Waste Not: Cheese, Parmesan Rinds

By popular demand (two comments), I will soon post occasionally on ways to use dried bread. Right now, though, I feel the urge to inform (or remind, if you already knew this) that dried CHEESE is also a treasure.

I'm not talking about soft cheese covered with pink mold. I hope you never let your cheese get like that. I'm talking about dried out hard cheese. A little truc that I first learned about from one of Martha Shulman's old cookbooks is to throw parmesan rinds into your soup. Most recommend this for minestrone, where it provides an obviously compatible enrichment.

This is, of course, great with parmesano reggiano (almost as expensive in Italy as here), but it's also good with any block parmesan or its relatives asiago and pecorino. I saw a tub of reggiano ends at Whole Foods a while back: I think it was priced at $8.99/lb, so the secret is out.

You can also use dried up cheddar and the like in any soup where it suits your fancy.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story on winter greens, which had a recipe that used parmesan ends.


Parmesan broth with Swiss chard and white beans


A deeply satisfying soup that can compete with chicken noodle as a winter cure-all.Serves 4 to 6.

Over low heat, steep 8 cups chicken stock with 8 ounces Parmesan rinds for about 45 minutes, until the rinds are soft. Strain the liquid and reserve. // In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, sauté 1 smashed garlic clove in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until garlic just begins to color. Add 1 dried red chili, crumbled; 4 cups loosely packed Swiss chard, stems removed and leaves cut into ribbons; and stir to coat. //Add the warm, strained stock and 2 cups canned cannellini beans and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper and add a teaspoon lemon zest. To serve, ladle soup over a slice of toasted country bread and drizzle with olive oil. —Sara Jenkins of Porsena and Porchetta, New York

Hmmmm. Strange to think of finding recipes in the WSJ. I'd rather read a recipe than the self-aggrandizing essay on the Tiger Mother (how to raise superior children the Chinese mother way) that is THE MOST READ ARTICLE in the history of the on-line WSJ.

Which would you rather read?

Waste Not: Food

Am I late to the party? Not surprising. The party I didn't know about concerns WASTING FOOD. This is not on the micro-level of family tales (there are starving children), but on the macro-level. Here is a piece by Jonathan Bloom on the topic (now we're all in the party).

Wow. So 40% of food produced in the United States is wasted. The author makes the point that, while we all talk about getting energy-efficient cars and so on, we don't talk about--or think about--the energy involved in getting food to us. Not to mention in packaging it.

Interestingly, we were the recipients of food largesse from some friends of Frugal Son: we received a giant bag of crawfish and a big bag of pecans. Both were "free" to those who gave them to us. And then we had "free" food.

Now that I've read the essay, I realize all the ways this most virtuous of food was not really free. Multiply by a zillion times and that's grocery food.

How do you feel about these findings?

I must say that I am feeling even more appreciative of my gifts.

Jonathan Bloom wrote a book!

How to Save 10% of Your Income, Courtesy of Andrew Tobias

Andrew Tobias was the first personal finance writer I ever read. I didn't know there were such things. From that first reading, I learned that buying tuna on sale and storing it in your closet is a form of options trading--only with a guaranteed return. That was the one from of investment I could practice in my graduate student days, since I had to eat anyway.

I once recommended his book on a blog that asked for book recommendations. My suggestion received many scoffing responses--mostly along the lines of "too dated." Well, some is, but most isn't. Plus, he's a good writer.

Near the end of his book, he gives this advice, for if YOU STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. He says "Save 10% of your income and invest for long-term growth."

To the HOW? he responds:

If you have a retirement plan at work. just have 10% of your pay automatically shunted into it. If not, set up an automatic monthly transfer from your checking account to your investment account. There is someone in the world making 10% less than you who is not ragged and homeless. Live like him.

There is someone in the world making 10% less than you who is not ragged and homeless. Live like him.


Is that not brilliant?

OMG. His book is updated! Take that, you scoffers!

I love you, Andrew Tobias.

Snowball Savings with the Tightwad Gazette

Everyone talks about the Debt Snowball, a term invented (?) or at least popularized by Dave Ramsey of Get-Out-Of-Debt-with-Total-Money-Makeover fame. Many of the get-out-of-debt bloggers attribute their success to Ramsey's methods. Like most things involving numbers, the snowball can work in reverse: once you are out of debt, you can begin a savings snowball.

An amusing essay on the Savings Snowball is provided by Amy Dacyczyn in the first of her Tightwad Gazette tomes. I read her books from time to time not so much for inspiration as for comfort. I love the timeless principles of frugality. And I love that with frugality, you can start small.

Amy D. thinks so too. For her snowball essay, she contrasts two families: the profligate Smucksters and the frugal Albrights. Each family has $100 left at the end of the year. The Smucksters go out to dinner, buy a Nintendo, whatever. So they have nothing.

The Albrights put their money into savings or into purchases that yield future savings. First year: $50 to savings, $50 to cloth diapers. Then they start bulk purchasing grocery items on sale. And so on.

As they go, they are buying CDs, more fuel-efficient cars, sewing machine, chain saw, etc. Some of their savings are a little bogus, like using the sewing machine to make handcrafted items that you can sell for $900. Good luck with that idea! Still, the point is a good one.

At the end of year 5, the Smucksters remain at Square One, while the Albrights have amassed $11,000.

I know that everyone urges saving on the big stuff these days (or increasing your income), but I am a believer in the power of little choices. So I guess Amy D. remains my role model. Plus, she's a very good writer.

Amy would tell you to check her book out of the library, by the way. You can also check out Dave Ramsey (but watch out for his assumption that your investments will earn, on average, 12%/year).

Budget Busters: Little Recurring Expenses

Ah, those recurring expenses: cable, cell plan, internet access, health club membership. These are examples of some of the biggies; financial experts always exhort you to negotiate on these or cut them out entirely.

Some are really big. When my in-laws moved from the house in Pasadena with the under $500.00 annual tax bill (thanks to Proposition 13), they incurred a tax bill on their new home about 20 (not a typo) times higher, even though the houses were of equal value. My parents bought a condo in a Florida community with a clubhouse, which now costs my mother about $500.00 a month. Without it, her social life would be non-existent. Both parties would, I am sure, say these monthly expenses were worth it. I guess the moral is: be aware at the outset. My mother said some people left the community and moved elsewhere (Or tried to. Florida condos are not easy to sell) because, with the decline of their investment portfolios, they simply could not afford the club.

Then there are the little recurring expenses. These are ones we barely think about, because they are measured in dollars, not hundreds or thousands. I have an Amazon gift card (a great gift! Thanks to the giver!). I was looking under Grocery and Gourmet items, because they sometimes have decent prices on food, my favorite gift, because it is--literally--consumable. I sorted by Bestsellers, because often the ephemeral bargains show up there: the limited time markdowns.

Guess what most of the top-sellers were in Grocery and Gourmet foods?

. . . . . . PAUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DIAPERS (not food, I know, but they showed up) and COFFEE PODS.

All I have to say is: if I, the least domestic, slacker-type housekeeper on the face of the earth, can use cloth diapers, anyone can. At least you only need them for a few years. When I see the prices, I realize that my children's college funds were jumpstarted by the cloth diapers we used.

As for coffee pods: do these have any redeeming features? You buy one of those coffee makers and are forever locked into a wasteful, expensive, un-green system. And, in my experience, the coffee isn't very good. I read a while back about a GREEN coffee company (organic, fair trade, and so on) that had a crisis about these: they were big money-makers, but the antithesis of green practice. They ended up making the product somewhat less wasteful, but still...I forget how they justified the product.

Have you gotten locked into monthly fees that end up being budget busters?

5.25% Checking Account: Not Buying It

Today I received a tempting email from my credit union: 5.25% checking! That's amazing these days: my Vanguard money market is at .1% (if that); my high-yield savings is at 1.3%; I am considering a 1.9% CD.


With La Cap's All Access Advantage checking account, you have the chance to earn dividends as you make purchases.* With no monthly fees and no minimum balance, it's a great way to make the most of your checking account. It's just our way of showing you that we care about giving you the best rates and services possible.

Open an Account Now

*APY = Annual Percentage Yield. La Cap Checking (Share draft) Accounts are variable rate accounts. La Cap may change the dividend rate for your account as determined by the credit union Board of Directors. Dividends are posted and compounded monthly. No minimum balance required to maintain the account. Applicable fees and conditions could reduce the earnings on your account. Qualifications to earn dividends: - 25 or more non-ATM debit card transactions posted per month: - 5.25% APY on balances up to but not exceeding $5,000 - .15% APY on balances exceeding $5,000. If qualification stated is not met: - .15% APY on entire balance.

Read the fine print. The offer is only for your first $5000.00 and you must make at least 25 non-ATM debit card transactions per month.

Let's do the math. If you have the whole $5000.00, you can get about $262.00. That's nothing to sneeze at.

Let's do the math some more. The earnings total about $5.00 a week. That's much less tempting. I don't have a debit card; I don't buy something 25 days of the month. For $5.00 a week, I can do other things that I enjoy more than keeping track of debit transactions.

I can go to Big Lots and save $5.00 on food. Ditto for looking at the grocery ads and planning my menu around something on sale. I can check 2 movies out of the library. I can hand wash a sweater rather than sending it to the dry cleaner (I do that anyway). You get the idea.

Since I find keeping track of things extremely stressful, I don't use that supposed Holy Grail of frugality: the grocery coupon. I don't know how to sew and am glad that, because of a small fire in the home ec room, I never had to finish my skirt, since I was on my way to getting a bad grade.

There are so many ways to be frugal! Aren't we lucky that we can find ones that suit our temperaments? Which are your favorites?

Frugal Gems: My Foot, My Tutor*

I put out a call a while back for some new-to-me frugality blogs. I was afraid my blogroll was getting kind of unbalanced: all the stylistas are still blogging, but many of the frugalistas (or frugalistos) have ceased, sadly. Thanks to all who came through with suggestions: I will report back soon.

Interestingly, I have discovered frugal gems in other sorts of blogs. Frugality is all around us, it seems.

First up, let's look at Mary of SimplyForties. Mary writes about frugality all the time, in fact, but she somehow fell off my radar. Anyway, in the way of the blogworld, she kindly commented on MY blog, so I took a look at hers.

What a (re)find. There she had a great post on plantar fasciitis , an afflcition that seems to, well, afflict everyone, including women who have never worn high heels or pointy toes. (Not fair.)

Here Mary articulates a basic law of frugality: in her discussion of orthotics, she notes: According to a study done by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine custom orthotics are no more effective than off-the shelf orthotics so you might want to try the $50 Dr. Scholl's variety before investing in pricier models.

Frugal Maxim: Try the low cost version before the high cost. This applies to things besides orthotics. Try the over-the-counter mouthguard ($30) before the custom one your dentist offers to have made for you ($$$$????). Try the low-cost state university before NYU (you can transfer later).

Sometimes, the low cost version isn't satisfactory, but at least you KNOW FOR SURE.

Thank you, Mary. I shall return.

*Do you recognize the quotation: "My foot, my tutor"? Two possible answers.

Frugality 101: Buy the Next One

I think this was my very first frugal practice. I started doing this when I was in graduate school, living on my $300.00 monthly stipend, of which rent took about half. Yes, this was a long time ago, but it was still miserable. My friend in chemistry got more than twice as much. Then, as now, the humanities were not valued very much.

You can do this no matter how poor you are. When you buy something, always buy the next one if it is a good price. In graduate school, I used to buy an extra pound of dried beans, thinking, at least I won't starve to death.

I was reminded of this the other day. I woke up first and went into the kitchen. I was delighted that Mr. FS had set up the coffee for me, putting coffee into our French press and filling the electric kettle. Then I noticed a big crack in the pot.

Never fear: I had a back up French press, picked up at the thrift store for $2.00. Now I will be on the lookout for another one.

Similarly, Hunts Tomato company seems to have overproduced 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes with basil. These are 2/$1.00 at two of my favorite haunts: Big Lots and Dollar Tree. I bought a bunch, and would have gotten more except that I am overstocked on canned tomatoes. Even if you are a starving student, you can buy an extra can or two of tomatoes. Then your next tomato sauce will be cheaper than otherwise and you can either sigh happily or spend the extra $0.50 on a few mushrooms from the bulk section.

If you persevere in this practice, you will have a full pantry, which will save time and money.

Other good candidates: socks for kids and birthday gifts.

What do you stock up on?

Frugality 101: What I'm Wearing and What My Lemon Tree is Wearing

No pics, because I look ridiculous.

It's so cold. This might be expected in Minnesota, but seems totally unfair in the DEEP SOUTH. In truth, we often have cold, damp winters. When we moved into our old house, we heard that the previous owners had just spent a week in a motel because the house was so drafty. So Mr. FS insulated as best he could.

Still, it's a cold house, partly because of our 12 foot ceilings and many windows. Here is my outfit.
Feet: sheepskin-lined fitflops (Found NEW at Goodwill!!).
Bottom: Eileen Fisher long wool skirt. (Also from Goodwill. My daughter says I am NOT allowed to wear long skirts in public. This is working well in private.)
Top: The piece de resistance. Pieces would be more accurate. Regular old tee shirt topped with toasty wool sweater (Brooks Brothers, via Goodwill) topped with great Dale of Norway cardigan (I LOVE these sweaters and figure the Norwegians know about cold winters. Also from Goodwill)topped with a down vest (from Banana Republic, the actual store).

By the way, Frugality 101 involves anticipating your needs. So all the Goodwill items were purchased last summer. There is little competition for the warm and toasty then.

Oh yeah, the tree. The tree is decked out in a mover's blanket, with some kind of light bulb. We picked about a zillion lemons yesterday, which we will share with people when we return to school. Frugal Son made some lemon bars, which he will share with friends.

Another Frugality 101 tip: Be nice to people with lemon trees.

What do you wear when it's cold inside?

Frugality 101: Keep your Eyes Open

This afternoon, Mr. FS and I took our dear daughter to a fried chicken place for a parking lot rendezvous. She met up with a friend for a ride back to college.

Moments before we left, Mr. FS noticed that he had left his cell phone in his cycling gear, which was floating in a bucket awaiting a wash. OOPS!!!

Since the fried chicken place was across the street from Wal-mart, we decided to get a replacement cell phone there. And pick up some tortillas.

I am usually not allowed to go to Wal-mart, since my trips there used to be followed by a lengthy comatose state and depression. No kidding. But we decided to take the chance. Of course, the cheap cell phone we wanted was out of stock. On to the tortillas.

To get to the bread area, we passed through produce. I stopped short: sweet potatoes at 15 cents/pound! I assigned Mr. FS the task of picking out some sweet potatoes. Then, after picking up the tortillas, I remembered another rule of Frugality 101: if one thing is marked down, so is another. Hence we discovered celery, string beans, and broccoli crowns, all for ridiculously low prices.

Total price for two packs of tortillas and assorted vegetables: $5.00. Mostly for the tortillas.

I asked Mr. FS if he would have noticed the sweet potatoes, since he goes to Wal-mart solo, on rare occasions. He said that he didn't bother looking when I was around, since he knew I would notice anything of interest.

So the third rule of Frugality 101: let the experts be experts.

That's the report on my post-Thanksgiving shopping. What could be better than vegetables?

Microsavings

Once again, I am inspired by Funny About Money, who, in a recent post, mentioned that her financial advisor opined that she had a talent for small savings.

I think I have a talent for microsavings. Many bloggers, whatever their take on frugal tips, declare that the big savings are what count: mortgage, insurance, travel, car purchases, and so forth. Elizabeth Warren and Daughter say the same in All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan" Count the Dollars, Not the Pennies.

Of course, I'd rather save dollars than pennies. But it's not always possible: only the microfrugalities have a guaranteed and steady payoff.

On insurance, for instance. I live in a state where some former Insurance Commissioners reside in prison. I have known several people who had insurance from smaller companies that went out of business, leaving them with unpaid medical bills and car insurance claims. Because of this, Mr. FS and I have always bitten the bullet and stayed with national companies. Post-Katrina, we had little trouble.

On travel,too. Yes, we use the on-line sites for deals. Often poor Mr. FS will spend hours on plane fares, only to end up saving $15.00, or worse, watching fares go UP. Sometimes he does quite well, but sometimes it's a waste of time. And it's never guaranteed.

On the auto purchases, yes we got the prices from Consumer Reports and used them well. But you can't do super-well on cars that are in high demand for good reasons. So we are happy with our Camry (1998) and Civic Hybrid (2003), both bought new for good, but not great prices.

But every week, I can save at least 20% on groceries, just by picking up the loss leaders. This amounts to pennies, but week in and out, year in and out, it adds up. I can always save pennies.

The only guaranteed way of saving dollars these days seems to reside in paying off your mortgage. I guess it's a good thing I already did that. I'd love to hear about other strategies.

So, dear Readers, do you think my concept of microsavings works? How do you microsave? And, if you have bigger ways to save, of course, please share.

The Joy of Cookbooks: Book Swap Edition

Now and again, bloggers extol the virtues of bookswap sites. Paperbackswap.com and Bookmooch are probably the most successful. I have participated in both, but now only do Paperbackswap.(My problems and issues with Bookmooch make a sad story, not to be presented here. It's a good site, but not for me.)

With PBS, you list your books. Eventually, someone will request one. You ship it out and get a credit. See the site for more specifics.

This site has been a godsend for me, enabling me to de-accession much-loved but outgrown books for kids ages 6-17 and get books I want. For me, that is mainly cookbooks. I love reading cookbooks. There is a blog that began with the admission that its writer had over 100 cookbooks. I probably have over 300. And I love them all.

The best part of PBS is the wishlist. You wishlist a book and eventually--maybe--you will get it.

Rather than just talk generally about swap sites, I thought I would present a photo of some actual tomes I received via PBS. It truly restores my faith in humanity when I receive Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, as I did a few days ago. People are so generous. These are just a few of the more than 400 books I have received over the last few years.

The Seductions of Rice by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Part of the wonderful series by the Canadian husband-wife duo, who live a life of adventure, writing, and eating. I got this for Frugal Son, who fantasizes about such a life.

Lost Recipes by Marion Cunningham. All about the home. For me, this has been more a reading book than a cooking book. But I read it all the time.

Outlaw Cook by John Thorne. Thorne is the greatest food writer around, in my opinion. I gave my copy to my father-in-law and he DONATED it. Rather than getting angry, I put it on my wishlist.

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten. I am not the greatest fan of Ina, but I like to look at the pictures of her kitchen, which sometimes appear in photos. There's just not that much bang for the buck in her books, but that's me. I like reading books more than picture books. I will be passing this on to one of my children, because they are interested in food presentation.

Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. No matter what, you need Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I have a lot of bookmarks in this one.

Lord Krishna's Cuisine by Yamuna Devi. This is the one I can't believe someone sent me. A friend recommended it years ago. He had "borrowed" one from a friend. I think he "forgot to return it" for many years. Maybe he still has it. By all accounts, this is a masterpiece and I plan to work with it this summer.

1000 Italian Recipes by Michele Scicolone. Mostly I use my Marcella Hazan books. But this is great to have around. It reminds me of the simplicity of authentic Italian cooking.

World Vegetarian by Maddur Jaffrey. I just got this. I love Jaffrey's Indian cookbooks, one of which I have used for almost 30 years (and it's a sad spectacle of a book at this point).

Some of these books were on my wishlist for three years. Thanks to all for your generosity. To me, bookswaps (and cd swaps and media swaps generally) are all aspects of Frugality 101--saving money, saving the environment, and building community all at the same time.

Readers: Any cookbooks I should add to my wishlist? And, have you participated in bookswaps? If so, what treasures have you received?

Frugality 101: Use your Library

An article in the New York Times about the increase in library usage is just the latest of many on this topic. While discretionary spending--on high fashion, elective surgery, summer camp--is way down, library usage is way up.

Use Your Library! That has been the exhortation of every frugality writer for as long as I have been reading on the topic. It's a basic part of Frugality 101, just like goal-setting, menu-planning, checking out the thrift stores, and so forth. And like all those basics, this one bears repeating.

This is not your grandmother's library either. Most libraries have free internet, DVDs to check out, plus, of course, books galore.

My own beloved library has all of the above plus monthly movie nights, lectures on various topics (British Royal Scandals was one such), "Knit and Sip," Italian lessons, cooking demonstrations, book groups, genealogy groups, children's reading programs, teen programs. Those are just the things that immediately come to mind.

Those of us in the "Katrina area" are especially mindful of the virtues of the library. Our library somehow got power back fairly soon. It was packed full of patrons in search of information on FEMA claims. You could use the internet too (in 30 minute sessions, after signing in). I was there for the air conditioning.

I check the on-line library catalog frequently. The other day I put my name on the list for 10 films: Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Marley and Me, just to name the titles that create nice alliteration. When it's my turn, I will get a call.

We are members of Netflix,whose business is also growing right now, but generally use that for hard-to-find films. The 10 library DVDs I will be getting will save me AT LEAST $25.00 in rental fees. That is money I can put back in my community in other ways, perhaps by shopping at the library book sale!

I saved $25.00. How much have you saved recently by using your library? Do share, dear readers.