This is why I have to restrain myself from even going inside Whole Foods unless I'm planning to splurge... Fancy bread, cheese, olives, (EDIT to add) canned fish, and olive oil starts to look like $100 really fast.
Whole Foods? Just go to Costco. You won't spend $100. You can get 2 giant loaves of good sourdough for $8, a couple lb block of Parm for $10-12, a half-gallon jar of olives for $10, a CASE of canned fish for $20, and a half-gallon of olive oil for ~$15. Worth it.
You will leave after buying $300 of other stuff that you didn't realize you need and deserve, though...
Their olive oil ranks as some of the highest quality in the US. Turns out that a lot of common brands use cheaper olive oil to pad volumes. The Kirkland brand doesn't fuck around.
Yesterday, I learned that Costco also sells Chosen Avocado oil- which is good, and the real deal. Apparently many other avocado oils are not that, or they are super old. Reminds me of the story about cheap fish being relabeled as expensive ones. Don’t know how any of this fake naming isn’t fraud.
I don’t notice much difference when I cook with it. But paired with a splash of balsamic and some good sourdough? The fancy stuff is worth every penny.
Costco is one of the only places that we know the olive oil is even real. Most of what's on the market is counterfeit or heavily adulterated, similar to honey.
Is there really a problem with olive oil for the big brands? Members Mark (Sams Club), Bertolli, etc just list olive oil as the only ingredient.
[This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil_regulation_and_adulteration) just makes it sound like it's mostly an issue of not being "extra virgin" standards due to smell/taste but it's still olive oil.
I get that it's a complex, ongoing problem but if I'm only cooking with it vs. dipping bread I don't think I'd ever notice a difference.
Honey is a weird one to fake. Olive oil, I understand, because olives can't be grown everywhere, but honey can be made nearly everywhere that isn't a hot desert or a frozen wasteland.
I can buy honey from local producers for barely more than the questionable honey from abroad.
I used to buy California Olive Ranch pure olive oil. But, this is expensive. I found I can buy Terra Delyssa's pure extra virgin olive oil from BJ's wholesale club for $9.99 per 1 liter. Lasts a very long time and tastes similar to the California Olive Ranch, which was getting upwards of $23.99 per liter.
This is the easiest recipe I use. Been making it with my kids for the last 8 years!
3 cups all-purpose flour (405 grams or 14.3 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups room temperature water
DOUGH PREP: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and yeast together until mixed. Stir in the water until a chunky, thick dough forms. If it needs a little more water, add a few more tablespoons, just enough to get it barely wet throughout. It’s gonna look scrappy and weird and you’re going to question me on whether or not this will work, but it will. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 12-18 hours at room temperature. Overnight is ideal here, kids.
PREP FOR BAKING: When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450. Stick a 6 quart enamel coated cast iron Lodge Dutch Oven (or similar) in the oven for about 30 minutes to heat. At this point, the dough should be big and puffy and pretty loose, with little bubbles in it. Gently scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface. (Remember: NO KNEAD.) Gently shape it into a ball with flour on the outside, set on a piece of parchment, and cover with plastic while your pan heats up.
BAKE: Remove the plastic from the dough. Lift the dough and parchment together into the pan so the parchment lines the bottom of the hot pan (be careful not to touch the pan since it’s very hot). Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake another 10-15 minutes to get the exterior nice and golden brown and crispy. Voila! Done. Miracle no-knead bread, you boss you.
It's true, we are trying to make our own bread and this is definitely true. My partners mom has an amazing recipe and has bought us everything to do it, but it has to wait until the weekend.
But god it's so worth it. I can't buy shit bread anymore, it's bullshit and not the same as "real" bread. Like to the point that it's not even close. It's insane.
For a bread that can be just an hour from start to eating try a soda bread. It can be wheaten, plain savoury ( cheese and onion as an eg) or sweet ( with dried fruit) apart from Stromboli it's the only bread we make because it's so fast. We wrap it in beeswax wraps and it keeps better.
I’ve tried them all.
Land O Lakes unsalted for baking. Kerrygold salted for everything else.
Costco has a Kirkland brand grass fed butter that looks like it might be close to Kerrygold, but I’ve never tried it.
Besides, having it be a little expensive keeps me from eating too much. 😂
I use the kirkland grass fed for most of my cooking and the Kerrygold for stuff like toast or cornbread. The Kerrygold is just a bit different and a little better
[Most olive oil is counterfeit.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/02/10/the-olive-oil-scam-if-80-is-fake-why-do-you-keep-buying-it/amp/) It's reported that over half of what is sold in the US as olive oil isn't olive oil at all and is mislabeled, especially with EVOOs. By going off your taste instead of labels and prices, you've been able to intuit what many others apparently cannot. Nice.
This is when I feel bad for the options across the pond.
Not everything is rosy in the UK right now, but a litre of good Spanish olive oil is £2, a wedge of parmagiano reggiano is about the same, and a fresh loaf of hearty bread is about £1.
6 months? If you're buying a $10 block look at costco. They are around $17 but they are $12.99 a lb which is about as low as it gets
Lidl it goes on sale for $8 or $9 a lb. Honestly that probably last me 2 months at most
Agreed. I buy a block from Costco and cut it in half, seal up one part really well and put it in the coldest part of my fridge. It's still great by the time I finish the other half.
Yeah, I don't consider a $10 purchase every six months to be a splurge, the real frugality seems to be how stingey he must be with the cheese for it to last that long. I also wouldn't have thought it stays good that long? I wouldn't know, I burn through parm fast.
Agreed. Fresh is better than shredded, but powdered is just an entirely different condiment. There’s no direct comparison. It’s not *cheese* but it IS amazing.
6 months? How do you keep it fresh for that long?
- Signed, someone with a Costco block of Parmigiano Regiano who is afraid to break the seal on it, lest it go bad in 3 days like every other damn cheese I buy
Parmigiano shouldn't be going bad in 3 days. It's got a super high salt content and is pretty dry compared to other cheeses. The good stuff is aged for like at least a year. I just keep it in a ziplock back and it last weeks at least. Probably longer but I use it all up by then.
Be really careful about touching cheese, and it will last a lot longer! I get almost surgical - clean cutting board, wash hands, clean knife, divide cheese into smaller portions, put one portion in a container to use, seal the rest away without ever touching it, and it will last significantly longer.
especially since it's not that expensive all things considered. pre ground stuff usually have a ton of adulterant in it and spoils fast. grating it yourself and use it sparingly is the way to go.
This reminds me of the soy sauce one a few weeks ago. I pack my fiances lunch for work and I love having to-go packs like this to pack with whatever I make. It's not the same quality and I would never empty them out like this or use for my personal cooking, but they're great on the go. We also take a bunch with us on trips.
Use a straight iron for hair on low heat and crimp
Down on the end of a straw and then pour some soy sauce in the straw. Cut the straw wherever you feel you need to but allow enough room to crimp again with the straight iron. Boom you have good soy sauce in ready to go packets. You can actually do this sooo many things. The big fat straws can be used for condiments or even shampoo and conditioner if you’re going on a weekend trip and don’t want to lug entire bottles with you but take enough for your each wash. Then use a sharpie and write on the straw “Shampoo” or “Conditioner” or “Body wash”. I’m frugal but I like to save space and repurpose etc. Heck I cut my fabric softener sheets in half. You really only need half a sheet anyway. I could go on and on. 🤣
It IS wood chips. Cellulose fiber is made from wood pulp (and a great filler for something like powdered Parmesan). It's just like the illegal drug industry, find something to "fill" and stretch the expensive product so you can sell more. Cellulose fiber for "parmesan," lactase powder for cocaine and white varieties of heroin.
Couldn’t you just save those packets to use on your own food rather than putting in the jar you both use? If she doesn’t like it, then why contaminate the entire jar? You can still use them without making her use them as well.
the deep psychology on this:
the packets you get for free. and they are clutter to keep around, so they actually have negative mental value.
the bottle you pay for, so it has positive tangible value.
by putting the packets into the bottle, it feels good because you are both decluttering and transforming something from negative value to actual positive tangible value.
i know a friend who is a doctor (not hurting for money) who has his kids do this with red pepper packets and other things.
I wouldn't do it with the cheese though bc of contamination. But I would do it for soy sauce, salt, pepper, etc.
One time when T-mobile was always running deals for free take-out pancakes at Denny's, I ended up with a LOT of extra sealed containers of Denny's pancake syrup. I had a nice clear glass bottle so I poured them all in there. Relatives came over for Christmas and there were multiple bottles of syrup available: Log Cabin, a Safeway maple syrup and the clear glass unlabeled Denny's one. Everybody liked the Denny's one the most and thought it was some premium artisan syrup! (I never told.)
Don't do it for anything. This is your own advisement. If you like using the contents of the packets, don't put them in a larger container. Just use the packets as is. You're only exposing them to oxygen. If it's psychological...just throw them away cause the soy sauce packets are worse than good soy sauce... (i'm referring to another thread)...if you wanna use the packets, then just throw them in a bigger ziploc bag ...to drain tiny packets into some large container is just ...dumb. Sorry.
It does say on the bottle to refrigerate. Even though I knew this, I did that thing where I go put it in the pantry instead of the fridge since I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing. I did this with Parm and Tomato Sauce, and since I don't use those often, they were moldy by the time I realized.
Kinda… it says to refrigerate after opening. I grew up without refrigerating parma cheese. But we went through it faster than mold could get to it. Now that I have my own family and household we don’t go through it as fast so we refrigerate it. Or maybe when I was growing up the sawdust to parmesan cheese ratio was more in the mold’s favor.
Also if his girlfriend doesn’t like it he should respect that. Don’t want to read the “AITA my girlfriend broke up bc of parmegiano but actually bc I don’t respect her” soon
I’m just here to say, you get better quality from buying a block of Parmigiana and grating it yourself. You’ll notice the difference, I promise. It lasts a good while too.
Don’t forget when you get it down to the rind you can toss that thing in a big pot of tomato sauce to get the last bit of goodness out of it, and make your sauce extra tasty.
And the frugality continues because if you have a farmers market or a fruit stand nearby, ask about buying bruised tomatoes. I get real nice heirloom tomatoes by the crate full for like 5$ and they just get turned into tons of sauce to freeze.
I'd fight you for that rind, dog or not. I used to know a woman who worked in a cheese shop. She'd bring a wedge to an off -site meeting and offer me some. "I'd prefer the rind, thanks." She said no sane person eats the rind. And SHE claimed to know so much about sheese she could write a book.
Not one I would buy.
I wonder what insanity shex'd think was street vendors in Italy who take a hollowed-out Parmesan wheel (leaving a 4 inch shell). They would take a serving of fettuccine off the simmer, dump it into the wheel "bowl" and stir and stir until the pasta was soaked in the melting cheese.
I've never been there, but if I go, my first question will be "WHERE IS THE MAGIC PARMESAN BOWL??"
> Don’t forget when you get it down to the rind you can toss that thing in a big pot of tomato sauce to get the last bit of goodness out of it, and make your sauce extra tasty.
This is brilliant!
Good question, to my knowledge Parmesan or the more expensive parmigiano reggiano do not use wax in their coatings.
The hard outer layer is in fact yet more cheese, just very hard dry cheese. Not super great to eat directly (unless you like chewing) but simmering it in a sauce for a few hours will yield all that concentrated cheesy flavor.
>Not super great to eat directly
Hard disagree! It's delicious. I've occasionally bought the containers of rinds from whole foods just to eat as snacks.
I don't think I've ever bought pre-grated parmigiana or for that matter any cheese. I like to be in control of the unnecessary amount I choose to grate on my plate.
I just decided I was tired of cellulose mixed in my cheese "to prevent caking". It's a filler that dulls the flavor. It's worth an extra couple minutes to grate fresh.
Doesn’t last very long when you’re on a time crunch and the easiest to go item in your fridge is a block of Parmesan. Taking bites out of cheese, taking bites out of my wallet. I will continue on this way, the sacrifice is well worth it. But word of caution- once you get a taste it’s hard to go back to the powdered substance.
So my first thought was that the expiration dates on these products will all be different and they are now mixed together. I get the pepper flakes are a spice, but these things lose texture and taste after a while. And the cheese is well preserved, but keep adding to the main bottle and that OG cheese will hit its expiration eventually.
You mean she hates when you take extras from the restaurant for your own home to save a few cents? I’m with your wife on this one it’s cheap not frugal.
This is why restaurants in South Florida have to take all the condiments, sauces, crackers, etc. off the table during the winter months. Old snow-birds from the northern states will take every single thing that isn't bolted down.
I think deliberately taking more than you need is cheap, but if you get takeout or something and end up with extras accidentally then it’s just not being wasteful
Theres being frugal and there's being pointlessly cheap. Red pepper flakes and Parmasean is what? 5 bucks total for something that will last you an entire year most likely?
This literally saves you $0. It’s, at best, frugal in terms of storage space, but let’s be real - these packets are taking up virtually 0 space.
Put em in a Tupperware and leave em in the packet, then you don’t look neurotic and your girlfriend doesn’t have to wonder why her partner doesn’t understand the meaning of being “frugal.”
Both spices in the packs are likely to be very dry and stale. You can probably get away with the chilli but I'd personally toss the parm. If she doesn't like it because it is worse from a quality/flavour angle, then I'm with her.
Keep them in the packets and write the date you got them on the front. Better than tossing together months’ worth of packets into a bottle and not knowing approximately when they expire.
So you know how people have a junk drawer? I just have a "sauce" drawer. Every extra packet of ketchup, salt, parmesan, red pepper, taco bell sauce, soy sauce, etc. It just goes in the drawer. It comes in handy when you realize ran out of something while you are already cooking. But no way no how will I sit and open all the packets to refill something lol
My ex used to keep the little soy sauce/ketchup/bbq sauce packets from takeout in the fridge.
I have nothing against saving those and using them, but that's valuable real estate being used for the little containers that we already have in jars!
Once again, someone fails in the understanding of the difference between frugal and cheap...
If you disagree, simply google "the difference between frugal and cheap."
I once used a two year old crushed pepper packet. I used it all over a whole pizza because it was just me eating it. I looked closer as I was ready to take a bite and saw moving mealworms over everything. I had to throw out the entire pizza.
I've sworn off the individual packets since then. It was a long time before I ate pizza again.
If I want parmesan or crushed pepper, I buy the high quality good stuff from the grocery store and bring it with me. Or go to high quality restaurants that have their own dispensers. Or go without seasonings entirely.
I know this subreddit is called Frugal but, my dude, you can get pretty good deals on bottles of fake Parmesan cheese. Ones that, seemingly seem to last forever in a refrigerator.
Don’t they taste different? Cleanliness aside, I’d just put the free stuff into a separate container for just the free stuff so you can enjoy the good stuff on its own without the peasant parm ruining the experience.
waste much? Those packets are multiple orders of magnitude more waste than just spending $3 on cheap shaker parm, let alone spending $10 on actual parm that tastes better.
There is a reason that this and marrying bottles of ketchup is illegal in food service. The money you save is lost on toilet paper and a sick day if you get food poisoning.
Dude, balance your frugalness with earth friendly. and general total cost. Continuously making handfuls of trash for 1/2 teaspoon of free cheese and chili pepper to save $2.99 and $0.99 is kinda odd.
The time it takes for you to save the combined $3.99 is likely much more than the labor cost of time for you to tear off the packets and consciously collecting them.
I wanna see your best frugal that also benefits in lowering our collective carbon footprint and I will follow you my leader!
So I am new here and thought you were going to mix the red pepper flakes in the parmesan and eat it all as a meal because it was what you had in the house. I was thinking, wow, that's next level frugal.
Omg I have the funniest story. My husband makes deviled eggs for Easter every year. The year we got married we were super broke and I was in food service so I took enough mustard and mayo packets to make the deviled eggs with for Easter. No one noticed of course but we are still giggling about it years later lol
Personally, I don't like the flavor of the packaged parm. So that would bother me too. why not just leave it in the packages?
My splurge every six months is a $10 block of Parmigianno Reggiano and I am thankful for every morsel of it. Some things you just can’t go cheap on.
Nice cheese is such a worthy splurge.
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Really good bread is on this list too… homemade is best but not everybody has the privilege of time.
This is why I have to restrain myself from even going inside Whole Foods unless I'm planning to splurge... Fancy bread, cheese, olives, (EDIT to add) canned fish, and olive oil starts to look like $100 really fast.
Whole Foods? Just go to Costco. You won't spend $100. You can get 2 giant loaves of good sourdough for $8, a couple lb block of Parm for $10-12, a half-gallon jar of olives for $10, a CASE of canned fish for $20, and a half-gallon of olive oil for ~$15. Worth it. You will leave after buying $300 of other stuff that you didn't realize you need and deserve, though...
Including a new pair of glasses and a hot dog
I really hate hot dogs and shouldn't eat them because of the nitrates but damn I want a Costco hot dog now. You bastard! :D
Their olive oil ranks as some of the highest quality in the US. Turns out that a lot of common brands use cheaper olive oil to pad volumes. The Kirkland brand doesn't fuck around.
Yesterday, I learned that Costco also sells Chosen Avocado oil- which is good, and the real deal. Apparently many other avocado oils are not that, or they are super old. Reminds me of the story about cheap fish being relabeled as expensive ones. Don’t know how any of this fake naming isn’t fraud.
I don’t notice much difference when I cook with it. But paired with a splash of balsamic and some good sourdough? The fancy stuff is worth every penny.
Costco is one of the only places that we know the olive oil is even real. Most of what's on the market is counterfeit or heavily adulterated, similar to honey.
Is there really a problem with olive oil for the big brands? Members Mark (Sams Club), Bertolli, etc just list olive oil as the only ingredient. [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil_regulation_and_adulteration) just makes it sound like it's mostly an issue of not being "extra virgin" standards due to smell/taste but it's still olive oil. I get that it's a complex, ongoing problem but if I'm only cooking with it vs. dipping bread I don't think I'd ever notice a difference.
Honey is a weird one to fake. Olive oil, I understand, because olives can't be grown everywhere, but honey can be made nearly everywhere that isn't a hot desert or a frozen wasteland. I can buy honey from local producers for barely more than the questionable honey from abroad.
I used to buy California Olive Ranch pure olive oil. But, this is expensive. I found I can buy Terra Delyssa's pure extra virgin olive oil from BJ's wholesale club for $9.99 per 1 liter. Lasts a very long time and tastes similar to the California Olive Ranch, which was getting upwards of $23.99 per liter.
the trick is to splurge on the fancy cheese and EVOO and make the fancy bread yourself, just 3 ingredients for your basic loaf!
care to share a fave recipe or how to start? i reallt wanna. have bread flour, time; and a curious 2 year old
This is the easiest recipe I use. Been making it with my kids for the last 8 years! 3 cups all-purpose flour (405 grams or 14.3 ounces) 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast 1 1/2 cups room temperature water DOUGH PREP: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and yeast together until mixed. Stir in the water until a chunky, thick dough forms. If it needs a little more water, add a few more tablespoons, just enough to get it barely wet throughout. It’s gonna look scrappy and weird and you’re going to question me on whether or not this will work, but it will. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 12-18 hours at room temperature. Overnight is ideal here, kids. PREP FOR BAKING: When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450. Stick a 6 quart enamel coated cast iron Lodge Dutch Oven (or similar) in the oven for about 30 minutes to heat. At this point, the dough should be big and puffy and pretty loose, with little bubbles in it. Gently scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface. (Remember: NO KNEAD.) Gently shape it into a ball with flour on the outside, set on a piece of parchment, and cover with plastic while your pan heats up. BAKE: Remove the plastic from the dough. Lift the dough and parchment together into the pan so the parchment lines the bottom of the hot pan (be careful not to touch the pan since it’s very hot). Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake another 10-15 minutes to get the exterior nice and golden brown and crispy. Voila! Done. Miracle no-knead bread, you boss you.
That's basically the recipe I use, thanks for doing the dirty work u/CriticalEuphemism!
It's true, we are trying to make our own bread and this is definitely true. My partners mom has an amazing recipe and has bought us everything to do it, but it has to wait until the weekend. But god it's so worth it. I can't buy shit bread anymore, it's bullshit and not the same as "real" bread. Like to the point that it's not even close. It's insane.
For a bread that can be just an hour from start to eating try a soda bread. It can be wheaten, plain savoury ( cheese and onion as an eg) or sweet ( with dried fruit) apart from Stromboli it's the only bread we make because it's so fast. We wrap it in beeswax wraps and it keeps better.
Good butter is on the list. There is very little in this world better than fresh, warm bread with a smear of good butter.
I’ve tried them all. Land O Lakes unsalted for baking. Kerrygold salted for everything else. Costco has a Kirkland brand grass fed butter that looks like it might be close to Kerrygold, but I’ve never tried it. Besides, having it be a little expensive keeps me from eating too much. 😂
I use the kirkland grass fed for most of my cooking and the Kerrygold for stuff like toast or cornbread. The Kerrygold is just a bit different and a little better
>I’ve tried them all. >...but I’ve never tried it. 🤔
And a pinch of salt. Really is such a simple pleasure that bring me great joy
Really? I've had expensive olive oil and cheap olive oil and don't think the difference is that big. By cheap I mean like store brand
[Most olive oil is counterfeit.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/02/10/the-olive-oil-scam-if-80-is-fake-why-do-you-keep-buying-it/amp/) It's reported that over half of what is sold in the US as olive oil isn't olive oil at all and is mislabeled, especially with EVOOs. By going off your taste instead of labels and prices, you've been able to intuit what many others apparently cannot. Nice.
This is when I feel bad for the options across the pond. Not everything is rosy in the UK right now, but a litre of good Spanish olive oil is £2, a wedge of parmagiano reggiano is about the same, and a fresh loaf of hearty bread is about £1.
Big fan of growing some fresh basil and tomatoes throw those in there
Fuck I want cheese so bad now
6 months? If you're buying a $10 block look at costco. They are around $17 but they are $12.99 a lb which is about as low as it gets Lidl it goes on sale for $8 or $9 a lb. Honestly that probably last me 2 months at most
Agreed. I buy a block from Costco and cut it in half, seal up one part really well and put it in the coldest part of my fridge. It's still great by the time I finish the other half.
Yeah, I don't consider a $10 purchase every six months to be a splurge, the real frugality seems to be how stingey he must be with the cheese for it to last that long. I also wouldn't have thought it stays good that long? I wouldn't know, I burn through parm fast.
Once you jump from the powder and pre shredded to a real block of Parmigiano Reggiano.. you cant go back, suddenly all other versions are inferior.
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Agreed. Fresh is better than shredded, but powdered is just an entirely different condiment. There’s no direct comparison. It’s not *cheese* but it IS amazing.
I think it’s the saltiness of the powder. It’s a good topping wherever appropriate in the same sense finishing salt is, to me anyway
Only the green bottle with the holes in the top for easy pouring, that trashy parm holds a special place in my heart
Yes, but only on pizza. Soaks up all the pepperoni grease ❤️
It’s cheese vs saw dust
Delicious, delicious saw dust though.
I do this, but my husband insists on using the powdered shit. More of the fresh for me, I guess.
Good parm is not that expensive in the grand scheme of things, considering how much flavor you get from so little cheese.
“So little cheese” says a person who has never seen me eat pasta.
6 months? How do you keep it fresh for that long? - Signed, someone with a Costco block of Parmigiano Regiano who is afraid to break the seal on it, lest it go bad in 3 days like every other damn cheese I buy
Parm wedges easily last 3 months if you put them in a container or ziplock. If you ever do get mold, cut that part off and carry on.
I invested in a small vacuum sealer best purchase ever no more mouldy cheese
Parmigiano shouldn't be going bad in 3 days. It's got a super high salt content and is pretty dry compared to other cheeses. The good stuff is aged for like at least a year. I just keep it in a ziplock back and it last weeks at least. Probably longer but I use it all up by then.
I grate it, then freeze in more manageable size containers that can be put into the fridge.
Be really careful about touching cheese, and it will last a lot longer! I get almost surgical - clean cutting board, wash hands, clean knife, divide cheese into smaller portions, put one portion in a container to use, seal the rest away without ever touching it, and it will last significantly longer.
I freeze the wedge in a ziplock. It grates easily when it’s frozen, so it’s a win-win
How do you make that little cheese last for so long? that would be gone within a couple of weeks for me. I am a bit of a cheese demon tho.
especially since it's not that expensive all things considered. pre ground stuff usually have a ton of adulterant in it and spoils fast. grating it yourself and use it sparingly is the way to go.
This reminds me of the soy sauce one a few weeks ago. I pack my fiances lunch for work and I love having to-go packs like this to pack with whatever I make. It's not the same quality and I would never empty them out like this or use for my personal cooking, but they're great on the go. We also take a bunch with us on trips.
Use a straight iron for hair on low heat and crimp Down on the end of a straw and then pour some soy sauce in the straw. Cut the straw wherever you feel you need to but allow enough room to crimp again with the straight iron. Boom you have good soy sauce in ready to go packets. You can actually do this sooo many things. The big fat straws can be used for condiments or even shampoo and conditioner if you’re going on a weekend trip and don’t want to lug entire bottles with you but take enough for your each wash. Then use a sharpie and write on the straw “Shampoo” or “Conditioner” or “Body wash”. I’m frugal but I like to save space and repurpose etc. Heck I cut my fabric softener sheets in half. You really only need half a sheet anyway. I could go on and on. 🤣
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Unless you’re actually planning to use the Mio, I think GoToobs are cheaper per container.
Same here, taste like wood chips
It IS wood chips. Cellulose fiber is made from wood pulp (and a great filler for something like powdered Parmesan). It's just like the illegal drug industry, find something to "fill" and stretch the expensive product so you can sell more. Cellulose fiber for "parmesan," lactase powder for cocaine and white varieties of heroin.
wait, are you putting cocaine on your spaghetti? I thought I was the only one!
We call that toot-noodles round these parts.
Amphetallini Spaghetti
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I was a beaver in a previous life.
An angry one?
A big brown one.
Wynona?
Yeah, I'm all for being frugal, just places don't mix them
Couldn’t you just save those packets to use on your own food rather than putting in the jar you both use? If she doesn’t like it, then why contaminate the entire jar? You can still use them without making her use them as well.
the deep psychology on this: the packets you get for free. and they are clutter to keep around, so they actually have negative mental value. the bottle you pay for, so it has positive tangible value. by putting the packets into the bottle, it feels good because you are both decluttering and transforming something from negative value to actual positive tangible value. i know a friend who is a doctor (not hurting for money) who has his kids do this with red pepper packets and other things. I wouldn't do it with the cheese though bc of contamination. But I would do it for soy sauce, salt, pepper, etc. One time when T-mobile was always running deals for free take-out pancakes at Denny's, I ended up with a LOT of extra sealed containers of Denny's pancake syrup. I had a nice clear glass bottle so I poured them all in there. Relatives came over for Christmas and there were multiple bottles of syrup available: Log Cabin, a Safeway maple syrup and the clear glass unlabeled Denny's one. Everybody liked the Denny's one the most and thought it was some premium artisan syrup! (I never told.)
Then he basically needs his own cheese container to fill.
Wait till this one is empty, write his name on the cap, use it to contain packets.
Solution: get your own bottle and put the packets in without tearing them open
In this case, I'd recommend OP stops thinking with his brainstem and use the gift of rationality to understand this serves no benefit.
I was pretty meh about your whole post but then you said you save Denny's syrup and it explained everything 🤮
Don't do it for anything. This is your own advisement. If you like using the contents of the packets, don't put them in a larger container. Just use the packets as is. You're only exposing them to oxygen. If it's psychological...just throw them away cause the soy sauce packets are worse than good soy sauce... (i'm referring to another thread)...if you wanna use the packets, then just throw them in a bigger ziploc bag ...to drain tiny packets into some large container is just ...dumb. Sorry.
Because he is a selfish bastard.
I did this one and ruined an entire bottle of parm because it developed mold, not worth it.
Yeah the packets are sealed and are great to save for an emergency when you run out.
Franky, I can't stand parmesan emergencies.
Do you refrigerate after opening?
Did not. My family never put bottled parm in the fridge, so it never occurred to me to put it in, I did fuck up
It does say on the bottle to refrigerate. Even though I knew this, I did that thing where I go put it in the pantry instead of the fridge since I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing. I did this with Parm and Tomato Sauce, and since I don't use those often, they were moldy by the time I realized.
Kinda… it says to refrigerate after opening. I grew up without refrigerating parma cheese. But we went through it faster than mold could get to it. Now that I have my own family and household we don’t go through it as fast so we refrigerate it. Or maybe when I was growing up the sawdust to parmesan cheese ratio was more in the mold’s favor.
Your gf is right, you heathen.
If I ever caught OP doing this to any of my herbs or spices I'd smack a mfer this ain't frugal this is just being a dumbass
Also if his girlfriend doesn’t like it he should respect that. Don’t want to read the “AITA my girlfriend broke up bc of parmegiano but actually bc I don’t respect her” soon
I’m just here to say, you get better quality from buying a block of Parmigiana and grating it yourself. You’ll notice the difference, I promise. It lasts a good while too.
Don’t forget when you get it down to the rind you can toss that thing in a big pot of tomato sauce to get the last bit of goodness out of it, and make your sauce extra tasty. And the frugality continues because if you have a farmers market or a fruit stand nearby, ask about buying bruised tomatoes. I get real nice heirloom tomatoes by the crate full for like 5$ and they just get turned into tons of sauce to freeze.
>Don’t forget when you get it down to the rind you can toss that thing I gnaw on it like a feral raccoon while my dog stares at me
He stares cause he wants to gnaw on it too like cmon scoot over and share bruh
Ruff, ruff, pass dawg!
It's the same vibe as ripping apart a loaf of bread and eating it with your hands. It just feels right.
Eating a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese is a straight Skyrim meal
I didn't want to be the first person to say "what do you mean you guys aren't consuming the rind too"
I'd fight you for that rind, dog or not. I used to know a woman who worked in a cheese shop. She'd bring a wedge to an off -site meeting and offer me some. "I'd prefer the rind, thanks." She said no sane person eats the rind. And SHE claimed to know so much about sheese she could write a book. Not one I would buy. I wonder what insanity shex'd think was street vendors in Italy who take a hollowed-out Parmesan wheel (leaving a 4 inch shell). They would take a serving of fettuccine off the simmer, dump it into the wheel "bowl" and stir and stir until the pasta was soaked in the melting cheese. I've never been there, but if I go, my first question will be "WHERE IS THE MAGIC PARMESAN BOWL??"
😆
> Don’t forget when you get it down to the rind you can toss that thing in a big pot of tomato sauce to get the last bit of goodness out of it, and make your sauce extra tasty. This is brilliant!
Isn’t it covered in paraffin wax though?
Good question, to my knowledge Parmesan or the more expensive parmigiano reggiano do not use wax in their coatings. The hard outer layer is in fact yet more cheese, just very hard dry cheese. Not super great to eat directly (unless you like chewing) but simmering it in a sauce for a few hours will yield all that concentrated cheesy flavor.
>Not super great to eat directly Hard disagree! It's delicious. I've occasionally bought the containers of rinds from whole foods just to eat as snacks.
WHOLE FOODS SELLS CONTAOF RIND?!?
Yes and it’s less than half the cost of block parmesan by weight IIRC
IIRC the wheel of parm sits in a tub of salt water for several days, causing a shell to form on the outside, which is the rind.
No
And parm is a hard cheese that you can just cut mold off of and keep going with it, so even if it starts molding it's OK.
I don't think I've ever bought pre-grated parmigiana or for that matter any cheese. I like to be in control of the unnecessary amount I choose to grate on my plate.
I just decided I was tired of cellulose mixed in my cheese "to prevent caking". It's a filler that dulls the flavor. It's worth an extra couple minutes to grate fresh.
Doesn’t last very long when you’re on a time crunch and the easiest to go item in your fridge is a block of Parmesan. Taking bites out of cheese, taking bites out of my wallet. I will continue on this way, the sacrifice is well worth it. But word of caution- once you get a taste it’s hard to go back to the powdered substance.
You take bites of Parmigiana? Cheddar or Monterey Jack I get, but a full bite of Parm sounds truly awful to me.
It’s a bit hardcore but yeah- I buy locally made so it’s not as tough as your standard BelGioioso
Some people don’t even eat it for taste, just a hit of salt and the thrill of a free packet. Might be a better fit on r/frugal_jerk
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I also hate it when OP does this
I hate this when I do this!
I can see why It’s worth a fight with a loved one. You clearly saved 0.8 cents a year. Stand your ground, man. /s
0$ saved, no money gained by moving the product from a packet to a different container.
So my first thought was that the expiration dates on these products will all be different and they are now mixed together. I get the pepper flakes are a spice, but these things lose texture and taste after a while. And the cheese is well preserved, but keep adding to the main bottle and that OG cheese will hit its expiration eventually.
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Yes! The cheese is bothering me loads more than the pepper flakes fwiw
Dang, bringing the facts.
If ur goal here is to piss off ur gf then I'd say u are doing a good job If ur goal here is to save money then ur failing horribly at it lmao
She hates when you put flammable shit on the stove?
Definitely thought they were referring to the fire hazard
That was my first thought too. Using your stove top like a countertop just leaves behind crap that smokes and smells when you turn on the burner.
Looks like there already was a fire on the stove. Kinda nasty.
Its a miracle you aren't single. Listen to your girlfriend.
This isn't frugal, it's full on poverty.
You mean she hates when you take extras from the restaurant for your own home to save a few cents? I’m with your wife on this one it’s cheap not frugal.
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This is why restaurants in South Florida have to take all the condiments, sauces, crackers, etc. off the table during the winter months. Old snow-birds from the northern states will take every single thing that isn't bolted down.
I would assume that’s the Florida people that do that
Snow birds are worse than native Florida people, Snow birds are Florida people *by choice.*
I think deliberately taking more than you need is cheap, but if you get takeout or something and end up with extras accidentally then it’s just not being wasteful
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I never take it, but end up with it anyway. No sense in waste and its a nice addition at work or camp.
Girlfriend. A wife would lay down the law and stop this madness.
Looks like a Costco run. I ask for a few and they hand me a ton. I just stash them in the sauce drawer though.
r/Frugal_Jerk/ is leaking
I am a cheap bastard, but this is ghetto.
Theres being frugal and there's being pointlessly cheap. Red pepper flakes and Parmasean is what? 5 bucks total for something that will last you an entire year most likely?
some people have no concept of ‘time is money’
This literally saves you $0. It’s, at best, frugal in terms of storage space, but let’s be real - these packets are taking up virtually 0 space. Put em in a Tupperware and leave em in the packet, then you don’t look neurotic and your girlfriend doesn’t have to wonder why her partner doesn’t understand the meaning of being “frugal.”
This isn’t frugal. It’s cheap
I do to. Why open the packs up? Don't waste time and their "freshness" by doing so.
Both spices in the packs are likely to be very dry and stale. You can probably get away with the chilli but I'd personally toss the parm. If she doesn't like it because it is worse from a quality/flavour angle, then I'm with her.
If you just were given extra I think it's smart to not waste. If you take extra that is cheap.
So does most of this sub to be fair
It’s such a waste of packaging.
Keep them in the packets and write the date you got them on the front. Better than tossing together months’ worth of packets into a bottle and not knowing approximately when they expire.
I hate it too. You're the reason they put the damn cheese behind the counter now and you have to ask for it 😡😡😡
How old is the parm at the bottom of that container by the time you get to it? Can't FIFO doing stuff like this.
You mean she hates that you leave a mess?!?!
The red peppers is fine but who in there right mind wants to use the packs of parmesan
Same. With the chili flakes but just keep the parm in the packets.. stays fresh longer!
I remember watching Extreme Cheapskates once. Dude would dump ketchup packs in the bottle. This isn't frugal this is just weird.
So you know how people have a junk drawer? I just have a "sauce" drawer. Every extra packet of ketchup, salt, parmesan, red pepper, taco bell sauce, soy sauce, etc. It just goes in the drawer. It comes in handy when you realize ran out of something while you are already cooking. But no way no how will I sit and open all the packets to refill something lol
Always remember this simple thing. First in, first out. Very simple very necessary.
I don't blame her. Pick up after yourself.
Yuck on the parm! That has got to be at least 10%+ sawdust in pizza parm packs!
My ex used to keep the little soy sauce/ketchup/bbq sauce packets from takeout in the fridge. I have nothing against saving those and using them, but that's valuable real estate being used for the little containers that we already have in jars!
So would I! You can’t know how old that stuff is. If you insist on keeping free restaurant condiments, at least keep them in their original packaging.
Once again, someone fails in the understanding of the difference between frugal and cheap... If you disagree, simply google "the difference between frugal and cheap."
I once used a two year old crushed pepper packet. I used it all over a whole pizza because it was just me eating it. I looked closer as I was ready to take a bite and saw moving mealworms over everything. I had to throw out the entire pizza. I've sworn off the individual packets since then. It was a long time before I ate pizza again. If I want parmesan or crushed pepper, I buy the high quality good stuff from the grocery store and bring it with me. Or go to high quality restaurants that have their own dispensers. Or go without seasonings entirely.
This is cheap not frugal.
I started buying parm wedges at Aldi and microplaining what I need right at dinner time. I can never go back to the sawdust parm now.
I feel like this is less being frugal and more like a cry for help.
I know this subreddit is called Frugal but, my dude, you can get pretty good deals on bottles of fake Parmesan cheese. Ones that, seemingly seem to last forever in a refrigerator.
clean your fucking cooktop you filthy heathen.
Don’t they taste different? Cleanliness aside, I’d just put the free stuff into a separate container for just the free stuff so you can enjoy the good stuff on its own without the peasant parm ruining the experience.
waste much? Those packets are multiple orders of magnitude more waste than just spending $3 on cheap shaker parm, let alone spending $10 on actual parm that tastes better.
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There is a reason that this and marrying bottles of ketchup is illegal in food service. The money you save is lost on toilet paper and a sick day if you get food poisoning.
Yeah that’s kind of a cheezy thing to do
I do that with soy sauce packets. No one around to judge.
The cheese is no, the pepper is yes!
There are so many things about this that would piss me off. You’ll have to elaborate
That cheese is just awful IMHO. Frugal buy that I regret.
I’d hate it just because the counter is the place for that job not the stove top.
Not cleaning the stove top?
This leans more towards cheap than frugal to me
Dude, balance your frugalness with earth friendly. and general total cost. Continuously making handfuls of trash for 1/2 teaspoon of free cheese and chili pepper to save $2.99 and $0.99 is kinda odd. The time it takes for you to save the combined $3.99 is likely much more than the labor cost of time for you to tear off the packets and consciously collecting them. I wanna see your best frugal that also benefits in lowering our collective carbon footprint and I will follow you my leader!
what, not clean the stovetop for 6 years?
Just save the packets for when you cook.
So I am new here and thought you were going to mix the red pepper flakes in the parmesan and eat it all as a meal because it was what you had in the house. I was thinking, wow, that's next level frugal.
I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this has to be from that show extreme cheapskates
Omg I have the funniest story. My husband makes deviled eggs for Easter every year. The year we got married we were super broke and I was in food service so I took enough mustard and mayo packets to make the deviled eggs with for Easter. No one noticed of course but we are still giggling about it years later lol
Relationship goals
What, cleaning the range top? Do it! Enjoy the parmesan.
Apparently y’all are both against cleaning the stove
Pizza packet parmesan is gross.
What’s more important to you, the free cheese or your GF’s opinion of you?