Everyone should have a “frugal partner.” That is someone you can call when you have an overabundance of produce in your garden, or you are leaving on vacation and have food that will spoil before you return, or you bought a case of cherry tomatoes and realized there is no way you will be able to eat them all by yourself.

I have a few frugal partners, but the one who calls me the most is my mom. She made two angel food cakes from scratch and brought them to our late Christmas gathering. They were gifts for two relatives who were celebrating birthdays. She left 9 egg yolks with me.

I mixed up a huge batch of noodles, which thrilled my husband, and froze half of them. Last night we celebrated my daughter-in-law’s birthday and she picked beef and noodles as the entrée. I was glad I had a package of homemade noodles in the freezer.

My frugal partners are also willing to take extra food off of my hands when I miscalculated. Like the amount of macaroni and cheese I made for the rehearsal dinner of my son’s wedding. We had four, full pans when the meal was over. I sent them home with my frugal partners.

The batch of noodles I made from the 9 egg yolks my mom dropped off.