MS. MIX-A-LOT

Back when Old Mother Frugal’s “Mother’s Little Helpers” were still living within my kitchen walls, I was like any other busy mom who had too much to do without enough hands to get all the work done.

In the mid-90s, a cookbook was published by three women called “MAKE-A-MIX”. The front of the book contained starter recipe mixes that one would make from scratch and save in a large container for later use.

Another section of the cookbook contained the corresponding recipes to accompany the “made in advance from scratch” mixes.

For a busy home-cook mom, this was a timesaver.

For a frugal mom, this was a cost savings!

Most often used were recipes for all purpose cake mixes, brownies, and “quick mix”. Quick mix was very versatile for items such as coffee cakes, muffins, and an assortment of other baked goods.

Since reading that book, Old Mother Frugal realized this concept would translate well into other frequently baked items most often bought from the shelves of my favorite grocery retailer. Suddenly, there were homemade bags of basic pancake/waffle batter in my pantry along with cornbread and chocolate chip cookie dough.

Mother’s Little Helpers have left home, but when recently organizing the pantry, I rediscovered the “Make-A-Mix” cookbook. The concept is as relevant today and it was over two decades ago. So much so, that it was updated by the author in 2006 and an expanded version is now available to a new generation of busy women!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Having a basic pancake/waffle mix on your pantry shelf is not only a timesaver but a cost savings as well. A favorite waffle recipe in our family is a mixture of:

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

 

When ready to cook, add 2 eggs; 1 and ½ cup milk or water and 4 tablespoons melted butter. [I've recently decreased the sugar and salt content to no noticeable difference in taste]. Pour into well greased waffle iron.

Leftovers store well in the freezer or use half the dry and wet ingredients and return the other half of the dry mixture to your pantry shelf to use for another day.

 

FROM MY HOUSE TO YOURS

Old Mother Frugal has been a busy traveler of late. Taking advantage of lower gas prices has afforded a few road trips.

Food prices, however, are not on the decline. It’s not your imagination, food prices have escalated over the past year with reports that now egg prices are going to increase significantly this coming year.

One consequence of rising food prices is that restaurant food prices escalate as well. Understandably, their costs trickle down to the consumer. In order to rein in costs when traveling, the frugal traveler within me now packs a cooler and a box of groceries for the road trip.

It’s an easy exercise. Empty the refrigerator contents from my house and transfer it to a refrigerator at the end of the road trip.

Previously, my traveling or vacationing budgets allowed for dining out nightly with breakfast and lunch items eaten at the hotel or as a picnic. With “suite” type hotels that have fully equipped mini-kitchens, this has changed my “dining out while traveling” philosophy.

On a recent trip, we stayed at a suite hotel with kitchen facilities. The cooler contained all the food necessities for three square meals as well as milk and orange juice. The box contained the dry goods such as breads, fruits, breakfast and snacks along with some canned items. A few items were purchased at the local ALDI store upon arrival to our destination.

At the end of the journey and heading back home, we did pull off along the highway and grabbed a meal at one of our favorite restaurants. Being a frugal traveler, having that meal as lunch instead of dinner is an additional savings!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Dining out for breakfast has become as expensive as lunch or in some cases, dinner. A recent outing for breakfast had menu prices listed upwards of $10.99. If the hotel does not offer a complimentary breakfast, pre-package your own breakfast when traveling and a bowl of oatmeal that costs $4.99 in the restaurant will be easier to digest when eaten in your hotel room. Take advantage of "perks" that you have paid for and pocket your savings for the rides and attractions at your vacation destination!

                 OATMEAL WITH WALNUTS, RAISINS and BROWN SUGAR

 

 

 

TODAY'S SPECIAL

When in the grocery store, being observant for in-store specials translates into pantry stockpiles for my family.

One characteristic for Old Mother Frugal to be a successful frugal cook is the ability to swap one dinner plan idea for another when a great sale falls into the grocery cart. Where I live, the grocery cart is commonly referred to as a “buggy”.

Food prices have escalated; it is not your imagination. Snapping up a great bargain to use today or store in your freezer can be worth the surprise expenditure of money.

Recently, a local grocery store offered King crab legs as its in-store special. This may have been the second time in my lifetime that these have found their way to my kitchen. They were $4.10 and just enough for a dinner for two.

A half pound of spaghetti for 25 cents, cloves of garlic, warmed olive oil, tomato sauce or lemon juice with chicken stock, and parmesan cheese were all that were needed from my pantry to prepare an elegant dinner for two for a fraction of the cost had it been served as “today’s special” in a restaurant.

Instead, “today’s special” from The Kitchen of Old Mother Frugal was equally delicious. A special treat for an otherwise ordinary weeknight dinner indeed!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Shopping after a holiday in the meat department can bring a bounty of food items for your freezer. Hams, turkeys and roasts that have been stockpiled but not sold for the holiday shoppers can be a bonus for you. Remember to check out the bakery section, as grocers need to move baked goods off their shelves as well.

                     SPAGHETTI AND CRAB MEAT WITH LEMON SAUCE

 

A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR

If you have ever watched the movie "Mary Poppins", you most likely recall her singing about a spoonful of sugar.

Recently on Facebook, a friend of a friend, probably originated from a friend of another friend, posted a link regarding the amount of sugar consumption in today’s diet among children and adults.

There are many ridiculously restrictive, physician prescribed, dietary omissions from Old Mother Frugal’s daily cuisine; sugar has not yet been added to the list.

Spicy out…fried food out…caffeinated coffee and tea out…chocolate out….carbonated beverages out…alcohol consumption out…rich, creamy desserts out…cream sauces out…sodium daily restrictions 1200mg.

Other temporary restrictions: citrus out…tomatoes out…nuts out…berries, beef, avocados and ice-cream out, out, out and out.

However, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t curious about the article!

The American Heart Association recommends women limit daily sugar intake to 6 teaspoons and for men that amount would be 9 teaspoons. The amounts lessen for pre-schoolers and teens.

What is 6 teaspoons of sugar? One teaspoon of sugar equals 4 grams and the limit for women is 25 grams of sugar per day. Manufacturers indicate grams not teaspoons on their labels, if that helps with the Math.

Picking up a 5.3 oz container of yogurt in the refrigerator, it contains 18 grams of sugar. Hmmm…Old Mother Frugal may want to consider switching to plain yogurt and adding fresh fruit!  Same amount of plain yogurt contains 6 grams of sugar or one-third the amount.

Sometimes being frugal isn’t solely related to saving money. Sometimes being frugal also means reducing excess in other aspects of life as well, such as saving calories!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: The fewer processed foods in your diet, the fewer grams of sugar you will consume. Adding applesauce while cooking oatmeal acts as both food extender and a sweetener to your breakfast, eliminating the need for added sugar. 

                            BREAKFAST CEREALS WITHOUT SUGAR                         

 

ONE GRAM OF SUGAR PER SERVING

                                         USING APPLESAUCE AS AN EXTENDER

 

 

NOT ADDING EXTRA SUGAR TO MY CEREAL

 

 

FRENCH TOAST MEETS GRILLED CHEESE

What to serve for dinner is as common place a thought in the mind of Old Mother Frugal as what to wear when going to work.

To decrease the clutter in my brain, I’m prone to setting aside time over the weekend on this very topic. It’s usually on Sunday. Sunday is meal prep and cooking day.

It is traditional in some regions of the country to serve breakfast for dinner. It’s not unusual to see some restaurants dedicate breakfast menus for dinner. Two that come to mind are International House of Pancakes and Cracker Barrel.

Several years ago, one night per week at home was dedicated to “soup for dinner” night. Soup is a very economical meal to serve as it usually consisted of refrigerator leftovers and bread. Poultry bones served as the basis for a soup stock. No cost there. If a protein was leftover, it was added to the soup. Leftover carbs such as rice or pasta or potatoes, seasonings, vegetables and beans rounded out the pot.

The “bread” could be leftover hamburger buns or hot dog rolls from the freezer, converted to garlic toast. They could be added as croutons or served on the side as bread.

Another frugal dinner idea is the sandwich.

Our dollar store sells brand name loaves of sandwich bread for $1.00. If I spot a sale on deli meat, I will buy it and store it in the freezer. Turkey deli meat can be used for open-faced hot turkey sandwiches. Ham deli meat can be used for Monte Cristo sandwiches.

The Monte Cristo sandwich has been around since the 1930’s during the Depression Era. This is where French Toast meets Grilled Cheese.

If you have never eaten one or made one, it is two slices of bread filled with deli ham and cheese (most use Gruyere but this is a frugal blog after all so Old Mother Frugal uses Swiss or Cheddar). Take the sandwich and dip both sides into a scrambled egg mixture of milk and egg. Whole eggs or “egg whites only” can be used for this recipe.

Remove the soggy sandwich and cook on a well buttered skillet on both sides, such as one would make a grilled cheese sandwich. Serve with a side of preserves for dipping.

If you like your sandwiches crustless, remove the crusts prior to dipping into the egg mixture and grilling. Of course, you can always skip the egg mixture step and serve grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner too!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: If you don’t have a coupon to buy deli meat on sale, go to the deli counter of your grocery store and buy your deli meat by the slice, not by the pound. This guarantees you will only buy what you need and have no leftovers. To stretch you dollar, ask for your deli meat to be thinly sliced.

 

SILLY KITTY

Every Fall when “Back to School” shopping was in full swing, Old Mother Frugal would give thought to the purchasing of new lunch boxes for Mother’s Little Helpers.

As they grew older, the “sack lunch” replaced the lunch box as brown paper bags were shoved into an already full and heavy backpack.

When it came time to return to the workforce, my lunch box of choice was “HELLO KITTY”. Pretty in pink, this insulated lunch bag was used for years and it contained breakfast, snack and lunch items to sustain me throughout my work day.

In the last twelve years, I went through four lunch boxes. Rarely did I go out to eat or order lunch in the office. The pay check just never was large enough to include dining out and there always seemed to be some other priority than spending money on lunch when there was food from home.

“HELLO KITTY” did draw a fair share of attention during those years. Sure, it may have looked silly to have a kiddy lunch box. It was a good medium to spread the word on frugality and bringing lunch from home. But my savings, they were anything but silly!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: If you dine out daily for lunch, take this frugal challenge: eat in on Mondays. Pack a lunch using leftovers from your weekend. Do this for one month and set those dollars aside in a jar or an envelope. If you spend $7 to $10 on lunch, a nice nest egg of savings will be yours at month’s end!

                                            INSULATED LUNCH BAGS

                                                          LUNCH FOR THE WEEK