Thrifty Thursday + Giveaway

Plan for left-overs.

Each time I sit to do my menu for the week, I do my best to plan for leftovers. These make perfect home-made microwave dinners – or lunches in my hubby’s case.

He works the night shift which means there is no other option than to bring lunch with him. So by planning to have left-overs, he has a nice selection of microwavable meals right in the fridge and freezer.

I simply put a serving of the dinner, including side dishes, straight into a Rubbermaid container and pop it into the freezer. He has his own shelf of meals so he can just grab and go.  Easy and cheap – just the way I like it!

And speaking of Rubbermaid, my Twitter pal Jim (@rubbermaid) sent me a little something to give away! It’s the Rubbermaid Premiere food-storage containers – a 20 piece set! To enter, all you have to do is leave your Thrifty Thursday Tip in a comment! How easy is that?!?!?

For more entries you can share this post with your friends and followers by Twittering or including a link on your blog. Just come-on back and leave another comment with proof

Comments for this post will be close at 10pm Eastern time on Tuesday, February 10th and the winner will be announced.

Oh, and if you’re looking for organizing ideas, information or inspiration, head on over to the Rubbermaid blog – Adventures In Organizing. Jim and his crew do a fantastic job!

Thirfty Thursday

Microwave it instead of using the oven. There are a lot of things that are not pleasant when cooked in the microwave. But whenever possible, opt to microwave vegetables, leftovers, baked potatoes, bacon and other foods that cook just as nicely when microwaved as they do in the oven. This simple change can cut the amount of energy used to prepare that meal by 50%.

Kitchen Storage Issues

I have a tiny kitchen – no room even for a table and chairs. Because of the location of the kitchen, an expansion of our kitchen would require significant work on the foundation, plumbing and gas lines of our home – super expensive. So I’ve had to be crafty in storing my food and wares.

My kitchen is 8ft long and very narrow. There is one window over the sink. The biggest challenge is that there are 3 door-ways in the kitchen: one for outside, one for the basement and one to go to the rest of the house. Picture this: fridge, dishwasher, sink and stove all along one 8ft wall connected by counters and cabinets. It’s not pretty. The other wall is blank, but there is not enough width in the kitchen to fit a table (good think I have a dining room). I’ll show you how I’ve worked around the issues.

First, I added a free standing hutch. This fixed a few problems: added more drawers, more cabinet space, and it has room for the microwave so it freed-up much needed counter space. I use the very top to hold my canisters and cookbooks.

Next, I added a free standing cupboard. Very simple and plain: just two doors with 6 shelves inside to hold food.

Finally, I added a rolling cart. I love this! It can roll around the kitchen to where I need it. It added another drawer and storage. And the biggest bonus – the top opens out to provide more counter space!

“But nothing matches” you say. Simple enough to fix. I painted every piece of furniture and the existing cabinets with white semi-gloss (easy to wipe off spots). The unifying color makes it less obvious that they are each separate. The walls are painted a light yellow. And I positioned the hutch directly across from the window so the glass doors will reflect light.

I was also conscious to spread my accessories and decorations throughout the kitchen. I have every piece available from my Pfaltzgraff dish pattern, so I have plenty of functioning decorations. The canisters are on top of the hutch; the water pitcher is on top of the cupboard as well as the baking dishes; I hung 2 matching pie plates on the wall as accent. I also have an affection for roosters, so I have spread them around a bit.

While it’s not my dream kitchen, with a little creativity I was able to make my kitchen functional. It’s also very cute and cozy.

Green Spring Cleaning

I’m a big fan of going green. In fact, I have been consciously been working toward having a green home for quite some time. It’s not something I’ve been able to do overnight – it has taken some serious thought, planning and juggling of the budget. For example, I couldn’t just dump out my traditional laundry detergent and replace it with something more eco-friendly. That is neither earth conscious nor budget conscious. As I finish up something I have, I replace it with a ‘green’ product when I can.

A fellow MomMastermind member, Tiffany, is one of my resources for green, earth-friendly living. Her blog at Nature Moms is one I frequent. Like everyone else, Tiffany is blogging about Spring Cleaning (a very hot topic). I’ve joined her and you should too. I think you could pick-up some tips and tricks from her on how to incorporate a more earth conscious way of cleaning. Between me and Tiffany, your Spring Cleaning will be easy and green.

Just today, I was cleaning in the kitchen – specifically, the microwave and fridge. Instead of cleaning with a traditional, toxin-full cleaner, I used plain old hot water and vinegar to wipe down and clean the schmootz. Then, because both of these items can produce nasty bacteria from the foods they hold, I wiped them down with hydrogen peroxide. Now that’s being both environmentally and budget conscious!