Feed 5 for $500: Breakfast Menus & Grocery Savings (part 3)

Strawberry Margarita Muffins

If you are giving your kids (or yourself!) cereal for breakfast, you are probably spending more on your monthly grocery bill than you should.  I've always enjoyed the fact that my kids can make their own bowl of cereal in the morning.  But they usually have 2-3 bowls per morning!  This meant I had to buy at least 2-3 boxes of cereal per week, plus we consumed at least 2-3 gallons of milk each week.  So as much as I hated the idea of cooking breakfast each morning, I decided to try it as a way to save money.


MONEY SAVING TIPS ON BREAKFAST

• Make your own baked goods: granola bars, muffins, pancakes, etc. The more you make yourself, the more money you save and the healthier the food is. By eliminating preservatives from your diet, you will see your overall health improve greatly! Be sure to use organic ingredients as much as possible. Even though they cost more, you're still saving money by making your own.  Adding ground flax seeds and almond meal help to make them healthier and more filling. I freeze these in ziplocs.  They stay fresh and can easily be reheated.
• Buy from the bulk section. If you have a recipe that calls for 1 tsp or 1 T of something you can find in the bulk section, it can save you a lot of money rather than buying an entire container of the item.  Also, I've found a great savings on buying organic cocoa powder, oats, and several other items by buying from the bulk section of my local health food store.
• Buy from local farmers. I buy most of my yogurt, milk, cream, and eggs (and sometimes beef and chicken) from a local Amish farmer, which we pick up weekly. This costs us approximately $200/month.  Even though purchasing through him is a little more expensive than buying "regular" dairy and meat at the store (especially when I used to shop the sales....), we are consuming much higher quality food that is very filling!

 MONTHLY BREAKFAST MENU

• Oatmeal (organic steel cut oats are the best).  Throw in some milk or cream and some fruit or cinnamon and apple butter for a yummy warm breakfast.
• Smoothies.  I use yogurt or kefir as a base along with frozen fruit.  Sometimes I add a little honey for sweetness.  That's it! Other add-ins: almond meal, almond milk, coconut milk, flax seed, various nuts, wheat germ, etc.  This is a very filling, healthy breakfast for you and your family.  The first time I gave my kids a smoothie for breakfast, they said, "Why are we having ice cream for breakfast?" 
• Eggs.  Buying eggs from "happy chickens" locally actually taste better and are better for you!  We get a dozen eggs for $3.50 which is approx the same cost as organic in the store.  Ours are organic and we know for sure the chickens only eat grass and bugs.  We hope to start a chicken coop in the spring and start getting our own eggs.  (In addition to scrambled, poached and hard boiled, I like to make breakfast burritos -- just scramble and serve in a tortilla.  My kids love them.)
• Toast.  I buy Nature's Own bread from the Dollar Tree and keep it in the freezer.  It's another easy and quick breakfast with little prep.  We keep natural peanut butter and apple butter on hand for topping.
• Granola bars.  I love to make these for easy and quick breakfasts on-the-go.  (See my post for the recipe.)
• Muffins.  Make a double or triple batch and freeze them!  Make mini ones for quick snacks on the go.  (Here's a recipe for Morning Glory Muffins & my Strawberry Margarita Muffin recipe.)
• Yogurt.  I'm working on a recipe to start making my own yogurt, but for now, I purchase the large containers of plain yogurt.  I also make my own kefir.  Both yogurt and kefir make a great base for smoothies.  My kids love to add natural apple butter (I buy from a local farm) to their yogurt.  Because we use plain yogurt, this adds enough flavor and sweetness while keeping our cost down.
• Fresh fruit.  Buy from your local farmers' markets or pick your own locally.  You can always freeze it and set in fridge overnight to thaw for the morning, or throw them in frozen to your smoothies.

Up next in this series:  Monthly lunch menus and homemade snacks!

Feed 5 for $500: Dinner menus & freezer cooking (part 2)

First of all, I planned to post this next article last week, but my sister just had her first baby, so I've been out of town, and at the hospital for the last four days!  YAY!

After scouring my Cooking Light and Fitness magazines, a couple of my favorite cookbooks, and the web, I come up with at least 14 dinner recipes for the month.  I try to find fun recipes, or new tastes to be adventurous (the most recent adventure was Curried Beef -- we all loved it!).  During this time of gathering recipes, I also make my grocery list so I don't miss an ingredient.  (For organizational purposes, I tear out the recipes and/or print them and keep them in plastic sleeves inside a binder I keep in the kitchen.)

Then I check for any coupons, and usually, I head out to Wegman's.  They have a great selection of organics for a very reasonable price.  When I do most of my shopping in one place, I tend to spend much less.  Note:  I used to do "extreme couponing" at Giant.  However, I've found that there aren't a lot of coupons for the items I buy nowadays, plus I buy a lot of fresh items.  Shopping at a local farmers' market can save money on the fresh items, but Wegman's has really saved us a lot for everything else!

On my last trip I spent $300 (exactly!), and I got enough groceries (mostly raw fruits & veggies and organic) to make the following dinner meals, as well as some items for breakfast, lunch, and several snack recipes.  If I double every recipe, I have enough meals for the entire month.  If we eat out at all (we try to stick to a $200/mo budget for ALL restaurants/fast food), obviously those freezer meals keep and I have more than a month's worth of food.



FREEZER COOKING TIPS
I've found some amazing websites for healthy recipes.  One of my favorite sites is Once A Month Mom.  She has FREE monthly freezer meal menus, complete with shopping lists, recipes, printable labels, and directions!  She is the one who really taught me how to do freezer cooking.  She has several menu options that include diet menus.  If you are new to freezer cooking, I recommend you try out one of her monthly menu plans just once.  Once you go through the complete process, you see how easy it really is and how much money and time you save!

What works for me, now that I know how to do freezer cooking, is that I buy double the ingredients of all of my recipes for the month.  (Buying ground beef or turkey in bulk saves you money.)  The night I'm making a meal, I make two of the recipe and freeze one.  Usually with soups and chilis, I make triple batches.  I label the meal in a ziploc or other freezer-safe container and also write reheating directions.  (If I'm unsure, or the recipe doesn't give reheating directions, I just google it.)

By planning ahead, I'm only cooking for half of the month, so we always have a yummy, healthy meal as a "back up plan" for the nights I don't feel like cooking.  By not running out and getting McDonald's (YUCK!  My kids and hubby won't give it up, though......), we save at least $15-20 each time!  And, by only shopping one time per month, I'm much more likely to stay in budget and not overspend.


SAMPLE MONTHLY DINNER MENU:

• Veggie Sushi & Chinese Slaw or Miso Soup (I try to make this at least twice a month -- it's a VERY economical meal and my kids love it!  I combine avocado, cucumber, carrots and cream cheese in my sushi; Chinese Slaw is just broccoli slaw and shredded carrots mixed with tahini, pressed garlic, ground ginger, lemon juice and water.)
• Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese (Cooking Light magazine recipe)
• Veggie & Brown Rice Quiche (see my blog post here)
• Turkey Chili (this is super easy & freezes well, plus you can add rice, noodles, an extra can of beans, etc. to make it last much longer; there are lots of recipes out there.  I'll admit, I have a tendency to just throw a bunch of things in the pot with some cooked ground turkey and let it simmer for an hour...canned tomatoes and canned beans are my friend on these days.)
• Artichoke & Roasted Red Pepper Pizzas (Cooking Light magazine recipe)
• Salad (we usually have a very large, hearty salad once a week; includes romaine, avocados, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, celery, & feta + whatever else I have one hand!  I don't buy salad dressing anymore because the combination of feta, avocados, and tomatoes makes the salad "wet" enough for us.)
• Turkey & Artichoke  Pasta  (Cooking Light magazine recipe)
• Curried Beef (Cooking Light magazine recipe)
• Fajitas (these are easy to throw together when you have fresh veggies on hand and either freezer chicken/beef or canned beans)
• Jillian's Ziti with Chicken (Jillian Michaels' website)
• Kathy Smith's Chicken and green beans with almonds (Thin Kitchen recipe book by Beachbody)
• Barbacoa Pork with rice & beans  (SkinnyTaste website)
• Beef & Black Bean Chili (Thin Kitchen recipe book by Beachbody) & Sweet Potato cornbread muffins (recipe here on blog)
• Butternut Squash Soup (recipe on my blog here)

Good luck!  Up next in this series.......monthly breakfast menus!

Feed 5 for $500: Strategic Pantry & Freezer Stocking (part 1)

Before you run to your kitchen and start throwing things away....use what you have and replace items with organic a little at a time.  So many people think if they are going to start buying organic, they have to go "all in."  It's just not economical to do that, and a huge waste of food, too.  When I decided to start doing this, I slowly replaced items as I ran out.

My biggest tip for you is to stop buying prepackaged meals and snacks.  You're probably saying, "Oh, it's only $2 for this box of granola bars."  Or, "These fruit snacks are so cheap and my kids love them...." However, you are going to spend much more money for the month compared to making your own!

I also stopped buying cereal for my three kiddos because they would each eat 3+ bowls per morning, meaning we'd go through about a box every couple of days (not to mention the extra milk we were consuming).  That was a LOT of extra money in our budget, so I switched us to more filling breakfasts.  Yes, it means I spend more time in the morning, but it saves us so much it's worth it. 

PANTRY
Now, here's some staples you should keep in your pantry to save you money:

1. dry beans. They are cheap! Buy organic, and plan ahead. If you give yourself enough prep time, you will save so much money over buying canned!  I also like to make my own bean sprouts from dry mung beans.  It's SUPER easy (just google the directions) and a bag at the health food store only costs $4.  Bean sprouts are great on salads, in stir fry, or in homemade Thai spring rolls.
   
2. canned goods. You'll especially want to have beans, tomatoes and fruit.  Having a couple cans of each of these will keep you from running to the store when you just need to pick up "one thing."
3. flax seeds. If you can find them ground, that's best because they don't digest well. But I found packs of them at the Dollar Tree and stocked up! I just put them in my Vitamix to grind them and store them in the freezer. Adding these to your baked goods & smoothies will help keep you full (& regular, if you know what I mean!).  I also like to use them in my homemade cracker recipe.
4. rice. It's inexpensive and can be used to stretch so many meals from chili to sushi and even faux quiche! My favorite is jasmine, but brown is the healthiest. Even if you spend a few more dollars on organic, it's worth it for your family's health!
5. organic cinnamon. It makes almost anything taste better!  I use it in my coffee (with almond extract, it makes for a cappuccino flavor with NO calories!).  The organic cinnamon I bought tastes WAY better than the cheap stuff I was buying before.
6. powdered milk or canned milk.  How many times have you gone to bake and found you're out of milk?  If you run to the store, you are more than likely to buy more than just that gallon of milk!  This is not the healthiest milk by any means, but it'll do "in a pinch."
7. popcorn.  I buy organic popcorn in bulk at the health food store, but this is an item you could use coupons for.  Do NOT buy the microwave bags anymore!  You can make your own by putting 1/4 cup popcorn into a brown paper bag and microwave it yourself.  Without oil and butter, it's a healthy snack for you AND your kids!
8. whole wheat pastry flour.  This is SO much better for you than all-purpose flour, and the pastry flour is fine enough to handle baking.
9. sugar in the raw (or turbinado sugar).  Stop buying sugar free sweeteners and switch to the real thing; just consume less.  I also avoid "regular" white sugar as much as possible.
10. nuts.  Yes, they're expensive.  However, you can add them just a little at a time to your baked goods, grind them and use them in oatmeal to make it more filling, or eat just a couple for a healthy snack.  If you buy them in bulk, you'll save money.
11. local honey.  I have found great success in taking local honey to help with my seasonal allergies.  Some will say it's been disproven, but it has worked for me and my children!  I use it in place of sugar in some of my recipes.

FREEZER
I have a very small freezer (the top kind) and managed to make do with that.  But we finally broke down and bought a deep freezer off Craigslist for $50.  We put it in my husband's art studio (aka the shed) since we don't have a basement or a garage.  It's not a pretty freezer because they kept it in the garage, but it was cheap and it holds a lot.

Keep these things in your freezer:

1. bananas & other fresh fruit. You don't need to buy organic bananas because of the thick peels. But buy enough for the whole month (especially when you can find them discounted!). Bring them home, peel & slice.  Put one banana per snack size ziploc, and store all of them in a large freezer ziploc. Really makes for great smoothies and oatmeal!
2. homemade muffins & other baked goods.  If you make a double or triple batch of muffins (or any baked goods), stick them in freezer bags and throw them in the freezer.  They will last longer than if you had them on the counter, and they keep very well.  This one tip, believe it or not, will save you a lot of money and time!  When I stick baked goods in the freezer, the kids don't think about them and devour them all in one day.
3. bread.  I just haven't started making my own bread yet, although once I save enough money for a grain mill, I will.  For now, though, I buy Nature's Own bread at the Dollar Tree!  Walmart sells this bread for almost $3/loaf.  I buy as much as I can, or have room for, and then freeze it.  (They usually get shipments twice a week.  Call ahead to find out the day and time so you can stock up!)  It defrosts well in the toaster or fridge.
4. homemade freezer meals.   When you make a meal, double it and freeze the extra meal for later in the month.  (Just be sure to label it with reheating directions.)  Having a ready-to-bake meal in the freezer will save you from eating out.  I used to buy skillet meals to have on hand, but now I make my own.  The ones I make have much more flavor than what I used to buy, and they are so much healthier (and cost effective!).  I've done once a month cooking, but I find that making double batches of meals for two weeks and freezing the second meal is a better plan for me.
5. homemade soup starters.  Use what you have on hand and make up a few batches.  Especially since fall is here and winter is coming, you'll love how easy and economical it is to whip up a batch of soup.  Make a large batch and freeze it!  If you get those freezer canning jars, you can freeze individual servings of soup for work/school.
6. homemade chicken stock.  I like to buy a whole chicken from our local farmer.  It's approx. $13 for the whole chicken which is organic and much healthier than what you can buy in the store.  One of my favorite ways to cook it is to brine it in a simple salt solution for 5-6 hours, then smoke it for approx 2 hrs.  YUM!  Then I can use the chicken in my recipes for the next week or two.  After I've picked all the meat off the bones, I boil it with water and a few seasonings.  This makes a LARGE amount, so I store it in the freezer in 2 cup batches (because that's what most recipes call for). **How to brine a chicken:  Put the chicken into a large bowl or pot with enough water to cover it, and about 3/4 cup kosher salt or sea salt (regular table salt works too), then you can add just about anything, depending on the extra flavor you want.  You could add  2/3 cup sugar + 3/4 cup soy sauce + 1/4 cup olive oil.  OR, you could add freshly ground pepper, coriander seeds, and any other seasonings you have on hand.  Cover it and let it sit for at least 3-4 hrs (you can do it overnight if you want).  Then cook the chicken however you'd like! 

I'm guessing you noticed a trend in my freezer: homemade.  I have found that the more I make at home, the less I spend, and the healthier it is.  I can control the ingredients, and when I buy in bulk for the month, I save money!

Coming next......my monthly dinner menu plan!

Feed 5 for $500 Series

I'm a stay-at-home mom (actually, a work-at-home mom who homeschools 3 children, is an independent Team Beachbody coach, volunteers as a MOPS Community Coach, and does freelance writing/editing!).....anyway, because our income is limited, I work very hard to keep our monthly grocery budget around $500. Yes. Really!

So you're probably thinking, "How in the world can you feed 5 for $500 and keep the meals healthy?" Over the next week or two, I will be posting several articles explaining how I manage to accomplish the impossible.

We budget a total of $600 monthly to include all food, pull-ups (still have one child who wets the bed), paper products, bathroom items, etc. My series will include:

• Breakfast menus
• Lunch menus
• Dinner menus & freezer cooking
• Saving at the grocery store
• Strategic pantry stocking

It really is possible for you to stay on a budget and feed your family healthy, organic food!