The Thrifty Lady

Hungry for a baked potato but not ready to heat the oven to make it?

A cost effect way to bake a potato in the heat of the summer is to use your crock pot.

Start by carefully washing each potato and pricking them with a knife. Then wrap each potato in aluminum foil. (This is important to direct the heat right to each spud.)

Then put the potatoes in your crock pot and cook it on high for 4-6 hours.

The potatoes will come out tender and delicious!

I love to do this on Sunday mornings. I’ll prepare the potatoes before church and let them cook all morning in one crock pot with a chicken or roast in another. When we get home from church, hungry and tired, lunch is ready without using the stove!

Isn’t it frustrating to run out of an ingredient when you’re in the middle of baking? Especially when your 15 miles from the nearest grocery store!

Here’s a thrifty substitute for sweetened condensed milk that will work in a pinch.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Substitute

Combine in a blender:

1/2 cup warm water
1 cup and 2 Tablespoons non-fat dry milk
3/4 cup sugar

Process in the blender until smooth. It will thicken as it cools. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

This equals one 14 oz. can.

A few days ago when the kids and I were stoning all the cherries from our cherry trees, I noticed that the containers full of the stones were filling with juice from the bits of cherry left on each stone.

Being the Thrifty Lady that I am, I put all of the stones in a colander over a bowl and let them sit.

I was amazed to gather enough cherry juice to make a small batch of cherry jelly!

I just followed the directions carefully on the box of Sure-Jell. It took me about 25 minutes from start to finish and I ended up with 3 pint jars of cherry jelly and one half-pint.

I figured up the cost to be about 62 cents for a pint and 31 cents for a half-pint. This cost included the sugar, pectin, and the flats. I didn’t include the cost of the jar or rings because I already have them and reuse them every year.

If you weren’t as set up to can the jelly as I am, it is even easier to put the jelly in the freezer after it’s made.

If for some reason the jelly doesn’t set, for no more time time or money, just rename it cherry syrup and serve it over pancakes! You’ll still be a Thrifty hero because you created something from nothing!

Here’s a quick tip for today!

Did you buy too far ahead and open your bag of chips only to find them stale?

Or maybe the bag was left open too long in the humidity?

It happens and it’s frustrating!

But don’t thrown them away! Yet.

First smell them. If you smell rancid oil, you’re too late honey, pitch them.

But if you just smell stale chips, they could still be saved in the oven!  Pour the chips out on a large baking dish, trying not to layer them too thick. Then bake them in a 400 degree oven for 6-8 minutes.

The chips should come our fresh and delicious!

We’re off to the Zoo today for a fun family adventure and, as I do with most fun family adventures, I’ve packed a sack lunch.

With seven members in the family, even the cheapest meal at the Zoo would totally blow our budget! But a sack lunch of homemade buns filled with roasted chicken smothered in barbecue sauce, fruit, carrot sticks, potato chips and homemade chocolate chip cookies, is both cheap and filling.

We rarely eat chips or drink pop because of the price and the nutritional value (none) but they make an adventure like this one special.

I watch the sales in the spring and summer months and stock up on our typical picnic fare so I can be ready anytime to pack a lunch. I also have an old blanket that gets thrown in so we have something to sit on and always bring a large thermos of water as well as smaller water bottles.

Do my kids complain about not getting the popcorn, cotton candy, funnel cakes, hot dogs. etc…? Nope. Sometimes in passing we quietly comment to them about the high prices (”Wow! A Hot dog costs $3! Did you know I can buy almost 3 packs of hot dogs at the grocery store for that much money?”) I think they understand.

Bringing a sack lunch with you as you adventure as a family is a great Thrifty way to stretch your entertainment dollars!