Measure the Savings

One of the key things to keeping up the cooking from scratch habit is to have the right tools and a sufficient quantity of the right tools.

If you’re not that fond of cooking in the first place, this philosophy can save gobs and gobs of frustration.

One way I save time, money and frustration is to have multiple sets of measuring cups and measuring spoons.  I put them in separate baskets, so I don’t have to spend time hunting for them through the silverware drawer when I need them.

I have gotten these from different sources.  Some were gifts, some came with other cookware, and some I bought myself.

Most of the ones I have bought myself have come from the dollar store.  I slowly built up my collection over time.  Whenever I would go to the dollar store for wrapping paper or just junk, I would pick up one or two sets.  I can’t remember much of what I purchased during these trips except for the measuring cups and spoons - they are that handy.

My mother prepared food every day for six people.  That was breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Going out to eat was extremely rare, and would most likely take the form of .10 burger night at Burger King.  In all those years she only had one set of measuring spoons and one set of measuring cups.  When she needed to use a tablespoon, say, more than once in the course of a meal (or day), she would have to wash it, rinse it, and dry it before reusing it.  My parents were so frugal that I guess this was alright by them.  But since I am only second generation frugal, I am naturally a bit lazier. More than that, it would drive me bananas to do that!

For instance, today I made whole-wheat bread and slow-cooker chicken cacciatore.  These two items required at least 10 different measuring spoons and cups between them.  I just toss them in the dishwasher when I’m done.  Since I have so many of the things, I could just keep going if I wanted too.  Cakes, pies, soup - I have the measuring cup capacity to handle it all in one day!  Of course, I would never do that because I am lazy.

However, there are some “big” cooking days in the year, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays.  I’m always prepared, toolwise, for these days.

This is a good way to look at cutting boards, too.  It seems like you can never have too many of those suckers either.  I have a bunch in different sizes.

If your kitchen could use a measuring upgrade, I would advise you to take yourself, your driver’s license and $21.65 ($20 + 8.25% sales tax) to your nearest dollar store to stock up.  Go crazy! - Use the whole darn amount on measuring cups and spoons only!

I suggest taking only the exact amount because it’s easy to lose your head in a dollar store.

So have fun on an Ideas for Frugal Living-sanctioned shopping spree.  There aren’t too many of those to go around!