Cheap and Green in the Kitchen
I think I have mentioned before how much I love it when saving money and being green come together in my life. It's even better when it happens in the kitchen because it seems like we are reducing every expense but our grocery bill these days. TipNut usually has a lot of great, quick ideas and this list of 20 Frugal Kitchen Tips is one of my favorites so far. The best part is that pretty much every tip has links with recipes and instructions to get things done. Some of the tips I've tried myself:
- Save turkey and chicken carcasses to make soup or stock. I always have a nice supply of homemade stock in my freezer to use for everything from cooking rice to making soup.
- Make your own bread. This is not as difficult as it seems. It's downright idiot proof with a bread machine and not that much more difficult without. And you can make delicious, wonderful bread for a fraction of what you pay for those nice, whole-grain loaves at the store. It's even cheaper to make than the generic white bread if you buy ingredients in bulk and forgo those tiny yeast packets.
- Buy fresh fruits in bulk when they are in season and make jams and jellies for the winter months. We also made pie fillings, cobbler fillings, and froze plain fruit. Nothing like blackberries and raspberries in the middle of winter. Yum!
- Grow your own green onions and grow your own herbs. Yes, I can buy a bunch of cilantro at the market for 79 cents (on a good day). I can also buy an entire packet of cilantro seeds for about the same price, providing me with a fresh supply whenever I want it without a trip to the store.
- If you grow your own herbs you can also consider making your own herbal tea. This summer I harvested mint from my herb patch, smashed it up with some sugar, put it into a large, covered jar and set it in the sun for some minty sweet tea. So awesome!
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