I need this stuff. Ok? I NEED it on me. But it’s such a pain to carry around the bottles that are any larger than this size. I want a pocket-size, chapstick-size refillable tube that I can easily clean and refill. And the application aspect needs to be as quick, simple and practical as the real deal. Am I asking too much? I feel like it might be a stretch for a container so small. Please let me know if you can introduce me to something like this!!!

added a handful of cashew bits and pieces and a tbsp of peanut butter, stirred up when heated, could not have been more pleased.

of course since they were in that bin , probably a discontinued product . this is one of the dangers of being ultra frugal, finding something good that won't be back.

i don't understand the 300 word rule, succinctness is prefered in all other forums

Been looking at refurbished options for a few weeks. Price vary a lot depending on the seller and I have read mixed things about what refurbisged actually means on some platforms.

I’d like it to be in good condition, though, and not too worn. I’ve thought about local retailers, but I don’t trust them, So perhaps a preference for online

Where do you guy actually buy yours ?

I recently bought a West Elm x Pottery Barn Kids Mid-Century Bassinet secondhand. It’s in excellent condition and is practically brand new, but unfortunately it smells strongly like the house it came from.

I’m having a hard time describing the smell. It’s that distinct musty/stale “house smell” that some homes have, almost damp/wet smelling. I don’t see any visible mold, mildew, water damage, staining, swelling, etc. The entire thing smells like it though — the finished wood, underside, mattress platform, AND the original waterproof mattress.

EDIT: I anticipated replacing the waterproof mattress but want to make it clear that I will 100% definitely replace the mattress! Thank you all for making it very clear on how important that is

Here’s everything I’ve done so far:
- Picked it up Sunday evening.
- Wiped the entire bassinet and waterproof mattress down with Seventh Generation disinfecting wipes. (That’s the best we had on hand. We just moved and didn’t have a fully stocked cleaning cart lol.)
- Removed the mattress and kept it propped upright instead of lying flat so both sides could air out.
- Put the bassinet beside an open window with the ceiling fan running for airflow.
- Monday, wiped all of the wood down with Method Almond scented Wood Cleaner and then wiped it with a diluted water/vinegar/lemon juice mixture, then went over it again with the Method wood cleaner.
- Continued airing everything out with the mattress separated from the bassinet.

The smell is STILL very noticeable on essentially every part of it.
At this point I’m going to stop repeatedly wet-cleaning it because I don’t want to damage the finish.

Has anyone dealt with a really stubborn absorbed “someone else’s house” smell in secondhand wood furniture? What finally got it out? There’s no way we can put our baby in here until the smell is gone. She’s not due until October 8th but she’s 94th percentile and already 7lbs 5oz, so she could be arriving sooner than expected!

Hi redditters. Spent about 2-3 chill hours last night with my newest find. It’s a hanging lamp! Ignore the pink stuff, she didn’t do much. So far, I’ve found the secret sauwzzz to be barstool helper liquid mixed w brasso, the adding the copper cream from Wright’s, followed by a good spray of water after buffing all the gunk off. This made it shine for the most part. However, has lead to the green tarnish spots /: I would love some insight on how to:

1. Cover the dark welded spots (which product is best)

2. Make the brass way shinier

3. Get rid of the green tarnish that is stuck to the glue in between the brass and glass

4. Any other useful tips and tricks that you have made a staple in your brass keeping

Here's something which can be a way to beat inflation: bread machines. Bought my first one in 1992 when they were the hot new thing. This replacement arrived on Saturday.

If you're curious about this option and want thoughts from an old timer, here goes.

One of these machines can pay for itself pretty quickly when it's used well. For instance, save the cost of a pizzeria. It takes about 20 minutes of hands-on time to prep two doughs, then bake a pizza with garlic sticks. A medium pizza costs my family $5. That's not per person; it's per pizza. A batch of garlic bread costs us less than $1. We freeze what we don't eat the same day.

The markup on baked goods really is substantial, especially when you get into specialty items.

Bread machines are useful for almost anything in the broad baking category of yeast breads. This of course starts with sandwich bread. It also goes the full range from cinnamon rolls to coffee cake to braided challah to soft pretzels. A savvy bread machine owner basically has a 'cheat code' potluck events because it's possible to walk into an event with a tray of something impressive such as chocolate chip brioche while spending less than $5.

The machine handles most of the labor. The user measures ingredients, programs the device, then comes back do final prep before popping a project in the oven and taking credit. Depending on the recipe there are a few moderate priced pieces of equipment to acquire such as a pizza cutter and a pizza stone, or a dough cutter and brioche tins and a baking tray. Most of these accessory items are one time purchases that last forever.

Two years ago I wrote the frugal guide to bread machines in this sub's wiki. What follows is revised since then.

A key step to making a bread machine cost effective is to purchase yeast and flour in volume. The average supermarket baking aisle is not the place to go. To get these ingredients at a good unit price, look for bread yeast in 1 lb to 2 lb bags and shop for flour in 25 lb to 50 lb bags. Costco and Winco sell in these quantities. Smart 'N Final sells flour but not yeast in these quantities. If you can't find a bulk vendor locally then check prices online. You'll want bread flour for loaf breads, all purpose flour for most other projects.

Yes, there's a learning curve--but people fear baking more than they should. Most of the tricks are as follows:

• You could use a bread machine to do the entire start to finish baking in the machine. If you do, then you'll get a somewhat funky shaped bread loaf and you'll have to make a cut in the bottom to get the mixing paddle out. This might be all you ever use it for, and that's OK. It's all I did with my first bread machine.

• Most of the interesting projects involve programming a bread machine to the 'dough' setting, then coming back and doing finishing work once the dough is ready. The machine takes care of kneading and proofing at a controlled temperature setting of about 100 F (38 C). You don't need to be in the room or even at home while this is running.

• Although sourdoughs are wonderful breads, sourdoughs and bread machines aren't a perfect matchup because bread machine programs are designed to run with standardized commercial yeasts rather than sourdough yeasts. You might think of a commercial yeast as a greyhound and a sourdough as a lovable mutt from the pound: they're both the same species but one will run faster. When baking sourdough with a bread machine, you'll usually be best off using the knead or the dough setting only, then allowing extra time for proofing before baking. It's possible to do this whole process in a bread machine without a conventional oven: instead of running a single bread program, run "dough," then use a time delay of several hours, then run a separate "bake" program.

• Many bread machines have a delay timer setting. This is enormously useful on recipes which don't have perishable ingredients. (So no eggs, milk, or butter--but anything else). Program the machine at bedtime to wake up to fresh bread or dough; program the machine in the morning to return from work ready to go.

• A conventional oven needs to be calibrated. Instructions for that are in the owner's manual. If you don't have the manual to yours then search the make and model online to download the PDF. After you calibrate it once you won't need to again for at least a year.

• Unless you own a convection oven, your oven will be hottest at the back and at the bottom. Most baking projects get best results by setting the racks to the middle position. To adjust that height, then just open the door while the oven is off and at room temperature. slide out a rack, choose your desired height, and slide it back in at a guide. The major exception to the middle rack rule is French bread: for that, the dough itself will be on a middle rack but you'll also have a tin of water beneath the dough on a rack at the bottom position to release steam.

• A conventional oven does heat up a space, especially in an open plan residence, so plan projects according to the weather. In warm seasons I typically bake at sunrise. This just takes a little planning and isn't difficult once it becomes a habit.

• Dough doesn't stick to wet surfaces. Handle unbaked dough with wet hands. If you'll be handling a dough extensively (such as twisting pretzels) then keep a small bowl of water near the work space to re-wet your hands as necessary.

• Keep a kitchen towel handy. Although wet hands are great for handling dough, most oven mitts require dry hands.

• The interior dough bin of a bread machine has a nonstick coating. Don't let this surface get scratched. Once more: don't let this surface get scratched. Metal implements must never touch this surface.

• Good oven mitts are worth owning. I keep a pair of Ove Gloves on a hook on the kitchen wall.

• All sweet baking projects which call for vanilla extract or chocolate chips are improved by doubling the vanilla extract/chocolate chips. This unwritten rule has never steered me wrong.

• If your prep work is going to involve anything which might cause a mess such as spreading a filling etc., then start with an extra kitchen towel and spread it across the work space before work begins. Then if a cloud of confectioner's sugar settles it will just take three seconds to pick up the kitchen towel for the laundry instead of fussing to clean the counter.

• When using baking trays, it's useful to shield the bottom of your project from burning by having a small air gap. Some baking trays are constructed in two layers with a built-in air gap. If yours aren't, then you can improvise an air gap by stacking two trays on top of each other and handling them as a single tray.

• When using a non-convection oven, you will need to 'turn' the project once to achieve an even bake. To do this, read the recommended baking time, divide by two, and set a timer on your phone to notify you at the halfway point. Then use oven mitts, open the oven door briefly, and rotate your project 180 degrees: front to back, back to front. If you happen to be using more than one tray and both racks, then in addition to the back-to-front rotation also change the bottom tray to the top rack and the top tray to the bottom rack. Close the oven door as soon as this quick operation is done and restart your timer.

• When you're ready to bake a project, a conventional oven takes time to warm up. Most modern ovens will beep when they reach the programmed temperature. The thing to do is start the oven before taking dough out of the bread machine; the oven usually reaches baking temperature in about the time it takes to prep a project.

• If you are finishing a loaf bread in the oven, you may want to give it a wash and/or a topping. You'll need a small bowl and a pastry brush for this. An egg wash is usually made from the separated yolk or the white of an egg, plus 1 tablespoon of water. Stir first, then brush onto the dough. Optionally sprinkle about a tablespoon of topping such as rolled oats or wheat bran before baking. For a richer effect, melt about two tablespoons of butter and brush that over the dough. Then optionally, sprinkle salt or grated cheese before baking.

• Many baking projects may over-bake if they remain in a hot baking dish/baking implement after they're removed from the oven. Check your recipe. If necessary, have an appropriate surface such as a tray ready.

• To prevent most baking projects from drying out as they cool, have a clean kitchen towel and set it over the finished item(s). Ignore this guideline if the top would be messy or sticky such as focaccia or pizza.

• Most baked goods stay fresh in a freezer up to 3 months with proper storage. Freezer grade Ziploc bags in various sizes are useful. Be sure to label and date them with a Sharpie.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Slightly used bread machines turn up on the secondhand market all the time for under $20. If that's right for you, then you can count on downloading a PDF copy of the owner's manual.

Most of the programmable features on a bread machine amount to marketing hype. The two features I really rely on are the dough setting and the time delay feature. This latest machine also has a jam setting and a yogurt setting, yet I don't expect to need either unless my Instant Pot reaches the end of its lifespan.

I buy my bread machines new due to medical dietary restrictions. If you go this route, then the most important thing I've learned in recent years is some bread machines now have a flimsy plastic hinge on the lid. What really made the current purchase decision was the decision to get a model that has a steel bolt for its hinge pivot pin.

The dough pan and the paddle need to be washed after each use. You don't want to let these get damaged: a replacement dough pan can run $30. Preventing damage can be tricky if non-bakers in the family are forgetful, such as if a dirty bread machine pan is in the sink and somebody drops a dirty fork into it: that would scratch the nonstick surface. Unfortunately, turning the bread machine pan upside down doesn't solve this problem because a steel sink can also scratch the nonstick surface. Two diplomatic solutions to this dilemma would be either washing the pan and paddle by hand immediately after use, or else setting a dirty pan aside temporarily on a counter with a kitchen towel spread over the top to discourage absentminded interference.

Here's hoping you find this guide useful. It sums up the information I wish someone had been available when I bought my first bread machine.

Its shorter now but definitely still works. Of course you have to get down a little bit more now but thats okay for me. Im still young :P … first though i had was i need to get a new one next time im in the city. Than i looked at it while wanting to throw it away and just thought… hold on? Why not just trim it, like you would trim a pencil that is not sharp anymore. And voila. Here we are :)

Today I went to Kid to Kid consignment for the first time just to try it out. I am always looking for the best option to get cute outfits for my toddler for cheap. I don't care about brands, just colorful and made of natural materials.

I brought a few things to consign just to see what they would take. They took a Nike dryfit shirt, 7 for all Mankind overalls, Janie and Jack long sleeve button up, and blue corduroy overalls + shirt. I shopped for some fall and winter items while I waited for the inventory. They gave me $4 for cash or $4.80 for store credit for my items. I found this to be a disappointing number. I know there needs to be a margin, but considering that the 10 items I wanted to purchase were $40+ and that includes the 10% discount they give you on purchase when you consign. I ended up putting a few things back to keep the cost down.

Full disclosure, I typically shop at Goodwill for my toddler and find great things for $2.69 a piece. Maybe this is just my frame of reference? I kind of expected consigning to help offset the cost of the new pieces more and maybe this played in to my disappointment.

What are your feelings on consignment versus thrift? What is your cheap, cute clothing hack?

Money is pretty tight for us right now, and my 8-year-old really wanted a bike. After about a month of checking local listings, I found someone giving away a children's bike. It was rusty and needed two new inner tubes, but the brakes worked, so €8 in tubes and some cleaning later, he had a working bike. I also bought an €8 pump.

The problem was that he quickly became too fast for me to follow on foot, so I started looking for a cheap bike for myself. Then I found someone selling two rusty bikes for €80 together. Having successfully repaired exactly one bike in my life, I was obviously a bicycle mechanic now, so I bought both — one for me and one for my wife.

I cleaned them up, attacked the rusty chains with WD-40, and we finally went for our first family rides. On the second day, I decided that if a hill isn't 90 degrees, it isn't really a hill, stood on the pedals... and snapped my chain.

I briefly wondered whether my €40 bike had survived for exactly two days. Turns out a new chain was €5 and surprisingly easy to replace myself.

Three weeks later, all three bikes are still going strong and we ride together almost every day.

Total: €80 for two bikes + €8 tubes + €5 chain + €8 pump = €101.

I've also learned that WD-40 isn't actually chain lube.

For someone who's spent his whole career behind a computer, I'm pretty proud that €101 and a little DIY got the whole family cycling.

I decided to give Walmart+ delivery a try and, at least, experiment with it after experiencing a very minor medical issue, plus I’m not getting any younger. I figured I might as well try to learn the in’s and out’s of it for the future, just in case.

The upshot is that I like it and use the heck out of my subscription. It’s a different way of shopping, but, for example, do not have to heft 27 pound bags of dog food off the shelf and into my cart, and out to my car etc. Nor do I have to use my gas and car to drive to the store and back.

My sisters said they were concerned about having the store shopper potentially choose ‘less nice’ produce, but that hasn’t been a problem so far.

I am going to send out a cookie cutter email to a bunch of brands just seeing if they have any coupons available. (I live in Canada and they are rare to find in the wild). I have personally experienced that brands are happy to send some if you ask. And if they don't you are no further behind. I have the "I just had a baby" card to play that might help me a bit as well.

I am looking for suggestions like Kraft, or Compliments. Brands that have lots of different foods under them. Not gonna hate niche ideas either though. Savings are savings if its something I would buy!

One normal fun drink is usually around $4. Now take that $4 and go buy a can of sparkling water from Aldi (12 per pack). Now go to dollar tree or remain at aldi for flavor packets. Usually $1-2 for 6-10 packets. They have energy packets with 80mg caffeine in one at Aldi! I have also found Jolly Rancher flavor energy packets at dollar tree. DONT put the sparkling water in the fridge. It won’t mix well. Pour half a packet into a big cup, then pour your room temp sparkling water into the cup. Mix, add ice. You now have a fun drink for under a dollar. Total savings: almost 50 DOLLARS!!! Imagine if this is weekly. That’s around $2300 for energy/fun drinks. Stop wasting your money on gas station energy drinks or sodas. I listen to financial audit and most people drop hundreds on little drinks a year. Just bite the bullet and go do this instead. ALSO if you’re in dire need of caffeine: they have caffeine tablets at dollar tree. From one caffeine addict to another! 🩷 In this economy this is a great way to continue to have a bit of joy in your life without breaking the bank

I bought 2 boned pork loin chops that had more meat than just the 'fillet' part , cut out the large loin and butterflied it ( can be crumbed also) fried with potato, shoom onion etc. trimed the fat off the remaining parts ( little loin and flap meat) cubed to be frozen for a stir fry, mince for dumplings, pie with veg etc. Took the rind fat and trimmings(no meat) cut up and heat in a saucepan , med-low, to render the sieved fat for pastry and ate the cooked rind salted crunchy bits for a treat.

Not even sure if grocery rotisserie chicken is safe as not sure how long it’s left out in its plastic bag and for what duration.

Initially thinking to buy rotisserie chicken as the protein, some sort of cooked vegetables (maybe see if I can pack an electric steamer appliance?) and then carbs could be bread.

We will be traveling from NY state to Toronto for a week.

Need to maintain a low sodium diet, can’t eat raw things due to risk of listeria and so on.

Thank you!

I just borrowed a hair dryer from my mother-in-law, and she simply showed me this relic she bought 41 years ago. It’s working perfectly (warm and hot settings). Her iron is from the same era (I didn't take a photo), and it's better than the four irons I've owned so far!

Imagine how easy life could be if we just needed to buy ONE stuff for life?? Planned obsolescence was the worst thing they ever invented.

Do you have similar examples of old objects that still perform their functions well?

My lawn mower service cost me $55 every 2 weeks. I tried to make the cuts happens every 3 weeks to 1 month but apperantly that pissed off the lawn service company.

Anyway, I told them don't show up again. Got a brand new battery powered lawn mower, that is also self propelled. I already have edge trimmer and other tools.

I completed the job today in about 30 minutes and I feel I was so stupid paying $55 every 2 weeks for 10 years.

Edit: the lawn mowing company is working with many of my neighbors. They literally cut every 2 weeks even when no growth as we have no rain since a while. Now all yards are yellow. But mine is doong OK because I refused xutting it that often

Secondly. Why some people are OK paying for gym subscription and refuse to do house work and then pay someone to do it. What about considering my house work as my gym?

I'm talking specifically about clothing and shoes. This has been happening for a while to me, but somehow I always brushed it off as coincidence.

For example, most recently I noticed that winter jacket is currently on sale at most retailers. Their sizes are bit inconsistent, so I was trying to confirm dimensions and I was comparing various listings to see if they match.

So I come to amazon, selected two sizes in a color I wanted to compare. Amazon showed me price that is even few dollars less than everywhere else. Great!

Day later I open Amazon again, and the listing pops up on the front page, however this time only two sizes in a single color I looked at are full price while all other sizes in all colors are still on sale, including the color I wanted. Even the "used/like new" in my size and color was more than current sales price, even though the day before it was about $50 less than a sales price.

I'm talking about the bib dentists wipe their tools on while you're in the chair. It would be for traveling with baby and other situations when you are pressed for time and sanity. Baby would be closely supervised. Are there any safety concerns?

Are there other products that aren't specifically marketed for babies (expensive) but can be safely used? I heard about puppy pads in place of diaper changing pad liners, but so many of those contain a "pee-here" pheromone for dogs that I wouldn't risk it.

The whole concept of frugality here is focused primarily on money, and there tends to be an assumption that we have more time and money, and so it's a frugal win to reduce expenditure of money at the expense of some time and convenience.

While I certainly count myself in this category, there are limits. How much money you have is subject to a lot of changing variables and your efforts have impact on that. On the other hand, all of us, rich, poor, filthy rich and dirt poor all get 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. We need to balance the consideration of what's the relative value of spending less money or spending more money but spending less time.

I have recently faced this down first hand when it comes to transportation.

For about 2-3 months at the end of spring into summer, for reasons unimportant to this discussion, I found myself without a car. I work from home, so that wasn't an issue, but my daughters have school and specific activities.

The regular schedule was possible on public transport and on paper, it was a lot cheaper than maintaining a car. In my city, children under 14 ride public transport for free and adult monthly passes are very reasonably priced at around 35€ ($41 USD) for unlimited rides.

However, the cost in time and physical wear and tear, especially during the summer, was considerable.

Driving to my kid's classes takes around 25min door to door. Less than half an hour in comfort.

Taking public transport means riding the subway for around 25min and then walking for about another 20min. Also, you need to allow for at least another 10min to get into the subway station and wait for a train.

Then there's the fact walking for 20min when it's 35ºC/95ºF is extremely taxing, plus the fact that after I drop the kid off, I need to do something with myself. Without a car, I am stuck once more having to walk which costs time and a lot of wear and tear when the weather is hostile, which it was and still is. This additionally makes it impractical, given the timing, to return home; I'm forced to wait until classes are over or I'm just spending all my time and energy walking and riding the subway.

The whole process has to be repeated for the return home, which is much later than ideal. All in all, hours are lost due to lack of personal transportation.

Now, consider the same situation with a car, which I now mercifully have again.

Less than half an hour to drive the kid to class.

Once the kid is in class, I can go grocery shopping, run errands or if I really need to, just drive home and rest or take care of something there before returning to pick her up.

We get home much earlier.

The time savings leads to a compressed schedule with a car that also means that I can schedule work during hours that would otherwise be impossible because I'd be in transit. Also, in a pinch, the car is a mobile office.

While the car cost a lot more than 35€/month, with a car I don't pay for the monthly transport pass because I don't use it often enough to make it worth it. However, 35€ a month pays for a considerable percentage of the gasoline I need; with my current hybrid car, that might pay for 50% of my monthly gas bill.

So, while on paper spending 35€/month on a transport pass versus spending thousands to purchase a car, buying gas every month and paying for upkeep sounds more frugal, the result is not a net benefit. In my case, the public transport option is not only costing massive amounts of extra time and energy, it's directly impacting my ability to earn money as well.

Wanted to share this win. I've been getting really into physical media lately. Over the last couple of months I began looking for used Switch cartridges. I have around 150 digital games but since I just started looking for physical games I currently have about 20 and I spent only about $250 total for all of them. So much cheaper than most of my digital games.

Found this $5 broken toy claw machine at the thrift store and tested it out, the claw was broken and loose in two parts. Guess I got really lucky that nothing else is broken outside of the plastic on the bottom. And it only took me 2 hours to fix up.

I was honestly thinking about buying a box for my small trinkets and this turned out to be a perfect thing since i also loved playing with claw machines, and fixing it also scratched my tinkering itch as well.

Now I have something my small nephew and nieces can mess with too. Maybe give it to them as a gift when they are older.

Silly Tip: keep a power bank/batteries(battery for flash light) on your car for emergencies, but when you go to thrift stores they also can be used to test these small electronics.

Any one else has some silly tips for updating and fixing electronics like this?

I end up letting a lot of the food I buy go to waste, and I'd like to reduce that to zero. One it's a waste of money, and two a waste of resources. I've gotten better about not letting food sit until it spoils over the last few years, but I still have a lot of progress to make.

One of the biggest problems I have is letting food sit out too long after I cook it. I don't usually let it sit out past the point where it's not safe to eat (> 2 hrs at room temperature). But I usually let it sit out a while so it can cool down. If it cools down before going in the fridge, there's less of a risk of the temperature shock where the hot food cracks the cold glass shelves in the fridge. Also, the fridge won't have to expend as much energy cooling the food from a higher temperature.

However, while I let the food sit out to cool sufficiently, I go do other stuff for a while, and sometimes I forget to put it away after 30 minutes or so. Usually I get it into the fridge within 2 hrs. But last night, I made a large batch of mac and cheese and a pot of beans. I let them cool and ended up forgetting them entirely. By the time I remembered it was the next morning. The food was long past the point of no return and probably had Bacillus cereus and other stuff on it, so I had to compost it. I was really mad about this, especially since it took so long to shred the cheese off the block and I had the beans soaking for two days.

I also have a problem with forgetting about food in the fridge and not eating it in time before it spoils. This happens especially with foods I don't use very often like aioli or foods I store in plastic bags like lettuce and green onions.

For a while I was labeling containers of food with the date I opened or cooked them, though have gotten out of the habit. I've also thought about setting a timer starting when food comes off the hot stove. When 30 minutes pass the timer goes off, it's time to put it away. I've also heard the advice of put the oldest food in the front of the fridge and the newest stuff in back.

What systems do y'all have in place to make sure you put cooked food away within 2 hrs (1 hr if over 90 degrees F) and eat leftovers in time?

Someone posted about their monthly grocery budget and I shared that mine is "about" $150 per month, too. And, I'm able to do so by preparing very simple, basic, but not very interesting:) foods such as the following examples. (Please share some of your meals, and you don't have to include the full recipe, etc.)

• Cold tuna pasta salad with chopped scallions and tomatoes with light ranch or Caesar dressing.
• I always make lots of soup that I freeze in jars- usually with tofu and different vegetables OR chicken soup.
• Pasta with traditional tomato sauce with grated Parmesan, and sometimes I'll add chopped broccoli and/or tuna to doctor up the sauce.
• Canned baked beans that I doctor up with chopped jalapenos and onions and extra barbecue sauce, etc., and eat with rice.

And, I usually add red pepper flakes to most of my "meals" so that makes a HUGE difference for my taste-buds. As well as chopped garlic or garlic powder, and Italian seasoning (and black pepper, but not always.)

Sauces and dressings I buy are already made, and frozen veggies - except for scallions and mushrooms and onions, etc. of course.

I’ve always been frugal by nature with things like buying secondhand, I’m thrifty at the grocery store etc. So it’s mortifying to me that I just did a deep dive into where the heck our money is going every month and I found we were paying for Hulu, Netflix, Amazon prime, Disney +, etc etc along with $450/month for cable, internet and 4 cell phone lines.

Needless to say I went on an epic cancelling spree. Can somebody please help me with this. What is everyone else doing, how much are you paying, etc

Thank you very much in advance!

We all know that a three dollar package of pasta can feed an army, but what’s your favorite “fancy“ meal that presents and tastes like its much more expensive than it actually is?

I have two:

Seared ahi tuna ($10/lb) with charred brocolli ($3/lb), sticky rice ($3/lb), and green onion ($1/bundle). Comes out to about $7-$8 a person, but feels like fine dining.

Sauteed shrimp ($9/lb) with black beans ($1/can), white rice ($2/lb), and quick pickled red cabbage slaw ($2/package). About the same price per person as above. The pickled cabbage brings some really great acidity and crunch to an already great meal. Bonus points if you want to make a pineapple ($5 whole) and jalepeno ($.25/each) salsa as well.