Stamp Out Hunger and Clean Your Pantry

Do you want to help others and clean out your pantry at the same time? Well tomorrow, May 10th is the perfect opportunity to do both. That is because the National Association of Letter Carriers is having its annual Stamp Out Hunger event. (Image from the National Association of Letter Carriers.) I found out about this event yesterday, when my oldest child brought home a flyer from school. In the flyer were all of the details of the event. Basically, you gather a bag full of non perishable food and place it by your mailbox (or on a front porch). … Continue reading

Overhaul Your Pantry

When you open your pantry, do you find a tumble of cereal boxes, cleaning products and snacks? As homeowners, we tend to stash everything that we possibly can into a pantry. There is something about being able to stash it and close the door that can make a pantry quickly become a mess. A pantry can be so much more. You can have an organized food pantry, or an extended butler’s pantry that is truly functional. Turn your pantry into a purposeful space with the following tips. If you have a large, walk-in pantry, consider moving the microwave, the mixer … Continue reading

Cooking by Numbers Makes Pantry Shopping Easy!

Imagine being snowed in and not knowing what to cook? This great resource makes it easy to just whip something together from items in your pantry. If you have been following my blog, you know that I have been trying to use up some of my food stockpile before I move. I have been doing this through a self-imposed pantry challenge, well, one of my good friends, Kelly, who has been reading my blogs has just alerted me to a great website that will make my life a lot easier, when it comes to pulling ingredients from my pantry. The … Continue reading

Pantry Challenge: Falling Off of the Wagon

How many individual packets of sugar does it take to make a half a cup? I’m proud, well, almost proud, to say I now know the answer. I officially ended our pantry challenge when I asked my husband to bring home a bag of sugar (and cold cuts and bread and milk and diapers). My moment of defeat came yesterday when I was faced with fact that it is already February, and we haven’t brought in the class snack for Andrew’s Kindergarten class. Not a problem, I thought, I’ll just make some sugar cookies. I got out the cookie cutters, … Continue reading

The Frugal Blog Week in Review: Jan. 27 to Feb. 2

Hello there! It is a quiet Saturday evening on the day before the Superbowl. my husband is getting the last kid to bed, I’m listening to my new Nora Jones music, and I am seriously thinking of taking a nice hot bath. Before that, though, I wanted to bring you the week in review for the Frugal Living Blog. I know you read every blog faithfully, so I’ll just assume you want to reread them all again. Saturday, January 27 Save on Paper: Take Advantage of Junk Mail In an earlier blog, Save on Paper: The Three Best Ways, I … Continue reading

Pantry Challenge: What You Can Do with A Box of Potatoes

From the back of the pantry, hiding from the warm yellow light of the kitchen sits a lone box of instant mashed potatoes. How this box of potatoes got there is a bit of a mystery. I always make mashed potatoes from scratch, since real potatoes are so inexpensively frugal, especially when they are on sale for buy one bag and get one free. It is not unusual for me to have two 5- or 10- pound bags of potatoes available. So where did the…gasp…instant potatoes come from? My best conclusion is to blame it on my husband. No, no, … Continue reading

Pantry Challenge: Campbell’s to The Rescue!

What do you do when you have a ton of canned soup? Visit the Campbell’s recipe site of course! Another day of my pantry challenge. We are still doing pretty well with using our stock. One of the things I forgot to mention is that we very rarely eat red meat in our house, so you will see a lot of chicken, bean, pasta and vegetables dishes. Although with not buying any produce, the vegetables are scarce. I may break down this week and get some fresh fruits and veggies, because of the health factor. For breakfast, we had some … Continue reading

Pantry Challenge: Baking Day

Today is turning out to be a baking day. I normally feel more comfortable baking than actually cooking things on the stove. Put it in a dish and stick it in the oven is my philosophy. But today seems to be a real baking theme in my pantry challenge. (What is a pantry challenge? Click here to learn all about it.) For breakfast I made some baked oatmeal, using up rolled oats and raw sugar from the pantry, as well as some milk and eggs. This is a treat whether eaten hot from the oven or cold from the refrigerator. … Continue reading

Sneaking the Leftovers

Using up your leftovers or having planned leftovers for meals is a great way to save money. You can use up all of the food you have through leftovers, especailly getting free meals. Also, cooking in bulk can save money and time. But not everyone is big on leftovers. Before I became frugal, I wouldn’t touch a leftover for my life. People who don’t like leftovers either avoid them because of some pre-determined idea that they won’t taste as good as the original or a feeling of being deprived, or a worry about being too cheap. Kids especially don’t like … Continue reading

My Frugal Stockpiling Session

Yesterday was grocery shopping day. Yes, I know that Saturdays can be tough, but as I was mentioning on one of the forums, when I go shopping, I need help. So, my husband comes along, and we make it a family affair. I do all of the price research and coupon cutting before we go, so that we are all set. Once we get there, and it is just a matter of zipping through the store or stores quickly and efficiently. My stockpile in the past few months has been looking pretty anemic. This is because we purged a lot … Continue reading