Helpful Frugal Tips From GG

There's many types of education. There's the one we are most familiar with, the formal degree education. Then there's self help books and tapes. There's the older generation who has wisdom and knowledge. You can't pay for the education that you receive from them.



Our GG (great gramma) was born in 1898. She saw the great depression, man on the moon, airplanes, the telephone and many other things we take for granite. When my oldest child was born no one knew microwaves could be used in the kitchen and computers were non existent.



GG taught me many things. Some of them fun, some not so much fun. All of them were frugal.



I learned how to can foods and pick veggies from the farmer's field. She taught me that veggies and fruits indeed could be frozen at home and that vinegar was close to a cure all for ridding the home of germs.



If you think you may be interested in canning foods, I would suggest you research the appropriate way to do it. The kitchen must be spotless before you begin. The jars and lids have to be sterile and the food has to be processed according to directions. A good place to begin is the BALL canning jar site or your local cooperative extention. Canning is not difficult. It is, however time consuming. The food is delicious and to some well worth the effort. If local food is bought at a farm stand the price is lower than a store.



Making jam is also time consuming, but a simple process. All that is done is preparing the jars, cooking the prepared fruit (removing stems etc) and sealing the containers.



Freezing foods is a bit less time consuming. The food needs to be par boiled (short cooking time usually 2-3 minutes) then placed in a cold water bath. Moisture is patted off and the food goes in freezer containers of your choice.



Vinegar is used for washing windows, disinfecting hard surfaces, heartburn, fabric softener in the rinse cycle and a mouthwash. There is no residual smell on anything vinegar is used for. I use vinegar without diluting it. Any type of vinegar can be used, but the white vinegar is the least expensive.



I miss our GG. She knew what she was doing and loved us all. She never passed down crucial information to anyone she did not love.