It's Cheaper to Do This than That Thread

The thing you have to do...if a cake mix passes the use by date, add a little baking powder...the biggest reason the cake mix is dated for "x" date is b/c the lifting agent (usually baking soda or baking powder) eventually will no longer lift the cake, and only getting egg lift only gets you so far. Now, this doesn't mean you can use 10 year old mixes (b/c other products will start to go rancid in the mix - nuts, oils, etc), but they should last 6-18 months past the use by date (depending on flavor - nut mixes will be short for the aforementioned rancid oils reason) with no decrease in quality if they get this additional lifting agent added.


And if your cake mix is the dry goods - flour, sugar, lifting agent, cocoa powder, and you add your own oil, eggs, and nuts - what in there is going to go bad? I don't know about anyone else, but I bake with four year old baking powder all the time, and I've used old cake flour and sugar too - eventually you need to toss baking powder - but it takes years.

I do throw out things I've had for years, but I don't throw out a cake mix that is six months past its "best by" date.
 
And if your cake mix is the dry goods - flour, sugar, lifting agent, cocoa powder, and you add your own oil, eggs, and nuts - what in there is going to go bad? I don't know about anyone else, but I bake with four year old baking powder all the time, and I've used old cake flour and sugar too - eventually you need to toss baking powder - but it takes years.

I do throw out things I've had for years, but I don't throw out a cake mix that is six months past its "best by" date.

If you look at most prepackaged cake mixes (like a Betty Crocker one), they do have some oil in them https://www.bettycrocker.com/products/betty-crocker-baking-and-cake-mixes/triple-chocolate-fudge - that oil will eventually go rancid (or if not rancid, the taste tends to change at the 2-3 year range b/c these are not kept in pristine conditions...and who wants an "icky tasting" if not bad cake). Now, the mixes tend to only be dated about 12 months ahead - thus, why they are still usually good 6-18 months after the date...

And even the "simple/nothing artificial ones" have the "problem" of added oil when it comes to eventually going bad...https://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/purely-simple-cake/white-cake.
 
I seldom bake from mixes anymore, but the mixes I use don't have added oil (King Arthur flour makes good mixes - no added oil, very little in stabilizers - but they aren't cheap - but they are SO much better than the Pillsbury/General Mills mixes).
 
If you look at most prepackaged cake mixes (like a Betty Crocker one), they do have some oil in them https://www.bettycrocker.com/products/betty-crocker-baking-and-cake-mixes/triple-chocolate-fudge - that oil will eventually go rancid (or if not rancid, the taste tends to change at the 2-3 year range b/c these are not kept in pristine conditions...and who wants an "icky tasting" if not bad cake). Now, the mixes tend to only be dated about 12 months ahead - thus, why they are still usually good 6-18 months after the date...

And even the "simple/nothing artificial ones" have the "problem" of added oil when it comes to eventually going bad...https://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/purely-simple-cake/white-cake.
That whole controversy started with a story about pancake mix. According to the story the box was opened which could actually cause problems. A mix in a sealed bag should be fine long after the best by date. An opened bag could go bad long before that date.
 


o.k.-this one works best at Halloween but can be applied what with valentine's day and easter coming up as well. I buy the packages of individually packaged mini packages of non candy snacks. when my kids were in school they got the mini packs of stuff like fruit treats and such put into their lunches (less expensive than the larger traditionally sold unit packs) but now I get them for myself to use for portion control on dieting. it's much less expensive and more enjoyable for me to eat a 70 calorie mini bag of chocolate covered pretzels or cheese puffs vs. the overpriced south beach diet size packages (and it's an even better deal when you can get the stuff on clearance).
 
Once I finish at the store, I come home and put the menu for the week up on the white board.

I do that too!

But some people will say, "Who's got time for this?" It is the Time Management Versus Saving Money dilemma. For those of us who have decent paying jobs with a lot of industry in our area, time management is worth more than couponing. For some, say parents who would have to pay high day care fees in order to work a decent enough job or those with little industry nearby, staying home and figuring out ways to save money while the kids are running around the backyard is worth the dive into the minutia! Ben Franklin's "A penny saved is a penny earned" means we have made a lot of money even without a paycheck!

Definitely true - I've changed my "rules" several times at different stages of time vs. money in our lives!

We buy blocks of cheese in bulk when on sale, shred in the food processor, and freeze. It's typically at least half the cost of already shredded bagged cheese and avoids additives like anti-caking agent.

I need to do this one!! I've been spending way too much on shredded cheese lately.


I have a simple one for leftover holiday candy - use it for baking instead of buying chocolate chips! (Banana bread with chopped up KitKats was a big hit here.)
 


Massive efforts to NOT waste food in our house:

All veggie cuttings go in a container, not the compost... and they are added to whatever we are eating that night.
All little niblets of cut-up fruit that doesn't get eaten gets blended up into 100% fruit, juice-free popsicles.
Anything that is ripening faster than we are eating it goes into the dehydrator - berries, bananas, oranges...

And.... trying to only use the appetizer-sized plates! Take two, not three, and come back later if you are still hungry!
 
It would never work for me to make a meal plan at the store. Most stores have their weekly ad online. I work off that for my meal plan.
Just back from the store, and discovered another issue with the weekly ad today A couple of the ad items were not available. The Dungeness Crab was on sale for $3.97 a pound....they had signs at the meat counter that they would honor that price later, but crab was not available due to weather and fishing conditions. Not a biggie to change course at the store and pick another protein. And they did not get a delivery or artichokes either.
 
DH, DD16 and I are eating from the fridge,freezer and pantry this week. Who can't use a little extra $ after the holidays? DH is furloughed for now, but we have plenty of food to use up that I had bought for the fall and holidays. Things might get a little creative, but I am up for the challenge. I am especially looking forward to the soups that I made too much of and froze the remaining batch for later. It might be a little difficult for DH who was very willing to hit a restaurant last night. DD and I both said, "But we have so and so to eat at home."

This will help make room for all the spring foods that will be in stores soon.
 
DH and I are both furloughed (well technically he has to go to work since he is operations essential but who knows when he will see that paycheck) so we’ll be eating out a lot less than normal. So I’ll be unloading the freezer of chicken and ground beef. We’ll be having lots of barbecue chicken and rice and spaghetti for a bit. This is fine with DS since he only eats plain rice and noodles really.

Eating out is our weakness since I hate to cook so this will definitely help with saving some $.
 
This is a small one:

I used to get so annoyed when I received one of those thick woman’s magazines I DID NOT even subscribe to in my mailbox. Especially when you picked it up and all those perfume envelopes fall out!:furious:

Now I take those perfume envelopes and stick them places. In my clothes drawers, the bathroom, the bottom of a garbage pail, the top of the kitty litter box,etc. I start them closed and when they begin to fade, I open them up. :yay:

I have a stack now so I haven’t had to buy air freshener in a while!
 
For those that have Speedway gas stations in your area. Go inside and buy a $25 gift card before you pump your gas. You get the card for only $24 and they give you 300 bonus points. Was 500 points the last couple of months, but the $1 savings on the gift card is still there.
 
trying to only use the appetizer-sized plates! Take two, not three, and come back later if you are still hungry!

We do this in my house. We have dinner plates and luncheon plates (Corel) and only use the smaller luncheon plates 90% of the time. DS10 can eat a lot but often his eyes are bigger than his stomach. Using the smaller plates and telling him he can go back for a second helping has drastically reduced the amount of food that gets scraped in the trash and leaves more food available for leftovers for lunches and future dinners
 
I buy the large bags of dried kidney beans, soak them overnight, drain, add fresh water and cook the following day. Then I divide this large pot of kidney beans into freezer bags, putting about 2 cups in each, label, date, and freeze. When I need a can of kidney beans, I take a bag out of the freezer. Each bag costs a few cents, compared with the cost of canned, and almost as convenient. This will work for any type of bean you prefer.
 
Another thing I do is buy bushel baskets of turnips, green pepper, tomatoes, what ever is in season, and freeze. I don't use my diced peppers for salad, but they are so convenient for stir fry or casseroles. Turnip is cubed, blanched and frozen or sometimes I cook it completely and freeze in serving size freezer bags. If you don't have a lot of freezer space, just freeze a few peppers that are on sale, or whatever you get a great deal on.


Cauliflour rice is a big thing now for grain free crusts. I make my own, and freeze it in the number of cups needed for my favourite recipe. I also buy the large blocks of parmesan cheese at Costco, grate it, and freeze it, usually in 1 cup increments since that is how much I need to make my cauliflour crust pizza.
 
Ok, I might get kicked off of the budget board for this - When replacing a vehicle, really think thru what your needs are. Is there a cheaper car that would suit your needs just fine? For example, I was intent on getting a certain car which shall remain nameless because I don't want to offend. I found that the Hyundai Elantra would do everything I needed for at least $5000 less.
 
Ok, I might get kicked off of the budget board for this - When replacing a vehicle, really think thru what your needs are. Is there a cheaper car that would suit your needs just fine? For example, I was intent on getting a certain car which shall remain nameless because I don't want to offend. I found that the Hyundai Elantra would do everything I needed for at least $5000 less.

also look to what kind of deals you can get through buying programs like the one Costco offers members. we ran around to several dealerships and researched like crazy when we got our most recent new car-couldn't beat Costco's deal HOWEVER....also check into incentives the dealerships have on financing even if you are planning on paying cash.

there was an incentive going on when we purchased that took a couple thousand off if you went with manufacturer financing. we checked the fine print out like crazy and saw that there was no prepayment penalty so we financed but before the first statement came paid the car off in full.

I also think if you're on the fence about a particular car-considering seeing if one is available for rental through budget or something similar. it's cheaper to spend a little bit to rent a model for a couple of days vs. buying one and regretting it for years to come.
 
Ok, I might get kicked off of the budget board for this - When replacing a vehicle, really think thru what your needs are. Is there a cheaper car that would suit your needs just fine? For example, I was intent on getting a certain car which shall remain nameless because I don't want to offend. I found that the Hyundai Elantra would do everything I needed for at least $5000 less.

Or search dealer inventory and look for unsold previous years models.....or even 2 model years back. I just checked a local dealer and they have 8 brand new 2016 model vehicles they are trying to sell next to the left over 2017's and the 2018 models. You know they are going to want to do anything price wise to get those sold.
 

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