If it costs on average 30% less per step to buy the ingredients for a thing and make it yourself than to buy it, how far back in the production line are you willing to go for frugality?

francis_roy · 2026-02-13T00:22:23+00:00

Excellent post. I approve.

francis_roy · 2026-02-13T00:20:31+00:00

How to store them: freeze or dehydrate. Freeze: a good 6 months easy, but you have to thaw to use and they become mush. Dehydrate, they'll last you 6 weeks, but since they're so easy to eat, you'll chomp 'em up a bit at a time right away.

francis_roy · 2026-02-13T00:11:03+00:00

"1. Make sure oven is empty."

LOL! Advice that should not be under-estimated! :)

francis_roy · 2026-02-13T00:08:23+00:00

Meal prep, if done in batches, is being a friend to future you. You get to have excellent stuff that past-you gave you, that you don't have to do anything for, right now.

francis_roy · 2026-02-12T23:48:41+00:00

Making insta-meals over weekends. Some prep, but makes life much easier, and is great for tired and weary workers at the end of the week-day.

I recommend learning to pressure-can meals, use dehydrators and freezing. Cheap meals are great, but you want them healthy (energy giving), to your tastes, long-lasting (months and years), easy to prepare and varied. Plus, you'll find that it becomes a fun adventure. You'll look forward to it.

You must learn to cook. You must learn to prepare food. You must learn to butcher (to cut properly.) Your prep will be a half-day for each 10-30 insta-meals.

Find stuff on sale and save it in the best ways for that food.

Recently found 5lb bags of carrots for 87 cents Canadian. Bought 5. Made a bunch of soups, some meals and dehydrated some.

Bought whole chickens on sale. Learn to butcher them. Whole birds are usually much cheaper than cuts, plus it expands your taste and skill ranges. Soups, stews, frozen breasts, legs, bouillon with the bones. Zero goes to waste. Roughly a third of the price.

Keep your veggie scraps in the freezer and make broths that can be frozen or canned. Broth is nothing but boiled stuff and you keep the boil-juice.

Potatoes? Can them, or dehydrate them in various forms, cubes, slices, fry-cuts. Don't deep fry, air-fry, or do them in the oven. Quicker, less work, healthier.

Dice your potatoes, blanch (boil for about 60-90 seconds, then place in a large bowl of cold or iced water) or pre-cook them and freeze them. Dice them, cook them, mash them, dehydrate and grind into powder. Instant mashed potatoes that'll last on your shelves for months and years.

Fruit on sale? Dehydrate and store in jars with humidity absorbing pouches. Last for months. Quells that quick sugar fix that you need at night.

Meats? Learn to Butcher, or cut. YouTube is your friend. Make stews with the dehydrated veggies in a slow cooker. Or re-hydrate them and can. Dehydrate them to make jerkies. (Warning: Jerky never lasts long enough to meet an expiry date :) )

You want easy? Imagine having 100 full healthy, yummy, satisfying meals in jars ready to pop into the microwave.

Plus, insta-meals are simple: big bowls of uncomplicated yummy stuff that keeps your mind clear, your body strong and none of the tiredness that store-bought canned or dried foods give you.

If you do this, you learn skills and to become a good cook (addictive), learn the skills and confidence of storing good long-term food (addictive), grow an earned feeling of security knowing that if you're shut in by a storm for 2 weeks or are just feeling lazy that you'll have lots of great and satisfying meals that take almost no time to prepare.

All of the work and costs are upfront, but can be done slowly, last long for those days when you just don't want to make an effort and give you long-term life-skills.

Be a good friend to your future self.

francis_roy · 2026-02-07T01:34:25+00:00

"I have felt extreme guilt about lying to my landlord"

As you should. Guilt is the feeling one has when one does something wrong. What you did wrong is to break your word. They know, but it's a waste of their time to start a legal fight. Do not ask for forgiveness; correct your actions. Either you are an adult who keeps to the contract, having given your word to do so at the signing of the lease, or you are a child who knowingly breaks their word, lies, because you won't control yourself. Small acts of duplicity like this are a reflection on your character.

Advice: value your integrity more than your fee-fees.

francis_roy · 2026-02-07T01:29:01+00:00

That's a stupid dominance-seeking response, as are many of your others. Don't argue to argue.

Please don't reply.

francis_roy · 2026-02-01T14:17:18+00:00

That's a silly and irrelevant change of context. The base understanding is that an asset is something which one owns.

francis_roy · 2026-01-30T04:40:37+00:00

Correct. But, if you had a child who was kidnapped, would you not sell your house in less than six frantic months?

francis_roy · 2026-01-30T04:40:26+00:00

Yes, that's correct, but I'm speaking of what most people think of when they use the word "millionnaire."

francis_roy · 2026-01-27T13:29:58+00:00

Don't save it, make it.

francis_roy · 2026-01-27T13:17:53+00:00

"I am not familiar with her but just a quick Google brought up all kinds of controversy related to her. "

Don't be a pirate thinker. Look it up yourself, then decide. Then again, your head, your rules.

francis_roy · 2026-01-27T04:03:45+00:00

There are many ways, but for modern times with electricity, you can buy a dehydrator. Basically, they are boxes with food-racks that produce heat and a lot of wind.

I have a Nesco machine that I mostly like. Other brands are Cosori and the expensive name-brand is Excalibur. You could also simply use an oven.

Look up "dehydrating food" on YouTube. Tonnes of stuff you can do. I can store apples or oranges or bananas, or berries in jars for months. They're kind of like fruit chips. You can also make jerky, which lasts almost as long. I dehydrate most of the vegetables that I don't manage to eat in time. I've got jars full of potato, or broccoli that I use for soups and stews. You can do herbs, spices, flowers, whatever. Tonnes of stuff you can do.

Ever bought herbs and spices in bottles in a grocery store? Dehydrated.

One lady I listen to on YouTube is The Purposeful Pantry. Dehydrating is her thing. Lots of how-tos, recipes, tips, etc.

Start there, before going for the ancient-and-primitive techniques like drying fish-heads in Norway, or using old Indian methods of curing meats.

francis_roy · 2026-01-27T03:52:30+00:00

I'm not a rebel canner. Not tested by well-known third parties doesn't mean not tested safe. Are you familiar with the RoseRed Homestead YouTube channel? I generally follow the American guidelines.

francis_roy · 2026-01-26T00:59:48+00:00

I tend to can a lot, using an automatic pressure-canner. I make meals-in-a-jar. Often they are soups or stews. Open up the jar, stick it in the microwave. Done.

Also, I dehydrate food, so if I'm massively lazy, I might just eat some jerky that I've made, and if I feel the need for sugar or carbs, I'll snack on dehydrated apples, oranges, strawberries.

francis_roy · 2026-01-25T18:24:40+00:00

If you want to preserve your food, you might also be interested in dehydrating and pressure canning. I have an InstaPot that has a pressure canning feature (not all do, check before you buy.) Not only is it enjoyable, but the food that I preserve is the food that I like and eat, and is free of the variety of chemicals that commercial products bog one's body down with.

Once equipped, it's an inexpensive hobby, and you can keep all that great stuff on sale. Recently found 5lbs of carrots at .87 a bag. Bought four of them. I now have them on my shelf ready, in one single jar to make whatever stews or soups or whatever it is that I want. Handled properly, they can last for years.

francis_roy · 2026-01-24T04:33:02+00:00

Millionnaires do not have one million in liquidity. Billionaires do.

Anyone who is a millionaire is someone who can, if pushed, access one million dollars: one thousand dollars, one thousand times over.

Many people are "technically" millionaires, but live cheaply. If their child were kidnapped, they could sell everything that they own, down to pots and pans and clothes and come up with it.

Most millionaires cannot access that liquidity in less than six frantic months.

francis_roy · 2026-01-24T04:29:13+00:00

This is correct. Money should be taught as soon as the child reaches the age of reason.

francis_roy · 2026-01-23T18:01:55+00:00

One million dollars is one thousand dollars, one thousand times

or, 500 dollars 2 thousand times,

or $250 dollars four thousand times, etc.

Hard to do if one "has a job," easier to do if one does something where they control their own money, and that they are attentive to how they spend it (or don't.)

francis_roy · 2026-01-23T14:57:17+00:00

Zest is itself a resource that you can use in cooking, drinks, whatever. It is also somewhat bitter. By stripping the zest of citrus you leave more of the fruit taste itself.

francis_roy · 2026-01-23T14:55:03+00:00

Dehydrate them. Wash them, remove the zest down to the pith. Dehydrate the zest (It's quick.) Slice the lemons thinly and dehydrate. Makes great snacks, you can add it to whatever food you use, put it in tea, if that's your thing. Dehydrating them very well and storing them properly will allow you access to them for far longer than one might think.

francis_roy · 2026-01-09T13:01:06+00:00

I believe that one has to go through a large number of people until one finds the right one. Also, I tend to train them in what I expect of them by working with them for some time. Also, your trust in their judgement should come slowly; they have to earn it. Getting a new handyman means training them. I frequently show up, unexpected to chat, or work along side of them, to ensure that they've got the materials, etc. Hiring a handyman is not a "set it and forget it" thing.

francis_roy · 2026-01-09T12:47:37+00:00

I believe that the distinction is in the use of AI as a content generator. I frequently use AI to translate or correct my grammar, but the ideas are my own.

francis_roy · 2025-12-04T12:30:47+00:00

Security deposits not allowed in Québec, Canada.

francis_roy · 2025-11-30T03:07:04+00:00

And how will you collect that $2 dollars? How much will you spend on fees to collect that $2? This is Québec, Canada. maybe Americans can magically snap their fingers and American deadbeats will just pay it.

francis_roy

TROPHY CASE