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One Hundred Dollars a Month

I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Easy Kitchen Tips – How to Keep Salt from Hardening

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 how-to-keep-salt-from-hardening

Do you ever go to refill the salt shaker only to find your salt has hardened and clumped into a large thudding mass?  I used to just shake it, vigorously, until I needed to dim the lights and throw back an aspirin, but then a friend told me to put rice {just a grain or two}  in your salt shaker to absorb condensation and keep salt from hardening.

I did, and guess what?  No more clumping–just smooth pouring salty goodness.

~Mavis

Salt A World History
Salt: A World History

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How to Store Fresh Basil

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how to store fresh basil

The other day a friend asked me if I knew that you weren’t supposed to refrigerate basil.

Um, no I did not.  I guess I have actually never thought about how to store basil because I grow my own and I usually just cut it as I want to use it.  She told me the produce guy at her grocery store said it affects the flavor and texture when you stick fresh basil in the fridge.

Huh, who knew?

So, in case you didn’t know either, Mr. Produce Guy suggests that if you are not using it right away, don’t just pull off the leaves, cut it off at the base of the stem.  Then keep it in a vase or jar of tepid water on the counter.  It will last several days and maintain its flavor.

How easy is that?

Do you store your basil this way too?

~Mavis

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Kitchen Tip – How to Get the Most Juice from a Lemon

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How to Get the Most Juice from a Lemon

You probably already know how much I love Meyer lemons, but if not, let me be very clear:  I LOVE THEM.  I would bathe in lemon juice if it were socially acceptable and didn’t dry my skin out.  So, whenever I make anything that calls for lemon juice and I have fresh lemons on hand, I microwave my lemons first.

Heating the lemon releases almost twice the juice {you can put it in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds if you prefer that to the microwave}, which means you need less lemons for each recipe.  Less lemons means less money.  {I am really good at math.}

So next time life hands you lemons, heat them, and make even more lemonade.

Wahoooo!

~Mavis

the lemon book

Want to learn more about lemons? Check out The Lemon Book.

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Easy Kitchen Tip – Restoring Frozen Breads Freshness

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Easy Kitchen Tip Restoring Frozen Breads Freshness

Do you freeze your bread?  Whenever I am in the area, I always stop at the Oroweat Outlet and stock up on any good deals.  The only thing is that sometimes freezing the bread, even when I’ve wrapped it well, dries it out a bit.

I was telling Girly Girl about this and she offered this little trick:  take the bread out of the plastic, wrap it in a damp tea towel and store it in the fridge overnight.  When you’re ready to use it, remove it from the fridge, take off the tea towel, wrap it in foil and warm it in the oven at 200 degrees for 5-10 minutes.  Supposedly, it is good as new!

Have you ever tried this? Do you have another tip?

~Mavis

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Mavis Butterfield Etsy