Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Rising Early to Cookby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 21 Apr 2007 08:52 AM Want to witness another frugal lesson from the Amish? Read on to learn about how rising early to cook (or adapting this practice) can be very frugal. Amish women tend to rise very early, while it is still dark, during a time that most of us would consider to be still part of the middle of the night. They do this so they can prepare their homes and their families for the coming day. Because the Amish burn so many calories in physical work and even social pursuits, they tend to create very large and dense breakfasts, and the breakfast table is another opportunity to come together as a family. Amy generally serves eggs, oatmeal, meat and biscuits or bread every morning. Our society is a little different, of course, but I do adopt the rising early habit to cook. Why do I do this? It helps that I am a morning person, but I find that if I have a good breakfast ready for my family in the mornings, it saves money. First of all, home-cooked meals are always more frugal than eating out, no matter what the meal. My husband can grab something from our kitchen on his way out the door, instead of spending $4-$5 a day for breakfast. And having something else on hand helps curb the kid's expensive cereal habit, where a $4 box of cereal can be downed in a day or two. Click here to learn why morning muffins are one of my top frugal choices. Some other choices include oatmeal (slow cooked or baked), eggs, pancakes with chocolate chips or fruit and buttermilk waffles. I also use this morning time to get started on dinner prep. Everyone else is generally asleep or getting ready for the day, so I can have this time to cook without interruption. Crockpots and casseroles are great frugal tools, but any kind of meal can generally at least be prepped in the morning. Salads can be tossed together, desert mixed up, chicken defrosted and marinaded, etc. Having dinner ready for the oven, or at least halfway there, makes it less likely that we will chose to eat out because we are too tired to cook. And if you aren't a morning person, you can still take advantage of this lesson to prep your meals the night before, mix up dry ingredients for baking, or use the time to freezer cook a week's worth of pancakes. And don't feel deprived just because you are being frugal. By rising early to cook, you can save enough in a week to easily pay for at least two weeks of Friday-night take-out. Related Articles: Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Mowing the Lawn Frugal Lessons from the Amish: Going Goodwilling Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Cooling Food Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Growing Food Frugal Lessons from The Amish: Giving Up Your Vacuum Frugal Lessons from the Amish: Living It for Real! Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Community Tags Amish, cooking, frugal Discuss this article
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