My Eye-Opening Moment

Most people who dramatically change their lifestyles have an eye-opening moment. A moment when something happened to them that made them take a hard look at their life and make some serious changes. It is usually not something positive, and sometimes it can be too late to completely repair the damages.

For my family, our eye-opening experience about our health and finances came three years ago. It resolved us to a new way of life that I am grateful for each and every day.

Here I wanted to share that moment with you:

Beginning

Four years ago, my husband and I were eating fast food often, our groceries ran about $150 a week for the two of us, and my shopping list always contained Little Debbie snacks and Doritos. None of this phased us. It was the food on which we were raised and felt it was the normal way to eat.

Even after our first son was born, we continued to eat as we were, thinking our son was getting the best.

Panic

Then, three years ago, some events occurred that had us hurting financially. One month, my husband sat down to do the bills and informed me that I had $90 to feed our family of three for the entire month.

At first, I panicked. I had a moment familiar to many of us where I was convinced we would never get through it. I was ready to pull out the credit cards just to feed our family.

After my initial period of fear and self-pity, I decided it did not have to be that way.

Resolve

I was determined to make that $90 work. I sat in our office, with meal plans, recipes, shopping lists and old receipts and worked away, slashing any food that was not an absolute necessity for survival.

It was then that I figured out how to stretch a 5 pound chicken into seven meals. I was determined to learn how to cook dried beans. I new I could make bread from scratch.

In one night, I learned more about grocery shopping, cooking and nutrition than I had in my entire life.

That month, I fed our family on a mere $90. In fact, I recall having a few dollars left over.

Peace

After that, I stopped buying chips and pre-prepared meals. There were no more preservative-filled sweets or vitamin-enriched cereals. We stopped consuming a pound of hamburger in one night.

Was our diet perfect? Certainly not. I am still learning, growing and improving. But it was a million times better than it had been.

And we felt great.

My eye-opening experience about our diet and our spending was one filled with worry, panic and fear. But it does not have to be that way.

Your Turn

Do not wait until you are struggling. Do not wait until you cannot pay your bills. Do not wait until you have a stroke, heart attack or are diagnosed with diabetes. Do not wait until you are filled with worry.

Change your life now. Make this your eye-opening experience.

One Step to Major Grocery Savings

Forget clipping coupons. Toss out those menu plans. Skip the grocery lists.

If you are looking for major savings on your grocery bill immediately, stop stressing out trying to read all the latest tips. Just follow this one simple step and save a ton of money without all the hassle:

Go vegetarian.

Protein is essential to our diet but meat is insanely expensive. Depending on the area you live in and the type of meat you purchase, you are looking at anywhere from $3.00 to $6.00 for one pound of hamburger or chicken. That is a crazy price for one or two meals.

But when you look at the cost of vegetarian protein, it is substantially less. A pound of beans that could last two or three meals is only around $1.00. A dozen eggs that could last several meals is $1.50 to $2.00. A box of whole grain pasta or a bag of brown rice is only about $1.00.

By eating meals filled with whole grains, legumes and dairy, your diet remains rich and healthy while your price drops dramatically.

Don't think your family will be on board? Give it a try anyway:

Instead of hamburger in a meal, substitute lentils. Instead of candy as a snack, try these delicious Sweet and Salty Roasted Chickpeas. Whip up some Homemade Baked Beans for a hearty meal or try some Chili chocked with kidney beans sans the hamburger. Show the skeptics of the household that you can have filling and bold-flavored meals without the expensive price tag. You can even serve the money you saved on a platter for dessert!

Still can't get the family to go with it? Try a Chicken Week to stretch a five pound bird to seven meals. One chicken a month may seem radical, but once you see the savings, you will quickly and excitedly grow to love the concept.

Give it a whirl and see how effortlessly your grocery bill slashes itself!

Need some ideas to start? Check out these posts:
17 Frugal Meatless Recipes
Bean Series: Guide to Prepping and Cooking Dry Beans

Once-A-Month Shopping: Freezing Milk

Whenever someone hears that I only shop once-a-month, they always ask the same question:

What do you do about milk?

For a while, my solution was to do a mid-month trip to pick up perishable items, specifically milk. But with every trip to the grocery store comes the inevitable thought of “I might as well get {insert unnecessary item here} as long as I am there.” Even when the item seems very important, it is something I could probably make do without but I wind up spending money on it since I am all ready at the store anyway.

To avoid these mid-month purchases and force myself to go without, I have started to freeze my milk.

There are many conflicting opinions on freezing milk, so I decided to share my experience:

Let me start by mentioning that I only buy 2% milk so I have no experience freezing higher fat or unpasteurized milk.

When I purchase the milk, I just write the date I am freezing the milk on the carton and pop it in the freezer. I then pull the milk out and put it in the refrigerator 2 or 3 days before I need it to allow for proper thawing time. Once thawed, I shake the milk slightly to remove any separation.

Unlike many horror stories I have heard before about needing a paint mixer to fully restore the milk to its original texture, I find that shaking it for less than a minute is sufficient. I then use the milk as normal.

The taste does not change. The texture does not change. The milk still tastes great.

If you are really interested in avoiding unnecessary trips to the grocery store or just like to have an emergency gallon on hand and you have the extra freezer space then I recommend giving freezing your milk a try. At the very least you waste a few dollars experimenting, but you may discover that freezing milk is that extra kick you need to save a few more bucks.

Also check out my Monthly Menu Planning tips!

For more homemaking tips, check out: Growing Home, Frugally Sustainable, Learning the Frugal Life, Life As Mom and Far Above Rubies

19 Super Simple Uses For Cabbage

Year round, a staple of my family's diet is cabbage. If you look in our refrigerator, you will always find a head, sometimes two. Cabbage is a frugal and nutritious vegetable that can last for a couple of months if stored properly. Because of its slim chances of going bad, it is one of my favorite vegetables to include in my Once-A-Month Grocery Shopping trip. Not to mention, due to its mild flavor, cabbage is extremely versatile. You can use it as the focal point of a dish or hide it within a recipe!

But what good is a vegetable if you don't know how to use it? While I am still finding tons of new uses for cabbage, I wanted to share with you a list of incredibly simple ways to reap its benefits, many of which even your children will love:

1. Toss in soups and stews during last ten minutes of cooking.
2. Put on sandwiches in place of lettuce.
3. Easy homemade coleslaw (stay tuned for the recipe!).
   
4. Shred and add to meatloaf.
5. Add to homemade spaghetti sauce.
6. Create a healthy roll-up snack by topping leaves with Dijon mustard, a little honey and a piece of turkey.
7. Saute in olive oil with onion and mushrooms until tender for a quick side dish.
8. Add to salads or omit the lettuce and just use cabbage.
9. Toss on a pizza.
10. Include some in a smoothie of any flavor (you'll never notice!).
11. Try Beef and Cabbage Joes instead of Sloppy Joes.
12. Tear off the leaves and grill them at your next barbecue (season with salt).
13. Eat leaves raw dipped in Ranch dressing (my kid's love this one!).
14. Add to a quiche.
15. Put on top of crackers with a slice of cheese or a dollop of sour cream.
16. Use instead of tortillas for a quick microwavable quesadilla (fill with cheese and tomatoes and microwave until melted).
17. Use as a nutritious and filling layer on a casserole.
18. Shred and sprinkle over pasta dishes.
19. Puree and freeze in ice cube trays, then toss in any dish you like!

What about you? How do you use cabbage? Please keep the list growing by adding your tips in the comments section!

For more great homemaking tips, check out: Time Warp Wife, A Bowl Full of Lemons, The Better Mom, Far Above Rubies, Learning the Frugal Life, Homestead Revival, Nifty Thrifty Things, Women Living Well and Growing Home.

Making the Switch

For quite a long time I ate white bread. I baked with all-purpose flour. I ate processed pasta. Whole grains made their appearance through oatmeal, rice and popcorn, but otherwise we were a refined grain family. We made the switch to whole grain breads and pastas fairly smoothly but I still baked with all-purpose flour. Since I make most things from scratch, that meant there was still a lot of room for improvement in our diet.

Recently, I have made the executive decision to cut out all refined and processed grains in our house. If it is not 100% whole grain, it does not cross over our threshold.

This transition scared me at first because I had never baked with whole grain flour before. I feared I would have to drastically alter all of my recipes and buy a bunch of new cookbooks. This did not turn out to be the case at all. In fact, what I realized was shocking:

The switch to 100% whole grains was almost effortless.

Every recipe I had that called for all-purpose flour, I just substituted whole grain flour and the item still came out wonderfully. Muffins, breads, and even brownies all tasted sweeter and richer. The whole grain flour enhanced the flavor of all of our meals and snacks while leaving us feeling fuller and healthier and leaving me with a positive feeling of taking care of my family.

Have you been fearing the switch to 100% whole grains? Have you hesitated in cutting out processed grains because you worry about the flavor change? Have you been longing to make the switch but have not taken the initiative to finally say no to all-purpose flour?

Stop worrying. Stop hesitating. Stop procrastinating.

Just switch.

Refuse to buy anything but 100% whole grains. Get brave in the kitchen and you will realize the learning curve is almost non-existent.

There is never a better time to start eating healthier than right now.

For more homemaking tips, check out: A Bowl Full of Lemons

Follow me on Pinterest for some simple whole grain recipes!

Zip, Snap or Wrap?

With all my constant talk of Once-A-Month Cooking and doubling batches to freeze, I have neglected the most important part of all: storage.

When you are cooking and storing for future meals, storage is everything. There is nothing more frustrating than having a freezer full of food spoil. It wastes money and time; two things that are always hot commodities. So how do you keep your food as fresh as the day it was cooked? Luckily there are many options:

• Freezer bags. Freezer bags comes in many sizes and are great for a variety of foods. I prefer Ziploc brand since they are freezer-, microwave-, and liquid-friendly. I reach for freezer bags when I am storing soups, stews, and casseroles since you can let out the majority of the air. Air will cause freezer burn and spoilage faster than anything else, so freezer bags are great to limit this harmful effect.
• Freezer containers. Freezer containers are great in that they are reusable which saves quite a bit of money. You may need to buy several sizes so you can select the most perfect fit in order to limit the excess air in the container. If you select plastic freezer containers, check to see if they are microwave-safe. I recommend glass containers over plastic in that they last longer and do not discolor or hold onto odors.
• Aluminum foil. This is my go-to option for baked goods. When I freeze pancakes, muffins and breads, I wrap them in Reynolds Aluminum Foil. Much like the freezer bags, it is easy to limit the amount of air in the wrapping. Also, you can freeze in any size portion you like. If you are using aluminum foil, be sure to label the outside so you do not mix up the items. Also, be wary of reheating foods in aluminum foil as the aluminum can seep into the food.
• Vacuum bags. Vacuum sealing systems are one of the more expensive options both up front and in the long term as you need to buy refill bags. It is a great option if you tend to freeze in very large quantities, particularly in a deep freezer, and you want to keep things fresh for longer than a month. Vacuum bags remove all the air from the packaging, removing most chance of spoilage. They are wonderful for meats, vegetables and casseroles but may be more difficult for liquids such as soups and sauces.

In order to be the most cost-efficient in your freezing, you will need to assess your personal needs. If you only freeze a few things a month for short periods of time, you might want to look into a few glass freezer containers. If you are an avid freezer and like to keep things for months or years, I certainly recommend investing in a high quality vacuum sealer. Bear in mind that excess air in packaging is always your biggest enemy and select options that best fit your lifestyle.

Happy freezing!

Disclosure: All Amazon links in this post are affiliate links. For more information, please view TheNorthForty Disclosure Policy.

For more great frugal living and homemaking tips, check out: Learning the Frugal Life, Growing Home, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Time-Warp Wife, and 5 Minutes for Mom.

Discover A New Dish

"The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a star."
~ Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

The Top 10 Ways I Keep My Grocery Budget Low

I love to see how other people keep their grocery budgets low, so I am excited to welcome Michelle from Simplify, Live, Love to TheNorthForty! Here she shares her top money-saving strategies:

It might surprise you to learn that I feed (and keep clean) my family for between $250-$300 a month. We eat mostly whole foods prepared from scratch. I am quite picky when it comes to food I prepare. My family consists of six very hungry people: my husband, myself, and four kids: 7, 6, 4, and 1 ½.

Here are the Top 10 Ways I keep my grocery budget low:

10. Formula – I know breastfeeding doesn’t work for some people, and some people need formula for personal or employment reasons, but I personally can’t fathom shelling out tons of money on processed food for my baby. Instead, I have always worked through whatever issues there may have been and have exclusively breastfed all of my babies for one year and beyond. That alone saves me a ton of money. Did you know that one year of feeding a baby just the basic formula can cost over $1,500? Wow!

9. Cleaning supplies – Instead of buying a lot of chemically laden cleaning supplies, I mostly use vinegar, water, and baking soda. Sometimes I add an essential oil to make it smell nice or add another cleaning element, but mostly I just use plain old water and vinegar. Now, there are exceptions to this rule – such as cleaning a NASTY toilet at a rental house. In that instance, I go for the chemicals, and those chemicals do not come out of my monthly budget.

8. Paper products (towels, Kleenex, TP) – I know this might be a radical concept, but we rarely use paper towels. I do have one or two rolls for cleaning up pooh spots from animals or a toddler accident, but for the most part I use rags and then wash them. I also do not use any Swiffer type disposable products. My mop has a washable microfiber pad and I use dusting rags. We do use tissues and toilet paper, but like most things I buy, I wait until they are on sale and buy them with coupons. One of my goals for 2012 is to ditch the tissues, too! I’ll be blogging about my progress this year.

7. Laundry detergent – I used to buy a safe, non-toxic, and biodegradable laundry soap called Charlie’s Soap. It cost a lot up front (~$100 for a 4.5 gallon bucket), but it lasted me over three years. When I ran out in the spring of 2011, I needed a cheaper option and found a recipe to make my own. For the last 8 months, I have been using homemade laundry soap. All it takes is a bar of soap, borax, and washing soda. I’ve been very happy with it and I do a ton of laundry! It’s even cheaper than the Charlie’s Soap. Score!!

6. Pre-made bread – If I didn’t lose you with the first four, I might lose you here. I grind my own flour and make my own bread. I buy wheat berries from an Amish grocery store for around $20 for 50 pounds of berries. My bread costs me pennies compared to the whole grain bread at the grocery store. Plus, it is jam packed with fresh, whole grain goodness and you can’t beat the taste! Depending on the “twigs” and nuts I put in my bread, the cost per loaf can vary significantly, with some loaves being much more frugal than others. When I need to cut costs, I make Artisan bread, which requires only flour, water, salt, and yeast. Super cheap, very healthy, and quite tasty!

5. Cereal – My kids love cereal and I do buy it occasionally, but only when it is essentially free. And as I get pickier about ingredients there are fewer types of cereal I am willing to buy. I watch out for artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial colors. You might be surprised how many cereals contain horrible ingredients. Instead of cereals which don’t fill us up anyway, I make most of our breakfasts from scratch – eggs, waffles, homemade granola, and German pancakes are a few of our favorite breakfasts.

4. All toiletries –Walgreens and CVS are great places for bargain hunters to shop. I haven’t paid real money for toothpaste in over three years. And the same goes for deodorant, shaving cream, razors, body wash, soap, over the counter medicines, etc. Sales, combined with store rewards and coupons, can be very worthwhile for the discriminating shopper. My house is stocked with toiletries that I sometimes get for free and I like it that way!

3. Veggies – I have a large organic garden and grow as much food as I can each year. Fall meets me with a flurry of activities as we work to put food-by our harvest to enjoy in the winter. It gives me such satisfaction to grow my own food and even more satisfaction to eat it in the middle of the winter! When I need fresh produce in the winter, I watch the sale ads and price match for the best prices. I also watch the Environmental Working Group’s Clean 15 List and try to maximize what I buy from that list to minimize exposure to pesticides.

2. Meat – I’m pretty picky about meat. I buy beef by the quarter cow once a year from a local farmer. The price averages out to around $2.50 per pound – a great price for high quality ground beef, roasts, steaks, and soup bones! While I’m happy with my source of beef, I’m not so happy with my chicken and pork. I do buy it from a quality meat counter when it’s on sale, but another goal for 2012 is to find local, healthier sources for those meats as well.

1. Diapers – I have used cloth diapers for seven years. I love my cloth diapers! Not only are they frugal, they are also a green choice. My youngest daughter was diagnosed with hip dysplasia in August 2011, and had surgery in November. Because of the spica cast she is in, I am not able to use the cloth diapers right now so I have had to temporarily add disposable diapers to my shopping list. I am pairing sales with coupons and using Swagbucks to get them as cheaply as possible on Amazon. It’s doable, but I’ll be glad come February when she is out of her cast and I can go back to cloth!

We do other things too, to keep our budget down, but these are the biggies. How do you keep your grocery budget low?

Interested in writing a guest post for TheNorthForty? Please check out my Guest Posting Policy and send submissions to tykesmom@the-north-forty.com.

For more great homemaking tips, check out: Growing Home, Life As Mom and Learning the Frugal Life.

The Completed Grocery List

Yesterday, I told you about the three files I use in order to stay organized for my Once-A-Month Shopping. Today, I want to share with you the simple process to turn those three files into a completed grocery shopping list.

Once every month I sit down at the computer with my three files (Monthly Menu Calendar, Price List, and Shopping List) for about an hour:

• I begin by filling in everything that I have accumulated on a hand-written shopping list kept posted in the kitchen through the month. These are items that we ran out of and wrote down at the time as to not forget.
• I then plug in everything I need to cover each dinner by looking at my Monthly Menu Calendar. Some meals require me to check my recipes to make sure I do not miss anything.
• Next, I add some lunch items based on how much I know my family eats.
• Finally, I fill in any basics that I need for baking, breakfast and snacks (flour, sugar, baking soda, oatmeal, produce, etc.).
• As a double check for good measure, I make a quick run through my kitchen and jot down anything I may have missed.

After I have all the items I need for the month listed on my Grocery List, I check the list against my Price List and fill in all the updated prices, allowing Microsoft Excel to calculate the quantity and price, giving me my subtotals and grand total. Occasionally there will be an item for which I do not have a price. In these cases, I either Google the item to get a general idea or I guess a price that is obviously outrageously higher than the item would cost. This allows me some playing room in my budget while ensuring I do not overspend.

Once I have a grand total, I decide if that total is workable. Does it fit the budget? Do I need to cut anything? Do I have room to add anything? Just for fun, can I see if I can shrink that number and save some cash?

I fiddle for a few minutes, making sure I still have everything I need for the month but always pondering areas I can cut back. When I am satisfied with my final number, I shop.

Half way into the month I do return to the grocery store to pick up a few perishable items. While it is possible to freeze milk, it does separate and the consistency changes so I would rather pick some up through the month. Same goes for eggs and some fruits. I always enter the store with a list and avoid impulse buys at all possible costs. If I forget something, we live without it.

Once-A-Month Shopping can require a lot of creativity as things run out toward the end of the month. The fun part is trying to use every last morsel of food in your pantry, even if that means rice, lunch meat and raisins for dinner.

Obviously, you will have a learning curve for the first few months until you figure it out, but try your hardest to go without as much as you can. Look for substitutes for things you do not have. Try new recipes with what you do have. Get creative and force yourself to stay away from the grocery store.

Good luck and have fun with it!

Once-A-Month Shopping

I know I talk a lot about Once-A-Month Cooking and how it saves me a ton of time and energy, but the key to making it work is Once-A-Month Shopping. If done correctly, shopping monthly can save you quite a bit of money and make your monthly cooking super simple. Though my Once-A-Month Shopping technique is constantly changing to better suit my family, the basic premise remains the same: enhance my creative thinking in order to stretch every penny I have.

In order to make a monthly shopping trip work, it requires a lot of organization and planning. If you constantly find yourself running out to pick up one or two items, then you will waste a bit of money on gas as well as be more susceptible to the ever-familiar impulse buys.

To keep me organized, I have created three computer files that I update regularly:

• Monthly Menu Calendar
• Price List
• Shopping List

My Monthly Menu Calendar is a simple Microsoft Power Point file where I fill in the dinners I plan on making for the entire month. I have shared the last few months (October, November, and December) previously on this site. The concept is simple, but it ensures that I have a dinner for every day of the month.

My Price List is a Microsoft Excel file which lists the most recent prices for the common items I purchase at various stores. I update this list often with my receipts to make sure that all the prices are as up-to-date as possible. I consult this list when making my grocery shopping list so I know exactly how much money I am spending for the month before I ever leave the house. Some prices, like milk, meat and produce, can change drastically so I always budget higher for these items just in case. Otherwise, most prices stay relatively the same from trip to trip. Since I can hit three to four stores for my monthly shopping in order to get the best prices, I make sure to list prices for each store. This way, I know which store is the best choice for each item.

My Shopping List is another Microsoft Excel file. This file has four different tabs, one for each store I shop at. This makes compiling my shopping list easy and convenient since all the store lists are a click away, making it simple to bounce back and forth as I fill in the items I need for the month. Each store tab has four columns: Item, Quantity, Price and Subtotal. The item is listed alphabetically as this is the easiest method for me. You could list them in order of the store layout or any other method that suits you. At the bottom, I calculate the grocery tax for my state. If you leave out the tax, you may under-budget and overspend. The best part about Excel is it will do all the math for you, so you just need to take the prices from your Price List and plug them in.



Tomorrow, I will tell you the simple process I use to fill in my ultimate Grocery Shopping List for the month in order to not forget anything.

For more great homemaking tips, check out: Far Above Rubies, Growing Home, Time-Warp Wife, 5 Minutes for Mom, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Ginger Snap Crafts, Life As Mom and Learning the Frugal Life.

The Picky Eater

When it comes to feeding your family on a budget, nothing will kill a game plan faster than a picky eater. When you are grocery shopping, you must keep an open mind in your purchases since prices change so quickly. Sometimes squash is the cheapest vegetable. Other times, frozen broccoli is the best option. Spaghetti versus lasagna. Chicken versus pork. Whole milk versus skim milk. If you have a child who immediately shoots down new or unknown foods, you may find yourself forced into purchasing more expensive options to feed your family.

Every parent knows the challenge of combating the picky eater. There is the worry of whether or not your child is getting enough nutrition. You wonder if you should offer them an alternative meal. No parent wants to force their child to eat and no parent wants their child to go hungry. It is truly one of the most difficult challenges of being a parent, hence the overabundance of books and websites on the subject.

For me, it comes down to one simple principle: be grateful.

In our house we hold to a strict grocery budget. In order to make that work, the children must eat what we offer them. Our children should be grateful that they have food to eat at all.

Obviously people have certain foods that they genuinely do not like. My husband cringes at the idea of coconut. I would rather starve than eat sausage. It is important to take this into consideration. However, if your child is refusing to try new foods or only gives them one chance, perhaps it is time to open their minds:

• Remind them often that they should be grateful. If they are older, consider having them volunteer at a food bank. Also try encouraging them to say grace to thank God for their food.
• Serve variety. Odds are your children do not hate every food you offer. Switch up your menu regularly. I stay with the rule of one whole grain, one vegetable or fruit and one protein at every meal. As long as I constantly switch up each item, my children are bound to eat grains, produce and protein every day. This combats my fear of malnourishment.
• Don't cave in when your children will not try a dish. Being open-minded is a learned trait that will help them immensely through life. They should learn to try new things often, especially food. Imagine sending them to a friend's house only to hear that they whined to the hostess that they did not like the food and refused to eat unless offered something else. If it flies at home, children may think it will work anywhere they eat. Encourage open-mindedness and make them at the very least try every new dish.
• Involve them in your menu planning, shopping and cooking. Seeing the process you go through to ensure healthy meals will help them appreciate the food you serve. It also may trigger their curiosity and lead to excitement about food.
• Start early. If your children are still very young, introduce a variety of textures, colors and flavors as often as you can. Turn taste-testing into a fun and colorful game.
• Sneak it in. If all else fails, sneak in some extra nutrition. Never lie to your children about what you are feeding them or you may lose their trust completely and leave them questioning each meal. But if they do not inquire as to what is in the spaghetti sauce, try not to offer the information until after they have tasted the meal and given their opinion. Kids need more vegetables? Try pumpkin muffins, spinach spaghetti sauce, or shaved carrots tossed in a casserole. Protein and iron giving you problems? Lentils can be flavorlessly added to almost any dish. Whole grains? Bake cakes using whole grain flour or offer popcorn for a snack.

Purchase foods within your budget and make sure your children understand that they should be grateful for what they have. Not only will you help them eat a balanced diet as a child, but you will be teaching them a lesson they will carry with them through life. It is a difficult battle, but what part of parenting is easy?

Think You Have No Time?

"Those who have no time for healthy eating
will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
~ Edward Stanley

My Two Dollar Rule

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Whenever I go grocery shopping, it can be easy to fall into a routine of picking up the same items week after week, especially with screaming kids rushing me through the store. But falling into this routine can often lead to overpaying on many items, as well as making your menu stale. To combat this I use the Two Dollar Rule.

Before picking up any item on the shelf, even items that are on my shopping list, I make sure to pay attention to the price. For most products, this is the total cost of the item, but some products like meat and produce, I look at the per pound cost. If the sticker says the item costs more than two dollars total or two dollars a pound, I take a moment to think.

Is this product really worth two dollars? If I wait, will it ever drop below two dollars? Is there a generic brand or a substitute that would be less than two dollars?

After weighing all of my options, I then decide if I will purchase that product or look for an alternative. Some items do not take long to decide, like milk, butter, and olive oil. These are items that are fairly necessary in my house and I feel they are well worth breaking my two dollar limit.

But other items can send me into research mode, looking for cheaper foods that offer the same health benefits. In my area, salmon is usually cheaper than most other fish and offers more omega fatty acids and is low in contaminants. Clearly it becomes difficult to justify purchasing a more expensive fish. Greek yogurt may taste divine, but the benefits can be obtained much cheaper from a tub of cottage cheese and some regular yogurt. Quinoa is all the rave lately, but in my personal research I can reap the same benefits for less than half the cost from some brown rice, spinach, and lentils.

Obviously everyone's situation is different so weighing the pros and cons of each item varies greatly for each person. Your stop-and-think price may be higher or lower than my two dollars. Other factors include allergies, special dietary needs, or personal taste.

The key here is to get you thinking about what you are purchasing each time you enter the grocery store. Prices change often and while something may seem worth $1.50 one week, it may lose its appeal at $2.00. So set your price rule, check each label, and consider all the alternatives. Just because it is the popular health food item of the times does not mean you have to buy it to be healthy.

For more tips on stretching your grocery dollar, check out these frugal living tips:

Stretch a 5 lb Chicken to 7 Meals!
Beans: The Frugal Alternative to Meat
Three Products, One Clean Home
Once-A-Month Cooking
The Secret to Wealth
You Can Save More!

What Do We Eat: Friday (Link-Up *Last Day*)

Friday was a rainy, dreary day in these parts which made for an excellent day to stay home and focus on some more fall cleaning. With an easy-going day and a simple crockpot dinner, I had some free time for a little extra baking.

Here’s what we ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Peanut butter toast
Snack: Sliced apples and stove-top popcorn
Lunch: Lunchmeat sandwiches/leftovers
Snack: Leftover pancakes I found deep within the freezer
Dinner: New England-Style Baked Beans with carrots
Snack: Homemade molasses cookies

Beverages throughout the day included coffee (for my husband and I), herbal tea for myself, milk and ample amounts of water.

The molasses cookies were a last minute treat that just fit the weather perfectly and rewarded my kids for all their help with the fall cleaning (still a little more to go though). Sometimes you just have to treat yourselves and homemade, preservative-free goodies are the healthiest and most frugal way to do just that!

This is the last day for the link-up!

Please share how you eat! Keep track of how you and your family eat for the day on your blog and link-up below. Have standard menu plans and yummy recipes? Feel free to share those too! The link-up will be open all week long so link-up as many times as you would like. I can’t wait to see how you eat!

What Do We Eat: Thursday (Link-Up)

Thursday was another simple food day with minimal cooking. As we near the end of the month, the items in our house are dwindling so this is the time to get the most creative and just start using whatever we have. When the majority of the items in your kitchen are nutritious, it makes it easier to swap things around.

Here's what we ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Homemade cinnamon oatmeal muffins
Snack: Sliced apples
Lunch: My son and husband had salami & cheese sandwiches; my daughter and I had cheese and onion omelets with mixed vegetables
Snack: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (per my son's request)
Dinner: Chicken and rice soup from the freezer
Snack: Old-fashioned oatmeal drizzled with maple syrup

Beverages throughout the day included coffee (for my husband and I), herbal tea for myself, milk and ample amounts of water.

Sometimes saving money on groceries can be as easy as getting creative. Instead of standard snacks, think outside the box (or have your child think outside the box for you!) and try items like peanut butter and jelly, oatmeal, or any other sweet and yummy meal item (check out Sweet and Scrambled Eggs).

Your turn!

Please share how you eat! Keep track of how you and your family eat for the day on your blog and link-up below. Have standard menu plans and yummy recipes? Feel free to share those too! The link-up will be open all week long so link-up as many times as you would like. I can’t wait to see how you eat!

What Do We Eat: Wednesday (Link-Up)

Yesterday was a major cleaning day in our house which left little time for cooking. Because of that, we had a lot of leftovers and simple, quick foods but still tried to incorporate variety.

Here's what we ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Peanut Butter toast
Snack: Popcorn (popped on the stove top and lightly salted)
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches
Snack: Leftover No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies
Dinner: Leftover Vegetarian Fried Rice
Snack: No evening snack because we had a later dinner

Beverages throughout the day included coffee (for my husband and I), milk and ample amounts of water.

While we didn't do as well in the vegetable category yesterday, you will notice that we never skimp on the whole grains. Our bread is always 100% whole grain, we only use whole grain brown rice and old-fashioned oatmeal. Not to mention, popcorn is a fun and delicious whole grain. I find that, once you set up your menu and shopping list properly, whole grains are effortless to incorporate into your diet.

Your turn!

Please share how you eat! Keep track of how you and your family eat for the day on your blog and link-up below. Have standard menu plans and yummy recipes? Feel free to share those too! The link-up will be open all week long so link-up as many times as you would like. I can’t wait to see how you eat!

What Do We Eat: Tuesday (Link-Up)

Unlike our easy-going Monday, Tuesday was a bit busier and our diet shows it. The morning was spent doing a bunch of chores around the house and then we were out all afternoon.

Here's what we ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Homemade French toast (made frugal by the Bread Outlet Store)
Snack: Yogurt
Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and leftovers with green beans
Snack: McDonald's Dollar Menu Sundaes
Dinner: Vegetarian Fried Rice with steamed broccoli
Snack: No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies

Beverages throughout the day included coffee (for my husband and I), milk and ample amounts of water.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to drink tons of water. I strive for a gallon a day, sometimes more while I am pregnant. It makes me feel great, keeps my skin soft, helps me feel full in between meals and snacks and is much cheaper than any other beverage!

Your turn!

Please share how you eat! Keep track of how you and your family eat for the day on your blog and link-up below. Have standard menu plans and yummy recipes? Feel free to share those too! The link-up will be open all week long so link-up as many times as you would like. I can’t wait to see how you eat!

What Do We Eat: Monday (Link-Up)

Yesterday was a simple day spent entirely at home. I want to point out that, with the exception of dinner, our menus are hardly ever planned. I like to wing it based off what myself and my family are in the mood for as well as how much energy I am willing to put into cooking.

Here's what we ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Peanut butter toast
Snack: Sliced apples and homemade chocolate milk
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sandwiches and peas
Snack: Homemade soft pretzels
Dinner: Shepherd's Pie
Snack: Baked potato skins (made from the potato skins leftover from peeling potatoes for dinner)

Beverages throughout the day included coffee (for my husband and I), herbal tea (for myself), milk and ample amounts of water. We never drink juices and soda is a rare treat.

How about you?

Please share how you eat! Keep track of how you and your family eat for the day on your blog and link-up below. Have standard menu plans and yummy recipes? Feel free to share those too! The link-up will be open all week long so link-up as many times as you would like. I can’t wait to see how you eat!




(Linking up with Menu Plan Monday.)

What Do We Eat? (Link-Up)

On this site, I frequently mention ways of saving money on groceries; from menu plans, Once-A-Month Cooking, shopping lists, recipes and other tips.  But, in my experience, when reading about other people's shopping habits, I wind up thinking "how do they turn this into actual meals and snacks?"

All this week, I would like to give you a glimpse into the standard eating habits of my family.  I will list everything we eat for snacks and meals (and even some bonus treats) for the entire week so you can see how I turn my recipes and tips into a week's worth of food for my family.  I will track everything we eat each day and put it on here the following day for you to see.

Granted, some of the items we eat or the quantities may not work for you and your family, but I hope that by seeing how I turn my frugal shopping into sustainable healthy foods, you will be able to pick up some ideas to help you cut costs as well.  We do not always eat perfect, but you should notice that we never skimp on the vegetables and whole grains that keep our tummies full and our hearts happy.

Let me know if you have any questions about how my family and I eat throughout the week in the comments section.
Also, please share how you eat!  Keep track of how you and your family eat for the day on your blog and link-up below.  Have standard menu plans and yummy recipes?  Feel free to share those too!  The link-up will be open all week long so link-up as many times as you would like.  I can’t wait to see how you eat!

Time to Stock Your Freezer

The past few days I have been cooking like crazy.  Not only am I trying to replenish some of the ever-present soups in my freezer, but I am also tackling next month's Once-A-Month Cooking a little early as well as getting ahead of the game for when this baby arrives in a little more than four months.

Once-A-Month Cooking is a practice that I encourage everyone to attempt.  Whether you are a stay-at-home parent who is looking for less cooking time and more kid time or a working mother who wants healthy, homemade meals but just does not have the energy to cook every night, Once-A-Month Cooking will make your life easier.

A few tips to help cooking monthly work:

• Always keep your freezer stocked.
• Constantly be on the look-out for new recipes (menu variety keeps the family satisfied).
• Never cook single batches - always double or triple it.
• Cook and freeze complete meals that include the protein, vegetable and grain all in one dish, if possible, to make reheating a snap.
• Focus on cooking as much as you can when you have the free time or are in the mood to go crazy in the kitchen.
• Freeze in meal-sized portions or individual portions for faster reheating without waste.
• Buy several freezer-safe dishes or stock up on aluminum foil so you do not run out.
• Be sure not to freeze too much at once or you may overwork your freezer causing spoilage to other foods.
• Buy in bulk so you always have necessary ingredients on hand for when that cooking urge strikes you.
• Crunch the numbers for a deep-freezer as you become a batch-cooking pro.  You may find it pays for itself within a year.

If you have never attempted Once-A-Month Cooking, I encourage you to try it in the month of September.  Does the idea of scheduling and planning overwhelm you?  Then start out by doubling or tripling batches of what you all ready make and freezing the extra. 

Eventually, your freezer will be filled with a variety of foods your family enjoys and all you have to do is cook occasionally to keep it full.  Not much planning is required once that freezer is packed with delicious homemade meals that can make it to the table in fifteen minutes.

Stay tuned for some new freezer-friendly, frugal recipes!