more easy meals

Crunchy Taco Salad

1 lb ground beef or turkey (buy what is on sale, with the seasoning, you can't tell the difference!)
lettuce
salsa
tomato
tortilla chips (or doritos!)
chili beans in chili sauce OR taco seasoning

Brown beef/turkey and drain. Stir in chili beans or taco seasoning and water and simmer about 10 minutes. Divide lettuce into 4 servings and spoon a portion of the meat on top. Top meat with salsa, tomato (and cheddar cheese, green onion, and sour cream if you prefer), crumble tortilla chips (or doritos) over each salad.

Beef fried rice

Remember that left-over pot roast???

Shred pot roast leftovers. Cook and chill rice (depending on the number of servings you need). Heat beef in skillet lightly coated with oil (olive or vegetable or whatever you prefer), and add soy sauce to taste. Stir in cold rice, and whatever vegetables you h ave on hand (yes, I use leftover veggies in this all the time). If you don't have leftover veggies, grate a carrot and dice a small amount of onion. Heat thoroughly and serve.

Balsamic chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 onion, sliced (or more if you prefer)
balsamic vinegar
olive oil

Heat oil in skillet and add chicken breasts and balsamic vinegar. Cook chicken thoroughly. When chicken is done cooking remove from skillet and set aside. Add onions to skillet and saute until tender. Add chicken back to pan and re-heat. Serve with rice or pasta and a veggie.

Turkey-Broccoli Casserole (great for Thanksgiving leftovers!)

2 10oz packages of frozen broccoli
2 cups coarsely chopped cooked turkey
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
grated cheddar cheese

We cook our broccoli before making this because the first time I followed the recipe exactly, the broccoli wasn't cooked all the way...might have been the old oven, but still...ick!

So...cook broccoli (or at least heat thoroughly!). Preheat oven to 375. Layer broccoli in a 12x8 inch baking dish. Spread turkey evenly over broccoli. Mix soup with milk until smooth and pour over turkey. Sprinkle grated cheese on top and bake for 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Chicken with beans and rice

If you have leftover chicken, this will make good use of it! We sometimes have a whole roast chicken as a meal, and this is one way I use the leftovers so that we don't get bored.

Leftover chicken
Zataran's family size red beans and rice or black beans and rice

Cook beans and rice as directed, adding diced, cooked chicken as it is approaching a boil (really, as soon as you have the rice, water, and spices in the pot, start adding the chicken). Once all the chicken is added (use as much as you like), cover and cook as directed on the rice and bean package.

This is a fairly fast and filling meal. My children are fairly picky eaters and both of them love this!

Shrimp and fries

Another fast and easy (and inexpensive) meal....not gourmet, but better than fast food!

Pre-cooked, de-veined, peeled shrimp or easy-peel shrimp
french fries or tater tots

Cook shrimp until pink (or simply re-heat if they are pre-cooked). Meanwhile, cook fries or tots as directed on package. Serve with salad.

*if the shrimp are easy peel, I would suggest thawing them before tossing them into the water...makes it a LOT easier on your hands if you are peeling them cool instead of boiling hot - my kids freak out if they have to peel their shrimp...go figure .

3 Easy and yummy meals

Ok, for my friends who want to actually cook meals instead of microwaving them....or who don't cook at all but want to start, here are some of the ones that I use on our hectic nights:

Ravioli with tomato sauce, salad, bread

Buy store-brand meat ravioli and cook as directed (I say store-brand because it tends to not be as spicy as name brands and costs less....I can't have spicy food)
Buy your favorite tomato/pasta sauce and heat over low while ravioli cooks
Make a fresh salad - or buy the bagged salad mixes which is what I do in the fall/winter months
Use regular bread with butter and a little garlic salt (if you prefer), or have rolls or biscuits (yes, I use the canned most often)

Roast beef/pot roast

If you have a slow cooker, this is a definite plus, but there are several oven-bake options as well (roasting bag and seasonings already packaged together - we've found that these have a lot of salt, however).

I tend to get a 4 pound roast, which yields enough for a pot roast dinner with leftovers to make beef fried rice and maybe a few other meals.

Thaw roast
Place roast in slow cooker with a small amount of water, Worcestershire sauce, onions (quartered) or else use dried minced onions, and whatever seasonings you like
Turn on low cook for 8+ hours, cover, and walk away.

By the time you get done with your workday, your house will smell wonderful and you will have your dinner nearly ready. Nearly because, of course, you need a vegetable or 2 to go with the roast.

Shrimp Scampi

Shrimp (either precooked, deveined and peeled, or uncooked will work)
garlic (or dried minced garlic)
olive oil
chicken broth (or white wine)
thin pasta noodles
Parmesan cheese

Heat a small amount of the oil in a skillet and saute the garlic. Add shrimp and cook until done. If using pre-cooked shrimp, heat thoroughly. Meanwhile, cook pasta until tender. Drain pasta, add shrimp (in oil and garlic) and toss. Serve and top with a squirt of lemon (if desired) and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Getting it all together

Wow, it's been nearly 2 months since my last post....I'm going to start making notes on my schedule to post at least every other week.

A friend of mine from our "Mothers of PreSchoolers" days mentioned how she didn't understand how some people could turn out gourmet meals......she doesn't really cook much.....so......yeah, you guessed it...lol.

I will be posting over the next few weeks (I hope) some recipes that don't take a lot of knowledge or time, and don't require any special equipment (I don't consider a slow cooker special equipment, but you might). All of the recipes will be fairly inexpensive, easy to make, filling, and ones that will try to increase your cooking confidence (Seriously...how impressed with yourself will you be if you go from not really cooking to making shrimp scampi and have it taste like it was made in an upscale restaurant??!!).

Please give me your feedback and post any of your favorite recipes as well!

saving on kids and food - part 4, kids and clothing

So, both of my children are in elementary school (last year for my son...wahhhh!), and clothing is starting to become an issue. Not that they are asking/demanding/throwing a fit, but just that they are noticing more. Personally, I have never been one to bow down under peer pressure to wear only certain brands of clothing, and I am doing my best to raise my children to be the same. Right now, they get most of their clothing from WalMart, KMart, Target, or wherever I find decent, appropriate clothing on sale...most often clearance. As they are still growing, I find it senseless to spend more than $10-$20 on ANY piece of clothing, except for winter coats. Walmart shoes, while inexpensive, are the choice of both children because they have learned that, when they outgrow their current pair, it's not going to break the "mommy bank" to go out and get another in the next larger size. They also know that, if they want a certain label, they will either have to save money from their allowance (more on that in another post), or wait until it goes on sale, at which point, it might not be in their size (but they also might have gotten over the "need" for the item).

If you've been to the stores recently, you will notice that fall/winter clothing is starting to hit the floors, and summer clothing is starting to go on clearance....this is the time to buy for NEXT year. Yes, I know....let's use my daughter as an example....we just did the pre school closet/dresser clean-out (for both children), and she ended up with almost NO summer clothing left. Fortunately, there was a good sale going on and I found her some shorts (in her current size) for less than $4 a pair. I bought her 2 pairs in her current size as well as some in the next size up....seriously...if I waited until next year, instead of $4 a pair, I would have had to pay $8 a pair....nope, not me. Bathing suits are the only thing I hesitate to buy early...simply because they don't always fit correctly, and you can't tell that without trying them on...and DD doesn't like trying a ton of clothes on unless it's something she wants...lol. So...I tend to wait until we need them to get them, and I force her to go with me.....avoids the possibility that the seemingly demure 1-piece is actually a butt-thong, high-leg tramp suit.....don't get offended....I'm talking about a bathing suit for a 1st grader!!!

Keep your child's favorite colors and interests in mind if you aren't taking them shopping with you (safer and cheaper if you don't take them with you) and you can usually get them a good amount of outfits (mix and match if you really work on it) that will last the school year. For my daughter, we have gravitated toward pink, purple, and turquoise/light blue. She can mix and match nearly her entire wardrobe, which actually means less clothing we had to buy, and more outfits because of all the versatility of the pieces. Buying basics can also help save money....a few good pairs of jeans, some plain skirts or jumpers, and some neutral sweaters and shirts and you have the general idea. Of course, if you have a girly-girl, you need to add in a special dress or 2....and that means that besides sneakers, you need some dress shoes....and tights in addition to socks...

For boys, at least if they are like mine, you will need jeans, sweatpants, short-sleeve tshirts, long sleeve tshirts, sweaters or sweatshirts, 2 pairs of slacks (dockers work fine), sneakers, and dress shoes, plus dress socks in addition to regular sport socks.....

ALL of these items go on sale throughout the year, but make sure to ALWAYS check the clearance sections before heading right to the main clothing section (case in point, though about my husband and not my children - he needed new dress shoes and I was hunting for a good pair. All the ones in the main section were $45 or more, but then I stumbled on the clearance section - not clearly marked in the store I was in - and found a pair of dress shoes, in the size he needed and style he wanted, for $13!!!)

Have fun and see shopping as an adventure....think of how much fun you can have while actually SAVING your family money.....make it a game...set a limit (and this also goes for groceries) and see if you can get everything you need for that amount...or less.....

saving on kids and food - part 3, kids and food

Ok...this is really more for those who have school-age children....let's start with lunches since my children are already begging for all the dyed, sugared, CRAP that they see in the store.

Be smart and read the labels....my children like yogurt, provided it's a "crush cup" or "gogurt"....but not all products are made the same. If your child has a food allergy, please keep that in the forefront as you buy these products. Now, since yogurt is fairly healthy (I say fairly because so many that are marketed towards children have a mess of things that we don't need, but that make it more appealing), I tend to purchase it for my children - but, only if it is on sale or if I have coupons (bonus if I have a coupon AND it's on sale). Don't be afraid of purchasing some if it is near the expiration date. Instead, put it in the freezer! When you pack it in your child's lunchbox, it will stay cold and be edible by the time lunch time comes, and you are actually "extending" the life of the yogurt by freezing it (really just slowing down the decomposition/spoiling, but still, getting more days that it will be good to eat).

When you want to pack fresh fruit (and this will probably draw criticism), opt for the small packages of pre-cut apples. They will stay fresh longer, and you won't have as much getting thrown away because of the apples being "brown" (why children can't get that the apple still tastes the same is beyond me, but if the apple is brown, my children won't touch it). Buying large bags of baby carrots is a better bargain because you can divvy them up into smaller bags for single servings. At some salvage marts, you can even find small containers of peanut butter for rock-bottom prices, and those can also be used as part of the snacks (a place near me was selling them for $0.10 each, and the containers are fairly decent sized - enough to have a small apple with and maybe even have some left over!).

If your children want to purchase lunch from school, like mine do, one thing that might work for you is to have them choose a few days a month, with meals that they REALLY like, with the understanding that they will be packing the rest of the time. When my children bring home the lunch menus, I go through it with each of them (separately works best) and mark which day each child wants to buy (by using their initial). Some days, even if they want to buy, they don't get to - barbecue and corn dogs are days that neither buys because I know the food will just end up getting thrown away, and that's $2 in the trash...not in my house...lol. Set a limit....I've said that $20 per month, per child is the most I will pay for lunches...so that means each child gets no more than 10 school lunches in a month....that's the most...which means half bought and half from home....most often, they choose less because they would rather see what snacks I have packed for them :-)

Be reasonable....don't expect children to want to try new things in their lunch....the old stand-by in our house is PB&J, but of course, if there are allergies, don't use that.... When you send in a thermos, fill it part way with the drink (water, juice, even milk) and put it in the freezer the night before. In the morning, finish filling it and pack it in the lunchbox - it will stay cold until lunch. As with the family dinners, try to make sure you have a variety of foods...proteins, carbs, etc....peanut butter has protein, as does lunchmeat, but sometimes there are additives that our children don't need...be smart, read labels. A typical lunch for my children (from home) will include a sandwich (usually PB&J), either some fresh fruit or veggies, juice, and either cookies or crackers. Before you get indignant, the cookies are most often homemade, which means I control the amount of sugar in them instead of purchasing the processed, additive-filled cookies from the store. On special occasions there might be a small piece of chocolate in their lunch as a surprise (birthdays, most often).

If your children are older, have them help with making purchases for their lunchboxes as well as making their lunches. By the time they are in 3rd grade, they should be able to tell what an acceptable lunch is and pull the items they need to make it. Because I have my children work with me to get their lunches together, they are less likely to ask for junk and more likely to make smarter choices when we are at the store or packing....like meal-planning, it just takes practice and consistency!
.........clothing up next.......

saving on kids and food,-part 2, food cont'd

Start planning....keep in mind your family schedule...you don't want to plan a meal that takes long to cook when you have activities planned that get you home later than normal....those are the nights for simple meals - soups and sandwiches, a roast that's been cooking all day in a slow cooker, something along those lines (and yes, sometimes our family does chicken nuggets and french fries because they are fast and easy, the kids will eat them, and it gets everybody back on schedule when we have late nights).

If you do a roast and have a good amount leftover, it does NOT have to stay as a roast. You can add the leftovers to a vegetable broth with fresh veggies and have a yummy soup; throw shredded roast in with cooked (and cooled) rice, some soy sauce, veggies and you have a beef stir fry; slap some on some bread, add cheese and heat, and you have a quick and delicious sandwich....there really are LOTS of recipes you can use to turn leftovers into completely different meals. The trick is to go through your cookbooks (or find recipes online or check out some books from the library) and have some ready to go.

Remember to have variety...while you might like red meat several nights a week, most people's bodies can't properly digest a huge amount....alternate with poultry (ground turkey instead of ground beef in spaghetti makes a healthier meal with little to no taste difference), seafood, or even meatless meals (3-cheese tortellini in marinara sauce, for example), and change up the vegetables as well....don't always have broccoli or some other vegetable as you and your family will get sick of it...alternate....have fresh salads every few nights, introduce new veggies every now and then (a big one in our house is the California blends either plain or with cheese - these are broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots..nice and healthy).

Those are the basics.....as you get more confident, you can add salvage stores to your shopping routine - GREAT discounts on the supplemental foods - side dishes, condiments, drinks - but seldom on meats.....now, take a deep breath and get started!.....Next up...basics of saving on the things kids need....

saving when it comes to kids and food - part 1, food

So, it's almost time for the kids to head back to school...time to get ready to start saving in a pretty big way.

I have been meal-planning for well over a year now (after a brain-fog induced break of about 3 years), and the money I've managed to save has allowed for us to pay off a car, reduce the amount of our home equity loan by a huge amount, and upgrade some thing that we normally stick to the lowest level of (kids shoes, for example). A friend of mine recently asked if I was still working on saving money and then asked if she and i could sit down one day so that I could show her how to get her grocery budget under control. With 4 children, I can see where she's coming from, so I said that once the kids were back in school, we should get together and I'd sit down and show her what *I* do, understanding that it won't be exactly the same for her.

So, here's the basics to get going on meal-planning and saving money.......

Initially, it will require a little bit of time because one of the key components of getting this to work is knowing what you already have available to you. So, a couple of days before you are ready to shop, you should start taking a food inventory. Yes, I said a couple of days....if you try to do it all in one day, you will end up tired, frustrated, annoyed, and ready to trash the whole plan. Start with 1 of the following: pantry, fridge and attached freezer, cabinets, or...if you have one....a separate freezer. Just plan on taking the inventory of 1 of these...if you get to more than one, consider yourself in bonus-land! Since I've been doing this for a while, I can take inventory of all the places we store food in less than an hour. You are NOT taking stock of things like salt, herbs, spices, oil, etc., but instead are looking for the bigger ingredients, side dishes, etc. (soups, pasta, veggies) as well as main ingredients (beef, seafood, poultry).

Plan on your initial inventory day(s) to total about 3 hours of work....you need to be fairly accurate when taking inventory so that you don't find yourself in a jam later in the month. For example, instead of writing ground beef, write "3 lbs ground beef". For me, I tend to purchase the value packs that weight about 5 pounds and divide it into separate ziploc bags of 1 pound each (or thereabout since my small kitchen scale seems to keep hiding from me...just make the amount in each bag close to equal). This way, you can see that, depending on the recipes used, you can make 5 nights of spaghetti, tacos, hamburger stew, or other recipes that call for 1 pound of ground beef/hamburger.

Ok, now that you've gotten an accurate list of what you have (and hopefully you have like things grouped together - makes things MUCH easier! - try putting all beef together, all pork, all poultry, all seafood, all veggies, then misc), it's time to see what you have and what you need to purchase....well, almost......this is where you can take 1 of 2 paths. The first is to start planning meals based on what you already have without seeing what is currently on sale at the local grocery stores. The second path is to set your inventory aside and go through the circulars from the grocery stores, making a list of what they have on sale (which is what you are going to be buying more of than anything else).

I switch back and forth between these 2 steps depending on what we have on hand when I do my inventory (which, after you've done your first month of planning doesn't take anywhere near as long!). Currently, I have meals planned out through 8/23, mainly using what we had on hand, with minimal grocery purchases. Payday is coming up, though, so it's time for me to double-check what we have left and plan as far as I can, then go through the circulars and coupons to prep for the next grocery run.

So, say you want to go the circular route first. You need to have your inventory out as well because, if you have a lot of poultry, you don't really want to buy too much more, especially if your beef inventory is small or non-existent. Go through ALL grocery store circulars, even if they aren't stores you typically go to....if they are stores you pass in your daily travels, even if you haven't shopped there before, make a note of what they have on sale that you will use. That's a BIG thing...a bargain isn't a bargain if the item will just sit and not get used by the family. I tend to have a notebook with me when I go through the circulars and I have a page for each grocery store where I write down everything, including the price, that I'm interested in buying (it also helps if you note the brand...like NVgranola bars for Nature Valley instead of just writing granola bars - makes for easier coupon matching later).

Once you have your potential shopping lists done, do a quick read-through to compare the prices at each store - cross off the ones that are most expensive, but make sure they are identical items....don't cross of steaks at one when another store doesn't have steaks, but has roasts...make sense?? Now you start your planning. You should do your best to have a meat, veggie, and carb at each meal....sometimes it will be difficult (especially if you have picky eaters), but do your best.

By now, some of you are probably ready to give up because this is too hard or takes too long, or you have small kids and no time....baloney! Kids sleep, and you can do this in little chunks of time....or, it mustn't be important enough....Our grocery bills have been cut in half (if not more) since I started doing this on a regular basis....that's a decent amount of money (say, close to $500 a month) that I have been able to put towards paying off debts....your choice.

Ok....try to have a variety of meals during a week - heck, you can even start by just planning for a week to get used to meal planning. Also, remember that leftovers are our friends, not something to wrinkle your nose at, then toss when they go bad. If you have children, try to keep their tastes in mind, but do NOT cater to them. They need to learn to try new things, and in our house, the rule is that you must have at least 2 bites of something. If you don't like it, you are more than welcome to make yourself a PB&J...but nobody will make it for you.

contd...................