December Menu and Grocery Shopping Plan

During December, we'll continue to try to use what we have.  There will be a few things we purchase to be able to do some holiday baking for gifting and potlucks, but overall, we're really going to try to keep things well under budget.  This will be helped by the fact that Harris Teeter is doing their Super Doubles deal this weekend, and it's soup season so we'll have soup at least once a week.

There may be a few extra expenses based on my new dietary needs, but we'll take those in stride.  We'd love to keep our grocery budget this next month to around $100, maybe even under $50.  (This would allow us to put the additional $50-$100 we usually spend toward medical bills.)

So, here's the plan and our grocery list below.

Breakfasts:

• Fruit smoothies with frozen and seasonal fruit and kale
• Mini egg fritattas with veggies
• Banana bars (I usually add dried fruit and nuts)
• Crock pot overnight oatmeal
• Cranberry muffins
• "Big boy breakfast" of eggs, bacon, and sweet potato hashbrowns
• Winter squash muffins
• Christmas breakfast:  overnight breakfast casserole with eggs, mushrooms, and greens; monkey bread; fruit salad with citrus and pomegranate seeds
• Breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese, and sauteed veggies

Lunches:

• leftovers
• yogurt with fruit and grain free granola
• turkey, kale, and cheese quesadillas 
• salad with seasonal veggies and nuts/hard boiled eggs

Dinners:

• Homemade pizza with whole wheat crust x 4
• Roasted veggies (beets, asparagus, carrots, potatoes) over brown rice or quinoa
• Crock pot Asian chicken with Asian ramen slaw
• Turkey soup (wild rice, carrots, onion, celery) with salad
• Breakfast for dinner (eggs, bacon, gluten free waffles or pancakes with citrus fruit)
• Dairy free corn chowder made with coconut milk and salad
• Crock pot winter squash soup made with coconut milk, salad, and bread
• Crock pot lasagna soup with gluten free pasta
• Turkey, kale and cheese quesadillas with roasted veggies or salad
• Black beans and rice with fixin's and corn bread
• Black bean tacos with winter squash and fixin's
• Mushroom, sundried tomato, and greens quiche with fruit salad
• Beef and cheddar pie (I make it with way more veggies and 1/2 to 1 lb beef) with salad for date night
• Crock pot chicken/turkey curry soup (from America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker book)

Snacks:

• veggies and dip
• popcorn
• cheese and crackers
• bread and jam/honey
• nuts

Holiday gifts/foods:

• caramel chocolate popcorn
• homemade hot cocoa mix
• lemon nut cookies
• sand dabs (powdered sugar cookies with pecans--family tradition)
• gingerbread house

Grocery list:

• eggs
• canned coconut milk x4
• gluten free pasta
• cilantro
• cheddar cheese
• powdered coconut milk (to make homemade hot cocoa for me)
• almond milk (for smoothies)
• powdered milk
• frozen dinner rolls for monkey bread
• gluten free crackers
• herbal tea (for stockings)
• candy for gingerbread house

How do you plan to live and save green this month in the kitchen?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accompilshments

This past week went pretty well, frugally speaking.  There were a few surprises that really helped us to stretch the grocery budget until the end of the month, which is always nice.  We did travel to see family, which costs more (about $40 in gas plus road trip snacks).  But we tried to compensate for this in other ways, like staying with family.

So, without further ado, here's how we saved this past week:

• All meals were cooked at home.  This included leftover salad, Asian chicken, and we did easy pasta and sauce one night.  I was also blessed with some leftover portions from dinner with Mom and from our parenting class.  Breakfasts were smoothies, cereal trail mix, banana bars, and oatmeal.
• Enjoyed shared meals with friends and family three times, including parenting class and Thanksgiving.  
• We continued to use what we have to make snacks for our trip including banana bars, popcorn, and nuts.
• Continued to compost and use cloth diapers to save resources.
• We graciously accepted some things from the food pantry:  fresh fruit, green beans, asparagus, mushrooms, yogurt, milk, ricotta cheese, bread, and (huge surprise!) a whole turkey that was smoked at a local BBQ restaurant.  The pantry ended up with extra turkeys, so the restaurant generously said they'd smoke them to ease the burden on pantry volunteers.  We love smoked turkey, so immediately said yes when Mom said one was available for us.
• Saved smoked turkey carcass for making stock.  It makes a great chili or wild rice soup.  We will use the meat for enchiladas, quesadillas, sandwiches, and to top salads.  
• Went to Costco with family and stocked up on produce, yogurt, frozen broccoli, frozen salmon, frozen blueberries, honey, and other staples.  (Even though I'm not doing sugars, the rest of my family still enjoys honey in tea or on a slice of bread.) I also found some low sugar, grain free granola that I'm super excited about.  It tastes great by itself or with plain yogurt and berries.  We also found fire extinguishers that we'd been looking for for only $15 each.
• Continued to plan to purchase land, looked for house plans online.  We will try to broker the deal for the land ourselves to save on the realtor cost.  We will use a realtor to sell our current home, when we get to that point.
• Accepted some hand-me-downs from my cousin for the boys, mostly baby.  
• Put together at least two bags of stuff for Goodwill.  Will continue to try to put together at least 2-3 bags each week for Goodwill, Craigslist, or eBay sales to try to clean out.  
• Pulled out an old wool coat to use this winter.  My black leather one is very shabby and got paint on it from a kid project, so the wool one will work and is still warm and in relatively good condition.
• My grandmother fixed my open-fingered gloves that were coming unraveled on one thumb.  It took her no time with the right tools, which I didn't have.  I now have a repaired glove, and I know how to fix it the next time, should it happen again.
• My mom had some homemade lemon nut cookie dough (a slice and bake recipe) in the freezer.  We thawed that and the boys decorated those for Thanksgiving dinner for them, in addition to the traditional pies.  It was fun for the boys, and helped clean out her freezer a bit.
• Were thankful for an early Christmas gift from Mom.  She paid to have our windows washed, which is something we don't do since we've essentially got a three story home on the side of a mountain.  The windows look wonderful, and it's so nice to have clean screens too!
• Began decorating for Christmas using existing supplies.  We use an artificial tree,wreath, and garland.  We save ornaments from year to year, and this really helps cut down on the cost.  We have window candles, but won't use those until our toddler is done with pulling things out of windows!  My mom bought a live wreath, which we'll use existing decorations, for us to decorate and hang on our porch railing.

How did you live and save green this week, especially amidst the holiday consumerism push?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accomplishments

This week we did really well, frugally speaking.

I am thankful that I am feeling better, so that definitely helps things.  It is amazing how much energy, or lack of, affects the budget.  It is so easy to rely on convenience items.  That is motivation to me to put a few more easy freezer meals together, like crock pot ones or frozen homemade soup, that we can pull out when we're sick.

We are also beginning the dreaming and exploring stage of purchasing land and building a new home.  When we built this home, we thought it would be our forever home, but we're realizing there are things about the neighborhood and road that will never change.  So, we're looking to move closer to my mom and into her neighborhood, which has lots of kids and very, well, neighborly neighbors.  This would allow the boys to walk to her house as they get older, and would give them playmates in the neighborhood.

Here's how we stuck to our budget this past week:

• Cooked all meals at home including crock pot Asian chicken with veggies, cauliflower and cheese sauce, banana nut whole wheat muffins, crock pot oatmeal, smoothies, "big boy breakfast" of eggs and bacon, whole wheat pizza, and salad.
• Took advantage of four community meals with our parenting class, our school faculty, our church, and my mom.  This kept our kitchen clean and meant that we only had to take one dish or item to share.  We took a salad to church, salad to school, and potatoes to Mom's to roast.
• Thankful for items from the food pantry this week:  gluten free crackers, cereal, plain instant oatmeal, fresh fruit (melon, pineapple, and grapes), and some pouches of baby food (I use them in smoothies, though sometimes the boys will eat them).  These are items that clients typically don't take, so we're glad to use them.
• Composted all possible items including food scraps, brown paper tubes, paper towels, tea bags, and coffee grounds.  Compost will be added to the gardens to prepare them for winter.
• Kept grocery spending to $10 for pie crust, refrigerator biscuits, eggs, snack pack (free item of the week), celery, and peanuts (small cans for stockings).  We used coupons for the pie crust, biscuits, and peanuts.  Trying really hard to keep our grocery spending to $70-80 this month, not $150.
• Continued with cloth diapers, except at night.  We're using free diapers from the diaper bank at the Children's Council for our night time ones, saving expense there.  Grateful for this newfound resource.
• We made our OCC shoebox this weekend and shopped at home first.  We found:  plastic cups, plastic spoons, foam balls, blanket, new towel, stickers and small toys, new toothbrush and soap.  We went to the Dollar Tree to purchase seven items.  Little man had a great time shopping and picking out items for the box.  We wrote a note to them as a family, and paid the processing fee online.  (This allowed us to use our credit card = points which we'll use for a future vacation.)  Little man is really excited about the possibility of seeing where our box goes, which is enabled by the QR code on the label.  It was nice to be able to do this with things we had around the house.
• Took advantage of our Children's Playhouse membership (thank you Mom!) and went on Saturday.  The boys had a ball.
• Combined all errands when possible.  Sundays we usually do our grocery shopping before church, since the boys are up early anyway.  This is nice because it combines the errands, but the store is also very empty before church, so it's easier with the boys.  
• Had a doctor's appointment out of town on Thursday, but went with Benny and baby.  We were able to make a date of it, use a gift card for lunch, and get some work done for Benny's boss while we were near Best Buy.  This meant that we could count some of the time in the trip as work time for him, which is really nice.
• Began taking pictures to post more items on eBay.  These funds will help pay for my medical expenses, and it helps to clear out the house some.  We're beginning to feel overwhelmed with the amount of "stuff" we have, so this is helping, even if we can only do a few items at a time.
• Started another bag of stuff to take to Goodwill.  Will get a tax receipt for this.
• Had a short craft date with little man last night and really enjoyed painting together.  Going to try to do this more; it really feeds both of our souls.
• Began cleaning up the boys' room and craft room some more.  Hoping to weed out more things by the end of the year.  Might set a tally amount, just to keep us going and motivated to continue weeding.

I'd love to hear what you did to live and save green this past week?  How do you do it with the holidays just ahead?  Please share!

November Grocery Spending Plan

This month we're trying really hard to keep our grocery spending down.  We're doing this for a variety of reasons:  we have a lot in the pantry and freezer to use, we generally want to keep expenses down as travel expenses are up this season, and we have some medical expenses to pay that are beyond our normal expenses.

So, we're working with what we have.  This means that we made crock pot Asian chicken with pantry and freezer staples, chili with pantry and freezer staples, oatmeal, eggs, and smoothies with things we have on hand.  We have plans to make a lentil sweet potato soup with staples on hand, will make Asian slaw with cabbage in the fridge, pasta with sauce made this summer, and probably tacos or nachos.  We make use of regular pantry staples like brown rice, quinoa, dry beans and lentils, and pasta.  We can also make pizza with ingredients we have on hand.

We did spend about $40 in groceries at cousin's Christmas celebration last weekend, for meals together and for goodies to make.  We also purchased some things at Trader Joe's and Aldi that will be treats to give for holidays.  We did pick up some fresh produce at Aldi, including fruit for the boys.

The only foreseen grocery expenses this month otherwise are almond or coconut milk, half and half, and maybe fresh fruit.  We have some frozen fruit, but that doesn't go so well in lunches.  We can also fill in with dried fruit.  I had thought I might buy a turkey to put in the freezer, but I can't rationalize spending the $40 to get the discounted turkey price, when we don't really need to spend the $40.  I might stock up on sweet potatoes that are discounted.

We're also grateful for community meals this month.  We have a few pot lucks planned with church, coworkers, and friends.  We have our regular Sunday dinners with Mom, and we have our dinners with parenting class on Mondays.  We might end up coming back from Thanksgiving with leftovers, which is always nice.  I can usually turn these into another meal like turkey tacos, turkey soup, or enchiladas.  If we come back with bread, then I can turn that into French toast or breakfast casserole. All of this means a lighter burden on our grocery budget.

The trips out of town also mean that we're doing less cooking at home and eating more with family.  This eases the grocery budget too, even though it increases travel spending.  We're hopeful that we'll be able to keep travel expenses down because of the gift cards we've earned through our parenting class and a gas card from the Children's Council.  We'll also take our most fuel efficient vehicle.

So, all in all, we're hoping to keep grocery spending to around $80-$100 this month.  Since our usual budget is $150, I think it's doable. 

How are you living and saving green this month in preparation for the holidays?  Are you stocking up with holiday deals, or are you eating what you've got in storage?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accomplishments

We did a pretty good job this week with our frugal accomplishments, with one minor frugal fail.  We did some traveling, but we tried to use our gift cards to limit the financial impact.  It was a great long weekend with family and cousins.  We did an early Thanksgiving dinner and early Christmas with the kids, which was super fun.  There are some great family pictures of the kids decorating cookies and all crowded in on the couch in their pajamas watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  So fun!

Here's the details of this past week:

• Cooked all meals at home including black bean chili, whole wheat pizza, salad, butternut squash casserole, smoothies, and muffins
• Frugal fail:  forgot to turn the heat down on the overnight crock pot oatmeal, and now it's a burned on mess.  Will use baking soda and water with it on high for a while to remove burned mess.  Totally bummed... was really looking forward to it!
• Had free dinner with our parenting class on Monday, which was so appreciated.  Saved us some money, time and frustration with clean up.
• Used gift cards earned from our parenting class to pay for gas for our trip.  We ended up taking the least fuel efficient car because the better one was making a weird noise.  We didn't want to get stranded on the highway on a holiday weekend with two little ones.  We'll get the other car looked at this week so it's good for travel over Thanksgiving.
• Used another gift card to pay for gifts for the kiddos.  I try really hard to do gifts that don't contribute to the amount of "stuff" we all accumulate, so I purchased some craft kits and gingerbread house kits for each family.  
• We also made our standard holiday chocolate caramel popcorn.  It is always a hit and really easy and relatively inexpensive.  We substitute pecans for the peanuts, because we like them better and generally have them on hand.  It's really nice to make gifts that are consumable, so that it's not something else for folks to store, when we're all really trying to simplify things in our lives.
• My cousin made sugar cookie dough earlier in the week, so we made those with the kids on Saturday morning.  It was so fun, and even the little ones (18-19 months) got involved.  It's relatively cheap to make, and was such a great time for the cousins.  Having the dough ahead of time really helped out.
• I brought frozen tomatoes and bell peppers (from the food pantry) from our freezer to make chili on Friday with the cousins for dinner.  We also took our crock pot, in case we needed a second for the large crowd.  Having these ingredients really helped save on prep time and cost, which meant we had more time together as a family.
• Graciously accepted steel cut oats, date almond balls, popping corn, and Kind bars from the food pantry this week.  These things will really help round out our pantry and help us keep our grocery bill in check.
• Grateful for snacks that family offered throughout the weekend.  Those helped us through the road trip, and it was nice for the boys to try some new things.
• Stopped at Aldi on the way back home, which was a nice break for us all (especially after getting stuck in traffic for over an hour), and restocked the fridge at a cheaper price than usual.  We were able to get a lot of organic produce for cheaper than we could have at Harris Teeter.
• Thankful that our tenant kept Lavender for us, which made our trip a lot less stressful.  
• Mom picked up take-out for us for dinner last night, because we got home late from the trip.  So grateful for this, and it was a new food experience for the boys.  They loved it, so we'll repeat it sometime.  It also gave us leftovers for lunch for today.
• Received a paper grocery sack full of hand-me-down clothes for the boys, which is so generous.  Glad for these.  (Now we just need to go through the baby things and begin consigning them.)

What did you do to live and save green this past week?  I'd love to hear from you!

November Menu Plan

This month we're experimenting with our new dietary restrictions.  Mine are for medical reasons (primarily trying to clear a chronic Candida infection, but also trying to be kind to my kidneys which aren't functioning at optimal rates), while Benny is trying to lose some weight.  So, we're focusing on lots of seasonal veggies, lowering carbs and sugar, and generally eating fewer grains, but making them whole grains when we do.  We're also trying to incorporate Candida fighting foods, such as coconut, radishes, and rutabagas.  And, as usual, we're trying to make the most of our existing pantry and freezer items.

But, we're also trying to not sacrifice taste and to make some legitimate compromises.  So, we're splurging in places for a dinner pie where the crust uses regular flour and using sweet potatoes that are in season and satisfy the sweet tooth without added sugars.  We're going to do well with this diet, for our own health, but we also know it's not sustainable if we cut out everything we love.  We'll also experiment with some sweets that fit my diet, and we've already found a coconut milk custard that we like.

So, here's the plan:

Breakfasts:

• Smoothies with anti-inflammatory spices (cinnamon, ginger, turmeric) made with coconut milk, berries, and avocados or winter squash
• Coconut flour and almond pumpkin muffins
• Mini egg fritatas with greens, bell peppers, and onions with side of bacon or homemade chicken apple sausage
• Whole grain muffins with apples, raisins, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds
• Yogurt parfaits with berries, toasted coconut, and pumpkin seeds
• Overnight steel cut oatmeal with nuts, cinnamon, ginger, and shredded coconut

Lunches:

• leftovers
• green salad with tuna or hard boiled eggs
• yogurt parfaits

Dinners:

• Lentil and grass-fed ground beef sloppy joes over quinoa or brown rice with salad and rutabaga fries
• Breakfast for dinner with coconut flour pancakes with homemade berry syrup (made with stevia), phosphate and nitrate-free bacon, eggs with greens, and mixed berry fruit salad or grapefruit (if it's here from our fruit order)
• Veggie stir fry over brown rice and Asian cabbage slaw
• Grandma's split pea soup with coconut flour or almond flour corn bread
• Beef and cheddar pie with salad with radishes and red pepper
• Black bean and winter squash tacos on corn tortillas or over quinoa
• Pecan crusted chicken  (tweak and use corn chip crumbs and plain dijon mustard for sugar free, gluten-free option) with roasted rutabaga, broccoli, and onions
• Tomato basil soup with green salad (topped with olives, radishes, almonds, and red pepper)
• Crock pot chicken fajitas with onions and rainbow bell peppers served on corn tortillas or quinoa
• Lentil and sweet potato stew with coconut or almond flour corn bread
• Coconut milk curry
• Coconut milk and corn chowder with rutabagas instead of potatoes, salad on the side
• Black bean chili with grass-fed beef served with corn bread or over quinoa or buckwheat served with plain yogurt
• Steamed Asian ginger salmon with roasted broccoli and rutabags and Asian slaw
• Crock pot Asian ginger chicken  (we always add more carrot and onion than called for) served over quinoa, buckwheat, or brown rice and Asian slaw
• Roasted sweet potatoes served with black beans, plain yogurt, and chopped cilantro (serve with green salad if potatoes are small)
• Crock pot lasagna soup with gluten free pasta
• Homemade pizza with whole wheat crust or gluten-free crust

Snacks:

• Air popped popcorn
• Veggies and hummus
• Gluten free crackers and goat cheese
• Whole fruit

So, how do you live and save green in the kitchen?  Do you manage to do it even with dietary restrictions?  I'd love to hear from you!

Frugal Accomplishments

We're finding a new way to live around here.  I'm dealing with some health issues, which are affecting my diet tremendously.  We're in the midst of diagnosis of these, so I'm really just trying to eat healthfully.  Some of the potential diagnoses we're dealing with have conflicting dietary recommendations, so navigating this road has been a little difficult.  I'm hoping to be able to meet with a specialist or two soon to figure out a firm plan forward.  We will just be thankful for answers and a plan at this point.

All of that is to say that we've spent more money than usual on health care the past few months, but area grateful for the emergency fund that is here for just such a reason.  But we've been able to save in other areas, so that's been great.  Here's our list for the past week:

• Cooked most meals at home including lentil curry soup, kidney bean chili and corn bread, pumpkin coconut flour muffins (not a huge fan, but my new diet is low on grains, so experimenting with alternative flours), vagabond muffins with apples, raisins, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds, winter squash and chickpea salad with pecan crusted chicken, homemade whole wheat pizza for the boys and lentil pasta with sauce for me.
• Graciously accepted pasta and sauce from Mom's neighborhood Halloween gathering.  This was a huge help to us and provided the boys with two meals.  I could use the sauce on lentil pasta for myself.
• Continued normal use of composting, recycling, and using rags for cleaning.  This cuts down on waste and makes our lives easier by having to do fewer trips to the local dump, recycling, etc.
• Made a big batch of kidney bean chili and corn bread to share with a family who has a preemie baby.  Prayers for this family, please.  Mama is having a tough time with mastitis since LO isn't nursing well.  Organizing more meals for this family to help ease their stress.
• Was sick last weekend with flu-like symptoms.  Ended up at urgent care Sunday morning and spent almost $100 there to get help with nausea.  That was a chunk of change, but grateful that it wasn't the ER bill that would have been $500.  Thankful that Mom could take me so that Benny could keep things as normal as possible for the boys.
• Gratefully accepted some items from the food pantry that fit my new dietary restrictions.  These have been nice to have because they allow me to experiment with alternative ingredients to see what we like, without the expense.  These ingredients aren't cheap, so it's nice to be able to try them out.
• Brought home about 15 winter squash from our lab at school.  Since I wasn't feeling well, Mom has processed a lot of these for me for the freezer.  This has been a huge help.  They will make a great addition to smoothies, muffins, and soups.  Little man also really liked it roasted, so it will make good snacks and meals for him.
• Mom gave us a much needed date night on Saturday.  She kept both boys for us to go out to dinner (we tried to keep it inexpensive by drinking water and ordering cheaper entrees).  We were able to find a nice local restaurant that offers gluten free and vegan options, which helps a lot for me.  Mom then kept our preschooler overnight, which gave us some evening time after bed to do a little bit of dreaming together, which was super nice.  We haven't had that kind of fun conversation in a while.
• I have been in need of a new raincoat for quite a while (i.e. years). We did the research and purchased one locally with a 25% off coupon yesterday.  It was still a pricey jacket at $200, but it is one that should last for life if we treat it well and retreat seams regularly.
• We're doing a free parenting class through the Children's Council locally.  Part of this class meant that halfway through, we earned a $50 Visa gift card.  We each earned our card for attendance, so this was helpful with the jacket purchase. 
• We found out about a diaper bank through the Children's Council.  This helped us out, is open to all families in our area, and means that we have more money in our grocery budget.
• Took advantage of a free hand spa event at school.  This was lovely and gave me free samples.  I will save the chocolate that came in the bag for stocking stuffers.
• We sorted the Halloween candy out and have saved some for making gingerbread house at Christmas.  We saved the hard candy for OCC shoe boxes that we'll put together with the boys.
• Used coupons for regular grocery shopping and got three packs of nitrate and phosphate free bacon for $2.99 each.  This is a great deal and something we'll really enjoy having.
• I used our membership to the local children's playhouse on Saturday to take the boys for a morning of fun while it rained.  We really enjoyed it, and the boys made spider webs for me to hang up in my classroom.

What did you do to live and save green this week?  I'd love to hear from you!