Are your herbs growing faster than you can use them? A flourishing herb plant is a good thing, however having so many that waste occurs, is not. The good news is, there are plenty of ways to preserve your herbs and get a longer life out of them. This is especially helpful if you live in an area where you can’t grow herbs year round. Take a look below at some helpful ways to preserve your herbs and have them available to you all year long.
Tips for Preserving Herbs
Freeze them.
To freeze your herbs all you need to do is break them apart while fresh and place them in ice cube trays. Add a little water, filling the tray about half way full. Freeze the tray and when you need some herbs in your cooking, all you need to do is pop a cube out and toss it in. Cool!
Press them.
You can press herbs between pieces of wax paper and store them in a cool place if you wish. While they don’t last as long this way as they would if you froze them, it will still help extend their life. This way is especially helpful if you want to use the herb in its original leafy form, such as in a salad or dip.
Dry them.
You can always take the old fashioned route and dry your herbs. Gather them into a small bouquet and tie them with string at the end. Hang them upside down in a cool and dark place until dry. This can take anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks. To use, just crumble and toss in your favorite dish.
Add them to oil.
You can take fresh herb sprigs and toss them directly into your bottle of olive oil to create infused oil. This works especially well with basil. In no time the flavor will spread throughout the oil giving it a gourmet taste!
Infuse your beverages.
If your herbs are about to go bad and you need to use them quickly, you can infuse your beverages with them. Just clean the herbs and toss them into your teas, lemonades, and fruit drinks. They will infuse the beverage and even stay good for several days this way. See this post for 7 Infused Water Recipes.
Don’t let those herbs go to waste. Give these tips a try and prolong their life easily!
It's garage sale season once again! They're a great way to get together with some friends and make a few extra bucks on the things you no longer need. In case you've been wanting to tread the waters of holding your own garage sale, I have a list of 10 tips for a great garage sale that was compiled by reader tips from an old blog I once had. (which is no longer in existence.) The following tips are what they had to say:
10 Tips for a Great Garage Sale:
Craigslist and Kijiji are great ways to sell the bigger ticket items and to advertise for your yard sale.
Get a pack of those dot stickers (available from the dollar store), and assign every color a price. Post the list of prices on your garage, along with "will negotiate."
Price things low and offer deals on matching sets of things. I also agree to put up signs that say "will negotiate". Start early... people who are big into garage sales start early, around 8 am.
I would say make sure that the prices are low enough to make people want to buy things. Also, rather than pricing things individually, put out tables where everything is $0.50 or $1.00 etc. It makes your job preparing the yard sale a lot easier.
I would use Craigslist or Kijiji for the big items. If you are having a yard sale borrow tables so that everything is up high so people can see it easily. Hang all clothes. Price everything and remember that it is a yard sale, people aren't willing to pay close to full price even if things are like new. Use big bright signs and have lots of small change.
You might want to consider asking friends to bring their stuff to the sale. It has been my experience that everyone does better if there is more to sell. We have just put our initials on the price tag and kept a running list when people are paying and just write CC $1.00 or DD $0.50 then divide it up at the end of the day. Also, we never do anything less than $0.25. Makes giving change easier.
Depends on your aim...do you want to get good money, or do you just want the stuff gone? If you want to make good money, stick to your pricing and don't be too easy to negotiate with. If you want it gone, being willing to negotiate, be willing to group things, price a bit lower. Start as early as possible. Around here, people start coming at 7am. Best sales I find are between 7-10 a.m. My general rule of thumb is to put things that are similar together. Put a price tag of half to a third more than what you think you can get for it and if someone looks interested, but unsure say "hey, want to make a deal on that?" Stuff that you are less willing to just "get rid of", put a reasonable price on it and stick to that price until at least 10 am then negotiate.
Keep a smiling face on all day - and negotiate, but don't let yourself be pressured into giving up stuff for less than you want. although any money for it is good when it's just been taking up your space. Have a money apron on so that you have change right with you so that if you're not at your central table, you can still make that deal right there. Hoard grocery bags for a little while so that you have some to give away, just a little thing that makes people like your sale, and maybe tell someone else. We always sell food as well - krispy kreme doughnuts for a quarter, or free with any purchase over $5.00. Go in with friends. I never have a sale just by myself - at least three friends. That way, there's more stuff and more variety. If it's just a baby clothes sale, it's not going to generate as much traffic as baby clothes, furniture, books, tools, knick knacks, etc...
Advertise! Even simple things like brightly colored signs on your main roads can make a huge difference. I tend to price things fairly low and keep the prices until mid morning. Yes, I will allow bargaining, but not too much right away, because the sale is just getting started. You really do not need to have a long sale either, 4 hours or so from 8-12 should do it. Unless you can get in on a neighborhood sale, then stay open longer. It can help to say that everything will be half price the last hour too, if you really want to move things. I have to keep telling myself that I do not want these things anymore and the point is to get rid of them and so therefore, be willing to take lower prices than you had originally intended. I love to find a great deal at yard sales, and like to see others walk away from mine feeling like they scored a treasure too!
Try to have one of the first garage sales in your city. All the bargain hunters will be raring to go after having the winter off!
Allan has a question he’s hoping some of you can help answer! Specifically those of you in the Maritime provinces:
I read your “about me” page and saw you mention Dave Ramsey… I am not sure how much you are “in” to Dave Ramsey’s program, but I have a question for you. I am wondering if you know of any personal finance investors in the Maritime Provinces who follow Dave’s model of investment in mutual funds? On the Dave Ramsey website, one can find “Endorsed Local Providers” (ELPs) who have taken Dave’s course and who Dave has vetted and trusts; however, he does not have any relationships with Canadian personal finance people and, therefore, has no ELPs in Canada. Just wondering if you are aware of any?
Have you ever wondered how much money you can save when you grow your own herbs? The truth is, you can save a significant amount by growing your own as opposed to buying them at your local grocery store. And just think, with all of that money you save, you can buy that new patio chair you wanted, or perhaps some more flowers to beautify the yard. Take a look below at how the savings can break down for you and how much you can pocket after just one growing season.
First, let’s look at the cost of fresh herbs via your grocery store:
At my local grocery store, a small package of fresh basil is about $3. The cost of a basil plant at my local farmer’s market or greenhouse is $2. As it grows throughout the season, I can easily pick off three times that amount of leaves. So to buy 30 leaves fresh at my grocer it would be $9. Growing it on my own it costs $2.
Now, let’s look at the costs associated with growing your herbs:
To grow your herbs you will need some pots or land, soil, and fertilizer if you desire. You will also need to water regularly. While these supplies do cost money, they are not necessarily expensive and a little goes a long way. You can rest assured that growing your own herbs is inexpensive and does not take any real chunk of money out of your budget.
And remember, you only pick what you need:
When you grow your own herbs, you don’t pick them until you need them and you only pick what you need. This way, you avoid waste. If you bought a package of fresh herbs at your grocery store, you may not get to them all at once and some will certainly end up in the garbage. That’s like throwing money away! When you grow your own, you avoid this and only pick and use what you need for a particular recipe.
Over the course of a growing season, suppose you planted five herb plants at $2 each. For about $10, those five plants can easily grow $30 or more of fresh herbs. That is a wonderful investment and return on your money.
Try growing your own herbs and you will not only eat fresher, you will save money in the process.
One of the biggest ways you can waste money is to let produce go bad before you use it. This often happens when we buy too much of something, get too busy to use it as intended or even forget about it in our fridge. It is almost maddening to open the fridge and see produce you now have to toss in the garbage because it has gone bad. Here are some tips for using up produce when you know you won’t be able to use it up in time for what you bought it for instead of tossing it in the garbage.
Tips for Using up Produce Before it Goes Bad:
Use your freezer.
If you have onions or peppers that are turning over-ripe, dice them and place them in zipper bags in the freezer. The freezer will stop the ripening process and it will allow you to use the vegetables for things like omelets, casseroles and slow cooker meals in the future.
Get Creative with bananas.
Pretty much everyone knows that over ripe bananas are perfect for banana bread, but you can also use them for pancakes or for thickening up milkshakes. Just cut the bananas into chunks and flash freeze by placing on a cookie sheet for a few hours and then storing in plastic freezer bags.
Start a compost pile.
If you have scraps from vegetables or fruit or you have some produce that is totally unsalvageable, this is the perfect start of a compost pile. Composting is great for gardeners as well as just fertilizing bushes, trees and even your lawn.
Over-ripe produce is perfect for soups.
No one will know the difference. Soups are historically known for being created out of need to use leftovers. In fact, some of the best soups ever made were made up just from what people have at home needing to be used up.
Fruit that is starting to go bad or is bruised can be used for pies, tarts, sauces and compotes.
Simply throwing some apples in a small slow cooker with some seasonings is all it takes to make a delicious applesauce.
If you are a big fan of smoothies, don’t go out and buy expensive frozen fruit for them.
Instead, look for ways to turn discounted produce at the store and fruit like bananas, berries and pineapple that you have at home into smoothie-ready chunks in your freezer.
Don’t assume that because part of the fruit or veggie is bad, all of it is.
With some fruits like berries, this is usually true, but with many, it isn’t, and you can use part of the vegetable or fruit with no problem. We are so used to buying produce that isn’t blemished or bruised that we think one that is, is no good any more.
Make Homemade baby food.
If you have a baby who is on solids, produce that is starting to turn (but is not moldy) or is bruised is perfect to make baby food with. Just stick it in a food processor and you have homemade baby food ready to go.
One way to avoid having produce waste is to only buy it as you need it or shop organic or local. While it may seem more expensive this way, it actually saves you a lot of money if you are the type that throws out produce frequently because it will have a longer shelf life in general.
I’ve got a question for you today! I’ve been doing a bit of daydreaming lately, specifically about things I want to do here at Simply Frugal. So yesterday while I was driving around town, I was thinking about you all. So…:
I’m Wondering: What skill(s) do you wish you knew that could impact your finances positively?
This could be budgeting skills, sewing skills, canning skills, learning to have fun without spending…etc
