Brick #4 - Give a Little Sweat Equity

I had rockstar dreams. Once upon a time, I was going to be a famous actress/singer/dancer and live in the lap of luxury, with a team of dedicated employees to cater to my every whim.

Right.

Now I am the caterer...and taxi driver, personal shopper, accountant, maid, butler, activities coordinator...I should get paid by the hour! Then I could live in the lap of...oh nevermind.

With all of that going on, don't I deserve a little convenience in my life? Perhaps. But I had to sit down and take a hard look at where the small amount of money we had was going, and somewhere along the way it occured to me that HUNDREDS of dollars were disappearing out of our wallets because we were buying convenience food.

Let me clarify a little bit - in my book, "convenience food" includes ANYTHING that I could make for myself, but I choose to buy a pre-packaged version. Yes, that includes bread, pancake mix, soup, precooked meats, shredded cheese. Anything that I could DIY in my meager kitchen. There were two thought processes going on:

1. What am I buying just to avoid putting some time in at the stove?
2. What is the benefit if I did it myself instead?

The answer to the first question was a long list of prepared meals, breakfast foods, snacks, and easy dinner solutions. The answer to the second question was short: I save a LOT of money, and I KNOW what is going into my family's mouths - no fillers, preservatives or extra junk. This required me to put firmly in place another brick:

4. Give a little sweat equity in the kitchen, gain a lot in the wallet

Let's dispel a few myths about making things homemade:

It takes too much time
My breakfast muffins take 10 minutes to mix, 20 minutes to bake (while they're baking, I can do other things!). I often throw some together before I go to work in the morning, it's that easy. Same goes for most dinners that I make. Ten or fifteen minutes of prep, and I can go about other business while things cook. Especially in the crockpot - I've been known to toss ingredients into the 'pot before work, set it, and dinner's done when I get home. Easy Peasy! At first things took longer to make, but that was just me re-acquainting myself with the stuff in my kitchen :)

One of my biggest time savers was making extra portions of a meal and freezing them - I haven't yet ventured into once-a-month cooking, but making extras while I'm already in the kitchen has been a lifesaver on nights when we aren't getting home until later in the evening. Sometimes those freezer meals are the only thing standing between me and the temptation to order out. That alone saves me almost 20 bucks a week...more if you include the fact that our leftovers often become lunch at work!

I can't cook.
YES YOU CAN. You don't need to be Julia Child in the kitchen, you just need to be able to operate an oven/crockpot without breaking something. It's really just following basic instructions, if you could program your iPod you've worked harder at that than you would in the kitchen! Two of my favorite recipe sites, Cooks.com and Recipezaar.com are chock full of simple recipes with minimal ingredients. A good basic cookbook (my personal favorites are How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food and The Best of Cooking with 3 Ingredients (Flavors of Home)) can be your best friend and help in areas you aren't comfortable with - I always had questions about cooking raw meat...now I roast with the best of them!

I won't really save any money because I have to buy the ingredients
OK - most people know that is about as false as Tammy Faye Baker's eyelashes. But I do actually know people who think this way! They figure that buying ONE of something over TEN somethings makes the ONE something cheaper. But most of the time, the raw materials that you use will add up to a LOT less when you consider that you're buying enough to make SEVERAL somethings instead of just one meal.

Investing some sweat equity in your kitchen is ESSENTIAL to successfully feeding your family on a small budget. I am a working mom (anywhere between 32 and 48 hours a week) and my husband works as much or more. My son is a mini-hurricane right now. I DID NOT think I had the time to do the home cooked meals thing every night. But I knew that I could make the same thing as packaged meals for a fraction of the cost, so I made the choice to TRY.

I started just making the effort to plan very basic protein-veggie-starch dinners. The more I did it, the easier it became to branch out and try new recipes. If you stick to recipes with less than 10 ingredients (and follow your price book!) most of your dinners will end up being under $7 for 4-6 portions. That's an ENTIRE WEEK of dinners for less than 40 bucks.

Getting familiar with the flour jar will also cut major costs. I make homemade muffins, buns/rolls, and pizza dough just about every week. ALL THREE of these recipes cost me $2.73 COMBINED. That's six muffins, 12 dinner rolls and a whole pizza pie. There are a TON of cheap recipes for muffins, breads, breakfast bars and such out there, just find the ones that appeal to you! The only think I don't bake myself right now is sandwich bread - only because I get it SO cheap at Price Rite. If I can figure out how to make it for less than 75 cents a loaf, I'm all over it.

I even make our own version of 100 calorie snack packs. I buy a BIG bag of the snack of choice, and divvy it up into snack baggies. The cost? Around 5 bucks for about 20-30 servings. Those snack packs at their CHEAPEST are 2 bucks for SIX. My cost for the same number of servings - $0.25.

The added benefit of all this work? You know EXACTLY what's going into the mouths of your precious family. No fillers. No added preservatives, extra sodium, or things you can't pronounce. I don't know about you, but it makes me sleep better at night. And my husband is healthier than he's ever been, in spite of his diabetes....there's something to this "home cookin' thing"!

Next week we'll spice it up! Literally ;)

Some great resource sites:

Make ahead recipes - Your Own "fast" food

The $5 Dinner Mom - Awesome recipes, all for 5 bucks or less per meal!

Saving Money with Homemade Convenience Mixes - everything from breads to sauces to seasonings, and tips on making homemade even healthier.

Grab and Go foods

The Crockpot Lady - if it can be done in a crockpot, she's tested it! Another awesome recipe site.








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Menu Plan Monday - Oct 20th

Another week, another menu plan! I'm starting to measure the passage of time based on what's crossing the dinner table :) We're working on finishing our Halloween costumes, I actually scored a huge bit of burlap from the pumpkin patch farm for the Boy Wonder's costume..hooray! We had fun bouncing through the pumpkin field, but it was a very blustery day - and if you've ever dealt with a fall/winter wind in New England, you understand quickly why Yanks are called "hardy". Makes me miss the Colorado winters I grew up with!

Last week's menu went OK, but I ended up switching a bunch of nights around, and I never got around to making the squash and apple casserole. I am going to give it another try this week, and I think I'm going to do it in the crockpot instead of the oven - we'll see how that comes out! Everything else went over very well, though I'd definitely do more cheese in the Broccoli cheese soup next time. Hubby's coworkers have been very jealous of all the good leftovers he brings for lunch :)

This week we only have two nights where everyone will be home for dinner (can you tell which ones?), most other nights the hubby is working so he'll have to enjoy the previous night's dinner on his meal breaks! I had a couple of recipes that I really wanted to try, which made me overshoot my budget by about 10 bucks...next week I have to aim to spend as little as possible and work out of my stockpile. I made a batch of carrot-applesauce muffins that came out AWESOME, so a double batch of those will serve as breakfast and snack options.

Don't forget to visit Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie and check out the 300-plus other MPM participants!

monday - Crockpot Vegetable Curry with coconut rice ($7.06 for 8 servings)

tuesday - Leftover veggie soup with leftover chicken and rice added ($0.23 - it's mostly leftovers!)

wednesday - I'm working a 16 hour shift so the boys will be making good on all the leftovers in the fridge!

thursday - Homemade cheese pizza ($1.99 for 6-8 servings)

friday - Oven Baked Country Ribs, Baked squash and apple casserole, cornbread ($7.82 for 6 servings)

saturday - Chipotle Ranch Chicken Fingers, Green Giant broccoli cheese & rice Steamers that I got on sale for 88 cents! ($5.67 for 4-6 servings)

sunday - Leftover baked ziti from nephew's b'day party (froze a bunch of it!) - FREE!





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Menu Plan Monday - Sept 8th

Ever have one of those weeks where you look back and wonder where the days (and the dollars) disappeared to? That's where I found myself yesterday when I sat down to do the shopping list and the menu plan. I haven't been as diligent with the budget since we got back from vacation, and we had a couple of surprise expenses pop up...so pursestrings are ti-iight!

I took stock of the pantry, and we're actually in quite good shape - so as much as there were LOTS of yummy recipes I wanted to try this week, I committed to eat out of the pantry this week. That means my shopping trip yesterday was nothing but milk, bread, eggs, fruit and veggies - for a grand total of $15! It makes me feel a WEE bit better :)

Last week the recipes were all very successful, and I have PLENTY of leftovers to get me through the week - the Bee Rocks actually made a batch of 12 pockets....so having them again this week will be F-R-E-E! We ended up using a gift certificate from Christmas to go out for dinner on Saturday (hubby's birthday is this Wednesday!) and DS had an overnight with his Auntie...the grownup face time was long overdue and much appreciated :)

Here's this week's lineup - don't forget to check out the 300-plus other menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

monday: Italian Chicken Skillet over rice ($4.35)

tuesday: Frittatta, using leftovers from Sunday's 7 Layer Casserole for filling and some cheddar cheese ($1.29)

wednesday: Mimi's Sticky Chicken, Easy cheese biscuits, carrots ($5.75)

thursday: Chicken drumsticks with BBQ sauce, Homesteader cornbread, green beans ($3.62)

friday: Grandma's Chicken Stew ($1.75)

saturday: Leftover Bee Rocks ($0.00! Nothing! Nada!)

sunday: dinner at the in-laws! Freebies rock!


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New blog

I noticed I was using up a lot of post space to put recipes up...so I decided to make a new blog just for the recipes. I just put it up tonight, so I have a lot of catch up posting to do, but check it out at http://savvysuziefood.blogspot.com/ and feel free to submit recipes for posting as well!

**updated the link so it works now...that's what I get for posting after not enough sleep! :)**




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Recipes for success

I've been working a lot harder at planning meals ahead of time, more so now that I have started participating in Orgjunkie.com's Menu Planning Monday. It has motivated me to hunt down good AND practical recipes that will stick to the mission but still please the palates of my finicky boys.

I have some cookbooks at home, but what I find is that many of the recipes are either completely impractical (too many non-standard ingredients) or too complicated (if it takes more than 30 minutes to prepare, I probably don't have time!), or too involved (the cost per meal would be WAY off my scale). The internet has become my best friend in this adventure - between other posters and recipe websites, I've easily been able to fill that gap!

I started a 3-ring binder for recipes I find along the way - the computer is no replacement for a recipe on paper. I like to make notes on my adjustments and additions to recipes, and seeing the occasional splatter on the page lets me know where the family favorites are. And with so many great resources available, I know my printer will be working overtime filling that recipe book!

I would highly recommend checking out the MANY participants in MPM (here is the most recent post) as many post recipes - you can rest assured these are tested by REAL moms

Some of my other fave sites:

Cooks.com - The recipes posted here fit nearly flawlessly into my frugal mindset...they are basic, but simple and inexpensive...and they serve as fantastic base recipes so that you can add stuff and make your own masterpieces!

$5 Dinners - She's new to the blogging scene but already a fast fave of mine. Who doesn't love a recipe that feeds everyone for the same price as a Big Mac meal? Check out her post on portion distortion..

A Year of CrockPotting - One woman who resolved to use her crockpot every day for a year! There's a wealth of recipes, including over 200 that are gluten-free! I like having a resource for the days when I know I won't have time to prepare dinner after work.

Allrecipes.com - Another of my go-to sites. Recipes are rated by users (there are usually great suggestions in the comments), and they have a great search-by-ingredient tool - I've used this to find recipes based on what's on sale in the store flyer and get ideas for menus!

Supercook.com - I just found this one recently - it lets you enter as many ingredients as you have on hand (from meat to veggies to staples and spices), and will spit out as many recipes as it can find including any combination of your ingredients on hand. What I LOVE is that the top of the list is any recipes you can make without needing ANY other ingredients. I entered 12 items I had on hand at home, and there were 94 recipes I could make now!

Leave a comment and share your best go-to sites and favorite cookbooks!


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Zuper Zucchini

I love zucchini. It's tasty, healthy, versatile....and cheap! If you know someone who grows it, you're not far from that time of the year when crops are over-abundant, and they're practically showering yummy greenness on you. But even when zucchini aren't free, they are still very inexpensive - I can usually get them for between $0.99 and $1.30 per pound without a sale. They're also a low-calorie, high-nutrient powerhouse...according to Caloriecount.com one full cup of chopped zucchini has only 20 calories, 1.4 grams of dietary fiber, and 35% of your daily vitamin C needs.

These lean greens are on sale this week, so I did a little searching and found a couple of very appealing recipes on MSN.com...I estimated cost based on this week's sale and stuff I already have on hand from past shopping trips. Can't wait to try them out!

Zucchini Cakes with Mushroom Ragout
I am not a big fan of roasted red peppers so I am going to try substituting tomato sauce thickened with tomato paste....

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
1/2 of a medium zucchini, shredded (1 cup)
1 8-1/2 oz. pkg. corn muffin mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz.)
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
12 oz. assorted mushrooms, quartered (4-1/2 cups)
1 cup drained bottled roasted red sweet peppers (1/2 cup pasta sauce plus 1 sm can tomato paste)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat twelve 2-1/2-inch muffin cups with cooking spray; set aside.
2. In mixing bowl combine zucchini, muffin mix, cheese, milk, egg, and cayenne pepper; spoon evenly into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 11 to 14 minutes or until golden.
3. Meanwhile, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook 3 to 4 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Place roasted peppers in blender. Cover; blend until nearly smooth. (Instead of blending roasted peppers, cook mushrooms in sauce and tomato paste)
4. Arrange 3 cakes on each plate with some of the mushrooms and pepper sauce. Makes 4 servings.

Appx cost:
Zucchini: $0.50
Muffin Mix: $0.99
Cheese: $0.87
Milk: $0.05
Egg: $0.13
Mushrooms $3.00
Pasta sauce $0.25
Tomato paste $0.50

Grand Total: $6.29 or $1.57 per serving

Sausage and Summer Squash
I only buy kielbasa when it's BOGO so this ends up being a really cheap dinner. I would probably use the Naan flatbread and just brush it with olive oil and italian herbs to give it flavor, I know they carry that at Price Rite and it's cheaper than Boboli.

Ingredients
1/3 to 1/2 cup bottled Italian salad dressing
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz. cooked Polish sausage links, halved lengthwise, sliced diagonally
3 small yellow summer squash and/or zucchini, quartered lengthwise
4 wedges Italian flat bread, split (Naan or homemade flatbread)
1/4 cup sliced green onions
Fresh oregano leaves (dried oregano is what I have on hand)
1/4 cup coarsely shredded Parmesan cheese (optional) (regular grated Parmesan from the can)

Directions
1. Preheat broiler. In small bowl combine dressing and garlic. In extra-large skillet cook sausage and squash in 2 tablespoons of the dressing mixture for 8 to 10 minutes or until sausage is heated through and squash is almost tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, place bread on broiler pan; brush with 1 tablespoon of the dressing mixture. Broil 3 to 4 inches from the heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until lightly toasted.
3. Serve sausage and squash with toasted bread. Drizzle remaining dressing; sprinkle green onions and oregano. Pass Parmesan cheese. Serves 4.

Appx cost:
Dressing: $0.75
Kielbasa: $1.50
Zucchini: $1.50
Naan $1.50
Green onions: $0.15

Grand total: $5.40 or $1.35 per serving




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Menu Planning Monday - August 18th

Well I did manage to get some shopping done after vacation, and I hit upon a couple of really good deals! The tubs of Lloyds BBQ chicken, pork and beef were BOGO and I had FIVE $1 off coupons...so I got all of them for 2 bucks a piece (normally 6 bucks). And I had a couple of dollar off coupons for the sandwich size Thomas' muffins, so I got 2 packages for $2 each. Found Minute Maid lemonade on sale for $1 and I had a $1 off 2 coupon, so I picked up two for a buck. Overall it was a big stockup week, but I have plenty of ammunition for the next few weeks :)

Here's how the week's menu is shaping up...cost is total for the meal including any leftovers:

Monday: English muffin pizzas (with the large muffins) and mango & peach fruit salad ($4.00)

Tuesday: Chickpea Stew with rice ($3.44)

Wednesday: Baked Chicken drumsticks, mixed veggies, baked potato ($4.50)

Thursday: Lloyds BBQ pork on bulkie rolls, corn on the cob, steamed broccoli ($4.00)

Friday: Italian Chicken Skillet over rotini pasta ($4.35)

Saturday: Steak seasoned with hot sauce (Black and blue sauce from http://www.bandanabillsblazing.com/ - it's blackberry and blueberry...very cool!), veggies and easy cheese biscuits (see recipe below) ($7.75...splurge night!)

Sunday: Baked Ziti and leftover cheese biscuits with homemade garlic butter ($5.50)


Don't forget to head on over to OrgJunkie.com to check out hers and other monday menus!

Easy Cheese Biscuits
This recipe is one listed in The Best of Cooking with 3 Ingredients by Ruthie Wornall. I add more milk until the consistency is a little stickier because that's how I like them :)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups baking mix
2/3 cup milk (I use closer to 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients until soft dough forms. Beat for 30 seconds. If dough is too sticky, add more baking mix. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.






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Menu Planning Monday - August 11th

Yes, I'm on a camping getaway right now...but through the miracles of modern technology, I am able to magically teleport my weekly meal plan..and...

Ok. I'm a little silly at the moment. Forgive me my indiscretion :)

I did want to post the family camping meal plan, if for no other reason than this whole trip fits into my frugal philosophy - we've rented a couple of trailers lakeside in Maine, complete with kitchenettes so we can prepare our own meals and free activities organized by the camp directors. The other night my mother in law, sister in law, grandmother in law and I sat around the table and wrote out all of our meals for the week, and divvyed up shopping and pre-cooking responsibilities. With a little luck, all 12 of us will be well fed and well rested when we get back!

Here's how it panned out, I left out prices this week because I am only doing a small part of the shopping:

Breakfasts: two egg, bacon and pancake breakfasts. One French toast breakfast. Cereal, fruit and muffins all other days.

Lunches: Cold cuts, mac and cheese, and cold cuts :)

Dinners:
Saturday: Spaghetti dinner
Sunday: Burgundy beef, fresh corn
Monday: Sloppy Joes, watermelon
Tuesday: Burgers and hot dogs, fruit salad
Wednesday: French meat pies
Thursday: Dorito Chicken Casserole
Friday: Pizza from the local eatery



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Down in the O(am)C

*OAMC*

They are 4 letters that intimidate me. A lot.

OAMC, or Once-a-month Cooking, is a common meal planning technique that is pretty self-explanatory. You set aside one day (or one weekend) per month, and do an all-out cooking marathon. You prepare an entire month's worth of dinners for the freezer in one fell swoop. I can't imagine surviving such an undertaking without several chocolate martinis...which means there's no guarantee the last few dishes would be edible. :)

However, the end result appeals to me a LOT. I imagine my basement freezer stacked to the brim with neatly packaged mini-meals. If I have to work at night, hubby can tap into a storehouse of homemade TV dinners and I don't have to worry that the peanut is getting hot dogs and mac & cheese AGAIN. Meal planning that just involves a quick inventory in the basement. And me, freed from the bonds of the kitchen for 28 days out of the month...where's that martini?

There are lots of OAMC resources out there for those of us thinking of getting started:

Mom's Budget - a good quick reference FAQ list. Check out their recipe listings too!
Real Food for Real People - cookbooks listing complete with links to Amazon
Cook of the Month - a beta freezer cooking site that lets you select recipes, and organizes them to create a shopping list for you
Bulk Cooking by Jennia Hart - a wealth of how-to links, recipes, and planning tips

This is just the tip of the iceberg - because in truth, you can expand any of your favorite recipes to make them bulk-friendly. You can double or triple family favorites, and AllRecipes.com allows you to increase or decrease the number of servings on their recipes and adjusts the ingrediets accordingly, taking the math out of your hands. If I'm going to spend 10 hours cooking, I don't want to wrestle with a calculator too! The key to the whole process is PLANNING. Planning your shopping to maximize savings, planning your cooking day to be efficient in the kitchen, planning your packaging to freeze things in usable portions and label them for easy reference later.



I don't know if I will ever get to the point where I will make a whole month at a time, but it will definitely be worth my while to consider making three or four dishes in large batches to give me a buffer in meal planning. And when the produce sales hit, I can cook and freeze and not worry about either watching my savings spoil in the fridge, or serving 3 pounds of zucchini for dinner.



No matter what, it's another tool in my arsenal - whether it's used a little or a lot, OAMC (*shiver*) is definitely going to help take the mission to the next level. I just need to dust off those martini glasses....




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Menu Plan Monday - August 3rd

Ok so here goes - my first real attempt at menu planning for the week! I am heading out for a much needed vacation on Saturday, so I figured the short week was a good opportunity to get my feet wet. I decided to try and keep track of the cost of dinners too - most of my recipes are 5 bucks or less so if I can do a week for $35 total, I'm in good shape. It's just another way to stay on point towards my goal! I did a lot of reading on other posters at Organizing Junkie and it seems there are as many ways to go about it as there are bloggers joining in!

So here goes...

Breakfasts: any mix of the following: oatmeal and fruit, cereal and fruit, frozen waffles with yogurt, or eggs and toast

Lunches: Sandwiches, soups or leftovers.

Sunday: Dinner at the in-laws!

Monday: Slow cooker London Broil with potatoes and carrots, cheese biscuits ($4.10)

Tuesday: Tacos with lettuce, tomato, peppers, sour cream and cheese ($6.50)

Wednesday: Homemade pepper, onion and cheese pizza ($3.75)

Thursday: Chickpea stew with rice ($3.44)

Friday: Chicken Stir Fry (chicken, straw mushrooms, water chestnuts, broccoli) and rice ($3.65)





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Stirrin' it up

Stir fry - it's not just for take out anymore!

In the grand scheme of meal planning, nothing is handier than recipes with flexibility. And stir-fry dinners are one of the most flexible, and least expensive, recipes to have in your arsenal. The basic formula is this:

Heat oil in pan (in my house, oil gets lonely without 1 or 2 cloves of garlic)
Add 1 to 1.5 pounds (insert meat here) , cook almost all the way through
Add random veggie #1 - appx 2 servings
Add random veggie #2 - appx 2 servings
Season to taste
Cover and cook through (appx 10 minutes)
Serve over rice/noodles

Because I wait for the best prices on meat (max $2 per pound), and use frozen veggies wherever I can ($0.25 per serving), with the rice ($0.40 per cup) any combination of ingredients is going to make an entire 4 serving meal for $4.60! And stir-fry doesn't have to be asian, you can use whatever spices and seasonings are handy and come up with your own flavor combinations!

Below is the supper I made tonight, it went over like gangbusters!

Beef and vegetable stir fry

1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 pound london broil, sliced thin and cut into 1-inch strips
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 bag frozen broccoli
2 med tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp ground pepper
1 Tbsp onion powder
1/2 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 Tbsp cold water
4 cups cooked rice

Put london broil strips and soy sauce in a ziploc bag, seal and let marinate 20 minutes to 2 hrs.
Heat oil in large pan. Add minced garlic, cook until just beginning to brown.
Add contents of ziploc bag, cook london broil just until it starts to brown.
Add broccoli and tomato, pepper, onion powder and chili powder. Stir to mix. Cover and cook appx 10 minutes on medium heat, or until veggies are heated through.
Uncover, keep simmering. Add dissolved cornstarch and stir to mix well. Let simmer uncovered for 2 more minutes to allow sauce to thicken a little.
Serve over cooked rice

Total cost:
London broil - $2.20
1/2 bag frozen broccoli - $0.50
2 med tomatoes - $0.55
Rice - $1.60

Grand total: $4.65



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Easy Thai-style Chicken

I was craving something besides the run-of-the-mill baked chicken tonight, and I must have had peanut butter on the brain....I scoured the 'net for ideas, and found a couple of basic recipes for chicken with a spicy peanut sauce - but all of them required stuff I didn't have handy. I ended up whipping up this recipe - the veggies and spices are all pretty flexible, and can be adjusted based on what you have in the pantry. The basic flavor mix I was going for is spicy, sweet, savory, and peanutty - so go to town!



Easy Thai-style Chicken

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp minced garlic (or to taste)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
2 split chicken breasts - skinned and deboned, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup water
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
2 zucchini or green squash, quartered lengthwise and cut into bite size pieces
Prepared couscous, rice or noodles (whatever is handy)



In a large skillet, heat oil. Add garlic, cook just until it browns. Add chicken pieces, sprinkle with chili powder and cumin, cook thoroughly - appx 5-7 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix peanut butter, water, soy sauce, sugar and ginger. Add zucchini to pan, cook 2 minutes until just tender. Add peanut sauce, cook until sauce is smooth, appx 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Serve over hot couscous, noodles or rice.



TOTAL COST:

Chicken - appx $2.00

Zucchini - $1.50

Peanut butter - appx $0.45

Soy Sauce - appx $o.20

Couscous - $0.75

Spices - negligible

GRAND TOTAL: $4.90


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Unexpected dinner guests and kielbasa

I've been spending this last week recovering from a long weekend down in Pennsylvania - got to see a lot of family but I need a vacation from that vacation!

I haven't posted anything about my shopping because I am 2 weeks into having nothing on the "need" list other than the basic milk, bread and eggs. I grabbed a couple of 1 pound containers of strawberries last week (they were on sale for $2 each) and 12-packs of canned soda for DH to bring to work (5 for $10, 60% off!) but other than that my pantry is quite well stocked. I may have some extra $$ to spend this week so I'll look at the sales on Friday and see if there's anything worth stocking up on.

My sister in law dropped by unexpectedly this evening with my 20 month old niece, which meant I needed to feed twice the usual mouths. I don't mind, my 16 month old son loves his cousin and they are just a riot to watch when they're together. We mommies also got some much-needed girl time. I pondered what to do and came up with the below recipe - I had picked up a couple of kielbasa when they were BOGO and pasta is always a good fallback to feed a crowd. I ended up with enough for 2 leftover servings, so DH and I will have lunch for work tomorrow covered.

Kielbasa and Pasta supper
1 kielbasa, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 box pasta of choice (I used rotini, easy for the kiddos to get on their forks)
1/2 bag frozen peas
2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp fresh ground pepper (optional)

Bring water to boil in a large pot. In a small fry pan, heat the kielbasa on medium-low heat. When water is boiling, add pasta and peas. Return to a boil, cook for appx 10 minutes or until pasta is tender. Drain, put into a large serving bowl. Add warmed kielbasa. Add margarine, pepper and garlic powder, toss until well mixed.


TOTAL COST:
Kielbasa - $1.50
Pasta - $1.00
Peas - $0.50
Butter - $0.10

GRAND TOTAL: $3.1o


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Summer sweetness

I love summer. The warm weather, the sunshine, the barbecues, and my personal favorite - the fruit! I don't think it's any accident that the sweeter, juicier harvests come when the thermometer rises. We've kind of spoiled ourselves over the years by becoming accustomed to year-round access to seasonal food, but the real frugalistas know that eating what's ACTUALLY in season is much better for your wallet - one of my coworkers called it "old fashioned shopping", I just call it smart.



Starting Friday, strawberries are on sale for $2 per 1 pound container at Stop & Shop! They are California strawberries, not exactly local fare just yet, but the harvest was good this year so we benefit in spite of the rising cost of transporting....i'm certainly not complaining!


Some fun strawberry facts from the California Strawberry Commission:

• Strawberries are little powerhouses full of fiber, antioxidants and Vitamin C - they are rated the 2nd most antioxidant fruit AND one serving has more vitamin C than a whole orange!
  


• Strawberries can also boast flavonoids (which help give them their red color), which are researched for their anticancer properties. Strawberry extract is showing promise in a Tufts University study for slowing the decline of brain function and may be helpful in holding off Alzheimers. The strawberry is even certified by the American Heart Association as a heart-healthy food.



• If you lined up all the strawberries grown in California end to end, they would wrap around the Earth 15 times. (that's a LOT of strawberry shortcake!)

The California Commission has a cute little website for the kiddies called Strawberryville that has lots of fun facts and games. And there are a TON of great strawberry recipes on the Commission's site as well. Here's one I found that will be easy to make ahead of time and use on waffles, pancakes, even chicken and fish!

Strawberry Breakfast Salsa
1/3 cup apricot jam

3 tbsp. water

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 pint baskets California strawberries, stemmed and cut into 1/4-inch diced

Directions
In medium bowl whisk jam, water and cinnamon, add strawberries. Toss gently to combine. Serve salsa over pancakes, waffles, French toast, hot cereal, or mix into plain yogurt. Makes 4 servings.

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Fabulous muffin recipe!

Muffins are my new favorite breakfast - cheap, easy and deelish. I've been scouring the boards to try and find THE perfect muffin recipe, and this one comes really close! It took me all of 10 minutes to put together and it's VERY versatile - the base recipe is for banana but I did two bananas and about a pint of strawberries. I splashed a little milk on it because it seemed a little dry, they came out perfectly and held up VERY well in the freezer. Read down the comments below her recipe post - there are great suggestions for other variations as well!

From Cat Can Cook

Banana Muffins

3 or 4 Large bananas, mashed (the more bananas the moister, so I use 4)
1/2 cup white sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I don’t like them too sweet)
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup melted margarine or butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together, being careful not to over-stir! Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 350 degrees oven for approximately 20 minutes. Enjoy!

TOTAL COST:
2 bananas - appx $0.75
Pint strawberries - $2.00
Sugar - appx $0.15
Egg - $0.18
Margarine - $0.25
Flour - appx $0.20

GRAND TOTAL - $3.53 for 6 big muffins, or $0.58 per muffin

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Sour Cream Muffins

Still trying out some muffin recipes - this one grew from a need to get rid of half a container of sour cream before it turned, and a realization that I still have too many frozen strawberries in the freezer. I didn't need to alter this one much at all, other than subbing the strawberries for the blueberries. This muffin was VERY tasty - rich, slightly sweet, and loaded with berries. I ended up with 9 large muffins, that is probably because I used a LOT of strawberries. I did find the strawberries made the inside a little mushy, I don't usually use muffin liners but these would benefit from a little more support. They froze well but the outsides were a wee bit tough after reheating. Will definitely make again though!



From Allrecipes.com (which actually has a "search by ingredients" feature!)


SOUR CREAM MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup nonfat sour cream
1 cup fresh blueberries (or any berry or chopped fruit)
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper muffin liners.
2.
In a medium bowl, stir together the applesauce, sugar and eggs. Combine the flour and baking soda, add to the wet mixture and mix well. Stir in the sour cream, then fold in the berries. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Cups should be at least 3/4 full.
3.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until muffins spring back when touched lightly.

TOTAL COST:



Applesauce - $0.13

Sugar - $0.15

Eggs - $0.24

Flour - $0.17

Sour cream - $0.50

Strawberries - $2.00



GRAND TOTAL: $3.19, or $0.35 per muffin



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Chinese Beef with Broccoli

Still had a couple of those london broil steaks in the freezer...I did the crock pot thing, I broiled it in the oven....but I wanted to expand my horizons a bit. It's an inexpensive cut of meat that I am sure will grace my freezer many times in the coming months, so I don't want to be stuck doing the same dance with it every time. This recipe was from Cooks.com, and it provided a tasty alternative to the other dishes I tried. I also had almost 3 full servings of leftovers. You can stretch this dish a little further by adding more veggies too.

Two things: First, it is best to slice the meat while it is still partially frozen - you can cut it thinner and it holds together better. Second, I added a soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder and ginger marinade - it really added to the taste and the meat stayed pretty tender in spite of the long cooking.



CHINESE BEEF WITH BROCCOLI

2 c. steak or London Broil (sliced thin)

1 lg. can mushrooms, pieces & stems (one 15 oz can, drained)

2 pkgs. frozen chopped broccoli (one 20 oz bag frozen broccoli)

Soy sauce (appx 1 cup for marinade, to taste in the pan)

2 pkgs. brown gravy mix



(Marinade steak pieces at least 3 hrs up to overnight in the following: 1 cup soy sauce, 1-1/2 tbsp ground ginger, 2 tbsp garlic powder, 2 tbsp onion powder, about 3/4 cup water or until the meat is mostly covered.)


In a large frying pan quick fry meat, adding soy sauce to taste. You may add garlic powder if desired. Add broccoli and mushrooms, stir constantly. If mixture is dry, add water. Continue cooking on a low flame until heated (about 15 minutes). Add both packages of brown gravy mix. Stir until thickened. Serve over noodles or rice.



TOTAL COST:

London Broil: $2.70
Can mushroom pieces: $0.60
Frozen Broccoli: $1.00
Gravy: $0.40
Rice: $0.50

GRAND TOTAL: $5.20


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Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Mac and cheese gets a bad rap. If all you've experienced is the kind that comes in the blue box, fear not! You don't need to be drowned in orange cheese food to enjoy this tasty, and cheap, dinner! The below recipe is from BetterBudgeting.com, I used a quarter cup of BBQ sauce instead of the Worcestershire for a little more zing and a different flavor. This made enough to feed all 3 of us twice.

Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Copyright © 2002 by Michelle Jones, editor of Better Budgeting

This is a recipe for traditional baked macaroni and cheese, and has a custard like texture (because of the eggs). You can also add more cheese if desired (and even several types), and some butter! When you find a good sale on cheese at your grocery story, just try several different variations until you discover your favorite. And if you'd prefer a creamier (and quicker) macaroni and cheese, view my recipe for Creamy Macaroni and Cheese.

Ingredients:

8 ounces macaroni, cooked al dente and drained
8 ounces grated cheese (2 cups), reduced-fat if desired
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 tsp. salt
Worcestershire sauce (I used 1/4 cup BBQ sauce)
2 c. milk (half & half can be used for a richer variation, and skim milk is okay but the sauce won't be as thick)

Directions:

Beat eggs, salt and Worcestershire sauce (BBQ sauce) together in a medium sized bowl, add milk and mix thoroughly.

Layer macaroni and grated cheese (3 layers of each) in a casserole dish.

Pour egg mixture over macaroni and cheese and bake at 350 degrees until set and lightly browned on top. About 45-50 minutes.


Cost for this dish, with a full round of leftovers:
Macaroni elbows $0.50 (half a box)
Grated cheddar cheese $1.50 (half a 16 oz bag)
Eggs $0.24
BBQ sauce $0.50
Milk $0.36

GRAND TOTAL: $3.10


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Breakfast adventures

I'm working on rekindling some of those old home-ec roots. Breakfast is one of those meals that tends to be all-or-nothing...either we do a big breakfast (pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc) or hardly anything at all. That strategy has proved neither healthy nor economical - when we DO eat, we tend to go for fattier foods or pricier cereals.

Hubby's cholesterol came back a little high last time he was tested, and since he's diabetic we want to make sure that doesn't become a bigger issue. Sadly for him, that meant less eggs for breakfast and snacks, and more of the dreaded "F" word.....Fiber.

We added oatmeal to the roster and that has fared pretty well - at Price Rite the 31-serving canister costs $1.69 - add a cup of milk and that works out to about $0.23 per serving....even with added fruit that's a hearty breakfast for under $0.50! But I wanted a little variety and an option that traveled a little better.

Muffins seemed to be the way to go - they travel well, freeze well, and I can work the add-ins around whatever is on sale or already handy. And a single homemade jumbo muffin will average between $0.35 and $0.45 per muffin (when an entire recipe makes 6 large muffins - if you make 12 smaller muffins, have two!) Now, before you scoff at the idea, this is NOT a time consuming endeavor. It took me all of 15 minutes to mix up the ingredients, and 25 minutes in the oven. I made breakfast for the next 6 mornings before my son had completely fallen asleep for his nap.

I have tried two batches so far, one blueberry and one banana - I am using half white and half wheat flour, that seems to make them a bit more substantial. I have found some recipes that will call for leftover oatmeal in place of some of the flour, and I can use Splenda instead of sugar so that hubby can partake as well. I am still searching for a good universal mix recipe, I have found a few online but haven't tested them out yet. The recipe below is one I found on HillbillyHousewife.com for a basic freezer muffin that was pretty good, though I found it came out more bread-like than cake-like. I used the whole egg instead of just the whites, and I substituted applesauce for the oil to reduce fat. After combining the wet and dry ingredients I added my filling, so far I've tried 1 pint frozen blueberries, and 1 1/2 mashed large bananas. I'll keep you posted on my experiments as I search out the perfect muffin!!!

Basic Freezer Muffin
Ingredients:

2 C all purpose flour
1/3 C sugar
1 T baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 C canola oil
2 egg whites
1 C skim milk (from milk powder is fine)

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.Blend all the ingredients together well.
In a separate bowl blend the oil, egg whites and milk until blended completely together.
Pour into the dry mixture.Mix just until everything is moistened.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.Prepare a muffin tin with a non stick cooking spray.
Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full of batter.Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a couple of muffins comes out clean.

**A note on freezing - These freeze REALLY easily, if you have a FoodSaver or other vacuum device use that method, but I just use a regular Ziploc Quart sized freezer bag. Put the muffin in, seal the bag ALMOST all the way, then fold the bag around the muffin and squeeze out the excess air. This makes a pretty good vacuum seal as well!



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Week three...and my list is SOOO short!

Well here I sit in Week 3 of my grocery mission. And believe it or not, my shopping needs list is only slightly longer than last week. I still have some london broil steaks, chicken, kielbasa and pork in the freezer downstairs...so dinners are pretty well covered for a while. All I truly need is the usual milk, eggs, fruit and veggies, and some lunch meat for the hubby's work week. Add a package of paper towels and my "needs" list should have a grand total somewhere around $25-$30. Which means in three weeks, my total grocery bill is just about at the $200 mark! Should I be getting excited about hitting my goal limit with 1 week still left? YES!!!! Because already my grocery bill for the month will be over $100 less than I was used to spending. That's HUGE progress!!!

The timing couldn't be better - with DH making a job transition and a few unexpected expenses that reared their heads, we were looking at having to scrimp and scrape to get by the next few weeks. But because I was able to stock up in Week 1, of all the worries I may have, feeding my family is not one of them!

Dinner this evening was easy enough - I did up a london broil steak in the crock pot as per the below recipe from Cooks.com:

London Broil
2 tbsp. oil
1 env. onion mushroom soup mix
Pepper
flour and water

Heat oil in Dutch oven on medium/low heat. Put meat in to brown. Sprinkle pepper on top. Turn over when brown on bottom. Brown top. Sprinkle soup mix on top. Turn heat to low. Put lid on; simmer for 2 hours. Turn over after 1 hour. When fork tender, remove from pot; keep warm.
Make gravy: Mix flour and water in a cup to form a paste. Add 1 cup water to pan to heat up. Blend in paste, stirring constantly to blend into gravy.

I made a double portion of rice, served half and put the other half in the fridge for dinner later in the week. I also have a nice tub of leftover gravy that I can use for breakfast or dinner dressing. Add a side dish of frozen veggies, and this meal tallied up as such:

London Broil steak: $2.70
Onion soup packet: $0.25
Rice: $0.50
Frozen mixed veggies: $1.00

Grand total (with leftover rice, gravy and veggies): $4.45

My game plan for this week is to add some storage containers to my list - I can make up Jello and pudding cups, and preportion larger jars of applesauce for the kiddo if I have some 4- and 6-ounce storage containers. I also want to start pricing out larger airtight containers for homemade baking mix - I have been trolling the frugal sites for a good universal muffin recipe and have found some great ideas for homemade baking mix, but the cost savings will be better if I can do large batches. I'm also finding some good articles on bulk meal preparation - which will not only save money but time as well! I'll post recipes as I try them out and test their success!



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