The cheapest Veggies

What are the Cheapest Vegetables Per Pound? — My Money Blog

When making your menu it helps to keep in mind which forms of each type of food are the cheapest. Planning to use those helps keep the budget down. 

I Plan to Eat

Don't we all?

I have blogged before about making menus and shopping lists; that I use google calendar to plan a month at a time.

Well, I've changed things around a bit.

I realized I needed to reprint our family cookbook; something I have to do every couple of years due to my kiddos taking after their mother in the neatness department. A 3-ring binder with printer paper just doesn't stand up to our messes.

But there has to be a better way!

The Meal Time Mamba

  Set an alarm to ring half an hour before lunch and 1 to 1 ½ hours before supper (it may take some experimenting to figure out how much time you need, and, yes, I have more than half a dozen alarms that ring throughout my day. Smart phones are quite handy to this distractible person). When the alarm rings, stop whatever you are doing and go start the next meal.

   Check your menu plan. Always be thinking two meals ahead. At supper take anything you will need for lunch tomorrow out of the freezer. At breakfast take supper out. At lunch, take breakfast out.

·      
  What do you need to do to get ready for two meals down the road? (i.e. start the crockpot?)

·        What do you need to do for the next meal? (i.e. run the bread machine?)

·        For this meal, what will take the longest to cook? The next longest? Start them going in that order. (You may need to make notes in your family cookbook for how long things take. Some things seem to take a long time when they don’t and vice versa. Time yourself and adjust accordingly.)

·        Set the table. The prettier food looks, the better it tastes.

·        Set timers, use electric thermometers that beep when food is done, and check everything every few minutes.

·        Serve the food in pretty dishes.

·        Calm your mind.

·        Thank God for blessing you with food to eat, supplying all your needs, and dying for your sins.

·        Enjoy your family’s company. Keep the conversation happy. 

Encourage laughter.

When everyone is done eating,

·        Put up all the leftovers that can be used by humans in the future.

·        Put the rest of the leftovers in pet bowls (special bowls just for leftovers, preferably. Dry kibble won’t have to be thrown out because it’s contaminated by people food this way.)

·        Put all the garbage in the trash can.

·        Take all the dirty dishes to the sink.

 If you have a dishwasher

o   Rinse and load the dishes.

o   Add soap

o   Turn on (you can wait and only do this once a day, just before bed, if your family is small and only uses one machine-full a day. Mine would use about six loads, which is why we don’t bother owning one. Its faster to just do them by hand when you have this volume)

o   Put anything that can’t wash in the machine into a sink of hot soapy water.
 
If you do not have a dishwasher (my preferred)

o   Fill the sink with dishes and hot soapy water.

o   Let soak

·        Wash the table, wiping each chair as you pass.

·        Start at the door to the kitchen and wash each counter and appliance as you come to it. Lightly wipe the cupboards if they need it. DON’T SCRUB! This is just a quick wipe up. You will get the hard stuff when you get to the kitchen in the Clean House Conga. You can use all-purpose cleaner here if you feel your house needs it. I do about once a week, though most the time a plain wet cloth is more than enough.

·        Sweep the dining room and kitchen.

·        Wash, rinse, dry and PUT UP what’s in the sink.

·        If you have a dishwasher, unload it and put the dishes up. Don’t leave it sitting full of clean dishes. (If you only do one load a day, unload it first thing in the morning and turn it one before bed every night. Then it will always be ready to put dirties in. This will make it easier for your household to get in the habit of always putting their dishes in the machine.)

Only wash one sink’s worth after breakfast and lunch and two after supper. Few families will actually fill the sink this many times in a day (If you do than fill one more sink’s worth per meal). You will eventually get them all washed, though it may take a while.

Do this Mamba after every meal every day, even Sunday.

Tonight's Supper

Spaghetti

3.35 pounds hamburger, picked up in the Manager's Special section of the grocery store for $2.61/pound- $8.65

2 packs spaghetti noodle, store brand- $2.00

1 large jar of Prego sauce- $2.50 (? this is a guess. I am not the one who picks it up off the shelf).

A bit of cheddar (some of the kids like it in their sauce) maybe $1 (a little goes a long way).

A couple slices of American cheese $.10? 

Total meal- $14.50ish. And that feeds 11 people. 

(Did I get my prices right? Let me know).

So Let's Walk it through

Let's see how this would all work together to save money:

1) Do an inventory of the house so you know what you have on hand and what you need.
Make a menu with your appointment calendar, repeating menu, the store ads, and your inventory on hand. If you are basically following the repeating menu this will take about 10 minutes.

Earn while you spend

Random Additional Savings Points

The #1 Savings Tip-Make a Shopping List

"Never go to the store without a shopping list" is in every money saving resource I have ever read. 

And it makes sense. If you try to function without a list you buy things you don't need and you are subject to the mind manipulations all stores use. 

Yep, stores have "enticing you to spend money you don't want to" down to a science (expensive things are at eye level, cheap is high or low, for example).  The best way to avoid this manipulation is simply to have a list and stick to it. Tune out everything in the store except just what's on the list.

Inventory for 11

Biggest Savings Tip #2- Make a Menu

Make a Menu

It is the universal experience on the internet and in all my saving money books that you save money by meal planning.  That is everyone's experience. This appears to be the #2 biggest savings point there is (#1 in my next post :-))

I wrote up a list of all meals I would like to cook. At first I did this just for supper, but eventually I added the other meals and snacks too. 

Scratch it

Dispose of the Disposables

Money and food.

I constantly surf the net for ways to save more money in our grocery shopping. Usually, though, I am already doing what each article says to do- and more. In fact, when the author gives enough information to figure a per-person budget, I am usually spending less than they do.

So, I decided to begin sharing what I do to keep our costs low, since a homemaker helps the family budget by keeping money from leaving the house instead of bringing it in.

Been looking up all sorts of DIY stuff.

I was real unhappy with last year's Christmas stockings. Hubby and I just roamed through the store looking for anything to fill them up. It was just a chore to get done; somethings else on the list.

I decided then that I would research homemade/alternatives to random mass candy for next year.

1. Even if I make the exact same thing using real sugar, they will be healthier. No preservatives and no corn syrup. No one knows exactly how they make corn syrup, just that they use field corn (not sweet corn) and massive amounts of polypropylene glycol (radiator fluid, which is sweet by the way). Many of our nation's bad health trends appear to be linked to the introduction of this sweetener (its cheaper than sugar, so everyone uses it in everything). If I can avoid even more by making our own treats for Christmas and Easter, it can't do anything but help. And I can try even healthier sweeteners in some recipes, like honey. I can also use other healthy ingredients. "Reece's" peanut-butter eggs made with real peanut-butter, not that Skip-Jiff stuff that has had the good natural peanut oils replaced with hydrogenated veggie oil, for example.
2. We will have more fun. The kids and I will make the treats in the weeks ahead of time, together, as a fun activity. Art, bonding, nutrition all rolled into one. 
3. The treats can be more personalized. The child that likes licorice can have a licorice flavored Peep! The rest of us won't have to endure that :-P 
4. And most importantly, I can put love into each treat. These holidays can become an expression of love, can have meaning, instead of being just one more thing added to my to do list.

In this light, I looked up homemade Easter treats yesterday on Pintrest. Wow! I might even do some experimenting today if I get the chance :-)

I will also pick up some toys to put in their eggs. Who says it all has to be candy?

I also ran across recipes for homemade foundation makeup, mascara, and one describing how to use soapnuts.  The soapnuts will wait until I run out of the ingredients I need to make my own laundry soap the current way (or not. I could always give them to a friend who is having a hard time financially).

My little girls (7-13) are experimenting with makeup. I would feel so much better if they were slathering these homemade, natural products all over their faces (made of arrowroot powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cloves, etc) than the stuff I know is toxic. Especially the one who has the worst allergies and ADHD (I suspect that last is more distraction from the allergies than true ADHD).

So stay tuned. Should be some interesting things going on here.

Christmas Candy with Meaning?

Almost time for Easter. Not a good thing for health. I wonder if I can make some treats that won't be so bad. Maybe sugar cookies in the shape of Easter eggs, colored by the kids (instead of dying eggs which is just a waste since we don't like eating boiled eggs that much), but made of wheat that has had the phyctic acid neutralized. Maybe sweetened with Stevia? Or at least honey and maple syrup. Wonder if there is a candy I can make in a healthier way, too.

Saving money

Well, it's happened again. I am taking an email course on how to save money grocery shopping. The author is so jazzed; her family got completely out of debt in 9 months by following these tips! Wow!

She ONLY spends $160 a week on groceries for her family of four. That's $40 per person.

Meh. I do that every week and have for a year or more.

STOP The FoodShaming! #Babysteps | The Homesteading Hippy

STOP The FoodShaming! #Babysteps | The Homesteading Hippy


Exactly.


My mom did know how to cook, but I was always too busy to learn (my brother did, however:-) When I first married, supper might consist of shake-n-bake chicken, rice a roni, and a can of corn. I picked one area (bread, actually) and learned how to do it. Once that was under control, I learned another area.


Today (we'll be married 31 years this December) I make nearly everything from scratch, even making my mom look like a convenience queen:-)


For example, tonight we will have fried chicken (with homemade breading; 1/2 white 1/2 wheat flour), homemade fresh baked bread (made by my 22yo daughter. Her's puts mine to shame and I get special requests for mine!), veggie soup (in homemade broth with frozen veggies). Plus a fruit of some sort.


It has taken hours of study to learn the whys and hows, but is oh so worth it! Cheaper AND I can see a difference in our health:-)


So, yes, no shaming. Just lots of teaching:-)

Coupons revisited

I have blogged before on my experiences learning to use coupons. There is definitely a big learning curve. And, remember, all those coupon shows that show women buying hundreds of dollars of stuff with pennies don't show them going back in to buy the meat, dairy, fruit and veggies they will need to actually feed their families for the next week.

You CAN save a lot with coupons, but it is a lot of work and it doesn't cover everything.

My pursuit has been derailed, though.

No, we didn't suddenly become so rich we don't need to worry about saving money. But I have blogged before about my families problems with allergies. Trying to eliminate them has had the affect of making almost all coupons worthless to us.

"Hmmm, a great coupon for the dish soap Jackie is allergic to. Oh, and here's one for the laundry soap Hubby's allergic to. Good shampoo coupons, but that's next on my list of eliminating and since Jackie had another bad school day, I better make that switch sooner than later."

I have had weeks where I have cut a whole ONE coupon out from the two papers Hubby buys each week- put together!

This week was actually better than normal, but still very few we will use. And I can't do the normal coupon-er thing of taking advantage of coupons that get us free stuff because I don't want the allergy causers to be in the house at all. And it seems a bit hypocritical to get the free stuff to give to charities: "Hey this stuff is poison for my family but I'll give it to you:-)"

I now make my own laundry soap and dish soap (replaced fabric softener with vinegar when we first married because Hubby is allergic.) I also make my own yogurt so I can control dyes and artificial flavorings, so those nice and reliable Yoplait coupons don't help now.

Thankfully, it turns out making my own is much cheaper anyway. Turns out all these things we buy in the store that we think are staples are really convenience items. We are paying people to mix our borax, washing soda and soap (and dyes and perfumes and chemical preservatives) together for us to wash our laundry with.

I have also begun to look for ways to get rid of disposables. Not a lot of success actually doing it yet, but there are plans. I had just stocked up on Kleenex, for example, when we started really caring for the allergies. I have been picking up handkerchiefs since, so when the Kleenex runs out we won't rebuy.

I am just potty training my youngest instead of going back to cloth, since our septic is messed up and the extra laundry wouldn't be good. Would rather have him potty trained anyway.

In that vein, here is what I am thinking of getting Hubby for Father's Day: http://www.strawesome.com/

Imagine! No more plastic taste with our water!

And just to show I hold no grudges to coupons, still believe in them to a certain extent in fact, here is a coupon for my book maker: (and by "book maker" I mean the company that prints and puts together the books I have written, not someone to make bets with:-D)

15STACK

Type this into the checkout for 15% off of 15 or more books!

So, What non-disposable items does your family use? What things do you make for yourself? Inspire me!

How to Easily Peel Farm-Fresh Hard-Boiled Eggs | The Prairie Homestead

How to Easily Peel Farm-Fresh Hard-Boiled Eggs | The Prairie Homestead

Cool! We will be trying this.

You have no idea how difficult it is to peel home grown eggs.

Milk Cows

Owning a Family Milk Cow: Your Questions Answered! | The Prairie Homestead
I could so have written this:-) But why when Jill already has?:-)

(We are between milk cows right now but look forward to having another one some day.)