Family of 6 lives off $4 a week for food

This is an inspiring video on couponing.  It does not mention, however, how she gets her coupons.  I spend at least $5 a week on papers in order to get the coupon inserts.  In addition I subscribe to the grocery game.  If she has these added costs, I think the $4 per week is deceiving.  But even if she does have additional costs, she is a remarkable couponer.

surgery done

it went well.  thanks for all the notes.  short blog b/c only one hand will type

Carpal Tunnel Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow I have carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist.  It has been bugging me for years.   I’m getting it done now b/c it will improve my life.  And as a side note, I don’t want to ask the govt for permission in a few years.  So might as well take care of it now.  It is expensive, but pay now or pay later.  And later it might be worse.

Next I go to the eye doctor and finally get new glasses.  I drive Dave crazy with all the lights on b/c my glasses are too weak.  When you’re a mom, you get everyone else to the doctor but just patch over your stuff and move on.

I’m getting a post ready for Frugal Friday.  I experimented with homemade frozen cookie dough and am excited about the results.  I’m also really considering you tube cooking videos.   Maybe I can give Foodnetwork a run for their money!  That would be fun.

Why I’m no longer addicted to Food Network

I used to be a food network junkie.  I recorded several shows and really enjoyed watching wonderful meals be prepared.  The last couple of years, however, I’ve almost stopped.  Looking back it was not a conscious decision but an evolution.  Either they changed or I changed.  I’m not sure and will let you be the judge.

I think a few years ago, I came away with more practical ideas.  Now it seems many of the shows have ingredients that are not in the frugal kitchen.  And they seem to constantly stress using quality ingredients.  How many times did I hear, use

• high quality extra extra extra virgin oil (real life – only evo if you can taste it)
• imported such / in / such cheese (real life:  kraft cheese you got with a coupon.)
• a rustic bread from your baker (real life:  If you get bread with oats on top, you splurged)
• organic meats (real life:  you shop at 9:30 when the clearance meat is out in abundance)
• wild salmon – not farm raised (real life:  you rarely buy Salmon b/c it is over $2 a pound – catfish is the fish of choice)
• fancy greens (like arugula) – (real life – your grocery store only sells romaine, butter, green & red leaf and iceburg)
• creme fresh instead of sour cream (real life – even I have never purchased creme fresh)
• fresh herbs (real life – only if you get them from your back yard)
• special salt from such / such sea (real life – special salt is mortons over the generic brand)
• real organic butter – (real life – a box 79 cent imperial margarine for baking and real butter saved for spreading on bread)
• eggs that you picked up from an organic farm (real life:  what ever is cheapest at the grocery store)
• chocolate imported from mars (real life:  getting nestle choc chips instead of the store brand )

If you’ve watched this network for long, then you know what I”m talking about.  One time I watched one of the guy chefs (not bobby flay but the one that looks like him)  make chicken broth.  He roasted an organic chicken, then boiled it.  After he was finished, he tossed the chicken.   I was yelling at the TV like guys do when watching a football game.   I do not know anyone who uses a whole chicken to make broth and then tosses the meat.  We roast a chicken, eat the chicken and then boil the bones for broth.

I’ve also noticed a political theme starting to run in their shows.  I have not enjoyed a Paula Deen show after she had on Jimmy Carter.  I have no problem watching a cooking show with a past President.  I’d even watch one with Michele and Obamma.  I respect the office.  But when Paula started drooling and expressing what a great man and how he had done wonderful things… again I’m yelling at the TV.  If I want to watch political spin, I’ll turn to CNN.

Then we have the social agenda.  I don’t mind watching non-traditonal family folks celebrating life together.  Some of my favorite neighbors choose lifestyles that don’t line up with mine.  That doesn’t mean I don’t love hanging out with them.   What I do hate is when it is put in a TV show with a social agenda.  When I watch Barefoot Contessa, it doesn’t bother me because she has a couple of guys over.  If my kids are in the room, it is not something that draws their attention.  However, their cake decorating show did a wedding cake.  The girls love making cakes so we were watching this.  And wouldn’t you know, it was two girls getting married.

Another reason I watched was for the quick fix and make ahead shows.  I really like Robin Miller.  But them more I watched, the more I saw how expensive it was to make these dishes.  For example, when she makes shrimp – it is jumbo shrimp prepared by the fish shop.  When I make shrimp, I got it at a rock bottom price which means it is smaller, with shell and frozen.  I have to defrost and prepare the shrimp.  So it is not a quick fix without the extra cost.  Quick fix can be really easy when you have no budget.

And let’s talk about cleavage for a minute.  I don’t watch a cooking show to see Giada’s breasts.  It grosses me out.  When ever she turns on a blender they zoom right into where she flips on the blender switch, which is about right around her chest area.  Yes, I know this is an accident.  I love her recipes, but am over the skimpy shirts that go down to her naval.

And I used to love Nagela Lawson.  This past weekend I watched her making chocolate dishes.  With all my bags of chocolate from the Kroger Mega Sale, I curled up ready to be educated on wonderful chocolate dishes.  The whole show was sexual innuendos.  It was over the top.  It was so distracting from what I was there to learn.  I love her accent and her cooking, but I don’t know if I can watch her again.

I wish there was a really good show that used frugal ingredients and stuck with cooking.  Food can be entertaining on its own – we don’t need the extra stuff.  But what they’re doing must drive up ratings.  Maybe I’ll start youtube videos one day.  Cooking with Kris.  We’d have to learn how to use our video camera first – now that is a whole store in itself.

Generations who do not know how to make do and cook

I read a good and interesting article about obesity increasing as people hit hard economic times.  You’d think that lower-income would be a loss in weight, but not in America.  We have so many high calories unhealthy food options that are actually less expensive than the good stuff.  Look at the price of a high sugar cereal and then look at a nice box of granola.  But I think this story goes deeper than short article the writer gave – granted had to be short for news publication.  So I’ll help the writer and elaborate on her thoughts.  And I’m sure many of you will help me in the comment section:)

“As the unemployment rate inches toward 10% and U.S. consumers continue to find themselves strapped for cash, many are turning to cheaper fare to better balance their budgets. That often means fast food and canned and frozen processed foods that are higher in fat and calories and are made with refined grains and sugars.  The result: More Americans are getting fatter and becoming more at risk of getting illnesses such as diabetes.”

The article listed several reasons:

• A Nation of Snackers – me:  yes we all know this
• Not from Scratch  -  me:  more on this below
• Better options:  article said to look for better options.  Think ahead, make a shopping list, buy in bulk, make it yourself, pack a lunch, and cut down on sugary drinks.

This is all common sense.  But it does not come second nature to a generation whose parents have taken them to McDonald’s, fed them fruit loops with a coke to wash it down and a frozen pizza for dinner with chips ahoy for dessert.  I feel sorry for this lost generation.  I’m guessing many, if not most, people in their 20s and 30s grew up in homes that did not practice the list in the “better option” category above.   Their parents had jobs and it Mom’s time was more valuable at the office making $100 / hour than cooking at home from scratch.  That may have been true for that family at that time, but what was not factored into the equation was the future fruit of homemaking skills.

Now this generation is facing an economic downturn like they’ve never experienced in their lifetime.  For many the seniors, they remember hard times and have better coping skills.  I’m theorizing that a larger segment of this population knows how to make do and cook from scratch.  For the most part, the younger generation has never been taught and never seen it in action.

So what can we do to help them?  I’ve mulled that over in my head and thought:  churches could offer cooking, sewing and life skills classes.  The seniors in the church could teach the younger generations how to get by on less.  It is one way to start bridging the generation gap within churches.  But I’m thinking those who need these skills would not show up in mass.  Maybe a few, but it is harder to get people excited about this stuff when they have not seen it lived out.  I didn’t start doing this until my late thirties, but I remember watching my Aunt Lelia (when I married she, age 80 plus, gave me a wedding gift – a bride’s magazine she had found in a dumpster), my grandparents and parents as a child.  That example has stayed with me as an adult and I was able to pull back on those experiences and transfer them into modern-day practices.

I think another thing we could do as a society is bring back home economics classes in our schools for GIRLS only and FHA or similar classes for boys.  I read a story from the original lady (Mrs Maggie) at hillbillyhousewife that stayed with me.  When she was a girl, she was really really poor.  She learned how to cook in home economics classes.  They were allowed to eat what they cooked at school, which was her only healthy meal of the day.  She learned to develop a taste for home cooked meals.  As a mother and wife she again experience tremendous financial hardship.  But she had the skills from her home economic classes to shop, meal plan and cook from scratch.  She put her ideas together on a web site that has been read by millions of readers.  Just a homemaking lady in the hills living in a small cabin has impacted many.  That changed my view of home economic classes.  Not all girls see this at home.  Since they are at school 8 plus hours a day – let them at least see it there.

Another thing we can do now for our children to prevent this once they are on their own is to help them to develop a taste for home cooked meals.  It is really hard to love a meat loaf and green beans after you’ve lived on chicken nuggets and queso / chips.  For those of us with the time and finances, we have that obligation and do our children a disservice when we neglect this area.

I could go on and on about this subject.  But gotta run today.  Enjoy your day and go cook from scratch!

 

Spiritual Preparedness for Bad Times

Disclaimer: I get into my Christian views in this blog post.  To my atheist and non-Christian friends – thanks for stopping by.  If you’re not interested in reading these views – please come again tomorrow.  And have a great day!

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Do you ever take a break from the news?  Or just hit delete to the political blogs you’ve signed up to receive?

I recently cut back my news intake about 75% for a short period.  Sometimes it gets to be too much.  There is so much bad news.  I just read that the cash for clunkers cost the taxpayer $24,000 per car.  Stuff like that really gets my blood boiling.  I think many American’s want to take the country back, but we’ll rolled so far down the hill it is very difficult, if not humanly impossible, to try to pull those on the roll back up the hill.  Gravity is going against us.   Healthcare is another example.  I think it is coming.  Then we have peak oil, water shortages, terrorism, war with Iran coming, wheat rust and the list goes on.  Why bother doing anything?  Because it is not in our nature to sit back and let our country be overtaken.  Even if it looks grim, we have a segment of society that still understands the consequences to socialism and too much government control.  We are not a roll over people.   I believe we’re headed for rough waters.

The problem is so big that I cannot solve it on my own strength.  Believe me, I’ve tried.  Taking steps to prepare for bad times is prudent and wise.  Being politically active it important.  Being an informed citizen is crucial.  But there are limits and there comes a point when it is out of our hands.  That is why it is important to fill my mind with things of God.  God created this world.  He is in control.  That does not mean I have easy sailing, promises of health or wealth.  It does mean that He is in control of anything that happens and events are moving to His ultimate plan.  We can either cheer Him or curse Him.

I just finished reading the biography of Corrie ten Boom to the girls.   She is a woman who lived in Holland during WWII and experienced the depravity of Nazis.  She was not prepared with beans, wheat berries, ammo, water barrels, band aids, etc. when the Germans took control of Holland.  She was prepared spiritually and God used her in a great way.    She lived in a concentration camp and shared the Gospel of Christ with many who had never heard.  She bloomed where planted and God kept her alive.  Her sister, however, died in the camp – but only after she had shared the Gospel with many as well.  There are no guarantees except Salvation to those who are called by the Lord.

I’ve also been studying Hezekiah – found in the Bible:  II Kings chapters 18 – 20. and II Chronicles chapters 29 – 32.  Hezekiah was a king that worshipped God and removed idols from his land.  He was a man who feared and worshiped God before the going got rough.  During his rule, Jerusalem was under seige by the Assyrians.   Hezekiah prayed to God and asked for protection.  God told Hezekiah, through a prophet, that he would save the city.  So Hezekiah did not surrender despite the insurmountable odds of losing a war with the Assyrians.   God was in control, Hezekiah was obedient and Jerusalem won without a fight through a miracle.  One night, 185,000 Assyrians unexpectedly died.  The next morning, bodies were everywhere and the remaining army left.   This is the same God we have today.  He is powerful and will do His will.

I’m not saying that America will have this same protection.  As a country we are not following God.  But as families and individuals we can follow Hezekiah’s example and remove idols from our lives and turn back to God.  Hezekiah prepared his people in a practical way also, which we can follow by modern-day prudent preparations for rough times.  There is a lot in this story that resonates with today.

Now I’m ready for the news and commentary again.  I might even try to fight City Hall again.  But if I take my eyes off Who is in control, it is very depressing.   We are in an exciting time to be alive.  It can be scary with all the bad news, but we know Who wins.

Family Integrated Church Conference

If you’re in the Houston area this weekend, my church is hosting a Family Integrated Church Conference.   Details here:

Topics include

• Writing a Mission/Vision Statement,
• What Do You Do With Singles?,
• FIC Principles in Traditional Structures,
• How to Plant Family Integrated Churches,
• Building Unity Through the Membership Process,
• Restoring Biblical Hospitality,
• Deacon Ministry,
• Worship in the FIC,
• Role of Elders in Church Reformation, and
• How to do Family Worship

Grocery Store loot – what a day

I’m one of those ladies who posts pictures of a good grocery store trip on the internet.  For those of you not into the couponing blogs, this may seem strange.  It is strange when I think about it.  When I first started coupon shopping and pantry stocking, I loved seeing these pictures.  It showed me what other women were doing.  It is also a competitive game.  My husband runs long distances and the sports blogs post about where they ran, their time and how they did it.  They post pics of them with their medal.  This is really no different.  Just in a weird kind of way.  So here it goes… drum roll please.

I spent $38.62.  Saved $127.31 or 70%.   I got 80 items averaging about 48 cents an items.  Here’s the loot:

Purchased:

• 25 cans of del monte tomatoes
• 6 cans of hormel chili
• 3 large bottles of heinz ketcup
• 1 16 oz daisy sour cream
• 6 tombstone pizzas
• 5 tuna packs
• 7 colgate toothpastes
• 2 boxes of quaker bars
• kleenex tissue
• 2 kotex
• 5 large bottles of Pace salsa
• 5 nestle white choc bits
• 3 smart boxes of butter
• 2 land o lakes spreadable butter
• 4 cans of carnation evap milk

To see other great shopping trips see:  http://www.southernsavers.com/ www.moneysavingmom.com.

Kroger Mega Sale 10/28/09 – 11/3/09

I checked their site this morning and it just hit Houston – sounds like a hurricane, but it is really good.  And there’s an even better sale on Thursday.   I need to get more can goods and looks like there are several options.   I’ve gotta run this morning and will post more later.   If any of you find any sites that match up these sales in Houston with coupons, please post in my comments.  Looks like I can’t wait for the Grocery Game list on this sale.

Thanks and happy shopping.

Update to post:  I’ll edit and add links here that help with matchups -

http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/kroger-texas-louisiana/284504-kroger-tx-la-mega-ad-10-28-11-3-a.html

http://www.stretchingabuckblog.com/2009/10/kroger-unadvertised-mega-event-match.html

http://www.frugalcouponliving.com/2009/10/25/my-kroger-se-deals-1025-1031/

Here’s what I plan to get and the matched coupons s/ insert dates.  I’ll keep updating as I clip.

• Bumble tuna with $.55 from ss 9/13/09
• Carnation milk with $55/2 ss 9/27/09
• Tombstone pizza with $1.50.2 ss 9/27/09
• Hormel Chili – $2.00 / 3 ss 10/18/09
• Land O Lakes butter – $.40 ss10/18/09
• Advil cold – $1.00  rp 9/13/09
• Advil PM – $1.00 rp 9/13/09
• Uncle Ben’s – $1/3 RP 9/13/09
• Delmonte fruit  or veggie – $1/5 rp 9/20/09
• gatorade and propel – check for tearpads
• Kleenex $50 SS10/04/09
• Kotex $2.oo/2 ss 10/04/09
• Heinz Ketsup $.75 ss 10/04/09
• Pace salsa – $.50 ss 8/30/09
• Smart Soure Butter blend $1 RP 10/18/09
• OreIda fries $1 ss 10/25/09
• Colgate Toothpaste $1 ss10/25/09
• Pepperidge farm frozen bread – $.40 ss 10/04/09
• Ghirardelli Brownies (check this:

• Ghirardelli Brownie Mix, Any – Found Inside Product $1.00/3 x12/31/09 Inside Package
• Ghirardelli Brownie Mix, Any – Found On Product, White Peelie $1.00/2 x12/31/09 Peelie

Quaker Chewy Granola Bars – $1.49/ea
Use $$0.75/2 in 10/11 Red Plum or

I’m not sure if these are in the 10 item mega sale.  I saw these items on posts for other parts of the country.  Check your Kroger store to make sure.  They were not in my ad, but many times the ad does not include all the items.  Just in case, I’m taking these coupons”

• Nestle Toll House Morsels – $1.99/ea
  Use $0.50/1 in 9/13 Red Plum insert
  Final Price = $0.99-1.49/ea
• Zesta Saltine Crackers – $0.99/each (no coupon)
• Melitta Coffee Filters (#2 or #4 cone, 100ct) – $3/ea
  Use $1/1 here
  Final Price = $1.50

According to Stretching a Buck: “Dole Mandarin Oranges and Tropical Fruit (larger cans) – $1/ea
Note: Mandarin Oranges (both large and small cans) are generating a $0.50 off your next purchase Catalina. I buy these every week and have received Cats for the last 3 weeks. I’m unsure of the specifics, but I bought 10 large cans tonight and received 3- $0.50 Catalina coupons.”

Developing a meal plan AFTER returning from the grocery store

Most of us are taught the most economical way (I’ll call this ” Plan A”) to plan our meals is to make menu, then a list and get the items you need for the week in one trip to the grocery store.  Eat before you shop so you don’t impulse buy and only purchase the items on your list.  Also limit your shopping trips to once a week b/c studies have shown that the more trips you make, the more impulse items you purchase.  Sound familiar???

I no longer buy into this school of thought.  We’re not victims and we can enter the grocery store and leave without impulse items.  Time to grow up.  “But I have my kids and they’ll want this or that.”  Again, they are not victims and maybe it is time for them to learn shopping self-discipline.  It will bode well for them later in life.  Now that we’ve worked past that… here’s a post and detailed example of how I grocery clearance shop and plan a menu around these items.

Disclaimer:  Plan A is probably the most time efficient.  If you find Plan A works best for you, then power to you.   If time is scarce for you, then this may be the best plan.  When I was working full-time with little kids, it was the best plan.  However, many women who have the time, claim they don’t.  They are just putting their extra time in different places.  The different place may be better, or it may need to be reevaluated.  For example, if you have credit card debt and use your extra time to browse sales at Marshalls, TJ Max, Target, Old Navy, Ross, etc; then maybe you should examine if browsing grocery stores (and cooking) instead would be a better use of your family’s resources.  Would your family prefer that marked down pillow from TJ Max or a nice homemade pot of spaghetti / meat sauce?   That is a decision for you and your husband.  I’m just providing a different perspective for you to consider.  Get a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy… this is a wordy post.

Rather than make my plan and get the items, I shop clearance items and then develop a plan.  I probably plan my menu using this method at least 50% of the time.  Other times I prepare food from my freezer, coupon related items or warehouse items. Since my pantry is stocked (I coupon and warehouse shop for pantry items) and I’ve learned to improvise, I can make most dishes if I have the basic fresh ingredients.  For example, if I have meat – I’m always ready to make gumbo, pasta casseroles, soups, enchiladas, meat loaf, chinese fried rice, etc.  Before I go into how to make a menu from items you randomly bring home, let me explain how I shop for clearance items.

First of all, I know my local grocery stores very well.  I shop each for specific categories of clearance items.  If I’m near a certain store and have an extra five minutes, I’ll swing in and check for loss leaders and clearance items.   Your local stores will be different, but if you know their “personality” you can modify your shopping to maximize savings.   My favorite clearance / loss leader stores are:

• Randall’s for meat and dairy.  I usually shop Randall’s  on Saturday mid-morning, so the butcher has had time to set out any reduced price meat.  When I enter the store, my first stop is the meat section.  I only purchase meat if it is less than $2 a pound.  At Randall’s I’m able to get premium meats for this price.  They key is that they have to be cooked quickly – more on that below.  My second stop is dairy.  I usually find a gallon of organic milk 50% off.  The expiration date is typically one to two days out.  But it rarely is bad at this date and usually lasts an extra day or so; which is plenty of time for our family to finish a gallon.  I also get sour cream and cheese 50% off.
• Kroger’s for produce.  My Kroger marks down bags of potatoes to 99 cents.  It is amazing how many bags I’ve gotten for almost nothing.  I can also negotiate with the produce manager if I’m there when they are cleaning out fruit.  If they have a box of bruised apples, I’ll ask to purchase them by the bag for 99 cents.  I’ve had many apple pies with these jewels.  Once I got a ton of lemons and we had delicious homemade lemonade for pennies. I also check Kroger’s clearance table.  I’ve found really cheap gourmet salad dressing, flashlights, organic jasmine rice… the list goes on.   My local Kroger’s has better prices on table clearance items than Randall’s.  Not sure why, but my Randall’s has lousy prices on the table clearance items, and they don’t offer their damaged produce at clearance prices.    I have not seen dairy marked down at my Kroger’s.  They do mark down meat, but don’t get near as low as Randall’s meat markdowns.   Kroger’s has great deals on clearance breads, but I avoid these since we make our own.
• HEB.  I live near a small, dirty, local HEB Pantry.   This small store carries many of the Central Market products, but does not have the customer base that buys Central Market overpriced gourmet junk.  I love to buy gourmet junk for pennies:).  Since these products sit too long on their shelves, they put them in the mark down buggy.  I’ve purchased Italian gourmet coffee, organic almonds, organic brown sugar, and the list goes on.   If I bought these full price at Central Market, it would have cost a fortune, but I paid a small fraction of these prices.  My HEB also has organic milk marked down to $1 on a regular basis; again they don’t have the customer base demanding $6 gallons of milk.

When I’m shopping meats, I think about my day.  Do I have time to prepare these right away?  Will we be home this week to eat pre-prepared dishes?  Do I have room in my freezer?  Do I have ingredients to make ___ out of an item?

If my afternoon is clear and there’s a few great finds, I’ll come home and start cooking.  If I find whole chicken roasters, they are easy to pop in the oven and serve for lunch that day.  Then any leftover chicken can be transformed into other dishes within the next couple of days.  If I find great deals on ground beef, I’m make preformed patties and individually freeze on a cookie sheet, then place in a freezer baggie for later.  Or I’ll make a meatloaf, chili, meat pasta sauce or meatballs.  If it is steak, I’ll remove meat from the bone, and boil the bones for broth.  Then I’ll slice the meat into strips; season and dredge in cornstarch and brown in a thin layer of oil.  You can make southern dishes (steak fingers with gravy), Italian steak soup or chinese (Mongolian beef) with this simple prepared meat that is waiting in your fridge.

Yesterday I went to Randalls and my receipt indicated I saved 60%.  I didn’t use any manufacturer coupons.  I spent $25.79 which was my week’s grocery expense.  Last weekend Dave hit Costco and spent $160, so we averaged less than $100 for both weeks using no coupons.  BTW, the $160 also included a couple of non-grocery items.   My Randall’s trip was productive:

• 2 racks preseasoned baby back pork ribs
• 3 ribeye steaks
• 3 round sirloin steaks
• 4 chicken breasts stuffed with cheese and asparagus
• bleach
• 18 eggs
• 1 gallon o organic milk (50% off quick sale)
• red bell pepper
• zucchini
• green onions
• frozen pie shells

I knew I was getting eggs, b/c Randall’s had a 99 cent coupon for 18 eggs.  I already had about 2 dozen in my fridge, so I needed to plan a dish for to use a few of these quickly.  I decided to make Quiche.  In my fridge, I know I had 1/2 and 1/2, a pound of bacon from Costco and 4 pounds of cheese (2 weeks ago Randall’s had cheese as a loss leader).  All I needed for the Quiche was a pie shell and green onions.  I also noticed that zucchini was on sale at Randall’s for 99 cents a pound.  Zucchini bread goes great with Quiche, so I got a few of these.

I knew I could come up with something for the remainder of the meat, so I picked up the kids and started cooking.

First was the ribs.  They are a stand-alone dish.   These were already seasoned so I put them in a shallow dish, covered with foil and popped in the oven.  Since I had the aluminum foil out and the oven on, I wrapped a few potatoes and put in the oven with the ribs.

Then I cooked the chicken.  These were stuffed chicken breasts from Randall’s butcher counter – regularly $4.99 a pound.  I got these for about $1.50 a pound.   I baked these in the oven with the ribs.  But I’m not a fan of baked chicken breasts, so I did a search on the internet for chicken and asparagus and found this:  http://www.ifood.tv/network/quick_easy_chicken_asparagus_soup_rice/recipes.  It is a really good recipe for Asparagus chicken creamy pasta casserole.  I didn’t have the amount of asparagus called for in the recipe, so I just used the amount stuffed into the chicken and it worked fine.   It made enough for two dishes.  I froze one and cooked one for lunch.  It was very very good.

After I finished the chicken, I put in a sheet of bacon into the oven.  I also barely cooked the pie shells.

My next step was the steaks.  I decided to make two dishes.  One soup and one Mongolian beef.  I cut the meat from the bones and started boiling the bones for the soup.  Then I cut some of the meat in strips for the Mongolian beef and the rest in small cubes for the soup.  I browned all this in a thin layer of oil.  I put the strips in the fridge for later.  Next I strained the broth; seasoned, added dried onions, garlic and carrots; and added the meat.  I have the base for a really good soup.  I removed some of the broth and froze the mixture in two bags.  I plan to make beef barley soup.  When I prepare, I’ll cook the barley first in the extra broth, then add the meat and veggie mixture.

My next step was the potatoes.  I love having leftover baked potatoes in the fridge.  In the morning I can make hash browns in an instant.  Or in the evening I can place in a skillet with olive oil, onions and garlic and have a wonderful side.  For these, I opted to make potato boats, or also called twice baked potatoes.   I had the extra bacon and was grating cheese for the pasta casserole and Quiche, so making these didn’t mess up more dishes.  You slice the potato in half and scoop out the flesh.  I seasoned with butter, salt, pepper and 1/2 & 1/2 cream (I was out of sour cream).  I topped the potatoes with bacon and cheese.  These went into a freezer baggie and are in my freezer.  I can take out as many as I need for a great side dish later this week.

Next I made the Quiche.  While that finished baking, I made the zucchini bread with a new recipe.  This recipe is very moist.  I used more zucchini than called for.  Next time I’ll cut back on the sugar b/c it is too sweet for me.  The texture and moisture is great and I’ll be making this again soon.

In half a day I have the base for at least 9 meals for under $40:

• 2 bacon Quiche
• 2 loaves of zucchini bread
• 1 large pot of beef / barley soup
• base meat for Mongolian beef
• frozen chicken casserole
• chicken casserole in fridge
• frozen potato boats with cheese and bacon
• pork baby back ribs ready to be reheated

So the point of the story you may be wondering????  You can cook on a budget and be creative if you are willing to try new things and keep a stocked pantry.  I got the base for 9 dishes for a family of 5 (soup would probably feed my family twice so this is really is probably 10 meals) for under $5 a meal.  If you were budget conscious, you could finish each of these and have several nice meals for under $5 a meal.   For example, a can of green beans (50 cents on sale) with the chicken pasta would be a meal.  Or cornbread (jiffy mix prepared is less than $1) with soup would be a complete meal.  (my numbers do not include electricity or natural gas costs)

I hope this inspires those of you who are not in the kitchen.  You can do it!  Even if you don’t need to now b/c you’re financially secure, any day any of our situations could change.   It is better to have this skills before we need them than to learn during a harder time.  And it will help prepare your children to manage a home on a budget.   And it makes your house more of a home.  Take out is not the same as a really good cooked meal by mom.  This week my family gave me the ultimate gift.  Check out my new Life is Good t-shirt:

 

For other great ideas on saving money, join Life as Mom for Frugal Fridays.