What are your biggest obstacles to frugality and how

[Trigger Hippie]

do you overcome them? My worst problem is with food!

I live in a studio apartment, so I don't have room for a pantry. I can't cook, so I spend too much eating out and eating frozen dinners. I would like to try to cook but so many recipes are for 6-8 servings, which is just too much for me. And I am too lazy to make a good plan, implement it and stick with it, starting with what's healthiest and cheapest (and it seems those two are at odds with one another) and how to get that food (I use public transportation) and how to cook that food, keep that food fresh with little space in my kitchen, and on and on and on. Whew! Every day is a struggle with that one.

So, tell me your frugal troubles. :)

[eleny]

1. Old habits die hard

I can walk to the library. But since I have to cross a major street with a short light, I tend to opt for the car. It's a trip I make a few times a month, so it's one of my goals to start walking there.

I'm probably too wasteful in the kitchen, too. It's easy to forget what's in the fridge or at the back of a pantry. You've got me thinking more about how to resolve that. Perhaps a list of leftovers on the side of the fridge would help me to use up what we have so it doesn't go bad.

You might try visiting the cooking and baking group here at DU. We may spark your interest in cooking a meal once in a while. One member recently got himself a very small crockpot to cook for one - and that's a frugal way to make a meal, too.

[Trigger Hippie]

5. My habits are a terrible obstacle for me too.

That's why I'm quitting smoking and forcing myself to eat better. I just need to learn to cook. I actually went to my local thrift store last night to find a crockpot, but I couldn't tell them apart from the rice cookers. How pitiful is that!??? :rofl:

[I_Make_Mistakes]

2. Actually, I too am single. I cook on Sundays, big batches and

freeze them. You can cook those recipes, the trick is to get efficient containers to freeze them. You can get great recipes in the DU cooking forum and I have a lot of good, quick recipes if you want.

After you cook them, with the minerals still there, they are healthy and provide energy. All you have to do, is microwave them. When you get into a routine, you will have a great variety, with less time than actually eating out or buying them all the time!

[Trigger Hippie]

6. Freezing does seem like the way to go.

I have stove fear though. I have a gas stove and never cooked with it before, but I'll try. :)

[anitar1]

8. Use a windup timer to remind yourself to check what ever

you are cooking. I also have a cookbook titled"Cooking for Two" Or I cut a recioe in half. I freeze soups ect in Mason jars and microwave if I forget to let them thaw.I freeze lots of things for the days I am busy or don't feel like cooking.It is so much easier and I don'tend up wasting food. Also I purchased a string bag for transporting small orders of food--such as salad ingredients. Have learned to always have a stock of foods in the cupboard to make things easier.And buy most of my paper goods and many other things at Costco.

[lildreamer316]

9. Try the tips from this site:

http://organizedhome.com/

check the menu on the left side for the Freezer Cook section. Very easy to follow directions and checklists.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Sick, Broke, and Rent an Apartment

If I had a house, I'd have already converted that sukka to Solar, and be making biodiesel for a custom-made generator and a diesel-tweaked automobile.

Sick and Broke limits my investments of money and labor. Sitting on my festering rump writing screeds for DU is pretty much my limit. But I've accumulated a huge amount of education about some of these issues, and will share what I have.

Even if I'm dead meat on a stick, there's no reason why anybody else has to be.

--p!

[I_Make_Mistakes]

4. Hey P just over the bridge, in SJ. PM me, we could get coffee, I'll buy.

No wonder you are struggling, cities are back breakers, but Philly is the birth place of this country and needs to re-vitalize it's position in history. Go Eagles!

[Trigger Hippie]

7. Renting takes 50% of my money per month.

It's rough. :(

[Wordie]

13. Oh, gosh, that is bad. I've done that...it's always scary because ANY

little thing can so easily turn into a big emergency. Have you thought about checking out sources of assistance in your area? Because paying 50% for housing is really putting you in a risky situation. Even if the housing programs are being cut back right now, I think that many cities still have energy assistance programs, which given the energy situation expected this winter may be needed from a lot more people. There may be other things that could help. Have you checked?

And on the other theme of this thread, I always try to look for soup recipes to try. Soup is great because you can stretch your budget when times are a bit thin financially (for instance, use half the chicken the recipe calls for), and they tend to be so economical even without stretching. I have seen some interesting-looking soup cookbooks at the library. And at this time of year, soup is so satisfying.

If you're interested, I'll send you a recipe formula for soup that I clipped from a magazine several years ago. It establishes some basic ingredients, but then you can vary the recipe with whatever you happen to have on hand, or particularly like, by using what is more-or-less a foolproof formula. It's great because you get variety, and you can use up leftovers or avoid going to the store by using what you have on hand. Let me know if you would like it and I'll type it up for you and send it or post it here.

And, one other thing I do to save money is to grow my own herbs. This is particularly cost-effective when you live alone, because to buy them is expensive anyway, but then the recipe you are trying rarely will use the entire bunch, so inevitably some needs to be thrown out. (I'm thinking here of cilantro, which doesn't last long.)

[Trigger Hippie]

16. Yeah, could you post the soup formula here?

That would be great! I'm trying to get over my cooking fear and plan on shopping for a crock pot and a pot and/or skillet this weekend. I just cannot go on spending so much on food. :(

Thanks!

[Wordie]

18. I found a link to that soup formula online.

And here it is:
http://www.usaweekend.com/01_issues/010916/010916cooksmart.html

The great thing about this formula approach to a recipe, is that you can modify it in any way you want. That allows you to go to the store, buy whatever you find that is inexpensive or on sale, and then use this recipe to cook it when you get it home.

The recipe formula basically tells you to use X amount of protein, Y amount of vegetable, and Z amount of starch. I am afraid I'm making it sound more difficult than it is, so please, take a look. Note that the recipe author gives you the formula, and then gives you some example recipes, to try out to get started. The author has also written some cookbooks, and I bet they would be good ones for a beginning cook to check out at the library.

Also, this recipe will make way more than you, as just one person, could possibly eat at one sitting. You could either cut the recipe in half, and have some leftovers to use for a while, or you could make the entire thing, and freeze part of it. I find those pint and half-pint containers that you can put in the microwave work great (get the square ones, rather than round; they store better). Then, on those nights that you just don't feel like cooking, you can have a nice hot bowl of homemade soup. All you have to do is thaw it, and reheat.

Did you get that crockpot? I got rather caught up in all the political stuff going on over the last few weeks, so only just got back to replying now. My apologies. Let us know how you are doing.

[Trigger Hippie]

19. Thanks!

That will make things easier when I get around to getting that crockpot. I actually looked for one at my nearby thrift store, but since they weren't in boxes, I couldn't tell the rice cookers from the crock pots and was too embarrassed to ask. :blush:

But I will get one... The whole cooking thing seems to me to be like climbing Everest, buying supplies, recipe ingredients, cooking without burning myself, saving and forcing myself to eat leftovers. Whew! It's definitely a challenge for me. I appreciate your help and everyone else's help though. :hug:

[Wordie]

20. You could go to some of the appliance mfg's sites, and take a look.

That way, you would know the difference between crock-pot and rice cooker. One easy test: the crock pots - good ones, at least - should have a ceramic pot that fits inside the outside metal portion. There is an issue of glass versus plastic lids. The glass ones look better; plastic will scratch with time. Glass, however, is more prone to breakage. It probably won't matter to you all that much; it doesn't affect the functioning of the crockpot. Try the Rival site, and maybe Oster, or just google "crockpot manufacturer" (or maybe "kitchen appliances," to look at rice cookers, too).

Cooking can be fun when you realize that the worst that could happen is you might not like it and have to throw it out and eat a tv dinner instead. That's not so earthshattering.

[LiberalEsto]

22. A few tips on learning to cook

My mom was too ill to teach me, so I learned from other sources. My biggest help was the "I Hate to Cook Book" by Peg Bracken. It was written over 30 years ago, but it's funny, well-written, and offers extremely easy recipes. You can find it in a used book store.

At one point I was living with a boyfriend 200 miles from home, and we were absolutely broke - to the point that we survived mainly on boxes of USDA food that was distributed to the poor back in 1971. We went to the public library, took out cookbooks and learned to make various simple dishes, one at a time. We cooked a big pot of stew or soup every weekend and ate it for supper every night, with bread.

During lean years in college - 30-plus years ago - I often survived on Tuna-Noodle. Drain one can of tuna, mix with one can of cream of mushroom soup and a half soup can of milk. Heat and serve over macaroni or noodles. I learned to improve it with seasonings or a dash of wine.

I also learned from friends and from an Italian ex-mother-in-law.

Just take it one step at a time. My family now raves about my cooking -- a far cry from the days of Tuna-Noodle.

Good luck!

[Trigger Hippie]

25. Thanks for the input!

I need to stop feeling overwhelmed and just start cooking already!!! :silly:

[Wordie]

10. Hey, BushIsAPoohHead, give yourself some credit for going car-less.

That's about the most frugal thing a person can do! That was my major step toward frugality, too. It does make the buying food thing much harder, and I spend a lot more on food now than I used to, when I could easily drive to where the prices were cheapest. But measure that loss of savings against all the money saved in gas, maintenance, insurance, car payments, etc., and it's a no-brainer. I figure I am coming out WAY ahead, even though the closest grocery pretty expensive (and I'm doing good stuff for the environment, as well).

Also, for the cooking thing, do you have a microwave? That's the one appliance that seems to make cooking much easier and faster, and seems to make much more sense when you are cooking for one. There's a good cookbook for beginners entitled, "Now You're Cooking...Everything a Beginner Needs to Know to Start Cooking Today" (author is Elaine Corn) that you could probably check out from your local library. There are probably LOTS of other similar books. You can learn to halve (or quarter) those recipes for 6 or 8.

I'm thinking about getting one of those thingies that will seal food in plastic, as a way of keeping it fresher (does any other DUer know about those?), but even still, I freeze a lot. Soups especially, seem great for freezing, and make economical and easy-to-prepare meals also. I also have found a few standard recipes to use with leftovers.

[NMDemDist2]

11. the food sealers work well, but are an investment. the new Glad

"Press N Seal" stuff works great in the freezer. I have been really pleased on how well you can get the air out of stuff and minimize freezer burn. it's pricy, but works well!

http://www.glad.com/pressnseal/about.html

[Wordie]

12. Hey, thanks...that looks promising. Will have to try it.

[Digit]

14. Cooking with Campbell's Soups is easy

I have a cookbook I won in a sweepstakes from Campbell Soup which gives lots of simple recipes to make using their products.

Google using Campbell Soup and recipes and you can find something you might like to make.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. not buying minis I don't need

I am a miniature gamer, and all that shiny metal that needs painting... it is atractive

Now to cooking...

Get yourself a SMALL slow cooker, there are some that are real small

Making a stew or soup on it is easy.

Get yourself some meat, cheap cut, or chicken, yuo know the drill, a chopped onion, some chopped garlic and salt and pepper (paprika or curry if you really want to go fancy), add celery, chopped fine, and carrots and a potato cut into cubes and let that cook all day

Confession time I absolutely hate cooking... yet I do it... and my hubby loves my cooking. I did not start by readying recipees, but by doing things like what I just described, soups are the easiest to cook

You can also do eggs with some cheese, (or egg substitute)

I can even give you some "recipees" for one to two people... (do the birds count, as they eat from our plate)

Another easy thing to do is pasta and it is cheap too

[I_Make_Mistakes]

17. Actually, crock pots are the absolute greatest time savers. I always

cook meat ahead of time with water added to collect the natural juices and tenderize the meat. You can throw in any vegetables and make pot roasts, soups, casseroles, etc.

I worked at Campbell's and the recipes are good, but unless you use healthy choice very salty. (I don't salt since childhood, just don't like the taste.).

Also, the major crockpot mfg's. have wonderful recipes on their web sites. Some of the stuff, sounds completely awesome.

My neighbor bought a crock pot recipe book at Target that even has, even pizza in it!

I also, lightly steam vegetables and refrigerate or freeze, so that I am not always cooking vegetables.

You can always freeze all cooked meals, bread (if you want to toast or heat in the oven).

Just an ex. two weeks ago, Purdue whole chickens were on sale for .69/lb. I bought an 8 lbs. chicken and made chicken pot pie (5 containers) and chicken vegetable soup (7 containers). I did this stove top because it was chilly, and the oven/stove also provides warmth. I also, wash and dry at nights in the winter to warm my house (kinda kills 2 birds with one stone).

[politicat]

21. Electronics.

I am such a geek and I'm married to an even geekier geek. If it has transistors or microchips, we both find it endlessly diverting.

Back in the bad old days, we spent a lot of money on upgrades, peripherals, software, hard drives, and dog knows what else. We also spent a lot of time maintaining them - especially virus crap and keeping XP from devouring everything in its path.

So our frugal solution was to buy Macintosh laptops with the extended warranties.

(I hear the screeches now - Macs are more expensive! Macs are .... Okay, whatever.)

I've had the computer I'm working on right now for 2.5 years. That's the longest I've ever had substantially the same machine - in the past I was always loading something or rebuilding the other or upgrading from the case inwards. The only thing we've done to this machine is software updates and upgrades and added RAM. And the machine will continue to serve me for a good long time, until I can find a Linux laptop and learn the OS. (Because I hate Intel.)

With the laptop, I'm not constantly futzing - there's nothing to really upgrade, and I don't really get ... processor envy anymore. And with the Mac software, I spend maybe 20 minutes a week average on system maintenance ... and that's only because I'm obsessive about maintenance and backups.

So by the dollars.... in constant 2000 dollars, in 1999, we spent 2100 on computer parts, software and peripherals. In 2000, we spent 1900. In 2001, we spent 2900 (2 iBooks). In 2002, we spent about 600 for external hard drives and a couple of games. and in 2003 we spent 4000 (2 Powerbooks - remember, we're adjusting for inflation here.). In 2004 we spent 200 for software, 150 for games, and 250 for a second external hard drive for each of us. (600). In 2005, we spent 300 for upgraded hard drives, 150 for some ergonomic parts, and 200 for software. Over the life of the computer, the operating cost for the powerbook has been lower than for any other machine I've had, and it will continue to go lower because I don't plan on giving this machine up. (I know this because I've been doing our tax pre-work, going through what we have already amortized out and what is still not written off.)

In terms of time... we've saved months out of our lives. And that makes every penny worth it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. You want to go cheaper

there is software made for Mac from the Open source community... can you say Open Office?

GIMP perchance?

My machines are intel, hubby is the consumate gamer, so getting rid of that well cannot be done... but these days much of my large softrware is Open source... and if it was not becasue one of my proggies (and my husband's games) don't play well wiht others, (Linux) I would have gone linux a while ago

[politicat]

24. Actually....

Software is not nearly the issue. It's the interface between the hardware and the software. So since Macs control the hardware side, the software becomes about 10000% easier to control.

I'm really picky about the tools I use for my writing, and the open source ones have not made the cut. It's more cost effective for me to buy a tool that works well for me and that I have no problems getting to work than it is to limp along with something that's obnoxious. That said, the best programs I've found were pretty inexpensive: Mariner Write and Mariner Calc, and Pages. The 3 of them were still cheaper than a pro version of Office, and none of the headaches of the open source stuff. Most of the stuff I really need - image editing software, music editing software and document development software - either came with the machine or was included in one of the 3 packages above, which cost 60, 60 and 70 respectively.

I don't do a lot of image manipulation; what I do need to do I can usually do with either pages, iMovie or iPhoto. When those fail, I have an install of Photoshop elements that came with some other software I bought.

DH uses open source and loves it.

Games, though... those are our real software expense.

And I will never, ever, ever go back to Intel. I have political, personal and ethical reasons for avoiding Intel branded products like the plague, and even when Mac goes to Intel, I won't go along. I'll live with this baby for as long as I can, then get an AMD laptop... Because I'm not going back to a desk-top machine, either.