I am very frugal. I splurge a little when it comes to making delicious foods and trying new dishes, but try to make up for it by being waste-conscious when cooking. I also rarely go out to eat. After a while, it seems like what you can make would be better than what you order. And cheaper!
Rule 1: Nothing Goes to Waste
When prepping vegetables, we rarely throw anything out. Why toss them when they do wonders for the kitchen and the garden? Onion shells and butts, celery tops and ends, apple cores, tomato stems, potato peels, and much more are kept to create a broth later. I just keep a ziplock bag in the freezer and add these items whenever they're available. Whatever I don't toss in there, like the tops of carrots (since they can sometimes make stocks bitter), we set aside for our worms. There are many more ways to turn your trash into a worm's treasure. The worms will create an amazing "black gold" soil for the garden and you greatly decrease your contribution to the landfills. It's a beautiful cycle from the kitchen to the garden. See my Vermicompost entry for such suggestions!
Rule 2: Why Buy Tupperware?
Our tupperware cabinet, I admit, is an avalanche of containers. It's messy but we'll accept that over buying pretty, matching tupperware that easily folds away like the infomercials on TV. Why throw away good containers just to spend money on these other new containers? You're bound to lose some, melt some, break some and re-toss and re-buy again. Sounds wasteful. Instead, we keep containers from foods such as mustard, peanut butter, plastic to-go boxes from the rare venture out, tupperware from family dinners and even a big one that used to hold paper labels from Staples. If they have holes, convert them into a seed starter pot. Truly, all that you require is a container that can store your leftovers. And if you bring your extra containers to potlucks, people will love something to bring away food with, even if it's not in matching pink and blue.
Rule 3: Reuse your Byproducts
I don't mean your poop (although the city can absolutely use human waste to produce algae biodiesel, but that's a whole other topic), I mean the foods that you're cooking up. I try to cook bacon first and separately so the fat doesn't get absorbed by other foods. I then store the fat in a glass jar in the fridge. When we boil ribs in beer before barbecuing, that leftover beer and pork fat broth is simmered down and stored. I use it for batter and soup. Whenever we deep fry stuff, I'll let the used oil cool, layer a few paper towels in our funnel, and run the oil through the funnel into our empty olive oil glass bottle. Then it goes in the fridge. There are some concerns with re-using oil, so I usually try to use it within the week before tossing it. I'll have to remember to mention in my recipe blogs if and when you can save your byproducts.
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