Just Another Day (Weekend) in the Frugal Life

I watched a rerun of a 1970s TV show for free on Daily Motion on my laptop instead of a paid streaming service. And we watched a dvd from our local library on family night, again for free (while munching on homemade pepperoni pizza).

As we no longer have an endless supply of plastic grocery bags (bag ban Oct 2021), I lined the household trash bins with plastic and paper mailers this week. The large ones are great for the kitchen and the smaller ones work in bathrooms, bedrooms, the office and the car.

I repaired the mesh sieve. The screen material had come away from the frame. I tucked the mesh back into the frame with the pocket knife and clamped it down with pliers. I hope it holds. But I can always repair it again.

I used what we had on hand to make Valentine's Dinner. I actually tried to buy fresh strawberries to go with dinner, but our local stores were sold out of fresh strawberries by Sunday afternoon. So, for dinner I made egg and vegetable fried rice, pot stickers, steamed broccoli, and tofu-chocolate whip for dessert. The dessert has only 3 ingredients -- chocolate chips, tofu, and vanilla extract, which I already had.

My daughter gave me these great little snack containers so I can my own little snack packs. I'm a big fan of dividing snacks and treats into single portions so I can control how much I eat at one time. These snack containers will let me put together protein and veggie or dried fruit snacks for myself. The grocery store sells tiny protein snack packs for about $1.39 each. I think I can do my own for less with these containers. Sometimes, special money-saving gadgets are a waste of money. But sometimes they really do save. I think these containers will fall under the heading of those that do save.

I froze 2 very dark bananas to make banana bread when we are all out of treats.

I split open the toothpaste tube to get every last bit out.

I used half a box of hair coloring to touch up my roots and temples, saving the other half to use next month. I had saved the applicator bottle from the previous month (washed out) for mixing half of each of the components. Afterward, I washed out the bottle and the plastic gloves for reuse next month with the other half of the box. I've been doing this for several months and haven't needed to do a full head coloring since sometime in fall.

So tell me, what were the highlights of your day (or weekend) in the frugal life? 

We Got Rocked, Plus Making Candy for Son and Daughter-in-Law

We got rocked again. No, that's not a bad thing, but actually a very sweet thing. Someone left some Valentine painted rocks on our driveway Thursday afternoon. Here they are. now I need to get busy this weekend and paint a couple of rocks myself to leave on others' driveways.

Every year, I make some Valentine candy for my son and daughter-in-law. It's nothing fancy, but they really appreciate it. So easy-- this must be the easiest candy I make. It's simply melted chocolate chips/melting wafers-covered mini pretzel twists. Don't these even look like little hearts?

Anyway, I make red or pink ones, using colored Wilton melting wafers and dark chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate with basic chocolate chips. The Wilton melting wafers keep for years. I've had the same bag for at least 5 years, bought at Jo Ann Fabrics and Crafts on sale. I buy several bags at a time in different colors to use for different holidays. 

The bag has some melting instructions on the back of the package that I think work well. basically, you melt the wafers in a microwaveable bowl for 60 seconds at 50% power, stir, then melt again in 15 to 20-second intervals, stirring in between melting. Once fully melted, I add about 1 teaspoon of vegetable shortening (Crisco) for every 1 cup of wafers or chocolate chips. This just helps thin the melted chocolate enough for dipping or coating.

I made 3 different flavors/colors of coated pretzels on Thursday in about 1 hour of hands-on time. I use a couple of forks to turn the pretzels in the melted chocolate and to transfer to a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. I place the sheet in our "cold" room (it's about 55 degrees F in there) to firm up over a day or two.

I just wanted to mention these because even if you think you can't make candy, anyone can make chocolate-covered pretzels. You know, there's a commercial brand of chocolate-covered pretzels. Flipz is the brand name. They sell for about $7 for a 24-oz bag at Sam's Club. I can make about 24 ounces of chocolate-covered pretzels for about half that cost, using 1 1/2 bags of chocolate chips (under $2 a bag) and about a half-pound of mini pretzels ($1.52 for 16-oz bag) for a total cost to make around $3.50 to $3.70 (depending on whether I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate, or 60% cacao dark chocolate). Colored chocolate, such as the red Wilton Candy Melts, if bought on sale or with a higher value coupon from Jo Ann's, cost me about the same.

One other Valentine thing to mention -- since my Cooky-Jar Sugar Cookies recipe made so many cookies, (66 total, I rolled them thin), I was curious how much sugar, fat, and calories they each had. I don't normally count calories, but I do like to know if I'm eating something that is super high in fat, sugar or calories, so I don't overdo it and then feel sick later. Anyway, I plugged all of the ingredients and their quantities plus servings (cookie count) into an online recipe nutrition calculator (I used the calculator on this site). I was very pleasantly surprised to find that each cookie has about 42-47 calories. Compared to many other cookies, this makes a very light, sweet snack with a cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon.

Anyhoo, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!