BEND AND STRETCH

Old Mother Frugal is so old that occasionally there is a flashback to an old favorite TV show called “Romper Room”.

The show comprised of a hostess and she had lots of children on her TV show.  There were props like Mr. Do-Bee, Mr. Music and the Magic Mirror. There were lessons to learn, songs to sing, activities to play with the hopes that your name would be announced at the end of the day.

At some point during the show, the children would all get up from the floor as the hostess began to sing “Bend and Stretch”.  Kids at home would also get up off the floor and participate in the activity too.  “Bend and stretch, reach for the stars….There goes Jupiter, There goes Mars”.

This was a time before Sesame Street.  Yes, Old Mother Frugal is just that old.

So how does ‘bend and stretch’ fit into our lives today? 

If you are frugal, like Old Mother Frugal, you bend to be flexible.  You stretch where you can to save money.

Recently, the local Kroger grocery chain was offering a free box of Annie’s Organic Pasta and (Made with REAL) Cheddar Cheese to loyalty card customers.  

When preparing this boxed macaroni and cheese, only half the cheese packet is used for the recipe.  The remaining half is transferred into a snack-sized, Ziploc bag and returned to the box. This stretches the macaroni and cheese into two meals.

“Bend and stretch, reach for the sky, standing on tippy toes oh so high”… grabbed some elbow pasta from the pantry pouring 12 oz or a generous cup worth of elbow pasta into the box to complete the ingredients for the second meal.  Taped shut, it is returned to Old Mother Frugal’s pantry.

Stretching one meal into two and having two meals for the (free) price of one. Then stretching leftovers into a third meal.  

The leftover ham with mac-n-cheese dinner transformed into a Cream of Potato-Cheddar Broccoli soup to be served with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Bend and stretch!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip:  It’s never empty when it’s empty.  Before you dispose your plastic container of coffee creamer or laundry detergent, get all that you can out of it.  Add a little water to the coffee creamer and laundry detergent bottles and shake the bottles.  You’ll get more cream for your coffee and more detergent for your laundry. It may be diluted but still good to use.