I don't know if you've heard, but our country is facing a recession. Stuff is more expensive. Jobs are less secure. I know, I know, it's very scary and I'm sorry to be the one to break this kind of bad news, but it's best you hear it now before the newspapers are filled with negativity and politicians use it as fodder for their campaigning fire.
Or something.
Anyway, I don't claim to be the most frugal woman the world has ever seen. I buy what I need, preferably on sale, and try to stay out of the stores the rest of the time (which has been depressingly easy since the birth of my third child, but I'll save those stories for another day). We manage to live well within our means with this method and though I know I should have a formal budget on paper and actually pay attention to how much a bag of sugar is, I just haven't found the time for that kind of detailed penny-pinching ;).
But today I discovered that I have made a significant change in one habit that is probably saving me at least $10 a month. Woo-hoo. And I'm kind of embarrassed to share, because I have a suspicion that every decent homemaker in this country/world/universe is already on to my fabulous money-saving discovery. Here it is anyway--
I freeze my bread. All of it--bagels, sandwich bread, muffins, English muffins, buns and pitas. It's heavenly to have all of these baked items on hand whenever I feel the need for, say, a raspberry jam covered English muffin with hot chocolate (and that craving occurs more frequently than you might imagine). I never froze my bread before because I was too lazy to thaw it. Or defrost it. Whatever you want to call it, I have since discovered that it takes only 8-15 seconds in my microwave. WHAT!? Who is too lazy for that?
Back when I used to think it was so hard, I did attempt to freeze my bread a couple of times. But due to the mental mountain I had built in regards to defrosting, I almost always ended up throwing away a freezer-burned bag of bread. I had a prejudice against frozen bread and couldn't quite get my oomph up to eat it.
No more. I am gloriously giddy about my new methods. I will never reach into a bag of moldy bread again. I will never chew my refrigerated bread with disgust ("Don't you know that refrigerating your bread makes it stale?" my mother told me when she visited in August. "No it doesn't," I thought. But yes, my mother is right yet again. Refrigerated bread gets stale. Ick.) And I will never feel the guilt of throwing an entire bag of what is now quite expensive bread in the trash. Liberation.
Now I'm ready for a new challenge. Make it small. Make it simple. Reciprocate. It's the nice thing to do.
12 comments:
We are in London right now and living on a very tight budget, and it is making me realize I that just don't need a lot. I can get by on quite a little and be happy. So, while I don't have any penny pinching challenges for you I myself am just realizing how blessed I am and that I really can be happy with less. Hey, and I still don't know baby A's name would ya email me please!
I have heard you can freeze gallons of milk. Never tried it. But some swear by it.
OK, now you are totally starting to sound like my mother-in-law. She freezes EVERYTHING!!!! Right after she makes cookies she will freeze them so she won't eat them all. I make fun of her all the time. I am just too picky I guess. I'm not a fan or thawed out bread and what not. It always seems to get pretty soggy when it's thawed. Am I wrong? Oh well.
Okay - I guess I live in a different world...one with many males, and five large appetites. when I hear people talk of moldy bread or milk going bad I am always frozen in thought for a moment (what??!). We are about a 3 loaf, 5 gallon a week kind of family. Yes, we are pretty much single handedly funding the farms. But I am happy that you have found a way to avoid waste. WOOHOO!
And you know what I do with my kids all the time now... "Can I get a..." and they never disappoint. (:
So the money saving comes in avoiding waste, not in buying in bulk? I think I get it. I make two loaves of bread a week and freeze one. Seems to be working. I throw a little end of it away occasionally, but since I live on cinnamon sugar toast lately, not much goes to waste. Kyle, BTW, HATES frozen buns and does not want to eat them. Somehow he senses that they've been frozen. What a weirdo. We're saving grocery money by eating meatless at least three days a week. And shopping at this AWESOMELY cheap store. I love it.
Does that awesomely cheap store happen to go by the name of Winco? If so, I am a HUGE fan.
Seriously, thinking that frozen bread tastes funny was my mental mountain. But it doesn't at all! At least, not to me and my unrefined palate.
Winco it is! And you can get some organics and "gourmet" foods there. Lately I'm loving the bulk section. Beats Kroger by a mile.
Cute post, it made me smile and chuckle a bit. Glad for your accomplishment.
liz--her name is the same as our Allen friend, mother of Jayda. Nice clue huh? Middle name is the same as Courtney's second daughter. Got it?
amydear--beats Kroger by a marathon! The bulk section is incredible. I haven't even had time to get through it all. Dog food? Pasta? Couscous? CANDY!!!
kj--yes, quite an "accomplishment". I am celebrating the small stuff, for sure. That's about all I can manage at the moment.
So you probably already do this, but I always buy clothes a year in advance for my kids. Anna always gets brand-new stuff, but for the others, I just check the Rubbermaid bin with the size clothing they will be wearing the following year, make a list of what they will need, and hit the end of season clearance sales. You can even score some pretty awesome Gymboree sales if you just time it right!
Thanks!
Way cute names!
I freeze all my bread products as well. Love it! I also put my bread in the fridge. You say your mom says it makes it stale? Maybe, but it last SO much longer. I'm sure one day when I have a larger family I won't need to refrigerate my bread, but for now we just don't eat enough. I discovered this trick in college when I could never get through an entire loaf myself before it went moldy. I personally haven't felt like the bread tastes stale out of the fridge, but I also often toast my bread.
Okay, I have two tips:
You can freeze chips & packaged bread crumbs. I learned the chips thing from my grandma who puts out a spread of goodies every sunday night for all the family to eat when they visit, so she is always stocking up on chips and freezing them so she always has a fresh supply. Sounds odd, but it totally works.
As for packaged bread crumbs, you know the kind you put on parmesan chicken, etc.? Well they only come in that rather large container and I could never use more than half of the container before they would get stale. Then when my mother visited me she taught me the freezing them trick. Works great! No more stale bread crumbs!
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