Frugal and Green Living

When we decided to live on a budget years ago, we would shop at Costco to save money with the non-food items. It seemed to work for a while and then we realized that we have joined a $200 club, meaning we would spend around that much every time we shopped there. We had to do something about it.

In 2008 when we started to go green (still in process), we took a hard look at what we buy that could be replaced with what we already have on hand. Some items we probably won't ever change such as Kleenex and bathroom tissues. But anything other than that got a big cut.

I am happy to say that the changes were a good one as we are more mindful of what we buy now and how we spend our hard earned money.

This Food Wrap was a great buy from Costco. We had it for at least three years now. Can't remember how much it cost but I do remember thinking it was a very reasonable deal for the sq. ft..

Even with the good deal of the food wrap, I still use my plates as covers most of the time. I grew up watching my mother doing it and I just love the stacking. If I use the food wrap I am not sure if I want to stack them. I usually do that when there's left over from dinner for next day's lunch (not for week long storage).

After minimized the plastic bags. My "bag drawer" seemed to be roomier for other kitchen items as well.

I am constantly trying to use containers before reaching for a Ziploc or food wrap. I was a Tupperware rep back in the late '80s and still have plenty of those containers hanging around the house. So I put them to good uses. The Snapware containers were the last plastic I purchased for the kitchen before we started the green living life style. I don't throw the containers (except the ones that hold food from the store) away. I will use them until they can't be used anymore.

One area I still use multi-purpose Ziploc bags is when I want to freeze "runny" dinners. I do the "Cook once (two entrees), eat twice" method for some of my dinners, and I want to have this type of soup or chili freeze as flat as I could to save freezer space. So by using Ziploc bags, it allows me to make that arrangement.

This may not work for everyone, but it sure works for me. :)