Sunday, May 31, 2009

What's Shakin' Bakin'?

Dinner. It is what you do when you are tired, crabby, and the kids are at your heels begging for attention. I had a hard time at.....dinner. I have 3 kids who always seem to know when I am starting, because that is when they come hoarding around me. UGH! I get all frazzled just trying to remember it!

Do you have a crockpot? You don't? Well you need to get in your car and get one! It is the bestest invention in the WORLD! Yes I know I said bestest. That is how much I love it. You cook dinner in the morning while kids are doing chores (snort) and forget about it until dinner time!!! WOO HOO! So, with that said, for this whole entire month I have used my crockpot for all my cooking. I even made pancakes with it yesterday....and they were goooood!

Here is my source for all the yummy smells coming from my kitchen. A Year of Crockpotting. She dedicated a year of her life to her crock pot and has a recipe for everyone. Just an FYI, go make her Barbeque Beef and Bean sandwiches, and Rotisserie Chicken. Ooooh so good!

Anyway, here is what we are having tonight. Except I put in BBQ sauce instead of Teriyaki. We will have corn on the cob and rice on the side. Very simple and very easy.

Monthly grocery shopping

This month I am able to go grocery shopping twice, just because we needed to pay a certain bill on time, so I spent 96.95 this grocery trip. I bought my meats and pantry items, and will use the rest for fruits and veggies.

The stores I go to are Winco, FoodMaxx, and very occasionally Costco. I say occasionally because it is SO easy to spend 300.00 in that place. Believe me, I am guilty! I try to avoid Vons, and Savemart at all costs (except for a few deals I find at SM). Those two grocery stores are insanely expensive, and it seems like a rip off to me.

Here is what I spent on groceries...

-2 cans crushed pineapple
-Chocolate syrup
-bread yeast
-black beans
-garbanzo beans
-canned mushrooms
-8 corn on the cobs
-5 bunches of bananas
-french bread
-bleach
-4 bags of grocery markdowns-$2 each
-2 big container of vanilla yogurt
-green onions
-1.5 pounds red onions
-2 5lb bags of potatoes
-2 cantaloupes
-romaine lettuce
-cabbage
-10lbs carrots
-1lb red potatoes
-garlic
-4 packs baby back ribs
-3lbs ground beef
-garlic salt
-white flour
-4 discounted fryer chickens $.68 a pound!

Total: 96.95

I did go to the farmers market last week and spent 20.00(will never do that again!) so I have about 20.00 left. I bought a lot of discounted meat last month so I didn't have to buy to much this time around. Last month I bought 2 packages of chicken tenders, ground beef, and chicken legs all at a really low price. This is really the only way to go on meat. I got the tenders for .98 a pound, and only because the sell by date was the next day! Hahaha grocery store...your loss!! Seriously, why in the heck did I not see this before??

When I see meat on markdowns I buy it in bulk and delete something we can live without for a month. This way I am not spending more than I should, and we have a bulk of meat to last us a while. Right now in my freezer I have 4lbs. tenders, 3 5lb fryer chickens, 5lbs ribs, 3lbs ground beef, 4lbs chicken legs, a big bag of tilapia, and 3lbs of sausage. This will last a long time since we eat a lot of vegetarian meals.


Me and the kiddos walked to Savemart a few weeks ago and I found THEIR discount fruits and veggies! I was like a kid in a candy store! I can get three organic Fuji Apples for .69....for all of them!! Readers, you have to go to the store now and find these deals by you! It is so worth it! I may not have enough to work with, but at least my kids don't realize anything is different!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Introduction

Well, things are getting more tight over in my neck of the woods. Being a mom of three is stress enough, but when you add in this new not so wonderful experience it gets hard. Things happen and the money is just not what it was. But you know, that is OK. It has to be for my family. It's all about adapting to your environment....isn't that what science instilled in us anyway!

So, this blogs purpose is to share with you my tips on frugality. For the past two months I have had about $140.00 a month for groceries to feed five people. I have done it, and it is possible. With planning, and careful shopping I can feed my family and still pay the bills. It is very difficult, especially if your husband usually had the means to spoil you with groceries! I love to cook from my Cooking Light magazines and miss them so so much! But for now my crockpot is my best friend. I really hope that someone will benefit from my frugalness.