Old Idea's, New Times

When the kids were young and we struggled to make ends meet, I was a big fan of The Tightwad Gazette and books like it. I recently checked them out at the library and decided they were great for that time, but life has changed since then. While the principles remain the same, the chaos of life has increased and old idea's need to be adapted. This blog isn't going to bore you with simple idea's that have been around forever like turning the water off while you brush your teeth or to reuse items more than once. While we should implement the ideas if we aren't currently using them, they are common sense! So go ahead and turn the lights off when you leave a room, use air dry on your dishwasher, lets concentrate on new idea's. I also used the once a month cooking method way back when, but I no longer have a deep freeze; I'm limited to the small freezer over our economically priced refrigerator. That doesn't mean I can't plan ahead, prepare ahead, and avoid convenience foods. I realize I had become a slave to convenience foods and that has now changed. Mark commented yesterday that he thought once I went back to work, he would have to revert to prepackaged snacks, convenience foods and fast foods while I worked. I was prepared with an answer, after pondering the same thought over the past few weeks. NO! was my answer. We'll plan ahead, prepare ahead, and stick to our path. I found a book in the library loan system --do you see a theme here?--(actually two but I have not received the second one yet) that is basically a cookbook but it's concept is to prepare ahead. It wants you to buy foods when they are on sale and freeze already prepared. (Well, yea!) An example I can report because I used it this week. Chicken thighs were a loss leader at a local grocery store. I bought a package and I can get three meals and two lunches for Mark out of it. I can follow my old pattern and separate the thighs, throw them in a ziploc bag, and pull them out as I use them. But, I will be lazy or busy or too frustrated to do much more than throw them in the oven and bake them when the time comes. No wonder we dine out so much, we're tired of the same old foods! Instead, I spend a small amount of time to plan ahead. I throw the marinade in with the chicken, or throw the vegies and seasoning into the same bag. When the time comes, into a roaster goes the entire meal and voila, a healthy, frugal meal that sure beats plain ol' baked chicken. Admittedly, I hesitate to freeze a meal made from a recipe before we taste it, so I am cooking one and if it passes muster, freezing one. We haven't had a failure yet. The cost of last nights dinner for two (and a lunch for Mark) was a whopping $4.28. Healthy, delicious, and yes....FRUGAL! I want to add here that Mark has not bought a lunch while at work since we began planning ahead. Yes, we did buy some frozen foods for him (pizza mostly) but I notice he has taken his homemade planned lunches and only takes a pizza on occassion! AND, its still cheaper than eating out everyday. Cost for him to eat out is $5-8, an average weekly savings of $32.00, a monthly savings of $130 and an annual savings of $1560! That would sure be better spent paying off a debt!