A crock pot or two or three is the best money and time saver you can have. I can throw in whole potatoes wrapped in foil in one, meat in another and the evening meal is off my mind. Also a pressure cooker is a great help in being frugal.

I buy really cheap items and try to be creative... for instance, ramen is cheaper than pasta, so I will make a pasta dish with that instead. I do lots of soups and homemade bread.

Make sure your freezer is full - it will run better and be cheaper. I keep old milk jugs fill of water to fill up empty space.

Put that plastic stuff over your windows and a rug or something against the doors to keep the drafts from coming in.

Luckily we have a programmable thermostat so I can have the heat way way way down while we're at work.

For those of you in MN - Rainbow has doulble coupon days on Wednesdays.

Walgreen's has a 'club card' for about $25 a year that offers discounts on prescriptions and rewards on whatever you buy in the store.

Redbox for movies - and get on their email list. They will frequently have free movie codes.

For those that freeze extra foods, a thought to ponder, though it is a financial outlay of money...is a foodsaver vaccuum sealer. My Hubby and I purchased one of these for our Co-Christmas present this year. I am afraid I am terrible at putting things in the freezer and having them come out freezer burnt and then they don't taste good or they just get tossed. Lost so much money that way. We have started freezing our meats and they look fantastic. I also cook up bulk dishes like lasagna, manicotti, perogies and such and freeze them in lunch sized packets. After you use the bag, if it's big enough, (and hasn't held chicken or meat) we wash it out and reuse it till it's too small to seal anything in ;) I am planning on stocking up on summer veggies and freezing my own veggies. With an infant around the house, we unfortunately can't turn down the heat drastically like we used to, but we have already saved money on food by not throwing out freezer burnt meats and by having lunches frozen instead of buying!

The Foodsaver is a wonderful tool! I buy big quantities chicken, pork chops, steaks and even the big bags of breaded fish or chicken nuggets. Separate it out into portion sizes that you will use in one meal and vacuum seal it. I write what it is or cooking directions on the part above the seal on the bag with a Sharpie since that part of the bag gets cut off. And I don't reuse a bag that had raw meat/fish in it, but I do wash out and reuse bags that had other food in it.

Take whole strawberries in season and put them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. When they're frozen, take 5-6 of them and freeze them in a bag. When you want to make a smoothie, take 1-2 scoops of ice cream, some milk, half a banana and a package of frozen strwaberries and put it in the blender. mmmm!

I also vacuum seal walnuts and almonds that I get at Sam's/BJ's to help keep them fresh longer.

Frozen fruit blended up also makes a great daquiri (probably not spelled right!). I picked a ton of blackberries last summer and we are still enjoying them! (mine is without the alcohol, right now !)

Rose Hall

I don't have a foodsaver but I have Press N Seal. Whenever I buy meat, I buy the large package (ex chicken tenders). Then I seal them individually in a strip of 4 (serving size for me and dh). I do all of the chicken that way and then put in gallon freezer bag and freeze. I only have to thaw individual servings (much faster) and I only cook what I need. I buy a pork loin and have the butcher cut into 3/4 inch boneless porkchops when on sale. (2 or 3 to pkg) I buy boneless ham and have sliced in 1/2 inch slices, same procedure. I buy ground round and cook it immediately with onion and pepper, then freeze in 1 cup containers. Now when I cook tacos, sloppy joes, or spaghetti, the meat is ready to eat. This helps us avoid the temptation of eating out.

Give me a day or two for the first basic recepies. I'll translate them tomorrow.
You can almost add everything you like.


I don't have a foodsaver, put everything that can in my freezer.

Here is the website where I found the recipes that I use the most...I will sometimes add a bit of something different (like ground cloves) and my Italian sausage nearly always ends up with red pepper flakes, oregano, garlic, and onion!

http://www.sausagemania.com/recipes.html#italian

We keep our heat at 67 and our water heater at warm. Our dishwasher heats the water up if it isn't hot enough and for everything else (showers) you don't need boiling hot water on tap 24/7. No more lattes at Starbucks, instead I make my own at home. I make soups from scratch (healthier, you control the salt, no additives). Cheerios or oatmeal for breakfast during the week (good for our cholesterol). so, living frugally is also healthier for us. As far as quilting, I am really trying to sew up the fabric I already have and use up scraps for scrap quilts. i like reading your ideas. keep 'em coming.

I raised two kids on social security survivors benefits. Since my husband never made much money we got the absolute minimum possible. I made all the boy's pj's, and shirts and bought coats at the second hand store. I would buy jeans, unders and socks for them on sale. My clothes came from either second hand or I made them.

Food wise, it was coupons, coupons, coupons! We always ate at home and I cooked from scratch. I baked all of our bread. We were also low enough income we qualified for commodities.

The things we didn't have were phone and cable. We always had a 10+ year old car so all I had to pay was liability for insurance.