Healthy Eating at $65 per week : Meal Plans and Update

It's been a while since I've updated on this series. January was an especially difficult month to stay on budget. Mostly because Becket can't eat the same as the rest of the family and I weaned him and he is consuming TONS of food. That kid can EAT and EAT and eatandeatandeat!!

Boys are SO different than girls in the eating department.

I'm watching this very sad Superbowl game and if you know me ... you know WHY it's SO sad. Hint: No Packers. But my FIL is in Seattle so... I guess it makes it a little interesting.

So, I figured I need to seize this moment and get back on track with my budget for February. We were over by $60 last month! YIKES! I mean its actually only an extra $15 per week which sounds about right for Becket's food needs but... it can't stay that way. So... I just need to be a bit more careful and cut in other areas. I'm also thinking I may need to pull back on some organic splurges... We shall see...

I did buy these at Mississippi Market Co-op for 0.30 each! Since they are generally over-priced there, 

this WAS an awesome deal! On sale for $2.30 and I found them with sticker coupons for $2 off each!

I'm pretty pumped about this weeks menu, thanks to Pinterest. Feel free to check out my pinterest for recipes. I will put a star by each recipe on Pinterest... but of course I will not follow them exactly and I will swap some ingredients for others or omit them. I basically look to recipes for ideas and ingredients. But I look at them as spring boards ONLY for my own creations.

Sunday: (beware NOT healthy) Homemade Alfredo/Mac 'N Cheese, Broc/Org Green Beans, and Organic Apple Slices
Monday:Thai Coconut Lime Curry Soup*
Tuesday: Pork Egg Roll in a Bowl*
Wednesday: Chicken Cordon Blue Quinoa* and Frozen Peas
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Homemade Goat Cheese, Veggie and Artichoke Whole Wheat Pizza
Saturday: Egg Broc Quiche
Sunday: Homemade Falafels with Greek Yogurt and Whole Wheat Pitas
**Baking: Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Breakfast: Wild Blueberries and Maple Syrup Oatmeal, Banana/Orange/Berry Smoothies with Flax Milk, Cereal, Peanut Butter Toast and Oranges, Granola Bars and Kiwi

Lunch: PBJ and Leftovers

Becket: Ground Turkey Patties, Salmon, Rice, Quinoa, Veggies, Fruit, Oatmeal, Pastured Bacon, plain Pork, Tillapia (I set aside parts of other meals I've made last month just for Becket so I have single servings for him only. He would eat Oatmeal every meal if I let him... I try to focus on healthy fats as well. He just finished off the last of my last Costco trips Organic Beef.)

And, of course, Fermented Cod Liver Oil for everyone... Except me... It's nasty.

Because we were sick and our nanny was sick I saved $45 in childcare money and decided to put it, temporarily, towards some stock up items, My plan is to pay that money back to our nanny budget from my grocery budget this month. So I just went to Costco yesterday and took $40 cash and refused to spend a penny more!

Costco: $37
Frozen Organic Green Beans
Organic Strawberry Jam
Organic Maple Syrup
4lbs Frozen Wild Blueberries (I decided to not get them organic since my Dirty Dozen list says only Domestic Blueberries. Not going Organic gave me a whole extra pound and they are delicious and so nutritious!)
Bunch of Bananas

Trader Joe's: $15.50
Organic Celery (FREE, I got a bad bunch last week and asked if I could exchange it. I used some of the good stems for meals and broth last week, so I feel pretty good about it not being a total waste.)
Rice Milk (Costs slightly less at Costco but I'm hoping to get him nutrition tested again soon and don't want to get stuck with a bunch of rice milk if it's a problem.I'm also planing on taking this and the salmon purchase out of my "baby supplies" budget.)
Brown Sugar/Maple Shredded Wheat (Jeremy's cereal) x2
Wild Caught Salmon in a can 
Can of Coconut Cream
Olive Oil (According to my parents Consumer Reports magazine Trader Joe's sells the best value Olive Oil. We've been going through a lot since Becket's only safe oil is Olive.)
Chocolate Chips

Aldi: Goal Under $40

Cabbage 2
Frozen Peas x3 2.70
Swiss Cheese 2
Lime .50
Broccoli 1.50
Eggs 2
Garlic Powder 1.50
Goat Cheese 2.50 (TJs is 2.50 so I'm hoping Aldi is same/cheaper, if not I'll get Mozzarella)
Breadx2
Carrots
Kiwi 1.50
Oranges (4lbs) 1.99
Chkn Breast 1.79lb (I buy non-org chkn breast once a month since organic chicken breast is too expensive!)
Brown Sugar
Tomatoes?
Mushrooms?

If anyone is still reading this, I'm sorry, I'm kind of doing this for my own processing tonight while my two year old is on my lap coloring my receipts with markers. Hee hee. :-)

Wish me luck!

Oh, and I forgot, I'm picking up rice noodles with a gift card at Cub this week too! And I bought 2 items at Walgreen's last month that, with coupons, were "money makers" so I have $12 in "gift receipts" that I'm hoping to get a good deal on diapers with to help offset my baby supplies budget this month. Sometimes you give to get. :-)

Wow! Close finish to the game! I hate watching a close lose/win. :-(

$260 groceries for the month...

So I know I started the $65 per week thing but it's actually $260 for food for the whole month. So, yeah, longer months require me to stretch that buck even further! So this week was what I would consider my stock up week.

I know this picture is not about food... but he is licking his lips AND I could just eat him right up!

I was on an "I'm so sick of the same old thing" kick and even though I had a meal plan for the week starting Sunday I thought I'd probably be making changes... and I did. I figured I'd wait until Wed and include my Aldi visit. Well, I was in Minneapolis on a freezing day this Wednesday and I thought ...

What better than make a quick trip with all three of my kids in this insane arctic weather to Costco. I'm ONLY going to spend $20. (cue laughter)

I LOVE Costco (even with three small kids chasing the samples like treasures around the store!) I love their prices and organic products. The only kicker is at the checkout you kind of want to yelp... "But I only got a few things! How is this $70??"

So I stocked up on:

Butter (4lbs)
Organic Ground Beef (4lbs) (After I bought it I realized it is not grass fed. BOOO hoo! So sad.)
Garbanzo Beans (their canned are cheaper than buying the dried beans in stores and canned garbanzo beans make smoother hummus)
Ground Sausage
Cuties (my kid's treat for being so good)
2 Jars of Organic Strawberry Jelly
A huge bag of Frozen Organic Green Beans

Ok, so I got more than a few things... I think.

So between my $45 Trader Joe's visit and my $12 Aldi visit... I have $35 for the rest of the month. That will be plenty to buy fresh essentials to go with my stocked up items. ie. Milk, Eggs, Fruits, Veggies and Bread.

So here is my menu plan for this week:

Sunday: Chili and crackers
Monday: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie (it was AHHHMAZING!)
Tuesday: Asian Cabbage Salad with Sesame Sticks and odds and ends
Wednesday: We basically ate supper at Costco aka sample side plus cuties and veggies at home
Thursday: Ham, Broc, Coconut Quinoa and Grilled Cheese
Friday: Ham Carbonara and Green Beans
Saturday: Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana (see in my pinterest board)
Sunday: Spaghetti Squash with Thai Peanut Sauce, Garbanzo Beans and Rice
**I am having a Norwex Party on Sunday and will be making Pumpkin Cheesecake. Don't you want to come? You are invited!**

I also made yogurt on Monday and Bone broth on Tuesday. I used the bits of chicken from the bone broth drumsticks in the pot pie and it was truly amazing. My MIL has the easiest and yummiest pie crust recipe. Ever. I might just be a pie maker after all! (See in future post!) Also, while I made it from scratch otherwise with no recipe I used Trader Joe's organic frozen veggie mix and it was really good. The sweet corn in it was like fresh off the cob. I will definitely do that again. It solved my food blahs and I'm back to feeling inspired by food. That and I am now obsessed with Master Chef Jr. Man those kids can cook!

Speaking of what kids can cook never underestimate what your kids might EAT. My kids begged for Apple Slices, Garbanzo Beans and Milk for breakfast. So that's what they got. Talk about some power food. In case you were wondering. :-)

Food at $65 per week: Make your own yogurt!

In my real food switch I started buying organic whole plain yogurt at Trader Joe's for $3 a large container. My Augustine devoured it and it would be gone in a day or two... then came Gianna... it was gone in a day... It makes a great baby food. I had wanted to try making it for a while to stretch a buck, but it needed to be EASY and fool proof. I have to many memories of my mom's runny homemade yogurt. However, I have good memories of it... warm with cherries mixed in! Yummy! 

I found a recipe I love and fits in my busy life... and I'm here to share it with you! 

Pour 1 gallon of whole organic milk into my large crock pot around 3 or 4pm when my first kid wakes from naps.

Turn crock pot on high for 2-3hrs.

At around 2hrs milk should be 180*. (This depends on crock pot.) Heating kills of competing bacteria.

Take off cover and let it cool to 115*. (Don't let it cool lower than this or your yogurt won't be as thick.)

At 115* stir in 1 cup of plain yogurt with live active cultures. (With each batch I make I freeze 1cup of yogurt for the next batch and the gift keeps giving!)

Put on lid. Wrap entire crock pot, plug and all, in a big towel and put the whole thing in a dormant oven. I don't want to question your intelligence but, well, make sure the oven is NOT on. I also put one oven rack on my stove to remind my forgetful mind not to turn the oven on and make late night cookies! 

Leave for 8-12hrs. Overnight basically. In the morning you have thick and creamy yogurt!

The next step that I do is to make greek yogurt. I fell in love with Greek Yogurt before it was even cool. I went to Greece years ago and was served real Greek Yogurt with honey at all our bed and breakfasts. Oy yum! Now I can make it!

Greek yogurt is yogurt strained (in a cheese cloth) to remove whey and allow for a thick and high protein dessert er... food. Strain to desired thickness. Then use as breakfast, snack, dessert with raw honey or jelly/jam. I also use it for sour cream in recipes and as toppings as well as dips and it even passes for cream cheese if you strain it to long! (Oh happy fault!) I only strain about half of my yogurt. The kids eat the regular stuff, it lasts longer.

Now how about those health benefits? Yogurt with live active cultures is a great source of pro-biotics. Key to staying healthy during cold season. Feel free to google for more details! My personal testimony is that (knock on wood) I have not gotten sick for a couple months now despite the fact that my germ pool children get colds continuously. I am only this healthy when I am pregnant. And no, this is not a pregnancy announcement. ;-) The most recent change to my diet has been homemade yogurt. That's the only thing I can match it to. I usually catch almost everything my kids have to offer except perhaps their puke-- in the bucket I'm holding... inches from their face. Eck!!! So, this is pretty unusual for me and I am now completely sold on my yogurt kick!

Speaking of being sold...

A whole gallon of milk makes enough yogurt for a full week (or two) of yogurt eating here. I buy my milk for 5.99 at TJS using their organic store brand. It's even cheaper at Whole Foods but not worth the extra trip right now. Besides that I don't have to buy sour cream or cream cheese! Also, DON'T throw away the whey that you strain off of your greek yogurt. We use it to make smoothies and it has a great tart flavor. You can also freeze it for later use. Or experiment with fermenting veggies. I'm not there yet, but hopefully soon! I think it lasts for a couple weeks or so. 

**Also, as a side note. Based on my research I do not think low-fat is the healthy option. It's not natural and the body needs good healthy fats and so do our kids. Lower fat dairy goes through extra processing effecting it's health benefits. Also, the right fats help us absorb vitamins. I could go on and on but I'm not a scientist nor am I writing a research paper. I do encourage you to research it though, you might be surprised! Look at holistic and naturalist writers.** 

Here's to hoping for better health to all!

Happy First Snow: Meal Plan and Real Food Hot Cacao

Well, Praise the Lord we have a play written for our Christmas show! A stellar cast, director and team... I am already in the Christmas Spirit or in the Exmas Spirit? See the show and then tell me. :-)

Interested in getting tickets for "Christmas in Niatirb" click the link! But don't wait because we do sell out early especially for our Christmas show!

My picture is not uploading correctly... let's just say this is from Becket's perspective. :-)

Today was the first snow. And I know for some that is dreaded news but... It is November and its pretty fitting for this area. The first snow is pretty magical for me. Exciting and fresh and new. It quickly wanes after that. But I'm embracing today and with it comes excited kids who scramble to get dressed and out the door to play in the snow!

Eager little morning faces peaking out their window at the fresh white world. All my Winter's and Christmases come rushing back to me in a warm wave of cool rush on my face and the scent of cookies, hot chocolate and red cheeks.

I make my own "real food" hot chocolate for my kids instead of the nasty packaged stuff and it's oh so good, simple and really chocolaty!

Homemade Hot Chocolate:

1 cup of warm/hot whole Organic Milk

1/2 tsp Organic Cacao Powder (more for me less for the kids to avoid a caffeine rush) 

1 tsp Organic Powder Sugar/or Regular Sugar/Honey/Real Maple Syrup

Stir and serve with homemade whipped cream or mini marshmallows. That marshmallow part isn't so "real food" but my kids love marshmallows and I got 6 bags for $1 this summer so it's a fun treat. 

Menu for the week:

Sunday: Cashew Chicken Fried Rice

Monday: Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff

Tuesday: Tater Tot Green Bean Casserole

Wednesday: Hummus, 100% Whole Wheat Pita Bread and Veggies

Thursday: Spaghetti and Veggie

Friday: Tilapia, Coconut Quinoa and Broccoli

Saturday: Black Bean Chili and Crackers

Trader Joes: Total $22.30

Maple Shredded Wheat

Joe's O's

Button Mushrooms

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Organic Gold Potatoes 4lbs

Organic Grape Jelly

Canned Coconut Milk

2 Bananas

Whole Organic Milk

Aldi: 

Tilapia

Boneless Pork Roast for pulled pork (next week)

In case you haven't noticed I plan to be under budget each week to leave room for special deals I come across. I also leave wiggle room since our grocery budget actually means our food budget. So if we go out to eat or grap a french fry to share or for Sunday donuts... that ALL comes out of my precious limited food budget. So I like to be spontaneously prepared!

Augustine has been skipping his daily nap most days and so that means he is consuming a LARGE mid-afternoon snack. He is SUCH a skinny boy and SUCH a big eater! He ate 3 bowls of buttered bone broth brown rice AND 2 slices of %100 whole wheat bread with butter. (He eats a lot of raw fruits and veggies so I let him eat reasonable snack requests of carbs and protein.) Gianna on the other hand eats like a little bird. She eats about 1/4 of whatever I give Augustine. So if he eats 2 PBJs, an apple and 4 carrot spears for lunch she eats 1/2 PBJ, a 1/2 apple and 2 carrot spears. And that is me MAKING her finish her food. It's quite a difference!

Becket is extremely allergic to eggs we recently found out. It was all pretty scary! But he is eating bone broth brown rice, ground turkey, beans, green beans, and even cheerios. He is the most peacful in his highchair surrounded by finger foods and he picks them up perfectly in his pincher grab. It is just darling. He is so quiet there I almost forget about him! What a darling!

Survival Mode - Food for now.

Ok, so... Its one of those weeks where I want to throw in a frozen pizza for every meal. My dear husband is completing the writing of our Theater's Christmas show and is basically "out of town" in so many words. The show is going to be AWESOME but it requires some sacrifices on our end. Don't all good things? Not seeing much of Daddy in the house is purely exhausting.

Even though he is gone... I am resisting the temptation to eh hem ... eat garbage for a week.

In fact I even threw bone broth in the crock pot tonight as I fed my kids peas, carrots, apples and PBJs. We will do better tomorrow. On a side note school went great today! I guess there is a trade off?

Here's a past peak on last weeks meals:

My experiment last week was trying Kerry Gold butter to see if that should be our next real food switch. It's made in Ireland from grass-fed cows and is supposed to be better for you. We switched from margarine (my ex-favorite) to real butter at least a year ago and I haven't looked back. Seems like a pretty straight forward real food switch. I stocked up on like 20lbs of organic butter for $1,99 per pound a while ago and I'm on my last pound. Getting close to the Holidays I'm hoping Aldi starts carrying butter closer to the $1.60 (?) I think that it was last year. Until then we will just stick with conventional butter.

This week I'm going to try to make a switch to organic eggs. It's so hard for me to pass up eggs for 0.99 a dozen but from what I've read it's probably the next most logical step. More on that....

1- Organic Spinach/Beet/Walnut Salad with homemade super healthy poppy seed dressing, Grilled Cheese, and Broccoli

2- Some kind of pasta

3- Organic Kale and Salisbury Steak with Organic Rice in bone broth

4- Grilled Tuna Sandwiches, Chips, Carrots and Apples (I didn't make this last week.)

5-Cheeseburger Soup w/Bone Broth and Buttered Toast/Crackers

6- Sausage/ Peppers/ Organic Potatoes in Crock Pot

7-  Whole Wheat Tacos with Guacamole

Shopping List this week:

I actually don't need the corn or any of the other items on my Aldi list just thought I should stock up on sale items. I might just skip Aldi and buy booze and chocolate at TJs....I'm going to need it this week!

**I just went to Trader Joe's and the prices were slightly different than my estimate... those Org eggs - yikes - expensive! I got organic celery instead of corn and -- Beer. No, not booze, beer of the root variety. I'm having a root beer float as I type! Total was slightly over $19.**

Hangin' and Eatin'

What day is it??

--FRIDAY??? Oh, yeah...

Since Jeremy and I have to work weekends often because of the Theatre biz we on rare occasions try to take it easy during the week instead to make up for much needed lost family time. This week was one of those weeks and it has been WONDERFUL!!

Augustine loves his Daddy and I love having family time. The more we don't have family time the more I treasure the time we do get together. The last couple days we've taken family walks to the post office (yes, Augustine walks instead of sits in the stroller) and the weather has been lovely. It has really been a great week. So that is why my days are all confused!

I keep my meal plans on the fridge but I enjoy organizing them on this blog too... it helps me think things through...

So here goes:

Thursday: Ham, Green Beans and Jeremy's AMAZING secret recipe Mashed Potatoes
Friday/Saturday: Sausage and Peppers Pasta Dish
Sunday: Cowboy Stew

Next week:

Monday: Mock Chow Mein
Tuesday: Taco Salad
Wednesday (Ash Wed.): Fish Sticks and Tator Tots

Then Augustine and I are heading to Wisconsin Land to spend some time with my family and see my new nephew, Adam Michael! Hurray! Augustine can't stop talking about the "chickies" and "Grandpa" he is going to see. Jeremy, is on his own with food... Hmmm... I suppose I should stock up on his staples. Rice packets and tator tots!

My experiment with spending no grocery money for a week went great and I hope to do it again! FYI- -For all those penny pinchers out there-- Rainbow Foods has ground turkey on sale for $1 per pound and its STOCK UP TIME for me! :-)

Menu w/o Money

Ok, so whenever we are about to open a show money gets really tight. Tis the eb and flow of production expenses prior to ticket sales. Anyway, so I have a challenge for myself. Money spending freeze means eating out of the freezer and pantry this week. Since I haven't gone shopping for pretty much a week already it might be a challenge, no it will be. I will get milk and eggs and basics...but I'm going to try and not buy anything else and use up things in the freezer and pantry. I already pulled out some pears I froze this summer and added Tastefully Simple's Mulling Spice and it is, oh so YUMMY!

I read this blog where this girl and her "guy" (in NY City no less) spends only $30 per week on groceries. They eat REALLY healthy and, to be honest, kind of in small amounts, but very gourmet and its kind of intriguing. This girl actually spends precious little groceries money on fresh limes and herbs. That would not feed my family - no way - but its fun to read and very frugal and not wasteful! Anyway...

I went through the pantry and freezer (notice I did not say fridge as there is not much to find there) to take a full account of what I can scrounge up and here is the menu for the week:

Monday: Pea Soup and Grilled Cheese/Meat Sandwiches
Tuesday: Egg, Rice, and Broccoli Ham Bake
Wednesday: Mock Chow Mien
Thursday: Chicken Fried Rice with Edammame
Friday: Out
Saturday: French Meat Pie
Sunday: Pancakes w/Homemade Rhubarb Sauce and Whipped Cream

I will probably not stick to certain meals on certain days as I flow with the whims of my cooking desires and appetite but here goes nothing to no shopping! Its actually a pretty decent and different menu considering... I have to thank Our Lady of Lourdes for the frozen French meat pie and my mom for the Pea Soup (although I rather dislike Pea Soup Jeremy says he likes it.)

Happy eating!

$1 for $30 worth of food??

No, I am not an extreme couponer, although I envy their dedication and mostly their savings.

Free food from a friend? No.

I actually went out to eat at a "restaurant" and with my friend's help ordered $30 worth of food!

I paid ONLY $1 to purchase the coupon at GROUPON. So, yeah, dinner with a friend for her birthday became a very affordable and fun outing for ONE DOLLAR!!! If you haven't checked out GROUPON yet you should there are some serious steals! Since I rarely get to eat out this was a really fun treat and cheaper than eating at home. I meant to take a picture because the place was kind of a bar and my friend and I had brought our toddlers which felt awkward at first but once we realized no one else was there and our boys could destroy the place we enjoyed the good laugh, good food, and good time!

Happy Savings!

Meals...

Ok, so it's not Monday but I'm having some sort of food craving and I found this new blog that I LOVE! Its A Year of Slow Cooking and its given me some yummy new ideas for foods. I'm past my healthy food only cravings and have been diving into my Monday meal of Chili loaded with cheese and sour cream! (It's so loaded with cheeses that it shouldn't even be called chili but... oh, well!)

Here is the weeks plan:

Monday: Chili
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Cream Cheese Crock Pot Chicken over Whole Wheat Pasta
Thursday: Chicken Pepperoni Bread Wrap
Friday: Tuna Melts
Saturday/Sunday: Sarah's Tortellini Tomato Creation... maybe I'll post the recipe

Now I'm going to stop writing and eat some Chef Boyardee it will go with my previous courses of a whole red pepper (yeah still love my veggies!) and a pomegranate (which Augustine tried for the first time and LOVED!)

Bon Appetite!

Autumn Meal Planning!

I know I've missed a week... or two weeks and heck it isn't even Monday, but I'm writing down my meal plan for the week. It's Fall and I have a renewed joy for cooking it's tantalizing seasonal fare. Also, since I got home Monday morning I want to make a fun week of foods since by the looks of the fast food and concession treats trashed on the floor of the car, I am guessing Jeremy did not eat much in the way of "Home Cooked" food or some would even say he didn't eat much in the way of "Food." He is a great cook and cooked our entire dating and engagement - I loved it! Once he found out that I could cook and what I cooked. I quickly took over cooking. However, I still enjoy his culinary staples of tator tots, rice packets, and mac n cheese.

Here's the week plan:

Monday: Chicken/Three Cheese Bean Enchiladas
Tuesday: Broccoli Cheese Soup and Fresh Baked Bread
Wednesday: Leftovers and Risa's Italian Pasta Dish
Thursday: Lasagna and Hot dog Bun Garlic Bread
Friday: Chili (To last us through most of the weekend.)

Now if this meal plan doesn't scream Fall, warm ovens, comfort food, and full bellies I don't know what would!

MmmmmmMmmmm!

Starving Artists - Edition 4 - "Drink your milk!"

Pardon me while I tangent off for a while (again) on my starving artist editions of this blog.

I now have a brand new reason to be frugal this summer. It has come to me in the form of a shaggy brown haired creature with a bottomless pit of a stomach. No, this creature is not an animal although by the way he eats you might think - horse? Nope, but close.

Boy.

No, not just, "boy". TEENAGE BOY that is taking after his father in height. I know the cliche' "eating like a teenage boy". But do you really understand what this means? Have you lived with a teenage boy recently?? I have a HUGE respect for mothers with teenagers, always have, but now I really do! My time in the kitchen has doubled in cooking and cleaning since he has arrived.

Aidan is his name. He is a wonderfully sweet boy who loves his little brother and can get him to shriek with delight at his silly antics and play for hours. Aidan is the beautiful reason I have my husband today. It was the shocking news of his conception that turned my wayward husband (only a sophomore in college) to seek mercy and grace from Jesus. It turned his life around and was the very driving force for his re-conversion. God makes all things new and he truly does use bad for good. Aidan has an innocence that one could only dream for of a child growing up in downtown Chicago and going to a public school. I truly feel like that is indeed the grace of God and Jeremy's fervent prayers for his son.

So, with all that said, we really do enjoy having Aidan stay with us for a month in the summer. However, my frugal "momness" really starts to blare when he is with us. I'm trying not to nag but not only does he eat strings of continuous meals/snacks, much like my toddler actually, but in larger potions, he wastes more food than I would. I know my mom would love to know I am finally getting a taste of my own medicine. Since I was also one to just take a portion of food and throw out what was left on my plate. For example this morning he poured a large bowl of milk and added cereal to it. He ate the cereal and left the milk, or so it appeared by looking at the leftover milk. Now, as a child I would have dumped the milk. Actually it was probably my mom making me drink the gross sugary milk that made me start eating cereal with no milk at all. However, now that I buy the milk... I DRINK THE MILK. As I watch him dump out 1 1/2 cups of milk down the drain I can't help but think, no, not of the children in Africa, but of Augustine and how that would be half a days milk for him. Down the drain. Ug.

The positive result is that I am clipping ever more coupons and scouring stores even more carefully to save us from spending unnecessary amounts of money and stretching our budget. So, I will certainly be sharing more deals and posting more "Starving Artist - Editions" than I normally would.

So here is a nugget from all this penny pinching:

Aldi this week has a bunch of Dole bananas that are getting brown. They are $0.44 per bunch. There is also a sign next to them saying, "brown bananas buy one bunch get one free". That means I was able to buy 4 bunches of bananas  for $0.88. So this morning I whipped up a double batch of whole wheat banana bread and mashed and froze the rest of the bananas for another batch next week.

For more great money saving deals check out this great blog "Money Saving Mom" that has been really inspiring me to pinch my pennys. I also really enjoy my dear friend's Frugal Friday's posts at Adventurous Beginnings.

Happy penny pinching!
Sarah

Starving Artists - Edition 3 - Ground Turkey

Yes, I am writing a post about ground turkey.

It's kind of my family's best kept secret that is no longer a secret.

Growing up I remember my family won a gift card/certificate for groceries and my mom was stocking piling her cart with frozen "tubes" of ground turkey. A guy came up to her and was like, "If I had won I'd be buying steaks!" Later my mom shared the story and how her mental reaction was like, "This will last us weeks. Which we NEED. Steaks would last a day." My mom is amazingly frugal she is not a freak at couponing but boy does she know how to make a tube of toothpaste or bar of soap last to the last drop.

My mom would make a lot of things with ground turkey, instead of ground beef, and I've grown to LOVE it! It is lean with no gristle (yuck!) and can be used in tons of recipes! I lucked out and married a man that also loves my cooking with ground turkey. This post is not only about how yummy ground turkey is but also what a steal it is at the store. A steal for meat anyway.

Right now at Rainbow Foods you can get 1lb of Frozen Ground Turkey (Louis Rich Brand) for $1.00! An entire pound of lean turkey for a dollar people - that is awesome! I usually stock up and never spend more than a dollar per pound.

That means I can feed my family a meal of Meat Spaghetti for: $3.20
Ground Turkey - $1.00 (Rainbow)
Whole Wheat Noodles - $1.20 (Trader Joe's)
Spaghetti Sauce - $1.00 (Aldi - they have the cheapest best tasting "cheap" sauce I have found)

That is just one example of many but using ground turkey I can easily afford to give my meat lover man meat at every dinner and keep the cost at usually less than $7 per dinner. I also cook with frozen chicken breast (best deal I have found is COSTCO) and fish and even turkey ham (best deal I've found is ALDI) but ground turkey is definitely our staple.

I read in a magazine one way to save money is by having one, really cheap, meal per week. So, thanks to ground turkey and Aldi's sauce, Spaghetti is our really cheap meal and it cuts down significantly on our budget each week. It's also healthy, and not a sacrifice to eat as it is quite delicious!

Bon Appetite fellow starving artists!
Sarah

Starving Artists - Edition 1 - Berries all year round!

They say that artists are starving. Well, that is true in some cases, and is quickly becoming a reason for fear in my home as ticket sales at the theater drop to a dangerous low. Who can compete with this weather??

I may be acting a bit overly dramatic on this topic but it inspired me for a new series of posts on how this family of starving artists gets by on a super tight budget.

Each year I wait and I watch for seasonal deals at Aldi. If you don't shop at Aldi you should start. They have incredible deals on most things and its worth the extra trip and the quarter you need to "check out" a shopping cart. I have to note though that the quarter is not required. If you are like me and say... 'I don't need a cart' only to later find yourself carrying and balancing food items on every strip of body part that is useful for carrying and dropping spaghetti sauce to the chagrin of everyone around. Than, no, a quarter is not required. Recommended but not required.

So one deal that I watch... and wait for... and set up calling trees for... is their blueberry sale. At one point each year their blueberries go on sale for as low as $1.00 per pint. I load up and freeze them for blueberry feasting year long! This year my Mother In Law mentioned they were on sale for .49 a pint and my jaw hit the floor! Turns out strawberries were as low as .39 each container too! Jeremy and I were just heading out to a performance but I was desperate to get a piece of this deal! She offered to pick up a bunch for me...

She got two cases of each for me!!!!!!! Wooohoooo! Now that's money saving at its finest! I sure do love a good deal and now the two berry lovers in the house will get berries all year long. That chest freezer came just in time.

If you come upon a deal like this here is what I recommend for storage for easy access...

1. Wash berries in a mixture of water and vinegar. Apparently the vinegar cleanses the chemicals off, I got that from my mom and find it works well and it is natural and cheap. Next rinse with water.

2. Spread berries out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze.

3. Once frozen, loosen berries from the pan with a spatula and put into freezer bags. 

This system allows for clean berries that are loose in a bag together for easy measuring for recipes or toddler snacks.

Nope this family will not starve for lack of berries, not this year anyway. :-)
Sarah