Dollar Stretcher Recipes

I just came across this while looking at some things on Dollar Stretcher. It is a huge collection of recipe articles-food articles-menus-etc...I am finding many things that can help save money on food, pre-cooking/freezer cooking ideas, etc...Some of it I already know, but there are alot of new things as well. Maybe you will find some new ideas to help you in the kitchen :)

Grocio-could be a great new frugal helper!

Grocio is a great new, free site that helps you do comparitive shopping for your grocery list. It is sort of like PriceGrabber.com or PriceWatch.com-but for groceries--ohhhh-neat! How convenient is that? Im not sure what I will do with my free time-lol! It is just beginning and should be in pretty full force launch next week. There are a couple things you can do now, like viewing Sunday circulars, checking out their blog, etc...so get signed up (and once again, it is free!).

This is based out of the Tulsa area, but you can sign up no matter where you live in the USA!

They can even help you match up internet coupons to things on your shopping list. So go check them out! If you would like to put a referral code in for me as thanks for referring you to their site, my code is SL9K. I would appreciate it :) I don't get any money but if they have a contest, it can help me win ;) Winning is nice and fun every now and then ;)

Sunday Paper Double Deal at QuikTrip

I went to my local QuikTrip in Owasso last Sunday to buy a Sunday paper. I sent my oldest son in for me with the money. He quickly came running back out to let me know you could buy 2 Sunday papers for $3-they are regularly $2 for one. Hey, double the coupons-works for me! So, I told him to go ahead. Im not sure if this is a weekly thing, since my son told me about it, but it is a great deal. So, check QuikTrip this Sunday before buying your paper. TaylorTown Preview shows there to be alot of good coupons this Sunday. Also, before you do this QT deal, make sure it is worth it to you :) I bought the two papers and had not seen the TalorTown Preview beforehand. There was only one coupon section last Sunday :( But, I did still find some valuable coupons so it was not a complete loss.

Goal Setting Sunday

My goal this week is to get my room organized-it needs it desperately and I would like to put away some cold weather clothes and bring in the warmer weather clothes (which I must admit, I usually wear all my warm weather clothes during the winter layered underneath my long sleeved shirts). I will do the same for dh's clothes (but most of his warm clothes are out too since he will wear shorts when it is in the upper 50's-lol).

I also want to get my front hall window curtain sewn up. It won't take much but I have put it off due to not having a curtain rod-well, I can use the one from my bathroom since I am not too certain how I want to go with curtains in my bathroom (there is a mini blind up in my bathroom, so no, Im not flashing out neighbors ;).

So, my front hall window curtain and my bedroom...will she do it? Stay Tuned ;)

Freezer Stuffed Full!!!!

I really need a deep freezer...no room in my freezer over my fridge!!
I went shopping yesterday and stocked up on hamburger from Harps-more about this store later on...
After I made dinner last night, I went to work on the hamburger-I bought both regular 78% ground beef and ground chuck. I boiled up the reg. ground beef in water to make a bunch of pre-cooked hamburger. I package this up in serving sizes according to my family's needs and freeze it. One note here, make sure you are stocked up on baggies when you do this-lol! I was not--it is in the fridge and will be packaged up after I hit Walmart today :)
Then, I took the ground chuck, mixed it with some ground turkey from Aldi, added my favorite seasonings and made a ton of meatballs-half the recipe became porcupine meatballs with some rice I had stored in the freezer (waste not want not-this rice was a mishap-it did not get cooked all the way, but that makes it perfect for things like porcupine meatballs!). When making meatloaf or meatballs for the freezer, just use your favorite recipe--you really do not need to worry about finding one fit for the freezer--pretty much all of them work out just fine ;)
I baked those meatballs, let them cool, and bagged them up (I did have big baggies for these :) They are waiting in my freezer for meals later on this month and next. I had so many meatballs that I think I can get 3 good meals and a couple leftover out of them! Yea!
I think I spent about $12 on all the ground beef and ground turkey...Im not sure how much ground beef I have to put up, but I will estimate it to be a good 10 meals at the least.

Magic Eraser Does it Again!!

My youngest daughter was making a gift for a friend and needed a glass jar. I had one, but it had sticky residue left on it (as well as some of the sticker). I really did not want to wait for cooking spray or oil to work on the sticky stuff (and it was a bit hardened)...so I saw my Magic Eraser jumping up and down, saying "Me! Oh, Me!! Try Me!!"
Ok, I said in my head (because if you say things out loud your kids think you are nuts...but, mine think Im nuts anyway...)
I tried it, and with hardly any rubbing at all, the sticky residue and the hardened residue came right off with just water and Magic Eraser! Amazing...
Now, Im not advertising Magic Erasers only by Mr Clean...I have also gotten a great $1 brand from my local Food Pyramid that I have found to work even better than the Mr Clean brand! On this particular situation, though, I did use the Mr Clean one.
I will say too, that cheapo one lasts us much longer than the name brand. Why did I have the name breand then? Because I was desperate and was not headed to that store when I needed to buy some Magic Erasers, so I bought the name brand at my Walmart :) Next time, I will be stocking up on a few packs of the $1 brand, you cna be sure of that!!

A New Bread

I made Light Oat Bread yesterday after I made the batter for my banana muffins and let the girls finish them up in the oven :)
I really liked this bread! I doubled the recipe to get two loaves. I wanted to add in a bit of wheat, but only had a 1/4 cup of wheat flour (still added it though ;). I didn't put in as much sugar as they called for and I wish I would have. The bread was still good, but I think the amount of sugar they called for would have made it even better. This made me two good sized loaves (and I started to take pics, but forgot to get one of the finished bread-lol...I promise next time as I will be making this bread again!!).
These would make terrific rolls and I think I will try that next week :)
By the way, for your bread machine users, this is actually a bread machine recipe, so if you are looking for a new recipe, try this one :) Apparently, even from the bread machine, the crust is yummy!

New Store in the Tulsa Area-Harps

My sweet husband had forotten to pass this little bit of info on to his money saving wife-a new store!! With new deals!! How dare he forget!! LOL!

Harps is the newest store in the Tulsa area. The one closest to me is about 31st and Garnett where an Albertson's used to be. I have not have not had the chance to go there yet, but friends of mine have and they have mentioned how great the store is-some good meat, good prices (of course, like always, compare, compare, compare!) and good produce. I will try going there this paycheck shopping trip if they have some good deals in their ad (it would be too much out of my way just to go check them out...but I can swing up that way when I head to my favorite bread store :)

Check them out. I do not know their coupon policy as far as taking printed internet coupons, but I will try to find out when I go and I will share my findings here!

Goal Setting Sunday

Still trying to fight off this virus, but other than a cough, it is mostly gone! My appetite is still not back all the way-which can sort of be a good thing-lol!

This week I am going to clean what needs to be cleaned-goodness a house can get messy fast when there is no one feeling well enough to clean! Im going to take it little by little each day taking time here and there to just straighten, vaccuum, dust, etc...

So Much Money to Waste on Eating Out?

Goodness, did you watch Oprah yesterday? The show was about saving money on meals. Three big named chefs were brought in to show three families how to eat better at home, while saving money on things like take out, fast microwave foods, etc...One family spent $400 a week-yes, a week (!!!) on eating out. This was a family of 4-and the one child I saw was younger...this scared me. I would love to have an extra $400 a week....not to spend on take out, mind you-lol! This mom started doing take out because her family did not like the food she made....her husband says it really was not that good. Gosh, for one $400 week of take out, she could have taken a good course at a local college to learn how to cook...probably a couple courses! Or, get some recipe books, gee, even online there are great recipe sites with reviews that have helped this novice cook learn to cook better! But, I must add, this mom, and the other moms, really did seem to learn alot from the chefs and change things for their family :) Good goin' Moms!!

The chefs really had some interesting meals and I think taught these families alot. You can check out their meal plans on Oprah

There is other great info on the site too-planning for meals, pantry neccessities, etc that you can check out. Im going to see if there is a new meal for my family. I hate being in a rut, and so far my plan to try one new meal a paycheck has not worked out...I just cannot find enough my family will all like :( So, Im off to search again....Have a blessed day!!

Much needed rest

My kids got sick, starting last Wed night. Then, I woke up sick Friday morning. Im still not up to par yet...Im thinking it is the flu. Here in OK, apparently, the flu did not really start showing up until the end of Feb, beginning of March this year (according to a ped. dr on a local news channel I saw yesterday morning). So, I have been absent the past few days from my blog. Im thinking you don't want to hear my mindless rambles....well, I guess you read those all the time....how about my sick, mindless rambles-lol!
 I finished my goals last week-finished them early because my hubby actually helped! I wished I would have gotten a pic of my stove before he got to it...he always cleans my stove much nicer than I do...but he only does it every 5 years or so-lol! Then, he rearranged some things on my counters...Im not too sure I like the way he did it, but I will leave it this way for a bit :) He was trying to be sweet and I want him to know I appreciate the effort ;) Atleast my counters got nice and clean at the same time (they were not that bad-really-im not that messy of a momma!! but they did need a quick wipe down-and he even cleaned out the toaster :)

I remember my goal for this week was to start planting some seeds indoors...well, if I feel better, I will get to that, but I am going to rest this week. Im weak-kneed and nauseaus (I know that is spelled wrong, but I do not feel like looking it up right now :) and I am going to get better because I know my family needs me ;)

Gardening

I guess Im getting Spring Fever...I can hardly sit still long enough without thinking of something else I want to organize, clean, or I start daydreaming about my garden :) I can't wait!! I need to figure out a good fence, that will not be too costly, to keep my dogs out of my garden (I do not want them planting their own things in there or thinking that nice red tomato is a ball they can pull off and play with!).

I plan to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, zuchinni, corn (two types because this is my first year planting corn and I want to see which I like the best :), some different herbs, and I have some watermelon seeds too. I hope to get the seeds started next week--like I said, that is my goal for next week :)

But, I have long wondered about growing potatoes-my kids actually wanted to do this. Then, using StumbleUpon.com (which is a great site for when you are bored online and want to get some new, interesting sites-check it out sometime) I came across this blog:
Backyard Farming
On one post, they explain how they grow potatoes in the trash can--what?! Cool! Hmmm--gonna have to try this out :) I will let you know if I do and how it works for me. I might even do two trash cans (we already have some extras from our move that we do not use for our trash service here)...I will have to make sure they are really, really clean...if not, I might buy one and experiment with this. If it doesn't work--I can always make it into a composting machine ;) You can find out more about that by clicking the first link above as they made one and posted about it just this weekend :)

Here are some other very good blogs about gardening :
In My Kitchen Garden
Home Gardening Tips
Gardening Tips

Goal Setting Saturday

I finished all my goals this week. I got the curtains done for the kids' rooms that I planned to do. I still have the one curtain in my front hallway, but I will wait on that until I go shopping nad get some new curtain rods (one of mine broke on me when I was doing the kids' so I need to buy a new one :)

I also was able to get alot of cleaning done. That one box I told you about before that is beside my desk--well, even after condensing it a few weeks ago, it was still an eye sore. So, I got down to business with it this week and now, it only contains some craft supplies :) The rest of the books and such found homes (and somehow, things in this box multiplied...can you believe it? I bet any mom can ;) My laundry room is cleaned up-floor swept, a bit more organized and making me feel good (well, as good as one can while doing laundry).

This week is going to be more of the same. I plan to take over one area of my home each day this week. Kitchen one day, Playroom another (no one is ever in this room, how does it get messy?), bedrooms (which my kids' rooms are pretty well clean-just need vacuuming and straightening) and then the living room. No order in which these will get done-my husband is off this week, so I am not sure what we have planned for certain days...

I also plan to enjoy some nice weather later on in the week. It is supposed to warm up nicely and I know next week's goals are going to be planting seeds indoors for my garden I am planning this year. So, I don't want to be busy all week and not enjoy the pretty outdoors :)