Being a stay at home mom means that we have a much more limited income than the average American family. I have learned to live on less, never use credit cards (we don't even have one), and buy everything in cash. Needless to say I have turned frugality into a fine art to stretch those limited dollars.
One way is to never throw out food that could be used in some way, the bones from chickens and beef to make broth, drying stale bread for bread crumbs, etc.
My favorite recycle idea for something that would be thrown out is to make fruit syrup for pancakes out of the syrup leftover from my canned fruits. Instead of paying up to $5.00 for expensive premium fruit syrups that are probably made from cheap ingredients I have a free source of cherry, plum, and peach syrup for our breakfasts and ice cream. I don't do this with store bought fruit because they use high fructose corn syrup for the sugar and I avoid that stuff like the plague. But since I can almost all of our fruit I don't need to really worry about that. I always make my fruit in a heavy syrup because I plan to make syrup from it after the fruit is used up. Preplanning pays off!
First save your canned fruit juice leftovers
When you have a few jars saved up pour into a large saucepan and bring to a boil
Boil or simmer until reduced by half or until desired thickness. If you have a very light syrup or just fruit juice you should add a couple of cups of sugar and also a tablespoon of corn starch to aid the thickening. Be careful not to let it scorch.
When thickened pour into clean jars and refrigerate
Great on pancakes, waffles, french toast, and ice cream
What a great idea! I will use that one. I too have stretched a dollar until it pops and I always have to laugh at the magazine articles that say "50 ways to stretch your budget" because they hardly even scratch the surface of how you can save. But then, I don't live a conventional life either. I was barely getting used to the looks I got when someone found out I didn't own a microwave, now I have to contend with the disbelief that I don't have a cell phone, lol.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea!! My mother in law also used the juice from canned pineapple rings (she likes to dehydrate them for healthy snacks and trail mix) to make a jelly.
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