Meatless Monday: Homemade Vegetable Broth

I few months ago, I decided to try to make my own vegetable broth. I looked up a few how-tos online. It seemed simple enough, and it was! I can honestly say homemade broth is a lot tastier than the boxed stuff. While broth isn't very expensive, it still saves money to make your own, and you can feel good about using your scraps. I've made my own broth about half a dozen times this winter. Here's what you do:

First, keep a large piece of tupperware in your freezer. I have a one-gallon size. Whenever you chop or peel vegetables, throw your scraps into it. You can add onion peels, celery leaves, whatever! I've even added some freezer-burned peas and canned corn leftover from corn bread. If any of my vegetables start to get a little old in the fidge, I'll just roughly chop them and add them to my collection in the freezer. I've even added some canned tomato paste (I always have some leftover when recipes call for 1 Tbsp of tomato paste or whatever). Here is a picture of one of mine before making it into broth:

Once my tupperware is full (this might take a month), I put everything into a large pot and fill it with water, like so:

I bring it to a full boil, and then I reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 3-4 hours. At that time, I add some salt and garlic powder for extra flavor.

When that's done, I pour the liquid into a bowl through a strainer. All those vegetable pieces get discarded, but at least they got one more use before hitting the landfill (they'd also be great for composting, if you either do your own composting or live in a city where they collect compost for you).

Here's my broth! If I'm going to use it within the next couple days, I just pop it in the fridge. If I'm not sure when I'm going to use it, I put it in the freezer until I need it.

All of the dishes I make with broth (like penne primavera) taste so much better with the homemade stuff. Plus (maybe it's just me), I get satisfaction out of making things myself. This takes very little effort, but it does take some time.

Church "Garage Sale" in Arvada

A former coworker of mine posted a bulletin on Facebook about her church's "garage sale." She said the Arvada Church of Christ on Simms would be selling clothes 0-18 months for 25 cents each and clothes 2T through size 12 for 50 cents each. Jeans are $1. The sale is running today and tomorrow from 8am to 4pm. With prices like that, I had to check it out!

The clothes ranged from like-new to pretty worn. A spotted an occasional item that was dirty (I'm not sure if that was the condition the church go them in, or if shoppers were just careless). At first glance, I was a little disappointed. Once I started digging through the clothes, I got excited. We ended up spending exactly $4, and check out the loot!

For Oliver, I picked out four shirts in size 4T. They will be good for him this fall and winter. I didn't see any pants I liked, but I spotted those cute, plaid shorts for him. They might not fit until next summer, but I don't mind storing them. I mean, for 50 cents, how could I pass it up? I spent $2.50 on these five items for Oliver:

I spent $1.50 on clothes for Jo. Check out this cute little yellow outfit (25 cents!):

Here are a couple of simple summer tops and a little sun suit. These should fit Jo all summer:

I found a sun dress and a long-sleeved dress for chilly spring and fall days this year:

They are also letting kids pick out 1 toy for free, while supplies last. Oliver chose this really cute, red vacuum. It fell over in the car ride home, and the handle snapped. Andrew's going to superglue it when he gets home. Then, Oliver and I will vacuum upstairs!

Can you believe I got all that for $4? If you're in the Denver area and looking for a bargain to stock up on kid's clothes, be sure to check it out! Everything was hit-or-miss, but for 25 to 50 cents a pop, it's worth digging around. They also were selling bassinets that appeared to be in really good condition for $5.

A Penny Saved...

My job is taking nurturing my baby and taking care of the house as best I can. It doesn't pay, but I make a difference in our budget every month by saving money. I cut corners as much as I can. Here are a few more tips for me to share:

*Cut your sponges
Sponges get really nasty, so I change mine out every week. I save a lot of money by buying them in bulk at Costco (they come in packs of 18). Then, I cut each of those into thirds, so I end up with 54 sponges. That's enough for a year (plus)! The sponge still fits completely in my hand, and it's no hassle. Really, I'm just wasting less and making them last a lot longer.

*Turn off the heat & the lights
The heating bill is so expensive! We paid $110 to Xcel last month for heat and electricity. That's a lot of money, even though we cut as much as we can. As soon as I get downstairs in the morning, I turn off the heat. The heat stays off all day, and so we bundle up if it's chilly. We're moving around so much that it's really not a problem. Of course, in the middle of winter, we put it at a minimum (62 degrees during the day), but we turn that down to 55 if we're leaving our house for most of the day or if we're going out of town. At night, I turn it up to 67 so Oliver (OK, and us) can sleep well and comfortably. During the day, I also keep the lights off almost all the time. Sometimes it's a little dim, but why is that a problem?

*Open the oven
This kind of ties into the last point. After we turn off our oven from cooking, we crack the oven door. This way, the heat from the oven goes into our home and not into the walls and out into the neighbor's house (we live in a townhome) or outside. Also, if I'm going to use the oven to, say, make dinner, I'll also take that opportunity to bale anything I might need for Oliver's baby food (like a squash). This way, the oven only needs to heat up once.

*No cable
I might have written about this before, but I don't think there's a need to have cable if you have good internet access, as almost every show is available on its network's website or on hulu. We recently cancelled our Netflix subscription as well to save that $9/month.

*Use the library
I love our library! The only problem I have with the library is that ours is about 3 miles away, so we have to drive. Still, I don't see the sense in buying a book when I can just check it out at the library. Besides, it gets me out of the house! Also (and this ties into my last point), you can check out movies at the library. So, if you need help with your budget, I recommend cancelling your Netflix or stop going to Blockbuster and start going to the library.

*Redefine what's fun
Andrew and I can't afford to go out much anymore. When he meets up with his friends, it's to hike. My mother-in-law gave me a pass to the Denver Botanic Gardens, so I try to head there with Oliver when I want to get out of the house. They often have free and discounted activities for members, too. I'm looking forward to their movies at the gardens this summer. I also keep my eyes peeled for deals and discounts. For example, Baskin Robbins has 31 cent ice cream cones tomorrow. This will be a very nice, fun, and cheap family outing for us! I've been looking forward to it for weeks, and, really, would going out anywhere else be more fun? Nope. Finally, last week, Andrew and I tried pub trivia with our friends for the first time. It's completely free, and it's a blast! We even won a $15 gift card to the pub for next time.

Do you have any tips on how you save money for your family every month? I'd love to hear them.

Cheap Dinner Idea

Andrew and I had bought some boxed pasta salad when it was on sale. Today, to use it and some leftovers, I decided to make it into a full dinner. I added some chopped hard-boiled eggs, some leftover green onions, and a leftover tomato. Once it's done, I'll top it with some leftover parmesan cheese. We'll get some fresh veggies and some protein, and it's super cheap! Less than $3 for a meal for two :D

Pinching Pennies

A large part of being a stay home mom (for us, anyway) is learning to save money in as many ways as possible. One of the biggest ways we've done that since having Oliver is rarely going out to eat. We went out to eat last weekend as a treat from Colleen; it was a thank you to Andrew for assembling her toilet (she just redid her bathroom). Before that, I seriously can't remember the last time we went out to eat. Wait, yes I can. It was for 5280, when we met up with friends and spent way too much money (but had a great time) at an Italian restaurant downtown.

At home, cooking, I've been learning to save money, too. Whenever there's a big sale item, I stock up on a lot of it. Last week, for example, there was a big sale on cheese at Safeway (and not because it was going to expire, either). Bags of cheese are normally about $3.50 a pop. They had bags of cheese for $1.49 if you bought at least four. So I did. Whenever there are frozen lunch meals on sale, I buy a bunch of those. That way, even if we're in a hurry in the morning, Andrew has a lunch to take with him to work.

Before, when we had a little extra money, I'd follow recipes exactly, even if that meant going to the store to buy a few extra ingredients. Now, I play with recipes. I use dried herbs instead of fresh. I'll chop the tomatoes I have in the fridge instead of buying a new can (even though canned tomatoes aren't that expensive, it still saves to not go out and buy more!). If I have regular onion in the fridge, I'll use that instead of green (or vise versa). It doesn't matter what kind of cheese a recipe calls for; I use what I have.

I've also been working very hard at not wasting food. Before, I might have half of an avocado left from a recipe. It'd sit in the fridge, unused, until it went bad. Now, I search for recipes by ingredients online. Last night, for example, I made soup because I had an extra bunch of kale in the fridge. The soup recipe I found called for tomatoes and onions and kale, which I had in the fridge. Also, it was mostly water based. To use the kale, I just had to go to the store and buy a can of beans and some vegetable boullion. The soup was good for dinner last night, lunch today, and lunch tomorrow. Each time I do this, I probably save about a dollar or so by not throwing out an item. It adds up, and I feel much better about not throwing out any food, too.

Last week, Andrew and I had date night at home. I spent a little extra and bought stuff to make a nice torte for dessert. Today, I'm meeting up with a friend for tea. I decided to bake a treat here to bring with me rather than spending a couple dollars on a single cookie (Yes, I'll be spending a couople of dollars on tea, which you can easily argue is expensive. However, I say spending $2 on an evening out with a friend is relatively cheap). A quick survey of my pantry showed me that I had flour, sugar and cocoa. I also decided to use up the extra semi-sweet baking chocolate I'd purchased for the torte. I found a recipe for brownies at allrecipes.com, and I halved it because I only had two eggs instead of four. It's OK if it doesn't turn out perfect. I chopped the semi-sweet chocolate and used that instead of chocolate chips. And, you know what? It smells wonderful. Once they're cool, I'll cut them and package them for lunch treats, and I'll take one with me tonight to enjoy with my tea.

I'll be sure to update my blog on occassion to include the various ways we work to save our money. I might not be able to stay home with Oliver forever, but the more I penny pinch, the longer I can be here with the little man. Besides, I've come to enjoy penny pinching. I see it as a challenge.