Disposable Plastic Sandwich Bag Alternatives that Actually Keep Food Fresh

I try to use reusable products over disposables as much as I can to reduce our household waste. I have a ton of workable replacements for plastic wrap but I cannot find a decent reusable snack bag.

The zippered and Velcro reusable snack bags just do not keep food fresh. Call me a snob but stale by lunchtime pretzels and sandwich bread are not something I’m into, especially when I’m in an area that everyone around me can order a fabulous meal and I’m stuck with the food allergy safe food I brought from home.

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Roasted Turkey Bacon Maple Brussel Sprouts Recipe

One of my favorite holiday events is an annual charity friends and family turkey dinner. The host place makes turkey and stuffing and everyone is encouraged to bring a dessert or side dish. It is a fantastic evening filled with wonderful and caring people who Bring It when it comes to the potluck side of things.

So I, like most of my friends attending, decided to go BIG when a vegetable side dish, that per usual looks fancy pants and difficult to make but is a quick and easy recipe for Lazy Chefs like me.
I used turkey bacon in this recipe because I wasn’t sure if there were anyone attending the dinner who didn’t eat pork. It tastes great but feel free to use pork bacon if that’s what you have on hand if you like.

Pin this yummy recipe for later! Be sure to share it with your friends!

How to Cook Bacon Brussel Sprouts with a Maple Syrup Reduction

Champagne Cupcakes with Vegan Buttercream Icing Recipe

My sister made me the BEST birthday present – a Doctor Who fabric apron! I figured the best way to break it in is bake cupcakes.

But not just any cupcakes - let’s make champagne cupcakes!

With a diary food allergy most baked goods are off limits unless I make them, just like this recipe - dairy free (you can make it vegan by swapping out the eggs for your favorite vegan egg substitute plant based friends.)

Using the power of my new apron (OK, actually it was after conducting several kitchen experiments but my clothes stayed icing free so yay apron!)  I made a fantastic dairy free buttercream icing recipe that tastes so good to my non food allergy friends, I got this little message from one of the Thanksgiving guests:

“Seriously, these cupcakes are making my lonely Thanksgiving a wonderful lovely holiday… but these treats meet and exceed how awesome anything dessert would be.”

Who wants cupcakes?

How to Make Champagne Cupcakes

The Best Gift Ideas for People Who are Always Cold!

Influenced by a unseasonable cold snap and freezing while I shuffled around the house while wearing many layers, I put together a holiday gift guide for people who work outside in the cold, inside a cold building, or just like the snuggle up at home when it it cold outside.

 Because yes, my friends, I am that person who is always cold!




Pop on ovr to my DIY blog Condo Blues to read:

18 Gift Ideas for People Who Are Always Cold

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25 Unique Gift Ideas Under 25 Dollars

If you ask a group of people what makes the perfect gift, chances are every person you ask will give you a different description. Some like funny gag gifts, others like something homemade or meaningful, some like unique or extravagant, while others demand practical presents which can be tough to do on a budget.

But not impossible!

My guide has something for every one on your give giving list whether it be a co worker, boss, or teacher, to the man, woman, or finicky teen in your life.

Pin this list of ideas for later and to share with your friends!

How to Cook a Butternut Squash in an Instant Pot in Six Minutes or Less!

As much as I like to eat winter squashes I rarely cook them. Butternut, acorn, Hubbard, pumpkin, and spaghetti squash take almost an hour of baking  time in the oven before they are ready to put into a recipe. Frankly, I don’t think that far ahead when it come to making daily dinner meal plans. 

So no fall and winter squash for Lisa – until now.

Hello old friend. Nice to see you in my kitchen so often!

 One kitchen experiment later, I now know I can pressure cook a hard squash in 5 to 6 minutes. 

Woo hoo! Winter squash for everyone!

12 Money Saving Tips I Forget to Follow

I like to stream movies and TV shows while I sew. I fell head first into watching all of the BBC Victorian Farm series (learn more about it here) shows while working on two massive costuming projects. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience)

If you aren’t familiar with the series, Victorian Farm is about three British historians who run a farm for a year according to the Victorian, Edwardian, and Stuart time periods as everyday people. The thing the history nerd in me likes about this show is that the historians are vested in following the practices of the era to find out if what is written in history books is true and what is really was like. Unlike living history reality shows like Frontier House (you can read about it here) where the goal seems to be to throw modern day people into a period living situation to watch them freak out and cheat because it is a harder life than they thought.

A big part of farm life is living seasonally and I’m unconsciously following suit. On my last couple of grocery shopping trips and such I found myself falling back into some good frugal habits and seasonal tips I let fall by the way side.

I hope that by writing down some of the easy ways I saved extra money and sharing them with you I’ll remember to make them a regular habit – I hope.

 Pin this list of frugal hacks for later and to share with your friends!

12 Simple Frugal Hacks You Shouldn’t Forget to Do

15 Non Electric Thermal Slow Cooker Recipes You Have to Try!

I like to stream videos while I work on a sewing project and have recently fell head first into the BBC Victorian Farm series. It is about three historians who live and run a historical farm as farmers would have during the Victorian era.  Since the presenters are professional historians there isn’t any manufactured reality show drama or taking any modern shortcuts. Often they try something in real life that they studied from artifacts and books, like cooking dinner in a non electric hay box slow cooker.

Which reminded me that the decorative pillow on the guest bed in my sewing room is how I store my Wonderbag thermal slow cooker. (I’m always thinking about my amazing readers like you and that's why I share ideas like these. When you get this goodie, I might get a few coins thrown my way that keeps me supplied with enough coffee and household electricity to keep bringing YOU free ideas like this every week. Thank you for your support!)

In storm and hurricane ravaged areas non electric slow cookers can be a welcome and needed way to conserve camp stove fuel while you are waiting for the electrify to come back on. 

Fortunately I haven’t had to use my thermal cooking pot to cook like that. I usually use it to start a meal and allow it to cook during a road trip or event so I have a hot and allergy safe meal waiting for me in the trunk of my car when we are done.

 (If you plan on using a thermal slow cooker this way, I suggest you use a thermal cooking pot that comes with an internal cooking pot that seals for travel like the  Thermos Shuttle Chef Vacuum Thermo Pot,. Otherwise you'll' have to get creative with bungee cords to keep the lid on your own cooking pot while it bounces around in the car in a hay box style cooker like I do.)

15 of the Best Non Electric Hay Box, Wonderbag, and Thermal Slow Cooker Recipes for Lazy Budget Chefs

I was poking around for new hay box thermal cooking recipes for tailgating season, and with Hurricane Harvey and Irma also on my mind though I’d share the recipes I found with you in case you are in need of recipe ideas that don’t require electricity to make.

Pin this to your emergency preparedness and homesteading Pinterest boards so you can share it with your friends!

The Replacement Anchor Hocking Glass Storage Container Lid Hack They Don’t Want You to Know!

As my BPA free plastic food storage containers cracked, stained, or leaked beyond practical use, I replaced them with glass Pyrex and Anchor Hocking food storage containers even though I was concerned about smashing them to bits because dropping things is my superpower.

For many years we put our trusty glass storage containers to heavy use.  I’m happy to say I haven’t broken one. Eventually the plastic lids on the Anchor Hocking containers began to crack and split while the Pyrex glass storage container lids did not.

You can buy replacement plastic lids from Anchor Hocking (aff) but for the price of a new lid, I can buy several new Anchor Hocking containers from a closeout place like Big Lots.Which starts the flimsy container lid cycle all over again.

But truthfully, the real reason why I haven't bought replacement lids (trying to be less wasteful and all that jazz) is I kept forgetting to buy replacement lids from Anchor Hocking.

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Sriracha Ketchup Recipe

Nothing tastes better than a juicy hamburger, hot dog, or French fries topped with ketchup.
Unless it is sriracha ketchup.

That’s right, my friends, America;s favorite hot sauce has added its spicy goodness to all matter of prepared foods and now ketchup. I bought a bottle of sriracha ketchup the moment I saw in the grocery.

And my husband was insanely happy.

Until we ran out.

And I couldn’t find sriracha ketchup at the grocery store.


But no worries!  It is so fast and easy to make homemade sriracha ketchup I may never buy the prepared stuff ever again because it takes less than 5 minutes to make!

How to Make Sriracha Ketchup the Easy Way!

How to Make Dehydrator Chili Powder from Hot Peppers

My husband loves hot and spicy food so much he started adding hot chili peppers to our container garden even though they are too hot for me to eat.

It’s fine by me. Like they say, you are what you eat and that’s why my husband is hot!

Since our apache, Tabasco, and habanero peppers plants are service for one, I need to find a way to preserve the spicy hot pepper goodness.  You can can hot peppers but you risk comprising the heat because you have to can the peppers in vinegar.

And that won’t do.

Pin this recipe for later! Be sure to share it with your friends!

11 Best Lunch Bags for Girls, Teens, and Women

You quickly learn when you or your child has a food intolerance or allergy that packing a lunch is the best way to east safe food away from home. The same goes when you or your child follows a special diet.

The same goes if you are trying to save money by not going out the lunch during the work or school day.

With Back to School shopping in full swing it is the perfect time to buy a new lunch bag or lunch box. Unfortunately, most of the lunch boxes for sale in stores are for little girls. Where are the pretty and cute lunch bags for tweens, teen girls, and women?

On the Internet, of course.

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Zero Waste Lunch Bags for Girls, Teens, and Women

How to Make Lavender Iced Tea Recipe

My husband and I say it isn't officially summer until the bees are buzzing around our lavender bushes. They attract the biggest bumblebees we’ve ever seen and it kinda nice to take a break from reading on the front porch and watch them enjoy the fruit (well, pollen actually) of our gardening labor.

Cutting back the lavender flowers encourages our plants to grow larger, which attracts more happy bees. It also encourages me to find ways to use the lavender buds. Waste not. Want not, right?
And that, my friends is how I made my recipe for lavender iced tea. The lavender adds a light savory touch to an already fantastic cold drink for a hot and humid summer’s day.

Let’s make it!

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How to Make Lavender Flavored Iced Tea

Simple Summer Squash Frittata Recipe

During the summer I am all about making one dish dinners. They are quick, they are easy, and more often than not, do not heat up the kitchen when it is sweltering hot outside.

Even better is the excuse to use one of my favorite summer seasonal vegetables – summer squash!

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11 Ways to Save Money on Summer Fun!

My family likes to live big on a little budget and one of the best times to do that is during the summer! There are so many money saving opportunities you don’t realize are sitting right under your nose!

Now I’m not trying to sound like a know it all financial expert with a list of frugal demands because I have failed as well as succeeded in almost all of the suggestions on this list.

Some of these money saving suggestions may be new to you. Some may not. Others might be a reminder to pick up something that went by the wayside.

I fully support the very real and valid idea that there might be something on this list that doesn't apply to your family, where you live, or you simply do not want to do it.. That’s perfectly fine in Lazy Budget Chef Land because my intention is to offer a list of options, not absolutes.

Pin these ideas for later! Share this list with your friends!

9 Small Space Self Watering Vegetable Garden Ideas for Lazy Gardeners

If you ask anyone for ideas on how to save money on food and groceries, vegetable and herb gardening is a popular tip. 

Why? 

Because if you like gardening, have the space, and time to tend to a garden, it works as a way to get a bunch of fresh vegetables and fancy herbs for months on end for the couple of bucks you need to buy a packet of seeds.

I have to admit I’m more into picking and eating food from a vegetable garden than tending to it. Container gardens are needy. I’d much rather travel here, there, and everywhere enjoying my summer than be stuck home watering and weeding a garden. 

Until recently that’s exactly what my husband and I did. We grew a few things here and there but it really was hit or miss on the yield. Apparently plants need water to grow. Who knew?

Then I made my first self watering planter and learned I can have fresh vegetables and summer fun too.  I still have to water the plants but the water chamber in the bottom of the container means if I’m away from home for a few days (or forget) my water loving tomatoes won’t dry out and die.

This year we added more to make a real deal self watering patio container garden!

 Pin this list of ideas for later!

Coconut Milk Pineapple Fluff Recipe

One of the ironies of having a milk and dairy allergy is reading the ingredients list of a product like non dairy whipped topping (such as Cool Whip for example) and finding out it yes it does contain dairy.

Which means all of those fluffy and fun summer potluck and party salads are permanently crossed off my personal Allergy Safe Food to Eat List.

*Sad face*

That is until I read on one of my Dairy Allergy Facebook groups So Delicious started making a  Cool Whip like whipped topping made from coconut milk that is 100% vegan and dairy food allergy safe. I made a no bake pumpkin pie recipe as a test and the results and taste were good.

The non food allergy folks didn’t taste a major difference in my no bake pie, which means all of the fluffy and fun summer potluck and party salads and side dishes are now back on the table if they come out of my own kitchen!

Let’s kick off the summer with a retro Hawaiian Pineapple Fluff recipe that’s dairy free, vegan, and oh so full of yum!

Easy Four Ingredient Hawaiian Coconut Fluff Salad Recipe

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How to Dehydrate Watermelon

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!!! It warm enough for outdoor picnics, parades, and potlucks.

And watermelon.

Which is the best thing to take to an outdoor picnic, parade, and potlucks.

Why?

Because watermelon is the best!

Unfortunately, watermelon doesn’t keep very long after you slice it, which can be a bad thing if you have leftover watermelon from a picnic, parade, potluck, or dessert.

Fortunately there is an easy way to preserve watermelon and enjoy it all year long – dehydrate it! Yes, you can dehydrate watermelon. The more you know.

It will take a little longer to dry than other fruits due to watermelon’s higher water content but once it is does, dehydrated watermelon tastes even sweeter – just like candy!

How to Make Watermelon Candy

Pin this recipe for later and to share with your friends!

DIY Self Watering Planter Box

While my in laws are ardent and fantastic gardeners, my husband and I are not. Sure, we like having fresh basil and such growing just steps from our kitchen, but living in a condo, most of our vegetable gardening is done in containers on the patio.

And let me tell you, container gardens are needy. They need almost daily watering unlike a traditional in the ground vegetable garden. Which is sometimes is hard to do with all of our other summer activities happening all at once.

That's when I found a better - and lazier way - to make  my container garden water itself.

11 Ways Spring Cleaning Accidently Made Me Over $650 in Extra Money

I learned that the best way to deal with and beat my Cabin Fever that rolls into Spring Fever is to keep myself occupied with a project.

Getting a Travel Fund coin bank and offhandedly thinking that I will spend whatever stray coin I find on our trip to Germany. to corral my spare change weirdly became an incentive to clean out and organize junk drawers, my purses, and random clutter catches like the linen closet.

Pin this post for incentive later!

I hate clutter and living in a condo helps with that. I expected to find a couple of doubles since I can’t always store like with like. I also expected to add more things to put in the charity shop donation box in the garage (which I could get a receipt and claim as a charitable deduction.)


What I didn’t expect was to make a bunch of extra money Spring Cleaning from finding, selling, recycling and using the stuff I already had and couldn’t find. Cleaning and reorganizing turned into shopping the house for unexpected profit.


For example:

10 Best Leftover Ham Recipes You Have to Try Right Now!

The great thing about making a ham for dinner is that it feeds a lot of people. Which also can be the not so great thing about ham, because you can end up with a ton of leftover ham after your guests have their fill and go home.


So why not mix it up a bit and use that leftover ham as ingredient in your recipes rather than the star of the show? Using meat as a condiment in a recipe is a fantastic way to stretch your grocery budget, save money on meat, and make sure everyone at the table eats their vegetables – high fives all around!

Pin these recipes for later and to share with your friends!

 

10 Quick and Easy Ham Recipes

Nine Plastic Cling Wrap Alternatives

I never was a huge fan of wrapping leftovers in plastic wrap. Whether you call it cling film, cling wrap, food wrap, pliofilm, or by the brand name Saran wrap it never sticks fully and the food it is supposed to protect ends up drying out in the refrigerator – yuck.

Not to mention, plastic wrap itself isn’t very eco friendly, although when it actually works, it can keep food fresher longer and that is less wasteful. Food wise that is, not trash wise – especially when you do the toothpicks in deviled eggs on a plate to keep the plastic wrap from sticking to them kind of thing.

So it wasn’t much of a stretch for me to bypass the roll of food wrap in the kitchen drawer and store food and leftovers in a container with a lid and pop it into the refrigerator. Bingo! No more dried out science experiments in the refrigerator – especially when I use a clear container.

Save food, save money, and reduce our household kitchen trash. High fives all around.

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9 Easy Ways to Replace Plastic Wrap and Save Boatload of Cash

Vegtable Garden Birthday Cake

My in laws are dedicated and fantastic gardeners, mother-in-laws side in particular. Summer family gatherings are a special treat because everyone's offerings to dinner table are cock full of home grown vegetables.

Home grown vegetables and fishing trip bounty at a Four of July family pot luck.

I contributed the beet salad. Read my Russina Vinegrette Salad reipe on Lazy Budget Chef here!

So it made perfect sense, when gathering for birthday party to serve a gardening birthday cake to the guest of honor. Can you believe this is a homemade vegetable garden cake?!

14 Ways Cooking in an Instant Pot Saves Money

Four months after Husband and I first took our Instant Pot electric pressure cooker out of the box we are still using to cook almost every. single. day. of. the. week, compared to our Crock Pot, which we use about once or twice a week.

For people like us who absolutely suck a meal planning until dinner time, buying an Instant Pot is worth its weight in gold. What we didn’t expect was how money our Instant Pot started saved us in more than one unusual way.

 Pin these budget hacks for later and to share with your friends!

 

How to Use an Instant Pot to Save Money

Cookie Butter Cookie Recipe

I’m trying to do small projects around the house to get me through my practically annual March Malaise Creative Slump. It is too windy and wet outside and too cold to smack things with hammers in the garage (and another reason I’m so antsy.)

So I’m doing some of the dumb projects I gotta do but put off like clearing and organizing a kitchen shelf, linen closet, etc.

I learned during our Eat From the Pantry Challenge my family has Out of Sight Out of Mind Disease and given that we live in a small condo and I can’t always store like with like, well…it’s best to rotate items from the back of the pantry shelves to the front because I always find a fun ingredient to make our current winter meals a little more interesting.

Case in point: Cookie Butter!

We love our peanut butter smoothies around here so it isn’t a surprise to find our jar of cookie butter in the bowels of a cupboard because I think it is too sweet to add to a breakfast smoothie but not too sweet to add to cookies!

Which lead to my next gray and rainy day project: make a cookie butter cookie recipe!

Let’s Bake!

How to Bake Cookie Butter Cookies

 

Pin this yummy, quick, and easy cookie recipe for later!     I originally baked this recipe with Earth Balance dairy free butter to make my cookie milk allergy friendly. Feel free to use regular butter if you are lucky enough not to have a food allergy.

You will need these ingredients:

1/3 Cup of Cookie Butter

3/4 Cup of Peanut Butter

1/2 Cup of butter – regular or dairy free

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Cup of white sugar

1 Egg

1/2 Teaspoon of salt

1/2 Teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 Teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of flour

Disclosure: I included affiliate links in this post for your convenience

 

How to Make this Recipe:

 

 

You really should follow the recipe and mix some of the cookie ingredients separately. It will make a difference in the taste of the cookie, not to mention it will be easier to ensure everything is thoroughly mixed together before you pop it into the oven!

1. Thoroughly mix together the softened butter, white and brown sugars in a mixing bowl (this is called creaming.)

Lazy baker tip: I’m impatient and don’t have a lot of hand strength (too much time working at the computer) to do this with a spoon by hand. You don’t need a big fancy kitchen stand mixer to do the job for you, I use a basic electric hand mixer similar to this one


2. Thoroughly mix the following ingredients into the creamy butter and sugar mix: egg, peanut butter, cookie butter, salt, baking soda, and vanilla extract. This is where using a hand mixer comes in handy!


3. Finally add and thoroughly mix the flour to the mixture.


4. Use your hands to roll the cookie dough into small balls, place them on a cookie sheet ( I use a baking stone like this one for more evenly baked cookies), and press the balls flat with a clean fork.
5. Bake the cookies in a 375 degree (F ) oven for 10 minutes.


6. Carefully remove the cookies from the oven, place them on a cooling rack and allow them to cool.

Warning: My cookies were a little crumbly when I used a spatula to remove them from the baking stone and onto the cooling racks most likely due to the dairy free butter and I should have let the cookies cool slightly. If this happens to you and you have folks who hate to eat broken cookie, I suggest you eat the evidence.

7. Unleash your inner Cookie Monster! Nom! Nom! Nom! Nom! Nom!

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How to Preserve Kale the Easy Way: Make Kale Powder!

I usually start my day with a smoothie for breakfast. I kinda wing the ingredients in my smoothie recipes. I fell into a general formula of fortified dairy free milk, fruit (often frozen to fake me into pretending it is a milkshake,) a protein, and an extra like like leafy greens, spices, or honey.

It is the lazy way to eat a quick and healthy breakfast, especially if I make a double batch the day before. In that way it works great.

Do you know what doesn't work? How long those leafy greens, kale in particular, stay fresh in my refrigerator. I swear the minute I put kale in my shopping cart, it starts to turn (no matter where I buy it.)
 

Pin this idea for later and share it with your friends!

How to Dehydrate Kale

Quick and Easy Whole Wheat Irish Bread Recipe

Coffee and whole wheat toast are one of my breakfast mainstays. St. Patrick’s Day is coming up so why not whip up a loaf of Irish Soda Bread one of the greatest gifts this Lazy Budget Chef (who can’t proof bread to save her life)  – the bread machine.

As luck would have it I have more whole wheat flour than white and more raisins than normal because I went to a bulk bin without a container and bought more raisin than I thought.

No problem. I’ll make a Irish style whole wheat bread featuring those those happy raisins sitting in my kitchen.

I am using the bread machine to make and proof the dough for this recipe and baking the bread in the oven because I want the round shape of a traditional Irish style bread.

You can bake it that way or you can bake the whole wheat Irish bread from start to finish in a bread machine. It will taste just the same although I personally think baking bread in the bread maker makes it a little more dense than when I bake bread machine dough in the oven. Do what is easiest for you.

My whole wheat Irish bread makes fantastic toast!

  Pin this recipe for year round whole wheat bread goodness!

25 Ways to Recycle Empty Medicine Bottles

 One of our unwritten household rules is to try to get an extra reuse out of something before throwing it away to sit in a landfill for a million years. Often that second use comes by the way of our city recycling bin and local business who accept hard to recycle items like electronics and batteries.

Husband and I are relatively healthy people but every once and awhile we get sick enough to require prescription medicine. More often than not the medicine comes comes in a plastic pill bottle that isn't always recyclable.

But don't throw those empty medicine bottles away! It is so easy to recycle pill bottles into something insanely useful!

 Pop on over to my DIY blog Condo Blues and learn how to upcycle, reuse, recycle, and hack empty plastic prescription and vitamin bottles into:

25 of the Best Ways to Reuse Old Pill Bottles

 After reading so many clever organizing ideas you'll never look at an empty pill bottle as trash again!

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How to Find the Unit Price for Toilet Paper the Easy Way!

Most items are easy to compare the unit prices by calculating and comparing the price per unit or per ounce with the exception of toilet paper.

Sheet and roll size vary by brand and/or packaging. Not to mention all of the variations within the brand itself. Is the regular size roll of TP with Fluffy Butt Wiping Technology more or less expensive than the Mega Roll Pack Made From Fluffy Kitten Tears? Who knows?

You do!

What Grocery Stores Don’t Want You To Know: How to Save Money by Comparing Toilet Paper  Unit Prices  

 

The only way to compare the unit price of toilet paper is to calculate and compare the price of toilet paper per square foot inside of the package.

 Pin this tutorial for later!

This post has affiliate links for your convenience.

10 Quick, Easy, and Delicious Instant Pot Soup Recipes You Have to Try!

We recently added an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker to the Lazy Budget Chef Kitchen and Thunderdome and have been cooking food and meals with it on an almost daily basis since we unboxed it last month. Yes, the Instapot lives up the the hype! It is the perfect thing for our never gets around to meal planning family to make dinner from I don’t have any ideas what do you want to eat? to done in 30 minutes.

Well, OK. If you pull frozen meat from the freezer and cook it for dinner in the Instant Pot it will take 45 minutes or so. I’m not quibbling about it because see above about not making a meal plan and not having ideas what to make for dinner on the fly.

Pin these ideas for later and to share with your friends!
For anyone who doesn’t know, the Instant Pot is a kitchen tool that can replace seven appliances with one: stove top pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté pot, steamer, warming pot, and yogurt maker (this post contains affiliate links for your convenience.) I still haven’t gotten the hang of cooking in a stove top pressure cooker but after guessing my way through my first electric pressure cooker soup recipe I felt like an expert. That. Easy.

10 Ridiculously Easy Instant Pot Soup Recipes to Make for Dinner Tonight

10 Extreme Cheapskate Money Saving Tips You Won’t be Embarrassed to Try

Last weekend I was sick and got sucked into watching several reruns of the show Extreme Cheapskates (I included affiliate links in this post for your convenience) because I couldn’t find the TV remote buried somewhere in my blanket nest on the sofa.

It confirmed my sneaking suspicion that The Learning Channel turned into The Laugh at Freaks Channel. 

Jordan the bartering guy confirms Extreme Cheapskates set up scenarios to make him look like he won’t pay for anything when he actually does, in his blog post My Media Guy TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates: The True Story.

Worse is Broke Rich Girl’s experience that TLC lied to her when she declined to apply to be on the show. Extremem Cheapskates production people said they wanted her to “be the voice of reason” and later on in the process told her they wanted her to sign up for on line dating as a way to get free meals and show it on TV.  How sleazy is that?!

She declined. You go girl!

10 Not So Extreme Frugal Hacks for Normal People  

The thing is, if you strip away the fake jacked up borderline illegal and unethical craziness of reality television there are some general budgeting ideas that will help you save a little money, that don't sound so extreme or crazy, and will keep your ethics intact. 

Pin this post to read later!

Some may not be new to you or things you already do, others may be something that don’t apply or you don’t want to do. That's cool.

What Do You Make in an Instapot?

I added an Instapot to the Lazy Budget Chef Kitchen and Thunderdome this Christmas. Both Husband and I read the instruction manual that, let’s face it, is written for people who already know how to cook in an electric pressure cooker – which isn’t us.

So exactly, how do you use an Instapot and what do you cook in it?

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The 10 Best Budget and Food Hacks of 2016

Hello 2017! It is a brand spanking new year full of brand spanking new possibilities.

It is always interesting when I take a look at which Lazy Budget Chef blog posts are the most popular posts of the previous year because I am almost always surprised!

In 2016 was the year of budget cleaning, shopping, travel, and food allergy hacks. And wowzers folks I want to come to your next party because you really, really love my vodka watermelon hack!

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The Ten Most Popular Lazy Budget Chef Post in 2016