Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

Okay my tip for today is about baking. Whenever I am baking and I need to use oil or honey or molasses, I spray the measuring spoon or cup with pam or cooking spray. It helps the ingredient to slide right off my cup or spoon and into the mixer where it belongs. I used to hate having to get another spoon and trying to scrape honey or molasses off. Now I don't have to and neither do you. Hope this helps.

For more tips check out Tammy's recipes!

Frugal Friday: Frugal Fun!

Okay well for this Fridays frugal tip I will tell you what I did this week. After spending $36.00 on 3 cook books at amazon I also decided I needed to start watching for cook books at yard sales/swap meets to keep expanding my collection. So last Saturday we went to the swap meet and I got 3 cook books. They were 3/$5.00. So $1.66 each. Tonight I searched amazon to see how much they are going for. I found 2/3 on amazon.

The first one is a bed and breakfast cook book which I love and have already used twice. Click here to see me ramble in another post about this book.
The Bed and Breakfast Cookbook: Great American B & Bs and Their Recipes from All Fifty States by Martha W. Murphy. I looked on amazon tonight and this book is selling right now for $16.93. I spent only $1.66 so that is a savings of $15.27.

The next book is Jenny Craig's No Diet Required: Recipes for Healthy Living It is selling for $14.99 and I got it in great condition for $1.66. So I saved $13.33. The third book I couldn't find at amazon but I am sure I saved money there as well. ;)

Another tip is to look at discount outlets like Ross. My friend Zsuzanna mentioned the other day finding a pizza stone for a great price at Ross so Joe and I happened to be out there today looking to see if I could find any cookware I was interested in. We did find a few mini muffin pans. I was trying on an outfit in the womens room and Joe seen a stand of books and he found me this one. It looked good. I liked also that it had the calorie counts. He said he flipped thru it and saw yummy food he wants to eat. It said $5.99, that sounded fair enough so we bought it. By the way this book is HEAVY!!! It says it has over 1000 recipes and has 564 pages(including index, but still)All-new Complete Cooking Light Cookbook

Since it was brand new and not a used book I decided to take a peek and see how much amazon was selling this book for. It says "regularly" $34.95 but on sale for $23.07! I paid $6.00 for it so we saved $17.07. Now a really frugal tip would obviously be to borrow these from your library. ;)but for the cost of gas nowadays you can't beat $1.66 at the swap meet. In addition you don't have to give them back. They can be part of your ever growing collection and stab at feeding your family lots of yummy wholesome food.

For more frugal tips check out Biblical Womanhood.

WFMW: Using TWO coupons per purchase

I know some of you ladies may know this but hey, maybe some of you don't. This Works-For-Me Wednesday I will let you know how I got 5 boxes of Total cereal today, normally priced at $4.00 a box(so $20.00 worth)for only $7.50. Now I am certainly not the coupon Queen but I do try to clip here and there what I think I will use.

Well my local grocery store was selling Total cereal for $2.50 this week. They also had an "in ad coupon" for $3.00 off if you buy 5 boxes in their flyer. So $12.50 - $3.00 is $9.50, not bad. Well it just so happens I also had a $2.00 off manufacturers coupon for when you buy 5 boxes. So $9.50 - $2.00 = $7.50. Even better! That is the catch. You can use both a manufacturers coupon and a store "in ad" coupon on the same purchase and save even more money.

So check the small print on those coupons ladies and double up where you can. For more tips go take a look at Works-For-Me Wednesday

I ordered some more books today

My middle dd is enjoying the "kid" cookbook I got her for x~mas so much I thought I would buy her another one.

New Junior Cookbook (Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen) (Spiral-bound)

She even had her own little grocery list when we went to the store the other night. lol I really think it is great that she is developing a love of cooking and baking so early in life.

When I was young I liked baking cookies and bread with my mom but that was it. I remember even when I was older she would want me to come in and show me how to do something but I could care less.

Now that I am in my 30's I have really taken a liking to it. I know I got that bug from my mom even if it didn't kick in til later. My eldest dd is the same way. Once in a while she will want to make something but usually not. She usually drags her feet about it. SO I was very happy my 9 1/2 y/o is really taking an interest in it. The other book we got her came with an apron, the book and mini utensils, kid size.

SO while I was looking up a book for her I figured since I love cooking and baking so much I need to seriously build up my supply of great cookbooks. I absolutely love baking bread and really want to get into making artisan loaves. SO there are a few I have in mind but for now I am going to start by ordering, "Bread", by Eric Treuille.
The reviews looked really good and I have seen it talked about elsewhere. There are many others I want to get eventually as well but I figured one book at a time might be best.

There are quite a few artisan type bread recipes online that I want to try as well.

I am also very interested in OAMC/freezer cooking. If you haven't noticed. haha SO after looking at a few books, I narrowed it down to 1, well 2. But I got tired of scanning thru all the reviews. haha. The one I ordered is "Don't Panic - Dinners in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead". That beat out two other books. There is one more I want to get but I will wait til I feel like reading more about it. It is the "30 day Gourmet".

I can't wait til they get here. Oh and it has also come to my attention that I need a pizza peel and a stone. That was agonizing looking thru all that today too. I could of easily spent $200.00 today at Amazon but I told myself to just get the few books, look around and see what all is out there and then make a decision when I am not so frazzled.

They have so many nifty things for bakers on there. The pizza stone is supposed to significantly improve your pizza and your artisan bread. Now I remember why I didn't get the stone yet. They are all sold out! lol I also want the chicago baking pans but am a little miffed I missed the big sale in Novenmber. Basically the loaf pans(commercial quality) are normally about $15.00. But back in November they went on sale for $5.95! And they qualified for the buy 3 get 1 free deal as well.

When I looked today they were $10.00 each and I was rationalizing getting them. That would be $30.00 for 4. I checked the usual outlets around here, Target, W.M., Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. The last was the only place that had them and for $15.00 each, even with a coupon off of one that would be $12.00 and then I would have to wait each month to get another one. lol

Yeah that is me I will seriously contemplate spending $100.00 on baking ware but pay a little extra per pan I will not. lol So I added it up, $48.00 near home vs. $30.00 online. I was all set to buy too when I realized they do NOT qualify for free shipping! And it looks as if they want to charge $6.00 per pan to ship!! SO that $30.00 just became $54.00! So then we are looking at spending $6.00 more than near my house! (Even though it would take 4 months or so to get them all waiting for that 20% off coupon in the mail.)

And do not even get started on how much I will spend in gas making those 4 trips. Probably $6.00 x4. lol But we always go out that way anyways, you know how it is. Anyhow you can see why my head was splitting. haha

I decided to call it quits for the day and look at that stuff later when I am up for the mental challenge. Oh not to mention I need a pizza peel as well and I seen one for $10.00 and one for $30.00 and one for $17.00 and.....The $10.00 seems cool but I heard people complaining. Yeah, that it broke.

Then there is the matter of the buy 3 get one free deal. So as I was contemplating the $30.00 pizza stone I began to wonder if we needed two? And if we did I seen a cool digital scale for $30.00 and that is $90.00 and since I am already there I get something for $30.00 for free!!!! But what?? What should I pick?

But once I started adding this all up in my head and seeing myself spending almost $150.00 - $200.00 on Amazon today I stopped myself. I said I don't need 2 stones and I don't need a scale. Thank goodness. I told myself to wait and look and see what other stores around here have to offer but I really do think I am going to get that stone from amazon.

SO now back to basics. Stone, peel, dough cutter, wooden cutting board.....as the list grows again. *sigh*

We did find a nice big wooden cutting board that I am going to use for my dough at Walmart tonight. $15.00 and no shipping fees! lol We also found a dough cutter at Smart N Final tonight for $6.00.

P.s. As of tonight those stupid $10.00 loaf pans are now $16.00 for each one! Maybe if I just watch them they will fall back to $6.00 again. ;)

So what kind of books are you reading?

Rubbermaid vs. Gladware

Which do you use?

Please tell me the rubbermaid is sturdier. lol Yes I know these items aren't meant to last forever only tupperware but jeez you would think it could last longer than a month!
I had gotten alot of gladware about 2 months ago in various sizes and yes they were the freezer ones as well. It seems like every time I turn around one is cracking! I had some krusteaz mix in one salad size container in the fridge. It fell out of the fridge and cracked! Another container with spaghetti did the same thing!

Those kids of mine are pretty clumsy. Cause you know that I never ever, EVER drop anything! lol ;)

One of the small containers to put like single serve puddings in, I went to take the lid off and the tab broke off! Jeez!!!!

It almost seems like if the container is frozen or refrigerated they become highly breakable! None of those 3 were frozen , only in the fridge and I hate to think if they were. There would probably be more broken. I am going to keep them but at this rate they won't last long it seems.

Around x~mas I got some of the cute x~mas ones as well in 4 and 6 cup sizes and I froze some flour in those (pre-measured for exactly 2 loaves of bread) and those seemed fine. So far. grrr....

Anyways. I was at Walmart today and seen their rubbermaid take alongs on sale for $1.97 plus they all had a bonus container! So I went a little nuts.

At our wedding a year and a half ago someone had gotten us a set of the bigger storage containers, like the humongous bowls with lids, the huge rectangle ones. Those have held up fine, we haven't frozen them but don't remember if those ones were freezable or not. But we have refrigerated them with no trouble. The only problem was when we leave them sitting to close to an open flame. haha

They melt.

Anyhow so I seen the small ones on sale and thought I would give them a whirl. We got 16 of the 3.7 cup divided containers, 4 of the 4 cup rectangle containers, 15 of the 5.2 cup deep square containers, 15 of the 3.2 round containers and 15 of the 2.9 square containers.

We also got 2 of the 13 cup serving bowls since we liked the other ones we got at the wedding so much. That was the only one with a bonus bowl that was smaller than what I
was buying. It had a bonus that was a twist n seal. I think I paid $3.88.

All in all not bad. I think I spent about $32.00 for 68 containers and 68 lids.

Does it get any better than this?

This is my new spice rack and vinegar/oil holders next to 2 loaves of freshly baked bread. Does it get any better than this? You can only see one tier of the spice rack in this picture but behind it is 2 more. Not bad.

I had to take the rental van back the day after christmas. I still haven't blogged about x~mas but it is mainly cause I can't find my digi cam and that is what I took all those pics on. Grrrr....

Anyhow the day after, Joey went to work and I took the van back. I was sad to see it go. It was a lot of fun to drive and having a vehicle big enough to toss everyone in and just go somewhere is a good thing. Hopefully one more month plus a few days give or take and we will have our own.

I felt kind of bad a few months ago when we rented a van for a few days for a trip and my 3 y/o, almost 4 was sitting in her car seat in the middle and was clearly enjoying the ride and she was like, "Is this our van mommy?"

Uggghhhhhhhhhhhh. :( No sweety it isn't. Daddy is going to buy us a MUCH better van soon! lol

SO I stopped at Target and of course they were having their 1/2 off sale on all things Christmas. I told myself just a few things.

I wound up with 2 Christmas cookie plates. One is a snowman, one is a penguin, $2.00 each. I got a penguin that is a cookie jar and matches the plate, I think it was $7.50. I bought a much needed spice rack. Joey and I have been looking for one for a while. I seen one at Costco for $25.00, good price but it seemed flimsy. I just can't seem to find the right combo of good price/good quality. Not really having much room left on my counters either.

I found a small one and I think that will be a perfect starter one. It was $10.00. I found a spiced vinegar/balsamic vinegar/olive oil set as well, $5.00. I also found a panini press, $8.25. I think that was it. I seen a box of gingerbread mix/cookie cutter on sale for 1/2 of what I bought one for weeks ago. I haven't even used the one in my kitchen yet! I was kind of tempted to buy one and bring the other one back. hahahahaha But I was like is getting $1.75 back worth the hassle and time and the line and ......

I will post more pics later of the other stuff. Did you catch any after x~mas specials?

Beef: It's what's for dinner

That is not my picture. I found it on the web somewhere and thought it would be fitting. It's been hectic the past few days. Tuesday night we went grocery shopping and the ads change on Wed. so we went again. We spent $250.00 Tuesday and $100.00 Wed. and guess what? I still need to go to Smart N Final! Usually I like to go get a bunch of stuff at the beginning of the month , than go back each week and shop for special sales and produce/milk/fresh veggies.

My months usually overlap though. Like some times I buy alot of something but it is enough for 2-3 months though. I remember back in January or February when whole chickens went on sale for .49 cents a lb, I bought 18 of them! I kind of got sick of them and haven't bought one since. lol

We eat alot of chicken here. What I aim for is red meat twice a week and when we do spaghetti, usually it is meatless(since we are trying to cut back on eating meat). That usually happens about once every two weeks. Sunday is usually roast or steak or grilled burgers. I get the 4% fat patty's for my eldest and I. Sometimes if we do burritos, no meat. We tried for a while doing ground turkey but it just tasted so fatty. This month I decided to try something new mainly for dh.

We don't eat pork. I found some turkey sausages/links and some sweet Italian turkey sausages. His eyes glazed over with glee when he seen them.

Last month I bought up a bunch of boneless skinless chicken breast, Tyson flash frozen. Those seem to work the best for me, just pull some out and cook. Or sometimes I will cook all 5 lbs at once and have enough for 2 meals and a lunch, or some to throw on pizza etc. I also bought a bunch of ch. breast on the bone when they went on sale for .99 cents a lb.

It was towards the end of the month when it finally dawned on me that we hadn't eaten any red meat at home that month! (dh and I and whoever is with us at the time usually eat out once a week at In & Out Burger). No wonder I was thinking about buying part of a cow! lol I kept looking for sales last month for steak or roast and didn't see any. It was all $4.00 a lb which is rediculous!

So this month between the back to back sales at Stater Bros. I bought a bunch of red meat. It might even take us 3 months to eat it all. lol

I bought:

4 big packs boneless chuck roast at $1.99 a lb
2 lbs cube steak $3.99 a lb
2.5 lbs flap meat $3.99 a lb(for carne asada)
1.5 T bone steak $4.77 a lb
2 packs of tri tip roast $1.99 a lb
a few family packs of top sirloin steak $1.99 a lb

I know the cube steak was pricey but I really want to try this recipe I found online for steak sandwiches this month. SO now that we are not in any danger of running out of inexpensive red meat....It can all stay in there. lol The top sirloin says it is normally $4.90 a lb!!!!

We also found organic Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon. I think it is org. it is marketed by the Co. that all the other organics in the store are under. lol It was $9.32 a lb. I am not sure on all the different cuts of salmon but every time I see salmon in the Albertsons ad it is like $18.00. $6.00 for farmed which we won't buy. Anyhow I bought 4.5 lbs.

I might go buy another 5 lb pack or two of Tyson Breast. I really don't want to run out. I am waiting for Butterball Turkeys to go on sale. Albertsons regular turkeys are .39 cents a lb right now and this week they are selling butterball BOG1F. But they don't say how much per lb. I shop there rarely as they are pretty out of the way. I was hoping butterball would go on sale soon at Stater Bros for .50 cents a lb.

S.B. had a bunch of frozen veggies on sale this week too so I stocked up on those as well.

So what are your grocery plans for the month? Do you shop weekly or monthly or every few days?

Grass fed beef

Mooo!!!


Okay so I am thinking more about buying some grass fed beef.

For a quick list of reasons read this:

100% GRASS FED

Most places I have seen online are very expensive.
Price is a big factor. On eat wild.org I found a ranch that is grass fed and it is angus beef. (4th website down) It is not qualified for the organic label yet, but it is free of antibiotics, growth hormones and no pesticides used on the pastures.

Chileno Valley Natural Beef

It looks like a split quarter cost $250.00 plus butcher cost of $70.00- $80.00.

Purchase info

Which comes out to about $330.00. It says it is 100 pounds of meat.

I googled them as well and found this cbs clip:

Raising Cows The Old-Fashioned Way

I think I will email them and find out if their prices have changed any and how much shipping would be.

Good idea? Bad idea? What are your thoughts on this?


A review or two.

Reviews # 1
Reviews # 2
Reviews # 3

Edit:

They have another website which says the meat is $380.00 after butchering. I am not surprised it went up. I think I found their old website last year and was surprised the price hadn't changed.

Chileno Natural Grass-Fed Beef

What am I doing?

Well we don't celebrate Halloween, so bobbing for apples is out. haha



Oh wait, there is tomatoes, a cucumber and even some romaine! I am soaking my fruits and veggies in a 15 minute home made veggie wash, courtesy of Jester.


Now we all know organic is supposed to be best. But it isn't always cheap or available. I think the bell peppers are $5.00 a lb at the health store! That is alot. I should make a trip over to the farmers market next Thursday. Last time I was disappointed though. We bought a 25 lb bag of oranges and most of them were dried up! That was a few months ago and we haven't gone since.

Anyhow this doesn't get rid of the pesticides that have gotten inside the fruit, but it does clean them. Think of all the yucky stuff that happens to them en route to your store. Or even while at the store. I try to buy organic at my regular grocery store, but their organic section is very limited and the produce doesn't move fast enough so invariably it is already turning bad.

Jester gave me her permission to post this here. Hope this is THE recipe cause this is how I remember it. haha

1 gallon of water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide

Mix it all together. Let fruits/veggies soak for 15 minutes. Scrub them with a veggie brush and I place mine on a paper towel in huge bowls til they dry. Water tends to stay some in the bottom of bowl so make sure produce is dry and transfer it to another dry container.

Do you eat organic only? Or just when you are able?

EDIT. I just wanted to add that Jester has a friend who is a biochemist and said this recipe is a good one. :)

Hot clothes! Hot clothes!!

Yeah!!!!! So as I informed my dh at lunch time yesterday that, NOPE it is STILL not working. He had cleaned it out really good. The hoses going to the outside, thinking it was clogged, etc. I said,"Maybe we need a heating coil." Then he started laughing. I said, "What?" He said, "Ummmm....maybe I forgot to turn the gas back on."

Arrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!! 4 days with no dryer and 5 kids with dirty clothes piling up. hahahahha Anyhow, it is fixed! Yeah!!! Do you use a dryer? Or do you hang them up outside?

My New Refrigerator

So the old fridge freezes milk, eggs and vegetables and that is on the lowest setting! We have a deep freezer in the garage and a freezer on top of the fridge, we don't need 3! haha So we decided to take some money we are saving for the van and went and bought a new refrigerator.

The 3 pictures on the left are of the $720.00 BB fridge I did NOT get, The 3 pictures on the right are of the one I DID get. You can click on the pics to see the full size. Do you see the second pic down on the left? ONE DRAWER! See how flimsy those shelves are? lol

I try to be frugal when and where I can but when it comes down to it some things just aren't worth saving money on. Like for instance I could care less about "name brands". I buy walmart brand saltines not because they are cheaper, but because the "name brand" has trans fat in them. I buy real butter from smart n final at $2.15 a lb. Sure margarine is cheaper but the further away we get from the way the food originally was the worse it is for us. So I guess how I usually shop is quality, with the lowest price I can get. lol

Then you run into Needs Vs. Wants.

We NEED a fridge and the Whirlpool 20. 8 cu ft. top mount would of been fine. I seen the display at Costco and it looked nice too. Not cheap looking. W.P. is supposed to be a good brand.

I looked at Best Buy and everything was a few hundred more in that ft. range (for a decent brand). Okay so $580.00 with shipping inc. But right next to it at Costco they had a Samsung side by side, ice in the door, all the bells and whistles for almost twice as much. $1050.00 w/out shipping. They don't even have shipping for that one.

Joe really wanted the double door, with ice maker. I really liked it but for half the price I would of been happy with the single. The Samsung was 25.00 cu. ft so it was a little bigger but come on now, I have read they have about 65% usable space vs. top mount 80% so...lol Probably not much difference really.

So I looked online at side by sides at Best Buy and the best price just happened to be on a Whirl Pool, 25 cu ft, for $720.00 with free shipping! Good brand, good price. So I did the math, 720-580 is actually only $140.00 more, plus we get the side by side, maybe a little more space, and the ice/water dispenser! So we were all set to buy it and ran off to get it but when we got there I was really disappointed. It just...looked like a fridge. lol I know that sounds funny. But when we seen the Samsung at Costco it was really nice looking, stainless platinum, they look like glass shelves in the door(even though they aren't). It was just like WOW! This one was boring looking/plain. At first I couldn't place my finger on it, then I figured some stuff out. For 1. the shelves in the door were super cheap plastic, flimsy as all heck, how long would those last? 2. It had one drawer!! Normally you get a veggie and a meat/cheese drawer, sometimes even 3! But one? NO humidity controlled crisper either. The door shelves and humidity cont. crisper were debatable for $330.00 less than Costco plus not having to hassle with delivery. But I just could not get past it having only one shelf!

They had like 50 fridges there and by the end my head was hurting. We went home, ate dinner, took a break. I thought long and hard about if we did get the Costco one how would we drag it home? I decided a definite no on the $720.00 BB fridge. If I am going to spend $720.00 on a fridge then why get one that seems "cheap" to begin with? If that is all we can afford then by all means yes. But if we can spend a little more and get something much better...

So I looked online to see if they had the Samsung like at Costco there, they did not have that exact model. They had one close to it. It was $950.00. So $100 cheaper but with free shipping. They even said they would throw in a water line for free. We went back and looked at it and by then I was worn down and just wanted a fridge. A new fridge. From a place that delivers. Online the options were black, white and stainless platinum. The only model they had in the store was black and I hate buying sight unseen. KWIM? Also I noticed the black was listed as new and it had a few features the other two didn't.

We ordered the black and I had a hard time sleeping thinking about it and wondering how I would deal with a black fridge, my appliances have always been white and I really wanted st. plat. By the next morning I was having a serious case of buyers remorse so I called to see if we could get the st. plat. instead. Good thing I did cause as it turns out the guy said the black is fine....if you don't have kids! I have 5!!! He said it chips/scratches easily! Oh forget it! And guess what they had no st.plat available to be ordered or anything in all of California! He offered me white. I cancelled the order. I am SOOO glad I did.

I called dh and he said if I wanted the costco one than he would figure out how to get it home. He is such a sweetheart. I was also really thinking about the costco one and I felt like I would always be comparing it to the one at best buy. The BB samsung was nice, alot nicer than the whirl pool one for $720.00. It was also $100.00 cheaper than the Costco one and free shipping but it was still not nearly as nice as the one at costco. It didn't have as many features and the shelves in the door were different. It is hard to explain. We were at Home Depot a few days later and they had fridges for $2200.00 that I didn't think looked as nice as the one we got at Costco. They had a Samsung there for $1500.00, same as mine, they list it as one of the models in my book, the only difference is it has the meat thaw drawer, mine doesn't. And for $450.00 less I can deal with that. ;)

So he has a friend at work who said they could go get it in their truck. Praise the Lord!! So dh went on Tues. and bought a dolly and straps and on Wed. he brought it home Hooray! I am so glad that ordeal is over. I am so glad we got the one I really wanted otherwise I know I would of been annoyed from day one. The difference of $100.00 and hassling with shipping some things are worth the extra money, some aren't. The samsung from costco had alot more features than the one at bb. haha Costco also said if it breaks, bring the receipt and bring it back for a full refund. I really like that! Of course dragging it back wouldn't be fun.

So what about you? Are there some things you are willing to spend more on? Or do you just beat down the best price?

WHy do some things break...

AFTER you clean them?!? haha Okay for instance the glass on the chandeliers that goes around your light bulbs. Last time I took them down to clean them I broke two of them!

Last weekend, dh and the boys were cleaning the garage, moving stuff around. Dh moved the washer/dryer and cleaned behind there really well. The garage looks alot better but....The washer and dryer aren't working now!!!

I went to do a load of clothes that night and the water wouldn't even turn on. Then dh said he turned it off and so he turns the faucet back on and guess what started leaking? The faucet! He ran to Home Depot, wound up getting the right part, wrong thread count. So now he needs to take that back. Til then the cold water works, just not the warm.

I can deal with that. But now the dryer is not drying!!! It took like 4 hours to get one load done! I hope he can fix it. We are saving up to get another van next year. We just got done needing a new refrigerator.

What appliances are breaking down at your house?

Lunch at Costco

So we actually got to make a costco run the other day and only had one tag along! Thank goodness for having teenagers that can watch the other kids. :)

After dh and daughter ran around grabbing all the samples while I was shopping they still wanted lunch! Hot dog and a coke, and they wanted churros too!