frugal cooking, frugal living, Uncategorized

Seniors, Here Are 55 Tips On How You Can Save Money On Your Grocery Bills!

Many years ago, I went to get a haircut.  The line was short, so I thought I would be in and out, but the stylist was gabby and spent an inordinate amount of time with the person she was working with.  I had to leave; in those days, my time was not my own.  When I finally got a haircut, I watched what the stylist did.  I’m a baldish guy, and all that she did was run the clippers over my head, similar to the way that I cut my lawn; that was it.  That day, I went out and bought some clippers and started to cut my own hair.  Those clippers reached the end of their life, and I replaced them a few months ago with a cordless set from Wahl for $36. Recently, Amazon “tickled” me to do a review on the clippers, so I went back to their product page.  Those same clippers are now over $47, a more than 30% price increase in just a few months.  Inflation and the Trump tariffs are real, and both are impacting everything from appliances to utilities to medication costs, and especially food. 

But what foods should a senior make? A common option for seniors is to buy frozen meals. However, inexpensive frozen dinners are pretty terrible, and better quality ones can be quite expensive. I often have an emergency pot pie or a frozen dinner on hand, but neither is part of my regular diet.

I found this photo from 2009. I was having this for dinner at work. Wow, it looks pretty terrible, and look at those portions. The apples look like a tablespoon’s worth, and the corn isn’t much better. So much for cheap frozen dinners.

I know many seniors live on very limited incomes.  Some are already doing things to reduce their expenses, following the use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without rule. However, one of the main and never-ending expenses in life is food.  You can’t avoid buying it, even when the cost doubles. Food is one of life’s great joys, so it should be more than rice and beans, but then how can you save money?  One way to deal with rising food costs is by using rational thinking. We eat well at our home and enjoy our food.  Yet, I am careful with my purchases and try to avoid food waste whenever possible. I have attempted to be conscious of what I buy during my retirement years. I understand that I’m in a spending phase of life, not an earning phase.  I am adopting many of the tricks I learned from watching my mother cook, who had to feed 7 on a single salary, as well as the methods I used when I was a poor medical student and resident. Could I spend more? Sure, but why?  There is no status in overspending. 

Through my years of talking to patients, it was apparent that many, including seniors, never learned the frugal habits I did. If this post helps a single person become more food-secure, it is a post worth writing. It is meant as general ideas to spark your own plans. You may have restrictions that will alter what you can eat.  You need to determine your needs. Remember, you do you.

My current household consists of three adults.  However, I lived many years as a single man and student with very limited funds.  I discovered what worked for me, and you will need to do the same, as one size doesn’t fit all.  Here are some general considerations.

  1. If your food situation is dire, please check out options such as senior lunch programs, SNAP benefits, free or reduced-cost meals from Meals on Wheels, and local food pantries.  I’m going to list many suggestions, but they assume that you have at least some discretionary funds.  No one should go hungry. 
  1. Consider where you shop.  This will be limited by what is available in your area.  Generally speaking, Walmart is less expensive than other stores, and Aldi is less expensive than Walmart. I try to do most of my shopping at Aldi because I like its smaller stores, better prices, and more limited selection, which leads to less decision fatigue.  I’m in and out in no time, and I save quite a bit of money to boot. With that said, I will shop at other grocery stores for items I can’t get at Aldi and to take advantage of their sales. 
  1. I like to have certain fresh vegetables on hand that keep well for a long time.  Celery, carrots, onions, potatoes, and the like. These vegetables are inexpensive and extremely versatile. 
  1. I do some unconventional things. I know you are not supposed to store potatoes in the fridge because their texture can be altered, but I often do because they tend to stay fresher longer.  It is a compromise that I make. 
  1. Fresh fruits can be expensive, but some, like bananas, are always reasonably priced. I’ll watch for sales on other fresh fruits. Instead of tossing out overripe fruit, I try to repurpose it.  For instance, I’ll use overripe bananas to make a delicious smoothie.
  1. I’m not afraid to buy canned vegetables and fruit, and I particularly like having a jar of applesauce around. Applesauce is extremely versatile.  It can be eaten as a standalone dish, mixed into oatmeal, utilized in baking, and more. 
  1. Frozen vegetables and fruits can be more cost-effective than fresh, and should be considered when possible. 
  1. Both canned and frozen fruits and vegetables offer good nutrition. Plus, there tends to be less waste as fresh items go bad quickly. 
  1. Some people save quite a bit of money by using coupons.  I’m not great at doing that, but when I do, it has saved me some cash. 
  1. Reduce the amount of meat that you use.  Many cuts of meat have become extraordinarily expensive.  However, meat adds flavor and interest to many foods.  Try to use meat as an accompaniment rather than the main ingredient.  Soups, stews, and casseroles are excellent in this regard. 

I made a delicious cream of chicken soup from the carcass of a Costco roasted chicken.

  1. Consider meatless meals.  The options are endless.  The internet is awash with vegetarian recipes, but there are many options that you likely already know.  How about scrambled eggs on toast for a light lunch or potato pancakes with applesauce for dinner? 

Potato pancakes are simple to make and really tasty.

  1. Reduce your waste.  Plan your menu from your refrigerator.  If you know that a salad’s life is ending, eat it now.  I have taken wilted salad greens and tossed them into a soup for greater nutrition and less waste.  If you use only ½ of a can of tomato paste for a recipe, put the other half in a container or small Ziploc bag and freeze it for future use.  If you are sick of eating that big pot of stew you made, freeze the leftovers for an easy lunch or dinner later.  Is bread often going stale?  Don’t leave it out, freeze it, then thaw what you need by leaving it on the counter, toasting it, or using the microwave. 
  1. Eat what you like, but also try new things.  If you can’t stand a new food, that’s fine.  However, if a new food is OK, you will probably learn to like it after a few exposures. A good place to start is beans and lentils.  They are delicious when made with a few spices, dirt cheap, super healthy, and can be incorporated into a thousand dishes. 

This 15-bean soup was fantastic. My sister gave me some leftover ham from Easter that I vacuum sealed, froze, and used months later. I’m using a pressue cooker, but you could also make this soup using a large pot.

  1. Cook from scratch!  It is less expensive, healthier, and more nutritious.  The more you cook using basic ingredients, the faster and easier it becomes. Basic ingredients can be used in many different ways. Frozen pancakes are tasty and easy to prepare. However, if you have a sack of flour, you can make pancakes, waffles, and a thousand other foods. 

The more you cook from scratch, the easier it gets.

  1. Consider hybrid cooking. It’s OK to use prepared foods/ingredients sometimes, but the more prepared a food is, the higher the cost. However, some prepared foods can be bargains. I will sometimes use a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup in a casserole when I’m too lazy to make a cream sauce.  When I was single, I often had a box of instant rice and a box of instant mashed potatoes on hand, as I could easily make the right no-waste quantity of a side dish. Certain foods, like frozen meatballs or pierogies, are nice because you can easily use part of the bag to turn a mundane dinner into something special. Life is all about balance.

Sometimes it is reasonable to use prepared foods. Here I’m using some cream of mushroom soup to make an easy tuna fish casserole.

  1. Come up with a cooking-and-eating pattern that works for you. When I was single and working 60-80 hours per week as a resident physician, I would make a meal for two and immediately portion out half for dinner and the other half (using a Rubbermaid container) for lunch the next day.  My adult kids have their own ways of saving on grocery bills.  My one daughter makes a meal for 4 and divides it up into 4 containers, so she always has a nice dinner waiting for her when she returns home from work.  My other daughter makes breakfast foods that keep well for several days in the fridge.  She will also batch-cook meals, then freeze portions that she can easily pull out and microwave.  

I used a container very similar to this one when I cooked for two and saved the second portion for the next day’s lunch. However, they now have many more options for food containers.

My daughter sent me this photo. She made this large lasagna and portioned it into 4 meals for 4 days, plus 1 or 2 to freeze.

My other daughter made a pot of red beans (for red beans and rice). She then vacuum-sealed and froze individual dinners for future meals. Like father, like daughter?

  1. Make your own coffee.  You are probably already doing this. However, if you like to go out for coffee every day, you are wasting a lot of money.  I go to coffee places on occasion to meet friends.  However, I always make our morning coffee at home.  Since there are three of us, I make a big pot that is consumed by 9 AM. However, if it were just me, I would either make a smaller quantity or use a capsule coffee maker, like a Keurig.  Yes, coffee capsules have their own issues, and they are more expensive than ground coffee, but they are still considerably less expensive than going out for coffee. Looking for the cheapest option? Instant coffee is less expensive than ground coffee and easy to make.  The taste is slightly different, but people get used to it.  In fact, Europeans drink more instant coffee than ground coffee. 

It is much cheaper to make your own morning coffee.

  1. Consider tea.  Coffee is getting more expensive.  If you feel you can’t afford it, but you need a caffeine fix, brew some tea.  It is less expensive and delicious.
  1. Reward yourself.  Life isn’t all hard tack. Many cookies are very simple to make. Bake some sweet treats and portion them out.  Cookies freeze especially well, but so do other desserts.  Add a little sweetness to your day!

Many cookie recipes are simple. Freeze a batch and take out a couple for a dessert or treat. Personal confession: I will eat them frozen on occasion.

  1. Be unconventional. Breakfast food for dinner?  Why not!  Leftover dinner food for breakfast?  Of course!  You are retired, so you no longer have to abide by food police rules.  
  1. Think outside the box.  Microwave a potato for dinner and then top it with whatever you like.  Traditional add-ons like butter and sour cream, or how about some leftover chili or even canned chili? I microwaved a sweet potato and topped it with butter, a little brown sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg for a quick lunch. I have taken leftover mashed potatoes and mixed them with chives and an egg, and fried up potato pancakes for a creative dinner.  How about scrambled eggs with a side of pork and beans? Don’t knock it, it is surprisingly good. 
  1. Soups, stews, and casseroles are your best friends.  There is no better way to stretch meat or make a meatless meal.  The options are absolutely endless, and these dishes are extremely flexible.  You made soup, but ran out of noodles?  Use rice, potatoes, or pasta; it is all good.

We frequently have soups, stews, and casseroles for dinner. They are real comfort foods. I’m serving this soup with some homemade bread.

  1. Do you remember the commercial that announced, “Wednesday is Prince spaghetti day!”  Why not designate one night a week for a pasta dish?   
  1. Spice it up!  Adding spices can turn a bland meal into a delicious one.  Additionally, different spices can transform the same ingredients into a totally different dish. You don’t need every spice under the sun, but consider having more than salt and pepper.  Inexpensive brands include Aldi, dollar store brands, and Walmart’s house brand.  Some spices that I always have are oregano, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, thyme, cumin, rosemary, and cinnamon. Don’t run out and buy all of these; pick up one or two as needed. Spices don’t go bad; they just become less potent over time.  Ignore their expiration date.

You can buy spices affordably if you know where to shop. Aldi sells spices for very reasonable prices.

  1. Fake vanilla if you bake?  Most people can’t tell the difference between imitation vanilla and real vanilla in baked goods (it is a different story with cold items).  If you can’t afford the real stuff, don’t be afraid to go imitation. 

If you can’t afford vanilla, go with the imitation stuff. Most people can’t taste the difference.

  1. Consider protein extenders.  TVP (soy protein) can be soaked and added to many dishes to extend meat and increase the meal’s nutritional value.  Think meat loaf, tacos, and spaghetti sauce.  The same can be said using beans and lentils as extenders.

TVP is a great way to extend your ground meats.

  1. Learn the art of substitution.  I’m constantly substituting one thing for another.  No black beans?  I’ll use pinto beans.  If I don’t have all the spices listed in a recipe, I’ll use what I have on hand. If I don’t have an onion for a dish, I’ll use dehydrated onion or even a packet of onion soup mix.   You get the idea.  
  1. Consider old-fashioned breakfasts.  Traditional foods like Oatmeal and Cream of Wheat are cheap and filling. Add extras to customize these bland foods to make them your own. I like adding a big spoonful of peanut butter to my cooked oatmeal, but there are many more ways to up your porridge game.  When I make oatmeal, I cook it in a bowl in the microwave.  It takes less than two minutes to cook, and I don’t have a pot to clean. I always use an oversized bowl to avoid boil-overs. 

Dress up your oatmeal to elevate a bland dish and turn it into something special.

  1. Spare the fruit! I’ll use over-ripe bananas to make banana bread, and I’ll mash over-ripe strawberries and raspberries and add them to yogurt. Of course, I toss out moldy fruit.  A thick slice of homemade banana bread with some butter or jam is a wonderful way to start the day!

Don’t toss out over-ripe bananas, make some yummy banana bread!

  1. Make your own yogurt.  Nothing could be simpler, and it is considerably less expensive to make yogurt than to buy those tiny 6-oz tubs at the grocery store.  Yogurt incubators are cheap, but you don’t even need to buy one.  There are recipes that use an Instant Pot, others that incubate in an old cooler, and even some that use a slow cooker.  I like to add some granola, fruit, and a little honey to my homemade yogurt.  It tastes so much better than the stuff at the grocery store. 

This yogurt incubator was less than $20, but you can also make yogurt using equipment that you likely already have.

Here is my homemade yogurt after incubating milk for 8 hours. Amazing and delicious!

  1. Peanut butter!  I love peanut butter, and it is one of my breakfast staples.  I mentioned peanut butter in my oatmeal, but I also like it on a sliced apple or banana.  Another favorite is peanut butter with jam on toast. A fast and easy breakfast or snack!

Peanut butter on a cut up apple makes an easy breakfast.

  1. Bulk up canned soups.  If you’re going the canned soup route for an occasional lunch or dinner, add ½ to a full can of drained vegetables to add nutrition and bulk. String beans work well here. 
  1. Bulk up boxed pasta dishes.  I usually make pasta from scratch, as it is quick and easy.  In fact, I make a “world-famous” mac and cheese.  However, sometimes it is just easier to use one of those boxed pasta dishes. Consider tossing in some canned meat (like tuna or chicken) and some frozen veggies to turn a side dish into a delicious main-course casserole.  This is something that I do when I’m camping, and it is surprisingly good. 
  1. Consider the humble frozen pizza.  When both my wife and I worked, we were pretty beat by Friday, and neither of us wanted to cook.  Originally, we would order pizza, but carryout pizza has gotten pretty expensive.  A number of years ago, I started making frozen pizza for Friday dinner.  If the kids were with us, we would make two.  If it were just the two of us, I would make one and have the leftover slices for lunch the next day.  Frozen pizzas vary from OK to pretty awful.  We watch the sales and can often get a decent brand for around $6, which is fairly inexpensive.  With that said, I would encourage you to make highly processed foods an extra rather than the main offering in your diet.  
  1. Are you feeling salty?  If you are in need of a salty snack, consider popping some popcorn.  I’m not talking about the microwave stuff, I’m referring to regular popcorn.  You only need a pan with a lid, popcorn, and some oil; special equipment isn’t necessary.  Put some oil in a pan. Heat a single layer of kernels on medium heat until you start to hear popping and shake the pan now and then.  When the popping slows, remove from the heat.  Add a little salt and butter, or another flavoring, to make your treat even more special. Why buy pre-made popcorn when homemade is so much better and cheaper?

Homemade popcorn tastes better than pre-popped popcorn, and it is less expensive. You don’t need any special equipment to make homemade popcorn.

  1. Consider other ground meats.  Ground beef prices got you down?  Consider ground chicken or turkey.  You may find that frozen ground meat in tubes is even cheaper (but often of somewhat lower quality).  When I was a struggling resident, I sometimes found that pre-made hamburger patties were less expensive than ground beef, and I would use a couple of them when making meatloaf or meatballs.

Frozen tube ground turkey is very inexpensive, but I prefer the slightly more expensive ground turkey at the meat counter.

  1. Consider dry beans.  Cooking dry beans is easy and costs about one-third as much as canned beans. Make a pound and freeze them in 1-2-cup portions, adding some of the cooking liquid to keep the beans moist.  

  1. How about Meatless Monday?  Consider having one day a week as completely meatless.  You would be surprised how many delicious meatless dishes exist. 
  1. Caution with Costco.  If you are struggling financially, you won’t be going to Costco.  However, if you are retired and trying to economize, you may belong to a warehouse club.  Warehouse clubs can be wonderful, but also dangerous. It is easy to go in for two items and wind up spending $300.  There can also be waste issues.  That 10-pound bag of potatoes is only a deal if you eat all of the potatoes.  You may be better off spending a few pennies more per pound for a smaller quantity of a food that you will actually finish. Where does Costco shine?  Their meat is very high quality, their $5 rotisserie chicken is a steal, and many of their cleaning products are good values.  You may also find that some of their pharmacy items are decently priced. You may like buying other items at a warehouse club, but think twice before you do.  If you know you will finish the food, go ahead.  However, if it is something new and in large quantities, consider buying a smaller package at a regular grocery store to test it out first. 
  1. Slowly stockpile.  I have extras of certain foods, like canned tomatoes, flour, canned/frozen fruits/vegetables, and pasta, always on hand, as they are so useful to use in so many different dishes.  You don’t have to buy everything at once, but if possible, slowly build up a little backup pantry.  In the long run, this will reduce your food costs, as you can shop sales and always have something to make, so you won’t need to hit the drive-through. 

I like to stockpile certain staples. Here I have some cases of tomato products. However, you can buy an extra can every time you go grocery shopping and achieve the same goal.

  1. Eat what you have, not what you want.  Shop your pantry and fridge and make what you have.  If you are throwing out a lot of food, you are wasting money.  
  1. Consider portion control.  Folks, I’m a big guy in all ways.  I’m 6’3” and have constantly battled my weight.  I like to eat.  I have long ago tried to eat sensibly to manage my weight.  This is also a great way to reduce food costs.  By eating normal-sized portions, groceries last longer, and it is better for my health.  I’ll never be a skinny minny, but I would like to continue to be healthy and active in my senior years.  I like to eat in what I call “cafeteria style.”  What are the portion sizes that I would get if I were eating in a cafeteria?  Those are the portion sizes that I eat.  Of course, sometimes I fail.  I’m not perfect,t and I don’t expect you to be perfect either. 

Spend money to save money?  WHAT???

The following suggestions are just that.  I’m not telling you to go out and buy everything on this list.  It is likely that you already have many of these things.  If so, I would like to encourage you to utilize them.  You may choose to buy one or two additional items when you can. Don’t forget that thrift shops and garage sales may have these for pennies on the dollar. 

I love machines, and I like most kitchen gadgets.  However, there are some standout appliances and tools that make cooking much easier and more cost-effective. These are items that let me save money by giving me options when I cook. I’m not listing some gadgets that I love, like a stand mixer.  A stand mixer is great, but only if you bake a lot, so it is not essential for most seniors. 

Cooking tools and appliances to consider.

  1. A decent 8” chef’s knife.  I use a chef’s knife multiple times a day. You don’t have to spend a lot on a decent knife.  Food service knives work well and cost between $10 and $30. I have used the same food service chief’s knife for over 20 years.  My secret?  Every time I take it out of the drawer, I run it through a pull-through knife sharpener. The pull-through sharpener I use was less than $10, and I have used the same one for years.  It is likely that all you will need is the pull-through, but I like a razor-sharp knife, so I go the extra step of formally sharpening my knives a few times a year. I taught myself how to sharpen knives professionally, and it was surprisingly easy. 

If possible, also pick up an inexpensive foodservice pairing knife for smaller jobs. Additionally, you should have a real cutting board.  Cutting on a glass plate can quickly ruin any knife, and it is dangerous. 

Oh, and for those who watch those YouTube videos that show metal being ripped off a knife when using a pull-through sharpener, destroying it, that’s BS.  Remember, I have been using one on the same knife daily for 20 years.  The result?  It looks no different, and it is as sharp as a razor. 

I bought this ten-dollar food service chief’s knife 20 years ago, and I use it every day. I keep it sharp using a little pull-through knife sharpener.

  1. General utensils. I’m assuming you already have these, but you should have some basic utensils, such as a potato peeler, a turning (pancake) spatula, a silicone spatula, and so on.
  1. A few decent pots, pans, and bakeware.  You probably already have these. What if you don’t, and you don’t have the cash?  Try a thrift store!  You can often substitute and adapt.  Before I had a loaf pan, I would make free-form meatloaf on a cookie sheet. 
  1. A microwave oven.  You probably have one already. For some, this may be the only cooking appliance that they have. If you are in the latter category, don’t fret, you can still make meals and save money. Sure, you can reheat in a microwave, but you can do so much more.  You can make rice and pasta in a microwave.  You can bake a cake in a microwave, you can make scrambled eggs in a microwave, cook fish and chicken in a microwave, and on and on. When I was single, I cooked entire meals in the microwave as it was fast and didn’t involve heating up the oven.  And yes, it is safe to cook chicken in a microwave, follow an established recipe, and use a meat thermometer if indicated. 

You probably already have a microwave oven. Don’t fret if that is your only cooking appliance. You may be surprised by how many dishes you can make in a microwave.

  1. A slow cooker.  You probably already have a typical one. However, a 2-3 quart one is better when cooking smaller quantities. When I was a medical resident, I bought a basic 3-quart slow cooker for $9, which still works today. At the time of this writing, you can buy a small slow cooker for under $20. Slow cookers are super useful and very economical to run. As a resident, I made many simple meals in a slow cooker, and it was a joy to come home to the smell of dinner waiting for me. Here are a couple of my very simple, poor resident dinners.

-Put a drained can of sauerkraut, around a teaspoon of caraway seeds, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and a grated apple in a slow cooker.  Season a couple of pork chops and add them. Cook on low for 6-8 hours and serve with instant mashed potatoes and applesauce. 

-Add 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (undiluted), ½-1 pound stew meat, ½ packet of dry onion soup mix, 1 drained can of mixed vegetables (or any other canned vegetable or thawed frozen vegetable), and 1 drained can of whole potatoes to a slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours (or more). Serve with bread and butter.

I’m not claiming that the above recipes are gourmet; there are certainly better ways to make pork chops and stew; however, they were quick, easy, and tasty.  I made a number of other slow-cooker recipes, and you can find many recipes online. 

I bought this 3-quart slow cooker in 1985 when I was a resident, and it still works today!

  1. A pressure cooker.  A stovetop unit starts at around $40, and an electric one starts at $70-80, so a pressure cooker is not an inexpensive purchase if you are on a strict budget. If possible, go with an electric version (e.g., an Instant Pot) as it is easier for first-timers to use.  You may find deals around Black Friday, or you may have a generous friend or relative gift you one for your birthday.  

Pressure cookers do so many things well.  I grew up with my mom using a stovetop pressure cooker at least once a week, and I use an Instant Pot multiple times a month. Pressure cookers are extremely energy-efficient and cook food in about ⅓ of the time it takes in a regular pot. Pressure cookers are great for soups, stews, tough meats, dry beans, and so much more. Using a pressure cooker will pay for itself in the long run. However, you can make the same foods traditionally; they will just take longer and use more energy. 

I love my electric pressure cooker. Here I’m making a one-pot spaghetti. I’m serving it up with a homemade loaf of herb-and-cheese bread.

  1. Food storage containers.  Needed for so many reasons.  In a pinch, you can use decent used carry-out containers, but the ones from companies like Rubbermaid, Pyrex, and Tupperware are the best and will keep your food fresher. When I was single, I would sometimes have small amounts of leftover food that didn’t make it into my next day’s lunch.  How would I store it?  In a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag.  Well, actually, I probably used the house brand of the bag, but you get the idea. 

Having some food containers of different sizes will serve you well.

  1. A vacuum sealer. The Food Saver brand is the most popular, but there are many others that work well and are less expensive. I just saw one in Aldi’s “aisle of shame” for $19.  A vacuum sealer lets you seal food in an airtight bag, preventing freezer burn while keeping it perfectly delicious for up to a year in the freezer.  Refrigerated food will also last 2-3 times longer when vacuum sealed.  I have saved thousands of dollars over the years using a vacuum sealer.  I’ll buy meat in bulk and freeze it.  I’ll save leftover soups and stews and serve them up months later.  I’ll even vacuum-seal ½ of an avocado to keep it from turning brown. This week, we bought some chicken breasts on a super sale.  We baked them, cut them into chunks, and vacuum-sealed them into meal-sized portions.  To the freezer they went. They will be perfect for fried rice, a chicken salad, a tossed green salad, casseroles, and more. I’m a huge fan of vacuum sealers. Pro Tip: Buy off-brand Food Saver-type bags online as they are considerably less expensive. 

A simple vacuum sealer can save you thousands of dollars over time. Here, I’m vacuum sealing some leftover soup. It will be as fresh as the day I made it, months later. I froze the soup in a “Souper Cube” and then placed it in the Food Saver bag for a future meal.

I bought bulk ground beef on a super sale and vacuum-sealed it in 1-pound bags. The hamburger will be good as new even a year after its sealing date.

  1. Consider a dedicated freezer.  A freezer?? You likely think I’m crazy, but you can buy a simple freezer for very little.  Check out Marketplace, as used ones are always being sold there.  However, a new small freezer can be had for less than $200.  In addition, freezers use very little electricity.  I like the standard ones because they are cheaper, more energy efficient, less mechanically complicated, and keep food fresher since they don’t go through a nightly defrost cycle. A freezer lets you buy items on sale.  A freezer means that you will have food available when you don’t want to go to the store.  A freezer will allow you to cook in batches or to save leftovers.  Make a small pan of lasagna, eat one portion, and freeze the other three. Now you have frozen dinners that are much less expensive yet better in quality than the stuff you buy at the market. 

Our 20-year-old basic freezer has saved us thousands and is extremely energy-efficient.

When I was a resident physician, I saved up and bought a small 5-cubic-foot freezer and used it constantly, since my crappy apartment had a very old one-door fridge with a freezer compartment about the size of a shoebox. I remember helping a nurse write her personal statement for medical school. I like to write, and I served on my school’s admissions committee, so I had an idea of what reviewers look for.  She thanked me by baking a variety of delicious cookies, which I kept frozen.  Every night, I would take a couple out for dessert or for a treat with a cup of hot tea. I still have fond memories of those cookies; they really brightened my day. We bought our current freezer over 20 years ago; it is around 12 cubic feet, and it just keeps going.  It is one of the best purchases we have ever made. By the way, she did get into med school.

  1. Buy a bread maker.  Whoa!  Am I crazy?  No!  Guess what? You can pick up a used bread maker for pennies at a thrift store.  I have bought several between $4.99 and $10.00.  You can buy cheap store bread for a couple of bucks, but it is pretty terrible. Bakery-quality bread can cost $4-6 a loaf.  I make my own bread, rolls, and even hamburger buns for next to nothing.  It is fun, and the results are bakery-quality delicious. I just toss in some ingredients and press a button.  Homemade bread doesn’t contain preservatives; if you know you won’t eat it in 3-4 days, cut the loaf and freeze half.  If you take the frozen bread out the night before, it will taste as fresh as the day you baked it. Oh, and there is nothing like the smell of bread baking!

If you have a bread maker, you can have bakery-quality bread for pennies. I have a couple of them. My wife found me this one at a thrift store for $5.

I make a lot more than bread in my bread maker. I also make dough that can be turned into many delicious treats. Here, I’m making some dinner rolls.

  1. A hand mixer.  Great if you bake a lot.  Otherwise, not needed.
  1. A toaster oven.  We love ours, as it is quick and energy-efficient.  I have a friend who picked up one at a garage sale and used it for years. However, if you have an oven, that may be all that you need. 
  1. A rice cooker. This is another unnecessary item, but a great one.  Yes, you can make rice in a rice cooker, but you can also make many other dishes, from cakes to homemade mac and cheese.  A rice cooker can be a good, inexpensive option if you don’t have a formal kitchen.  College kids use them, as do van dwellers, sometimes as their only cooking device. Many rice cookers are very inexpensive. 

If you are on a fixed income, it is important to be conservative with your finances.  Yet, you have to eat.  Making delicious food is one way to save money.  I hope the above suggestions spark your own ideas for stretching your pennies.  To reiterate, there is no status in overspending.

Peace

Mike

Photos are mostly mine, with some stock photos from websites. All images are for educational purposes only.

frugal cooking, frugal living

Save Money: Make your own deli meat! (a fail?)

I like to experiment, and when I came across a YouTube video on homemade deli meat, I was intrigued. This led me down a rabbit hole of other videos, all with the same conclusion: homemade deli meat was significantly less expensive and more delicious than the stuff that you buy at the deli counter. All I needed was a “ham press,” a device that would let me make deli meat, and they were only around $25! I was in.

I’m using a lot of my gadgets, but you absolutely don’t have to be gadget-rich. I’ll list alternatives in the photos below. I’m following a recipe that came with the ham press, but there are many, many variations on this theme. My results were… well, I’ll get to that. Let’s get into the recipe, shall we?

These are the dry ingredients. Other recipes are much simpler. All of the spices were at 1teaspoon, and the unflavored gelatin was at 2 teaspoons.

I used this ground turkey. It was around $3.50 a pound, but if I had gone to Aldi, it would have been $2.50 a pound. If my experiment worked out, I could eventually make deli turkey for $2.50 a pound. In my area, the real stuff is between $10-12/pound, so that could be a real savings

I mixed the spices, gelatin, and meat in my KitchenAid. However, you could absolutely do this by hand.

Per the instructions, I added 2 teaspoons of olive oil.

I then pressed the mixture into the ham press. The press provided plastic liners, but in the YouTube videos, the demonstrators just pressed the meat mixture directly into the cylinder. Some used a little cooking spray to help with removal.

Here are the other parts that came with the ham press.

This spring contraption “presses” the meat mixture during cooking.

You have to force the lid against the spring. The milling of the ham press parts is pretty rough, so I wound up cutting myself.

Here is the complete assembly. You need to cook the meat at a low simmer, so I’m using a Sous Vide at 185°F (85 °C). You cook until the thermometer inserted into the press reaches… well, some recipes say 165°F and others say 185°F. I went with 170°F (77°C), as poultry should be cooked to at least 165°F (74°C). You absolutely could nix the sous vide and just use a pot on the stove with the water simmering. It took around two hours to reach the desired temperature.

I then placed the press in an ice bath to rapidly cool it. After that, it went into the fridge overnight.

I used a meat slicer to slice the loaf. True confession: I bought this slicer during COVID, but this is the first time that I used it. I’ll probably do a review on it in an upcoming post. Of course, you could just use a knife.

Here is the result, Yep, not picture perfect. The slices taste pretty good, actually better than traditional deli meat, as that is overly salty. But the texture? Could be better. So the verdict on this meat press is pending. I’m going to try it on some chicken breasts when they go on sale, as the problem may have been in the ground turkey tube slop. At this point, I can’t recommend making your own deli meat, but stay tuned for trial number two.

Mike

frugal cooking, frugal living

Save Money: Make Turkish Red Lentil Soup

As a kid, I disliked anything that had lentils in it. However, as an adult, I really like lentils. It is funny how that works.

I make a couple of different red lentil soups; this one is a bit spicier, and it is my adaptation, so I can’t credit another source. The great thing about this soup is that you can go from start to finish in less than an hour. I’m serving it up with some Naan bread, which is more South Asian, but that is the way I roll.

If you want it less spicy, use less chili powder. Let’s take a look at the recipe.

Here we have one carrot, one parsnip, and one onion diced. One and a half cups of red lentils, rinsed. One teaspoon of cumin, a pinch of Chili Powder, 2 cups of water, 4 cups of chicken broth, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, and a little salt and pepper. At the end of the recipe, the juice of one lemon and some chopped cilantro are added.

Cook the onion until somewhat brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the spices and tomato paste, and stir for about 1 minute.

Add two cups of water. Add the carrot and parsnip.

Add the red lentils. You could use other colored lentils, but the red lentils look the best.

Add 4 cups of chicken broth. If you want a vegetarian dish, use vegetable broth.

Partially cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

While the soup is cooking chop up some fresh cilantro and slice a lemon in half.

When the vegetables are soft, remove half of the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Then return this mixture to the soup pot.

Add the juice of one lemon to the soup and mix.

Decorate the soup with some of the cilantro.

Add a bit more cilantro to each serving. Here I’m adding some toasted garlic Naan bread.

This is a simple, delicious recipe. Give it a try.

Mike

frugal cooking, frugal living

Save Money: Meal Prep!

When I was growing up, I didn’t think much about meal decisions; I ate what I was given. Some meals excited me, and others were less interesting.  Things are different now that we live in a world of restaurants, drive-throughs, and DoorDash.  It is common to ask the question, “What do I have a taste for?”  These selection options have also drifted into home cooking.  Have you ever looked into a full cupboard or refrigerator and said to yourself, “There is nothing good to eat!”  If so, you may be wasting food and increasing your grocery costs, something that can be especially stressful amid inflation and the Trump tariffs. 

I have talked endlessly about the benefits of cooking at home, especially cooking from scratch. However, to achieve cost savings, you need to prepare what you have.  If you find yourself buying groceries only to throw them out at the end of the week, you are needlessly wasting your hard-earned cash. With that said, I am also guilty of tossing wilted salads and leftovers that are past their prime.  However, I am making efforts to reduce these behaviors, and those efforts are easier than they may appear. 

When I was a resident physician, I was very poor.  I was in the process of getting a divorce, and I needed to pay my divorce attorney, who seemed to think of me as an ATM rather than a client.  I had a small child who stayed with me on the weekends, so it was impractical to share an apartment; I had to rent my own. Additionally, I was paying child support.  Money was extremely tight, and the most I could spend on my weekly groceries was $20, or about $55 in today’s money. That cash had to fund three meals a day, as well as other necessities like toothpaste, laundry detergent, and the building’s pay washer and dryer. Resident physicians were not paid very well in those days, and even when I became Chief Resident of Psychiatry, I was only given an additional $100 (before taxes) a month. For that $100, I not only had to do all my regular doctor work, but also administrative duties for a 4-year residency program, including scheduling, monitoring, disciplining, training, interviewing candidates, and other responsibilities. 

Aldi stores existed, but not in my area, so I shopped at “the Jewel,” our local grocery store chain.  In those days, they had a generic aisle that carried inexpensive foods.  These foods were clearly a cut below house brands and were objectively of a much lower grade.  Once, I opened a can of green beans to find an entire plant inside, including stem and roots. The refrigerated section of the store included cheap items, like hamburger meat mixed with TVP and a generic bologna made with mystery meat products, possibly yak? One highlight was turkey legs, which, for some reason, were pretty inexpensive in those days.  These were the foods that I could afford, so these were the foods that I bought. 

With my doctorly, administrative, and parenting responsibilities, I didn’t have much time for elaborate meal prep, so I came up with options that were both easy and tasty. I also developed hacks to save money.  For instance, it was sometimes cheaper to buy frozen hamburger patties than fresh hamburger (even the TVP stuff), so I would use 1 or 2 patties to make meatballs or a meatloaf.  I had more of these simple but effective hacks; I’ll save those for another post. I figured out how to make meals cheaply and simply. I would make dinner for two and then immediately portion my meal in half.  I would eat one portion for dinner and place the other in a Rubbermaid container for my lunch the next day.  This simple meal prep allowed me to make two meals at once, saving me both money and time.

Most of my kids are now living independently.  We cooked together for years, and they are wholly comfortable in the kitchen.  They have professional, demanding jobs, so their time is limited.  They are also in the early stages of their careers, and they understand that eating out all the time will hamper, not enhance, their financial progress.  Based on this, they have adopted their own meal prep styles.  

My one daughter has been meal prepping her breakfasts and lunches.  She likes breakfast soaks (oatmeal, fruit, chia seeds, etc.), and will make 3-4 at a time.  She also packs a dense bean salad for work. Apparently, these salads stay fresh for days. She picked up an Instant Pot on Black Friday and has started batch-cooking dinners. As I write this, she sent me a photo of some red beans she made and another of her using food cubes and a vacuum sealer to portion them for future meals. 

My daughter sent me a photo of her batch of red beans. It made eight portions, so she needed to freeze some.

She froze portions in food cubes and then repacked them with rice for a complete red beans and rice dinner. These vacuum seal bags can be dropped in boiling water to cook or you can make a little slit in them and cook them directly in the microwave.

My other daughter has a repertoire of dinners for 4 that she has gleaned from home, friends, and a website called “budgetbites.com.” She is comfortable eating the same dinner for 4 days in a row, and that is exactly what she does.  She recently sent me a photo of a roll-up lasagna that she made.  It was inexpensive and made more than 4 meals, so she froze a portion or two for emergency backups.  She also has my love of vacuum sealers, so those extra portions will stay fresh in the freezer for a very long time. 

My other daughter found this recipe for lasagna roll-ups on budgetbytes.com. It made more than 4 portions, so she freezed a few extra meals.

Here are the lasagna roll-ups baked. Delicious!

I have a son in a PhD program who still lives at home.  He is quick to grab our dinner leftovers to take for his school lunch. He likes home cooking, and the price is right!

My son will pack leftovers from our dinner for his school lunch. When he gets hungry dinner is just a press of a microwave button away.

I’m incredibly proud of my kids and their frugal habits.  Each has adapted a version of batch cooking that works for them, and I’m certain that they will modify those behaviors as their needs change.

I enjoy watching food prep videos where the presenter prepares elaborate batch meals or transforms a single ingredient into 5 different dishes.  However, for my kids and me, that is just too much work. Each of us has developed ways to save both time and money using batch cooking. I’m not pushing any of our methods; rather, I would like you to think about what would work for you.  

Abandon the idea that every meal needs to be exciting. Buy basic foods and build a reasonable pantry over time.  Explore recipes that you like.  You don’t need 100 of them.  My one daughter has around 10-12 dinner menus that she rotates, each serving her for 4 days.  This makes her grocery shopping very easy.  Since many of her menus use similar ingredients and spices, she always has what she needs on hand.  

Consider purchasing the right tools for the job. My other daughter has slowly curated items to make her meal prep easy and fun.  Mason jars for her soak breakfasts, an Instant Pot, food cubes, and a vacuum sealer to freeze extra meals. Yesterday, she told me that she would like a Dutch oven for her upcoming birthday. My son has a favorite commuter mug and a quality packable/leakproof food container for school. What is that container?  A Tupperware one that my wife found at a thrift store that he claimed as his own. 

There is no sense of deprivation; there is a joy in reducing decision fatigue and a sense of security in saving money.  How great it is to know that a homemade dinner is waiting after a long workday, ready for a quick reheat. Running late in the morning?  No problem, grab that jar of cold soak and eat it at your work desk.  Trying to save money as a student?  Easy when you have a completely delicious lunch waiting for you that only requires the press of a microwave button. 

Come up with your own ideas, the ones that work for you and your lifestyle. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect.  This is not an all-or-none behavioral change. Perhaps you want to meal-prep only a couple of lunches per week. That’s OK.  Maybe you can’t stand leftovers.  Freeze them and eat them later.  That way, they are no different than heating up a purchased frozen dinner, except the quality will be better and the cost lower.  Feeling left out when everyone goes out to eat?  Join them, just don’t do it every time. It is all OK. 

Happy eating!

Mike

frugal cooking, frugal living

Save Money: Make Homemade Banana Bread

We love bananas at our house, so it is a good thing that they are fairly affordable. That said, we often discard the overripe ones, even though I’m always trying to gauge the right quantity and pick the proper greenness. It seems that they can go from optimally delicious to over-ripe in a matter of hours. Inflation and the Trump tariff taxes are straining our grocery budget, and it is criminal to throw out food. Overripe bananas can be used in a variety of recipes. They can serve as an egg substitute, be blended into a smoothie, or, in the case of today’s recipe, be used to make a simple and delicious banana bread.

There are many recipes for banana bread, but I like the classic Betty Crocker recipe from my 1990s cookbook. I believe we got that book as a wedding present, and it has been well used. I also have a 1970s edition that I bought new. Yes, time marches on! Classic cookbooks like Betty Crocker’s are wonderful because they are written for the average user. They tend to be straightforward and limit the use of exotic ingredients. They are also well tested, so users are more likely to achieve good results. This recipe is a heritage recipe, meaning that it has been popular since the mid-20th century. Let’s take a look at the ingredients.

The ingredients are straightforward, but we will make a few substitutions. You can freeze bananas in their skins for later baking use. You can also peel and mash them, adding 1T lemon juice to prevent oxidation. If you do the latter, note that 1.5 cups of mashed bananas is enough for this recipe.

These bananas are no longer edible in our home. However, they are perfect for smoothies or banana bread.

The recipe calls for 1/2 C of buttermilk, but you don’t need to go to the grocery store; just make your own. Add 1/2 T of vinegar and enough milk to bring the total volume up to 1/2 C. Let the mixture stand for around 10 minutes before using. We are not using vinegar for flavoring, so any vinegar can be used. White vinegar is very inexpensive and always good to have in your stockpile, as it has so many uses.

Cream the sugar and the butter. If you forgot to take the butter out to soften, you can soften it in the microwave. All microwaves are different, but usually 15-20 seconds is enough to turn a rock-hard stick of butter into soft butter. Don’t overdo it, as a few extra seconds can melt the butter, leaving you with a greasy mess to clean up. I started at 15 seconds, then added 3 more, and the butter reached the perfect consistency.

Here, I creamed the butter and sugar. Did I do a perfect job? Probably not, but it is good enough. I scraped down the sides a few times. You can absolutely make banana bread by hand, but an inexpensive hand mixer is a worthwhile investment, although not absolutely necessary. After the butter was creamed, I added the eggs.

Here is the mixture with the eggs beaten in. I scraped the bowl with a spatula during this process to make sure everything was mixed in.

I missed taking a photo of myself adding the bananas. I just broke the bananas into pieces and used the mixer to mash them into the batter. If I didn’t have a mixer, I would have mashed them separately and then stirred them in.

I then added the homemade buttermilk and the vanilla and mixed them in. I’m using real vanilla, but you don’t have to. Cooks often say real vanilla is the best, but that may not be completely true. Manufactured vanilla doesn’t have all of the volatile compounds of real vanilla, so real vanilla is the best choice with unheated foods, like a milkshake. However, most of those compounds are lost in baking, and in baked goods, most people can’t tell the difference between the two. Real vanilla is very expensive; manufactured vanilla is very inexpensive.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. When measuring flour spoon it into the measuring cup and then level the cup with a knife.

Pro tip: if you want less mess, convert the volume measurements to weights and use a food scale. Then no measuring cups are needed! However, since not everyone has a food scale, I’m going with standard Imperial measurements.

I could keep using my hand mixer, but it is gentler to fold the flour in with a spoon or spatula. When mixing the other ingredients, mix for as long as necessary. However, you should mix the flour only until it is incorporated, as you don’t want to develop gluten. Developing gluten is great for bread, which is why you knead it. However, it makes cakes, muffins, and quick breads tough and chewy, so avoid excessive mixing once you add the flour.

Here is the batter ready to go into the pans. At this point, you can add your extras. Walnuts or chocolate chips are fantastic additions. However, one of our family members doesn’t like nuts, and another dislikes chocolate (I know, hard to believe).

Pour the batter into 2 greased loaf pans. I’m using 8″ pans, but 9″ pans also work. I like the smaller pans as the loaf will be a bit taller. Per the recipe, bake at 350°F (180°C) for 1 hour in 8″ loaf pans and 1.25 hours in 9″ loaf pans. However, my bread only took 45 minutes to bake. Set your timer for less time than the recipe states and check. You can always add time, but you can’t take it away. The bread is done when the batter pulls away from the pan, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Here are the breads out of the oven. Allow them to cool for around 5 minutes before turning out. We will eat one and wrap and freeze the other for a future treat.

Quick breads are delicious, and once you make one, you have the skill to make any other variety. A slice can be a dessert, a snack, or something to take with you on your morning commute. A nice piece of homemade banana bread and some home-brewed coffee beats an expensive trip to a coffee shop every time.

There you have it, a really delicious treat from food that most people toss in the trash. A penny saved is a penny earned!

Mike

Filling retirement time, Life after retirement, retirement

Retired For Eight Years. How Am I Doing?

It is time for contemplation and review.  This month, I have been retired for over 8 years from my private practice and 7 years from my addiction work.  That is a long time.  Am I the same person that I was 8 years ago? No.  Are my goals the same? No. Am I happy?  Yes!

Things change over time.  Important things become less important, less important things become more important.  Life goes on.  I think that I’m doing well, and part of my success is in allowing myself to change.  I know some people who are constantly battling to be the same person that they were 10 or 20 years ago.  Good luck to them, but I think that is a futile and frustrating objective.

I love to cycle, and there is nothing wrong with doing so on an e-bike!

As I have aged, I have faced more challenges, not all of them being personal.  My wife developed a serious illness that impacts her daily. This has altered what we can do together, but it hasn’t eliminated those activities.  We have had to become more mindful of our actions as we accept her limitations.  More on that later in this post. 

I have always urged people to discover their core interests because understanding these basics makes adapting to and modifying one’s life much simpler. For me, I have three simple drives: I love to learn, I love to teach, and I love to create.  Those basic drives can be filled in countless ways.  For instance, in the past, I loved learning the neurobiology and biochemistry of a new drug.  Today, my learning may be researching the biochemistry of various bread-making enhancers, as I make much of my own bread. These two topics are more similar than you may think and are equally satisfying to my brain.

Baking my own bread has become a fun activity.

I love to teach, as anyone who knows me will attest.  Sharing information with others makes knowledge grow and expand.  Helping someone understand something is an absolutely wonderful feeling.  It is exciting to see another person’s eyes light up when they connect the dots.  How many live in ignorance, how powerful it is to understand. One of my recent teaching efforts has been through this blog.  With inflation and the Trump tariff taxes, many are struggling. I have been posting simple recipes to encourage others to cook from scratch with an emphasis on flexibility.  Those who have not cooked may be afraid to do so, fearing they will not do things perfectly; my posts emphasize that perfection is not the goal (none of us are Martha Stewart). The goal is to be “good enough.” 

I love to teach, and most recently, I have been teaching people how to cook from scratch.

I’m always creating something; it is in my blood.  My creations can be as simple as cooking a nice meal or as complicated as relearning how to create and build an entire website, a project that I just completed for a friend.  Certain creative interests never leave me, for instance, my obsession with photography.  I love discovering beauty that others miss.  I’m fascinated by using angles and light to transform a boring image into something interesting.  I continue to do some professional photography, but I also relish the joy of my personal photography. Recently, I saw a YouTube video from a guy who travels to small towns to take photos.  “OMG,” I thought, “That’s me, too!” It turns out this person has a photo club that meets in the town right next to mine.  I’m excited to attend my first meeting, but it is also a stretch for me.  I’m what you call a functional extrovert.  I know what extroverts do, and I can mimic their behavior.  I have no problem giving a lecture to 200 people.  I have no problem being assertive. I have no problem dealing with conflict.  However, those activities are not part of my nature.  I do them because they are necessary life skills, so I have taught myself how to do them. However, going to a club where I will be the only new person is a challenge for me, because it isn’t necessary.  My true nature is more introverted.  I don’t want to impose.  I don’t want to be pushy.  “What if they don’t like me?”  “What if they don’t like my photography style?” I worry about such things.  However, I know that growth sometimes requires discomfort.  I have never let discomfort stop me in life, and I’m not about to now that I’m retired.

That said, I think self-acceptance is also critically important. During my professional years, I would see other doctors connecting with health professionals on a personal level, not because they wanted to, but because it was a sound business decision. I could never do that as it felt fake and dishonest. Eventually, I came to accept myself. I couldn’t schmooze my way to success; I would have to do it on the quality of my work alone. In the end, that was enough. 

I feel similarly now.  I am who I am.  I will never be the person with a million friends.  However, I will be the person with a handful of very close connections.  I like to invest in those people that I love, and that takes a lot of energy and effort.  Having a handful of people who I genuinely care for who feel similarly about me is more than enough. I am blessed in this regard.

In this 8th year of retirement, I am still drawn to nature. I was recently telling a friend that one of my greatest joys is Violet, my adventure van. In 2018, my friend, Tom, and I converted a raw-cargo van into a camper, designed for the wilderness. She is capable of generating her own electricity, purifying her own water, and can remain habitable in just about any situation, from a hot desert to a Midwestern winter.  Violet has shown that an old guy like me can find joy in creating the “clubhouse” he never had but wanted as a 12-year-old.  It is never too late!

Tom and I built out Violet, the adventure van, in 2018, but she still gives me great joy!

My wife has been more willing to adventure with me over the last few years.  We had a couple of rough starts as her illness left her more immobile, and some of our trips ended abruptly with a visit to the ER.  However, we are now adapting to her limitations and are having success on our adventures. Remember, our measure of success is what we can do now, not what we could do when we were 20. We are planning and hoping for more adventures this year.

Hiking in the Arizona desert.

I have also realized I don’t have to do everything I “should” do. We should be doing some upgrades to our home, basic things like changing out our carpets, and updating our kitchen cabinets.  These are massive jobs, as they involve moving tons of junk to get the job done.  Suddenly, I had the realization that I didn’t have to do those things.  Everything in my home is functional, so I can leave it as is.  We are not slated to be on the cover of “Better Homes and Gardens.”  I’m not saying I won’t upgrade; I’m just saying I no longer feel the urgency to tackle these laborious jobs. 

I have taken over most of our basic household tasks, from cleaning to grocery shopping, as my wife is still working.  When she eventually retires, I’ll turn over some of those tasks back to her. I don’t find these jobs too menial.  They are a necessary part of life and therefore are important in their own right. 

Over my retirement I have shifted from an accomplishment mode to a connection mode.  I have invested heavily in those I love and that has been one of the wisest investments that I have ever made.  I have invested in my family, my extended family, and my friends. These connections have given me countless joy and a true sense of purpose. Having the time to do this has been the greatest gift from retirement. These connections are likely the main reason why I am so happy and content during my retirement years.

Well, that is my 8 year update.  Peace and blessing to you, my blog friends.  May you find joy in the simplest things and awareness of the beauty that is all around you.

Mike

frugal cooking, frugal living, Uncategorized

Save Money, Make A Dump Cake!

During the 1960s and 1970s, home cooks embraced cooking shortcuts, and suggestions were everywhere from newspaper columns, to church cookbooks, to the back of packages.

My mom was right on these trends, and I have fond memories of the delicious foods and desserts she made for us, including the dump cake. A disgusting title for a delicious cobler-like cake that could be thrown together in literally seconds. Like many foods of the era, it incorporated a variety of pre-made ingredients readily available at any market.

When my kids started to move out of the house, we pondered ways to stay close and involved in each other’s lives. We wanted to see each other more than just on holidays, and we wanted to know the details of each other’s lives beyond a text exchange in a group chat. One of my daughters came up with a solution, a rotating brunch.

This month, the brunch rotation is at our house. My son suggested a “make your own breakfast sandwich,” and the rest of the family was on board. It would be up to my wife and me to figure out the logistics of such a meal, but that sort of challenge has never bothered me.

These brunches include a sweet treat, like a quick bread or a coffee cake. However, I wanted to try something from my past, a dump cake. These cakes became a hit in the late 1960s, and there are now many variations on the dump cake theme. However, I decided to go with the OG dump cake, which is cherry- and pineapple-flavored.

The dump cake isn’t exactly a cake, it isn’t exactly a fruit cobbler, it isn’t exactly a coffee cake; it is a dessert unto itself. It could be a great first cake for someone to make, and can be served warm or cold. Often, a little whipped cream or ice cream is added to further elevate the experience. Let’s take a look at the recipe.

Classic Dump Cake

  • 1 box yellow or white cake mix
  • 1 can crushed pineapple, including the juice
  • 1 can cherry pie filling
  • 2 sticks butter
  • 1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
  • Powder sugar (optional)

Spray a 9″ x 13″ pan with cooking spray and pour in a can of cherry pie filling. Spread it out.

Add a can of crushed pineapple, including the juice, and spread it out.

Spread a box of dry cake mix over the fruit. On top of the cake mix, add 1 stick of butter sliced evenly. You can add nuts at this point, but we have an anti-nut person in our family, so they were omitted.

Melt another stick of butter and add this to the top of the mixture. Note, there is no mixing of any of these ingredients.

Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned and the fruit is bubbling. Once cool you can dust with some powdered sugar (optional).

Here it is served with a little whipped cream. Ice cream would also be nice. It is delicious and as easy as pie. Well, actually, it is a lot easier than pie.

Many variations of this recipe use different cake mixes and fruit ingredients. A perfect and easy dessert.

By the way, the brunch was a success. We set up a self-serve bar, and everyone made their own sandwiches, choosing a croissant, bagel, or English Muffin. We had bacon, sausage, and cheese to go along with a huge batch of scrambled eggs. I did wind up burning a couple of croissants when I tried to toast them under the broiler, but we had extras. All in all, a delightful meal made sweeter with the addition of dump cake.

It is great to plan activities to keep families together. Our brunch rotates, so the burden is light on all participants. It is also early enough in the day for everyone to still have time for other weekend activities. We try to schedule the next brunch at the end of the last one, so everyone has the date on their calendars. Consider this tradition with your family.

Mike

We had a “serve yourself” bar so everyone could customize their breakfast sandwich.

I went with a toasted croissant, eggs, bacon, and cheese. Yummy!

frugal cooking, frugal living

Save Money: Make Instant Pot Spaghetti

By now, you know that I’m the self-proclaimed king of simple cooking and one-pot meals.

You also know that I remember my mother as being a fantastic cook. How did she feed 7 adults day in and day out? Often with casseroles, soups, and stews. Food that fills you up and stretches a meager portion of meat. My mom made spaghetti more like a casserole rather than the traditional spaghetti with a blob of meat sauce. I recall her making two types: one very mild and the other a bit more traditional. I loved both of them. She would always have me go to our local grocery store called “Grocerland” to pick up some fresh Italian bread to serve with our meal.

This recipe reminds me of my mother’s, but there is a twist: it is made in a pressure cooker. Making spaghetti in a pressure cooker turns a simple meal into an even simpler one. Everything is made in one pot, and the spaghetti is done 8 minutes after the pot reaches pressure. With inflation and the Trump tariff taxes, it is important to stretch every penny, or I guess nickel, since we no longer use pennies. The meal ingredients themselves are very inexpensive. Additionally, using an electric pressure cooker is one of the most energy-efficient cooking methods. Here is this very simple recipe.

Brown the meat using the saute setting on your electric pressure cooker. I’m using 1.5 pounds of ground turkey.

Drain off excess fat and add your spices.

Add the jar of spaghetti sauce.

Use the spaghetti jar to measure the water. Add one and one-half jars of water.

Add 1 can of diced tomatoes.

Break 1 pound of spaghetti in half and add it to the pot. Make sure that the spaghetti is submerged and try to separate it as much as reasonably possible (this doesn’t have to be perfect).

Set your pressure cooker for 8 minutes on high pressure. When it is done, immediately release the pressure.

Stir. Initially, the mixture may seem too watery. However, stirring not only thickens it but also breaks up any clumps of spaghetti.

Served with some Parmesan Cheese and some garlic bread. It was delicious.

This meal fed three adults, and there is plenty left for 2-3 additional meals. There was minimal cleanup, as everything was made in a single pot. The original recipe was from “The Salty Marshmallow.” However, there are many variations on this recipe. Try it, especially if you have kids. I think that they would love it.

Peace

Mike

frugal cooking, frugal living

Save Money: Make Sweet Smokey Pork Chops With Apples

Fact One: Two of my daughters are into sheet-pan dinners. Those are dinners where everything is made on a single cookie sheet in the oven. They will make enough for a family, and then divide up the meal into portions for 4 separate evenings.

Fact Two: Several years ago, Amazon approached me and asked me if I wanted to be an official reviewer for them. I initially thought that the offer wasn’t from Amazon and ignored it. However, they were persistent, and it turns out that Amazon uses trusted reviewers to gather product feedback. I signed up, and it has been a lot of fun as I have tested everything from kitchen appliances to tents. Amazon sends me the items free of charge and all they want is an honest review from me.

You may be wondering how facts one and two are related. Well, I was on the phone with one of my daughters, who told me she was making a sheet-pan dinner. I mentioned that I should try to make one too. Moments later, Amazon offered me some McCormick sheet-pan spice packets to review. Strange, indeed, but it was the perfect time for me to test out that way of cooking.

I’m on a mission to help others who are suffering from inflation and the Trump tariff taxes. One of the easiest ways to stretch your dollars is to pull back from restaurants and fast food. The simpler you can make home cooking, the more likely you will do it. This recipe is about as easy as you can get. I’m normally a “from scratch” cooker, but I’m not opposed to convenience. Amazon sent me a case of 12 apple/pork spice packets, and today I made packet one. Spoiler alert: I’ll be making this meal again, it was super easy and pretty tasty. Let’s get into it!

I used one packet for today’s dinner. The directions are on the back and pretty simple. First things first, turn your oven up to 425F (220C).

The recipe called for 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, but I only had 1 pound, so I added 1 pound of regular potatoes, cut roughly into 1″ cubes.

Now for the 1 pound of sweet potatoes, also in 1″ cubes.

Then I cored a couple of apples. It is OK to leave the peels on. The recipe called for 2 apples, but mine were pretty small, so I used three.

I added around 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Feel free to use whatever oil you have on hand. I probably added a bit more than 1 tablespoon.

Sprinkle on the spice mix, but reserve around 1 tablespoon to season the pork. I didn’t measure, but it all worked out.

Mix it up until all of the pieces are coated. The best way to do this is with a clean hand. But, you do you.

Spread the mixture on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Place it in your heated oven for 20 minutes.

Season both sides of your pork chops with the remaining 1 tablespoon of seasoning mix. The packet is for 4 porkchops. We had only three diners and three pork chops. It all worked out.

After 20 minutes, take the sheet pan out of the oven and do your best to turn over the vegetables. This doesn’t have to be perfect. Clear a space in the middle for the pork chops and return the tray to the oven for 15 more minutes. That’s it.

Here is the meal plated up. It was great. Slightly sweet and slightly smoky. The seasoning was mild and not overpowering. The addition of the apple was great. I could see adding some onion wedges, too. I will definitely make this again. It was extremely easy to make; the hardest part was peeling the potatoes, and that wasn’t very hard. Delicious!

Peace

Mike

frugal cooking, frugal living, Uncategorized

Save Money: Make Tuna Noodle Casserole

As parents, our job is to parent, and one of those jobs is to teach our kids life skills. When my wife returned to the paid workfoce I resumed the task of making meals. However, I didn’t do it solo; I involved my kids, and meal-making time became a fun and educational experience in Kunaland. Teaching your kids how to cook is vital, especially amid today’s inflation and the Trump tariff taxes. Yes, buying groceries has become ridiculously expensive, but going out to eat is even more costly.

I like making simple meals on weekdays. I’m a competent cook, but I’m not a hobby chef. Casseroles and hot dishes are perfect as they are often one-pot meals with plenty of leftovers. This recipe makes a 9 x 13 casserole, but it could be halved. It fed three of us for dinner. My son will take a large leftover portion for his school lunch, and there will be a couple of extra portions beyond that.

I was going to make a more upscale tuna noodle casserole, which I may do in a future post. However, I decided on this one as it is as easy as “dump and go.” It is a perfect recipe to teach your kids very basic cooking skills. No kids, or are they already grown? Tuna noodle casserole is still a perfect comfort food. There are many variations on this recipe, so don’t fret if you need to substitute or even omit an ingredient. A person who will remain nameless in my house hates peas. I love peas, but out of deference to her, I substituted a can of corn. Ops, did I just reveal the pea hater?

This recipe is from “All Recipes.” There are many variations on this theme.

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package.

These are the other ingredients. I drained the vegetables and tuna. Not shown is the onion. I didn’t have an onion, so I chopped up a small shallot. I’m using canned corn, but peas would be better. Don’t forget, I have a pea hater.

Put all of the ingredients in a big bowl. If you have kids, they will love dumping everything into the bowl and mixing it up. If you like a creamier casserole, add about 1/2 C of milk. I’m only adding 1/2 of the cheese and reserving the rest for the topping. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175 °C).

Add the cooked and drained noodles and mix.

Place it evenly in a 9 x 13 pan. I sprayed some cooking spray on the dish to make clean-up a bit easier, but that isn’t totally necessary.

Top with crushed potato chips. You could use other toppings such as bread crumbs/melted butter or crackers/melted butter. Don’t have any of that? You could also forgo the topping, but it does add something.

Top with half of the cheese. You could also add all of the cheese to the casserole mix and forgo the cheese topping.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15-20 minutes. Let it stand for around 10 minutes before serving.

I also made a small loaf of my bran and flaxseed bread in my bread maker to go along with the casserole.

Served up. A simple meal, but very comforting on a wintery day. Yes, I know… I like my butter.

Peace

Mike

Random thoughts and my philosophy of life.