Saving Time and Money with the Freezer

As a new home owner, switching food over between refrigerators and freezers has made me more acutely aware of just how bad I am about preserving food. After cleaning out several sets of leftovers, it's hard not to feel like there's more I could have done to freeze the food that wasn't going to get used right away. Using the freezer better not only results in less time preparing food, but also less money spent since you're using the leftovers so well.  I've tried to do this a few times in the past, but I've never been able to find the right balance of time and effort.

I'm not sure if any of you are in the same boat as me, but if you are, I found a recent post on Lifehacker to be fairly helpful when it comes to the freezer. 10 Simple Freezer Tricks to Save You Time and Money has some practical guidelines to follow that will make your life easier. For instance, one of the tips talks about using a chopstick to break apart pieces of frozen meat for portion control. Also, saving hard drives in freezers can help damaged recover lost data, or may at least allow it to boot long enough to get what you need.

To read more freezer tips, be sure to visit Lifehacker. How about you guys? Do you have any freezer or refrigerator tips to save time and money?

Coca-Cola to Release Eco-Friendly “PlantBottles”

Last month, I told you all about the Plastic Vortex, a swirling mass of plastic refuse in the Pacific Ocean that’s twice the size of Texas. Plastic bottles are some of the most common items found in the vortex, and are contributing heavily to the mass-scale pollution. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 22 billion plastic bottles are thrown away each year in the United States—that’s about 20 million per day! Clearly, even if we scale up our recycling, reducing and reusing efforts on a massive scale, something still needs to done about the make-up of these bottles.

Coca-Cola thinks they may have the answer in the PlantBottle, a new bioplastic bottle they have developed. Bioplastics, which are plastics made with biomass instead of petroleum, have been becoming more and more popular as an environmentally-friendly way to package goods. Bioplastics are much more sustainable than traditional plastics, with much smaller carbon footprints and reduced toxin levels. PlantBottles are made with spent sugar cane and molasses, and in their current formulation, cut carbon emissions per bottle by a whopping 25 percent. Coca-Cola is gearing up to start using PlantBottles for Dasani brand water in select markets by the end of the year, with VitaminWater following next year.

According to CEO Muhlar Kent, Coca-Cola has a "vision to eventually introduce bottles made with materials that are 100 percent recyclable and renewable." Though this version of the PlantBottle is only 30 percent bioplastic and will only see limited distribution for the foreseeable future, this is still a massive step in the right direction.

Fast-Food Restaurants Finding New Ways to Boost Energy Efficiency

Sure, fast-food restaurants aren’t exactly the darling of the green movement, but that isn’t stopping some of them from looking for clever ways to reduce energy composition and save some money in the process. The New York Times’ Green Inc. recently posted an article about Current Energy, a company that’s helping restaurants find innovate solutions to cut down on wasted energy.

Bassam Odeh, who runs 34 restaurants in Texas and Louisiana, has just installed a Current Energy system that alerts him with a text message whenever his employees leave the door to a freezer or walk-in refrigerator open. A remarkable success, the system has already slashed his electricity bill by 10 to 20 percent.

Current Energy also recently installed a system at a pizza joint that helps cut down on natural gas consumption. Before the system was installed, it was common for all three of the restaurant’s pizza ovens to be up and running, regardless of how busy it was. By monitoring the amount of people in the restaurant, and turning two of the ovens off and on based on occupancy, the system has already cut the restaurant’s natural gas bill in half.

On the energy creation side of the equation, CNET has reported that a New Jersey Burger King franchise is planning on installing a kinetic-energy capturing device in its drive-through. Essentially a speed bump that captures energy wasted when cars are braking, the system will harvest electricity for the restaurant in a similar manner to that of hybrid cars. With more than 150,000 cars a year rolling through the Hillside restaurant, that’s a lot of potential energy. The company that makes the device, New Energy Technologies, is planning on installing them in toll booths, checkpoints and other heavy traffic spots—so be on the lookout for one in your neck of the woods.

Chances are you don’t have a drive-through window, a walk-in refrigerator or three full-scale pizza ovens at your house, but these stories illustrate some tried-and-true green concepts that apply to everyone: don’t use what you don’t need and keep looking for new ways to harvest energy.

New Ways to Make Your Cup of Coffee a Little Greener

If you ever find yourself pondering your carbon footprint over your morning cup of joe, these clever new coffee-based inventions might just be for you.

Jeon Hwan Ju’s radical new printer concept named RITI would allow you to save the Earth and your wallet at the same time. Instead of traditional ink, RITI uses spent coffee or tea grounds to slash printing costs and waste. Taking eco-friendliness one step further, the printer uses human power to move the cartridge over the paper, meaning you won’t have to plug it into an outlet. While RITI is still on the drawing board at this point, if and when it comes to market people will finally have an alternative to costly and wasteful ink cartridges, not to mention delicious-smelling documents.

If you’re willing to plan out your coffee needs 12 to 24 hours in advance, the Hourglass Coffee Machine can help you cut down on both counter-space and electricity costs. Using no electricity whatsoever, the gadget brews up an environmentally-friendly coffee concentration that can be stored in the fridge for weeks and mixed with hot water when needed. As a bonus, the manufacturer claims the resulting brew tastes better than traditional coffee since the process both reduces acid content and retains essential oils lost in heating.

As for how to transport your coffee, Australian-based KeepCup has a great alternative to the endless flow of disposable take-out coffee cups. Sure, reusable cups are nothing new, but what sets the KeepCup apart is its shape. Available in three barista-standard sizes, the KeepCup is able to fit under the nozzle of an espresso machine, meaning it doesn’t have to be filled via a wasteful paper cup like its taller competition. Other green features include a recyclable and virtually indestructible Polypropylene #5 construction, low embodied energy, and a silicone band that allows owners to permanently brand their cup with their coffee preferences.

25 Great Restaurant Deals

The current state of the economy has people trying to save money left and right. Cutting costs during a recession is always a smart move, and businesses aren't immune from the effects, either. In fact, many businesses are offering extra incentives for consumers looking to save a buck.

It seems that restaurants in particular are trying to lure the hungry masses into their doors through great savings and specials. I came across a cool list over on WalletPop that showcases 25 of the Best Restaurant Deals that you can get for your money right now. Some of the specials are an absolute steal, including a few courses at Chili's for two for under $20.

If you're looking for some ways to eat out without having to search the couch cushions for spare change, I'd highly recommend visiting WalletPop to read more.

Summer Freebies

Free stuff for summer! I just want to shout that from the rooftops today.

So a friend of mine sends me a link this morning to a site that tells you where you can get all kinds of free items. This is great news. You can get free chocolate from Mars, free business cards, free lunch and so much more.

In this economy when saving money is key to survival summer freebies are a welcome budget saver. Check out the article 11 Fantastic Freebies.

Where to Feed Kids for Free

No matter how you slice it, people are generally looking to save money. There are so many options available out there everyday for people to add to their savings, it's best to take advantage of them whenever we can.

One cost that can add up relatively quickly in the typical household is feeding those little hungry mouths we call children. Just like regular-sized people, they need to eat. However, unlike regular sized people, there are a myriad of restaurants where kids can eat free. If you're looking for a fun family dinner on any night of the week, and want to save a little money while you do it, Frugal Living has posted an excellent resource in the form of a list of places where kids eat free.

Not only does the list have dozens of restaurants, it breaks them down by night for your convenience. Definitely worth referencing the next time you're taking the young ones out for dinner, though you might want to contact the restaurant to be sure that the deal is being offered. To browse the list, be sure to visit Frugal Living.

Mars Bars to Earth's Rescue

Mars has announced opting into the Fairtrade movement for sustainable cocoa and fair working conditions by partnering with Rainforest Alliance. With the world’s biggest chocolate company on board, huge waves will be made on the local and national levels.

The commitment starts with the Galaxy bar, a UK bestseller, and Mars and will also include Snickers, Twix and M&Ms by 2020. Sourcing their entire cocoa beans supply from Fairtrade-compliant farms will cost more than 1 billion dollars a year. Fairtrade standards consist of “minimum wages for farmers, conserving water and biodiversity-friendly pest management”.

So, next time that Snickers bar calls your name, go ahead and reach for it and snack with a clear conscience knowing that you’re supporting a candy giant that makes the world a better place to live in. For more information on Mars plans, visit this article in Guardian.

How Your Freezer Can Save You Money

For some, the home freezer is a frozen wasteland of TV dinners, freezer-burned leftovers and chunks of ice stuck in the ice maker. If you're like me, there is an unnecessary amount of food each month that ends up getting spoiled in the refrigerator or the pantry, only to be needless tossed in the waste basket. However, the freezer can help. We use it to chill our desserts and get ice to make our drinks cold, but did you know that your freezer can save you money on food, as well as reduce waste?

The New York Times has a great article up about how the normal home freezer can extend the life of your food. Rather than throw food away, you can store it and squeeze the most out of the items that you buy at the grocery store. There are several tips that range for all kinds of food, including strips of chicken, grain, egg whites and more, and how you can use leftovers to make new meals.

To read more about using the freezer to save money on food, be sure to visit the New York Times.

Saving Money at the Grocery Store

As many of us know, there are plenty of ways for people to save money in their day-to-day spending. Whether it's through car pooling or the way we use water and electricity, we can find all kinds of opportunities to pinch a few pennies.

However, one place that we could always use more money saving tips for is the grocery store. CBS News has put together a list of tricks to turn regular shoppers into savvy shoppers when it comes to the food we buy.

• Check the bottom shelf. Since eye-level is where most shoppers do their spending in the grocery store, many companies pay to have their items stocked there. Check the bottom of the shelf for more cost-effective items.
• Mind the end-cap. Just because certain products are on display at the end of the aisle doesn't mean they are on sale. In addition, check the expiration date on these products. There's a chance the retailer has put less fresh items there in hopes of selling them before they go bad.
• Convenience costs money. Sure, you can buy pre-cut chicken or shredded cheese, but it's always cheaper just to buy the full product yourself and then cut it or separate it out later.

To see these tips and others, be sure to visit CBS News to find out more about how you can save money at the grocery store.