tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82476314508062650722024-03-05T03:40:34.573-08:00Mama Made What?!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16341888733430875541noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247631450806265072.post-82824271578594536552014-01-03T04:16:00.004-08:002014-01-03T04:16:51.803-08:00Taco Salad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We usually make this for lunches, so my recipe is set for a large serving, enough to feed 2 adults for a week<br /><br />6 cups black beans (it comes out to 3 cans) rinsed.<br />4 lbs 85% ground beef<br />1 1/4 C taco seasoning<br /><br />Cook your ground beef, drain the fat, and then add in your rinsed beans and taco seasoning along with the water recommendations for that amount of taco seasoning based on the instructions on the package. Let simmer for a little bit until the water reduces.<br /><br />This recipe yields 14 cups, and we use 1 cup per serving.<br /><br />It comes out to 5995 calories for the entire batch, or 428 calories per serving. If you need to lower your calories you can either opt for a less fat ground beef, or try a ground turkey.<br /><br />Now for the rest of the recipe. We always calculate this in 2 parts, the meat mixture, and the salad part. It makes it easier to play with.<br /><br />Add each cup of meat and bean mixture to the following.<br /><br />1/8 C shredded cheddar<br />3C shredded iceburg (or lettuce of choice)<br />2T taco sauce<br />
1.5 oz plain greek yogurt (we use this in place of sour cream)<br />1/2 medium tomato, diced<br /><br />The above is 144 calories.<br /><br />If the whole thing is too much like "mush" for you, and you need something similar to a crouton for your salad, crush up a few tortilla chips and mix it in to add some texture to your taco salad, but realize these aren't included in the calorie count.<br /><br />Grand total for calories? 572!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16341888733430875541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247631450806265072.post-20466518363353461862014-01-03T04:05:00.003-08:002014-01-03T04:06:19.488-08:00Sweet and Sour Chicken<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, as we do most things around here, this recipe makes a batch. Approximately 14 cups worth.<br />
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3 red peppers, sliced</div>
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4 yellow peppers, sliced</div>
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2C Sweet and Sour Sauce (We use Maui Mountain, when I can't find that I settle for a Hawaiian marinade)</div>
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2 24.5 oz jars of pineapple chunks in juice (separate the juice from the pineapple and reserve 1/3C )<br />
3T cherry grenadine</div>
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6 chicken breast, cubed.<br />
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Unless you have a 5 quart skillet, you're going to need to do this in 2 batches.<br />
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Combine all ingredients in skillet and bring to a fast simmer. Turn the heat down and let it slowly simmer until the chicken is cooked all the way.<br />
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Each cup comes out to 176 calories as a great small snack or side to something<br />
Otherwise, if you divide it into 6 servings, each serving is 410 calories. <br />
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We used to serve this over rice, but an attempt to cut grains we've opted not to. You could always serve it over cauliflower rice if need be.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16341888733430875541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247631450806265072.post-56940192488935407382013-11-19T08:31:00.002-08:002013-11-19T08:31:23.309-08:00Not your mama's Turkey Sandwich<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="text-align: left;">Alright, Thanksgiving is coming at us, and soon. Scary soon. I'm hoping you all are prepared, I still have some shopping to do!</span></div>
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But, what I have done is already worked on my Thanksgiving left overs. </div>
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I grew up in the household of turkey sandwiches... for the next week and a half... Guess who doesn't do turkey sandwiches anymore? This girl right here.</div>
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<a name='more'></a>I am a HUGE fan of using up left overs, or cooking once and eating twice. Thanksgiving is a great excuse to cook once and eat a lot! But, there are SO many other things out there you can eat other than a sandwich. Today, I'm going to share one of my FAVORITES with you. Keep in mind I made this with a rotisserie chicken because I'm not cooking a turkey twice in one month. But, it's pretty darn easy. My daughter was due on Thanksgiving day (granted she showed up 2 weeks late) so I had planned to make this for our Thanksgiving that year rather than a full turkey dinner. It's just enough to taste like the season, and hardly any work.<br /><br />Here we go<br />
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The things you'll need?<br /><br />1-2 containers of Pillsbury croissant rolls (we use 1 for our family of 3 and there aren't usually left overs)<br />
Left over turkey torn into small piece (about an inch or 2 wide, think bite size)<br />
Stuffing<br />
Mashed Potato<br />
Gravy<br />
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You could feel free to toss in any other left overs on hand you may want such as sweet potatoes or carrots, but this is our usual go to as it's easy to make and easy to eat.<br />
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To start, lay your croissant rolls out in a star pattern. This is using only 1 roll. If you use two, you're going to alternate. So, 1 triangle pointing away from the center, and then lay the next one with the triangle pointing into the center. Continue on in that manner until your circle is full. The nice part of doing 2 is that the angles line up perfectly with one another when you set them side by side, instead of having to overlap the long end with the point end like shown here.<br /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkMqrA_WOYY7oa6xoSImJn6icrhRpA6WUb9o6PmpBfvd7RacEbz6Fjy_el1hQRB8ifj5ChrWsGNkJ-ywlZmsRjxYVQ9HKJBE3E_IhFT9IBhvVpQhM1z2yMHDIhBgH3OWa1htlK1IlP8Ui/s1600/IMG_6758.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizkMqrA_WOYY7oa6xoSImJn6icrhRpA6WUb9o6PmpBfvd7RacEbz6Fjy_el1hQRB8ifj5ChrWsGNkJ-ywlZmsRjxYVQ9HKJBE3E_IhFT9IBhvVpQhM1z2yMHDIhBgH3OWa1htlK1IlP8Ui/s320/IMG_6758.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />Next up, put your turkey in. You'll notice in the next picture that I, as I do every year, forgot that turkey goes first. The importance of that is if the mashed potato goes in the middle, it holds everything together.<br /><br />
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So, turkey, THEN potato, not as pictured. And then add in your stuffing<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHxnPbfmUWXuNkheksw0vm3a9gqZR7baE-hRL2EtPvdsMhUv09f65nZoTziBskbfrGty-eA2JXQ8niWP1g9fwaEkVJC0Tk5ECe22m5dF7o1YbwCth1IpzHo4-EXs7T8h4FJd-OzM6T9XM/s1600/IMG_6761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHxnPbfmUWXuNkheksw0vm3a9gqZR7baE-hRL2EtPvdsMhUv09f65nZoTziBskbfrGty-eA2JXQ8niWP1g9fwaEkVJC0Tk5ECe22m5dF7o1YbwCth1IpzHo4-EXs7T8h4FJd-OzM6T9XM/s320/IMG_6761.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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And then, you fold! Now, you're going to pull your triangle piece up and connect it to the inside of the piece next to it, so it's at an angle. And then, press it down pretty good so that it sticks in place. Again, if you have the large 2 roll ring, just alternate and it folds in pretty well.<br />
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<br />It goes into the oven as shown above, and comes out looking like this!<br />
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You'll cook it according to the directions on the croissant rolls package, though sometimes you may need to cook it a little longer. You want it to become a rich golden brown on top, and at least cooked on the bottom of it and not doughy. <br /><br />Cut 2 pieces per person (that's usually a good starting point, though my 2 year old takes 1) and serve with some warm gravy on top, and maybe a side of peas or carrots, and most DEFINITELY cranberry sauce. <br />
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Kiss those turkey sandwiches goodbye and enjoy!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16341888733430875541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247631450806265072.post-42457722424960185822013-11-10T17:12:00.000-08:002013-11-10T17:12:49.791-08:00Penny Pinching Healthy- Buy Bulk or Bye Bulk<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Alright, welcome back. Ya'll got a week and a half to digest the last one, due to some over achieving germs that were working their way around our home.<br /><br />Let's get right down to it.<br /><br />Buying in bulk can be a great thing. Same with stocking up on stuff on sale or because you have a coupon. But, as with all things, it has a place. ...Well, that is assuming you're not into doomsday prep, at which point this blog post is probably not at all for you. But, for us folk living in a moderate space, here's what I got.<br /><br />When is it good to buy in bulk? <br /><br />If you use it, without fail, not sometimes, but always. For example, toilet paper, bath/body/hygiene, dish soap. Follow my drift? You can always use it, will always use it. It's not snack food, it's not non perishables, it is, to an extent, a necessity.<br /><br />Food. Food can be good to buy in bulk or stock up on if it's on sale. But, things you use without fail. For us, it's stuff like beans, protein powder and other smoothie ingredients, eggs, the foods we use religiously. So, when my local store has them marked down I go for it. <br />
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The rule of thumb, to not get overwhelmed is to not get more than you'll reasonably eat in about a 5 to 6 weeks span since that's about how long cycles are in the grocery shopping fliers. So, chances are they'll be on sale again sometime between now and then. <br /><br />When not to buy in bulk?<br /><br />If you're trying something new. If you don't know for sure if you like the brand, if it will cook the same way, if you'll like the food in general...buy the one that is cheaper up front, not in unit price. Nothing worse than spending more up front because it costs less per unit, and to not like it and throw it out.<br /><br />If you only need it this once. Holiday ingredients, things that won't keep, produce, etc.<br />
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In these moments, spending the least amount out of pocket to buy you the amount that you will need is the goal.<br /><br />Lastly, don't buy in bulk if you can't afford to bulk up. Sometimes it may be worth it because you'll save money for the bulk or coupon deal and it will loosen up more money later as opposed to if you spent the amount for the smaller piece twice. Hopefully that makes sense.<br /><br />That's the quick show down. Sorry if it seems a little scattered. A lack of sleep, and probably a whole lot of lack of oxygen courtesy of our household sickness may lead to some messy thinking. But, while feeling up to it I gotta at least stay on track.<br /><br />
So, I'll see you back next week!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16341888733430875541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247631450806265072.post-78803922304438559162013-10-31T05:19:00.002-07:002013-10-31T05:20:28.877-07:00Penny Pinching Healthy- Time Saving Tips<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Welcome back! I hope you had long enough time to take in all I put out there <a href="http://mamamadewhat.blogspot.com/2013/10/penny-pinching-healthy-money-saving.html">last week</a>. Hopefully you tried your hand at meal planning, or explored some good fail safes?<br />
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This week we move on to some time savers. For some people it's a matter that they want to save money, for others, it's a matter of not having enough TIME to prepare a home cooked meal. And, for a lot, it's a combination of both. I'm going to share a few things that have made our lives easier. <br />
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Let's pick up where we left off last week. Once you've planned out your meals, you have to go buy the food. <b>Organize your list.</b> I take a piece of printer paper or notebook paper and fold it in half horizontally (bring the two short sides together). Open it back up. Across the top write "Produce, Meats, Other." Right below the crease in the paper write "Canned, Refrigerated, Household."<br />
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<li>"Produce" includes freezer stuff because the freezer section is next to produce at the front of the store, and the refrigerated stuff is at the back of the store. </li>
<li>"Meats" are self explanatory. </li>
<li>"Other" is going to be anything in the middle isles that is not a canned good, and is not household stuff such as toilet paper, cleaners, etc. </li>
<li>"Canned"...well, if it comes in a can, it goes here. </li>
<li>"Refrigerated" is pretty easy to figure out. </li>
<li>"Household" is as previously stated.</li>
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When we first decided to stop eating out of our freezer it was when my husband got out of the navy and we moved back east. He was working anywhere from 8 to 12 hour shifts (more often than not, 12 hours), and I was working as well. When we became pregnant our hand was forced to eat better, unfortunately with pregnancy comes the need for better food, and yet a lot less energy to make it. <b>Introduce, batch cooking!</b><br />
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What is batch cooking? Well, it's exactly as it sounds. Make a batch, a big batch, of your favorite foods. For us it started as a large batch of brown rice, mixed peppers, and shredded chicken all drizzled with some Jamaican jerk marinade. We put about a cup of each in a 3 cup Tupperware, made a weeks worth at a time and then simply had to heat it up in the microwave when we were ready to eat. It was pretty easy, and super convenient. While I was doing peppers with jerk sauce my husband was enjoying mixed veggies and a sesame ginger marinade. So while the foundation is the same, you can really mix and match your flavor combination. Eventually it branched out into stews, the occasional lasagna or noodle based meal, and of course our fail safe of chicken chili. <br />
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We still revert back to this some weeks that life is busy. We make 2-3 large batches of a meal, portion it out in Tupperware, and it's ready to heat. Sometimes a combination of this with home cooked meals 2 or 3 nights a week gives you just enough variety without consuming a lot of time. We found a great Tupperware set at Walmart for $5 and it has a large piece which is great to hold an entire batch to serve out of, and then it also comes with 3 cup containers and 1 cup containers. I think we own 3-4 sets and once every 6 months to a year we throw out the dingy ones and buy another set of them. But, they get used so much it's easy to justify.<br />
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To make this batch cooking business even easier, <b>consider a worthwhile crockpot.</b> We have <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33967-6-Quart-Programmable/dp/B001AO2PXK/ref=sr_sp-btf_title_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1382829706&sr=8-4&keywords=programmable+slowcooker">this hamilton beach</a> programmable slow cooker and it's a life saver. You can set it for half hour increments, I don't know the maximum time but I know I've gone at least 10 hours, you then pick whether it's to be on high or low, and when the time is up it will switch to keep warm for the next 8 hours. So, you should definitely come home to a warm meal and one that hasn't been sitting at room temp out of the safe zone breeding bacteria all day. You can also drop your roast right in here, stick the thermometer in it, and tell your slow cooker to cook it until it reaches a certain temperature. Can't beat that!<br />
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<b>Another trick to make life easy? Frozen veggies. </b><br />
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Frozen diced onions is a big one for me in terms of time saver. When it comes to these my recommendations is if the recipe you're using calls for the onion to be sauteed or cooked then these are great. If you would ingest the onion raw (such as in a salad) buy them fresh. But, for the time it takes me to cut an onion while wiping away the tears, it's just easier to break open a small bag of frozen onion and use it accordingly.<br />
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Rather than pay for a 1 time serving in a can (plus all the salt), grab some frozen peas, carrots, and corn. Maybe a bag of mixed veggies? You can use them as a side, in your meals, to snack on, etc. If you're looking for an alternative to fresh, I'd say go with this. They're already cut, it's measure and go, less waste and more versatile. To cook them outside of a dish you can either use a handy dandy microwave vegetable steamer, or just drop them in a microwave safe bowl with enough water to make whatever it is float. Toss it in the microwave at full power and I usually start around 1 minute 30 seconds. Cook it to your desired texture/temperature, drain the water, season however you'd like and it's good to go. Quick and easy side.<br />
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<b>Last but not least, prepare and tricks.</b><br />
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1st up, <b>salad in a mason jar</b>. Have you seen this floating around Pinterest or your Facebook page?<br />
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These guys were my life savers this summer. Between the fact we were moving (states) and it was crazy hot, I had zero ambition to cook (assuming I could find the box my cookware was in anyway). I don't put my croutons in until I'm ready to eat it because I've never had good luck with croutons in the fridge. However, if the most I needed to do was add croutons, shake vigorously, and pop the top and start eating then it had to be pretty easy, right? The lettuce in fact lasted the week long without any wilting or brown coloring. It was just as fresh at the end of the week as it was at the start. We did chicken caesar salads, taco salads, 3 bean salads. They all last, and they're all fantastic! And mason jars aren't too expensive, they're glass so they don't retain the flavor like plastic does after you wash them, and they're pretty versatile. A win win I'd say.</div>
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<b>Freezer Meals</b> were another great one we discovered. Recipes like soups and stews where I could cut the raw meat and put it in a freezer bag, and cut the veggies and any sauces and put them in another. All I had to do was take them from the freezer to thaw, and then cook. We used a recipe for chicken spaghetti from a friend of ours and combined the canned soups, ro-tel and diced veggies ahead of time and dropped it in the freezer. It meant I only needed to let that thaw during the day, when I got home that night I boiled chicken, boiled noodles, combined it with the frozen mixture and sprinkled some spices and then cooked it.<br />
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Also a winner, stuff and marinade your chicken in advance. As I was stocking our freezer in preparation for our first born, my husband and I went out and bought a LOT of chicken breast, a lot of marinades, some stuffing and some other stuff. When we got home, we dropped 2 chicken breast in a bag with an appropriate amount of marinade, labeled it (labeling is important, what it is in the date you made it) and put it in the freezer. All we had to do was pull whatever chicken we wanted the following day out that night when we went to bed. It not only defrosted but marinaded throughout the day. When we were ready to cook it all we had to do was dump the bag into a small oven safe dish and toss it in the oven. With a side of steamed veggies (of course from the freezer) and we dinner was done in 30 minutes or less. And really, with the amount of space this takes up in your freezer, you could prepare this for the entire month! It also makes a pretty great, low cost, minimal ingredient fail safe. And you can probably thaw it in a bowl of water in about an hour or 2.<br />
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I made stuffing, as well as a broccoli and cheddar mix, and seasoned butter. I cut my chicken so that I could stuff it with any of the aforementioned fillings, and then froze it (I did this 1 per bag for variety sake, but you could do it 2 per if you wanted). Again, let it thaw and bake it. You could sprinkle some shake and bake on it right before it goes in the oven if you want for some variety but, not necessary. The easiest way I found to prepare it was to put your chicken breast on a cutting board and cut a slit (not all the way to the cutting board) from one end to the other (the longest way). Then, with your knife in that slit, cut the breast in half on the left and right, again not going to the edge. What you essentially do is make it so your breast is a little box, if you will (I promise, next time I do this I'll add in a good picture because ya'll are probably looking at your computer like I'm nuts right now). But, the long and short of it is that not only does it contain your fillings while it's raw and freezing, and while it's thawing, but it does it while it's cooking too. No more trying to roll the chicken breast up and hope everything stays inside, no watching all the fillings ooze out during cooking and get left in your baking dish instead of in your chicken. The chicken holds it all. </div>
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<b>Lastly, preparing anything you can in advance that can't be frozen</b>. We do a dish, a Thanksgiving ring (which will be on the blog in a few weeks). In it is mashed potatoes. The goal of this recipe is to use up your Thanksgiving left overs, without living on turkey sandwiches forever. However, if we're eating it at any other time throughout the year, I usually grab a rotisserie chicken, some instant mashed potatoes and microwave stuffing. If I knew this was coming in the week, on a night I didn't have a lot of time, I could make the potatoes and stuffing ahead of time, and pull the chicken. Therefore, on dinner night, I didn't have to deal with all of it. This week I'm making a mirepoix so that I can make chicken stock for our chicken pot pie (so as to use the ENTIRE rotisserie chicken). I knew I wouldn't have time to do everything the day I needed to, so one night where I did have extra time I diced up the carrots, celery, onion and parsley and put it in a bag in the fridge. Now, all I have to do is throw it with the chicken bones that are in another bag in my fridge (because I already pulled the meat off the bones) into a pot with some water, salt and pepper and then ignore it for 3 hours. Preparing in advance doesn't always mean that dinner will take 20 minutes to cook and then you're done. It means make life easy where you can. When you have the time, even if it means after dinner and after the kids have gone to bed, prepare what you can for any meals that week you know you're not going to have a lot of time to do the day of. Doing this means the ease and convenience you have in dumping out the ingredients from your hamburger helper into a skillet, will be just as easy with home made ingredients when you go to cook. </div>
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So, sit on this for the next week and figure out what can and can't work for you. Hopefully something here will make your life a little easier. I'll see you back here next week with Buy Bulk or Bye Bulk?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16341888733430875541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247631450806265072.post-55264283941789927302013-10-23T04:40:00.001-07:002013-10-23T04:49:26.396-07:00Penny Pinching Healthy-Money Saving Meal Planning<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Welcome back, I'm serving up part 1 of a 3 part series in healthy eating on a tight budget or a tight clock. This week is money saving meal planning. Let's dive right in, it's a doozie.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Step 1: Inventory </span><br />
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Before you start actually meal planning, take a look in your fridge, your freezer, and your cabinets. If you happen to have any food in there that isn't dedicated for another meal, find a way to use it. There's no point in having food sit around to possibly go bad while you're buying more food. Things you should be looking out for...<br />
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<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Stuff that comes in 2's, like onion soup packets, </li>
<li>Bulk produce like bags of carrots, potatoes or celery.</li>
<li>Toppings and dairy, such as sour cream, yogurts, milk, salad dressings and marinades.</li>
<li>Canned goods, such as tuna or soups</li>
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The goal is to first plan meals that will use any of these extra's. Once that's done, you should realistically only be buying what you need for the week, and perhaps stocking up on items that are on sale that you use frequently, such as ingredients for your fail safe dish (more on that later on). <br />
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The only ingredients you shouldn't be planning to eat up are the ones for your fail safe dish, those stay on reserve.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Step 2: Sales and Coupons</span><br />
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Next up I suggest that you either look online or stop by your grocery store and get a circular. Find out what is on sale that week. If meat happens to be on sale, and it's so that you can afford it, I suggest stocking up. In this house we use chicken breast and ground beef in almost everything. Occasionally we do steak or pork, but not enough that I can justify stocking up. If you know of meals you can plan that include some of the other sale items, go for it! Otherwise, you can also use a free site such as <a href="http://www.recipematcher.com/">Recipe Matcher</a> or <a href="http://myfridgefood.com/">My Fridge Food</a> (and you can use either there quick kitchen or their detailed kitchen to find the ingredients that you have on hand or are considering using). Both of these sites will take the ingredients that you tell it you want to use and give you recipes that incorporate some or all of them. <br />
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Whole chickens/turkey's are another great thing. If you will eat both dark and light meat, and you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, learn how to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw2xABXr4uE">debone a bird</a> and use it ALL. Take all your left over bits and pieces and bones and boil them with a mirepoix for some home made <a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_chicken_stock/">chicken stock</a> which you can either use in a soup that week or freeze/can to use later! NOTHING is wasted.<br />
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Also, if the circular doesn't say it, go chat with the butcher behind the meat counter. They can usually give you a good idea what days, or weeks of the month they mark meats down or on sale so you know what days to shop. Even if it means you just stop by to stock up on that. Meat and produce are the 2 areas that most of our money goes to from our grocery budget.<br />
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You can also check any coupons you may get in the mail, in your weekend newspaper, or even online!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Step 3: Plan</span><br />
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Now on to the actual meal planning. If you don't meal plan, everything else is seemingly useless. Meal planning was a foreign concept to me until recently and even still, there are some parts that I haven't perfected (mainly because to do so for me just yet would be more time consuming than I'm ready to make it). I have purchased <a href="https://www.meadorganizher.com/products/organization/responsibility-chart-wallmates">this</a> pretty great family planner by Mead that is completely not necessary in order to meal plan, but since I buy a planner for our house every year anyway and this one had meal planning included, it was a no brainer for me. I snagged mine at Target, and I think it was $10.99 or so (minus 5% because if you don't already, you should rock the no charge, not a credit card Target red card). There is a printable version <a href="file:///home/chronos/user/Downloads/weekly-meal-plan-list-half.pdf">here</a> that is pretty darn close if you want just this layout without the whole notebook. If you're not in the market for a planner or a printable, just take whatever paper you set out to meal plan on and write out Monday-Sunday down the side vertically (this should be the longer side of your paper). Across the top divide it one of two ways. Either into 3rds (breakfast, lunch and dinner) or in to 2 columns (lunch and dinner).<br />
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Meal planning is pretty simple when you break it down. At our home my husband and my daughter eat eggs in the morning for breakfast and I do a smoothie. So, I know at any point in time there needs to be eggs in the basket, cheese, and smoothie ingredients. For us that means we plan lunches and dinners, 1 week at a time.<br />
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Before you fill in your recipes you need to make a decision regarding left overs so you know exactly how much to fill in. You can do one of two things. <br />
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A.) Eat left overs for lunch for the week. If you're going to do this fill in 1-2 "must go's," nights at most for any left overs that don't get eaten for lunch. One of our must go's nights is ALWAYS the day that we buy groceries and meal prep. It makes it easy to just reheat something rather than worry about finding the counter space in the midst of all that's going on in the kitchen. Since that's Sunday for us, the other must goes night is usually sometime mid week. If for some reason you don't have enough food to do must goes for the amount of times you planned, that's where you fail safe meal comes into play if you don't have anything else you can cook.<br />
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B.) Your other option is to plan lunches additionally and anticipate left overs 2-3 nights that week.<br />
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Now, here's the part I don't do that seems too time consuming for me right off hand (because I'm a super visual person). Someone more skilled at this would take into account the ingredients they would have left over's of (say carrots from a bag of carrots, or celery) and plan another dish that week to use them up. I, however, am just not that skilled. But, it's something you can consider doing if you can do it in your brain. I still use them, just in a different manner. This is where step 1 comes in each week, look to see what you may possibly have left over from the previous week. Also, remember that some things you can freeze before they go bad if you don't have use for them very often such as scallions!<br />
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I would hope this part goes without saying, but the reason you do inventory and look over sales is to plan recipes that use the ingredients you may already have on hand, or that are on sale that week.<br />
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Pay attention to the number of servings your dishes make. If your dish makes 5 servings, and you're only feeding 3 people the night its made, then you can anticipate getting 2 lunches out of it, or feeding 2 of your 3 people on must goes night with those left overs. Calculating your left overs will help you be more accurate in how much food you actually need to buy or make that week.<br />
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Go ahead and fill in your week according to how you're doing your lunches. If you're already making a recipe that uses certain ingredients that come in bulk (such as milk, broccoli and other veggies, call for 1lb of ground beef) then it's easy to either account for those left overs or to double the batch using ingredients that you ALREADY HAVE TO BUY ANYWAY to make twice as much instead of something different, and plan for left overs to use. So, for example, if on Monday you intend to make a taco ring, since it calls for your usual taco toppings such as lettuce, shredded cheddar, tomatoes, sour cream and taco sauce, you might as well make a ring twice as big since it's only going to cost you 1 extra container of croissant rolls and perhaps an additional half pound of ground beef. Your vine tomatoes already come in a handful of them, same with shredded lettuce or a head of lettuce, and the rest of your toppings. You now have lunch for the next day or two, or must goes for dinner, it was the same dish with all the same prep work at the same time (not making the dish twice in one week) and you might only be out an additional $3 bucks for another 4-6 meals and perhaps an extra 3 minutes in prep to assemble a larger taco ring instead of a 1 size ring. It's all about working smarter, not harder :)<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Step 4: Your Fail Safe</span><br />
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Your fail safe is a meal that is easy to keep all the ingredients on hand without them going bad in a short span of time. Why is this important you may ask? Well, several reasons. First is you never know what your week is going to bring, or your following week. If you can't make it to the grocery store the day your meal plan runs up then you'll need some meals to get you by until you can get there. If your kids bring over friends and eat up some left overs quicker than you were planning for, or you need a quick dinner on the table to feed more than what you planned on your menu that night? This is your answer. If you miscalculate your left over amounts, or dinner was such a hit the kids and your hubby had a second helping and now your lunch for the next 3 days is gone? You have a fail safe.<br />
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For us, it's a dish called <a href="http://redsie05.blogspot.com/2010/10/ww-crock-pot-chicken-taco-chili.html">Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili</a> that I found over at Photo A Day and it is perfect. All the ingredients are canned or frozen, and some spices. The most you have to worry about is your frozen stuff getting freezer burn. If you simply rotate the chicken or veggies when you buy them, then you should be able to avoid any freezer burn. So, make sure you have your ingredients on hand for your fail safe, ALWAYS! This dish has saved us more times than I can count, and if for some reason we do go too long without eating it my 2 year old walks around the house saying "beans, beans, beans, matoes (tomatoes), beans." It's a hit for the whole family, which is also an important part of your fail safe. <br />
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So, recap because, let's face it, this post was almost painfully long.<br />
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Step 1, take inventory.<br />
Step 2, check out your circulars, sales adds, or coupons!<br />
Step 3, meal plan<br />
Step 4, have a fail safe for any miscalculations or weekly surprises, and make sure you replace the ingredients once you make it!<br />
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Absorb it all in guys, you've got a week to sit on this before part 2 comes out!<br /><a data-pin-do="buttonFollow" href="http://www.pinterest.com/pinterest/">Pin It!</a><script type="text/javascript" src="//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16341888733430875541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247631450806265072.post-15650744944379109112013-10-16T05:27:00.002-07:002013-10-16T07:45:51.059-07:00Penny Pinching Healthy, Introduction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Welcome to Mama Made What?! It seems only fitting that we start this thing off with a bang, so here's a 3 part series for you on what we learned going from a freezer/convenience food family to a relatively healthy eating family.<br />
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Now, before you go click that little "x" at the top right of your window at the word "healthy eating," just hear me out. I know we are not nearly has healthy as a lot of other people, we certainly didn't take it to an extreme and we're not training for any marathons or competitions so we're not terribly strict in the way of calories or macro's. However, living on Lean Cuisines and Hot Pockets is certainly no way to live. <br />
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I remember going to the grocery store after church every Sunday, like clockwork, and we "picked up some stuff." I remember a grocery list of things we were out of, such as eggs, butter, milk, cheese...the essentials. After that it just seemed like we tossed some stuff in. Tuna, canned veggies, hamburger helper, some frozen lasagna's, deli meat. If there was ever any real meal planning I didn't know about it. To the best of my knowledge, eating healthy was not possible on a limited amount of time nor on a limited budget.<br />
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Now, don't get me wrong. I completely understand the mindset that goes along with it, especially when you're grocery shopping on a tight budget. Things like tuna, frozen family dinners, hot pockets, etc seem like the best bang for the buck. It furthermore seems that way because most families on a tight budget are families where both parents are working, as it was in my home growing up. So not only does it need to be inexpensive but it also needs to be quick which translates into using the microwave for a lot of people.<br />
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When I moved from my parents house to living on my own I was working hours that ranged from as early as 6 am to as late as 9 pm and moved out to a place of my own with no roommate (4 months after I graduated high school) so money was certainly tight. A few years later I moved to the complete other side of the country to be with my husband as that's where he was stationed. Between my working mall hours, and his boat schedule and duty schedule, we were lucky to share 1 to 2 meals (out of the 21 available) each week. So, what I grew up knowing as efficient food shopping continued and we traded health for convenience and what we thought was inexpensive.<br />
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And then we went back to a civilian life and shortly after found out I was pregnant. Lean Cuisines and prepackaged freezer to oven foods weren't going to cut it for me for pregnancy, by my standards nor my midwifes. So, we embarked on a change, a big change. And after our daughter was born we continued on with our change because I was nursing and needed to make sure I was providing the best I could. When that relationship ended 10 months later my daughter was starting solids and there seemed no reason to revert back to old eating habits that we now knew were poor eating habits.<br />
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I can only imagine what we were doing to our bodies eating that way. Every now and then some easy mac, or hamburger helper sounds really good in the way of "comfort food," and within hours of eating it our bodies have told us it was the wrong decision. So, if you're interested tune in next Wednesday for the start of the 3 part series on tips and tricks we learned to combine reasonably healthy with frugality and not much time!<br /><a data-pin-do="buttonFollow" href="http://www.pinterest.com/pinterest/">Pin It!</a><script type="text/javascript" src="//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js"></script><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16341888733430875541noreply@blogger.com0