This post goes out to Libby from our Facebook Page, who wanted help cooking for one frugally.

Truth: There are lots of great books on cooking for one, but not a single one on how to grocery-shop effectively for a household of one!

It can’t be denied—cooking for one is a tricky thing.  It seems like a lot of work for only a single meal.  Dishes made, serving sizes to be determined, and usually too many leftovers.  Besides, after all that cooking, you don’t typically have someone else to wash dishes.

I spoke with DebtKid (who prefers to use this alias for privacy reasons, but you can read his story at www.debtkid.com).  We compared our single-days experiences.  We both seem to remember regular standby meals. For DebtKid, it was Hamburger Helper.  For me, frozen taquitos. We’re both pretending that we supplemented this nutritional catastrophe with fresh fruit and vegetables…

In later years, I widened my repertoire with a handy (and also) broke neighbor.  As newlyweds, we both cooked for one plus the fridge and traded ideas. Sometimes we even traded entire meals—we’d both made our dinners only to discover we were tired of them, so we simply swapped.  My husband worked shifts rarely allowing for a meal together, and her husband was deployed at the time.

Libby (and all of our single-dwelling friends), there is hope!  A key technique is to have a bit of a food routine, but not so much routine that you go trading your dinners with the neighbors.

Automate one or two meals a day if you can, leveraging some staple foods.

Here are some things to always have on-hand.

Go-to-meals

Mason jar salads.  This site has a number of clever salads made in Mason Jars. The jars keep the greens fresh—just put your dressing in first, and shake it right before serving!

Potatoes.  You can bake a whole bunch of them in the oven or a crock pot. (For crock pot, scrub the potatoes, and poke holes in them with a fork, then coat in butter or wrap in foil and place in the crock pot for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high).  Leftover baked potatoes should live in the refrigerator.  They can be topped with chili and cottage cheese, bacon and cheese, cheese and broccoli, salsa, or even this clever recipe for egg/bacon potato breakfast boats. (I’m trying this tomorrow!)

Eggs:  Fried, scrambled, poached, boiled, or baked inside a potato (as above).  You can top some canned black beans, rice and avocado with a fried egg for a quick juevos rancheros. Egg in a basket is a quick and easy dish for one (or more) simply cut a hole in a piece of bread with a glass or cookie cutter.  Grease a frying pan, and put the toast in on a medium temperature.  After a few seconds, add an egg into the hole.  And let it cook, then flip it over and cook the other side.

Chicken:  Now with a family, I seldom buy a whole prepared chicken.  We typically buy two raw ones, and roast them at once.  But in a one-or-two person household, I’d do this in an instant!  Many supermarkets offer a whole fryer chicken pre-seasoned and cooked (often available in several seasonings). Buy one per week, and split the meat between salads, main meals, and then make a stock from the bones, adding leftover vegetables, or potatoes and leeks and freeze in individual portions for later use or lunches for work.

Produce: Buy spinach instead of lettuce. It does double-duty in the fridge and freezer. If it’s in danger of spoiling—keep a big zipper bag in the freezer and add your fresh spinach to it.  For avocados, use ½, and leave the seed in the remaining half and spritz with lemon or vinegar before refrigerating to use the next day.  Buy apples and oranges in the amount that you can use.  Apples, pears, squashes, zucchini and the like all freeze well if you can’t use them all.  You can puree or shred into ice cube trays and use in baking (especially bran muffins!) Many foods can be chopped, frozen on trays, and then put into bags. (I do this during the summer with bell peppers, and use them year-round from the freezer). Fresh ginger can be kept in the freezer—just use a cheese grater and grate the amount you want into your cooking.  Cook hearty greens that freeze well.  Collards are great when boiled with ginger and garlic or bacon and brown sugar. Leftovers freeze and store well.

Meats: Don’t be afraid to ask the butcher to downsize your order.  Order 1-2 salmon steaks instead of the whole fish (or order the whole fish, have them cut it in steaks and freeze it separately—when packed properly, salmon freezes well!). You can often find pre-packaged individual steaks in the freezer section.  Canned salmon and tuna are great for sandwiches and salads, and the trusty whole-roasted chicken from the deli. Some groceries cater to smaller family sizes and pack accordingly. The Trader Joe’s near me does a great job of packing single-serving size foods. Don’t forget the seafood.  You get to do what those of us with larger families only dream of doing…. buy scallops and oysters! Maybe it’s just a Northwestern thing, but I’d need a second mortgage around here to share oysters and scallops with the whole crew. (The kids and I are getting fishing licenses this year though, so we can go crabbing and clamming).

Avoid: Beware of the packed-in-a-cardboard-box convenience foods.  They typically aren’t very healthy, and aren’t a good value.  If you really love the convenience of a hamburger-noodle casserole in a box, investigate a home-made alternative (this site offers some great home-hacked alternatives).   Avoid the takeout every-day routine. Avoid the “I can’t buy anything fresh because I can’t use it all” mindset.  Yes, you can use it.  With the right techniques for utilizing and preserving, you can use your entire purchase.

Must have

Own a toaster oven.  You can cook so many things, so much faster, and using less energy.  I still have my toaster oven from my single days. Only one button still works, but it’s just what I want when I want to whip up a midnight snack.  You can even get “single-sized” bread pans, muffin tins, and cooking pans to make little lasagna, or casserole, without getting a great big dish dirty.  It’s perfect for 1-2 servings, and easy to clean up after if you have a tiny kitchen.

Ok readers, time to chime in!  Without using a meal-in-a box, how can our single readers eat frugally, and nutritionally?

Shopping and Cooking Frugally for One is a post from: Being Frugal.net

Many of us are feeling that tightness and pressure that comes from the extra spending surge this time of year.  Holiday activities/entertainment, Christmas cards, gifts, office parties, friends of friends’ parties, and gifting expectations galore, not to mention what the children hope to find under the tree.

For many of us, this kind of annual pressure doesn’t fit our budget, but also, doesn’t fit our lifestyles. You may prefer to focus on the real meaning of Christmas, without feeling like a “party pooper” or wrecking your annual budget.

When my husband and I adopted our daughters, we knew two things—they don’t have the expectation of mountains of presents under the tree, and most importantly, they simply need us—our presence, not our cash. We do very low-key Christmas gifts. Each child gets a Christmas stocking with a few items, usually a movie, mittens, a couple of candies, hair beads, and a small toy or accessory to a toy they already have.  This reduces our stress, and prevents them from being overwhelmed.  We also make a point to spend a lot of quality time together, talking about the real meaning of the holiday season.

To control your holiday budget, try implementing some of the following ideas:

1. Manage expectations. Nobody needs piles of presents. Trust that “less is more.”  It’s more time, more relief, and much less holiday anxiety.
2. Make an effort to spend quality time. See a show (many churches offer free productions of classics like A Christmas Carol), my family especially loves to go see Langston Hughes “The Black Nativity” at a local theatre company.  (My kids say it is a lot more fun than the Nutcracker)
3. Be frank with extended family about expectations for travel, entertaining and gifts.  Suggest family gifts or a gift exchange in lieu of piles of individual presents. (More on gift exchange ideas later this week). Our parents love to shower gifts on our children, but rather than stuff, they get experiences–we have been gifted tickets to live performances, and memberships to zoos, etc, which provides a year of fun and learning, rather than batteries and “some assembly required,” and for that out-of-town family that we just can’t afford to travel to visit, they are welcome to visit us here, but plane tickets aren’t in the budget–we try to do our out-of-state traveling in lower-cost months like March and September.
4. Nix the office gift exchange and party if you can, or work to downsize it. Who really enjoys those anyhow? One company I worked for that used to throw a gigantic black-tie holiday party downtown  and changed up plans with the economic downtown. After a few years of big holiday parties, they held an office party with goofy contests (ugliest holiday sweater) and we had a “regift” exchange, rather than a regular gift. It was a big laugh—quality relaxed time with colleagues without the dozens of uncomfortable spouses or the need to hire a babysitter.
5. Make your own cards. If you haven’t tried Pinterest yet, there’s piles of great ideas for creative holiday cards.
6. Give home-made gifts, practical, or charity gifts.  (Start here for home made gift ideas.)

What does the holiday season look like at your house?  How do you hope to change your family’s approach this year or in the future?

Holiday Budget Relief is a post from: Being Frugal.net

In your day-to-day cooking, you are likely throwing away valuable flavor and nutrients every day without even realizing it.
You cut an apple, peel an onion, and cut the hard skin off of a squash before baking or boiling it, or scrubbed the brown bits out of a roasting pan.

If you’re frugal, you’re composting the vegetable scraps, or adding it to a worm bin. If you’re super-frugal, you’ve discovered this goldmine of nutrients can be used one more time before heading for the compost heap.

You can make and freeze stock made from either meat or vegetable bits and scraps and use it as a base for soups, stews and chilis, or even to add flavor and nutrients to those frugal staple potato, rice or pasta dishes.

You can also use stock instead of water to add flavor to a recipe, or instead of beer or wine to reduce cost without losing moisture.

Perhaps you’ve seen stock in the supermarket (or *gasp* perhaps you’ve even bought it?). Usually stored near the soup, you can find fish, beef, chicken, vegetable and mushroom stocks in the supermarket, with prices ranging from $0.10-$0.79 per ouncet. But why buy what you can make for nothing?

How to make soup stock:

Vegetable Stock:

The best way to make a vegetable stock is to save scraps. Peels, from onions, husks from garlic (my garlic press leaves little “skins” inside, so I always save those.) Ends of celery, extra mushrooms and any produce nearing the end of its life in the refrigerator. Shells from peas, stems and even apple cores go great in vegetable stock. (Never use spoiled/moldy produce).

If you have a few cups of vegetable bits, just cover them with water, simmer for 45 minutes, strain and freeze. However, if you’ve only got an onion skin here and a stalk of celery there, just throw it all in a big bag in the freezer until you have enough vegetable bits and time to boil it all at once. Strain and store.

Meat stock:

Bones, ends, and drippings! Use pan drippings, or bones to create a fantastic stock. The easiest way it to start with the brown bits from the bottom of a pan. First, pour off any grease/oils and then heat the pan quickly on the stove. Add a small amount of cold liquid to the hot pan (water, beer, wine, fruit juice, brandy, or even water that you cooked pasta or vegetables in), and as the liquid rapidly comes to a boil, scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon or heat-safe spatula. This will free up the flavorful bits from the bottom of the pan, and allow you to use them again. As an added benefit, the pan will be much easier to clean.

If you have bones or tough meat scraps to use, add the bones and enough water to cover them, and simmer for 45 minutes (fish is the exception—heads and bones go in the water, with the gills removed, but remove as soon as the bones become opaque). Large bones such as hamhocks or entire turkey carcasses may take longer—cook covered in water until the bones come out free of meat scraps.  Strain and store. 

Storage:

To freeze, pour into plastic containers leaving some head-space (frozen liquid takes more space than solid, so if you overfill your container will break), cool completely in the refrigerator, and then freeze. Alternately, pour your stocks into muffin tins or ice cube trays and freeze, and then pop them out and into a plastic bag for storage until you are ready to use them. If you store your stocks in glass jars like I do, use only wide-mouth jars, and fill no more than 2/3 full, leaving the lid open until the liquid is fully frozen. Be warned that any attempts to rapidly freeze or thaw a glass mason jar will likely result in breakage. They are temperamental buggers.

Stocking Up the Freezer For Virtually Nothing is a post from: Being Frugal.net

Many readers know that we are very excited about being an adoptive family.  We adopted our girls in 2005 and 2008, both under unusual circumstances and with substantial fees that left our family happy and fulfilled, but in debt to our eyelids.

That was before we drank the debt-free Kool-Aid.  In fact, right after arriving home from Ethiopia with our second daughter, who was very ill, I received my layoff notice. That’s what sparked our debt-free crusade. We asked ourselves, how could we care for these children properly, when we were so financially vulnerable?

Our adoptions were both unusual circumstances, requiring more than the usual fees. Between legal fees, agency fees, home study, fingerprints, notarization and notary verification, dossier, medical checks and vaccines for travel abroad and ever so many plane tickets, the costs were staggering.

There’s no doubt about it, our kids our priceless. Truth be told, I would have done anything in my power to make sure my kids had a family that worked for them—even if it wasn’t our family.

With all of that said, I wish I knew then, what I know now about ways to be resourceful and adopt without debt.

Sure, we did some clever things—friends donated air miles to help us get to Florida over a holiday weekend for our oldest’s adoption (we had only four days’ notice and prices to Orlando were absolutely atrocious).  With our youngest, a re-adoption proceeding was required here in the states to finalize her adoption.  We completed that all pro se (by ourselves) by completing and submitting the forms to the court without the aid of an attorney—saving us $500-$3,000 depending on the attorney’s estimate.  But we missed a lot of opportunities where we could have saved a bundle.

When we felt the call to adopt, it didn’t come with explicit instructions.  Ok, so there was, Deuteronomy 28:12 “The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow” but we just hadn’t connected the dots yet.  We did the best that we knew how. We saved, liquidated savings, reduced spending and leveraged the adoption tax credit with an interest-free adoption loan.

Ideas for adopting debt-free.

1. Use a no-fee agency. Friends of ours are using Antioch Adoptions. Antioch only accepts Christian families, but they are a ministry organization and do not charge an adoption fee.
2. Use a low-cost program. Many programs have lower costs.  Domestic, particularly foster-adopt programs have fewer legal costs, in part because the birthparents’ rights were terminated before the adoptive parent enters the picture.
3. Sell some stuff. Many adoptive families that I know swear by the church rummage sale, or multifamily garage sale.  Others E-bay or craft their way through their adoption expenses.
4. Hold a raffle. Many families I know have held successful raffles for iPads, plane tickets, jewelry and more. If you want in on the iPad action, check out this link.
5. Use a commercial fundraiser. Some great fundraising/profit sharing programs exist from MLM-type kitchen products (usually through a friend or family member who already sells) or organizations like Just Love Coffee.
6. Use grants. At least two dozen organizations provide grants for prospective adoptive families.
7. Use air miles. If your adoption involves travel, you may be able to buy air miles, or get donations of air miles to offset all or part of your travel costs.
8. Create Work Parties. The Both Hands Foundation has an innovative way of helping families to adopt: the family creates a work party, and earns their fee by working on behalf of a widow or senior.
9. Get a job.   My friend Jennifer is a busy stay-at-home mom of ten (8 at home), and after adopting four children in four years, have been called to adopt one more. Though Jennifer is a military retiree and a professional woman, she wanted to bring home a little more ‘bacon’ without sacrificing time with her kids.  To help close the funding gap, she took a job at a fast-food restaurant a few days a week on the night shift. When the kids get home from school and her husband gets home from work, Jennifer dons the hairnet and heads for the golden arches. See Jennifer’s story here.
10. Get crafty.  One of my friends raised adoption funds with hand-made dolls. Other friends make Christmas tree ornaments and beautiful artwork.

Affording Adoption, Without Debt is a post from: Being Frugal.net

Bargaining, “wheeling and dealing” or just getting a deal—whatever you call it, it isn’t always easy to find exactly the item or service you want, and then ask for a lower price.  Our American culture often views this sort of thing as the move of a cheapskate, or disrespectful/distrustful of the merchant and his or her pricing.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.  The best “bargain” is where everyone is happy, and where the transaction is conducted in a respectful way. (Oh, and when you get a screamin’ deal).

I never considered myself a bargainer, until I traveled in Africa.  There, nothing was priced, and I was  subject to” muzungo (foreigner) pricing.”  Even my native-language translators couldn’t get a price lower for me. Muzungo prices were almost always 300%+ locals pricing. Using a few strategies, I began to overcome this (though I doubt I ever truly got pricing to match locals’ prices).

Bargaining rules

Here are a few rules about bargaining that I learned while traveling, and have since employed stateside.

1. Always bargain with cash. First, it doesn’t cost the merchant anything to accept it, second, there’s no risk!
2. Know what you’re willing to pay.  Always do your research first, and know your top price for the product or service that you’re hoping to buy.
3. 3.      Be prepared to walk away.  One thing I’m nearly certain of, is that aside from people and artwork, nothing is one-of-a-kind.  You can always find the product or service that you’re looking for somewhere else.  When in doubt, always walk.

Where to bargain

Overseas (check travel guides). Most cultures expect some bargaining and consider you a fool if you don’t. (Perhaps they’re right?)

With service businesses (carpet, drapery cleaning, auto detailing, construction, etc).

With any major purchase (appliance, automobile, real estate)

On anything used (thrift shop, garage sale)

Monthly contracts (mobile phone, gym, etc)

Credit cards and mortgage companies (on mortgages, get all of your bargaining done before you sign the papers!)

Doctors and hospitals: Try offering payment in full before the treatment. Ask for a 20% discount. Ask for cash discounts.

Be polite! Do’s and Don’ts of Bargaining

Do: Ask for a manager when you can.

Do: Be reasonable. The vendor or service provider deserves to make a profit.

Do: Use cash!

Do: Plan a maximum price.

Do: Buy in quantity or negotiate a quantity purchase. (Consider asking the carpet cleaner for a 30-50% discount if you can get 2-3 neighbors to have their rugs cleaned the same day).

Do: Know if the item must be purchased, or if it is possible to be scavenged or thrifted.

Don’t: Be loud or rude.

Don’t: Bargain with an audience. Be discreet. If you really want that washing machine, don’t try to bargain them down in front of three other shoppers—they’ll all want the same deal, which makes yours a lot less realistic!

Don’t: Use credit or write checks for your deal. Seldom is it a real “deal” this way—the vendor absorbs both risk and merchant fees. See if they’ll let you save the difference, or split the difference.

Don’t: Visit during a busy time of day or season.  If you want a new washer and dryer, forget the home store on a Saturday morning—go on a Tuesday morning, when nobody else is there. The daytime sales rep will be eager to meet quotas, and is likely getting poor hours.

Reporting back:

I don’t buy a lot of household items, but in my business I wheel-and-deal like crazy.  I’ve purchased several printers for my business (and for others) at deep discount because they are open box or because I’m buying more than one at once. We recently got cash discounts on two medical bills, a dentist and a 15% discount on a major auto service for paying in cash (oh, and two new tires for my husband’s Civic—because we moved all service for both of our high-mileage cars over to one mechanic!)

Here’s your challenge for the week (or month if you don’t have anything you need to buy this week).  Set a goal of an item to get a deal on. Give it a try, and report back.  I can’t wait to hear your savings!

Bargaining 101: How to get lower prices on everything is a post from: Being Frugal.net

Disclosure: We received this vacuum as a review unit to keep. Which is awesome, cause we needed a vacuum! End disclosure.
~~~
This is a special guest post by DK from DebtKid.com. He and his wife were both able to use this vacuum at their apartment in Portland.
~~~
When my wife and I moved last year, she didn’t own a vacuum, and I had a massive canister one that was a hand-me-down from my Uncle. I looked up the model and it came out in 1988. So it’s a big old….and huge.

So when we moved I wanted something super light. So we purchased a lightweight battery powered vacuum.

My wife hates it.

I don’t mind it, but she hates having to recharge the battery, and it’s small and light, which is nice for stair….but we don’t have that many stairs.

Enter the Eureka Endeavor NLS.

It’s not small.

It’s not electric.

But man can this thing SUCK!

ha ha.

The NLS stands for “No loss of suction”.

It’s very powerful, and it worked especially well on our carpet. Though we did use it on our fake hardwood kitchen area as well, and it did pretty good there as well.

Pros
- Lots of power
- Easy to empty (no bags!)
- Surprisingly nimble for it’s size
- Price: $79.88 at Walmart

Cons
- Bulky, and pretty loud
- Lots of plastic

Overall for the price, it’s a pretty darn good vacuum.

And now my wife is happy : ).

Video:

Win a new Eureka Endeaver NLS!

Eureka was nice enough to offer up one of these vacuums to a lucky BeingFrugal.net reader as well!

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment telling me what is most important to you, when considering a new vacuum. Please, only one comment per person, as multiple comments will be deleted.

The giveaway is only open to residents of the United States age 18 and older. I will close comments and draw a winner on Friday, Sept 30 at 7 pm PST. After I email the winner, that person will have one week to contact me with their name and mailing address, so I can pass the info on to the Eureka people for shipment of the prize.

Eureka Endeavor NLS Vacuum Review & Giveaway! is a post from: Being Frugal.net

I visited my pea-patch in the community garden yesterday, and found some rather disappointing results. It’s my fault, I hadn’t visited in a while, and I have been neglecting the need for soil amendments, but I did have a few things to harvest.  The problem was—with what was available to me, what could I possibly do?

Here’s my harvest.

• One very large zucchini.
• Fifteen blue lake green beans.
• Six cherry tomatoes.
• A bumper crop of green tomatoes on the vine—so I harvested some to give the vines a better chance with the rest.
• Five extremely large (read: neglected) pickling cucumbers.

So what to do?

Perhaps it was the stress of this underwhelming produce yield, but I felt compelled to mull this matter over some fried food and a beer, pub-style.

And then it hit me, I had exactly what I wanted right in my farm basket… for a perfect plate of pub food.

I sliced the woody cucumber up, and dropped it in a big bowl of iced saltwater to take the bitterness out. (It did nothing for the woody skin, but it wasn’t too bad, and I could have cut it off).

And then I whipped up a cornmeal-based batter for the green tomatoes.

If you’ve never had fried green tomatoes, you’re missing out. Typically, we think of these as a southern dish—typically creole, but food historians say it likely came with Jewish immigrants in the north and Midwest, then Pennsylvania Dutch also make a version.  A classic southern-style recipe is here, but I prefer to use bacon grease for this versus vegetable oil, the way my grandmother did.

The combination of the firmness and tartness of an unripe tomato plus the crusty crunchy friend crust is fantastic. The classic southern accompaniment is shrimp remoulade but I served mine with a salsa of hot sauce, peaches and ripe tomatoes.

Once my tomatoes were done, I had a little batter left, and the problem of a few green beans. So I battered them next.  A favorite neighborhood pub used to serve deep-fried green beans, and I think they’re on the TGI Friday’s menu too.

I’ll steam the zucchini with some sweet onions tomorrow. The cucumbers came out fine in their saltwater bath with good texture and flavor.

Fried green tomatoes and green beans plus fresh cucumbers

Yes, we ate a bunch of fried food, but it’s a rare occasion around here, and there is a satisfaction to growing your own food.

PS: Next week, I’d like to do a post on menu and meal planning. Let’s compare menus and meal planning techniques. Do you keep a list? Do you compare weekly or monthly? Before or after shopping? If you have a chance, post a picture of your master meal plan on our Facebook wall or email it to editor@beingfrugal.net. (If you belong to the “winging it” camp of meal planning–I’d love to know that too, and a strategy for keeping costs under control).

Dealing with a Disappointing Harvest is a post from: Being Frugal.net

There’s a number of feelings that just all around feel icky.  Getting to work and not remembering if you locked the front door, the nagging question if you remembered to call back a friend, and that ugly little feeling called “buyer’s remorse.”

Buyer’s remorse

Buyer’s remorse is really just a self-induced, purchase-related guilt trip.  I deal with this a lot, but I’m a travel agent for guilt trips. They’re my specialty. Especially the self-induced ones.

Prevention

They say “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” There are some ways to prevent buyer’s remorse.

1. Play the waiting game. I never make a purchase of more than $100 without sleeping on it, and checking with my husband (not because I need his permission, but because he’ll tell me if I’m crazy).
2. Research purchases thoroughly in advance.
3. Avoid emotionally-charged purchases.
4. Work from a list and a budget for in-store purchases.
5. If possible, make purchases online, to avoid impulse purchases and “upsells” (would you like a warrantee with that?).

When those steps fail, (or you fail to implement those steps in time to save you from yourself…don’t worry, it happens to me too), you’ll have to move to “cure” steps.

Cure

1. Return it if you can. All new purchases at my house migrate to the coat closet for a 24 hour cooling off period. No tags are removed or receipts destroyed. I re-inspect my purchases the next day to be sure I still agree with my (yesterday) self. (This has saved me a bundle lately, while I’ve been shopping under stress and while fatigued. I find I don’t make very good choices).
2. Resell it if possible.  You might not recoup all of the damages, but Craig’s list, Ebay and more might help heal the pain.
3. Re-gift.  Sure, you don’t need the pack of 72 batteries, you only needed the package of 8, but the pack of 72, might go great with your nephew’s handheld gaming system for Christmas. Be creative and keep a “hit list” of guilt-ridden items that can be repurposed.

Ok folks, confession time—what left you with buyer’s remorse lately?  I’ll be honest, for me, last time, it was actually eating out.  I was in a rush, and needed some quiet time so stopped for a lunch at a diner by myself. Lunch was lousy, the diner too loud to accomplish any work, and I was out $14 that I’m sure I could have put to better use.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a cure strategy for this, but if anyone does, I’d be thrilled to hear about it.

What techniques do you use to prevent or remedy buyer’s remorse? 

Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse is a post from: Being Frugal.net

This week, the US food and Drug Administration held additional sessions about the possibility of (finally) establishing a gluten-free food labeling standard. (info)

Lately, a growing number of people are electing a gluten-free diet. Some due to health conditions such as celiac disease, and others to attempt alleviate symptoms of other conditions like ADHD and autism (it is unclear at this time of a GF diet truly resolves symptoms, but many friends swear by it).

I’ve been attempting to maintain a gluten-free diet now for two years, and let’s just say, it’s not that easy. On second thought, it can be easy, if you’re made of money. I’m not.

Something as simple as a late-night PB&J or a pizza fix can be paralyzing. I’ve seen gluten-free breads priced as high as $7 per loaf. Yes, $7! My husband buys regular whole wheat bread for the kids for $0.96 a loaf, and the loaf is twice the size of my precious GF loaves.

How to rein in the GF food costs?

There’s several strategies that might help you to keep the costs of a gluten free diet down.  I’ll include holistic practical ideas first, and when those fail (because sometimes they do) I’ll include some coupons that I like.

1. Follow the low-carb diets like Atkins and diabetic diets. The Atkins ones especially will avoid wheat and other grains. You can’t get your pancake fix, but you’ll be able eat mostly with confidence.
2. If you must bake, mix your own flours if you can. If you can’t, don’t bother with flour mixes at the store (I once bought a bag of GF flour mix, and discovered upon better inspection of my receipt that it cost me $40.00.). The very best way that I have found to manage the flour issue is by buying GF flours online from catalog companies like Azure Standard (www.azurestandard.com). If you have a large enough order and can get on one of their delivery routes (Northwestern states only, sorry) there’s no shipping costs. If you need to bulk up your order, a 25 pound bucket of their peanut butter or cases of their BPA-free black turtle beans are fantastic, they also carry several good gluten-free pastas.
3. When in doubt, use a coupon. Some of your favorite brands might offer coupons. I’ve downloaded coupons today from Udi’s bread, Crunchmaster Crackers and Garlic Jim’s. There are even entire lists of coupons for gluten-free products. List 1, List 2.   Facebook “fans” and loyalty club members benefit here too, as coupons regularly make their appearances here.

Can a Gluten Free Diet be Frugal? is a post from: Being Frugal.net

This is a guest post from Brittany, a college student and lead writer at SavvyStudent.com

Saving money for college is a job in itself. College students should earn credit for doing it, because the task requires using the mind and it’s helpful for life after college. So to help out the universal crowd of college students who have been trying to save money since the roots of higher education, here is a list of fifty-one ways to save money for college.

That’s fifty-one ways to save yourself from going deeper into debt, and fifty-one ways you can pat yourself on the back in the future. And for some encouragement, listen to the wise words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.”

Transportation

1. Bike it. Not only does using your bike help out your wallet, it’s a good work out for the gluteus maximus.
2. Bus it. Public transportation is one of man’s greatest inventions because it is cheaper than car insurance and history’s highest gas prices (which you won’t have to pay if you ride the bus/metro/insert other mode of public transportation here). All it takes is a small fare or your campus’s bus passes (some universities charge, others give them out for free for a limited number of hours).
3. If you own a car, turn off your air conditioning while driving to save gas.
4. Choose the shortest route from point A to point B.
5. Carpool; work on your social skills.
6. If you drive a manual, coast on the down hills.

Food/Drink

1. Dumpster dive. Some places make dumpster diving easy by, for example, putting all of their stale (but edible) items in a specially marked dumpster. Check your state’s law for further info. Here is Urban Dictionary’s definition of dumpster diving: “Actively searching through trash in commercial or residential dumpsters to find discarded but usable items; Proves fruitful at grocery stores and bakeries, where good food is often neatly thrown away when it merely approaches the sell-by date.”
2. Don’t just leave those cans and bottles from last weekend’s party on the curb to be taken away by the garbage man. Recycle them yourself and get cash from a grocery store that provides this service. This method of recycling, known as the Bottle Bill, is only in certain state’s legislation so hopefully you live in one of those 11 states.
3. Keep your receipts from grocery stores, which often hold coupons and special offers on the other side. Look up extreme couponing to get inspired.

10. Step away from the latte and say hello to good ole coffee and Americanos. If you are one of those college students who hangs out at a coffee shop so often most people aren’t sure if you are a customer or an employee, it would be wise to choose cheaper options if you are buying a drink every time you visit. All that milk one finds in a latte can’t be good for one person, even if you aren’t lactose intolerant.

11. Want to have a pizza night? Taco night with friends? Have each person bring one ingredient to contribute to the meal and it will be astronomically cheaper for the host, and that much tastier too.

12. Use the most of your punch cards at local coffee shops. Three dollars off of a drink of choice or even a free drink is that much money that you can keep in your wallet if you are consistently punching that beloved 2 by 3.5 inch piece of paper.

13. Home brew your own ______ (fill in the blank). Check out The Mad Fermentationist blog to get recipes and ideas. Who knows if home brewing is cheaper, short term, but in the long run perhaps people will be paying YOU for what you make. Think about it.

14. Brew your own coffee at home. This is cheaper, because you can buy grains in bulk, and when you put it in a travel mug you are good to go for class.

15. At the beginning of every week buy enough food to last you one week in one meal. i.e. chicken and rice for dinner the next seven days. It lacks the variety one enjoys, but we’re in college so we’re aiming for cheap and edible.

16. Buy in bulk. Use those coupons and stock up. Use your freezer.

17. Make use of your on-campus credit that goes towards food and beverages in the cafeteria and various stores and coffee bars. Use it all up before spending it elsewhere, especially if you can buy the same items there as anywhere else.

18. Go to school or community events with free food, whenever the opportunity presents itself.

19. When you are grocery shopping, don’t go to the store while you are hungry.

Clothing

20. Thrift stores, garage sales and second-hand shops are a college student’s best friend when old clothes wear out. It is a widely held belief that thrift stores are thee places to shop whether you are cheap or not, because there is such a wide range of clothing that fits anyone’s taste and it’s rare that you’ll see someone else wearing the same clothing item you’ve bought from a second-hand shop.

21. Get in touch with your crafty side. When you find clothes at a second-hand shop that are too large, alter them yourself. That x-large band t-shirt that you cannot pass up will be a size medium in no time.

22. Trade clothes with friends when your wardrobe starts looking dull. This is all perspective, and what you need is to swap a few articles of clothing and voila! That should do the trick to curing your monotonous closet.

23. One word: Self-control. Restrain from being an impulse buyer!

Books

24. Rent textbooks. This can be done through a website like Chegg or places nearby such as your university’s bookstore, library or your county’s local library.

25. Join Amazon Student and for one year get unlimited free two-day shipping on textbooks and other items. It’s free to sign up for students!

Entertainment

26. Join the online community of Couch Surfing and get connected with people from all over the world. Forming these connections will enable you to vacation for cheap with a free place to stay while receiving free tours from the locals who know the best places to go.

27. Find local festivals and events that have free admission and hang out. Walk around, people watch, B.Y.O food. Free entertainment is good entertainment.

28. Get in the know-how while reading newspaper online instead of receiving it on your doorstep. I am all for supporting publishers and the print, but if you’re trying to save, and the same information is available for free, then why spend the monthly fee?

29. Make reusable, fused paper bags to avoid paying the meager 99¢ at the grocery store. Because we’re thinking cheap and that’s 99 whole cents that could be put towards your college savings fund.

30. Instead of going out to eat, or buying something new to spice up your living space, or spending money on anything really, report to instructables.com. It is a website for all of your do-it-yourself needs, with categories of food, living, outside, play, technology and workshop. That pretty much covers everything you could ever need to spend money on (besides your tuition).

31. One more word: Groupon.

32. Use Living Social to receive coupons on entertainment, yoga classes, spa treatments, restaurants and more in your city.

33. Explore your state’s parks. Free admission and entertainment for all!

34. Rent DVDs at your local library instead of renting from Red Box or Netflix.

35. Refrain from going to new movies while they are still in theaters. Wait until they come out on DVD. (Hopefully this doesn’t completely contradict the former.)

36. Play cards. It’s another way to be entertained for free.

Tuition/Money

37. Learn how to budget in unique ways. One method is separating money from your most recent paychecks and putting it into envelopes for different expenses. Budget and know where your money is going. Dave Ramsey loves the envelope system.

38. Acquire friends with skills. These could be people who cut hair, fix cars or bikes… Need I say more? You are in no way using them, but their talents are simply a bonus to your mutually beneficial friendship. Another way of saying this: networking.

39. Work somewhere that either gives you great discounts on their food or other items. In this beautiful scenario you are simultaneously making and saving money.

40. Sell your hobby. Play music at a local café; sell your art in an open-air market. Use your talents and put a hat before you. Even a little change makes a difference, right?

41. If you live in or nearby a neighborhood, say hello to quirky jobs and employment. Go up to front doors and ask if people need their lawns mowed, gutters cleaned out, flower bushes trimmed, etc. Because who wants to clean out their own gutters?

42. If it’s not on craigslist, you don’t need it. Never buy new. Let’s say it together: “Never buy new.”

43. If you are borrowing loans from the government, steer towards subsidized loans, if you qualify for them, instead of unsubsidized loans. Subsidized loans don’t build interest until after a student graduates, as opposed to unsubsidized loans, which start building interest once the loan has been dispersed to the school.

44. Put extra money from your paychecks into a savings account instead of your checking account. When you have the urge to buy something, it will be harder to access your savings account than the three seconds it takes to hand the cashier your debit card.

Utilities/Housing

45. In the evenings, use candles. Turn off the lights and cozy up to a candle for all of your mood lighting needs, and save electricity while doing it!

46. Wash your clothes sparingly. Don’t let not washing them turn people off to you, but before you throw a pair of pants in the wash after one day’s wear, think twice.

47. As opposed to washing your clothes on campus with quarters or at a Laundromat, wash them at a friend’s house and pay them a couple dollars.

48. Hang dry your clothes instead of using the dryer. Save electricity or your quarters!

49. Don’t wash your hair everyday. Save shampoo & conditioner and let your hair embrace its natural oils. This saves water and money spent on hair products.

50. Live with people. Rent and utilities become cheaper, you can share meals, and cooking is more fun when you do it with other people.

51. Use an electric kettle, which will save you time and money by turning off automatically when water reaches its boiling point. If you are a big tea drinker, the hot pot will become your best friend.

52. When you are grocery shopping, don’t go to the store while you are hungry. There will be less of an urge to buy everything that looks appealing.

And that concludes this list of ways to save money for college. From saving money on how to nourish yourself cheaply to some of the best coupons the web has to offer, I hope you will find some guidance in these suggestions. Good luck finding other ways to be cheap and thrifty without going into debt during your college years.

51 Ways to Save Money in College is a post from: Being Frugal.net