Comments on: Cheerful Frugality Cuts Corners

By: Q&Q

Q&Q — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:10:31 +0000

Great post. I have a food allergy (soy) and can rarely cut corners but there are a few things I purchase readily due to space constraints. Boullion (finally found a soy-free one), mayo, crackers (make sometimes), pie crust (I need a class in this), and a few other condiments. The rest I make, bread, cake, cookies, pseudo soy-sauce, pizza crust and sauce. Eating out is pretty much out except for a few expensive restaurants that we may go to once a year (seriously). Cleaning products I pretty much 100% buy and make just to test them out. But yes in this day and age I think it’s perfectly okay to cut corners. I sew occasionally. My sister used to make our soap but she’s too busy now. I think to make everything from scratch you would have to toss the time wasters or taker-upers such as computers, phones, etc.

By: Mary McK.

Mary McK. — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:09:11 +0000

Oh yes, I do cut corners! I buy pre-shredded angel hair cabbage and dress it with ginger dressing – shredding a cabbage once with a mandolin cutter was enough! I make pizza, but I buy the sauce. Sometimes I buy a store-roasted Boston Market chicken when it’s on sale for $5.99. As for cookies and cakes, they are always from scratch, since the sacrifice in flavor of mixes or store-bought dough isn’t worth the convenience, to me.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:52:50 +0000

I have such a hard time with this, Meredith! It seems that I often end up at McDonald’s because I was trying too hard to do the “right” thing. I have to say, it is tough to be your own factory and sometimes it is just nice to let someone else do the work for a change. I would love to make everything and do everything- I think it is the Superwoman complex- but I just can’t. I love it when someone says, “You know, it’s okay to give yourself a break once in awhile” I can’t do it unless I hear that someone else thinks it is a good idea too

By: Jenn @ Frugal Upstate

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:42:49 +0000

I cut lots of corners!

I know how to sew, but rarely make my kids clothes-I can buy them cheaper and for a lot less effort.

I frequently make my own pizza, but I also always keep a couple of cheap frozen ones for those “just in case” situations.

Sometimes when I’m due to make a new batch of laundry detergent, I’ll just buy a bottle of the store stuff to tide (ha! get it?) me over until I have time to whip up a batch.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:33:25 +0000

It depends on what memory you are trying to make. For my own children, it’s the decorating they like the most, so I bought the tube o’ dough, slice and bake. They decorate. Same on the gingerbread house. It took me so long to make the actual house so I let my oldest help me decorate it. I hope that’s what she’ll remember.

By: Shannon Miller

Shannon Miller — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:36:08 +0000

My thing is refridgerated pie crust – the kind you unroll to fit in your own pan. If I’m in a hurry, I can throw a pie together in no time and it make s a nice little gift. Actually I have lots of “time savers” that I splurge on (on sale, with coupons, of course!). We often grab deli sandwiches at the grocery store on Thursday that way the kids can be eating lunch while I put away groceries and go straight down for rest time (a tired mommy really appreciates that!). I used to pay the extra cent per gallon of gas to have someone else pump it so I didn’t have to haul all the babies into the store to pay. Gas is too high to justify that anymore, so now I only go to store with pay at the pump.
I loved what Meredith said about getting rid of the guilt! That’s a lesson I have to keep learning over and over!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:02:18 +0000

I usually do cake mixes instead of from scratch, but lately I’ve been realizing how they just don’t taste good. I think if I want cake, I want CAKE! So its probably going to be from scratch from now on. Especially chocolate. Even though it does cost more.

By: margaret

margaret — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:51:20 +0000

Canned beans. I suppose it’s cheaper and healthier to cook dried beans and stash them in the freezer. But that takes up freezer space which I haven’t got. Stocking up on canned beans on sale means I have many more dishes I can make on a whim.

Canned pumpkin. And I’ve read that canned has more nutrients than fresh – probably depending on just how fresh.

By: Domestic Chicky

Domestic Chicky — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:45:54 +0000

I definitely use different methods for the same result-I LOVE to make pasta sauce from scratch, and it is completely worth the effort to do so. But sometimes, a good jarred sauce (maybe with some ground beef tossed in) fits the bill just fine.

By: joanna

joanna — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:26:50 +0000

I run into this dilemma a lot, working full-time, and having to make cost-benefit decisions about time & money. Early last week, for my husband & I, I made chicken nuggets from scratch, but, while babysitting my 3 & 5 year old nephews on Saturday, I grabbed the pre-packaged frozen nuggets from the freezer and popped them in the oven. It felt like a cop-out, but I redeemed myself by making cookie dough from scratch before they got there, then having them help roll & cut the cookies, & decorate them when they were out of the oven. That was a blast, and all about the experience with them, not the end-product.