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 may change further as we proceed.

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

Instant Pot Yogurt

[degringolade]

So, I managed to score an instant pot for $38.00. This was done not because I don't have a pressure cooker (I actually have two), but the instant pot draws less energy and produces less waste heat. If I would have had to pay full price (north of $150), the purchase would not have happened.

The first thing that I decided to try was the incubator function for yogurt. I can see how this would suit me just fine. I bought a half-gallon jug of milk for around $3.25 and produced around 64 ounces of yogurt. Seeing as 32 ounces of yogurt from a non-walmart brand costs around $3.80, my cost was around 42% of the store bought.

Now I think that I will spend some time working out how to do this the non-lazy way (the Instant pot makes it simple) but I think that making your own yogurt if that is a staple of your diet is certainly worth looking into.

BTW, In reference to my having two pressure cookers, if one of the group here doesn't have a pressure cooker and wants one, I am willing to gift one of them. You can reach me over at my place here on Dreamwidth.

Re: Instant Pot Yogurt

[(Anonymous)]

Yes! We had stopped buying yogurt because it had gotten so expensive for anything that was any good.

even after years of using the instant pot for beans, rice, soup, chili, etc... learning to make yogurt with it was a revelation. We are enjoying the return of yogurt to our regular diet.

Re: Instant Pot Yogurt

[(Anonymous)]

That is a great deal, congrats!!

Yellow Wood Sorrel

[prayergardens]

Yellow Wood Sorrel is one of the 'weeds' that grows in my garden when I disturb the soil. I am in UDSA Zone 5b.

It is edible for humans and has a nice lemony taste as a salad green. It is in the Oxalis family so if you're sensitive to that you might not want to consume but per the internet, is in the ballpark of spinach and beet greens. I found this blog post with a nice picture of it. There are different types, I have the tall, yellow variety which is shown here.
https://www.pei-untamed.com/post/wood-sorrel

But since I have more than I can consume I tried feeding it to the chickens and they love it! So everyday I weed the potato patch just enough for that days chicken greens. Weeding is much more fun when you can see the dollars saved on chicken feed.

**Also wanted to say a note of thanks to all those who have commented on the challenges of chicken keeping and slaughtering livestock. I'd been hesitating to get back into chickens since I had a bad experience putting down a sick chicken. I don't have anyone in person to guide me through these challenging moments but knowing you all were a post away if I needed helped me get back into it. Thank you all!

Re: Yellow Wood Sorrel

[(Anonymous)]

I am also in zone 5b, but I've not seen Wood Sorrel. I would be inclined to keep it for the pretty yellow flowers, or at least not weed it until after flowering. For edibles, I have so far IDed nettle, dandelion, purslane, and burdock (an invasive nuisance). Good luck with the chickens. Mary Bennett

Re: Yellow Wood Sorrel

[jbucks]

I'll second the usefulness, and tastiness, of wood sorrel! We have a lot of it growing around us, and I'll toss a little into a salad. It seems to like disturbed soil, because a lot of it is growing in an area we had cleared in order to put in some drainage.

A frugal attitude

[(Anonymous)]

I have just finished reading Dmitry Orlov's "Reinventing Collapse" and I thought practicing this might be an important part of collapsing now: "The ability to stop and smell the roses- to let it all go, to refuse to harbor regrets or nurture grievances, to confine one's serious attention only to that which is immediately necessary and not to worry too much about the rest -is perhaps the one most critical to post-collapse survival"

A question: how do frugal fridayers suggest doing this before collapse when life encourages one to think ahead? How do we develop a resiluent, frugal outlook?

[prayergardens]

There is a poem that struck me many years ago. Due to tech issues, I lost track of it and I'm afraid I can't recall the title or author. But the poem takes place on the last day of the world and IIRC, the sun is shining, someone is planting flowers and they hear someone practicing the violin in the neighborhood. And I always think, well, if it really is all going bad, I'll just keep planting and encouraging the kid who is practicing their violin. What else is there to do? Also, spirituality helps a lot and I'm working on that.

Covid/2021 was also good practice. Weird things were happening, we were trying to adjust and figure out how to get over the constant hurdles being thrown at us and kids still want birthday parties. That will never end no matter what is happening in the world. I was fighting the system while baking a birthday cake. The juxtaposition was jarring at first and then it became normal. C'est la vie.

I also realize now how much better I would have dealt with that all if I had my spiritual ducks in a row going into it. I didn't. I suffered ungracefully at times. Next time it will be more graceful and serve a higher purpose.

I read Orlov a lot before he went paywall and some of his writings on how people didn't deal well with things and started drinking helped keep me away from the bottle or other addictive things when bad things were happening. The temporary crutches can become a real downward spiral. Ora et labora. Pray and work is my strategy.

Re: A frugal attitude

[(Anonymous)]

1) Talk to oneself kindly.
2) Nurture one's creativity— which, by the way, begins with talking to onself kindly.

Re: A frugal attitude

[(Anonymous)]

Learn how to pickle eggs, meat, and vegetables.

Garlic Question

[ecosophia]

I've just been gifted with around 20 hands of really high-quality organic garlic, nicely dried and ready to use. I've got some plans already, but this is much more garlic than I usually have at one time and I figure it's time to explore some new options. So -- what are your favorite garlic recipes? What else besides food do you use garlic for? Enquiring druids want to know. ;-)

Re: Garlic Question

[(Anonymous)]

you might be able to preserve some in oil, just like a half pint or quarter pint jar. Then when you need some garlic oil for medical uses it will be on hand. Also, you can dry some of it for use next spring for cooking. So finely mince and set out to dehydrate about 8 of them.

You are looking at wanting to use almost 2 a month, which is using one over 2 weeks for the next year, with the ones for next spring, march thru end of June dried now for use then.

Once you hit winter, minestrone soup, lemon lentil soup and many others use alot of garlic. Chili. All the grain and the kinds of potato or cauliflower salads I do ( where the vegetables are cooked in the marinade of oil and vinegar) use a fair amount of garlic. There is a place here that sells bread with oil and garlic cooked on the peasant loaves. It is very good, esp warm. Even salad dressing for a green salad is good with a clove of crushed garlic

If you find you are not keeping up well on using it, you can always just make a healthful warm drink once a day of 1 clove garlic crushed, honey, could add a dash of lemon juice seasonally or teeny bit of cayene in a cup with hot water.

What a wonderful gift, such an abundance of good stuff

Atmospheric River

Re: Garlic Question

[linden_matryoshka]

Roast it!
1. Preheat oven to 400F;
2. Clean the outer layer and cut the top;
Put on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil;
3. Bake until brownish and soft (30-40 min);
Use it as a spread or add to any dish (pasta, potatoes, rice). It keeps well in the fridge.
Non-food uses: mosquitos hate garlic.
Kirsten

Re: Garlic Question

[baconrolypoly]

I posted some recipes that were meant to answer your post but think I didn't do the 'reply' bit properly.

[prayergardens]

Fantastic!

My go-tos:
-roast it with olive oil and just enjoy it in everything you eat for the next week. A loaf of fresh baked bread to sop it all up is a bonus.
-Freeze it. Chop it up, form little pucks on a tray and freeze into shape, then toss in a freezer bag
-save the big bulbs and plant in the fall
-40 Clove Chicken https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/40-cloves-and-a-chicken-recipe-1910661
-Fire cider

I learned many years ago from America's Test Kitchen that they didn't feel like you needed to mince garlic for a lot of recipes, just throw the peeled clove in and smoosh it when it's cooked and you got about the same flavor for less work. I also learned about the 'garlic rock' somewhere along the way. You just keep a flat rock in your kitchen and then smack the clove to get the skin off and trim the end off. Saves a lot of time when you have a lot of garlic to peel. My daughter painted a stone frog at some summer camp a few years ago so I have a 'garlic frog' on my kitchen windowsill.

Re: Garlic Question

[michele7]

We grew garlic again this year and diced most of it, filled a mason jar with it and topped it off with olive oil. This goes in the fridge. Then I scoop some out to fry along with other aromatics when making a pasta sauce or stir fry. We've used it when making garlic bread. I fermented garlic with honey a few years ago. The garlic is pitch black, but still edible.

Re: Garlic Question

[(Anonymous)]

We preserve garlic cloves in honey. Just peel and put whole cloves into a jar and cover with honey. Don't screw the lid on tight as it ferments for a week or so. The result is fabulous in sweet and sour but it is also an excellent cold/flu remedy (insert usual disclaimer here about not being medical advice, etc.).

We are however lucky in having access to good-quality honey at a reasonable price.

[baconrolypoly]

A Lebanese dipping sauce to go with chicken:

Toum

8 large garlic cloves
¼ tsp salt
1 egg yolk
Juice of ½ lemon
4 tbsp olive oil

Pound garlic and salt till smooth. Whisk egg yolk, add garlic then stir in lemon juice. Slowly whisk in oil and continue whisking till you have a smooth sauce, like with making mayonnaise.


Spicy chicken wings to dip in toum. Marinade for the chicken wings:

Can’t remember how much chicken this recipe is for, but buy enough for four people and you should be okay. Slice into the chicken so the marinade soaks in well.

8 cloves of crushed garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice of one lemon
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne

Mix ingredients and rub into chicken. Let stand for an hour or more before ovening, grilling, or barbecuing the chicken till it’s as you like it (aka ‘cook till nice’) – we like it crispy.

[baconrolypoly]

To go with the chicken wings and toum

Mujadarra – Lebanese rice and lentils

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, chopped
150g brown rice
150g green lentils
350g tomatoes, peeled and sliced
1 cinnamon stick, halved
150ml-ish of veg stock

Garnish
One onion, chopped and fried.
Enough lemon wedges for everyone to have a couple each.
A handful of chopped fresh coriander per plate.
Big pot of plain yoghurt.

Don’t use white rice, it will turn to mush. The brown rice in this recipe gives it the texture and flavour it needs.

Fry the onions till golden, then add cumin and coriander and fry a bit more. Add garlic – fry a bit. Add lentils, rice and salt and stir to coat them with oil.

Take out half the mix, layer the sliced tomatoes on top, then put the rest of the mix back in [we didn’t do this, we just layered the tomatoes over the top of everything and it was fine].

Add the cinnamon and stock, bring to the boil, then simmer gently till the rice and lentils are tender.

Garnish with fried onions, chopped fresh coriander and lemon wedges. Serve with yoghurt.

N.B. The extras – fried onion, coriander, lemon and yoghurt – really do complete this dish. Don’t leave them out.

Recipes based on 'Lebanese Cuisine' by Anissa Helou.

JMG, you may want to invite guests for dinner!

Learning with small-scale models

[methylethyl]

My youngest has reached that magical age, where I can put out sharp tools, tell him not to touch them, and... he doesn't touch them. I can sew again!

It has been years since I tackled any sewing project more complex than a kitchen apron though, and I'm rustier than my old machine.

Took the last couple of days to refresh my memory on how to assemble pants and shirts, how to set sleeves, that sort of thing. I didn't want to spend money on new fabric or patterns or anything, so... I made doll clothes. And it turned out brilliantly. There were some details about drafting collars, what all has to be measured, seam allowances, and pattern drafting that I was fuzzy on, and this was the perfect way to refresh my memory before I wasted time and money tackling anything more risky. Comes with some interesting challenges as well, and was a bracing exercise of logic and skill.

So, for a total expenditure of $0 and a couple hours' work, I pulled some stuff out of the rag-bag, drafted a tiny pair of pants (OMG I remember how to do this!) and a shirt (wait, how do you do shoulder seams for a doll whose arms come directly out of its neck??), and assembled them. Very stylish stuffed animal now. Kiddo is delighted, and for the first time in a decade, I think I'm ready to tackle some serious clothing construction!

Pros: low-risk, low-cost, if you screw it up you can throw it in the trash and nobody cares. You didn't just lose your $20/yd fabric because you forgot to add a seam allowance. Excellent way to try out basic pattern drafting. It'll show you what you don't know.

Cons: Setting sleeves and collars in tiny garments is dreadful. He's so happy with the clothes he wants me to dress his other animals now, and they will be getting *vests*. But maybe I will use those vests to brush up on my embroidery skills ;)

Re: Learning with small-scale models

[teresa_from_hershey]

A great training resource for relearning how to sew is Goodwill.
Take two shirts that fit well enough, but are boring.
Unpick the sleeves from both shirts, and swap them!
If the sleeve heads don't fit, you can finesse the fit with gathers or tucks.

Taking apart old clothes and remaking new from them is great practice.

There's also immense quantities of yard goods at Goodwill, especially in their Bargain Bin where everything's sold by the pound.

They are disguised as sheets, tablecloths, drapes, and bedspreads.

The other source of yardage is prom dress skirts. Some of them are huge. Decades ago, I took a pile of salvaged '80s prom dresses and remade the skirts into nursing tops. It worked! I wore them and passed them along and, being made of brightly colored polyester, they're probably still being worn by someone.

stove top coffee maker

[michele7]

A few days ago our electric drip coffee maker died in the middle of brewing. I pulled out a vintage Revere Ware 4 cup stove top percolator, searched the Internet for tips on use and made some darn good coffee! This coffee maker is much too small, so I ordered a 12 cup stainless steel stove top coffee percolator online. I truly believe the stove top process makes an excellent cup of smooth coffee! We have a propane stove so I'm not sure how well these do on electric stoves. I will admit that it takes longer to brew than an electric drip brewer, but the flavor and smoothness are superior.

Re: stove top coffee maker

[(Anonymous)]

We've been using a stovetop perk pot since we were married 23 years ago. It does make great coffee. I wonder about energy use compared to a drip coffee maker, but the perk pot is certainly more durable. We've gone through several drip makers even though we don't use it often (only when we have company, because it's bigger than the perk pot). So that's a hunk of plastic with no further use. But a perk pot lasts decades. We had to discard the old one (given us by my mother-in-law) because the glass top finally broke, and it was an odd size. You can buy new a top if the glass piece breaks--as long as those are available, these things are practically indestructible.

If you only want one or two cups, I think the best thing is a French press. You just bring the water to a boil, then pour it into the press and let it brew, and that's all the energy use. Makes excellent coffee. I have a little one that only makes one generous cup, but most of them make about a quart. It's another gadget to buy, but I've gotten good use out of mine, and haven't had a problem with the screen clogging.

Home remedies for Insomnia

[teresa_from_hershey]

If you don't get enough sleep, nothing else works well.
Sleep is so critical that even jellyfish have periods of torpor.
Think about the evolutionary disadvantages of sleep and yet everything sleeps. That tells you its importance.

But how do you improve your sleep?

Sleep hygiene is the answer.

Routine, regular bedtimes and regular arousal times, exercise, never eating very late so you don't go to bed with a full stomach, a darker, cooler room, no blue screens or computer work before bed (at least an hour), sleep masks to keep out the light, etc. etc. It's a long list but because no one makes $$ promoting it, you don't see it that much.

But you can still get terrible insomnia. I know, because I do.

A doctor explained once that what you need to do is get your brain to flip the switch from "awake" to "asleep." The army in WWII had to figure out how pilots could sleep almost on command, whenever they had a spare hour. It was a relaxation process and it worked. I can't remember where I saw it, though.

All sleep hygiene routines do is help your brain flip the switch.

This is what helps me: word lists.
A word list can be anything that is boring enough to help settle your brain, yet difficult enough that you don't drift to your anxieties, fears, to-do lists, plot bunnies, or whatever else keeps your brain whirring at top speed.

I recite (silently) animals in alphabetical order.
When I do this *regularly*, I fall asleep fairly easily.
When I get out of the habit, sleep still comes and then, after a while, the insomnia returns and it's back to the animal list.

Thus: aardvarks, aardwolves, airdales, alligators, alpacas, anacondas, antelopes, apes, armadillos, asses, and aye-ayes. There are more "A" animals.

Beagles, bears, beavers, bison, bonobos, boxers, buffaloes, burros, etc.

The animals MUST be in alphabetical order, to make it just challenging enough to keep your attention. Repeat your list to place them in alphabetical order.

Run through the alphabet, aardvark to zebra, and start over as often as necessary.

In my experience, it will take several weeks to retrain your brain to fall asleep faster and as you do, you won't reach "N" (narwhals, nightingales, nightjars). You're asleep.

Any kind of word list will do: plants, insects, minerals, names, countries, state capitals, etc. Animals works for me because there are a lot of them.

This method costs nothing, is easy to do, and if it works for you, it can be a life-saver.

Re: Home remedies for Insomnia

[(Anonymous)]

I've been building an 8'x12' cabin in my mind for the last 50 years to get to sleep quickly. The reason these ideas work is it keeps your mind occupied. Everyone says"clear your mind of everything",but you should actually just concentrate in ine thing. It's also called meditation.

From last week's comment about herb/spice grinders

[baconrolypoly]

Copied to here as I inadvertently put it on the wrong thread.

Here: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/287246.html?thread=49798158#cmt49798158

Finally found the grain mill and tried it first with oregano and then rosemary, both dried of course. For the herbs, the bits are too light to readily drop into the grinding mechanism and I had to keep prodding them down with a spoon handle. Much effort for little result.

Next - fennel seeds. They ground quite well but a pestle and mortar with a good grit would probably be faster.

Coffee beans - same as for fennel.

Dried mushrooms - I tried regular chestnut mushrooms and they didn't want to go into the grinding mechanism at all, but polypore mushrooms are more brittle so that could work.

Not a great result on the grinding, but it made a pleasant smell in the kitchen and that's something.

Re: From last week's comment about herb/spice grinders

[(Anonymous)]

Does it at least work for grains?

Ourdoor Kitchen Energy Efficiency--propane edition

[mskrieger]

The outdoor kitchen thread on this blog a few weeks back was great, thanks to all of you (now I desperately want a SunOven...I've been experimenting with using a covered grill as an oven but I've burned some pies!)

We decided to cook outside at my place for the first time this summer. Overall, it's been great. We've been keeping track of how much we spend and how much energy we use.

In the first month, we used 4 pounds of propane, or about $8 worth of fuel.

Considering that electricity around here costs about 21 cents/kWh, we saved enormously on the cost of cooking.

It also allowed us keep the house cool enough to sleep without running an A/C window unit. We did run a whole house fan, plus a few other fans in individual rooms, pretty consistently. Altogether the fans used about as much power as a single A/C unit would have cooling a single room of the house.

We're going to track the energy expense all summer, but so far so good.

--Ms. Krieger

Re: Ourdoor Kitchen Energy Efficiency--propane edition

[claire_58]

Thank you for this. As someone who tends to "fly by the seat of my pants" I really appreciate someone who is willing to crunch the numbers. I'm looking forward to seeing your results.

Parent Laundry Question

[methylethyl]

We've been doing the frugal thing forever. My eldest is 12, and we're at a point where we *need* to get the older kids onboard with household systems, but... I don't know how to get there from here.

Right now, it's the standard kid problem: old enough to put away their own laundry, but not old enough to care about their clothes. So "cleaning up" often means taking clean clothes they neglected to put away, dumping them in the laundry hamper, and... clothes are getting washed three or four times between wearings. Plus, stuff they wore once, that's still clean... right back in the wash. Hours of extra laundry, wear and tear on the machine, unnecessary wear on the clothes... sigh.

Y'all who have older children: help! I've discussed the problem with them, I've gotten them to help out some with the laundry, I'm clear and transparent about my laundry-management strategies. Intellectually, they understand. But no results. They're visiting grandparents right now, and I'm down about 2 loads of laundry *per day* without the 2 children in question. Gah! I need a better strategy. I don't really want to be the laundry police, but it's an untenable situation, and I KNOW other parents out there have been through it, and probably have some advice.

Similar situation with dishes: our dishwashing needs are down 75% right now. Math looking ugly.

Hit me with some sane frugal parent wisdom, people. How did you solve this with your kids? How did your parents solve it with you?

Re: Parent Laundry Question

[claire_58]

Good luck.
I had an ongoing argument with my teenaged daughter about endlessly running the dryer for a few bits of clothing. Then, during her first year at university, she came home and started to complain about how expensive the coin-op dryers were at the laundromat. When I said "I've been telling you that for years" she harrumphed at me until I pointed out that I still had to pay for it even if we didn't have to put in coins.
Now as the mother of two she hangs everything she possibly can. In the winter her small townhouse is festooned with drying clothes. I don't know if she's ever attempted to impose laundry limits.

Cutting down on laundry

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe allocate the kids a laundry hamper/cardboard box in their room? You will wash (or they are allowed to wash, if you make them do their own laundry) one box/hamper each per week on the weekend. Maybe two per week if you want to teach colour separation. If their box is full, time to start digging cleanish clothes out of the box instead of the cupboard. No stashing clothes on the floor robe. Other than that, I don't know. Having to do my own laundry including hanging wet stuff outside on winter nights and then iron, fold and put away all my own clothes was incentive enough for me. I HATE ironing and stinging cold hands - more than enough incentive as a teenager to minimise the amount of clothes going into the machine.