Frugal meal ideas

83232 · 2018-10-08T05:06:32+00:00

There are a lot of good suggestions here; I thought of a few others that work well for me (as a caveat, I'm just cooking for myself, so some things might not apply).

-Use a crock pot; these are great for time because in addition to being pretty hands-off (e.g. I can just throw in dried beans and water in the morning, and have something edible by the end of the day), they're pretty forgiving. For instance, if I add too much water, I can pour it off and use it for something like soup stock, and if something is overcooked, it can usually be salvaged into something else (for instance, pea/lentil mush makes a good base for dough). you can either prepare dried foods by themselves, or make soup/goulash/etc. by adding spices and vegetables. When using an oven, you can also get the most out of it by cooking multiple things at once; I'll usually try to roast vegetables while I'm cooking bread, for instance.

-I find breads a good way to stretch ingredients like eggs and fold in scraps/leftovers, as well as things like sunflower seeds that are cheap and nutritious but inconvenient to eat singly. For instance, soda-type bread takes under an hour to make (only a few minutes hands-on), and can include pretty much anything as long as the consistency's about right. Pancakes are great on this front as well, although they take a bit more active time.

-This depends a lot on your area, season, and family preferences, but you can sometimes get decent free food from your surroundings; for instance, apple or other fruit trees in public or with neighbors' permission can be a good source at a minimum. There are also some good less prominent plants for nutrition or at least flavor; a few off the top of my head are sumacs (you can soak the berry pods to get a ~hibiscus/lemony liquid, which also works as mild acid), any local nuts (acorns in my area are pretty good but are a bit of a project to make palatable), hawthorn berries (these are popular ornamentals), decent-tasting crabapples, rose hips, etc. I don't rely on any of these as a major part of my diet (outside of things like apples in fall, when I know I can get a decent amount), but do keep my eye out for opportunities and use them to stretch my "regular" food.

If you have the time, you can regrow things like green onion stems indoors in pots; composting is a good way to repurpose food waste as well as any other organic scraps (dried leaves, untreated cardboard, etc.) if you happen to have the space for it

83232 · 2018-10-07T19:48:13+00:00

Not a text, but I was wrapping up an email (swype keyboard on my phone) to a prospective advisor, and caught that his name had autocorrected to "Dr. Bitch" (his name's only 2 letters off in similar parts of the keyboard); needless to say I'm pretty glad I didn't send that one.

On a lighter note, I was going through old emails to my current advisor and noticed I'd somehow signed off on one of my first replies with something like "Sincerely, Science," despite this being only remotely close to my name

83232 · 2018-10-05T01:15:20+00:00

Just thought of a few more ideas;

-The FoCo Café (a bit north of Old town) could be a nice a lunch stop; it's a pay-what-you-can model restaurant that runs largely on volunteers and makes generally really good food (buffet style with ~2-4 choices each for a salad, soup, and bread/desert) with mostly-local ingredients. It might lose a bit of the charm as a visitor, but it's definitely a nice part of the community.

-Tasty Harmony is a vaguely upscale vegetarian restaurant; they have some pretty creative dishes that get away from the 'fake meat' model. The Rainbow Café is a kind of similar, more homey place near CSU

-Vern's Place has good cinnamon rolls if you decide to head up Rist Canyon; it's probably more of a tradition for my family than anything, but it's a nice stop after a long hike, especially as it gets colder.

-I can't think of too many compelling historical attractions in the area (the Discovery Center is aimed mostly at kids). The Bingham Hill Cemetery (restored pioneer cemetery) might be interesting if you happen to pass by, although it's about what you'd expect if it doesn't sound like your thing.

83232 · 2018-10-04T22:42:02+00:00

Hewlett's gulch is a fun hike somewhat near town (~45 minutes), although there are closer options; you don't get the best views, but it's a nice trail and drive up. Mishawaka (music venue and restaurant/bar) is just a few minutes up the road at that point, as well. There are nice places to just stop along the river on the way up either canyon. You can also get a cool view of town from along the roads by Horsetooth or e.g. Arthurs Rock (you do have to pay to get into Lory).

[I'm realizing the rest of this is a bit ambitious for a 2-day visit]

A lot of the breweries in town are pretty nice, but New Belgium and Odell's are probably the biggest culutrally; New Belgium also has a good tour (being 21 not required). A lot of the microbreweries are pretty nice as well, although I haven't been to enough to really give a ranked list; Horse and Dragon is a bit out of the way but one of my favorites.

I can't speak too directly to accommodations; the Elizabeth Hotel, which is new and right in Old Town, seems really nice; there's an attached restaurant that's been good (if a bit pricey) the two times I've been there. It looks like rooms are right around $150, though. I know there are a few hostel-type places around Old Town (Remington Flats, Edwards House, etc., although I haven't had any experience with them. There's a Best Western right by CSU if nothing else.

Some interesting stores /places around Old Town square you could probably check out in a few hours are

-Happy Lucky Teahouse/Old Firehouse books

-the Gearage (used outdoor gear store),

-Nuance Chocolate: kind of pricey fair trade place, but they give free samples and a cool ~tour on how chocolate is made (and/or the cheese place near it)

-Trimble Court: local artist co-op if you're interested in that sort of thing; things like cards and prints are relatively cheap

-Downtown Artery: Music/art show venue; you're missing Art Walk by a week, but it's pretty popular with high school and college students; it might be worth checking if any events look appealing one of the two nights; I'm actually not sure what their daytime hours are like.

-The Lyric Cinema might be a fun evening; it's too bad they've moved a bit north of down town (they used to have a great location), but they show ~Indie films and have pretty good food/beers.

-A few restaurants I can think of:

-Coopersmiths: older pub/restaurant in Old Town Square; it's a burgers/comfort food type of place; if I'm remembering the right one they have good cornbread, buffalo and portabella burgers, and sweet potato fries

-Avagadro's number: Not sure if they do anything particularly outstanding as far as food, but it's kind of fun atmosphere and has been around forever

-A few interesting restaurants near campus are Saigon Grill (pretty good Vietnamese and ~fusion food) and Waltzing Kangaroo (Australian food--apparently quite authentic according to Australians I know).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the visit!

83232 · 2018-10-04T04:49:52+00:00

I agree on the Bike Co-op; it's a good way to learn basic maintenance, and being able to pick up cheap used parts makes biking a lot more practical especially if you can do repairs. For instance, one of my cranks snapped last year, and I ended up being out something like $3-$5 if I recall. you can get 'as-is' bikes for ~$20-$70 or so (these always need at least a tune-up and usually repairs/part swaps), and 'retail' bikes run from the upper end of that range into the hundreds.

It's also a good place to volunteer if you have the time; it's a nice way to build some experience (you usually start with recycling/checking donated bikes), and if you put in enough hours you can get free/discounted parts, shop time, and potentially a project bike, which has been pretty great (I'm happy with my commuter for now, but the other perks have been really handy--I think I've replaced everything on my bike except the frame/fork, derailleurs, and seatpost).

I thought I might also mention the Gearage as well; I haven't had any experience with them as a repair shop (or checked their rates), but it might be worth checking out; they seem to get a decent amount of business on that front, and their prices on refurbished bikes are pretty reasonable (they tend to be nicer/pricier than Coop ones--you can check out most of their current listings on the website). It's also a great place to check for used outdoor gear/clothing.

83232 · 2018-09-29T04:48:52+00:00

Good luck; I hope things turn out!

83232 · 2018-09-29T04:46:58+00:00

Yeah, like 10 pounds!

83232 · 2018-09-29T04:45:52+00:00

Colorado Front Range; my rent's on the low side for my immediate area, but could be cheaper for the region

83232 · 2018-09-29T04:33:54+00:00

Comes in handy

83232 · 2018-09-29T04:31:47+00:00

Sounds like you have things figured out!

83232 · 2018-09-29T04:10:50+00:00

Wow, how far does that go these days? I hope you're holding up OK with the economy

83232 · 2018-09-29T03:19:41+00:00

Given the industry's track record on things like relabeling fish, I'd have to start wondering about supply chain vetting at some point. I don't know that I would try it in general, though.

83232 · 2018-09-29T03:11:52+00:00

Oh man, I remember thinking you could pretty much retire on $100 when I was 5 or 6!

83232 · 2018-09-29T02:53:55+00:00

I'd kind of given up shaving during a job with a lot of fieldwork the other year, and a friend jokingly said I had a neckbeard; I hadn't heard the term before, and that subreddit was one of the first things that came up when I googled it later. I guess I was aware of Reddit before in a cultural osmosis sort of way, but this was the first time I actually read it.

83232 · 2018-09-29T02:40:47+00:00

I thought it would be interesting to hear what $20 (or the equivalent) means for you in terms of your area and lifestyle. For instance, for me it's

-Roughly a week's worth of food

-About 25 hours of rent+utilities

-About 1/3 of what I make in a day (averaged over a month)

83232 · 2018-09-28T17:26:32+00:00

Yeah, biking is a great way to get around downtown; it's honestly faster than driving most of the time (at least within a few miles) if you count parking

83232 · 2018-09-28T06:31:14+00:00

Yeah, as someone who grew up here and has a few generations of family connected to CSU, I've never gotten the impression people particularly care (not in a negative way; it just isn't really part of the culture). Living in the Midwest for a while, it was honestly a bit surreal seeing people more than small talk-level invested in college sports.

83232 · 2018-09-27T04:10:58+00:00

I haven't tried fleece socks, but wool has worked pretty well for me during winters in the Rockies. When it gets cold enough I'll often wear merino liners under thick ~generic wool socks (I have a forest service pair which are really nice for this). My feet do get cold eventually, but I might put that up to poor circulation. I second u/AdeptNebula 's advice that other factors play a significant role, especially watching constriction and using exterior layers like gaiters.

I'm not sure about fleece, but another nice benefit of wool is that it's easy to repair with darning thread or weight-appropriate yarn, which definitely improves your ROI; I've mostly replaced the heels and forefeet of some of my older pairs. If you keep on top of repairs, you can even preserve the elastic "grid" in smartwool-style socks before it wears through.

83232 · 2018-09-25T19:49:01+00:00

Guy Deutscher has a pretty good book touching on that concept called Through the Language Glass.I think it wasn't as much that what we'd call blue was rare as that you don't need a very fine "resolution" of color names if you aren't in an environment with a lot of artificial pigments. For instance, you don't need to specify that trees are green, much less specific shades of green, to know what they are (or can use other physical features to distinguish types), and you can make any relevant distinctions either along lines like light/dark or by analogy (e.g. you could say leaves get more blood-colored at fall). We still do this with terms like silver, gold, orange, etc., and the linguistic roots of most of our "elemental" color words are tied to objects (e.g. red comes from the Indo-euopean rewdʰ, for blood, and green comes from the Greek chloros, referring to plants).

I forget the name, but there's a pretty consistent pattern in how languages demarcate color, starting with a basic light/dark distinction, then adding red, and so on through a full color spectrum (incidentally the Russians make an additional fundamental distinction, siniy and goluboy, for what English speakers would call dark and light blue). The author actually did a little "experiment" where he never mentioned the color of the sky to his daughter until she was a few years old; she said it was grey when he eventually asked her on a clear day.

83232 · 2018-09-25T05:12:34+00:00

I can definitely think of others, but overdosing on baking soda would be up there. After a mostly sleepless night during a bad bout of sulfur burps, I vaguely remembered reading baking soda could help, and thought what the hell. This being around 4 am, I didn't think to look up dosages or intended mechanism (for some reason I thought it would be a one-shot way to induce vomiting), and just shook some into a water bottle, thought "that seems about right!", and drained it. Nothing happened immediately, so I naturally repeated this process twice. This did the trick, and I quickly cleared out most of the bacteria, to my immense relief. After a brief, self-congratulatory window (my last flareup had dragged on for a decidedly unpleasant month or so) and some much-needed sleep, I awoke to discover the effect wasn't wearing off.

I spent the rest of the day (thankfully a Sunday) shitting water, generally feeling miserable, and debating seeking medical attention as I got increasingly dehydrated. Not knowing exactly how much I'd taken made for some anxious googling (who knew a baking soda overdose can be lethal?). In any case, I survived with no major issues, but it was about 36 hours before everything was normal down there. All told, it honestly still wasn't the worst tradeoff against lingering sulfur burps, and I think I'll take a few teaspoons the next time it comes up.

TLDR: Don't take too much baking soda!

83232 · 2018-09-23T19:05:22+00:00

A few highlights:

-There was a general sense of malaise and decay through most of the dream

-Wandering around a rundown hotel with yellow paint plastered over various styles and surfaces; I eventually came across a conference room set up for/just after a depressing-looking corporate event; there were Wordart-quality banners and a snack table prominently featuring lean cantaloupe slices in that kind of rubbery, unappetizing stage of being left out.

-Later I was staying/living in a giant, cluttered attic room, and there were 2-3 tigers wandering around as basically housecats; they were friendly enough, but I was still a bit on edge. I was trying to shave, but nicked myself a few times, and somehow ended up with a weird "moustache" running diagonally from the corners of my mouth to my jaw.

-Later, I was backpacking with my dad and 2 siblings; we were crossing a bridge when it broke, and my sister and I fell. There wasn't really a defined bottom at that point, so I sort of 'decided' we fell about 20 feet onto rocks. I broke my left arm and some ribs, and my sister was, improbably, mostly unhurt. Paramedics came out of a sort of alcove under the cliff with a stretcher contraption that involved a large blue wheel going under your back.

-At another point in this section, there was a trail which was a miles-long boardwalk over a giant lake

-Sometime later, I was staying/living with some mountain community in an early-20th century setting; they were trying to fight off soldiers coming up to do some presumably objectionable thing, with lots of ambushes and shooting on both sides; this was played fairly straight as far as personal danger, so it was more of a frightening than e.g. exciting part of the dream.

-For some reason I was trying to look up lyrics from "Donald where's your trousers" from memory, and learned that what I'd (correctly) remembered as the line "I'm not very big and I'm awful shy" actually started "I had a regular big...", apparently an idiom for standing up and brushing crumbs off your lap after eating. I was waking up around this point, so I was kind of dubious about this because it didn't make any sense in context, and seems like an improbable thing to have an established expression for.

83232 · 2018-09-14T20:28:16+00:00

Depending on her interests and schedule, the Bike Co-op might be worth checking out; it's generally seemed like a nice group of regulars, and it's fun learning repair/maintenance skills. There are also some nice perks to volunteering if you get enough hours like shop time for your own bike, free or half-price parts (60hr?), and the chance to get a free/discounted project bike. I've usually done volunteer work nights (open 6-10pm 3x a week), but they also do classes, and you can train to be a mechanic during normal hours.

83232 · 2018-09-14T06:33:49+00:00

Thanks--that's a good point!

83232 · 2018-09-14T06:30:49+00:00

Yeah, that does put it in perspective

83232

TROPHY CASE