Thursday, April 08, 2010

Cheese n' Buckets

I have 2 mini-Frugal Friday tips for y'all today. 

1.  If you use Sharp Cheddar in a recipe that you normally use medium or mild in, you will need much less.  Taco places do this with their tacos and you still get great flavor.  I'm not a fan of eating a hunk of sharp cheddar by itself (as I might with colby jack or mozzarella), but using it shredded in a recipe?  No problem!

2.  Get free food storage buckets from bakeries and delis.  I have heard about this tip for over a decade.  And I never tried it myself until a couple weeks ago.  At our commissary on base, the bakery and deli throw out empty buckets on a very regular basis.  In 10 days I picked up 6.  Sure, they had frosting bits on the side and pickle juice in the deli one which caused MAJOR cravings for me, but they were FREE.  Who doesn't love free?

They're the same type of buckets that I use to store my wheat, rice, legumes, and rolled oats for long-term storage.  They keep bugs out.  But these ones are FREEEEE.

They're great to sit on while putting away all your groceries in the fridge.

They're a good size to hold your emergency 72-hour kit.

They make great diaper pails.  If you are using a wet diaper pail, please use a secure lid to prevent infants and children from accidental drowning. 

When labeled accordingly, "Beans & Lentils" they are awesome for storing stocking stuffers in.  No child is going to try to figure out the bucket lid remover to get to beans and lentils.

Visit LifeasMom.com for many more frugal tips that smart readers like yourself are sharing.  Please leave a comment and let me know if you're participating too so I can read your handy tip!

7 comments:

Leslie said...

Such good tips!

But I think the anti-bucket devil out there is trying to keep me away from free buckets. I went to BOTH Safeway and Walmart today and forgot (again!!!) to ask for buckets. And it's not because I'm shy, my mind just keeps spacing out or something.

Cheeseboy said...

Cheeseboy approves of this post. (Because of the cheese involved)

Niki Jolene said...

These are really good tips. I'll admit the post title had me a bit skeptical, but the tips are both winners.

:)

Ashley Pichea [PicheaPlace.com] said...

Wow... great tips! Thanks for sharing!!

Lenetta said...

I picked up a couple of buckets (not free - couldn't find them around here big enough!) to store wheat, but once I got home, I realized that they'd held dill pickles and smell quite pickle-y. Will this affect the wheat once I grind it? I filled one, and am working at de-stinking the other two... and the good news is that I married a farmer, so there's plenty more where it came from if it does end up tasting like dill. :>)

Nikki said...

Lenetta- I'm not sure about the pickle smell affecting the wheat. We used to get raw milk in gallon jars that used to hold pickles. It didn't affect the milk taste at all. But these buckets are plastic. And it's difficult to get things out of plastic. If I do find out I'll be sure to let you know.

Unknown said...

I love that you use it to hide presents!! I have heard of hiding cookie dough in the freezer by marking the container - liver or some such appetizing thing!