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Thursday, August 28, 2014

Party food in lunch boxes?

Okay, so if you shop the back-to-school section of major retailers, in addition to notebook paper, crayons, pencils and binders, you'll see jumbo boxes of small packets of chips, highly-processed fruit snacks, punch boxes/pouches, packages of cookies, and individually wrapped bakery-type stuff, like small cakes and treats.

Since when did a lunch box need to be filled with party food? And what kind of messages are we sending to our kids about what they eat? If a lunch box is packed with items like chips and punch, how do we expect our kids to want to eat healthier foods at home?


I know there are a lot of parents who pack very healthy foods for their kids' lunches. I'm just appalled by the message we get from major retailers and food manufacturers about what we "should" be packing in our children's lunch boxes.

It kind of reminds me of what the front of a box of super sugary breakfast cereal usually says, "part of a nutritious breakfast' -- yeah, if you add some fruit, an egg, a piece of whole grain toast and a glass of milk, any bowl of sugar can be part of a nutritious breakfast.

I just don't think we should allow retailers and food manufacturers tell us what to eat. We have opposing priorities. Their priority is to make a profit. Our priority is superior nutrition for ourselves and our families.

Just an observation and a rant.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

This week's lunch round-up: another busy week

On Monday, I did a lot of cooking and baking. My week to come is a busy one, with picking blackberries, making jam, making pickles, harvesting and drying herbs, cleaning out 1 freezer to defrost, getting all the quilts and comforters washed/dried, and more. So, I decided to do as much cooking for the week as possible on Monday.

Some of the lunch round-up items are actually leftovers from Monday's dinner, just making everything that much simpler for me. Here's what's on the lunch menu at our house this week:

  • bean burger patties (there's rice and gravy to go with these, for the family members with a fridge at work)
  • creamy cucumber and dill salad
  • blueberry muffins
  • garlic bread
  • garden vegetable medley (tomatoes, summer squash, onions, garlic, herbs)
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Monday, August 25, 2014

Saving and using fat from cooking meat

Most of us, here, save at least some of our cooking fat, like bacon fat. And some of us save other meat fat. This seems to be an age-old frugal practice. I thought we could put our thoughts together and list all the ways we have used our saved fat, as well as how to store it.

  • clarified bacon fat in place of lard or Crisco in pastry  To clarify fat, add fat to a small saucepan of water. Heat to boiling and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow to cool, chill, and pour cloudy water off of the solidified fat. Add more water to the saucepan and repeat the simmer/chilling process 2 or 3 additional times. The final clarified fat has lost its meaty flavor and can be used for baking biscuits or making pie pastry.
  • making gravy immediately after frying ground beef or sausage  This gravy isn't part of the meal for which the meat was prepared but to be frozen and used later to top biscuits or Yorkshire pudding, with or without tofu chunks added (makes a protein/carb/fat portion of supper).
  • making gravy, as above, but adding milk to use in place of cream-of-whatever soup for casseroles  Sausage gravy, made with some milk, is great in a green bean casserole instead of the usual cream of mushroom soup.
  • making a large batch of chicken, turkey or ham gravy to divide into containers for the freezer for serving over cooked meat, potatoes, noodles or rice at another meal.
  • I store some fat, as is, in containers in the freezer, labeled as to which kind of fat  When cooking, I use a blend of this meat fat and oil to sauté items which don't contain their own fat, like bean burger patties, or, for the onions at the beginning of making a pot of soup. 

Just a note, ground beef and breakfast sausage fat have little flavor of their own, so I add a substantial amount of dried herbs to either when making gravy. I like sage and thyme added to sausage gravy and thyme, oregano, black pepper and soy sauce added to ground beef gravy.

So, what do you do with leftover meat fat?

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Thursday, August 21, 2014

Different strokes . . .

So often, other families make choices with their lives that we just don't understand. There's a reason we don't understand why a person chooses to do something one way, when our own, and different way makes better sense to us. We simply don't know the details and background of their lives that bring them to their choice.

What works for me might not work for you.

I make yogurt regularly. On Tuesday, I made 5 quarts of plain yogurt. I saved several dollars by making that yogurt. But making yogurt might not be the right choice for you. Let's say you only like yogurt a little. Would it really be worth spending a couple of hours to just make a little bit of yogurt? You may conclude that you're money and time is better spent buying small amounts of commercial yogurt when the price fits your budget.

Our family eats a lot of beans. We save a small fortune on our groceries by eating beans in place of meat, several days per week. Does that mean that every frugal family "needs" to eat loads and loads of beans? What if eating beans has a disastrous after-effect on your body? You may decide that you'd be better off saving in other ways, and skip the beans.

I lived rent-free in my parents' home for a couple of years in my early 20s. Was this right or wrong of my parents? Did not having to pay rent lead me to a life of financial irresponsibility? They had their reasons for allowing me to live there rent-free. While we didn't have a formal agreement, I'm certain I was allowed to live there for free as an enticement to get me to stay there, for the remaining years of my mom's life. I became her after-hours care-giver, before and after the nurse was there for her daily 8-hour shift. Cancer left my mom physically disabled, and she wanted to remain in our home and care for all of us (my brother was still in high school at that time), as best she could for those last months. My being there allowed her to continue being "mom".

As many of you know, our grown son still lives at home. He pays us a small rent each month. You may be thinking that he should be out of the house at his age. But you don't know the circumstances which have led us to keep him living here. Circumstances change, and he'll be moving on to his own place when that happens.

This has been an extremely difficult year for our family, financially. Many of you have probably wondered why I just don't get a full-time job (I do work 1 day outside the home for pay), and ease our financial stress. Well, you don't know the particulars that have drawn us to the conclusion that me still at home is the best situation for our family, right now. Again, our family's circumstances will eventually allow for me to have more time for other pursuits.

As bloggers, we tend to only show you the "pretty" side to our lives. The messy side we leave shut behind closed blog doors. This isn't to deceive you into thinking our lives are wonderful. We assume that you know that no one's life is perfect. Keeping the messier aspects of our lives behind closed doors provides privacy for those we love, our families. We should all be entitled to a little bit of privacy in dealing with our own difficulties, don't you think?

I once judged someone (in my mind) for using a Keurig-style coffee maker. "What are they thinking? That's about $1 per cup of coffee!" My own coffee costs about 10 cents per cup. Surely, my way is the better way. But what if this couple had previously been spending a small fortune keeping Starbucks' stockholders happy? Then even a $1 cup of coffee would be saving them money. I enjoy a great cup of coffee, too. If I had the money for K-cups, I know I'd enjoy them, and maybe drink less coffee in the end.

Sometimes, we just don't know why others make the choices that they do. And sometimes, they don't know why we've come to our own conclusions. Take what works and leave the rest.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

This week's lunch round-up: gotta make it simple *plus* how to make PBJ French Toast

I had a lot on my plate yesterday, so making lunch fixins' for the week had to be simple. Here's what I came up with:

  • peanut butter and jelly French toast (takes 10 minutes to make 4 servings, faster than baking muffins)
  • lentil-vegetable soup (this was Monday night's dinner, so no extra work, just a large pot)
  • hard-boiled eggs
  • rice and beans (these were actually leftovers from Sunday dinner, so, again, no extra work there)
  • blackberry-granola-yogurt parfaits
  • fresh apples 

When time is short, what do you throw into a lunch bag for yourself or family? 

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Peanut Butter and Jelly French Toast

(If you have pbj lovers in your house, you may want to give these a try. Heartier than regular French toast, a half sandwich packs a lot of protein in the peanut butter, egg and milk. Bonus, they are faster to make than muffins. 
I make several and layer between sheets of waxed paper, then cover with a plastic bag, in a pie plate to keep in the fridge. They keep refrigerated for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave. Alternatively, you can individually wrap and freeze, to keep frozen for up to 3 months.)

(4 hearty servings, or 8 pieces)

8 slices bread
smooth peanut butter (alternatively, you can use butter for this step)
chunky peanut butter
jelly or jam
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
butter and oil for skillet
(optional -- powdered (confectioner's) sugar, raspberry or blackberry jam and/or maple syrup)

Spread 1 side of each slice of bread with smooth peanut butter, to the edges (you can use butter in place of smooth peanut butter).

Spread a layer of chunky peanut butter on one slice of each sandwich. Spread jelly or jam on other slice of each sandwich. Put two sides of sandwiches together. Cut in half.

In a medium-size bowl, beat eggs, milk, vanilla extract and sugar.

Heat skillet over medium. Add a teaspoon each of butter and oil.

Dip sandwich halves quickly in egg batter. Flip in the batter, then add to skillet. Cook until browned underneath, flip and cook the other side.

To serve on plates (my daughters grab these to-go in a napkin in the mornings, so no optional ingredients for them most days), sprinkle with powdered sugar and provide additional jam for dipping (a la Monte Cristo sandwiches). Otherwise, drizzle with maple syrup.

(I'll get a photo posted as soon as I can figure it out on a borrowed computer, with only a camera and no cell phone camera. They're pretty with the powdered sugar and jam in a ramekin on the side.)






Monday, August 18, 2014

Oh, for the good old days

I've been listening to some music from the early 70s, lately. It brings me back to the 6th grade, when life was so easy.

Back then, my mom bought my clothes for me. All I had to do was choose what to wear each day. I never thought, "will this make me look fat?", "will this make me look thin?", "will this bring out the green in my eyes?", "will this be in style?". I think my only criteria in what to wear was whether or not the garment was comfy, and in my favorite color.

My room was my domain. My mom did her decorating, then I did mine. My decorating consisted of posters on my closet doors. These "posters" came out of magazines, so I didn't even have to spend money on my "decorating".

Food was provided, and just showed up, either in my lunch bag or at my place at the table. I never thought "what should I have for dinner?" My mom took care of that for me.

I never thought about retirement funds, medical bills, whether the price of milk was high or low this year, how expensive college tuition is, or how we will make ends meet with current inflation. I just existed.

I received 50 cents per week for allowance, in exchange for doing some chores. But I didn't have to buy groceries, clothing, housing or pay for utilities with my allowance. Allowance (after tithing) was strictly for my "wants", which was primarily candy, small toys or games and an occasional Saturday matinee at the movie theater. A Hershey bar cost about 10 cents and a movie ticket was 50 cents. (Check out this link for the price of a Hershey bar through the decades. Other food prices included on this page. If you're up at the top of the page, for Hershey bars, click on the Hershey prices link in upper right section, or scroll down about 3/4 the way. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq5.html#candybar)

My "wants", now, are more along the lines of a professional haircut, new shoes, or drapes for the family room -- all things that were provided for me as a child, not things I had to pay for with my allowance.

My thoughts about life were simple when I was in the 6th grade. I wasn't striving for a better financial picture. I wasn't pondering when would be a good time to "downsize". I didn't have to reconcile our expenditures with our income.

I simply lived. Oh, for the good old days. 6th grade, I miss how simple you felt.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Christmas shopping -- yep that's what I said, Christmas




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I've been amassing a pile of Christmas gifts in the closet, over the summer.

This is a great time of year to check thrift shop shelves for Christmas items. Folks are cleaning out their own closets and donating to the thrifts. A couple of weeks ago I found a few Christmas things at Value Village -- added to the stack.

Also, I regularly receive both Kohl's and Penney's $10 off coupons. Last week I spent a few hours using 4 $10 off coupons (1 $10 off/$10 to Kohl's, 1 $10 off/$25 & 1 $10 off/$10 at Penney's, and 1 $10 reward I didn't even know I had at Penney's from the suit I purchased last spring). With these coupons/rewards, I bought 5 gifts for this coming holiday season, and spent a grand total of $12 out of pocket.

Add these items to the stash of after-Christmas clearance gifts I bought in January, and my pile is growing. I'll still have a couple of large ticket gifts to buy. I'll begin hunting those down soon.

Am I just crazy, or have you begun Christmas shopping/crafting already, too?

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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

This week's lunch round-up: the garden is really producing!

With an abundant garden right now, I am using what's ripe to put together lunches. And as it was so terribly hot yesterday, I tried to make items do double-duty for dinner last night, as well as lunches for the week. (The kitchen was in the mid-80s by afternoon.)

For dinner, we had veggie quiche (using some of the cooked veggies also used in the egg and veggie fried rice), 2 bean salad, brown rice (what was left of the large pot of rice from making the fried rice), and fruit salad using some of the apples and blueberries.

So here's the lunch round-up for the week:
  • fresh apples
  • boiled eggs
  • egg and veggie fried rice
  • blueberry muffins
  • 2 bean salad (green beans and pintos, don't have 3 beans, LOL!)

Monday, August 11, 2014

Surplus budgeting

You know that when I don't spend all the grocery budget in one month, that I carry forward the surplus into the next, and beyond. Well, we do that with all of our variable budget categories.

For instance, our natural gas budget. We use natural gas for heat, the stove top and water heating. We are currently budgeting $100 per month for natural gas. We don't need to heat the house in summer, so any of that budget not spent in a summer month gets banked for winter heating.

In past years, I've tried to build a surplus of about $600 by November 1st, to supplement our heating budget in winter. This year, I'm trying to build that surplus to $800. We have about $650 in surplus right now. If this winter proves to be milder for our area than anticipated, that surplus will carry forward to winter of 2015-2016.

We have also done this with the water bill. We budget a set amount per month, and save anything not spent for the more intensive water-usage months of summer. This year, we chose not to fill our pop-up swimming pool. So we have more in our water budget surplus than in previous years.

In addition to saving the surplus, we also "invest" the surplus. With the water surplus, we buy rain barrels, install drip irrigation and replace water hog toilets and shower heads. With the electricity budget surplus, we buy LED light bulbs and we are saving for a new garage fridge/freezer.

In budgeting areas like clothing, car repairs and family entertainment, we haven't really found ways to "invest" the surplus, but instead simply bank that amount for large expenditures like winter coats, major car repairs or family mini-vacations.

This sort of budgeting means that we're never "caught out" with big expenses. There's always a little wiggle room in the budgets to cover those unexpectedly cold winters, or replacing winter gear, or new brakes for the car.

Being prepared allows us to relax a bit about our finances.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Just a thought for today

My kids and I were talking about our fruit trees, earlier this week. Our apples trees are bursting with apples this year, but there's not much on the pear trees.

We had an observation and a conclusion. We've never had all our fruit trees produce bumper crops. But then again, we've never had complete crop failure with our trees, either. There has always been enough fruit. That made us feel well-provided for.

All we have needed, Thy hand hath provided.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Questions, questions, questions

I thought I would lump all my questions into one post and hope for some great answers.

One
One of my daughters wore through her high school backpack mid-year last year. I loaned her my travel backpack for the rest of the year. It's a Jansport, and really hasn't been used all that much. But this summer, it's beginning to show wear in the bottom of the backpack, like see-through wear. So, this daughter needs a new backpack. We replaced the other daughter's backpack early last school year, as her high school one bit the dust a loooong time ago. We went to REI and used a gift card to buy her new one. So, my question -- have any of you found an especially great brand of backpack that would last through daily use for 3 years or more?

Two
When I was sick last week, I had a hard time putting together dinners. Everyone in the family gets home so very late, that dinner needs to be on the table when they walk in the door. As illness strikes with no warning, it wasn't as if I could just prepare ahead of time and stock the freezer. I was sick all week, and we went through every prepared food in the freezer that I could find, and still needed more meals. To complicate things, our budgets are strained even further this summer, with some medical bills needing to be paid, and the medical fund needing to be replenished. So, just ordering pizzas won't work for us. My question here -- what quick and easy dinners do you put together under similar circumstances?

Three
Finally, my 3rd and last question burning in my mind this week. How old is too old for using gravy? I roasted a whole chicken a couple of weeks ago (on a Saturday). I made gravy with the drippings that night. The leftover gravy sat in the fridge all the following week (until the next Friday morning), when I finally realized that it was not a container of some peanut butter-y concoction of one of my kids, but indeed was chicken gravy. I immediately tossed it into the freezer, at about 6 days old. What do you think? Is 6 days in the fridge (40 degrees F) too long for gravy? If I heated it through real well, would it be safe to eat?


Thanks, to all of you! I just know I'm going to get some really great and useful answers!

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

This, that and the other thing

This

On Thursday, I did a little clean-out of the pantry. My am I ever a pack-rat. I save a lot of stuff. If someone brings a take-out container into the house, I wash and save it. If my husband brings an aluminum catering-size pan home, I save it. When we finish a can of coffee, I save the canister. So, on Thursday, I made myself cull through that stuff and toss or recycle as much as possible. I did save 2 catering pans, 1 oatmeal canister, and there's this 1 extra large canister from chili powder. My guess is it would hold about 3 quarts of liquid, it's that big. (I buy a couple of spices in super large sizes then store in the freezer.) I washed out the chili powder canister. It's a nice size, and see-through, so would be good for storing something. I just haven't figured out what yet. It just looks too good to toss. I know, I'm a pack-rat.

The pantry is a lot more organized, now, and I made room for autumn stock-ups.

That

Evidently, everyone else's appetites were off last week, too.  I didn't make nearly as much as I usually do for lunches and breakfasts to-go, but there was a lot leftover at the end of the week. This turned out to be a very good thing, for me, as I used all of this to make Friday night's dinner. We had refried bean, herbed rice and cheese tacos, and rhubarb sauce for dinner that night. Easy cooking night for me.

And that other thing

frugal spinster's blog post on Friday reminded me that this is the time of year that bread products go moldy. It's warm and humid right now, enough for those tiny mold spores to proliferate. I lost a pancake last week (I was looking forward to having the very last pancake with my breakfast on Friday, boo hoo), to mold. I realized that it's that time of year to keep all baked goods in either the fridge or freezer. So, I went into the kitchen and sliced up the last of the loaf of bread, and tossed it into the freezer. It was a good reminder, and at least I only had 1 pancake grow mold.

Monday, August 4, 2014

August is our month for fun!

While many American's calenders indicate that summer just has 1 month left, in our family we're just hitting the middle of summer. My daughters don't start up with classes until the end of September. I'm grateful for that, as it gives me more time to plan summer fun. And we won't really think about classes until mid to late September.

So, in making plans for this month, I've come up with a list of things I want to do, just for fun. Usually my lists are work lists. But after a hard year, I want some fun.

Here's what I've come up with so far:
  • take breakfast to the beach (actually doing that this morning, just with daughters as they have the day off from work)
  • go to the Seattle Art Museum (free on the first Thursday of every month)
  • do Glazed and Amazed pottery and glass painting with 2 daughters (this has been on our list for a very long time! And now I've found a coupon in the most recent flyer -- yippee!)
  • farmer's market at the beach on Wednesday, then browse the second-hand bookstore in Old Town, just up the hill
  • tour the lighthouse on a Saturday afternoon and bring dinner to the beach, for the entire family (you'll notice that we go to the beach either in the early morning, or late afternoon evening. I'm just not a fan of beach at midday -- too hot, sticky and crowded!)
  • visit the u-pick flower patch in the farm area near us. The micro-climate in that area is drier, sunnier and about 5 degrees warmer, so many more varieties of flowers do well in that area.
  • set up croquet and horseshoes in back yard -- Sunday afternoon family time, and practice practice, practice my croquet stroke for the upcoming church picnic -- don't want to have a 9 year old beat me again!
  • church family picnic
That's it for my August plans. What will you be doing this month?

Friday, August 1, 2014

July Grocery Money Journal -- spent $28.89 per week

July 5. Dollar Tree for 3 quarts of soy milk, and 1 bag of marshmallows -- for s'mores :) Spent $4

July 9. Country Farms (the produce stand). I check the mark-down bin first and find 1 1/2 lb. bag of broccoli florets (99 cents), 1  1/4 lbs of Rainer cherries (99 cents), then choose 2 watermelons (29 cents/lb), 2 cucumbers (2/$1), 3 small avocados (3/$1), 1 head of garlic (50 cents). I spend $11.58. Then I turn around and see they have added new items to the mark-down bin. I choose a bag of 3 bell peppers (99 cents) and a bag of 7 small and 1 large very ripe avocados (99 cents). I spend another $1.98.

July 9. Trader Joe's for 20 bananas (19 cents each) and 2 containers of tofu. Spent $6.78

July 9. Last stop at Cash and Carry restaurant supply. My daughters convince me that we "need" 1 gallon of molasses (otherwise we can't make more graham crackers, and then we can't make more s'mores!). Molasses was $13.39 for 1 gallon. I also buy a 12.5 lb bag of popcorn ($6.58), 2-lb bag of raisins ($4.59), 72-ct package of corn tortillas ($2.18) and 4 containers of tofu ($1.24 -- I didn't know it would be on sale here, it was about 20 cents less per container than Trader Joe's). Total spent, $31.70, for a month-to-date of $56.04.

July 13. I stopped at QFC after church and found milk and tofu on markdown. I bought all of the tofu (99cents/package, 7 packages) and 1  1/2 gallons of milk. Spent $9.70 You can freeze tofu, if you buy a package and only use part. The texture changes a little. It seems a bit grainier after freezing. For my purposes, this doesn't matter. I mostly use tofu in soups, mashed and in lasagna, in a chocolate silk dessert, and pureed in smoothies. A changed texture doesn't seem to matter.

One daughter went to Dollar Tree, so I had her pick up 1 box of lasagna noodles, for $1. Month to date spending -- $66.74

July 19.  I was out running errands and near Fred Meyer, so I thought I'd stop in to check for markdowns. I found 10 gallons of 1% milk at $1.50 each. I bought all 10! (And this was a challenge to fit into the freezers.) Natural peanut butter was also on sale, store brand, 3/$5. Unfortunately, the package has shrunk to 15 oz, instead of the former 16 oz. I still have some peanut butter at home, so I bought 4 jars. Also, down the baking aisle, I found powdered sugar for $1.59 for a 2-lb bag (bought 3 bags). This is less than I paid last fall, during the baking sale, so I went ahead and bought enough to get us through the baking season and hopefully enough for next spring's birthday cakes. Total spent -- $26.44

July 25. Safeway has whole chickens on sale for 88 cents/lb. This is more than last spring's price of 79 cents/lb, but I think it's a good price for right now. I buy 4 whole chickens. We still have a couple of chickens in the freezer, so with these 4 we should be able to get through fall with plenty of chicken. Also, they had 2-lb blocks of cheddar cheese on sale, today only, for $5, limit 1. Spent $23.89

July 25. Also go by Albertson's and buy 2 dozen eggs (medium size) for 99 cents/dozen. Spent $1.98. I thought this was a fabulous price on eggs, given how expensive eggs have become. However, on Sunday, checking Walgreen's ad, I discover Walgreen's has eggs on sale, large size 99 cents/dozen. Oh well. Total month to date spent -- $119.05

July 29 and 30. As I mentioned before, Walgreen's has eggs on sale for 99 cents/dozen, limit 4, this week. With 2 stops into Walgreen's I buy 8 dozen eggs, plus 1 package turkey bacon (6 oz -- 99 cents), and spend $8.91 in total. This is the end of spending for the month. Total month to date spent -- $127.96 which works out to $28.89 per week.

I was $37.04 under budget, which I'll add to my running surplus of $54.51, for a new running surplus total of $91.55. I'm banking this surplus for fall stock-ups, hoping to buy hams, turkeys, potatoes, autumn vegetables, butter, cheese and some canned veggies at that time. I expect we'll see higher prices this fall than last, so I want to bank about $150 for stock-up, in addition to my regular budgeted grocery amounts.

We are fortunate to have an abundance of garden produce right now. The red apples are ripening, blueberries have done well, blackberries are everywhere, plenty of lettuce and other leafy greens, plus cucumbers, zucchini, green beans and there's one almost ripe tomato, with more to come. I love looking at our dinner plates and seeing over half the plate has come from our garden or foraged berries. Our freezers are more full this July than last July, with hams, whole chickens, milk, butter, and ground beef.

Shopping very carefully and limiting extras has paid off for us. We have cut our grocery budget by $45 per month since last summer, and this despite rising food costs. I think I could cut our budget further, if I had to, but right now, I'd rather leave that extra amount in the budget, and buy more produce that I can't grow plus more meat.

The other thing that I've discovered is that I really prefer my home-baked goodies over anything store-bought. When I was in the store the other day, I was looking at a display of large chocolate chip cookies. They looked tempting, but then I imagined their shortening-ey taste, and realized that I could bake a much tastier cookie from scratch, using real butter, lots of real vanilla extract, brown sugar and some whole grains. I didn't make those cookies, yet, but got distracted with home-made blueberry muffins, also a delicious treat, adding some vanilla extract to the batter.

I had similar thoughts about packaged crackers. They look good, but then they often seem a bit greasy and taste of shortening. When we've wanted something with crunch, we've done fresh tortilla chips (from corn tortillas), crostini, or the occasional batch of crackers (usually of my daughters baking, they're the ones who really like crackers enough to bake some). Homemade can be much tastier than commercial products.

Well, that's it for July's grocery budget and spending. Last August, I spent very little on groceries, so it's possible that I will spend very little again this August. It depends on what I find at rock-bottom prices.

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