shopping cart challenge

I can not believe it is the last week of January already. Where did this month go. 2010 is already 1/12 over. Wow!We have been moving so we ate out a couple times last week (it all fit in the budget though). Regardless these meals are in addition to what I have left to make from last weeks menu.Bean and Bacon SoupPhilly CheesesteaksOrange ChickenDirty Beans and RiceChicken Pasta BakeStovetop Chicken BakeMeatball SubsGrilled ...

Last night I was reading all about how people saved money at Safeway this week. Everyone was able to get fruit snacks and cereal for cheap or FREE!!It got me all excited and I had to try. Heres how I did:9 Honey Nut Cheerios (1.50 ea)2 Life (1.00 ea)2 Cinnamon Toast Crunch (1.00 ea)1 Instant Oatmeal (1.50)6 Fruit Snacks (1.00 ea)6 Fruit Rolls (1.00 ea)2 Fruit Stickers (1.00 ea)1 64oz Half and Half ($3.49)1 32oz CoffeeMate ...

We have such a stocked pantry right now that I feel the options for dinner are endless. With that said, because I am so creative with what we have I find it hard to be able to quickly narrow it down to what we are going to have for dinner.Here are the options I have come up with for this week(We do breakfast, lunch, and dinner all at home)Biscuits and GravySwedish Meatballs and riceChicken AlfredoSpaghettiCreamy Chicken ...

This week I went to Walmart for a quick trip of "staples" shopping.Nothing exciting and no coupons either. Just basics.1/2 & 1/2 - $1.38Creamer - $2.4812pk Rolls - $1.502 Loaves Bread - $1.88ea2 4pk Toilet Paper - $1.26ea2 Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage $2.68ea1 Yellow Onion .50I spent around $20 for this week and will not need to go back to the stores until this weekend. Thats pretty exciting for me. Now if only next week can be as good.I am finally done moving (not yet unpacked, but moved) maybe I will be able to focus on some coupons next week as we ...

I am always running into this problem in my kitchen…Every time I make a recipe it turns out different.Here is a wonderful excerpt from my favortie cookbook More-With-Less:“Recipes are not sacred canon. They exist only to lure us into the kitchen. The real recipe writing begins when I check what is in our own cupboards, how much time I have, what we are prepared to spend, what we feel is responsible, and what we like. Substituting what I have on hand for a missing ingredient not only is more economical, but far more creative then running to the store. Great recipes are born this way.” Doris Janzen Longacre (1976)This is so true and should be followed by everyone. Not always do you need to follow ...

I am going to try much harder to shop wisely this year. Not only am I going to pay more attention to prices, I am going to buy more simple ingredients and cook much more from scratch. I find that it is going to be much healthier for us as I can see exactly what every meal is made up of. I know I will keep on hand many convenience items such as: scalloped potatoes, stove top stuffing, hamburger helper, rice o roni, but I will use these only very occasionally as a way to stop us from eating fast food. They will be there for nights that we are super starving or just way too tired to cook.I am determined to become a more creative cook and be able to come up with meals we love. I am going to create ...

I tried following an instructables to make mozzarella. It looked fairly easy and I had all the ingredients so I set out to try.I sterilized everything, I used the stainless pot, I had a thermometer, my milk was not Ultra-Pasteurized, and my cheese did not work.I could not get it to solidify enough. The thickest it got was about like runny sour cream or thick yogurt.In further reading on other sites (mainly the one with the cheese queen) I think I figured out what I did wrong. The highest temp that you can pasteurize milk used to be around 90 degrees, now it is closer to 105 degrees. Because of this when heating the milk it needs to be brought to a higher temperature when adding the rennet for ...