I was reading the "Depression Era Tips" Thread located hereDepression era tips
and was thinking about some of the stuff that my grandma and grandpa still do, and that i do a lot of what they do. and i was wondering, do you any of you do a lot of the depression era things?

such as, this is what i do...
Save bacon fat (to make dog biscuits)
Save containers(for leftovers
Drying rack(i don't air dry ALL of our clothes, but pretty close)
Powdered milk (my grandma didn't do this, but i LOVE it for cooking!!)
buy cow and pig to have killed and always have meat available.


How about you guys?

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My choices yesterday create my today. My choices today create my tomorrow.

In good ol' Aussie land we mostly hang our clothes out to dry on a washing line when the weather is good. HUGE difference in electricity bill, saves environment and clothes can actually dry quicker on a good summers day. In fact since we moved to TAS we had to buy a new washing machine as we sold ours before we left the NT, and we brought a washer/ dryer combo.... first time I have ever owned a dryer..... It took me like two weeks to work out how to do it economically...

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"You have to live through the rain before you experience the rainbow"

Whoops forgot, we also moved here and brought land so we could go self suffient and save money. For example Hubby is currently building a chicken coop then we will build our 6 bed veggie patch and in winter we will be planting our own fruit trees and berries bushes (that we will be getting from neighbour so saving money). I am also going to be building a 'cut flower' bed with roses, tulips, daffadils, lilys etc in it so I can cut my own flowers for the house. The only problem we face is keeping the wallabys (small kangaroos) out so they won't eat our plants. Besides fencing any ideas out there?

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"You have to live through the rain before you experience the rainbow"

To me the butter wrapper & bacon grease are just normal parts of cooking. The butter wrapper isn't really even a conscious "saving" thing, it's just the most efficient way to grease a pan (better than rubbing it with butter, but of course it also saves the butter stick from getting it messed up; and much better than using your fingers & having to get the grease off them).

Bacon grease--I don't usually use it much myself, mostly because every time I try I forget to cover it & my cat eats it. But before people got so "health conscious" (not health conscious enough usually to really eat healthily, but reluctant to eat bacon fat), people always saved it because it's got the absolute best flavor for cooking anything. Any good chef will tell you the same thing now. Duck fat is great for some things, too, but of course less common.

Isn't it funny how much quality of living can so naturally tie to using all your resources? Like a good stock; use that chicken to the last bit and it's ten times better than anything bought at the store.