I gotta make me some yogurt some day. The yogurt you get in the store isn't fresh, has a lot of additives, and the cultures are mostly dead, so is not as beneficial. I used to get whole milk yogurt from an organic farm I passed on my way home from work, but no more. You can get some good yogurts if you have a good health food grocery in your community, or food co-op. Fresh yogurt is a lot better than the stabilized stuff you get at most grocery stores but it doesn't keep as well, so can get sour faster. Good yogurt doesn't need that much sugar, a small amount can make a big difference. Maple syrup is also a good sweetener for yogurt, I have found. I use my own lower sugar home canned jams to flavor plain yogurt. I wouldn't consider yogurt a low calorie food but it is a healthy food so OK to eat if it fits in with your daily calorie profile. I eat it when I am in a hurry, it is better than my usual coffee and donut routine! Great post about using the food dehydrator for yogurt Annie. I just might be able to make some yogurt now! My mom had a special yogurt maker, NEVER used it and finally I guess she gave it away to someone else after I turned it down. That was back when I could get the good stuff easily so I didn't think I would ever want it. Odd that now that I am living in the land o' dairy farms, I have actually LESS access to good organic dairy products. I think there are a few purveyors out there, I just have to find them!

It's up to each person to find their level of "frugal" due to their circumstances. It's not a one-size-fits-all situation. The old "walk a mile in my shoes" kind of thing..... Read Brandy's story at theprudenthomemaker.com and you might change your words of condemnation to being thankful you've never had to live on so little, and be amazed at her resourcefulness. Since this is a Money Saving Tips board, and saving water is just one aspect of where we can save, here are more "A penny saved......" ideas. -Eat less-expensive food, or eat smaller portions of it. -Use disposable items less frequently, or not at all. -If you can't afford to pay cash for something, it really doesn't matter "how good of a deal" it is, especially if you purchase it with a credit card and end up paying interest on it. -Eat soup once a day as a main course. Eat vegetarian meals a few times a week. -Learn how to glean free-for-the-picking food, and how to garden (even a small container garden can yield a lot of food). -Don't ever run to the store for one item. Learn how to adapt with a substitute. -Will half as much do? Use less than you think you need, or can you get more than one use out of something (two to three cups of tea from one tea bag). -Look for less-expensive options. Frugality is a vehicle for ingenuity and creativity. -Embrace a DIY lifestyle. -Find new uses for old items. -Use passive cooking methods (solar, thermal cooker and other thermal cooking methods like a homemade Wonder Oven or Haybox) and save on utilities. -If you don't particularly care for an inexpensive food, like oatmeal as a cooked cereal, find ways to fix it that you do like - make oatmeal into granola, bars, cookies, scones, pancakes..... As someone once said, "Frugal activity should ideally be: EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT, and ENJOYABLE."

I use this pancake batter from Cooks.Com as cake batter, which I bake at 375 F. I double the quantity. It makes a wonderful cake that's hardly sweet at all, which is what I really like and is so difficult to come by. I just leave the buttermilk-oat mixture on the kitchen counter. I take the eggs out of the fridge the night before when I mix the batter, so everything is room temp. I also sub the butter with veg. oil and it comes out just as good. This recipe uses more oats than flour at the rate of 4:1, and is threfore ideal for using up an oatmeal overload. OLD - FASHIONED OVERNIGHT RAISIN OATMEAL PANCAKES 2 c. old fashioned oats 2 lg. eggs 1/3 dark seedless raisins 2 tbsp. sugar 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 2 c. buttermilk 1/4 c. butter, melted & cooled 1/2 c. all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. cinnamon Mix oats and buttermilk in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, beat in eggs and butter. Stir in raisins. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to oat mixture and stir briskly, just until moistened.

This is what I used to make at the restaurant where I worked: 1 cup butter 3/4 cup sugar (1 cup if using oatmeal instead of granola) 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 2-1/2 cups sifted A/P flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 2 cups granola (plain or with coconut) 1 cup chocolate chips Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy; add eggs, and beat thoroughly. Sift flour with salt and soda. Stir into butter mixture, add granola and chocolate chips. Drop from a teaspoon about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375°F for 10 to 12 minutes, or until completely browned. Using granola instead instead of oats makes the cookies crunchy instead of soft, and so if you like crisp cookies, this is a good substitution. You can use oatmeal instead of granola, but you will have to use 1 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup. I would multiply this recipe by four or six when making it for the restaurant, and I mixed the dough in a Hobart machine. I also tended to add coconut if the granola did not have any. Granola with almonds is good in this also.