photo: Carlos Madrigal When the mercury rises above 90, the desire to use the stove tends to plummet in equal measure. In Frugal Foodie’s kitchen, the most-used gadget during New York City’s record-high temperatures this summer has been the ice cream machine, seconded by the blender. (Her current obsession: using homemade cookies and homemade ice cream to make ice box desserts . …  Read More →

We’ve all been there: you enter your hotel room after a long, gruesome trip, drop your bags, kick off your shoes and have an irresistible craving for a cold soda or maybe even something stronger. The temptation to open that mini bar is high, even though you know too well that anything you find there has been seriously marked up. Convenience comes at a price, and no place proves this better than the snacks and drinks you’ll find in... 

  photo: ilovememphis Buying food in bulk can save you a lot of money — unless the food goes to waste. After all, how many families are going to eat five pounds of strawberries in one week? To cut waste and take advantage of the deals at warehouse retailers, households across the country are starting informal food buying clubs. While the clubs aren’t super…  Read More →

photo: Samat Jain Cooking at home is the best way to save cash, but it’s nice to go out sometimes, too. Check out Frugal Foodie every Friday for a selection of the latest coupons for casual and fancy fare. This week: discount smoothies, restaurant-week promotions and $5 gourmet lunches, among other deals! 1. Tasty Thursdays Through August 26, visit Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for Tasty Thursdays . Local restaurants... 

photo:   U-g-g-B-o-y-(-Photograph-World-Sense-) According to the aptly titled report Beauty at Any Cost , which the YWCA released in 2008, US women spend $7 billion per year on cosmetics, averaging to about $100 per person per month. That’s a whole lot of lipstick, mascara, and other beauty products! Before you roll those smokey lacquered eyes or shoo us away with a perfectly manicured hand, we should note that…  Read More →

( PriceGrabber ) Shopping online has its undisputable benefits: it can save you gas, time and money, not to mention you can do it in your pajamas. The problem is, with so many online retailers to choose from, the whole process can become overwhelming rather than a time-saver. Why buy online if doing so is a whole new skill in and of itself? Cutting through the online clutter is easy if you start out your shopping trip with the five websites... 

Spend enough time in the kitchen and you’re bound to have an “Oh, #$&@!” moment. You know: Burned food, over-salted sauces, a cake that comes out of the pan in six pieces — the kind of food emergency that leaves you in despair of wasted time and ingredients. Don’t reach for the garbage can just yet. Many apparent disasters are fixable, while others turn out OK with a little recipe creativity, says Mark Alan... 

photo: Keith Williamson We already know some of the best shopping deals are found online – but did you know some days are better than others to find the steepest discounts? ShopItToMe.com , which scours sales at more than 100 online retailers, ran a survey showing what days of the week certain categories of items carry the biggest discounts. Their data was…  Read More →

  photo: avlxyz   Cooking at home is the best way to save cash, but it’s nice to go out sometimes, too. Check out Frugal Foodie every Friday for a selection of the latest coupons for casual and fancy fare. This week: cheap burgers, half-price happy-hour meals and discount hibachi, among other deals! 1. Energy Kitchen During the month of July, the health-focused NY chain is offering all of its burgers for $5 . No coupon necessary.   2.... 

photo: 10buckdinners.com Eating cheap is easy. Given $10 to buy ingredients for a meal for four, even the most hopeless home cook could whip up grilled cheese and tomato soup or a simple spaghetti-and-meatballs combo. But putting together a gourmet dinner for under $10 is more challenging. So we asked food and finance bloggers, as well as home cooks, to send in their best suggestions. (We’ve shared them below with recipe details, or, where... 

photo: Wonderlane For many brides-to-be, planning the perfect wedding begins with finding the perfect dress. That often means spending hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on a dress that you’ll only get to wear once. It doesn’t have to be this way. If you’re open to altering your dress — or going for one that doesn’t look too wedding-y to begin with, your dress could serve you for multiple events without anyone noticing.... 

If you’re one to watch where your dollars and cents go, you’re probably closely familiar with discount retailers, clearance sales, coupons, any combination of the three, even second-hand stores. And then there’s a whole other level of shopping that’s practically free: swapping. Sure, you’ve likely swapped out a pair of jeans or a top with a friend when you were a teenager or cash-strapped student. And if you’ve... 

  photo: ZagatBuzz   Cooking at home is the best way to save cash, but it’s nice to go out sometimes, too. Check out Frugal Foodie every Friday for a selection of the latest coupons for casual and fancy fare. This week: free Slurpees, Thai cashew chicken, Restaurant Week menus and a wine-cork-for-dessert swap program, among other deals! 1. 7-Eleven Visit participating stores on July 11 (Get it? 7/11, 7-Eleven) for a free 7.11-ounce Slurpee... 

photo: edmittance No matter how good a deal you got on those in-season blueberries, tomatoes or basil , it’s money wasted if some of that produce goes bad before it makes it to the table. It’s an all too common budget dent. Americans throw out roughly 14% of what they buy, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Worse, that figure is before factoring in the leftover food you scrape from your plate. Knowing how long fresh... 

Photo: Pinkberry Cooking at home is the best way to save cash, but it’s nice to go out sometimes, too. Check out Frugal Foodie every Friday for a selection of the latest coupons for casual and fancy fare. This week, we’ll tell you where to get free coffee, free movie tickets with dinner, half-off frozen yogurt happy hours through the summer and more! 1. Borders Download the free Borders e-reader app to an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch and...