Final day of Frugan February meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, grape tomatoes, spinach, pepper, and Cholula.

Lunch: Quinoa (made with organic chicken broth) with green peas and pink beans, dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cumin, dijon, and soy sauce.

Dinner: Curried tilapia on coconut rice with curried onions, broccoli, and pineapple,  with toasted flat bread.

Freegan items:  Grape tomatoes, German dark wheat bread, quinoa, green peas, balsamic vinegar, cumin, olive oil, broccoli, pineapple, coconut milk, flat bread, curry, all plates and cutlery  pictured, as well and pots, pans, and utensils used in cooking.

Purchased items: 2 eggs (38¢), a dash of hot sauce (2¢), 1/10 of a bag of frozen spinach (17¢), 1/2 can of pink beans (54¢), 1/2 onion (35¢), 1/2 filet of tilapia ($1.07) = $2.53

These were three particularly tasty meals, I anxiously await that day I rediscover the leftovers in the freezer!

Until I get my dual-flush greywater toilet...

...I will do it as my Dad has always done it.  It's the oldest trick in the water-saving book, but it's tried and true and easy peasy.  Just take a brick or some heavy object that won't rust, or take a milk jug or similar container and fill it with water so it doesn't float.  Then place it in the tank.  Whatever you put in (up until the water line) is how much water you'll displace, and therefore how much water you'll save every time you flush!  Pictured here is about a quarter gallon, so if the average person flushes the toilet about 2,500 times a year, and my two roommates and I are home maybe about half the time, this teeny tiny little action (that until yesterday I  had forgotten that I even did) saves about a thousand gallons of water a year.

It's a hoot!

So I know all about cost/benefit analysis.  And by my calculations, I am definitely in the black.  I go food "shopping" only about once a week, for maybe an hour or two.  Not only does getting my food this way take less time than slugging through the aisles and lines at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods in NYC, but it's a lot more fun, and for my friends and me it's a good chance to hang out.

A good score, be it from a residence, grocery store, or anything else, is like the most gigantic Christmas stocking ever--loads of stuff, some of which we need, some of which we don't, some saving us money on what we otherwise would buy, some allowing us to finally have what we otherwise would never buy.  And moreover, any utility we bestow upon the bounty is infinitely more than it would have otherwise had.  It's all cause for such giddiness.  And you can chat and gossip and make silly way more than when you just meet up for coffee.  Then at the end of the day, you can just have a snooze and bathe in your conquest.

Olympic sustenance

If you're allowed a leave of absence from the food pyramid for the Superbowl, then it's only fair to grant the Olympics similar treatment.  In that vein, I have prepared myself a glass of boxed red wine from New Hampshire, a mug of freegan potato soup with frozen corn and spinach, freegan flatbread with melted cheddar, freegan spaghetti with freegan marinara, freegan Lifesaver gummy candies, and a freegan soy milk frappé with freegan Nesquick, all conveniently placed on a 99¢ tray from the Christmas Tree Shop and afront the visage of one Apolo Ohno.  A night of pleasures.

Bag of tricks getting trickier

Yesterday I went to transfer my mustard into a smaller jar to allow some breathing room in my fridge door (and use the larger jar as a glass), only to discover that my spatula was too wide for the task at hand.  Bummer...until it dawned on me that my bag of tricks had recently been christened (see post below) with a tool made for precisely this occasion: the Mayoknife!

$661.30

One store, one night.

A sea of non-perishables--from clam knives to cranberry to corn picks to candles to cous cous...and even grapefruit spoons!  Click 'read more' for itemized list and prices.

The market staff was nothing less than friendly.  I made it a point to assure them I would tie everything back as I found it, and while placing new bags carefully separate from those I had already rummaged through, they joked with me about how many jars of mustard one person could  consume.  Nothing was defective, some of the food was expired (but of course in sealed, clean, pristine packaging).   All of the utensils, gadgets, cleaning cloths, candles, and so on were of course without an expiration date and fully functional, all be their packaging slightly dated (cheesy graphics, glue around plastic packaging had become brittle).  I understand that food goods have expiration dates, beyond which, in our litigious society, liability becomes an issue.  But I find it so difficult to stomach the mass disposal of brand new unopened can openers, strainers, thermometers, pencils, knife sharpeners, rubber gloves, and honey stirrers being thrown.  I find myself desiring ever more the implementation of infrastructure to absorb this excess.  It could be as simple as an individual (yes, there happens to be a mirror just across from my desk) willing to transport these goods from the market to the pantry, the shelter, the Salvo, what have you.  The inventory is as follows:

Item	Units	Price	Total
Power Bars	36	$2.49	$89.64
Kind Bars	1	$2.49	$2.49
Cliff Bars	1	$2.49	$2.49
Good Earth Tea	5	$1.50	$7.50
Granola	6	$3.99	$23.94
Pomegrante	1	$5.99	$5.99
McCann's Irish Oatmeal	1	$4.99	$4.99
Raisins (assorted flavor)	10	$1.50	$15.00
Boulder Canyon Chips	1	$3.99	$3.99
Rice Select Organic Rice	8	$3.49	$27.92
Near East Long Grain Wild Rice	4	$3.49	$13.96
Grey Poupon Squeeze Bottle	3	$4.19	$12.57
Maille Dijon	3	$4.19	$12.57
Dijon Country Jar	1	$5.99	$5.99
Sweet Pea Can	1	$1.99	$1.99
Cranberry Sauce	1	$2.49	$2.49
Cambells's Chunky	1	$3.49	$3.49
Progresso Tomato Puree	1	$1.50	$1.50
Escarole in Broth	2	$1.50	$3.00
Lucini Fig and Walnut Balsamic	2	$3.00	$6.00
Numeral candle	44	$0.99	$43.56
Soy milk	17	$1.50	$25.50
Chanukah Candles	6	$2.00	$12.00
Playtex Living Gloves	3	$2.99	$8.97
Potato Leek, Mushroom soup	3	$1.50	$4.50
Chicken Broth	2	$1.50	$3.00
Tomato Couscous	1	$14.29	$14.29
Shower curtain	1	$6.99	$6.99
Mr Clean reusable wipes	7	$1.99	$13.93
T-Stick	4	$2.99	$11.96
Pencils	1	$1.69	$1.69
Sharpie	1	$6.99	$6.99
Poultry Lacers	8	$2.19	$17.52
Disinfectant Wipes	8	$2.99	$23.92
Salt and Pepper Mill	1	$12.99	$12.99
Ice Cream Scoop	1	$2.99	$2.99
Honey Server	10	$0.99	$9.90
Spatulas	3	$3.99	$11.97
Heat Resistant Spatula	1	$5.99	$5.99
Spoonula	1	$4.99	$4.99
Apple Corer	1	$3.99	$3.99
Grapefruit Spoons	1	$3.99	$3.99
Clam Knifes	2	$2.99	$5.98
Casabella Water Stop Gloves	3	$3.99	$11.97
Window Cleaning Cloths	6	$2.49	$14.94
Turkey Timer	4	$0.69	$2.76
Kitchen Thermometer	1	$9.99	$9.99
Beef Raw Hide	1	$3.29	$3.29
Assorted Cleaning	5	$1.99	$9.95
Gulf Wax	1	$3.99	$3.99
Knife Sharpeners	2	$2.49	$4.98
Shrimp Deveiner	1	$3.99	$3.99
Wrist Tape	2	$4.29	$8.58
Corn Picks	5	$3.99	$19.95
Mayo Knives	7	$1.99	$13.93
Mildew Gone	1	$2.99	$2.99
Toothbrush Covers	3	$1.29	$3.87
Cheese Markers	2	$1.79	$3.58
Butter Slicer	1	$4.99	$4.99
Mini Strainer	1	$2.99	$2.99
Meat Thermometer	1	$9.99	$9.99
Kitchen Wine, Sherry, Vermouth	5	$3.89	$19.45
		TOTAL	Food $314.25 Non-Food $347.05
	GRAND	TOTAL	$661.30

More February fare

Frugan February continues with sauteed freegan apples, cinnamon and oatmeal for breakfast.  For dinner, 50¢ of steamed street vendor asparagus mixed with freegan black beans and brown rice, tossed with freegan soy sauce and sate spices from my mom.  Bowls and cutlery were found on the curb (largely at the end of the month) and left by the former inhabitants of my apartment when they returned to Singapore (they left anything they didn't want upon my suggestion--and happily obliged so as to haul fewer things down 6 flights).  Brainless, painless, delicious, and nutritious!

Produce produce, and people will partake

Freegan produce, tortillas, rice, and beans yield Mexican feast.  The formula for simultaneously satisfying the Mother Teresa and the Ebenezer Scrooge inside of you is so simple.

Mystery ingredients

One nice thing about dumpster diving is that you never know what you're gonna get, so you end up cooking stuff you wouldn't otherwise.  Case in point: rutabaga.  I don't think I had ever even held a rutabaga in my hand until I unearthed it from the garbage bag.  But the superbowl was coming up, and I also had potatoes and ricotta from the garbage and parmesan and creme fraiche left from my roommate who moved out...so I made a slightly wonky but delicious rutabaga and potato gratin.  I also had salsa, marshmallows, and hot dogs buns left from a previous dive, so I purchased the appropriate accompaniments and had quite the last-minute superbowl feast to share with my friends--and I even watched like two  minutes of the game for good measure!

With patience comes Cinderella

This jolly face belongs to the new owner of these shoes.  I came upon the shoes in the trash bin, asked my feet to shrink, and when they didn't I threw them under the couch knowing that at some point they would find their Cinderella.  And now they have.

Good gracious, Gristedes.

Artichokes, rutabagas, mushrooms, apples, tofu, flat bread, pumpernickel bread, bread rolls, sweet potato pie, oranges, bananas, potatoes, sour cream, ricotta cheese, string cheese, cream cheese, Gobstoppers, Life Saver gummies, and oh so many Hot Tamales.

Need I say it?  From the trash bags, outside grocery store, en route to landfill.

Frugan February!

This month I'm eating everything frugan.  This is a taste of how it's going:

The tortilla española is a perfect frugan meal--full of ingredients easily acquired, painless to make, warm and filling.  I put together a couple potatoes and onions salvaged from the garbage, some meatless Italian sausage that I had leftover in the freezer, 5 eggs, creme fraiche my roommate had left behind, and a glass of delicious boxed wine purchased in New Hampshire, the land free of sin taxes.

Lunch at the office--cottage cheese from the trash, leftover quinoa salad I had made from onions, spinach, mushrooms, and quinoa from the garbage and then frozen, and some pudding from Wal-Mart (yes, Wal-Mart.  My boybott is on hiatus while they seem to explore sustainable business practices with a good deal of dedication).

The next night I took three bean stew that I had from the trash, fancied it up with some of the quinoa salad that I still had leftover, and heated up cheese toast with bread from the trash, cheese leftover from my roommates who had moved out, and some sate seasoning from my mother.

A little lagniappe

Oof it's been a while since I posted, but that's because I took a little sojourn to Uganda.  Before I set off though, I had moment of foresight.  In anticipation of making dear friends with whom I would want to leave a farewell gift in appreciation of their friendship, I brought along some of my superfluous frugan niceties.  Plus, I always like to give a gift with a little more utility than flowers or cards or chocolate.  Pictured above are a digital camera from the NYU dumpster and a tape recorder from the Columbia post-graduation dump.  Also, yummy mens cologne and lotion that someone had left behind in the Business Class goodie bag on Emirates.  The happy camper Brother Andrew writes, "Thank you very much for my gifts which you gave me i am still very happy I now  know  how to use both the camera  and the Re coda, at first I could use it with out a flash but now i am ok."  So much better than gifting the landfill.

Lost in the food court

This is what I wanted.

I watched the woman place her shopping bags on the floor, slip onto the red naugahyde stool, swallow a few bites of her cheeseburger, nibble on her onion rings, crumple her napkin, slide a few bucks under the salt shaker, and shuffle off.  What was left was really exactly what I wanted--half a cheeseburger, half an order of onion rings--and just because it was, for free...and about to go to waste.

This is what I got.

I had a little angel-devil dialog with myself as I waited my turn in line, peering over at the site posted above.  Dispute settled, I paid $14 for a cheeseburger with grilled onions, an order of onions rings, and a peppermint oreo shake.  In the wake of some user or technical error, what actually turned upon my tray were two cheeseburgers with grilled onions, two orders of onions rings, and two peppermint oreo shakes (I gave one away to a teen boy).

There I sat, alone in the food court of a shopping mall with $14 less than I wanted and some 3,000 calories more than I wanted. All because I had a bit of silly tact ingrained in me a little too strongly.

Sharing is caring

One of the niceties of urban hunting and gathering is the generous stockpile that it generates in the pantry.  When my brother comes over to study, I can make him a snack.  I rest easy knowing there is always something to whip up, and I don't think twice about the cost (in fact, there is always plenty of food solely because it is free, otherwise I think my cabinets would be quite barren).  On this day, I had hamburger buns, onions, and sloppy joe sauce all from the trash, so I paired them with some ground chuck in the freezer, and in minutes I had a hearty delicious dish to fill the belly of the brother.

Life after a UPC

This is a nice find, because while I don't rely on frozen meals day to day, and would rarely spend the money on them, they are convenient, and these being Amy's pretty near delicious and not horrendously life-reducing.  I took plenty, but left behind plenty more.  Each had been stripped of its UPC code.  I presume this has something to do with audits from the distributor or whomever regarding what did and didn't sell.  This practice doesn't affect the edibility  of a product like these frozen meals, which contain an inner plastic sheath, but that's not true of everything.  Milk for example is a liquid and liquids don't remain within the bounds of a container once a 1.5" x 1" rectangle has been cut from it.  Needless to say, the milk is poured down the drain before the jugs make it out to the street.  I find milk to be a most divine drink, and it saddens me terribly to come upon piles of drained containers, each with a matching puncture wound.

More from the store

I mashed the potatoes  and roasted the carrots and yams, threw in some frozen peas and an organic Italian sausage that I had on hand.  The next night I sauteed some onions and kale that I had from a previous trash trip and mixed it with one of those packets of Indian curry from Trader Joe's and blanketed it over the freshly baked (albeit Pillsbury) bread pictured above.  Perfect easy meals for chilly autumn nights!

Halloween

Halloween costumes can be the cause of such stress!  They're cheaply constructed, generic, and expensive.

Some thrift stores set up Halloween sections during this time of year.   If you live in Los Angeles, at the moment there is a large section in the Goodwill at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and 6th St in Santa Monica.  I'm sure other thrift stores have a similar set up.  They may not have the hottest superhero your child most desperately needs, but they're likely to have more unique options (no one wants to show up wearing the same thing as someone else), and still allow your kids the fun of roaming the aisles to pick out his or her own costume.   I think it's also a good chance to instill that Halloween really is about having fun, getting dressed up, and stuffing yourself with candy.  And just as much fun can be had in a used Gumbi costume as in a brand new Iron Man costume.

I've also heard of parents organizing costumes swaps.  Both are really great ways to get kids fun new costumes on a budget, and while helping to minimize clothing manufacturing and landfill use.  If you're in New York, go to this one that my friend is organizing on October 24th !

Another idea is to convert an old costume into something new.  With new accessories a fairy can be adjusted to a princess, remove the padding and get a new nose and an elephant becomes a seal, dye a good witch dress and it becomes a wicked witch.

You can also make your own costume.  All of my favorite costumes growing up were made by my mom.  They were nothing too elaborate, but it ensured that no one else would have the same costume, and I got to help her out and  suggest changes here and there, so I got just what I wanted.   We also stored costumes away, so I often wore what my brother had worn a couple years prior.  They also had a great homemade touch--accents and accessories were actual tactile objects, not just screen printed onto chintzy fabric.  Scrap fabric, string, glue, tape, paint, and carboard boxes can take you a very long way.   It's so much fun to get creative with kids.  Making costumes with them is a great way to stretch their imagination and encourage them to find ways to translate that imagined idea into a functioning frock.

Cupcakes and cupcakes and cupcakes

What a welcome treat en route from one bar to another on a Friday night!  And it wasn't even  my idea, it was that of my wise disciple pictured here.  Cupcake Shop + Garbage Bags = Bounty.  The formula just came to her.  That's what happens when you start thinking right.

Dean and Delucrative

A whisk, sea salt, bagels, assorted herbs, salad dressing (probably 8 jars), skewers (a handful out of thousands), soy sauce, BBQ sauce, tomato paste, green beans, dozens of eggs, a peeler, and cookie cutters!

Please note that the fumee de sel carries a price tag of $28.  And cookie cutters don't go bad.