Shopping Healthy, Shopping low cost

Most moms know that processed, prepackaged foods foods are less healthy than their time costly unprocessed competitors. When it comes down to it shoppers have a choice between health and convince and almost always choose convince. There are  ways to make these convenience foods yourself and freeze them for the week or month. It's a great way to save mega bucks as well as making sure the best and freshest ingredients are used. You only need to set aside a day a week or month to cook and freeze. Here are some examples of what you can make at home:


Frozen items
Grains: biscuits, cornbread, breads, buns, rolls and muffins
Fastfoods/Snack-foods: Pizza, 'hotpockets', calzones, egg rolls, pre-cooked mini burgers, pb&j sandwiches, chicken nuggets, sausage biscuits and breakfast sandwiches
Desserts: cakes, pies, bars and cookie dough, pudding pops
Frozen dinners: Lasagna, casseroles, baked chickens, roasts
Meal starters and helps: ground meat crumbles, chicken pieces, shredded cheese, seasonings
Frozen sides & veggies: broccoli with cheese, buttered veggie mix, seasoned veggies


Refridgerated items:
jello cups, pudding cups, scrambled eggs, breakfast burritos, yogurt cups, pasta, jarred sauces, condiments

Holiday Gifts

There are many ways you can use your cooking skill, or artistic skill as a method of creating beautiful, from the heart, holiday gifts. From traditional baked goods to decorated jarred mixes to more unique gifts specialized for the receiver, gifts you create are sure to impress them and your pocket book.

One classic gift is baked goods such as cookies or other treats. It is important to do your best when making the special treat and dress it up so that your present is memorable. Decorative tins, glass jars or painted plastic jars are all good options for containers. When mailing make sure to wrap carefully with paper or packing products. Also take into account the distance the package has to travel to ensure freshness, during the holidays priority mail may take up to 4 days and express up to 48 hours. Some baked goods like breads and cakes should only be shipped to nearby locations due to how fast they spoil. However, cookies, bars and candies can travel good distances and withstand days still staying fresh. It is never recommended to ship any food that would need refrigeration without hot ice.

Decorated jar mixes have become more and more popular. Almost any recipe can be layered into a jar in a tasteful and creative way. Add a little ribbon to the jar, tie on a decorated recipe card and voila, a cheap and stylish gift. One tip to remember when creating these deliciously decorated  masterpieces is to pile on the ingredients slowly and to place contrasting colors on top of each other. Then pack down each layer to ensure settlement of layers. Try to pack the jar(s) as tightly as possible to avoid the shifting of layers during motion, the last thing you want is all the hard work going to waste.

For a more unique or personal gift, it is best to find out what kinds of food and drinks the receiver likes. You can always make a nice fruit basket and place a bottle of champagne in the middle for an important client. Or perhaps make bottles of flavored dipping olive oils to place in a basket with Italian bread and a small jar of olives or antipasto, for the Italian affectionate. If your receiver loves to cook and you are not the avid cook make a spice basket, load a small basket with several spices, decorate with ribbon and add a side of cooking wine or olive oil. Bachelors will appreciate the meat and cheese baskets, you can mold Velveeta and cheese balls in a small mold or small pretty shaped container, refrigerate, wrap and place in a basket with beef jerky, summer sausage and peperoni or a small bottle of liquor.

All these gifts can be fun to make and easy on your wallet as well, plus they are memorable as they are handmade. Happy Holidays!

Biscuits

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (3 teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup milk or buttermilk or yogurt

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Drop in the shortening and use your fingers to mix it in with the dry ingredients. Don’t get too serious about it because it is better to under mix at this point than over mix. There should still be a few lumps of shortening, the size of peas, or even a little bigger. Two minutes or less of mixing should do it. Next add the milk. Stir it up into a soft dough. On dry days you may need another spoonful or two of milk. Form the dough into a soft ball. Get a piece of waxed paper and lay it on your counter. Sprinkle the waxed paper with a little bit of flour. Place the dough ball on the flour and knead it exactly 10 times. No more, no less. This activates the gluten in the flour just enough, but not too much. Next flatten out the dough with a rolling pin or your hands so it is about 3/4″ thick. Cut into biscuit shapes with a biscuit cutter, or the rim of a clean cup or can. I use a tomato paste can for small biscuits and a tuna can for large biscuits. Works really well. Lay the biscuits onto a cookie sheet or pizza pan and bake them at 425° for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on their size. Makes about a dozen medium sized biscuits. You can brush them with melted margarine when you take them from the oven if you want them to look pretty when they arrive at the table.

New video comming soon

I have recently made a video on how I save money shopping for groceries. Please look forward to it.

Out of dishwashing liquid? Never fear!

I need to go to the store. I hate grocery shopping on Sundays since the stores are so crowded, so I have to put it off till Monday. But there's a problem: I don't have dish washing liquid. Do them by hand? Nah! I have a better solution. Fill your machine soap dispenser with a mixture of 1/2 borax, 1/2 baking soda and make a little indent in the middle and add a dab (1/2tsp at the most) of dish liquid. Add vinegar to the rinse aid dispenser (I never buy rinse aid) and you have dish washing detergent! It doesn't work as well as Cascade so you really should rinse off the dishes before you put them in the machine. but of course you do that anyways, right? ;)

Cooking like the holidays cuts grocery costs year round

Did you know there is a way to hang out with friends and save on groceries at the same time? It sounds a little odd but think about Thanksgiving and Christmas day cooking. A family will usually come together and cook, sharing in the cost of a meal. Aunt Marie may bring the salad, Grandma makes the turkey and dressings, Sarah brings the sweet potatoes and so on. Now there's a gigantic feast for the family and it may have only cost you $12 for the dessert you brought and you and your family of four can eat like a king. For a family of four eating a massive dinner like that for $12 is a steal!

Okay, so when the holidays are over how would you implement this way of savings for cooking for your family, I mean your Aunt Marie won't bring a salad every week. The answer is to buy in bulk, and split the bill with a few friends and cook together. Everyone knows buying in bulk is more cost effective, but the excess food can go to waste. When you split groceries with a friend not only will the extra portion get used but you will only pay part of the already reduced bulk price. Plus cooking together is fun and free, no wasting money at some restaurant or café and still getting the same great conversations.

Some tips to get this started would be:

1. Try to get as many friends involved as possible, the more people involved the more your costs are cut.
2. Make the cooking date once a month and stick to it. Following through shows you are a trustworthy friend.
3. Make a menu you all can stick to and like. Be open minded to try new foods.
4. Share recipes and food portions. Your friend may make a killer chicken teriyakki  and you may make an awesome turkey casserole, make double portions and exchange.
5. Buy foil pans. This way there's no leaving your casserole dish at your friend's house etc.
6. Share bulk household products: you may have a coupon for a dollar off two cans of cleaning spray but you only need one. Don't horde the spray, split the costs with your friend so you get even more savings as will they.
7. Have fun! Make some coffee, chat and laugh, have a good time!

All coupons are not created equal

I've clipped my share of coupons and I have to say after buying newspapers, downloading a coupon software and visiting various sites the safest way still is the newspaper. I have been turned down at the store for online coupons because the weren't from the manufacturer and some of those online places secretly download  malicious spy ware to track your cookies, (it only seems free, they want to steal your browsing habits so they can sell the information to companies). When you sign up or download these 'free coupon' services have a very long (and small printed might I add) user's agreement which 9.9/10 people probably don't read. So you unwittingly sell your information to them and they in turn make a buck off of you for coupons you may or may not use.

The best way to get coupons yourself is to get the Sunday newspaper, go to all the sites of your favorite products (like Tide.com if you use tide), sometimes these guys will have coupons you will be able to print out and use. I like to use Glade scented oil plug ins (they smell the whole room!), Glade almost always has coupons listed on their site. Also looking through your junk mail like valu-pak will once in a while have some deals. All this can be a lot of work and if you are short on time you can always order coupons through a coupon clipping service. These services cost about the same as a newspaper and you get the coupons you want.

For instance at Coupon Carry Out I ordered for my household of five I got:

+Cream Of Wheat Hot Cereal, $.75 on ANY ONE package,
+ General Mills Original Cheerios or Honey Nut Cheerios Cereals, $1.00 on TWO
+Smucker's Jam, Jelly, Preserves, $.25 on ONE (DND5),
+Chef Boyardee cans, buy FOUR cans and save $1.25 on ONE can of Chef Boyardee Big or Whole Grain
+Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper or Chicken Helper Home Cooked Skillet Meals, $.75 on THREE,
+Hormel Chili products, $.55 on TWO,
+Swanson Broth Cartons, $1.00 on ANY THREE (14 oz or larger)
+ Celestial Seasonings Tea, $1.00 on ONE box
+ Eight O'Clock Coffee, $1.00 on ONE bag,
+ Tropicana Trop50, $1.00 on TWO 50 oz bottles
+New York Brand Frozen Garlic Bread product, $.40 on ANY ONE
+ Pepperidge Farm Bakery products (in the fresh bread aisle), $.75 on TWO
+ Clorox Brand Bleach, $.25 on ANY (82 oz or larger).
+ Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner (32 oz or larger) or Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner (24 oz or larger), $.35 on ANY,
+ Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, $.40 on ANY (35 count or larger)
+ Mr. Clean Magic Eraser or Bath Scrubber, $.50 on ONE
+ Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner, $1.00 on ANY TWO
+ Bestlife Buttery Spread or Buttery Spray, $.50 on ONE
+ Dannon Danimals product, $1.00 on ONE Smoothie 6 pack, Smoothie 12 pack, Crush Cup 4 pack, or Coolision 6 pack
+Pillsbury Frozen Grands! Biscuits, $1.00 on ANY TWO
+ Pillsbury Toaster Strudel Pastries, $.50 on TWO
+ Stouffer's Family or Party size entrée, $.75 on ONE (28 oz or larger)
+Totino's Rolls Snacks, $.40 on TWO packages
+ Duracell Ultra Advanced Batteries, $1.00 on TWO (10-pack or larger),
+Energizer Brand Batteries, $1.00 on ONE pack or Energizer Brand Flashlight
+GE Energy Smart CFL or LED, GE Reveal CFL or GE Halogen product, $1.00 on ANY.
+Bounce Dryer Sheets, $.25 on ANY ONE,
+ Gain Detergent, $1.00 on ONE (any size),
+Scott Extra Soft Bath Tissue, $1.00 on EIGHT or more rolls.
+ Pillsbury Crescent Dinner Rolls, $.40 on TWO,
+Pillsbury Sweet Rolls or Grands Sweet Rolls, $.40 on ANY TWO,
+ Shedd's Country Crock Side Dishes, $1.00 on ANY ONE,
+Crisco product, $.55 on ANY ONE (DND5),
+ LouAna Cooking Oils, $.50 on ANY ONE (24 oz or larger),
+Natrataste Gold packet box, $.50 on ANY,

This was a total savings of  $34.95 and all stuff I normally buy, the cost of the coupons was $3.12 for a total savings of $31.83, I can pay my water bill with the savings! Much better than searching the $2.00 newspaper for 3-4 coupons you may or may not use.