Frugal tips - Kitchen

[peanut]

I'm taking these room by room. What do you do in the kitchen that saves you money? Here's a list of some of the things we do and have.

- handwash dishes with sink half full of water.
- buy dish detergent in bulk for a discount and use a pump dispenser.
- recycle gallon ice-cream buckets as cleaning buckets.
- make my own abrasive cleanser out of 1:1 borax and baking soda.
- use old dishcloths as cleaning rags.
- use vinegar as a final rinse to shine my linoleum.
- have a hand hooked rug in front of the kitchen sink from recycled materials.
- have homemade curtains hanging from a rod...the fabric was on sale at a discount store.
- have a cheap stove without the cleaning feature. Saved us hundreds on buying the stove. Dh cleans the stove once a year or so...whenever I get after him...I place a large cookie sheet under any food I think might overflow.
- place a cookie sheet over food that is supposed to be covered by tin foil or a lid in the oven. Don't need to buy more lidded casseroles that way.
- microwave was secondhand from dmom.
- made a shelf from old fence boards to grow plants on.
- a pie plate to hold the heels of bread to make bread crumbs.
- recycle containers to hold dry food goods.
- recycle plastic containers to store food.
- mix and match cutlery, glassware and dishes. Corelle.
- compact flourescent light over the sink.
- make my own spice mixes.
- make my own cream soup mix.
- bulk buy food.
- find herbs in summer to dry or freeze for winter use.
- process and freeze/can fruit and veggies.
- make my own pickles.
- make pancakes and waffles in big batch and freeze for use throughout the week.
- everything labelled with the date it was opened so I can figure out how long it takes us to go through things. Then I'll make up my one month requirements and start a serious stockpile.
- doubling and tripling batches of food so I have some for the freezer.
- using YAK long distance on the phone to cut phone bills.
- taking bundles off the phone.
- cookbooks include a hm one in 3 ring binder format. Includes recipes out of library books and off the internet. In fact, I have a separate binder for internet recipes to try.
- any recent cookbooks I have are courtesy of my dsis#2. She's into healthy cooking and sends me good books.
- save vegetable water in freezer to make soups.
- simmer meats to get fat off. Strain and package meat in 1 lb. amounts. Take the strained broth and put in fridge for fat to harden. Lift off the fat and move the bucket to the freezer for soup making later.
- make my own margarine 50% olive oil and 50% butter. I'm allergic to soy, so can't have the diet margarines on the market.
- make my own mayonnaise and salad dressings, and mustard sauce.
- filter our own water with a Brita water filter.
- buy stemware at garage sales.
- save plastic bags in old kleenex boxes. I use the plastic bags for freezing food.
- bought stockpot on sale...66% off.
- store lamp oil for kerosene lamps for winter use.
- crockpot for cheap meals.
- homemade granola for dh to mix with storebought cereals. More filling and cheaper.
- no name food for the most part.
- an old (and I mean old) 18" long loaf pan holding pot lids.
- some cast iron pots bought at garage sales.
- most of my cookware given to me.
- sewed my own potholders from old blue jeans.
- bulk oil transferred to smaller squeeze bottles (recycled ketchup bottles) for use.
- piece of recycled flannel to act as a polishing cloth for wood furniture.
- wash baggies and bags.
- use water to saute vegetables and meat.
- use meat rubs (spices), instead of BBQ sauce to grill meat.
- only put 1/2" of water in the pot to boil vegetables.
- match pot size to burner size.
- make sure the oven is full when I bake.
- try to make more crockpot and microwave meals. Barring that, I try to do one pot meals.

[ironmaiden]

Wow!!!

p.s. I love your mortgage balance!!!

[alabamagirl]

Great tips!

hmmmm.....

I try to cook more than one item at a time in the oven.

In cold weather I leave the oven door open to help heat the room.

When I travel overnight for work I bring home the plastic shower caps to put over casseroles instead of tin foil. (DH and DSs laugh at that one.) I also bring home the coffee sample packs and sugar packs they leave out.

Try to always have a pictcher of iced tea on the counter to cut down on soda consumption.

[staceyy]

I use the quick cleanup cycle on my dishwasher to save electricity and water. I wash and re-use plastic bags, aluminum foil, plastic utensils and diposable plastic coated plates. I freeze my Brillo pads so they do not rust. I re-use paper towels twice. I cook from scratch. I live in hotels for my job and I save the coffee , tea, popcorn and soap. I bought a cappuccino maker, blender, coffepot and mixer using my hotel points. I use my crockpot to cook less costly cuts of meats and other dishes such as bread pudding.