Pocket of Pennies

Food Storage

2010-01-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

So, after some time away, I am back. And with some good ideas, hopefully.

I have been working on building up a supply of food storage for our family. I have been able to get a lot from the cannery at Welfare Square.

I have also realized part of having food storage is knowing how to use it. I started using the food storage we had and replacing it as we emptied a case. It ended up being a good plan. However, I am now finding so many ways to use it, I am going through it quite fast.

I have discovered the cannery also sells food in bulk. I have kept my empty cans from the cases and now buy a 25 pound bag of what ever I need and just refill the cans. It works out great! The bags end up being even cheaper than buying it in the case, which was already a cheap buy. It also keeps our food storage as food storage! It is a Win-Win!

Buddie Up

2008-09-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

So I have not been very good at keeping up on this since I have been in the throws of pregnancy. I have also discovered that I am not very good at saving pennies while I am pregnant. If something sounds good, I need it and I need it now! We have made too many 11:00 runs to get what ever sounded satisfying and settling.

My sweet husband has been very understanding, since we have been through this plenty of times before. He now knows that what ever I am craving, he'll just finish up. I usually only get a 1/3 of the way through something before I have had it and can't look at it again.... he just dives in at that point and we just got a 2 for 1 meal deal.

If we are eating out waaay more than we normally do, but we are getting half of what we normally do, I don't know if we are really saving anything. But we are saving my sanity! That has got to be worth something, right?

Pantry Week

2008-08-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

We challenged ourselves to not go to the store last week. It was shocking to find what we had in our pantry. We made some of the best meals we have had in a while: pot pie, grilled chicken salads, tortellini, cheesy chicken (a family favorite), and of course, lots of fresh homemade bread! It has been soooo nice! I have loved spending more time at home, rather than at the grocery store, which seems to have a timewarp effect on me, as I run in for 10 minutes and come out 2 hours later.

Cheap Date

2008-08-25T09:22:00.001-07:00

We just celebrated our anniversary. We thought we would try to do it a little inexpensive. We have had some that were more than we should have done.

I decided to look through some of our old papers and dig through my purse. We found a $50 gift card to a fabulous restaurant. We went to lunch and ate such a great meal! We went all out, appetizers, soups, salads, entrees. We were way too stuffed for dessert. It ended up costing us $7 after the gift card. We did add a tip as well, for a total of $16. Quite a steal!

We were also given a $50 gift card to Best Buy. We went and bought a Wii game we have been wanting. We ended up paying $1.25 for the game. It was awesome! It is also really fun to play! We spent hours playing and had such a great time together!

We then were given $25 as an anniversary present. We decided to go to another restaurant we love. We ate everything we could, but it was still only $20 there.

We were given a gift card from my husband's office to a movie theater. It worked at the dollar movie theater as well, so we went to see Prince Caspian. One we have wanted to see, but never did. It was great! We are also excited to go back and see 6 more movies there with the rest of the gift card.

All in all, I think we spent a total of $12. Not too bad for eating out, buying a video game, eating out again, and going to a movie!

Chicken Day

2008-08-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

I have learned it is cheaper to buy chicken or other meats in bulk. You can get a way better price per pound. I usually have bought a huge family pack and then frozen it. It has been a nightmare though when I wanted to cook up just one or two pieces.

I have found the best way to do it is cook up the whole package and then freeze it cooked. It takes the same amount of time to cook one piece of chicken as it does to cook five pieces of chicken. I will then portion it out into recipe sized amounts and freeze them. It is awesome!

When I need some, I pull out a small container of cooked chicken, ground beef, pork, or whatever, defrost it, and dinner is ready in 15 minutes.

Senior Discount Day

2008-08-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

I take my mom to Shopko on their Senior Discount Day. We find some amazing deals! I of course look throught the clearance. We also buy things that are on sale that week. It is amaznig what an extra 15% off can do! We make it a monthly tradition!

Clear Out the Clearance

2008-07-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

I was at Wal-mart yesterday, not my favorite place to shop, but I do have to say there are some fantastic deals there!

If I am shopping solo, I check out the clearance racks at whatever store I am at. I found a pair of linen capris for $1. Holy deal, Batman! Seriously, $1! I also found a cute white t-shirt for my daughter that was $1.

I felt guilty I couldn't find the white dress shirt for my son... the whole reason I was shopping, but I was thrilled to get what I did find. It broke my heart to spend $13 on his shirt when I did find it at Kohl's. Oh well, $15 for 3 items of clothing still works out to be some fantastic finds!

Use the Library

2008-07-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

We have discovered the local Library has every movie the Movie Rental Store does, and if it doesn't, you can request it and get it a few days later, so we get our movies at the library. You usually have it for a week, but we get them for 2 weeks at our new library! (I love where we moved to!) We can watch it as many times as we want. We can practically have it memorized by the time we take it back. It is wonderful and completely free!

Pass the Buck

2008-07-16T08:46:00.001-07:00

We have been to Lagoon now 4 times in the month since we moved up here. We bought season passes. It has been the greatest! The passes have already paid for themselves and we have 3 more months of use left in them.

We also have a pass to the zoo. My mom has a "grandma pass" to the children's museum and the dinosaur park, which also works at the aviary. We use her passes monthly, if not more.

If you will come again, buy a pass. It will pay for itself. If you have a pass to somewhere, use it. It is already paid for, so now it is free entertainment!

Make Some Dough

2008-07-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

I have found that making bread is sooooo much cheaper than buying bread. And I have found that i enjoy knowing everything that is in my bread as well, no preservatives or flavors or whatever I don't want in it. I have loved it! Who does not want their house filled with the smell of homemade bread?

I have been making bread for about 5 years, but it did take me a while to find a recipe that suits me and my family. I use one recipe. I use it for white or wheat bread and just change the flour accordingly. I also use this recipe for rolls and sweet rolls. I even use it for pizza dough, but add some Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese to it to make it all the better.

If you want to try it, here it is:
2 1/2 c. warm water
3 3/4 tsp. yeast
3 tbsp. margarine/butter
2 3/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. dry milk
6 c. flour - I usually use 2 1/2 c. wheat flour and 3 1/2 c. bread flour

Mix the warm water and yeast and let it sit for a few minutes. Add the rest and let your mixer knead it for you for about 10 minutes. Push it all down to the bottom of the bowl and put a cloth or paper towel over it. Let it rise for about 30 -45 minutes. Pre-heat your oven to 170 to let them rise a second time. Take off the towel and let the mixer knead it for you again for another 5 minutes. Divide and shape the dough into 2 large or 3 small loaves. When the oven is heated to 170, place loaves in and turn off oven. Let them sit inside warm oven for 18 - 23 minutes. Just until they are at the top of the pan or barely above it. Do not open the oven. Then turn on oven to 350" and bake for 22- 25 minutes. Remove from oven and put some shortening on top to make crust softer. Let cool a few minutes before taking out of the pan.

I do have a wheat grinder and so I grind my wheat fresh. However, I grind about 8 cups at a time, use what I need and freeze the rest. Then the next time I am making bread, I just pull out my frozen wheat flour and I am ready to go. I have not noticed a difference with using freshly ground or freshly ground and then frozen flour, but I have seen a difference with using store bought wheat flour.

So it probably sounds like a lot to do. It kinda is, but once you get it down, it gets simpler. It takes about 2 hours from start to finish. For a while I had a hard time finding the time to do it. But then, when I would go to the store to buy some bread, it would take me close to 2 hours and I would come home with more groceries than I planned and less money in my pocket.

I challenged myself for a week to just make bread every time we were out instead of running to the store. It worked. I made the time to make it and got better at making it and did not need to go to the store at all that week! It was so great!

I figured out a few years ago that I could make a loaf of bread for $0.25. Now it may be more with inflation, but not much. Once I figured that out, I could not bring myself to buy another loaf at the store, no matter what. I even use this recipe to make large, flat rolls we use as hamburger buns. They really fill you up!

Two Buy Two

2008-07-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

I hate going to the store to buy just one thing. I also hate going to the store when that one thing is an expensive bottle of medicine! Between teething, learning to ride a bike, running in front of the swing, testing gravity, seeing what bees like, and just plain growing pains, my children seem to go through medicine.

Buying Children's Tylenol and Advil/Motrin can add up when you need it for 3 kids. I have learned to buy it at Walmart. It is not a place I really love to shop, but the price can't be beat. I always buy the Walmart brand of ibuprofen and acetaminophen since it is pennies compared to the name brands!

I also will buy 2 of everything, if not more, just so I don't have to come back to get it in a week, or month, or when we realize we are down to the last drop at 2 am. It has worked out great!

Will Work for Snacks

2008-07-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

My kids love snacks. Fruit snacks. Completely unhealthy, loaded with sugar and corn syrup, fake flavoring, food coloring and delicious! I limit them to 1 packet a day.

Yesterday I was fed up with them playing with every toy and leaving them everywhere! (They say it is a playroom.... you are supposed to do that! I say it is a family room and families need to walk through it with out pain and suffering.) They came asking for their favorite fake fruit which I normally just hand over.

Not this time, bub! I decided they needed to earn them. I told them for every 5 toys they picked up they would have 1 fruit snack out of their packet. Man did they move! They picked up 5 toys and were asking for a snack before I even had the things opened.

Needless to say, they earned every gem of gummy goodness in their packets, one at a time. It was great! Normally, they eat the fruit snacks in less than a minute and are asking for more of something to fill their hunger pains. However, this time the packets lasted a whole 7 minutes and they did not ask for more food!

And, I got a clean room without me having to do it!

Ladies and Gentlemen... We have a WINNER!