Freezer frenzy

Tips on buying a freezer, and how to best use it at home
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch, March 26, 2009


"Don't assume that investing in a freezer will automatically save you bundles, however. Once you bring it home, remember why you got it -- to ultimately save money -- and follow these tips from Webber for sticking to your plan:"

Click here for complete coverage

The Frugal Family Kitchen Book

On SALE now




Just in time for Mother's Day, those bridal showers, summer weddings and so many other spring gift-giving occasions, The Frugal Family Kitchen Book is now on sale for only $10 a copy, post paid!

My Kitchen Book offers valuable nutrition information, time management help, and meal planning guidance as well as plenty of tasty and inexpensive recipes. With tips on setting up the first-time kitchen, reading labels and shopping the various supermarket sections, the spiral bound Kitchen Book is ideal for the experienced shopper as well as the beginner cook. It's perfect for those who are college-bound or for anyone going out on their own.

The FFKB sells for $14.95 at http://www.amazon.com/ , where you can check out the contents, read excerpts, reviews and such. Our publisher's price of $10 (post paid!), is a bargain and I'd be glad to inscribe any books you order.

In addition, further discounts are available on volume orders (over 100 copies). The Kitchen Book makes a great promotional give-away and can also be used for successful fundraising.

Send your order with a check or money order to Cranberry Knoll Publishers, P. O. Box 1317, Yarmouth, Maine 04096.

Questions?? Feel free to email me at marywebb@maine.rr.com

Growing in our

Kitchen Garden:

Sprouts!


Fun and easy to grow, sprouts provide good nutritional value at a more-than-reasonable cost. Perfect for greening mid-winter salads and sandwiches.

Why grow sprouts? They are incredibly rich in nutrients, cheap, quick, and easy to grow (no sun, no soil needed) right in your kitchen (great project for the kids), sprouts are low in calories, and they are very versatile. In salads and sandwiches of course but also in breads, stir fry and many other Asian recipes. Broccoli sprouts offer dynamite nutrition while radish sprouts add real zing, and onion, cabbage and pea sprouts are terrific in stir fry. Caveat: Just as with any food, don't go overboard on sprouts. It is possible to eat too much of these good things leading to possible nutritional deficiencies, but honestly, I think you'd have to be totally nuts to consume the amounts that could case this effect.

What kind of sprouts to grow?? I think you'll be surprised at what's available for spouting seeds, far beyond the alfalfa, mung, radish and broccoli that may come right to mind. You can certainly find a good selection of sprouting seeds at your local health food store, but I buy most of my seeds including those for sprouting from Pinetree Garden Seeds in New Gloucester Maine. I would caution you not to use just any old garden seed to sprout to be sure you avoid treated seed. Pinetree offers 16 individual seeds and mixes for sprouting. Their salad, sandwich, stir fry and munching mixes are excellent. I would caution you not to use just any old garden seed for sprouting to avoid the possiblility of using treated seed.

How to grow sprouts. Couldn't be easier! When I first started I used quart canning jars with cheesecloth over the top held on by an elastic band. You can buy three different mesh-size plastic lids to use with canning jars for various size sprouting seeds, and you can also use stackable tray sprouters which I use for growing large amounts of mung beans.

To grow sprouts, start small! A TBSP of alfalfa seed may yield a cup to a cup and a half of sprouts! Rinse seeds in a strainer or colander - some seed such as that alfalfa is tiny - picking out any that look off-color, etc. Put the rinsed seeds is a nice clean jar (I use 1-quart wide-mouth jars), cover the seeds with a few inches of warmish water and let set on countertop overnight. Little bits of chaff and such will float to the top, easy to remove.

Next, drain the seeds thoroughly then rinse them with cool water, swishing well. Drain again, set jar on its side and jiggle somewhat to spread out the seeds, put in a dark cupboard, and there they grow! Rinse and drain daily and start enjoying your greens in just a few days for some varieties, 4-5 days for some of the larger ones.

I like to keep several kinds growing on a rotating basis... YUM!





We've been blessed this winter to have a number of deer who visit us daily to partake of the apples we're delighted to share with them.

I just love seeing them!

Wii?

Wheeeeeeeeee!

Wiitm and Wiitm Fitness are registered trademarks of Nintendo of America. I've tried to be careful about putting the tm symbol in but it doesn't work in some places such as the title and labels.

Did you get a new Wiitm for Christmas, it's all installed, and you're comfortable using it? Great fun, isn't it! The bowling and boxing are big in our household, but this past week, I've taken the fun to a whole new level with Wiitm Fitness. The folks who came up with this program are absolutely geniuses!

I can try to describe this fitness program, but you really, really have to try it just once to totally understand how awesome it is. First off, let me confess that I've tried going to gyms and it's just not me. I don't like driving, especially in our Maine winters, then I really just don't like being there, although I certainly fell in love with their elipitical machines. We do have a treadmill at home and of course plenty of hand weights.

So obviously the first appeal of Wiitm is using it right in front of the tv, never leaving home and wearing whatever I feel like. The system consists of your Wiitm basic box, hand control, a balance board, a CD, and from there on, with the explicit directions and pictures, it could not possibly be simpler WITHOUT ever seeming simplisitic.

There's a body test you can do or skip. I wanted it as a baseline, or maybe I was just feeling masochistic. It told me my weight (a little over), BMI (only a couple of points too high) , Wiitm Fitness age (this one hurt), and then assessed my balance, something I knew would need work. Yup, I do.

This feels like a very individualized program, and I especially like it keeping track of the time I spend in the Fitness Plaza and the stamp I put on the calendar after each day's visit. I've LOVED seeing my weight and BMI nudge downward, no matter how slightly each few days.

Now when I started, I had visions of the same old-same old exercise routines, but what a stunner when I found out how much just plain fun this program is! There are four areas to work in - yoga, strength, aerobic, and balance training. I headed straight to the balance area.

First, I got to try being a soccer goalie trying to head off balls kicked at me. HA! Then a ski slalom making the gates (or NOT!) just by leaning my body on the balance board. Then on to the ski jump (a favorite), next a devilish "game" where you use body motions to try to get balls through holes on a tilt table.

The tightrope walk was a real challenge as you have to "jump" over a machine coming toward you in the middle of the crossing. Each of these "games" is separate so you can do the ones you want, each is only a few tries and then you can move on or retry the one you're doing a few more times. You get scores and see yourself improve on the spot.

In the aerobics area, I love the hula hoop, something I've never been good at in real life but which I can do pretty well here, even with people tossing more hoops at me as I twirl on that balance board. There's a 3-minute, well-paced run, which turns out to be one of my strengths.

Because I already work with weights every other day, I haven't been to the strength training area yet, but I visited the yoga center and I was impressed. I've gone to yoga classes on and off for years and this "instructor" (I chose a female trainer) with her very clear modeling of the poses...well, this is as well done as any class I've ever had.

No! NO, honestly, I am not a paid Wiitm promoter! The myriad uses for this program with a wide variety of users should be obvious. While it's being used in some rehab settings already, most anyone could benefit from it, certainly the elderly who could often benefit from the balance and other targeted activities, without leaving home, and in whatever little pieces can be managed.

Although I'm only at the beginner level for just about every activity, I see - and feel - progress. I reallly feel as though I've given you the most cursory overview of this fitness program, but I hope it'll inspire you to consider whether it might fit your fitness needs in a way you'd actually consistently use. I'll let you know how it goes, but so far, it's been all fun and games!

2009 - An

Adventure,

a Challenge


We're well into this new year and although I'm not much for making resolutions, I have decided to do something this year that will certainly be an adventure, and it will certainly challenge me.
I'm going to hike the 281 miles of the Maine section of the Appalachian Trail, a trek that will include the Hundred Mile Wilderness, seven peaks over 4,000' (as well as thirteen others over 3,000') and will end at Mt. Katahdin. Am I totally nuts?

I've always been a walker and loved the outdoors but have never done much real hiking. Then this fall my daughter Heather loaned me a book she'd been given, It's Always Up - Memories of the Appalachian Trail by the Mountain Marching Mamas. The MMM are a group of older women who have long gotten together to hike for a week or two every year. In bits and pieces they ended up hiking the entire AT.

As dumb as it sounds, it had never occurred to me that I could hike the Trail a little at a time and not necessarily in sequence. WOW!

Years ago my daughter Hannah had given me a a guide to the Maine section of the AT complete with seven detailed topographic and profile maps and every other bit of helpful information I'd need to start this adventure. This all seems... fated.

Ahhh, but the challenge... I'm in my mid 60's, somewhat overweight, and somewhat limited in endurance. Time to start training! A minimum of 30 minutes a day on the treadmill with increasing incline, hand-weight work three days a week and yoga two days a week. Then more snowshoeing, XC skiing and just plain winter hiking. I think I can, I think I can.

I'm seven weeks into this program and feel good about the progress. Using the treadmill's not a big deal, and I'm up to using a set of 6, 7, and 8 pound weights for that work. I'm planning to get up to using 8, 10, and 12 pounders and then increasing the repetitions more. Yesterday Bert and I snowshoed for a little over an hour and a half. PHEW!

And so, in the spring I'll start with more serious day hikes, then overnights before I start on the AT itself. I've got to get used to carrying a fairly weighty backpack something I've never done before.

The last piece of this whole undertaking is by far the most important part. Because I don't plan to hike alone, family and friends will join me for various pieces of this "walk in the woods." Bert will be my most constant trail companion of course, but I'm way wicked excited to share this adventure and challenge with so many other favorite folks.

And so, no New Year's resolutions, but maybe just maybe, I'll end up losing weight, getting in shape, absorbing great beauty and finding real peace anyway!

Non-Food Gifts

From Your

Christmas Kitchen

I really thought I'd get back to you before now... but then, it IS the holiday season! Aside from all the goodies that may come from your kitchen at this time of the year, there are many non-food gifts that you can make too. Let's start with a few kitchen cosmetics that you can make.

The base ingredients used in so, so many of today's high-end HABAs have been around for years, are readily available, and generally are very inexpensive. Take bath salts for example. Usually based on Epsom salts that you can buy very inexpensively at any drugstore or Wal-Mart, fancy bath additives can be made elegant, therapeutic or even just fun at very little cost.

A wonderful basic "recipe" calls for ingredients you're bound to have on hand. You can use the cologne called for or a drop or two of any essential oil you'd like. Essential oils which are, well, really essential, for making soaps and so many other beauty preparations, are available at natural food stores (for your best selection) and often also at drugstores, or even some grocery stores.

Refreshing Salt-Starch-Salt Bath Soother

1/2 c Epsom salts

1/2 c cornstarch (remember this has always been used as a soothing baby powder)

1/4 c table salt

few drops scent

This is enough for one bath. To use, sprinkle under running bath water, swirling to dissolve and spread, or mix well and put in jar or bottle, label with directions for use.

NOW, to make really special gifts, make a large batch of the base salts and starch, then add different scents to each of a half dozen jars. For example, a whiff of pepperment can be quite invigorating while a few drops of rosemary, lavendar, or rose oils will yield a totally different product.

While this is a good start, for a really excellent aromatherapy bath salts recipe, visit the Annisquam Herb Farm at

http://annisquamherbfarm.blogspot/2008/09/aromatherapy-bath-salts.html

This is a site worth bookmarking as Suzanne always has interesting info...check out her recent ginger cookie recipe too!

For an old-fashioned skin softener and mositurizer, you can't beat rosewater and glycerine.

This has been around for generations and still works very, very well. I'm going to give you two recipes either of which is lovely.

Rosewater and Glycerine Skin Care

1 c rosewater
6 TBSP glycerine

3 Tbsp witch hazel

OR

1/2 c rosewater
1/2 c glycerine

1/4 tsp borax

Mix and bottle in fancy containers. The rosewater is usually available at drug and healthfood stores, but if you can't find it, just add a few drops of rose oil to distilled water.

Another of my easy favorites is a bubbling bath oil made with the least expensive baby oil and baby shampoo you can find. Little kids love to make this for their friends, especially using some of the neon food coloring and maybe some bubblegum scent!

Bubbling Bath Oil

1/2 c liquid baby shampoo

2 TBSP baby oil

Mix, scent or color as you'd like. Add 2 Tbsp to running bath water. To give, put in an old shampoo or squeeze bottle and label including use directions.

Wow, I was going to include so many more recipes here, but time is getting so short. I'll come back to this general idea again, and since I absoluely love fancy soapmaking, I'll plan to do a series on that next year too.

I'll see you next year when we'll start 2009 with some birdseed cake recipes.

I wish you, each and all, a very peaceful holiday season and a New Year full of promise.

Mary

Gifts from Your


Christmas Kitchen



Christmas cooking often tends toward candy, cookies and other sugary treats. Like many of you, that is so NOT what I need, but also like many of you, if someone gives me, say, some peanut butter cookies, the kind with the chocolate kiss in the middle, I WILL eat every single one of them!

So I've been thinking about what a tough economy we're in and how much more practical gifts from our kitchens may be appreciated. Every year we are gifted with a batch of homemade granola, and I really look forward to it.


A few years ago the layered mixes-in-a-jar were popular. Why not put together all the dry ingredients for a multi-bean soup, layering a varieties of beans, some dried tomatoes, dried onion, garlic, parsley and other seasonings. Check the international aisle in your grocery for the best selection of dried beans, lentils, peas, etc. And don't forget to attach cooking directions.



You can easily make fancy rice mixes too, varying the seasonings and other add-ons. Maybe a lemon-dill-pepper rice, or a curry rice with dried apple bits. Use your imagination, check your own cookbooks or those at your local library and look for recipes on the internet.

Homemade mixes for hot chocolate or Russian tea are always welcome, and the following three recipes (from The Frugal Family Kitchen Book) for the pricey international-type coffees are inexpensive to make and definitely delicious.




On any of these, if you just mix the ingredients and don't process in a blender or food processor, the ingredients will separate.

Cinnamon "Vienna" Coffee Mix

1/2 c instant coffee
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 c powdered creamer (you can use powdered milk, but it's not as good)

Mix all together in a blender or food processor until powdery. Use 2 heaping tsp per cup.

Orange Coffee Mix

1/2 c instant coffee
3/4 c sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp dried orange peel
1 c powdered creamer (or powdered milk)

Mix all together in a blender or food processor until powdery. Use 2 heaping tsp per cup.

Mocha Coffee Mix

1/2 c instant coffee
1/2 c sugar
2 TBSP cocoa (powder, not mix)
1 c powdered creamer (or powdered milk)

Mix all together in a blender or food processor until powdery. Use 2 heaping tsp per cup.


The chocolate mug cake recipe I gave here a few posts ago also gifts well. Put all dry ingredients together in a small plastic baggie, put in a coffee mug, tie directions to handle and voila!

To get you thinking in yet another direction, consider this recipe from w-a-y back. Copper Coins, sometimes called Copper Pennies in really old cookbooks, look nice, are cheap, quick, and easy to put together, and made a great snack, or side dish with just about any meal.

Copper Pennies

2 lbs carrots, peeled, sliced thin, and cooked until just tender-crisp
1 medium green pepper, diced
3 medium onions, sliced and separated into rings
1 can tomato soup
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c vinegar
1/2 c salad oil
1 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Combine soup, sugar, vinegar, oil, mustard and Wrcestershire in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Layer carrots, pepper pieces and onion slices in a bottle or canning jar, cover with boiling marinade, cool and refrigerate for 12 hours before sampling. Keeps well in the refrigerator for a long time. I've experimented with hot pepper in this as well as horseradish and even put in some artichoke hearts one time...all good.


In a few days I'll post some more recipes for gifts you can make in your kitchen...yes, a few goodies AND some kitchen cosmetics!

Easy does it

You don't have to kill yourself or spend a ton of cash decorating for the holidays. There's plenty of 'wow' where festive and frugal meet – now here's how.

For complete article from the Portand Press Herald by Ray Routhier, Staff Writer

Featured in Today's Charlotte Woman

Grocery Change by Monigue Brown McKenzie

Keeping your food bill under control during the holidays

• Your shopping list, store brands, budget-friendly entertaining and more
• Pages 52-53

Stocking Stuffers -

Thoughtful and Thrifty!



Do you do stockings at your house for Christmas? For many of us, this is the best part of Christmas, but as any stocking stuffer Santa knows, the cost of all those little gifts can really add up.

First, make lists and buy a few things each week. The following list should give you some good ideas to start with, AND we hope you'll share your suggestions too!

The size of stocking stuffers. For this list, I considered a stocking present to be no more than the size of my fist, or anything that can reasonably be packed down to that size, such a t-shirt. I've included items such as rolled-up activity books too. Well over half the items on this list can be bought for under $2.00

Where I shopped. Because I go nuts when I see a list and then can't find the suggested items anywhere, fully 95% of the items on this list are available at Wal-Mart, a good Dollar Store, plus many are available through http://www.amazon.com/ where free holiday shipping may be offered. Dollar Stores vary greatly (some are now $1.50 Stores!), but I've found Dollar Tree to be consistently well-stocked, clean, and every item truly is $1.00. And many now accept credit cards.

I did no on-line or mail-order shopping (except to check item availability at Amazon) , although one catalog source I would unhesitatingly recommend to you is Dover Publishing http://www.doverpublications.com/ They offer hundreds of very inexpensive gift possibilities... kids' activity (sticker, stencil, coloring) books, blank and design books, and a huge array of kids' and adult classics, all well under $5. Your local bookstore may carry some of their products too.

There are no sports- or hobby-specific ideas because I know that if you have a golfer or a woodworker, a quilter or gourmet cook to buy for, you've already got plenty of ideas!

All-time favorites include fruit and nuts, playing cards, lip balm, and slinkies. Please don't forget that stockings are not just for kids...I know a very dignified older man who allowed his three granddaughters to paint his toenails bright coral this summer. He will be getting a bottle of purple glitter polish in his stocking!

These are in no order so you won't skip a section!

book marks - a reader can never have too many
sports whistle
bandannas (dog and cat paw prints available)
window scraper/small snow brush
batteries
shoe polish/cloth/brush
dice (plain and fancy)
magnetic letters
rain poncho
loofah sponge
handcuffs
safety pins/button assortment
eyeglass repair kit
shoelaces (practical or wild)
pens, pencils, mechanical pencils
markers, crayons
note pads
corn-on-the-cob picks

Money is great as a stocking present. For example, carefully split a whole walnut, remove inside, insert quarter and glue back together. Or, put some real dollar coins in one of those little bags of foil-wrapped chocolate coins. I also buy the sheets of uncut dollar bills to use as wrapping paper.

refrigerator magnets (a favorite: I used to run with the wolves, now I nap with the cats)
fingernail clippers, emery boards, polish
hair fasteners and decorations, hairbands, glitter spray
Christmas ornament
sewing kit (a must for office wardrobe repairs)
silly putty, silly string
travel/sample sizes of cosmetics, health and beauty aids
seed packets (spring will come again!)
sunprint paper
puzzle, dot-to-dot, crossword, sudoku, coloring books
bubble bath
pencil sharpener
lottery tickets

Gift certificates for only $5 may seem silly, but I treasure my Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds's ones in "emergencies." Cards from local drugstores or grocery stores may be appreciated by a college student. Bus and subway cards can come in handy too.

art supplies, paints, stencils, foam shapes, glitter glue
keychains (with lights, safety whistles or compass)
wind-up toys
small hand tools
breath mints, gum
hair brushes, combs
energy bars
worry dolls
spinner tops, especially the popping kind
tissues
tweezers
card game such as Uno, Skip-bo
cribbage board
bouncy balls

Homemade gift certificates for everything from homemade bread, to sidewalk shoveling, from dogwalks to back rubs, from the mundane to the salacious are quick and easy to make. Great for last-minute.

yarn and knitting needles
Hot Wheels cars
kitchen tools, gadgets, special foods
candles, of all kinds, sizes, shapes
hats, gloves, ear muffs
metallic pipe cleaners
nylons, tights, leggings
scissors, sewing, fancy-edged or special purpose ones
ruler, compass, protractor
jewelry cleaner

marbles (I get gorgeous ones at a local art museum)
bike horn, bike bell, streamers
self-laminating pockets
magnetic picture frames (great for the refrigerator)
florescent stars

Pass-It-On presents can be sentimental or silly, but they're often very special. I've passed on my antique thimbles to my quilting daughters and some jewelry pieces to both my daughters and son. My husband gave up his very favorite, never-fail fishing lure for my stocking one year, and I've also passed on baby silver to expectant parents... so many thoughful possibilities!

extension cord
colored flame sticks or crystals (for the fireplace,firepit, or bonfire)
flashlight
padlock
handwarmers
mini-dustpan and brush
birdseed, 'seed blocks, bells
bulbs, for winter-forcing or spring planting
nite-light (not just for kids, think safety)
first-aid kit
fire starters
picture hangers and wire
duct tape in classic black, clear, or colors!
timer

Fruits, nuts, candy are the staples of stocking stuffing. An orange in the toe, a candy cane hanging off the top. But there's so much more. The year my kids first read the entire Narnia series of books, I made Turkish Delight and put a small tin in each of their stockings. Recipe at
http://frugalfamilykitchen.com/recipes/turkish_delight.html

magnifying glass
hand sanitizer
bath poufs
soaps, creams, health and beauty products
mini- photo album
snippet (how did we ever open potato chip bags without one?)
battery operated toothbrush, floss, toothpicks
bath pillow
confetti
sparklers (legal ones! Morning Glories are awesome!)

Beyond stockings... You could make up themed boxes or baskets using any combination of these possibilities and still keep that gift very reasonably priced. This is going to be a lean holiday season in many households, but frugal can be fun! Start now!