I’ve been using up a lot of stuff in the little kitchen corner of my room. Foods and other things. Doing so helps me to keep costs down. Kitchen frugality is a place where many of us can do better financially.
I’ve known for a long time I need new dish towels and potholders but was, quite frankly, too cheap to go out and get them. All last year I put it off, not even wanting to spend the money at the dollar store. At our mid-year family reunion a couple of months back, I spent $20 on tickets for the basket raffle. I spend that most years because the money gets donated to a good cause. With one of the baskets I won, I lucked out because I received two sets of kitchen towels and dishcloths, two potholders, and even a matt, all in reds and apples. My favorite kitchen theme! ❤ I was pleased to say the least! Will I throw the old ones out? Nope. I’ll cut the loops off and sew them to the new ones for hanging, then put the old ones in a drawer to be used during meal prep days for messy things.
I got some good discounts recently; on things I had wanted to try. MightyNest had a going out of business sale, so I took advantage of the discounts on a few cleaning supplies, and the brushes and brush heads that I love washing my dishes with. I also bought a charcoal water filter to test out, because I need to replace my water pitcher for something I can still buy the filters for. I bought some D3 and Elderberry supplements for a few dollars less than I pay through other vendors, and 2 pitcher lids for mason jars that I had been wanting for a long time. I even got a set of silicone lids in graduating sizes to cover bowls with. I hadn’t bought plastic wrap in years but do have a couple of cloth covers and some beeswax paper that I had gotten with the Mighty Fix program that I love a couple years back. I love anything that saves me money in the long run that is also better for our Earth. With Mighty Nest going out of business, I have an extra thirteen dollars and change I can throw at the grocery bill.
As I mentioned, I don’t use plastic wrap. I also do not use aluminum foil anymore. I rarely ever use paper towels, only if there is a particularly messy spill to clean up. I have had the same roll of paper towels since we stopped disinfecting for COVID so much back in 2021. I do have some great reusable rags for cleaning, as well as dish/wash cloths my sister makes. And three reusable mop covers, two she made. I don’t buy napkins, having purchased cloth ones a few years ago, but I do use the unused paper ones I get with food delivery for seasoning my cast iron. It seems like the perfect use for them. I have a selection of reusable containers for transporting work and other meals as well, and lots of reusable zip freezer and storage bags. Another thing I no longer buy is wax paper.
How much waste have I saved just by not using the disposable versions of these? And the money saved, money I rarely ever have to set aside for new things, is great.
I’ve kept using a few things though, but don’t use them for everything. Parchment paper is one thing I buy, but not in rolls. Even though this is more expensive, I have to confess that I despise having to cut the rolls of paper to fit my pans. Remember, I only have a toaster oven, so my pans aren’t all that big. I would much rather pay a little more and get them pre-cut. If I need them smaller than that on occasion, the rectangles are easy to tear. If I have to cut back on expenses much more, I will have to start buying rolls again though and just deal. I had to reup these this week and spent just over $10 for 200 sheets that will last me a long time. I think it’s been a year-and-a-half since I purchased them last. I did compare to the in-store packages but found I could get a lot more for less money right through Amazon.
Zip freezer bags in quart and gallon sizes are another thing I still buy. I think I do this once a year, maybe slightly less often. A box of 100 store-brand quart freezer bags and a 75 box of gallon size ones are $4.97 plus tax per box. I don’t use these for just anything, that’s one reason why they last so long. I use them for foods with strong odors, or those that might stain my good reusable bags. Chili. Garlic flavored foods. Tomato based foods. You know the ones. I also will pack food items that I give out in unused ones, not expecting to get them back. Another way I save on these is that I wash and reuse them as many times as I can. That’s right. I never even bought a special drying rack for this purpose (though I would love some of those holders that allow you to fill them easily). I just open them and set them over utensils and cups to dry in the dish rack with everything else. I still have about six pretty well used ones left from the last purchase, that I will use up before opening the new boxes. I’m good at wearing things out before replacing them. To me, it’s a good frugal practice.
Even my previous shelving for my kitchen corner was way to well used before I finally replaced it. So much so that when I tried to bring the units out to the trash, they literally fell apart while I was carrying them and went out in pieces. They were close to a decade-and-a-half old and weren’t the best quality, but I used them until they couldn’t really be used any more. My toaster oven and hotplate both need to be replaced too, but it’s because they have also been used beyond normal wear-and-tear. I just don’t like spending the money on things unless I have to. I will start saving for them and look for deals.
Food is another area where I’m working on my use-it-up skills. We waste so much food. It’s awful. All the food waste that goes into the trash is trucked to a landfill where it can’t even decompose properly, creating methane that is even worse than CO2. There are other options. We can compost at home if we grow any type of garden, if we aren’t renting (I am). Our towns could be collecting the food waste to compost and give back to people who are gardening. I suspect there are other things we could do with at least a good portion of the food waste.
But we could also greatly reduce that food waste before it even goes to the trash or the compost bin. How? Well, here are some ideas to get us started:
- Did you know that you can often use the parts of plants we usually throw out? If you only use the leaves of kale in your cooking and salads, you could also be using the stems instead of throwing them out. I chop them for smoothies.
- You can eat beet greens, celery tops, and even carrot greens.
- Onion and garlic skins can be used to make onion and garlic powders or used in stocks and broths.
- Strawberry tops can be used to make strawberry vinegar.
- Even banana peels are edible.
- As are orange peels.
- Citrus peels even make great additions to a vinegar based disinfectant, to help with the scent.
- Date pits can be ground up and used in smoothies, syrups, and other things.
Have I used all of these? Nope. Do I plan too? I might actually be doing that, at least somewhat.
I am not even talking just the leftovers we don’t eat or that piece of fruit that goes bad. But the other parts of plants people throw out. If you do a quick Google search, or ask Alexa, you might find that every part of a plant, or most of it, is actually usable in some way.
Not only would we be doing something amazing for our Earth, but we could also be saving money at the grocery store if we ate more of what we brought home.
Sunday is my meal prep day. This week I used up quite a bit, I am happy to say.
- Chicken nuggets and mashed potato with gravy, left over from meals out, made a good tasting lunch.
- You know those little single-serve butter packs from food delivery? I had a couple in the fridge that needed to be used up, so they went into a meal.
- I used the last of the jar of minced garlic in another chili.
- I also used the last of the frozen tomato paste and another can of diced tomatoes for that chili.
- I even made the chili extra creamy with 4 frozen slices of American cheese, the last of the sharp cheddar, and some nutritional yeast.
- And I used a few cloves of garlic.
I did put a block of cream cheese, a serving if chili, and two lemon chunks into the freezer, and diced 4 avocados to freeze as well. I made that chili, a salad, and lemon chicken on that meal prep day, and put together my meal packs for work. My freezer still has things to use up, and that is fine. I am not letting anything just sit there for months and months. It’s a tiny freezer, so it can only hold so much before I have to start using it up.
Do I really think we can get to no-waste in the kitchen? No, but I do think we can get close by living more frugally and using up and out what we can.
Given all this, I have a few questions. In what ways do you use parts of plants or meats that people normally throw away? How do you preserve what you aren’t wasting if you can’t use it right away? How are you practicing frugality in the kitchen?
~ Shannon
