Basics 101...Food...Recipes with Leftovers

Just a really quick recipe for using leftovers. I passed this one on to my sister, who recently tried it with great success.

When we cook around our house, there are always leftovers. I'm fortunate that my husband doesn't object to eating leftovers until they are finally gone. While some things can be frozen and consumed later, others tend to get eaten several days in a row until they are finally gone.

One of the things we always seem to have left over is Spaghetti sauce. Fortunately, that is one thing that will freeze well. Lately though, I've been putting that leftover sauce to really good use.

We (sis and I) call it 'Quick Chicken Parmesean' and it is very tasty.

With this recipe you don't have to make your own Spaghetti sauce, one of the inexpensive canned sauces will work quite well. Depending on your personal preference, this can be put in a crockpot or baked in the oven...both ways come out really tasty.

First...which pieces of chicken does your family like? Since I enjoy the breast portions, I used these. Sis used the leg quarters. Once you've got your pieces of chicken for each person, remove the skin and fatty stuff. Put the pieces in your baking dish or crockpot.....if baking you will need to set the oven at 350 degrees.

Second...once the chicken is in the dish or crockpot, season to your taste with salt, pepper each piece. If using leftover sauce, pour the sauce over the chicken pieces until totally covered. If using canned sauce, open the can and do the same...depending on the amount of chicken, you might need two cans/jars of sauce.
I like the canned, really cheap sauce...usually under $2/can.

Third...turn on the crockpot...high setting for at least two hours...then low setting for the last two hours or until the chicken is done. Turn the chicken once and recover with the sauce. Same for baking...put in the oven uncovered for at least one hour, turning once, bake until chicken is done.

Fourth...about ten minutes before the end of cooking sprinkle to taste with grated Parmesean cheese...or your favorite.
Serve with pasta of your choice or other side dishes you like...salads, baked potato, etc

This dish can be prepared ahead of time and allowed to marinade in the Spaghetti sauce prior to cooking.
When using the crockpot you can put it on low if cooking overnight or while at work. I have prepared the dish for popping in the oven after work and all I have then is the cooking time.

Be creative...add spices and herbs you like to the sauce...I always add extra Basil, Oregano, onion, and garlic...but I like these things. Make the recipe your own by adding the things you like.
Refrigerate your leftovers or even freeze the leftovers in microwavable containers for quick and easy meals for one or two.

Hope you enjoy!

Basics 101...Food...Menu planning

Ok, by now you've had a chance to work on your budget and have figured out where you are spending your hard earned money. We talked about heading to the store in a previous post. Before you head out though, you might want to give a bit of thought as to the meals you will be preparing...before you get to the store and the sales items begin closing in around you.

As you go through your list of needed items and the sale papers, think about your menu for the coming week(s). Since I only shop monthly, I try to have a rough idea of the types of meals we will be eating during that time.

For us, Roasts and Hams work to stretch that dollar well. The first night, with either of these meats, we will have the slices with vegetables on the side. We usually slice much of the meat for sandwiches or for re-heating to serve again with vegetables. Once I have my slices, the remainder is then cut into chunks for soups and stews. Don't toss that broth from either, freeze it for use in your soups and stews. We seem to eat soup or stew most of the year around here, even in the hot summer months. To go with your soups or stews, our favorite is Cornbread. You can also find good prices on chicken pieces at times...these also make wonderful soups and are easy to 'pick' the meat from the bones.

I try to keep potatoes, noodles, rice and dry beans on hand all the time. Leftover beef roasts make great 'beef and noodles' or stewed beef and rice dishes. The broth or drippings from your ham or pork roasts make wonderful potato soup and bean soup. Sometimes I will add broccoli to the potato soup or bean soup once we've had it a few times. Bean soup without the broccoli is used to make chili as well....that's IF I can save enough of the bean soup to make the chili...
When our boys were younger and I made either potato or bean soup, they would always ask "where's the broccoli"...amazing, since they wouldn't eat bean soup for their mother at all. I always laughed about the broccoli, how many kids do you know who actually ask for broccoli? They also adored the cornbread...one asked me to make them a 'cornbread birthday cake'...I declined by telling them not everyone would enjoy it as much as them...I made them cornbread though as part of their birthday meal instead.

Biscuits and gravy are another big hit at our house...I make biscuits from scratch and the gravy can be made from just about any meat I cook. As long as I have flour and shortening...we can eat.

I use ground beef in a number of meals we make around here...Meatloaf, gravies and of course our standby meals...Hamburger helper. Over the years I've heard many people put down the packaged foods like Hamburger helper. Hey, when you are on a tight budget, this stuff is at least filling, cheap and comes in many flavors. Not everyone has the time to spend in front of the stove. Tuna helper is another standby quicky meal for us.

So now you have some ideas to get you going with your own menus. In between the meals we have from roasts, hams and chicken...we have things like pork chops or chicken fixed various ways and even steak. The vegetables to go with these things and the side dishes prepared varies, depending on what's in season and what's on hand. One of my mom's favorite late suppers was simply a baked potato with butter, salt and pepper. But if you think about it, you can dress that potato with things like broccoli and cheese, meat and gravy or any other combination you can think of. Moderation doesn't have to mean you go hungry.

All of the food I've mentioned when purchased in quantity or large packages will help stretch your food dollar. For example, you might spend $10 on a roast...from that roast you will be able to feed four people at least three meals...everyone gets a couple slices per meal and the remainder can be made into a large stew or soup that will continue to feed your family for several more meals. Makes that $10 roast break down to just pennies per serving. It's the same with Ham...while the initial cost may seem steep $15-$20...once you've served two or threes meals from this and made the remainder into a soup, you are getting these meals for pennies instead of dollars. Afterall, you aren't going to use 10 pounds of potatoes (unless you have a huge family) when making soups, and you won't be using 5 pounds of beans or rice making the soups either. Use what's on hand when you can, canned vegetables work very nice in soups...fresh is even better when its in season.

Menus don't have to be written in stone...change things up and experiment with different flavors and combinations. Who knows, you might even discover that you like to cook!

Basics 101...Setting up your budget

One of the most difficult tasks my kids have had to learn is how to live on their own paycheck. It's a lesson they are struggling to understand as they reach past their childhood into adulthood. Two are over twenty-five, the other is just past thirty. All of them have difficulty prioritizing their spending....in spite of the advice and counsel they have received from their dad and me. Guess they just haven't reached the point of wanting financial security yet. They all seem to be in the 'instant gratification' mode. 'Spend it like you have it', seems to be their motto.

In order to really understand exactly where your money goes takes a bit of effort. You have to actually sit down and physically list every penny you have spent and on what. This was an exercise my first husband used to make me do to explain how I had spent our weekly pay. What amazed him, I was able to account for every single penny I had spent. Some of this is just my personality, some has been learned.

The very first thing to do is sit down with paper and pencil...or at your computer in a word processing program...and list everything you spend money on.  

Below is an example of some of the main monthly expenses most people will have:

• Rent/Mortgage
• Food/Grocery Expenses (includes laundry supplies, personal care items, etc)
• Electric
• Cable
• Phone/Cellphone
• Water
• Vehicle Insurance 
• Fuel for your vehicle
• Any other expenses

Once you have your list, fill in exactly what you have been spending on these items.  The amounts may surprise you!  The main items that are a set payment amount can be divided by the number of paychecks you receive in a month's time.  Since we get paid weekly, I divide our expenses by four to get the amount weekly that needs to be set aside to cover each bill.  Things like your Water, Electric and Groceries can be estimated and then divided the same way.  For the utilities, I take our highest and lowest bills and average them...example:  Summer A/C and Winter heating cause our average bill to run around $150....our lowest bill runs around $80 during the months we don't have to use either.  I allow for roughly $120/month for the electric. You can figure yours similarly. 

When looking over what you spend at the grocery, don't forget to think about how often you make purchases like toilet paper, laundry soap, bath soap, cleaning supplies, etc..  Buy these items in larger quantities when you find them on sale, be sure you check the prices for the different size packages.  Again, sometimes the smaller packages can be a better buy at times.  Once you get your 'base' items built up, you will be able to spend less on these items and put that cash towards more food type items.  Just a matter of training yourself to 'take inventory' before heading off to the store.  While you are still looking at your list, look at some of the other things you might be able to live without...snacks are items that eat your budgeted grocery money quickly.  Not to mention some of these can really add the weight.

Grocery shopping is one of the areas where we can really train ourselves to spend less.  Most of the other expenses on your list are not always under your control.  We all decide how much we are able to afford when we shop for insurance, housing and such.  These are usually set amounts every month.  Utilities on the other hand and the fuel for our vehicles...these items are subject to fluctuate.  The only way to make an impact on the price we pay for these is to change our habits.  Turn lights out when you aren't using them, turn off the tv, stereo or other appliances when you finish with them.  Unplug those phone chargers...these things draw power even when the device isn't attached...unplug it when not in use.  You know the drill....most of us have heard these things from our parents, grandparents and other elders, most of our lives.  Its the same with your driving habits.  Use the vehicle that gets the best mileage.  If you only have one, keep up with the maintenance on it...oil changes, tire pressures, air filters, etc.  Most of this can be done yourself with minimal tools and for a fraction of what most 'professionals' charge.  Plan your trips so you can get the most done with the least amount of travelling.  Walk when you can, ride your bicycle when you can...all this will help save your fuel.  If you live where you must drive, like I do, then plan your driving.  Stop at the store, bank, etc, before you head home from work.  If this isn't practical, plan all your errands for one trip on one day.  Cut down on the number of times you head to the grocery a month  Daily shopping will take more of your money than shopping by the week or month.  I shopped weekly for some things when the kids were young, but now, I go once a month for our groceries.  If we run out of milk or bread, I head down to our little corner store, anything else will wait until my next grocery day.  It takes some effort, but I am able to stay within our budget by shopping in this manner.  Our freezer stays pretty full, the cupboard is full of staple items like sugar, macaroni, canned tuna, soups and stuff.  We manage to eat some tasty, inexpensive meals...

When our boys were young and were constantly leaving the house with lights, tv's and radios on, I would call them back inside and warn them once.  After that, the rule at our house was, if the light was left on and you were out of the house...the light bulb was mine.  They would lose the lights for a week...which meant they had to take advantage of the light from outside to do anything in their room.  Same with tv's and radios, except I took the power cords.  It didn't really take very long before they were reminding each other to turn stuff off.

Now that you have an idea where to start, go ahead and look at what you spend, and see where you can 'trim the fat'.  Til next time....

Basics 101...Food...heading to the store

In this post I'll be talking about one of the basic priorities in life...Food. Everyone has to eat and with all the do's and don't's about what is good and what is bad...I for one stay confused. Instead of keeping up with every food fad that comes along, just try to eat as healthy as you can afford to.

We have all been taught the basic food groups since elementary school. Sitting down with the grocery list though and trying to follow tight budgets, well, some things just aren't as necessary as others. While raising my son in the early years I was dealing with a husband who would only eat certain things...and meat was a huge priority to him. Every meal had to have meat, but when living on an extremely tight food budget, how to do this?

One of the things I began buying was the frozen meat entrees. I could fix canned vegetables and fresh potatoes to serve with it. Yes, they are probably chock full of things people could do without...additional sodium, preservatives, etc. But, they were edible and filling and best of all....cheap. When frozen tv dinners would be on sale, they became an excellent 'back-up' meal for the freezer. It was the same with pot-pies. Now some might argue that these things could be made much cheaper and more nutritious if done from scratch. Maybe, but only if one has the time, and everything on hand. Not to mention, not everyone is comfortable in the kitchen.

In years past and currently, my shopping habits have taken a different turn. Always having to cook for what I fondly call 'a small army'....there were seven in my family when I learned to cook...I never quite got the hang of cooking for only two. Up until the past couple of years, I've had growing boys who could wipe out a week's worth of groceries as a snack....how to fill those 'black holes' could be challenging.

As a result of growing boys, I started cooking much like my Grandma and mom....in quantity. We tried to eat healthy, just like mom tried to do with five kids of her own who could clean a refrigerator out, but my main objective was to fill their growling bellies like mom had done with us. Stews, soups, gravies and biscuits were top favorites around our house. Mom cut corners with the cheap meals like hot dogs and chicken when we were growing up...those two items were very cheap then.

When I head to the store even now, I make a list. Starting at the refrigerator I go through and write down the items I need...same in the freezer. From there, I move to the cupboards and go through what is on hand, what needs replaced. Don't forget to go through and check for the personal items you need, shampoo, toilet paper, laundry supplies, dish soap, etc.

Once you have your list...go through and think about what types of meals you will be making. Around our house, I plan for our main meal...supper...and whatever leftovers are in the fridge are what will be made for lunch. I do keep canned soups and ramen noodles on hand for those 'quickie' weekend lunches or late suppers.

I tend to buy all meats in the largest packages I can afford...depending on price per pound. Most of the stores I shop offer discounts per pound for the larger packages. Check prices...sometimes the better deal is in buying two smaller packages....I've found this to be true especially when purchasing sliced cheese.

Now I'm sure you might be asking, why do I want to have 10 pounds of chicken for two people? If you break down the chicken into individual packages and then freeze it you will have several meals for a very minimal cost. I buy pork chops, steaks, roasts, chicken pieces, etc all in this manner. Once I get the food to the house, I begin breaking down the packages into individual servings and in the case of ground beef...into approximate 1 pound packages. The cheap, flip-top baggies are wonderful for breaking down servings. After each piece is in the flip-top bag, I slip it into a freezer bag until the gallon size freezer bag is full and then it goes to the freezer.

Recently, sis was complaining about her husband cooking the entire package of sausage links and then wasting the uneaten portions...she was amazed when I suggested that she break down the links into indiviual baggies and freeze them that way. She hadn't thought about that being an option. Anything can be broken down to individual servings before freezing. Buying in quantity when possible is almost always cheaper.

Another tip before you head out to the grocery...look at the sale papers from the stores. If your grocery stores are fairly close together go for the cheaper items in each store. If you are like me and only have one store that is close, look for the sales and see what on your list might be on sale...stock up when you have the extra cash and things are on sale.

For some items like toilet paper, freezer bags, even canned goods....check out the discount stores. I have found the prices at these type stores are usually well below the prices at the grocery. When I am out of certain things like these, I plan my shopping trip to correspond with other errands I need to do while I'm in town. It is extremely rare for me to make a special trip in to town just for one or two things.

One of the most important lessons I think I learned from my childhood about food....no matter what the price or how much is saved by purchasing a certain brand because of price....if you or the family don't like the taste of the product, you aren't saving money. I'm still that way over certain things like peanut butter and cheese. I prefer name brands on peanut butter and when it comes to processed American cheese...Velveeta is for me. Once when mom had our dad go to the store, he picked up this really 'good deal' on another brand of processed American cheese. Being the cheese eating munchkins we were, we immediately had to have a sandwich. Ewwww, is about as kind as I can be. That was some of the nastiest tasting stuff I ever put in my mouth. None of us would touch the stuff. When mom said something about it, dad was still defending his purchase as a really good deal....as mom said 'If it doesn't get eaten, it isn't a good deal, no matter how cheap it was'. That cheese sat in the fridge until he finally managed to eat it his self, mom went and bought the Velveeta which we all adored.

The Beginning...An introduction

I decided to start this blog after following a thread at one of my favorite sites http://gardenbuddies.com/ in the Social Gallery. The title of the thread is 'Learning to be Frugal'.

After reading what so many others are doing to get by nowadays, I've decided to share some of the ways I was taught to 'survive'. My mom came from a very large family and was born shortly after the 'Great Depression'. They lived on a farm and as my Grandparents had always been on the farm, they were raised in a very frugal environment. I recall my Grandmother telling us about how things were done when she was a little girl and then later on about what life was like raising twelve children on the farm. My Grandparents on this side were born in the late 1890's, in rural Kentucky. Their families had been in the area since the Revolutionary War ended...and during the time frame when Kentucky first began being settled. Life in those days was a definite challenge by today's standards.

Grandma told of having to haul water from the creek to the big wash kettle, which was hanging over a wood fire. They not only had to haul the water, but hunt for the wood to build the fire and cut it with axes to the length needed. The wash was done weekly and was an all day chore.

They always had a very large garden and all the kids worked in the garden and around the farm as soon as they were walking. Everyone had chores and even the little ones were taught what to do to help. Some of the things I've heard of little ones doing during those days is amazing compared to how little ones today are treated. My Granddad worked off the farm at times in the coal mines. Life was pretty tough, but they all came through strong and healthy.

Little things that I've learned through my life are ingrained now as habits...I've tried to pass this knowledge on to my kids and grandkids to help them survive under any circumstances. Before my mom passed, I thanked her for teaching us survival skills...because of her, I know I can survive regardless of the economy, regardless of conditions, regardless of whatever is thrown my way.

Take what you find that works for you, share the knowledge as you learn. The key is the desire to survive, no matter what life throws your way....