What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[gtaus]

It is much better to freeze beans or dry them if you don't have a pressure canner.

I have successfully pickled Spicy Beans in reused glass jars and lids. They last for a number of weeks in the fridge. We also freeze some excess beans for eating in the winter. Dear Wife used to can food, but gave that up a few years ago as it got to be too much work for her.

When it comes to food, I try to plant the beans in stages so that not all the plants come ready to harvest at the same time. Also, we eat as much fresh food as possible in season and do without in the off season. We have a nice new freezer out in the garage, but frozen food is not as good as fresh, although it's still very good. We just had some frozen squash last night for supper that we picked last August. And we still have a few bags of frozen beans in the freezer. Probably run out of our garden food sometime in February, but that's OK.

 

[gtaus]

Was that back when greedy corporate farms hadn’t decimated US family farming?

I grew up in a rural small town. We had about 40 family farms in our area when I was going to school in the 1970's. When I graduated from university in the early 1980's, there were only 2 family farms left in that same area back home. Everything changed.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

Feed bags! I keep seeing people say they don't have need of them, gosh I wish we were neighbors!

Ok, first, they line (or are) my laundry hampers. I have a few because my spouse leaves clothes EVERYWHERE so I need them in many rooms

Next, they are windproofing for the chicken coop, and I will staple them to surfaces that will be 'poop-ed' on to make cleaning easier.

Next they are liners for garden boxes because you should not plant into wood containers if you use recycled wood, or cedar, or treated wood (etc etc) as they leach into the soil. Regular plastic is less durable to me, the Purina feed bags I have the picture eventually comes off, but so far the bag stays good.

By the way, toothbrushes come in wood now, so plastic is not necessary. I have been using them for a while and they work fine. (It is a low bar for a toothbrush to meet )

I use recycled plastic containers for all the chicken bowls. I reuse glass jars to make sprouts. (Half fill the jars w grain and put them on a shelf. Then fill a water when needed, 24 hrs (or 48 if you forget, which I do often) drain out the water. Rinse out daily, they sprout and then feed to the girls in various stages of sprouts. Having many going is easier and the small jars pre-filled goes faster than trying to do it in basins and buckets. I find I get less mold or other issues in glass jars anyway. The odd time you forget one and it spoils you only lost a cup or two of grain.

Old clothes are rags (of course) super useful for washing out chicken coops and you can let them dry and put them in the fireplace when they are no longer washable.

Everything chicken poo is the best compost EVER, if you have issues w smell or flies or volume, put the poo in a bucket, cover w water, in a few days it will ferment and you can use it to water on a plant without burning the roots. I don't know about pathogens, so I use it on plants not currently being eaten (fruit trees when they are not making fruit, flowers, or garden beds not currently growing anything, or far from time of consumption)

Gosh, I am full of ideas, so if you have a pile of something, just tell me and I'll give you ideas I am great at reuse.

By the way, feel free to offer barter to people. My spouse fixes tractors and such (he grew up on a farm, this wasn't his living, he just does it whenever needed), he would and does trade for other materials in a heartbeat but few people think to offer.

Oh! And you can plant in feed bags too! Or put leaf bedding and a little water + grains and it will sprout!

 

[igorsMistress]

Sounds like a success.



I am pretty good at not buying crap.

I'm not so good at decluttering what I do have. I always tell myself I should save that item and reuse it at once or twice more before it gets thrown out. I save too much stuff, according to Dear Wife, but eventually I find a second life for many things. Threads like this help with fresh ideas on second uses for things like that.

This is us. We have so much stuff we might reuse, but once it’s thrown out we typically will find a use for it. So we hang on to a lot.

 

[gtaus]

Anyone else have these crazy dystopian fantasy moments?

I'm not into prepping, per se, but I have encouraged Dear Wife to stock up on supplies when things go on sale. I believe in a well stock pantry. She is more of a minimalist.

When COVID-19 hit the supply chain, Dear Wife got into a panic and created a supply closet full of toilet paper, paper towels, and other products that she cannot live without. Of course, at that time, TP and paper towels were about 3X the cost of pre-COVID prices. Now that stores are more of less restocked with products, we still have a nice supply of products in her panic closet and now buy items on sale prices to keep it restocked.

Speaking of supply chain problems, even our local WalMart is now frequently out of stock on many items that we never used to bother to store at home. Changing with the times, we have increased the size of our pantry and have had to change what we eat or use depending on the availability of the items in the store. It's a different world now. A nice home pantry helps smooth out those temporary shortages in the store. Flexibility in what you eat or use is also key to success.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I grew up in a rural small town. We had about 40 family farms in our area when I was going to school in the 1970's. When I graduated from university in the early 1980's, there were only 2 family farms left in that same area back home. Everything changed.

I’m the opposite of this. I grew up in an urban area in a big city. Totally oblivious and reliant on corporations. Husband is from the country. We moved out to the country on land in 2017 to begin hobby farming (with a pipe dream of homesteading). We both have good non farm jobs.

I’ve had to learn EVERYTHING from scratch and am still dumb. Haha. When we moved out here I’d never seen a tractor up close. Didn’t know what propane tanks were for, thought well water was contaminated, was scared of the idea that my neighbors were armed, thought white haired devil children may live in the corn fields… the list goes on!

All I knew was animals from having them and working with them for my job from time to time.

I am learning one day at a time!

 

[saysfaa]

..
Gosh, I am full of ideas, so if you have a pile of something, just tell me and I'll give you ideas I am great at reuse.

Plastic Easter grass? I didn't get that - it is part of my parents' estate that none of us can think of a use for - there is several dozen bags - maybe a cubic yard.

Rubber bands like the grocery store has around broccoli bunches? Also part of the estate - maybe 20 pounds of them.

Jewel cases for CDs? I did get those - it was one of those get a small package for almost the same price as a large case and we needed just over the number in the package. I thought we would use more later. opps.

 

[igorsMistress]

Not to turn this into a prepper thread - I am not truly a prepper- but I do like to think about how long we’d last after a big crash. Then my issues of self sustainability would be my electric well pump and my lack of a fireplace.

Anyone else have these crazy dystopian fantasy moments?

Yes. I don’t consider myself a prepper, I consider myself prudent. We have extra food for humans and animals, 2 months worth on hand at all times. We also have emergency food buckets and alternative options for cooking other than electricity. I have a bunch of water storage as well, but haven’t filled them yet as I haven’t figured out where I’m going to store it all. It’s not just for those dystopian fantasy moments. It’s for any event that puts us in a bind. We are saving for a generator, I’ve heard about rolling blackouts too many times in other areas recently and people are moving here to the desert in droves. That’s adding stress to both our electricity and water resources and I think that is what frightens me the most. I’m looking into hydroponic gardening as it uses less water than a traditional one. Space is my biggest issue there as well.

 

[Matejka]

Years ago, we brought back our empty feed bags and got them refilled at the grain elevators. Saved half a dollar by reusing the feed bag. But you can't do that anymore where I live. So, the challenge now is to find a second life for them for some other use.

I use as trash bags and I cut open and line inside of coop as a wind/rain break.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I only have access to water bath. What would happen it I tried beans? Would I know that they were bad? Like botulism?

Low-acid foods must be processed at 240-deg-F in a pressure canner to kill clostridium botulism spores. Boiling water in a water-bath canner only reaches 212-deg. In a pressure canner, done properly, steam and pressure increase the temperature to 240 or above.

Beans are LOW ACID. They WILL spoil if processed in a water bath canner.

Signs of spoilage are lids that are bulging, leaking or corroded; foamy surface, or tiny bubbles that move upward when you open the lid; gas escaping or spurting when you open the lid; food that is mushy, moldy, cloudy, or discolored; or a nasty smell. DON'T EVEN TASTE IT TO SEE IF IT'S SPOILED. Botulism will certainly make you seriously ill, and can be fatal. If you have any doubt, throw it out!

I really don't mean to scare you!!! I've been eating home-canned foods since I was a baby, and processing my own since the 1980's. I worked for several years in a support role for our county's university extension home economist, who had a master's degree in food science. She taught canning classes across several counties. I prepared class materials, produced instructional materials, answered questions, and assisted in teaching some of the classes. So I'm not an expert, but I do know food safety. I learned from one of the best.

If you get your recipes from proven, tested, safe sources and follow them to the letter, you will be FINE. Get your pressure canner tested for accuracy. Don't trust your cousin's grandma who's been canning her own way for decades; she's been lucky.