If there is no mold on it it is safe to eat. Rice — That is a misunderstanding between two issues. There is a bacteria that loves rice that has a poisonous byproduct. Therefore even if you re-heat it and kill the bacteria the byproduct remains and can make you quite ill.
It is only an issue for rice that is left out. Why am I not dead yet? I also cook for the week and eat off of it. And if it goes past five days the dog eats it. Once again just goes to show that I expose my body to enough bad stuff that I never get sick! Rice is a high risk food?
When I was young I lived and worked in the amazon with no refrigeration whatsoever and some hot and humid weather. We often had rice and beans for dinner and then packed them up to carrry with us for lunch the next day. I did find that I had to eat the beans by 10 am or they start to go off, but I never knew the rice to be a problem.
Thank you for this! I made hummus yesterday and we were out of tahini, so I subbed peanut butter. We liked it even better. I will never buy tahini again! Leanne is a nutritionist.
Leanne also gets it about making sure dinner is on the table in minutes. The recipes are flavorful and made with stuff you can easily find in the supermarket.
Also guilty of letting our 4 kids become too picky with their food, which resulted in too much waste 🙁. Ty, I get jealous when reading how cheap produce an other items are cheaper in other areas of the country. I have even noticed the Kroger affiliates here PNW are more expensive than say Arizona or even California.
My daughter has bball practice in the central district and the least expensive fruit and veggies stand is a block from her school. But then, so does housing or land. Mixed blessing, that!
Frugalwoods, you answered my question about the oats, thank you, I am so happy!! How do you store them? Hi Amy! Awesome post, Mrs. I totally agree that kids throw everything for a loop, haha!
Super easy and it gets our day off to a healthy start! We use OJ as our base though you could use water , add in a banana, frozen pineapple chunks, blueberries, etc and then TONS of spinach or kale! Our weakness is without a doubt coffee and dessert.
We get Starbucks a few times per week; but our daughters will only nap in the car now they are 3 and 4! Love all your tips!!! This week I made vegan sweet potato and black bean enchiladas that were amazing; and then made spicy potato and black bean burritos two nights later since they used the same ingredients!
You are totally right that black beans are a must; and every meal should begin by sauteing an onion! For example, I used to eat a Chipotle burrito bowl once or even twice a week.
So I set out to master the best vegan burrito bowl I could. The key to the rice is adding lime juice and a little olive oil. More recently, I had an amazing batch of vegan tacos featuring crispy smashed potatoes yum!
So now I have a perfect topping for my burrito bowl. The next challenge still working on it is coming up with a tasty vegan substitute for Vietnamese rice noodle salad bowls. I like your Chipotle hack. I did the same, but for us it was their barbacoa beef for burrito bowls. I located a great copycat recipe and every few months, if beef is affordable, I make a batch and freeze it in meal-size portions.
Probably at least a year-and-a-half. will babywoods eat regular oatmeal? Yes, she has regular oatmeal plus a banana for breakfast no sugar added!
Looks weird, but she likes it that way :. Good luck! My other 3 kids love oatmeal, I do steel cut oats in the crockpot, so good! Food can be such a challenging aspect of frugality because there are so many emotional, family, and political elements tied up into how and what we eat.
I very much agree with other commenters who noted the importance of working with your habits. Neither of us enjoy cooking so more frequent simple meal planning to prevent the take-out meals is the next battle to fight!
Food is so cheap in the US, and the average family spends less of its income on food than ever, but housing costs have skyrocketed. My rent budget is five to ten times what my food budget is, and my income tax budget is three times that.
If you live in the U. you might want to give TurboTax a try. TurboTax knows about every tax deduction there is and can save you quite a bit on your income taxes when you file. Great post. I am vegan so I chuckle at comments that a vegan diet is expensive.
Like you point out, if you avoid the processed stuff and stick to whole foods then it can be crazy cheap! We do have slightly higher grocery bills because we balance shopping for a committed vegan me with my omni husband and kids. The family eats lots of vegan dishes with the odd bit of meat served on the side to keep them happy.
It works. As requested, this is a homemade vegan granola bar that we love. Here is a link to the recipe. She also has a blog which has some fantastic and freely shared recipes if you google her name for those looking for recipes. Like you I am an avid hiker.
I am in the process of completing the Bruce Trail in Ontario just shy of km. These bars, along with a pb and banana sandwich are my go to hiking snack. Delicious recipes! Good, basic vegan food. This post is excellent!
Thank you! We buy whole ingredients, waste almost nothing and bulk cook so we always have something to eat even if we are lazy. Just ate NC pulled pork bbq last night. From the freezer! That will be pulled pork tacos for lunch today along with home cooked crock pot beans from the freezer of course.
That was pretty much a perfect list. Whenever I get into discussions on MMM on how to eat frugally — often people are frustrated that they cannot get their bill as low as others.
I make many of those points. The big 3 for me: 1. What you eat. Paleo, Vegan, Omnivore, whatever — everyone has different needs I, for one, cannot maintain my weight at a healthy weight by eating a carb-heavy diet anymore. So sad. Carbs are cheap. Where you shop. We have a couple of stores that have produce REALLY cheap, and we eat pounds per day.
It adds up. Where you live. Some areas of the country are more expensive. Some towns do not have a lot of competition. I love your list. And I love that it sounds like you help people figure out what will work in THEIR situation — or at least to think about their own variables.
But I have found that roasted sweet potatoes are okay for me for whatever reason. I roast up a couple a week and eat those for breakfast. I also throw them in soups. Ahhh food. Such an expensive thing, that. We have a few allergies, some of which we choose to buy our way out of and boy does it get expensive!
My spouse eats one between work and squash, nights per week. My parents alive on green smoothies and they throw the Entire Bag of spinach straight I to the freezer when they get home from the store, then take what they want. We buy the big bags of mixed greens — spinach, kale, etc.
and the big size of broccoli at Costco and I blend it with some whey from my homemade yogurt and freeze it in cubes. We throw them into our daily fruit smoothies. Now I keep some out to use fresh and freeze the rest. Eating in is just a matter of habit and practice.
Cheapheart and I are in the food and wine business. There is absolutely no excuse not to learn to cook. There is an endless wealth of information about how cook anything and everything on the internet.
Serious Eats is a great resource. It is ready in half an hour. Cheapheart and I banged out a big pot of lentil, sausage and kale soup and a pot of tomato sauce and meatballs in a half an hour. Long ago, I gave Mr.
Cheapheart the gift of a pizza making class at the awesome King Arthur Flour Baking Center near you Frugalwoods! It was not cheap, but it was nice to spend time together away from the baby and learn something new.
Years of confidence in pizza making have certainly paid for that class many times over. The dough takes 5 mins to asssemble and 45 minutes in the bread machine unstylish and very useful appliance, buy one used, people are always getting rid of them.
Tastes way better, and is healthier and cheaper than delivery, plus the pride of doing it yourself is the best part! I have been encouraged to embrace them by two women I admire.
You can assemble a loaf in10 minutes. Takes hours of bread machine magic for a nice loaf of tasty homemade bread at a fraction of the cost.
Once you become accustomed to eating homemade bread, the stuff out of the bag is pretty appalling. Better, healthier, cheaper. I recommend the Panasonic YD, look on Craigslist or eBay.
Yogurt is another easy thing to make that is just a matter of practice, a million recipes on the internet and no special equipment required other than maybe a thermometer. For the price of a half gallon of milk I can have a half gallon of yogurt for 10 minutes active time.
Plus no stabilizers and gums. Better, healthier, cheaper, pride! For better nutrition and even more savings, have you considered milling your own flour? Most modern whole wheat flour is actually white flour with the germ added back later.
Is that a challenge snowcanyon? When I lived in the city I did not have this option! King Arthur has a great website and they are customer-friendly, but their flour is mass-market and not particularly good, nor do they have all the varieties necessary for classic European-style unsweetened whole-wheat bread.
You can mill flour in one minute in a vitamix! I will give it a try for sure. KAF has a beautiful teaching facility in Vermont that offers lots of great classes with state of the art equipment.
I was just planning to mention that King Arthur chewy granola bars are the best. I make them weekly. It calls for cups fruit and nuts, any combo, so it is good for remnants of bulk purchases.
I LOVE King Arthur Flour recipes, so this sounds great! And in a frugal win- we got our bread machine for free when a family member was moving.
If you can make split pea soup, you can make lentil. The primary difference is you WANT to cook the peas into oblivion, with lentils you generally want them to retain their shape. We love both. Leftovers are great. Random bits of leftover veggies can go into either. A dollop of sour cream or yogurt on top makes it seem more special, or a very little sherry.
Homemade pizza can also accommodate bits of leftovers. Top with pizza-type toppings and heat in the oven. Sounds fancy. Pasta, veggies, and a sprinkle of parmesan, a little pepper.
Can be hot or cold. Warming even slightly may be preferable to stone cold out of the fridge. This means you also get less added sugar. Frozen veggies when on sale can be a great find, especially for things not seasonal or not readily available in your area.
I like to cook dry beans for chili. So cook a batch of beans pinto or kidney , make some into chili, the rest into refried beans. Both freeze beautifully. Explore vegetarian and vegan recipes to cut down on meat consumption. Find something else. I really appreciate your note at the top about being sure to find your food priorities and then figure out how to frugalize is that a word?
We try really hard to buy organic and to be frugal. Even that though has changed our habits to encourage frugality. I follow many of the tips you gave, already, but somehow, seeing it in plain writing makes it impressed upon me to really watch how and what I buy.
I know I can still reduce our food budget if I think more strategically. Thanks for the encouragement and reminders! I work outside the home, full-time, so I do this on weekends or evenings — it can be done!
I second your comments about coupons. The only exceptions to that will likely be from a local market. Kroger or Giant Eagle central Ohio will sometimes have coupons in the paper or their mailings for their house brand products usually a good deal , or occasionally for produce.
Favorite go to meal during the week is garlic, onions, tomatoes, rice,shaved carrots, and jalepenoes. I throw in sweet red peppers and sometimes left over chicken.
Saute in some olive oil and yummy. Babywoods is so darling! Thank you very much for the list! May I ask how long do you store the homemade food in the freezer and at what tempetature? We have a small freezer inside the refridgerator, not a separate freezer, and I am not how long cooked food will be good there.
How long do you store food soups, lunches in the usual fridge and at what temperature? Do you maybe know if there are any safety rules in this respect?
Thank you very much! Food stored below freezing will stay safe indefinitely, as bacteria cannot grow in freezing temperatures. I finally feel very secure in feeding my family and myself… it only took 10 years of trial and error!
I have also learned about cutting down food waste by going through my kitchen once a week and putting stuff on the counter that needs to be used up… right now I have corn meal, a can of cream of chicken, a can of cream of mushroom, fried onions, apricot preserves and pie crust mix… all items gifted to me by my Buy Nothing Group.
I make it a point to collect unwanted food items from my BN community and then build recipes around them. Last week we had salmon cakes and pumpkin pie because of my BN gifts. My food bill is still not as cheap as others, but I think it has to do with geography.
In general living on the west coast means that our costs are higher. and you can sub different types of flour and mix-ins nuts, seeds, etc. Our biggest foods savings, besides raising some vegetables and chickens in the summer, comes from eating bone-in chicken.
I agree that being judicious about your proteins can make a huge difference. Love the tips! We use most for our family of five healthy eaters—buy bulk raw ingredients, add beans and onions to everything to stretch it, slow cooker soups and stews, planned leftover meals, etc.
We also finally invested in a pressure cooker, which is proving to be a game changer! Less temptation to give into take out or eat through our entire stash of freezer meals when you can cook beans in 30 min or frozen chicken in 10!
We used to do more of our meal prep on weekends, but as the kids get older and have more activities popping up on weekends, it was getting hard to keep up with the prep.
Our other strategy is frittatas of every variety. Do you make it in a high speed blender like a Vitamix? I never enjoyed homemade hummus made in the food processor, but in the Vitamix or other comparable one the texture is so much smoother. We bought canned beans from target most recently and they were super firm and make very chunky hummus.
If you cook your own garbanzo beans, you can make sure to get them thoroughly softened first. Are you using dried chickpeas? which I personally think is superior Is your water hard? Our new house has very hard water so I now use distilled water to cook my chickpeas and other beans.
It makes a big difference with the texture of the chickpeas. I suffered though a year of horrible beans before I discovered water can make or break your beans and it is definitely worth the extra dollar for distilled water.
I tried those once with no luck, so I went back to canned, though that may have been at my old apartment which had really hard water…. I may get some dried ones though and try out the crockpot method of soaking. Dumber people than I have mastered homemade hummus!
Otherwise, make sure you blend, blend, blend. I use a Cuisnart as well — it should get fluffy. Make sure you have a little lemon juice in there.
Great post! If you want to get all fancy with your hummus because I like the taste the tahini adds to it , you can always make it yourself.
And the bonus is that you can also use the sesame seeds for your homemade breads which we do quite a lot. We fed our Demon Child the same way and I can report, three years on, that she is willing to eat just about anything.
The kid asks for snacks of broccoli and fourth helpings of beans! but she eats it just fine. Thank you for sharing! FW will have her in the kitchen with him as soon as possible! Hey guys! It just might be my all time favorite tv show! Just wanted to share the link for my favorite granola bar recipe.
One thing that has helped us consume more of our leftovers is packaging them in individual serving size containers. Then, when we need to grab food for lunch or dinner, we can just grab a meal out of the refrigerator and warm it up.
The book itself is available at our library. As someone who lives in a city with limited grocery stores but TONS of restaurants I have had to work on this- especially since I have a LOT of severe food allergies one epipen or ER visit is definitely more than my grocery bill! so I have to be careful of what I eat.
I love making soup from scratch and taking it to work, and buying basics rather than premade food. I also do use coupons a few times a year when I know basics like tp, paper towels, shampoo, etc will be on sale. Also, befriend your local butcher! Easy protein source.
Great list of tips and resources! Thanks again for always impressing! A big key for me has been to reduce the thinking behind.
well, everything. Every two weeks I put on a pot of dry beans to cook for two hours, and add seasonings and oil as they cook down. Then I scoop out half cup portions into lunch containers, let them cool, add cheap bulk frozen veggies, and shove all ten plus containers back in the freezer.
At the beginning of every week, I portion out nuts in small containers for lunch, and oatmeal with cinnamon and chia and yogurt with honey for breakfast. The savings in time, money, and stress have been terrific. All I have to do is fend off the folks who think eating beans and oatmeal every day reflect a serious lack of imagination.
Great article! My approach is similar, but I have yet to give up the semi-weekly meal out at UNO or one of our local establishments. You mentioned that you buy granola bars… I thought I would share this recipe for homemade granola bars , which I made recently and LOVED.
I changed a few things around, like adding toasted sesame seeds, pecans, walnuts, and I used sliced, skinless almonds instead of whole ones. Oh, and I added a tablespoon of butter and a little bit of salt to the mix. I toasted the oats and all the nuts first, which I think adds a nice flavor note.
After cutting the bars, I kept them from sticking together by wrapping them in little pieces of waxed paper. When I have had dinner failures…. hot sauce. We make what my husband calls salsa soup. Any bulk hot sauce you have can save a bad fish stew or similar.
I actually save up my scrap vegetables in a freezer bag in the freezer…when I have a couple full bags I make a batch of vegetable stock. Love this post and your blog. Do you ever buy Frugalhound treats? Or do you make them homemade? Dog treats are one of the food priorities in our house.
My mother grew up in wartime Europe and these were lessons necessary for life, not just lifestyle. We are currently working on less packaged food. More of a health choice than frugality actually.
I will say you are lucky with your little ones eating habits. My oldest daughter has always been a great eater. We are working with an occupational therapist to expand her horizons. Unfortunately feeding your kids is not always as straightforward as one might think.
Fresh veggies are usually cheaper than most packaged options, you can get a lot of vegetables and fruit for less than it would be for prepackaged foods.
The best part of this extremely informative article is the picture of Houndlett licking food off of Babylett. Yes, you have been upstaged by the younger generation. My desire to eat gourmet food often was my incentive to learn to cook. The restaurant scene in Vancouver was vibrant and expensive!
so I began researching recipes. And, of course, the savings have been incredible. Because food is our hobby, we have no problem with sourcing great ingredients, eating out and generally spending most of our variable income on food.
Having said that, there are plenty of things we happily do without to fund that one particular lifestyle choice. Your discussion about babywoods and healthy eating reminds me of our toddler.
On another note, you can freeze flour. I freeze my whole wheat flour to keep it fresh longer, which lets me buy larger bulk amounts than I could use in the normal run of things before it went bad. But, may I point out, there are also things you CAN expect.
Not to get too personal, but, every month there are a few days that come where I know I will not be cooking. Like spaghetti, really any type of pasta, with a package of frozen veggies to go along with it.
He takes them for lunch too so I never seem to have any full dinners around for those occasions. I do plan on working that in though so thanks for the ideas. Thanks for all the encouragement and the regular flow of ideas.
It helps so much! We have many of the same tactics. We stay regimented with our grocery shopping always on the weekend and always one trip per week.
We compile the list as we go throughout the week adding items as we use them up or think of recipes to make. Thank you for all the great posts on grocery expenses! We do love those Costco pizzas! Grocery budgeting is a fun challenge, but the other big killer of flexible expenses for me is non-food consumables: toiletries, paper goods, disposables I have cut down our plastic consumption drastically, but sometimes you just need freezer bags for frozen meals!
Do you have any advice on these, or could you point me to a post on it? not wearing makeup and getting LASIK. I would love a comprehensive post on non-food consumables in the same vein as your grocery posts.
I love your writing! We also try to use re-usable products as much as possible. For example: our glass tupperware gets used over and over again, I store our bread wrapped in a tea towel, I use rags instead of paper towels. We also invest when it makes sense, such as in re-chargeable batteries, low-energy-use lightbulbs, etc.
I hope this helps! Our power company lets us order LED lights at a HUGE discount. Check and see if yours does. Coconut oil makes a divine moisturizer. I also make a whipped body butter I love for winter coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and almond oil in equal proportions, chilled and whipped.
I make a whipped body butter too with those same ingredients! Smells heavenly! Did you get from the Trash is Tossers website, like me? Frugal weirdo toiletry tip: try Tibetan crystal deodorant!
Mix previous. Press into a baking sheet. I tend to think we have the food thing down, but even I picked up some great tips here! I also really enjoyed how long it was, much longer than you usually write.
More Frugalwoods is a good thing in my book! My current frugal boss move is to make a giant egg bake for the week. I top with whatever bits and bobs of cheese are still hanging about, then 12 beaten eggs. Love this post! I have bought barley, millet, buckwheat, wheat berries, amaranth, and more at Whole Foods and is just insanely expensive.
I would love to source these great grains online and see big box. Any suggestions? I buy mine at the local grain elevators; wheat berries, oats, rye and corn. Just notice when and what the farmers are harvesting to determine when to stop at the elevator.
You can not pick up oats when they are harvesting wheat! We eat a lot like you do Mrs. We rarely eat out. It makes a huge difference in our food budget, but we do splurge on the specialty ingredients to make yummy Asian dishes. So we pay a little extra for that good life. Such great advice all around.
We had split pea soup last night and there is enough in the freezer for several meals. I want to give another thumbs up for freezer meals. They have saved me so many times. Monday I got home from a weekend out of town and we had lasagna from the freezer.
The good news is that you don't necessarily need a lot of money to to feed your family well. This is where frugal meal ideas come in. We can give our grocery bill some breathing room by incorporating cheap meals into our meal rotation. Cheap grocery list : Take this list with you to the grocery store to stock up on foods that will give you the most bang for your buck.
You'll find that these meals are mostly made up of items on this list. Cheap Breakfast Ideas : Fortunately breakfast food is pretty inexpensive.
If you are still needing ideas, try browsing this massive list. Cheap Healthy Snacks : Snack ideas that are easy on the wallet and provide good nutrition.
Feeding Older Kids and Teens on a Budget : How do older kids and teenagers eat so much? Do they ever get full?
Read about my strategies for feeding the masses while still staying on budget. Use What you have to save on Groceries: The best way to create frugal meals is to use what you already have before buying more. Do this every single time you meal plan and watch your grocery bill plummet.
These are all simple meals using basic versatile ingredients. I hope they help you save money and inspire you in your quest to come up with frugal dinners to feed your family.
It's my passion to help struggling families eat healthy frugal meals. With just corn tortillas, black beans and spices, this is a dirt cheap meal that kids love! The shells get crispy and taste like a fast food treat for very little money.
It's been a reader favorite recipe for years! As soon as the budget gets tight, lentils and white rice go on the list because they are such cheap ingredients.
Inspired by Middle Eastern cuisine, this is such culinary treat and easy on the wallet. This could be the cheapest meal of the bunch. Bean recipes are always frugal.
A bag of dry beans, some seasoning, and some bacon fat get thrown into the slow cooker and you are well on your way to an ultra cheap Southern feast. Make sure you use the leftovers to make even more frugal meals.
Read: Ways to Use Leftover Beans. If you have basic spices in your pantry, this flavorful beans and rice only calls for a couple of cans of beans, rice, and a can of tomatoes. So easy and frugal. Split pea soup isn't much to look at, but it is very yummy and comforting on a cold day. This split pea soup can be made vegetarian just by omitting the optional ham hock.
Both ways are delicious and frugal! Dry black beans are a great thing to keep stocked in your pantry for this super cheap meal. The total cost is only a few dollars for the entire pot of soup! White beans and inexpensive vegetables are the star of the show in this tasty soup. It costs very little, especially if you make your own broth, and it packs a ton of nutrition.
Lentil soup is one of the cheapest soups around and it's healthy! Stock, dry lentils, rice, potatoes or sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, herbs, salt and pepper are all it takes for this humble meal. Boil a whole chicken and use a portion of it to make this delicious soup. It's especially comforting in the winter months.
Use the leftover chicken and bones for another meal. Read: HOW TO GET MULTIPLE MEALS FROM A WHOLE CHICKEN. Oatmeal is a cheap breakfast but can also be made for dinner. There are so many ways to use the meat too, and the carcass for stock after the meat is picked off.
Thank you for sharing these! Cara Fashionably Frugal recently posted… Why I stopped caring. My white sauce is just butter, flour, and milk, then whatever seasonings I feel like that day.
My frugal cooking must have is a spice bottle—I use the Clubhouse Montreal Spice Chicken Seasoning on soooo much. I bottle makes pork chops, crock pot chicken legs, roasted chicken breast and veggies, tilapia and salmon, all taste different but awesome. It gives that taste of elegance while just being 1 economical spice.
I buy it in the bulk bottle cheaper of course , and then fill my small bottle. I love it when I can find a frugal item that is multi-purpose.
Those kind of things are always a winner! Glad to have found you on EBA. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts.
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Comments I would love to learn what sort of White Sauce you make, I have been trying to use less Cream of Something soups in casserole. Those things are definitely a winner! Glad you stopped by. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
Pancake Pizzas w/ cream cheese spread & diced fruit Tuna Sandwiches & fresh Veggies Black Bean & Salsa Meatloaf w/ mashed potatoes & fresh veggie sticks
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