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Posted
Jul 18 2008, 08:49 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Freshly
picked Rainier cherries melt in your mouth. At $5.99 a pound, they'd
better. This pricey indulgence appears in my menu only a few times a
year -- namely, on those occasions when I visit one of Seattle's
farmers markets.
These venues are jammed with heirloom tomatoes,
feathery field greens, dusty mushrooms foraged from Pacific Northwest
woods, jewel-like strawberries, peaches that yield sweetly to the
touch, radishes flecked with damp earth, sturdy maroon beets still
wearing their crowns. Much of the produce is organic. All of it comes
from small growers. To me, the best part of shopping this way is
knowing that a family farm is getting a decent price for produce.
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Posted
Jul 03 2008, 02:14 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
"Story Girl" at the My Money and My Life personal finance blog wondered if community supported agriculture were a frugal choice. She'd be paying $25 a week for an ever-changing variety of fresh, local produce. But $25 is "nearly half my weekly grocery budget," Story Girl notes.
Now she's really glad she did it. In an item called "Why I love CSA," she explained that there was more to the decision than simple frugality. "There are a lot of reasons why I consider this to be a good choice for me," she writes, "and why it may even save money in the long term."
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Posted
Jun 25 2008, 10:09 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Feeling pain at the supermarket checkout? Don't expect relief anytime soon. According to an Associated Press article, the Midwestern floods that destroyed soybean and corn crops will send the price of beef, pork, poultry, eggs, cheese and milk higher this fall.
Anybody want to join me while I shop for flour and beans and a small freezer?
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Posted
Jun 04 2008, 09:35 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Last week's Safeway ad had a coupon for a dozen eggs for $1, a swell deal these days. I consider eggs a fridge staple because they make a quick and cheap light supper. Besides, finals are coming up, and I always fortify myself with bacon, eggs and toast on exam mornings.
However, the coupon's fine print -- there's always fine print -- said shoppers needed to spend at least $10 to use the dollar-a-dozen coupon. The thing was, I didn't need $10 worth of stuff. Just eggs. But I wasn't about to let a teeny-tiny disclaimer keep me from getting cheap protein. I have a frugal hack for just such an occasion.
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Posted
Jun 02 2008, 08:53 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
When I bought flour tortillas this weekend, I noticed that the price had gone up by 20 cents. That didn't surprise me, since the price of bread and other flour-based products has skyrocketed lately. But I'm still ahead of the game because I shop at a bakery outlet. Even with the cost increase, I paid just 79 cents for a 20-ounce bag of tortillas.
Something else I noticed: The outlet seemed busier than usual. A cashier told me that business is booming, and that some new customers are surprised to find "that it isn't old bread" on the outlet shelves.
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Posted
May 19 2008, 08:26 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
The temperature hit 88 degrees on Saturday, which is warm for Seattle, or anywhere else. My apartment has tall south- and west-facing windows and no air conditioning.
So I cranked the blinds inside out to reflect the sun, dragged the pedestal fan ($4, rummage sale) out of storage and made a big pitcher of iced tea. Sweet relief, the Smart Spending way.
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Posted
May 16 2008, 09:43 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
It's fashionable to bemoan the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag. They're flimsy, they create litter, they end up landfills by the millions, they're a waste of the oil needed to produce them. Some places have proposed or enacted a "grocery bag fee" in an attempt to curb usage, and some have banned them outright. It's likely they'll eventually be gone from our lives. To some extent, I'll miss them when they're gone.
Wait -- don't send the green squad over to tie a plastic bag over my head. In theory, I'm as appalled as anyone else by the things. As an apartment house manager, I hate fishing sodden sacks out of the shrubbery or pulling them down from tree branches. That scene from the film "American Beauty" of the plastic bag dancing in the wind was nice, but what the moviemakers didn't address is that it had to come down sometime.
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Posted
May 07 2008, 10:48 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
We're in awe of the way "HollyM" does lunch. This thrifty reader starts by cooking big batches of soups, stews, stuffed peppers, lasagna, casseroles, enchiladas and other goodies -- all of it made with on-sale ingredients. The entrees get frozen in individual servings because variety is the spice of lunch.
"No boredom. Lunches ready to grab. Saves time/energy/money."
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Posted
May 07 2008, 10:34 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Having raised eight kids, reader "SGW" can make a little bit of meat go a long way. She would buy a chicken on sale and make a huge pot of soup -- but they didn't eat the chicken itself, just the broth with vegetables. Then SGW would cut up the bird and freeze it in one-cup portions.
"Yep, I make chicken enchiladas, chicken chow mein, chicken salads, you name it for a family of 10 using only one cup of chicken each meal."
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Posted
May 07 2008, 10:00 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
"Frugal-Cook" doesn't skimp on ingredients. Check her shopping cart and you'll find stuff like shallots, fennel, olive oil and fresh herbs. Yet she spends only about $500 a month to feed her family of five-going-on-six -- the mom of three is expecting again -- even though she lives in spendy Chicago.
Frugal-Cook bases her meal plans on weekly grocery specials, viewing the ads online at http://www.centsible.net/groceries.shtml. She also hits smaller markets in ethnic neighborhoods. Then she cooks one and only one type of cuisine per week.
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