Looking for a homemade gift to give this Christmas season? Whole Foods has a great listing of recipes complete with gift tags you will want to check out here.
Thanks, Like Merchant's Ships!
100 Creative Ideas for Frugal Fun with Kids!
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Looking for a homemade gift to give this Christmas season? Whole Foods has a great listing of recipes complete with gift tags you will want to check out here.
Thanks, Like Merchant's Ships!
See more homemade gift ideas here and here.
Published: by crystal on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
My family has a pear tree and lots of extra pears this year so my mom shared two big grocery sacks full of pears with us this week. I've been having fun coming up with creative ways to use them.
I've already made some pear sauce and am thinking of pear muffins or pear crisp, but I'd love to hear any and all ideas you all might have for ways to use the abundance of pears I have on my hands right now. I'm especially looking for very inexpensive, fairly simple ideas which are also nutritious.
Any input? I'll share what I end up doing with them in a post soon!
Published: by crystal on | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
You can see the groceries we bought this week here for $38. Of course, we're not just using those to make the following meals; many of the ingredients are coming from things we already had in our cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer.
The beauty of bargain-shopping is that stocking up on sales enables you to have a variety of ingredients at your fingertips at all times. With our move and my break from shopping while in my first trimester, our stock was somewhat diminished. However, I'm hoping to quickly replenish it all the while sticking to our grocery budget. Follow along with my shopping trips over the next few weeks to see if I'm able to do that!
BREAKFASTS
Whole wheat waffles (From the freezer–I made a batch of these during breakfast one morning and froze them.), homemade yogurt, grapefruit
Whole wheat toast, scrambled eggs, apple juice
Homemade granola over homemade yogurt with strawberries
Whole wheat pancakes (from the freezer), yogurt, orange juice
Cold cereal, apple juice
Banana muffins (from the freezer), yogurt, strawberries
Fruit smoothies, whole wheat toast
LUNCHES
Mixed green salad with hard-boiled eggs and shredded cheese
Beans and rice with cheese, steamed veggies
PB&J on whole wheat, carrot sticks
Baked potatoes with cheese and broccoli
Egg salad sandwiches on whole wheat, apples
Leftovers
Soup in the crock pot, mixed green salad, whole wheat bread
DINNERS
Lasagna, steamed veggies, whole wheat bread
Snack foods (We're going to an election watch party where food will be served so I'm just feeding the girls some snackie foods before we go to tide them over.)
Taco pie, steamed veggies, grapefruit
Goulash, steamed veggies, whole wheat bread
Meatloaf, cooked carrots, baked potatoes
Dinner out
Leftover (Sunday night)
SNACKS
Yogurt with fruit
Cheese
Banana muffins
Carrot sticks
Apples
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Ya'll, I have entered a new level of couponing as of today: I used e-coupons. You know, those hi-tech, new-fangled coupons that you load onto your card and can't see or feel, you just have to believe that they are there and believe that they will work? Yep, those.
And contrary to all my fears, they actually worked. Every single last one of them.
Okay, so I only used four, but still, it felt like a major victory. Almost as good as when I went in and tried CVS-ing for the very first time.
Lest you think I did it all by myself though, I have to tell you that Lorrie was at the store, too, and she held my hand through the whole process. If it weren't for her, I would have never tried them in the first place.
I think I'm hooked now, though, as they worked beautifully and saved me some extra money! Yay!
Here's what I got at Dillons and Aldi:
The Idahoan potatoes were free, thanks to coupons a kind friend shared with me. The Yoplait, oatmeal, and Cottonelle were also free, thanks to e-coupons. The Progresso soup was $0.30/can, cheese was on sale for $1.58/8 oz., butter was $1.88, milk was $2.99, Kashi bars were $1 after the $2/1 coupons and a sale.
We bought eggs and fruit at Aldi, since it's much cheaper there and Aldi is so close to Dillons.
If only the Pampers were free. *Sniff* I'm certainly missing CVS when it comes to free diapers. I considered going back to cloth and/or off-brands almost exclusively but after a few days of severe diaper rash, we switched back to our beloved Pampers. There are just some things you can't skimp on and diapers happen to be it for us right now.
All in all, we spent about $38 total this week to buy all the groceries pictured above. Considering I saved $45 at Dillons and that I also bought diapers, I'm pretty happy with that total–especially since it's under our $40 weekly budget.
I still have a freezer full of meat and frozen veggies, along with lots of yummy baked goods from our Baking Day last week, so aside from picking up some free carrots at Target and some $0.19/lb bananas at Wal-Mart (a nearby store has $0.19/lb bananas on Thursday so I can price-match at the Wal-Mart down the street!), we should be set for this week. I'll post our full menu soon so you can see the specifics of what we'll be eating this week.
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Cherilyn emailed and asked:
I know many of you will probably be doing some traveling to visit family and friends over the next two months so I'd love to hear any and all ideas for road-tripping on the cheap–especially when it comes to food. What are some of your favorite frugal foods to pack and eat on the road? What ideas do you have for keeping food fresh and tasty while traveling? I'm anxious to hear!
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It's Saturday and that means it's time to share the great deals we've gotten this past week and other ways we've saved.
I saved money by having a Baking Day to stock up the freezer and by shopping mark-downs at Dillons. (If you missed those posts you can see them here, here, here, here, and here.) Also, I was struck very profoundly this week with another ongoing way I save a lot of money each year–by not going shopping very often!
You see, yesterday I went to replace my one and only pair of black boots. I've worn these same boots almost every day during the Fall/Winter months for the last three years. To say I've gotten the use out of them would be an understatement! (Being the minimalist I am, I only have two pairs of shoes for the cooler months–classic, versatile black boots and tennis shoes.)
My husband and I opted to go to the mall to look for new boots since we figured we'd have more of a selection of stores carrying decent-quality boots. I honestly can't remember the last time I went to the mall to shop and as soon as I'd been in there for a little while I knew exactly why I try to avoid going there.
Why? Because it made me discontent. When I stay out of stores bombarding me with the latest and greatest in things I "must have", my small little wardrobe is plenty enough for me. In fact, I find it very simplifying to only have a few tops and a few bottoms that I can mix and match with a few pieces of jewelry and a few pair of shoes.
But not yesterday. As we walked in and out of stores, I began to feel the "need" to expand my wardrobe, update my styles, and–you guessed it–buy more stuff. Stuff I've lived happily without for years and stuff I don't need.
While I did get the perfect pair of boots at a great price, I left the mall feeling like I'd not purchased enough–like I would have been much more satisfied if I'd have also purchased those cute tops I saw or bought an additional pair of shoes.
And then it hit me: this is so silly! None of that stuff is going to make me any happier or more content. In fact, probably the more money I'd spend in there, the more I'd feel the need to spend.
Compared to many, my wardrobe might be small. I might not have all the latest styles or name brands, but I'm content with it and it serves my needs. And having only a few items of clothing–all of which I like– makes it so easy for me to choose what to wear in the morning. It saves me so much time and effort (and money, too!) to keep it simple.
While I still think I have a long way to go in learning to be truly content, I do think that staying out of the mall as much as is possible is a huge help. And next time I need new boots (which hopefully won't be for another three years!), I think I'll skip the mall and go straight to a shoe store.
Do you find that shopping less or avoiding certain stores or shopping malls helps you be more content with what you already have? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Those are a few ways we saved money this week. How'd you do this week? Post about the deals and
bargains you were able to snag this week or other ways you saved money
on your blog (with pictures, if possible!) and then come back here and
leave your link below. **To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.**
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Stephanie emailed me yesterday with this question:
First off, I’d encourage you to perhaps discuss with your husband/son the possibility of making some fresh stuff and some frozen and re-heated stuff each week. Maybe that’s not an option, but maybe you could come to a happy medium that works for everyone?
Secondly, there are many batter recipes which can be prepared ahead of time, refrigerated, and then used in the morning. I’d experiment with some of your favorite muffin, pancake, waffle, and french toast batter recipes and see how they work. You might even try make a double batch up and using it for two mornings. (See some muffins recipes here to get started with ideas.)
Other recipes which work well being made ahead of time and refrigerated overnight are coffee cakes, french toast, and breakfast casseroles. You might also consider using your crockpot.
To further speed up the preparation of these recipes the night before,
if you have a block of 30 minutes sometime, you might consider putting
together baking mixes with the dry ingredients from your favorite
muffin, pancake, coffee cake, and waffle recipes. If you know you like the recipe
and you’ll be making it a lot, you might as well mix up a bunch to have
on hand!
Personally, if I were in your shoes and my husband left for work at 5:30 a.m., I’d likely come up with a plan where some mornings we’d do cold cereal, some mornings we’d do toast and eggs, some mornings we’d do something like waffles or coffeecake that I’d made up the night before. This way, we’d be having a nice variety of breakfasts–some which were fresh-baked–but I wouldn’t have to get up an hour ahead of time or more to get them on the table!
Those are just a few of my ideas, I’d love to hear other readers’ helpful input on Stephanie’s question. Perhaps some of you are in a similar situation and can give some practical advice as to what has worked for you? Or if you have any delicious recipes which can be made overnight and refrigerated, please do share those as well!
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I'm finally back to blogging on my other blog and that means that Frugal Friday is back. Head on over to share your frugal tip or link; we'd love to have you join us!
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The beans and rice are cooled and divided into bags, the pancake mix is made to have on hand for later, the two packages of chicken breasts are boiled and diced and frozen, and the double batch of whole wheat pancakes is finished and in the freezer. And whew! I'm wiped! I poured myself a glass of orange juice and made
myself a fruit salad and I'm putting my feet up until Kaitlynn's nap time is over.
Here's the end result of all of our baking/cooking/kitchen work:
It really doesn't look like all that much, but having the makings of a number of breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners already on hand and in the freezer is so helpful. If you've never tried baking ahead or cooking up meat and freezing it, I'd highly encourage you to test it out. You might find, like me, that it's a huge time-saver, money-saver, and life-saver.
There were a number of questions left in the comments section of the Baking Day posts, many which were answered by other commentors. However, I wanted to specially answer two of them since they were directed at me:
To be honest, it's not hard so don't be intimidated! I just take a bag of beans, dump it in a big pot, run water over it and swish it around, then drain the water. I refill the pot with enough water to cover the beans and put them on the stove to boil.
Once they boil, I turn the stove down to medium heat or so–enough to keep them going at a soft boil. As the water evaporates, I add more. Every 30 minutes or so, I check them to see if they're doing yet and continue to add water as needed. I just keep boiling them until they are cooked and then let them cool and fill bags with them. If you like, you can add a few teaspoons salt to them while they are boiling.
I use these in Mexican recipes, in soups, when we have beans and rice and cheese for lunch, or in some of our other favorite bean recipes.
Well, I think the real answer is that Kaitlynn is only 16 months old and she still takes two naps each day–that's usually when I get the most work done here! She is a very busy little girl when she's awake so I must always be near her to make sure she stays safe and nothing catastrophic happens!
This morning, while she wasn't napping, I had her playing in the kitchen with some different toys and objects I gave to her. I also gave her a snack and that kept her preoccupied for awhile. But things did get a little messy–which I fully expected.
Kathrynne (3 1/2), on the other hand, is usually a great help to me. This morning, she helped with watching Kaitlynn, picking up toys, dicing chicken (with a plastic knife, of course!), and making pancakes. With some training and practicing, she's learning to be a real asset to me–which I'm definitely going to need once baby #3 is here!
When Kathrynne wasn't helping me today, I gave her some special things to play with/work on nearby including foil (this is one of her very favorite things in the world to play with!), and crayons and scissors and glue which she used at the kitchen table for a very long time.
My biggest advice to young moms out there is to make sure that you put your children as the most important priority in your day. Expect that your home will look lived in and you will get less done when little ones are underfoot; it's a fact of life!
I've had to learn to lower my expectations a lot since having children. I'd rather get a lot less done in the day and have invested quality time with my children, than have gotten a huge, long to-do list done and neglected my family in the process. They are only little once and I never want to forget that fact!
By the way, if you have little ones and are struggling with how to "do it all", I love the advice given by Jennie Chancey (mom to many little ones) here. Her words and thoughts have been a real blessing and help to me in navigating this incredible (and sometimes overwhelming!) task of mothering!
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Your "participation" through comments and emails is making this Baking Day so much more fun! Thanks for joining me! I just finished up making the banana muffins, boiling the pot of beans, cooking the brown rice, and freezing the bananas.
While I had banana bread on the list, I opted for banana muffins at the last minute. Guess it was due to a mood change? 🙂 At any rate, I'm really happy with how the muffins turned out. I used a whole wheat banana bread mix some friends had made up for us along with the organic bananas I bought marked down yesterday.
I substituted applesauce for oil to cut down on the fat and they turned out beautifully. Plus, they don't have any sugar in them–the mashed bananas serve as the sweetener. These will make for a perfect afternoon snack or quick breakfast.
I boiled the pot of beans and cooked the brown rice while I was working on these. Both of these need a bit more cooking time and then they'll be done. Once cooled, I'll portion them into bags and stick them in the freezer for easy lunch or dinner additions.
Next, it was time to freeze the bananas. Any time I can get a great deal on bananas, I buy as many as I can afford in our grocery budget and then we eat what we can and freeze the rest. Chopped frozen bananas are wonderful added into fruit smoothies or you can freeze the bananas whole and thaw later for use in baking.
I'm planning to use these bananas in smoothies, so I chopped them and put them on cookie sheet and stuck them in the freezer. As soon as they are frozen, I'll transfer them to a bag to use as needed.
Now I'm off to make pancakes, bran muffins, and hopefully cook up some meat.
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Just finished up my first two projects: making homemade yogurt and granola.
I've made yogurt before, but never in a yogurt maker so this was a new adventure. A kind reader gave me a yogurt maker she didn't want any more so Kathrynne and I had fun testing it out for the first time. So far, I really liked it as compared to making it without a maker, though I wouldn't necessarily encourage everyone to go get yourself a yogurt maker unless you have access to one for free. 🙂
We used the marked-down Horizon Organic milk I picked up yesterday and some other marked-down milk we had in the freezer along with one little carton of vanilla yogurt as the starter. The basic recipe is that you boil the milk until bubbles form on the side of the pan, let it cool to 110 degrees, take out a little and mix it with the yogurt starter, mix it all back together, and pour it into the yogurt cups in the yogurt maker and let it run for 8-12 hours.
When I make it without the yogurt maker, I do everything the same except for putting the yogurt in a bowl covered in a warm oven overnight. It's best to use plain yogurt as a starter, but I couldn't find any small things of it at the store yesterday so I fudged and got vanilla. We'll see how it works!
The granola recipe is a new healthy one I got from What to Eat When You're Expecting. It didn't look terribly exciting but it was very healthful and that's what I was looking for so I decided I was game.
Here's the recipe, with my tweaking:
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons apple juice concentrate
3/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup wheat bran (I added this instead of nuts, if you like nuts you could use them instead.)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Spread oats in nonstick pan and toast in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees.
Combine the raisins and 1/2 cup of the juice concentrate in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Drain the raisin liquid over the oats (set raisins aside) and add remaining ingredients. Combine well with a wooden spoon. Bake in 300-degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in raisins and press the mixture firmly in the pan. Bake another 5 minutes and let cool to room temperature.
I doubled the recipe because I had enough ingredients on hand. I wasn't incredibly impressed with this granola recipe, though I think it will be yummy with served over homemade yogurt with some fruit. If anyone out there has a particularly yummy recipe for granola which doesn't have sugar in it and is low in fat, I'd love to try it.
And now I'm off to make banana bread and start cooking a big pot of beans.
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One of the ways we save a lot of money on our grocery bill is by cooking and baking from scratch. However, lest you think I spend hours every day slaving in the kitchen, let me tell you, I don't. Instead, I like to take one day every few weeks and bake/cook up a bunch of stuff to freeze.
In half a day or less, I can cook/bake up enough goods to last us for two weeks or more–saving us a lot of time and money in the process. And it's so nice to have our freezer stocked and ready for use at a moment's notice to pull off a quick and easy breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Today, just for fun, I thought I'd let you peek in on a somewhat-typical baking day at our house. I'll be sharing pictures and recipes
First off, I start out with a plan. I took inventory of what we already have on hand and made a list of things I could make based upon that. The goal here is to save money, so it's all about creatively using what I already have on hand.
I went through our cupboards and refrigerator last night and came up with this simple list which I've posted up on the refrigerator:
If I have extra energy, there are a few more things I'd like to make, but we'll see how the day progresses.
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There weren't any screaming deals at Dillons (Kroger-affiliate) this
week, so I just stopped by to see if I could score any markdowns on
produce or milk. Sure enough, I was able get organic bananas marked down to $0.37/lb, Horizon Organic milk for $2 per half gallon, and bagged salads for $1.49 each. I also picked up some wheat germ and yogurt which I'll be using for our Baking Day today.
At Aldi, I purchased two cartons of strawberries, grapefruit, carrots, applesauce, raisins, and four things of frozen juice concentrate.
All in all, I spent $10.23 at Dillons and $14.20 at Aldi. That should last us through the end of this week, so I'm well under our $40 budget this week! Yay!
Stay tuned for more on our Baking Day today.
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Earlier today, my husband and I were listening to a local radio station and a bit of news caught my attention. The broadcaster was stating how America is facing a "credit card crisis" because credit card companies will no longer be sending out loads of credit card offers. Instead these offers will be "slowing to a trickle", according to the report.
Excuse me? We call that a "credit card crisis"? I think that I would instead refer to that as a "welcome change of pace". Call me old-fashioned, but I think anytime we can discourage people from buying stuff they can't afford with money they don't have, it's a good thing, not a national crisis.
Of course, I happen to be one of those weird people who pays with cash almost 100% of the time, doesn't own a credit card, hasn't ever had any debt, and isn't living paycheck-to-paycheck.*
*Note: All of this is only by the grace of God, the wise example of my parents, Dave Ramsey's inspiration, and a commitment to "live like no one else"! By the way, if you are struggling financially and feeling in a helpless situation, do not despair. Read more about our own personal financial journey and lessons we've learned along the way here, here, and here. And then check out my Top Four Tips for Those in Financial Despair.
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I was just out for a quick grocery shopping trip when I passed a nearby gas station and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. I must be seeing things. Surely that's not really right.
But no, the sign was very clearly advertising gas for $1.99 a gallon.
$1.99 a gallon!!
Now that is certainly something to get excited about! With many prices on the rise, it is exceptionally nice to see gas prices falling… and falling at such a rapid rate! Wow!
I've heard that gas prices are close to the lowest in the nation where we live but I'm curious if anyone else has seen gas go below $2/gallon in their area? If not, hopefully you'll be seeing it soon!
And I'll send you 1 to 2 daily emails with the best hand-picked hot deals as they become available!