school lunch box

Tightwad Gazette Deep Dive: School Lunches

This series takes a deeper look at different articles from The Complete Tightwad Gazette, which is a compilation of frugal tips and articles that were published in a monthly newsletter from the 1990’s. While much of the information is timeless and the tips still useful, I’m looking at how the issues currently stand today and …

row of empty grocery carts

How We’re Keeping Our Food Costs Low Despite Inflation + Rising Food Costs

Like the rest of the world, we have not been immune to rising food costs, empty grocery shelves, and inflation occurring on everything from our heating and utility bills (which were already on the high side due to our home being older) to the gas we put in our vehicles (which was already more expensive …

sweet potato chowder and homemade bread

Zero Food Waste Challenge {6}

I wasn’t surprised that this week was one of the biggest food waste offenders since the first week I recorded because we’re now at the point after my big monthly shop that the quickly perishable produce has all had sufficient time to spoil. However, we wasted quite a bit less than we have in the …

korean bbq beef rice bowl

Zero Food Waste Challenge {5}

Another week into the challenge, and I’m feeling good about our progress! I’m far from perfect and far from where I’d like to be, but all in all, I’ve seen an enormous difference from simply paying attention. While some food waste is seemingly inevitable, I’ve seen for myself that the vast majority of it can …

full produce basket

Zero Food Waste Challenge {4}

The last three days of the month got a little interesting as far as meals went, just because we were out of most of the “fresh” stuff and living much more off the shelf-stable pantry items. We were able to successfully conserve the milk to last through the month though (which helped significantly), although we …

open fridge

Zero Food Waste Challenge {1}

Several years ago, when we were on a very tight budget, I started looking into all the different ways I could possibly think of to get our grocery bill down as low as I possibly could. I clipped coupons, only shopped the sales, made basically 99% of our meals, and cooked and baked as much …