Libertiste

Whether you’re making a gradual change, or just trying to make something expensive last a bit longer, sometimes mixing two products together is the way to go. The idea should be nothing new to anyone who’s tried to learn a new habit (a couch-to-5k program will suggest you mix running with walking, for example), but I thought I’d list some of the ways I save money, and occasionally calories, by mixing the luxurious with the super-cheap, or the luxuriously caloric with the virtuous:

Butter/SmartBalance
OK, so SmartBalance doesn’t taste quite the same as butter, but you can fool yourself if you train your tastebuds gradually. I’m up to about a 1:2 ratio, butter to fake butter, on things like English muffins and popcorn, and even in some baked goods.

Soda/diet soda
Sure, I’m a fan of diet now, but it was a long, hard road to get there. I trained myself slowly, first with C2, then when that disappeared off the shelves (somewhere in there is a commentary about the unpopularity of moderation in this country), by mixing diet and non-diet whenever I bought fountain soda. Now, of course, they say that diet soda trains you to crave sweets all the more, so I’m currently trying to wean myself off that and onto flavored seltzer. I don’t mix that with diet Coke, though.

$8 bottle of salon conditioner/79-cent bottle of White Rain
Believe me, I wish I could go with plain old cheap conditioner, but I have about 50 pounds of thick, wavy-curly hair that’s prone to tangling. But by mixing the thick, expensive stuff with the cheap, I make the fancy stuff last a lot longer, and honestly, the mixture works just as well.

$20+ bottle of Clinique toner/$2 bottle of witch hazel
I have a giant bottle of ultra-expensive Clinique toner (purchased during fatter, foolisher times) that is probably going to last me until 2020 thanks to this trick. I mix the two in a travel bottle, and the coolest thing about this is I can make adjustments whenever I need to — a bit more of the alcohol-heavy Clinique in the summertime, a bit less during the dry winter.

Have any tricks of your own? Leave them in the comments!

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This story from last week’s St. Louis Today, sent by my friend Mollie, is full of great tips on how to eat healthy on a budget. Though it’s not for meat-lovers (“healthy diets should be built around vegetables, grains and fruits, not meat and
prepared foods”), it has some good guidelines — many of which I already follow — for food that’s cheap, healthy and convenient. And, as a side effect, low on chemicals and preservatives.

A big emphasis is not wasting money via produce spoilage, which is a lesson I need to learn a bit better. (I don’t always have a tip like “roast those old grape tomatoes” at the tip of my brain.)

Rearrange your food storage to prevent spoilage and food waste. For example, take your vegetables out of the crisper in the refrigerator and put them where you can see them. Vegetables and fruits often spoil in the crisper because you forget they’re there. Put snacks with life spans of months and years in the crisper.

I’ve been putting vegetables in the crisper for years out of habit, but yeah, wake up, it’s where produce goes to die! The author also makes a good point about frozen vegetables — just as healthy, plus no waste due to spoilage — though it seems a shame to eat them now, during farmer’s market season. So I think I’m going to be more serious about a system of organization Mr. L has always been saying we should use: the faster something will go bad, the more visible it needs to be.

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Do you know how to sauté garlic? If you do, there’s no reason for you to buy pasta sauce in a jar (or — shudder — a can) ever again.

Cooking the garlic is definitely the most complicated part of making your own tomato sauce. The second most difficult is probably opening the can of tomatoes.

And yes, use canned, not fresh — unless it’s the peak of August and you’ve got a bumper crop of ripe Romas, the tomatoes you get in a can at the grocery store are far more flavorful than anything you’ll find in the produce department most times of the year.

Your own pasta sauce will cost you about a third as much as prepared sauces, and will give you all the flavor and convenience — without the added cost, preservatives and (often) high-fructose corn syrup.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 15-oz. can of plain diced tomatoes
It’s best to get just plain tomatoes. The kind with added spices are all right, but watch the ingredients list; some of them include unwelcome chemicals and additives like, again,  high-fructose corn syrup. (Seriously. It’s everywhere.) The whole idea here is to eat less of that stuff, not more.

1 tbs. tomato paste
I know, it comes in cans that, even when small, contain way more than you’ll ever use at once, and it doesn’t keep well. Here’s what to do about that: Freeze tablespoonfulls of tomato paste on a cookie sheet (or between sheets of Press ‘n’ Seal, if you want to get fancy) and stash these nuggets in your freezer, ready to pop into any sauce or stew that needs a little oomph. You don’t even need to defrost it first.

Garlic — 1 clove however much your heart desires
It’s not a must, but I really suggest investing in a garlic press. It gives you more garlic flavor for much less work. No-brainer.

Olive oil
No need to use extra-virgin here, since it’s being cooked.

1 tsp. dried basil, 2 tsp. dried oregano
Obviously fresh herbs are great, but I really think dried herbs work fine here, especially if they’re recently bought and haven’t been sitting in your cabinet since 2003.

Here’s what you do:

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Wait until the oil shimmers — the surface will look wavy (looking at a reflection of a light in the oil’s surface is a good way to tell).

Crush in your cloves(s) of garlic. If you’re using dried herbs, go ahead and add them now. Swoon at the scent filling your kitchen.

Open your can of tomatoes and drain off a little of the can’s liquid; you don’t want the sauce to be too watery. Just when the garlic starts to get golden — you don’t want to let that go too far — add the tomatoes.

Combine everything and cook the tomatoes for a minute or two, then add your fresh or frozen lump of tomato paste. Stir it in, and any fresh herbs if you have them, and let it simmer for a few minutes. Add some salt or pepper to taste.

There. You’re done.

(This is assuming you like chunky tomato sauce, which I do. If you don’t, an immersion blender will take you to any texture you please.)

This, of course, is just the basics. The great thing about this sauce is it can go anywhere your sense of creativity takes it. Try adding:

• A dash of red wine
• Sautéed mushrooms (or any other vegetable)
• Torn fresh basil
• Ground Italian sausage

And it goes great with any pasta. One of my favorites: Cook up some gnocchi, then add them into the still-simmering sauce. The dumplings soak up all the flavors, and thicken the sauce, to boot. Enjoy!

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