Basil-Mint Fried Rice

How many variations of stir-fry can this lady make? Hmmm... Probably a few more. Rice and veggies are always in my kitchen.

From left to right: Mint, cilantro, and basil.

There are a few details that set this stir-fry apart from the others. The most obvious is the addition of fresh basil, mint, and cilantro after cooking. If you ever have a chance, do try Thai basil (you just might have to grow it yourself). It's peppery, anise-y, spicy basil flavor is delicious in stir-fry but in my case, I used good ol' Genovese basil. 

In order to make the flavors more integrate, I also chopped the vegetables very small. This way you get a bit of everything in one bite.

Frozen basil cubes

Fresh herbs are fantastic when available but are not always a feasible option. I found a few vendors at my farmer's market who had an abundance of basil at prices I was willing to pay. I washed the basil and let it dry. Then I put the leaves in my mini-food processor with enough olive oil to get things moving. I pulsed the basil, adding a drizzle of oil as needed, until the basil was basically a paste. Then I spooned the basil paste into ice cube trays. The oil is necessary because basil will turn black if frozen on its own. I was concerned about the basil absorbing any scents from the freezer so I wrapped the ice cube trays in plastic wrap. Once the basil cubes were frozen, I removed them from the ice cube trays and placed them in a freezer bag. 

These are very simple to use. I just drop one or two into the pan of whatever I'm cooking right at the end, whether that's stir-fried rice, pasta, or tomato sauce. Enjoy!

Don't Just be a Coupon Collector...Be a Coupon Scavenger

In an earlier post, http://cheapnotfrugaleats.blogspot.com/2010/08/aces-tips-on-becoming-cheap.html I discussed the importance of collecting and picking up coupons whenever you see them. This week, that tactic has worked out really well for the Cheapskate Household. I was in Wyoming two weeks ago. As I was wondering the aisles of a grocery store, I picked up any coupons I could find. Different markets may have different coupons. I picked up a small handful of coupons for $1 off of Wheat Thins, something both Z and I like. The coupon will expire in two months and is not doubleable so I only grabbed a few. Okay, I grabbed eight instead of twenty. These coupons are going to come in handy in this week's Safeway sale! We can get Wheat Thins at $1.49 a box if we buy five at a time. Between the sale price and our coupons, we will pay $2.45 for five boxes of something that we really like. If I time the grocery shopping adventure just right, we will get cashier who thinks I'm cute and will double my coupons, anyways, bringing the total to $0.45.

Take advantage of traveling. Check out the grocery stores while you are in new places. Not only will you see what is popular in other places, you might find products you've never seen before, good and bad. And you just might find different coupons!!! About two years ago, Z was on a work trip in Washington. He found a display pad of coupons for Starkist Tuna pouches. He doesn't eat fish but he knew that this was my favorite brand of tuna so he grabbed all of the coupons. I know, we're not the nicest couponers. We held onto those coupons for a long time. Right before they were to expire, there was an amazing sale plus a catalina deal at one of the grocery stores in town. Not only did I get 113 free pouches of tuna that was not going to expire for two to three years, we made $11 with the catalinas. Enjoy!

e-coupons

E-coupons are something that I have only discovered in the last few months and think they are fabulous. You can coupon without even trying. Basically, you register your store card with a website, you select the coupons you want on your card, and when you go to the store, when the cashier hits total, your coupons are applied. The two websites that I know of are:

www.cellfire.com
www.shortcuts.com

Some of the store rewards cards that can be registered are Safeway, Fred Meyer, Dominick's, Pavillions, Vons, Randall's, City Market, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, and Smith's. There were more but I had never heard of them. We use most of our coupons at Safeway, so I go to the Safeway website and use the links there.

Z and I were talking about this blog the other day. He said that I was just going to use this as a place to brag even more about all the grocery deals I find. Ok, he is right. But, it's to be helpful. Between August 12th and the 22nd, we used $21.45 just in e-coupons. And with some of those e-coupons we received a $2.00 catalina courtesy of the manufacturer to be used on our next purchase.

I guess to wrap this up, the e-coupons are super easy to use. You can print out or e-mail yourself lists of the coupons on your card. I see it as a gateway into more serious forms of couponing for those who aren't into these kinds of deals and another tool for serious couponers.

Brown bag it

I think packing your own lunch and keeping lots of snacks around is one of the keys to being cheap or frugal...depending on how nice you're being. Pre-packaged snack items like granola bars, snack bars, fruit snacks, etc. are some of the easiest things to get for free or nearly free with coupons. I have a crate where I have been stashing boxes of things that will be great for lunch. If they were in the cupboard, I would probably eat them. But since they are in the lunch-stuff crate, I know I won't touch them.

I never know what school I am going to be at so I have to make sure I pack a lunch that doesn't have to be refigerated. Besides, the fridges at schools are usually packed full anyway. I probably don't eat like an average, reasonable person so my lunches might sound weird. It's just kind of evolved out of what's in the cupboards and what I like.

Ace's Lunch of Cheap Champions:

• Packet of instant oatmeal (kept in a tupperware container with a spoon). Bulk oatmeal works great too. I would add a little brown sugar and cinnamon. I use instant because we had like ten boxes of it and for price purposes, it's easier to figure out.
• Fresh carrots
• Fruit (I love apples and pears but I only have them occasionally. It's whatever is on sale and in season that week, dried pears that we made ourselves, or a mini-can of fruit)
• Yogurt cup (It's pricey compared to the rest of the food we buy but I love them. And they don't have to be refrigerated)
• Sometimes a hard-boiled egg or two and they taste just fine not cold.

Then, I always keep a few extra snacks in my bag for during the day or if I'm just extra hungry at lunch. I think dry cereal makes a fantastic snack. Just make sure and keep it in some sort of container rather than a plastic baggie. The baggie rips and you have cereal all over your bag. Plus, if you don't eat it that day, I think the container keeps it fresher. If we have crackers around I will take those. I always keep a snack bar or granola bar in my bag. My guess if I had paid for everything at about full price, it would come out to around $1.50 with snacks. That's not so bad. And, since I didn't pay for the oatmeal or the snack bars, and certainly didn't pay full price for the yogurt, it comes out to around $1 or less.

If you have have access to a fridge, leftovers are fantastic for lunch, too. Remember to bring home your tupperware and containers. Another thing to remember, get creative with your containers. Plastic baggies cost money, try finding reusable containers. I like the individual yogurts that have plastic lids. Those are great for lunch-sized portions.

Ace's Tips on Becoming Cheap

I am back from two weeks visiting family and friends a few states away. They love hearing about my couponing adventures and wanted to know more. While chatting, I gave them some of my tips but realized, there was so much more to my grocery shopping prowess that I didn't have a chance to share. For me, my grocery deals aren't just about putting together coupons and sales, the real savings comes from combining my grocery shopping skills with other habits. Here is a list of basic things that I found made a difference in the amount of money I spend.

• Become a coupon collector. You see a coupon, take it. I get coupons from the Sunday paper, packages of products I use, displays in stores, cash register coupons, Fred Meyer's coupon exchange basket.
• e-coupons are my new favorite thing. With these, you register your store card online and load coupons to it. I have read that if you can't find your store card, you can call customer service and they will tell you the membership number. If you shop at Safeway, you can go to their website and find the links to the e-coupons and sign up. Otherwise, try shortcuts.com or cellfire.com for other grocery stores. In my case, I have been able to use the e-coupon with a paper manufacturers coupon.
• Pay attention! When you go to the store, look around and see if you can find any coupons up for grabs. Or, check the store ad before shopping, maybe some of the items on your list are on sale or have in-store coupons. In my case, yesterday while wandering around the Safeway, there was a soda display that said enjoy a free soda on us. I took it to the register and didn't even have to give them my Safeway card or do anything else, it was that easy.
• Keep your coupons organized. You have to experiment to figure out what system works best for you and what level of organizing you can handle. We have one of those plastic, accordion coupon books that is alphabetized. Plus, a file folder for coupons that we have extra or just to store clipped coupons that haven't been put away, yet. Every couple of weeks I sort through the book to take out any coupons that have expired. This system does take some time since I clip the coupons, sort the coupons, and put them in the book. But, it's what works for me. I am not always great at keeping the coupons organized or in one place. Last week while I was gone, apple juice had gone on sale. With the sale and coupon, I could get the juice for free. Z knew where the coupons were and he made the ridiculous number of grocery shopping trips it sometimes takes to use all the coupons. When I came home, I started organizing somethings and found eight more coupons. No more free apple juice because the sale was over and the coupons were expiring that day.
• Find a coupon blog for your area. I enjoy figuring out the coupon deals at my local stores but I do read an area blog in case there was something I missed. When you're first getting started with serious couponing or are super busy, the blogs are a great place to start. The Pacific northwest has quite an abundance of writers. I tried looking for coupon blogs for my family in the Rocky Mountain region but I didn't have much luck.
• Keep your pantry well-stocked. This takes some time and is an investment. I know a number of different meals I can make just from things in my pantry and freezer. Not having anything to eat at home is no longer an excuse to go out to eat. There will be posts about pantry recipes.
  
• Keep your pantry organized. I have written a little about this before. It doesn't matter how little you paid for something when you throw it out because it is expired.
• Watch the cash register screen while checking out. Make sure you are charged the correct prices, especially on produce, and make sure they scan all your coupons.
• Print coupons with discretion. There are lots of sites where you can print coupons, including Red Plum, Smart Source, and manufacturer websites. We use them sometimes but very rarely. Printer ink can be expensive and you can end up printing a bunch of coupons that you don't use.
• Rebates. Keep an eye out for available rebates. In this case, you have to spend money and wait to get it back. The rebate is for the price of the product before coupons. We have done our share of rebates. Just watch for the check in the mail and don't accidentally throw it away.
• Clearance racks. Keep an eye on clearance items. Try to use coupons with these items.
• Free samples! I learned about the power of free samples from some friends who had a closet full of free samples they had accumulated. There are plenty of websites that list places to get free samples. And, often times, there are coupons included with the sample.
• Pack your lunch, instead of eating out. Find items you like that will keep if you don't eat it that day.
  
• Learn to eat out more cheaply. I will share more about this later.
• Measure your pasta! A serving of pasta is usually about 1/2 cup dry. When cooked and on your plate, it doesn't look like that much food. What most of us put on our plates is usually two or more servings. When you measure your food, you're not only making it last longer, you're not overeating as much.
• Find staples you like and figure out multiple ways you can use them. Some of my favorites are millet, rice, couscous, pasta, split peas, lentils, bulgur, beans, and assorted flours. I would suggest going to a bulk section and seeing what kinds of grains and legumes are out there. See something that interests you, get enough to make a meal, and try it out. Buying in bulk is great because you can get as little as you want. I would add quinoa to the list but I'm too cheap to buy it.
• Don't buy microwave popcorn. Make it yourself on the stove top. Popcorn kernels from the bulk section are pretty cheap. I'm sure there are millions of different ways to make popcorn but this is what I do. I don't have an airpopper but if I did, I would be a very happy camper. I would be able to make popcorn that I could pack in my lunch. Stovetop popcorn doesn't keep very well, eat it while it is fresh. I start with a high-sided pan or sauce pan with a lid. I add a little oil, probably about one tablespoon (just a rough guess) with the heat around medium or a little lower and add 1/4 cup of popcorn. 1/4 cup is a pretty substantial bowl of popcorn for one person. I swirl the kernels around occasionally. Once they start popping, move the pan more frequently and take off the heat when the popping stops. Yummy!
• Be a smart grocery shopper. I spend a lot of time window shopping at the grocery store. I have suggested this to a lot of people and always hear, "Oh, I don't have the time" and so on. Well, I spend the time and I don't spend the same amount of money as you. We usually go to the store on the first day of the weekly sale with the coupon organizer to see what is on sale and what coupons we can match up. We will buy groceries we want or need later in the week when we have had a chance to think about if we really need that item or not. Or at least, all the grocery stores have their weekly ads online. Take a look through them.

I have a whole lot more tips and suggestions on how to be cheap and make the most of your grocery shopping adventures but I will leave those for later.

Clearance Racks and Coupons

Many grocery stores have a rack or small area dedicated to clearance items. Most of the time there is nothing we want. Ok, only twice but it does provide entertainment. If you do find something, don't forget to check your coupons. I haven't found in any store coupon policies that say you can't use coupons on clearance items.

We found two 12 ounce bags of Starbucks coffee that were on clearance and we had one coupon. There was also a catalina deal for Starbucks coffee where if you bought two you got a coupon for $2 off a future order. We didn't know if it would print because they were clearance items but we decided to try it. The catalina printed. The coffee ended up being about $1.75 a bag. In the same shopping trip, I had a found my favorite brand of facial cleanser on the clearance rack. At 50% off it was already an amazing deal. I got it for free using my coupon and a store doubler. The point of the story is to keep an eye on the clearance rack and your coupon book.

Reasons we can eat on the cheap

Eating out, beer, and buying coffee costs a lot compared to the food and meals I can make at home. While keeping track of my food costs, I realized there are a few reasons why we am able to keep my food costs pretty low. The most important is that I have the space to store extra food. And boy do we do! Our pantry is very well-stocked with healthy, versatile non-perishables. Some of the grains we always have are rice (both white rice and brown rice), millet, oats, bulgur, and couscous. Then there are the legumes. We love, love, love dal curries and really enjoy playing with our basic recipe. Just for dals have yellow split peas, green split peas, red lentils, and baby dried split garbanzos. We have a collection of dried beans that we don't use too much. I do love dried navy beans for white bean soup. The collection of canned beans is huge. Let's not kid ourselves; dried beans are cheap. I really like using canned beans for most things. A regular sized can is the right amount for most everything we cook, I like the texture, and I don't have to cook them. I don't want to bore you further with the contents of our cupboards but basically there are tons of canned beans, baked beans, stock, canned vegetables, tuna, tomatoes, olive oil, flour (whole wheat and white all-purpose), tomato soup, plus a couple boxes of mac n' cheese, coffee, crackers, and assorted other items. Last but not least, there is the pasta. There are the 95 POUNDS that we got for free, in addition to the probably 30 or so pounds we already had.

Why have so much food?! We bought everything when it was at the cheapest point we thought we could get it so we would never have to make an impulse buy. We have enough of everything that we just try replacing some of the things occasionally when we find it a price we are willing to pay for it. Or not pay, in the case of the pasta. We can never be guilty of whining about not having anything to make for dinner. We are able to make a number of basic meals from just things in our pantry.

There are a couple tricks to making this work. One is checking the expiration date when you are shopping and getting the longest dated items you can. The second is organization. On our canned stuff we write the expiration date on the top of the can in sharpie so we can see it easily. We have to reorganize and take inventory every couple of months. We don't have a ton of space so we make the most of what we have.

Most of the food is in the cupboard with some of the dried goods in jars on a rack so it is hidden from eyesight. If we don't see it, we tend to forget about it. We have taken to setting a few things on the counter to remind us to use them. It's been working. We see it, remember that we have it, and it is a reminder that we really like the things we can make with it.