Frugal living or not - two sides of the coin

I came across a website the other day that challenged everyone to eat on $1.50 per day for five days - http://livebelowtheline.com/ . 

So I gave it a shot.  You can see how I did on a thread at the Simple Living Forum - http://www.simplelivingforum.net/showthread.php?2731-My-personal-Live-Below-The-Line-Challenge

Kara (Treehugger on the Simple Living forum) commented on that thread that she budgets $100 a month for both her and her husband.  Wow.  That's $1.66 each per day.  Every day!  She doesn't have chickens, and it sounded like she didn't get much from the garden this year. She explains how she does it on the thread. And I thought I was doing pretty good by staying under $250 a month for the two of us, with a goal of $200 a month. I think she's my new hero.

You might think that $1.66 per person, per day is easily attainable.  What surprised me in the $1.50 challenge was how much all the extras added to the total - things like butter, sugar, seasonings, even tea, coffee or a glass of milk.  It wouldn't be much different in the $100 a month budget, either.

Now then, the flip side.  Some people we know dropped by the other day.  She's definitely not into the frugal living/make-it-from-scratch lifestyle.  Look in her refrigerator and you'll see a wave of take out containers AKA doggy bags, most of them with food that's not exactly edible.  Once in a while she throws it all away and starts over.  I always thought it was kind of comical and I'd tease her about it.

So the conversation was about the guy applying for a better paying job.  I said that my goal was to live well on less than $1000 a month. (A moment of silence - then lots of laughing and 'good luck with that' with some 'you poor dear' insinuated.)  They said that they need $7500 a month to live!  I didn't know my jaw could drop that far.  They don't live in a McMansion and have talked about financial problems in the past, so I know they have a boatload of debt.  What's scary is that they're 65-ish, so time isn't on their side any more.

So she's sitting there eating some of my homemade yogurt, almost yelling in her best 'holier than thou' tone:
I WANT to take my credit card to the store to buy what I want,
I WANT to use my credit card when ever I want, etc.

Me: *blink blink* (thanks, OFG).  I didn't say much but I was thinking that I kinda didn't like her any more.

It's all about choices.  Personally, I'd rather not have the pressure and I don't want Bill to have to work forever.  So my choice is to stay on the frugal side of life, challenge myself to lower the grocery bill each month without having to buy Beano (can I get it to $50 per person??) and pay off debt.  And of course - to enjoy the journey along the way!

Links for frugal recipes AKA eating on the cheap

“The remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served us nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.” ~Calvin Trillin  (Copied from another site, but I forgot where I saw it!)

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http://www.leftoverchef.com/  Wonderful site that lets you type in what ingredients you have around the house, then gives you recipes of what you could make with them.

http://busycooks.about.com/  Tons of info and recipes here.  One of my favorite sites to get the recipes to make your own convenience foods and so much more.

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?folderId=13&listMode=13&nav=messages&webtag=ab-frugalliving  This is a thread in a forum that has a lot of frugal recipes.

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/  Lots of recipes and information for the frugal minded.

http://www.miserlymoms.com/frugalrecipes_updated.html

http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/recipes.htm

These links should keep you busy for a while.  I'll post more as I come across them.  Let me know if you have some that are favorites of yours!

Bone Broth - the good stuff

The first time I ever heard anything about bone broth was on the Sufficient Self forum.  I figured it was just boiling up the leftover bones from chicken or turkey to make stock.  I was wrong.

According to the knowledgable people on that forum, you need a glug of ACV in with the water and bones to make bone broth.  The vinegar pulls out the nutrients from the bones and makes the most yummy tasting broth!  It looks much richer than the pale, watery stuff I used to make (that I thought was so good) or the really pale stuff you get from Swanson's in the grocery store (which is just a step up from plain ol' water).  An added bonus is that if you cook it long enough, the bones get really soft.  So soft that you can take the leg bone and just mush the end of it between your fingers.  And no, you don't taste any vinegar.

The first time I tried it was in my old pressure cooker.  I used turkey bones.  Holy momma, that was good stuff.  To make the bones soft enough that I felt safe in mixing them with homemade dog/cat chow, I had to pressure cook it for 2-1/2 hours.  I loved the idea of using the bones, but not the idea that I had to have the range on for that long.

The next time I just did it all in my big slow cooker.  I used chicken bones that time.  Plunked them all in the Crock Pot, added water to cover and a glug of apple cider vinegar (a glug is a technical term used in some kitchens).  I put the cooker on low, and forgot about it until the next day.  When I checked it, all the bones were easily mushing up.  Since this batch was just for dog/cat food, they got all the broth and marrow-y goodness from the mushed bones.  All the four legged critters gave it two paws up!

I'm already saving chicken bones in the freezer for the next batch. I'll keep the rich broth for a pot of chicken and noodles this time.  Who knew that simple ACV could make such a difference?

If you have never cooked with stock or bone broth, you're in for a treat.  Once you start using it, you'll never go back to using water.

I found this great site that lists more details on how to make bone broth with beef, chicken and pork bones:
http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com/recipes/recipe21.php

Paring Down the Grocery Bill

My goal is to stay at $200 a month for groceries for the two of us.  We have grown kids and friends that visit, so there are snacks, desserts, and extra portions included in that goal.  To me, it sounds like a lot of money.  I have read that other families have kept their food budget that low, but I have yet to reach it...and eat what we like to eat.  Our grocery bill usually runs $225 a month.  I do stock up when something is on sale, but on the flip side, I'm using from my pantry on a regular basis, too.  A friend, who is really struggling financially, recently told me that she spent almost $350 for groceries for just her last month.  I don't know who gasped louder.. me, when she told me that, or her, when I told her what I usually spend for two people. 

I tried the OAMC (once a month cooking) and it just wasn't for me.   I don't have a Sam's or Cosco a block away.  We live in a rural area, with a little grocery store about 15 miles from here.  Running to the store for just a couple things...how do I say this... just ain't gonna happen.  I can't remember what I needed but didn't have when I started searching 'make your own _____'.  Wow.  Wasn't I surprised!  There are decent substitutions for practically everything you would use in every day cooking. You really can save money AND eat well!

I buy almost no convience foods at all now.  I do buy some things that I could make, but don't want to, like tomato soup (my homemade was so-so at best) and cream of mushroom soup (I don't use enough to warrant trying to keep mushrooms in my frig or yard, either). But I make a pretty good cream of chicken and cream of celery soup.  Soooo simple, too!  Oh, I do buy various cereals and some breads. I don't want to try to make crackers, but I have made flour tortilla chips.  The bulk of my cooking is from scratch...really scratch.

The point here is that there are tons of recipes for making about any convience food that you would buy.  You don't have to do it all at once, either.  I started out with cream of chicken soup mix.  The batch of mix equals 9 cans of soup (and only cost $1.25), so I didn't have to make it again for a while.  When I make noodles, I make enough for several meals and pop them into the freezer. Ditto with soups.  Most of the time I plan for leftovers that I can put in the freezer.  Then I have easy meals for when I don't feel like cooking. Make sure you label everything that goes in the freezer.  Things, especially soups, have a way of looking alike after a while.  I have a cool, low tech labeling system - masking tape and a permanent marker.

I really watch pricing in the grocery store.  When they first started coming out with bulk foods and bigger packages, it was cheaper per ounce to buy.  Now -  ain't necessarily so.  A 2 lb. bag of brown sugar is the most commonly sold size.  Two 1 lb. boxes are cheaper than the 2 lb. bag now.  But, it's cheaper yet in the 4 lb. bag, and I use enough of it to warrant buying that size.  (Edited on 1-4-2011 - I don't even buy brown sugar now, I just make it when I need it, really cheap!)  White sugar is cheaper per pound to buy 4 lb bags where I live.

I also have a garden every year and in a perfect world, I'd can/freeze enough goodies to last an entire year.  I keep trying, but Nature has a way of keeping you humble.

If you haven't tried looking at everything you can make from scratch, get your mouse clicking and head over to http://busycooks.about.com/  for a starter course.  Just type 'make your own' into their search bar and you'll be on your way to pages of money saving ideas.