6 Ways to save money

6 ways to save money at the grocery store

1. Avoid mixes...instead of buying Bisquick type mix, pancake mix, muffin mix, bread  machine mix (which is super expensive) make your own from scratch. In doing so you save both money and avoid the fillers added by companies to make their product taste or look better. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ has a lot of affordable mixes.
2. Make a written menu or meal plan for the week. We also have a two week breakfast / lunch / snack Meal rotation.
3. Make less trips to the grocery store. The less time you are actually in a store the less money you can spend!
4. Set a grocery budget and stick to it! Of course you may need to make periodic adjustments with the birth of children or children who need diapers / no longer need diapers etc... Be willing to set and keep your budget at a reasonable level for your family. Only break it in emergency situations (this may mean leaving $5-10 in your envelope for the unexpected pot luck! or medicine purchase!)
5. Don't let left-overs go to waste! Either remake a dish such as potato pancakes from left over mashed potatoes or use left over rice to make, rice crust for quiche or rice hot cereal or bean & cheese burritos!
6. Learn to cook & eat well. If you cook well the temptation to go out to dinner is greatly reduced. Cooking well is often accomplished by learning to follow the directions on a recipe and keeping & finding great recipes ! Eating well is really just enjoying your time at dinner together with all the talking & babies screaming. Make  your table a place you can't wait to get to at the end of a long day apart.

"A prudent wife is from the Lord" Proverbs 19:14 May the Lord guide our steps as we seek to joyfully & thankfully make the most of what He has provided your family.

Save time & money in the kitchen

Recently Kris at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers recently posted 'Being in a Lunch Rut is not so bad'. This is a topic that I love and though I responded in her comments I thought I might share more of my thoughts with you all too! It is my hope  that it may bless someones family!

"She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants." Proverbs 31:14-15
We have 5 kids (3 kids & 2 eating babies) and I am trying to make meal time into a wonderful sweet & simple routine. In order to simplify meal time I created a schedule to follow. So we have a two week breakfast/lunch/snack rotation and frankly it has revolutionized our meal times and I have saved countless hours I would have spent planning & thinking. One of the ladies on Kris's site commented how she hates to stand and look into a fridge and think about what to make! Well, sister you don't have to!

Here is our meal plan we have a two week rotation for breakfast and lunch. So on Week one Tuesdays we make pancakes and on week 2 Tuesdays we have bagels with cream cheese. The days where there is different meal for week two will be shown as follows .... meal week 1 --- meal week 2.

Breakfast
Sunday - Breakfast bar (English muffins, bagels, boiled eggs, cereal and breakfast left overs)
Monday - muffins w/ fruit --- Bagels w/ cream
Tuesdays - pancake w/ fruit & eggs --- Cinnamon rolls with fruit
Wednesday - Oatmeal with fruit & raisins --- Quiche with rice crust
Thursday - Cornmeal mush w/ fruit --- Biscuits & Gravy with egg
Friday Quiche with rice crust --- Waffles w/ fruit & eggs
Saturday - Eggs w/ grits, toast & waffles or eggs rancheros w/refritos,Pancakes, eggs, fruit grits or Pioneer Woman Eggs Benedict, grits & fruit
Lunch
Sunday- Left overs/loaded baked potatoes
Monday- Hot dogs & chips
Tuesday- Daddy's Cheesy Ramen --- English Muffin pizzas, fruit
Wednesday- Mac & Cheese---Beanie Weenie
Thursday - Loaded  Baked Potato w/ fruit or apple sauce ---Daddy's Cheesy Ramen
Friday- Sandwich with chips & Fruit
Saturday - Sandwich with chips & Fruit
Sunday- Left overs/loaded baked potatoes

Snacks @ 3:00:
Sunday - Popcorn
Monday-PB&J roll up
Tuesday- Fruit/boiled egg
Wednesday-cheese/bologna & crackers
Thursday - cheese sticks
Friday-Yogurt
Saturday -Veggie Plate/Ants on a log

Yes, I plan my snacks. I've found that my kids are constantly hungry and they will eat other lunch items if they do not have snacks. I also believe that if my kids are constantly hungry and go unfed I am not doing a good job meeting their needs. So on top of the planned  3 pm snack we also have what we call 'free snacks'. I buy a large something (pretzels, peanut butter pretzels, cheese balls etc...) at Sam's (Cost Co) Club and they can eat as much as they want any time, but I only buy it once a month. My kids are no longer reporting a state of constant hunger!
Now my meal rotation may work for you, you may need to plan a 1 week meal plan. You may want to just have 7-14 meals you know you can make. Whatever you do write and down and stick with it, adjust as you need to and let it be a blessing to you!

It took me a while to get used to the schedule and to consistently make what was on the schedule. Now I don't even think about if its Friday I make Friday Food. The kids love knowing what is coming, this is especially helpful for my oldest who has mild autism.
 
Do I personally always eat whats on the schedule? NO!! I often eat left overs instead because I really can't stand mac&cheese or beanie weenies but the kids love them! Periodically, we pull items from the rotation if I find something else that is inexpensive, tasty & healthy; for instance we recently added loaded baked potatoes and they are a big hit.
 
Saves Time, Money & helps hubby:
 
This schedule saves time because I do not have to think about what's for lunch or what's for breakfast.This schedule stays on my fridge for quick reference. When its time to make my grocery list I just grab our '2 week meal rotation' off the fridge and check off the items we need to purchase. 
 
I save money because I avoid buying foods we won't eat and that will get lost in the fridge. I know how many packs of hot dogs, cinnamon rolls, bagels etc... we need to make it through the month. So we rarely waste any of this food, like I did with unscheduled items. I have carefully spent time picking foods and I am actively replacing more expensive foods (such as corn dogs & chicken nuggets) with less expensive items (such as Daddy's Cheesy Ramen, Loaded Baked Potatoes).
 
It helps Hubby on Mommy sick days... he doesn't have to think either he can go to the list and make whatever is there. Now I must admit I keep a box of jiffy muffin mix in my pantry for my dear husband. For he does not get as much satisfaction out of making muffins from flour as I do. So think about things to to help your sweet husband when he is pinch hitting (taking your place).
 
I hope this encourages you to make a plan that fits you & your family!
 

Grace & Peace

Linked to:


http://raisingolives.com/2011/07/lunch-menus-for-homeschooling-moms/



Eating Whole Foods on a budget

We are not an organic family. The term I like to use for the way we try to eat is whole foods. We do not want to be deprived of nutrients by eating processed foods that have been stripped of must of their nutritional content. What this means is we avoid eating whole wheat, raw sugar, raw honey, drink raw milk,  eat our farm eggs and try to avoid processed foods at every turn. In some areas I am much better then in others we are still working on a less processed lunch menu for during the week. Needless to say we have not arrived at eating perfection :)

 

So on to the topic I wanted to write about, which is eating whole foods on a budget. One of two reasons we are not die hard organic Nourishing Traditions/Food Rebels kind of family is the cost! Simply put when we tried it last year we were hungry and our food budget was nearly 30-50% more then it had been previously.

 

So I became a Compromise Eater (a term from Nourishing Traditions(NT)) but even to do this we had to find ways to reduce the overall cost of whole foods. I have heard many people say that it is less expensive or it costs about the same to eat food of poor quality as it is to eat healthy. That my dear is a lie from the devil! It is more expensive to eat healthy food!

So here are a couple of things we have done to stay within our grocery budget.

1. One thing I have done is to slowly buy many of our staples in bulk. We buy our foods from Village Foods and we receive a 10% discount on the bin price when you buy an entire bag/box of an item. So for example our whole wheat pastry flour is .89/# and I pay about .80/#  by buying in bulk. I buy about 25# at a time and I buy flour once a month for $20.05. We do the same with steel cut oats, brown rice, raw sugar, Redmonds natural sea salt all of these items we usually only buy 2-5 times each year.
2. Another thing I do is buy items we use a lot of such as Olive Oil in bulk at Sam's Club. I already know I cannot afford to pay for the Raw Natural Olive Oil. But since Olive Oil is by far the oil I choose to put into our food the most. Other things we buy at Sam's: yeast, baking powder, baking soda, corn starch, maple syrup, nuts & pices. So don't give up if you cannot afford 'Raw' just move on to the next best choice you can afford. It is, however, rather annoying that raw things cost more. One would think since you do not have to process an item it would be cheaper but apparently not! Oh well, maybe one day the price will come down!
3. The final thing we have done is look for ways to buy things you want at a more economical price for instance we are going to be buying some cocunut oil from Mountian Rose Herbs in the next two weeks. It's much cheaper to buy it in bulk then it is to buy the dinky little containers most stores have.

 

The Lord knows how much money we is on our grocery budget and he has streched my money on more then one occasion! My prayer is that you would leave this post encouraged and more able to cook whole foods for your family, (if that's God's will for you) on your budget.

Here is a hearty recipe we like around here utilizing left over rice :

Rooster Hill's Whole Wheat Rice Pancakes (serves 6)

• 2 cups leftover Cooked Rice, white or brown
• 3 cups buttermilk (or yogurt or soy yogurt)
• 3 cups white or whole wheat flour or half each
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 medium eggs
• 1 1/2  teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice(optional)

 

Put the rice in a large bowl and mash it with a potato masher. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Then pour onto griddle and make pancakes. This recipes doubles and triples well.

 

A Titus 2 Event : Grocery Shopping & Intro to Homeschooling

This is just a post to announce some Titus 2:3-5 action at Rooster Hill. After sewing with a sweet newly married I thought maybe some of the folks may enjoy basic sewing, bread making and Grocery shopping. So I will start with my passion Grocery Shopping...

Grocery shopping & Meal planning ....August 20th from 1-3

class size: 5 Mamas

• Intro to Homeschooling ......August 22nd

Don't get to excited this is not some high tech light show this just one Mama sitting down with up to 5 other Mamas over some tea with a bunch of kids running around. We'll talk about how I shop, make a meal plan, determine price per ounce use store adds, stockpile and use coupons. After which, you may meet me at the store on a Saturday and shadow me to watch how it's done. We spend $400 month for a family of 5 plus loads of visitors we have lots of snacks and healthy food. Hopefully, Kim Maass will be able to join us as she is the most frugal woman on the planet. Now if you've masterd the basics perhaps you'd like to try Heather's Couponing Class on August 15th.

Some other classes I thought of offering with some of my friends are basic sewing (napkins), sewing II (apron), basic cooking, cleaning , /homeschooling and your life, basic cooking , questions & answers on Thrift.

So if you want to come and fine tune your grocery shopping please post in the comments and I'll get the information to you. If you have a blog I'd love it if you advertised these classes on your blog.

Cheap Meat Alert - Stock up now!

Run do not walk to Village Foods and buy your 2 family packs of Pork Chops for .88! You need to hurry because someone has lost their mind and priced these chops .09 cents less then I have seen time in a while! They also have a "freeze now or cook now" meat selection, nearly day old bread selection (from which I grabbed 2 loaves of sunflower seed bread for about .75 each). Since I can freeze bread I'll just schedule it into the meal rotation. If you cannot make it to Village Foods Wal-Mart will price match! Remember just because you just purchased 15#'s of pork chops does not mean it is time to feed your family pork chops for weeks. Put a pork meal on the menu once a week and look for the next great deal!

Saving Dinero @ RH

Why I love the .99 Store & Coupons

Here are some great finds at the .99 and what they mean to our bottom line

Edy's (Dreyer's ice cream's name on the East Coast) .99 for a 1/2 gallon. I got three and would have got every single one excecpt we were going to be in town and I was afraid 10 icecreams might spoil in the cooler. Total Savings (I don't buy unless it's $3.33 or less so I'll do actual & mine) So I spent $2.97 and no-non cheapskate Actual savings $12... cheapskate savings $7.02

John Morrell's Smoked Sausage...at a recent trip to Kroger's I found out the cheapest Kroger brand sausage is $2.79. The Brand name sausages start at over $3.79! So when I saw this puppy at the .99 I bought 3 (this time because I was watching my budget) So I spent $2.97 and saved $5.40 - 8.40

I also received a free tube of crest toothpaste because Krogers was having a 10 for $10 and I had a $1 off coupon. I really try not to buy toothpaste and deodorant unless I have a coupon so when I get a good coupon I may buy 3-4 or this time get some free!

This is why I shop the .99 Cent Store & Coupons and I hope it encourages you to take the plunge too!!!

Frugal Eating #4: Thinking Long Term

Plant some fruit trees. If you live in a house you own plant some fruit trees now! It will take up to 3 years for your tree to bear fruit. But once it does your family will be able to eat in abundance. We have a peach, apple, plum & fig. ?You don't have to be a homesteader to have fruit trees. If you live in the suburbs plant a beautiful fruit tree or two in the front and back yards. If you live in an apartment get a big pot and buy a miniature tree! Just make sure they are not too big for the space you can provide.We buy our trees from Producers co-op (the local farm supply store) for about $20 per tree. We hope to get 4-5 more this year!

How much do you spend on fruit each time you go to the grocery store? I know I tend to spend at least $10-20 on fruit. That's $260-$520 per year on fruit!!! In about two years I should have enough fruit for my family and some to sell (She sees that her trading is profitable, Proverbs 31:18) & give (extends her hands to the needy.Proverbs 31:20).

She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. Proverbs 31:14

Proverbs 31ing it,

on Rooster Hill

Frugal Eating #3: More Meaty Matters

All summer long Brisket will go on sale for between 1.29-.79/#. I start buying at .99/#.

BTW Brisket ,if you are not from Texas, is beef shoulder.

When it hits these low prices it's time to buy your stew meat. Buy this meat and cut it into stew meat chunks. This will save you at least $1.59/# off the cost of stew meat! Beef rarely sales for less than $1.99/# so this meat is a great deal for the conscientious homemaker.

Be sure to buy enough so your dear husband can BBQ or slow roast it also. Use your leftovers for black bean soup or pulled BBQ Beef sandwiches...yummy.

Berry Picking at Barneys

While we were having dinner with friends Barney stopped by and told us to come berry picking and get as much as we could. So we went berry picking at Barney's (this man is a faithful servant) we go to church with him and he has a blackberry patch, 2 fish pond (catfish & trout I think) and basically a great spread (that's Texan for place). We had such a great time and were greatly blessed by his offer. My one suggestion to anyone who has never picked berries before ...wear gloves! We never have blackberries because they are so expensive but my kids love fruit. So when we went to Barney's we picked 33# of blackberries. We have enjoyed blackberry muffins, cobbler, and I am thinking of cold black berry soup. We will be eating his delicious blackberries for at least 1 if not the next 2 years. The Lord provides so abundantly for us I am embarrassed to think how concerned I've been about food prices. I'm worried and God's is just showing up and showing out as he provided several hundred dollars worth of berries.

I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food.

Psalm 132:15

Frugal Eating #2: Meaty Matters

Turkey...right now if you live in BCS area walk do not run to Albertson's and pick up a frozen turkey. They are .29#. You can substitute turkey meat in all of your casseroles. The cheapest chicken you can get is at Wal-Mart at .49#, that is a 59% savings!Pick all the meat off of the bird after having a nice turkey dinner. Bag it up in individual bags so you can just grab some when you are cooking and need cooked chicken or turkey. Last year I cooked an extra Turkey (a friend had a turkey she was going to throw away) after Thanksgiving and did not run out of cooked meat in March! Additionally, after I cooked the turkey I used the bones to make ultra healthy and tasty broth. If you do not live in the BCS area or you do and you are unable to get an Albertson's turkey. Remember that at Thanksgiving & Christmas Turkeys can be found for as low as .10# we will be buying at least 3-4 of these birds!

Eating Tasty food cheap at Rooster Hill!

Frugal Eating

Okay, with gas at $4 a gallon I am on the hunt to cut our grocery bill. We are going to be working on getting our 125X75 garden ready to grow for Fall! But in the meantime I am trying to reduce our grocery budget by finding some more frugal recipes. My one issue is they have to taste good! I'm not just interested in my family choking it down. I want to make some "tasty" food! So I always start my searches at http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/, The Pioneer Woman (though she is not the most frugal but usually very tasty!) and then on to Google. Right now I am focusing on bean dishes (you might not want to sit behind us in church...lols). I want to have at least 2-3 dishes a week that cost no more then .50 per serving! Yes, you read that correctly I want to feed my family of 5 a healthy dinner for $1.50! I'll keep you updated on my progress...But I am slashing my budget from $450 to 275 (who needs Jenny Craig!). On top of this we have decided to try to drink DHA free milk (translation: organic milk which is at least $2 more per gallon!) To balance this out we are giving up Crystal Light (well Wal-Mart's generic version of Crystal light!) $1.79 and sticking to mint tea, mint water, milk & water!

What is your family doing to save money in tight economic times?

Rejoicing in the kitchen!

Kyle

Join the Living Hope Coupon Train

Ladies it's time to be 'like the merchant ships and bring some viddals from a wal-mart' Proverbs 31:14 the K.M. Translation (which by the way is not officially recognized even by me!)

***NOTE TO LIVING HOPE MEMBERS***
Kelly Heslip and I are discussing forming a coupon exchange group at church.
If you are interested please post your e-mail address on this blog post!

*We do not know how it will work yet. Most likely we will pass the envelope around on Sundays & throughout the week as we see or schedule to meet with the members of the train. You are responsible for adding coupons and taking out expireds.

This has been a broadcast of the Proverbs 31 system........

Grocery Shopping & More: 99Cents Only Store

They have opened a couple of these .99 Only Stores around town on in Bryan in the old Kroger Shopping Center and in College Station in the Toys R Us Shopping Center. Let me tell you they have produce, cheese, milk etc... For weeks I was buying a 4# bag of red apples & a 4# bag of oranges for .99!!!! Now the produce varies so you cannot count on the fruit. But the last time I was in there they had a 5# bag of potatoes for .99!

• For you organic gals they carry many organic products.
• For you Diabetics they carry lots of sugar free goodies!
• For you brand names gals they carry brand names (but you still need to break the brand name addiction cycle!)
• For you decorating gals they have lots of cute seasonal decorations!
• For us cheapskates (like me) some of their prices really beat Wal-Mart!

You'll notice I spend about $20 there each trip to the store! Now just like in any situation you have to know your prices & quantities. You can loose money at the .99 Store for instance I purchased a 1# box of brown sugar there and then checked the price at Wal-Mart. I was right it was just over $1 ($1.28) but it was 1 2# bag! So be careful and happy shopping my little merchant ships!

Grocery Shopping & More

While I was grabbing my pre- browned ground beef I noticed a recent grocery store purchase of country ribs & pork chops. They were on sale last week so I picked up a good 8.5# of chops and 10# of Country Ribs. I really try to only buy (ground beef & chicken excluded) on sale. Then when it goes on sale I usually get 10-20# of it which normally makes anywhere from 5-15 meals for my family.

Proverbs 6:7-9 discusses the positive behavior of the ant:

It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,

yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

This time I want to share with you my savings:

Pork Chops

8.44# purchased at regular price (1.96/#)is $16.55 but at the sale price of $1.09 my total was $9.20 a 45% savings on regular price!

Pork Ribs

11.21# purchased at regular price ($2.42/#) is $27.13 but at sale price of .99 my total was only $11.10 a 60% savings!

So I saved a grand total of $23.38 or a 54% savings off of regular price!

Ladies, we have to know our prices and realize when these items go on sale it is harvest time! I encourage you to be like the ant. Live a Proverbs 31 kind of life, being frugal doesn't mean ground beef, top ramen & ketchup....It's a Chicken Marsala kind of life on a burger budget! Maybe, I'll post our meal plans so you can see it's an abundant and tasty life!

Remember the P31 gal as you rise early to beat the crowds at Wal-Mart and know you are storing up crowns in heaven as you make your sacrifice.

She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;

she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.

Bon Voyage!

Grocery, Shopping & More VI: The Clearance Rack

Okay, I went to Kroger today after some sale items. I remembered something I do not think I covered in my previous posts. The grocery store clearance racks. You have to search these out and they are in different spots in each grocery store. In the Kroger's on Rock Prairie it is between the frozen food on the back wall and the health food section, they also have a discount meat section right by the butcher shop. Anyways, in these areas they keep items they have significantly marked down. For instance today I purchased 6 graham cracker pie crusts for .30 each and I have purchased a 3#8oz can of brand name Nesquick for $2.99 because it was dented! You can get great deals in the meat section also, however, you either have to immediately cook or freeze the meat. Since it is close to its expiration date. The key to shopping in this area is to know what your family uses/eats and stock up if you see it but avoid buying "deals" that will go unused!

Yesterday, I realized I am restocking my home with common products that I usually try to keep in bulk. So as I restock I'll keep you guys abreast of what I'm doing and why. Hopefully, it will help someone to save a little money and some time.

By the way you should have your February meal plan posted by now. Go through it and mark the days that you know you will need a crock pot meal, dinner plans out, folks for dinner & H.O.P.E. Group nights! Hey you can even ask your dear husband if there is there a meal he'd love to see on the meal plan and add it....

Rejoice at Home!

Kyle

Grocery, Shopping & More VI: Cheap Trix

This is just a list of a few ways to save money. I can't wait to see all of the additional ways you ladies know so I can add them to my repertoire:

Money Trix

Carry a calculator
Quickly figure out new prices with coupons applied to it
Calculate the unit price
Keep track of your grocery tab while shopping

Calculate the unit price
Just because something has the lowest price on the shelf does not mean it is the cheapest! Step one:Make sure you are looking at the same thing, what I mean is if one item is 20oz make sure the other is 20oz and not 15oz in a big bottle! If they are the same then you are comparing apples to apple if they are different then you need to move on to Step two: Divide the ounces by the price of the item to determine the unit price. This is one of the reasons I carry a calculator with me in the grocery store.


Use Vinegar
Buy this stuff by the gallon because you can use it all over your house and yard! Instead of having a variety of expensive cleaners, bug sprays etc....
My favorite use for vinegar is in my dishwasher where I use it instead of jet dry & once a month I send a cup full through the dishwasher to clean and disinfect it. Remember vinegar used to be an antibiotic in the olden days and it is still a pretty spiffy disinfectant!
Visit site for hundreds of uses of vinegar: uses of vinegar

Save butter bowls and yogurt cups
Don't buy expensive Tupperware to store your homemade mushrooms soup, broths etc...Recycle your plastic butter bowls and yogurt cups.


Measure
...laundry detergent, floor cleaner, ammonia, bleach everything you use! Do not estimate you are either wasting product by using too much or you are not cleaning effectively by using too little! So measure your way to savings!
(There is no need to buy measuring cups use old ones as they wear out, save laundry detergent dips or yogurt cups and mark the measurements with a sharpie.)



Rags to Riches
Buy rags at Wal-Mart and treat your paper towels like the gold standard. Use dirty rags to clean up spills on the floor. keep a few clean rags by the paper towels to remind dear husband (dh) to grab a rag for clean up instead of paper towel. I use paper towels for things like toilets, chicken blood and little faces (when I'm out of baby wash cloths).

Thermostat
We keep our thermostat at 78* during the summer and at 70* during the winter. If someone is coming to your house in the summer you will have to lower it so it remains comfortable with the addition of more bodies into your home. Also install a programmable thermostat to maximize your heating and cooling....here's a website with more information: CPS Energy Thermostat Settings.

Saving Time with Cooking Trix

Cheap Lean Ground Beef
Rinse regular ground beef in a colander with water and let it dry.The fat washes away with the water. Place on paper towels to dry.

Chop and freeze veggies
You can chop and freeze a variety of veggies and store them in your freezer. These vegetables are to be used in cooked foods they cannot be used in things like fresh salads after having been frozen. A list of vegetables that can be frozen: onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers, cooked potatoes....
Once you have a bunch of pre-chopped frozen veggies in your freezer you will save hours a month in food preparation time. All I do is if I need some chopped celery I chop all of the celery right then, package, label & freeze it.

Pre-Cook Meats
Buy large amounts of ground beef (on sale) and brown 5-10# at a time. This saves lots of time with clean up, defrost, fry. When you need some ground beef just scoop out some of your flash frozen food!
Buy several chickens(on sale) and cook them at the same time (some night when you are having baked chicken (make 2-3 or more) then pull the meat off the chicken and freeze it 1/2 -1# baggies. Now you have saved an hour or more in cook time, clean up and baking! When you need some chicken just scoop out some of your flash frozen food!

save unused ends of vegetables
When you cut up onions, celery, carrots and other veggies you usually have the tops left. Get a gallon size bag and start freezing these bits and pieces and save them for making stock. These are perfect for stock because they are scooped out in the end and not eaten. After you scoop them out throw the veggies into your compost heap.

Use the McFood Pyramid


Compost
Take your biodegradable trash to your compost heap: coffee grinds, fruit rinds, egg shells, bits of vegetables etc...

Purchasing Trix
This is a list of places around town to get the best deal on the things we use....

Rosenthals
They carry a dozen eggs for $1.05 and they have great meat sales. This month they have chuck roasts for $1.59 that is a wonderful price!

Cartridge World
Black HP cartridge refill $9.69 with tax. You hand them your empty and they hand you an already refilled cartridge. Also if you get their discount card you get a free cartridge after you have purchased 10. So that's like paying $8.69 for each of the other cartridges! They are right by Greene Eyes in the Tejas Shopping Center. Quick, easy & Cheap!

Sam's club
Buy the Spices, cheese & snacks

Yadi's Co-op
whole wheat pastry flour, organic oatmeal....

Brazos Feed & Supply:
Buy 4 bags and get one bag free (Kim saves $60 year on dog food and they keep track of it for you!) Right now they have a 40# bag of dog food for 10.49!They are on Texas Avenue just before you get to the McDonalds.

Finally, is anyone interested in homemaking book club? I would probably cover 1-2 of my favorite books in a year. So this means reading 1-2 chapters per month and discussing them on line. Let me know in the comments....

F.Y.I., I have posted this series of articles on Kim & my website "The Homemaker" if you need to review or print them this is a good place to go. WARNING: This is a free website controlled by tripod.com and I am not responsible for the advertisements. I do not allow popup ads on my computer so I do not know what pops up! If anyone knows a Christian free website please let me know so I can transfer the information to the new site! I am also posting some of your comments as I have time on this site too!

Happy Homemaking!

......Rejoice for the King has come and is coming!

Grocery, Kitchen & More V:How the McVays Eat

We are very conscious of what we eat especially at home. We are undercover whole wheat and grains folks....SURPRISE!

I cook as much as I can from scratch which includes...breakfast, lunch & dinners. WE ARE NOT ALL ORGANIC folks. We do try to eat more simply. We eat some organics and avoid foods that have ingredients I cannot pronounce or sound like something I would use to kill rats! We are really big on the food pyramid, raw foods, whole grains, game meats, farm eggs, garden vegetables, organic or simple (few ingredients) cereals, milk & soy milk. I am not a food fanatic this represents the rules I generally follow...

So I guess I'll just go through a few products that I love ....


Bragg's amino acid (use it like soy sauce without all the bad stuff!)
http://www.bragg.com/products/liquidaminos.html



Water! We are some water drinking freaks! We drink OJ,Milk or water at breakfast and then we drink only water until dinner time. At dinner we have either water or Crystal light! Wayne is still a big diet soda (remember he's diabetic not on a diet!) drinker but we are trying to convert him. We want water to cleanse us just as throughout the Bible God uses water as an image of cleansing (and rebirth).

"but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."John 4:14



Rice, Beans & Cornbread! My family loves this meal and it costs me less than a $1 to feed the whole lot. Except for the fact that every time I make it I feel compelled to make dessert we'd make off like bandits!

BULK FOOD

(No this is not my cupboard!)
Morningside food co-op where I can order healthier foods in large quantities at lower prices. I only order the following items: whole wheat pastry flour, brown rice, dried beans, oats, whole wheat tortillas, dried fruit. I rotate what I order so I don't blow my whole months budget!

Sam's Club
I just love this store because I can buy enormous Honey & Peanut Butter! We use a lot of honey in place of sugar and the kids love PB&H sandwiches. Plus who doesn't love the snacks they provide for the children while you shop? Be sure to know your prices because sometimes its not cheaper at Sam's!I keep my eye on prices in the store to see if there is anything else we can take advantage of!
We typically buy: Honey, Peanut butter, Cheese (save $4.07), Pretzels (save $2.26)
I love bulk food because it saves me both time and money!



This is not food but they really rock! These are the best vitamins and the kids love them! Mom & Dad take Supermom and Superdad vitamins and they have made a big difference in my energy levels! Made by www.beeyoutiful.com (free shipping orders over $125) or www.morethanalive.com also carries it (free shipping $50+).


What's important when you are determining what your family will eat is your family. What is going to work for you guys and what won't, how much time do you have? Do you have medical issues? Are you struggling with obesity or anorexia?....Look for God and see how he is leading you in this matter ....

"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." Deut. 8:3

Really....Cheap Trix in the Kitchen by the end of this week! This post was already written but now that I'm no longer ill I'll get to work on Cheap trix!

Grocery, Kitchen & More IV:My Food Pyramid

We are going to start with what I call 'pyramiding'. I am not talking about the famous food pyramid that will let you know how much milk and stuff to drink. I am talking about planning meals in such a way that you are never throwing away left overs! Can you feel the money going back into your wallet....

To pyramid food you should already have a grocery list and you must have a meal plan. So if you have not read those post please go back and quickly read over those two posts and check out the Kim's comments under the meal plan!

What is food pyramiding?
Basically it goes like this.....
Sunday
Crock pot roast, potatoes, carrots, cobbler
Monday
Beans, Rice & Corn bread
Tuesday
Lemon Roasted Chicken, salad, garlic potatoes --
Breakfast: Potato Pancakes or potato & egg Breakfast burritos
Wednesday
Bean & Cheese Burritios with Spanish rice
Breakfast: Hot Rice Cereal or Rice Pancakes
Thursday
BBQ Beef Sandwhiches with, peas & French Fries
Breakfast: Potatoe Pancakes
Friday
Chicken Pot Pie
Saturday
Sloppy Joes & French Fries with Salad

I know that looks like a meal plan ,however,the food is being pyramided!

On Tuesday ...
you will take the leftover potates and make Potato pancakes with eggs or if you just have a little bit left you would make breakfast burritos with egg.

On Wednesday ...
take the rice from Monday and make either Rice Pancakes (these hefty pancakes fill you up and keep you full!) or Hot Rice Cereal if you have a lot of leftover rice. You could also plan to use it in a dessert such as rice pudding!
Then for dinner you take your left over beans from Monday and refry them (warm them up mash them add a fat...again go to hillbillyhousewife for a specific recipe) to use in your bean & cheese burritos.
A DOUBLE WHAMMY TODAY!

On Thursday...
Take the leftover beef from Sunday and make your BBQ Beef Sandwhiches. And take the Garlic potatoes from Tuesday to make potato pancakes to make potato pancakes for breakfast.

On Friday...Take Tuesdays leftover chicken, Sundays carrots and Thrusdays peas and any other left over vegtable languishing in the fridge to make your Chicken pot pie.

By re-using leftovers you will save hundreds of dollars at the store.

HOW you may ask?...
Lets look at the Chicken pot pie meal. You spent $2.68 on a chicken for dinner, on Tuesday, and it feeds your family two meals. So the second meal the chicken was basically free, the peas and carrots are leftovers too so all you have to buy is the crust(or make it!!!), a little milk, a little flour. So your meal will cost you roughly $1.47 to feed your family or 2.94 to double it! Let's look at the BBQ beef/Pork Sandwhiches the meat is paid for in the first meal! So it will cost you roughy $2.50 to produce up to 8 sandwhiches, Salad and french fries. And so it goes...

If you know your family eats most of the chicken it may take two chicken dinners to get your chicken pot pie or 4 dinners if your family needs two pies. But the point is to plan the use of leftovers in your meal plan thus reaping additional financial and time saving benefits! After a while it will become habit... I know anytime we have a roast we are have BBQ sandwhiches or black bean soup that week, I no longer have to think about it. I also have a couple or recipes that together take 1 Can (96oz) of Tomato juice so I make sure to plan them in the same two week interval!

Your goal is to STOP THROWING AWAY FOOD and to start finding a productive way to use our leftovers.

Some Tips:

You know you are planning on using the rice, potatoes etc... on a subsequent day so you may want to make a little bit extra.

You also don't have to feel guilty about spending $2.99# on your pot roast when you know it will feed your family for two days.




Now you have time to sit down and read (You can afford to buy a book), relax and play more with your children and dear husband.

Coming up Saving Time in the Kitchen & Cheap Trix!

Grocery, Kitchen & More III: Price Matching

Pre-requisites: Grocery list & Meal Plan

Hi Guys (That's Californian for 'Howdy Ya'll) welcome back to my thoughts on grocery shopping.

Where do I shop

I shop at Wal-Mart because it is the cheapest grocery store in town. I have actually taken my list from store to store to compare prices. What I found was...when an item at say HEB was cheaper the unit was smaller. So it was a 10# bag for 3.00 (.30 per pound) at Wal-Mart and a 7# bag at HEB (.35 per pound). I do go to Krogers and Albertson to take advantage of their coupon deals and special in store only deals on a semi-regular basis. I also price match and I am not willing to drive from store to store to get the best deal...I'd lose money in gas & time!

Now to shop at Wal-Mart I encourage you to get there before 2 p.m. and then it's just like any other store. In fact, the earlier the better. Grocery shopping on Saturday after 9:30 am is ....well let's say to be avoided if possible.

Chosing your grocery store is very important. The most expensive grocery store in town tends to be Albertsons, Kroger, HEB and the cheapest is Wal-Mart. If at all possible you want to try to save money by staying away from more expensive stores. The benefits of Kroger's and Albertson's is that they double and triple coupons. However, if you are not careful you can still pay more money for that item at these stores (than you would at Wal-Mart) even with the double and triple coupons due to their high prices.

What is Price Matching....

Price Matching is taking the Wednesday ads from all of the stores (Wal-Green, Target, Kroger, Albertsons, Apple Tree & HEB) to Wal-Mart and paying the sale price from the ad. You simply make note of the sale items you plan to take advantage of on a piece of paper or cirle them in the ad. Then when you get to Wal-Mart you get that exact item so if Rotel is on sale at Kroger you get Rotel at Wal-Mart for Kroger's sale price. I personally, write the price on my list so I am not trying to shuffle papers and kids. Then I write the items that are price matched at the top of my grocery list so when I get to the check out I can easily identify them. Also, I am able to tell the checker quickly what I am price matching, how much it is and from what store. I tend to put my price matches at the end of my groceries so I can keep up with them. But do what works for you!

This works for all the stores.... For example last week I got 4# of oranges for $1 (savings of up to 3.38), pineapple for $1, 5# sack of potatoes for $1(savings of about 1.49). These savings were just from me saying to the Checker I am price matching and telling her the sale price at the other store. Make sure you take your ads with you especially if you are matching Walgreens or Target because they may not have a copy at the register.

There are some things you shouldn't buy unless they are on sale:
* toothpaste (in the last few weeks went on sale for .99 I had a .25 off coupon so I paid .74 for Crest)
* deodorant (okay, please if you are out you can buy some especially if you are going to sit next to me! :)),
*soap
Blue Bell Ice Cream
...if I know there are more items and I'll add them to the list!



Now your biggest savings while price matching will be in the meat department. I had to learn my meat prices because I saw I could save BIG, ENORMOUS, GIGANTIC Bucks here! Here are common examples:

Pork Chops sale.99# regular price is 2.36 (Family pack is about 5.5#) savings $6.85
Pork Roast sale .99# regular price 1.62 savings $3.15 for every 5#'s
Cat fish nuggets sale .99# regular price $2.68# savings 8.45 for every 5#
Beef Pot Roasts $1.99# regular price is about $4 savings of 8.04 on 4#'s
Briskets get down to .69#
Chicken goes as low as .19#
Pork Ribs .99#
Country Ribs .99#
Link Sausage .99 a pack (Blue Ribbon)
......do you see a trend

I'm sure there are more meats that go on sale on a regular basis you just have to keep an eye on what your family eats. Now when meat goes on sale it's time to be like the ant! I have been know to buy up to 20# of meat at a time.

Proverbs 30:25 "Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;"

I try to avoid buying meat that is not on sale like the plague! That way I have more meat, a variety of meat, better meat and more money on weeks when I am not buying meat. I try to keep $15-50 in an envelope for the 'Holy smokes, someone has lost their mind' meat sales. (Apple Tree has by far the best meat sales!)



By comparison shopping just on your meat you can easily save your family about a thousand dollars each year (That's $83.33 per month) and you'll eat better meat and more varieties. If you buy 4 Blue Bell's when they go on sale that is a saving so f 2.03 on each gallon and a savings of $8.12. I buy 1-3 when they go on sale because we are some ice cream freaks!

Sometimes you are just saving .10 or .05 on items and it may seem silly or petty to get the better price. For me I just keep in mind it's not my money. Second if you save .05 to .50 on 520 (that's just 10 items per week) you've now saved $52-260 over the year. But I usually save much more than that on items. Last week for example I saved $13.70 on just 4 items and I regularly save an average of $15-20 per trip (excluding meat...)that's $780-$1,020 each year.

Kyle, if I buy that much meat at one time all we will eat is meat...No dear one your goal is to learn to keep your freezer stocked with cheap meat. You can start out slowly with 10 to 15#'s of pork chops and then when you plan pork chops in future meals you have the money you would have spent on pork chops that week to purchase other things. Now, when you first start you may have to have an extra pork chop meal to compensate for not purchasing regularly priced chicken. As you get into the grove you'll find you have more money to spend on other things. Also, keep in mind it is rare for 3 or four meats go on sale at the same time, usually it's just one or two.

Also as you move into advanced grocery shopping as items you use a lot go on sale you need to start buying them at the best price. (WARNING: Only do this with staple items like for me Rotel, Cream of Chicken, Cream of Mushroom etc.... and you have to check your cupboard before grocery shopping to make sure you are not double buying.)

Your goal is to get the best price you can on everything you buy. Sometimes this calls for patience and perseverance, sometimes it calls for freezer space (check American classifieds), it definitely calls for organization and price lists. Now, I only keep a price list of meats, but normally I can recall from what is left from my memory that I pay .50 for Rotel or whatever other regularly purchased item it is.

Think of your self as the purchasing department for a small business...McVay Enterprise (our motto is 'We make girls') and our job is to cut the budget. So how much do I save: $1,779(148 per month)-$2,016 ($168 per month). This is nearly a 23% savings for me!

What could God do with this money?

Next time...saving time & money in the kitchen .... Plus, how do the McVay's eat...

PS- Wal-Mart does not honor buy 1 get one free or any add that says you get a % off. You can match store brand to store brand though!