Think Healthy Equals Expensive? Think Again!

It's tax season...no matter how much we wish it wasn't. We are faced with our income or lack thereof in stark black and white and we start thinking about earning more money in the future or how to pay those stinkin' taxes!

I am in the category of thinking about how to increase my earnings and because of that, I live extremely frugally. I am also kind of a health nut unless I eat something sugary and then I become a voracious eating machine, but that is the subject of a different post! Can being frugal and healthy co-exist?

Many folks think that living a healthy life is expensive. They are sure that eating healthy food is pricey. They are sure that they can't get in or stay in shape without a membership at a fancy (meaning costly) gym. With those assumptions, a lot of people just give up or they blow their budget at the grocery store and don't have money for much else.

When I am faced with prevailing thinking such as, "It costs a lot of money to be healthy," I take it as a personal challenge to see if that school of thought is true or not. Let me encourage you that giving up a large portion of your budget to groceries to have quality food is not necessary if you are willing to change your mindset just a bit. Isn't that good news?

What do I mean by changing your mindset? You have to be willing to buy marked down items at the grocery store. These items are marked down because the packaging has been damaged, the item is about to go past its sell-by date (which isn't its expiration date, by the way), or the store is clearing out the item because it wasn't a good seller. Generally, these items will have large orange stickers on them showing the original price and the new, reduced price and the savings is anywhere from 25-80% off of the regular price. I also use coupons and oftentimes I can use a coupon on a marked down item for the maximum savings possible.

This nice California mix made a delicious
addition to our healthy stir-fry. 

I don't know about you, but I would rather get the best and most items I can for the least amount of money and have some funds left to put towards other items I have to buy.

Recently I made a nice pot of vegetarian chili. It made 7 1/2 cups of chili, which was about seven 1-cup servings. I often serve my chili over rice so we don't need huge portions of chili that way. This pot of chili cost me a shade under $2.00 to make and I got two dinners and a lunch out of it. Right now, you are thinking that can't possibly be correct. I can feel your skepticism coming through the computer. I will explain so you can do similar feats of financial alchemy yourself.

My husband, who wasn't frugal when we married but has been a good student, purchased two cans of pinto beans that were marked down because the cans had been dropped and dented. The regular price of these beans is 72 cents per can, but in this instance, one was reduced to 36 cents and the other to 18 cents.

He also bought a bag of black beans that had been torn open and re-closed with tape that had been $3.00 but was reduced to 25 cents. I had some Northern beans in the cabinet from an earlier purchase to add to the mix of beans and I had a can of diced tomatoes. I had purchased some cans of seasoned tomato sauce that was originally intended to make meatloaf the store was clearing out because it hadn't been selling (I am always thinking of multiple ways to use items). Each can was marked to 24 cents and I bought a dozen cans (when you see a great deal, buy as much as you can). I had onions and the seasonings for chili already on hand that I had used for other dishes so the cost of these ingredients had already been paid. The total of all items used in the chili was $1.77! And it was no-meat chili which is healthier.

It may say Dinner Starters for Meatloaf
but the way I think, that is merely a suggestion.

We scour every store where we shop for clearance items or hugely discounted items. Because of this unique acquisition method, I do not make a menu prior to going shopping. Once we get our goodies home, then I proceed to create a menu and see if I will need to buy any additional items. We eat a good variety of foods due to this creative way of procuring groceries.

I carry this way of thinking to just about every budget category as much as possible. Anytime I have to spend money, I see if I can reduce the expense somehow. I pretty much live in hyper-frugal mode. 

 Because I am interested in living a healthy lifestyle, I also am into exercising. Exercise equipment, workout clothes, and gym memberships can really take a big bite of a budget if you allow it. I work out at least three times a week and I can safely say that I haven't spent more than $50.00 in the past two years on anything fitness related.  

I have purchased my gym clothes at the thrift store or found them at retail stores deeply discounted. I received an exercise bike from my brother-in-law for free because he was tired of it and all my free weights were given to me by people who no longer wanted them. My yoga mats were gifts as were many of my exercise videos. Some videos I purchased I found at the dollar store. I also found great exercise programs on my local PBS station. Working out doesn't have to be expensive any more than eating healthy does, especially if you work out at home.

Perhaps you don't need to watch your spending as much as I do. But, what if you did anyway and you saved the difference? What could you do with those saved dollars? Travel? Fund a retirement account? Buy a vacation home? 

Spa Week Continues with Healthy Eating on a Tight Budget

Taking good care of oneself has a lot of components: getting enough sleep, eating healthfully, exercising, good skin care, filling one's mind with uplifting music and reading, prayer, and so on.

During this week, which I have designated as Spa Week, I am focusing on eating well. Those of you who are regular readers know that in this area, as in all the areas of my life, I work from a tight budget. A lot of people are fond of using the government's qualifications on how much money should be spent to feed ourselves. Even on the thrifty plan, I find that if I am observant and careful, I can do pretty well on a lot less money. If you are curious about these figures, check out USDA Food Plans.

Here are some of my real life examples and by the way, I have to eat gluten and dairy-free, which can be a bit of a hit to the food budget. I make it a habit to be as flexible as possible in what I eat and drink to get the best available deals. This means that sometimes I am drinking almond milk and sometimes I am drinking coconut milk. It all depends on what I can get at the lowest price. If almond milk has a $1.00 off coupon and that is the best deal going, that is what I will have that week.

About a year ago, my local grocery store was clearing out some Bob's Red Mill gluten-free products, which normally run about $5.00 per bag, down to $1.00 per bag. I purchased several bags of creamy rice and creamy buckwheat and popped them into my freezer. Note, that I paid 20% of the regular cost and even that is much less than a gluten filled hot cereal. The creamy rice costs me 5 cents a serving before I add fruit to it and the creamy buckwheat costs 8 cents a serving!

I bought these a year ago and
put them in the freezer. 

My favorite way to eat creamy
rice is by adding strawberries
and bananas with a sprinkle
of stevia to sweeten it. 

The fruit I add to my breakfast is usually purchased on sale or when it is marked down to move it out of the store quickly. Again, I am flexible on what I eat so I get the most out of the money I have budgeted for groceries. A plus to this philosophy is that I also have great variety.

My bargain purchase of almond
milk plus protein shake mix and
fruit make for a filling, nutritious breakfast. 

Another philosophy I employ is to accept whatever people want to give me. In this case, I was given five packages of protein shake mix by my father-in-law. He had been sent them by a cousin and he was not at all interested in using them. I was thrilled because these are gluten and dairy free and I am always looking for ways to get low-calorie protein into my diet. Once people know that you are a person who is happy to receive items, you will be blessed with a lot of different things coming your way. I have been given meats of all types, all kinds of produce, lots of dry beans, furniture, clothing, even a car or two!

Another example of eating healthfully on a budget was finding a Kale Vegetable soup mix marked down at the grocery store. I would normally make my food at home from scratch but on this day I was having a busy day and so I was thrilled to find this soup kit for $4.00! Another plus on this was that I got two days worth of meals out of it so it was pretty cost efficient.

I wouldn't normally buy a
kit but this was healthy and
fairly inexpensive. 

All this healthy eating doesn't mean that there aren't any treats to enjoy. I recently discovered the joys of using frozen bananas to make "ice cream".
No sugar, no dairy, no guilt in this treat! Just slice fairly ripe bananas and pop into the freezer. Once they are frozen solid, just pop into your food processor and add a bit of whatever milk you like using for a plain version of banana "ice cream". I made a chocolate version for me and my youngest son by adding some cocoa powder to the mixture. You can add all sorts of tasty things to this for variety's sake. This is a good use of those really inexpensive markdown bananas we all see at the grocery store from time to time.




And there you have it, healthy eats on a budget! Just the kind of food that is called for during Spa Week!

Tighten Your Spending, Not Your Living

People who know me and later find out that we live on a very low income are amazed to discover this information. Some think that given our low income, we get some kind of government assistance such as unemployment or food stamps to make it. However, that is not the case for our family. Our philosophy is that we will trust God to provide what we need, and we will do the very best with can with the resources available to us.

Some of the resources we have are ourselves and our abilities. I love to learn new skills and I love to shop for bargains everywhere I go. Recently, our living room furniture's well loved look started to get to me. I decided to go to the thrift store to see if I could find something to use to freshen up the look of the couch and two side chairs. I don't have any funds for replacing the furniture at this time.

I had a coupon in my possession for the thrift store that would allow me to save $5.00 off a purchase of $15.00 or more. I went looking for a large bedspread to use as a couch cover, a nice piece of fabric to use to recover the living room chairs, and a fitted sheet to use to cover the seat cushions on the couch.

My living room is decorated in the colors mauve, forest green, cranberry, and white. I found a large mauve bedspread, a forest green queen-size fitted sheet, and a drapery panel in forest green that has a nice pattern in it. I also found a new Christmas tablecloth at the same time that has mauve colored poinsettias on a cranberry colored background. I spent around $17.00 for these items. Let me show you the before and after on the chairs.

I can't believe I let the chairs
look like this as long as I did!

 We had originally bought these chairs as part of a lot of twenty chairs for $40.00 at an auction. So, the chairs cost $2.00 each and we have had them for around seven years. This is the third time I have recovered these chairs. Each time, I look for inexpensive fabric at a thrift store. The drapery panel I bought cost $2.99, so I recovered each chair for $1.50 plus the cost of the staples in the staple gun, and my time to recover the chairs. I spent around 1 1/2 hours removing the old fabric and putting on the new fabric. I kept the contrasting fabric from the previous recovering job because I liked that look but I still have enough fabric to change it if I decide to do so later.

All freshened up for the new year!

We have to keep a tight grip on our spending so that we have as much of our income available as possible to pay the non-negotiable bills such as the house payment or electric bill. However, tightening up our spending doesn't mean we don't enjoy our lives. We do everything everyone else does; we just do it differently.

Case in point- I have been wanting a pair of warm, snuggly boots for quite a while, but I was unwilling to spend the money that would be required to buy such boots at a retail store. Every time I went into my favorite thrift store I made sure to look at the boots they had in stock. A week ago, I finally found exactly what I wanted in my size. The boots were only $4.00! The only issue with them that I had to resolve was to buy new laces. I bought an inexpensive pair for $1.97 because if I had bought the suede laces, I would have spent as much for them as I did on my boots. I may upgrade to the suede laces but for now I am quite happy with my boots and laces.

I told my husband that these boots have changed my life. I get
very cold in the winter and once my feet are cold, I can't get warm
for a long time. These boots keep my feet nice and toasty. I can
stay outside longer and more comfortably. I am one happy gal! 

Would it have been easier to go to the store and buy a pair of boots when I needed them? Maybe for some people it would have. For me and my family, when we have a need we know we have to be a bit patient to get that need filled. Would it have been easier to get new chairs rather than to find the fabric and make the time to recover the chairs? Again, for some people that answer would be yes. 

In our family, due to our restrictions, we have developed many useful abilities and attitudes. We are generally content with what we have, we have learned to do many things so that we can live within our means (cooking, baking, making simple repairs, doing simple maintenance around the house), we are grateful and appreciative of whatever we receive, and we help each other as much as we can. 

My younger daughter and her boyfriend recently brought us a microwave and coffee maker that they did not need. A roommate had left the microwave and they had gotten a Keurig so they didn't need a full size coffee maker any longer. 

I cleaned the microwave and improvised a foot to replace the two back feet that were missing. We had been without a microwave for nearly a year but I didn't want to spend money on a cheap model microwave and then have to spend again when I finally had the funds to get the over the stove model I really want, so I just did without. My daughter knew we didn't have one and rather than selling her extra one, she blessed us with it. My coffee maker had also died and again, I want a certain model of coffee maker so rather than buy a cheap one I decided to learn to make coffee without a coffee maker until I could get what I want. Here are a couple sites that I found helpful:

http://www.articlesbase.com/coffee-articles/how-to-make-coffee-without-a-coffee-maker-1967702.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ab_paid_12&gclid=CPPr69eR47sCFUho7Aod7lIAEA

http://www.ehow.com/how_4505550_brew-coffee-coffee-maker.html

If it had bothered me to be without these items, I would likely have gone to the thrift store to get them while saving for the nicer ones I ultimately want. I find that the thrift store allows me to have just about anything I need or want and still stay within my budget. 

Letting others know of items you need is also a useful way to tighten your spending but still get what you need. Lots of people have no longer needed items cluttering up their homes and would be happy to pass them on to someone who can make good use of these household goods or clothes. I belong to my local Freecycle (https://www.freecycle.org/) and have gotten lots of needed items for free as well as decluttering my home by passing on no longer needed things to others who need them.

Anyway, I hope you are getting the idea that there are a lot of ways to manage when money is tight and still enjoy your life. There will be more posted on this topic throughout the year and I hope to hear from you so I can learn more!

My November 11-16 Menu (gluten-free friendly too!)

Menu planning is continuing to challenge me.  I realized recently that I only have to plan dinners right now so that should make my task a bit easier.

Breakfast is pretty much an "on your own" affair with four to five adults in the household. I lay in a supply of breakfast items and people just choose from those items. Generally there is a selection of regular and gluten-free cereals, bagels, regular and gluten-free frozen waffles, and eggs on hand at all times. We also have three different "milks" due to allergies so we have almond milk, soy milk, and regular milk in stock. One son likes to make protein shakes with 2% milk, I drink almond or coconut milk due to dairy allergies, and another son drinks soy milk due to dairy allergies and a hatred of almond and coconut milk.

Lunch is also an "on your own" meal mainly due to the majority of us being at work during lunchtime. The lunch food selections are quite varied due to dietary issues and preferences. One son likes frozen foods for his lunches (I don't advise this but he is 19) so he gets burritos, Hot Pockets, and occasionally frozen meals. My other son at home likes sandwiches with lots of meat in them (he is a black belt in Kung Fu and needs A LOT of protein). I like salads, cut-up veggies, hummus, and soups. So, I just stock up on the items we all want and we pack our lunches each day.

Which leads to dinner...

Dinner is the one meal of the day when at least three of us are home at the same time so I feel it incumbent upon me to actually cook a meal. Given all the dietary issues (I have celiac disease, two of us have diary allergies, and two of us cannot eat soy), creating a meal we can all eat is a bit challenging. Add to the mix the need to be on a very tight budget and it is a wonder I can make any meals at times!

So,  here are the meals we ate this week (Nov. 11-16):

Monday- Breakfast for dinner which consisted of omelets, leftover gluten-free hot dogs sliced in half and fried, hash browns, and apple juice
           
Tuesday-  Soup and Sandwiches (first really cold night of the season!) so I bought a variety of gluten-free Progresso soups with coupons and made both gluten-free vegan grilled cheese and regular grilled cheese sandwiches.

Wednesday- Fried rice with egg and stir-fried veggies, egg rolls (sadly no gluten-free versions for me).

Thursday- Gluten-free General Tso's chicken, which is a crockpot meal from Stephanie O' Dea's blog, A Year of Slow Cooking (http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/) served over rice. This was delicious and will be made again!

Friday-Leftovers

Saturday- Refried bean tostadas with chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onions, regular and vegan cheddar        cheese, jalapenos, hot sauce, Spanish rice, garlic green beans

What was or is on your menu this week?



      

Strategies for Saving and Managing Calories

One of the "cruel" realities of weight loss is that the less you weigh, the less calories you can consume to maintain or lose weight. I have lost 60 pounds and am working on losing 10 more. I am allotted 1,372 calories each day according to Lose It, a very cool free phone app. So, I have to manage those calories really well in order to feel satisfied and stay on track.

I came up with a couple strategies that are working quite nicely for me and hope they will help you too. Instead of topping my gluten-free waffles with syrup (a calorie bomb as 1/4 cup of regular pancake syrup has 187 calories!), I top them with cut-up fruit such as bananas or strawberries, both of which contain nutrients, vitamins, and far fewer calories than syrup. I do spread a little pat of butter on my waffle before topping with the sliced fruit.

Doesn't this look yummy?

Summer waffles!

 I find these so satisfying and filling! Less sugar, more fiber, a plus all the
way around!

I use this principle when eating cereal as well. Instead of adding sugar to my gluten-free Rice Krispies, I add cut-up fruit. I find that I don't need the sugar because the natural sweetness of the fruit is enough.

Another way to save on calories is to switch to unsweetened almond or coconut milk. A cup of unsweetened almond milk contains 30 calories and unsweetened coconut milk contains 45 calories. A cup of skim milk has about 90 calories, so do the math and see if you would rather save some calories while consuming the same volume of "milk".

I have celiac disease, cannot eat dairy, and cannot eat soy. This necessarily limits many food choices for me. Instead of feeling unhappy about this, I have discovered a benefit in that many of the vegan "dairy" alternatives are much lower in calories than their dairy counterparts. A slice of vegan cheese has 40 calories while a slice of dairy American cheese has 70 calories. So, even those of you who don't need to avoid dairy like I do may find a benefit in switching to vegan alternatives. I have found similar benefits in my gluten-free choices. ; )

Of course, not all the alternatives contain the same nutrients as their alter egos-they can contain more or less depending on the item. You need to make informed decisions for yourself. Because I have medical issues that preclude my consumption of gluten, dairy, and soy, I do take supplements to be sure that I get my needed nutrients.

Another HUGE help for me is measuring my food. I realized when I started my weight loss journey that part of my problem was consuming too great a volume of food. I was eating a dinner plate full of rice instead of a portion-way too many calories! Now, my measuring cups and spoons are my best friends. They help keep me on track and mindful of what I am eating.

Did you know 1 cup is a portion?

1 tablespoon = 30 calories of Coffeemate.

What do you do to manage your diet while losing or maintaining a weight loss?

Meal Planning for Busy People Update

Gluten-free zucchini muffins and banana muffins cooling so I can store them for the week's grab and go breakfasts.

Okay, so after my trip to Little Caesar's, I was more determined than ever to master my meal planning issues. Check out this link to see why I am whining about my meal planning http://thewhollyholly.blogspot.com/2013/10/menu-planning-ideas-for-frugal-busy.html. Right now I am feeding three adult men (hubby, a 21-year-old son, a 19-year-old son), myself, and my 27-year-old daughter and her 1-year-old son who live with us on a semi-permanent basis.

My husband brought home the following items from his shopping trip on Thursday (Oct. 3), all of which were marked down items: veggie kabobs (peppers, onions, mushrooms, yellow squash, and zucchini), two bags of broccoli and carrot mix, a package of sliced zucchini and yellow squash (this will be shredded and put into gluten-free zucchini muffins), a bag of sliced mushrooms, a five pound package of ground beef, a large container of medium salsa, and a large bag of tortilla chips. Then, on Saturday (Oct. 5) as he was leaving a market days event where he was selling craft and jewelry items, he purchased sausages, barbecue beef, and smoked pork loin that the concession stand was selling really cheap. There were two large (32 oz. size cups) of barbecue beef, a dozen sausages, and a package of pork loin sliced into about twelve good slices. He spent $9.00 for everything!

The vegetables in this package were on skewers as they were intended for veggie kabobs. I turned them into ratatouille and Slow Cooker Mediterranean vegetable stew. I put the mushrooms aside to use in pasta primavera, so this package of vegetables became ingredients in three meals.

Slow cooker Mediterranean vegetable stew is spicy with red pepper flakes in it and delicious over rice. 

I had on hand some frozen chicken, some cooked pork chops, rice, potatoes, refried beans, tostada shells, flour tortillas, some canned vegetables, spaghetti sauce, dried pinto beans, okra, and peppers from our garden and other staple items such as spices, eggs, and the like.

Here is the dinner menu I created from the items listed above:

Saturday, October 5- We ate the barbecue beef and had potato salad with it that hubby had picked up to make dinner easy on me. Because I am gluten-free, I ate my barbecue beef on tostada shells.

Sunday, October 6-Ratatouille, pasta, smoked pork loin.

Doesn't the ratatouille look pretty?

Monday, October 7-Smoked sausages on buns and tater tots. We have a very long Monday each week so I keep this meal simple.

Tuesday, October 8-Meatball sandwiches, oven fries, baby carrots.

Wednesday, October 9-Tostada casserole (I will use the dried pinto beans in this and cook them overnight in my crockpot the night before, making extra for Saturday's chili). This can be made ahead a day or two before and just popped into the oven for 20-25 minutes to reheat.

Thursday, October 10-Pasta primavera (will use the mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots in this), topped with sauce and meatballs from Tuesday's dinner.

Friday, October 11-Clean Out the Fridge Day. We will eat the leftovers that have piled up during the week today.

Saturday, October 12-Chili . We eat our chili over rice so I will make a big batch of rice to use with this meal and in the coming week. This is the third of four meals that I will have made with five pounds of ground beef.

I got three cups of shredded zucchini from the package of zucchini and squash. I used one cup in the gluten-free zucchini muffins and used the squash in ratatouille and Mediterranean vegetable stew.

I love my salad shooter for shredding
small quantities of foods quickly with
easy clean up.

What a deal! Isn't my hubby a savvy shopper?

I am feeling better about my menu and meal planning for this week. ; )

Menu Planning Ideas for Frugal Busy People

Over the years I have had many challenges in my life. Who hasn't? One of my biggest current challenges involves menu and meal planning. I used to be really good at it but lately, not so much, due to a jam-packed schedule and the unpredictable way we do our grocery shopping.

This not a typical meal served at my house these days!

My husband does some of our grocery shopping and buys whatever he can find that is marked down or on clearance. This stretches our funds and is a huge help, but it also makes meal planning have to occur once shopping is completed rather than before. Most every article I see about meal planning encourages a person to get the sale ads, make a menu based on what is on sale, and then go shopping. We end up seeing what we can get for the funds available and then I have to gather my cookbooks together to compile recipes and a menu that make the best use of the raw materials I have available.

Frozen chicken tenders, a can of black beans, a can of corn, and a can of tomatoes and green chiles are the main components of Santa Fe Chicken. The canned items were all purchased on markdown by my hubby and cost 50 cents each!

The completed dish of Santa Fe Chicken. We serve ours over rice and with either tortilla chips and a salad or with flour tortillas. Some of us like to sprinkle a little Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese over this. The total cost to feed four of us was around $5.00!

In addition to the challenge of creating a menu based on available ingredients, four out of the seven nights of the week, I do not arrive home until between 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. This makes cooking a meal a little dicey unless we want to eat around midnight. So, I am currently reformulating my cooking routine.

On Sundays now, I am making two meals. One to eat on Sunday and one for Monday. Reheating an already prepared meal is much easier than preparing a meal from scratch. I am now avidly searching online and in women's magazines for recipes that are cook once, eat twice type of recipes. A recent issue of Family Circle was a big help in this area. Some ideas they featured were: roast a chicken one day and the second day make a pot pie, serve spaghetti and meatballs one day and the second day serve meatball sub sandwiches. This type of meal preparation will go a long way to make serving meals in my home much easier. Here are a couple URLs that look promising to me: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20333807,00.html and http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/cook_once_eat_twice_recipes.


I used to do freeze ahead meals years ago and I think I will incorporate that into my meal planning as well. I really enjoyed looking at the nicely stacked packages filling the freezer shelves and knowing that we had meals at the ready. I used Once-a-Month Cooking by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg as my guide to cooking up to a month's worth of meals in one day or over a weekend (check out cookbooks in my Amazon store link http://astore.amazon.com/thewhollyholl-20/detail/B0072O02AA to get their books). Most likely I won't have enough groceries at the ready to do a month of meals in advance but perhaps I can start with a week and utilize a freezer meal once or twice a week for those days when I am extremely pressed for time.

I am also employing the power of crock pot cooking at least once a week to help me over the meal planning and eating later in the evening hump. I am enjoying perusing the recipes at Stephanie O'Dea's website devoted to crock pot cooking. A big bonus for me in following her blog, A Year of Slow Cooking, (http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/) is that she is also gluten-free. I have eaten gluten-free since 2007 and I really appreciate being able to grab a recipe and not have to take the time to convert it to a gluten-free concoction.

Stay tuned as I share favorite recipes from my frugal busy cooking journey and please share how you handle menu planning and meal prep in your household. I need all the help I can get right now because last night I had to make a stop at Little Caesar's!

Manic Monday

My Mondays are really crazy. Everyone has crazy, busy days, I know. But, check out how my Monday currently goes-

6:00 a.m. I get up.
6:30 a.m. I do the Classical Stretch workout on my local PBS station-KLRU-Q.
7:00 a.m. I make sure my 19 year-old-son and 21 year-old sons are both awake and I make coffee and eat breakfast while walking my dogs.
7:15 a.m. I get dressed, fix my face and hair.
7:40 a.m. We leave the house and head to Austin.
8:00 a.m. The 19 year-old gets dropped to catch the bus to downtown Austin where he has an internship and takes college classes. Then the 21 year-old and I head to his workplace about 25 minutes further in southwest Austin.
8:30 a.m. I drop my son and head to work myself.
5:00 p.m. I finish work and head to my 21 year-old son's workplace which is a combination martial arts and fitness studio. I do child care for the yoga and crossfit particpants children.
5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Child care.
6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. I get on my netbook and do writing projects (like this!) while waiting for my son to finish his training.
8:45 p.m. We start the 45 minute trip home.
9:30 p.m. We arrive home, I take out the dogs, feed the dogs and cat, and get something for us to eat.
11:00 p.m. I start getting ready for bed and hope to be asleep by 11:30 p.m.

Yep, that is my Monday. I am always trying to make my schedule more productive.

Today, I didn't end up having to go to work so I baked some chicken leg quarters to eat because they can be eaten cold or hot. Sometimes I make breakfast for dinner on Monday nights. This won't always be my schedule because once my sons have money to buy their cars, I won't be the only driver in my "car pool". For now, I am enjoying my time with my guys. We have lots of great conversations on these long drives-some serious, some funny, and sometimes we don't talk at all.

What do you do to manage your crazy days?

Super Saver Saturday- Get Cooking!

Just washed organically grown okra ready to be sliced for tonight's dinner. I could eat okra everyday I love it so much!

Hello Everyone! What's for dinner tonight? ; )

One of the biggest expenses in a household is money spent on food. Check out the USDA food budget info at http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2012/CostofFoodJan2012.pdf. They have four plans listed: thrifty, low-cost, moderate, and liberal. According to their thrifty plan, I should spend $162.60 to feed three adult men ages 19-50 and one 50 year-old woman. Occasionally, my 27 year-old daughter and her nearly 1 year-old son are here eating also.

I don't think I even come close to spending that much weekly, unless we include pet foods, cleaners, and toiletries (and I use coupons and sales on those!). Lest you are now worried about us, let me assure you that we eat at least three times a day and we eat well. I cook the majority of our meals at home and it is extremely rare for us to eat out. Being able to cook and shopping for bargains has been a huge help to keeping our costs under control!

Let me share some of what I do and hopefully shed a little light on what others can do, too.

On Thursdays, my husband brings home a variety of groceries that he finds on markdown at the grocery store. I am never sure exactly what he will have when he gets home. Talk about life being like a box of chocolates.

This week he purchased two packages of already prepared vegetable kabobs that had been marked to $3.25 per package, about a 50% reduction from the regular price. They had mushrooms, red onions, yellow squash, zucchini, green peppers, and red peppers. I did not immediately pop these on the grill for the evening meal. Instead, I took stock of other items we had and decided to take the kabobs apart to use in the following meals: red and green peppers, and mushrooms were reserved for eating fresh in salads and with hummus for lunch. The zucchini, yellow squash, and onions went into two different dinner dishes; Mediterranean Stew, and Ratatouille. To these dishes, I added our homegrown Japanese eggplant and okra. Both of these meals are served over brown rice, which I made from scratch on my stove. A 2-pound bag of brown rice at my local grocery store was $1.18.

Japanese eggplant grown organically from our garden. These ones are headed into Mediterranean Stew.

So, the cost to produce or enhance three meals to feed 2 women and 3 men was $7.68 AND there were leftovers for lunches. Take that USDA thrifty meal plan! Also, we are consuming a lot of vegetables in these dishes and everywhere where we turn we hear that we need to eat more vegetables.

I didn't begin my adult life with a Ratatouille recipe in my back pocket. But, thankfully, I had a grandmother who was very practical and had given me a Betty Crocker cookbook when I turned 13. The edition I received had wonderful illustrations that showed the most basic of cooking skills, such as scrambling an egg.

My poor cookbook is falling apart so I had to find a stock photo to show you what I think is the best cookbook ever. I know that my grandmother would be very pleased to know that I have used it and loved it so much over the years. 

If you don't know how to cook., there are resources everywhere to help you learn: YouTube, the Food Channel, libraries, blogs, 4-H, The Cooperative Extension Service, your mom or grandma...

Don't waste another minute or another dollar at the fast food places, learn to cook as soon as possible!

Super Saver Saturday Mark Down Foods

My husband and I live very differently from your standard American family. We have five kids-we had a girl followed by a boy and people thought we were done. We kept going and had another girl followed by two boys.

Our choice to have five children led to some other non-standard choices: we live in a double wide mobile home, we moved to a semi-rural area on 3/4 acres of property, we shop at thrift stores, yard sales, and we buy clearance and markdown food items.

Many people would shy from purchasing food items that bear a large red sticker but we are actually excited to buy these products because of the HUGE impact they have on reducing our food costs. Meal planning is very interesting when the components are acquired in this random fashion.

Yogurt can be quite expensive purchased at regular price but on a markdown I can often obtain it at 75% off. Many people do not know that yogurt and many other dairy products are perfectly fine up to a week after the sell by date on the package. I actively search for mark down items in the dairy case because the savings are so great.

Meat is another item where one can realize great savings. As long as the meat is cooked soon after purchasing or frozen right away, it is perfectly fine and a huge boon to the budget. I have a lot of fun calculating the cost of a meal at times when I have created it from all mark down items.

One very successful meal I make using mark down items is Southwest Chicken. I got the three canned items at 50 cents each. I used only part of the bag of chicken tenders and the rice I cooked was from a bag that had been marked down as well. I fed 5 people for about $6.00 and we ate very generous servings.

Ingredients for Southwest Chicken

Making Southwest Chicken is very easy, too! I just brown the chicken in oil with garlic, throw in a drained can of diced tomatoes with green chiles, a can of corn kernels, drained, and a can of drained black beans. Add some powdered cumin and salt and pepper to taste. Heat through and serve over rice.

Southwest chicken ready to eat!

I think that buying markdown foods offers an opportunity for creativity while freeing up money for other expenditures. Try it-you and your budget will like it!

What do you do to live within your budget?

Food Restrictions/Food Freedom

Many of you know that I eat gluten free and dairy free (except for lactose free yogurt, butter, some cream cheese, and Parmesan cheese). When I meet new folks and have to share this info, they always look at me with pity.

"What? You can't eat bread? No ice cream? I can't live without cheese!" It seems almost incomprehensible to people that there is anything available to consume. Believe me, I have plenty to eat. Though I eliminated gluten in late 2006 and dairy in early 2012 I still have plenty of variety in my diet.

Last night, we had a delicious meat loaf made in the crock pot with cut up potatoes and baby carrots. No gluten, no dairy and all five of us devoured it. The other four people in my home can eat gluten and three can eat dairy. Since I am the main chef though, they all eat gluten free and dairy free often without really noticing that is what they are doing.

Sunday evening's dinner was shrimp creole served over rice and salad for those who wanted salad. Dessert was a gluten free pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting.

Right now I am eating roasted red pepper hummus with baby carrots. Yummy!

Since I am the only one in my home that has to eat gluten free, I don't buy a lot of gluten free (GF) ingredients. They can be pricey and I won't eat enough of them to justify the cost most of the time. So instead I make naturally gluten free foods. The gluten eaters can always grab a slice of bread if they want it.

I make about 95% of the meals we eat for many reasons: it is cost effective, the food is fresh, and  I like the security of knowing my food is not contaminated with gluten or dairy products.

I am currently working on a 30-day gluten free dairy free menu with recipes that I will have available as an inexpensive download, hopefully sooner rather than later. Even if you don't have to restrict your diet as I do, you may know someone who does that is struggling with how to do so.

One of my goals this year as I forgo full-time employment is to develop ways to create an income for me and my family that allows me time to enjoy my life. Creating useful, helpful products and publishing articles are two of the ways I hope to do this.

Super Saver Saturday

Ingredients for Chicken Santa Fe purchased on sale and markdown at my favorite grocery store. 

                                                     Home Cooking Saves Money!

I made an enjoyable meal last night that was delicious, healthy, and inexpensive. We had a pork stir-fry with rice. My hubby had bought two packages of pre-cut stir fry vegetables that were marked down to 99 cents each and a package of thin sliced pork for $3.00 and it was my job to turn it into a culinary delight.

The vegetables in the stir fry were chopped cabbage, broccoli, carrots, and snow peas. I added a bit of broccoli, carrots, and onions, and garlic that I had in the fridge. I made my own sauce from cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and seasonings and served the stir fry over medium grain white rice that had been purchased in bulk.

The whole meal cost around $6.00 and fed three of us very generous helpings. If there had been any leftovers, they would have been recreated as fried rice for the next day's lunch.

Being able to cook and bake has been a huge boon to my budget! It allows my family to eat a variety of healthful foods. I am constantly adding to my skill set in the kitchen. Just this past week I made hummus, which is pricey to purchase but quite affordable to create at home.

If you do not currently cook for your family, I encourage you to start. You will quickly see an impact on your food bill and free up funds to use in other areas of your budget.

I will be sharing more on this topic of cooking from scratch in coming posts. Not only does cooking at home save money, homemade food promotes health which saves on trips to the doctor and lessens healthcare costs.

Chicken Santa Fe ready to eat. I serve it over rice with tortillas and a salad or garlic green beans.