Life most of you moms (and dads) out there my days are filled with activities … driving the kids to their extra curriculums, afternoon studies, parties, school activities, and etc.

During the week we usually don’t come home until past 6:00 so I need to be creative when it comes to dinners.

I am not a big fan of just opening things and heating it up … my kids had two frozen meals in their lives.  Few months ago, I made my kids soups out of can, Progresso Chicken Noodle soup, when they were sick.  My kids looked puzzled and said, “We are eating canned soup?”

Of course, they licked the bowl clean, but the shock and amusement I received from my kids makes me laugh to this day.

My kids are not that picky, but I almost always make them homemade chicken noodle (or rice) soup when they are sick … something about “momma” made it makes them feel better faster.  This is a tradition because my mom always made me fresh homemade soup when my siblings and I were sick … something so warm about it.

Anyhoot … yesterday was a busy-busy day/night.  I knew we were going to be home by 6:30 so I had to put something in the crock pot.

I have never made Orange Chicken in a crock pot before so this was an experiment … however, it came out really nice.

Since Gerbes and Dillons had drumsticks on sale for $0.99/lb I picked up a pack for ONLY $4.19 (13 drumsticks), and used 6 and rest in the freezer.  Buying cheaper cuts of meat, like drumsticks, are great ways to stretch your budget!

Here are the ingredients I used to make this budget friendly meal.
6 drumsticks ($0.32 each = $1.92)
1 can chicken stock  … $0.29 each

Total: $2.21

FREE INGREDIENTS or STAPLE INGREDIENTS:

1 onion
4 carrot sticks (cut into big chunks)
1/4 cabbage
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tbl – 1 tbl grated ginger (use as much or little as you want)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbl mirin
2 tbl soy sauce (I use the low sodium ones)
5 tbl sugar
5 tbl white vinegar
1 zest of orange, and it’s juice

First, brown the drumsticks on the stove until all parts of meat are nicely browned (make sure you don’t cook it through … just searing the outside of the meat).  Remove from heat once this step has been accomplished.

Add onions, carrots, and crushed red pepper into the pan where you were searing the drumstick.  This step allows you to scrape up all the browned goodies on the bottom of the pan.  Add garlic and ginger at this point.

In a bowl add rest of the ingredients and mix well (except cabbage and chicken stock) … then add it to the pan … bring it to boil and cook for 10 minutes or so.

At this point it’s time to layer the crock pot!  Yeah!

1 – Boiling liquid mixture from the pan
2 – chicken drumsticks
3 – chicken stock until it covers the meat
4 – sliced or cubed cabbage

Cover and cook it low for 6-7 hours.

After the crock pot has been going for good 6-7 hours at a low-speed, remove the chicken (be careful because the meat will break apart) and put it on to a serving plate.

Transfer everything, that is left in the crock pot, into a pan and bring it to boil to thicken the sauce.

In order to thicken the sauce you can use arrow-root (natural thickener) or corn starch or flour.  I usually use flour because I always have it at home and it is expensive.

So … I take 2-3 tablespoon of flour and mix it with butter … or Roux.  This process eliminates the taste of “flour” in your sauce, but also gives the sauce the butter glaze look.

Add much or little as you want and mix well with the sauce.  NOTE: taste your sauce to adjust the seasoning!

Once you reach the consistency pour it over the chicken and serve it over rice!

Total dinner Cost?  $2.21!

Not only it’s really delicious and VERY healthy (because I am not frying my meat), but very CHEAP too!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I am not a big fan of restaurant foods; especially for breakfast.

Not only I have been disappointment with foods, but it is really expensive when you have more than six (6) people to feed.

I don’t know when it all changed, but breakfast foods used to be the cheapest foods served in restaurants; so taking the “family” out was no big deal …

Well … when I visited my family couple of weeks ago by the time we fed eight (8) people at the restaurant the bill was whopping $80.00 (plus)!

We had nothing fancy, but how is that possible?

OK … enough with ranting and raving about the bill.

Since we have guests, and made sweet crepes couple of days ago, I decided to make individual quiche.

I thought of making eggs or even omelets, but trying to make 8 different omelets can be little tricky and annoying … honestly, I love cooking but I personally don’t have the patience nor skills to whip out 8 omelets!

So … in order to stay sane in the kitchen and still enjoy my guest’s company I thought putting quiche in the oven will satisfy everyone’s tastebuds.

I am not a big fan of cheese (I prefer very mild cheese like Mozzarella cheese) so I also controlled the amount cheese in each quiche.

Not only I made 24 individual quiche, but managed pull that off for couple of dollars … it’s a budget friendly meal or what?  I just needed to convince my guests to tip me at the end of the meal!  LOL

Here is my recipe:

1 – dozen eggs (24 eggs) — BASIC AND STAPLE INGREDIENTS – FREE

1 – Cup Heavy whipping cream — STAPLE/BASIC – FREE

2 – medium yellow onions – — STAPLE/BASIC – FREE

8 – potatoes — – STAPLE/BASIC – FREE

1 – bag of Mozzarella cheese … $1.29

1 – Green pepper … $0.50

2 – Roma tomatoes (inside scooped out because I don’t want soupy eggs) … $0.36 (it’s basic ingredient, but will calculate into this recipe)

Olive oil

salt and pepper

oil spray

Preheat oven to 375 degree oven.

Saut’e ONE (1) onion and green pepper in a pan until brown then add diced tomatoes and mix while heat is off.  Remove to the side to cool completely.

In a large bowl hand mix 12 eggs, ONE (1) cup of heaving whipping cream, and ONE (1) cup of mozzarella cheese.  Add salt and pepper.

Individually spray tin muffin pan with spray butter.

Evenly distribute the eggs … this recipe will make 24 individual quiche.

Top quiche with cooled saut’ed vegetables, and top it off with little bit more cheese (if necessary).

Bake for 20-25 minutes (I prefer little longer to 25-30 because I like my quiche more golden brown).

Let it cool before removing from the tin muffin pan.

I also served my quiche with toast and oven roasted potato/onion mix.  Before I got the quiche started I diced up potatoes and onions and cooked it in a oven at 400 degrees F and cooked them for 30 minutes before switching temperature down to 375 for the quiche.

I left the potato/onion mixture in the oven and continued to cook with quiche for another 25 minutes.

Total: $2.15 to feed party of 8 and I still have few left … I guess I am going to have them for dinner … Never had a leftover quiche before so that will be interesting!

It’s delicious!!!

Feeding big parties don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg!!!!

Happy Eating!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I used to pack up the family either on Saturday or Sunday mornings to catch breakfast, but I was always disappointed with the food.

My daddy, on every Saturday morning, used to cook breakfast for us so breakfast on the weekend is very important to me.

With that said … I was starting to get sick and tired of paying for food I did not enjoy; so about a year now I started to cook breakfast for my family.

I try to alternate breakfast choices because my family’s preferences differ drastically.  If it is up to me I would cook pancakes or waffles or crepes every weekend, but my family prefer egg-related breakfasts.

This morning, it was crepes time, and I absolutely adore crepes; however, finding the “perfect” crepes is virtually impossible where I live.  So, I started messing around with recipes and this is the best combination I have concoctioned. 

Not only this is very budget friendly, but the recipe makes tons of crepes.  Since most of the ingredients listed are staple or basic ingredients you should have it in the house you don’t really need any planning.

Sweet Crepes Recipe

2 Cups Flour
2 tsp sea salt
2 1/2 Cup whole milk (I use 1 1/2 Cup heavy whipping cream and 1 Cup skim milk … usually have it in the house so I mix them up)
4 large eggs
4 tbl melted unsalted butter (it makes a huge difference if you use real butter vs margarine)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients together, and make sure it is soopy!  Soopier the batter the thinner your crepes will be.

Also, I usually let sit in the refrigerator at least 30 mins to let the batter rest and butter to harden again.

I have tried so many difference recipes and this is the best mix/combination for my family’s taste buds.

I have tried so many different crepes in restaurants, but it’s never thin enough to really fully enjoy crepes.

I guess I am a crepes-snob, but I love my crepes!!!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

Making budget friendly meals are difficult and sometimes very stressful because you have to work with a fixed budget.

Cooking is easy if you can just go to the grocery store and pick up necessary ingredients without worrying about how much you are going to spend.

In the past (before I got REALLY wise or cheap … either way) I went to the grocery store after watching Food Network show and blindly pickup items I require for specific recipe.

By the time I left the store I would easily spend $50 or more on ONE dinner recipe.  Can you believe that?

With that math … I would spend around $1,500 a month just on dinners never-mind including takeouts, deliveries, and restaurant sit down meals.

I can’t believe, to this day, I wasteful I was!!  This kind of madness all stopped when I start couponing … honestly, coupon usage really put some perspective in my wasteful actions!

Here are few tricks and tips I use to stretch my budget to keep meals under $5.  Of course, there are days I would spend $10 on a dinner meal, but I have leftovers for the next night’s meal … so, it is still around $5.

If you watch Extreme Couponing show on TLC you saw people claiming that they spent nothing (or no money) on pasta sauces, tunas, and etc.

Unfortunately, where I live, I do not have that kind of luxury because they do NOT allow overages and coupon values are not high enough to get those items for FREE.  In addition, I am not going to spend $3.00 on coupons to get my sauces that costs $3.00 … the math and savings have to make sense.

I have noticed on auction sites where people would bid on high value coupons that is worth around $10 and bid up to $10.  That is not the funny thing … it would cost them extra $0.49 – $0.99 on “shipping/handling” fee.  So … these bidders are spending $11 to get $10 coupons so they can save $10 at the grocery store … to make them feel that they save $10!  Wow … this is so crazy I am speechless and not a smart couponing!

Since I am aware of product prices (you get to know the price pattern) when the item reaches its bottom price, at the grocery store, I picked the up.

One of the main reason why freshmen coupons get frustrated and fail is the notion that they will get everything for FREE!  With EC show on its peak the manufacturers and stores are making more difficult for couponers to succeed due to coupon policy change.

I am not an extreme couponer by any means … I buy things that my family needs and uses … it’s not a deal if you don’t use them.

Back to my point … here are some cooking on budget tricks you can use to stretch your budget.

1.  Always buy tuna cans in oil

2.  Pick and choose your brand loyalty.

3.  If you are using jar sauces then stretch your sauces by using alternative sources.  For instance, if you are using an Alfredo sauce make sure to start the sauce with either heavy cream or whole milk to stretch the sauce.

The jar of sauce, which cost me $0.79, isn’t enough to cover entire 1 lb of pasta, but I don’t want to open up another jar of sauce because I would only use 1/4 of the jar … just waste!

So I start the sauce by using 1/2 Cup of heavy whipping cream and 1/2 Cup of 2% milk (my kids drink them so I have it at home ALL times) and melt 1/4 – 1/2 stick of butter.  Make sure not to boil your milk and gradually add 1/4 Cup of Parmesan cheese.  Once everything is incorporated I add ground pepper and pinch of salt before adding a jar of Alfredo sauce into the pot.  You can add more garlic if you want at this point.

I have noticed that this is the perfect amount of Alfredo sauce for a 1 lb of pasta … not too dry and not too wet … delicious!!!!

This concept goes with the tomato sauce.  I cannot go lower than $0.79 a jar on my shopping trip so I stretch my sauces by using diced tomatoes.  I picked up extra cans of diced tomatoes for ONLY $0.30 and add to my sauce.  With little bit of tweaking … it’s delicious!

4.  Buy a day old bread at the deli section!  They are perfect for making french toast and garlic bread!  I usually pick up a loaf or two of French Bread at Dillons/Gerbes stores for only $0.99 … it’s an awesome deal!

5.  Potatoes, rice, and pastas are your friend!!!!  Unless you have a medical condition you can add these things to your recipes to stretch your meals.  Carbs are NOT your enemy if you eat them in a moderate portion … it just taste good so people eat it too much.

6.  Have two meals, in a week, that is vegetarian friendly.  Proteins cost money even if you get them on sale.

7.  Stock up on frozen vegetables.  Many times grocery stores will have many different varieties of frozen vegetables that you can pick up for only $0.30 or less a bag after using frozen vegetable coupons.

8.  Don’t be judgmental on Aldi stores.  I pick up 99% of my vegetables from that store!

9.  Portion control!  This might sound bad, but make sure to portion control your family’s meals.

It is easy to eat too much when it tastes good, but portion controlling the family is not only healthy but budget friendly as well.

10.  Be creative!  Play with ingredients and recipes!  I have made some awesome meals from using ONLY leftovers.  Honestly … it tasted better than original meals.

With that said … good luck and let your imaginations fly!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

Since it’s nice outside (or semi nice because it’s still quite cold for me) I am going to BBQ some chicken for dinner tonight.

3 1/2 lb chicken breasts  $3.09
2 boxes of Betty Crocker Scallop potatoes $1.00 (Picked up whole bunch at Patricia’s Foods when I price-matched with Schnucks sale ad at $1.00 a piece and used my $0.50/2 Q that doubled to $1.00)
1 bottle BBQ sauce (FREE)

Serve up BBQ feast meal with side salad and add couple of hard-boiled eggs!  Yummy!

Total: $4.09

Before I grill any chicken I always brine my meat with equal parts salt (sea salt) and sugar.  I usually don’t put that much salt in it if I am going to be dressing the meat with some sort of sauce; in this case BBQ sauce which was FREE!

Here is a little trick I use when I serve up meat to the family.  Not only this is a great way to self-portion your food (if you leave me a plate full of BBQ sauce chicken meat I will devour EVERYTHING!), but it looks like you made heck of lot of food.

3 1/2 lb of meat plus a card side dish (in addition to salad) will make any meal complete, but it makes me feel better having a plate full of meat!

I butterfly and cut the meat into two different pieces (if the chicken breast is larger than usual I will cut it into 3 different sizes), and BBQ them.

I am really crazy about getting food poisoning with uncooked poultry that making the meat thinner to BBQ much easier (and less stressful).  Unfortunately, I haven’t master the BBQ skills!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I received an email regarding what I considered “staple” ingredients/products in my kitchen.

When I figure my dinner budget I do NOT include staple ingredient/product into my calculations because it’s tedious to calculate exactly how much you spent on that product.

For instance, salt and pepper is one of my “staple” products, but I wouldn’t calculate the cost into my budget … silly; right?

For that reason I always have these items in my pantry/cabinets and/or fridge.

Here are my list of staple items … a must have in kitchen and NOT calculated in the recipe budgets.

Bread Crumbs
Butter/margarine
Carrots
Celery
Chicken and Beef Stock
Dried Species and Herbs (Chili powder, Cinnamon, Cumin, Garlic and onion powders, Italian seasoning and etc)
Eggs
Flour
Fresh Herbs (if it is possible such as Basil, Rosemary, and Parsley)
Garlic (I have diced garlic in a jar)
Heavy Whipping cream
Honey
Ketchup
Milk
Mustard (Dijon, whole ground, and yellow mustard)
Oils (Vegetable and Olive Oil)
Onions (both white and red)
Potatoes
Salt and Pepper
Vinegars (red wine, white wine, and rice wine)
White and Brown Sugar

I think that is about it because canned and jar sauces can be easily calculated into the budget meals (and will add more if I think of more).

No matter what is going on or haven’t gone to the grocery store, if you have these basic things you can make anything and everything!  It is amazing how much you can whip up meals and desserts when you have these basic staple ingredients at home.

Let me give you an example … it’s cold outside and you want to bake.  You look in the pantry and see you have a cake mix but you ran out of eggs or vegetable oils … what do you do?  You probably either walk away or go to the store to pick up two lousy things.  Next thing you know you come home with bag full of other “things” you don’t need.

This is a great way to blow your monthly or weekly grocery budget; and great way to waste money on gas!

If you are like me and have stockpiles at home you already have cake mixes, rice mix bags, dinner helpers and etc; so making budget-friendly meals aren’t the problem … it’s the little things we sometimes overlook.

I have noticed since I have these basic ingredients at home I bake more often, and making dinner has become less stressful.

With all that said … Happy cooking or baking!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I went on a baking frenzy yesterday because it was too cold outside to go outside, and I needed a sugar fix; so what the heck … hit two birds with one stone!

I made a chocolate brownie with peanut butter whipped topping.  My family loved it and it was so cheap to make and had ALL ingredients at home so it was really stress-free for me!

Ingredients:

ONE (1) box of brownie mix (follow instructions)

1 tbl expresso powder

Peanut butter frosting:

ONE (1) cup of peanut butter

1/2 stick of butter

1/2 – 1 Cup powdered sugar

1-2 tsp heavy whipping cream (optional)

Follow all the instructions on the brownie box and bake it in the cupcake sheet … make sure not to over burn them!

For the frosting … I whipped peanut butter and butter together until they are nicely mixed and add powered sugar (as much or as little as you want) to get the desired consistency!

I topped the brownie cupcake with Reese’s pieces candy and grated some chocolate on top!

Math breakdown -

Brownie mix $0.25 (MEGA sale event with Q’s used)

Everything is STAPLE kitchen ingredients; so ONLY cost me $0.25 make 18 brownie cupcakes! Yeah!!!

Happy Baking!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

Would have published earlier, but I just ran out of time!  It’s Halloween season so between parties and get togethers I really got preoccupied.

Anyhoot … I go all out on breakfasts on Sundays.  We used to go to restaurants, but I really got fed up with services, prices, and waiting to get a table!

This is one our my family’s favorite … cheese omelet, pancakes and potatoes … talk about carb-overload!

Each person got 2 egg cheese omelet, side of hashbrowns,  1/2 an apple, and two pancakes! Delicious!

Breaking it down …

dozen eggs … staple, but if you want to count eggs it was $1.20

Pancake mix … FREE (mega sale and with coupon it was FREE)

Apple … $0.50

Cheese … Staple

Potatoes … Store had 5 lb bag for $0.99 and used 4 potatoes … but let’s assume it’s $0.25

Total: $1.95

This fed 5 people, and still had leftover pancakes; which I later fed to my dogs!  They love pancakes!!!

Not too shabby!  I just need my family to tip me after they are done with their breakfast!!!  LOL

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

Cooking delicious meals for you and your family does not mean you have to spend an arm and a leg at the grocery store!

Cooking budget friendly meals only means, to me anyway, that you have to be organized and be creative!

I have noticed the significance difference when I started couponing; especially when I started stockpiling canned/jar sauces, pastas, and prepared side dishes (i.e. rice packets, potato packets, and etc).

I really work hard to serve my family “homemade” meals, but it is sometimes impossible to cook everything from scratch … it is time consuming and can be quite expensive; so the creativity part comes in.

These prepared side dishes saves me tons of time so I can allocate that time into my main dish … it’s all about the balance!

Anyhow … stockpiling staple goods are always important to have because you can always make something out of nothing!

Let me share with you some few examples …

The days I run all day long and wont be home until 6:30 in the evening I run my crock-pot.  I cook pasta sauces, stews, roasts and soups in there before I running out the door with my kids.

If I am cooking pasta sauces that day I either cook pastas the day before or pack open my 3-minutes quick pastas.  I get the water going to boil, I quickly change clothes and get kids all unpacked, and by the time I come to the kitchen the water is already boiling.

During the 3-minutes I have I get the table set and voila the pastas are done … AND my sauce is also done too!

Moreover, if I am cooking a roast I usually opt for mashed potatoes (usually garlic mashed potatoes because garlic to anything tastes awesome!).  This is where the boxed potatoes come in handy!  It only takes minutes and you have Delicious roast and mashed potatoes on the table.

With soup … broil some Italian or French bread!  It takes only minutes and great to use to soak up all that broth!

Like I said before … you need to get yourself organized and prepare … prepare!  Sometimes you have to think 3 steps ahead to make your time in the kitchen more fun and efficient!

Happy Cooking!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I haven’t had an eggplant Parmesan in a while now.  My husband absolutely loves eggplants, that is something he grew up with, so this will be a great surprise for the family.

My younger ones, on the other hand, are not too crazy of the notion that they will have to eat purple plant, but I am going to trick them.  I know it sound really bad, but if I tell them that it is not there they gobble it all up!  That figures right?

I bought a large eggplant at HyVee for $1.78 a pieces (usually it is sold by the pound) so it was a great find!

I already peeled the skin off yesterday night (because I personally think it has a very bitter and unpleasant taste to it), and sliced them up to get dehydrated over night with salt.

I have discovered that cooking undehydrated eggplant makes mush, and tend to use more oil.

One eggplant allowed me to slice up 15 pieces; which I will use 1/2 for dinner and the other 1/2 for my stew recipe in future date.

Other important ingredient I will be using is one hamburger patty for the spaghetti sauce.  I purchased 12 patties (in a pack) at Sams club for $8.00 … making each patty about $0.67 a piece.

Total tally of all ingredients and costs:

ONE (1) eggplant … $1.78

ONE (1) beef patty … $0.67

ONE (1) box of spaghetti pasta … FREE ($0.49 mega sale pasta came free with my coupons)

ONE (1) jar of spaghetti sauce … $1.29

Staple Ingredients:

Parmesan cheese

Mozzarella Cheese

Italian Herbes

Fresh Basil (from my garden)

Bread crumbs (homemade from leftover Italian/french bread broken up into a food processor)

TWO large eggs

Total cost: $3.74

You can’t go anywhere, especially a Italian restaurant, and pay ONLY $3.74 for Eggplant Parmesan!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I am tired of hearing chefs and cooks, on TV shows, talking about using quality ingredients we should use when cooking to make the dish taste more delicious!

Are you kidding me?

People are getting layed off (or their hours decreased dramatically) … more people are taking advantage of local food banks, people not taking their medications to pay for their groceries, and etc.

I even came across a news article where a father dumpster dives at night (sometimes with his young son), at local grocery store, to get food for his family.

Did you also know that 1 in 5 children are at risk of hunger, and YES … it is in America*!

Moreover, Patrick Martin wrote, in US hunger rate triple that in China, “American workers are now three times more likely than Chinese workers to lack the means of feeding their families … The polling group found that 19 percent of Americans worried … compared to only 6 percent of Chinese.**”

How heartbreaking is that?  I remember my parents saying “Do you know how many children are hungry in China?  Finish your food!”  Ironic?

It is partially my fault to watch these shows, but it is a great way to get new and fresh ideas to cook for my family.

With that said … it is not their fault for saying that because they are classically train to use the “finest” ingredients when cooking; HOWEVER, I don’t think they should repeat it so often.

So here my tricks when cooking for my family without spending an arm and a leg on “ingredients.”

Tuna … buy tuna in oil because you can further flavor your dish with flavored tuna oil in the can.  This is my trick when cooking tuna pastas … use 2 tuna cans in oil (can pick them up for $0.60 or less), and use 1 white tuna can in water.

Use spices to your advantage … pepper flakes, oregano, dried basil leaves, garlic and onion powder, and etc.  No shame on using dried spices!

Buy “tougher” cuts of meat, but cook it longer so you can further enhance the base sauce and make the meat more tender.

Buy in bulks … almost always cheaper and make sure to divide it up into different portion (per meal) when getting home from the grocery store.

Bread, potatoes, and pastas are your FRIEND when you are cooking on a budget! You can even purchase specialty pastas (e.g. for diabetics) if you can’t process starch well … you can always find coupons and stock up when stores have sales on them!

You can substitute more expensive ingredients with cheaper  ingredients: i.e. no aspargus then use broccoli or frozen peas, substitute Halibut with Cod, and etc.

I remember going to the grocery store everyday to purchase required ingredients for a recipe, but everytime I went I would spend more than $20 to make dinner for my family!

Cooking shouldn’t make you go crazy, and make sure to be creative when cooking for your family!

Get the general idea, from recipes, and see what you have and don’t have, and go from there!  Create your own masterpiece!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I make my own taco seasoning because not only it is CHEAP, but I have all those ingredients at home already.  Also, I can manipulate the seasonings to meet my family’s taste buds … I have little kids  and can’t consume too much salt so I decrease/eliminate seasonings I don’t want.

Usually, if I can Taco seasoning on sale, I can get them for around $0.50 … our stores sales are not that great to get them for FREE; even if I use coupons.

In my cooking and recipes, I count all the seasonings as FREE ingredients because it’s staple items that all kitchens should have; unless I require special expensive seasonings like saffrons (but I have those at home too, but do not expect you guys to have them).

OK … this is how I make my own taco seasonings.

FREE ingredients:
1 tbl Chili Powder
1/2 tsp smoked Hungarian Paprika (this paprika is very rich so you don’t need too much)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt (or Kosher salt)/pepper
grate little bit of Nutmeg & a small dash of Cinnamon (my mom always added this.  I honestly don’t know if it does anything to the recipe, but I do it because my mother did it … that figures!)

I do not add any red pepper flakes or hot sauce because it’s rather too hot for my children, and I even decrease the amount of Chili powder because of their sensitivity to spice heat.

Other FREE ingredients (staple kitchen items):
1/2 red onion
4 Roma tomatoes (2 will be used as my salsa and 2 will be diced up for the kids)
2 tbl cilantro (from my herb garden)
1 Cup shredded lettuce

My other ingredients (that are NOT free are):
1 jalapeno pepper … $0.05 (bought 1 small pepper for this recipe)
1 bag of large flour tortilla bread … $1.79
1 bag of mild shredded cheddar cheese … $0.99
1 lb of ground beef (bought and divided up into 6 different packages) … $1.65 ($9.95 package into 6 different bags/meals)
1 box of Spanish rice mix … $0.67 (part of MEGA sale and after Q’s)

Total:  $5.15

Little bit over my $5 or less dinner meals, but it still beats restaurant prices and/or fast foods!

Also, I will have leftover tortilla bread (where I will deep fry them to make them into chips … they are delicious!!!), and great FUN for the little ones!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

My homemade $3.25 stew, and leftover for dinner tomorrow.
The broth looks dark because I used red wine as the base.

My main objective to cooking budget friendly meals for my family is healthy, delicious, can be easily replicated, and try to keep it $5 or less.

Thank goodness it’s Wednesday because we have not have ANY extra curriculum activities for the kids.  Wow … I can breath tonight!

It’s little bit cold outside, and wanted something hearty for the family.  When I cook hearty stew for dinner we gather front of the TV and eat our dinner (this is a special treat, and my kids LOVE it).  No formality dinner … no table … no place mats … no worries!

I bought 4 lb of beef cubes, and divided up into 3 separate packages  (or 3 different meals), for ONLY $8.00!  I always pack my meat into the freezer paper, and place it in the freezer bag to decrease and eliminate freezer burns and taste in the meat.

It is little bit of work, but there is nothing worse than eating and tasting freezer burn.  Yuck!

Here is what you will need …

1.25 lb of cubed meat … $2.67
1 can of tomato puree … $0.29 (MEGA price after Q)
1 can of diced tomatoes … $0.29 (MEGA price after Q)
OPTIONAL … 2 tbl of tomato paste (not necessary if you are going to be using dry red wine)

Free ingredient — Staple and basic ingredients you should always have in the house

2 cups of dry red wine (Had it in the fridge when we had company so I am finishing up the bottle.  I am not a wine drinker, but always have wine, both dry white and red, in the house.)
1/2 C. of water or chicken stock
1 large onion
3 stalks of celery
3 sticks of carrots
3 large potoato (cut into a larger size)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp Rosemary (from my herb garden)
1/2 tsp Thyme (from my herb garden)
Garlic
Salt/Pepper
Vegetable oil (for browning meat)
Olive Oil

First, lightly dust the cubed meat and brown all sides in the cast iron pot (I have the glazed cast iron pot … ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT), and remove it to a plate.  *Make sure your pot and vegetable oil is nice and HOT!

Lower the heat, and add little bit of Olive Oil and Saute’ the diced onion, celery, and carrots in the same pot meat just came out of … about 5 minutes or so.

Pour in 2 cups (or less depending on your taste) of dry red wine to de-glaze the bottom of the pan.

Pour in tomato puree, diced tomatoes, potatoes, and browned beef cubes into the pan.

Add Salt and pepper at this point.

Bring it to boil and add garlic, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves.

Once everything comes to a boil than set it to “simmer” and cook for few hours.  Since I started at 2:15 pm … I will let it go till 5:30.

Since I still have 1/2 french loaf bread left from yesterday I am going to serve it with dinner tonight … great for dunking.

Total Tally … $3.25

Since I cooked enough for dinner tonight (we can only eat 1/2) I will have a leftover for dinner tomorrow as well.

Check in tomorrow to see how I am going to transform this leftover!

Just attached a picture of the stew, but the lighting is poor.  However, I garnished it with home grown Italian parsley.  My house smells divine!

Not only this is a healthy meal, but it beats buying canned stews!  To have this much food I cooked you have to purchase and open at least 5 cans of beef stew.  My store have sale on stew cans for $1.50 (after Q); so about $7.50!!!

Happy Eating!

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It’s not even 8:00 a.m. and I have already ran a dishwasher, started my laundry, kiddos are fed and dressed, and dogs been walked!

Wow … as for me … I look like a truck ran over me!

Now, I have to get everything organized for today’s activities and dinner.

Thursdays are one of our busiest days; so it’s important to get everything finished and organized before I do anything else.

Tonight’s dinner is Chicken Salad.

We already had chicken yesterday so I shredded little over two cups of the white meat before putting it in the refrigerator.

Ingredients I would need are:

Chicken meat

1/2 finely chopped red onion

1-2 stalks of finely chopped celery

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup Miracle Whip (or 1/4 sour cream)

salt/pepper

garlic powder

1/4 grated carrots (I do this for color and ONLY way my youngest will fresh carrots)

1 cup grapes

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

In my budget concept … my dinner will be FREE because we are using leftovers and staple ingredients in the kitchen!

I have fresh Italian bread I picked up from the store yesterday; so I might make a sandwich or serve it plainly with a nice garden salad on the side or … whatever and however the family wants to eat it.

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Gerbes (and Dillons) had Hillshire sausages on sale for 2/$6, and since I had two $1.00 off coupon for Hillshire products I decided to pick two of them up.

I have never had Chicken Hardwood Smoked Sausage from Hillshire Farm company (always bought the Beef one) so I thought it was a great opportunity to try something NEW!

Many of you guys cook sausage with rice, but I prefer using pastas as my base of my meals.

Since I am going to be running back and forth driving my kiddos around to their designated extra-curriculum activities I need something quick and easy when I get home.

This meal will only take max of 20 minutes (mostly because I need to boil my pasta, but I am going to be using quick cook pastas so will only take 3 minutes to cook).

Ingredients:

1/2 Chicken Sausage … $1.00

1/2 bag of frozen peas … $0.40 ($1.00 a bag, but used $0.40/2 Q making them $0.80 a bag)

1 box of quick cook pasta … FREE (used my Q’s when Gerbes had their MEGA sales)

Staple kitchen Ingredients.

garlic

Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper

Total: $1.40

Bring pasta water to boil and cook pasta according to the instruction.  Make sure to add sufficient amount of salt into the boiling water.  This will season the pasta and you use less salt at the end when finishing up your dish.

Saut’d chicken sausage lightly with olive oil.  Turn heat down to simmer and add garlic.  Make sure there is enough olive oil to coat all the pasta!

Right before adding pasta into the pot … add frozen peas and cook lightly.

Add pasta to the chicken sausage, garlic and frozen peas.

The heat of the pasta will cook frozen peas further without over-killing it.  Honestly, there is nothing worse than badly cooked pasta and overcooked peas!!!

Add Parmesan cheese and lightly toss the pasta.

At this point, taste the pasta to see if pepper and more salt is needed.  Remember, pasta should be lightly salted and Parmesan cheese will enhance the salt level as well.  So make sure to taste!!!!

Serve hot and enjoy!

This will feed us tonight, and will have leftover for tomorrow lunch!  So … $1.40 will cover two different meals.

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Let’s see … I am making baked ziti pasta with smoked turkey sausage.

When I buy smoked turkey sausage I cut them up into three sections … thus, three meals.

I don’t do this to save money, but I am not a big fan of smoked turkey sausage by itself.  I used to cut them up and grill them outside, but no one in the family (except my hubby) will eat them as a piece of meat.

So, instead of cooking the sausage and wound up wasting it I decided to incorporate them into my pasta meals.  So far it has worked out wonderfully because while my hubby digs through the pasta to get a good healthy portion of “meat” for himself the rest of the family just dig up to get pasta … win-win situation.

Ingredients I will need for tonight’s meal.

1 bag of frozen onions and peppers … $1.00

1 crown of fresh broccoli … $0.75 (pack came into 2 crowns and divide up into two)

1 box of pasta … $0.25 (Barilla pasta on sale for $1.25, and used my coupon; so came up $0.25/box)

1/3 smoked turkey sausage … $0.66 (bought them at $1.99 and divide up into three portions)

1 loaf of FRESH warm Italian bread $1.69

Staple Pantry Ingredients:

10 pieces of turkey Pepperoni

3 tablespoon of tomato paste

Olive Oil

Garlic

Salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese

Total: $4.35

Boil water and cook pasta according to the instructions on the box.

In a hot Dutch oven pan brown the diced up turkey pepperoni with few tablespoon of olive oil (I used them for heat and flavor … does wonders for the pasta … this is a great staple goods to have especially if you are not a pork eater).

Take pepperoni out of the skillet and brown the diced up turkey sausage, and remove it into the same bowl as turkey pepperoni.

Cook the frozen onion/pepper mix until extra water has been evaporated and see the cooked consistency of your choice … this depends on an individual (I prefer my veggies to be more brown side).

Add the bowl of turkey pepperoni and sausage, and cut up broccoli crowns into the onion/pepper mix.

At this time add salt and pepper.  The meats already have salt and pepper in them so I salt/pepper them once most of the ingredients are together … have to watch your sodium intake ladies and gentlemen!

Add 3 tablespoon of tomato paste and garlic, and cook the ingredients on low simmer heat.  You don’t want to over-cook so be careful!  Also, if you prefer the sauce to be into the sweeter side you can add little bit of sugar.  Tomato pastes can be little acidic so I always add something sweet like sugar.

Add the pasta into the Dutch-oven pan (and PARMESAN CHEESE) and mix gently until all the pasta is coated with yummy sauce!

At this point you can either serve it this way or put some shredded mix Italian cheese on top and quick broil the cheese until it melts.

Serve it warm and enjoy!

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Yes … another day, another meal!

I am going to feed my family Chicken Kievs tonight, but I would like to talk to you guys about Taquitos.

Couple of weeks ago Dillons (Gerbes) had Taquitos on sale for $2.99 a box.  I usually wouldn’t pick them up, but I never had Taquitos before so why not …

After using my TWO $1.00 off coupons I only paid $1.99 a box, and used two boxes for dinner yesterday.

I also had a box of instant white rice I picked up for $0.99, and made Spanish Rice or Mexican Rice.

I baked the Taquitos (following manufacturer’s instruction), and made my rice using my instant rice and two cans of tomatoes (diced tomatoes and stewed tomatoes) plus 1/2 cup of salsa.

The Steak and Cheese Taquitos were little spicy (especially for the little ones at home), but it was quite good for the rest of the family members.

My husband laughed at first because he couldn’t see the “steak,” but we all thought it was a good change of pace from our “regular” meals.

So … here is the dinner cost break down.

2 boxes of Taquitos $3.98

1 box of instant rice $0.99

2 cans of tomatoes $0.66 (bought tons when Dillons/Gerbes had their sales)

1 bag of frozen corn $0.69

Total: $6.32

I also have a leftover Taquitos and Mexican rice for lunch this afternoon for 3 people.

Not too shabby.

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My husband loves Mojito drinks, but he does not have the patience nor the desire to make them from scratch.

Initially we did follow online recipes, but we felt it was too much work (especially the work you put into it to making those drinks).  Guess we are just too lazy!

We, I mean my hubby because I don’t like lime, also did try premade drink mixes, but they were horrible!  My husband does not complain much, but he really did complain about the mix so I guess it was terrible.  The mixes were either too sweet or too blah or just gross!

My alternative solution to Mojito drinks came as an accident.  When Dillons had their specials on Santa Cruz Organic drinks for $0.25 a bottle I picked up two bottle of lime lemonade because my kiddos love lime drinks.

Well, the drinks sat in my fridge for the longest time, and I wanted to get rid of it.  It was taking valuable fridge space, and for some odd reason they didn’t want to drink it.

That’s where my husband came useful in this experiment!  Poor guy!  I always do experiments on him!!

I decided to make a Mojito drinks for my hubby!  I had mint in my garden so that’s a money saver, and I also had the “lime” portion covered.

I followed the basic steps of Mojito drinks … grinding sugar and mint into the bottom of a large glass, poured Santa Cruz lime drink, rum, ice and slice of lime on top.

Voila!  He really like it!  I didn’t include club soda into the drinks because he is not a fan of carbonated “adult” drinks … guess it make him bloated!  LOL

Anyhoot … he really enjoyed it!

Unfortunately, I can’t personally tell you how good the drink is because I despise lime!!!  Yucky!

Honestly, for a $0.25 a bottle it’s always delicious!!!

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Another day … another meal!

I swear … I spend more time thinking about what I am going to cook for my family then anything else! LOL

Anyhow … today is a busy day because I am going to have few kids over to our house for a sleep over so I have to get my kiddos fed, finish cleaning up the house, get the activities set up, and try to get my laundry done.

Other than that it’s a real boring day!!!

It’s starting to get chilly and my basil plants are not thriving anymore so instead of possibly losing them to the cold fall night I decided to use them all to make homemade pesto.

If you have already made pesto you know how easy it is to make them, but if you haven’t then here it is.

Bunch of basil leaves

Parmesan cheese

salt/pepper

good extra virgin olive oil

grated nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, … anything you have laying around the house).

In the food processor mix basil leaves, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and salt/pepper and mix.  Slowly drizzle olive oil into the processor until you get the desired consistancy.

I usually do not put my nuts into my pesto … I usually grate them finely before each pesto meal.

That’s it!

Today’s dinner is Chicken pesto pasta with buttered bread (not garlic because pesto already has enough garlic)!

1 lb of Chicken breasts ($1.59/lb)

homemade pesto

1 lb of pasta ($0.29 – after coupon)

1 loaf of Manager’s Special Italian bread ($0.99)

1/2 C of grated walnuts

extra Parmesan cheese to top

Total: $2.87

Just a little hint … a day old bread makes the best toasted buttered or garlic bread!  It already has the stiffness so it’s really easy to butter, and the heat of the stove makes them nice and crispy!

Next time don’t hesitate to pick up couple of loaves for $0.99 (or even less!).

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Who doesn’t like fast-foods?  Well, I certainly DO!

It still amazes my hubby how much fast-food I can consume at once.  I am not bragging what-so-ever because it’s quite embarrassing, but I can eat my share plus some.

Everything changes when you have children … You become your parents.  My parents did not allow fast-food in the house (we had them only when we were on field trips), Coke drinks were readily available only when we had guests, and sweet items (cookies and sometimes candy bars) were allowed in small quantities.

Once I moved out of the house I made a vow that I will not do that to my children, and blah blah blah … typical things said by “young” adults.

Well … guess who has the last laugh now?  My parents!

I am not as rigid and strict as my parents, but I do try to limit their junk food consumptions.

With that said … I am as bad as my kiddos when it comes to fast-foods.  I love the fries … love the grease … love the salt … and what else?  EVERYTHING!  But, I have to be an adult and look out for my family’s health.

Today we are going to eat chicken tenders (much healthier than outside chicken tenders).

It’s not my typical less than $5 dinner meals, but it’s still heck of a lot cheaper than picking up food from a drive thru window.

1 (29 oz) bag of Tyson Chicken Tenders (I prefer this brand) … $3.99

4 large potatoes (bought 5 lb bag for $1.99) … ~ $0.50 (usually will not count potato prices because it’s basic ingredients in kitchen)

8 roma tomatoes … $1.49

1 medium onions

1 loaf of whole wheat Italian bread … $0.99 (Managers Special)

Total: $6.97

If I had to go to one of the fast food chains I would have spent well over $25.00 or savings of $18.00; which equals to 3 separate dinner meals!

Cook Chicken Tenders according to package direction.  I usually put them on an aluminum wire cooling rack to get my tenders as crispy as possible.

On a separate cookie sheet spread cubed potatoes, large cubed tomatoes and onions.  Add olive oil, salt & pepper and roast them with chicken tenders.  Hint: make sure potatoes are smaller enough to roast to cook in a timely measure … there is nothing worse then eating half cooked potatoes or waiting for potatoes to get done roasting!

After your chicken tenders and roasted vegetables are done quickly broil top of the Italian bread (adding olive oil and garlic is optional) … this takes only 2 minutes or so!

I decided to add bread because my youngest kiddo likes to make sandwich with the chicken tender while other family members eat chicken tenders the “normal” way.

Make sure to save the rest of the bread to make crutons for the next day!!!

That’s it!  Not only my kiddos got what they want, but I also have a peace in my heart that I served them healthier fast food!

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I used to love Totino pepperoni pizza rolls; however, through the years I stopped (as much as possible) feeding my family pork.

I have many friends who are either a Professors of Virology or works with the veteranry department (teaching or doing research), and they unconsciously pursuaded me to stop eating “bottom feeders.”

What are “bottom feeders?”  Pigs, Tilapia, Catfish, shrimp, and crabs are bottom feeders … there are more.

You might wonder why I am taking such a huge leap, but here are few factors leading to my decision.

First, when I was pregnant with my second child I smelled burnt bacon cooking at the mall restaurant, and the smell almost killed me.  I was so sick and I had to run out of the mall!  People at the food court thought I was crazy and even few pedestrian asked my hubby if I was ok.

Even since then the smell of bacon cooking makes me nauseous and makes me physically sick!!

Also, I never liked the taste of catfish, tilapia and shrimps.  I thought it was all in my head, and I was being picky … until I discovered their meat texture and tastes were based on their eating habits and live in fresh water (except shrimp).

Anyhow, I can’t totally exclude shrimp and other shell fish items because my hubby and kids love them … so it’s a treat items.

Back to my Totino pizza rolls.

I stocked up while back when Gerbes had them on sale; as part of their MEGA sales.

Unfortunately, the pizza rolls are not as good as the pepperoni (as far as I can remember … I have this nostalgic notion about how it tastes!) so I decided to spruse it up a little bit.

First, lay the Totino’s pizza rolls on the cookie sheet, dab little bit of spaghetti sauce on each pizza roll, sprinkle chopped turkey pepperoni, and finally sprinkly extra mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

If I want to get little fancy I sprinkly some finely chopped basil leaves.  Make sure you put the basil leaves after it comes out of the oven because they can burn in the oven.

Even though the box specifically says it has to be cooked in 425 degree F. oven, I usually put them in oven at 375 degree F. and cook it for 20 minutes.

This way my pizza rolls do not get too hard (I prefer them to be on the softer side), but also crisps up the turkey pepperoni.

After the pizza rolls have been in the oven for 20 minutes I put the stove on HI broiler and brown the cheese on top … only for few minutes (make sure to keep your eyes on them because I burnt the cheese couple of times!).

I usually serve with tomato/cucumber salad for the kids, and serve tomatoes and blue cheese dressing for my hubby.

It’s quite delicious, and makes “ordinary” quick impersonal box food into more “homemade” meal touch.

Try it!

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Once a month I get this crazy sugar cravings!  I go through everything in the house, and make trips to grocery stores to buy desserts … cheese cake, brownies, candy bars, cakes, and even table sugar.

I know it sounds really disgusting, but I don’t really eat desserts.

I can go for days and weeks without desserts, but there is one day that I go CRAZY.

I first thought it was that time of the month, but it’s not the case … there is no pattern to my craziness!

Anyhow, I am having one of those moments and that is why I am writing … I am baking brownies with couple of twists.

I watched baking show on tv, but discovered the ingredients I need to bake like them is rediculous!

I have to buy premium chocolates, heavy creams, crazy expensive toppings!  No-No … I don’t think so.

Cost of my dessert is ONLY $0.29!

As you know I have basic ingredients in my house, AT ALL TIMES, because it’s really difficult to calculate the cost of an ingredient (for instance, one onion or potato or eggs and etc).  I guess I can do it, but this is basic staple ingredients, so I don’t usually calculate it.

I bought a box of brownie mix at the store for only $0.29 (after sale and using my q’s).

I added 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (I usually have pecans at the house, but only left with walnuts).

Add 1 tsp of expresso powder into the brownie mixture!  This will make your brownie mix more “fancy!”

Mixed and bake according to direction.

After the brownie cooks … leave it to reach room temp and put it in the fridge for 15 mins or so (MAKE SURE NOT TO TAKE IT OUT OF THE PAN!!).

While brownie is chilling in the fridge … cut up 4 bars of Butterfingers (I purchased them for FREE with my coupons).

In a clear glass bowl melt the candy bar (using double boiling method to melt chocolate).

Once candy bar melts … Just pour it over the chilled brownies and put it back into the fridge until melted candy mixture hardens again.

You can either eat it like that or I prefer to eat it with ice cream … that figures; right?

I cut a huge chunk of brownie and put a large scoop of either vanilla or coffee ice cream (sometimes both … depends on how greedy I want to be) and top it with homemade whip cream!!!  Yummo!!!!

Try it … You will LOVE IT!!

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When I cook spaghetti sauce I don’t mess around.

I usually cook a large batch in my gigantic stock pot because it does take time to cook.

I have a very specific ways to cook my gravy … I don’t do just warming up can a sauce or even starting my sauce from scratch … it is not economical.

When stores have great sales on spaghetti sauce I stock up.  While others buy 5-10 jars I usually buy 10-20 because I go through them so quickly.

Also, I am too lazy to cook the gravy from scratch … I don’t have the time nor the patience to do this.

It’s important to mention it to you that I buy most mellow tomato sauces in a jar: i.e. traditional or basil sauces.

I opt not to go with three cheese flavor or vodka sauce or meat flavor sauce because I tweak it to make it my own.

Here is what I do:

1)  Sautee 2-3 large onions with little bit of salt and pepper.

2)  Add 1 lb of ground beef and 1 lb of sweet Italian sausage (I stock up on these babies when they have mega meat sales).

3)  Add 2 jars of spaghetti sauce (I buy the jar rather than cans because of the tastes.  Sometimes canned sauces will have metal taste to it.  My hubby thinks I am crazy because he can’t taste it, but since it’s my sauce and I am cooking it I buy ONLY jars … LOL).

Add 2 cans (14 1/2 oz) cans of diced tomatoes with juice.  This will expand the amount of the sauce and it’s docile in taste.

4)  I then add my garlic (I don’t cook garlic with the onions and ground meats because it can burn and there’s nothing worse then burnt garlic!  YUCK!)  Also, amount of garlic is all up to you.  My sister doesn’t like garlic so I don’t use garlic, but if it’s just for my family … boy, I add good tablespoon full of it!.

5)  Cook and simmer.  At this point you can either finish it on the stove top or can transfer it to the crock-pot … let it cook on low heat for 4 hours.

6) After couple of hours you taste the sauce and add about 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp of sugar.  Many people don’t do this, but I do because tomatoes are very acidic and sugar will mellow it down.  I guess I can use carrots to sweeten things up when cooking with onions and ground meats, but … YOU GUESS IT … I am too lazy.

I wait for couple of hours to add more salt & pepper and sugar because you never know how the sauce will turn out.  For instance, diced tomatoes might be more sweet (or not sweet) than the last batch. While tomatoes cook with the jar of spaghetti it creates it’s own sugar level and mixed with sweet Italian sausage it can go either way.  So … ALWAYS taste!!!

7)  Now just let it cook and walk away.

With this much spaghetti sauce I cook 1 lb to 2 lbs of spaghetti for dinner, and the leftover will serve us for next day lunch.

The other 1/2 sauce will allow me to make lasagna … a pan full.  We can only eat 1/2 of the pan and the the other half is either put it in the freezer for future meals or for lunch/dinner for next day.

Just remember you don’t have to serve next 4 meals with spaghetti sauce.  Just keep it in the refrigerator and serve it in couple of days … just space it out.

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Who does not want to save money on dinners; right?  This is why budget recipes are so important!

By the time you take a family of 4 to the restaurant you wind up hashing out at least $50 at the restaurant.

Honestly, even if you go to fast food joints you still have to spend at least $20!

In the past, majority of our “household” money went to outside food: i.e. takeouts, delivery, or restaurants.

I have made a vow to feed my family well; so I have incorporated budget recipes that will feed four people, but spend less than $5.

Not only my budget recipes are, well … cheap, but it is healthy and ingredient are readily available in your stockpile.

Of course, there are days where my budget will reach close to $10, but it’s rather an exception than the norm.

Today I am going to cook enchilada quich or enchilada pie … whatever you want to call it.

I have never cooked it this way, but I am too tired, lazy and busy to go out to the store and purchase a bag of tortilla breads.  Also, outside looks gloomy and we already had hail so not going to risk my car getting damaged.

So … this is what I already at the house and going to utilize my stockpile to my dinner for my family.

1 lb ground beef ($1.32) … bought 6 lb bag and divided up into ~1 lb bags

2 1/2 lb potatoes ($0.50) … bought 5 lb bag for ONLY $0.99

Enchilada sauce can ($0.49)

1 bag cheddar cheese ($1.00) … sale $1.50 and used my $1/2 Q

Total: $3.31

Cook ground beef and 1 can of enchilada sauce in a pan (make sure to drip out fat from the ground beef before adding the sauce).

Layer thinly sliced potatoes into a cast iron skillet.  Make sure it gets hot and potatoes are crisp.  Turn off stove.

Layer meat mixture on top of the potatoes, add cheese and bake it in oven.

I am thinking at 375 degrees F?

I am going to play with it little bit … it looks and sounds great in my head, but I don’t know how it’s going to turn out.  LOL

Wish me luck and will post how it turned out!

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Defrosting a whole chicken for tomorrow’s dinner.

For tomorrow’s dinner I am going to roast a whole chicken. My recipes do not usually go over $5, but there are instances where it goes over a bit.  However, this recipes will contribute to next night’s dinner since we do not consume 5 lb chicken between family of 4.

Couple of months ago HyVee had a great sale on their Natural whole chickens for $0.99/lb.

I bought a big old bird, close to 5 lbs, and had the butcher cut out the spine for me.

One thing I hate about the whole chicken is the back part … the spine, chicken butt, and etc.  Yuck … in my book.

Also, I don’t like the back of the chicken just sitting in the drippings in the pan.

OK .. with that said, here are the ingredients I will be using.

1 whole chicken ($4.74)
1 lemon ($0.34) … maybe 2 if you like lemon taste.
2 1/2 lb potatoes ($0.49) – left over of 5 lb potatoes

Total: $5.57

Basic Staple at home:
3 stalks of celery
4 carrots
2 onions
3 tbl FRESH oregano (I plant them during spring time, so I have tons of herbs in my garden)
salt and pepper

In a large lasagna pan (I have the industrial/commerical kitchen size pan) grate lemon zest and squeeze out 1 lemon.

Add chopped up rosemary, salt and pepper.

Flatten out the chicken and marinate the chicken for 4 hours in refridgerator.  Make sure to turn the chicken over after two hours … so two hours on each side (outside and inside of the chicken).

After 4 hours are over, put a stainless cookies rack inside of the pan and put the chicken on top of it and let it stand at room temp for 15 mins (I get really paranoid about proteins sitting in a room temp, but 15 minutes is OK).

Preheat oven at 450 degrees F.

In a mean time peel potatoes, celery, onion, and carrots.  Make sure they are similar in size … nothing fancy!

Put the vegetables around the chicken and bake for good 20 minutes at 450 degrees.

After 20 minutes are over decrease the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F. without opening the oven door.

Cook and bake another hour or so.  Make sure to check the temerpature of chicken with thermometer!!!

Remember … every oven is different so go with your gut feeling.  I have tried so many times following recipes instructions step by step, but kept on messing it up.  Go with your gut feeling!

Let it stand for few minutes and serve with roasted vegetables.

We only eat chicken breast and a drumstick.  So … rest of the chickens are for tomorrow’s dinner!

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

Many people find the kitchen and the idea of cooking a frightening experience. People who consider themselves bad cooks often say that they can not even boil water. However with the rise of cooking shows and the fame that cooks are now achieving it is becoming easier for people to learn more about cooking.

many of the cooking shows that are on television today have come along way since Julia Childs did it. With the rise of entire networks on television now dedicated to cooking the variety and types of cooking being taught has become drastically varied. While there are still shows available for those who know how to cook and want to create exquisite dishes and lavish meals there are also shows available for quick dinner ideas and cooking basics.

The internet can also be your friend in learning how to cook. With online websites full of hundreds of easy recipes for you to try it may turn out to be that leaning how to cook is a single click away. Many cooking sites also offer you the chance to view a video giving you additional help in learning how to cook. Say for example that you have invited your girlfriend over for dinner and have told her that you will be making dinner. Going online to find easy recipes to make will help you to impress her. The recipes will give you a list of indredients and perhaps watching one of the cooking videos step by step will help you in creating a tasty meal. Your mother will also be impressed that you learned how to cook. Although nothing can compare to her cooking she will still be proud that you have learned how to cook a meal.

When learning how to cook just remember that you don’t have to start out learning how to cook a six course meal with dishes that you don’t even know how to pronounce. Start out learning how to cook the basics and then you can build your cooking repertoire. Learning a variety of things to cook will not only help you to impress guests that you have over for dinner but it will also give you variety for your own dinner as well. Eating out gets to be quite expensive and if you only know how to cook one thing you will become very tired of eating that same dish over and over.  

Another option that you can look into for help cooking is in your town. Sometimes you will be able to find a cooking class in your area. It may be through a local college or a local civic organization. These classes are often a fun way to spend an evening and meet new people in your area as well as learn how to cook a great meal.

So the next time you are searching through the refrigerator and wishing that you had a good home cooked meal think about looking for help in learning how to cook. Search for cooking shows on television. Look online for helpful cooking videos and recipes. Step away from the boxed and frozen food and take a chance on creating a dish with fresh foods instead. Instead of going to the drive thru to get your dinner go to the market and get ingredients to make a good nutritious meal instead.

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

Online coupons!!

Am I the only person in the world having problems with online coupon services?

Economy is in trouble, and like most of you our pocket books are getting squeezed as well – it seems like we are getting punched every which way.

I am now starting to look through grocery store advertisement pamphlets that come in the newspaper, and started to jot down things that are on sale – going to the stores to purchase “on-sale” items only.

Guess roaming through the store to just fill up the shopping cart days are clearly over.  Don’t get me wrong I still do buy things that are not on-sale (sorry, I am not that discipline), but I need to start saving money here and there.

About a year ago or so I used to load up a cart with grocery, and would probably pay around $250 to maximum of $300 – reminds you that this included basic staple items as well as “luxury” items(not on sale) that would last us for five days or so.

However, when I went to the store to get grocery for the week I spent over $350!!!  AND I didn’t really spend money on the luxury food items!

When I say luxury items I mean beef jerky, Haagen-Dazs, conveniently packaged snacks , filet mignons, leg of a lamb, imported cheese or specialty cheese, deli meats (where you pay $8.99/lb for turkey meat), and etc.

So, when I came home I searched through bags of grocery, and studied my receipt to see what I bought from the store — I couldn’t find anything overly “shocking.”

I didn’t buy the top of the line meat selections, bought generic ice cream cones for the kids, bought large bags of cookies and pretzels (so I can pack them in individual snack bags to save money), stocked up on canned sauces (tomato pastes, sauce, and etc), bought fruits that were on sale for $1.99/lb or less, and etc.

From the receipt, it was $1.99 here, $0.59 here, $1.45 there, but when I added up the receipt it was closed to $350!

I couldn’t believe it – when did food get THAT expensive? 

With this shocking revelation I decided to subscribe to online coupon “stores” – coolsavings.com, Pillsbury.com, clipngocoupons.com, and coupons.com.

Unfortunately — I guess I am an idiot — I couldn’t get those coupons to print even after installing the printer software onto my computer.

I followed every step carefully, but no success!

Here are the problems I have encounter.

In the Coolsavings.com website, I couldn’t complete the printing process – menu to install printer function did not function … so, it was in idle mode.

In clipngocoupons.com, even after I sign in as a member, I kept getting the survey page – come on, I already did that!

With coupons.com and Phillsbury.com sites I did successfully pick the coupons I wanted, but even though it said “print successful” my printer didn’t print out the coupons – yes, I did check if my printer was on and there were sufficient amount of ink.

So .. to make sure my printer was working properly I did print couple of pages of documents; which was successful (but not the coupons).

Bottom line – my attempt to shop “smarter” didn’t quite work well.  I guess I am going to cut out coupons that come in the newspaper.

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I hate mosquitoes!!!!!!!!

I can live with mosquito if and only if they bite me on soft flesh areas — my legs and arms, but they always bite me on my knees or toes or on my knuckles.  It is impossible to scratch to satisfaction, and the itch electrifies through every nerves of my body.

If you haven’t been bitten on those areas I have mentioned you are truly LUCKY as heck; however, if you have than you know what I am talking about.

Last year alone we have spent over $350 on buying and stocking up on Cutter’s Citronella candles (the large bucket ones) for pest control purpose– we usually burn the candle around 4 o’clock at night and just let it burn through the night—we are constantly in and out of the house constantly (kids playing and taking the dogs out to their business).

SO .. I recently went t our local Walmart store and saw the employees stocking up spring items onto the shelves – seeds, plants, gardening equipment, and of course, citronella candles!!

I couldn’t believe it – the company drastically reduced the size of the product!

Honestly, I think it’s about the half of the size as the ones I bought last year for the same price.  I know the times are tough, the economy is not that great, and many companies are using different strategies (price increase or less amount of goods in product for the same price as before or minimizing substitutes, and etc) to sustain their product sales; but come on – they didn’t even bother to “trick” us!

According to Lennon – editor in chief of The Daily Anchor, “… companies decreasing the size of their products in grocery stores while maintain the same price, effectively raising prices on the sly (Groceries: Same Prices, Less Product).”

For instance, Kellogg’s breakfast cereals from 14.5 oz to 12.1 oz, Edy’s Ice Cream from 1.75 quarts to 1.5 quarts, and Purina One dog food from 20lb to 18 lb.  In another words, food is getting more expensive!

One of the main reasons why companies are choosing this creative marketing strategy is to avoid layoffs, and keep their balance book in check.

The bad thing about this is that they are deceiving their consumers – their bread and butter!  American consumers might be many things, but we do not like to be deceived – it’s big no-no in my book; don’t know about you guys.

Here is another excerpt from marketplace.publicradio.org:

With the price commodities going up this year Luby says shrinking containers might be the lesser of three evils. The other two being cheaper ingredients, which would change the taste of your peanut butter, or alienating even the most loyal consumers with higher shelf prices. Now, Skippy is made by Unilever, a food conglomerate that also put a dent in the bottom of Hellmann’s mayonnaise and shrank your carton of Breyer’s ice cream. No one there would go on tape but when I raised the deception question, a spokesman said the new weight is clearly marked on the package. And Frank Luby says the per ounce and per pound labels on the grocery shelf really help.

Spending same amount of money to get les – it’s really hard to swallow, but what can you do right?

I have become more aware of “price/oz” labels, and I shop strictly with that information – it does make shopping so much easier.  I would pay little bit more initially for a bigger product, but at the end it comes out cheaper – if you go by price/oz information.

Reference:

Lennon, A.  The Daily Anchor.  Retrieved on 4/1/2009 from http://www.thedailyanchor.com/2009/02/18/groceries-same-price-less-product/

Less product, same price.  Marketplace: American Public Media.  Retrieved 4/1/2009 from http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/01/08/pm_deceptive_packaging/#fbFormContainer

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I have been debating for over a month if I should purchase Reynolds Handi-Vac Vacuum Sealing System gadets and try it out.  I really have my eyes on the Food Saver V2440 Vacuum Packaging system, but it is just so expensive.

FoodSaver

If you check out Sam’s Club website, they sell the system for $99.84 and $39.74 for the Food Saver Combination Bags and Roll – four 11”X18” and two 8”X22” rolls.

I have heard many good things about the Food Saver products – actually one of my friends have it and she just loves it.

She buys bulk groceries, including meats (chicken, beef, pork, sea foods, and etc), and she marinates all of her meat product before putting it in the freezer.

According to her the marinade penetrates through the meat fibers before finally freezing in the freezer, and when you defrost the meat it defrosts in the marinade – double whammy.

Moreover, if you have fresh meat you can marinate it in the Food Saver bags for only ½ hour (yes, there are marinating sauces that, but the vacuum bags actually presses the marinade into the fiber effectively.

Well, back to my Handi-Vac system – what a waste of money!!!

I only lost $8.00 (Vacu-Seal Starter Kit with Handheld Vacuum Sealer and Bags) plus $3.00 (gallon bags) plus tax – So, I lost about $12.00.

I cannot personally compare and review pros and cons of Food Saver product, however, I do have friends who own it and they frequently uses it – in simple terms they LOVE it.

Handi-Vac

On the other hand, I can personally give you my consumer opinion on Handi-Vac product – it is piece of GARBAGE!

If you already own one and it works for you than you probably spent the best $12 of your budget.

As for me, I couldn’t completely vacuum out the air out of the bag (the top of the bag was pretty vacuumed out, but the bottom of the bag was all bubbly.

Also, it took me good minute or two get the air out of the bag, and I had to press the handheld device against the bag pretty firmly – it was a problem for me because I have arthritis on my right hand, so it was pretty painful after couple of bags.

All-in-all, it was a tedious work, and took me pretty long to complete the bags of meat I had to vacuum out – I think I spent extra 15 minutes in the kitchen.

I am going to work my household budget this month so I can buy the Food Saver machine – I think it’s going to relieve my headaches.

Thumbs Down

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/

I just bought “mi-self” a Hamilton Beach 6 Speed Classic Hand Mixer at my local Wal-Mart store for $29.99 (well, plus the tax – can’t forget Uncle Sam; right?).

Everyday Italian

Anyhow, I love watching Food Network shows; especially Giada de Laurentiis’ show Everyday Italian.
She has such a bubbly personality along with her wide perfect smile, and let’s not forget her irresistible Italian dishes.

I must confess – I am not an Italian nor married to an Italian, but I love the pasta, the creamy sauces, the herbs, the breads, and etc – anything that can make you fat from eating Italian dishes (from all the carbohydrate ingredients) the more I love them.

I really do make attempts to make or cook food for my family, but I just don’t have the gift in the kitchen – I think it took me over three years to boil a pot of water on the stove

I remember cooking for my husband (when we first got married), and I would spend hours in the kitchen chopping, scrapping, sautéing, and etc.

By the time my husband came home from hard day at work I would have the table ready for dinner for two – have couple of candles lit up on the table, neatly position all necessary utensils and dishes set up, strategically place the entrée front of him, and etc.

I would just sit on my chair anxiously waiting (like a school girl) for him to take the first bite, and overwhelm his taste buds.

I remember doing this for him day after day – making him eat my food – I honestly, thought my cooking was great and I was doing him a favor.

Well, after 13 years of marriage I discovered that I made that poor man eat my crappy food for the first six or so years of our marriage.

He always told me it was great, and always finished his plate – not knowing how he really felt I gave him second servings too!

Cuisine Art

Well, back to Giada … I always see her using Cuisine Art hand mixer to make whip creams to cake mixes and etc.

I had the generic cheap handheld mixer that I bought it for $8.00 and it did serve my needs (making mashed potatoes) for past three years, but I wanted to trade up.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have $70 (nor wanted to even spend that much money even if I had the money) to buy Cuisine Art handheld mixer.

Thankfully I came across the Hamilton Beach hand mixer for $30 – that I could live with, and not going to lose my sleep over.

There are reviews written about the product, and they are generally satisfying one – I have not used it yet, but some of the things written about HB mixer are:

Hamilton Beach -- White

1)    It is quite
2)    All the attachments are stored in snap on storage case
3)    Five attachments included (traditional beaters, wire beaters, and a whisk
4)    It’s rather powerful
5)    Brushed stainless steel

Like I said I haven’t used it yet, but wish me luck ladies and gents – I am going to bake some cookies tomorrow, and let’s see if it is good as they say.

Self help : http://www.justestuff.com/ and Coupons : http://www.justestuff.com/coupons/