Simple Alternatives
Nothing earth shattering here, just a couple simple, frugal things we did around here this week that were free or nearly free.
I've had my eye on one of those cute little lap desks- you know, where the bottom half is alike a soft and cushy beanbag covered in some trendy fabric, and the top is a firm, flat surface for writing and laptopping on? But I could not really justify the clutter or the expense (even if it's not much of an expense). I realized this week that I've been making my own for several months. I just grab one of our throw pillows and a wicker serving tray I've had for years- put the pillow on my lap and top with the tray (upside down, because it has a rim). Works brilliantly, and when I am done I return the throw pillow to the couch and the tray to the top of the fridge.
My husband's lunch: sometimes these are fancy, sometimes... not so much. Earlier this week we had stroganoff over rice for lunch, and instead of putting the leftovers in the fridge for later, I got out his lunch container and took a few seconds to spoon in all the leftover stroganoff, topping it with a few vibrant dashes of tobasco sauce (he loves spicy) and a sprinkling of parsley to make it look more appetizing. The side dish was some of our leftover cooked veggies (broccoli, cauliflour, corn, peas, and carrots, all combined)- topped with a small slice of cheese and a dash of pepper. For dessert I gave hiim a chunk of the apple coffee cake we'd had for breakfast that morning, topped with a generous slice of habanero pepper (okay, no, not even he likes his dessert spicy). I served the coffee cake as it was. If I thought it needed a bit of jazzing up I'd have added a drizzle of a glaze made by mixing a smigeon of milk with some powdered sugar.
Speaking of stroganoff, my second girl was already nearly through making it when she realized our sour cream was actually a container of leftover chili. Oops. We live too far from the store to run in for sudden kitchen crises of that nature, so we looked it up in a cookbook we had and found two options- neither of them may be cheaper than sour cream, but they are cheaper than an unnecessary trip to town for cottage cheese. We used a package of cream cheese (about 1.00 at Aldi's), a couple tablespoons of milk to thin it. Or we could have blended cottage cheese, a couple tablespoons of milk, and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice. Most people do have their stroganoff over noodles. We have it over whatever grain/starch we have on hand. Sometimes that's pasta, other times it's rice, biscuits, mashed or baked potatoes, and a few times it's been crackers (this works better in a bowl.
The apple coffee cake was made from scratch, and we included an apple the Cherub had started butnot finished. We cut off the bitten part, and diced the rest. No sense in throwing out 3/4 of a perfectly good apple.
The sliced off bit of apple, the egg shells from the eggs in the coffee cake, and a used teabag all went into the compost pile that afternoon (teabags make very nice additions to the compost pile, as do coffee grounds). The compost comes in very handy when I want to repot plants for the upcoming wedding.
One final fix I used this last week was a creative bit of jury rigging that wouldn't work in every situation- that's the beauty of jury rigging, you use what you have to do whatever needs doing, and it will change from circumstance to circumstance.
The button had come off my skirt while we were camping, and the skirt didn't stay in place with out the button, and I had no needle, thread, or safety pin. I used a barrette- slipping it through the nearest beltloop and then through the botton hole and fastening it. Had the barrette not worked, I could have used the wristband of my watch (I tried). It's not that a watch or barrette is cheaper than a safety pin, but what you have is cheaper than what you don't have.
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2 Responses to “Simple Alternatives”
October 10th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I agree that we should finish using what we have. Not tossing it. Our lunch Mon-Fri is always leftovers from dinners. And we have dab dinner night too, which is a dab of this and a dab of that in leftovers. I also have a stew pot in the freezer. You can add your bits of starches, meats and veggies nightly til it is full. Then thaw, add broth and heat. Instant stew with no trouble at all. Same with fruits if you want to use them for smoothies later. The old tea or coffee from the pot helps water plants. They love it. And the grounds are good for the flower beds as you well know. If you get a chance come visit and see how me and my neighbor (fellow blogger Nessa) are combining dinners and making a killing on the savings. So far we are at .44 per serving per person.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I have seen your cute buttons, but never clicked on. Someone linked to you and am so glad that they did. Being a total frugal gal myself, I am loving my browse, and will back to join your blogroll.
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