LÅ‘rinc / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
My secret to having an arsenal full of specialized cooking utensils without going broke is the hardware store. In many cases, the only difference between a hardware store tool and the kitchen version is price. Read on to see what cheap kitchen tools you can find at your local hardware.
Cooking Twine
Skip the small packages of kitchen twine sold at supermarkets and buy a cheap roll of twine at the hardware store. Just make sure to look for cotton twine only as nylon and other synthetic twines will melt. Twine comes in handy for trussing up poultry, tying together bouquet garnis, and holding roasts together.
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of BobbisBargains.
celesteh/flickr
I cook from scratch everyday. My kitchen cabinets and drawers are FULL of gizmos and gadgets. Save yourself money and don’t buy things you don’t need for your kitchen – no matter how enticing the infomercial. If you feel like you MUST get it, wait until it shows up at a yard sale.
There is nothing on this list that I have not seen or purchased at a yard sale or thrift store.
Win this $90 Bertolli pot!
There’s nothing like a solid, heavy-bottomed pot. I use mine regularly for stews, browning meat, and sauces. The 3-quart Bertolli pot we are giving away today, which sells for $89.95, is a great one to have in your kitchen because it’s big enough to make most dishes, but not so heavy you’re going to hurt your back lifting it! The prize package also comes with meal coupons and accessories!
This would be a great gift for the person who loves to cook! I plan on giving mine to my little brother (shhh) because he is just learning to cook and having high-quality kitchenware makes it so much easier.
Today we are launching a giveaway for more than $100 in Bertolli products, listed below.
Don’t forget to check out our on-going giveaways for Diary of a Wimpy Kid,a $169 HP Photoprinter and Snapfish gift card, a $100 Fashion Playtes design your own clothing gift card, a $180 fancy hair dryer and flat iron, and a $99 Mr. Coffee Coffeemaker, blender, and electric wine opener, $99 HP HD webcam, a $99 doll, train, and toys from Cracker Barrel, a $100 Lands’ End gift card, $100 in storage cubes from Way Basics, $100 in holiday cards from DaySpring, and a $199 Rockboard scooter!
Madmoiselle Lavender / Flickr
I share five must read blog posts about saving money every Friday.
Save time, money and energy by making killer meals at home by following these 7 time-saving kitchen tips. (WiseBread)
Get vaccinated for free. Starting this year, your insurer must cover 100% of the cost of 10 vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CNN Money)
Get away on the cheap with these secrets for scoring cheap airline tickets. (Time)
Use your smartphone to book a hotel. Mobile hotel booking is now a possibility with a free app. (Hotel Tonight)
Payday may be the deadliest time of the month. (MainStreet)
Cascadian Farm / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
I was looking for a recipe to use my freshly cut asparagus from my garden when I came upon a recipe from one of my favorite food blogs. It reminded me of spring and so I tweaked it to my liking. This recipe includes three of my favorites: pasta, cheese, and lemon.
It was delicious, inexpensive, and fast to make on a week night. Another reason I like this easy dinner recipe so much is because it’s versatile. You can add different in season veggies like peas, green beans, or even chicken to make it more hearty. I added chicken that needed to be used. This pasta recipe can also be serve with warm bread and a small soup, if you’re really hungry.
I’m taking today off to work on a kitchen renovation project. After week of not having a kitchen, we are finally installing cabinets. Post have been light this week because I’ve been sneaking down after lunch to sand and paint. There are still two weeks of washing dishes in the sink in our future, but things are starting to get less chaotic, not more. (The entire kitchen was relocated to the dining room/living room).
Expect a post soon about ways to save money on kitchen renovation! I’ve accumulated a lot of tips.
See you Monday.
~Julia
aka Bargain Babe
One of the prizes is a "read from above" Pyrex measuring cup.
Don’t forget to enter the kitchen gear giveaway for $110 worth of Chicago Cutlery, Corningware, and Pyrex. World Kitchen, which manufacturers and markets these brands, donated the prize.
To win, join my daily or weekly email list. If you are already on my email list and receive emails from me, you are eligible to win and do not need to do anything. One winner and three runner ups will be chosen randomly. Join by Monday, Oct. 11 at 11:59 p.m. to be in the running.
The prize includes a Chicago Cutlery Landmark Chef Knife with a reusable protector, a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup, a Pyrex large cookie sheet, a Pyrex 8-piece glass mixing bowl set with lids, and a Corningware SimplyLite 10-piece set.
Kevin McShane / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
I love to cook and eat well, but sometimes I come home to a fridge with nothing but leftovers. I used to throw away food that hung around for awhile, but I changed my habits because trashing leftovers is wasteful and expensive. Now I give my leftovers a makeover, using these tricks to eat like a queen.
If you have leftover…
Cooked rice
If you’re in the mood for something sweet, make rice pudding. If instead you want something savory, try (more…)
To win this knife and more kitchen gear, join my email list.
Today is the start of a kitchen gear giveaway on BargainBabe.com that includes products from Chicago Cutlery, Corningware, and Pyrex. World Kitchen, which manufacturers and markets these brands, donated the prize. This 5-part prize is $110 worth and retails for $132!
To win, join my daily or weekly email list. If you are already on my email list and receive emails from me, you are eligible to win and do not need to do anything. One winner and three runner ups will be chosen randomly. Join by Monday, Oct. 11 at 11:59 p.m. to be in the running.
Now for more details on the 5-part prize that one lucky reader will win. (more…)
RelishRelish.com is geared towards parents who would love to have a personal chef, but can’t afford it. The site is run by two moms, so it’s practical and easy to use. Their aim is to help people prepare healthy meals and eliminate the chore of organizing grocery lists.
Each week the site suggests new dinner recipes that take 30 minutes or less. Recipes range from vegetarian meals, freeze-now-and-cook-later dinners, and tons of kids-friendly offerings that don’t include the word “nugget.”
Pick and choose what recipes you want, then the site automagically creates a grocery list based on the recipes you selected. While the cost varies, in general five dinners and sides cost less than $90 per week. Stick to the list and you’ll really save!
Get a free two-week trial to the meal planning site RelishRelish.com when you use coupon code bargain. It is not case sensitive. A monthly subscription to RelishRelish.com normally costs $7 a month. You may just discover a low-priced tool that takes the hassle out of meal planning and grocery shopping.
RelishRelish has a sister site, Gfreecuisine.com, that offers a similar service for gluten free meal planning and grocery lists!
This is paid content. Interested in an ad? Read my Advertise page.
House of Sims/Flickr
One of my favorite places to save is in the kitchen. I can literally taste the savings! Bad puns aside, here are 13 ways I save money once I purchase my groceries. What are your best kitchen money savers?
1. Revive brown sugar. We’ve all been caught between a rock and hard brown sugar. Toss your sugar in a bag with a piece of bread, close it and wait a day. The sugar will absorb the moisture in the bread, which turns stale. End result? Pliable sugar.
2. Uses for old vegetables. Veggies that are soft or aesthetically past their prime are excellent in soups and sauces. Both dishes hold an aura of cooking competence but are one of the easiest things to prepare. Just toss in with liquid, set on a low temperate, and wait. Casseroles also do a great job of (more…)
Roasted chilis add a special flavor but can be subbed for roasted red peppers. Credit: Hanumann/Flickr
I got this recipe from Sunset and modified it slightly to add more ingredient options so you can work with what you have in the fridge. The first time I made this recipe I was impressed with how simple it was but how fancy the flavors here. The chilis lose most of their spice in the cooking, but you can sub them out for roasted red peppers if you like. This dish takes about 30 minutes to prepare.
Ingredients
2 Tbsp canola oil, split
4 Anaheim or poblano chilies (in season right now) or (more…)
By Bobbi Burger Brunoehler of Bobbisbargains.
Eat your veggies - Zawezome/Flickr
I received an email asking me: “I have two young boys and a husband who are all pretty picky eaters. Not crazy about eating healthy. I’m not a health fanatic, but would like to be responsible for the way I’m feeding my family. Any suggestions?”
What an excellent question.
There are lots of very good ways to help your family eat healthy food.
Cutting out fast food drive-thrus will help enormously. Fast food is full of fillers and the raw material that goes into the food is not raised or grown in a fashion that has your health in mind. For more information on this subject read (more…)
Homemade granola ingredients
Making homemade granola is super easy and costs half as much per batch compared to brand name granola. It takes 45 minutes (including cooking time) to make a batch that will last you two weeks. Here’s my recipe.
Ingredients
6 c. whole oats
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. chopped almonds
1/2 c. sunflower seeds, unsalted
3 Tbsp. brown sugar or honey
3-4 Tbsp. canola oil
1 c. raisins
1 c. chopped dried fruit (I like apricots and apples)
Preheat oven to 325. Mix oats and nuts and spread between two 9 x 13 brownie pans or trays. Mixture should not be more than 1-inch deep. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Mix the sugar and oil and sprinkle over the oats, stirring to spread. Stir in dried fruit. Let cool completely before storing in an air-tight container. Makes 10 cups, or about 40 ounces of granola.
A 12-ounce bag of Bear Naked granola sells for $6 on Yummy.com (admittedly, this is one of the more expensive brands of granola). I spent about $8.50 to make 40 ounces. I converted the recipe amounts from cups to ounces using the packages’ gram totals and searching online for the gram to ounce conversion of each ingredient. Who knew the stoichiometry I learned in high school chemistry would be so useful as a blogger?
Bear Naked granola = $6 for12 ounces = $.50 per ounce
Homemade granola = $8.50 for 40 ounces = $.21 per ounce
So it’s more than twice as expensive to buy brand name granola. Plus, I’m betting my recipe has much, much less sugar. Homemade granola is even cheaper if you add fewer fruit and nuts, but then it doesn’t taste as good. My other favorite frugal recipes include this fresh strawberry dessert, and this homemade hummus recipe. What’s your favorite frugal recipe?
The bathroom's new look
I’ve banded together with a handful of bloggers I met last month at the Savvy Blogging Summit to share interesting posts. Here are two I think you should check out.
Jen from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam wrote about transforming her bathroom from a tacky maroon sponge-painted room to a delicate blue with modern accents, see right. With patience, determination, and a lot of garage saleing, she paid for the whole project with just $20! Her post has tons of before and after pictures and she explains in detail how she did each step. Jen, you inspire me!
Jennie at Bargain Blessings shared a $10 off $30 coupon at Cost Plus World Market. If you drink coffee, Jennie found an amazing scenario where you can get six 12-ounce bags of coffee for $3.24 per bag. Hot stuff!
Kacy at Valuing Today created a 2-minute video showing how she makes easy Hawaiian macaroni salad, a nice compliment to any summer BBQ.
