March Menu and Grocery Shopping Plan

This month will be a little different for us since we're expecting baby #2's arrival mid-March.  So, we're stocking the freezer and hoping some friends bring us some meals.  We're also trying to stock the pantry with easy to fix meals, such as pasta and stir fry.  And, we're able to take advantage of Harris Teeter's Super Doubles this week, which is really helping to save.  So, we're hoping to keep this month's grocery budget to under $100.

It's really helping out that my mom is volunteering at the food pantry and able to bring us some items that would otherwise be labeled as "waste"  (they only are open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so what's left on Thursday in terms of fresh produce is usually tossed because it won't hold until the next week, but it's still good.).  Most of this, we end up processing for the freezer or dehydrating and using at our leisure.

Just a few of the items we've been gifted from the food pantry include:  Panera bread and bagels, jalapeno peppers, potatoes, pomegranates, kiwi, citrus, bananas, fresh herbs, turnips, carrots, mushrooms, and many others.  It's not like we get a whole crate, but even a small grocery sack helps to offset our grocery bill and round out our meals.

Here's the menu plan for the month, including some gifted items:

Breakfast:  bagels with cream cheese, quiche with gifted eggs from friends, gingerbread muffins with dried cranberries, banana breakfast bars, oatmeal with dried fruit, lemon poppy seed muffins, smoothies, egg and cheese sandwiches, homemade yogurt with cereal and fruit, and "big boy breakfast" of eggs, grits and sausage or bacon.

Lunches:  leftovers, egg salad sandwiches, fruit and hard boiled eggs, pasta salad with olives, canned salmon, and veggies

Dinners:  lasagna soup with bread and salad, baked potato soup with fixin's, beans and rice with fixins and corn bread, veggie stir fry over rice or noodles with egg rolls, bean tacos/quesadillas with fixins, lentil sloppy joes with cheese and steamed veggies, hot dogs/sausages with sauerkraut and oven fries, Asian ginger chicken with rice, breakfast casserole with smoothies, waffles with fruit and sausage, open faced meatball subs over homemade bread with oven fries, pizza with pesto and veggies, pasta with pesto, and any gifted meals from friends/family once the baby comes.

Snacks:  popcorn, dried fruit, yogurt, fresh fruit, carrot sticks and dip, tortilla roll ups with guacamole, sour cream, and salsa, smoothies, crackers with peanut butter

The plan is to make the more labor intensive meals (waffles, lentil sloppy joes, stir fry) early in the month and save the "quick and dirty" ones for once the baby arrives.  Many of the easy meals are crock pot meals or one pot meals on the stove, so they will come together quickly.  Unlike many of the "recommended" ideas for when you first bring baby home, we will not be doing paper plates, etc.  I find this really wasteful on so many levels, and am blessed to have a wonderfully helpful husband who does dishes and knows his way around the kitchen (sometimes more than I do!).  So, we'll use our regular stuff and run the dish washer like we always do.  We are hopeful that having some meals from friends and family will help to ease the kitchen cleanup, so that it's just plates/silverware we're cleaning up and not the whole kitchen.

Here's what we'll need to purchase this month to make this menu work:

• salad greens (we'll use a gift card so we can buy organic and in bulk)
• avocados/guacamole (HT has this on super doubles this week, so we'll stock up)
• whole grain hot dog buns (I usually make these, but am too tired right now to think about that!)
• organic milk or almond/soy if it's on sale with a coupon
• canned tomato products if they're on sale or have a great coupon
• 5 lbs potatoes (these are on sale at Lowes Foods this week, so I'll probably get them there)
• paper towels (these are on sale at HT)
• onions
• diapers (not a food item, but necessity before baby fits into our cloth ones... on sale at HT w/ super doubles)
• large bag of popping corn (still can't find this locally in bulk... ideas for online?)
• kefir (for smoothies and general health in recovering after the baby arrives)
• yogurt (if deeply discounted, there's some at HT this week for less than 20 cents a carton)

And here's what we'll be making from scratch:

• whole grain sandwich bread (I may cheat and use a gift card to buy a loaf from the local bakery, if I'm too tired)
• yogurt
• cooking dry beans (lentils and either black/pinto beans) for easy use later
• of course all our regular meals, as mentioned above

Making the Most of Your Garden

This spring and summer, I've been working hard to make the most of our garden space.  We've added more garden space, but also improved the space we have to make better use of it.  We're also working to do some smaller projects to boost how we use the space and beautify things.

We've added some more garden space out front simply by clearing out some weeds and filling in low spots with some dirt.  This will be an ornamental space that we'll keep low maintenance by mulching it well with newspaper or cardboard, and then free mulch from the landfill.  We'll transplant some forsythia bushes that have multiplied in the back, and fill in the space with some transplanted ground cover to crowd out weeds.  This will really finish off the front and make it a little more maintenance free because it won't have to be mowed in the summer.

Another small garden space was added where we put in the stone patio under our deck.  This space is along the foundation, but is fairly narrow, so I'm going to try to fill it in with perennial herbs and some ornamentals, like hostas, blazing star, sage, and bronze fennel.  I'm trying to go for a variety of leaf texture in this bed, and I think this mix will all be really pretty together and will give flowers throughout the season.  I still need to add some newspaper mulch, compost, and free mulch from the landfill to this bed, but I think it will look really good when it's done.  We plan to get a little creative with this bed and edge it with recycled wine bottles, which will require a small trench being dug and then inverting the bottles in the trench.

In trying to make the most of our existing space, we've started a lot of herb seeds in places this year.  I started cilantro from seed in the garden, and it's just started producing.  We also planted garlic in the fall, which we're looking forward to harvesting next month.  Some raspberries were transplanted to a raised bed, and we allowed some wild blackberries to flower in some unused spaces this year.  I'm also working harder to harvest our perennial herbs, mostly sage, mint, chives, and lemon balm, throughout the season, so that we can dry and freeze them for use throughout the year.  I also experimented with making dandelion tea this spring, and found I really liked it (and it's really high in vitamin K, which is good for eye health, and has many anticancer properties).

We worked last weekend to add a step barrier to the end of our gravel and stone path to help keep the gravel from invading the yard.  This was made with some bits of leftover railroad ties we had from building the retaining wall a few years ago.  We also used some found rocks to edge out the bottom of our central flower bed, which looks really nice now.  Next week, we plan to visit a friend's garden, where she regularly splits perennials to share with us.  And it's always such fun to see her gardens, and we're looking to little man's first trip out there.  And we plan to finally get our rain barrel installed this year so that we can really use it, instead of watering things with potable water.

I'm also looking forward to painting our exterior doors this summer.  It's a small project, but I think it will really make our house pop, and will bring together the flowers we have in the planters along the entryway.  I'm also thinking about putting some bulbs in our larger containers in the fall so they'll be ready to bloom in the spring.

I'd love to hear what you're doing in your garden!

Homemade Yogurt, and Living to Tell about It

A few days ago, I took yet another one of our snow days to try my hand at making some homemade yogurt. I had done this several years ago at a microbiology workshop (yes, I'm that much of a nerd that I'd take a week of summer to learn about microbiology), so I knew it wasn't nearly as complicated or scary as many people make it out to be. Basically, you're trying to do the same thing you do with yeast bread... encourage the microbes you want to have to grow and crowd out the bad ones.

My rationale for trying this was twofold. I wanted to try it at home because I knew I'd be able to have more control over the ingredients; I could use organic milk, mix in local honey for sweetner, use jam and frozen fruit for toppings. In essence, I could make sure that it was quality, with no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives. I also wanted to try doing it because I knew it would be cheaper than purchasing store bought yogurt of the same quality, unless it was free with a coupon (which happens occasionally).

I primarily used the recipe in The Joy of Cooking, but I found a method for using the CrockPot in The Backyard Homestead, which is a fabulous book for those gardening enthusiasts. Basically, you use a milk of your choosing (I started with whole milk, just because that's what several recipes recommend, but skim will have the same protein content as whole, which is really what matters) -- 2 cups--and warm it to 180 degrees on the stove. I used a candy thermometer to measure the temp. Then, you allow it to cool to 106-110 degrees, add your yogurt culture (about three tablespoons of plain yogurt), stir well, and put into sterile jars. I just used small mason jars, the kind you would for jam. You place the filled, covered jars in the Crock Pot and set it to warm. (Not low, just warm) Cover the Crock Pot and allow it to set up for 5-6 hours, or overnight. Mine took about 7 hours, but I think I had a little less yogurt culture than the called for 3 T. The yogurt will keep in the fridge for about a week, but if you plan to make another batch, you should use your yogurt culture within 5 days.

I've enjoyed it for breakfast this week with blackberries from the freezer and some honey, but it would also be great with granola, sliced banana, or frozen for a dessert treat. You could easily add vanilla or orange extract if you like those flavors.

Let me know if you try it; I'd love to hear from you! Here's to living green, and saving green, in the kitchen.

Another weekend packed with fun and savings

Last night, Benny and I had another cheap (ok, inexpensive) date night. This time, Benny had found two online reservations at Chick-Fil-A for their new Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Since they were rolling this out this weekend, they were giving away free sandwiches, as long as you had a reservation. We combined this with our calendar coupon for a free water and fruit cup, added a kid's meal (traded in the toy for icecream), and ended up spending all of $3.22 for the meal. Oh, did I mention that we had a sandwich leftover for lunch today? Not too shabby!

Then, we were off to Lowe's again for more plant hunting deals and to find a shepard's crook to hand the bird feeder on. I found tons of petunias and begonias on the clearance rack at Lowe's for ten cents a piece (they were just in need of some dead-heading and water), along with some squash and cucumber plants in peat pots for the veggie garden. Once we used our coupon and gift card, we paid about $3 there also. All in all, a $6 date night isn't too bad at all!

Today, we got up bright and early and went to one of our favorite breakfast places, Stick Boy Bakery, for sticky buns, courtesy of our gift card from one of my students. Then, we were off to the plant sale at a local church where we found tons of perennials and lots of knowledgeable local gardeners. After making our selections, we walked out with our loot... 10 plants for $8.50, and all guaranteed to make it through a Watauga County winter! Apparently, this is an annual event at this church and the proceeds go toward helping families in need in the community, so we'll definitely be back again next year.

When we got home, we unloaded the car and I spent all morning planting things and transplanting some things around the yard and gardens. This afternoon, we had some great small group friends come over to help us prep the squash and cucumber bed, where we planted 9 plants, including those in peat pots and some that one of my students had grown for science fair and donated to my little veggie garden. (I have fantastic students!) We added some organic composted manure to the soil and are hoping for some rain tomorrow afternoon to give things a good soaking. With four of us, this took much less time than we thought, so we had an early dinner (steamed shrimp, veggies, and wild rice--all bought with coupons from my stash and Corinne's) and enjoyed some time chatting around the table.

How does your garden grow this weekend? Have you seen any butterflies or humming birds dancing around? Here's to living and saving green, and having fun doing it!

Bitten by the DIY Decorating Bug

So, I've been blog hopping like crazy this evening, filling the void that HGTV won't fill in this house, since we protest paying for TV and can't get a digital network signal through all these mountains. (Just one more way we stick to our budget and keep our expenses down.) In my blog hopping, I have stumbled upon a few more favs, thanks to Elizabeth at Southern Comfort. :) Here are a few: Living with Lindsay and Centsational Girl. They both have fantastic ideas and amazing transformations. I am in love with their frugal, thrift store spirit, and their oneness with the glue gun and paint.

I'm now inspired to tackle some of the many projects that have been waiting in our basement for a rainy (or yet another snowy) day (especially since Benny arrived with more projects from my grandmother's house this week). So, this week during my anticipated snow days, I will tackle priming and painting the dresser, blanket rack, and bedside table that are crying out to be finished and taken to their new home in the guest bedroom to join the rest of their family, the bed and washstand (a small cabinet used for storing crafty junk). In doing this, I'll have to do most of the projects in the kitchen, since the basement is currently at about 40 degrees, but I can easily set up a drop cloth and set up shop in a much warmer part of the house. (We'll see if Lavender will end up with a white nose by the end of it all from curiosity.)

While I was at school (yes, Saturday school has become a necessity with 24 school days now being missed due to snow) today, Benny ventured to Winston to join his family for a Costco run and to get our much beloved, but not very snow worthy, Jetta back up the mountain. In his Costco adventures, he found ottomans that I've been eying at Target.com for almost half the price! Since I wasn't with him to "approve" them, he opted not to pick them up, but I'm hoping that perhaps I can talk him into a Costco adventure in the next few weeks. He also found a six piece set of brushed nickel bathroom fixtures (towel bar, hand towel ring, TP holder, glass shelf, etc.) for around $30, which would help us finish out our bathroom and the half bath nicely. (Yes, we're still living with the TP on the back of the toilet... we're too cheap to pay $25 for the ones we like at Lowe's and the ones we picked up at TJ Maxx ended up missing parts, even though they were in sealed packages.)

Not only did he find all of these fun goodies to go back for, but he also managed to restock our pantry, fridge, and freezer with the basics for under $100 (actually less, thanks to the his parents). The basics at Costco included a 20 lb bag of baking potatoes (which we store in the basement), celery, onions, organic fresh spinach, goat cheese (since the farmer's market isn't open this time of year for us to get it from Liza), sun dried tomatoes packed in oil (they're great in pasta, on pizza, chopped up in cream cheese, etc.), minced garlic, sharp cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, unsalted butter to restock the freezer, and Palermo's margherita pizzas (they're our frozen, prepared food weakness). Having all of these on hand means that it's easier (and cheaper) for us to make meals at home. Many wholesale stores such as Costco are now carrying organic products, especially produce, so you can often purchase these items much more inexpensively than the standard grocery store.

I'll have to share the recipe for the AMAZING stir fry we made last night... at least, I thought it was incredible, but maybe (as Benny said), I was just hungry and it's what I wanted. But, that will be another post... for now, it's time to watch some Hulu with my family and turn in for the night.

Green Groceries on a Budget

So, I realized that I forgot to fill you in on our awesome grocery adventure this past Saturday.

As I've mentioned before, we use the Grocery Game, which helps us tremendously in matching up sales and coupons. This allows us to save the most, while still getting the products we need. The Grocery Game tracks the store sales, which are typically cyclical (they run in trends of about 8-12 weeks), so we have to stockpile a little in order to have what we need when we need it and save the most.

This past weekend was Super Double Coupons at Harris Teeter, so that means that they doubled coupons up to $1.98, not just their general doubling of $0.99 coupons. So, we hauled our our coupons that were over 99 cents and looked at the list and laid out our plans for the trip. We mostly bought things that were on the list, but there were a few things, like pistachios (they've been a great healthy snack this week) and Seventh Generation products (like toilet paper) that we had coupons for that we printed off the internet or had from other sources that weren't in the list. So, we used those too, knowing that we'd still get a pretty good savings. The extra savings we had from super doubled coupons allowed us to purchase the organic products that we wanted for the week, like milk and some organic produce.

Speaking of organic, here's my basic philosophy on organic produce... it's worth buying organic when you can for the veggies/fruits you're not going to peel. So, I'll spring for organic cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, berries (but not once we have our raspberries and blueberries planted), etc. because they're most likely to have herbicide/pesticide residues on them that won't wash off completely. However, I don't buy organic citrus fruits, onions, bananas, etc. because the area that has the most of these chemicals is coming off anyway. With milk, I try to buy organic because I don't like the idea of all the hormones that the cows are fed/injected with leeching into my milk.

So, back to the savings. Because of the Grocery Game list, we were able to get five boxes of whole grain pasta for 60 cents each. (All the pastas of that brand were on sale, buy two get three free, but we opted for the whole grain--which we finally found way down on the bottom shelf.) We also bought a TON of yogurt (Yoplait--not organic, bummer on that, but it's really good) because with our coupons that we'd stocked up on, it was 37 cents a carton, over half of the original price. We were missing a few coupons on the list, because we'd missed getting a paper that week (by the way, the cheapest Sunday paper in Boone is at the Dollar Tree, but they go fast, so we get ours before church if we can), so we missed out on a few good freebies. We were able to score some Seventh Generation baby wipes for about half the original price with our online coupon.

All in all, even with our organic purchases and produce that wasn't on the GG list, we were able to save over $60 and spent around $58. A little over 50% savings wasn't too bad, I don't think... although there have been weeks we've seen a 70% savings.

So, what about you? What are your great savings stories? Where do you find the best deals? Please dish... you know how we love a great deal!

Sharin' the green love and savings!