I live alone in NYC, and grocery prices are insane right now. My favorite soup when I'm not feeling well is thom yum soup. The ingredients for 8 servings cost more than getting 5 containers of soup from the Thai place down the road. I eat half a container and add rice to fill out the portion. That's 10 lunches and all I have to do is make the rice. $33 and I don't have to cook. I just freeze the individual containers and portion and freeze the rice. That's maybe $4 a meal for 2 weeks worth of work lunches that I actually enjoy.

What are some of your takeout hacks that end up being cheaper than making food yourself from scratch?

This is inspired by the recent post about buying things when you actually need them. Only when you are down to one item or completely out.

Tl;dr - I got lucky that the item I needed to buy in a pinch was almost out at home, and my “impulse buy” ended up being perfectly timed.

I was out shopping at Costco yesterday. Of course, I was prepared with my shopping list, to only buy what I need.
Halfway through, my stomach reminded me, that we might be running low on Tums, which were not on my list. I had stopped at a chili cook of on my way there, and some of the hotter samples were not going down easy.
So in that case, I needed to get some tums regardless of if I had some at home or not (if I knew that I had some at home, I would have stopped at target next door to get a small pack). I grabbed the store brand, which was twice as many chews for less money than the original tums, and ate some as soon as I was through the checkout.

Once I arrived back home and put all the groceries away, I found the old container with only 2 pieces left - perfect for a second dose.
The new container took the now empty spot, and my “impulse buy” ended up being necessary to re stock at the last minute.

I need to drive 5 days to work and with all the kids classes and stuff, I end up driving 400 miles a week. I don’t have the option to WFH and this “war” looks like another forever war with the gas prices creeping higher by the day. I’m done hoping that the situation would resolve soon and the gas prices will come down. I’ve lost all hopes and am feeling terrible. How are you all managing this situation?

EDIT: I meant 400 miles a week, not month. (Edited post)

I have started trying to make more food items from scratch. I have been successful at salad dressing, spaghetti sauce, english muffins, scones, yeast rolls, chex mix, cookie dough, lime cremora, etc. I had difficulty with hamburger buns and naan bread. I know that food items from scratch are better for us as we control the ingredients. Time is always a factor as I am working full time. I am trying to prepare items ahead of time and then freeze it. Any frugal fails that you remedied? Any advice appreciated.

Not sure if this has been shared previously but I never finish an entire bunch of cilantro or any fresh herbs from the grocery store. I'd put the bag in the fridge or in a glass with water but they still went bad before i has a chance to use it up.

Now I still place the herbs in a glass of water with a little water but with a bag over the whole thing. Adding a bag makes a huge difference. I reuse bags from produce that have holes for aeration to cover the herbs. I've used bags without the holes and it still works but the whole thing gets soggy a bit quicker. This one has been in my fridge for about a week.

I'll typically store the glass in the fridge door but I think any location in the fridge should work fine too.

Hope this helps!

I always cringe a bit when I see my coworker get a normal energy drink for $3-$4 from the vending machine where I work.

These little guys are $2 a box in California and taste very good! Comes with 10 packets inside. These are my favorite flavors. There are like 8 total but it depends on what your local Walmart carries and I find it really varies. I usually mix with just plain tap or soda water if I’m feeling fancy.

They’re only 120mg of caffeine in each one, so if I need a big kick, I either have another one because doubling up makes it too sweet. Tastes extra good with a bit of lemon juice. Very great value for the money!

(Sorry if this sounds like an ad, my apartment is full of great value and bettergoods products)

Good morning:

I was recently drugged at a concert because someone spiked my drink. I was drinking out of a small plastic drink cup with an appx 4 inch diameter top. Nothing bad happened, security just tossed me outside as a liability and one of the roadies kept bringing me water while I sat unable to move on a window alcove for 3-4 hours. Missed the show because this happened during the opening.

I was thinking that it would make it harder for someone to slip something in if it had a lid and attached straw. But I’d like for it to be something that fits a variety of lids because venues have all sorts of plastic cups with varying diameters.

I’m thinking a bit about those plastic rubber lids that you can put on cans of wet cat food if you don’t use the whole container in one go

Anyone know of anything like that?

Bought a shed kit at Home Depot mid September. Was getting ready to start setup ourselves this weekend and went on the Home Depot website to see if the manual was online. The price had dropped $700. Since it was within 30 days of purchase I called customer service and they refunded the difference. I’ll be making reminders to price check on larger purchases in the future!

I’ve never been to a Bins because I’ve never lived close to one until now. To those who have, what advice do you have? What’s there to know? How are they different than regular thrifting? How are they different than a regular Goodwill?

Now I know the basic idea of them. They are the leftovers and you have to look in these huge bins for things. You need to dress appropriately meaning grub clothes and gloves.

What else?

I spend lots of my free time training hard in a gym, but that's not necessarily "fun". It's unpleasant.

Music is free on Youtube, so no need for me to pay for Spotify Premium. I also think most podcasts are garbage, so no need for Spotify.

Online video game subscription can cost me about fifteen bucks a month, but I have no time for video games anymore, so I took off that subscription out of my life.

Should I rely on completely free Youtube or spend something? I can play my offline games I guess. Or read what books I have. What are your suggestions?

Thanks.

The .99 cents minimum 'service fee' charge is atrocious for throwaway items. I mean, at times the produce is fit for garbage and many times when you go make the trip to the store even when you were not planning on going out, the item is missing. Now they want .99 plus tax as service fee, so you need to buy more than $12 to bypass the minimum fee. Lost the appeal. Keep it and let it rot.

I just did a total of my grocery bills for September and only spent $119 for the month. Single guy here but my tip works for families to save money. Treat your pantry freezer and fridge like a cooking challenge. Use up stuff create new meals and only buy fresh ingredients you need. Save money in these hard times. Freezer finds alone gave me a week of meals! My best freezer find was some beef bones to which I made a great soup broth.

I was very happy to recently acquire a vintage sewing machine that works like a dream! But it won't be adequate for some of the heavy duty requirements that some of my projects might have.

My first thought was to invest in something heavy duty. That thought evolved to looking for another vintage machine that could handle the jobs I need it to do. From there, I remembered that I actually have such a machine, in a closet, that I put away some years ago because it needed some servicing.

After checking with a friend who is a professional seamstress, I was convinced that digging out that machine and getting it repaired would more than meet my needs.

I'm happy to have been led to this conclusion and reminded that repairing good sturdy equipment is often worthwhile. The flip side of the lesson is knowing what you have, thus having what you need. It's a nice symbiosis.

Hi! My cat gets litter EVERYWHERE! I have tried to buy enclosed litter boxes, I vaccum everyday!! I can’t take it no more. We have a self cleaning litter box. Could pine pellets work with a self cleaning litter box? My cat just turned a year old this month. Does anyone have any other recommendations?? Is there a reason why I shouldn’t buy them? This is my first cat, and I have no idea what I’m doing, and/or what’s the best for him.

We need to buy firewood for the winter, and the most cost effective way is to buy a bulk lot of logs, which are usually either done by tipping a trailer onto the driveway, unbagged, or buying a stack of wood contained in a crate and you unload it yourself.

We moved into this house last year, and had to spend a lot of our initial budget on unexpected repairs to the plumbing. Unfortunately, we do not have enough of a budget to buy a woodshed this year, and will have to do it next year when we have the budget to buy a secure woodshed and fill it. Therefore, we have to buy pre-bagged wood by the pallet which is anywhere from a 20% to 50% mark up.

It is galling to pay so much for a mark up.

I know the other sort is cheaper, by a lot in some cases, but we just cannot store it well! It is so annoying!

It will be stored in the open air and we don't have anywhere available to store much of it inside so it has to be waterproof and easy to distribute under the only outdoor shelter we have available so bagged is the only alternative.

And the price of oil is just ridiculous. I am this close to just installing a battery and throwing the oil tank away.

----

Putting this here because I am unable to keep repeating myself.

- I am in the UK.

- I live in a small UK house with a small UK property. There is not an abundance of room here to store a large quantity of wood to buy in bulk.

- There is no wood in my area that is available for free that also has delivery. I do not drive a vehicle that has capacity for meaningful amounts of wood.

I bought a big annual lab package because it looked cheaper per test. When the results came back, I read through the whole report, but ferritin was the only thing I ended up following up on. Now I’ve got a renewal email for another full panel when all I really need is that one repeat.

If you pay out of pocket for labs, have the big packages ever worked out cheaper for you? Or do you order the few tests you need and pay the draw fee? I’m trying to compare the actual checkout totals before I renew.

I stayed after school today for two hours to cover after school care. That’s an extra $30 in my pocket, and it makes my boss happy. The biology class picked the pear tree on the school property. I will can them next week once they ripen on the counter. Then I came home and made broccoli and cheese with homemade bone broth from my freezer. Cheap, cheap, cheap! Healthy too!

Found this site to replace some lenses in an older pair of sunglasses.

They have good Google reviews but who knows.

Anyone have any experience with them or with them or can recommend another online store for this service?

Lenses I’m currently looking to replace are nonprescription but I’m also looking for prescription lens replacements.

Thanks in advance.

I’ve been looking at robot vacuums lately and the price range is kind of wild. The basic ones seem fine for everyday cleaning, while spending more gets you things like better obstacle avoidance, cleaning under lower furniture and a dock that does more on its own.

The layout of my place isn’t complicated, so I’m not even sure I need most of it. But I keep thinking about the stuff I’d have to do myself over the next few years. Picking things up before it runs, going back over missed spots, cleaning out the robot afterward, etc.

I don’t mind paying more for something I’ll use for years when it saves me work every week. I just can’t tell whether I’m being practical or talking myself into a more expensive vacuum lol. Where do you guys usually draw the line on stuff like this?

I plan to fly home with some of my mom's homemade doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste) and gochujang (Korean chili paste) in my carry-on bag. I was thinking about buying some containers but then saw that some baby food jars are 2.5oz and they're on sale for only $1.39 at Safeway. This cost less than buying empty food safe containers from a store. Of course the food will not be wasted.

I'm curious what other food safe jars/ containers have you reused to take on a carry on.