Storyland

“Storyland is where fairy tales come to life, and I like fairy tales.” Alright Bean, let’s go to Storyland! Enough said.

Catching Up

In case you were wondering, the All You Grocery Challenge was a flop here. I think I did really well staying in my grocery budget, but some unexpected personal events came up and my receipts got thrown all over and I didn’t get to follow through with pictures, recipes and the like.  Family comes first, and this blog comes much further down, so who knows where the grocery challenge falls in the lineup. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to repeating the challenge again next year. In the meantime, I’ll keep on sharing my frugal tips and thrifty recipes that our family uses.

Challenge Day 4 – meal costs per serving

Much like sporting events get rehashed and analyzed long after they’ve ended, I’ll be adding some recipes, cost-breakdowns, and general commentary as our family follows the All You Grocery Challenge. Today, we have a $ per serving analysis of the first few days.

Sunday– $0 per serving (leftovers and freezer relics)

Monday– $0 per serving (ditto)

Tuesday–  $1.16 per serving for Turkey or Hamburgers and Peasy Pasta Salad, with green salad

The turkey burgers cost $.61/each. Hamburgers were bought at BJ’s, 18 for $9.99.
2 turkey burgers + 2 hamburgers = $2.33
Burger buns =  $.50 (accounting only for the 1/2 stick of butter, but not the cost of flour & yeast)
Pasta Salad = $1.80 (1/2 lb pasta mixed with 1/2 package of frozen peas, mayo, chopped pickles, dill and cubed cheddar)

Wednesday–  $1.38 per serving for Hawaaian Pork Chops, Cut Green Beans, and Pineapple

Pork Chop packages were on sale this week B1G1. I marinated the chops in a McCormicks’ spice mix that I got free after sale & coupon. The beans and pineapple were from the pantry, but I figured the cost into the serving price as $1 per can.

Planning to go to the grocery store tomorrow, since we’re out of fresh fruit, yogurt, and milk! Plenty of $ in the budget to shop, but I still have to get some picnic food for the weekend adventures, so it might go fast if I’m not careful.

Grocery Challenge: Start of Week 1

After a short break, I’m back with a little frugal culinary adventure. I’m participating in the All You Grocery Challenge to spend no more than $25 per person, per week, and still fix healthy, yummy meals. I hope the challenge will help me improve my meal-planning skills and give me a chance to hone my supermarket saving skills. It’s the third day of week one, and we’re off to a slow start, but doing well!

Here’s the tentative meal plan for the week:

Breakfast: cereal, fiber bars and yogurt that we have in the house both from stockpile sales and BJ’s. (Love BJ’s wholesale club since you can use coupons on their products too)

Lunch: Leftovers (will plan this better next week to “healthify” the options)

Dinners:
Sunday–Chicken & Rice (Added a box of rice from the pantry to chopped cooked chicken breast from the freezer, and a bit of leftover spaghetti sauce and cheese from the fridge.)

Monday–Leftovers from the weekend (had some takeout from Wright’s Chicken Farm for Father’s Day too)

Tuesday–Hamburgers (in freezer) & turkey burgers, mesclun salad from the garden, Vanessa’s burger buns (dough is resting in the fridge right now!)

Wednesday–Mustard Glazed Pork Chops, peas from freezer, salad from garden

Thursday–American Chop Suey (use leftover burgers from Tues), salad from the garden, canned pineapple from the pantry 

Friday–Pizza (homemade crust, will have to get some toppings later this week, or just make it cheese & broccoli)

Saturday–Hotdogs (from the freezer) and baked beans, salad from garden (have you noticed this salad is growing out of control?)

Grocery Trip Details:

Spent $26.20 on Monday evening to buy:
2.5 lbs pork ribs (B1G1 package)—Freeze for later
3 lbs boneless pork chops (B1G1 package)—Freeze 1/2, other for Wed. dinner
1 lb plainville turkey burgers (Used $5/$15 meat purchase Q)–for Tues nite
2 doz Eggland’s best eggs ($1.50 each after $.50/1 Q doubled)
steak sauce (free at PC this week!)
2 Cans of Goya Beans ($.65/each)
Can Spaghetti Sauce ($1)
2 frozen 100% juice concentrates
Store brand BBQ Sauce ($.25 after i-save coupon)
3-lb box Elbow Mac ($1.77)
2 8-oz packages Shredded Cheese (2/$3)
Green Pepper ($.77)

Week 1 Budget Remaining: $73.80

Need to go buy some more fruit and bread for PB&Js, since Bean isn’t digging chicken leftovers for lunch.

Mother’s Day weekend in Seward

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend.  We had been planning for a few months to go to a bed and breakfast in Homer but when we called to make sure our reservations were OK the owner said the facilities were not ready (still 2 feet of snow and no electricity yet).  We just bought a new (well, new to us) camper so we decided to take it out to Seward.  It turned out to be one of the most beautiful weekends.

On the drive down Friday afternoon I saw a few beluga whales on Turnagain Arm.  We ended up in a camping spot right near the water.  And we couldn’t have ordered better weather- there was not a cloud in the sky for two days!  We got to walk around Seward, meet new friends, play with the kids at the park, go to Mass at a new church, and see all the wildlife (sea lions, otters, bald eagles etc). 

Hopefully you can tell by the photos below how beautiful it was and how much fun the boys were having.  What a great way to start off the summer!

Jennifer

Moms Own Words Giveaway (CSN Stores $50 GC)

You have a great chance to win a $50 gift card to CSN Stores if you hurry over to Moms Own Words Blog here. CSN stores have a little something for everyone!

Good luck!

Babies this weekend!

The premier weekend for Babies (the film that is!)  is finally here!

Psychology Today has a great review:

Have you seen the preview yet? I am very anxious to hear more about how children are raised in different cultures. I think this is going to be a fascinating film!

See my other post here for the trailer, and then check out Babies on the TODAY Show:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wishing a very Happy Mother’s Day weekend to all you moms out there!

A Full Cup Shopping Lists

Here’s one of my favorite frugal resources: A Full Cup! They have forums to discuss using coupons and rebates, as well as individual forums for a huge list of stores. I like to visit the forums for my local grocery stores, CVS, Walgreens, and even Target before going shopping to be sure I don’t miss any great deals. The forums are filled with friendly people helping make the most of store sales. In the Price Chopper forum, you’ll find a busy mom of two, massachoomommy, who likes to talk to herself; please say hello to her (me) when you visit!

She, like many other shopping list assistants, are busy coupon fairies, working weekly on shopping lists for all your favorite stores—so you don’t have to! All you have to do is select the items to purchase and print a personalized list. And another fun fact about the lists? They come with coupon-matchups!

I highly recommend this site for both the coupon camaraderie and a support network for sticking to your budget!

Portuguese Fish Casserole

Just wanted to share this recipe for Portuguese Cod Fish Casserole. Salted cod fish was no where to be found at our house, but I did have an abundance of puny chunks of generic white fish (I think they were supposed to be filets, but they were rather sad looking). I steamed the fish instead of cooking it in boiling water. You know a recipe is delicious when it was eaten before I could take a picture. And Bean asked for it several days after it had disappeared, so I’m sure I’ll be making it again!

 

Babies: Premiering Mom’s Day W-End!

I know many of you are moms chasing little ones around all the time, but why not follow four other babies around the world on their epic adventures of life? I’m looking forward to meeting this cutie from Mongolia, Bayarjargal. (Photo credit: Focus Features) This film premieres in theaters May 7th, this Mother’s Day weekend!

Everybody loves… BABIES. Coming to theatres this Mother’s Day Weekend (May 7th), this visually stunning new movie simultaneously follows four babies around the world – from first breath to first steps. From Mongolia to Namibia to San Francisco to Tokyo, BABIES joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all.

I first heard about this film as a Medela Mom Maven. Medela has also partnered with Focus Features and Babies; you can find out more about the film and enter their sweepstakes to win big prizes at www.medelababiesbond.com. I’ve also been asked as a BzzAgent to share the release of this unique film with you. How neat to see two different groups I belong to converging on an important topic!