A frugal meal. . . .

This month, I'm giving myself a total of $100 for grocery purchases; next month, I hope to decrease that to $85. With only $15 left in my grocery budget for the month of January, I've been casing my cupboards looking for items that can be combined into wonderful meals. Added bonus for meals that create leftovers that I can take to work and school.

Looking for inspiration, I delved into my trusty Tightwad Gazette
(written by the Queen of Frugal, Amy Dacyczyn), and found this gem:

Mix and Match Seafood Casserole (makes six servings)

4 to 5 ounces of pasta
1/2 cup dry white wine or milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 cup American cheese, shredded (I used cheddar)
1 can condensed cream of celery, shrimp, or mushroom soup
1/2 tsp dill
6 to 8 ounce can of seafood (tuna, salmon, crab, etc)
Topping (stir two tbsp melted butter into one cup of soft bread crumbs. Can also try one cup of crushed corn chips, chow mein noodles, or french-fried onions, or 1/2 cup sliced almonds).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the pasta, drain, and set it aside. Mix the white wine with the mayonnaise, add the cheese, soup, and dill. Gently combine the noodles and the seafood with the moist ingredients. Pour the mixture into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, cover and bake for 30 mins. Remove the cover, top with Topping, and bake for an additional five minutes. Serve hot.

Since I had all of these ingredients (although I used buttermilk in place of the milk), I decided to try it out. This ended up being a cheap, tasty meal. It was quite rich, but definitely a useful 'filler' when one doesn't want to go to the grocery store. Of course, the best thing was the two or three days of leftovers I had, meaning that I didn't have to purchase anything at work or before school.

In my opinion, this isn't the most healthy meal I could have made--however, I've been eating beans and rice, spaghetti, and stir fry regularly, so I think my body can stand some added cholesterol. Plus, this warm, rich dish is perfect on a cold January day.

Frugal holiday gift. . . .

Several people in my office regularly exchange small gifts around the holidays---I work in a fairly large office, and the idea of giving each person even a small, store-bought gift makes me wince. This year, I simply baked some cookies and wrapped them up for gifts. A couple of years ago however, I gave pre-made 'cookie in a bag' gifts. Not only was it much less expensive than purchasing something for everyone, it was nice to give a gift that would enable families to spend an afternoon baking cookies.

The recipe for Cranberry Hootycreeks (which I'd never heard of before), came from the Allrecipes site. Rather than purchasing jars to put the ingredients in (see photo from the Allrecipes site above), I bought low-cost clear plastic bags from Michael's Crafts, and tied them up with a big red bow. I created pretty labels with additional ingredient requirements (such as butter and eggs) as well as baking instructions.

INGREDIENTS

• 5/8 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS

1. Layer the ingredients in a 1 quart or 1 liter jar, in the order listed.
2. Attach a tag with the following instructions: Cranberry Hootycreeks 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. 2. In a medium bowl, beat together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until fluffy. Add the entire jar of ingredients, and mix together by hand until well blended. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. 3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges start to brown. Cool on baking sheets, or remove to cool on wire racks.

Allrecipes has an entire section devoted to cookie-in-a-jar recipes. This is a fun, less-expensive way to remember the important people in your life during the holidays, without breaking the bank! Plus, sometimes people will bring the cookies into the office afterwards. . . .

Environmentally frugal. . . . .

I work full time during the day, and then to earn extra money, I work at night from home, doing web research concerning environmental health issues. Because of this, I end up reading a lot of articles about climate change, pollution, toxins in our food and consumers goods, and all sorts of other uplifting topics!

Lately, I've been considering my food choices, and how those choices relate to the environment. For example, I don't eat much meat or poultry (they're expensive!), but due to the knowledge I've gained through my night job, I definitely think about it every time I pick up a package of ground beef. Raising cattle for food contributes greatly to greenhouse gas emissions, and is generally not so great for our environment (see this New York Times article for more)---not to mention my budget!

Added to the environmental issues is the fact that I can't stand to see anything or anyone suffer, including animals. This is a video I recently saw that depicted the horrific way sick cattle are treated in an attempt to get them to walk into the slaughterhouse (the only way the cattle owner will get paid for his product). Not only is the treatment bordering on torture and definitely inhumane, but think of the fact that SICK cows are being added to our food supply!

So given the environmental and philosophical problems related to eating animal products, in my quest to decrease my spending, pay down debt, and increase savings and financial security, I decided to attempt to eat less meat and poultry. Granted, I don't think I'll ever be able to give up cheese----that's just unthinkable to me right now. Baby steps! Tomorrow I'll write about what I had for dinner tonight: a "meat" loaf made out of something called 'TVP', or textured vegetable protein, which is a very inexpensive meat substitute. Stay tuned!