It's been a while since I've shared some of my own frugal tips. You will notice that most of my frugal tips are food containing. *grin* There is a reason for that. It's about the only thing in our budget that can be budged. Mortgage, gas, electric, water, garbage...we have gotten them as low as we possibly can. Water and electricity we have cut in HALF over last year. I mean exactly in half. And we have MORE family members using more utilities and we do not bathe once a week to accomplish it. So yay! God is good!

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But back to food. It's the one thing in my budget I can always- decrease or increase as means decrease or increase. It takes some creativity and some BASIC kitchen knowledge and the desire to save a few bucks- that is really all!

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Nutrition is very, very important to us. Although we would like to buy organic, we simply do not have the means to do so except on rare occasions. But produce is very important to us. We try to buy in season and as local as possible. I would much rather buy a tomato from a local farmer (even it is not organic) than buy an organic one shipped in from Mexico- how much gas did that trucker have to use to get my that tomato? I cringe! So local over organic and in season produce will assure me that I am getting a nutritious and delicious product.

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Fact. Produce is expensive. How do I afford all the produce I am told I should feed my family? I get creative! Can we only eat fresh and afford it? The answer is, no, we can not. But I do easily spend at least $30 a week in fresh produce! Sometimes more. It is the bulk of my grocery bill, to be honest. We use a combo of canned (only a little), frozen (quite a bit) and fresh (a lot). I can not tell you what would work best for you, but I can share what works for my family and my budget. Which I will be totally honest with you-

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We are a family of five and in September- six! What a blessing! We live in California which, to be frank, is one of the most expensive staes to live in right now. If I told you what we paid for property taxes, homeowners insurances (yes, plural), mortgage, gas, milk...on and on...you would cringe. We receive zero assistance. At this point, although we qualify, we do not receive even WIC. My husband is a very hard worker and is an electrician. He is required to commute daily 120 miles round trip- sometimes more. Our gas bill is sickening. We have no choice. My hardworking man takes care of us with less than $38,000 per year for almost six people. Now before some of you Easterners, go wait that's a lot of money- as I said- our taxes (sales and property and DMV here are crazy)- it is perhaps like making maybe 25K elsewhere. It's not much. But we make do, with glad hearts. We chose to homeschool, we chose for me to stay home...therefor we can not complain of not being able to keep up with the Jones'. That can be fixed- I could place my kids in public school and go to work- problem fixed. We chose a different path and our path is riddled with obstacles. Our food bill as I said is my number one movable bill. So after my little intro into our world...let's do lunch....

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Lunches in my house are sometimes sit downs and sometime...well eating and moving. LOL But I try my best to get in a protein, a grain and a fruit or veggie. That's my lunch formula. I have leetle kids, so they only need a leetle bit of food (yes, I can spell little). So a favorite in our house is a peanut butter and honey sandwich (on whole wheat bread) and a piece of fruit. I like variety- so I do force variety on my kids. Oh they love it (sarcasm inserted here hehe). But those PB&H sammies and fruit are a very healthy meal for a child! They'd eat it everyday if they could. My dh actually does. His preference!

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One way I pack in a lot of veggies, inexpensively is to use these items generously. I even splurge and by these items organic. =0) Carrots, Onions, Celery, and Garlic. I try to put them in everything I possibly can. I buy these every week or every other week- depends on how much we end up eating. These veggies are some of the cheapest available! Frozen spinach- cheap and plentiful. I also add it to anything I possibly can. Potatoes - I splurge here and buy organic but if we ate more I would not. When I buy them, I make menus that I can incorporate taters in, in some shape or form.

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So what's on a lunch menu here?

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Besides the above mentioned sandwiches my crew eats refried beans with a small bit of shredded sharp cheddar. I usually make my own refried beans in my crock pot. I buy dried  beans in 8-10 pound amounts. I also like to make a rice pilaf....fancy way of saying I toasted my rice in a bit of oil with some diced veggies....usually onion, carrot, garlic and celery! If I am making a rice stuffing for burritos or a mexi-side- then I add cumin, a sprinkle of chili powder, some cilantro if I happen to have some...maybe even some chopped tomatoes at the end. Some tomato paste depending on what I am making. I also like to cook up some pinto beans, black beans or black-eyed peas- with many of the same veggies and spices. You can eat them as is, sprinkle cheese on and eat, use as a tortilla chip dip, roll up the beans with some cheese and some of the rice and heat inside a tortilla shell and you have a burrito. Salsa or taco sauce is a good thing to always have on hand if you do this often. You can mash up the beans when you're done and serve as a refried type bean. As long as I sprinkle a bit of cheese- my kids will eat!  So healthy, so cheap and I stuffed a ton of veggies in there! If they are in season I can also afford bell peppers and zucchini and you can also add that to your rice or your beans. Mix the rice and beans after cooking for a delicious side, main dish or burrito stuffing. Combined you need no meat as they are a complete protein. And yes, I often use brown rice for my little pilafs! YUM! If anyone wants a 'recipe' for the above ideas- I can oblige.

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The veggies I most often serve to my crew at lunch- is canned green beans. Some people say gross- but my kids say, yes please!!! They will eat it- zero complaints. I don't care if they eat it as their lunch veggie everyday- I am happy they eat a veggie at lunch everyday. That is one of the only veggies I buy in a can. I usually buy them at Costco- 4 cases at a  time.

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Sandwiches are the other great way I serve healthy inexpensive lunches to my crew. Grilled cheese on whole grain bread, egg salad on whole grain bread, PB&J or PB&H on whole grain bread, the very occasional fried egg on toasted whole grain bread, if we have leftover meats like chicken- that's a treat! We have chicken salad sandwiches- I try to add cooked chopped hardboiled eggs to stretch it. Or add beans or rice (mentioned above) and roll it up into a tortilla! All healthy, inexpensive and when made is large amounts- very little time in the kitchen (except the day you prepare all those beans and rice! Or egg or chicken salads). Remember to try to stretch  those 'salads' and up the health factor by adding shredded carrot, celery or onion. I say shredded because my crew does NOT like to crunch on pieces of celery and the like in their egg or chicken or tuna salads.

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For families that are even larger than my own and have an even smaller budget (I usually spend fewer than $100 per week- shooting for $75) and this includes meats, dairy and veggies and fruit...then you may not be able to afford to try to stuff carrots, celery, onion in everything. But you should try! Even ramen noodles can be made healthier and stretched farther by adding chopped onion, carrot and celery!

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Think basics like rice, potatoes, and beans for lunch. Then think about what you can add healthfully and inexpensively. Then think about what you can add to round out the meal to make it most complete for your personal lunch budget. Remember my formula is protein (this could be meat, egg, cheese, beans), whole grain (wheat bread, brown rice or other grain item) and a veggie and a fruit if you can get in on there!

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Lunch Example:

Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwich served with half a banana (that's a leetle kid serving) and a 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of green beans. I serve ice water only. Kids can have more of anything they choose after they eat all of their meal. My sons usually ask for a peanut butter spoon when done. What's that? It's a spoon with a giant scoop of peanut butter (lol). I sometimes offer that as a snack with a couple crackers and a small cup of juice- a kid fave in our house!

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Much of this you already do, I am sure. But sometimes it's nice to read about what others do, you know?

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If anyone has any of their own ideas, feel free to add them by comment. If anyone has questions- feel free to ask! Planning meals, menus and grocery lists are actually a great source of joy for me! I like using herbs, spices, and zesting up everything I possibly can to 'disguise the fact that we eat rather humbly. My family does not notice that the bulk of our diet is very basic. =0)

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I feel very good about that.

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I will be adding my menu later today -with my shopping  list as I have been lately. I have been seriously considering buying a Bosch mixer- if anyone owns one and wants to share with me if this workhouse mixer benefits you and your family or how it doesn't - I'd LOVE to hear it! Thank you so much for coming by!

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Amy

Lime Mint Sugar Scrub

Growing up we ate lots of boxed foods. Don't get me wrong, I love them! LOL They taste good. But after I had my own kids, I realized I wanted to feed my kids more homemade and less box. Our preference. And most often it costs less. Sometimes it costs pennies more, but the added health benefit of using fresh ingredients--wins out. Well, except when it comes to Kraft's Mac N Cheese. I don't even try--we just buy that blue box!

So...one time when I was trying out a recipe for Texas Rice, it called for toasting the rice in a small bit of oil. It smelled wonderful as it was toasting. I tossed in the chopped bell pepper, onion and fresh minced garlic and it smelled even more heavenly. I tossed in some aromatic fresh minced japapeno. Oh my! A sprinkle of salt, pepper and mixed in a little canned tomatoes and then I added chicken broth, covered and cooked. When it was done, I mixed in some fresh chopped cilantro (a very cheap herb-one bunch will cost less than 30 cents) What resulted was far superior to any version of mexican rice type recipes I've ever tasted. It smelled wonderful in the house, tasted wonderful and was economical and healthy.

That was over 3 years ago. Since that day I have varied from that basic version. I realized it's basically a pilaf. And it's so fun, so versatile and can accomodate whatever you have in your fridge or pantry. You can use brown rice or white. You can use dried onion or fresh chopped. Fresh garlic or dried. Fresh herbs or dried. Chicken broth, beef broth, vegetable broth, no broth or a mix of broths. You can even use a vegetable juice. You can make a small batch or a large batch. You can serve it alone, as a side and turn the left overs into a soup with rice or stuff it into a burrito. I even cook this in my rice cooker! I hold down the cook button while I do it. Either way you do it-it's delicious.

Basically you take the rice you normally use - in the amounts you normally use. You will quickly learn how much oil you'll need- you can use butter, but we prefer oil as many oils are healthier than  butter. But it nearly equates to 1 TB per 1 cup of dried rice. BUT this part is experimental, you might use less. You need just enough oil to coat the rice and that is all. Then over medium heat, you toast that rice until it begins to smell a bit nutty and turns golden (use your nose for brown rice, as it is already golden). This takes about 5 minutes or so.

Then add in what ever chopped veggies you like. Chop them small now and try to keep it under 1/4 cup per cup of dried rice. Later as you get the hang of it, play with it and add more if you like! Cook until veggies are softened. If you use dried garlic and onion, you can toast the onion with the rice. Garlic burns easily, so add the dried garlic when you add the broth.

Add broth, water, tomato juice or combos. Add this time add dried herbs. I prefer to add fresh herbs at the very end of cooking, just before serving.

Some of my fav combos are beef broth, mushrooms, onion, garlic, lots of dried parsley, salt and pepper. I serve with with anything beef. I also like mexican type rice and we add chopped canned tomatoes, jalapeno, green bell peppers, onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and we finish at the end with fresh cilantro. Chicken flavored rice is good too. And for that I use onion, garlic, parsley (dried I use this alot as it bring vibrant color to all pilafs and it's super cheap) sometimes finely chopped carrot and chicken broth.

 I don't actually buy broths. I buy beef/chicken base. It's like a paste and I add it to all kinds of things. I get it very inexpensively at Costco and I usually buy 2 of each at a time. When I make rice, I experiment with how much I want to add but usually about 1 teaspoon per cup of water--but sometimes I use 1 1/2 tsp and I use no salt. It works great for soups, adding to vegetables instead of butter for flavoring, stir frys (it really deepens the flavor)...etc

And if you really like Rice A Roni, you can take a small amount of say angel hair pasta, dried, and break it into smallish pieces (no bigger than about an inch long) and add that to the toasting process. You'll very very slightly need to increase the liquid, but only by teaspooons. I wouldn't put more than 1/8 cup dried broken angel hair per 2 cups dried rice. Again, you can experiment with more as you get the hang of this!

So that is my handy dandy tip for this Friday. Make Your Own Pilaf!

If you have been making your own pilafs for ages...I'd love for you to post your own family favorite combos!

Have a great weekend!

Now bear with me...I'm a bit of a rambler...but I have a point if you hang in there...

I am not sure about other states, but it seems awfully costly to live here in California. Regular gasoline is about $3.30 per gallon (where I live it is-it can be less is smaller cities and considerably more in larger areas). A loaf of real whole wheat bread is $3.69ish. Vehicle registration, annually, runs about $200 for newer cars  and older than 10-15 years maybe $60 or so. Plus we must smog every other year, incurring additonal cost. We pay special taxes on anything that comes in a bottle-water included. Our tax rate last I checked was 7.25% and higher in bigger city area. Property tax here in the city is 1% of the value of your home and I am still researching if that is inclusive or non-inclusive of all the extra bond measures they like to tack on.

 A jug of milk will cost you on average $3 plus some change. Sure you can find it cheaper. The cheapest place I have found it is Costco for $2 per gallon. Not bad at all! BUT they sell whole milk, 2% and Skim only. I can not wrap my tummy around skim--gags me everytime. 2% is a little more fat than I need. So I am buying 2%...when we get down to 1/2 a jug-I replace it with reconstituted fat free dry milk. Volia 1% milk. LOL

In my previous post, I touted that Costco's dry milk was dirt cheap. Well, it is cheaper than powdered milk found in any other store here in town (that I've found so far), but is nearly exactly $2 per gallon when reconstituted. The last time I bought the big ole box from Costco, it had been cheaper than about $20 per box (makes 10 gallons). It IS cheaper than other stores as I mentioned but no where near as inexpensive as I had thought. Prices change awfully fast. I am still saving money by making my own bread. And by mixing my fresh milk with dry reconstituted milk, I won't have to go to the store every week for milk (since I can only fit so many gallons in a fridge, ya know). Plus it works great, dry, in oatmeal or making sauces. Instead of adding cold milk to a sauce recipe- I find that adding hot water plus the milk powder speeds up the cooking time and I can still make it creamy by adding extra powder but not adding any fat. Ok there was a ramble. soory!

The price of ground beefs (varying from ground beef, to ground chuck and ground sirlion) start at $1.99 (for the fatty ground beef that is made from all sorts of cuts and sometimes that price is a sale price) to the very lean gound sirlion (the 'good' stuff) for upwards in the $3 range. Now, yes if you are careful--you watch for sales then stock up. But no one ever taught me these things! And I am sure these prices do not vary too much from state to state.

Child care is obscene. The cost is so great, that were I to put even one child in daycare--my paychecks would only cover childcare and gas for my car. Not that we need childcare--just throwing that out there. LOL There are families that DO have to pay for childcare and I am amazed at what they must pay. And there is a fine line between being poor enough for assistance and being just not quite poor enough for assistance (isn't that sorta funny in a bad way lol?).

Insurance, health insurance that is, is also another very very costly expense. We are a family of 5. We pay just over $400 per month (through dh's employer) for health insurance. The co-pays are $45. Immunizations are only partially covered. A regular well check up can cost us $75 or more. So, woe nelly, when we have a new baby! LOL We have had months where kids were sick or some minor emergency occurs and 3 people needed doc appointments plus medication. That sort of thing hits us hard enough that it can set us back and a bill doesn't get paid. Which becomes a chain reaction. LOL Those of you, who like us, live virtually paycheck to paycheck know exactly of what I speak of!

As I was discussing the above prices with you, it was not as a comparison but more of an illustration of my new knowledge through TRYing to be a good steward. With all these insane living costs was I doing my best with what God was giving us?

My newfound tightwadery come from us recently needing to re-finance our home. The benefits will consolidate all current debts (current mortgage, minivan loan, minor credit card debt) into one payment plus allow us to fix a few things that we have needed to fix. Like an aging wood fence that lists off to one side and termites has sort of taken control--we have a huge rottwelier and two neighbors that are extremely close in locale and the the very back 'neighbor' has horses that come right up to the fence...soooo that is a huge expense that is needed. The new mortgage payment, definitely reminds me that I am most certainly NOT doing my best and I can do better.

Now I share this not for a woe is me pity party. Wah we don't make enough, everyone else has money to pay bills and go on vacations but we can't even afford to fill our gas tank? LOL Nah. We understand that God gives to all according to HIS will and He will not give us more than we can handle. So extra money and vacations to Disneyland is apparently not something we can handle. LOL And ya know, that's ok. I'm not here for that anyway. It would be a nice bonus, but for us, I think it would distract us (I only mean my family) from our 'real' jobs here on earth. At least it would at this point in time. We are white knuckling it as is some days as all the trials and tribs come rushing through. Some days all we manage to do is hang on to Him as the day passes in a blur and we do what we can, to get we can, done. If that makes sense to anyone but me? hehe

I share this because until recently, I blithely spent money. Oh I NEED that, cha-ching. I didn't pay attention to the price of milk, meat or even bread until a few months ago. I could NOT even tell you how much a loaf of bread cost even though I had been buying the SAME brand for years. Frugality always seemed like such a negative thing to me. Cheap. Tightwad. Squeaky wallet...oh I am sure you can come up with hundreds more. But as I sit and look at our resources,  I realized that with a little creativity and some modest compromise--we should be able to handle the occasional month of 3 doctor visits plus medication. We should have a small amount of money in a seperate account. Even if it is just a few hundred dollars--some is better than none!

No one showed me how to manage a home, how to budget, how to shop...the most I learned on the occasions I was able to go with my mom to the store was "No, you can't have that." Because I did the typical, "Mom, can I have...? or I want...." thing. My poor mom was just trying to shop, and I am sure I didn't make it easier on her. But neither was I able to learn anything.

It's not an excuse, however. From home to home, I know that whom handles the day to day finances varies. In our home, it is I. LOL Now I never make big decisions without first talking with my husband. When I say I handle it, it by no means I control it. LOL So this is one of my duties and regardless of prior knowledge it is still my job and with it comes responsibilities an consequences.

 Enter in---> frugality. This is quite a journey for me! I have not viewed my newfound frugal ways as a burden or type of deprivation. But more of a way to show my creative side. Creative simply means to find a new way of doing something. Jesus was creative. There was an instance in the Bible where Jesus healed a blind man. He could have simply said, be healed! And that be that. But nope. He spit on the ground made a paste with the dirt and slapped it on the man's eye and then told the man to go wash his eye in the pool of Siloam. Creative!

Simply put-- I find this fun. I want to be a good steward of all He has given us and He is showing me how. (now, I did not say, however, that I liked everything  nor knew everything about frugality lol).

I would love to encourage others to take a step back and look at your blessings. Are you doing the best you can with them. Truly? Are you being a good steward? Are you being wise with the money your husband works hard to bring in? Are you tithing and gifting out of your need or out your riches (see parable in Luke of old woman who gives her last bit of money to the Lord)? Are you sharing with others? Do you really need the designer jeans or would a sturdy pair of store brands do the trick? Does it have to be Heinz catsup or can you get the generic - even to save a few pennies? (and no I don't stand here with my finger pointing to anyone in particular...ok maybe I do. At me.)

Things I can't change 1) gas prices 2)  how much gas my family has to consume {we tried} 3)how much  stores charge for merchandise 4)rent or house payment  and basic living expenses 5)the cost of medicine (medicines, doctors, emergencies etc) 6) circumstances in place because of God's will (I'm not talking about the times we goof and pay consequences, I'm talking about things completely beyond our control)

Things I can change 1)how much I spend on merchandise and 2)how much merchandise I buy. Period.

I change what I can change or do what I can do and then let go and let God handle what I can not. That is wisdom. LOL Knowing when you are not in control, knowing WHO is in control and LETTING Him be in control. I can't change rent or gas prices--so I make them a permanent fixture in my budget. And let God provide as He sees fit to. Whatever I have left after basic bills can be spent on food and other necessities. THAT bill I do control to some extent.

If I have special dietary needs--well that would get bumped into the basic budget. But all the rest--I need to be a good steward, a wise steward of the money God has blessed us with to care for our family. That means shopping for the best prices, knowing how much things truly cost *blush*, what you actually have to spend and what you spend unncessarily, getting the most for your hard earned dollar..etc. Thus you enter into what the world calls Frugal Living but I much prefer using the term Humble Living.

So if you, like me, were not trained in managing homes, budgeting, shopping...and perhaps you have struggled like me and living paycheck to paycheck...let me encourage you to sit down today with your husband and talk about this. Are you living humbly or beyond your means? How can you change that? How can you be a better steward of the blessings God has given you? Keep it in prayer most importantly and let go where you can't and let God handle it. Take all things before the throne and lay it at His feet. Nothing is too small and nothing is too large. He is bigger than the biggest worry or situation you face.

Take care and God bless!

Amy

About once a month we like to have a Nacho Night. I make all the fixin's for what I call Loaded Nachos! Plus I make my own Nacho Cheese Sauce. We try to eat as little processed foods as we can, but Kraft American Cheese Slices are a staple in my home (I tried other brands and off brands but we just don't like'em). And some may not call this a 'frugal' meal since cheese and milk seem expensive to some--everything that goes into the cheese sauce itself are always ingredients I always have on hand- so it is frugal for me (plus I can use up little bits of cheeses that I might have left over instead of the cheddar called for). As far as the loaded part goes..don't want meat? Leave it out. Don't have sour cream? Skip it! No lettuce? You won't miss it! Use what you have and skip what you don't (except the cheese sauce).

Because of the somber and crazy week we've had, whew, I decided to nix Saturday's menu this week and make it Nacho Night instead. We need a light-hearted Nacho Night! Feel free to add your own activities...but we like to rock out to some tunes while eating. I'd like to play board games instead but my 3 and 5 year old would end up Nacho'fying the game boards with hearty plops of cheese and olives. So rockin' out to Jesus tunes it is!

I am slowly building a Frugal Food blog, but I'm not ready to share yet. Sooooo, I'll share one of my fav (and my entire family's) make ahead fun meals here. It really doesn't take long to put together. Can be put together in the morning which leaves you to only heat up the meat right before serving. Kids can pull all the dishes out of the fridge and set the Nacho Bar up for you. And they can wash out the plastic bowls you might have used for toppings -- leaving mom hands free (but still likely directing minor clean up). Even my 3 and 5 year olds can do this!

I hope you try it. It really is one of our funnest meals together, besides our weekly Homemade Pizza Fridays and a Movie!

Amy's Loaded Nachos

Super Frugal Tips:

*What's really GREAT about this cheese sauce recipe IS...if I change the cheeses I can make all kinds of dishes. (I still try to use at least half the American cheese called for, it lends to it a very creamy feel). But add 2 cups of shredded cheeses of your choice and make mac n cheese, top off veggies with the sauce (make your veggie the main dish and skip the meat!), use for burritos..etc!

*Turn this sauce into a soup! You can take the leftover sauce, put in saucepan over medium/low heat and slowly add milk until a nice thick creamy consistency...add leftover cooked chopped up veggies (virtually any veggie can be used and tastes great! Serve with bread and a salad! Mmm! Or make little bread bowls (easy to make!) and pour the soup inside, wow your family and reduce dinner clean up!