Spring into Savings - April Frugal Chatter

[Granger]

So you have all inspired me. We are doing weekly menus. We like to have a bit of flexibility so we have a list of seven meals and cross it off once it is made and eaten. When the list and left overs are done we make a new one.

This week marks our second week of sticking to our new budget. The pay forward rather than backwards. I think we are going to save money for the first time in a while (mat leave can be hard on the bank).

Thanks everyone. Tonight we are having breakfast for dinner.

[gwennad]

Mmm breakfast for dinner... I was wondering what to make scrambled eggs is one thing the boy will actually eat. And one thing I usually have a lot of in the fridge!

[amandabananda]

Question of the day:
Do you have any cook once eat twice meals your family enjoys (besides ones using roasts, chickens or turkeys)?

I'll make a big batch of meat sauce, so we'll have spagetti one night and I'll freeze the rest. I can normally make enough sauce for about 5 meals. There's only 3 of us right now, myself DH and DD (2), so most meals I make are cook once eat twice

Happy earth day, everyone!
IMWK:
How do you store/organize your plastic/reusable bags?

We have so many plastic bags! Right now we're saving them for when baby is born. Great way to dispose of smelly diapers and not have to endure the funk when you open the garbage can.


Happy Monday Everyone!
Expensive weekend for us. Not only did DH's car battery have to be replaced last week but we got the brake pads looked at and front and back needed to be replaced. One was just starting metal to metal and the other had about 1mm left. Oh well, these things needs to be done!
Also had to buy DD a new bed. Her crib is converted into a toddler bed, and we know she's been climing and picking at it, and I really don't need her breaking it! Got her a nice one, exellent quality so I know it will last a long time. Paid more than I wanted too, but I know it will last. We needed a new mattress and box spring too (don't like to buy those used either), so that set us back some. Mother in Law said she'd pick up some blankets and a duvet for her too.

Bright side - I picked up 4 bottles of Green Works, that will last us awhile since I already had a small stash of lysol stuff!

Meal Plan for the week:
Monday - shrimp stir fry, rice and frozen veggies
Tuesday - spagetti and cesar salad
Wednesday - chicken breasts, rice veggies
that's as far as I've gotte this week

[Caseythegoalie]

Things I have done to hopefully benefit Mother Earth and reduce our carbon footprints:

-reuse ANYthing possible
-use cloth bags for lunches (if possible) rather than plastic ziplocs (check out seweco on facebook or etsy shes wonderful)
-wash out ziplocs
-walk instead of drive
-find multiple uses for an item rather than toss
-donate things we are done with
-buy used!

[Caseythegoalie]

Our meal plan for this week:

Monday-Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad (freeze leftover sauce for lasagna)
Tuesday-Chicken fajitas
Wedsnesday-leftover night (Mom's at work till 7 pm)
Thursday- soup and grilled cheese (Mom's at work till 7pm)
Friday-fried chicken, fries and coleslaw
Saturday-more leftovers, eat out of pantry
Sunday-my Dad is coming over, prob BBQ ribs, twice baked potatoes

Breakfasts are cold cereals (we have tons thanks SYB), oatmeal, eggs occasionally and toast. We have tons of fresh fruit, hummus and pita, popcorn, etc for snacks. Lunches consist of leftovers for me and DH, sandwiches for the kids.

*This reminds me. I LOVE Kentucky fried chicken. Does anyone have any home made (or similar to KFC) fried chicken recipes?
Yes I know its totally unhealthy but at least its better if I make it right? Not to mention the $50 price tag of a bucket and fixings.

[dreamcatcher1962]

Our meal plan for this week:

Monday-Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad (freeze leftover sauce for lasagna)
Tuesday-Chicken fajitas
Wedsnesday-leftover night (Mom's at work till 7 pm)
Thursday- soup and grilled cheese (Mom's at work till 7pm)
Friday-fried chicken, fries and coleslaw
Saturday-more leftovers, eat out of pantry
Sunday-my Dad is coming over, prob BBQ ribs, twice baked potatoes

Breakfasts are cold cereals (we have tons thanks SYB), oatmeal, eggs occasionally and toast. We have tons of fresh fruit, hummus and pita, popcorn, etc for snacks. Lunches consist of leftovers for me and DH, sandwiches for the kids.

*This reminds me. I LOVE Kentucky fried chicken. Does anyone have any home made (or similar to KFC) fried chicken recipes?
Yes I know its totally unhealthy but at least its better if I make it right? Not to mention the $50 price tag of a bucket and fixings.

I'd love to know how to make KFC style chicken as well.
You post reminded me about the last time I made baked potatoes.
I cooked them in the slow cooker (crockpot). They were the best baked potatoes we have had in a long time.
Easy to make, just wash the potatoes , prick the skins with a fork or knife, wrap them in tin foil and put them in the crockpot on low for 8 hours.

[lizzie bargain]

I don't plan by the week-decide each morning what we are having depending on what we have and what we feel like. Tonight we are having country style pork ribs, cabbage salad, tossed salad and perogies. Total cost I estimate at $6 for our family of 3 with likely enough left for a lunch so I guess about $1.50 per portion.

[Caseythegoalie]

Holy cow!
Check out this site:
http://www.copykat.com/2009/05/07/kfc-fried-chicken/

[saundyl]

We reuse our bags until they arent useable anymore then they tend to go in the garbage. My grandma however used to braid them into rugs.

[momof5boys]

We've had a crazy weekend and crazy week ahead of us renovating our basement and dining room (at the same time - bad idea) so we picked up a few things Friday night to complete an easy meal plan for this week:

Monday: Grilled sausages on buns, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob (FPC on sausages so total cost est. $4.39 for 4 people)
Tuesday: Hamburgers, salad, beans (est. cost $3.45 for 3 people and maybe 1 leftover burger for lunch)
Wednesday: Grilled chicken breasts, baked potatoes, grilled asparagus (est. cost $4.54 for 3 people)
Thursday: Meat Spaghetti sauce with veggies on linguini and garlic toast w/ cheese (est. cost $2.50 for 3 people and 1 leftover lunch)
Friday: 2 Frozen pizzas and salad (est. cost $2.23)
Saturday: Grilled pork chops, sliced bbq'd potatoes, grilled asparagus (est. cost $3.90 for 3 people)
Sunday: Roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas (est. cost $7.20 for 5 people)

Total weekly cost for dinners: $28.21 (for average 3.5 people and including 2 leftover lunches)

...so you have a 1/2 person living at your house lol....

[Insane]

Menu -
M- chicken burgers , ff, veggies and dip
T- manicotti and salad
W- homemade h. Helper , broc
T- laz, garlic bread, and salad
F- boneless chicken in oven with cream of mushroom soup , rice, and broc.
Sat- ham in oven, oven fries, whatever veggies in fridge.

looking at the menu for the week , I want to start experimenting with some homemade cream of whatevvver soups. I know there is a mix out there. and I want to explore that.



Adding, I simply did suppers. I can addin my breakfasts,and snacks if you want. I tend to keep a list of what use up and go from tehre.

I use this recipe for making my cream of mushroom soups. I've gone so far as to triple it and freeze it in portions. I've also used cream for a super rich soup. I don't find it terribly thick though.

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/homema...-mushroom-soup

This one is on my radar to try.

http://onceamonthmom.com/homemade-cr...omething-soup/

And since I can't for the life of me get my kids to eat asparagus, I might just try a cream of asparagus soup.

[Insane]

Things I have done to hopefully benefit Mother Earth and reduce our carbon footprints:

-reuse ANYthing possible
-use cloth bags for lunches (if possible) rather than plastic ziplocs (check out seweco on facebook or etsy shes wonderful)
-wash out ziplocs
-walk instead of drive
-find multiple uses for an item rather than toss
-donate things we are done with
-buy used!

OMG! I love SewEco. I have a bunch of her stuff. I really want to get her reusable snapping paper towels but hubby is really not game for snapping paper towels.

[Caseythegoalie]

Morning!
Shaping up to be sunny again out there.
Have some errands to run and a few things to pick up.
Just wanted to wish everyone a great day!

[dreamcatcher1962]

Laundry & Baking for me today

[gourmetsue]

Morning all! Back to being very frugal after March. With my MIL being in the hospital we were spending a lot of money on parking and petrol. I certainly don't regret all the time we spent with her before she passed, but we need to rein our spending in just a bit.

We've got a goal planned for next year, a trip to Paris, so we're more focused than every before.

I'm putting soup on the stove this morning and marinating some tofu or stir fry tonight. I've also got a huge stash of coupons that I need to go through and RAK out the ones I won't be using and get back into saving on the products we do need.

Glad to be back among the frugalistas again.