Frugal Things Every Day

We are making all of our quick breads from scratch. I have plenty of blueberries, bananas, and cranberries in the freezer. I have plenty of canned pumpkin in the pantry.

We no longer buy canned beans. I buy dry beans. You can soak them overnight and then cook them. If you have an instant pot you can quickly cook them up.

I am looking at every sauce I have and seeing if I can find a recipe to substitute for them.

I no longer buy chicken broth. I can or freeze my own that I make from chicken carcasses. I use beef bouillon cubes or beef soup base to make my beef barley soup.

We no longer buy ready to eat cereal. We make our own granola. We also eat oatmeal with berries from the freezer. I am going to research and see if I can make yogurt from my shelf stable milk.

We no longer buy seasoning mixes. I have plenty of spices that I can make them from.

We do not buy shredded cheese anymore. I have a grater attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer. So we buy blocks of cheese and grate our own.

We no longer buy cold cuts because of the listeria risk. We roast and slice our own.

I have some canned soup on the shelf. However, most of the time, I make my own from scratch. We will use up the canned soup and then make all of our soups from scratch.

I no longer buy jams and jellies since I started making my own peach and strawberry which are Hubby’s favorites. I can control the amount of sugar in them also.

We make our own cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries. I buy them at a rock bottom price around Thanksgiving and freeze them.

Smhuh left some comments on my last post. She suggested cutting back on the olive oil you have by using your bacon grease to saute veggies. This is something that I do often. We cook so much bacon that I always save the grease. I put it in the refrigerator to keep it from going rancid and use it for lots of things. She substitutes applesauce in baking for oil and flax seed for eggs. She also mentioned All Recipes to find salad dressing recipes. Thank you for sharing with us.

I hope some of these suggestions will help you save some money.

So many food items are getting ridiculously expensive. Every time I go in a grocery store, I bring my price book and go up and down the aisles updating the prices. I have also kept track of a lot of prices since 2021 by saving my receipts. Those items have gone up an average of 60% in 4 years. I will tell you that I am in the Buffalo market area. Buffalo, N.Y. is the second largest city in New York state so the prices are high here. Now is the time to no longer buy certain things until the prices come down. If we all did this, they would have to lower them.

This week I went into Top’s. I saw a 50.7 ounce bottle of Bertolli olive oil for $ 37.49. I have a large bottle at home that I paid $17.00+ for a while back. I opened it recently and it is not rancid. So this should last us a while. But if I run out I am not spending that price or more to get a new bottle. I will look for a decent price on avocado oil or cold press coconut oil. Italy has had bad olive crops for two years now which has caused the price to rise along with inflation.

I bought my last loaf of bread a week or so ago. From now on I am making all of our breads. I can make tasty specialty loaves for dollars less than it cost at the store. I have a bread maker and I have a Dutch oven so it’s crazy to buy bread. I also found a recipe for tortillas that I am going to try. I will let you know how they turn out.

We no longer buy refrigerated milk because we can’t use it up before it goes bad. I buy shelf stable milk at Dollar Tree for $ 1.25. I only use it in puddings, baked goods, casseroles, etc. We do not drink milk. I also no longer buy cream. When it went up to $ 6.00+, I quit getting it. We use half and half in our coffee which I can get a half gallon for $ 5.99.

I only buy butter once a year at Aldi’s at Thanksgiving. it cost $ 2.69 a lb. last year. We use about 32 lbs. a year. I rarely run out.

I am still buying eggs but not for much longer if the price keeps going up. When they were at a decent price, I purchased 5 dozen and froze them for scrambled eggs. We will use them sparingly. I also have egg powder if they run out.

For a while I was buying bottled water in case of an emergency. I have quit doing that since I started to save Hubby’s Sam’s Club Diet Cola 2 liter bottles. I just wash them out really well, let them dry, and then fill them from our faucet.

We purchased our last tomatoes this week. The price has gotten prohibitive. So we will have our last BLT’s this week coming up until next tomato season. I have canned tomatoes for soups and casseroles.

With the exception of lettuce, celery, potatoes or onions, we will only buy what is in season or frozen vegetables.

We are making our own salad dressings as we use up what we have. I do have a free salad dressing coupon so I will get that one.

As meat prices are rising again, I am being very selective because we are eating out of the freezer so that nothing goes bad. I did buy some chicken and 3 roast beefs recently on sale at great prices.

We have some craft beers that Chris and Hubby brought from their state and we have a few cans of Yuengling left. When they are gone, we will buy no more.

I have not had salmon in about 9 months. We have a small amount of haddock in the freezer. I will not buy any fish until the prices come down. We do like shrimp and I will buy it once in a while on sale.

I am hoping to make Eloise’s cat food when she gets older. Right now she is eating Friskie’s Kitten Food in the yellow bag. I found a recipe using rice, veggies, and chicken. There are a lot of cat recipes online.

We are making our own spaghetti sauce now from tomatoes we froze and tomatoes we canned when we had a garden.

We are making our own cakes and brownies from mixes I have or making them from scratch. We are making our own donuts, fruit crisps, and frostings.

That’s it for today. There will be more in the future. I need to work in my pantry now while Eloise is asleep.

What things are you no longer buying because the price is exorbitant?

We are looking at our everyday expenses with a fine tooth comb. One item that we have changed lately is how we buy gasoline. I got very used to spending my points at Top’s to buy gas. When I was doing a lot of shopping, they really added up. Now that I have cut way back on grocery purchases, I am not earning that many points. I was filling up the last couple of months at $ 3.55 a gallon. Then I noticed that my High Quality Station was $ 3.19 a gallon. This is a cash only station so that is where I have been filling up lately. They seem to be much cheaper than everyone else in my area. Plus they are just around the corner. I go by them almost anytime that I go out. Matter of fact, the next time I go out I will fill up there. We have been trying to get the gas tank down as low as possible to fill up at that price.

I can get a discount on gasoline with my Walmart+ also but the stations they use are farther away from me and are more expensive per gallon. I also can get a discount at B.J.’s Warehouse Club but I go there rarely. But if my tank is low and the price is lower than my cash station, I would fill up while shopping there.

There are also a number of apps that you can use to save on gas like Gas Buddy and Upside. Upside does not have many stations in my area. But I will be researching Gas Buddy next week. Right now, I have too much on my plate.

I know that some people are close enough to state lines to be able to fill up in a state that is cheaper on both gasoline and the state taxes. If you travel that direction for any reason, fill up while you are there. Here the closest state is PA. It is 2 hours from me. Their gasoline is higher than I am paying here.

We also run our errands in a loop and have for over 50 years. We try to do everything in one to two days a week. We strive for one but that isn’t always possible with medical and dental appointments.

Hubby takes the car to a local garage for oil changes, fluids, filters and brakes when needed and he puts air in the tires. That helps us get better gas mileage.

I wash our car at home in the nice weather. In the cold and snowy weather, I go to a car wash that gives us one reward ticket every time we go there. When we have 5 tickets we redeem them for a free car wash. I have two right now. But before the winter is over, we will get a free wash. It is a bonus that it is right near my grocery stores.

I clean and vacuum our car myself. Since I do it every couple of weeks, it stays nice and clean. Whenever I use the car, I take any grocery lists or other things that may have accumulated during my trip out of the car and dispose of them immediately. Clutter drives me nuts!

We have always checked prices for car insurance every year. Most insurance companies raise your rate every year. And it is not a little increase even if you have had no accidents or tickets. The last time this happened to us, we went to an insurance agency to see if they could find us a better deal. I knew they handled many insurance companies because years ago I worked for an agency. They found us a company headquartered here in NY. They raise our insurance every year but it is a fraction of what other companies have raised it. We are very happy with them.

Here in NY, we can get a 10% discount on our car insurance by taking an online driver safety course. The discount is good for 3 years and you can renew it every three years. The cost of the online course is much less than the discount you get over those 3 years.

We drive the speed limit and don’t gun the car from a stop.

We buy new cars but we keep them for years. The one we have now is almost 12 years old. We pay cash when we buy one. If we ever need another one, we will have our children find us a couple year old car. Since the cars depreciate, they always buy their’s a couple of years old. I trust their judgement.

That is all I can think of right now. If you have any other way that you save on gasoline and insurance or any other way you save on your car, please feel free to leave a suggestion.

This is 4 month old Eloise. She has already taken to Hubby. We adopted her from a rescue about an hour and 15 minutes ago. Right now while I type this she is sound asleep on his chest. I love her name so Hubby said let’s keep it then.

We have decided we don’t need to exercise any more because we chase her all over the house. She darts so fast.

She is fully vaccinated, has all shots that she should at this age, is spade, and is chipped. She will be be an indoor cat but I am glad she is chipped in case she darts out the door.

It was a busy day because I had a Walmart delivery at 9:30am with canned wet food and some litter. As soon as the things were in the house, I shot up to Petsmart and got a litter box, a scratching post, some toys, a feeding station, and a pet carrier. I forgot a bed and a thing for her to climb on. We will make a bed out of a box with a soft towel. I will get the thing to climb on shipped to me.

Then we went to the rescue and fell in love with her. We are happy that we got there when we did because another couple came in specifically for her right after us. I mean within minutes! Eloise was meant for us!

She went right to the scratching post and knew how to use it which made me happy when we got home. We have a law in New York that you can’t have a cat declawed.

We will be busy over the weekend getting her acclimated to her new home and us. You all have a great weekend!