Frugal Food & Facts on the Blog
Top 5 favorite foods to freeze
These frozen foods pay big dividends.
Top 5: How to save with a shopping buddy
How to save $$ with a shopping buddy.
Top 5 kitchen tools for under $10
Mighty and cheap tools of the trade.
Freezer is your friend for summer savings
As the heat of summer sets in, we start focusing on our freezers -- a true friend for helping reduced food costs.
Which is cheaper for Empty Nesters? Eating in or out?
I'm looking for tips from Empty Nesters out there. How do you typically eat -- cooking at home or eating out?
Kindly reminder: Beans' benefits bear repeating
So beans are cheap. Duh. But fast forward to your digestive system and they’re practically a miracle cure.
Desperate Cooks Freeze Their Cheese!
Freezing your cheese means you never have to throw away huge moldy hunks of expensive cheese.
Finding a cheap holiday ham is like a sport
The delectability of a ham does not depend on paying a lot of money for it.
Time to buy a new Crock-Pot? Here's how to tell.
If you haven’t used your Crock-Pot in so long you’re afraid of it, now is the time to dust the dear sweet thing off and get cooking. Or at least figure out if the darn thing is worth keeping.
Homemade pita chips let your imagination soar!
Gourmet specialty “chips” are yummy – and usually expensive – so we set out to see what it would take to make our own.
Is homemade hummus cheaper than store-bought?
Making hummus might seem like a giant WHY since prepared hummus is widely available in an array of flavors. But ours is cheaper than store-bought and tastes fresher, too!
Ditching groceries at the checkout: Are you guilty too?
Anybody else find yourself abandoning grocery items while you’re unloading the cart? I thought it was just me – - and then I saw an Associated Press report estimating at least 25 percent of all shoppers are dumping at least one item they had intended to buy. What to do?
So, how many figs can you get from a 99-cent plant? Just don't laugh!
Backyard figs bring fun all summer long.
Summer Entertaining on a Budget
Ellen Ferlazzo of Pleasanton, Calif., blogs on budget cooking and agreed to do a guest post for us about how she threw a casual, fun party for her daughter’s high school graduation spending roughly $280 for 50 guests, including decorations.
Time for Dad to check the gaskets and clean the coils?
Do the stuff on this list once a year, and you’ll double the chances your refrigerator will make it to the ripe age of 14. We'd suggest Father's Day, but it might not go over all that well.
Why not entertain the bride at home?
Wedding season is upon us and until the economy improves, entertaining the bride at home is an option worth serious consideration. Insanity you say? Not if you keep the menu simple.
As a teen, Jason needed cooking advice. Now he's the one giving it!
We first heard from Jason Gerling of New Hartford, N.Y., when he was 14 years old and needed some recipe advice. Now, a decade later, he's the one offering the advice. Online coupons anyone?
Teenage cook is now adult crackerjack coupon clipper!
At age 14, Jason Gerling started cooking for his family. Now he's 24, a geriatric social worker, and still cooking for his family on a pretty tight budget. When a 20-something wants to save money on groceries, he heads for the computer. Here's how it works.
Coupon clipping is easier when it's a game
When I have trouble getting excited about coupons, which is often, I turn it into a game. Especially when it's a savings so small you'll need a magnifying glass, such as a 20-cents-off coupon, I play the “percentage game.”
Let's get those leftovers cookin'!
Leftovers are a desperate cooks’ best friend. We sometimes cook extras intentionally for a jump start on dinner down the road.
Chipotle restaurant's chicken is easy to grill at home
When my son Sam was eating way too much fast food from Chipotle, I set out to “help” him curb the habit. The result was a terrific Copycat Chipotle Chicken that you can grill at home.
Freeze leftover sauces in ice cube trays
If it’s liquid, expensive and likely to spoil before we can eat it all, it goes into an ice cube tray. Take pesto, a typical tablespoon-or-two-at-time sort of sauce. Here’s how to make it last forever.
Does a supermarket dinner do it for Date Night?
Instead of going out to a seafood restaurant and spending roughly $62 (plus tip) on a dinner for two, Publix suggests we eat at home and save $40. But on a Saturday night is it really worth it?
Don't Waste Money on a Too-Small Skillet
All-in-one skillet recipes are especially convenient for busy nights because you can cook your whole dinner with only one pan to wash. But convenience turns into disaster if your pan is too small.
