Fat Frog Diary

 You know when you drop the just-purchased groceries on the counter? Do you wearily put away the perishables, trudge to the pantry to put away the non-perishables, then walk away thinking you've done all you can?  Think again. You can save a great deal of time and money by NOT putting away the vegetables just yet. Instead, get out the freezer bags, a Sharpie, a chef's knife, a cutting surface, and maybe these from Amazon:  Amazon.com - OTURGC Baggy Sandwich Racks Holder，Food Storage Bags Clip-Ideal Plastic Kitchen Gadget, No Hassle Cooking Solutions(4 Pack), 4pcs, Green… Optional but recommended: food processor with the chopping blade, a bowl for composting scraps and a trashcan nearby. If you have a deep freezer, you're set. If you don't, please keep in mind what space considerations you need to make. It might be time to clean out the freezer of the remains of the quart of freezer burned ice cream and the frozen store-bought lasagna from six months ago that no one will...

Call me a skeptic. This I had trouble believing in. I could mix my own powdered laundry detergent? Well, I had an old cannister that had once contained cat food leftover from a trip to Costco, so why not? My daughter recommended it and she's as frugal as I ever was. 1 Box of Borax 3 bars Fells Naptha soap, shredded using a box grater 1 5 lb tub OxyClean 3 c. baking soda 1 box washing soda 2 bottles of scent crystals I spent about $25 at the grocery store to get those. No biggie. If it works, that's several months of laundry for a large family, and since there's just the two of us here, it should be even longer. Shred the Fells Naptha soap first into a small bucket or bowl. It takes awhile. Sit in front of the TV or something and wear gardening gloves, just in case. My scraped hand was a hard lesson in paying attention. Box graters are cheap at the dollar store, but handy when you need to shred just a little bit. All ingredients get dumped into any la...

Have you seen the 21-Day Fix diet? I kept coming across pins on Pinterest related to it, and I was intrigued by the seeming simplicity of simply measuring by using colorful containers. No counting! Let me state right at the beginning that I didn't buy the book, nor did I buy the colored containers. While they are inexpensive enough on Amazon, I want to "try before you buy" and simply see if it would help me in my weight loss adventures while I wait for surgery. I'm a dedicated foodie. That's one reason why my BMI is a whopping 43. I love food, and I love combining my foods into interesting and tasty combinations such as mini-peppers cut in half and stuffed with half a mozzarella stick. Yumm! Who says diets have to be boring? Anyway, I checked around and found the number of colorful containers for my weight. Each color represents a different food group and each container is a specific size to match a serving of that food group. For instance, I am allowed 3 gr...

Look at this... https://pin.it/qtnnjo64t5wfxo Powered by Cricket Wireless Cheap plastic bins to hold SOS pads, Dish tablets, sponges, magic erasers, wash cloths. Rods hung from the cabinet tops to hold trigger sprays.

While I can agree with most of these, I have to admit there are some (like clam juice) that I consider specialty items. I wouldn't keep them in stock. That's the way we roll here. However, overall this list pretty much guarantees a way to have most of what you need on hand. http://www.savingdinner.com/news/UltimatePantryStockUp.html Check it out and see if you don't agree.  I think I'm going to merge this list with my regular grocery list and see how well it matches.

I love, love, love my Rubba Scrubba from FlyLady.net. This has to be one of the all-time great things about being a Flybaby. (Don't you dare call me a maggot!) FlyLady just posted this list of all they can do. I've cleaned dishes, removed pet hair from furniture and crevices, and dusted my lampshades using mine. Rubba Scrubbas to the Rescue! Cleaning window screens Cleaning vegetables Cleaning dishes Cleaning mud/etc. off the bottom of shoes Sweeping up broken glass Sweeping up dust around baseboards Brushing off carpeted stairs Cleaning fan and hairdryer vents Cleaning grill vents Scrubbing out yucky garbage cans Picking up pet hair Rubbing/combing your pet Massager Sweeping dirt out of tent Brushing snow off of clothing Brushing up lint (especially velvet lint) Cleaning Dryer Lint screen Cleaning lamp shades Cleaning blinds Cleaning window sills Cleaning the divots and grooves in tile and linoleum Cleaning dust off of ball caps...

My grandfather was born and raised during the Great Depression. Consequently, he was one of those incredibly frugal men who lived well below his income because he "didn't need much." He drove a POS car until it became a classic, then an antique, then he sold it for ten times what he'd bought it for. He even had his own garden until he was too old to tend it properly, but his neighbors all had gardens and felt sorry for the lonely old widower and brought him extras from their gardens for free! When he died, he left my Mom a small fortune. One thing grandpa did very well was save money on food. He rarely threw anything out. He composted his organic garbage right back into his garden, washed out his cans and took them to a steel mill that happily bought all his cans long before "recycling" was even a word. Even his soups were recycled. Grandpa kept several containers stacked neatly in his freezer. Three were for cooked meats he shaved off the bones and save...

Ever have a recipe demand you have fresh lemon or orange zest, but you end up throwing away the rest days later? Don't!! There's an easier way. Juice the fruit into a plastic freezer jar and save it too!

First, an explanation and elaboration. I love Baked Eggs, aka Shirred Eggs. They're easy, first and foremost. I keep a pile of custard cups around, as well as some cheap Corningware coffee mugs just so I can make baked eggs whenever I like. Custard cups work best, but when feeding a crowd, sometimes my little six cups just aren't enough! Thank goodness for Corningware! Now take your basic Baked Egg recipe and put on your thinking caps. How do you like your eggs? Me, I like a little meat, a little broccoli, a little bell peppers, and a whole lot of cheese with my eggs. DH likes onion, hash browns, cheese, and peppers on his. Dante likes his with a whole lot of veggies and a little deli turkey or ham.. DD3 likes hers Mexican style with chilies, olives, and Monterrey Jack cheese. Drag out those leftovers, wield your chopping knife, and add what you want to your cups the night before! Put the egg in the cups in the morning, and throw them in the oven in the steam bath. Bake t...

Are you finding it more and more difficult to feed your family with ever-rising food costs and all the health experts screaming at us to eat healthier? Who can afford to go to the fast food joints these days? Not us, even if my band would allow me to eat there. So, I'm planning ahead a whole lot better. We're eating less meat, and less expensive cuts when we do. No one will die if they don't have beef every night, even if I do have a husband who believes that "Real Food Says Moo!" He'll live a lot longer this way, if I don't kill him myself for his comments. So from now on, here's my plan: 1. Sunday-- Breakfast for Dinner. Eggs, Pancakes, Sausages, Bacon, Biscuits, and many other Egg dishes will be featured. DH can survive quite well on frittatas, quiches, and egg casseroles if I feel like working that hard. Eggs are inexpensive. Add veggies, cheeses, and a bread for those not on low-carb diets, and you have a meal fit for kings. 2. Mondays-- B...