Whiter teeth - the cheaper way..

I have committed to being better about flossing. Because nothing undoes a year of frugality or couponing like a big dentist bill does. On recommendation of my hygienist she said to swish with 3% Hydrogen Peroxide mixed 50/50 with water. And for me to use a proxy brush.

With this new routine I noticed my teeth were a little whiter and I did a little research online and lo and behold Hydrogen Peroxide does whiten your teeth.

And I looked at our bottle of this:

and saw Hydrogen peroxide as one of the major ingredients.

So add some Hydrogen Peroxide to your food storage - its a good thing to have on hand. And if you want to whiten your teeth give it a try. DO NOT SWALLOW, DO NOT OVERUSE (can soften your teeth like most whitening agents can), AND DO DILUTE WITH WATER.

It helps with canker sores too...

You can also bleach your hair with it, get blood out of clothes and carpet, dip your toothbrush to sanitize it, add some to the whites load to get them even whiter....

enjoy some hydrogen peroxide linky:

Clean with it

and other amazing uses!!!

More on storing produce & leftovers

I have heard two statistics that BLOW my mind...

44% of American household food budgets are spent in restaurants. AAAAAGGGHHHH how expensive. If you have a strong restaurant habit, splurge a little more in your grocery budget, pick a fancy new recipe and starting treating yourself more at home. Restaurants money adds up so fast!!!

...and the saddest to me was that the US throws out about 40% of ALL its food. Be still my heart. Really I can't handle the waste.

With a growing family we have less and less leftovers. But my tricks are simple and I can honestly say I throw away very little food around here. Eventually I hope to tackle composting and then what is thrown away will go toward making more :)

1. Serve plates, then immediately put leftovers up. Package a lunch portion for work the next day right then. After dinner you may not be as motivated to do this and its tempting to just scrape it in to the trash as you are scraping plates.

2. Freeze Leftovers. How often do you dutifully put the dinner leftovers in the fridge and then 10 days later ritually dump the contents of 10 or so containers into the trash. Microwaves these days have very good defrost settings, defrosting from frozen then heating as you normally would only adds a very little amount of time and saves a lot of money from stuff otherwise going in the trash.

3. Make a leftover list. As you store leftovers -write down on a scratch sheet of paper and stick it with a magnet on the fridge. Cross off as you take back out. Then you can grab this little note and mentally decide what you can use without digging through the freezer. Use masking tape to write on the individual containers. Some things once frozen are pretty difficult to tell what it is.

4. When you notice your Tupperware containers are low in the cabinet its time for LEFTOVER night.

Take out those leftovers from the fridge, heat them up, combine complimenting meals into soup or lay out a cornucopia of options and let the family dig in buffet style. (Leftover Lunch is especially easy on lazy Sunday afternoons)

5. If you are cutting up produce for dinner and chop more than you need. Stick the rest in a Ziploc bag, label and stick in the fridge - you can almost always add this to some soup later on.

and... some more produce tips:

Bread - DO NOT PUT IN FRIDGE!!!!! - it will make it go stale faster, and refrigerated bread is just weird, its hard and cold. Either freeze your bread or leave it out.

Apples - in the fridge or cool, dark place they will last up to six weeks

Avocado - not quite ripe slices are improved with a sprinkle of salt

Bananas - were covered well here, but when they do start to go bad - Don't throw them out. Freeze them, you can freeze them peeled or unpeeled. If you freeze with the peels on when they defrost you can squeeze the contents right out into your banana bread mix. Or if you freeze them after peeled you can easily toss them into the blender with for a smoothie - pre-cut if your blender is not particularly powerful.

Berries - refrigerated, unwashed in dry covered container

Melons - refrigerated

Peaches - in the fridge or room temperature in a brown bag to speed ripening -good in disposable drink holder

Cherries - refrigerated, unwashed in a plastic bag (green bag would be great!)

Grapes - refrigerated, unwashed, loosely placed in green bag

Plums - room temp to ripen, in fridge once ripe - good in disposable drink holder

Tomatoes - room temp but not in direct sunlight

for a quick no cook pasta sauce: grate ripe tomatoes and toss with torn basil and grated Parmesan

Cabbage - in airtight bag or container in fridge

Corn - in the fridge in their husks

Potatoes - in cool place away from light (not in fridge)

Zucchini and Yellow squash - unwashed in green bag in fridge

Beans - in airtight container - don't snap off ends before storing

Beets - in the crisper, lop off green tops before storing - the tops are great in salads

Broccoli - refrigerated in green bag

Mushrooms - unwashed in paper bag in fridge

Onions - in a dark well ventilated place - Don't keep near potatoes, they will absorb the potatoes moisture and spoilage speeding ethylene gas

Peppers - in a green bag in fridge whole, dry and unwashed.

** info from Penn State Co-op extension via consumer reports magazine

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY

freezer jam

Tip #2

This is my recent replacement of paper plates (shhhh... don't make me feel guilty, yes sometimes we use paper plates) - $11 for 1000 sheets

pre-cut deli wax sheets at sam's club - dry wax that is water and grease resistant, so you can plop the sandwich and chips right on it and crumble with crumbs included and toss after. So far We've used them for sandwiches, chips, pizza and ranch, apples, and toast.

I think they'll be great for crafts too!

Tip #3

When making something - make a lot!! - your work will go a lot further.

Making refrigerator dough? make two batches

Making sandwiches for school lunches make 30+ and freeze them

Making soup make a double batch and freeze half for later

Making pie or pizza crust - make six and freeze the extras flat

Here I am making 3 batches of freezer jam:

3 packets of pectin and 2 1/4 cups of water - which if there is any left is on clearance at the Kroger on Custer for .69/box

6 cups of berries (mostly strawberries and a little blackberries and raspberries) + 12 cups of sugar and a little lemon juice)

plus pectin mixture =

FREEZER JAM

Save on your electric bill

Don't Turn on that Air Conditioner!!!

A couple years back we had an A/C unit on hospice. Yes, it was dying and to try to make it last as long as possible I took on the challenge to use it as little as possible. I had so much success that I continued the practice even after we purchased our new and much better system. So here is my routine to going without A/C as long as possible

Become familiar with the weather forecast - when you know what the hottest it will be you won't feel like throwing in the towel so soon - "Its only going to get to 89 I can make it a little bit longer"

At night and when it is cool enough outside for your liking - have all the windows you can stand be open - flood the house with fresh air and coolness.

Then, when just before, or as soon as it gets above your comfort line - go and SHUT all those windows and close the blinds (facing up) and if you have them the curtains too.

Treat your house like the fridge when the power is out - only open doors on a really, really need to basis - Don't leave the door open as you slowly bring in all the groceries. Don't let the kids leave the garage door wide open.

The goal here is to keep that cool air you let in earlier IN YOUR HOUSE.

With this system I kept my house at least 15-20 degrees cooler on the inside than it was on the outside - even when it was about 95 outside.

My system keeps working until it gets too hot at night to sufficiently cool the house.

Like I said keep track of that forecast and you'll know how cool its going to get at night.

Other tips:

have a fan in every room: ceiling, stand, or box -

Box fans in windows help circulate air through the house well but for other fans you only need them on in the room if you are IN the room - fans only make you feel cooler by moving the air - if you are not there to feel the moved air you are just wasting your money.

Have a thermostat to tell you actually how hot it is - for me just knowings its only _______ degrees I seem to be able to tolerate more.

Be very aware of activities in your home that increase temperature.

Exercise early when its cooler

Shut the door to your laundry room - a dryer going all day can raise the temp steadily

Be very careful of cooking methods - nothing will make you switch on that a/c faster than an oven in a Texas kitchen on a hot day. Use those crock pots my friends! Or better yet a solar oven.

I have to say that dinner time is the hardest part of the plan - I only really ever got uncomfy in that 4-7 pm time - be prepared in advance and ready and you'll make it.

Dress cool, cook cool, drink lots of water.

A damp bandanna holding your hair back feels wonderful

I have made it to June and then only with intermittent use until July. This family doesn't use it at all and they live in Texas too!

Its a happy, happy, joy, joy dance when you get the electric bill and its SO LOW

The BEST frugal resource EVER!!!

My all time, absolute, favorite book is on sale at Amazon with FREE shipping.

are you new to the frugal world? an old hat? either way this book has something for you. Its a compilation of newsletters that ran in the nineties - and even though some information is dated - the bulk is completely transforming. It will make you question your lifestyle and stretch your brain on ways to cut back. Your debt will shrink and your savings will grow. Mine has...

at least peruse the reviews, you'll want this book, trust me

go get it, now!!

The COMPLETE Tightwad Gazette - $15.61 (free shipping if you order $25)

May I suggest my second favorite book to qualify for free shipping?

I can't believe its food storage

$12.18 with free shipping

27.79 + tax - an excellent investment - If I had these books 10 years ago I KNOW our overall net worth would be double what it is now.

ps. ANYTHING IN LIGHT GREY ON THIS BLOG IS A LINK - click away my friend...

Are you paying more than 75 cents for a loaf of bread?

The Mrs. Bairds bread store (811 N. McDonald street - through downtown McKinney and left on McDonald, or down 380 and right) is one of my favorite places for saving money.

I buy wheat bread for 75 cents a loaf. Stock changes but you can buy almost any kind of bread. They carry Mrs. Bairds, Thomas, Orrrowheat, and a few store brands. Its not actually "day old" its just whenever the delivery trucks change out stock at local stores - I have found all of the bread to be very fresh. I freeze the dozen or so loaves I purchase. With a frostless freezer we can't ever tell its been frozen.

I also buy tortillas and english muffins for 80 cents a package. I almost always get 3-4 free items off the free rack and I then get hamburger buns that I make into garlic bread with butter and garlic powder, broiled.

I only get other extras if the price is right. I got the muffins today because they were 55 cents for a box of 5. I figured I can't make anything from scratch at that price and they can be a school lunch snack.

this haul was $24 total

this is how it all fits in my freezer.

My grocery shopping route is big lots, bread store, sams club, walmart with flyers to price match and finally the egg farm as previously posted about. I aim for one big shopping trip per month with short runs for fresh items as needed.

ps. Wednesdays are 10% off everything. But sometimes stock can be low.

And they give you a card to fill up and when you do you get two free fresh items.

The battle of the bulk

"Mom, you buy lots of big things and put them into smaller things"

-Ella

the funnel, one of my biggest money saving devices

Things I purchase by the gallon or more that I put into smaller containers:

ranch dressing

ketchup

conditioner

hair gel

dish soap

hand soap

other bulk items that go into smaller containers:

minced onion

flour

sugar

brown sugar

powdered sugar

cinnamon

baking soda

baking powder

salt

I am sure there is more but that is all I can think of right now

Bulk purchasing can be tricky, you have to fight 'bulk consumption'.

It doesn't do you any good to use three times as much of something just because you bought three times as much of it. That is why there are some things I just won't buy too much of- because we'll just use too much of it - like potato chips (who needs those anyway?).

But when the price per unit is the lowest I can find, I buy a lot. Overtime this will ax your grocery budget. I buy more for other reasons too - One for food storage purposes and so I don't have to buy it again until the price is just as low or lower.

For ease of use I re-purpose old containers.

We have two Heinz ketchup bottles, one that holds Sam's club brand ketchup and one that holds sams club brand Ranch dressing. This is nice because the kids can't dump a giant pile of ranch for a few carrots - it just squirts out. I have a dawn dish soap container that is approximately four years old. Its held bulk janitorial supply dish soap from Sams club all that time.

I have hair gel in a cake decorating squirt bottle.

And all the conditioner bottles really have conditioner that I bought from Sally Beauty on sale intended for salons. One gallon for 6.49 plus my 15% off coupon. That is conditioner that's good quality for less than dollar store price.

One thing I am going to start doing is another trick from my favorite book. For the new year, I am writing with permanent marker and masking tape the date I open something or refill something and play a game with myself and see how long I can make it last. Dish soap will be a big hurdle for me I am a notorious waster of dish soap. Because if one drop is good three giant squirts is better. right???

so how do you fight waste in your home? Do you buy in large quantities when the price is right? got any tips on making that stuff last??

Homemade Laundry Detergent Revisited

I have changed the way I make my homemade laundry detergent:

- I switched to powder (easier to make)

-I switched to white zote - gentler on skin and after using fels naptha for a LOOONG time I did notice it slightly yellowing our whites.

so here are my new super easy instructions for making your own laundry detergent for less than 2 cents a load.

1 bar of zote - .89 cents ( I got this at Albertsons)

1.5 cups of borax (about 3.99 - 4.50 a box - you can buy almost anywhere)

1.5 cups of washing soda -NOT baking soda (I buy at Kroger or Ace Hardware)

If you prefer fels naptha laundry bar soap you can get all ingredients at the Kroger on Custer

roughly dice the Zote

Run zote alone through food processor until its well processed - almost a minute in my food processor - you could possibly use a blender

Measure out 1.5 cups of borax

and 1.5 cups of washing soda (I do this on a paper towel because they both tend to be clumpy, and the excess that falls out I can easily lift up with the towel)

add both to processor and blend well for about a minute again and pulse a few times to insure its mixed evenly.

Pour in container and you're done!!!

I use 2 tablespoons per HUGE load in my high capacity top loader.

This mix is safe for HE washers and baby's skin (Mr. PJ can agree)

and I use cold water only on all loads except my whites and it works fine

here is a video so you can see the texture of the finished product. You can hear the food processor making the next batch in the background (it is loud - especially when you do the zote bar)

I make three-four batches at a time.

** wash all kitchen utensils well (in dishwasher) after.

Your Questions about the bread store...

Do they have whole wheat - High Fructose Corn Syrup free bread?

yes... sometimes - their stock changes moment to moment depending on what product is coming in and what is being bought. That is one of the most popular breads so stock can be low. By low I mean less than 12 loaves because that is at least how much I want to buy at once.

If you see it on sale in a flyer or at the store, chances are good there will be a lot at the bread store.

Will they hold stock for me?

yes if you call them they will let you know if they have your favorite brand and if you are coming in THAT DAY they will hold it for you.

What is their phone number?

972-548-0787

Where are they again?

811 N. MacDonald Street McKinney

Tell me more about Discount Day? Does this mean there is less stock?

Discount Day used to be Senior Citizen Day but they extended it to everyone a while back and left it like that. Every Wednesday you get 10% off your entire purchase.

as far as stock goes... it fluctuates.. They do not take in any new stock on Wednesdays - so Discount days does clear out inventory for them. But it doesn't necessarily mean less selection. It all depends. Remember you can call ahead.

What are the best days for good selection?

Mondays and Thursdays they receive the most products in the store.

I went and it wasn't as cheap as I was expecting....

You may have shopped on the wrong side of the store - the right side is fresh from the bakery - still cheaper than the grocery store but not the cheapest. The left side is discounted - loaves are either .75 to .85 a loaf.

Don't shop in the middle of the store - not any cheaper than Sam's club for those items.

I didn't get free items...

You have to spend at least 6 dollars

Don't forget to get a punch card....

They won't always offer it, you need to ask. Fill a punch card and you get a free loaf of bread and a free "sweet bread"

The most popular item in the store?

Cinnamon Raisin bread. eww.. I don't like raisins.

But I make my bread from scratch...

Kuddos to you, but you may not be making it cheaper than this bread. Healthier yes! Cheaper - questionable - depends on your ingredient prices. But no matter I do envy you, maybe one day I will be organized and motivated to make all of our bread from scratch. I am not there yet.

PS. Hope you guys feel the love because telling you about this endangers my bread supply !!! LOL...

Holy Science Fair Batman

Some are afraid to participate in our awesome food deals because they are afraid of wasting the food. As far as the chicken orders and the like, get a freezer - you will not regret it (but that is a post for another day). Or split with a friend. For fresh foods like Bountiful Baskets there are a few tricks. Now this post will continue strictly from my stream of conscience. So if something is wrong or there or more tips to suggest PLEASE comment. I am not taking the time today to fact check ...

For fruits that benefit from not touching each other (I find pears and avocados to be two of those prissy foods) the drink holder do-hickies are PERFECT. They keep them dry and from touching. I keep mine out until they are ripe as I like them then move them to the fridge until consumed. I have made avocados last three times as long with this method. Holy Guacamole Batman. Seriously guacamole is manna from heaven. But I digress

For other fruits - The fabulous Mrs. Amy introduced me to the fact that the DOLLAR TREE is now selling those nifty TV infomercial veggie bags. I admit I am skeptical of new things. Because if the way I am doing it works why change...

I had read in my Tightwad Gazette ages ago that bananas kept better in a bag and I had started just using the actual bag from the grocery store. It did extend the life of the fruit. But then again we inhale bananas around here...

So I decided to do a little science experiment. My hypothesis was that the exposed bananas would ripen the fastest and that the bananas in the store bag and fancy green bag would ripen at a similar pace.

I was... wrong....

The fancy green bag whopped up on the store bag. So for the price you should totally think about using these bags. Especially if you don't have family of seven that descend like locusts on the food in your house.

I imagine with judicious use of these bags (keep them closed, I used a clip) you could make any produce from you bountiful basket last two weeks and more if you wanted!!

They are called Always Fresh Store-its, from DOLLAR TREE - for $1 you get 10 bags (5 large and 5 medium) - and they are reusable!

DAY ONE

DAY SIX:

and... DAY TEN

(look at that a banana disappeared even though I threatened everyone's life)

So conclusion:

The store bag did help extend the life of the banana, but the green bags WON, barely a spot on them. I will keep them in the bag and let you know when they finally give in.. If I can keep little hands away from them.

PS. I did open the bags every day to simulate actual usage.

Homemade wipes

I have been making Homemade baby wipes for two years now. They are a third of the price of generic sams club wipes and now that I use select a size paper towels they last longer than a pack of traditional wipes because I can grab a smaller amount for smaller jobs.

They are easy to use one handed with a pull and a quick tug and I pull out a bunch to take on the go.

There are many recipes out there and plenty more videos on youtube if you want to experiment.

1/2 roll of paper towels

2 1/4 - 2 1/2 cups of water

2 tbls of conditioner or olive oil

2 tbls of shampoo or baby wash

optional - essential oil - I used Lavendar

here are some awesome links to recipes for:

Homemade sanitizing wipes

and

Homemeade clorox wipes

Do you do cloth diapers? - use this recipe with old scrap rags for washable baby wipes!

There's gold in that there driveway

Today is Wednesday and Wednesday is Sale Flyer day - a day that makes Janie very, very happy.

Do you voraciously pore over the sale flyers like I do? you don't? well you should be...

Grocery store, marketing agents, manufacturers, packagers are all in a big game against us to make us spend more. Actually they just want to make a profit... but I digress.

I listened to an excellent podcast last night about how more and more these days they are altering packaging in items to make you pay the same price or even more for LESS... And the main tip that was given was "shop the loss leaders - its one of the best ways to never pay retail for groceries" and when you shop the loss leaders buy enough so you don't have to buy again until it goes on sale.

Combine loss leaders with coupons and you are doing even better.

so my tips for grocery sale flyers are:

Loss leaders are generally only on the front page of the ad. I have started saving my time by generally skipping the middles pages. The back pages are generally produce but since I do bountiful baskets now that's no biggie.

I DO NOT go around to multiple stores. If there is a MAJOR deal at one particular store or its BOGO or for a brand only they carry I will maybe make an extra trip.

But... for the most part I price match at Walmart.

tips for price matching:

Supplies you will need:

flyers, big marker, and your coupons and price book (I record in my price book the lowest price I have ever seen an item sell for)

separate the stores you shop from and recycle the unnecessary stuff

this week I got flyers for:

Kroger

CVS

Albertsons

Brookshires

Sprouts

Tom Thumb

(and I check Big Lots and Aldi's online)

Now to prep them for price matching I go through and circle what are good deals, then circle the date of the flyer and write on the front what the deals are.

as I shop I make a pile of the flyers I will need at checkout.

the cashier will want to check the dates of the flyer

tips at checkout:

cashier profile (younger and preferably male) A teenage boy doesn't get as irritated about sale flyer price matching. White haired old ladies who themselves have been price matching for years get annoyed like Alex Trebek does when you don't know the answer right away.

If I am price matching a long list of items I do warn those getting in line behind me

I put the items that need to be price matched in in the back of all of my other groceries and I have my flyers folded neatly and ready to go.

I keep track of how many of each item I am purchasing, Especially if I am buying A LOT.

It goes like this I tell the cashier "I am buying 12 frozen pizzas, price matched at .79 cents each, here is the flyer, I circled it and the date"

Then watch your grocery prices drop... its lovely.

other tips:

KEEP YOUR FLYERS WITH YOU ALL THE TIME. Put them in your car. I can't tell you how many times something I didn't intend on purchasing all of sudden was needed when I didn't have the flyers. Or if you have to run in and get something last minute, stock up on the sale again. Some popular price match items sell out fast and often.

and now for the fine print :

Walmart will not match BOGO products, Buy one item get a different item free, or percentage off sales. They also don’t honor double or triple coupon ads, or any ad that is misprinted.

to be perfectly honest I hadn't remembered that before and they did price match 2/5.00 cereal, I just said those cereals are 2.50 each.. oops I may have cheated.

they have also matched store "coupons" for me that were in the sale flyer and they have been lenient on the "limit" so if the store ad limits 2, walmart generally honors the price match for more

and I have substituted items when they were sold out, but this warranted a manager coming over.

REMEMBER to be careful about thinking all deals in the flyers are deals. THEY ARE NOT, some are plain ol regular prices which can be double the price they were last week. Some things in the flyer are just "for sale" not "on sale" - so beware.

I am working on sharing my price book with you all... stay tuned.

Everyday food storage did an excellent video on this subject HERE

Want someone to do the flyer work for you?

go to Deals to Meals and they will do the flyer work and tell you where the best deals are.

Don't get flyers? call the newspaper and ask.

Making a quick trip somewhere - grab the flyer at the front door, and check it out - you may be walking by a deal all the time.

Kale Chips

I love that bountiful baskets inspires me to try new things because I would have skipped over buying some of the fruits and veggies that they offer. With our kale we made KALE CHIPS!!

Cut the kale leaves off the stem, and tear into smaller pieces, wash and dry well.

I wash and then layer in paper towels and roll it up to dry thoroughly (I also do this with lettuce)

Toss with EVOO and vinegar (I used balsamic) of your choice - 1 tablespoon of each per head of kale

toss till all is coated

layer on baking sheet and roast in oven set at 300 for this is the tricky part - recipes says 30 minutes reviews on allrecipes said as little as 5, mine when about 25 minutes.

season with salt and eat.

you can't tell from the picture but they are very crispy and yummy.

official recipe HERE

How to cook rice the wrist wrinkle way

Sometimes its the basics that get you stuck.

My mom who I love dearly only ever cooked rice in a bag, you know the kind you fish out with a fork and drain over the sink?

I am sure she probably made rice other ways but I didn't pay attention. I know she can make a mean gumbo so she must do rice well too. anyway...

Bulk rice from a sack.. I messed it up bad when I tried to cook it... until I worked at a chinese take out place in college and I watched the lady there do it, and got instructions in very broken english. I was never allowed to make it there but I finally mastered it in my own home!

(Did you know suhsi apprentices can be trained up to 7 years on just how to make sticky rice?)

This could be a potentially contreversial topic because I assume most people have developed their way to cook rice by now - but for those of you afraid of it and are fishing bags of rice out of the water this is for you...

How I cook rice in a rice cooker without a single measuring cup or reading any directions on packages:

I use a rice cooker from the 1970's - I had a brand spanking new one that was a wedding gift but it was small and my family out grew it - so I traded mine for my Aunt's chime-o-matic... and it chimes so sweetly...

current prices and technology vary but I can attest to the fact that it doesn't have to be fancy to work, just ask my chime-o-matic

I do both white and brown rice in my rice cooker, and I include both rices in my food storage. Brown rice is healthier, white stores better and some recipes need one or the other to taste right.

I get my brown rice on sale at the bread store and in bulk from Sprouts

for this I am making brown rice:

Any amount of rice will work with my method, but after time I have found that a little over one knuckle is perfect for our family - this is A LOT of rice - I'd guess 8 cups cooked

Its just about the max capacity for my cooker

now for the water, I rinse brown rice, but I do not rinse white rice (you wash away all the fortified vitamins if you rinse white rice)

Now for my big trick: Bend your wrist - if you have enough meat on your bones there will be two main wrinkles

WRINKLE #1 is the line you fill to for white rice (above photo) and..

WRINKLE #2 is the line you fill to for brown rice (photo below):

this works no matter how much rice you want to make because its a ratio thing.

now put it in the chime-o-matic and wait for the ding...

rice cookers are pretty forgiving and if you are not sure lean towards more water than not enough, it will turn off when the water is cooked off ..

done... just toss with a fork and you are done, use a wooden spoon if you are worried about scratching your rice cooker.

DO NOT leave rice in cooker too long - it becomes a dry stuck mess. But for what does stick do not struggle fill with hot water and dish soap and let soak overnight, stick in the dishwasher the next day.

To fry rice cook the night before or morning of and let chill in fridge

RICE ideas:

add to scrambled eggs to stretch the meal

Fried rice

rice and a can of soup or leftover soup

Rice + one veggie is a meal

and of course:

RICE AND BEANS - the staple of a frugal diet :)

PS you can steam veggies in a rice cooker too!