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There was a cheapskate special on Oprah years ago where a man reused paper towels. He would actually hang them up to dry in his kitchen, which begs the question: Why didn’t he just use cloth towels? On another show I saw eons ago, I think it was on Donahue, a woman with a large family gave advice on how to use up the dregs of the jam jar by putting some milk in the near-empty jar, swirling it around, and then pouring the mixture into an ice cube tray to make freezie pops. The audience actually groaned at that one.
I wash and reuse plastic bags sometimes, but usually when I’m in Germany and they’re harder to find. It’s more of a recycling issue for me. (I also bring my own bags to the store.) To save I’ll clip coupons to shop and I use coupons when I go out to eat, but I don’t go crazy with it. (If you ever go to Ruby Tuesday’s in the US you should sign up for their e-mail newsletter as you can save nearly half on your meals there.)
All of that is preface for this story about a dude with a 70s pr0n stache on the new TLC special “Extreme Cheapskates.” In a preview clip, the guy cooks up two goat heads that he bargained with the butcher to buy for around $7. It looks really disgusting, but the environmentalist in me tries to reason that it’s good that he’s using the entire animal. Here’s more:
When times get tough, it’s not unusual for people to start cutting back a bit.
But for one penny-pinching man featured on TLC’s upcoming special “Extreme Cheapskates,” reducing his spending a bit isn’t good enough. No, Jeff Yeager does much more than that. He goes on an all-out weekly fiscal fast several times a year and doesn’t spend a cent of his own hard-earned money.
Instead, during his fasts, Jeff spends only the loose change that he finds around town. And when he does use that money, it’s to buy the cheapest things he needs — including food. This leads to some … umm … uncommon dishes at the dinner table.
“I create my menus around what is least expensive,” Jeff explained in an exclusive clip TLC shared with us. “Not only does that save you a lot of money, but you tend to eat healthier. Like organ meats!”
Mmmm! OK, maybe not. Even Jeff’s wife, Denise, admits that she’s not always a fan of his meals. “Some of the food he eats, I just can’t get myself to … to fathom eating,” she said in the clip.Like the goat heads Jeff bargained with his local butcher for.
[From Today Show’s The Clicker]
If this dude wants to save money he should eat vegetarian. In college we used to eat ramen or pasta for just about every meal. A nice batch of potatoes or some rice and beans (add salsa for taste) are both cheaper and much more palatable than trying to scoop meat out of a head that’s staring at you. Then again, if this guy was just cooking up some farfalle it wouldn’t be newsworthy. This is a stunt for a reality show, and it worked. Also, it seems callous to showcase people who are just cheap when so many people are truly struggling, but that’s TLC for you. Maybe these people are struggling and TLC is just choosing to go with the “cheapskate” angle.
Oh I have to give a shout out to this 96 year-old lady on YouTube that shares simple inexpensive recipes she learned from her mother during the Great Depression. Her Youtube channel is called Great Depression Cooking and she has a book called Clara’s kitchen. Here’s a recipe for pasta with peas. At about 4:00 she tells an awesome story about people renting their garages to bootleggers in the 20s during prohibition.
Jeez, I remember a time (long ago) when TLC was still “The Learning Channel” because it offered some educational programs; now it’s the televised equivalent of KFC and can only be known by its acronym since it no longer has any substance.
On a side note, I do think people should look into buying meat products that are less popular; we’re so wasteful in demanding only specific body parts from animals. I’ve noticed since moving to Europe that people make use of as much of the animal as possible, whereas in North America people only want “the best parts” of the livestock, which is kind of a shame.
I am the only schmoo. Change your name.
I fully support the whole “snout-to-tail” movement in gastronomy. If you are going to take an animal’s life you should have enough respect to utilize the entire animal. I knew people who used to cook and entire turkey on Thanksgiving and then only eat the white breast meat and throw the entire rest of the turkey away. I guess they thought they were too good for dark meat. That used to piss me off.
Anyway, goat’s head is a delicacy in Norway. Or maybe it’s sheep’s head.
Also, I love Clara the Depression Era cook. I’ve watched all her videos. She’s so adorable. It’s sad to contrast someone like her with all the jerks who Tweeted that they were upset they didn’t get a car or iPhone for Christmas. Humanity is really going downhill. Too many spoiled brats with rotten attitudes around.
In my country goat’s head is a delicacy called “isi ewu”. Itz delicious but i can see how it won’t appeal 2 every1 . To be perfectly gross i gotta tell u guyz we eat dog too
CB I’m from the caribbean and goat’s head is actually a normal thing to eat. People don’t eat it very often because it’s expensive, but when they do(often on special occasions) they make a great stew with it, kinda like a lamb stew except you add the head and feet and intestins as well. Yummy! 🙂 But I can totally see why somebody who is not use to eating that kind of thing would find it off putting, kinda like I cringed at the previous poster’s people eating dogs.
I was about to type that. I’m Jamaican and I LOVE goat head soup!!! So good 🙂
Poor Billy Goat.
Squirrels are FREE!
But dang they cute too!
Ugh!
Goat heads, whatever. Not very shocking. What’s ugh-worthy is the absolutely ridiculous crap on TV.
American hoggers
Ice road truckers
American pickers
hoarders
Strange addictions
Storage wars
parking wars……
I could go on and on.
What happened to us? We are half a step from Idiocracy and “Ow My Balls”. God, sometimes I’m so embarrassed for this country.
After seeing that movie “Idiocracy” and seeing the crap that’s out, I’m afraid we’re heading to that “Ow my balls!”
Trust me, it’s not just your country! Everytime I turn on the TV I feel like I’m loosing IQ points.
And for the whole “snout to tale” thing. Isn’t this the reason why BSE and CJD broke out ’cause they used EVERYTHING left of the animal and fed it to another… and then we ate it.
You just named shows my dad watches ha ha. It’s fine when there is nothing on, but it gets tired quickly. I do love when my dad puts on Mythbusters though. You learn so much interesting things…
Let’s not forget Hillbilly Fishing and the rest of the dreck over at Animal Planet.
CB – my family is from Germany, so whenever they come over here they stockpile the ziplock bags…and then wash and reuse in Germany! I would say its strange that Germans don’t really use ziplock bags much, but they hardly use any “throw away” storage containers (no plastic bags at the grocery store, no paper lunch bags and so on)
In Germany you can get non-ziplock sandwich bags at Aldi and Lidl and DM has the ziplock kind, but they are expensive and you don’t get that many of them. They’re bad for the environment so it’s good not to use too many of them and to reuse them. Still, they’re super convenient.
They also use way less paper towels in Germany and a have lot of nice shammies and towels for cleaning. I have some great microfiber towels there, especially one that cleans glass perfectly.
Hi – I’m the “dude with the 70’s porn stache” who cooks and eats the goats heads. Why? Because otherwise they get thrown away in the U.S. (or ground into pet food), and if you’ve traveled the world as much as I have, you know they’re considered a delicacy in many parts of the world. Plus I really love the way they taste, sorry. BTW, if you get a chance to read my books, etc., (available at most public libraries) you’ll know that I’m both an ardent environmentalist and simply believe in spending and consuming less myself so that I can give more (~20% of my income) to people who are truly in need. Always best to do a little research on someone before disparaging them, their beliefs and behavior. Peace – Jeff Yeager, Author “The Cheapskate Next Door” and “The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches” (both from Random House)
I watch “Hoarders” and the other hoarding series “Buried Alive” on another channel because I am a Former Pack Rat. I collected things at flea markets and saved all manner of paper–articles and magazines that I believed I would “need”. When I watch these shows, I’m shocked but relieved that I didn’t cross over into horrific conditions such as rats, mold, dead pets, rotten food, and having to walk over piles of things to get from one square foot to another.
Where I am living currently (Nepal) goats are extremely expensive and mainly reserved for the holiday season. EVERYTHING is used. I don’t see the point behind trying to sensationalize a rather normal thing. To me it is furthering the ethnocentric head in the sand mentality that is really hurting America.
I would have to say I have 5 boxes of zip lock bags in my kitchen as you said CB there are not readily available abroad. (Mind you three are outside hanging out to dry).
AND GOOOOOOOOOOO CLARA!!
It looks to me like he’s cooking his goat heads in a pretty upscale kitchen! I’m down with the idea of eating what’s in season and cheapest, but yeah, vegetarian is the way to go to save $$.
Well, in my country, lamb’s head is kind of a great specialty. and tourists LOVE it. (i wouldn’t know, i don’t like lamb’s meat) my point is:i don’t think there’s anything dubious, wrong or disgusting in eating any part of an animal: i think we’re wasteful enough as it is, and here in Europe, some of the best dishes are made from various animal organs/body parts.
as for the show:TLC is one of the rare programmes we ALWAYS skip.
I thought the cover picture was of Billy Crystal and I couldn’t figure out why he was cooking a goat’s head.
He paid $7 for goat heads? I agree there are a lot of other choices – vegetarian or otherwise – that I would find more palatable. Those things look disgusting to me and I couldn’t bring myself to eat it.
People eat the heads of various animals (fish included) all over Europe. I’ve been eating lamb’s head since I was a kid and loved it every time. The disgust at such foods completely amazes me.
I’ve tried to read that guy’s (Jeff Yeager) two books on numerous occasions at the library, and his writing is way too jokey and corny to get through. He probably has some good ideas, but it’s too much goofiness.
I couldn’t eat goat’s head.
Barf.
Go veg for god ‘sake. What is wrong with humanz that they have to TORTURE, MURDER AND EAT other creatures?
I disagree that a vegetarian diet is necessarily cheaper than what he’s doing. You can’t possibly be suggesting that eating Ramen and pasta for every meal is good for you, can you?!
To get the right mix of proteins, carbs and fats in a vegetarian diet that won’t leave you anemic takes some skill and practice. You can’t just cut something (in this case meat) out of your diet and replace it with more bread, for instance.
And for the record, I’ve been a vegetarian for over 10 years– I know of which I speak!
We all know one solution – read books, there is no shortage in any category out there – read the NYT book review or WSJ book review sections for tips; that’s the only way this crap will go away.
Jover – I agree. And both of my books about “this crap” have been favorably reviewed by the NYT. 😉
My family eats goats. Everytime I have a special occasion they want to kill a goat.
Graduate from college- Awesome! Let’s have a goat!
Have a baby- Can we serve some goat?
Baby’s birthday- GOAT!!!!
Yes, true in my culture – the Mexican culture. Goat is huge and eaten for special occasions. Personally, I don’t like it but most of my family does.
I notice a lot of Americans go ewww over things that are considered delicacies for other people. In other countries, they utilize everything, from head to tail of animals they butcher for consumption. I moved here a long time ago from Asia and only in America where I see people waste a lot of things!
I think it’s strange that he’s a “cheapskate” but spent $7 on two goat heads that only he ate, I could feed 8 people a decent entire meal for that much just using coupons or sales.