Shopping at Garage Sales

Today was another lovely day in Anchorage. The reason I haven't been updating much is that I've been enjoying the sun. This day was a little overcast, but light, fluffy clouds in a blue sky with moments of shade. My daughter and I have been trying to take walks daily, and today I suggested "Let's look for garage sales!" - not the way my husband does it, which is to ask me to look at the paper, find the ones we should go to, then working out the most effective route. We just picked a direction and started walking.

Some tips on walking around for garage sales:

• Wear comfortable shoes and socks. Seriously, I have a blister on the bottom of my foot. 
• Bring cash, in singles and fives
• Bring a bag!
• Dicker! Part of the fun of garage sales is dickering. Remember, people want to get rid of the stuff, and are usually willing to dicker.
• Carry a list of sizes for people in your family- I do this anyway because I'm the primary clothing/shoe buyer for my whole family, and you never know when you're going to find a great deal on something just right.
• Think seasonally- just because it's 75 degrees out, if you live in Alaska, at some point, you're going to need sweaters.
• Look at crafty possibilities
• Don't buy just because it's a great price.
• If you see something you just can't carry home but you have to have, ask if they are willing to hold it for you. 

We found two garage sales. One of them had an unused hot water bottle in a cute teddy bear cozy. The people holding that sale thought it was hopelessly old-fashioned, and it had been a gift to them. Just so happens, we've been planning to buy a hot water bottle.

The second one was the bonanza for my family.  They had lots of DVDs including seasons of shows we didn't have and do enjoy. I found a copy of Jack of All Trades for my husband. It was the only Bruce Campbell show we didn't have. TG was thrilled to find Star Trek: The Animated Series. They also had partitioned trays for kids meals in great, super cute shape (I like them for bead projects), and a cute, small pink knitting loom set. Just as we were leaving, we spotted a steampunk looking little cricket sculpture for my son. We wound up with 1 movie, 5 tv seasons, 3 trays and the knitting loom kit  and the cricket for $22.00. Yay! Since Jack of All Trades was something we were planning to buy anyway and it's about 20 dollars on Amazon, it was a great deal.  

When it was all over, we had walked about 2.5 miles, got some good exercise and had a lot of fun together. We stopped at the coffee stand by our house on the way home, where a bikini clad barista made us perfect iced lattes. 

Here are some printable signs for your own garage sale in 100 dpi jpg format. They can be colored in, or you could print on Astrobrights paper. The image at the top of this is also in 100 dpi if you want to click on it to print a larger version. Because garage sales are awesome!

9 Bottom of the Jar Ideas

Since we are on such a tight budget, like so many other people, I'm remembering some of the ways I economized when I was on a ramen budget, and techniques my mother and grandmother used as well. Here's a list of some of my favorite "Bottom of the Jar" recipes ideas. They use what's left in the bottom of a jar. A lot of them use instant powdered milk, my mom always kept it on hand for baking and cooking, and I do the same. It's less expensive per gallon, especially when you buy it in bulk, keeps well, and is always ready to use.

• Orange marmalade, lemon curd and other citrus spreads are wonderful as a chicken glaze- Put in a half cup of very hot water and cover, shake well. You can also add a half cup of orange juice. Season your chicken and pour the glaze over it.
• Berry jam ice pops using jams and jellies- This was one of my favorite thrifty treats as a kid. Put a 1/4 cup of instant dry milk powder in the jar and add a cup of very hot water, cover,shake well and pour into ice pop molds or ice cube trays. If you're using ice cube trays, cover with plastic wrap and poke toothpicks through the plastic wrap for sticks. 
• Make a cup of beef or chicken boullion, pour into a sour cream container, cover and shake well. Pour over noodles.
• Mix 1 tsp. sugar, 1 tsp. Worcestershire and 1/4 cup vinegar. pour into ketchup bottle and shake well. Serve over leftover rice and meatballs for a quick lunch.
• Cherry jellies, jams and preserves, apple butter and apple sauce work great on pork chops as a glaze. Mix with hot water or hot water and vinegar if you like a vinegar tang.
• 1/2 cup hot water and 2 Tbs of instant dry milk in a peanut butter jar to make a peanut sauce to add to strawberry smoothies- one of my daughter's ideas! 
• Pumpkin butter OR Nutella plus 1/2 cup-1 cup hot water and a 1/4 cup instant dry milk, cover and shake well to make a great ice cream sauce.
• Spaghetti sauce jar and a cup of water- add to ramen for cooking! Top with cheese.
• 1/4-1/2 cup hot water or a mix of hot water and vinegar with salad dressings, serve over hot vegetables or use as a marinade for grilling.

Feel free to add your own bottom of the jar tricks in comments!

Book Review- Ramen to the Rescue

Ramen to the Rescue : Over 100 Creative Recipes for Easy Meals Using Everyone's Favorite Pack of Noodles by Jessica Harlan is a cookbook filled with recipes for everything from appetizers to dessert using ramen noodles.

There are no finished food photos in the book, so it's not a cookbook for the people who love cookbooks filled with full colored photos. It's recipes. Lots and lots of recipes.

I've done a lot of what I thought was creative ramen cooking. This book showed me how much more could be done with these noodles.

When you're in a hurry, when you know you want to have a real meal but don't want to spend too much time cooking, when you're just saving money by eating at home, this is a great go-to book for recipes.

My son tried this one out for me. He went through the book and marked all the recipes he wanted to try. Then he made up a shopping list and made the family dinner.  He picked a beef and mushroom stew for the first recipe he tried. Doubling the recipe and using minute steaks instead of the flank steak called for, he made stew for the 4 of us for under 10 dollars, and it was so good that my husband went back for seconds.

We've tried a few more of the main course recipes since then. Most of the recipes take under a half hour to prepare and lots of vegetables and small meat servings make them economical.

A lot of Asian style recipes make this book absolutely delightful for my family, especially my son. The Spicy Peanut Noodle Wraps can be made with ingredients we usually have on hand, and he likes those so much more than peanut butter sandwiches.

There are also many salad recipes that would make great summer lunches.  Since most of them have minimal cooking, they won't heat up your kitchen too much.

Clear, easy to follow instructions, wonderful variety of flavors and ideas. It proves that while ramen is still a very inexpensive choice for meals, it can also be used in a lot of ways for more grownup meals, even many things you could serve to guests at a dinner party.

Recommended for anyone who is looking for cookbooks with quick and easy cooking, and as a gift to young people going off to college or to follow their dreams.

You can get this book from directly from the publisher, Ulysses Press  My reviews are always my personal and honest opinion. You can read more about my review policy here.