Frugal Mamas in January - Page 7

[NorCal Mama]

Freezing question

Am going to try the rice milk recipe. Thanks. Could I freeze this?

I want to make some soups in large quantities and would like to freeze them. What is the best way to freeze it? Freezer bags? Containers? How long can they be frozen for?

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by NorCal Mama

Am going to try the rice milk recipe. Thanks. Could I freeze this?

I want to make some soups in large quantities and would like to freeze them. What is the best way to freeze it? Freezer bags? Containers? How long can they be frozen for?

The rice milk will NOT freeze- I tried this and ended up with fibers of "rice paper" floating in the thawed milk.

Soups can be frozen in bags or containers, just make sure the soup is cool before transfering to plastic freezer stuff. I usually use up freezer stuff within 2 months, not sure how long it would otherwise keep.

[aprons_and_acorns]

NorCal Mama-

I don't know if the rice milk if freezable but I'm going to give it a try. That would be really great if I could just have a few quarts of it in the freezer.

I get so excited about stuff like this. It's like a cheap thrill for me. And it makes me feel so darn clever. I am a nerd I guess. A frugalty-oogalty nerd.

[aprons_and_acorns]

Oops! I cross-posted with Ruth. thanks for the advice on the rice milk. That sounds dreadful--ack!! I will not be freezing it after all.

[NorCal Mama]

Rowdy-pea: love that you're a frugalty-oogalty nerd. I'm becoming that way. Out of necessity, so we can save and stop paying someone else for a house we live in. I have so much to learn about frugality. I love this thread.

[stacyg]

Originally Posted by heket

Yesterday, you all inspired me to make banana pancakes from scratch to freeze and pop into the microwave during the week.

Could you post this recipe it sounds yummy...

[Amys1st]

Thank you mamas! This is my favorite discussion in a long time

All the recipes/ideas for the crock pot are great! The only thing I do now really is pulled pork which could be done in the oven. When country style ribs boneless are on sale for real cheap we buy as much as possible without other customers harrasing us!
Then we put one cup orange juice and one cup bbq sauce to every 3 lbs of meat. Bake on 300 coverd for 3 hours. then the last hour do uncoverd at 350. It should be able to be split with a fork. We shred it up with a fork and put on sandwiches- very yummy. This has also been done in the crock for double the time.

I pasted all the recipe/ ideas into a document so if anyone wants it, let me know, I can post it.

[khrisday]

Thanks Rowdypea! I will check next time I am there.

[Jennisee]

Originally Posted by tnrsmom

Jen, here was my idea for Golden Nugget Bars. Soften ice cream similar to play dough consistency. Roll into logs with a bit of a well on the top and freeze on a cookie sheet. When frozen, pour caramel and nuts in the well and freeze again. Let freeze overnight so they are really hard. Dip in milk chocolate and freeze again.
I may try that this week.

Wow, I never thought about rolling the ice cream into logs. What kind of caramel are you planning on using? I'll bet it would be good with almonds, too! Let me know how it works!

[kimmysue2]

Golden Nugget Bars OH MAN does that sound good and I am no a no sugar in my diet right now.

[Jennisee]

Originally Posted by MommytoMJM

Here is a recipe site for foods we eat in restaurants or candy, etc....to make at home, check it out!

http://www.copykat.com/

What an awesome site! I actually found a recipe for General Tso's Chicken!!!! Now just gotta see if it freezes well... Plus, Dairy Queen onion rings and Bennigan's garlic mashed potatoes. Who needs to eat out?!

[root*children]

NAK!

Hey frugal mamas! Didn't even realize you'd started a new thread!!
Am I the only one who's feeling like frugal living should have it's own forum?
I was just over checking out simpleliving.net. Pretty good website, but I'd like to see it get as organized as MDC! Go check it out if you haven't already!

NAK'ing, so I can't type as much as I'd like to, but if you're ,aking rice milk and want it enriched - go to your natural foods store and you can buy a liquid supplement thing, and just add a Tbsp. or so into each batch. We do our own soy, rice & almond milk, and use "Nature's Life - Calcium, Magnesium, and Phosphorus Liquid". We also use brown rICE sYRUP , not honey, so you don't get any predominant sweetener taste.

Will chhat later when I have2 hands

[aprons_and_acorns]

Thanks Dready Mama! My first batch of rice milk turned out pretty good. And it was easy too. Plus I got to use my kitchen "power tools" that I love so. I'm glad I can enrich it too.

Yes I think a frugal living forum would be great. It seems like such a responsible way to live, but a lot of people (often me included) don't know how to get started or what changes to make. and of course support is important, because goodness knows there is so much out there trying to get us off our frugal wagon.

[edamommy]

What about garbage?

I'm really just a lurker on this frugal living thread but I have a garbage concern. We recycle. We do the best we can, I think. Yet we have SO MUCH DARNED GARBAGE every week. Like 6-8 big bags full. What's up with that? How much garbage do you all output in a given week? Ways to cut down on garbage?

[pilesoflaundry]

We usually only have 2 bags of trash a week and we are a family of 5. I recycle everything I can and I try and only buy things in recyclable packaging. If I can't, well I can't but I at least try. We eat leftovers and put whatever we can't/won't use that will go down there in the garbage disposal. A few things like corn cobs can't so those go in the trash.

I use cloth diapers, napkins, towels (instead of paper towels), regular plates more than paper and a diva cup. That itself really cuts down on our trash. Before when we used all disposable products we had at least 3 bags a week of trash I was able to cut down to no more than 2, if it's a really good week we have 1 bag!

[root*children]

Something that generated alot of garbage for us was those darn soymilk containers. So we started making our own. Not saying that we have zero trash, or anything, but we have a dumpster for just our neighborhood, so I don't really keep track. I'd say we fill 2 or 3 plastic grocery bags per week. We also liberate lots of trash from the dumpster... stuff that's not really trash, just excess that our wasteful neighbors are too lazy to take to the thrift!

Thinking about going and posting on Q's that there be a Frugal Living Forum. There are just such a broad range of frugal topics to talk about and they get lost in just one thread, ya know?

[janerose]

Originally Posted by vegiemom

I'm really just a lurker on this frugal living thread but I have a garbage concern. We recycle. We do the best we can, I think. Yet we have SO MUCH DARNED GARBAGE every week. Like 6-8 big bags full. What's up with that? How much garbage do you all output in a given week? Ways to cut down on garbage?

We struggle with this too. Some ideas that have helped us:

- Compost food scraps. Everything except meat can be composted. Crushed egg shells are really great for roses if you have any. This is double fugal 'cause later you don't have to go buy soil for you plants. You can even compost dryer lint assuming the items dried weren't acrylic.

- Use real towels instead of paper towel. My DH won't use regular towels for cleaning up spills and stuff, so I bought a bunch of muslin and am cutting/sewing it into paper towel size sheets. Some people also use the microfiber towels you can buy at Walmart in the auto section for this. We're also going to start using these towels to replace Kleenex. Kinda like big hankies.

- If you use swiffers use the above mentioned microfiber towels to mop with instead of the sposie ones. You can reuse the dusters too, just wash in the sink & let air dry. Even better get a good feather duster & don't buy the reusable ones at all.

- Cloth diapers. I can't even imagine how much more trash I'd put out each week if we used sposies.

- When possible make your own cleaners, convenience foods, etc. If you can't (or don't want) to make your own then at least make sure to buy the one with the least packaging or packaging that's recyclable.

- If you have cats change to a litter that's flushable. We use a wheat based litter, which I have to admit we don't actually flush, but it does weigh about half of what the clay stuff does (our trash is done by weight), works just as well, and is much healthier for us, our animals, and the environment.

- Not going out to eat cuts down a lot on our trash actually. We always have leftovers and the containers are almost never recyclable.

HTH!

[janerose]

Originally Posted by dready*mama

Thinking about going and posting on Q's that there be a Frugal Living Forum. There are just such a broad range of frugal topics to talk about and they get lost in just one thread, ya know?

Just had to add ITA with this! Even a forum for the more general category of "money management" would work. Funny that something we all deal with on a daily basis (money) and has such a huge impact on our lives, world, environment, etc doesn't have a forum.

Then again there isn't a forum for SAHM's either, but don't get me going on that!
:

[NorCal Mama]

So, what do we need to do to get a new forum? Is there a moderator to ask? I have so many questions about frugality, and I don't want to bombard you all with all of them. I'm a beginner here in the frugal world.

Here is one question: I've been reading that a lot of you have saved your carcasses from Christmas. How long can you save something like that? Did you freeze it or what? Then re-cook it? I'm also a beginner with cooking and storing meat. I was a vegetarian for years, so I'm learning.

Thanks!

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by janerose

Just had to add ITA with this! Even a forum for the more general category of "money management" would work. Funny that something we all deal with on a daily basis (money) and has such a huge impact on our lives, world, environment, etc doesn't have a forum.

Then again there isn't a forum for SAHM's either, but don't get me going on that!
:

Dont even get me started on the SAHM thread, besides I am enjoying this discussion, so don't go there. :