.

[Must-Stash]

With only a few exceptions, I've replaced the oil called for in my baking recepies with the same quantity of unsweetened applesauce. It does make the end product lighter but saves a lot of fat calories as well as money.

If I'm baking and am low on eggs, I'll substitute a tbsp of soy flour per egg. So far, no one's noticed.