My friend Ken Oporto just happens to have a hosting company and has graciously offered to host Wiresplice! I’ve known Ken for well over a decade. We both started down the web-tech road way back in the 90′s. I was on the phone with Ken, who was in downtown DC, during 9-11. It’s true you never forget what you were doing that day. I’ve followed his career as a professional IT guy with some pretty impressive companies and I know how capable he is, so I was pretty excited that he’d be hosting me.

He’s involved in very personable hosting, so if you have a business that needs affordable hosting with a direct line to your hosting tech, he’s your man. He’s at http://tkoweb.com/aff2011.php I’ve had 100% uptime so far with him and the site is super responsive.

When he and I discussed Wiresplice, it made me want to define it further. Wiresplice is NOT a deal site – sure, I post deals from time to time but the main purpose of Wiresplice is to help people save money and use web-related strategies so that they can live a better life for less. I know a lot of people are struggling trying to live on much less than they had thought they would have to, and I really hope Wiresplice helps. The deals that you will find posted here will usually be FREE or extremely affordable deals that I would consider purchasing myself, on my very limited income. But besides deals, you’ll also find tips on frugal living, recipes, gardening, and other how-to’s.

So BIG SHOUT OUT TO KEN- THANK YOU!!!!

I just want to offer a few random tips for saving that I use. I continue to research and explore this subject. Here are a few very basic sort of things though that I’ve learned:

Never throw meat away. For me, it just seems very disrespectful to the sacrifice of the animal, but also, it’s just wasting money. Small amounts of cooked meat can be frozen for soups, fried rice, pot pies – a number of things.

Bacon

Boy is bacon getting expensive! Sometimes I get great coupons on turkey bacon, but I don’t really really think it tastes like bacon. However, I discovered if I cook a pack of REAL pork bacon first, then fry the turkey bacon in the same oil, problem solved. It’s good that way. So if I need 2 packs, I save a bit by making one of them a pack of turkey bacon.

Often I buy the ends and peices. It’s a lot less expensive and sometimes there are some really nice peices in there. In general I’ve moved to using more bacon bits, so these packs work fine for me. The random pieces are great for baked beans, making bacon bits, and seasoning green beans. I sort the pack, then fry the good pieces for a breakfast. The rest I save for other recipes. We stretch bacon a lot by making bacon, egg, and cheese quiches, and also bacon, egg, and potato skillet meals.

Poultry

When buying whole turkeys and chicken, I buy the biggest I can. Why? Because if you buy the smaller ones, you are paying more for bones. At Thanksgiving, I got a HUGE generic turkey for $8. I roasted it slow and moist, so the turkey came out great. Besides Thanksgiving with company, it’s provided 3 other meals this week, and there’s enough for 2 more meals in the fridge. Besides regular plain turkey, we enjoy turkey fajitas and turkey pot pies a lot. Chicken is even more versatile.

Pork

I see pork neck bones very cheap in the stores, and I’ve tried them, and they are just not for us! It makes a good enough soup, but I just prefer other cuts so it wasn’t a winner for us. I’ll continue to experiement with cuts like that, and if I find a winner, I’ll post it.

I’ve discovered it is even less expensive, pound for pound, to just buy a huge Boston Butt on sale. Again, I look for the largest, meatest cut I can find. A basic slow roast with basic spices like salt and pepper and you have one very versatile cut. We like barbecue sandwiches, Cubans, and pork fried rice. Sometimes I might cut off an end before cooking and make souvlaki. It’s extremely versatile.

Venison

We’re lucky to have a friend that hunts, but he won’t eat deer meat. It’s pretty good if you have a good hunter – and ours is. I’d had deer in the past that was not that good, but my hunter friend told me that was caused by the animal running a long time wounded. The trick to good deer meat is a fast, humane kill, with a quick field dress. When done right – it is awesome. The other thing, I think, is that some people expect it to taste just like beef, and since it doesn’t, it seems a bit funny to them. It’s not beef – it’s deer! To me it is a bit like a cross between beef and lamb.

It’s a very lean, healthy meat. Recently I was anemic. Vitamins and iron supplements didn’t seem to be helping. We ate deer for 3 days straight – and I started feeling better right away. It is very high in iron.

If you can hunt, or know someone that likes to, this can be a very inexpensive option. I hope to learn to process our own soon, but right now we pay to have it done, and it still turns out less than $2.00 a pound. We get an assortment of roasts, steaks from the loins, and ground meat. Venison availability can vary by area. In Georgia where we are the deer is considered safe to eat. There are some areas in distant states where wasting disease has been discovered in the populations. (Cows and deer both can get it.) Our deer is hunted from large wild preserve, so we don’t worry much about pesticides.

In closing, I think the real trick to saving money on meat is to expand your palate a bit. It’s ok to be a bit adventurous with food. If you watch the ‘high dollar’ chefs on tv- half the time they are cooking and eating perfectly good, tasty cuts a lot of ‘everyday normal’ people would turn their noses up at. Learn to cook, buy what’s on sale, have fun, store leftovers, and save money. How much more win-win could it be?

Here’s this year’s batch:

It’s an old candy. I remember we’d sometimes get a tin of it at my dad’s country store, and we’d sell it by the piece. I guess people worried a lot less about germs in those days. Later, it would come in individual blocks, but lately, I never see it at all. It’s very inexpensive to make. Tonight I had everything but peanuts, which were $1.68. I had enough left for Kung Pao chicken next week.

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Here’s my recipe:

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup Karo ® light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
2 tablespoons salted butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda

Grease or butter a cookie sheet. (I use a pizza pan.) Set aside.
In a heavy tall stockpot, over medium heat, bring corn syrup, salt, and water to boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanuts. Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking. Stir frequently until temperature reaches 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), or until a small amount dropped into very cold water turns hard and makes brittle threads.
Remove from heat; immediately stir in butter and baking soda; pour at once onto cookie sheet. Spread it out on the cookie sheet so that it’s about 1/3-1/2 inch thick. Let cool, then snap candy into pieces.
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Now, some tips. Use a TALL pan. Remember how I said I got burnt that first year? Well, my pan wasn’t tall enough. Sometimes when you add the baking soda, it will foam up for a minute. I had an old recipe then with more baking soda – this particular recipe shouldn’t foam more than 3 inches – but just in case you get the measurement wrong, use a tall pan. You don’t want to get burnt with this stuff – it is hot and sticks to you and even a little makes a bad burn. It’s safe to make if you just make sure your pan is a TALL one. I use a stockpot.

It makes pretty fast, so be prepared for that – have your butter and baking soda READY once you hit right at your 300 degrees. The color will have started to change from clear to light tan at this stage, and you MIGHT start seeing what looks like fine hairs or threads when you pick your spoon up. Get it OFF the heat and move fast. I have my butter and baking soda in a little cup together so I can dump them both in at once. It will foam a bit and change color when the baking soda hits it, so stir it quickly.

It will have to cool – I sat mine outside tonight, covered. I’ve also let it cool in the fridge in year’s past – the only thing is, it should be LEVEL until it cools. Use a spatula to pry it up – it should come in one piece. I take a paper towel and wipe the back of mine off (less fat that way, from greasing the pan.) Then just pick it up and tap it on the pan to break it up.

Get your pan to some water and let it soak to clean it. Plan to let it soak a bit to keep it easy.

The brittle doesn’t have to be stored in the fridge. It’s fine at room temperature. I can’t tell you how long it lasts. Around here it never makes it past 3 days, or as soon as my dad comes over.

If you have questions, let me know!

Buy 1 Karo® Syrup, Save 40¢ using SavingStar

I’m glad to be able to offer a link so you can get 2 adult tickets for $12.00!

This is an offer you can’t refuse! $12 For 2 Adult Movie Tickets From Fandango.com ($24 Value)

I think that is a great deal on movie tickets – especially if you live in an area where admissions are high and there are few discount theaters – like MINE. Gosh, the last time I went to a movie with my son, it was nearly $20.00, and that was just the tickets! Yes, we can save some by going to matinees, but he really likes to go at night. Still, matinees are about $7.50 each here now. How much is a ticket where you are?

I get so tired of paying over $1.00 each for bell peppers, and who can afford a red bell pepper for $2.59? That’s how high I saw them last winter. The local farmer’s markets recently had a lot of bell peppers 2/$1, and the beautiful colored peppers 3/$2. I grabbed a bunch. Kroger in the Southeast has them for .59 cents each now as well, if you don’t have access to a farmer’s market or need to be able to pay with food stamps.

They are actually very easy to store and freeze, and I find it not only more economical, but also a good time saver. It’s so nice to just be able to reach in and get what I need, pre-cut, and ready! That’s why I cut my peppers in a variety of shapes. Some I dice, some I cut in long strips, and others I cut in bigger square chunks.

Select large, unblemished peppers at the lowest price you can find. Late September, early October is a great time to buy them.

First wash the peppers:

Then pat them dry with a paper towel and cut them in shapes that you cook with.
Lay them in a single layer in a shallow pan or on a cooking sheet. I use wax paper to line mine.

Then simply place in the freezer for an hour or two. Take them out, and place them in a resealable container. I use the Rubbermaid Easy Find Lids.

That’s really all there is to it. Now when you’re ready to cook, just open your container and take what you need. Freezing them this way keeps them all separate so they don’t clump up.

They taste great in cooked food and are a real timesaver. Over the winter, we’ll save a lot by having a good supply of bell peppers in the freezer, so we don’t have to pay twice or more when we need one. The only exception is when fresh peppers are needed, but for us, that’s pretty rare.

Onions can be frozen the same way. There are other ways of storing onions, so for me the main benefit of freezing them is to save time in food prep, or for saving onions that are leftover, for instance, when a recipe calls for half an onion. IF I don’t think I’ll use the other half soon, I go might go ahead and cut the whole thing, then freeze half of it.

When I can find a good movie deal online, it helps us afford to go at night for the same price or less than a matinee. This is for AMC theaters only.

To get your deal, click here:

$5 AMC Theatres® Silver Experience™ Tickets $5 for an AMC Theatres® Silver Experience™ Ticket (Valued Up To $12)

Staples has a deal until 1 October 2011 where you can get a free ream of paper after rebate.
You need the coupon at the link below:
http://ebm.e.staples.com/c/tag/hBOgXWeB7SHGCB8dqnbCYVmpxMh/doc.html

(It’s the coupon at the top, so just print page 1 if it is the only one you need.)
Take that coupon to Staples and get the paper, have the cashier scan the paper and your coupon, and then pay. When you get your receipt, it will have information on it that you will then come home and fill out online. (At least that is what happens where I live and for most folks, but a few stores maybe different if their system is not online yet.)

I’ve completed several rebate offers from Staples in the last year. They have always paid me, but it usually took about 6 weeks. Still, free is free and I always need paper to print coupons with! Just DO NOT forget to file your rebate. I have learned to do it as soon as I get home.

This oil is used to ward off sickness – grave robbers used it during ancient and old times to enter tombs without being effective. It gained fame when it was discovered thieves were using it during the times of the Black Death to steal from the stricken’s homes and graves, and they were not getting the plague.

I like to use it during cold and flu season when I go out shopping. Does it work? I haven’t got the flu in years, but I can’t say why, only that I believe it works for me. It traditionally is put on the soles of the feet and the nape of the neck. (Some people’s will find it irritating to the skin, even in carrier oil, so test a tad of it first!) The vapors are said to help kill viruses and be antibacterial. One university studied it, and they said it was the thymols and phenols in it. It does have a lot of them, considering what I know about the individual ingredients.

Now magickally, if you are into that, all the plants have associations with purification, exorcism, protection, and healing.

Recipe for Thieves Oil
Thieves oil is an oil used to ward off sickness and plague.

The ingredients are pretty much virucidal and antiseptic.

Here’s how you make it:
Use olive oil or a carrier oil (I use macadamia nut oil myself, as I have a good cheap source for it…almond, jojoba, but any carrier oil should do.)

Equal parts of lemon, eucalyptus, cinnamon, clove, and rosemary essential oils.

There’s a second recipe for it:
Clove Bud Oil 200 drops, Lemon Oil 175 drops, Cinnamon
Oil 100 drops, Eucalyptus Oil 75 drops, Rosemary 50 drops.

This last one smells STRONGLY of cloves. I use the first second recipe but prefer to up my eucalyptus as I prefer the smell, because I KNOW it has been used to fend off viruses before by itself, by putting some on bandanas that you breathe though, like masks.

You can buy lemon eucalyptus already mixed, as it is a commonly used combo formula, and that cuts down on the cost of making it.

To get this great deal, click this link:

Real-Steak Steakburgers™ and Hand-Dipped Milk Shakes — for half off! $5 For A $10 Steak ‘n Shake® Gift Card

One per household according to the rules.

Enjoy!
(They have great milkshakes!)

Beans and rice are something that I’ve learned can be made in a BIG pot and then frozen. Rice is especially great for doing this – it’s often easy to cook a huge pot, then freeze batches for other meals. Fried rice is MUCH better if you have cold rice to start with. Freezing rice ahead of time makes it easy use other left overs – for instance, to make some soup, fried rice, or when I have some leftover meat to use in a recipe with rice.

I make my rice just like it says on the package and it always comes out great. I put the rice and the water in the pan, heat it to boiling, then turn it to low, cover it and forget it for 20 minutes. I don’t understand the NEED for Minute Rice or appliances like rice steamers to cook rice. The only tricks to good rice are to measure your water and rice out carefully, and to leave it alone once you cover it up, until the 20 minutes is up.

Small packs of Mahatma rice are often free or very close to it with coupons. Once it is cooked, let it cool down, and then just place it in a baggy. Remove any air you can before sealing the bag, and freeze! To use it, I just dip the bag of rice in some warm water to loosen it up, and then I put it in a pan. Personally, I don’t like to microwave anything in plastic. I did write Ziplock ® once though, and they told me they do not use the BPA in their plastics.

Homemade beans are great and dried beans are always a good deal, but I always make too much. You can freeze them in baggies for recipes like chili later on. 1 can is 15 ounces, so just put in 1 cup, then ALMOST 1 cup (7/8 of a cup), and you’ve got it, because 2 cups is 16 ounces. To me, one HUGE advantage of this is less clean up. I only have to wash ONE big pot one time.

Note – The lady in the video is NOT me, but I am trying to ‘place’ this accent. It seems close to ours, but not quite NW GA. She’ll show you how to freeze the beans.
FREEZING BEANS: