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5 Ways to Save Money in the Kitchen

open dishwasher loaded with colorful dishes

By Debra McDuffee

It seems that when I look at our budget, the greater portion of our expenses seem to be spent on food. Yes, we are self-proclaimed Foodies, so we tend to splurge on good things to eat. The good news is that there are ways to save money in the kitchen; your love of food doesn't have to break the bank.

1. Make a weekly menu and shop accordingly
: Creative meal planning wastes less. You'll be less apt to buy things that aren't on your grocery list, and you'll have everything you need for the week's meals, thereby saving gas on fewer trips to the grocery store.

2. Use extra foods to make soups or stews: It's OK to buy that jumbo bag of broccoli florets. After you use what you need in Tuesday's stir-fry, throw the rest into a pot with onions, broth, some dried beans, and some seasonings. The result will be a healthy soup that you can freeze for lunches later. Some of my favorite meals have been the clean-out-the-refrigerator-stews!

Continue reading 5 Ways to Save Money in the Kitchen

Fabric-covered kitchen cabinets

fabric covered kitchen cabinetsHaving previously used wallpaper to cover my kitchen cabinets, I'm ready to change them for a new look. Since I get bored fairly easily with my decor, I like to spruce things up about every six months, and I am so itching for newly decorated cabinets.

Thanks to help from Tipnut, I found the perfect kitchen cabinet makeover project over on Tres Chic Veronique. Using pretty fabric covered in bees and honeycombs, Veronique cut the fabric an extra inch on each side, then hammered in thumbtacks to secure the fabric to the cabinet door.

I read in the comment section of Veronique's post that Scotchgaurd was used to help eliminate grease and stains when the fabric is wiped down. If you, like me, are unsure of whether or not you want to use regular fabric on your cabinets, then maybe the best alternative would be to use oilcloth, since that can be wiped down easily.

Open a stuck jar

elastic band on lid of jarYou reach for the jar of salsa. A dollop of that on each plate, and dinner's done! Except that the jar is still sealed, or perhaps is just stuck, and you can't get it to open.

There are a few things you can try. First on the list is the ever-popular "give it a whack" strategy.

That gentle tap shown in the video is a far cry from my version. In our home, we deliver a series of lusty wallops around the edge of the lid with the handle end of a sturdy butter knife.

Continue reading Open a stuck jar

Construction Chronicles: Trade your wall tile for beadboard, Part I

kitchen beadboard wall

I recently had a great opportunity to install a bunch of bead board in a kitchen; that part of the work was reasonably easy, and a lot of fun. The difficult part was demolishing the old wall tile that was on top of the sheet rock. I want to cover both aspects, but I'll do it in two segments -- demolition and construction.

If your project will ultimately end in hanging some tile, look here for some hints.

Take a look at the gallery; it will provide a sense of the process in removing the tile from the sheet rock wall structure.

Gallery: Trade your wall tile for beadboard.

This is how it appeared before the demo process.Before my demolition began.The tools.The rock chisel, along with his good friend, the wrecking bar.Sometimes even the wrecking bar needs a little help.

Continue reading Construction Chronicles: Trade your wall tile for beadboard, Part I

Stainless steel appliances: Get the look for about $10

stainless steel microwave
I love wandering through the brand new show-homes in our area. I do it under the cover of looking for new decorating inspiration, but I think I might just like to tease myself with all the swanky stainless steel appliances.

Thanks to Life Hacker, who pointed us to this great tutorial on how to make old appliances look new again, I can have show-home style appliances in my eleven year old kitchen without investing in new ones.

Make sure you follow the cleaning instructions first. This is critical to getting the stainless steel look just right, but it will also improve the efficiency of of your appliances. After all your prep work is complete, you just need to apply stainless steel contact paper, accommodate for any dials, smooth out the bubbles, and enjoy your brand new appliances.

The tutorial details how to refresh your dishwasher and fridge, but I think it would be hard to stop there once you got started, so bring on the stove, range, and microwave... even the coffee pot -- this is going to be fun!

Avant Yard: 20 basil harvesting & storage tips

Closeup photo by Diane Rixon of basil plant with glossy, bright green leaves
Mmm-mmm. Fresh basil. It's so very fragrant -- the indispensable ingredient in a host of mid-summer recipes.

My basil is lush, green and ready for picking. Okay, I don't have a whole lot of it out in my garden; however, I'm planning on growing a lot more next summer. In preparation for that lofty enterprise, I thought it'd be cool to find out how the expert basil-growers harvest their beloved herb. Here are some tips I picked up:

1. Know your basil. There are lots of varieties out there, and it's always good to know which one you have, as the flavors vary quite a bit between them. Chances are good that, like me, you've got the most common variety: Genovese sweet basil.

Gallery: Basil harvesting

Basil prior to harvestingBasil seed headsHarvest timeBasil plant after harvestingThe harvested basil

Continue reading Avant Yard: 20 basil harvesting & storage tips

Green Daily gives away $300 in composting supplies

Earthmaker Composter from Gardener's Supply Company

Here at DIY Life, Earth-friendly ideas are always a popular topic. So, when we heard that our sister site Green Daily is running a fantastic giveaway from Gardener's Supply Company, we couldn't wait to tell our readers about it!

One lucky reader will win a complete composting kit, featuring more than US $300 in supplies. The centerpiece of the prize is the Earthmaker Composter (a $225 value), but there are also plenty of accessories in the package, including a nifty odor-busting crock in which you can collect your kitchen scraps before putting them in the compost bin.

To learn more, and enter, please visit the giveaway post at Green Daily and follow the instructions: all you have to do is leave a comment telling them what you would compost if you were the winner. If you've never commented before, the system will require you to confirm the comment with a legitimate email address. Good luck!

If you don't win, a few great DIY composting ideas may come in handy. Check out the following posts:

Create a Feng Shui kitchen

newly remodeled kitchen using feng shui principles

Remodeling a kitchen, there are a lot of things to consider: appliance choices, layout, storage solutions, and finishing touches. When we renovated our kitchen, flow was a priority for us. We love to cook, and the previous arrangement of the kitchen was awkward and inefficient.

If you want to take the flow of your kitchen to the next level, why not consider applying some Feng Shui principles to your remodel? SheKnows has some tips on how to design your kitchen, feng shui style.

  • Plan the stove to be facing the door, as you should never have your back to the door while cooking. You can do this by creating a cooking island or by using a reflective surface.
  • Avoid red, pink, or purple in your decor, as these colors can cause you to argue with your cooking partner. Instead, whites, blues, and light greens are calming choices.
  • Use full-spectrum bulbs to simulate natural light.
  • The traditional triangular model for kitchens fits into Feng Shui: refrigerator, stove, and sink, all about six to eight feet apart.
  • Fire elements (stove, microwave) should be separated from water elements (sink, refrigerator) by wood.

The article at SheKnows has more details describing how to create Feng Shui harmony in your kitchen. A Zen kitchen sounds appealing, doesn't it?

Gallery: Feng shui kitchen ideas

kitchen white_062408kitchen triangle_062408kitchen red_062408kitchen country_062408kitchen blue_062408

Kiddie Crafts: Bug snacks

bug snack made out of dried fruit
The arrival of Chirp magazine is a happy day in our house. Each month, we pore over the pages of stories, games, and activities. With every issue, there is at least one project that we just have to try. This month, Chirp has us making Bug Snacks.

All you need are some pieces of dried fruit, and a handful of toothpicks. Let your children experiment, making different creepy-crawlies and other creations. This is one kids' activity that you won't just want to supervise; dig in and make some snacks of your own.

We started out making bugs, but with my Kiddie Crafters as creative directors, the possibilities were endless. Check out the gallery to see what we made, then follow me through the break for more ideas.

Gallery: Bug snacks

Dragon flyCaterpillaranother Bird

Continue reading Kiddie Crafts: Bug snacks

How to dice an onion

red onion by Darwin Bell on Flickr
With the exception of dicing tomatoes, dicing onions has to be my least favorite kitchen chore. But onions add flavor to so many dishes, you can't really cook without them. Over at The Kitchn, though, there's an instructional video that promises to help people like me make easy work of dicing that onion into small, uniform pieces.

Interestingly, dicing onions is a little controversial. Many of the commenters over at Lifehacker (who pointed us to this video in the first place) thought that the technique featured in that video was all wrong. Many feared her "parallel cut," where she slices the onion horizontally before dicing, would lead to a lost fingertip or two. So if you're looking for a variety of onion-dicing techniques, be sure to scroll through the comments on that post.

One of the worst parts of dicing an onion, of course, is the tearing. (At 16, the worst part of my fast food job was not the humiliating brown, polyester uniform, but being put on onion dicing duty.) I use the old standby method of rinsing my onions underwater, but this can get a little sloppy. The Kitchn also has five tips to for cutting onions without tears, for those of you who want a happier onion-dicing experience.

The kitchen is finished!

kitchen renovation by bethany72 on FlickrIt's been so long since we started our kitchen remodeling project, I almost forgot to post its completion. Though it's been functionally complete for several weeks, we were waiting on what turned out to be one of those "unexpected expenses" -- a new floor. The old one, much to our dismay, could not be patched.

Though we hired out the big work -- cabinet and counter top installation -- we did a lot of the grunt work ourselves. I wish I had kept a running total on the money we saved, because it was a lot. (Enough to cover the cost of the new floor? I don't know.) After the break, I'll share a summary of the work we put in to save ourselves money on the whole project.

Gallery: Kitchen: Before and after

Before the before pictureBeforeAfterAfterAfter

Continue reading The kitchen is finished!

Makeover your kitchen canisters

glass canisters with decorative lidsWalking into a candy store takes me back to the good ol' days of the corner dime store. Row after row of candy designed to make your teeth rot out of your head, and shelves with glass canisters filled with mouthwatering treats to make you bounce off the walls were abundant.

Those canisters were pretty boring though, with only a metal lid and a metal or plain wood knob. If you have these canisters at home, you can liven them up with a little fabric and new knobs, following the instructions provided by Kate over on Design*Sponge.

For this project you will need glass canisters, fabric, glue or Mod Podge, decorative knobs, a screwdriver, a foam brush, and scissors. Basically all you need to do is remove the old knob, trace the lid onto your fabric, cut and paste the fabric onto the lid, and then add a decorative knob.

If you can't find vintage canisters at the thrift store or at your neighborhood garage sales, try eBay. If all else fails, Kate says her canisters come from Target. You can find decorative knobs at your local hardware store, and the thrift store is a great place to find vintage fabric.

Spring cleaning checklists by room

yellow and turquoise broom propped in cornerI don't know about you, but taking on the task of spring cleaning seems monumental. I mean really, in the long run, do I care if my ceiling is dusted or if my draperies are laundered?

If I were to buckle down and actually clean out my kitchen cabinets or dust my vents, I'd use these checklists as a resource. Because they are broken down by room, they actually make spring cleaning seem do-able.

For instance, the bedroom checklist gives a step-by-step guide on what you should clean in your bedroom. Starting with a basic cleaning, you then move on to dusting the ceiling, cleaning the ceiling fans, washing draperies and bedding, dusting and cleaning out the closets.

There are handy tips at every step, like to make sure to clean under the bed, and how to pass the time joyfully.

Will I spring clean? I'm not sure I will do a full-blown cleaning, but I may use some of the tips and ideas from this checklist and do a task or two when I have the inclination.

Somehow, having a checklist and being able to cross off what you have finished always seems to make a task less daunting.

Make carrot juice

carrotsA new juice bar just opened in our neighborhood. They serve any blend of fruit and veggie juice that you could imagine. They use fresh, organic ingredients, and present the drink in a trendy, branded cup.

For this, you'll pay $5.50. Seriously, for blended carrots, I just can't.

Vegetable juices are popular on health detox and other cleanses, but they taste great too, and can be a healthy part of an everyday diet.

To make this carrot juice, you don't need a juicing machine; any food processor or blender will do just fine. You'll find more information after the break.

Continue reading Make carrot juice

Rice Crispie Treat alternative

cheerio treats
Rice Crispy squares are a childhood staple. It is one of the simplest recipes, so little ones can be kitchen helpers early, as they count marshmallows into the pot, and give the cereal a strong armed stir. Unfortunately, these delicious treats are not something you'd want around the house too often, because they aren't exactly a healthy snack.

The alternative: use Cheerios instead. I use multi-grain cheerios, but you could really choose any kind you want. Marshmallows are marshmallows, and you can't really get around that. It's probably why these gooey treats are so popular, but switching up the cereal can go a long way towards reducing the caloric impact and mixing up the taste.

My mom has been known to hide even healthier cereals and seeds in these crispy squares. Kids will love them just as much, maybe more if you let them scavenge the cereal cupboard for other surprise additions.

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