Menu for week of 4/26/09

Ok, still working on keeping things lean around here so we can pay off bills.....who isn't.....so here's how to do it! Make sure every morsel that comes into the house has a REASON! Just like every dollar you make has a PURPOSE, if you don't have a reason for what you are buying, it will "poof" and be gone before you realize what you REALLY wanted to use it for!

So, try to make menus for all 3 meals... Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I usually make a 2 week menu for breakfast and lunch and just use that as a guide as to what to buy for a week or two depending on our budget, what I want to do. Here's our Menu for this week (all meals). This way, we also know we have enough food in the house to feed everyone every day! Thats always a bonus! lol

Breakfast- last week was TCAPs (standardized acheivement testing) and the kids really enjoyed the breakfast sausages we got and did on the "george foreman" every morning. They are .89/box- we did one box a day, and then if they wanted to supplement with something else, they could choose from other stuff on the menu. Here's their options this week:

Cereal : we have 3 kinds
banana muffins
fried egg sandwiches
fried eggs
scrambled eggs
toad in the holes
cinnamon toast
1/2 pb sandwich
pb toast
biscuits
oatmeal (different flavors)

Lunch: Since school is still in session, it is still cheaper to send lunches than buy. because we homeschooled for so long, my kids are spoiled and prefer hot lunches..... soooo hard! LOL

Baloney sandwiches
grilled cheese sandwiches
pb sandwiches
hotdogs (with or w/o buns)
leftovers
tomato soup
3 kinds of chips
carrots/celery
apples
ham sandwiches
cream cheese and saltines crackers

Dinners- gonna just number the dinners, they can be used in any needed order, just so I have enough for this week- and if I can for next week as well. I am just brainstorming meal ideas here now.

1. corn chowder with chicken and veggies/dip
2. overnight tuna casserole and cooked asparagus from aldi
3. tacos/taco salad
4. tuna bumsteads, chips and veggies/dip
5. baked chicken, mashed potatoes, cooked broccoli with parmesan and butter
6. macaroni and cheese (boxed then add some extra cheese) with cut up hot dogs, and green beans
7. Pulled pork bbq on buns, veggies/dip Coleslaw
8. fries with pulled pork/bbq sauce or ranch dressing, salad
9. tuna salad on lettuce and potato salad
10. egg salad on lettuce
11. egg salad sandwiches on bread with veggies/dip
12. chicken veggie soup with rice
13. Spaghetti with ground turkey meat and a salad or cooked green beans
14. "cheeseburger macaroni" with ground turkey and mac and cheese and cooked asparagus from aldi (frozen)


will post recipes to any items I don't currently have on here, or any that you all ask for explanation to! :) Enjoy!

Happy Sunday Everyone!!!! Time for Menus!!!

How's everyone doing today? well, this week my focus was on FINDING A JOB!!!! We decided on monday that I MUST find a job- at least full time, but if I can find a full and part time that would be great too- even hubby is looking for a pt job.....we are really trying to do the Dave Ramsey thing and get some bills paid OFF! we are tired of this money crunch...I don't mind saving money and getting bargins don't get me wrong.... but doing it because I MUST not because I WANT to is a different thing all together! LOL So, we are working hard this month to pay off some bills, and we are REALLY tightening the belt! Including the grocery budget!

We sat down this morning (me and hubby) and brainstormed our food choices that we remember from when we were kids and our parents were in our situation! what follows is what we came up with, I will categorize by meat :

Chicken:

leg/thigh quarters are cheap, so buy those in bulk if possible
chicken salad- sandwiches or over lettuce
baked chicken or grilled chicken
Chicken veggie soup
broccoli cheese soup with chicken added
pulled chicken over a regular salad
chicken sandwiches (not chicken salad)

Ground Turkey:
Beans and turkey (dried beans)
Bean soup and turkey (dried soup mix)
Spaghetti sauce with ground turkey (our family prefers not aldi spaghetti sauce)
tacos
chili
"beef" stew
"beef" stroganoff
ground turkey patties done on the "george foreman" or in a fry pan

Hot dogs/baloney (not my fav choice due to all the additives, but for a small span of time, it is cheap):
hot dogs and mac and cheese
ramen noodles and hot dogs
baloney sandwiches (fried or not)(grilled like cheese sandwiches or not)

tuna:
Tuna bumsteads (will post recipe later0
tuna casserole (not a fav in our house, but maybe someone elses?)
tuna salad sandwiches with a dash of curry
tuna salad on lettuce

Eggs:
Fried egg sandwiches
toad in the holes
egg salad sandwiches
egg salad on lettuce

Pork, cheese
pulled pork sandwiches
pulled pork over fries with bbq sauce and cheese or over nachos
grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
cream cheese and saltines - for lunch
quesadillas (with pulled pork, chicken, etc as well!)

extras:
1.Put rice in soup to make it go farther, add more substance
2.don't forget soup is a good main course, just add a salad or veggies/dip on side
3.get creative with soups- hubby said why did no one ever think of broccoli cheese soup with chicken added?
4.look for reduced meats- aged meat usually has a better flavor, just make sure to use it w/in 2 days or put it in the freezer.
5.If you get beef, then use it for chili, beef stew or beef stroganoff because those cuts will probably be tougher and that use will make the meat tender (especially if you use it in the crockpot)
6.Getting the large (10 lb) bags of chicken leg/thigh quarters can be daunting, but when you get home, either cut up right away the thighs from the legs, or just sort them out into freezer bags, that way they are in manageable sizes and family portions.

Happy EARTH DAY everyone!!!!

Hi! I am soooo excited about today! I don't know about you all! I know for me, it tends to be "just another day" because we already do many things around her to help the environment, but I wanted to share what some of those things are, they are some small things sometimes, and maybe you can incorporate or think of some things you can add into your life as well. Every little bit helps!

1. Cloth napkins. Yep! NO paper napkins in our house! first of all, they cost money, second of all, you throw them away! third, they use trees! Sooooo you go to Goodwill on half price day and get tons and tons, they don't have to match, they don't always have to be pretty, you don't have to have a set for your family, but have at least 3X's your family number - we have over 20 napkins currently- that way if you have friends/family/parties you have something to use! My daughter's friends thought it was cool and "old timey" we were using them for her bday party! Don't forget- throw them in with the towels, NO fabric softener or they will not absorb as well as you want them to!

2. We use corell dishes. I probably have over 20 large, 15 medium plates, 10+ cereal bowls, etc. the reason? we don't use paper plates. They are light, thin and easy to use! We put them under dishes in the microwave if we think something is going to over flow (like oatmeal), and just throw them in the dishwasher. Actually ....I can hear it now....Dishwashers use LESS water than handwashing dishes AND you are not wasting trees or filling up landfills with the plates! Every now and again (park picnics) is one thing, but not for day in day out stuff! We even use them when we go camping! And plastic cups camping and silver silverware camping too! yeah, a bit of an inconvenience, but worth it in the end, don't you think?

3. CF lightbulbs. How many do you have in your house? EVERY light in our house has one. not only is it nice to not have to change them as often, therefore not outputting that much money every month or two for new bulbs, BUT in the end, they are using less energy.

4. IF you must get a new heating/AC unit (like we did this year) make sure you try to get it with the new "PURON" (sp?) instead of freon.... it is more environmentally friendly. We also got a "dual fan" or some such so it uses less energy and only kicks on the second more powerful fan when it absolutely needs it in cold/extreme hot weather. now... I am talking electric heat here.... not sure about gas. and the higher the "Seer" the better because it uses less energy.

5. try to open windows instead of turning on that A/C! put box fans in the windows to move that air around as long as you can- we can usually make it to the end of may like this in TN- the less energy used the better!

6. do you have a compost pile? compost is the most wonderful thing if you have bad soil -like we do!- and soooo easy to do! I will post links on the side for EARTH DAY tips.....

7. How does your garden grow? have you started your garden yet? I haven't, I am going to though! we are going to have cucumbers, carrots, watermelon, cantelope, tomatoes and greenbeans, maybe even some cauliflower. we will in other areas do lettuces and herbs. This is a great way to get veggies you KNOW don't have pesticides on them and are much cheaper and not too hard to do! you can even container grow some of them! Links to follow!

8. don't forget natural cleaners! Bleach (not natural, but great!), vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, salt all are great! I will put links to how to use them. Let me just make a side note. When I was a kid I used baking soda to brush my teeth (yeah, I know) but I had pearly whites! well, coffee and years have made my teeth yellow. This week I started again with the baking soda 2x's a day, and MAN what an improvement in the color and cleanliness I have found in my teeth! Be gentle using it, I have a small mouth and used a too large brush the first couple times and tore up my gums, so I am using a pediatric brush now..... but.....if you are gentle at first you will get your gums used to it and see great results! :)

Hope you enjoy my tips!

summer fun on a budget

So, I was laying in bed last night trying to get to sleep and trying to think of what to chat with you all about today. Then it hit me. Summer is coming. Kids will be out of school soon. Vacations will be here soon. We have "no money". What to do????

I'm sure I'm not the only one having that conversation in their heads about this time of year. Some of you work and have the kids go to babysitters during the day, but want to have fun at night, or on the weekends, some of you are a single income family and want to know how to keep kids busy and not fighting. So, here are some thoughts.

1. Co-operative Zoos, science museums, art museums- these are great things! I will put links on the side for where to find your information for you state, but here's what you do. Find the Zoo, Science Museum, Art museum, Children's museum, etc in your city. See how much it is to get a "family pass" for a year. Ok, it may seem a bit excessive....So......look around your state and see where you can get the cheapest family pass! You can usually purchase those online, and they mail the pass to you. The good thing about these: They are "co-operative" meaning you will get a list of all the ones you can use them in, not only in YOUR state, but ANY state- and possibly world-wide!

So, We pay $30/year for our family pass to the science museum of our choice here, but it is 1.5 hrs away. We go there maybe once a year. BUT the family pass for the science museum in our city is $80/year. We just saved $50. We go there once a month and have saved TONS of money (they even have picnic tables so we take our own lunch!). BUT. Then we go out of state to a COOL one in Alabama for FREE. Yes, it is gas, but.... it even has "rides" like a theme park there! AND it is where some space stuff is! rock climbing walls, etc! WAY COOL for FREE! See what I mean?

Then we pay $40/year for our family pass to the Zoo in a different city. Our family pass here is about $80/yr again. Once a month here....cool area for the kids to play, awesome shows, great animals... so much fun! Then we can go to any zoo we want to for FREE!

Same with other places, you get the idea.

2. Don't forget to have your kids take a "friendship book" to school the last week so they can have all the kids they want to keep in touch with write down their names, addresses and phone numbers. You want a good group of kids to keep in mind so you can go to the park, buy $1 hamburger and fries at mcd's with and let them play there, take a walk on a nature trail in your city, go on a bike ride, meet at the SCHOOL playground and let them go crazy! Have friends over for an "end of the school year" party, a "middle of the summer" party, a "going back to school" party, and make it bathing suits required! have the kids bring something fun to eat to make it easier on you!

3. Flylady.net has a great thing she does every summer called "Camp Gonnawannafly" where you make it fun for the kids all summer, but also make sure the routine of keeping up the house continues (and you get the kids involved) That would be a GREAT thing to do too! www.flylady.net

4. Don't forget about camping! I bet just about every weekend you could go to a garage sale and find a tent to buy for $10. Grab up a few and take your family on a trip! Campgrounds are cheap, it teaches your kids new skills, gets them away from all the electronics, and helps you to "bond" as a family!

5. don't forget to let family have the kids every once in a while and you have a "get away" at the house! Plan to have nice candles you don't normally have, cook out, quiet music, turn OFF the computers, etc, and just ENJOY your partner! KNOW that your kids are having a BLAST where they are too! Because they really are! Plan to go on a walk on a trail, bike ride, etc

6. If you are lucky enough, like we are, to have a great company that gives you the ability to buy discounted movie passes then deducts it from your paycheck, then I would say "go for it!" I can't tell you how many times it has helped us to have a "night out" just for me and hubby, or even a special family night (one night we did a double feature and didn't gethome until after midnight!). Those are special times we won't forget, and it's nice to know you have that "ace in the hole"

Well, I hope you like these ideas!

Menu for week of 4/19/09

here's our menu for the week......TCAPSs are this week, so "make sure your kids have a good breakfast" as the teachers say....so you will see we have breakfast planned too. Luckily we had a lot of this food at home, so our total grocery bill this week was $37.61!

Sunday-
Dinner- chicken Casserole -see last week's recipes
green beans
mashed potatoe

Monday-
Breakfast-pancakes/sausage
Dinner- cooked for us (someone is coming to try to sell us pans and dishes, so might as well let them! They cook, bring all the food, and clean up after! sounds like a good free dinner to me!)

Tuesday
Breakfast- Blueberry and banana muffins/Sausage and eggs
dinner- Pork Roast in Crockpot (recipe to come later when I find it! LOL) http://www.recipezaar.com/Company-Pork-Roast-23939
carrots
mashed or fried potatoes

Wednesday
Breakfast-toad in the holes or french toast
Dinner- Broccoli/groundbeef casserole (If not already on my blog, I will post it) http://frugalmadre.blogspot.com/2009/03/quick-easy-dinner-for-tonight.html#links
rice maybe! LOL (do you HAVE to have a carb every night????!!!)

Thursday
Breakfast-Cinnamon Rolls/Sausage/fruit
Dinner-baked pork chops
rice
Green beans

Friday-
Breakfast- pancakes or french toast/ sausage
Dinner- pizza (homemade/bought/ or maybe pizza buffet)

Lunches:

baloney, grilled cheese or peanut butter/jelly sandwiches
Tomato soup with dill and oyster crackers
leftovers
thin potato chips
pretzel sticks
cheese crackers
carrot sticks
apples

After school snacks:

mac and cheese
flavored rice
ramen noodles
corn bread
homemade bread
deviled eggs
egg salad sandwiches