Frugal Day at the House Revised

So, I updated the checkbook yesterday and paid bills.

Aaaannnnddd....today you get a FRUGAL POST!!!

We talked about this a few weeks ago and it's still on my mind. Especially after helping pay for the eye doctor's vacation. It's time to put our summer frugal plan into action.

By the way, before I start in on this, I read an article on yahoo yesterday that irritated me to no end. I wasn't the only one. The commenters were all irritated too. We're going to have ground beef at our barbecues instead of steak...and, we're going to work in our own flowerbeds and we're going to forego our $5,000 vacation so we can save money. WHAT?

I promise my tips will not be that ridiculous.

First of all, Kim over at Life in a Shoe hosted a linky for the best bean/lentil recipes the other day so I saved some of those for future use. I am not afraid to admit to you, my dear readers, that I am not entirely sure what a lentil is. I googled it. I know what they look like, but I have never bought one or cooked a lentil to my knowledge.

However, I plan to make meatless meals a regular thing around here. I know that's one way I can cut way back on our grocery bill. Sweetheart said she is moving to China because she does not want to eat beans and lentils. I told her that was fine. One less mouth to feed. (Just kidding.)

Also, while looking over those recipes, I was reminded how important the crock pot will be this summer. Turning on the oven seems to heat our whole house up for several hours after I am finished cooking. Our electric bill cannot afford that.

Next, I am going to jump OFF the organic bandwagon for the rest of this month. I'll go back to my former ways of buying what is cheapest. Then, when things are a bit better, I'll seriously consider what items we can afford to go organic on and which we cannot. At this point, organic is a luxury.

The last thing that will help is to eat from our garden. We don't have much out there, but I need to hunt up some new ways to use what we are growing so we can make the most of our "free" food!

So, for my kitchen, my plan is:

1. Cook a meatless meal at least once a week.
2. Use the crock pot to save on the electric bill.
3. Stop buying, then seriously scale back, the organic purchases.
4. Eat from our garden.

I realized that third goal might make me seem a bit like the annoying family in the yahoo article. I am so sorry if it does. We have only been buying organic for less than a year and I do believe that it is good for our health and therefore worth the money. But it's only worth the money when you have the money. A month or so of non-organic foods will not decrease our life expectancy by that much. What I can't afford in organic, maybe I can make up for by buying local produce. That would be healthy and cost-effective.

So....that's my frugal kitchen plan. Now it's your turn. I know I gave no notice of this link up, so don't feel badly if you can't participate. But honestly, do you really have that much to blog about on a Friday? I would love to hear some more frugal tips for the kitchen. Food is a major money sucker and I need all the help I can get!!

So hop on and share how you plan to, or ARE, saving money in the kitchen!