Best painless "stretching things" budget tips?

[pjlla]

One that I use is that I when I have left over cooked veggies, I freeze them to use in soups and stews. Saves left-overs and time too!

One other thing I freeze is any scraps of veg (like the harder asparagus stems, the scraps of celery, broccoli, cauliflower) I cut all these up, lable and put in a large ziplock to add to soups, stews. I otherwise may have tossed these parts since most of the family picks out stems and we really don't eat the harder part of asp. When chopped small, they are a good addition to soup and stew!
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This gave me a great idea. DH eats aspargus all the time. He cuts off the tips and bottoms of the stems and throws them in the garbage. I think I will tell him not the throw them away, but throw them outside for the bunnies. They eat at the birdfeeder everyday. They would probably like a fresh vegetable better than bird seed anyway.

Does he really cut off the tip? That is the best part. It is supposed to be eaten! .................P

 

[Mermaid02]

Does he really cut off the tip? That is the best part. It is supposed to be eaten! .................P

Agreed! Forget the bunnies- I'll be over to get those aspargus tips!

 

[AntePrincess]

I just handed the eldest some stickers that were in the latest Oriental Trading Co., address labels (with typos) from some junk mail, and some cardstock dividers from a box of tea bags. She made a bunch of bookmarks in timely Easter theme. Cost: free.

She has a fancy kitchen (not budget), which I just furnished with a fancy fruitcake and a can of coffee. I just cleaned a coffee can (no sharp edges on this one) and gave it to her. I put some packing styrofoam inside the fruitcake box and glued it shut. Instant play food. She also has a cornmeal canister, a tea tin, and a tin from some tea biscuits. All free in that they would have been discarded otherwise. Seems absurd to me to buy those plastic "shopping basket" toys which are filled with printed boxes when I already have printed boxes leftover after the food is used up.

 

[tinkermom23]

I just handed the eldest some stickers that were in the latest Oriental Trading Co., address labels (with typos) from some junk mail, and some cardstock dividers from a box of tea bags. She made a bunch of bookmarks in timely Easter theme. Cost: free.

She has a fancy kitchen (not budget), which I just furnished with a fancy fruitcake and a can of coffee. I just cleaned a coffee can (no sharp edges on this one) and gave it to her. I put some packing styrofoam inside the fruitcake box and glued it shut. Instant play food. She also has a cornmeal canister, a tea tin, and a tin from some tea biscuits. All free in that they would have been discarded otherwise. Seems absurd to me to buy those plastic "shopping basket" toys which are filled with printed boxes when I already have printed boxes leftover after the food is used up.

I do this too! We have Cereal boxes, juice containers, ... we use them to set up a store sometimes and the kids go "shopping." Sometimes they even order in pizza for their dolls, (Pizza Hut personal size box- they'll give you a couple clean ones if you ask!) and pop bottles. I never feel bad when they get smashed or ripped because they were free anyway! My problem is storing them all??

 

[Zoma]

This is my first post I have been lurking for 2 years. This thread has given me so many amazing ideas! Thank you, thank you, thank you

 

[AntePrincess]

Here's a free luxury I gave myself today: when taking out the cardboard I noticed a tree lost a huge limb covered in buds to our recent snowstorm. I picked a dozen 12-18" "stems," brought them in and made an arrangement with them. Floral arrangements are a very very rare treat, so this is good enough for me. I am attempting to force the buds.

Another luxury: we have a bag of dry whole grains that went sour, so that it would no longer taste good to eat. I pulverize them in a blender into a grit (any blender that can crush ice can do this), then store it in a jar. Mixed with soap, cleanser, aloe gel or lotion, it makes a great scrub similar to the apricot scrubs. A secret advantage? Whole grains contain vitamin E.

 

[sydneysmom]

Give up paper towels and paper napkins. Buy a bunch of good quality (on sale of course!) white dish towels. They will last forever, can be bleached of stains and can be used for drying hands and are great for covering laps really well while eating...so they're perfect with kids...less stains on clothing!

Along this line, Williams Sonoma has the most fantastic square dish towels....you can usually pick them up on sale for $ 5.00 for a pack of 8 either online or in the store....these towels last forever and wash beautifully. They're called "striped dishcoths" and they come in a bunch of great stripe colors that change each season. But at the end of each season, they go on sale!! They're also great for drying because they don't leave lint on everything....

 

[lisam427]

love this thread. bumping up.

 

[pampam]

bumping again.

 

[disneymarie]

Along this line, Williams Sonoma has the most fantastic square dish towels....you can usually pick them up on sale for $ 5.00 for a pack of 8 either online or in the store....these towels last forever and wash beautifully. They're called "striped dishcoths" and they come in a bunch of great stripe colors that change each season. But at the end of each season, they go on sale!! They're also great for drying because they don't leave lint on everything....

What stores carry these? the new ones on there site are $18

 

[Angel16]

Here's a free luxury I gave myself today: when taking out the cardboard I noticed a tree lost a huge limb covered in buds to our recent snowstorm. I picked a dozen 12-18" "stems," brought them in and made an arrangement with them. Floral arrangements are a very very rare treat, so this is good enough for me. I am attempting to force the buds.

Another luxury: we have a bag of dry whole grains that went sour, so that it would no longer taste good to eat. I pulverize them in a blender into a grit (any blender that can crush ice can do this), then store it in a jar. Mixed with soap, cleanser, aloe gel or lotion, it makes a great scrub similar to the apricot scrubs. A secret advantage? Whole grains contain vitamin E.

Great Idea !!! I love things like this, not throwing things out and repurpose the item. Vitamins are so good for our skin.



Thank you,



Angel16

 

[nessalee77]

Great ideas...we all could use to save $!

 

[semo233]

Any new ideas???:

 

[disneyfan55]

One thing I try to do is stock up on food and paper/health items when on sale. It not only saves money it helps you become prepared in case of a disaster or inflation.

To add to this, anyone who likes to stock up to be prepared or just save money, should also tell friends and relatives the same. If we are all prepared and the electricity goes out or any other problem, we can live off what is in our homes. I tell all my friends and neighbors to buy a few extra sale items each week With the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, many seafood items may become in short supply or more costly, as well as gas to transport most anything else. I guess we should all be prepared.

 

[Beckypooh1972]

When making seasoned meat for tacos I use a 50/50 mix of browned ground turkey and cooked brown rice - once the seasoning is added it is very difficult to tell that the rice is not turkey - would also work with beef.

I like to stretch a pound package of ground beef into 2 meals: I recently used 1/2 lb of ground beef to make taco meat using one of those taco dinner kits (that call for a lb of beef). I substituted the other 1/2 lb of ground beef with enough black beans (like half a can) to make taco filling - it tasted great and made for a healthier taco too! On another night I'll use the other 1/2 lb of ground beef to make spaghetti.

 

[cndij]

I like to stretch a pound package of ground beef into 2 meals: I recently used 1/2 lb of ground beef to make taco meat using one of those taco dinner kits (that call for a lb of beef). I substituted the other 1/2 lb of ground beef with enough black beans (like half a can) to make taco filling - it tasted great and made for a healthier taco too! On another night I'll use the other 1/2 lb of ground beef to make spaghetti.

I hope this isn't a repeat, but my favorite way to stretch ground beef is with tvp (Texturized vegetable protein) usually found in health or whole food stores or with the vegetarian supplies in a regular grocery store. Around here it runs about $2 a pound but is dehydrated so that it makes about 4# once rehydrated, so about .50 a pound. I rehydrate with beef broth, and mix half and half with hamburger for taco meat, chili, spaghetti etc. It makes the ground beef lower in fat and same amount of protein. I have been using it for a couple of years, even when we have company and nobody has noticed.

 

[heatherleigh]

I just started using less laundry and dish detergent. I believe I got that idea from this thread. I have been doing it for almost a month now. What sold me on this idea was the article someone posted that showed how recommended amounts are way too much.

My cousin used to purchase cranberry juice in the container, and add a bit of water to it. I never could taste the difference. I sometimes do that w/ the kids' juice. They don't need a ton of sugar anyway.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just started using less laundry and dish detergent. I believe I got that idea from this thread. I have been doing it for almost a month now. What sold me on this idea was the article someone posted that showed how recommended amounts are way too much.

My cousin used to purchase cranberry juice in the container, and add a bit of water to it. I never could taste the difference. I sometimes do that w/ the kids' juice. They don't need a ton of sugar anyway.

I did this until my oldest was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade, half water/half apple juice. It's soooo sweet anyway.

 

[cndij]

I did this until my oldest was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade, half water/half apple juice. It's soooo sweet anyway.

And here I thought I was being creative by watering down the V8 Fusion

Seriously I have bought both regular fusion and Light Vusion, and the only difference as far as I can tell is the "light" is watered down 50% and the kids like it just as good, so I have washed and saved extra bottles and now pour some out into an old bottle (about half) and fill both bottles up with water and I now have 2 bottles for the price of one and my neices have no idea. They love this stuff though and I think it's a great way to get veggies into them.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

And here I thought I was being creative by watering down the V8 Fusion

Great minds think alike!