We love Amy Dacyczyn’s Tightwad Refrigerator, on page 262 of her first book, The Tightwad Gazette. TFF has decided to share a sampling of the rotating contents of our Frugal Refrigerators. Another time, we will share what’s in our Frugal Freezers!
Please share with us what’s in your frugal fridge!!
~Marilyn & Aimee, TFF
(Click on images to magnify.) Here’s the original and much appreciated Tightwad Refrigerator:
Marilyn’s Frugal “Every Drop & Crumb Counts” Fridge (click on image to magnify):
Aimee’s Frugal Foodie Fridge (click on image to magnify):
Two Frugal Fairfielders 
My fridge is definitely A TWG fridge: opened jars of homemade pickles/relishes/jams from home grown, foraged or CSA organic farm produce; cheap produce items such as cabbage, apples, oranges, carrots; stick margarine, repurposed jar full of bulk packaged yeast from the health food store, a bowl with a few past their prime apples awaiting to be turned into a coffee cake, repurposed jars/bottles filled with homemade salad dressings, OJ from concentrate, home brewed tea, cold coffee, pancake syrup; vintage Pyrex containers holding leftovers for a lunch this weekend if not, they’ll be brought to work on Mon; homemade chicken stock awaiting to be turned into tonight’s dinner soup; the stems of organic Swiss chard (again soup)-some* would throw these out. Also, there are no individual pudding/Jello cups (unless I make it at home and fill Pyrex berry dishes for indiv desserts) or applesauce tubs (I tend to buy quart bulk items like yogurt although some coupon deals will bring indiv. yogurts into the home)
Forgot to add: I also keep bread crumbs in the freezer, but learned to store them in wide mouthed Mason jars vs bags that can tear and make a mess. : (
Thanks for sharing what’s in your frugal fridge and your Mason jar tip! ~Aimee, TFF
Hi Carol, thanks for sharing your frugal fridge! BTW, do you make your own pancake syrup? I used to — I made it using Mapelyne (I’m not spelling that correctly) but I can’t find that product anymore. If you have a good recipe, is it on your blog or can you share it? I just can’t seem to find a good new homemade syrup recipe now that Mapelyne is gone :–( ~Marilyn, TFF
I keep my bread ends in the freezer. When I have accumulated enough, I whirl in the food processor to make bread crumbs. I pour the crumbs into a plastic bread bag and again, store it in the freezer. When it comes time to use the crumbs for a recipe, I take out what I need, season them and whatever is left over……guess what? It goes back in the freezer inside a separate plastic storage bag, labled. Since I basically only use the bread crumbs for chicken cutlets (which I cook in the oven, not fried) it’s OK to re-use the seasoned bread crumbs, so long as the crumbs are stored in the freezer.
Hi Cindy, Great tip! I also have bread ends in the freezer! We go through so many breadcrumbs for homemade chicken nuggets and chicken cutlets I have them all over the place lol! Let us know what you season your breadcrumbs with. I typically use garlic/onion/salt/pepper/italian seasoning. Thanks, Cindy! ~Marilyn
I season my crumbs with salt & pepper, parsley, garlic powder, a touch of paprika. Sometimes I’ll toss in cumin or oregano. It depends on what flavor I need to go with the rest of the meal.