Making Rolls to Use to Save the Bread for Others and Using Margarine and Butter Wrappers

 

Video Credit: Sharmi's Kitchen

Whole Wheat Pav Buns via YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgjHeJ4xEBs

Since it wasn't always easy to find bread in the grocery stores, I was trying to save the whole wheat bread for the family. I still wanted to have sandwiches, periodically, so I checked YouTube and found lots of recipes for whole wheat rolls. Some of them like this one, didn't need eggs which was significant, because eggs were difficult to buy, as well. 

Picture Credit: crunchybetty.com

Using Margarine and Butter Wrappers

A long time ago, I read an article about saving butter and margarine wrappers in your refrigerator to use to grease baking dishes instead of using shortening. I've used this great idea of years. During the Pandemic with some foods difficult to find, a new idea popped into my mind. That's the way Christ works in my life, at times! Anyway, this idea was to take a margarine or butter wrapper and put it into the skillet as it warms up. I took a metal spatula and moved the wrapper around the pan, so that it lightly greased the pan without having to use any additional oil. When I made pancakes, I would just put another wrapper in the pan as needed and move it around with the metal spatula.

Note: Do not leave the skillet or the butter and margarine wrappers unattended on the stove!

Stretching Your Food Budget During the Pandemic and Sprucing Up Your Mask

Picture Credit: slowcookergourmet.net

Stretching Your Food Budget During the Pandemic

When we were first faced with a county-wide lockdown a year ago, my husband and I decided to make a plan to stretch our food budget. This goes beyond stretching our finances, but it's also related to not having to go to the stores as much, so that we aren't exposed. Additionally, in the beginning of the lockdown, it was difficult to be able to purchase many different foods. Our plan was to make a crockpot of beans each week which lasted us two days. One pound of beans costs about a dollar. You can add almost any type of leftover meat, should you want it. It costs only pennies for the electricity for running a crockpot all day!  I make a double recipe of cornbread and freeze it for future batches of beans, because it makes the beans a complete protein. We take any leftover beans to add to the crockpot of soup I make each week. Again, you can use almost any leftover meat, leftover veggies, and the leftover beans to make a hearty soup for next to no extra expense! This, also, lasts us two days. Just think, you can plan something nicer for the other three days, if you want, and not break the budget!

Picture Credit: nohat.cc

Sprucing Up Your Mask

I had some inexpensive white masks that fit really well, but didn't look very nice. I saw some scrap material I had and I stitched it to cover the mask. Not only was the mask safer, because it now had more layers, but it was much more cheerful. Also, I found a slightly used N95 mask I had purchased for some painting. The only thing is, it had N95 printed on the front of it. At the same time I covered the other white masks, I also covered the N95 mask, so I could use it at times I needed to make sure I had the best coverage!  

2 Ply Toilet Paper Folding to Conserve Toilet Paper During Scarcity and Easier Snow Shoveling

 2 Ply Toilet Paper Folding to Conserve Toilet Paper During Scarcity

Steps 1 and 2. Take 2 squares of 2 Ply Toilet paper and put them on top of each other in a diamond.

Step 3. Fold the bottom half of the diamond shape up to make a triangle.

Step 4. Fold up about 3/4 of an inch of the toilet paper which kind of makes it look like a sailboat.

Step 5. Fold the bottom portion up another 3/4 of an inch which may leave a little tab sticking out.

Step 6. Take the shape and turn it vertically, as shown.

Step 7. Fold up the bottom half of the vertical shape.

Step 8. Take the pointed ends of the folded toilet paper in your hand and lean against your index finger to use. 

(There are 12 layers in the folded portions x 2 sheets of toilet paper=24 layers not counting the 2-ply layers. ) 

Do this again, as needed.

Easier Snow Shoveling

Picture Credit: coloringoo,com

My husband was recently trying to shovel some accumulated snow. With having to repeatedly throw the snow off of the shovel, his arms were hurting! He came up with the very clever idea of wiping a thin layer of car paste wax on to the shovel. After that, when he tried to toss the snow off of the shovel, it came off very easily and his arms didn't hurt as much.  (Make sure the paste wax is not not petroleum based, in order to save our environment.)  

Saving Money Not Buying Paper Napkins & Fixing a Crawling Sheet

 

Picture credit: wayfair.com 

Save Money by Not Buying Paper Napkins

Since I mentioned the Cheapskate Gazette, which may only be accessible through the internet these days, I wanted to tell you another great tip I got from them. They said that it pays to pick up second-hand cloth napkins at garage sales, etc. They cost next to nothing to purchase and they take next to no room in the washer. Additionally, you are already paying for the laundry detergent for that load of laundry, so there is basically little to no expense for washing them again and again. I have already shown other ideas I’ve had for using the cloth napkins I got from garage sales: rolling out pie dough and folding in a napkin to roll with a rolling pin to chop nuts.

Picture credit: stitchesquilting.com

Fixing Crawling Fitted Sheets with Salvaged Elastic

Although this picture shows sewing the elastic to the corners of a fitted sheet, I sewed it by hand. I took the salvaged elastic from the leg band of a threadbare pair of underwear. I cut the one leg band into four even pieces and stretched the elastic as I sewed it to each corner, so that the fitted sheets would no longer crawl. Since I had the salvaged elastic from two leg bands, did this to two different fitting sheets, so they fit more snugly.

Please put creative things you've done during the Pandemic In A Pinch in the Comment Box Below. Thanks! Debbie

Cutting Our Own Hair and Using Toilet Paper Instead of Tissue

 

Picture credit: household-tips.thefuntimesguide.com 

Cutting Our Own and Family Member’s Hair 

My husband has been cutting his own hair with an electric razor for some time, now. He also puts masking tape around the sides of my hair to be able to cut straight down the middle of the tape. This is a tip we read some time ago. Although we have been doing these money saving measures for years, we have family who have learned to cut their family member’s hair during the pandemic. Actually, I have been very impressed with all the haircuts that I’ve seen. I can’t tell them from the ones that they used to get from the more expensive hair stylists. Not only did they save money, but they didn’t have to go into a salon with other people and take a chance getting exposed to the virus. 

 Picture credit: thriftyfun.com

Save Money Using Toilet Paper for Tissue

Honestly, I saw this tip in a second-hand copy of the Cheapskate Gazette before the pandemic. It told how to take the cardboard tube from the middle of the roll and to pull the bottom piece of toilet paper from the middle up through the top. I have used this suggestion ever since and it is very handy, pandemic or not! [Hint: Maybe if you were to put your regular toilet paper out like this, possibly people would use less squares of it, since it has been a scarce items at various times during the pandemic.

Please add the creative things you've done during the Pandemic In A Pinch below in the Comments Section. Thanks! Debbie

Using Junk Mail Envelopes & Keeping Food Safe from Meal Moths

 

Picture credit: kickstarter.com

Using a Junk Mail Envelope Sent to You for Scratch Paper 

Since the pandemic, I have tried to not use up all our printer paper for miscellaneous things. Upon prayerful contemplation, it dawned up me that I get an overabundance of free junk mail envelopes! When I open the envelopes sent to me, I put it like the knife is positioned, but instead of cutting open the flap, I cut in an upward motion to cut across the top of the envelope. Then I slit both sides and lay it flat. I put them in a stack beside my chair, out of sight, so they can air out for a few days, just in case. These are ideal for scratch paper, craft projects, writing greetings on the inside to cut out and make your own greeting cards. If you have the envelopes with the windows, you can cut them in half and use the thinner portion for making shopping lists, etc. If you have younger ones around, you can use the window portion to have them put on a word that has the letter “r”, or that has a “ch” in it, etc. It would be a fun way to help them learn pre-reading skills.

Picture credit: agric.wa.gov.au 

Keeping Our Food Safe from Indian Meal Moths

We had noticed moths on occasion but did not pay much attention to them. Then, we started seeing more and more of them. Then, I started seeing them in our food. That’s when I realized we needed to do something about it. There was a two-week shutdown in March related to the pandemic, and it was difficult to get certain foods during that time. I had friends, family, and neighbors trying to find me flour for baking, and it really got to me that I ended up throwing a bag of flour away, because of the Indian Meal Moths in it. I was prayerful about what to do, since I had to decide whether we have an exterminator come into our house or find another way to protect our food. Again, it was on my heart to watch You Tube videos about getting rid of the moths. I watched several videos ranging from having exterminators, to getting moth tents with pheromones, to eradicating them yourself. I had to take all the things off my shelves, wash the shelf with white vinegar in water, wash the container, and throw contaminated foods in the outside garbage. Also, I took all the popcorn, snack, and other items and put them in the garage for some time, so any moths could leave before I checked them. That primarily worked, but I still found some moths and had to look further. I went through all types of cupboards and drawers. I found a lot of moths in the hamster food we had saved after the hamster passed. After getting rid of the hamster food, I washed down the hamster cage and all the things related to the hamster with vinegar in the water. I had less moths, but still found a few. I bought heavier zip sealed bags-not the ones with the close tab, but the ones your press closed with your fingers. I put my oatmeal and most other products within the heavier zip sealed bags, but oatmeal needed 2-gallon bags- if I put the whole container within it. Plastic close tabs allow room for moths to enter. Note: I watched a video that said it isn’t necessary that infested food like flour be thrown away. It suggested you freeze the food item and later sift out the moths and larvae to throw away outside. It said that Indian Meal Moths won’t make the food unhealthy to eat. When it’s used for cooking, it isn’t obvious to others.

Please list creative things you've done during the Pandemic In A Pinch in the Comments Section Below. Thanks! Debbie

Not Using Up All My Waxed Paper & Fixing My Toilet

Picture credit: freepik.com

Trying to Not Use Up All My Waxed Paper

During the pandemic, I made many recipes that required chopped nuts. I wasn’t sure how long my supply of waxed paper would hold up, so I was prayerful about using cloth napkins instead. I tried it and it worked really well. I put the nuts on one half and flipped the other half over top of it and crushed the nuts by rolling my rolling pin back and forth over it.’

I also used waxed paper for rolling out pie dough. I wondered if using cloth napkins would work for rolling out pie dough, as well. I floured the smooth, cotton cloth napkin some, and rolled it out adding flour as needed. The napkin was very flexible to fold the dough in half before putting on the pie plate.

Picture credit: landmakhw.com 

Fixing My Toilet that Doesn’t Have Enough Water to Flush 

Right after things had opened back up after the two weeks shutdown in March, our toilet was periodically having an inadequate amount of water to flush properly. My husband had contacted a plumber about coming to fix it. The plumber talked about having him replace our Fill Valve. I was prayerful, because I was concerned about having a repair person in the house so soon after the shutdown and the expense of his repair. The idea that was on my heart was to watch You Tube Videos to see if I could replace it myself. I’m so glad that I listened to the instincts that God gave me, because not only did it keep us from having a repair person in our house, but it also saved lots of money. I found out from watching several videos that all I had to do is adjust the little stem on the fill valve as shown in the picture. 

Please add any creative things you've done during the Pandemic In A Pinch under the Comment Section below. Thanks! Debbie

Fixing Droopy PJs and Utilizing Spoiled Milk

 

Picture credit: nationalsewingcircle.com

Fixing Droopy PJs with Salvaged Elastic

A friend told me that elastic was difficult to purchase, since so many people were making their own masks during the pandemic. I had an old pair of underwear that was threadbare and was tearing away from the elastic. When I was no longer able to use them, I cut the elastic from the waistband and the leg bands. I had a pair of droopy PJ bottoms, so I put a slit on the inside material of its waist band and attached a safety pin on either end and pinned one side down and threaded the other side through the slit in the waistband. After getting both ends back together, removing the safety pins, and sewing the elastic together, you have a pair of PJs that no longer droop!

Picture credit: alamy.com

Utilizing Spoiled Milk

I had several gallons of milk spoil way before the expiration date. After I threw out the first gallon, I searched on Google to find something my grandmother had told me about making her own cottage cheese from spoiled milk. You basically put your spoiled milk in a pan and heat, stirring, so it does not burn and to help it form the curds. It said to heat to 190 degrees, but I just got it hot, but not to the boiling point and took it off the burner. If it is not already forming into curds, you can add a dash of salt and 2-3 Tablespoons of vinegar. It said to strain it through cheesecloth in a strainer. Not having cheesecloth, I put a cloth napkin in the strainer and poured it in the lined strainer. I would grab the napkin ends and twist them to remove the liquid from the cottage cheese. I had put it over a bowl, to collect the milky water called whey, that can be used in soups to give them more protein. I used the cottage cheese in a recipe that I have for Kuga, a.k.a. Kuchen. Also, you can make spoiled milk into creamed cheese. [Special Note: At that point, I did not realize that I was setting my semi-hot crockpot next to the milk on the bottom shelf. Once I realized this, I started turning the lid upside down in the crockpot, so it fit on the top shelf of the refrigerator, far away from the milk.]

Add some of the creative things you've done during the Pandemic In A Pinch below in the Comments Section.