A few freugal recipes:

[khbostic]

With the common man on the dole,I figured a couple recipes would help.

Here in the USA,a 12 pak of Ramen noodles costs apx $3.The problem is,the flavor pak doesn t flavor the noodles properly.Add a couple to 3 bullion cubes,extra water,a bit of vegetable oil...

I add some flour to cold water,and also stir that,then stir it into the Ramon noodle soup for extra body.

If you have extra spices,garlic,onion powders,a little sugar or nuetra sweet adds extra flavor,maybe pepper to taste.Its real easy that way to stretch out for a extra person or two or 3 this way,more,add more bullion cubes and water.

Then theres French Toast.Whip 3 or 4 eggs,add cinnimon,sugar,milk or coffee creamer together,a lil salt.Dip bread in,fry off in skillet with veggie oil in it.I use a big skillet to cook 4 slices at a time.Then,after I take it out,I sprinkle liberally with xxx confectioners powdered sugar,stack,& put in empty bread bag for several meals,often doing 2/3 of a loaf at a time,& can be frozen.

I usually have a couple eggs with the french toast.Eggs are economical ,& a great low cost source of protein.Boiled can be carried for lunch and snaks.

I get store brand spam,& use it in place of bacon these days at 1/2 the price,& its a lot leaner.I slice it off the side of the cheese grater for uniform slices,as well as use it to make hash browns from potatoes.and fry it in veggie oil/soybean oil...

Sometimes I mash a can of pork and beans,add some water and veggie oil,fry,stirring,and mixing all the while,served with a couple fried eggs and toast....Smiles,oh,and these days,they don t add enough sugar /sweetener to the pork n beans,so I add some sweetener to taste...Cowboy breakfest.Optionally,fried potatoes or hash browns go great with beans and eggs this way

Aaah,potatoes.When cold weather hits,always buy extra potatoes,and a couple jugs of veggie oil,soy.Peel,slice off the side of the grater,or sliced as chips/fries,1/3 full,to a 2 to 5 qt pot,you just drop the chips,or fries in,keep stirring with a fork til golden,have a strainer and steel spatula ,to squeeze and shake extra oil off,before putting them on paper towels to soak up extra oil,salt,and there you are.Besides fried potatoes with eggs,theres chili over the fries/chips.Alongside the Pork & Beans,with hamburg,or spam sandwich...or with fried breaded fish,or the kind from frozen section that you bake like fish sticks.


Surplus military boots may last up to 3 times longer than civilian footware for boys and men...The secret to wear them is to always have foot cushion inserts in them,the 10 dollar kind.
How about those storebought boxes of buttermilk pancakes where all you add is water? I use xxx sugar ,instead of syrup,the French in New Orleans call these Bennaees,actually spelled Bennets.Jam and jellies also go great on them,with the tub margarine.Don t forget the peanut butter & jelly sandwiches or toast for lunch and snaks.
I put extra teabags in a quart of boiling water to make concentrated tea.Then ,just add extra water ,sweetener for iced sweet tea,like a 1/2 to a gallon for the fridge.

I add a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup,diced onions,water and spices to cooking loose ground beef,onion powder,a few pkts of brown gravy ,and sugar,so I can freeze it up in pint containers,saves over cooking a lb at a time and stretches it out.If no gravy pkts,flour whipped into water substitutes,with extra salt or beef bullion.This goes well over mashed potatoes,veggie on side,ie,hamburger gravy,a variation of creamed beef over toast.

This can be made into chili con carne with a can of mashe chili beans,tomato paste,more water and flour whipped up,some extra spices like chili powder,onion and garlic,sweeten to taste...or,use loose ground with the spaghetti marinara pkts to tomato paste,stretch it with flour whipped up in cold water & added in,and boiled pasta of diverse types,or over toast,or with potatoes,even made into stew,with loose ground instead of cubed meats,adding canned veggies...

Space Blankets are really aluminized sheets of plastic,said to reflect up to 90% of the heat back.You can buy some,and some clear tape or duct tape,put them over your windows to save on the heating energy bills.Or you could fold aluminum foil over to make a curtain for windowsand tape that over edges.I also put the plastic stormwindow sheets over my windows that hardware stores,walmarts,and builders supply stores carry,so the windows get both.

Then I put black builders plastic over the window air conditioner for winter with duct tape.A few regular blankets for front and back doors ,helps insulate for winter,besides buying some weather stripping for them.I ran a bead of caulk over the edge of my windows to seal them shut,with a caulk gun,gotten from lg dept stores or hardware stores ,too.Almanac says we re in for a colder winter .

 

[khbostic]

I forgot to say:

Keep the dry goods on your shelves,especially when you re on the ropes/dole.
Dry beans have to be sorted thru for pebbles ,clay,then rinsed in cullinder,then soaked overnight.Always add a tblspn of baking soda or 2 to the cooking water.I put them up in pint plastic containers after cooking for the freezer.I like pintoes,could be split peas,lentils,limas,blackeyed peas...navy beans are what pork and beans are made from.

Rice,noodles,oats,flour,veggie oil in quantity,sugar,sweeteners,jellies,canned goods,veggies,tomato paste,sauce,stewed,peanut butter,lots of eggs when going to store,,spices,salt& pepper,garlic,onion,parsley,chili powder,etc,condements,sweeteners,bread makings,bisquick,pancake mix.Potatoes.pkts of gravy mix,bullion cubes multiple jars.

How about those store brand macaroni & cheese dinners,and hamburger helper type generic boxes? Non dairy coffee creamer substitutes for milk,but dry milk works too,keeping it on the shelves.You can add loose ground cooked beef as described from pint containers to mac and cheese dinners...

Bulk hamburg for freezer,hot dogs go good with pork & beans too,and potatoes.Bread for a bun substitute,with mustard.Make shopping lists a habit.

I cook off 5 qt of rice at a time as well,also add the baking soda to it.Then I also add it to pint containers for freezer.Use rice anywhere you use potatoes,even stretch out stew,using it as a gravy over rice.

Flour makes biscuits,biscuit recipe out of your cookbook,boiled in gravy instead of baked makes dumplings out of biscuit dough,in chicken stew,with the chicken gravy made with bullion cubes,oil and flour whipped up in cold water,to gravy thickness...
I would say ,get the one a day vitamin,to cover whatever your diet may not be covering,also for the extra stress ,it would be worth it.The big box stores usually have a generic one a day,or a bigger chain drugstore...
I found the outdoor cats will eat dry dogfood,its about 1/2 the price of dry catfood.However,they like it when I take a bowl of hot water to a bowl of dry dogfood better,making wet food out of it,ie,the smaller kibbles of dry dog food,not the large chunks..

Oats,make cookies with that cookbook as well as sugar cookies,and peanut butter cookies if youre not allegic to them,or use search engine for diverse recipes.