Most of my quantity cookbooks list ingredients in bulk sizes: a #10 can, a quart of sugar, etc. The only way to compare apples to apples is to check the unit price.

TOTAL COST / NUMBER OF OUNCES = PRICE PER OUNCE

You know this, but it bears repeating.  In some cases, the bulk size is no bargain. It's simply a timesaver.

When I'm cooking for a crowd, I try to shop like a business. Restaurants don't buy disposable pans at Kroger, so I stocked up on a variety of sizes at GFS Marketplace.  (A smart reader pointed out that Sam's Club also sells half-sheet pans, 30 for $9.) 

Frugal Hacks editor Kim C. realized her family was eating 30 pounds of bananas a week--a lightbulb moment. She began buying wholesale quantities from a produce terminal for a fraction of the price. I always wonder why the Duggar family, of TLC's 19 and Counting, doesn't adopt the same approach. (They make mega trips to discount grocer Aldi instead.)

I usually end up splitting my shopping for a crowd in two: half goes to seasonal produce and sale items at the regular grocery, and half to those bulk purchases which truly save time and money. When I saw how little frozen hashbrowns cost at GFS, for example, there was no way I'd sacrifice an afternoon to peeling potatoes! 

Pick and choose your focus. Few caterers make everything from scratch.  If cakes are your thing, start piping! If not, consider warehouse clubs, where big desserts have small prices. I was amazed that Costco's half-sheet cake feeds 48 for only $16.99. Muffins for a crowd, on the other hand, are cheaper to bake at home, especially if you use a make-ahead batter like this one. 

Net your biggest savings by doing the entree yourself--even if you're only warming a spiral-cut ham with your special gourmet glaze.  Pound per pound, meats and casseroles prepared at home cost less than their frozen or deli counterparts. If you do outsource, the cheapest meats are usually fried chicken (from Walmart) and pulled pork barbecue (from a local favorite.)

There's no simple answer to shopping for a crowd. You have to weigh time, money, and storage capacity to determine a formula that works for you.  If you have any tried-and-true quantity strategies, we would love to hear them in the comments below!

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Here are 10 frugal ideas for making the most of your snow day:

1. Organize clothing closets. Sketch out spring wardrobes so you'll be less tempted in stores.
2. Plan for a yard sale. Fill a box and tag items now.
3. Bake while you have time for dough to rise. Freeze for busier days.
4. Sort and edit your digital photos. You'll be ready for the next Snapfish or Shutterfly deal.
5. Balance your checkbook or reconcile online accounts.
6. Grab the sewing basket. Mend tears and missing buttons.
7. Brush the dust off a cookbook. Plan some interesting new meals based on the grocery sales flyer.
8. Turn your mattresses to even the wear. When else would I remember?
9. Create a spa in your bathroom: pluck eyebrows, DIY manicure and pedicure.
10. Flip all the chair and sofa cushions. Vacuum underneath and let the kids keep the change!

Do you have any frugal ideas for surviving a snow day?

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(Wonder if anyone Googled the Frugal Hacks For Winter Clothes article by DHM?)

I imagine the winter gear pickings will be slim in area thrift stores for the next couple of months. Meanwhile, the seasoned thrifters are buying out-of-season swim cover-ups and Lily Pulitzer shifts. We'll be the ones looking for boots in July.

My family fared pretty well over the last few days. We did our fair share of sledding. We made Valentine cookies using cutters I bought for 10-cents on clearance.  Our library bag slowly dwindled. We made enough chili to freeze for the next snow day.

Mostly, it was a quiet relief to be stuck at home. Sometimes we need a snow day to realize just how resourceful and refreshed we can be here.

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Who else will call you when she sees organic eggs slashed to fifty cents a dozen? (True story!) Who knows that your daughter is having an American Girl birthday, and picks up a trunk full of extra clothes at a yard sale down the street?

I love to watch the frugal trading on Facebook. My connected friend Paige is a master of sustainable and cooperative living. I see her swapping childcare needs, passing along unwanted toys, and trading garden bounty--and recipes--with neighbors. Truly, she's an inspiration and a reminder that we can share over the virtual fence, too.

Do you have a frugal friend nearby?

Bargain Briana has extended the idea of the frugal friend network with the Frugal Map. As more blogs are added, you'll be able to click on this visual blogroll to discover deal bloggers in your own area. Not only will your coupon match-ups become more accurate, you may find more of those unadvertised specials that make bargain shopping so fun.

Along with the amazing blogroll here at Frugal Hacks, the Frugal Map will be a great resource for all of us who love to save.

A quick shout-out to my local frugal blogs Faithful Provisions, Frugal Dr. Mom, Nashville Cheapster, Tara's Favorites, Keeping Our Cash, Faithful and Frugal and if I've missed you, too, please leave a link in the comments!

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And then I put the pencil down.

At this point, I'm already buying whole foods, avoiding convenience products, and shopping via the sales and the seasons. Anything else would compromise our health standards. [Side note:  here's an interesting project which tests Michael Pollan's claim: can you really eat anything, so long as you make it from scratch?]

Limits are freeing. They force creativity. But even the most thoughtful rules can become ruts. I decided to look over our recent expenditures. Where could we be living a little lighter?

HOUSE: We just refinanced, but we have a couple of maintenance projects for which I should be scouting materials on the cheap.

CARS:  We drive 10+ year old cars and keep them maintained. But you might not be able to tell from the grimey exterior and crumb-filled car seats! Regular detailing would preserve the resale value.

HEALTH:  We recently switched to a not-too-fancy dental practice. We like the dentist so much that we will ask her to take on our children's care, too. 

GAS: Prices are rising again. I can schedule a no-drive day once a week. I should also fill up more deliberately when I pass a low-cost fuel source (Kroger).

BOOKS: I've been "investing" in secondhand books like they are going out of stock!  Next time I'm tempted, I'll work on a project from one of the books we already own. Maybe start a trade-in box for the used book store.

With only 5 minutes' brainstorming, I found 5 simple ways to improve my bottom line. Where does your budget need adjustment?

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Some experts refer to the "credit card hangover" from Christmas. Resolution-makers cringe as we tally the mistakes of the previous year.

Even if you kept Christmas within budget, an emergency expense may have knocked at the door--what my mom calls the annual Christmas catastrophe. A friend's entire heating system died; for us, it was unexpected oral surgery. Oh, and don't forget the big new insurance deductible when the kids get sick on January 2nd.

You know what? I'm okay with that. (One might even say cheerful...)

January is the one month when our culture collectively trims down.  Eating from your pantry to minimize the damage? You'll be in fine company. No one blinks an eye when you choose Redbox over the movie theatre. In fact, they may even ask for advice.

I say, let's bask in the community. Just as new dieters nod from treadmill to treadmill, we'll smile over our coupon boxes as grocery carts pass in the aisle.  After all, in January we may be tight on cash, but we have one thing in abundance: 

HOPE.

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1. We switched to cloth diapers. This has saved us at least $30/month in disposables diapers, but it also has other benefits I didn't expected.  There are no more unplanned trips to the store because we forgot to buy diapers.  This saves us $12 in gas every time we don't have to run to town.  Even better, there are no more nasty disposable diapers in the trash, tempting scavenging animals to dump our trash and spread it around the yard.  The savings will double during the inevitable overlap between new baby and previous toddler.  I've never had one baby trained before the next arrives.
2. We switched to cloth baby wipes. This was a no-brainer after we switched to cloth diapers.  No extra trouble, no extra costs.  We do still keep disposable wipes in the diaper bag, since we're not always near a water source to dampen a cloth wipe.
3. We canceled weekly trash service. This saves us the $30/month service, and it saves us the cost of the large trash bags that were required.  It also saves us the extra fees, stench, and headaches when we missed trash pickup one week and had to pay extra the next week when we put out twice as much.  All told, I estimate our savings is closer to $40/month.  We began burning our burnables, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how little of our trash is not burnable.  The more we cook from scratch, the less packaging we generate.  Now that we're cloth-diapering there are no disposables to dispose of.  When you don't bring as much into the house, you don't have to dispose of much either.
4. We got rid of the electric clothes dryer. It was broken, and we decided not to replace it right away.  That was over a year ago.  We've kept up through rain and shine, hot weather and cold.  This works for us, and probably saves our large family $30-50/month, not to mention the initial investment and space required by an electric dryer.  I've also heard that line drying is much gentler on fabric, so our clothes may be lasting longer.
5. We skipped the a/c last summer. It was a scorcher, but we acclimated, learned some new tricks for keeping cool, and we made it.  This probably saved us $700-800 over the course of the summer.
6. We switched to more natural alternatives for deodorant and shampoo/conditioner. Yes, after some initial skepticism, I jumped on the bandwagon.  I'm now using and loving my homemade deodorant (the first that has ever really worked for me!) and baking soda/vinegar instead of shampoo/conditioner (my dandruff is finally gone!).  It sounds weird, but I'm won over and so are most of the children who are old enough to have opinions.
7. We built a chicken coop and bought chickens. In spite of the fact that we had access to many free materials, our "chicken palace" as my dad dubbed it cost us far more than we initially expected.  Nevertheless, we think it will be worth it in the long run.  We purposely chose breeds that have some setting instinct left in their bird brains - not the absolute best layers, but capable of hatching out replacement populations in the coming years.  We're currently getting about a dozen eggs/day out of our flock of 17, at a cost of $10 every 2-3 weeks in feed plus all the scraps our family generates.  We think it's a good deal and one less reason to rush to the grocery store.  Eggs in the store are $1/dozen, so we're $3/week ahead, but there are other advantages: our eggs are fresh and homegrown, I don't have to find room in my fridge to store 6-8 dozen on shopping day, and chickens are very entertaining to watch.
8. I started cooking beans from scratch. After years of believing that our water was simply too hard to soften beans, I finally learned that I was using old beans.  Fresh beans cook up nicely in the crockpot and make a hearty, frugal addition to our diet.  Beans also helped immensely with my morning sickness.  And now that we're not opening cans of beans constantly, our burnable trash declined even more.
9. I started making all of our bread, from fresh-ground whole wheat flour. This might not be as much of a savings once we use up all the wheat we received free from some dear friends, but in the meantime it's not only a great improvement in our diet, but is also cheaper than the [far less wholesome] whole wheat bread at the store, and one less reason to rush to town.  Incidentally, cinnamon rolls can be made from whole wheat bread dough.  I mix up enough dough for 3 loaves, but often shape the 3rd into cinnamon rolls instead.  Fast & easy when the dough is already made!
10. I started buying more staples in bulk. This may seem like a no-brainer, but I finally bought some gamma lids and started storing 25 lb. bags of flour, white sugar, and brown sugar in easy-open 5 gallon buckets.  It's cheaper to buy them this way.  Not by a lot, but enough to make it worth my while.  It's also far more convenient to pick up one big bag of flour or sugar once in a while than to remember to get one or two every time I go to the grocery store.  We use these goods in large enough quantities to make the big bags a worthwhile convenience even if the savings were minimal.

Next?

• We're hoping to install a woodburning stove, though it probably won't happen this year.
• We'd like to get a milk goat - or maybe even a Jersey to share with the local extended family if I can talk everyone into it.
• We're looking at reducing our cost for hot water - maybe like this, or this, or simply by installing a timer and using it mercilessly.

What changes have you made this year?  What changes do you hope to try next year?  Will any show up on your list of New Year's Resolutions?

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Here are 10 frugal gifts you might find on my kitchen counter this season:

4 Tickets to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum. Don't laugh--admission costs $21 per person. We're delighted to give our free passes to a music loving family. Have you entered any radio contests lately?

A green centerpiece. Our gourmet shop sells small baskets of fresh pine and pinecones for $15.  If you have access to evergreens, you can put these together for $2 ($1 for floral foam, $1 for container).

A bundle of cinnamon sticks. I stopped by the Indian grocery for star anise and left with a bag of cinnamon sticks. A long bundle costs less than $2, smells and tastes fabulous. I tied up a few with beautiful ribbon for holiday hostess gifts.

Chai tea mix. Speaking of spices, Amy from Momadvice.com shared her frugal gift mixes at a local blogger party last month. A nice change from hot cocoa or Russian tea,  her recipe is absolutely gift worthy.

Glade holiday candles. Amy came to Nashville to demonstrate Glade's Holiday Collection candles. Product promotion works, because I found myself at Walmart's endcap display a week later. For $2.25, these Christmas scents smell like the gift shop version.

Perfectly preserved vintage items. Just ask stylist Eddie Ross if his thrift store table finds are appreciated. One relative will open a $3 cut glass dish in her gold-rimmed pattern, filled with dark chocolate truffles.

Digital photo slideshows. Someone in my family lost his baby book, so I'm creating a digital version using Smilebox, my favorite free slideshow service.  The color and theme choices are amazing.

$5 magazine subscriptions from Amazon. Get a year of Country Living, Popular Mechanics, Smart Money or Veranda for $5 and no shipping.

Great music. An i-Tunes gift card is great, but a playlist of favorites is personal. Hunt for free MP3 downloads on Amazon's 25 Days of Free or check your favorite musician's websites.

Service to others. We are truly at a loss for people who want nothing. In addition to a good book, we'll be giving them a card, saying that we have served a hot breakfast to 2 dozen hungry people in their name.

Finding a few real bargains can help you give more generously in other areas. How are you stretching your gift dollars this season?

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I had to investigate.

I clicked all over Walmart.com, but only a press release spells out the $20 feast.  The complete dinner includes:

If you're headed to Walmart, make sure you study your local flyer first. They're hoping you'll go for the turkey and upgrade with $40 in extras. The menu varies by region. (Click here to see an example of variable pricing. Sweet potatoes are on sale instead of red potatoes. One page lists fresh green beans for $1.50 and the next, for .99--at the same store?)

Actually, the Walmart menu is a good starting point.  Most Frugal Hackers could readily adapt for almost as little.

• Buy a turkey on sale.
• Steam 2 lbs. fresh green beans (canned has a lot of liquid to compensate.)
• Cook 1 bag fresh cranberries or serve canned.
• Use scratch cornbread, day-old homemade bread and turkey broth for stuffing.
• Roast the 5-lb. bag of red potatoes or stock up on .25/lb sweet potatoes.
• Make Money Saving Mom's quick yeast rolls.
• Buy the $5.50 pumpkin roll or make Kim C.'s recipe.

So tell us--will your family beat Walmart's $20 menu this year? Or do you go all out for the feast instead?

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Does your family income (or expenses) fluctuate? Ours, too. What makes good financial sense one year may not be the right strategy for the next.

When we were newly married and nearly broke, money choices were easy. Did we absolutely have to have it? If not, then the answer was no. This thinking carried us through graduate degrees without debt and the renovation of our first home.

Put a little cash in the pocket, and the temptation becomes greater. Should you spend it all, just because you can? Should you spend nothing, simply to prove your frugal discipline?

I've come to rely on a sliding scale. I don't ask myself, "Can we afford this?" Instead, I ask:

Is this the BEST USE of our money?

 It's a question every reader must answer for herself.

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