BRACING FOR S'MORE

It’s been many years since the Mother’s Little Helpers were pre-teens and teenagers. One of the most challenging experiences being “Old Mother Frugal” was raising teenagers in my frugal world.

It was not only a matter of economics that prevented them all from participating in after-school activities. It was also matter of not being able to be in three places at the same time!

One after-school activity that two of my helpers participated in was that after-school activity known as “going to the orthodontist”.

New food habits had to be formed while eliminating old foods from diets.

One of those food items off the menu were marshmallows. The youngest of Mother’s Little Helpers loved marshmallows as a child. He also loved to prank Old Mother Frugal.

One afternoon after school, little helper was left alone in the kitchen with an after-school snack. Suddenly, an inaudible phrase emitted from his vocal chords. It sounded like….

“Mom, do you think I’m allowed to eat marshmallows”? We were on different levels of the house. Since I wasn’t clear as to what was asked, it was repeated for me, yet again in the most garbled of tones.

“Do you think I’m allowed to eat marshmallows”?

Eating marshmallows? Braces?  Oh, this cannot be happening. Racing into the kitchen expecting to see a mouthful of gooey marshmallow crème affixed to silver braces, what waited for me was my prankster child with a marshmallow-less grin from ear to ear.

Humor can be a very frugal form of entertainment and one that Old Mother Frugal has em-“braced” for many years. To this day, nothing conjures up a smile as quickly as those little square white plumps of sugar and Mother’s Youngest Helper.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Be frugal with calories as well as finances. When making S’mores, break or cut the marshmallow in half to reduce the amount of calories consumed when placing them between the graham crackers. The same principle can be used with the chocolate component. Replace solid chocolate candy bar with a few chocolate chips or drizzle chocolate syrup over the marshmallow. You will not miss the reduced flavors or the calories!

 

SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL

Have you ever peered into your kitchen cabinets and thought “there has to be a better way”?

Sometimes, all that is needed is a better mousetrap.

What began as an exercise to find space for a newly purchased kitchen tool, quickly sent Old Mother Frugal into a downward spiral. Overwhelmed, this began the search for the illusive better mousetrap.

Money for closet and cabinet organizers were not options. This had to be a frugal redesign. Scattered around the house there were shoe boxes, a few baskets, CD racks and Clementine crates. Time to get to work with these hodgepodge containers.

Three piles were created. There was the pile for the recycle bin, the pile for Goodwill and the pile that needed to find a new place in the kitchen cabinet.

Tupperware and plastic containers could have a cabinet all unto themselves. Actually, they did but an afternoon of purging greatly reduced the inventory of containers without lids. Twelve aluminum pie tins went to the recycle bin with them.

Unused items warranted contacting Mother’s Little Helpers. If they had no need for the Crème Brulee torch, it was going onto the Goodwill pile in its new box with all its little ramekins.

In the end, there was room to add a 9” spiralizer to the kitchen tool shelf. Another “Mother’s Little Helper” has come to our home. And although it  does requires food, it doesn’t consume any!

SOUND THE BULGE! Today’s tip: Think outside the box by using a different type of containers as a closet organizer. Shoe boxes and Clementine crates make for sturdy and inexpensive closet organizers to corral those small items on your shelf or in your cabinet.

 

 

 

 

MISERABLE MERINGUE

In yet another tale of a frugal beginner cook, there would be that of a failed baker.

One technique that Old Mother Frugal did acquire growing up was the skill of making a pie crust from scratch.

Many bakers have their favorite tips to a successful pie crust and the continuous learner in me can still acquire a good tip here and there.

The most recent tip that came my way was before filling an unbaked pie crust, place it in the freezer for 20 minutes and the result will be a flakier pie crust! 

Until then, the only tips that had come my way for a successful pie crust were using Crisco from the blue and white can along with ice water when preparing the dough.

You might wonder, why is knowing how to make a pie crust a good frugal skill when there are a variety of frozen pie crusts readily available for purchase in the frozen food section of the grocery store.

Those do cost money and being frugal is all about using what you have on hand. In an emergency, purchased frozen pie crusts will suffice as a vehicle for your recipe. No judging here.

Pie crusts can be used for desserts as well as for dinners. With eggs, milk and leftover cubes of ham and Swiss cheese or broccoli and cheese, a quiche is a wonderful dinner or breakfast.

As a young bride, my problem was not the crust. It was the meringue. Oh, it whipped up nicely and looked amazingly wonderful as it sat atop the lemon pie filling. I placed it in the refrigerator and proudly took it out to display it for my loving, new groom to adore when it was time for dessert.

But much like the facial expression that confronted me when served boiled hamburger, lemon meringue pie was received with the same quizzical expression.

“Aren’t you supposed to bake this”?

Really? Darn. How did I miss that step in the recipe!

Quickly my new groom was realizing he did not marry Julia Child.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Not every two-crust pie recipe needs to be made with two-crusts. If you are looking to cut calories [frugality takes on many roles], make a single-crust pie. For example, generously grease a pie plate and add your pie filling, such as apples. Then, cover the apple mixture with the single-crust and bake. If you like pumpkin pie but not the calories of the crust, generously grease the pie plate before adding your pumpkin pie mixture and bake

                              HAM, BROCCOLI and CHEESE QUICHE