2024 From the Tightwad Gazette. : Number 2

 I learned a lot from the Tightwad Gazette that Still Works.  So I am sharing.

1.  Potatoes can be an inexpensive food.  But it depends on how you buy them.  I buy potatoes in a bag at the smallest price/ pound I can find.  A baked potato is one of the cheapest forms.  Mashed is also fairly cheap when you make them at home.  Fried, scalloped, augratin, and others made at home helps the budget.  Prepared mashed, scalloped augratin and such, not so much.  And the humble French frie, bought in the frozen food department, costs at least five times more than making them from scratch with a knife.

2.  When I peel potatoes, I make the peels a little thicker.  Then, for a different meal, I spray the peels with Pam and salt them.  Then I cook them in the oven until crispy.  A great side for sandwiches, pizza and more and made with something that you might throw out.

3.  I bake a lot.  To keep the cost down, I only buy flour at 99cents for a five  pound bag.  Sometimes I am lucky enough to find it at 50 cents a bag.  and I buy yeast by the pound for a very small fraction of the cost of the little packets.  Keep track of sales in the November/December time frame. Amish  Scratch and dent stores are also good sources.

4.  Coffee can be expensive.  And for me it’s a food group.   So we follow the system outlined in the Tightwad Gazette :  make your first pot as usual ; make the second by adding half the original amount on top of the first pot’s grounds.  The result is two pots of coffee  for 1 and 1/2 the grounds rather than 2.  If your coffee costs $5.12 per bag, by making it go further your cost ends up being $3.84.  Small savings add up.

5.  Keep your sugar and your baking soda near each other in the cupboard.  When you make pie filling, cobblers, fruit salads, and other items using fruit,  If you add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to the fruit, you can reduce the sugar by 1/2 and still get the desired sweetness.  The baking soda neutralizes the acid in the fruit.

2024 Buying and Eating: September 1-15

 Allocation :   $380.00

Cushion:   $881.70

YTD  240 days  

Total   $1957.30

Grocery   $1362.53

Eating Out    $594.77

What We Ate:  eggplant parmigiana, pasta with sauce, salad, zucchini;     Cottage cheese Alfredo, fresh tomato with feta, grilled homemade English muffins;     Kielbasa on the grill with mushrooms and onions, coleslaw, potato salad, watermelon;     Southwestern lentil and black bean burritos, popcorn;     Assorted appetizers to celebrate our anniversary:  Asiago cheese and crackers, shrimp cocktail, bacon wrapped water chestnuts, spicy oyster crackers;     Mullegwatawny soup and salad;     Leftover smorgasbord;     Indian curry over rice with rosemary bread , zucchini and watermelon;       Grilled chicken, cheesy potato rounds, cabbage, tomato;     Meatloaf, fried potatoes, Brussels sprouts, applesauce;     Buffalo chicken casserole and leftover veg;     Pork loin, tarragon baked potatoes, roasted cauliflower, corn on the cob;    Cottage cheese Alfredo pasta, carrots with butter and honey, garlic bread, mandarin oranges;     Greek marinaded chicken, pasta with spinach and feta, cheesy cauliflower;     

What We Bought:

Aldi:  Italian bread, bagels (2), raisin bread, cinnamon rolls.  $14.77.    (We are in the rv)

Save a Lot.     Onions (3#), smoked sausage (2).     $8.07

Giant.    Oyster crackers.  $3.29

Commissary:  rosemary bread, cinnamon raisin bagels, #10 cans of green beans and corn, canned chicken (2), white vinegar (gal), poppy seed dressing, water chestnuts (2)     $35.10

Casselman Creamery:  feta (2), cheese curds( 1#), red Leicester   $25.07

Sanders:  pork loin  (3.25#), corn (3), cauliflower $9.09

Aldi:   Cottage cheese, mixed vegetables, fresh spinach, peas, broccoli, fresh carrots, maple crème cookies   $  12.23

Sam’s:  Parmesan, mozzarella, three cheese blend, cheddar,7.5 dozen eggs   $41.00

Eating Out:

Lunch in dc.   $11.    Panda Express

Breakfast in dc.  $8.48  Ted’s

Dinner in dc.    $35

Lunch returning from dc. $3.99  Sam’s   

Dinner in rv.  7.49.    Taco Bell

YTD  255 days 

Total   $2171.88     $8.52/day     $4.76/ person/ day

Grocery     $1511.15    $5.92/ day     $2.96/person/ day

Eating Out     $660.73     $2.29/day     $1.15/person/day

2024 Buying and Eating: August 16-31

Remaining Allocation:   $372.43

Cushion:   $815.13

YTD   224 days

Total:  $1641.44

Groceries:  $1139.29

Eating Out    $502.15

What We Bought:      

Dollar Tree     Pretzels       $1.25

Salvage     Honey bunches of oats (3), Raisin Bran, saltines (5), coffee (15#) Kraft Mac and cheese (4), oatmeal, cake mix (6),whole wheat flour (20#), self rising flour, dried beans (2#), applesauce , almond butter (2) , pizza sauce (6), rice a roni (2), peanut butter (3), jalapeño olives (6), dried cherries (2), corn starch, salsa, maraschino cherries, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, black pepper, horseradish, red curry paste, pad Thai sauce, tahini (2), peaches (3), mustard, evaporated milk (3), shelf stable milk, curry seasoning, green beans ( 9), wax beans, zucchini, peas (2), mango (2), diced tomatoes (9), tomato sauce (3), whole tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, crushed tomatoes (3), carrots, nutmeg, lasagna noodles, thyme, stuffing mix (3), dates, pineapple slices (2), fried onions, digestive biscuits(2), peanuts (4#), jello (2).    $176.43

Produce stand     Corn   $2

Price Rite:  Pam (2), varied pasta(8), canned corn  (6), salad greens (2), tomatoes (2), cabbage, cucumber, clementines (3#), watermelon, deli meats (6#)     $43.56

Two week grocery:  $223.24

What We Ate:  lamb Thai curry over rice, homemade flat bread, yogurt and mandarins;     Homemade hummus, falafel, flat bread, three bean salad;     Meatloaf, baked potato, mixed vegetables, cottage cheese and fruit;     Cottage cheese Alfredo and pasta, pineapple, garlic bread;     Meatloaf sandwiches, fried potatoes, pineapple;      Cottage pie, fresh corn, fresh fruit salad;     Turkey divan, carrots, garlic bread;     Southwestern lentils and black beans with rice tacos and edamame;     Chicken on the grill, garlic couscous, green beans almandine;   Tuscan Orzo pasta, beans, beets and rice salad with bleu cheese, garlic bread;   Pittsburgh style chicken salad and watermelon  ;     Ham and cheese sandwiches with potato rounds;     Meatloaf, salt potatoes, watermelon, salad;     Eggplant parmigiana, garlic bread , salad;  hot chicken salad, stuffing with cranberries, pineapple and clementine salad;

Eating Out:

A&W       Lunch in Ohio        $8.47

Urban Kitchen       Dinner in Ohio   $18

Arby’s       Lunch in Ohio       $5.00

Lunch with the ladies group     $24

Lunch at yacht club    $37.15

Two week eating out:  $92.62

New Cushion  $881.70

YTD  240days

Total   $1957.30        $8.16/ day         4.08/ person/day

Grocery   $1362.53          $ 5.68/day      $2.84/person/day

Eating Out  $594.77          $ 2.48/ day     $1.24/ person/day

  

2024 Frugal Things in August

1.  I purchased six birthday cards at Dollar Tree for $1 each.  They were Hallmark cards that would have cost much more at a normal store.  

2.  I purchased a weekly/monthly planner and calendar for 2025 for $1.50 at Dollar Tree, much cheaper than other planners I checked out.

3.  We checked the cost of a new prescription between a local drug store and our mail order drugstore.  A couple of minutes saved us $21.

4.  I had to be at the Cleveland Clinic for an appointment at 8:00.  We stayed in their hotel free of charge using points.

5.  We used a $15 voucher at the yacht club for lunch.

6.  By searching the discounted tag items, I managed to buy 6 tops for about $12.  The original thrift store price for them was $33.

7.  We went salvage grocery shopping and found some great deals:  cereal for 80 cents a box, saltines for 50 cents a box, coffee at $3 a pound, cake mixes at 25 cents each, whole wheat flour for 99 cents for five pounds, dried beans for 79 cents a pound, almond butter for $1 a jar, soy sauce for 50 cents a jar, pad Thai sauce for 30 cents, mustard for 30 cents, evaporated milk for 30 cents, green beans for 25 cents a can, wax beans for 40 cents a can, peas for 40 cents a can, diced tomatoes for 30 cents a can, whole tomatoes for 39 cents a can, lasagna sheets for 89 cents, peanuts for 50 cents a pound  and more.  This really helps keep our grocery budget lower.

8.  We pay our dental bills directly from our checking account instead of using a credit card.  This saves us 3%.  that the dentist adds to our bill.  That can add up more quickly than you might expect.

2024. Money Saving From The Long Ago Tightwad Gazette Newsletter: Our First

 I learned these ideas about thirty years ago and they are still saving me money.  

1.  Regular brand or store brand popcorn kernels can save a lot of money.  Microwave popcorn is expensive and never gives you the amount of popcorn it says it will on the box.  Popping your inexpensive kernels in a saucepan with just a tad of oil gives you more popcorn, without the additives, and costs you less.  An easy win.  And it takes about the same amount of time.  We pop a batch about once a week, sometimes more.

2.  Your cold beverage of choice can save a fortune over time.  Soda pop is one of the most expensive.  Water out of the tap is cheapest.  I am not a water person, I know, I know.  So I make solar ice tea using two teabags that I bought on sale.  Gallon to gallon you save a lot :  Pennies vs dollars.

3.  My cupboard is stocked with dry milk and canned evaporated milk.  It is extremely rare to find milk in my fridge.  Granted, I don’t have kids at home any more, but I cook from scratch for every meal and I bake a lot .  When a recipe calls for milk I use dry milk.  Sometimes I mix it with water, sometimes with vegetable juices, etc.  if a recipe calls for half and half or whole milk, I use evaporated milk.   For cream I use evaporated and some melted butter.   I always have what I need and I don’t have to throw away a partial gallon of milk.    Money and time running to the store saved.

4.  I make my own bread but even if I bought it,  I would always be ready to make croutons or bread crumbs.  I have never bought them:  too many additives and too expensive.  If you have stale bread, make French toast or bread pudding.  Never toss.  It’s like throwing money away, a lot of money when you add it up.

5.  There are only two in our family now, but I still keep track of our groceries closely.  While I am sure others do better, I am content with the, on average, $35.30 per week to feed the two of us.  And we eat well.    How?  The biggest is by bulk buying.  When something is found at a very low price I stock up, sometimes buying several month’s worth .  Another big one is by not buying convenience foods:  pre chopped, small individual servings, basically not paying for things that I can do myself.  Buying marked down items such as fruits, vegetables and meats.  All my meat is either marked down to sell quickly, or a n holiday loss leader such as hams and turkeys.  Learn to cook low meat and no meat dishes.  Soups and stir fries and other ethnic meals work great .