Using Beans to Save Money

I did not grow up eating beans. Oh sure, occasionally my mom would open a can of pork and beans. And for summer pot lucks my grandma made a mean pot of baked beans (well, she opened a can of baked beans and doctored them, but they were really good!). But generally, we got our protein from meat and our sides were salad and fruit.

My kids will grow up telling their children, "Your Grandma Jill, she made beans all the time!" Hopefully, they won't finish that statement with "and we hated it!" But I don't think so.

One of the ways I keep my grocery budget low is to use beans. I try to serve a bean based meal at least once a week. I like to have beans replace the meat, but every once and awhile the bean and meat combine. For instance, I serve baked beans and ham. In stead of serving ham steaks with baked beans as a side dish, I make baked beans from scratch and then stir in some chopped ham and serve it as the main dish. I'm using much less ham (which equals much less cost) but I'm still getting the ham flavor which most of us like.

Beans are incredibly economical! For about a dollar you can get 2 lbs of dry beans, 2 cans of ready-to-use beans, or about a third of a pound of really cheap meat. With my 1/3 lb of meat I can make about a half a meal, with my two cans of beans I can make two meals, with my 2 lbs of dry beans I can make three, four or maybe five meals!! Which makes more sense economically?

And nutrition? Beans are tops! Why? Well, just look. Beans are:

+ High in complex carbohydrates

+ High in protein

+ High in dietary fiber

+ High in Folate

+ Low in fat, especially saturated types

+ No cholesterol

+ Low in sodium

Where else can you get all of that for less than a dollar a pound?

Plus, they taste good. We love the taste of black beans, pinto beans, white beans, garbanzos and of course lentils. Lentils have a bad rap. I've had several comments on my blog from people saying that they can't bring themselves to try lentils. However, I've gotten just as many saying they did try them and were surprised how good they were! Seriously, give them a try!

Dry beans do require a little forethought. You need to soak most of them overnight. However, there are ways to get around this. You can do a quick soak (bring beans and water to a boil then let sit for one hour off the heat). My favorite way is to soak a huge batch over night, cook them in my crockpot while I'm off doing other things and then freeze them in 2 c. portions. Then you can use them just like you would the canned ones (well, except you have to thaw them in the microwave a little!). Lentils do not need to be soaked over night.

In addition to dry beans (which I buy in bulk), I also keep some canned beans on hand (when I can get them on sale). Canned beans are still relatively cheap and are fabulous for a quick meal.

Now I know some of you are thinking, what about the, um, unpleasant side-effects? It is true that they earned their name of the musical fruit! However, if you throw away the soaking water and use fresh water to cook them in, it helps. Also, if your body is used to eating them (ie, you don't eat them twice a year) you don't have any problems. Once your body adjusts, it really isn't an issue. And I'm willing to adjust if it saves me money and improves my health!

This week I'm going to be posting lots of recipes using beans. Try to find a couple to try. You will probably be glad you did.

Jill

Buying in Bulk - should we or shouldn't we?

I love going to Costco. I like to idea of getting things cheap and I'm also deeply committed to having a well stocked pantry. I really have to hold myself back when I'm in there! I really like it for getting certain things, but I have learned that somethings are better bought at the regular grocery store.

So how do we decide what things are worth buying in bulk? I have four deciding factors: price per unit, how long the item will keep, do I have space to store it, will my family eat it up?

Price per Unit
This one is pretty elementary but even the best of us sometimes forget. When you are making the decision to buy in bulk, it is really important to do like comparisons. When buying rice you need to make a per pound comparison, not a per package comparison.

Sometimes it is hard to decide what the comparison should be. For instance, when buying granola bars. Do you compare the price per bar? Or do you compare the price per ounce. I was comparing two different brands of granola bars and couldn't decide. One had more bars, but the other bars were bigger so the whole package had more total weight. Since I was buying bars designed to send with my kids as snacks, I decided the small bars with more total bars was the better way to go. We bought a box with 60 bars. If I was buying bars to tide my husband over (who needs to eat more to be "tided") I would have bought the bigger bars. The boxes were approximately the same price, so I got more bars to send with kids with the smaller bars.

(I just re-read that last paragraph and it didn't make all that much sense, even to me! It's late and I'm tired, sorry.)

Shelf-Life of the Item

Certain things just don't store well. Know what I mean? Unless you have some fabulous way of storing them, that is. I used to try to buy a whole ham and store it in meal-sized packages. The ham always tasted funny after a few weeks in the freezer. So I quit buying it. That is, until I got a Food-Saver. Now I vacuum seal the ham and it tastes just fine. Until I got the Food-Saver, it wasn't worth buying ham in bulk - now it is.

Some things that I routinely buy in bulk are: white rice, oatmeal, dry beans, lentils, honey, powdered milk(I buy it sealed in #10 sized cans), Italian sausage (Food-Saver), bacon (Food-Saver), berries (I buy, or pick, them in bulk in the summer and freeze them so we have them all winter), hot chocolate mix (no little envelopes for us!) and pasta. All of these things store for a really, really long time as long as they are kept cool and dry. There are other things that I sometimes buy if there is a good sale.

There are a couple of things that I buy in bulk, but only for a specific purpose. For instance, the hamburger at Costco is fairly cheap and of good quality. But you have to buy it in 6 lb packages! We can't use up 6 lbs before it goes bad so I only buy it when I am going to do some mega-cooking (our subject for next week's Frugal Feasting). When it is cooked and in the freezer it keeps long enough for my family to eat it up.

I love having all these staples on hand. I especially when I know I got them for cheap. I also like knowing that if something happens I can feed my family. A couple of weeks ago, we got hit with a horrible snow storm. Because we aren't used to snow of any kind, the whole city stopped for a few days. We couldn't get out of our house for days. Some people in my neighborhood worked really, really hard to shovel themselves out so they could get to the store. We were quite content, thank you. Years ago my husband was laid off, we used our food storage to keep our food budget rock bottom until he found a new job. This well stocked pantry is my security blanket.

Do I Have the Room to Store It?

I store a lot of my bulk purchases in big 5 gallon buckets. Rice, oatmeal, beans and lentils all live in the big buckets.
Yes, that does say "Chocolate Chips" I forgot to mention that I buy big bags of chocolate chips from Costco. If I get stranded in my house for weeks, I want my chocolate. I mean seriously, get our priorities straight!


I transfer them to Tupperware/Rubbermade containers in my pantry upstairs, as I need them. You could put them in under-the-bed boxes, too.

Somethings might be cheaper in bulk but for me are worth buying in the smaller containers. Flour is cheaper (buy a few pennies a pound) in the 25 lb packages. I buy them in the 10 lb bags because it is easier to store and use. It is worth it to pay the extra few pennies a pound to avoid the hassle of scooping flour from one container to another.

Will My Family Eat it Up?
The final thing to consider when buying in bulk is whether you family will eat it. I never buy something in a bulk container that I haven't tried before. I want to make sure my family will actually like it. I buy it in the smaller containers first and try it out. If it is only available in bulk (like some Costco products) I arrange to split it with someone the first time. It doesn't save me any money if it sits on my shelf forever, or gets thrown out.

Someone I know, who shall remain nameless because she reads this blog, is forever giving my family packages of stuff that she bought for her family that they won't eat. Didn't save her any money if she ends up giving it to me. Saves me money, but I don't think that was the point.

Don't buy 25 lbs of anything or a box of 100 somethings until you know your family will eat it. 'Nuff said.

This week I'm going to be posting recipes for the things that I use my bulk food purchases on. It's going to be great - some really cheap, really yummy recipes. You won't want to miss it!

Jill

Buying Cereal on Sale

I never pay full price for cereal - NEVER! I mean really, $4.69 for a box of cereal that will feed my family 5 servings? Six servings if we are really lucky.

Nope. Never.

My personal rule is I won't spend more than $2.oo a box for cereal. And it has to contain more than 12 oz. I saw a box on sale the other day for $1.98 and thought I'd get some. Until I realized that there was 9 oz in the box! Seriously, nine ounces? Who are we feeding, anorexic supermodels?

When I can get cereal for $1.50 or $1.25, I'll buy a bunch. Last fall both Albertson's and Safeway had cereal for $1 a box! I bought almost 80 boxes. But we are almost out of our one dollar cereal (ok, we have about 10 boxes left, but whatever) and I've been looking for a good sale.

This week Albertson's has several Quaker cereals (as well as Breakfast Cookies, Chewy Granola Bars, Instant Oatmeal, and Quaker oats) on sale for $1.50 a box when you buy four boxes in a single transaction. I bought 36. My family LOVES Life cereal (and cinnamon Life) so I bought lots of boxes of those. I also bought some Breakfast Cookies - my teenagers don't always take time for breakfast and these are great for eating on the way to school, or after school before track practice or play rehearsal. I bought a one box of instant oatmeal because it had a $1.00 off sticker on it so I got it for 50 cents. I usually do "homemade instant" oatmeal (I'm posting the recipe and directions next week).

Also at Albertson's is a sale of Kelloggs cereals. Four different kinds (Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, Froot Loops, and I think Frosted Flakes) are on sale for $1.25 a box when you buy four. Hubby loves Raisin Bran so I bought a bunch of boxes of those.

The other thing on sale is Campbell's soups. Most varieties are $1 a can. Chicken Noodle and Tomato are 50 cents a can. I bought bunches. I can usually get lunch for two or three of us out of one can of soup so $1 is a good price. I bought bunches. We use the tomato soup for Toasted Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato soup, so having them for 50 cents makes a cheap dinner.

QUESTION!!! My daughter was having a discussion with her friends the other day over the proper way to label a cheese sandwich that is hot. We have always said "Toasted Cheese" but her friends say it is "Grilled Cheese." While I agree that "Grilled Cheese" is, of course, correct, we have always said toasted cheese -her friends insisted that "Toasted Cheese" was an "Oregon thing."

So which do you say? Toasted Cheese or Grilled cheese. The debate is on!

Jill

Tip One: Buying Things on Sale

Every tightwad book or book on cheap eating will tell you that you should fill out a price-book. By having a price-book, you know what the lowest price is for anything and then you can only buy things at the lowest price. I totally agree that you should never pay full price for things - especially some things, however I have never had a price book.

I tried several times to start a price-book but have failed every time. I know that they work, I just can't make them work for me! I don't remember to bring them with me, I don't go to enough stores, the thing I really need isn't in the price book, or whatever. I finally gave up and just set some "won't go over" prices for certain items.

There are certain things that I never pay full price for: boneless skinless chicken breasts, boxed cereal, pop (Diet Dr. Pepper is my friend), cheese, canned chili, canned/jarred spaghetti sauce, boxed mixes (ie, rice-a-roni, stuffing mix, etc), ketchup, salad dressing, salad oil (vegetable or canola oil), canned fruit, and barbeque sauce. I'm sure there are a couple of others but I've forgotten them right now. When I find these things on sale for less than my "never more than" price, I buy lots!

Most of the things on that list are "extravagances" meaning they are things that we don't need, could use a substitute or could make ourselves. I could make chili instead of buying canned, but canned chili is great for those quick meals - as long as I don't spend more than 80 cents a can. I could stop drinking Diet Dr. Pepper and start drinking water (which I have vowed to do this year, just not now!), but I really enjoy it and I won't spend more than $2.75 a 12/pk.

Boneless skinless chicken breast are another example. I'm very squeamish about my meat - I like it as far away from its original state as possible. I don't want to work around bones and stuff, so I buy only boneless skinless chicken breasts. More expensive, you say? I could buy a whole chicken and cut it up, you insist? Yeah, well, it ain't gonna happen in Crazyville. I'm willing to buy the boneless skinless kind - but I won't spend over $1.89 a pound for them. When I find them for less than that I buy a bunch and Foodsaver them and throw them in the freezer. How much is "a lot?" Well the last time they went on sale for $1.49 a lb at Albertsons I bought 15 lbs worth. Yes, I could get whole chickens for cheaper, but I wouldnt use them and they would go to waste so it would NOT save me money.

That is the whole trick about buying on sale and stocking up. If you buy something just because it is a "great deal" and then let it sit on your shelf for years collecting dust or throw half of it away because your family won't eat it, it isn't that great of a deal. I only buy this stuff in multiples when I know we will use it up. I know which brand of chili we like - and only buy that one - and I have 9 cans of it in my Crazyville Food Shoppe right now!

I won't drive all around town to get these deal, either. I shop at one store, it happens to be the cheapest in town for everyday prices. I will go to the two stores nearest me if they have some crazy loss leader sale (like the $1.49 chicken breasts, or $1 boxes of cereal). But I don't end up going anywhere else very often. I just watch for stuff to go on sale and stock up when it does. Then I WON'T BUY IT AGAIN UNTIL IT GOES ON SALE! I'll do without it until I can get it under my "never more than" price. So when I find it, I usually buy a lot.

Which brings me to my next point. Where do I keep all this stuff??

Try to find somewhere in your house that you can keep an expanded pantry. Some people are lucky enough to have a good sized pantry in their kitchen. Some people have shelves in the basement,

some have shelves or cupboards in an attached garage. Some people put them in under the bed bins under the beds. Wherever you find space and it works, go for it. It will save you so much money! This system allows you to always use 79 cents a can spaghetti sauce or $1.49/lb chicken breasts. Way better than $1.99 spaghetti sauce or $3.99 chicken breasts.

This coming week, I will be posting recipes that use some of my "never more than" price items. Tomorrow it will be pasta bake using canned spaghetti sauce (that I never pay more than 89 cents a can for!). See you then!

Jill

Menu Plan Monday - Frugal Feasting Kick-Off

I'm starting my "Frugal Feasting" series this week. I'm really excited to be doing this series. My favorite topic is food and the cheaper the better! This is going to be a great excuse for me to find some new cheap recipes.

This week my focus is on the most basic part of cheap eating - buying stuff on sale! There are certain things I will never pay full price for. I'm going to go over these things and how buying things on sale help. Then I'm going to make some meals this week using those on sale items.

This week my meals will be:

Breakfasts:

• cereal
• One-eyed Egyptians
• homemade oatmeal
• toast with jam

Lunches:

• lunch meat and cheese sticks
• leftovers
• yogurt and granola
• sandwiches

Dinners:

• Italian chicken and potatoes
• pasta bake, focaccia bread
• Chinese chicken salad
• pesto pasta
• potatoes saurkraut and sausage
• wagon wheel chili

Tomorrow I will post on the theory of buying on sale, tips and tricks, where to store it all, and what it makes sense to stock up on. Then for the rest of the week the dinner recipes will be the stars! In the coming weeks, we will will talk about other frugal eating ideas: mega cooking, meat "less" cooking, bulk buying, cooking from scratch, cooking with beans, and more!

Join me for my Frugal Feasting series!

If you need more menu ideas, jump on over to Organizing Junkie!

Jill

Coming Sunday!

I have been rather amiss at keeping my blog updated lately. Partly that was because of the holidays and I was busy and spending time with my kids over Christmas break. However, part of the problem was I just wasn't very focused on what I wanted to be doing here. I've been doing some thinking and I've come up with an idea! After much thought and brainstorming with Hubby and others, I've decided to do . . .

Cheap Meals - the Series!

We eat pretty cheap here in Crazyville. I have learned over my almost (ahem!) 20 years of marriage some tricks and tips for how to do it and still feel like your feasting. I'm going to share some of that with all of you.

I will focus on one theme a week. I will introduce the theme on Monday and then the posts (and meals) that week will be related to that theme. Themes will include: buying in bulk (how to do it and when, how to use all that bulk food, when not to buy in bulk), cooking with beans (some really good recipes!), cooking from scratch and baking from scratch. There will be many more - I hope to do a 12 week series.

So, starting Monday (probably late Sunday night!) I will have the first weeks "lesson" ready. Pardon me now, I've got to do start typing!!!


Jill

Book Review - Cheap Eating

Many years ago I took a trip to the beach with friends. It was all girls (we called ourselves the "Beach Babes") and we had a fabulous time going out to lunch, poking around in the shops, walking on the beach, curling up with good books and, of course, talking - a lot! On one of our trips into town, we peeked into a small bookstore. I, of course, went straight for the cooking section. This little book caught my eye - Cheap Eating - How to Feed Your Family Well and Spend Less, by Pat Edwards. At the time, my husband was just starting out in his career and we had two small children. I was working at the time but wanted desperately to quit my job and stay home with my girls. I was looking for anyway possible to cut expenses to allow that to happen. A book that could teach me to cook and eat cheap? For only $9.95? I'll take it!

Not long after that trip I was finally able to quit my job and stay home. I wish I could say this book was responsible, but it was not. However, it did give me some great ideas.

The first 130 pages of this book aren't recipes, but rather strategies and ideas to help you shop smarter and cook cheaper. If you are a hard-core frugal shopper, most of this information is nothing new. There are some tips and tricks you might not have thought of, but nothing earth-shattering. If you are the "don't make a list, throw whatever in the cart, convenience is the name of the game" type of shopper, you will learn a lot from this book. In fact, if you are that kind of shopper, some of these ideas may seem extreme and unrealistic. Let me assure you, lots of people shop and cook in exactly this way and it doesn't feel extreme to us!

The last 150 pages or so are recipes. Let me just say this, these are bare-bones, no frills recipes. An example is the recipe for lentil rice casserole on page 140. The ingredients are: lentils, rice, water, onions, salt and pepper. That is it, you don't saute the onion in oil or butter, there is not flavoring in the water, you put it all in a casserole pan and bake for 1 hour at 350. She lists "optional" ingredients as curry and grated cheese. I'm not sure if she's talking about curry powder or not, and she doesn't say how to add it. She recommends serving the cheese at the table to sprinkle on top. I'm not sure my family would go for this one. Her version is listed as only costing 73 cents for the whole casserole (not including the "optional" cheese).

However, these recipes can be the basis for some really cheap meals if you make modifications that don't send the cost skyrocketing. For instance, we do a variation on the lentil-rice casserole with chicken boullion added to the water, sauted carrots and onions and cheese melted on top. Mine is still really cheap but has enough flavor that my family gobbles it up.

One such "changeable" recipe is "Breakfast Muffin Cake" Here is the original recipe:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix in a bowl:

2 eggs
4 Tbls oil
1/2 c. molasses
2 cups water

Mix in a separate bowl:

1 c. dry milk
2 c. dry oatmeal
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
(optional ingredients are raisins or a couple Tbs of marmalade; 1/2 c. applesauce, cooked squash, or carrots)

Blend dry ingredients with wet, stir just until moistened. Bake in 9 x 12 pan for 15 minutes. Should last for two breakfasts. Cost: $1.65. (The book was printed in 1993, I'm sure prices have changed).

I made some modifications: I added 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/2 c. dried cranberries. I used part whole wheat for some of the flour. I drizzled a powdered sugar glaze on the cake when it came out of the oven. It took almost 25 minutes to bake and I used a 9 x 13 pan (who has a 9 x 12???). My family liked it and I would definately make it again. Next time I would add the 1/2 c. applesauce (my family's one complaint was that it was a little dry), I would do raisins instead of cranberries, and I would blend the oatmeal (I used whole oats and they were a little crunchy).

So, it was a really cheap recipe, I made modifications that didn't break the bank, and I came up with a healthy, cheap recipe that my family likes. That's a winning combo!

If you don't like playing with your recipes, but want flavorful food, this is probably not the cookbook for you. If you have fun being frugal and don't mind tweaking a recipe to make it fit your family, you would probably enjoy it. In addition, I did a search on Half.com and on Amazon.com and found copies of this book for as low as 75 cents! Hey, for 75 cents you can't go wrong, right?

Jill

Day 27

I baked today! Yeah me! Of course, we ate it all and I have nothing left. That's not exactly true, I made two loaves of bread and gave one away (we ate the other one) and I made homemade granola bars and I have those left, too.

I was thinking today that this whole baking thing has been my hardest part about this eating cheap. I know that I could feed my family for less if I would bake and make things from scratch. We could snack on muffins, bread, crackers, and lots of other things if I would just take the time to make them. I used to bake and make stuff from scratch all the time. Then I went back to college and got out of the habit because I was so busy. Then I got a job and stayed out of the habit. I only work four hours a day and I can't get it together enough to make some muffins! How hard must it be for a single mom who works full-time and raises her kids herself to take the time to make stuff from scratch! I know that I would probably make more time and force myself to do it if I had to. But to do it day in and day out for years on end? I think I'd go crazy.

So here's what we ate today:

Breakfast was leftover cinnamon rolls and cinnamon twists (that I tried to make for my dad but burned - we cut the burned part off.)

Lunch was bits and pieces. Lunch has been the hardest meal for this month of nothing. Since it has to be portable it limits my choices. None of the kids have access to microwaves so it has to be something that doesn't need to be heated. We've done lots of yogurt, cheese sticks, applesauce and graham crackers, apples, kiwis, and PB&Js. I really need to come up with better brown bag lunch options. Any ideas?

Dinner was soup and french bread. The bread was so good! I haven't made that recipe in awhile and I forgot how good it is. Think I'll have to make it more often.

It is supposed to start raining here in the next day or so and I'm bummed. I'm really enjoying this sunny fall weather. I guess it just means more soup and bread meals and some crockpot meals. And hot cocoa in the evenings. Hey, this might not be so bad!

Oh, on a sad note. Dilbert is dead (Dilbert is my laptop). Hubby will take the poor thing to the Mac store after the month of nothing is done. If it is something fixable (that doesn't cost a fortune) we will get it fixed. If it is the logic board (which costs $600 to fix) we will just wait and save my paycheck and buy a new one in December or January. I can use Hubby's computer until then and Hubby did manage to back up all my files and save all my pictures, music, etc. So I can wait until I have enough money saved to buy the computer and still have money left in the savings.

Hey! Maybe I have learned something from this month of nothing after all!!

Jill

Day 20 - There's a Light at the End of that Tunnel

Mondays are so hard. I did not want to get up this morning and it was torture to get out of bed and get going. It was sunny when I got up but an hour later it was raining and windy. I just wanted to crawl back in bed and pull the covers over my head.

But, no. I dutifully got ready, and went to work. I spend a long time straightening my hair. But this morning it wasn't worth it. It was raining and windy but I walked to work anyway. By the time I got to work my hair was crazy to say the least! I should probably just embrace the curls and forget the whole straightening thing, but I just can't.

I went shopping with the two oldest girls at Target tonight. Tali needed something for her last cross country meet. She also needed a coat. It is cold in the mornings here now and her old coat was much too small. We found a really cute gray pea coat which was only $27.99 and she really likes it. It was definitely a necessary purchase.

It is the 20th of the month and I'm thinking I may make it to the end of the month on one tank of gas! I'm really seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

The hardest part of the whole food thing is finding snacks. We actually resorted to oatmeal for snacks tonight! Unless I bake more I'm going to be in trouble! With working it is so hard to find the time (and the desire!) to bake some muffins or cookies or whatever. But that is what I need to do!

Meals today:

Breakfast was oatmeal with berries and cereal

Lunch was leftovers for Hubby and I, bits and pieces for the kids.

Dinner was croquettes and salad and fruit.

Tomorrow is scalloped potatoes day and I'm really excited about it!

Jill

Day 17 and 18

I'm sorry I didn't post last night but I got home really late and I was really tired. I was at a woman's conference last night and I got home late and had to get up early.

I needed to get some dinner last night and I was really mad that I didn't pack one to take with me. I had to leave 20 minutes after I got home from work and I needed to change my clothes and get a few other things. Half way to my destination I realized that I didn't bring anything to eat. I figured I would have to bite the bullet and buy something to eat. When I got there, one of my jobs (I was volunteering at the event in exchange for free tickets) was to recycle the leftover lunches from earlier. She said, "Keep the chips, cookies, and apples, but you can throw away the salads and sandwiches - unless you want them." Yeah! Free dinner. I never actually had time to eat the sandwiches until almost 9 pm(by which time I was a little worried about eating a ham sandwich that had been sitting around since lunch) so dinner ended up being chips, a cookie, and three or four bites of pasta salad at around 7:30. But they were good chips and it was free.

I did end up driving and paying for parking - I gave my MIL and my sister-in-law a ride home.

So I did pretty well on Friday - then came Saturday and everything fell apart.

I had planned on buying lunch on Saturday, which I did. But then I really needed chocolate. You know when you really, really need chocolate? That was me this afternoon. What's a girl to do? I know! Buy chocolate! So I did. And honestly, it was worth it.

Then our really good friends, whom we haven't seen in awhile, invited us out for dinner. I should have said, "I'm sorry, we are in our Month of Nothing and we won't be able to do that." But I was weak and we love our friends so we went. In our defense, we all split meals and drank water. But we still spent $34.00. It kills me to know that I spent $38.00 for my whole week's groceries last week - and we spent that in one meal!!

So it wasn't a great day today. Somebody (sorry I can't remember who and my computer is not letting me go find it right now) asked me who I was feeling now that the month was half over. For the most part, I'm feeling pretty good. We are eating great stuff, I'm enjoying walking places, I'm feeling good about not spending mindlessly. Every now and then, though, I feel like I want a "treat." An I-deserve-it treat. I deserve to go out to dinner. I deserve some potato chips. I deserve some new shoes. I deserve some chocolate (ok, that was more I need some chocolate).

Thankfully, we have enough money that sometimes (in my real life) I can afford an occasional treat. But the less treats I buy, the more money I can put in my savings. That is what I want to gain from this experience - the ability to say "I may deserve this, but I don't need this!" And then put the extra money in savings.

Tomorrow is Sunday. I love Sundays because they are the day of rest, and I really need a rest!

Jill

Day Thirteen

I should have posted this last night but this cold finally caught up with me and I went to bed early. After watching "Chuck" of course, and skimming through "Dancing With the Stars." After all, we have to have priorities.

Yesterday was a good day. The sun was shining, the crisp fall air is here in force, and for most of the day I felt really good. I walked to work - the car didn't move all day. I had put spaghetti sauce in the crockpot before I left for work so I came home to my house smelling yummy. And I'm almost half way through the month.

One of the nice things about this Month of Nothing has been the way it has freed me up to say "no" to things. Want to order books from the school book order? Sorry, no, it's our month of nothing. School fundraiser selling vats of chemical tasting cookie dough? Sorry, no, it's our month of nothing. These are all things which are "optional" but which, sadly, I usually cave in to when the sweet little faces of my children turn to me and plead, "Please?" But they are things that I probably should say no to more often, or at least be more selective. Maybe let them buy one book from the book order instead of a set. Buy one thing from the fund raiser instead of many, or don't buy from this fund raiser but spend a little extra on bingo night when the whole family is together having a good time.

I guess this is what I wanted out of the Month of Nothing - a fresh look at what I spend money on and why. Do we need books from the book order or could we check those same books out at the library? How many fund raisers can we really support? (I've been the PTA president for three years and been involved for 11 years so don't yell at me that we need to support our schools! I know how underfunded our schools are and fully recognize the need to fund raise. But when we get hit with three different fundraisers in one month I question whether we are going about it in the best way.)

Hopefully, when this month is over I won't go back blindly to my old ways. Hopefully I will have a new awareness of what is actually need vs. what I just want. And hopefully my family will also.

Meals today were:

Breakfast was homemade bread toasted. For the cheese bread I used my Bread Making 101 recipe, rolled it out after I punched it down after the first rise, brushed it with melted butter and sprinkled grated cheddar cheese. Then rolled it up and put it in the pan seam side down. The only change I would make would be to use less sugar in the original recipe. The slightly sweet bread with the cheese is a little odd. If you use 1/4 c. sugar instead of 1/3 c it should be fine, though it might need to rise slightly longer.

Lunch was bits and pieces. I had a cheese stick and the last of the lunch meat, an apple, a yogurt and a homemade granola bar. The little kids had yogurt, apples, graham crackers. I'm not sure what Hubby had.

Dinner was the afore mentioned spaghetti sauce over tortellini, sliced tomatoes from the garden, fruit cocktail from a can.

Jill

Day Four

Gotta love Saturdays, unless you are so busy that you don't get to sit down all day!

Remember those boxes of apples I talked about? They are now in the form of applesauce and in 20 quarts on my shelf. Not the boxes, just the apples. But you knew that, huh?

I also worked with my neighbor to make her yard escape proof so that our chickens could get out of their enclosure and roam around the yard. The enclosure is just too small and now that the rain has started it is a muddy mess. Now that they can peck all around the yard and hide under the trees and bushes when it gets really rainy. Plus they have access to green grass which they love! But it took forever to sting up bird netting on certain areas to prevent them access to Mr. Grumpy's yard.

I spent some money today. I bought 9 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts which were on sale for $1.69 a lb. plus a gallon of milk and a box of small mouth jar lids for the applesauce I did. It cost $20.24. I'm not sure if I'm going to count the box of jar lids towards my $50. I guess if I'm really desperate this week, I'll use that $1.89 later, but I think I'm going to be fine. So this week I've spent $29.24, meaning I have $20.76 left for this week. Don't tell my family but I'm stretching the milk by adding reconstituted powdered milk to the "real" stuff. I can't add much, cause they can tell but I can stretch it a little. I need to make up some straight powdered milk to use for baking etc.

Today was hard because I canned all day and I really didn't want cook dinner. Add that to the fact that Hubby really wanted pizza and we almost caved and got a Papa Murphy's take-and-bake pizza. But I settled for baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese sauce. We also had our last can of baked beans. I think I'll make some home-made ones in the crockpot and put them in the freezer - they are so nice to add as a side to a meal. Lunches were leftovers or Ramen noodles for the kids. I'm not sure what the kids had for breakfast since I slept in (HEAVEN!). I had leftovers for breakfast (don't judge me, it just sounded good).

Now I'm baking a cake for a family birthday party tomorrow and I'm going to iron my clothes for next week. Right now I'm sitting on my bed watching my Hubby iron his clothes. He also did the laundry and cleaned the house while I was canning and stringing bird netting. He's a keeper!

I'm off to iron!

Jill

Day Three

Today was a fun day. I went to work (I walked even though it was raining, yeah me!) and it was Friday treat day, that meant yummy treats in the staff room. Fridays are good days because I can usually get a lot of work done. I work in the library of an elementary school. I'm the media assistant - that means I check out the books, check in the books, re-shelve the books, mend the books, keep the library clean, and do a lot of computer stuff. On Fridays we only have two classes so I have more time for cleaning, doing computer stuff, etc. So I felt like I got a bunch of stuff done that I've been wanting to get done for weeks.

It was really raining on the way home, the kids opted to take the bus rather than walk with me. Tali had a chiropractor appointment at 5 pm and Hubby and the little kids were leaving for the Blazer Fan Fest (the local NBA team's fan appreciation night) at 4:45 so we had to have dinner ready early. Then take Tali to the chiro and after that to an activity at church. I did spend money on her chiro appointment (she runs cross country and has an injury. Injury "repair" is necessary!) and we drove to the appointment and to church (and Hubby drove to the Fan Fest).

Meals for today:

Breakfasts were banana bread and cereal and juice.

Lunches were bits and pieces (yogurts, cheese sticks, cinnamon bread, fruit, applesauce, graham crackers, etc). Hubby has a company lunch on Fridays. I took left over lentil soup and had snacks at work.

Dinner was Spanish tortilla (kind of like a frittata with potatoes), salad. Some of us ate the Spanish tortilla in a flour tortilla with ketchup (a breakfast burrito) because we ate them on the go to our various destinations.

The most exciting thing of the day was that I went to collect eggs from my chickens (that are living with the neighbors) and I was greeted with this:

This is a normal size egg and a very small "first-time" egg. That means that my baby chickens are starting to lay!! That means I will have enough eggs! Because of various factors, I've been getting only one egg a day - and sometimes not any eggs at all! I was very worried that I was going to have to spend some of my $50 on eggs - now I think I'll be ok.

Oh! I also spent $9 on a box of apples - that will come out of my $50 for this week. My friend found boxes of apples and I needed one for applesauce. Tomorrow I will can two more boxes of apples into applesauce. Oh joy!

Jill

Day Two

Today was a day for walking. I walked to work, as I always do, and then after work I walked up to the high school. I had volunteered to work in the snack shack from 4 to 6. Thankfully, both work and the high school are only a few blocks away so it wasn't too bad. I did drive my car today. I was really trying to avoid it. Carina had a girls group meeting at church, Jim walked her there (church is two blocks away) but when it was time to pick her up it was dark and raining and the vice-presidential debate was on so no one wanted to take the time to walk there and back, so we drove. *sigh* I wish we were more disciplined.

The highlight of the day was watching the vice-presidential debate. My high-schoolers were very into it. That makes me happy - I'm raising kids who want to be involved in the political process and understand that it is important to be informed.

Meals for today were this:

Breakfast: Pretty much everyone had zucchini cinnamon bread and juice or chocolate milk, except Hubby. I'm pretty sure he had cereal (he always does).

Lunch: I took bits and pieces - lunch meat and cheese stick, apple, carrots and tomatoes from the garden, slice of zucchini bread. Kaden and Carina bought lunch (they both still have money in their accounts at school. They won't buy anymore this month when they run out.), Jana took a granola bar, Tali took bits and pieces too (Wheat Thins and Babybel, applesauce, yogurt, granola bar, etc) Hubby took leftover zucchini pie, peanuts, etc.

Dinner: lentil stew that I put in the crockpot before I left for work, salad, parmesan toast.

We had zucchini bread, fruit, hot cocoa, and crackers for snacks.

One of the nice things about where my husband works is that we get free food sometimes. No, he doesn't work at a restaurant or anything. One of his co-workers has a second job at a boys ranch which gets food donations all the time. Mostly it is produce and the boys ranch can't always use it up before it goes bad. Rather than let it rot, he brings it to work before it goes bad and anyone can take what they want. Today Hubby brought home bagged salad and a big bag of broccoli. We had salad tonight and tomorrow we will have steamed broccoli with whatever we end up having. It is a nice supplement to our budget.

Lots of people have access to free food - leftover muffins or sandwiches from meetings, garden overflow from neighbors and friends, invitations to dinner from family or friends, or other sources. I figure I'm never turning down free food! Tomorrow is snack day at my work (an assigned number of people bring snacks and treats for everyone. The people responsible rotate on a weekly basis), I'll be bringing a main dish (leftover lentil soup) and I'll supplement with snacks from the snack table. That way my lunch will cost almost nothing. Of course, when it's my turn to bring snacks I will spend a little more.

So, day two, not too bad. And tomorrow is FRIDAY!

Jill

Day One (and the day before!)

I haven't spent one penny all day! Aren't you proud of me? This is gonna be easy!

Ok, now back to reality. I really haven't spent anything today but, really, it's only been one day. I did go shopping last night so that I wouldn't start the month out with a deficit. My budget for Costco was $75 but I spent $81 (in my defense, $17 of that was toilet paper, not food). I spent $99 at Winco (less than my usual budget of $125) and part of that was new make-up (I just got over an eye infection and was told to toss all my eye make-up and buy new so that I wouldn't cross-contaminate or some such thing). Do you know how expensive eye make-up is??

So, I shouldn't need to go shopping again until next week and then I'll only have $50. We'll see how that goes.

So far today this is what we've eaten:

Breakfasts: pretty much everyone had cereal except Kaden and I. Kaden had leftover pancakes and I had nothing. I know, I know . . . most important meal of the day, yada, yada, yada. I just forgot. Wednesdays are really busy mornings and I was walking to work when I realized that I hadn't ever eaten breakfast. I promise to do better.

Lunch: leftovers. I had refried beans, rice, cheese, salsa, tomatoes. And a banana, and a homemade granola bar. Kaden had peanut butter and jelly, kiwi, pretzels, and something else I can't remember right now. I don't know what the other kids had - they pack their own lunches, but I'm pretty sure they all had granola bars (the store bought kind, what will they do when those run out?)

Dinner: zucchini pie (recipe tonight or tomorrow), scratch cheese biscuits (I'm out of Bisquick, poor planning on my part, now I'm going to have to do biscuits from scratch all month!), canned peaches, tomatoes and grapes from the garden.

Tonight I'm going to be doing some baking. I have some zucchini that needs to be used up and I have bananas on the counter that are screaming "MUFFINS!" at me (did you know that bananas could scream? They can if they are turning brown and need to be used up). So tonight I will be making zucchini bread and banana muffins. These will be snacks and lunch-box rounder-outers (is that even a word?) for the rest of the week.

I haven't driven my car all day. Let's see how long we can let it sit.

Jill

Menu Plan Monday - Month of Nothing Edition

After reading all about Mary's adventures with a month of nothing over at Owlhaven, I was intrigued. I really wanted to do something similar but wasn't sure if I'd be able to get my family to go along with it. Then my 15 yo saw the article, "My Family's No-Buy Experiment," in Reader's Digest and said, "Hey Mom, we should totally do this!"

So, we're doing it.

Starting October 1 (which is Wednesday - yikes!), we will be embarking on a Month of Nothing. What this means is that we will be buying NOTHING that isn't necessary and very carefully deciding whether we really have to buy those things we consider necessary. For example, Hubby and I will be filling our tanks with gas before the month starts and the goal is to not fill them again until November. I have budgeted $50 a week for groceries for my family of 6 (don't panic! I have a well stocked pantry, also know as the Crazyville Food Shoppe, and I'm not going to let my family starve just to prove a point.) We won't be going out for dinner during the month, or renting movies, or taking trips to the ice cream store. We will make do or do without. (Confession: I will be taking a trip to Costco on Tuesday to stock up on a few things we are either out of or almost out of. I am giving myself a budget of $75, because it wouldn't really be fair to spend $300 and then brag about how I "only spent $50 a week on food!")

So here is the first week of menus for our Month of Nothing:

Breakfasts:

• Oatmeal, frozen berries
• Cereal (still have lots from our stock up)
• Toast with jam or peanut butter, fruit

Lunches:

• This is going to be the hardest part of the Month of Nothing. I usually buy a lot of
  convenience foods - cheese sticks, Wheat Thins, lunch meat, Babybel cheeses, etc. I don't buy Lunchables or prepackaged applesauce or whatever but packing lunches is hard from scratch!
• Peanut butter and jelly
• leftovers (for Hubby and I)
• applesauce and graham crackers, fruit, cheese sticks (while I still have them)
• yogurt with granola

Dinners:

• Bean soup with bread (make extra bread for snacks for the week)
• Spanish Tortilla, tomatoes from the garden
• Zucchini Pie, bread sticks
• Bean burritos with homemade refried beans, rice, cheese, etc
• Vegetarian Slow Cooker Something (I borrowed my friend's vegetarian slow cooker cookbooks, so I pick something to try)

Snacks:

• homemade granola bars
• Cinnamon Bread
• Zucchini Bread
• Homemade bread toast
• fruit
• veggies with ranch
• leftovers

I will keep you all updated on how we do on our Month Of Nothing!

Wish us luck.

We are going to need it.

If you want menus from people who aren't totally crazy, visit Org Junkie.

Jill

I Bought a New Slow Cooker!

I have owned a CrockPot for the past two years that I hate. I have been doing a slow burn over this slow cooker. It burns everything I cook! It drives me nuts. Have I stopped using it? No, I just have suffered. After all, it cost money and I should use it until I gotten out of it what I paid, right?

Wrong! Sometimes it is just better to admit defeat and start over. I recently (Monday) bought a new one. I'm SO excited! I bought this one:Mine looks a little different, the various crocks are all white. I was excited to have a crockpot that had different sizes. The crocks all stack together for storage which will be nice.

I made a bean soup in the 4 quart crock last night and it worked fabulous! Cooked it 8 hours on low and when I came home it was gently simmering. In my old one, it would have been boiling furiously and burned on the sides and bottom. I made overnight oatmeal in the 2 quart last night for breakfast this morning. It cooked perfectly, but I can't say it was a winner here in our house. I used steel cut oatmeal that had been on the shelf for awhile and it had a slightly stale taste. I liked it and my son asked for seconds. Carina had to be forced it eat it and no one else would even try. *sigh* I try to cook healthy.

So, if you are suffering with something that just doesn't work, I would highly recommend getting a new, different one. Unless it's your husband.

Jill

My New Favorite Recipe

This is my new favorite recipe (but check back tomorrow because I'll probably have a new one then!). I have been looking for a chewy granola recipe that was something like the stuff you can buy in the stores but had a lot more nutrition to it. The chewy granola bars in the store are basically puffed rice, high fructose corn syrup, a little bit of oatmeal, and a ton of sugar calories. I knew that I should be able to make something better but how?

I was looking for a no-bake cookie recipe the other day. It was 103 degrees out and I was NOT going to turn on the oven but we really needed a treat. I searched on google and found some great recipes (one of which we tried and liked, but it wasn't fabulous).

While I was looking I found a recipe for "Rice Cereal Energy Bars." Hmmm . . . looked kind of interesting. I tried them a few days later and WOW! We love them. I made some changes - I'm just that kind of cook. Here is how I made them:

Chewy Granola Bars ala Jill

Toast in a dry skillet until golden and fragrant:

1/2 c. sunflower seeds
1/2 c. sesame seeds

Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Place in the bowl of a food processor:

2 c. dried fruit (I used a mix of golden raisins, apricots, and dried cranberries)
1/2 c. chocolate chips
the toasted, cooled seeds

Pulse until the fruit is chopped and fairly small but not pureed! Pour into a large bowl (a REALLY large bowl!) and add:

2 c. rolled oats (I pulsed mine in the food processor for a second so they were a little smaller)
6 c. puffed rice cereal (this keeps it from being heavy and dense)
1 c. dry powdered milk
1/2 - 1 c. flax meal

Mix all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine:

1 c. corn syrup
3/4 c. honey
1/4 c. white sugar
1 1/2 c. peanut butter

Heat in the microwave until hot and thin (so you can pour it on the dry stuff and mix it). When it is hot, add:

1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (I was out of this, but I would add it next time as I really like the taste)

Mix all the wet ingredients and pour over the dry, mix until well combined then press into a 10x15 jellyroll pan. Press it in really good. It will seem like there is way too much and it will never fit, just keep going!!

Cut into bar shapes before it cools then let it cool 'til firm. We couldn't wait to try them so we had the first few when they were still warm.

This sounds like a lot of ingredients (a CUP of corn syrup?? A Cup and a half of peanut butter??) but it makes a ton of bars - we got 33 bars out of this recipe. Half went into the freezer and half in the snack box.

This would be a great lunch box addition or a quick breakfast for my 16 yo who never takes time to eat in the morning. I'll be making this one again!

Notes:

• You could add other "healthy stuff" like rolled wheat flakes, oat bran, wheat bran or whatever. Just keep the total to the 8 cups. I think I would keep the rice cereal amount high or it would be really heavy.
  
• I added my dry milk to the dry ingredients because I have non-instant milk and it doesn't dissolve easily - you could add instant dry milk to the wet ingredients after you have heated it.
• We will leave out the chocolate chips next time and add more fruit. You can't taste the chocolate anyway and it just adds more sugar. Another 1/2 c. of cranberries would be fabulous.
• I used "natural" peanut butter and it worked fabulous. You could use crunchy (as the original recipe calls for) and then you'd have little nuts in the bars. I only had creamy.
• The toasting the seeds sounds like a step you could skip, but don't - it really adds to the flavor.

Check out Nourishing Gourmet for more nutritious portable ideas!
Enjoy!

Jill

Success

How long does it take to put 50 lbs of peaches into jars? A LONG time! However, much less time than if I was doing it myself. Carina and Kaden (my two youngest) offered to help me, and help they did. They peeled, pitted, sliced and packed over 80% of the peaches. This freed me up to blanch the peaches, make the syrup, fill the jars with syrup, attach lids, and put the whole thing in the water-bath canner. We took a long break in the middle to pick up my oldest from work and eat lunch, but we were done by 3:30. Not too bad.

We did 28 quarts and two stuffed gallon bags of frozen slices to use for smoothies later.

As a reward for their help, the younger ones got to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Nothing says success like a Butterfinger Blizzard!

Jill

Life is Peachy

Guess what I'm doing today? You guessed it - canning peaches! That box has 25 lbs in it, so does the other box. So, 50 lbs of peaches to can. I've done as many as 100 lbs in a day so I'm hoping that 50 won't take too long.

Thankfully it is raining and about 69 degrees here - I hate canning in hot weather! But I love eating home-canned peaches in the dead of winter. So, I'm off - I've got my supportive shoes on, some music in the CD player and a big ol' Diet Coke in the fridge! Wish me luck.

Jill