Getting Started

I have been thinking about this blog for a while. I want to share how my family has saved money on our food bill without sacrificing tasty meals. We use "The Pantry Principle" that a lot of other frugal cooks use, that is buying items we use all the time in bulk when they are on sale. So, while our shopping cart for a particular week may not constitute a varied diet, that combined with what we already have in the pantry does. Also, I use items that are easy to come by, even if you have to do your grocery shopping at non-traditional places, like Wal-Mart, Dollar General and the like.

However, translating this to a blog is a little problematic. We have been shopping/eating this way for 20 years, so how do I tell others how to start? So, I decided to take a different approach, that is by giving some "rules to eat by", and then listing the pantry items that coincide.

So, here goes. Rule 1 is BRING YOUR LUNCH TO WORK.
This is the fastest way to immediately impact your budget. Even if you are eating lunch at an el cheapo place or have a cafeteria at your workplace, it is still almost always going to be cheaper and healthier to bring your lunch from home.


My husband likes to take leftovers for his lunch. He works for a small retail store with only a few employees. There is a small break room with a microwave and refrigerator, so over the years we have collected some containers that will go from the fridge to the microwave. Whenever I cook dinner, I make enough to have some leftovers, so he is a happy camper.

My workplace, on the other hand, is a bookstore on a college campus. We have about 50 employees including our student workers, so even though we have a break room, there is usually a line at the microwave. Besides, I like to go someplace quiet for an hour, and just chill before the next onslaught.  I usually have a sandwich, something crunchy, fruit and something sweet. I'll talk about sandwich fillings in a later post. Fruit is usually bagged apples or oranges, which go on sale here pretty frequently, and average a little over a dollar a pound. Because pre-bagged fruit is usually smaller than the pieces that you pick yourself, there are about 8 -10 pieces in a bag. The crunchy is carrot or celery sticks, or a few nuts. We drink water at lunch. My dessert is something homemade.

I recently decided to make rice crispy squares. I had found rice crispies on sale for 72 cents a box-they are apparently changing the box design, so the old boxes were marked down. Store brand marshmallows are a dollar-a-bag, and the only other ingredient is a few tablespoons of butter or margarine. So I was set.

I went to measure out my rice crispies, and then, "Oh Horrors!". Someone had eaten half the box of rice crispies! But all was not lost! I had just gotten a bunch of cereal samples in the mail, so voila! Mixed cereal squares! That's the essence of frugality, making do with what you have.

Pantry Items for lunches:

Bagged Fruit like apples or oranges, or fruit that is on sale-no more than $1.00 per pound
Bagged Carrots and Celery-stock up

Pantry Items for this recipe:

Cereal

Marshmallows

Butter or Margarine




Rice Crispy (or whatever you have) cereal squares
makes 24  squares

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 - 10oz package marshmallows
• 5-6 cups cereal

Melt margarine in large sauce pan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until melted and well-blended. Remove from heat. 

Add cereal. Stir until well coated. 

Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly and firmly in buttered 13 x 9 inch pan. Cut into 24 squares when cool.