High gear

I'm going to have to shift into high gear on being frugal. Our money flow is reducing, so we need to make our money count.

I'm lucky to live about 2 miles from Bob's Red Mill, a wonderful source of whole grains and lots of other useful stuff. I got 8 ou of active yeast for $3.19, Fleishmann's 4 oz at the grocery store was $7.99. They have packaged flours of all kinds, beans, rice, and everything is also available in bulk. I did check and bulk is only cheaper if you only need a little bit. If you buy boxes of 4, you get an additional 10% off, and about 10 items are on sale each month. And it's kinda cool to be able to say hi to Bob, as in the owner. They also have a great, healthy restaurant there, with lots of vegan choices. They also have flaxseed, gluten free things, it's great.

I went there because we were running low on Bisquick. I saw the price and said no. We don't use it that much. Instead I bought Bob's whole wheat pastry flour, to make pancakes and biscuits and so on. Their stone ground ww flour is great in my breads.

I've kept up my price book and know just where to go to find the best daily prices. And I use cairo.com and my links to all the local stores online ads to see what might be worth buying.

We do have a lot of food in the house, so we will start using that up first, to limit the funds we need to spend on groceries.

Thanks to frugalveggiemama and others, I have a lot of great ideas and recipes to use.

Have a great rest of the week!

Barbara

I'm going to Iwerk World!

Okay, you're wondering about the title of this post. It has nothing to do with frugality, but it is funny.

The funniest headline I've ever seen, that was absolutely true: "Al Michaels traded by Disney to NBC for a rabbit". This article on Salon.com explains it, but the gist of it is:

Disney owns ESPN and ABC. They released Al Michaels from his contract with them (for baseball and football) so he can do football for NBC. ESPN get the rights to do some rebroadcasts of golf from NBC, as well as extended highlights from other NBC sports events. In return, Disney gets the rights to 26 shorts featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, created for Universal in 1927. The next year, the Disney company was started and Mickey Mouse was created.

And the title of the post? Well, Oswald and Mickey were created by Walt Disney, and his partner, whose name was... Ub Iwerks. I'm just glad they named everything after Walt!!

Barbara

What I've Learned

I've been working on trying to be more frugal for a while now and so though I'd post some things that I've learned.

I keep a price book and update it regularly. I use cairo.com to find what's on sale at all the stores in my area. I visit several thrift stores monthly as I happen to go past them, to see what sales are upcoming.

I buy in bulk when I can. This is limited by the amount of storage we have in an apartment. I cook ahead of time when I can, use what needs to be used up or what's getting old, not wasting food.

Most importantly, I've learned to say no when shopping, to things we don't really need, or that are not healthy for us.

Barbara

Deals

I usually buy brown rice in bulk from Fred Meyer's. It's .99 a pound, everyday. However, it does pay to read the ads. I found Fred Meyer had 2 pound bags of brown rice for .99. I bought 2 of them.

Across the street from Freddies is a thrift shop I go to. Their sign read 50% off Mon Feb 20. So I've got that down on my calendar. I need a few things that I can look for there.

Barbara

Free is good!

Free is good and frugal right? And being organized is good too. I tended to have papers strewn about my desk, with little bits and pieces written on them. I don't do that anymore.

I found a site called Peanut Butter Wiki. It's free. Now, in case you don't know what a wiki is, it's web pages, which are very easy to edit. You can easily link pages. I use mine for two things. One is writing resources and ideas. The other is for frugal and veggie information. I have pages just for recipes, one that's a listing of meal ideas I've collected from Vegsource and others. Everything is there, and if I need a paper copy of a recipe, for instance, I just print that out. It's easy to setup and like I said, free.

You can keep it private, (which is what I've done) or you can allow selected people to view it and/or edit it. Give them a try, it's easy. They have a tour available as well.

Barbara

Experiments

On Friday, I made a red lentil roast, and it tasted good. My partner liked it too. But something in it didn't agree with us. So, we'll see about making it again.

I've been finding some great deals. Eating really healthy, and saving money. I've also been working out 6 days a week (Power 90 is the program) and I feel great and have lost 10 pounds.

Barbara

Eating good and exercising

Yep, I've been doing both those things you're supposed to do. And enjoying it! I'm working out 6 days a week and loving it!

I'm also eating healthy and frugally. Lots of rice and beans and veggies and whole grains. I'm enjoying it all.

Tried a cheese fondue recipe from shmoo's mother. Didn't care for the taste.

Barbara

Plans for Saturday

My partner is working 9-6, so after I take her to work, I'll come home and have breakfast.

I'm going to have oatmeal, with Grape-nuts added, and I'm going to try it with some added cinnamon and a little bit of real maple syrup.

I'll do my workout sometime in the morning.

Cooking tomorrow, I'm going to make hummus from scratch for the first time. Dinner will be a quinoa pilaf.

I may try to make mac & cheese again. I have two recipes, one from frugal veggie mama and another one.

My partner is enjoying the healthier eating. And we are saving money, even though we are actually buying some pricier stuff, like ketchup without corn syrup, and Earth Balance margarine. But home cooking is cheaper, even if an ingredient is slightly more money.

I made a pasta chili tonight from a McDougall cookbook, slightly modified. I used a can of Health Valley veggie chili, 8 ou tomato sauce, garlic and onion powder, 1/2 can of pinto beans and about a half cup of Pace Picante Mild. Mixed up with pasta and had some bread on the side.

Barbara