Frugal Accomplishments

This past week was hit and miss on the frugal accomplishments.  We did really well with our regular things, but ended up having to get the Subaru towed for some work.  (Thankfully, we have AAA, so the towing was free.)  Here's how we saved last week:

• Cooked all meals at home or with friends from things on hand.  This included broccoli and cheese casserole, lentil sloppy joes, black bean enchiladas, homemade chicken tenders, salads, black bean burgers, bagel pizzas, and homemade bagel chips.
• Accepted castoffs from the food pantry including kale (loads of it), bagels, sugar snap peas, snow peas, red peppers, jalapenos, two loaves of french bread, squash, and some broccoli and carrot mixes.  We processed most of this for the freezer.  
• I made four batches of bagel chips for snacking.  We made one batch of kale chips in the dehydrator.
• Continued to compost kitchen scraps, used paper towels and paper bags, and composted shredded paper.
• Picked and froze three quarts of blueberries from friends.  Began picking blackberries as they ripen.
• Made two sticks of herb butter for the freezer using parsley, dill, and garlic from the garden and our CSA.
• Made two gallons of herbal tea using mint and lemon balm from the garden.
• Browsed my canning books to refresh my memory on the amount of fruit needed for some recipes.  Planning to try making blueberry mint jam with a friend in the next week or so.
• Used an empty cardboard box to line the new garden bed as a weed barrier.
• Took containers to local brewery to collect spent grains.  We'll pick those up this week and spread them in the garden mixed with compost.  We'll cover them with newspaper, as the spent grains can be kind of smelly.  This will need to rest for a few months before planting.
• Spent a few days with friends helping them install kitchen cabinets and mow their grass (their mower is broken).  This saved them significantly, and they'll return the favor when we have some patio work to do, which will save us some money.
• Had some unexpected news that our downstairs tenant will be leaving, but we've already scheduled several showings, and had two that are promising.
• Showed the upstairs space to a very promising tenant.  He seems like he'll be a perfect fit with our family and really seems excited at the prospect of living here with our family.
• Renewed books online to save a trip to the library.
• Hung all laundry out to dry on line or on drying rack.  Most laundry was washed in cold water, with the exception of diapers and towels.
• Completed one scholarship application for little man's preschool.  I plan to call about another application tomorrow.
• We celebrated our anniversary with a meal out, which we budgeted for.  The restaurant is one of our favorites, the Blowing Rock Ale House, where they make everything from scratch including condiments.  It's worth it to save for and splurge every once in a while.  We skipped dessert and made these cheesecake bars at home.  We replaced the graham cracker crust with a chocolate graham cracker one, which made them doubly good.

What about you?  What did you do to live and save green last week?

July Meal Plan

This month is all about using what we have, minimizing expenses, and not heating up the kitchen.  We'll of course be making good use of the excellent summer produce from our CSA, be purchasing our share of fresh fruit from local vendors to feed little man and ourselves, and picking our share of fresh goodies from our garden, generous friends' berry bushes, and the neighborhood roadside blackberries.  We're also probably going to be gifted some items from the food pantry, so we'll include those in the plan too.

Without further ado, here's the plan:

Breakfasts:  egg and cheese sandwiches on bagels, fruit smoothies with yogurt, homemade granola and yogurt with berries, crockpot oatmeal and a new breakfast rice porridge I'm dying to try, bagels with cream cheese, raspberry muffins, blueberry muffins or blueberry buckle, whole wheat and berry scones

Lunches:  leftovers, grilled/roasted veggie sandwiches with herbed ricotta cheese, smoothies, chicken salad sandwiches

Dinners:  lentil sloppy joes with roasted veggies, dinner salads with hard boiled eggs or tuna, roasted turkey (using the crockpot roaster) with salad and crock pot baked potatoes, black bean tacos with summer squash and greens, beans and rice with fixin's, turkey salad with fresh fruit, grilled lamb chops (from the food pantry that are in our freezer) with salad and rice pilaf, veggie stir fry, sausages over rice with cucumber/squash vinegar slaw, pesto pizza with salad

Putting Up Projects:  This is the time of year that we try to put away fresh goodies for later in the year.  I'll be making the following things this month for later use:

• pesto with fresh greens and basil, and garlic from our garden (goal of at least 10 half pints)
• cook and freeze at least two quarts of greens (kale or swiss chard) for use in winter soups/stews
• freeze fresh berries (goal of at least three quarts of raspberries, five quarts of blueberries, five quarts of blackberries)
• make and freeze applesauce (goal of at least three quarts this month, at least 10 quarts total for the season)
• peel, slice, and freeze peaches (goal of at least five quarts)
• make at least 10 half pints of peach salsa
• make at least 10 half pints of peach rosemary jam
• make at least 10 half pints of mixed berry jam
• make at least five half pints of apple butter

The canning will be tough this year with the boys, but if I can meet these goals, then it will make Christmas gifting so much easier since all the prep work will be done.

What about you?  What are your July menu plans?  Are you putting up any summer produce for later use?

Update on Habits and Goals for 2016

I felt like it was time to revisit the earlier post from this year on habits we wanted to cultivate or goals we wanted to accomplish.  Some things we're really working towards, others might just have to wait until later in the year when baby is a bit older and we're getting a bit more sleep.

Know Where Every Dollar Goes:  We're steadily working toward this.  We continue to look for a deal on YNAB.  We've also contacted a new financial planner, as our current one just isn't really serving our needs.  We look forward to meeting with this new planner in April.  We're also in the process of finalizing our taxes, so that's helping us assess last year's spending.

Invest More for Retirement:  Meeting with the financial planner will give us a clearer picture of exactly how much each month we need to invest.  Once we have the upstairs space rented, this will be easier, as well as having the home equity line paid off.  Currently, any additional income we make is going toward the baby fund or the home equity line.

Intentionally Work on our Home Improvement Projects:  This year, we've got several things on the list that we'd like to tackle.  Many of them are small projects, but they're also the type that we tend to put off just for that reason.  We'd like to be very intentional about checking these off each month so that they're done by the end of the year.  A lot of these projects will be tackled in the evenings after little man is in bed, or while he is at preschool, or on weekend afternoons.

• Paint trim in boys room, including closet doors by March.  (This includes new caulk, etc. where needed)  Maybe we'll get this done.  Right now it's up to Benny, and I know painting is his least favorite thing to do.
• Touch up trim/paint in rental spaces by end of January. Yay!  This is done!
• Advertise upstairs rental through Samaratin's Purse and have rented by February, if not sooner.  Advertise both spaces for August/when lease runs out and have filled by April for upcoming season.  We've got the apartment rented, but are still advertising the upstairs space.  We're hopeful that some of the recent inquiries we've had will pan out.
• Install Ecobee thermostat in apartment by January 15 (this is when our new tenant moves in).  This was done on time, hurray!
• Organize garage space by March 15.  This includes installing some drywall and pegboard, as well as generally sorting and storing tools, etc. Ha, this is a mammoth task, especially with a three year old and pregnant mama.  We are going to try to tackle another small corner this weekend.
• Have new mulch spread and gutters cleaned by March 15 (this is a job we will hire out).
• Paint shelving and trim in craft room downstairs by March 15.  Paint chairs to go around table in craft room. We are thinking that once the home equity line is paid off, we might have the funds to pay a painter friend to spray these with his industrial sprayer.  It would get the job done faster, and with a more professional finish.
• Move forsythia bushes to front bed and plant creeping Jenny ground cover.  Have this done around the same time as mulch is spread so that mulch and compost can go here.  (March-ish, depending on soil workability.)
• Mulch leaves with mower and add to compost by end of February. If the ground and leaves are ever dry enough, we'll get this done by the end of the month.  We may also just add a few handfuls of leaves here and there as we add kitchen scraps.  Hopefully they'll break down this way.
• Have mower serviced for spring by April 30. The local hardware place is running a 20% off labor for spring service right now, so I think we'll try to take advantage of this soon, maybe after payday.
• Paint exterior doors in chosen new color by June 30.  I'm hoping this will be able to be done well before June, since it's a small job.  Maybe it'll be something we can tackle while I'm home on maternity leave.
• Have new front porch railings installed and bead board on the ceiling of the porch.  Maybe an outdoor ceiling fan installed over the table area?  by June 30
• Can at least two batches of peach salsa and two of berry jam for Christmas gifting and personal use.
• Have both porches re-stained (we're thinking of hiring this out to a contractor who Benny does a lot of work for at the paint store).
• Maintain garden beds with regular weeding and trimming throughout growing season.  Prepare for fall/winter by October 30.
• Make curtains for craft room shelves to hide some supply bins by November 30.
• Make reusable coffee sleeves for Christmas gifts by November 30. (And learn how to use new sewing machine)
• Make at least one batch of citrus marmalade by December 15 for Christmas gifting.

Have at least 26 dates with Benny:  This works out to be at least two a month, which I think it do-able with a newborn being around.  We're working towards this.  Weather and Saturday school have gotten in the way, but we've had a lot of family time thanks to snow days.  So, maybe it evens out.  We are sure to have one date this coming week when Benny's mom comes up and has agreed to hang out with little man while we do an early dinner out with a gift card.  Maybe 13 dates in a year is ok...

Read at least 26 new books this year:  I've been doing really well with this one.  So far, I've read a few books on toddler/preschool games for speech and educational growth, am working on my annual reading of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and I've put together a Barnes and Noble order for some new books to read while I'm nursing the new baby.  We'll purchase these with Christmas gift cards.

Try at least two new recipes a month:  This one has been going really well and has definitely added some new things to our menus.  We've enjoyed breakfast banana bars, crockpot lasagna soup, crockpot Asian chicken, crockpot quinoa tacos, and baked pumpkin spice oatmeal.  I still have another muffin recipe I want to try this month.

September Menu Plan and Updates

I realize I've been kind of absent from the blog for a while.  I was home with little man for the summer and that kept me super busy.  In addition, we're expecting baby #2 (yay!), so I haven't felt up to doing much beyond the necessary.  Now that school has started back and I'm almost at the end of the 1st trimester, I'm feeling more normal and have a little more quiet time to do some blogging.

Budget updates:  We've been really enjoying our new tenants.  We have one downstairs in the apartment and one in the upstairs bedroom.  They're both great fits for our family, and we're hoping that our upstairs tenant will get into grad school in the spring so she'll be able to stay on longer with us.  Having both of them has really allowed us to pay down some of the home equity line this summer, as well as having Benny back at work full time for the summer.

We're looking into replacing the Jetta, which would be a hit to the budget.  While we love the Jetta, it's almost 15 years old and in need of some major repairs, which we're having trouble rationalizing when we feel like we'd like a slightly bigger vehicle now that we're going to have two kiddos.  Thankfully, we have a friend who has a car for sale that looks like a perfect fit for us, so if it all works out, we'll be able to purchase that for about $5,000 out of pocket, after the sale of the Jetta.  Doing all this certainly means more debt to pay, but we feel like it's worth it in the long run.  And every little bit of extra cash we earn (from Mary Kay, tutoring, extra hours at the store, eBay sales, gifts) will go toward this, so hopefully we'll have it paid within a year.

Little man got into preschool!  He starts next week, and we're hoping he'll love it, although it will certainly be an adjustment.  We're only doing one morning a week, but it will give him some much needed time with other kids and will allow Benny some time to pick up more hours at work (which will allow us to pay down debt a little faster).  He already has some friends from church who are in this class, so we're hoping it will be a relatively smooth transition.

We had a new water filter and water softener installed for the whole house this summer, which we used our tax return to pay for.  This will definitely save wear and tear on our appliances and will mean that they will last longer, so it's a worthwhile expense.  We're also going to have the guttering on the front of the house replaced, as it was only a patch job when we did the new roof a few summers ago.  We're also paying to have leaf guard installed, which will save us some money on having gutters cleaned.  (Since we live in a 2-3 story house (two on the back, three on the front), we're not comfortable having Benny doing that job.)

Our plan for September includes a no-spend month, so except for regular bills and absolutely essential groceries, we're going to try to not spend any extra cash.  I stocked up this month, especially during Harris Teeter's super doubles event, so we shouldn't have to spend much on groceries.  We're also moving into fall when soup is more appealing, and that definitely stretches the budget.  We'll continue not eating out and will take advantage of leftovers, gifts of food, the abundance of garden tomatoes and herbs etc. to make the budget stretch.  So, without further ado, here's the plan:

September Menu Plan

Breakfasts:  egg and cheese sandwiches, oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts, homemade yogurt with frozen fruit, smoothies, "big boy breakfast" for the boys which includes bacon, eggs, and homemade hash browns/toast, muffins/sticky buns on the weekends

Lunches:  leftovers, egg salad sandwiches, tuna salad w/ crackers, BLTs

Dinners:  loaded baked potatoes, black bean tacos w/ rice, beans and rice with chopped tomatoes, cheese and homemade peach salsa, vegetarian chili with cheese, plain yogurt, and salsa, crockpot pesto chicken with noodles or rice, roasted root veggies with barley or brown rice, breakfast casserole with eggs, cheese, and veggies, winter squash pancakes with hash browns and smoothies, crockpot cabbage, tomato, beans and sausage soup, pesto pizza with veggies (x4 we do this almost every Friday), homemade mac and cheese with some veggies, tomato basil soup with garlic toast, meatball sandwiches with steamed veggies or fruit, lentil sloppy joes with steamed/roasted veggies and peach & blackberry crisp

Things to bake/make:  loaf of bread x 4-5 (I think we have one loaf in the freezer), muffins x 4, sticky buns x 1, homemade yogurt x 2-3 batches, peach salsa to can x 1

How're your budget and menu plans shaping up?  I'd love to hear from you!

April Menu, Baking, and Stocking Up

April is a month for making use of all sorts of spring time foods.  With Easter this month, there are great deals at the grocery store on eggs, asparagus, ham, and strawberries are starting to show up here.

Around our house this month, we're working to eat up last year's produce that's still in the freezer to make room for more goodies.  We know we'll be seeing the trucks bringing strawberries from "off the mountain" soon, and we want to have plenty of freezer room for those and other goodies once our CSA starts again.

I'm also working to do some baking for the freezer to make the summer months a little easier.  Summer tends to be a little looser in some regards, busier in others.  We have more time for playing outside, picking berries, etc., but tend to want to spend less time in the kitchen.  So, I'll be baking up bread, pound cakes, muffins, etc. now to make summer months easier and cooler (not having to heat the oven in June and July as much).

I also scored an awesome deal on jalapenos at HT on the discount produce rack, so I'll be processing those to can.  These will be wonderful to have next winter, and they make a great addition to other homemade goodies for Christmas gifts.  (The time to think about canning for Christmas is spring and summer!  But it makes Christmas so much less stressful.)

Here's our menu plan for the month to make use of our springtime goodies and freezer stores.

Breakfasts:  banana nut muffins, french bread and rosemary olive oil bread from The Prudent Homemaker, lemon poppy seed muffins, winter squash pancakes, egg and cheese sandwiches, bagels from Panera (with gift card money), baked oatmeal, and marmalade muffins.  I will post the winter squash pancake recipe soon.

Lunches:  leftovers filled in with egg salad sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, three bean salad, or seasonal fruit

Dinners:  ham and asparagus quiche, baked potatoes with cheese and broccoli, corn chowder, these yummy egg sandwiches, pasta with pesto and ricotta (cheater's lasagna), homemade pizza with veggies and ham, roasted asparagus with salmon and baked potatoes or oven fries, bean and cheese quesadillas, vegetarian chili over rice or baked potatoes, black bean tacos, dinner salads with hard boiled eggs and tuna, and maybe a turkey pot pie to use up the last of the turkey in the freezer.

What about you?  I'd love to hear your plans for how to use those deals on Easter groceries!  Blessings to all this Easter weekend!

I'll be linking up to The Prudent Homemaker and Strangers and Pilgrims this week.

March Menu Plan

This last week was another snow-filled week for us, with me and little man venturing out only to take the dog out.  So, I've had lots of time to dream about gardening, catch up on reading during nap times, and come up with some other creative uses for our kitchen scraps besides composting (which I'll share in a later post).  But I also had some time to think about our menu for March.

March is, for most areas, the beginnings of spring.  Around here, that's a hotly debated topic, as the old timers don't ever set anything in the ground for spring planting until Mother's Day.  But grocery stores can give us the illusion of spring time, with all the berries and spring greens that show up (who am I kidding, they're there year round!).  But we still try to eat seasonally around here, which means mostly winter foods and what we have in the freezer and pantry.  So, here's our menu for the month:

Breakfasts:
zucchini, banana, and flaxseed muffins (using frozen shredded zucchini and frozen bananas)
cranberry oatmeal muffins from Muffins A to Z
"pumpkin" chocolate chip or pumpkin seed muffins (we use frozen pureed winter squash)
egg (using fresh, free eggs from dear friends) and cheese sandwiches on homemade french bread or rosemary olive oil bread
cranberry coconut breakfast cookies
marmalade muffins from Muffins A to Z (See link above)
baked oatmeal from Simply in Season

Lunches:
leftovers filled in with homemade yogurt, homemade applesauce (frozen or canned from the fall apple gleaning), or homemade cookies

Dinners:
crockpot soups including vegetable barley soup, potato soup, vegetarian chili (I finally came up with a recipe I like), black bean squash chili, rosemary white bean soup (I haven't tried this one yet, but I like all her other recipes) * We try to have soup at least once a week because it makes the budget stretch and makes great leftovers for lunches.

quiche with mushrooms (bought on the clearance produce rack, sauteed, and frozen), asparagus (we trim the ends off and chop them to use in other dishes), onion, and ham (frozen from Christmas)

chicken/turkey pot pie with green beans (frozen from summer CSA), mushrooms, onion, asparagus, and corn)

winter squash pancakes (from Start Fresh) with fruit (either citrus or we still have some peaches in the freezer from the summer) and bacon (little man loves these pancakes and it's a good way to sneak in more nutrients)

fried rice with homemade egg rolls (we skip the pork and just use more veggies in them to cut costs)

spicy noodle veggie stir fry with homemade egg rolls

homemade pizza with pesto or white sauce (just discovered this white sauce and love it!)

lentil sloppy joes with steamed or roasted veggies and oven fries

whole wheat pasta with pesto, salad, and garlic toast

black bean burgers with steamed veggies or oven fries

enchiladas with orange and lime rice (just zest and orange and sprinkle lime juice after preparing rice)

Beans and rice with fixins and corn bread

loaded mac and cheese with broccoli and sausage or ham

Snacks:
popcorn (made with air popper #2--little man pulled the other one off the counter, broke it, and felt horrible for it!) with garlic salt, cheddar powder, or taco seasoning

homemade cookies of the week

homemade bread with butter or jam

homemade yogurt with fruit

homemade cocoa (we buy our cocoa and powdered milk in bulk to make this more affordable)


I tried to provide more links here so that those of you looking for recipes to fit a $100 a month grocery budget know where to start.  Some of these are made more affordable by getting the produce in season and freezing it, or by purchasing ingredients in bulk (flour, cheese, corn meal, cocoa powder, spices, etc.).  We also can quite a bit of summer produce in the form of salsa, jams, pesto, sauces, etc. to make our winter plentiful.

If you have any questions about our recipes or how we manage to feed our family on $100/month, feel free to ask!  (And I promise we do... we've only spent about $160 total for 2015 so far on groceries.  We spent more than that for just our last month's electric bill!)  I'd love to hear from you!

Last Week's Frugal Accomplishments

We cooked all meals at home.  These included corn chowder, veggie stir fry, veggie fried rice, beans and rice, chili and cornbread, and homemade pesto pizza.  We used a lot of frozen veggies from our CSA subscription, so they were still locally sourced, which is a nice green bonus.

We made a meal to take to a family with a new baby, helping out their finances a bit.  This was chili and cornbread, and we included some homemade applesauce and muffins for breakfast.  This is their fourth child, so the meal was a total blessing and I think they really enjoyed it.

The temperature outside was really cold (below zero with the wind chill), so we pulled out the down comforter rather than cranking up the heat.  We also ran the gas logs a bit to take the chill off, which was cheaper than running the HVAC more.

I carpooled to work each day.  My teammate will drive this week.

Because we had a snow day, I was able to stay home and allow Benny to get some extra hours in at the store.  This was nice since he took some extra time off over the holidays, but time off for him now means time without pay.

Showers only happened every other day last week.  This saved us on water, water heating, toiletries, and, most importantly, it saved a bit of time and our skin.  Our skin really dries out in the winter, and our dermatologist recommends showering less frequently in the winter to preserve the skin's natural oils.

We combined errands and went out very little during the day.  Our Walmart trip was funded with gift cards, so no money out of pocket was spent.

We took advantage of Harris Teeter's Super Doubles (good through 1/13), and saved a bundle on groceries.  We are now well stocked on hot tea for the year, as well as potatoes and laundry detergent.  We also got some great deals on birthday snacks for Wubby's birthday bash.

We placed our annual bulk spice order, including pumpkin seeds, flax, and dehydrated onions.  We'll use these throughout the year.  Since we did this order this month, we're trying to keep other grocery costs low so that this total can come out of the grocery budget.

Our citrus marmalade was finally made and canned, which freed up some freezer space and we were glad to have it made.  We made some yummy muffins out of it from Muffins A to Z.  Marmalade is awesome, because it uses the part of the fruit that most people generally throw away.  This year's batch was pretty cheap because we used sugar we'd bought for practically free during holiday sales.  We have enough peels in the freezer to make another batch, which I might do on a snow day.  It always makes nice holiday gifts, and it's nice to do it well ahead of the holiday rush.

Our basement apartment is finally ready to list!  We wrote up the ad yesterday and should have it posted today.  Having this rented will be a welcome cushion back in our budget.

Closets began getting cleaned out again, in search for more things to list on eBay and Craigslist.  The funds from these sales will help to pay for our CSA subscription this year.

We started tidying up our basement craft area and storage area in preparation for little man's birthday bash later this month.  This meant that things got more organized, we cleaned up the chairs, and began a plan for painting the shelving and trim.  This didn't really save us any money, but it did mean that we got the spaces better organized and found some things (supplies, tools, etc.) that we might have otherwise purchased had we not found them.

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

Gleaning to Keep the Budget on Track

We've always enjoyed gleaning and foraging for food.  I suppose it comes from liking the outdoors and enjoying the time outside in the sunshine.  It's only become more fun now that we have a little one to share this with (though sometimes he eats more of the harvest than we come home with!).

A few of the things we consistently forage or glean are blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, and sometimes peppers or zucchini from a friend's garden.  We can consistently count on gleaning blackberries from the roadside in our neighborhood.  We seem to be the only ones who pick them, aside from the wildlife, so we can generally harvest several gallons over the growing season.  We also glean blueberries from my aunt's property (they no longer live here full time), and raspberries from friends who are overrun with them.  We put these in the freezer or use them to make jam for gifting and for winter enjoyment.

We gather apples from friends' trees for apple pie filling, apple crisp, and applesauce.  We generally freeze the applesauce, though you can also can it in mason jars.  There are also many local apple trees along public sidewalks, so gleaning would be an option there as well.  This year, we put several gallons of applesauce in the freezer to use for winter fruit and for baking.

Sometimes, we have friends who ask us to "garden sit" for them while they're gone on vacation over the summer.  This leads to all sorts of wonderful bounty, mostly squash, zucchini, and peppers.  We've also "chicken sat" for friends, which means that we collect several dozen eggs over the course of a week or so (they have 14 hens).

Recently, I've begun expanding the idea of gleaning to other areas.  I realized that we're always the ones to ask for the turkey carcass after holiday meals, which yields a lot of yummy stock and enough meat for a batch or two of soup.  Last year, we were gifted with four turkey carcasses after the Thanksgiving pot luck at church, which was a wonderful gift when we were just getting used to a much stricter budget.

When we have Sunday dinners at Mom's house, I will often save veggie scraps and bring them home to make veggie stock.  She will sometimes splurge on mushrooms or other veggies that are typically more expensive and out of our budget, so it's nice to use the trimmings for a savory stock.  I'll also save the broccoli and cauliflower stems from her house to add to our freezer bag for soup.  Broccoli and cheese soup is just as tasty with the "trunks", and broccoli isn't always a cheap veggie, so it's not something we make often, though we love it.

At school, kids often throw away unopened milk cartons.  They're required to take the milk as a part of a "healthy, balanced meal," but it amazes me how many of them eat very little of what is actually on their tray.  I volunteer to take any unopened milk to use at the house, or if I have an abundance, I will take it by the food pantry at church.

The same gleaning principle can be applied to bread.  I have a freezer bag I keep in the freezer with the ends of loaves of bread, cracker crumbs, etc.  When the bag is full, I buzz the whole contents through the food processor to make bread crumbs for a variety of meals (pecan crusted chicken is probably our favorite, but you could top any casserole).  By keeping it in the freezer, it means the bread won't go stale or moldy while I'm waiting to collect enough to do something with.

It always pains me to see people just throw away these remnants, since they can yield such tasty meals.  I know it's from ages gone by, but saving these things isn't a skill that we should lose just because it's convenient to pick up something at the store.  Often, gleaned produce is more nutritious (because it's fresher) and/or organic, which makes me feel better about feeding it to my family.

Gleaning can also go beyond food into the realm of clothing.  I've learned to just ask friends for hand-me-downs for the little guy.  Often, they're more than willing to clean out their closets and unload the "junk" on us.  I've also used this strategy for maternity clothes in the past, which are often worn only a few times.  I have a few friends whom I love their style, both for themselves and their kids, and just being willing to ask means that I have cute clothes for myself and little man.  I don't mind trading some baked goodies or homemade applesauce for clothes, and often this is for a busy mom who really appreciates something homemade and wholesome for her family.

These basic principles really allow us to stretch our food and clothing budgets.  I know there are others in other parts of the country who can glean other foods (I saw on The Prudent Homemaker how she had recently gleaned olives).  Do you ever go gleaning?  If not for yourself, maybe for Second Harvest?  I'd love to hear from you!

Cash from Junk: Paying for our CSA share

It's no secret that we love our CSA share.  The farm we work with, Creek Song, is fabulous and always provides great produce.  It's wonderful that it's all organic and it is always super fresh and great for our family.  This year, we decided that we wanted to purchase a full share so that we could can and freeze some of the extra produce to use in soups, stews, and stir fries throughout the winter.

However, the $500 share fee wasn't in our $100/month grocery budget and we didn't want to use our savings to pay for the CSA.  So, we had to come up with a way to pay for the share that wouldn't dip into our savings.  Enter:  Raygan's closet, or more accurately, the junk we've stored in his closet.  It has become abundantly clear over the past few months that our little guy is growing and will need the closet space sooner than later, which meant our junk had to go.  Since we're giving up about 800+ square feet of our basement and upstairs for rental income, this space is now out for storage.  So, we evaluated... did we really need the junk?  How much of it had we actually used in the past year or so?  If we hadn't, we sorted it... keep (mostly if we saw that it had reasonable future use), donate (if we saw that it didn't have substantial cash value), or Ebay (if we thought we could sell it for $20 or more online).

Slowly, we've weeded through a box at a time, mostly in evenings after dinner and on snow days.  We found more than we thought that we could sell, including old phones, crocheted items, maternity and baby items, gifts from students, and some old Mary Kay inventory.  We tried to set a goal of posting 3-5 items a week.  This meant that we weren't overwhelmed with trips to the PO and that it was easy to post items during Raygan's naptime.  It's worked out that we've been able to make our regular weekly trip to the PO and take items to mail then, so it hasn't been any extra fuel cost added to the budget.  We're still fine tuning the shipping costs, but all told, by the end of this month, we're sure we'll have our $500 CSA fee, if not a little more to put into our savings.

It's so nice to know that we've turned our junk into some cash for our food for the summer.  And we love the bonus of having the extra space in Raygan's closet.  (Built in shelving there soon, anyone?!)  Plus, it's great knowing that none of our junk went to the landfill, but it's either getting repurposed in our home or finding a new life in someone else's home.  

Have you had success selling on Ebay or some other site?  What closets have you been cleaning out?  I'd love to hear how you're living and saving green!

Feeding Baby the Green Way

Throughout my pregnancy, we tried to make sure that I was eating healthfully and that meant mostly organic produce, hormone free, local milk from Homestead Creamery, lots of nuts and seeds and whole grains, and minimal but lean meat, including some seafood. Now that Raygan is here, it's just as important for me to continue to eat healthfully, although there are some things that I can branch out on, such as the occasional glass of wine and a little caffeine in the morning cup of BGB coffee.

Why is this so important? Because everything I eat transfers to him in the form of breast milk. So, I really try to make sure that I'm eating well for both of us, which isn't always easy when I've got him in one hand, but we try to plan well in the morning before Benny leaves for work so it's easy for me to heat up soup or grab a sandwich or salad from the fridge. Essentially, the next five months or so of feeding him are free and won't cost us any more than before he was born. Another perk to breastfeeding is that I have to keep my caloric intake up by an additional 500 calories or so compared to during my pregnancy, so that means I get to eat more. So, maybe it does cost us a little extra in groceries since I'm eating more each day.

Breastfeeding is healthier for both of us. For Raygan, it provides immune support, much needed calories and vital nutrients, and its comforting for him. The human body is truly amazing since it adjusts the nutrients and fat and amount of milk based on his needs, so I don't have to worry about whether he's getting the right things at the right stage in his development. I still occasionally pump just to see how much he's getting at a feeding, but also to store it up in the freezer for when I go back to work. We plan to breastfeed for a year, or at least have enough in the freezer so that Raygan can get the benefits of breast milk for that long. Even when he transitions to solid foods, we can mix the milk into his mashed potatoes or squash, and of course he can still drink it.

The health benefits for me of breast feeding are lower risk of certain types of cancer, easier postnatal weight loss, and breast feeding helps the uterus to contract and go back to its original size quicker after delivery than not breast feeding. All of those were a plus for me. Even though breastfeeding was initially really difficult for me and Raygan had a tough time latching on, once we got over that hurdle, things have been great and he's gotten really goo at eating efficiently and not sleeping while nursing.

Once we transition to solid foods, we plan to make our own homemade baby foods, some of which we already have in the freezer. We're using the Start Fresh cookbook by Tyler Florence as a guide to make things easier. We're also using these ice cube trays to make storing the purees easier. It's really easy to make your own baby food from pureed fruits and veggies, and so much cheaper than the store bought stuff at 50 cents or more for a jar.

So, that's how we're feeding our little one and keeping him healthy. We're hoping he'll learn to be an adventuresme eater and learn to love food like we do. Here's to living green and saving green feeding baby! I'd love to hear from you!

Rock Whatcha Got January

Well, we made it through the holidays with only a few extra pounds and lots of chocolate on hand to show for it. Today is all about taking down the Christmas decorations and trying to get the house back in order from the chaos that is the holidays and moving my mom into her new house. Things are still in transition somewhat upstairs, as we totally convert what was once the office to the nursery and make the guest room an office also. But we're getting there...

On to today's topic. It's January again, which means it's a long month for teachers in NC since we get paid prior to Christmas break but don't get our next paycheck until the end of January. It's even more stretched around here as Benny's on winter hours at the store, but we always make it work, and are totally grateful to have the abundance that we do so that it's not always such a shock.

For the grocery budget, we try to only purchase the things we really need, not the wants this month. This is made easier by the fact that we almost always get some fun pantry items in our stockings at Christmas (nuts, specialty dried fruits, coffee, herbal teas and sometimes a grocery store card or two). I totally get that nuts and dried fruit may not do it for everyone, but for those of us who love to cook and bake, they're the staples of winter breakfast muffins and salad toppings. We also try to make sure the the freezer is already stocked with butter, frozen veggies from the CSA or garden this past summer, and meats. (Butter and meats almost always go on sale around holiday time, so we stock up then.) We always snag the turkey carcass from Thanksgiving or Christmas to make stock and soup (we've discovered most people in our family don't want to mess with this step). And of course, we always have dried beans, lentils, rice, barley, and pasta on hand in the pantry to make meals come together quickly.

So, for this month, here's the rough breakdown of menu items:

Soups: smoked turkey and wild rice soup, potato and veggie chowder, split pea soup, chili verde with sweet potato fries, black bean soup, chili con carne, corn chowder, barley and lenil soup

Mexican meals: smoked turkey and winter squash tacos, sweet potato quesadillas, black bean nachos, chicken tortilla soup

Asian meals: egg and veggie fried rice, spicy Thai noodle dish with linguini

Family go-to meals: pecan crusted chicken with baked potatoes, quiche with bacon, sun dried tomatoes, and onion, beef and cheddar pie, whole wheat waffles with frozen fruit syrup and nuts, jambalaya, pasta with pesto or tomato sauce

Side items: mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, okra corn bread, homemade whole wheat yeast rolls or bread, winter greens salad with dried fruit or citrus, braised cabbage

Breakfasts: muffins/scones with dried fruit and nuts, homemade bread with homemade jam from summer fruits, oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts, cereal

Lunches around here are always leftovers. When we're done with fixing a dinner, we portion out the meal into lunch size containers so they're easy to grab and put in a lunch box for the next day. We never buy specialty lunch items from the frozen section, but do occasionally purchase granola bars or individual yogurt cups to help round out lunches or provide an afternoon snack. (Of course these are always purchased with coupons and on sale to make a buck go further.)

So, for the most the only items we need to purchase this month are the occasional fresh produce (we like to have grapefruit on hand for breakfasts and there are always a few veggies we don't have stockpiled in the freezer), cheese (watch for sales and coupons and freeze it if it's going in a casserole or soup where it'll be melted), milk, flour, and eggs. And we'll go to HT this week to get some other staples (cereal, yogurt, etc.) because it's super doubles with coupons.

We also really try during this month to not buy things that are wants, but just needs in other areas of our lives. For instance, the car registration info and bill just arrived for my car--definite need. But the cute Christmas stuff that's 75% off at Michaels right now, not so much. I know that I have enough Christmas wrapping supplies to get us through next year, so there's no point in stocking up now. This is generally our strategy with lots of stuff throughout the year, but we really try during January to cinch the belt a little tighter to make things stretch.

The quote "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without," has really become our
mantra as we try to live frugally so that we can truly live green and save green. It means finding things in the basement that we can revamp with paint for the nursery rather than buying new (picture frames, lamps, furniture), reupholstering the old chair rather than buying a new one, making do with the cars we have and repairing them rather than purchasing a new one, and on and on it goes. And, in the end, it makes us feel good to know that we're not sending something to the landfill or junkyard (though we always try to donate things first if we really can't use them anymore). It also allows us to be more generous with our charitable giving, which means a great deal to us.

So, how are you living and saving green in the days after the holiday season? I'd love to hear from you!

Batch cooking for fall

As I wind down my last week of summer before the kiddos come back to school, I've been doing some major batch cooking to make the first few weeks of the school year easy. I've talked about batch cooking before, but this time it has taken a slightly different twist with all the fresh summer produce available. So, here's the run down...

I've begun canning and freezing more produce. I started with jam at Michele's and have moved on to blanching green beans to freeze, making applesauce from our apples here at the house, and canning salsa and marmalade (which is working on the stove right now and smelling great). I've also done some refrigerator pickles with cucumbers from our garden which will be ready to add to sandwiches and burgers in about a month.

The applesauce is so easy it's ridiculous, as long as you have the right tools. When mom was here, she was helping me do some of the jam and thought a food mill might come in handy. She picked up one from a retailer in Hickory (it's the OXO brand), and it worked great! All you do it wash and quarter your apples and simmer them with some water until they start to fall apart. For me, this took about 20 minutes, since the apples were small. Then, you just ladle the mixture into the food mill, which is positioned over a bowl, and turn the crank. I ended up with about three gallons of homemade applesauce to use, and it was totally free! It will be a great addition to winter time meals, lunches, and a substitute in baking for the extra oil. The food mill is also nice for making other fruit purees and baby food, so I'll probably make some homemade baby food to give as gifts at Christmas.

I decided on canning salsa, since it's one of our favorite condiments and additions to casseroles, and we've had several friends give us jalapeños, and the tomatoes looked great at the farmer's market this weekend. (I don't have enough coming in from my plants to do a whole batch.) I'm using this recipe for the salsa, which sounds really easy and will give us the flavors we want. The nice thing about working with the tomatoes is that you don't have to use the pressure canner, since they have a high enough acid content (to keep out the nasty bacteria). This means that I can do this with the canning rack and pot we found while cleaning out mom's shed (I saw the same thing at Lowe's for about $60--free is so much better!). If you know you won't be doing a ton of canning, you might want to purchase one of these with a friend or borrow one to try it out. (I was a little intimidated by the canning thing at first, but it really is simple, as long as you plan well.)

We've also started a supper club, which means that my first recipe (the zucchini and ricotta tart) goes out today and we get a main dish from someone else. We've decided to do it as a once a month thing for starters, just to see how it goes, and so we have room in the freezer for the leftovers. This frees up more time for all of us involved in the long run, because it means that we don't have to worry about what's for dinner that night and we can simply make a double batch of a great recipe to share.

Of course, the bread machine keeps on whirring as I crank out zucchini bread and sunflower bread for sandwiches and breakfast toast. The machine also makes it incredibly easy to make bread for friends. (We're taking some to a family with a new baby on Thursday.)

All of this means that I'm saving money by purchasing (or bartering or growing) produce at it's best and cheapest (and local, when I can), and saving it for later. By canning my own things, I am able to reuse the jars each year, which means I save a ton on that cost. (You can also find jars rather inexpensively at thrift stores and flea markets, if you look. Your friends may also have some that they're going to recycle, so you might ask around there.) Plus, I really like knowing what's going into our food and having a connection with the people who grew what we're eating.

So, how're you continuing to use that summer produce? Are you finding time to make the minutes in the kitchen count? Are you managing to save some green while living green this summer? I'd love to hear from you!

Summer Lovin'

So, I've been on a blogging hiatus for a while, mostly due to professional development and vacation. But I'm sooo glad to be back and enjoying all that home has to offer this summer! I wanted to share a bit with you about what culinary/gardening adventures I've been up to over the past week, in hopes that it might inspire you to make the most of the bountiful summer produce you find in your own garden or at the local farmer's market.

Last week, while visiting with my mom, I had the opportunity to visit a few gardens in the eastern part of the state. One thing that I've found with gardeners is that they are generally very willing to share both their knowledge and their plants. So, I came home with a back seat full of perennial flowers, ground covers, and a few herbs. Most of what I planted has survived, despite the continued heat wave (it took lots of watering). The most exciting thing for me in sharing with these gardeners was to learn from them. One prides herself on her organic vegetable garden, which is totally amazing, so that really helped me out with our veggie garden here. Another is a Master Gardener (see your local ag extension office if you don't know about that program), so she shared a lot with me about saving seeds and amending soils. The last was a family friend who has always had a love of garden and has inspired me to begin collecting stones from our travels to add to our flower gardens as another layer of textural interest and a unique trip down memory lane.

When I got back here, blackberry season was in full force, so we spent several hours picking berries (and climbing into thickets or up banks others might have deemed dangerous--anything in the name of fresh summer berries!). We also found a blueberry patch a friend told us about where you can pick a gallon for $5! (Do you realize you pay that much for 8 ounces at the grocery store! Ridiculous!) So, we picked a gallon of those last Tuesday evening. This all came together beautifully when a friend volunteered to help me learn to can home grown produce, so last Friday I made my very first batch of mixed berry jam! I haven't opened the first jar yet, but we're totally looking forward to it. I'm hoping to be able to make some apple jelly or butter this fall with our apples and give some of both as Christmas gifts.

The same friend who helped me with the canning (thanks, Michele!), also has an amazing vegetable garden. Like most gardeners, theirs seems to grow a bit every year, and it seems this year it grew a little too large... so large they can't keep up with eating all the produce! That means that we get to share in the bounty. :) They've offered us tons of yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and green beans. In addition to helping her can some of the cucumbers as pickle relish (another fun learning experience), I've experimented with some new recipes for squash and zucchini. Of course, we've steamed some in the microwave with our fresh herbs and some of the first peppers from our garden. I also discovered this zucchini tart recipe in the recent edition of the Rachel Ray magazine, which I tried on Sunday night. I'll warn you, it's labor intensive, so prepare yourself for a few hours in the kitchen. (I did use the food processor for slicing the zucchini and wouldn't hesitate to steam the zucchini first, rather than doing the salt soak thing to get the moisture out, since it's going to be cooked anyway. We also made a double batch, since we had the ingredients.) I'm also wanting to try a zucchini bread recipe, as well as a squash casserole. Does anyone have a fantastic squash casserole recipe you love?

One thing I've been doing with the abundance of fresh herbs I have is making herb butter to put in the freezer for winter, when I don't have those fresh herbs on hand. This is so easy to do and takes practically no time. First, I use room temp butter (this usually means I set it out the night before or sometime that morning to make an afternoon batch). You can use as much as you'd like, but I generally only soften one stick at a time so that I have a variety of flavors in the freezer. Then I chop my herbs (as much or little as your taste preference is). Some of my favorite flavor combos are parsley, chives, and cilantro; parsley, chives, and sage; parsley, chives, and basil; lemon balm and mint. Then, I just mix the butter and chopped herbs in a bowl with a fork or small spatula and place the blob on waxed paper. I make a roll with it inside the waxed paper, double wrap in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and label it. Then it goes in the freezer. This is a fantastic addition to any sauté you do in the winter, as well as great for adding to burger patties (we put about 1/2 tbs. in the center of each patty before grilling and love it!), meatloaf, or spreading onto bread for garlic bread.

I can't wait for the summer tomatoes to come in later this week! They're looking beautiful on the vines right now, but I am so ready to pop one in my mouth! There's just nothing quite like a home grown, vine ripened tomato.

So, how are you enjoying the love that nature has to offer in the veggie garden and farmer's market this summer? Are you finding, as I am, that your dollar goes further for better produce at the farmer's market than the grocery store, or is it a toss up to you? Here's to living and saving green on produce this summer! I'd love to hear from you!

PS
If you're into local food and farmer's markets the way I am and haven't read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, I highly recommend it. I just started it and can hardly put it down!