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.

Rule #5: don't post LLM ("AI") generated content, and don't bring up the subject unless you're running a homemade LLM program on your own homebuilt, steam-powered server farm. 

With that said, have at it!   

Comments

Read the manual that comes with your stuff

[teresa_from_hershey]

We make jokes about reading the manual but sometimes, the manual is really useful.

How do you maintain your washing machine? Can you do anything?
How about the dryer, including cleaning the vents.
Is there a pan under your fridge that needs to be emptied regularly? Should you wipe down the door gaskets every month? How about vacuuming the coils, either underneath or on the back? Doing those things makes your fridge last longer.

Every appliance you own has a manual. It's worth taking a look at the manual to see if you need to do something on a regular basis to keep that appliance running well.

Re: Read the manual that comes with your stuff

[michele7]

I found putting manuals for everything we buy into a 3 ring binder with plastic pocket sleeves helpful. I know exactly where the manual is. Any warranty and sometimes the receipt goes in it also.

Re: Read the manual that comes with your stuff

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Teresa,
That is a truly inspired idea. As is the next post about putting all the manuals and such in a three-ring binder. Blindingly obvious once someone mentions it.

We have several chest freezers and we put file folders on top of the freezers. Inside is a sheet listing the contents. When we take something out, we strike it off the list. It really helps when we are looking for things.

We also have a list on the fridge and every time we use the last of a container of food, we put that on the grocery list. We live in the country and have to use an expensive ferry to get off the island to where the big supermarkets are. We carry an inventory of, say, 4 bottles of rice wine vinegar so we never run out My sister says we have every conceivable spice which is just what you need when you get a hankering for Malaysian food and the nearest Malaysian restaurant is eight hours away.
Maxine

Re: Read the manual that comes with your stuff

[(Anonymous)]

Oh! I usually file my manuals in the file cabinet, and then forget I ever had them. Every few years, when I purge my files of old tax returns and things, I'll find it again, realize I don't have half those things anymore, and throw them out :/

This system is way better! I need to try it.

Re: Read the manual that comes with your stuff

[(Anonymous)]

I have a cabinet drawer reserved for these manuals. I also try to track down PDF copies and keep the important ones on my smartphone. The rest are on my laptop.

Caldathras

Re: Read the manual that comes with your stuff

[(Anonymous)]

About manuals. I use plain white envelopes, one per manual, clearly labeled DRYER, IRON, MIXER, etc etc, and pile them in a single easy-to-access drawer in the laundry room. I used to keep them on a high shelf above the pantry— for which I needed a ladder to access. That wasn't the best idea.

For me personally (your experience may vary of course) binders, while obviously useful, and when in order can look quite spiffy, have 2 problems: they can be challenging for me to keep in order, and then when I have a specific problem, say, I need to consult the manual for the clothes dryer, I have to haul out the whole binder. Bah to that. Plain individual envelopes work for me.

About the plain envelopes. I prefer white 9 x 12 inch. I could skip the envelopes but I find it makes it easier for me than it would be were all those miscellaneous manuals loose, to sort through the pile and quickly find what I need. When done, I simply toss it back in the drawer.

Teresa— thanks for reminding me to check on maintenance.

Heirloom Squash

[(Anonymous)]

Squash were grown by native Americans. The one I have grown is named Seminole squash or pumpkin great in the hot an humid Florida climate. So give it a try, a internet search will give you varieties for your part of the US or Canada. Blueberry

Re: Heirloom Squash

[(Anonymous)]

Also in FL here, and have also had excellent results with Seminole pumpkins.

Re: Heirloom Squash

[(Anonymous)]

I can report good results with Seminole pumpkins from several parts of Virginia (from the Valley to the Tidewater) and they are superb keepers! Months, up to a full year, simply in a dry, cool closet. Good flavor, all the way through storage. Much recommended!

Sushi

[michele7]

I love sushi, you love sushi, but we don't love sushi prices. So the answer to this is sushi at home. Making hand rolls or Temakizushi is easy and cheap. One of our favorite entertaining meals is temakizushi or what I translated to "roll your own sushi". You need nori seaweed sheets or lettuce leaves (for those who don't know how good seaweed is), sushi rice and fillings. Our family's favorite fillings are grilled eel (found at Asian store), tuna mayo, smoked salmon, rolled egg omelette, cucumber, avocado, rare roast beef slices, mayo, wasabi, chicken mayo and daikon pickles. You can put anything you want in temakizushi. The joy of temakizushi is everyone makes their own hand roll. If you can get sushi grade raw fish, go for it! It's not necessary though. To get you started, here is the recipe I use for sushi rice.

Cook 4 cups of short grain rice. 1 cup is 200 ml.
Simmer 50 ml of rice vinegar (1/2 cup) with 4 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Taste. Adjust the sugar or vinegar to how you like it.
Put the cooked rice into a bowl and pour most of the sushi vinegar over the rice. Mix the rice using a cutting motion with a rice paddle or spatula. Taste. Add the remaining sushi vinegar if you need more flavor. Sushi vinegar is flexible. Add more sugar if you like a sweeter rice. A Japanese friend told me that older people like sweeter sushi rice. Fan the rice while mixing. This isn't to cool it but to evaporate the moisture a bit.

There are plenty of websites and videos that show you how to roll temakizushi. Enjoy!

Re: Sushi

[(Anonymous)]

I havent made sushi at home for a couple years since my youngest moved out, and Nori sheets have gotten expensive, but we used to do it, especially for parties. We always rolled them all at once and then cut teh slices and arranged for a family dinner or a party.

No real recipe once we did it a few times, white riced cooked with maybe a bit extra water, while warm toss with rice vinegar and something sweet and sticky like maple syrup ( just a dab of that),stir taste and adjust if need more vinegar or sweetner. We never heated this or mixed it ahead, just in teh bowl with teh rice. We used grated carrots, cucumber sliced lengthwise and avacado in various combinations. we just rolled by hand, large sheets of Nori with lots of extra Nori seemed to work well. It does save a ton of money over restaurant.

Atmospheric River

Re: Sushi

[threerays]

Thanks for the recipe!

I have an unconventional sushi recipe I learned from my ex who was from China.

It consisted of white rice, mayonnaise spread on the wrap, and cut up rotisserie chicken from the supermarket.

It sounds odd - but its delicious! You could surely add in vegetables too.

Re: Sushi

[(Anonymous)]

I will just add on with this. You can for the price of about 2-3 rolls make 10 or more and once you have the ingredient ratio sorted and the rolling skill down, it takes almost no time. Cooking the rice is the slowest part of the whole thing.

nettles attract earthworms

[(Anonymous)]

I was clearing a nettle patch for planting. That involved pulling up their intertwined roots. I noticed that some of the nettle roots were inhabited by small earthworms. I carefully pulled out the worms and put them back in the soil before leaving the nettle roots out in the sun to dry. It looked to me as if earthworm eggs had been laid among the roots. Mary Bennett

Re: nettles attract earthworms

[jenniferkobernik]

That’s really cool! If it’s stinging nettle, it likes high-nutrient soils, so it may be less that the nettle attracts the worms than that they both prefer patches of rich soil, but I’m going to pay attention to this henceforth and see what I see.

Re: nettles attract earthworms

[scotlyn]

Our donkey loves nettle roots... To the point of finding a patch of nettles and pawing with a hoof until some of the roots (bright yellow) are visible... then grabbing mouthfuls of roots, with the whole attached plant hanging down either side of the mouth and munching its way up the plant until (presumably) it decides the plant has got too stingy - so the tops get spit out. Apparently the roots are mighty tasty, and when I need to clear a patch myself, I'll save a bunch of roots and take them to the donkey for its pleasure! :)

Builsing a micro economy

[(Anonymous)]

Evening,

I got in the habit of growing good garlic in my little backyard. My friend a few streets over got in the habit of growing good tomatoes. Then I got in the habit of crushing down 'seconds' apples and crabapples to make hard cider. My friends wife enjoyed it and she claimed it helped to pass kidney stones.
Now my friend has decided to grow a small Forest of tobacco. I am aging Cheap whiskey in a small Oak Barrel to turn it into finer whiskey. A little barter and trade system has started here!

What comes after garlic?

[(Anonymous)]

The garlic here is coming ripe in a couple weeks, if not sooner. It's out in full sun.

Is there anything I can plant after it? Maybe not this year, since I mulched with oat straw and that's a pretty good germination inhibitor. But for future reference?

Most of the old folks around here don't go in for succession planting because the seasons are traditionally short, but first frost on this property isn't until very late in October now. (Traditionally that was first snow, not first frost!) So I've got a good couple months, starting with very hot weather.

What likes to fry in the sun when it's starting out, and matures in 60 days?

Re: What comes after garlic?

[(Anonymous)]

Broccoli Packman transplant to harvest app 45 days. Takes app 4 weeks after seed sowing to transplant. Blueberry

Re: What comes after garlic?

[slclaire]

If you like foods in the cabbage family, you can grow bok choy, turnips, winter radishes, and kale, among others, in that time. The seeds can germinate in hot weather, unlike lettuce, and they grow fast.

Re: What comes after garlic?

[(Anonymous)]

You might be able to get in some green beans. I just planted some that said 50 days on the packet - Provider. Yellow summer squashes are small and some are less than 60 days.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't always necessarily have eggs on hand. My vegan cookbooks have lists of egg substitutes. I do already use flax seed in baking. Another such recommended substitute is the liquid from canned (or cooked, I presume} garbanzo beans. The books call it aquasomething or other. My question is what about the left over liquid from other kinds of beans. Mind, I am not trying to make suffles and mouses with other than eggs, but for things like vegetable pancakes, would not the liquid from cooking white or pinto beans be as effective as garbanzo liquid? Mary Bennett

Possible egg substitutes

[(Anonymous)]

Probably so, but it would take some experimentation to confirm whether it binds properly or affects the taste adversely when cooked. There is a similar thickener some recipes mention: the water saved from cooking pasta. I guess this is because cooked glutens are firm as partly dissolved proteins.
Flax seed when soaked has a jello-like binding quality that dry flax seed baked in dough will NOT have. I think a teaspoon worth of flax seed soaked equals one egg. I suspect that a tiny bit of gelatin as in (unflavored jello) would have egg-like binding properties, but have not tried it. Another thing that might work is the mix of fats and aspic-like cartilage solids that rise to the top of the cooled liquid made from boiling chicken or beef bones for bone broth. You could also try substituting ghee, heavy cream, buttermilk, tofu, cottage cheese (spoonful pressed in paper towel to reduce moisture) or dryish greek yogurt as protein rich binders. I have heard of an isolated protein from wheat called seitan (spelling?) that some strict vegans use as a meat substitute. Do keep in mind that I have not personally tried any of these except the soaked flax seed which did fine as a binder but tended to burn at the high heat I cooked my pancakes. Dried powdered eggs are easy to keep in the freezer, though.

[jenniferkobernik]

I think the aquafaba from chickpeas is used mostly because of the neutral taste/color, but others will also whip up into a similar texture (you usually whip it rather than adding it straight).