How to Save Practically Anything: My Dress

I have this lovely dress.

Which, unfortunately, comes with really cheap plastic rings attaching the straps.

When I first wore this dress to a wedding, I guess I had the straps too tight because one of the cheap plastic rings snapped. :(  Thankfully I had a sweater to wear to cover this mishap.

Later, I brainstormed ways to re-attach the straps.  My ingenius solution?

A paper clip!

I even managed to find one that blends in well with the colors of my dress. :)

I have another one on stand-by, lest the same misfortune strike the other strap.

Why get rid of a perfectly good dress if I can just fix it? :)

How to Save Practically Anything: Dog Food Bag

Okay. Maybe my newfound love of frugality is bordering on insanity. But, if it saves me money, I won't complain!

We buy 15.5 lb bags of food for Daisy.  It's just more economical, and it's usually on sale.  These bags have handy-dandy zipper tops on them.  Love it! Keeps the food really fresh.  We just finished the first of these bags recently.  About to throw it away, I set it aside and thought...

...this bag could be VERY handily re-purposed as a trash bag! Even better, when it's about full, I can ZIP it shut securely!

Looks kind of silly, but very effective!

It only gets one extra use, but a very worthwhile one.  Maybe saving myself ONE extra trash bag every couple of months doesn't save me dollars, but I also believe in making the most of every resource we are blessed with.  Plus, all of the little things add up in the end!

Recipe: Italian Turkey Meatballs

Tonight I made a delicious recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Parmesian Orzo with Meatballs.

As much as I love the recipes in this book, they often call for pre-packaged or frozen ingredients.  For economical as well as health reasons, I prefer to make things fresh and from scratch.  So when the recipe called for a bag of frozen meatballs, I set out to figure out how to make them!

I found this recipe and altered it according to what I have, as well as what I preferred.

I will have to add photos of the preparation process in the future, as I got too busy and forgot to take them!

But here's the finished product:

And here are the meatballs with the Parmesian Orzo.

...and the recipe!

You will need:
1 lb ground turkey
2 T Italian seasoning
1 T Basil
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 T milk
2 mozzarella cheese sticks

Combine all ingredients except the cheese sticks in a medium bowl.  Cut the cheese sticks into rounds about 1" long (about 15 per stick).  Use a soup-sized spoon to portion out amounts of meat--about 1 T each, maybe a little more, eyeball it!  They should be roughly the size of a ping pong ball. Put 1 piece of cut cheese into the meat and roll it into a ball.  Place each ball onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Makes about 30 meatballs.

These came out very juicy and delicious!!!

Meal Idea: Homemade Chili & Cornbread

As I learn more and more about cooking and food, naturally I want to try and create some of my own recipes. So today, I decided to experiment with chili!

A day like this... definitely calls for such a hearty, hot meal.  What a chilly start to May! (no pun intended :D )

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can each of Pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, and great northern beans.
1 28-oz can organic fire-roasted tomatoes, diced, with liquid
half of a yellow onion, diced
4-5 garlic cloves, diced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 TBSP chili powder
1 cup of water (based on cook time of 4-5 hours)

Throw it all in a crock pot on high for 4-5 hours.  If you need it to cook longer, add some extra water, based on the consistency you prefer your chili.

This is the oh-so-delicious result:

This chili, as I prepared it today, is "kid-friendly".  It wasn't at all spicy, but it was VERY flavorful!  I'm going to attempt to give it some more "kick" next time. :)

I also made homemade cornbread!  I got the recipe here, but for your convenience I will repost it.  I just want to give credit where it is due!

1 cup of corn meal
1 cup of flour
2-4 TBSP sugar (I used 2 and it was perfect!)
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil (I used canola)

whisk the corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk and oil.  Then add the wet mixture to the dry and stir together until JUST combined.  Then pour into a 9x9 baking dish.  Bake at 425 for 15-20 mins or until a golden brown.  Tastes great plain OR with a bit of butter!

This is the perfect meal for a late spring stormy day or in the fall/winter!

Rescue Your Food! And Save Money too!

Over the years, I've gone through many different phases of how I eat my meals.  Even in college, surprisingly, I didn't live on a ramen diet and I ate the healthiest that I ever have.

However, especially since having gotten married, requiring me to purchase more food, I've needed to refine my methods due to the following problems.

Wasted food.
Wasted money.
Wasted time.

All of those things are quite important to me! Although not in that particular order. :)

So, if you have similar problems, here's my method of dealing with them! It's quite simple and in the end will save your sanity.

1.  Create a Weekly Meal Plan.  Knowing what you're going to be eating in the next several days is VERY helpful when avoiding the temptation to just eat out.  Include meals that are simple to make and, if possible, cook something ahead!  Usually, by the time I create my meal plan, I know what's happening the next week, too, so it's not difficult to plan easier meals on busier days.  Often times, I include a leftover night because by the end of the week, there are usually enough leftovers for me and my husband to eat on.

I used to create BI-weekly meal plans, until I realized that the food I bought would get old and go to waste. I also found that I missed more sale opportunities at the store, and actually spent MORE money on food I thought I would need.  Smaller, weekly shopping trips are actually saving me money.

For a fun idea on creating your weekly plan, see an easy craft my friend made. :)

2. Use the food that you already have FIRST.  I've found that I waste food because I tend to forget it's there, lurking in the dark corners of my fridge, freezer and pantry.  When you're creating your weekly plan, take stock of what you have and base as many of your meals around these foods as possible. Perishable, nonperishable, it doesn't matter. The older it is, the grosser it is! :O Eat that food first! :)  You don't have to use it ALL in one week--just prioritize those foods before you buy more!

(somehow we ended up with 5 peanut butters and 5 different jams... all bought at different times... how bizarre is that?!)

3.  Base your meals on what's on sale at the store. I shop at 2 different stores, since one has especially cheap, local produce, while the other has better deals on other products I buy.  I have signed up to receive notifications from these stores via email, so when I get the weekly flyer in my inbox, I look at them, compare what they have to offer, and create a grocery list.

HUGE money saving tip: do NOT veer from your shopping list! And do NOT shop hungry! :) I struggle with this personally, because being around all that delicious food makes me hungry! :D Eat a good snack before you grocery shop!

These 3 things will help reduce money wasted on food that spoils or on eating out.  They will help save you from wasting food that goes bad, which obviously ties to my previous statement. :)  And you'll save time by planning ahead and knowing what's for dinner each night.  Just takes some planning and discipline, and the homemade goodness is totally worth it!

The Power of "Self-Sufficiency"

The title of this post probably makes it sound a lot different than my intent.

First and foremost, I believe that depending on God is the best way to live and will result in a better quality of life.

I also believe that people should not be afraid to ask others for help when it is appropriate.  Too many suffer in silence because they can't let go of their pride.

What I want to discuss is the power of learning to do things yourself.  Learning new skills, sometimes doing things the "hard way" rather than taking shortcuts, etc.  In many cases, doing things yourself (and I don't mean the typical "DIY" trend necessarily) will help you:
1. save money
2.cause you to appreciate technology and those who came before us and
3. can help you lead a healthier lifestyle as well.

Take cooking, for instance. Some of my most favorite recipes call for ingredients I define as "the easy way out".  They might be convenience foods, but often times they are a less healthy option and perhaps also more expensive.  Some examples are "a frozen bag of onion/bell pepper mix" or a "block of cheese product".  So, my three points above applied to the bell pepper/onion example:

1. I can save money by buying fresh bell peppers and onions and chop and freeze them myself, or modify the recipe slightly to accommodate the use of the fresh ingredients versus frozen.  A small bag of this mix can cost anywhere from a dollar to two or three dollars depending on size and brand, and if it's on sale.  Green bell peppers can be found anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar, other colors at $1-1.50, and yellow onions are usually no more than $1/lb.  For a green and a red pepper and one onion, that's an estimated cost of $3. That seems to match the high-end cost of the frozen bag BUT--You won't need 100% of those ingredients for one meal usually (and if you do, you'd likely need 2 of those frozen bags) so you can save them for another meal.

2. If I use the frozen bag, all I have to do is grab it from the freezer and dump it in. Quick and easy.  While I definitely appreciate the opportunity to take a short cut, I place more value in hard work and the skills I learn in the kitchen by using fresh vegetables.  I've learned how to cut onions and peppers efficiently, that's for sure. Although I still struggle with those darn watering eyes! :/ Mine are stubborn and resilient to efforts against it.  When I have kids, I want to be able to teach them how to chop up veggies, rather than display the "lazy" way of frozen, bagged-everything being thrown into a pot.  I think it's valuable for skills to be transferred across generations--even when there's an easier alternative available (here's lookin' at you, graphing calculators!)

3. When you buy a bag of frozen-something, you don't necessarily know what might be added, what the process of freezing/bagging did to the vegetables, etc.  I would say it's generally always healthier to use fresh produce over frozen or canned.  This gives you a bit more control over what you put in your body and can help you live a healthier, happier, longer life. :)

Perhaps I can write more descriptive blog posts about other ways this applies, otherwise this post will be 10 chapters long. :P  Other applications include making your own home cleaners/stain removers/etc, more cooking like making your own cheese sauce etc, taking care of your own vehicle, on and on and on.

Readers, let me know if these type of posts might interest you!

Idea: Need Input!

Today as I was driving home I had an idea for a potential side business.

During the day at work, many people get hungry and order in food for lunch, or go out to eat.  Often times these meals aren't very healthy, and certainly not as delicious as home-cooked food.  Even the healthier options can be quite costly.
People also don't always have the time and energy to put together a delicious, nutritious, homemade meal for lunch at work the next day.

What if there was an option for a healthy, homemade meal to be delivered to you?

This meal might be something hot, fresh-cooked.  Or it could be a more traditional lunch, consisting of a sandwich and side items, for instance.

The ingredients would be homemade, organic, and/or all-natural.  The food would of course taste delicious and have the healthiness of eating at home.

I haven't done the cost research yet, but the goal is to find a way to prepare these meals that is a good value to the customer--not too expensive, but enough to cover food costs and the expense of delivery with a small profit.

I also had the idea that this might be lucrative for dinner as well!  Sometimes families are in a hurry or don't have much time or energy, but they don't want to succumb to eating out or ordering in constantly--these are not the healthiest options.  What if they could order a truly homecooked meal to be delivered?

And this wouldn't just benefit families... I personally have single friends who aren't very adept at cooking, and/or are too tired at the end of a long work day to prepare something very desirable that doesn't just go in the microwave.

Having been told repeatedly how delicious my food is, I know I could provide quality food.  I also have ideas as to how to make this work logistically. But to begin with, I want to know if people would be interested! I want to know others' thoughts on types of foods that would appeal to them in this format.  And any other thoughts that might arise!

Please respond, and feel free to share this idea with others so I can get some input! Thank you! :)