There are a lot of web sites that claim to pay you to do this or that, often being little more than a way to grab your email and mailing address and harass you ad nauseum.  The web site CashCrate is not one of those sites.  The banner below the cut is a real time counter that shows the amount of money I have earned through the site by submitting free offers and surveys.  I have never paid a single cent for anything on CashCrate and I have received checks from them twice so I know that this is a very real way to earn some extra pocket money.

To sign up for free, click the image below or click here.

The first (and arguably most important) step for me is to save what others throw away. The next time you are cutting up fresh veggies for a soup or stew, save the peels and the ends! This applies best to carrots, celery, onions & garlic, but you’re mileage may vary. You can store them in a large freezer bag or empty coffee can. You can save the drained liquid from canned veggies in the same manner (just add everything to the freezer container).

The next time you cook meat, save the carcass and/or bones. Don’t you dare toss them, the still have important nutrient and flavor-filled goodness to impart! Put them in a large stockpot over low-to-medium heat along with your freezer savings and add water as needed. Add a bay leaf (my granny taught me that), some seasonings (garlic, parsley, basil, oregano, salt, pepper…your choice) and simmer for a few hours. Don’t let them boil, just simmer slowly. This gets the most out of the bones – more minerals and gelatin means more health and more flavor!

I allow the pot to cool and strain into freezer containers, usually in 2 or 4 cup increments. The next time I need 2 cups of ______ stock for a recipe I pull it out of the freezer and pop it right into the pot!

When all is said and done, a little extra time will yield a fresher and more flavorful stock for mere pennies. You’ll remember it the next time you go shopping and pay $.50 – $1.00 for a few ounces! More important, you control every ingredient that goes into your homemade concoction and the vast majority of it was FREE!

I love to use homemade stock instead of water when I am making rice. You don’t have to season it at all!

To start with, you will need a sealable freezer container. Most often I use a large freezer bag and that seems to work just fine for me. Every time I use fresh produce, I chop up the extra bits and add them to my bag. This works well for produce that is about to go bad, too.

Depending on what I have available at any given time, my mix may include any or all of the following:

• Onion (chopped)
• Carrots (diced)
• Corn (whole kernel)
• Tomatoes (sliced, diced, chopped, pureed)
• Celery (chop the leafy parts and add them too!)
• Herbs (I use rosemary, basil & oregano)
• Green Beans
• Peppers (chopped)
• Potatoes (diced)

Once my container is nearly full, I dump the lot into my crock pot with a few cups of my homemade stock (look for tips on making stock tomorrow) and water. I set the crock on low heat and leave it to work its magic for a few hours.

This is a delicious soup as-is, or if you have leftover meat you can add that as well. Break up hamburgers or chop chicken, beef or ham. You can also add a cup or two of small pasta (I use shells, macaroni or egg noodles) to the mix.

At the very most, this soup costs me about two dollars to make and it fills my large crock pot full. I freeze leftovers in individual containers for a quick meal anytime.

Now that we’ve all had our giggle for the day, the truth is that dried beans are good for you, too.

A pound of dried beans can generally be bought for less than $1.00, and that yields about 10-12 servings. Most people won’t try dried beans because they think it is too labor-intensive, but that’s just not true. I prefer to use dried beans whenever possible (unless of course, I’m using fresh), because there are no added sodium or other chemical preservatives. I can control exactly what goes into my food and that is a good thing. There are tons of varieties and they’re packed full of cheap nutritional goodness.

Did you know that when you combine dried beans with just about any grain product you create a complete protein that is comparable to any meat protein? It’s also less expensive and less taxing on both our environment and our bodies.

Enough of the sermon. Now for some facts:

a serving of cooked beans is about 1/2 cup.

Dry beans can be stored in unopened packages or a sealed container, in a cool, dry place indefinitely.

Cooked beans can be stored up to 3-5 days covered in the refrigerator.

Cooked beans can be frozen for several weeks.

While there are several ways to prepare dried beans, I’m going to focus on the only one that I use, and that is pre-soaking. Pre-soaking beans softens them and helps remove tannins and gas-causing sugars. It is the most reliable and consistent method I’ve found and it is simple:

Pour dried beans into a strainer.

Rinse and remove non-bean material (small rocks are common).

Place beans into a large bowl and cover with cool, clean water.

Soak 8-10 hours. Longer soaks may leave them soggy.

HINT: Changing the soak water after about 4 hours will remove even more of the stuff that causes gas.

Now on to cooking dried beans. It really is easy and once you’ve done it a few times you’ll appreciate the improved taste even more than the money you save or the health benefits. Here are the basic instructions for cooking soaked beans:

1.  Rinse soaked beans thoroughly and pour them into a large pot. Cover with water.

2.  Bring to a boil, stir and reduce to a slow simmer.

3.  Simmer for 45-60 minutes, or until beans are tender.

HINT: Adding a small amount of oil to the pot will reduce foaming.

Need a recipe to get you started?  Try Michael’s Better Than Refried Beans recipe and you’ll never buy canned again!

For as long as I can remember my ultimate goal has been to live a quiet and simple life, eventually retiring to a small farm where I would have the freedom and space to obsess over my garden, raise chickens, goats and livestock and truly explore what it is to live a more self-sustaining life.  That opportunity presented itself recently and I accepted the challenge, jumping head first from a decidedly urban life into full-fledged rural heaven complete with crowing roosters and rabbits, chipmunks & squirrels stealing my bean seed out of the ground before it has the chance to sprout.

Things are beginning to level out enough so that I can bring some great new things to Gone Frugal, including the cookbook that I have been threatening to write for several years!

Michael

Since I was a kid I have known about the virtues of vinegar and what seems to be an endless string of ways it can be used to make life easier and yet it seems like every time I look up I hear of yet another way to use the stuff. 

Here are five of my favorite time and money saving frugal kitchen tips that use vinegar.

1.  Metal Cleaner
Dissolve a teaspoon of table salt in a cup of distilled vinegar for a quick and easy cleaner that works on brass, copper and even pewter.

2.  Emergency Buttermilk
Add a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk and wait 5-10 minutes for it to thicken and you have instant buttermilk that can be used in any recipe.

3.  Fluffier Rice
Want to make your rice light and fluffy?  Add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water when it boils and continue cooking as per directions.

4.  Eggs
A tablespoon of vinegar added to boiling water will help poached eggs keep their shape and it will help keep boiled eggs together.

5.  Meat Tenderizer
Marinating meat in vinegar overnight before cooking can help make even the toughest cuts of meat fork tender and flavorful.

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That coupon binder gets a lot of attention from fellow shoppers as well and I get lots of questions about it.  Nearly every time I talk to someone about clipping and using coupons I get some form of the same response.

“Oh, I’d do it but it just takes too much time to save a few pennies.”

That’s about the time when I laugh so loud that I snort, recover, and give them my quick Coupon 101 lesson.  I pull my most recent receipt for the store I’m in out of the binder and show them how many pennies I saved and usually further my coupon karma by handing them a few coupons for whatever items I see in their shopping cart.

People are so used to being told how hard it is to save money they don’t bother trying for themselves to use coupons to lower their grocery bill.  With just a little leg work you can consistently save a huge wad of cash at the grocery store and it is easy!

Case in point.:  In the mail today came this great surprise:

A coupon for free Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon from Kraft Foods First Taste, plus an extra coupon for $1.50 off one package of Turkey Bacon.  This offer wasn’t a fluke and it isn’t something that you have to know the right people to get.  I got this for signing up with Kraft First Taste and you can sign up as well – in minutes – and start getting coupons and free offers for yourself.

I also get free coupons for things I use because I use my customer loyalty card for the stores in which I shop.  Last week without even asking, I received these in the mail (along with other coupons worth more than $20):

I realize that my coupon binder is a bit over the top for most people but it works for me.  Having page after page of sleeves full of organized coupons helps me to spot unadvertised sales and couple them with my  coupon money to get items for next to nothing, and that happens on every trip I make to the store.  Just clipping a couple of coupons each week can save you  a lot of money over the long haul!

Not only am I saving money but I also know every ingredient that goes into the pot so I am protecting my family’s health as well!

This recipe quickly became one of my favorites and it is one of the first I teach to anyone who tells me that they want to learn to cook.  It is so easy to make that the prep takes just minutes and because you are using the crock pot, all the hard work is done for you!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 bag of dried pintos (about 2 cups)
• 6-8 cups water
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Gone Frugal Taco Seasoning Mix
• 1/2 jalapeno, coarsely chopped (or a few jarred slices)
• 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Do The Night Before: Rinse and sort dried beans and add to crock pot.  Cover with 6 cups of water and allow to soak until morning.

1.  Drain soak water and add 6-8 cups of water to the crock pot along with beans and remaining ingredients.

2.  Cover and set your slow cooker on low heat.  Cook for 5-7 hours on low, or until beans are fork tender.

3.  Drain beans over a large bowl or pot to keep the cooking liquid.

4.  Using a wooden spoon or potato masher, mash the beans until they are the desired consistency.  For me that means a coarse mash that’s about 50/50 creamy and chunky.  Add reserve liquid as needed and freeze the remaining liquid for adding to soups or stews later.

NOTES:  You can use this recipe as a guideline for just making a really good pot of pinto beans if you don’t want to mash them.  There are some who think that adding the salt before the beans are cooked will not allow the dried beans to cook thoroughly but I assure you this recipe works exactly as stated.