The Cost of Eating Healthier

This month my husband and I are making a conscious effort to become healthier.  I work out at Curves and before I go to my work out, I mall walk as fast as I can for 45 minutes.  Fortunately Curves is located in our mall which is quite convenient for me.

We started making a few subtle changes back in the fall but in December we began watching our sodium intake and we became diligent about reading those food labels.  I have posted about some of our food decisions here and under the healthy eating label.   What am I learning?  That I really need to be careful with grocery spending and put the money where the healthier food choices are such as fresh produce AND I need to make as much from scratch as possible. 

The pit fall to this is that if I take on too much all at once, I will become overwhelmed.  I am taking baby steps. 

Tonight I decided to try those indigo blue potatoes that I have seen in the produce section of the grocery store.  They were $3.99 for a 1.5 lb. bag.  Yikes.  I bought them because I wanted to have something different and frankly, they intrigued me.  I sliced these thin, tossed them with a little olive oil, sodium free barbecue seasoning and a smidgen of sea salt.  They were delicious and pretty.

We had ground chicken burgers for dinner also and I wanted to serve them with healthier buns than the normal burger buns.  The cost?  $3.69 for 8 buns that have 5 grams of fiber and 1/3 less calories than regular wheat burger buns.  Double Yikes.

I wanted ice cream for a treat.  I haven’t had ice cream in a very long time and I wanted chocolate ice cream.  Normally I would have purchased the on sale store brand 1/2 gallon of ice cream.  I am reading labels now and I ended up buying the name brand that comes in a 1.5 quart container and it only had 5 ingredients – all recognizable to me.  The cost?  $5.89.  Triple Yikes.

I would never have made these kind of purchases in the past, and I won’t be making these in the future.  Some people on a whim head to a restaurant, I on a whim headed to the grocery store and spent a high premium amount of money on 3 items.

So, what does this have to do with “The Path to Frugality?”  After all I made some high price purchases for three items today.  Well, I am going to be making my own ice cream from now on.  I am saving up for an ice cream attachment to my Kitchenaid mixer .  This special bowl will be kept in my freezer ready to be used.  Perfect for making ice cream and perfect for not taking up space in my cupboards.  I want to make ice cream that has things like blueberries and blackberries in it. 

I have baked my own honey whole wheat bread in the past but I am researching recipes for high fiber, multi-grain bread that I can bake in loaves, buns and rolls.  Making my own will be oh so much cheaper and again, I will know what ingredients will actually be going into the bread.  The same goes to researching recipes for healthier pasta.

And, I can save in other areas of our budget by making my own safer cleaners and soaps for our family.  I am still on and will continue to be on "The Path to Frugality."

November is Stock Up Month

By this time most years I have stocked my pantry with enough baking supplies for an entire year.  This year has been pretty much the same except that I have had to be really savvy when it came to sales.  Over the past few years, beginning at the end of October and through the second week in December, we were flooded with all sorts of sales on chocolate chips and other types of baking chips.  This year there were two weeks of sales on these items and that was it.  I'm glad I went ahead and  bought plenty during that time frame.  

Not only have baking items been on sale but there have been the sales on canned and frozen vegetables, canned fruits, canned broths, soups and of course turkey.  I have also been fortunate to snag some good deals on beef roasts and hamburger.  My freezer is stocked, my pantry is stocked and I have plenty of paper products too.  I have enough laundry products to last a year.  I even have two hams in the freezer for Christmas.  

So what's the big deal?  In three weeks we will be "empty nesters."  In other words, it will be just me and my husband.  My goal is to buy very few groceries over the next 3 months.  The only groceries I will be purchasing will be perishables.  The rest I have on hand and will make meals from these ingredients.

I need to do a complete inventory of what is in my freezer and pantry and I will post that inventory.  Then I will post what we are eating and what groceries I purchase.  I'm excited about doing this because I have saved money on buying items on sale and stocking up, and I will be saving time by not having to buy a lot of groceries each week.  Planning and actually buying groceries can take up some time if you are using coupons, searching the ads and then planning a trip.  I'm also looking forward to the convenience of having the majority of what I need right here in my own home.

Time to get back to the basics - Price Book

I just got done looking at the grocery ads for this week and I only circled one thing that appeared to be a good deal - Bartlett pears on sale for 88 cents a lb.  Maybe there are more deals but with prices having risen so quickly I am struggling to figure out what is a good price anymore.  

I haven't had to keep a price book for quite some time because I knew the prices of everything I purchased.  Now that prices have dramatically changed, I am making up a new price book.  This is so frustrating.  

The past month or so I have been kind of going on a whim and a prayer when it came to buying some of our groceries.  There were the obvious deals such as 4 boxes of Cheerios for $5.00; but there were the other items that I wasn't so sure about. 

So now I'm getting back to the basics and keeping a price book.  I need the information in order to make wise purchase choices but I also know that it will be kind of sad.  Why?  Comparing today's prices to the prices in my old price book is sad.   Actually it's even worse if I go back to the very first price book I ever kept from 18 years ago.  I came across it recently and under beef I had chuck roast listed as $1.49 a lb.  Now that's really sad.

Overspending on Food

It's time to up the budget.

Over the summer my husband and I made a decision that we needed to eat more whole foods or healthier foods.  What does this mean?  More fresh fruits and vegetables at a time when the prices are going sky high. 

I just got home from the grocery store on my every other day trip.  Now keep in mind that we have 5 people that I am feeding at this time.   Here is what I purchased:

1 gallon of 1% milk @ $3.09

Watermelon @ .69 a lb. - total $5.20

1 Whole Fresh Pineapple - $2.99

Bartlett Pears @ .98 a lb. – total $4.47

Kiwi Fruit – 5 for $2.00

Plums @ $1.79 lb. – total $3.10

1 Mango - .67

Gala Apples @ $1.29 lb. - $6.04

Bananas @.59 - $1.70

Last year per my records I spent the following on the same items, except the mango which is something new that we are now buying.

1 gallon of 1% milk @ $2.69

Watermelon @ .33 lb.

Fresh Pineapple - $1.99

Bartlett Pears @ .49 lb.

Kiwi Fruit - .33 each

Plums @ .99 lb.

Gala Apples - .69 lb.

Bananas - .33 lb.

The apples and pears were a good deal so I purchased several pounds.  On Saturday I purchased a lot of vegetables such as leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, fresh mushrooms, red and green peppers and carrots.

My husband and I along with the two college girls that live with us are eating more and more fresh fruits and vegetables.  A lot of this is due to the fact that my husband is an athlete, the girls are college athletes and I am doing my best to make a lifestyle change and increase my physical activity.  Yesterday I biked a total of 11 miles on our local bike trail.  As a side note, there is not a bike seat out there that is very comfortable for a long ride.

As to our son, well he isn’t much of a healthy eater and since he is 19 years old, I don’t push him.  It has to be his choice and I can’t make him eat fresh fruits or vegetables. 

So how are we fitting this into our budget?  I don’t like to overspend.  Back in June I made a conscientious decision to increase our income.  It was then that I took a job at the public library working Saturday afternoons. It is only 5 hours a week right now and that is fine as it doesn’t interfere with what I want to do at home.  Also last month I had a neighbor approach me about watching her son 4 days after school.  He is a delightful boy and so I said yes.  It is the income from the library and daycare that I am using to offset the rise in grocery prices.  Originally this extra income was going to go towards home improvement projects but now it is going towards "body improvement."

Sometimes you just have to be creative and bite the bullet and go out and find a way to earn some extra income.  I have been fortunate in that working Saturday afternoons and watching a 7 year old little boy after school 4 days a week doesn’t change my lifestyle much.  In fact I think both of these “jobs” enhance my life.  I am meeting new people through the library and the little boy is my “grandma in training” job for that someday when I will be a grandma.  

Been on a Blogging Vacation.

I found that I needed to take a break from blogging for a couple of weeks during a busy time for me.  It also gave me time to just think about everything I have going on in my life.  No, I’m not having a mid-life crisis.  You see, September is that time when kids are going back to school and for me it is the best time to evaluate what I am doing and if I need to make any changes.

During July I began my training at the public library which took about two weeks.  Then I worked my regular part time hours plus I filled in for some full time employees who were on vacation.  Toss into that the normal August chaos of my husband coaching cross country and it got a little hectic.  My schedule has settled down and I am now working my normal 5 hours each Saturday at the library.

I can now breathe some.  Tonight I am spending some time looking at the calendar and planning out September.  This summer I was unable to work on scraping and painting the outside of our house.  It just wasn’t going to happen in 105 degree Fahrenheit weather.  Now I don’t have as much time to get the job done so I am having to compromise.  My plan is to paint the main color on the lower half of the house plus the two overhangs over the large windows in the living room and the dining room.  It is what I am going to refer to as the minimum requirement of painting on the house for this year.  If I have more time and the weather holds, I will do more. 

Next up is to clean the inside of our house from top to bottom in order to get ready for the winter months ahead and that means digging through closets and getting rid of “stuff.”  I also need to spend some time washing windows inside and outside, something that I have been putting off. 

I got behind on a lot of my housework and household projects this year.  I'm digging my way out.  

In order to get back on track on some of these projects I need to take an hour or so each week to review my calendar and review my plans.  I really need to stay on task in order to stay on top of all of the housework and the projects we have to get done in our house.  This is hard as I get sidetracked very easily. 

It’s odd but once I take out my calendar and get some planning done, I feel inspired to get to work and get things done.  It kind of takes me back to my days at the law firm when I loved to look at the work calendar and plug projects into place and then I worked the plan in order to get everything done.  I apply the same principle to my home.  Take the task, break it down into manageable pieces and calendar when you will get the pieces done.  It doesn’t take a special computer program to do this, a simple calendar and a spiral notebook will work just fine.

Now on to food . . . well, I’m sure all of you have noticed that the prices on many items have gone up.  It was a given with the drought.  I never thought I would be paying $1.89 a lb. for apples.  We live near some apple orchards and the drought has really affected their crops.  Again, it was expected to happen.  So, I have found that I have to bite the bullet and pay the price for fresh produce as we go through a lot of apples and bananas.  Today I was able to buy whole cantaloupe for only 99 cents each, so I bought three.  Also I have had several people give me some cucumbers, peppers and zucchini from their garden, which I gladly accepted.  Last month a neighbor was going to be out of town for 5 days and he asked me to pick up his mail, water his tomatoes and flowers and keep an eye on his house.  In return instead of getting paid (something I refused to do) he told me I could have as many tomatoes as I wanted from his tomato patch.  What a deal.  We ate our fill of grape tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and beef steak tomatoes. 

The best way I know to save on produce is:   1.  Don’t overbuy.  In other words, don’t buy so much produce (or anything else) that it spoils before you can use it.  I would rather go to the grocery store every two days to pick up fresh produce than to have the stuff go wilty and mushy in the produce drawer in my fridge.  2.  If the prices are too high on some produce such as berries or peaches (as an example), then don’t buy them.  Go with cheaper produce such as apples, pears or bananas or buy the berries in their frozen form if cheaper.  3.  If you have a local Farmer’s Market see if their prices are cheaper or if you have a neighbor that has a garden with surplus produce, consider approaching them and ask if you can purchase some of their produce.  Or better yet, make a trade.  For example, I would bake a few loaves of my whole wheat sour dough bread in return for fresh produce from someone’s garden.  4.  It’s too late this year, but next year consider planting a small garden. In my case I want to plant some tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers only if we don’t have another drought year. 

If you are struggling with your budget due to high prices on many commodities, you may have to make some serious decisions.  Cut in one area of your budget to find the money to spend on food if you need to or find a way to increase your income.  I can tell you that there are a lot of people who use our local library instead of paying for cablevision in their homes.  Many people come in to borrow dvd’s, books, c.d.’s and more for their entertainment versus paying for cablevision.  Many others have cancelled their internet service and use the library’s computer lab or the library’s wi-fi. 

As to increasing income, I had an opportunity recently that fell in my lap. My neighbor needed someone to watch her 8 year old son 4 days after school.  I decided to do it.  I get paid $5 (each day) to watch him for a little over an hour.  This little guy is the nicest little boy and he is very polite.  I fix him a snack and talk to him, help him with his homework and I let him watch some public television.  He is old enough to go the grocery store with me and I actually look forward to seeing him after school. 

So if you’re struggling and getting discouraged, take heart.  You can make it, but you may have to make some decisions and let go of some conveniences in order to meet your budget.  

Those lazy, crazy Saturdays

Saturdays are lazy, relaxing days around our house. No matter what, my husband and I sit on the back porch, sip coffee and read the morning newspaper. I love our time together. With our new puppy, Molly, Saturday mornings start earlier than ever and sipping coffee is never simple. Molly gets up at 6:00 a.m. no matter what day of the week and she likes to romp around the backyard.

This morning it had rained so the backyard was a little muddy. Today was the wrong day to wear my white bathrobe, with my white nightgown on the back porch while sipping coffee. I looked up and before I could do anything Molly was running towards me and before you could say "MOLLY!!" I had muddy paws and coffee all over me. Oh, and the citronella candle almost got dowsed out by coffee.

So, while I brewed another cup of coffee, I changed into an old pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I took my bathrobe and nightgown and put them in the wash with some detergent and bleach and then I started over with a fresh cup of coffee and newspaper on the back porch.

We had Molly spayed this week. I do not want to add to the pet population. While Molly was under anesthesia, I had them paint her toenails. I think she's "styling."

Today being the last day of the month, I had several coupons that were going to expire. I go through my coupon binder the last week of each month and pull any coupons out that are going to expire. If there are high value coupons on products that I know I can use, I set them aside to possibly use. The rest I throw.

By high value coupons this is what I had: 50 cents off Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, 50 cents off Gain Dish Detergent, $1.00 off any Tide, $2.00 off any Venus or Daisy disposable razors, BOGO Hershey's candy bar, $3.00 off two Pantene products, 35 cents off Ivory bar soap, $1.00 off Secret deoderant, $1.00 off Splenda, $1.00 off Bounty Basic Paper Towels, and $2.00 off Keri Body Lotion.

These are all items I can use and the value of these coupons are quite high for these products. Remember, I live in a small town so it is easy for me to go to Dollar General, drive 1 block to a grocery store and then drive 1/2 mile to the Super Walmart. It doesn't take much time for me to drive around and find the lowest price.

At Dollar General I used the $1.00 off Tide coupon on a smaller jug (25 load size) of detergent which made the final price $5.00. I don't use Tide as a general rule of thumb as it is so expensive but I like to keep it on hand to pre-treat and to use for those really hard stains such as blood, chocolate and ketchup. A little bit of Tide on stains can go a long way and I stretch it.

Here are the rest of the deals I found (most were unadvertised). My net price after coupons for the products are as follows:

1. Venus Simply Disposable Razors - 4 count - $1.50
2. Secret Deoderant - $0.75
3. Bounty Basic Paper Towels - 8 count - $4.49
4. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser - 2 count - $1.49
5. Gain Dish Detergent - $1.49 (large bottle)
6. Hershey's Air Delight Candy Bars - 2 bars - $0.75
7. Splenda - 50 count - $1.49
8. Keri Lotion - 15 oz bottle - $3.97
9. Pantene Shampoo - 13 oz. bottles - $1.83
10. 3 bars of Ivory Soap - $0.89

All of the above are products that I use. No, I didn't need these now (except for the chocolate) and I will add them to my stockpile.  I had multiple coupons so this was a nice time to stock up.

I want to address the Ivory soap. I never really used Ivory soap until I started finding coupons for the soap. Granted the coupons are for 25 cents or 35 cents, but when you end up with 3 bars of soap for under $1.00, that is a good deal. You can use Ivory soap for showering or you can even use it in homemade laundry soap. It is a nice basic soap. Here's another tip, rub a bar of Ivory soap on a mosquito bite and it will relieve the itching.

I only used these coupons when the price of the product was a deal. I didn't use them just to use them. In fact, I had several other coupons with me that I ended up throwing away as I never found a good price on the products.

You have to know when to use coupons and when to throw them away. I'm set on shampoo and razors and lotion for long time. As for the chocolate, that will probably only last a couple days.

Freezer is Full

She's cute and she keeps me moving!

It has been 12 years since we had a young puppy in our house but I never forgot how much time a puppy took to raise.  Right now my life revolves around house breaking our little pup.  I miss posting and I finally found some time.  


Meat prices have been going sky high.  Imagine my delight when over the past 2 weeks our two local grocery stores ran some really great deals on meat.   When I say really great deals, I mean really great deals such as boneless skinless chicken breasts @ $1.69 lb. and ground beef @ $2.38 lb.  Also one week frozen vegetables were on sale for 69 cents for a 1 lb. bag.  These were definitely the kind of deals to get you into the store and I know that the store managers were hoping that it would mean that once they got me into the store that I would purchase other items and spend a lot of money. 


Well, I am not one of those kind of people.  I have my list on an app on my phone and I stick to my list, period.  That's it.  I stick to the list with the only exception of an unadvertised in store special on something I use.  Then and only then do I deviate.  The special had better be a necessity too and it always is.  


I purchased a lot of meat, vegetables and mozzarella cheese in the last 2 weeks.  The cheese was on sale for 99 cents for an 8 oz. bag and for every 5 bags you purchased you also got a $2 coupon towards your next grocery purchase.   I bought 30 bags.  

My freezer is stocked to the brim.  I have 50 lbs. of ground beef, 8 chuck roasts, 10 lbs. boneless chicken breasts, 30 lbs. chicken hindquarters, 9 pkgs of bacon, 6 pork roasts, 6 lbs. ground chicken, 2 whole chickens and pork chops, boneless pork ribs, ham loaf, ground pork, ham, breakfast sausage, mozzarella cheese, butter,  frozen vegetables and frozen fruit.  All of the above were purchased at rock bottom prices.  


I'm in my "happy place" and I'm ready. 


Ready for what? 


To sit back and purchase minimal groceries for as long as possible and to stretch the food that I have on hand for as long as possible.  That's right, stretch it.  Just because I have a freezer stocked to the brim doesn't mean that I will be serving meat and potato meals every night.  My goal is to get as many hearty, healthy meals as possible from this stockpile.  How long can I stretch this food and make it last?  I serve an average of 6 people each evening so this will be a fun challenge.


Now I just need a name for this challenge -- any ideas?

Using My Frugal Skills

I have spent a lot of my "spare" time over the past week preparing for a couponing program that I gave at our women's group at church.  It always happens - I don't think it will take long to work on a project and it ends up taking longer because I put my heart and soul into it.  The one thing that I came up with for the presentation was a handout on "Babysteps to Couponing."  In this handout I talked about not taking everything on at once and starting small and working your way up to a level that you are comfortable with.

I always emphasize that when taking on a new skill never try to learn or do everything all at once.  Take those baby steps until you are comfortable with a new skill.  If you try to do everything related to couponing and stockpiling all at once, you will burn out and get discouraged.  Start small and work your way up.

I have a lot of coupons that need to be clipped and I plan on enlisting the help of the college students that live with us and hang out at our house.  They are more than willing to help me with anything I need. 

Sunday evening I was in the livingroom working on my coupon presentation.  I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee and there were our live in college girls doing dishes, cleaning up the kitchen and tidying up.  They want to help me out with the housework and they pitch in without my having to ask. 

This living situation is working out.  It is because these girls are a perfect match to our family and they fit in so well.  I know we are lucky.  I enjoy their company so much and I feel I have two "adopted" daughters now.  I dread when they graduate and move on but I know we have made life long friendships.

I heard on the news this morning that the stock market is doing well, but gas prices are out of sight.  This makes living below our means a little more challenging.  But hey - I love a challenge as long as it is not too tough. 

I try to prepare healthy meals and everyone in our household appreciates that.  Preparing healthy meals that don't cost a lot is a definite challenge.  Last night I roasted 3 bone in chicken breasts that had been on sale for 99 cents a lb.  I served the chicken with Birdseye Steamers - Wild Rice and Broccoli.  I used two packages and I remember that I was able to get them on sale for 75 cents each.  Along with this I had half a loaf of French bread left in the fridge.  I sliced it and buttered it and toasted the slices in the oven.  I made a tossed salad from lettuce, red peppers, green peppers, cucumbers and carrots.  All of these items had been on sale at a good price. Then I served fresh pineapple.  One whole pineapple was on sale for only $2.49.  For dessert - there were cookies in the cookie jar.   

This was not only a healthy meal but an easy meal to prepare for the 5 of us.  There is leftover salad for supper tonight and leftover chicken in the fridge for sandwiches for lunches. 

I have not baked homemade bread in quite a while but have decided that I need to make time as the store bought bread is expensive and not near as nutritious.  So I have finally used up enough things from the freezer and have space for loaves of my homemade bread.

Now on to some little blogger "housekeeping"  My post on putting our dog Buddy to sleep had some interesting comments.  Generally I don't like to post anonymous comments but many times people leave their name and I will go ahead and post them. 

Today I posted quite a negative anonymous comment regarding Buddy.  It isn't even the worst comment I received.  I decide when to post comments as I review them all.  Since I started this blog in September 2009 I have probably only not posted 5 comments in that entire time.  Leave it to an article about our pet dog to bring out the ugly comments. 

If you're going to have a blog, you have to take ugly comments as they come as it is just part of having a blog.

Stocking up on Meat this Month

Last summer many areas of our country experienced droughts.  One of those areas was Texas.  Due to the cost of feeding cattle and the extremely hot weather that threatened their herds, farmers and ranchers sold off a great number of their cattle.  This was higher than usual.  This led to an influx of beef on the market.  Even though prices of beef had gone up last year there were times over the summer, due to the influx of beef on the market, and early fall that I was able to get great deals on hamburger, chuck roasts and other cuts of beef.  So I did what I always do, I packed my freezer with these great deals.

In the morning my alarm on my clock radio goes off right before the Ag/Farm Report.  I never set my alarm so that I could listen to this report.  My alarm is set for 6:10 and shortly thereafter the report comes on.  Over the years I have learned to listen to this report and interpret what it means to me, a consumer. 

This morning they talked about how many heads of cattle went to market yesterday as compared to last year.  The amount was significantly lower than last year. 

I have been paying attention to the Ag/Farm report and to the news reports.  Every now and then you will hear that farmers/ranchers don't have as many animals to go to market as they sold off a lot of their herds last year.  The result, we will be paying a lot more for beef this year.

I have already noticed this at the grocery store.  Now a good chuck roast is over $1.50 a lb. more than it was last year.  In some cases they have advertised ground beef (80% lean) on sale for $2.99 a lb.  Yikes!!!!! 

Yesterday I went to the grocery store to pick up some bananas and I noticed a large handwritten sign on the front of the store that said "80% ground beef $1.99 lb."  Wow.  $1.99 is my target sale price for ground beef, but I didn't buy any beef yesterday.  Why?  I needed to spend some time going through my freezer and organizing it.  I wanted to see how much ground beef I still have on hand and how much more I can afford to buy. 

With this knowledge I am heading to the grocery store today to buy 20 lbs. of this sale ground beef. Today is the last day of the sale and today is also the day that the grocery sale flyers come out in the newspaper.  So I will be able to see if ground beef will be on sale beginning tomorrow (a new sale's week) at a price lower than $1.99.  I highly doubt it, but I will be able to make a final decision today about purchasing 20 lbs. of ground beef.

This is the type of strategy I use in shopping all the time.  Knowledge is power. 

Living on $250 Food Assistance

One of my followers sent me an e-mail a few weeks ago.  I think about this person daily and pray for her situation.  She is out of work due to an injury - she is in a lot of pain.  This lady supports 3 teenagers and they receive $250 per month in food assistance.    She has become an Aldi shopper.

Here is what I would like to do over the next day or so, let's come up with some menus and recipes to help this lady stretch that $250 to the maximum (she is doing this).  I just think it would be nice if we were supporting her and others like her with some new recipes that they can use and benefit from. 

Feeding teenagers on a frugal budget is definitely a challenge.  Fortunately her children are very supportive of her and her situation.  They are real troopers. 

Super Easy Baked Cavatelli

I help with cooking the youth group meals each week and I wanted to share with you this simple and easy recipe for baked cavatelli.  This goes over so well with the youth group.  They really love it and I love making it because it is so easy.

Baked Cavatelli

2 cups UNCOOKED rotini pasta
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 - 16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 jar spaghetti sauce
Italian Seasoning
1 - 8 oz. bag shredded mozzarella
Pepperoni pieces (optional)

Mix the UNCOOKED rotini pasta, ground beef, tomatoes and spaghetti sauce.  Add about 1/2 cup water.  Add pepperoni pieces if desired.  Pour into a 9 x 13 inch pan.  Sprinkle with italian seasoning.  Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/4 hours.  Top with the cheese and bake another 15 minutes until cheese is melted and pasta is tender. 

I am making this on Sunday for our youth group and I will be donating the food from my pantry and freezer.  I need to put together 6 pans and here is what I am calculating this will cost per pan.

1 lb. Boxes of rotini pasta purchased @ 69 cents
Jars of spaghetti sauce @ 75 cents
Mozzarella cheese @ $1.00
Diced tomatoes @ 33 cents
1 lb. Hamburger purchased @ 80 cents (BIG sale in February of this year)

Add this up and you can see how little each pan will cost.  This is why I shop sales and use coupons, not only for myself but so that I can also save our church money. 

I will add to this day old loaves of italian bread purchased for around 90 cents each and we will have apple slices (apples already donated by someone) and ice cream (donated also).  The only thing the church will need to purchase will be 2 gallons of milk and the bread.  This will serve around 40 people. 

So, again, when you shop sales and get great deals, think about how you can donate some of those items perhaps to your church for meals or to a food pantry or other charity. 

No, not Peanut Butter too!!

Due to the drought in the southern states, the peanut crop has not done well at all which means peanut products will be going up in prices an estimated 40%.

My husband has peanut butter on a bagel every morning and I love crunchy peanut butter granola bars for breakfast.  I even make homemade dog treats that contain peanut butter.  Peanut butter is a staple for a lot of people.  I'm not going to go into the good and bad of regular peanut butter versus natural peanut butter.  The fact is it is a good source of protein for many people.

I have several jars in my pantry that I purchased for 99 cents a jar over the spring and summer.  Now I wish I would have purchased more.  Perhaps I should pay attention to what is an actual serving size of peanut butter so it will last longer.  Then again I should do this with all food.  For peanut butter a serving size is 2 tablespoons.  I know that we spread more than that on piece of bread or bagel slice.  So with everything pay attention to the exact serving sizes.

When I was a child I remember that peanut butter was one of the things that our family would receive in the commodity program.  When my father was out of work we would get some food from the government commodity program.  I remember peanut butter came in a large institutional can and I thought that was kinda "cool" as peanut butter in the store came in a jar. 

This week has been a week of excess spending because we adopted Buddy our new dog and had as of yesterday $238.00 in veterinary expenses.  The dog may have been free, but the upkeep and maintenance isn't.  Now that Buddy is in our family we will budget his expenses as we have with other pets.

Buddy is a gentle, wonderful dog and it just seems that him being  part of our family was meant to be.  With the addition of a new pet there comes new routines and more time has been spent getting Buddy used to his new home.  Also, there is the training.  Fortunately Buddy is housebroken but not leash trained so I am spending more of my time to get him leash trained so that I will be able to walk him without him straining at the leash. 

Buddy will be my new exercise partner as our older dog, Griffey, doesn't walk very fast due to her age.  She kind of lumbers along and I doubt that I burn 10 calories if that when I walk her.  But old dog or not, Griffey enjoys and savors her daily walks no matter how long it takes her.  Perhaps this is something we as human beings can learn from our pets - to savor the small things such as a slow lumbersome walk on a cool fall day. 

Being Flexible

I keep a daily list of what I want to accomplish each day and while I may not get the entire list done, I try to get at least 75% of it completed. 

I had arranged my schedule today so that I could spend my afternoon painting.  I got home from Curves at 1:00 and was making my lunch when I got a text message from the Hy-Vee grocery store website.  Hy-Vee has NowWow deals about once a week and a few months ago I signed up on their website for their special deals that are sent as a text message.  I looked at my phone and for a limited time today I would be able to get $5 off of a $50 grocery purchase.

Last night I had prepared my grocery list and had planned on shopping at Fareway on Monday.  After I got that text message I grabbed my list and I grabbed my Fareway ad as Hy-Vee will match Fareway's sales.  I purchased 20 lbs. of hamburger on sale for $1.99 a lb. and 4 extra large bags of Malt o Meal cereal that were close to 40 ounces each for only $2.50 a bag and 2 dozen eggs @ 99 cents a dozen.  These were all items I was going to purchase on Monday but by being flexible with my schedule (and being prepared with my list) I was able to get an additional $5 off my purchase.

I may not be an extreme couponer but a deal is still a deal.

Grocery Expense for the week of April 18th

My grocery expense for last week was $23.16.  I purchased some bread, fresh produce (lettuce, red pepper, bananas, fresh pineapple, apples) and milk with this amount. 

Grocery Spending for the week of April 11 - Broke the Budget

I broke my food budget last week. You knew it was going to happen didn’t you? Someone who buys things on sale is sooner or later going to have to take advantage of sales even when she is trying to use up what she has on hand to save money.

My budget was $25 and I spent $65.90. What happened? A great sale happened and it was well worth it.

Wal-mart stores around the country are going through some extensive remodeling. I went to Wal-mart on Saturday to buy some ink cartridges for our printer and to also pick up a loaf of day old Italian bread. (I have not had time to bake much bread lately because of my painting projects.)

As I got closer to the food section of the store I noticed large shelves in the middle of a big aisle. These shelves were filled with reduced priced foods, none of which were anywhere close to their expiration dates. Here is what I purchased:

25 lb. bag of all purpose flour – reduced to $6.00 (I bought two.)

1.5 lbs. Soy Flour – reduced to 50 cents (I bought two.)

5 lb. bag of whole wheat flour – reduced to $2.00 (I bought the last bag.)

5 lb. bag of yellow cornmeal – reduced to $1.00 (I bought the last bag.)

Argo Aluminum free baking powder – reduced to 75 cents (I bought two.)

20 lbs. of rice – reduced to $11.48 (I bought one.)

There was a sale on a 4 lb. box of strawberries last week for only $3.99 at one grocery store and I also purchased two 3 lb. bags of boneless skinless chicken breasts for $3.99 per bag. The strawberries and the chicken were at a very low price and I didn’t have either on hand.

I froze the chicken and I washed the 4 lbs. of strawberries. I sliced some of the berries for strawberry shortcake for Sunday’s dessert. The rest of the berries I hulled and placed on a cookie sheet. I stuck the whole lot of them in the freezer.  After they were frozen, I poured them into 3 bags ready to be used whenever I need them.

Other than that I had the usual on my list which was milk, fresh vegetables and fruit. I am still saving money by purchasing these items ahead and in bulk. I am going to donate some of the flour I already have on hand (in 5 lb. packages) to the local food pantry.

The flour that I purchased over the weekend will be put in the freezer for 24 hours (My DIL’s freezer as I don’t have room.) and then I will store it in plastic ice cream pails with a bay leaf in each. I will do the same with the rice. All of this to keep the bugs away and it always works.

I have looked at the grocery ads for this week and I will spending about $5 more this week of my $25 budget to accommodate Easter.

Grocery Spending for the week of April 4 through April 10

Last week was week four of my grocery budget of $25.00. Here is how I did. I started out the list with junk food. If you look at the rest of the list you will see fruit and dairy.

Keep in mind that I have plenty of cheese in my fridge. I started the week with plenty of apples and some bananas. I also have plenty of carrots and potatoes on hand too. I have blueberries in my freezer along with frozen orange juice and vegetables so we do get fruits and vegetables every day.

Here’s my list for Week Four.

$1.66 - Diet Pepsi - 12 pack plus deposit
$3.58 - Two bags store brand cheese puffs
$1.99 - Store brand potato chips - 1 lb.
$1.39 - Azteca Flour Tortillas
$4.79 - Dorothy Lynch Salad Dressing
$1.37 - Braeburn Apples
$0.75 - Roma Tomato
$1.03 - Bananas
$1.50 - Red Pepper
$1.39 - 1 loaf wheat bread
$1.19 - Lettuce
$3.30 - 1 gallon 1% milk

I bought some non-essential items such as the pop. It was on sale cheap and I enjoy an occasional can of pop so this was a treat. Then I bought some junk food such as the cheese puffs and potato chips as a request from my son and husband. They have eaten half of these so I doubt I will need to buy any additional treats this week.

I have a recipe for the salad dressing and I usually make the flour tortillas but on Friday we had leaky pipes and we had to call a plumber. I spent some time cleaning out the mess in the basement so I was too tired to make salad dressing and tortillas.

Even so the total amount spent was $23.94. If I wouldn’t have bought the junk food or pop, I would have saved more.

Meals on Saturday and Sunday along with My Grocery Expense

Before I get to the content of my post, I am making French Toast Bagels today.  My husband eats a couple of bagels a day and they can be expensive so I have decided to try my hand at making my own.  I've been tweaking a recipe so when they are done and if they pass the test, I will post it.  Let's just say I found another use for the Vermont Pure Maple Syrup my mom gave me.

This weekend was a wonderful warm weekend which meant a lot of yard work on Saturday for my husband and continued work in the living room for me.  We always have leftovers or sandwiches for lunch at noon and then for supper we cooked out hamburgers and hot dogs.  I put a casserole of baked beans in the oven and we had fruit on the side. 

That afternoon I had to make some hamburger buns since we were without.  Mixing yeast dough is compatible with painting I have learned. 

For lunch on Sunday my son and I had a meeting at church and the food was provided. My husband was happy to come home to leftover hamburgers.  He could eat them every night.  Sunday evening is always "fix your own supper" night. 

Now on to My grocery expense for last week.  I went over, not by
necessity, but by choice.

$2.99 - 30 oz. jar of Lite Miracle Whip
    .65 - Strawberries @ $1.18 lb.
  2.17 - Bananas @ 54 cents lb.
  1.50 - One Sweet Red Pepper
  1.38 - Two cucumbers @ 69 cents lb.
    .99 - Lettuce
  4.13 - One and one-half gallons 1% milk
  1.44 - One - 16 oz. pkg. Kraft Cheese Slices
  5.00 - Four - 8 oz. pkgs. Kraft Mozzerella Shreds @ $1.25
  1.98 - Two - Dozen Large Eggs @ 99 cents
    .50 - Onion Powder
  1.29 - Cottage Bread
  1.98 - One - 15 oz. box Generic Raisins
  1.60 - Ten - 7 oz. jars Jet Puffed Marshmallow Creme @ 16 cents
  3.58 - Two bags Cheese Puffs @ $1.79

$31.18  less 11 cents carryover from last week = $31.07 total spent

I didn't need the marshmallow creme but they had a fantastic sale last week of only 16 cents per jar and a limit of 10.  I use this in my frosting recipe so I bought 10.  The cheese puffs were not essential but I have found that I like to have 2 bags of snacks per week for lunch time.  I used to buy 4 bags so I have reduced that amount. We didn't need the cheese shreds, but I realized I had made a mistake when I totaled up the contents of our freezer I didn't have as much as I thought.  Instead of 17 I had 7 bags of mozzerella shreds.  This was a good deal, so I bought 4 pkgs.  If I were in stock up mode, I would have been 10 or 15.

I overspent by $6.07.  I am not going to carry this amount over to this week's grocery budget.  If I was on an extremely tight budget, such as someone who is living on food stamps, then I would not have bought the cheese puffs, the cottage bread (my son would have to eat the homemade wheat bread that I bake), the marshmallow creme, and I would have only bought 1 pkg. of the mozzarella shreds. 

We eat basic fruit in our home.  Apples and bananas are our main source of fruit.  When fresh pineapple is on sale, I will buy it, the same with strawberries.  I have found that my family won't eat oranges or tangerines, but they will drink orange juice. 

I'm happy with how this is going and I am also happy with the contents of my freezer and pantry slowly getting used up. 

Grocery Spending for week of March 21 - March 27 - Final spend

Tomorrow I start week 3 on a grocery budget of $25 a week. Here is the balance of what I spent on groceries for week 2. I posted on March 24th the first half of my spending that left me with $17.67 in the budget for the balance of the week.

Here is what I purchased

$2.10 - Bananas
$1.66 - Diet 7 up
$1.79 - Store brand Cheese Puffs - $1.79
$3.00 - two packages Kraft Cheese slices 2 @ $1.50
$1.50 - Kraft 8 oz. Block Cheese
$1.57 - Half gallon milk
$1.29 - 2 lbs. carrots
$1.69 - Red Bell Pepper
$0.99 - Lettuce
$1.97 - Pink Lady Apples

$17.56 - Total Spent

I have 11 cents to carry over to my grocery budget beginning tomorrow.  Yes, I would have more if I wouldn't have bought the cheese puffs or the pop.  The pop was a special deal and I decided to splurge.  As to the cheese puffs, my son wanted them for his lunches instead of popcorn this week.  I still stayed under budget. 

If you're new to following my blog, I have a freezer full of meat and lots of food in my pantry.  It is my goal to deplete both of these and to only spend $25 a week on produce and dairy products.  I am baking my own bread to save money also.  

Grocery Spending for the week of March 21 - March 27

I shop two grocery stores in our town.  One is Hy-Vee and here is the store's website.  I also shop at Fareway and here is the store's website 

 Last week I spent $21.69 for groceries.  I increased my budget from $20 to $25.  I carried over the surplus money to this week.  So for this week I have $28.31. 

Here is what I have spent so far this week:

4 blocks of 8 oz. Kraft Sharp Cheddar Cheese on sale @ $1.50 = $6.00; Onion Soup Mix - Box of 2 envelopes @ .69; Lettuce $1.49; 2 Sweet Red Peppers @ .77 cents = $1.54 and 5 Bananas @ .54 lb. = .92

Total Spent So far for Week 2 = $10.64

I still have quite a few apples on hand but my favorite apples, Pink Lady, are on sale this week at only 88 cents a lb. Tomorrow I will stop by the store to pick up fresh carrots, bananas, apples and milk.  Strawberries are on sale for $1.19 a lb. so if they look fresh, I will pick up a lb.  This is what I have been spending my money on - dairy and produce. 

In dealing with a strict budget I have taken on a new habit of only buying a small amount of produce at a time.  I don't want to waste anything.  Since I walk past two grocery stores each day on my way to Curves, I can always pick up more produce as needed. 

There is $17.67 left in my grocery budget to spend for Week 2.   I am amazed that I am sticking to this $25 a week budget.  There is no special advice or secret I have for making this work, other than determination to make it work. 

Remember the Aldi Price List?

I was going through some of my files and I came across my price book from 1996.  I opened it up and this fell out.  Does anyone remember when Aldi printed a weekly price list?  I loved it because you could carry it with you to compare prices at other stores.  It was a great help.

Do I dare tell you what some of the prices were at Aldi in 1996?  It will make you cry. 

48 oz. of Vegetable Oil - $1.59

2 lbs. of Brown or Powdered Sugar - 79 cents

5 lbs. of All Purpose Flour - 79 cents

8 count Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns - 39 cents

6 ounce can of tomato paste - 29 cents

16 oz of Shredded Cheddar or Mozzarella Cheese - $1.99

We'll take a trip down memory lane each week, when I post some more of those 1996 prices.  Can you imagine how low our food budgets would be if we could time travel to an Aldi store in 1996?  Alright by me as long as I don't have to wear the jeans that were in style then.

How I wish they would resume this practice of printing a price list.  If I were able to compare prices, I would then be able to determine if a once every 6 week drive to the next town that has an Aldi would be worth it for stocking up purposes.