Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on May 22, 2009

By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone

MSNBC Poll of the Day, May 22, 2009:

Are you going out of town for the Memorial Day holiday? Results in graph below:

For all of you on limited budgets who are in the 62% “No” category (my family is in that category, too), the three-day holiday may seem a bit depressing. What can you do that won’t cost a small fortune? Go to the movies? Too expensive. Go to the beach? Not possible in Kansas or Utah. Go to the museum? Maybe another time. Go to Disney World? Are you kidding me? Save money and gas and just kick back at home? Yeah, that’s the plan, regrettably.

If you’re doing the latter, check out the Frugal Café main website links below. Even during this recession, you CAN save significant money without too much pain and effort.

We all have to eat, and eating well on a shoestring budget can make a big difference in how much money we can save, thus giving us more wiggle room on paying for other necessities.

Learning some cheap, creative food preparation tricks is good for your morale. Most people going through financial hardship fear being relegated to eating rice and beans for days on end. This recession may be taking a toll on your bank account, but you should be able to prepare hearty, healthy, tasty, inexpensive meals every day of the week. You will also save a great deal of money in the kitchen by learning from the pros… maybe save more money cooking for your family (or just yourself) than you ever dreamed was possible.

Spending some time reading simple, unique ways to save money and time in the kitchen will be thrifty and inspirational, especially if the information comes from the likes of cooking legends Gordon Ramsay, Paula Deen, Wolfgang Puck, Michel Roux, Rachael Ray, Julia Child, Jeff Smith, Tom Colicchio, and Jamie Oliver, plus others.

Cooking Secrets of… Gordon Ramsay, Julia Child, & Jamie Oliver

The “Chefs’ Culinary Secrets & Kitchen Philosophies” section on the Frugal Café main site is always growing. Whenever possible, I watch and take notes of taped episodes of cooking shows hosted by well-known chefs or talk show interviews with them. I peruse countless magazines and cookbooks. Finally, I compile the chefs’ secrets to saving time and saving money when cooking and put them on the website.

Eating well doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot. Expensive food fare rarely makes its way into the Frugal Café. Sometimes a simple tip about preparing a pricey dish may be included. But not often… frugality is always the primary objective.

Fill your head over the Memorial Day weekend with some new frugal knowledge about food prepping and food purchasing from celebrity chefs. Then, spend some time puttering in the kitchen, trying out a few of the chefs’ secrets. Involve your kids. Make a cheap masterpiece for dinner.

Your wallet will be happy. And your tastebuds, too.

Other frugal-minded posts and ponderings:
Suddenly Frugal: Freebie Friday Memorial Day Week
Semi Frugal Guy: Semi Frugal Guy’s Organic Garden
Michelle Malkin: Friday fun: Conservative rebels in blue jeans and Frugal Shoe Friday! and Recessionista: The cost of MichelleO’s commencement appearance
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Obama’s Recession Forces Frugal Living & Increases Patriotism in America, Frugal Café Offers Money-Saving Ideas and Thrifty Tips and Conspicuous Consumption: Jennifer Aniston’s $88,000 Hair Style Could’ve Paid off My Mortgage
Frugal Dreamer: Grocery Spending for the next 2 weeks!
Consuming PR: Thrift Store Sales Rise Above Economy
Scared Monkeys: Michelle Obama … It’s in the Shoes… Especially Those $540 Lanvin sneakers… Nice Image in Face of Depression… Let them wear Keds
The Christian Science Monitor: Green shopping: Don’t say ‘eww,’ to thrift stores
Frugal Babe: Wow, That Only Leaves $277/Month For Everything Else
Notes From The Frugal Trenches: Day 3 – the one with no electricity!
A Frugal Living Blog by a Frugal Guy: Beware the Anti-Frugal and Frugal Meats
The Frugal Girl: Food Waste Friday-May 22nd

Categories: Conservatism, Entertainment, Celebrities, Food, Drink, Frugal Kitchen Tricks, Frugal Shopping Info, Government, Health, Holidays and Family, Thrifty Advice
Tags: cheap cooking, chef, chef secrets, chefs' secrets, chefs' tips, cooking, cooking instruction, cooking secrets, cooking tips, financial hardship, food bill, food budget, food savings, frugal, frugal tips, frugality, Gordon Ramsay, grocery shopping, healthy eating, holiday weekend, home cooking, Jamie Oliver, Jeff Smith, Julia Child, kitchen tips, Memorial Day, Michel Roux, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, recession, save cash, save money, spend less, thrifty, Tom Colicchio, Wolfgang Puck