Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday!  This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which have changed as we've proceeded. (As things have settled down to a nice steady conversational pace, for example, I've deleted the rules about only one tip per person per week and about limiting the length of comments; I was worried early on about people flooding the forum with too much too fast, but I think we're past that risk.)

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Re: When life gives you lemons...

[ecosophia]

There's a pleasant little Korean grocery an easy walk from my apartment, and it sells varieties of kimchi I'd never heard of before. The kind I usually make includes Napa cabbage, daikon, carrot, and green onion, and it's a constant presence in my fridge and my meals -- but at some point I'm going to try some of the other varieties.

Re: When life gives you lemons...

[slclaire]

My husband Mike made enough kimchi from this year's crop of daikon radishes from my garden to fill a gallon jar. He used a recipe from the internet that included green onions, apples, and one or two other ingredients that I don't remember. He eats more of it than I do, usually buying it from the local Korean groceries, so I was happy to grow enough big daikons for him to make that much kimchi.

Re: When life gives you lemons...

[michele7]

I grew a mid size daikon this year and got 2 quarts of daikon kimchi. Just enough for me. (Normally I share with my adult children, but not this time.) If you have garden space or a deep flower box, you can grow daikon. They come in a range of sizes. There is even a round softball size variety. I have even used red radishes in place of daikon in my kimchi.

Re: When life gives you lemons...

[methylethyl]

That is good to hear! I planted what I thought were ordinary red radishes over the winter (it's the only time they grow here), and have harvested all but one-- it had got so crazy huge I just needed to see what it would do! It's still out there, root looks about the size of a lumpy softball, and I'm hoping it will go to seed so I can save the seeds for another go: at that size, they'd be worth pickling. Right now it's pretending to be an attractive foliage plant in the flowerbed.

But I had never actually pickled red radishes, only daikons with carrots, so I'm thrilled to read they are ok pickles.