Mr. Chiots and I are savers. We hate to spend money, especially on things that can be avoided, like eating out. Restaurant food is expensive and often unhealthy. It’s much cheaper and healthier to prepare food at home. Once you start eating healthful homemade food, often you find that you don’t really like restaurant food either. When you live in a rural area, often running errands takes more than a few minutes. It can take a few hours, especially if you combine a bunch of errands to make good use of the trip. We like to be prepared when we run errands so that we don't end up having to eat out if we get delayed. That being said, there are times when it can’t be avoided or times when you want to eat out. We do eat out on occasion and try to choose restaurants that serve healthy food. We have a set monthly budget for eating out, and if we do not spend it we transfer it to our vacation fund (which is also a deterrent to eating out, I’d prefer a weekend away to meals out).

The main way we manage save money in this area, is by being prepared. We always carry water with us (in stainless steel water bottles), this helps us avoid the need to buy drinks if we get thirsty (and we can refill at a drinking fountain). We also carry apples with us wherever we go. Apples are the perfect portable snack, they’re filling and you can eat them anywhere. We carry nuts and dried fruit as well and other quick snack foods that are high in protein and nutrition. Often a handful or two of nuts and an apple will keep you full until you can get home to eat a proper meal.

How do you find time to make a snack bag every time you go somewhere? I keep a bag with snacks in it by the back door. We simply grab the bag on our way out. We always carry snacks even if we only plan to be gone for an hour or two. It’s amazing how often you get behind or things don’t go as planned and you end up being out longer than anticipated. If we are planning on being gone during a meal time I will often pack sandwiches and more substantial snacks.

Another way we avoid eating out is by having quick meals ready to go at home. I always know that I have a few quick meal options that can be on the table within 15-20 minutes after arriving home. One of our favorite quick meals is homecanned tomato soup. Eggs also make the perfect quick meal, you can prepare them in all kinds of ways that are perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I often have soup or lasagna in the freezer and if I plan ahead I can thaw some out to be ready on short order when I know I'm going to be arriving home close to lunch or dinner time.

Despite our best efforts, we occasionally find ourselves out and about without snacks and starving. What do we do then? Sometimes we just eat out and enjoy it, we have money budgeted for this purpose. Sometimes we buy a small snack and then eat a meal when we get home. Sometimes we go to a grocery store and buy apples, bananas, or nuts for a healthy snack that’s much cheaper than eating out. By doing this we save a lot of money and we eat more healthfully.

What strategies do you have for saving money on eating out?

I can also be found over at Chiot's Run where I blog about organic gardening, local eating, and other weird stuff we do like sugaring maples and keeping bees. I can also be found at Not Dabbling in Normal.

Dried beans. 

I can't say enough good things about them.

You can stretch a dollar and your food budget with dried beans and peas.

A pound bag cost around $1.00 around here. More or less.

Dried beans are also an excellent source of protein and fiber, low in fat and sodium and contain no cholesterol or sugar. Most beans, especially blackeyes, contain high levels of folate, the B vitamin that can help prevent certain birth defects and heart diseases.

Over the years I have stretched a many a meal with dried beans. I usually cook the dried beans one day to have with a meal.

And then I use the left over beans for soup the next day or so. These are navy beans.

Pinto and kidney beans I use for chili. I have used the northern or navy beans also in chili.

Always check the beans for any small stones that may be in with the beans. I have found stones in with dried beans before.  Always rinse the beans good before cooking.

To cook dried beans: I put half a regular size bag of beans (if your family is large use a whole bag) in a saucepan.  Fill above the beans 3 or 4 inches with water and bring to a boil.  Boil for a minute or 2 and turn the heat off. Let the beans soak for an hour or 2. You can even soak overnight without boiling.

Pour that water off they are soaking in. That water has the gas power in it. (You know, bean gas.)

Refill the pan with water covering 3 or 4 inches because the beans will swell when cooking.

I season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

You can also use bouillon cubes or meat to season the beans.

When I boil a chicken or cook a beef roast I save the broth and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then I use the cubes for seasoning beans and soups.

Bring the beans to a boil then turn the burner down to low or warm and simmer.

Black eyed peas you will only need to cook 30-45 minutes. Pinto, Great Northern, Kidney, Navy beans will need to simmer 1-2 hours until tender.

Refrigerate the leftover beans. I think the beans are always better the 2nd day. The seasonings and flavor mingle over night.

The you can get creative and make soups.

One soup we like is Navy bean and ham. Over the years I have adjusted what we like in it, and you can do the same. Just add or substitute vegetables and ingredients your family likes.

Navy Bean and Ham Soup

1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked navy beans
5 cups of water
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 cup of diced tomatoes (or 1 16-ounce can of diced tomatoes with or without the liquid)
chicken bouillon cube
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 tsp thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp pepper
2 bay leaves
1 clove garlic minced
6 ounces of cooked ham, about 1 cup (I use left over ham from the night before)
1 and 1/2 cup shredded fresh spinach or cabbage
(I also add some sliced bell pepper.)

On the seasonings, just add what you have or like. Sometimes I just add a dash of Italian seasoning instead of the other spices. The idea is to save money and use what you have.

Add beans, water, carrots, onions, celery, bouillon cube,basil, thyme, pepper, bay leaves, and garlic. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer covered for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Stir in ham, tomatoes, spinach or cabbage. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more.

Discard bay leaves.

If you don't eat meat or care for ham you can just leave it out. It is still a good vegetable soup without the meat. With the dried beans it will still has a lot of protein. Or you can add other meat like chicken if that is your left overs on hand.

This is great with fresh baked corn bread!

Does your family eat dried beans? What is your favorite recipes using them?

Have a great day!

Every day we’re bombarded by advertising on TV and radio, in catalogs and magazines, in our mailboxes. Having grown up in our throw-away quick-fix modern society, I constantly struggle to fend off these entreaties to buy new gadgets and spend money on all kinds of things I don’t need. But I also come from a family and am married to a guy who knows how to fix old stuff and build new stuff from scratch. So, though I’m sometimes lured into the thrill of buying new, I’m getting better at purchasing wisely and making do with what we already have. Here are a few ways creative thinking has saved us money.

Plastic Bag Dryer

I use a lot of Ziplock bags, most of which stay fairly clean. I rinse them and have been laying them atop the stack of clean hand-washed pots, pans and delicate stemware in the dish drainer, but inevitably the corners get squashed and don’t fully dry, or they get splattered being so near the sink. Flipping through catalogs, I’ve eyed those bag dryers with the nice ash or birch sticks poking up from an attractive base, but just can’t bring myself to spend upwards of $20 on one. So I decided to make one. I dug through my box of extra jars and found a tall plastic container with a lid, through which I pierced holes with a small nail. I filled the inside with rocks to stabilize it, then gently stabbed a wooden cooking skewer through each hole. I covered the whole shebang with wrapping paper to pretty it up, and voila!

Clothes Pins as Bag Clips

Those large plastic bag clips are overpriced and unnecessary. We use clothespins for open bags of cereal, frozen veggies, pasta, etc.

Cat Trees and Toys

Have you shopped for a cat tree lately? Highway robbery! Though I’m willing to spend whatever it takes to keep my pets healthy, I’m a cheapskate when it comes to buying their happiness. Shortly after I got two kitties from the pound last year, I visited several pet stores looking for a tallish carpeted cat tree so they could spend the winter spying on critters outside and gazing contentedly down upon their humans and dogs below. Every “tree” I sampled either cost hundreds of dollars, or was cloaked in hideous purple shag carpet, or wobbled. Sometimes all of the above. What to do?

“Could you make one?” I asked my husband, who has lots of tools.

He’s a smart man, and knows that a happy wife equals a happy life, so after only a week or two of hemming and hawing, he cut a large old willow out front, and set to work peeling the bark, drying the trunk, measuring and cutting and nailing shelves. “They better use it,” he said. We joked that it would make a really nice plant stand if they didn’t. Turns out they love it. When they feel like it. That’s how cats are.

As for cat toys, I admit I do buy the bag of 10 rabbit-furred fake mice, but beyond that they get cardboard playhouses constructed on a dull winter’s eve, crinkly tissue paper, and shoelaces.

Corn Bag Helps Keep Thermostat Down

I remember as a child sometimes taking a hot water bottle to bed with me (does anyone use those anymore?). Now I use a corn bag that we acquired as a gift. This year, especially, we’re more conscious than ever of reducing our costs, and rather than have “heat wars” (I’m too cold, he’s too hot – typical couple), we keep the thermostats turned down a bit more than we used to, and I crawl into bed each night with my microwaved corn bag. Within minutes, my whole body is toasty. Two hours later, heat still radiates from the bag.

So, how do you save money through creative alternatives?