This week I was able to pick up a few things free after coupons.

I was able to get 7 1 ltr bottles of Dr. Pepper.  A nice treat for Accolan and the girls as soda is only a rare purchase these days.

I was able to get 2 bags of crave cat treats.  Snack-fed kitties are happy kitties.  Unfortunately, only one of our cats will eat them.

I was also able to get 3 3-pack samples of Cascade dishwasher tabs.

It’s not a lot, but every little bit helps.  Have you scored any free, or nearly free deals this week?

Jia

Between being sent home early again for low production and losing time due to needing a sick day (another blasted sinus infection), I didn’t meet my earnings goals this week.  I was only able to accrue 29 hours at job #2 and 17 hours at job #2.  I also was unable to fit in job #3.

As a result I need to tighten the purse-strings a little bit more this week to compensate.  We are doing everything we can to fill the pantry so that, if push comes to serve, I can keep us fed if I have a week here and there when I can’t afford to go food shopping.  I am doing whatever I can to fill the pantry with food that the family can turn into meals on their own.  Unfortunately, left to their own resources, dinner translates into things like grilled cheese, hot dogs, pasta and jarred sauce.

One of the techniques I am using is to take advantage of the price match guarantee at Walmart.  Working so many hours (and usually working 7 days a week) makes it nearly impossible to hit multiple food stores each week. But, I can spend 20 minutes or so after a shift to pick up a couple of items at low prices. Some recent bargains include:

• Blue Bunny Ice Cream – $2.49 for 1.75 quarts
• Kraft Cheese Singles – $1.99 for 1 lb.
• Ronzoni Pasta – $0.79 for a 1 lb. box
• Ragu sauce – $0.99 a jar

Another technique i am using is to send Accolan and the girls out to specific stores when (for one reason or another) achieving the best deal forces to to shop at a specific store (mainly because, unlike Walmart, they double coupons).

I am also making use of couponmom.com to figure out the best way to match a specific sale price and coupon.

What are your favorite techniques for stocking up your pantry for as little as possible?

Blessings

Jia

It’s been a hard week in terms of keeping myself on track financially.  I’ve been exhausted, truly bone weary.  So much so that the extra 15 minutes of sleep seemed so much more important than the ability to make my daily sandwiches that I found myself at the WaWa on my way to work more than once.  Additionally, this week the young man that Reya has been “seeing” since last fall came back from spending July at the academic camps his parents had sent him to out of state. I splurged and ordered a couple of pizzas (spending about $28 incl tip).

What this means in that I had to make up that money by spending less at the grocery store this week.  Luckily,  still have food leftover from last week’s cooking, this worked out just fine.

I raided the pantry for a bunch of canned crushed tomatoes (purchased at $.88 to $.99 each), minced a bunch of garlic and onion, and picked some basil from the backyard and put up a pot of marinara sauce.  Some of it will be served over pasta, and some will (with the help of a block of mozzarella I defrosted and some rolls I have yet to purchase) turn some lentil balls I made last weekend into meatball parm subs.

I also took a bunch of zucchini I harvested last weekend and made zucchini fritters.  The main changes to the recipe involved frying them in the last of the olive oil (I will be using vegetable oil from here on out as it runs about 1/3 the price of the extra virgin oil I prefer) and adding more zucchini to the batter than was called for.  They are crisp and tender and savory and so good I want to eat all of them all by myself.

I still have to make a batch of saffron rice (to keep us in deconstructed tacos), but other than that my once a week cooking is done.  The only food shopping yet to do involves picking up some fresh tomatoes, a dozen eggs, and some rolls – probably no more than $15.

Next weekend?  I still have some chicken meat in the freezer to turn into pasta salad, and the ingredients for potato salad.  I have hot dogs in the freezer and a bunch of frozen vegetables.  Ah!  The joys of a full pantry.

Blessings

Jia

image thanks to Blueclayfarm

Right now I am working 6 days a week.  Color me exhausted!

Despite the necessity, I am worried about my ability to actually take on a second job, especially as doing so will cost me not only the ability to catch up on my sleep one day a week, but may also cost me my once-a-week cooking which is how I keep my kids eating home cooked meal and control my food costs.

Until that time though, today found me whipping up another week of frugal fare.  This week will find us at a total of 4, count them 4 stores, to get all the food and pantry items we need for the best prices.  Our grand total for the week will be just around $100.  And, like last week, this is not only to feed the 5 of us until I go food shopping again but, is also enough to add some food to the pantry for the weeks to come.

This week will find us eating:

3 half-size aluminum trays of Macaroni and Cheese with Tuna and Peas (very similar to our ham casserole).  The raw ingredients probably cost about $10 and with spoonfuls of jarred applesauce on the side (which will add another $2.50) each serving will run less than $1.

• 4 boxes pre-fab Mac-n-Cheese
• 1 lb elbow macaroni
• 1 stick butter
• 2.5 cups skim milk
• 4 cans tuna
• 4 oz cheddar cheese, diced
• about 1/2 onion, sauteed
• garlic powder
• topped with bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley and thyme

Another batch of vegetarian deconstructed tacos is on the menu this week as well.  Our recipe for vegan taco filling is the most popular page on this site, and with good reason.  The taste and texture will fool your favorite meat eater, its cheap and easy to make, and its very very nutritious.  With a family of 5 spanning the ages of 71 to 11 it can be hard to find dishes that everyone likes, and this is one that everyone loves.

Based on the success of my vegetarian tacos, this week we are also trying vegetarian meatballs.  Sauteed onions and garlic, cooked lentils, eggs, milk, Parmesean cheese, and seasoned breadcrumbs mixed up, formed into balls, and fried.  The plan it to put up a pot of sauce later in the week and have spaghetti and “meatballs” for a fraction of the price of the ground beef alone, with a stronger nutritional punch, and none of the cholesterol.  The meatballs themselves are pretty good.  Nice and crisp on the outside, soft and tender on the inside.  Accolan even enjoys them cold and is hinting that they would make great meatball parm subs.  I’m sure that they’ll get better as I tweak the recipe, but for a first go at it – damn if they don’t do the job well.

But, we also decided to have a bit of fun.  We broke in the deep-fryer that Accolan bought me for Yule last year.  We took one of the huge zucchini from my garden: sliced, breaded, and fried them.  We deep-fried a package of mushrooms as well.  We also took some sweet potatoes and turned them into fries.  Everything turned out really yummy, and I learned (after months of avoiding it) that using a deep fryer really wasn’t all that intimidating after all.

There is more to do.  We didn’t get started cooking until late, and so we had to stop so that there was still enough time to allow me to enjoy my evening before yet another long day at work.

What did you cook this  weekend?

Blessings

Mama Kelly

image thanks to swtleah

I could sit here in stressed silence and say nothing, like I’ve been doing for the past few months.  But, it occurs to me, that I am not the only person to go through something like this – especially now, in the current economy here in the US.

It occurs to me that as I figure out ways to slash our expenses, tighten our pursestrings, and pinch every penny until it squeals that there may be something of value learned to share with others.

One of my family’s (probably most families) biggest monthly expenses is food, and unfortunately this is an expense that has only increased in the last couple of months as I switched Accolan and I over to morning smoothies, and made grilled & roasted vegetables the star of our dinners.  So the first things to attack is the food budget.

I was on my way out to the supermarket when my husband pulled me aside to break the news to me about the sudden decrease in our income.  I immediately put my keys down and hit the pantry to see what I could make for the week to come without having to go out to the store at all.

I made a batch of pasta sauce.  Granted the last thing that I, or anyone in the house, wants to sit down and eat on a sultry summer night is a plate of pasta.  But, food is food and goodness knows I still have a lot of pasta stored up.

I defrosted some pork chops (purchased in a B1G1Free) and tossed them in teriyaki sauce to marinate before grilling them for dinner today.

I cooked up a batch of vegetarian taco filling.  This is one of our family favorite dishes and, best of all, is seriously cheap to make.

I made a batch of potato and egg salad, using the rest of the 10 lb bag of taters I’d purchased in advance of the Fourth of July.

I whipped up a mess of baked beans in my crockpot.

I served breakfast for dinner, using up some frozen waffles and breakfast sausage that had been taking up freezer space.

I still need to go buy a few small things: produce, white bread, and milk.  But, I should be able to get out of the store for very little.

Wish us luck!

Blessings

Jia

image thanks to Txfish