In an effort to share the most frugal information possible in the shortest amount of time (yeah, I’m frugal with that too!), Fridays will henceforth be known as Frugal Fridays, and they will feature my favorite tips, tricks and ideas from the best frugal bloggers all over the web.

Festival of Frugality
This week’s festival #125 is hosted by Quest for Four Pillars, and is entitled “Save Some Money If You Are Rich”. It is entirely worth the click if for no other reason than to see the French maid. That’s all I’m sayin’ about that.

The Fine Art of Haggling
Sharon aka The Frugal Dutchess shared a great primer on haggling to get the best deals. Not at yard sales, but at department stores! I can’t wait to try some of these.

Frugal and Green
The Frugal Babe shares ways to be frugal and help save the environment at the same time.

CVS Extra Care Bucks
I can’t tell you how much of a relief it was for me to find Living Almost Large and her post “CVS Extra Care Bucks Explained”. If you shop at CVS, you’ll like it too.

Coffee Grounds
The beautiful Sara Noel of Frugal Village shares several ways to make productive use of that muddy mess left over after you finish your morning pot cup of coffee. There are several ideas here that I had never imagined, and I think about coffee a lot!

That’s it for this week’s Frugal Friday Roundup! If you have a frugal tip or a frugal website you’d like to see featured here, just leave me a comment!

Michael’s Simple, Cheap Pasta Fagioli

THE INGREDIENTS

* 1 lb ground beef
* 1 sm onion, chopped
* 6 C stock
* 1 can spinach (small can)
* 2 carrots, diced
* 3 C navy beans, cooked
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
* 8 oz shell pasta
* 1 bay leaf
* seasoning to taste

THE PROCESS

1. Pour the stock, spinach (drained), garlic and tomatoes into a large crock pot and cover.
2. Brown the ground beef with onion, drain and add to crock pot.
3. Set crock pot on high, cover and leave it alone for 2-3 hours.
4. Boil pasta & carrots together, drain.
5. Drain navy beans and rinse (if canned).
6. Add pasta and beans to crock pot and set to low heat for 30 minutes.

HEALTH NOTES
Want to try it out but you’re concerned about your health? Try these substitutions:

* If you want to use ground beef, don’t bother buying the expensive lean stuff, just rinse the ground beef and onions thoroughly in a colander after browning them and you will remove just as much fat.
* If you’d rather use something a bit healthier, replace the ground beef with ground turkey or chicken. Both are priced fairly inexpensively.
* Use what you’ve got! Leftover chicken, turkey, beef cut into small pieces will work just as well and get rid of some leftovers in the process.
* To cut down on salt, add a bit of lemon juice to the pot. The citric acid will flavor it and you won’t feel the need to use so much salt.

I just threw this recipe together based on what I had in the cupboard, so it will probably vary the next time I make it, but I wanted to save the recipe nonetheless, since it turned out so well and cost very little.

May 15th (today) only,  participating McDonald’s restaurants are giving away their Southern Style Chicken with the purchase of a medium or large drink.  In the morning, grab a Southern Style Chicken Biscuit, in the afternoon and evening, a Southern Style Chicken Sandwich.

What are you waiting for???

In most cases, buying whole fryers is the way to go, because there is so little prep involved beforehand it is cheaper pound-for-pound. I know when I was first starting out on my own I didn’t buy them all that much, mainly because I didn’t have the slightest idea how to cut up a whole chicken when I didn’t want to cook the whole thing. If you are in the same boat you can rest easy, because I have found a couple of videos that will help you. I only wish I would have had these years ago!

In this video, you are guided on a step-by-step process for quartering a whole chicken:

The video mentioned this, but I need to reiterate something - don’t toss those chicken bones and carcasses! The inedible bits (including fat, bones, tendons and joints) can be tossed into a crock pot for a few hours yielding cup after glorious cup of delicious chicken stock that you can freeze for later use in soups, stews and other recipes. If you missed my earlier post about how to make stock, you’ll find it right here .

The Japanese Art of Bento
Technically called “Obento”, the Japanese origin is actually not as glamorous as you might think. It basically means “boxed lunch”. But bento is nothing like what your mother sent with you to school in your Scooby Doo lunchbox. This stuff is art. The Japanese believe that food should be as appealing to the eye as it is to the stomach, and after many years of creating and eating my own bento lunches, I can’t say that I disagree.

Food art is not frugal in and of itself, but with bento, you are controlling portions and making simple foods take on an artistic appearance. Apples become bunnies, cheese and lunch meats become flowers…you really wouldn’t believe everything you can do!

There are websites aplenty that sing the praises of bento, and just as many that offer recipes and preparation tips for beginners and aficianados alike. My favorite, bar none is Lunch in a Box, hosted by Biggie - a work-at-home mother of a preschooler who can do things with food that I can only strive for.

There are thousands of designs for bento boxes sold by all sorts of companies worldwide, but you don’t need to spend a lot of money - or any, for that matter - to start enjoying bento for yourself. When I first started, I simply used a divided Rubbermaid meal storage container. In time, you may want to invest in an honest-to-goodness bento box and if you are curious about where to find one, Ebay has quite a few on sale at all times.

I purchased my first bento box (I know own several) from the host of Bento TV, who also sells bento boxes and accessories on Ebay, as well as having regular videos on her website to help bento beginners hone the craft.

One of these days I will get around to sharing a few of my own bento creations with you, but I am usually so busy eating it that I forget to take pictures!

Don’t forget it’s also delicious and really easy to do, and from a money standpoint, this recipe costs me pennies to make per batch.

This recipe yields about 1/2 cup, enough for 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
3 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon sugar (I use turbinado or honey when I have them)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS
Just mix everything together.
Yeah, that’s really all there is to it. Really easy and much less expensive than buying it at the supermarket.

The olive oil is key in this recipe; it has a distinct flavor that will be missed if you make this dressing with another oil. If you’re feeling adventurous, try playing with the spices or adding some freshly chopped herbs. It’s your kitchen, your rules!

One closing note on storage: if you do store leftovers in the fridge, the olive oil is going to separate and solidify. That’s natural and it is perfectly okay to eat. All you need to do is take it out of the refrigerator and let it warm to room temperature for half an hour or so. Then when you are ready to use it, just give it a good shake and you’ll be ready to eat.

Make your credit cards pay you, not the other way around! There are tons of card companies these days that offer ‘pay you back’ incentives – usually one to two percent (1-2%) of your purchases. If you are lucky enough (like I was), you’ll find that even your debit / check card will offer you some sort of rewards program. When I realized that I was already involved in a reward program at my credit union, I was able to redeem the points I had already earned for a $100 VISA gift card, all for doing nothing other than using my debit card like I would have done anyway. If that ain’t a deal, I don’t know one.

If you are like most people, you have more than one credit card. While the most important considerations should always be the interest rate and total debt on your cards, you still owe it to yourself to find out if any of your current credit cards offer cash back or rewards programs. After all, you might be entitled to something you didn’t even know was available!

Give your credit card companies a call – heck, at least this time you won’t have to cringe when you talk to them!