cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/1422052

We enjoy the Voila! Three Cheese Chicken from Birds Eye $6.49 But we add our own additional frozen vegetables (plain, 1 pound, Italian blend) and cubed boneless skinless chicken (marinated for a day, then cooked and cubed) to make it come out to about $2.25 per serving (4) and about 300 Calories.

For $2.50 in the added ingredients, double the yield and improves the carbs, sodium, and protein. The calories are virtually identical.

The 21 ounce Birds-Eye package says that it serves three, but in practice we find that it serves two. Add your own generic frozen veggies and cubed cooked chicken and you serve four.

• Original half-package nutrition

• Stretched-recipe nutrition

• Recipe

I found out about OfferUp from a comment on !frugal@lemmy.world to post https://lemmy.world/post/1953789, by commenter @karpintero@lemmy.world .

The OfferUp site doesn't let me look around as it's geoblocked, and VPN didn't seem to help. So I went off the Wikipedia description and Googling:

• Competitor to eBay and CraigsList.
• It seems to be around in some major cities, and shipping is available for inter-urban or less urban locations.
• It's both for buying in straight-up transactions as well as bidding (a'la eBay).
• Most item categories are free to list items in, but it costs to put up more than a limited number of listings a month in certain categories.
• They have fees for the sales based on the transaction value
• They have some form of moderation
• They have some user based moderation based on ratings
• They tie user accounts to actual persons
• They don't handle food transactions (?)

Based on these points I would be inclined to not considering it as a thrifting resource to add to the stickied list, on the other hand I've listed an auctioning site in Sweden as a thrifting resource, and might as well include eBay as well.

Your thoughts?

We had a couple of friends who took their families "glamping" a few weeks ago. They extolled the virtues of lower costs and the fabulous service, and even invited parts of our family to come stay with them for a couple of nights. This was not the first time we were invited to "glamping", and it still left a bitter aftertaste once we were about to leave.

But all in all. I get camping, where you can pitch your tent in a forest or on a meadow and enjoy the stars, and then (scouting wise) leave no impression other than imprints on the grass that will soon fade. For me, tent camping where you stay a few nights and then make sure you leave nothing negative behind is fairly benign. Except that not all bodies will tolerate camping conditions. And then there are those people who will absolutely pollute their surrondings and leave all the trash for the conscientious to pick up.

But is "glamping" really a thrifty or even environmentally friendly vacationing?

What are your experiences trying to be thrifty/frugal with stuff for your cats?

We got this lovely girl at an animal shelter. She had been a feral cat, was around two years old, and was extremely shy and wary of humans. We also picked up a pre-owned litter box from the shelter, a basic one without enclosure or roof. Once she had settled in and felt comfortable with us, we got a kitten as a companion for her.

Litter boxes - Penny wise and pound foolish
We quickly realized that cheap, low litterboxes meant twice daily cleaning of the floor around it. We also learned that enclosed litter boxes are better, but some cats don't like them with flaps and will sometimes prefer to do their deeds outside the box. We went through five different models of litter boxes before settling for the top-entry ModKat (thrifted for half price at the cat shelter), and then we also upcycled a toy chest into an enclosed cat litter box. So all in all, we tried to save money on cheap litter boxes, but the one that was by far the easiest to clean and got the least amount of litter outside of it was the ModKat and the upcycled toy chest ranked second.

For the ModKat we first used liners (pricey!) that we bought from pet stores. But we soon discovered there was no point in having the liners, one of the cats just pulled them down and did their deeds between the liner and the wall. Instead it's just easier to just clean out the whole box regularily.

In summary: We wasted way too much money on finding good litter boxes.

Litter - The cheaper options tend to cost more money or labour in the long run

• Shredded paper cat litter, and shredded paper litter pellets, are very economical, but the whole house eventually reeks of ammonia and wet newspapers unless you change them out very frequently. So while the packs are cheap, you use more and the bags tend to take up space. Plus, the soggy paper sticks to their paws and tends to get around the house.
• Clumping clay litter is a bit more expensive, but the cheaper varieties are fairly dusty. We tried all kinds of varieties.
• Wood pellets (with special litter boxes), was about as cheap as the paper litter. It required once-or-twice-daily sifting, and twice weekly emptying. It did cover up the cat urine smell better than the paper, but as our cats didn't like stepping on them when it was freshly changed, they did their nr 2 outside the box. Also, there seemed to fly wood chips all over the room when we sifted. I used the wood pellets for our gardens instead.
• Crystal litter is more expensive, but it absorbs the urine smell very well and lasts for quite a long time with daily emptying. Alas, our cats didn't like the normal crystal litter (it seemed to hurt their paws or butts), so they did their deeds outside the box. So while I thought I had made a bargain when I bought 30 kg of crystal litter from an online pet store, I ended up having to give the majority away as it wasn't feasible for us at all.
• Clumping crystal litter was even more expensive, but the crystals were smaller and the cats tolerated it. But I noticed that it eventually formed a lot of dust, and both mine and the cats noses were runny whenever we went anywhere near the space where the litter boxes were. Plus, if they managed to track any crystals outside of the box, they hurt to step on for us.

In summary: We failed being frugal or thrifty, and spent too much on different brands of litter to find out which one was accepted by the cats. The litter we're using now is one of the more expensive clumping clay varieties, EverClean. But it lasts for longer, is less dusty, is well accepted by the cats (less boo boo's), there is much less cleaning needed and one month's supply takes up fairly little space compared to most of the other options.

Picked up a “sad veggies and fruits” bag at Lidl today for less than 3 €, and got a pack (more than 1 kg) of red meat (from another grocery store, but locally sourced meat) with a due date of tomorrow for less than 7 €. (And I had half of a sad pepper already)

This will be a wonderful stew that serves at least four, and there will probably be leftovers for lunch boxes that we can freeze in for when we start work after the holidays again.

In the “sad” bag from Lidl we also got organic bananas (which we sliced up and had frozen as prep for smoothies), limes, half a pack of grapes and then some spring onions.

Have a lovely weekend, lovely people!

If you like books and are in the US, I’ve had some success with paperbackswap.com. Can be good for getting rid of books you no longer want in exchange for ones you do. There’s a minor transaction fee charged to keep the site afloat, and of course shipping fees. But USPS has a media mail rate you can use that’s cheaper than first class postage.

Considering how much fruit, veg, meat and other products that Poland produces, I think there might be more more sites or apps, both for food and for other items.

Let me know if there’s more I could add to our list of resources.

I put goMkt into the list of US food resources pinned on top of the community, but another user pointed out that the app links no longer worked. I updated the pinned post due to that.

Does anyone know any more info regarding goMkt? I’m contemplating removing them and Food Heroes from the list if they’re not useful for individuals.

This is a well known recipe book series that focuses on frugal cooking, with meals that cost less than around 10 SEK ($1, 1 €) per portion.

But (for you Swedes out there), did you know that the author also has a web site where she shares recipes freely and suggests weekly menus?

• [Portionen under tian]

She's taken a hiatus for a while as she's staying at home with a small infant, but she'll probably return to updating the site and blog again. And there are a lot of good tips and recipes on the site in the meanwhile.

Too good to go is a service that started in Denmark in 2015, and has since spread to more countries. Its concept is to reduce food waste from unsold surplus in the stores, and instead help the stores sell the produce to frugal/thrifty people at a heavy discount, pretty much in "surprise" bags.

According to Wikipedia it is available in mainly Europe and North America:

As of July 2023 the company Web site covered Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

I've seen this around in Sweden from the last year, but there are other similar services here as well, so I haven't used Too good to go yet (but I intend to do soon). I've used Matsmart a couple of times which allows me to pick the products I want, and sometimes bought Lidl's discounted fruit-and-veg bags ("Ta vara på") in the store.

I think the concept is really good on a consumer level, even though I can't say for sure just how much impact it has on reducing surplus or if it's just another green washing method for the affiliated companies.

I've been searching around for resources to add to my list of thrifting or freecycling resources online.

I've seen these two:

• https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/
• https://www.markt.de/

I have questions regarding each site:

• Is it frequently used for free items/freecycling?
• Is it moderated or unmoderated?
• It seem to be free to post ads for both, but is there a catch?

Are there more sites like this in Germany?

I know that https://de.freecycle.org/ is also available and somewhat active. I've also gotten tips about https://mundraub.org/ (thank you @00@kbin.social) that I've added to the list.

Thank you in advance.

I am trying to locate good online resources for thrifting and freecycling items, and have had some tips for good resources that I put into a list. I found out about Kijiji yesterday, but other than Wikipedia entries (and the sites branding-oriented info), I know little.

If anyone knows, I'd love to get some more information regarding Kijiji.

• Is it frequently used by Canadians for classified ads regarding second hand?
• Is there a more popular option?
• Is it fequently used for free items/freecycling?
• Is it moderated or unmoderated?
• It seem to be free to post ads, but they charge for increased visibility.

Thank you in advance.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1030195

@PlaidBaron@lemmy.world wrote:

All material picked up off the side of the road, destined for the dump. I needed trellises for my peas and this fit the bill perfectly.

Its in german and mostly shows locations in germany, but places from all over the world are in it

I occasionally browse freecycling ads in my area for interesting porcelain, vases, flower pots and furniture that will fit into a small car. There are Billy bookcases and bookshelves aplenty, and since they're so common there are few who are interested.

I managed to get hold of an older variety of Billy with a width of 75 cm (around 29,5 inches). This fit perfectly within my coat closet, which has an exterior width of 80 cm (31,5 inches) and an interior width of 76 cm (29,9 inches). All I had to do was measure the free space between the bottom shelf and the bottom of the hanging coats, then mark the sides (from the top).

I cut the sides to the right height with the help of a crosscut saw (I didn't have a track saw at that time). Then I sanded the raw edge, fixed the middle shelf with screws so that the construction wasn't wobbly and "installed" it (merely put it in). In the span of ten minutes (not counting picking the bookshelf up, clearing out the closet or putting the shoes back) I had a basic shoe shelving unit that fit my needs without any bells and whistles.

If it gets too scuffed and I have the spare time, I'll just paint it.

What did I do with the rest? Was considering a doll house with gable roof, but my kids have outgrown that phase, so I saved the scraps for a future project.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1252248

Very basic and simple, yet it might be handy for some people. We were thinking of making one for a teenager who wants to play games on the laptop in bed, albeit with a different look.

From the blog:

This scrap wood DIY Laptop Desk is a one-hour project to get that overheating laptop off your lap! Complete photo tutorial inside!

Want to know a semi-secret about me? I’m a gamer. When I tell people this, I always feel the need to clarify a bit- not one of those first person shooter gamers. Violence freaks me out. But simulation games (Sims, city builders,) and strategy games (Settlers of Catan on steroids,) I’m all for.

As you might expect, I have a pretty hefty laptop. It gets hot. Really hot; enough to burn my legs. And if my legs are burning, that’s probably a bad sign for the insides of the laptop.

So I wanted to create a laptop desk that not only holds the laptop off my lap, but also helps cool the laptop. What I mean by this: most laptops have fans on the bottom of the machine that blow hot air out of the machine.

On a normal desk, the hot air hits the desk, and then is pushed right back into the machine by the desk. But on the DIY laptop desk I built, there are spaces between the wood, allowing that hot air to escape.

Those spaces are a simple solution to help keep laptops cool and therefore extend their lifespans. Plus, this plan is super easy, coming together in under an hour of work!

This might be filler/fluff, but it's handy both to shop frozen (can in some places be cheaper) and to freeze in fresh produce, meal prep or leftovers.

From the article:

Imagine buying five bags of groceries, dropping two in the parking lot, and walking away. An unlikely scenario, but consider this: About 40 percent of all food produced in the United States does not get eaten. And collectively, consumers are responsible for more wasted food than farmers, grocery stores, or any other part of the food supply chain. The lettuce that went bad, the leftovers you never got around to eating, that science experiment in the back of the refrigerator you’re hoping will disappear—it all adds up. In fact, the average American household of four is throwing away $120 each month in the form of uneaten food.

Fortunately, you can fix the problem—and destress last-minute dinner quandaries in the process. Wasting less food is about keeping ingredients fresh, being creative with what you have, and getting to know your food, especially how it ages and how it is best stored. And despite its bad rap, frozen food—and freezing food—is one of the keys to cutting down on what you toss.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1026054

I've been trying to find simpler reuse/reinvent projects without only posting Youtube links (and avoiding Pinterest or content aggregator sites). I know Facebook isn't ideal as well, but I wanted to share this simple creation by a Swedish woman (post is in Swedish as well): Link to Facebook and the post

It's a clever reuse and reinvention of the old trampoline frame.

The translated contents of her post: We have made a rose arch/trellis out of an old trampoline. Split the trampoline in two halves and welded them together with pieces of the legs.

Katie is a Canadian who fixes and freshens up furniture from trash pickups or from thrift stores. She used to be a furniture flipper, but seems to do quite well now, so the furniture that she shows on her channel of late is usually kept for her own home or gifted back to thrift stores or friends.

While I may not always agree with the aesthetics of every refinished piece, I like that she gives new life to furniture that might otherwise end up in a landfill or burn pile.

Her channel on Youtube: Salvaged by K. Scott

The specific video from the post pic: French Provincial Coffe Table Set

I hope you get inspired and enjoy!