Portioning

Have you ever thought about how much of something you're using and if you're using too much or going through something too quickly? Maybe you need to portion things so you are only using what you need. Portioning saves you money because you have to buy it less often and none of it goes to waste.

Take this dishwasher detergent for example. Its package design causes you too accidentally use too much and waste some of it because of the pour spout feature. Do you even know how much your dishwasher needs? I used to just fill up the soap cup and close the door with no thought of whether or not it actually needed that much. When we moved to this apartment, our dishwasher always left a lot of residue on the dishes. We decided it may help if we used less. We filled them according to the fill lines and it solved our residue problem.  But... we still had the problem with the dishwasher detergent package...oops! I spilled! We decided to put it in a container and figure out the amount we were to use in order to just reach the fill line. It ended up being only 1 Tablespoon. That's it! One stinkin Tablespoon! Now we keep a tablespoon scoop in the container and none gets spilled and none goes to waste.

Here are some other examples of portioning:

Ovaltine, we figured out that we use 2 Tablespoons in our cup, so we keep a 2 Tablespoon scoop in it now.

Laundry detergent. We decided one day that we're probably using too much in every load and should portion it too. If you look at the fill lines for Tide. It says for Medium loads, fill to the line 1, for Large loads, fill to line 2. We usually only need to wash Large loads. It turned out to measure out to be 1/3 cup.

                                                           

My two year old and I use the same body wash, shampoo and conditioner. Of course, I just bought them and used them in their original containers. The original containers had lids that you had to use all your strength to open and you tipped it upside down to get some in your hand to use. Of course, when you dump liquid into your hand, sometimes it pours out too quickly and you end up with too much. Then you waste time trying to get the excess liquid back into the opening and of course... that doesn't work.  So today, I went to Walmart and got these little beauties. They cost me $1.88 each. I like that they are clear so I can tell how low they are getting without hopping into the shower and discovering that and having-to hop out and hunt down a new one from the closet. I never end up with too much in my hand and I don't have to hurt my hand and waste all my strength on a lid. Genius!

What other ways do you portion?

Pepperidge Farm Thrift Store

We went to Pepperidge Farm Thrift Store yesterday and found soup for about $10 and it feeds approximately 12-15 people with large servings. The package has two separate sections so you can freeze one section of it and just use the one. They have several different kinds of soup. We purchased two different kinds: Cheddar Cheese, Ham and Bacon soup (also known as Wisconsin Cheddar soup) and Mexican Tortilla soup. We also bought goldfish crackers for $1 and a package of three loaves of french bread for $1.50.

We had family over last night and had the Cheddar Cheese, Ham and Bacon soup and the french bread with goldfish crackers. It fed the whole family and we still had leftovers. Everyone had large servings and loved the soup and french bread. The goldfish crackers are great for soup because they don't go soggy quickly. This is a really cheap meal with great leftovers and feeds a lot of people in case you have family over.

Let's Go On A Date

This idea from shannonbrown.typepad.com is called "let's go on a date." This is her description:

      "This basket holds 12 envelopes.  Each labeled with a month of the year.  And each envelope contains a pre-planned, (mostly) pre-paid date just for us.  Some of the dates will take place at home, some are planned for the local area, and some will take us into town.  All 12 dates are different.  Several, actually nearly all of the dates are things we have never done before.
The plan is to open the envelope together at the beginning of the month, look at the calendar and decide on a date.  So right from the beginning of the month, we'll have a fun date on the calendar to look forward to."

I thought this was a great idea if you could afford to pre-pay for an entire year's worth (1 each month) of dates. Click on the following link to view her full blog and examples. http://shannonbrown.typepad.com/life_in_general/2011/01/lets-go-on-a-date-january.html

Homemade Potato Chips in THE MICROWAVE?

Homemade Potato Chips in THE MICROWAVE?

That's right! And you don't even need some special tray or dish. Here's how:

1. Clean potato really well. Leave skin on but cut out bad parts.
2. Slice potato into 1/16" thick slices.
3. Dry each slice with a paper towel.
4. Toss in olive oil.
5. Place each slice on a piece of paper towel. (we doubled up the paper towel)
6. Coat with favorite seasoning on one side. (we tried salt at first and they were really good!)
7. Microwave for 2 minutes.
8. Turn over each slice.
9. Microwave for 1-3 minutes. (or until desired brown...ness)
10. Place potato chips on a piece of aluminum foil to cool.
11. Potato chips will crisp as they cool.

Tip: They will turn out better and will cook more evenly if placed on a flat surface type dish in the microwave.

My husband and I made many batches of these late at night, giggling to ourselves and trying to think of what other seasonings we could try.