April Grocery Money Journal (spent $43.52 per week)

If you think about all the ways you have saved big bucks over the years, you probably think of things like shopping around for a good used car, negotiating points on a mortgage, paying off your mortgage early, and shopping second hand. 

These are all money savers, that's for sure. But do you think about grocery savings in the same "big bucks" way? You should! You can save a whole lotta money on groceries. I know this from my own experience. 

I've been married about 27 and 1/2 years. Those first 12 months of marriage, I was careful with our spending. But I still managed to spend about $70 per week on groceries for the 3 of us. Then, I had a revelation about how much I was spending, and how much I could save over the course of a lifetime, if I just cut our grocery spending in half. No, make that more than half. My goal was to reduce our grocery spending to $30 per week. I did this basically overnight. So, for the last 26 years, I've been spending an average of $40 per week on groceries. Based on national "thrifty plan" averages of grocery spending around the $400-500 mark for a month for a family, I estimate that I have saved at least $230 per month, multiply that by 12 months, then 26 years, and I have saved our family a minimum of $71,760 !!!

If you add in that we have always, every single day, packed lunches for my husband and kids for work and school, we have saved an additional $60,000 over buying a quick-service meal in a school cafeteria or counter service restaurant. Those two figures, spending less on groceries combined with always packing (and not buying) lunches, comes to a total of over $130,000 !!!  That is a substantial amount of money, and will only keep growing over the coming years.

Careful attention to grocery spending has indeed paid off in big bucks for this family! 

Have you ever figured your savings on groceries, in total, over many years? I bet you've saved a bundled!

Now on to the grocery shopping for April.

April 1, 2014. Easter falls in April this year, so I will have a lot of opportunities to stock up on different items, at close to rock-bottom prices. Which means, I will be spending a lot of money this month.

I have my regular budget of $170, plus a carry forward surplus of $72.31, for a total available to spend on groceries of $242.31. In case you missed it, the carry forward surplus is the total of amounts not spent from the grocery budget, in previous months. I'm trying not to spend too much of that surplus, but hold on to it for future months. But we shall see.

April 3. QFC to check markdowns. I found 2 gallons of whole milk marked down to $2.29 each, and 4 containers of mushrooms for $1.19 each. The containers of mushrooms were marked as 8 ounces each. I took several over to the scales to weigh and found 4 containers right around 12 ounces each. That works out to $1.59 per pound (for a total of 3 pounds). A great price for fresh mushrooms. I used 2 of the containers fresh, in meals, and sliced and sauteed the other two to freeze for future meals. Total spent today $9.34.

April 4. Trader Joe's, hoping they have cocoa in stock again. They do! I buy ten 9-ounce containers, at $2.49 each. This is the best price on cocoa powder in my area, even beating the restaurant supply 5-lb bag price. Cocoa and chocolate products have increased in demand, worldwide in recent years. The prices just keep ticking upwards. Do you remember when you could buy a candy bar for 3/$1? Now the regular grocery store price on a single-serving candy bar is between 79 and 99 cents in my area. Market analysts expect the wholesale price on cacao to rise sharply in the next couple of years. My plan is to just keep us stocked. I'll buy additional containers of cocoa powder, as we use our supply, as my budget allows, and until the prices rise. In addition to cocoa powder, I picked up 3 bananas at 19 cents each. Total spent today -- $25.47

Fred Meyer as I had non-food items to pick up there. I also had a coupon for ground coffee, 33 ounce containers for $5.99 (limit 2). I bought 2, spending $11.98 Month to date spending -- $46.79

April 5. Dollar Tree for lasagna noodles. spent $1

Walgreen's has eggs for $1.29 per dozen. I'm not sure if eggs will be less just before Easter or not, so I buy 7 dozen. Spent $9.03

Cash and Carry restaurant supply for sugar in 50 lb sacks. They have an ad that can be viewed online. I check it most Mondays. Sugar is $18.75 for 50-lbs this week. While there, they have russet potatoes for $1.98 in a 15 lb sack, which works out to about 13 cents per pound. I just buy the 1 sack. Spent $20.73 for a month to date total of $77.55

April 11. Fred Meyer has in-store coupons each week. I find their ad online, then decide if I'll take family members with me. They have in-store coupons for butter ($2 for 1 pound), canned pineapple (88 cents for 20 ounces) and 8-oz bricks of cream cheese (88 cents). My 2 daughters came with me and picked up coupons, too. In total, we bought 6 pounds of butter (there was an additional coupon on 1 pound of butter!), 12 cans of pineapple and 8 bricks of cream cheese. Total spent -- $29.42.

Walgreen's has olives with in-store coupons this week, at 89 cents per can. I buy 10 cans of black olives and 2 jars of green olives, for a total spent of $10.68. Month to date spending -- $117.65

April 13. As it turns out, Walgreen's does put eggs on sale this week before Easter, at 99 cents per dozen. I pick up 10 dozen. I'll freeze about 5 to 6 dozen, and the sell-by date is mid-May on the rest of the eggs for fresh eating. Spent $9.90

Albertson's for cheese, 2 pounds for $4.99, limit 1 with coupon. I pick up 1. Spent $4.99

April 15. QFC has hams on sale for 99 cents per pound. Even though I still have a ham in the freezer, I pick up 2 more hams. Total spent -- $19.83. These don't have to be in the freezer until late May, giving me time to clear out spots for them. Month to date spent -- $152.37

April 18. Fred Meyer has butter on ad with coupon, again. I only need 4 more pounds to fill my stock, so one daughter comes with me. While there we find half gallons of skim milk for 75 cents each, that's $1.50/gallon! I figure I have room for 12 half gallons in my freezers, so I buy 12, and we get 4 pounds of butter at $2/lb. Total spent $17.00

Trader Joe's for bananas (19 cents each). 22 is my number. It seems to be the exact amount that we can go through without completely tiring ourselves of bananas. Spent $4.18

Country Farms produce stand. I'm there early enough in the day to find a full markdown bin. I buy 3 smallish heads of lettuce for $1 total, 6 green peppers for $1.98, 6 kiwi fruit for 99 cents, plus a small head of cabbage at 50 cents/lb and 1 large sweet potato at 79 cents/lb. Total spent -- $5.97 Month to date spending -- $179.52

April 19. The Easter bunny is doing a little last-minute shopping. While here I buy 1 box of green tea. spent $1.

April 23. After Easter, I stop by Dollar Tree for marked down Easter chocolate. This isn't great quality chocolate, but it works fine enough for s'mores during the summer. The candy is all 50 cents/bag. I buy 10 bags, plus 1 bag of marshmallows, for a total spent of $6. These bags of chocolate candy are 5 ounce bags. The standard size bag of chocolate chips that I buy is 12 ounces. The Easter chocolate works out to $1.20 per 12 ounces. The best price I ever find on chocolate baking chips is $1.79. If I compare the price of chocolate for s'mores to candy bars, the candy bars are even more expensive per unit, so after-Easter clearance chocolate candy is our best option, price-wise. And I have even used this clearance chocolate candy, all chopped up, and added to cookies, as a cheaper "chocolate chip".

Anyway, total month-to-date spent --  $186.52. Or, $43.52 per week. 

I did spend a little into our carry forward surplus. However, I still have $55.79 in surplus remaining *and* a very well-stocked kitchen. May looks like it will be a tasty month!

April was holiday month this year with Easter mid-month. I always spend more during holiday months, not because we buy extravagant foods, but because there are a lot of stock-up deals surrounding holidays. This April, that meant butter, ham, eggs, cream cheese and canned pineapple.

The next stock-up opportunities will be on bbq/picnic items, such as hot dogs, just before Memorial Day and 4th of July. Even the high quality hot dogs go on sale around these holidays. When given the choice, our family prefers Hebrew National beef hot dogs. Their regular price is around $5 for 7 hot dogs. They typically go on ad for about $3 to $3.50 a package.


Just curious, what is it that you find interesting about my grocery money journal? What would you have not bought, that found it's way into my cart?

A month of dinner menus for our house this May

There's simplistic beauty in a patch of lettuce in the garden.

For the home-cook, what could make the daily event of dinner prep as encouraging as a menu plan for the entire month? 

All of my ingredients and time constraints for the month of May have been taken into account. I'll be drawing mostly from our stock in the garden, pantry, fridge and freezer. For produce, May is still in pre-summer mode, here. Our garden will be producing spinach, watercress, mustard greens, lettuce, pea tendrils, chives and rhubarb in abundance, but not much else for now. So, I'll be relying on freezer produce from last summer, as well as canned pumpkin, canned pineapple, and canned tomatoes (in salads, chopped and drained).

I also have given myself 2 nights per week as easy nights, either as meals using primarily leftovers, or, having my kids cook, or, making a simple breakfast-for-dinner supper. Doing so allows me full afternoons to devote to various projects.

I don't strictly follow my menu plans. I almost always make the main dish, but the sides may change, depending on what I have. For example, on May 2, we had the marinated lentil and barley salad, French bread, fruit jello (rhubarb jello), but instead of garden greens, onions and garlic, I added watermelon (picked up at the produce stand) and a bed of watercress to the servings of lentil salad (for the "greens").

If you menu plan, do you deviate very much from your plan? Or do you stick to it pretty closely? Do you menu plan as a way to simplify your work? Or do you menu plan to save money? 

So here you go. A month of May menus, simple and frugal-style. 

week of May 1 through May 3

1   ham and green pepper pizza, garden salad (or cole slaw if garden lettuce not ready), rhubarb sauce (double batch for fruit jello)

2   marinated lentil salad (double batch for May 5), French bread (make/freeze 2 extra loaves 1 for garlic bread on May 18, 2 for crostini on May 12), sauteed garden greens, onions and garlic, fruit jello

3   turkey, cranberry and cream cheese sandwiches (turkey and cranberries from freezer), sweet potato fries, rhubarb squares (freeze half of the rhubarb squares for Wednesday)

week of May 4 through May 10

4   bean-vegetable soup (double batch for Thursday), rolls from freezer, rhubarb crisp

5   pocket sandwiches (pocket bread filled with leftover lentil salad and shredded lettuce), fresh fruit, brownies (double batch brownies and freeze half)   

6   meatloaf muffins topped with marinara, mashed kale, garlic and potatoes, green salad from garden 

   

7   leftover soup from Sunday, rolls, cole slaw, rhubarb squares (from freezer)

8   waffles with fruit topping   

9   pinto bean, rice, grilled peppers/onions, corn salsa, and cheese burritos (double batch rice for tomorrow), green salad, leftover brownies

   

10   grilled whole chicken (shred leftover chicken into 2 containers, freeze 1 container), oven-roasted potato casserole w/ chives/cheese (make extra large for leftovers), pumpkin souffle (canned pumpkin)

week of May 11 through May 17 (Mother's Day on Sunday)

11   Mother's Day (kids make dinner)  leftover chicken in BBQ sauce over buns, carrot sticks, leftover potato casserole, blackberry-rhubarb pie

12   chicken noodle soup, made with chicken carcass from Saturday and veggies from garden, crostini, leftover pie

13   spinach souffle, brown rice, fruit salad, tossed green salad

14   bean patties (double batch/freeze for May 20), corn bread, carrot sticks, cole slaw

15   French toast with fruit topping

16   frittata, brown rice, pumpkin muffins

17   hot dog cook-out -- dogs in buns and 2 salads-- pasta salad (w/ chopped, canned tomatoes, olives, garlic greens and any green vegetables from the garden), spinach salad with rhubarb dressing

week of May 18 through May 24 (Memorial Day weekend begins on 24th)

18   tofu garden lasagna, green salad, garlic bread

19   polenta squares (double batch) with marinara sauce/cheese, lentil-barley salad, steamed spinach

20   leftover bean patties, leftover polenta squares, green salad, roasted carrots

21   turkey and dumplings (turkey from freezer), spinach salad with rhubarb dressing

22   black beans and rice, garden salad, blueberry muffins (blueberries from freezer)

23   pancakes topped with rhubarb coulis

24   hamburgers, oven fries, sauteed spinach, cookies

week of May 25 through May 31 (Memorial Day weekend ends on 26th)

25   Asian chicken-noodle salad, (chicken from earlier in month, pea tendrils, green onions, garden vegetables and whole wheat spaghetti noodles), grilled pineapple

26   Memorial Day: hot dog cook-out -- dogs in buns with 2 salads --  potato salad, tossed green salad, rhubarb lemonade, s'mores

27   quiche, brown rice, fruit salad, sauteed greens and garlic

28   baked ham, sweet potato fries, green salad, plum kuchen (using frozen plums)

29   ham and baked beans, cornbread (double batch for tomorrow), creamed spinach, rhubarb sauce (double batch for tomorrow)

30   ham and eggs, leftover cornbread, leftover rhubarb sauce

31   vegetable pizza, pasta salad w/chopped canned tomatoes, olives, green veggies from garden and garlic greens, leftover kuchen

~~~~~

May looks to be promising in so many ways

Dear friends (and I do think of you as friends, you've been so kind and supportive, and offered so many valuable ideas),

Sometimes life just keeps on spinning and spinning, until you realize that it has spun out of control. You don't know how you got there, but your life is now too full, too complicated, and spread too thin.

This is where I found myself in early April. I had said "yes" so many times to so many people, that I couldn't do everything that I was committed to, and do it all well. This is key. If I do something, I want to do it well. So, I spent the second half of April attempting to take some of the "busy" out of my life.

There's a lot of common wisdom on how to unwind a too-tight life. For the last few weeks, I've been trying to implement many of these suggestions, such as:

• spend some time choosing what will be your priorities. This is a no-brainer for me, most of the time. Serving God, my friends and family are what and who matter most.
• begin saying "no" to people and things that don't reflect your new priority list. So, I've begun doing this more. I realized that I don't need a long, expanded reason why I can't contribute time to something. Just a simple, "oh, I'm so sorry, but I have something on my calendar that day". And that is true, I have ME on my calendar that day.
• use a calendar and only fill it partially. This is really freeing. When I allow myself to have fewer appointments on my calendar, I actually achieve more concerning my list of priorities (see the first point). How much a person fills their own calendar will depend on how much activity they can not merely tolerate, but also find enjoyment from.
• find the "good thing" about each of your commitments. Sometimes the "good thing" is time to do something you never find time to do at home. Sitting in the dentist's waiting room while kids have their appointments gives me time to read that book I've got sitting on my night stand. Other people might bring cross-stitch, knitting, quilt-piecing projects to fill the time. I also like to bring a pad of paper and pen, and detail the next day's activities, or plan the next month's dinner menus. In a grueling 1 1/2 hour wait during appointments this past month, I was able to plan the entire month of May's dinner menus. Had I not put that time to good use, I would have flipped through the waiting room's magazine selection for about 30 minutes, then grown restless, and watched the clock for the remaining hour.                                                                                 Another way to find that "good thing" for me, has been to bring an audio book, to listen to on long solo drives. I've had many late evening pick-ups from university for one of my daughters this quarter. The bus schedules don't suit late nights on campus. So, I find myself driving downtown to pick up one daughter, on a regular basis. Instead of bemoaning these long, long drives, I bring a book on CD with me, to listen to, not just while on the road, but while sitting in the parked car waiting for my daughter to finish up with ushering duties.
• schedule "vacations" from your normal routine. Instead of a week of household chores, I've set aside entire weeks to tackle large chores, such as getting our outdoor area ready for summer cook-outs. I gave myself permission to let the mopping and dusting slide for the week. And, I recently just "gave" myself a two-week vacation from blogging (and other projects). I was able to accomplish quite a lot by not having my thoughts split between so many areas of daily life.
• give yourself a needed day off from all work every once and again. I am trying harder with this one. My goal is once a fortnight to do something just for the joy of it. One day while cleaning out the junk drawer, I came upon a bottle of my kids' bubbles. It was a beautiful, sunny April day. So, I went outside and blew bubbles for about 30 minutes. This was sheer joy, and could in no way be construed as "work". So worth it. And I would suggest you try this some day when life feels to be nothing but drudge work. For joy on a larger scale this month, what day could be better for doing something just for oneself than Mother's Day? I have plans to visit a local botanical garden with my family on this Mother's Day. Have you planned anything special for your day this month?
• in at-home work time, work at something enjoyable that still fills the bill of doing "work". This I am very good at. I love baking, and I often will bake and skip the other housework for the day (okay, so maybe that's a bit out of balance, the house could use at least a pick-up at some point in the day). When I combine fun with productivity, life feels good. A few days ago, I made the year's supply of vanilla extract, and thoroughly enjoyed the entire process. I have a particular method for getting maximum flavor from vanilla beans. I'll post that in later this month, as well as how I get vanilla beans for free (and you can too). I also took the time to make a huge batch of pie pastry which I rolled and put in tins for the freezer. In going through my selection of pie tins and plates, I counted 8 assorted pie tins. So I made a double batch of dough (enough for 10 single crusts), filled all 8 tins, then rolled up the remaining 2 portions onto empty waxed paper and foil cardboard tubes (I can use these 2 for top crusts). (Here's a pie pastry post from a couple of years ago. There's a link to the fool-proof recipe I use there as well.) Summer pie season is underway here, with the rhubarb harvest in full swing. Having the crusts all ready to go means I can throw together a pie in about 10 minutes. 

In late April, I made quite a bit of progress in the area of unwinding my too-tight life. I hope to carry this through May, as well. One change I am making with creative savv is I'll be posting fewer times per month, but still on a regular basis. As I'll be writing fewer blog posts, I'll be using facebook more often for some of my smaller frugal activities. Yes, it looks like May shall be a very good month, indeed!

Now get out those bubbles and start blowing!

Cheers, my dear friends,

Lili

Hi there!

Hi friends,
Just to let you know, I'm swamped with stuff right now, and I'm going to take this week and next week off from blogging, so I can catch up. I'll be back to blogging on May 5.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!
Be back soon,
Lili

Speaking of flowers, birthdays and beauty . . .

Last month, with last year's birthday money in hand, my daughters and I spent a day in the vintage district nearby. I have a couple of favorite shops there. Favorites, because of their displays, mostly. They take ordinary vintage items and show them off in new ways. I always come away with fresh ideas for my own home.

One of the shops, in particular, carries such a lovely assortment of items that I could easily move it all into my home and be all smiles. And their pricing is quite good, too.

I don't go into these shops with a laundry list of things I'm looking for. But instead, I go with an open mind, looking for beautiful things. I figure that if I find something that I really love, it will find the perfect place in my home.

At first, it was just one of these prints that caught my eye. Then I realized that it was one of a pair -- a pair of prints, both in excellent conditions, with frames still intact, is a find. I instantly loved them both, but went about the day shopping, and thinking on them.

While the price wasn't as low as a thrift shop find, it was far, far lower than buying items new. And it has that instant appeal of looking like it's always been here.

Now, to decide where to hang these.

Do you like to vintage shop? Is there an area nearby that has a selection of vintage stores? What's been your favorite "find" at second-hand shops?

Flowers from the garden on my birthday

I believe that if I don't do nice things for my own enjoyment, then I have no right to complain when no one else does them for me. My grandmother was fond of bringing flowers in from the garden. She would say, "we need to feed ourselves with the beauty around us. If we don't, the beauty that is inside of us will wither and die."

One of the nice little things that I like to do for myself on my birthday, is cut flowers for the house. The selection is different every year, as spring unfolds differently each year.

This year, I found grape hyacinths,

violets,

camellias,

and cherry blossoms.

Feeding my spirit with the beauty from the gardens.

Birthdays at home are great!

So, tomorrow's my birthday. (Yea! Happy birthday me!) I was born on my father's birthday. For the whole of my life, until my father's passing, birthdays were always a shared event. We alternated who got to pick the cake flavor, which is really kind of funny, because we both always chose chocolate. Our birthday celebrations always included dinner out in a restaurant. This was just a "given" in our family.

Fast forward many years. For our kids birthdays, we usually enjoy a restaurant meal. This year, for our son, we went to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner -- a remarkable deal, as the 5 of us can share 3 entrees and still feel full. For our daughters, we used a gift card to Olive Garden (a birthday gift to me from last year), and went in late afternoon and ordered appetizers to share before going home for ice cream, cake and tea. This outing was free to us, as the gift card even covered the tip. I like taking the kids out on their birthdays. It gives them the opportunity to learn about dining out etiquette, how to figure the tip, and they get to enjoy being waited on for that one evening, with no kitchen cleanup duties afterwards.

But for my husband and myself, dinner out hasn't been something that we do on a regular basis. In the past, I admit, I have moped a bit about not eating out on my birthday. But when I sat down to really think about it, I realized that I actually prefer dining at home on my birthday, even when I bake my own cake and cook my own birthday dinner.

I'll tell you why I now think birthdays at home are so great.

• I get exactly what I want for dinner, and prepared the way I want it. I spend weeks thinking long and hard about the perfect birthday dinner menu. I've been craving beef for several months. So, this year's menu is mushroom and cheese burgers, onion rings, oven fries, creamy rhubarb gelatin salad and Boston cream pie. My husband's birthday is next week. He loooooves fish. Me, not so much. But for his birthday, he gets fish. We'll be using some of the smoked salmon from the freezer for a fish-filled dinner that night. I go to a lot of effort to make home birthday dinners as delicious as can be. I won't be making ice cream, but I will make a Boston cream pie. The cake layers are already in the freezer. Everything will be made with soy milk, so that I can enjoy it without side effects. It's not possible to specify that everything be cooked and baked with soy milk in most restaurants.
• It's relaxed at home. No wait staff singing birthday wishes and embarrassing me. No stresses over how much everything will cost and then the tip. It's my day and if I want to just wear sweats and hair in a ponytail, then that's totally fine. The rest of the family has been in class or at work all day and they want a relaxed evening, as well.
• We can work everyone's schedules into a meal at home. When birthdays fall on weekdays, this matters. My daughters and husband will be coming from downtown Seattle and my son will be coming from the east side of Lake Washington. Getting home in the evening can be unpredictable. Even if someone isn't home yet, we can start dinner, and include them when they do get here.
• I can take the money that would have been spent on dinner in a restaurant and do something long-lasting instead. Dinner out is a fleeting enjoyment. I think I'd rather have a few pretty things for the same cost as if we'd eaten out.

While eating out can be a fun indulgence, for the time being I'll just keep reminding myself of the many reasons birthdays at home can be great, too.

How do you like to celebrate your own birthdays? Is eating out the norm in your family? Or do you have a special meal at home? What would the perfect birthday dinner menu look like for your birthday?

Using kale when it begins to flower

When kale is about to go to seed, it develops these tiny florets, little clusters of buds. Kale florets are completely edible. They look a lot like tiny broccoli.

In fact, they look so much like tiny broccoli that my family always mistakes these for broccoli.

I just let them think what they want to think. So, Thursday evening, we had "broccoli" quiche.

Does using baking soda to cut down on sugar in recipes really save money?

This is a question I needed the answer to. So I set out to determine just how much I'm saving every time I use baking soda in fruity desserts.

Using a small amount of baking soda in the filling for fruit pies or fruit sauces reduces the acidity of the fruit, so that less sugar is needed. I've used this little trick, off and on for about 20 years, when I first read about it in The Tightwad Gazette. But since last summer, I've been using it consistently with every batch of rhubarb (or other fruit) sauce, fruit crisps and cobblers, and fruit-filled pie.

For a fruity dessert, calling for about 4 to 6 cups of fruit and about 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar, I use about 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, and reduce the sugar by about 1/3. This formula produces a final product almost identical to the original recipe. I actually think it tastes better, as the fruit flavor really comes through with less sugar.


As I bake with a lot of tart, homegrown fruit (rhubarb, tart berries and tart apples), for most recipes, I use about 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, but save about 1/3 cup of sugar.


My cost on baking soda

According to my 16 oz. box of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon weighs 1.2 grams.
There are 378  1.2-gram servings of baking soda in a 16 oz box.
I can buy a 16 oz. box of baking soda for 50 cents on sale, or 59 cents regularly at the dollar store.
So, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda costs me between $0.00132 and $0.00156, or, a little over 1/10th of a cent.

My savings on sugar

1/3 of a cup of granulated sugar weighs approximately 2.4 ounces.
I just bought a 50-lb sack of sugar for $18.75, or 37 cents per pound.
At that price, 1/3 of a cup of granulated sugar costs me $0.056, or about 5  1/2 cents.

So, every time that I use the baking soda trick to reduce sugar in recipes, I save about 5 cents. It really does save money. I make an average of 2 fruity desserts like this per week. So, in a year, I save about $5.20. I won't get rich on these savings, but all the little savings add up to a considerably smaller grocery bill.

If you buy granulated sugar in smaller bags, you may be paying more per pound, and could potentially save much more on this trick. Whereas, my cost of baking soda is likely in the neighborhood of what you pay, as I just buy the small boxes.

The added bonuses -- the desserts actually taste better to us, and we're cutting back on our sugar consumption! Win, win!


To use baking soda in fruit desserts, mix the baking soda in with the sugar, flour and spices, before tossing with the fruit, when making a pie, crisp or a crumble. Or, for fruit sauces cooked on the stove, after cooking the fruit in water to soften, stir in the sugar, then the baking soda. You'll see the fruit sauce foam up, then slump back down.

How do you know how much will be enough?

I've been asked how I figure amounts of grocery items, when stocking up at rock-bottom prices, and how do I know when it truly is a rock-bottom price?

The answer is astoundingly boring.

How do I know how much to buy when stocking up?

• based on past use, I calculate how much we run through in a week.
• based on past sales seasons, I make an educated estimate on when I expect this item to go on sale again.
• I inventory my current supplies.
• I get out my calendar, and count out the weeks until the next expected sales season, then multiply by our weekly use of that item, plus 1 or 2 extras. Then subtract the amount of our current inventory. (Does this all sound like it smacks of restaurant inventory work? I'm found out. I did work as a restaurant manager in my early 20s.)

So, for example, real butter has a couple of sales seasons, surrounding family-gathering type holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. It can go on sale at other times of the year, but I know that in my area, I can count on these 3 holidays for a loss leader price on butter.

Easter is approaching and some of the grocery sales have been announced already. I'm watching ads closely and paying attention to current regular prices when in stores.

I've recently noticed that we're using about 1/2 pound of butter per week. I counted our current inventory of butter and we have about 9  1/2 pounds in the fridge and freezer. I counted out the weeks until the next sales season on butter -- Thanksgiving -- and found that I will likely go through an additional 8 pounds of butter. I'll add in 2 additional pounds, just in case we entertain more, or I bake more, or I just want to pass on some butter to a friend (you know, bring over a loaf of homemade bread along with some butter for it). So, I'll be buying 10 pounds of butter this month.

I've already located a fair price on butter, good through April 20th at Cash and Carry. It's $2.25 per pound. It's possible local grocery stores will have butter on sale for less, but with a limit. So, my plan is to buy butter at it's lowest price between now and April 20, hitting the limits at each store, then fill in the remainder at Cash and Carry.

And with the question on how do I know when the price is rock-bottom?

The answer is two-fold.

• are there limits on purchase amounts?

A big clue is if there's a limit on how much I can purchase. This usually indicates that a store is marketing this item as a loss leader, and they want to put limits on just how much an individual can buy at the grocer's loss. And the lower the limit, the better the price that I'm getting, generally.

Whole chickens at Safeway the other week were just one such item. They had whole chickens for 79 cents per pound, but with a limit of 4. Previous years have seen whole chickens as low as 67 to 69 cents per pound, with limits. 79 cents per pound is an increase, yes. But that price may very well be the lowest I find this spring.  (Safeway has whole chickens on ad for 88 cents per pound this week, with no limits. 79 cents per pound was indeed a good price.)

Bone-in hams are 99 cents per pound at one store this week, with a limit of 2 hams. I think this will prove to be an excellent price per pound for any cured pork product, in my area.

• research and awareness of current and future market supplies

The second method I use to determine when a rock-bottom price is indeed rock-bottom is research and awareness. 

On the news this week, it was mentioned that there's been a virus infecting US hogs this year, reducing the hog herds. This will drive pork prices up considerably in the coming months.

I'm already thinking towards early fall, and what meats we'll be consuming. Bacon prices are already quite high, yet they're expected to rise even more. Being aware of future price increases on pork products, I'm thinking I'll pick up an extra ham this week, to freeze until early fall, then bake, slice and use as breakfast meat for our family in September and October, in place of bacon.

So, that's my method. During this time when our family has to watch its budget very closely, this sort of exacting process has been essential in keeping our grocery costs as low as we can.

Do I ever get it wrong, and either wind up with way too much, or pay more than I wish I had, or run out long before I had calculated? Oh sure! I just try my best, and mitigate any mistakes in calculations as well as I can. For instance, if I do find whole chickens for less than 79 cents per pound this spring, I'll probably buy whatever the limit is. If I have more ham than we could possibly want to eat, I'll invite a bunch of friends over for dinner some week. If we run out of butter long before fall sales kick in, I'll just make-do for the most part, find recipes that use oil instead of butter, and maybe buy a pound or two of butter at a higher price. We do the best we can, with the circumstances that we've been given. That's the most that we can expect of ourselves.

This counts as a serving of fruit, right? Right?

Rhubarb-blackberry pie

(I've added word verification back to the comments, to get rid of some repeat spammers. I hate word verification, too, so this is just temporary. Sorry about this.)

Loveliness from days gone by

It's definitely allergy season for me. I find myself constantly fishing through my pockets and purse for tissues. My allergies begin with tree pollen in March and work their way through the grasses and weeds of summer. I could go through a lot of tissues in these months.

Tissues are fine for colds, but for allergies (or a teary wedding), I prefer to use a handkerchief. I have two other hankies, one that my grandmother gave to me on my high school graduation, and another that my mom gave to me on a trip that we took together to New York. I'll some day hand these down to my daughters, as they hold special meaning to me.

While in the vintage district a couple of weeks ago, I saw many lovely items. This handkerchief caught my eye. I still have last year's birthday money and two year's ago Christmas money to spend on things for myself. Just a little memento from my day with my daughters.

Handkerchiefs are soft, never pill and make a mess in my purse, and last for decades. Using a handkerchief is one of those gentle reminders of days gone by.

I am ready for BBQ season!

Wednesday morning was a chilly one in our house this past week. To warm things up, I started a large bowl of roll dough, and made enough hamburger and hot dog buns for 4 family BBQs/cook-outs.

Now, I just have to wait for the weather to warm up! Sometimes, I get a bit ahead of myself. Oh well, they'll keep in the freezer until the weather cooperates.

A Pacific Northwest spring garden

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have the luxury of being able to grow and harvest vegetables nine months of the year, with a little planning and some gardening aids. In early spring, I'm able to pick the over-wintered and perennial vegetables. By starting seeds indoors under lights, and by using row covers in the garden, I will have the winter-sown veggies to harvest later in April and into May.

The over-wintered plantings

In late summer to early fall, I can plant several vegetables which, most years, will survive through winter, and give us an early spring harvest.

Although we had some severe cold spells this winter for our region, the kale survived quite well. I've been picking this over-wintered kale for meals on a daily basis.

In the same bed as the kale, the shallots and garlic are all looking good. Both were planted in October. The greens can be cut and used to add flavor to soups and salads.

Some of the Swiss chard also over-wintered. The plants are still small, but will be harvest-size in about 2-3 weeks.

Only 2 parsley plants made it through the winter. But this should be enough for spring cutting. Parsley is biennial. It will grow for a couple more months, then go to seed.

The perennial plantings

Nothing could be easier than perennials in the garden. Plant them once and they return reliably with no effort on my part.

The chives are growing vigorously. I added a handful to some homemade tomato soup (from canned tomato paste) that went with last night's dinner.

The sorrel looks good. Young sorrel is mild and tender. I make cream of sorrel soup a few times each spring.

Technically these are not perennials, but they self-seed every year. So still effortless for me. It's hard to tell, but all these little sprouts are watercress, which sows freely in parts of my garden each year. I'll thin the plants as the season progresses, and have watercress leaves to add to sandwiches and salads in about 2-3 weeks.

Spring-planted veggies

Daytime highs are around 53-54 F and overnight lows hovering right around the 40 degree F mark in my garden. These temps are just barely warm enough for seeds and plants to grow, here.

I've got my transplanted lettuce seedlings under a row cover for protection from the cold. I'll begin harvesting for salads in about 4 weeks. I started these plants under lights indoors, in February.

The peas are up. Pea tendrils can be added to stir-fries and salads in the early season. Then in summer, we'll have snow and snap peas to enjoy.

Beneath the soil surface, I seeded a bed full of spinach, a patch of beets and a patch of mustard greens. The spinach and mustard greens will be done in time for later spring plantings of warm weather veggies.

Strawberries and rhubarb

We added another strawberry bed two weeks ago. My son built the bed, and he and my husband positioned it. Later that day, my husband and daughters filled it with soil and transplanted wayward strawberry plants into the bed. At this point, we have 5 strawberry beds. We plan to add 1 more bed next spring.

The rhubarb is looking good. I should be able to cut rhubarb near the end of April.


By combining over-wintering, perennials and early spring sown plants, our garden can provide us with fresh vegetables as early as March each year. Such as blessing to have garden-fresh veggies after a winter of frozen, canned and long-storage ones.

Larger gardens, and those which receive more sunlight than ours, can support even more over-wintered vegetables, such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts (my neighbor down the street has a patch of Brussels sprouts that are still harvestable). There's even a variety of carrots than can over-winter and provide spring harvests.

Although it's still quite rainy and cool, spring is my favorite time of year for gardening. Everything just coming up, new sprouts to be discovered -- it all feels like something of a treasure hunt when I venture into the spring garden.

Weddings, humor and a realistic attitude

So, weddings have been a topic of conversation in our house lately. My kids have a cousin getting married next month, combined with the recent announcement of average amount of money spent on a wedding in the US, have fueled these conversations. $30,000 is now the average amount spent on a wedding in the US!

The Humor

As my daughters were outlining just what they each wanted, one of them stopped mid-sentence and asked, "wait, who pays for the wedding? Oh shoot! The bride's parents!" I just thought that was so funny. The look on her face when she made the realization that she DID NOT have a $30,000 budget to spend on her future (far into the future) wedding, was priceless. She knows me all too well.

The Realistic Attitude

$30,000 is a lot of money. $30,000 can pay for a really good 4-year education. $30,000 can be a down payment on a house or a condo (depending on where you live). $30,000 can buy 2 cars. $30,000 can put a new roof not just on one house, but on a couple of houses. $30,000 is simply out of line for a one-day celebration, considering what else that $30,000 can buy.

Granted, a wedding is a big thing to be celebrated. But it needn't cost MY arm and MY leg. And it certainly should NOT put a newlywed couple into debt. Believe it or not, the bills for many of these expensive weddings aren't being footed by a Daddy Warbucks. But they're being charged on the couple's credit cards. Starting out a marriage in unnecessary debt could put a real strain on the relationship from the get-go. Ouch! My head hurts thinking about such foolishness!

When the dollar signs are in my kids eyes

So, how do I plan on handling this with my own kids? Well, I think we've laid the groundwork already, by talking about finances and value on a regular basis. When one daughter wanted an ipod nano (used, off of craigslist), she was spending her own money. Yet still I asked her, "will you get $45 or $50 worth of entertainment from that? What other entertainment could you get for that same $45 or $50? This is your money. Is there something bigger you'd like to save for? A car, perhaps?" I ask these kind of questions on a regular basis. Sometimes my kids stop and think, then change their minds. Sometimes they firm up their desire for spending their money. But in all cases, they think about it, and make a mindful choice in the end.

What I don't want for my kids is for them to feel that they have to "settle" for a poorman's wedding. Even though they are years away from any wedding plans, we've had a few conversations about what would make them feel special on their wedding day. Nothing has to be done a certain way. They can pick and choose just what elements would make memories to hold onto. And a small budget can indeed create a grand celebration with wonderful memories.

Too often, frugality can leave people (kids especially) feeling deprived and poor. In all areas, we've tried to demonstrate to our kids that we are constantly making choices about how to spend our money. Wedding planning offers a bazillion opportunities to talk about value for dollar spent. But the planning begins now, long before they lay eyes on their knight in shining armor. Discussions about thoughtful use of money aren't limited to wedding plans.

I ended the wedding conversation with a few sentences. "This is all fun to talk about, but for now, your focus is on your studies. Get an education that will lay the foundation for your career, first. Your opportunity for an education is right now, these 4 years. The opportunity to find a mate will span many, many years."

I don't know how much we'll actually contribute to any of our kids weddings. But I do know that the figure will be a fraction of the cost of the so-called average American wedding.

What ways have you seen or used yourself to reduce the cost of a wedding, while creating a lovely day to be remembered?

Birthday yummies -- cherries and chocolate

My daughters birthday fell on the first day of finals week. So for their actual birthday, I just made cupcakes, knowing we'd have the full-fledged cake and ice cream on the following weekend.

The cake for the weekend celebration that I made, turned out so good, I'm still thinking about it. It was a chocolate cake with cherry filling, black cherry butter cream frosting and a fudge glaze. But what really made this cake great was the cherry juice that I drizzled over the cake layers, before putting the cake together.

I baked a scratch chocolate cake a couple of weeks in advance. I wrapped it well and kept the layers in the freezer.

Scratch cakes can be a bit dry and do well to have the cake layers glazed or moistened with a thinned-down jam or some fruit juice. I used the liquid from preserving black cherries last summer. I spooned a couple of tablespoons over each layer and allowed to stand for an hour before adding a filling.

I didn't want frosting as a filling, but instead made a cornstarch/black cherry liquid filling on the stove. When it had cooled, I spread it between the layers.

The frosting was a butter cream, flavoring it with more of the black cherry liquid, some lemon juice and a bit of almond extract. Once the frosting had set, I added a cornstarch, cocoa powder, sugar and water glaze on the sides of the cake and drizzled a pattern on the top of the cake. The fudge glaze was very dark chocolate in flavor.

When the cake was sliced, we found the layers to be very moist, the cherry filling to be a nice fruity touch, without being too sweet, and the frosting and dark chocolate glaze added the right extra touch.

For ice cream, I used some of the whipping cream that I had frozen, along with half and half, for a cooked custard base. I also flavored the custard with the black cherry liquid, and added chopped preserved black cherries just before churning.

When using frozen whipping cream (unwhipped), the texture is rather globby, and fat separates in small chunks, upon thawing. I put the cream through the food processor before adding to the custard, to improve the texture. The ice cream was a real treat with the cake.

This was one birthday cake/ice cream combo that won't be forgotten any time soon.

March Grocery Money Journal

Starting out the month, we have $170 budgeted, plus the running surplus of $73.88 from the last two months. I'd prefer not to spend into the surplus, but build a bank to fall back on or use to stock up on extremely good buys. We'll see how the month goes. March of 2013 was an expensive grocery month for us. I hope not to repeat some of my mistakes from last year.

March 1 Walgreen's for 2 last gallons of milk, on sale all week for 1.99/gal. Spent $3.98

March 7. Fred Meyer for whole wheat pasta (13.25 oz boxes), 79 cents/each, limit 4 w/ coupon, store brand coffee 31 oz cans $5.99, bought 2, found some items in markdown, Hormel bacon (1 lb packages), $2.79, bought 2, 16 oz containers of cottage cheese (containers a bit squashed, but seal still good), 59 cents, bought 2, 16 oz containers sour cream (same situation with containers as cottage cheese), bought 2, 59 cents/each. Total spent $23.08

March 10. Making my biweekly (fortnightly) run down the main highway and back. Usual stops, Walgreens, gas, Trader Joe's, Post office, other Walgreens, Cash and Carry restaurant supply, and sometimes the fabric store. This week, just the gas station, post office, Trader Joe's and Cash and Carry.

Trader Joe's for 22 bananas (yep, exactly 22 each time. That's how many we go through before getting sick of bananas.) spent $4.18

Cash and Carry for some "special" produce, as we need a break from carrots, onions, potatoes, kale, pumpkin, raisins, dried cherries, frozen blackberries and plums, bananas, and canned tomatoes. Bought 4 pounds of strawberries for $6.48 (that's $1.62 per pound), a 3-pack of celery for $1.92 (that's 64 cents a bunch/head), and 1 head of Romaine lettuce for $1.27. Spent $9.67, for a month to date spending of  $40.91.

March 13.  Milk is on sale at Walgreen's again this week for $1.99/gallon. I stop in and get 4 gallons (2 whole milk for yogurt, and 2  2% for drinking). Spent $7.96

March 15. 2 more gallons of milk at Walgreen's. Spent $3.98

March 15. Albertson's. I buy 3 heads of cabbage at 49 cents/lb and 7 lbs of butter at $2/lb. Spent $17.83

March 17. My daughters's birthday. I head down to the Cash and Carry for mozzarella cheese, $13.35/5 lbs (birthday pizza) and 4 lbs of strawberries for $6.48. Spent $19.83

Also near Trader Joe's so stop in for 9 bananas (19 cents/each) and 1 large head of cabbage (99 cents -- it weighed about 3 pounds, so a good deal for cabbage for our area). Spent $2.70

March 18. Whole chickens on sale at Safeway, limit 4, at 79 cents each. I buy 4. Spent $17.20

March 23. Dollar Tree -- I pick up 4 jars of peanut butter. Spent $4.

March 24. Chickens still on sale at Safeway. We stop by on our way home and buy 4 more, at 79 cents/lb. Spent $17.11

March 27. Today's the day the produce stand opens for the spring. Their prices are better than supermarkets or the wholesaler on many items, so I make a point of going there. Bought 25 lbs of carrots ($7.98), 10 lbs of small oranges ($5.99), 3 small avocados (3/$1), and 1 head of green leaf lettuce (69 cents). Spent $15.63

Trader Joe's for 11 bananas (19 cents/each). I had hoped to pick up some cocoa powder, but they were out of stock. Spent $2.09

I've been rather nervous about grocery spending for the last half of this month. It just seemed like I was buying more than usual, and would run out before month's end. So far, I've spent $149.24, leaving $20.76 plus last month's surplus.

I found ground beef on sale for $1.99/lb and didn't know how much I'd be able to buy. Now it looks like I can afford 10 lbs.

March 28. It turns out that no cocoa powder at Trader Joe's was a good thing. I needed that every penny of that money to buy ground beef. Safeway has ground beef on sale for $1.99/lb. My hope was to buy 10 lbs. But as the packages worked out, the closest I could find was just over 11 lbs., for $22.33.

Total spending for the month -- $171.57. Just a tad over my monthly budget of $170, but I left most of the running surplus in tact ($72.31 in surplus going into next month).

My big stock-up items this month were whole chickens and ground beef. I also continued buying and freezing milk early in the month, when on sale at Walgreen's. And I picked up 7 pounds of butter this month. We go through about 1/2 pound of butter per week, baking and table use. So, the 7 pounds with what I have here, will last a couple of months. Our freezers are packed with meat, now, with 1 whole turkey, 2 10-lb hams, 7 whole chickens, several packages of hot dogs, and now 11 pounds of ground beef. This should get us through the summer and into early fall, for meat.

Sometime in the next few weeks, I'll need more pantry staples, like vegetable oil, flour, and beans. I'd like to stock up on cocoa powder in the near future, as well, as prices on cocoa are expected to rise due to global demand. I'm making my packaged yeast last for as long as possible, by making sourdough bread on a weekly basis. And as you may have noticed, I'm sticking to buying the basics, and skipping items like chips, crackers, bakery items, and boxed and frozen dinners.

Snacking consists of popcorn made on the stove, toast, nuts, fresh fruit, celery/carrot sticks, and homemade yogurt. I set out an afternoon snack for the family on weekend afternoons, so we don't plow through the more expensive items (like the nuts). In my meal planning, I'm carefully balancing the more expensive meals (with meat or cheese) with dried bean and grain meals. And I've taken to writing out a daily menu for breakfast, so everyone knows what's available to grab each day for breakfast. Oatmeal is on the rotation 3 days per week, as oatmeal is easy for me to make, and a low-cost breakfast item.


Some thoughts on markdowns -- Keeping my price per unit in mind, sometimes a markdown is not a great deal. I found broccoli slaw, 12 oz bag, marked down for 99 cents. That worked out to $1.32 per pound. I can do better on the price per pound of broccoli and make my own broccoli slaw. I often find quarts of milk on markdown for 79 cents per quart. That works out to $3.16 per gallon. I can do better than that, buying milk in gallon jugs, at the regular price, let alone the markdown  or a sale price.

Here's an interesting vocabulary item I found out at the Cash and Carry this month. A bunch/head of celery is correctly known as a stalk, and a single stem from a stalk is correctly known as a rib. But recipes are far from consistent on this and commonly call for a stalk of celery, when what they mean is a rib. I guess a little common sense can be our guide here. Adding an entire stalk or two of celery to a batch of soup could be a bit overwhelming!

That's it for last month! I'm hoping April goes well, grocery spending-wise.

Blessings where you don't expect them

Lately, I've noticed a lot of blessings in circumstances that I normally would find annoying, at best. Yesterday was one such case. I bought another 25 lb sack of carrots. I was tired at the produce stand, and didn't inspect the bag very well.

When I got it home, I was disappointed to find a lot of broken or cracked carrots. Well, with those carrots that won't keep very long, I peel and chop them right away and pack for the freezer.

While my daughter peeled, I chopped, and I chopped and I chopped. And I was thinking, "what a blessing this is, to be forced into doing this prep work right now. These frozen, chopped carrots will make dinner prep on busy days, so much easier."

Three good-sized bags of chopped carrots sitting in the freezer. I'd say that's a blessing where I didn't expect to find it.

Making a too-big belt fit a petite waistline

My daughters are on the petite side. One in particular has a difficult time finding belts that fit, without shopping the kiddie department. I shopped and shopped for a leather belt that would fit, as a gift for her for Christmas. What I finally settled on was still too big for her, but I knew I could add holes so it would fit better.

This week, I finally got around to taking her measurements and adding a couple of extra holes.

To add holes to a leather belt, I used:

a cardboard box
a ruler
a pencil
an electric drill with multiple drill bits


I measured the distance between existing holes, and marked with a pencil, where to add new holes, keeping the spacing uniform.

I placed the belt on a cardboard box (so I wouldn't drill holes into the kitchen floor), and with the electric drill and one of the smaller drill bits, I drilled a pilot hole.

I changed out the drill bits about 4 times, increasing the size of the holes incrementally, until "my holes" were about the size of the existing holes.

Voila! About a 5 minute job, and now the belt fits. Sometimes, the manufactured holes in a belt have some of the stain from the surface of the belt, on the inside of the holes. This can be approximated with a sharpie pen, in either brown or black.

In addition to fitting leather belts for my daughter, it has occurred to me that this method will work for second-hand belts for my husband. My husband also has a small waist. (I wish my daughter's tiny waist came from my side of the family, but sadly not.) Finding a leather belt that fits him means paying full-price at the mall. The belts that we find at Value Village, St. Vincent de Paul's and Goodwill are never quite small enough. But I often find one that is just 1 or 2 inches too big. In the future, these belts will work for him, as I can add extra holes with the electric drill.

One other use for adding holes. My belts (from pre-baby days) are not too big, but a tad too small. I can add an extra hole to one of my favorite belts, so that it fits again. Oh, so, so sad, that I have to make belts smaller for some in my family, but bigger for me!

Freezing pizza dough

I'm posting this, not because I think it's earth-shatteringly novel. But because up until 5 years ago, I thought making homemade pizza meant starting from scratch each and every time. Figuring out that I could freeze pizza dough got me over the hurdle of "I have to make dinner, again, all from scratch". Just the thought of time-consuming dinner preparations can be overwhelming, at times for me. That's one reason why I usually get a start on dinner prep in the morning, or around lunchtime.

When I make pizza dough, I do a quadruple batch, enough for 4 large pizzas. I mix the ingredients, knead thoroughly, and allow to rest for 10 minutes. I divide the dough into 4 portions. One portion I press out into a large round, on a greased baking sheet for that night's dinner.

The other 3 portions are for freezing. I form each into a ball. I pour about a tablespoon of vegetable oil into the mixing bowl, then turn each ball of dough in the oil, to coat, before placing in individual freezer bags. The oil keeps the dough from sticking to the inside of the freezer bag while its thawing. This frozen dough keeps for at least 6 months (the longest I've ever had a ball of dough in the freezer before using).

To use the frozen pizza dough, I remove a bag of dough from the freezer in the morning, unzip the seal, and allow to thaw on the counter. (I'll also pull a container of pizza/pasta sauce out of the freezer to thaw at this time, too.) By the end of the day, the dough is perfectly thawed. All I need to do is grease a baking sheet and press out into a large circle. I raise this pizza round, slightly, in a barely warmed oven, for about 20 minutes, before adding toppings and baking.

The dough recipe for pizza crust is the same dough I use for French bread, foccacia, stromboli and calzone. It works as a frozen dough for all of these breads. (I posted that recipe here.)

Foccacia makes easy "bread sticks" to go with soup. I press the thawed dough into a rectangle on a greased baking sheet, then add my toppings (which can be as simple a seasonal herbs and kosher salt, or as elaborate as pasta sauce, herbs, oliver slices and vegetables -- basically pizza without the cheese). After the foccacia is baked, I cut it into "sticks", 1-inch by 6-inch strips.

For those of you who already freeze your pizza crust dough, have you ever encountered a problem with keeping it frozen longer than 6 months? Or it failing to rise? Or any other ill-fate? Thanks for your feedback!


And why does freezing pizza dough come up now, you wonder? My two daughters are on spring break this week. Monday, we all rose at the cracking hour of 9 AM -  university finals seems to have taken it's toll on all 3 of us :-)  (In my defense, even though I didn't have to take the final examinations, I did have to get up at 5:45 AM each day to get my girls to the bus stop for their early morning exams. So a bit of a sleep-in on the first day that we had free, was very welcome.)

The weather forecast was for a gorgeous Monday, with rains returning on Tuesday for the remainder of the week. So we set out to explore the vintage area north of us for the afternoon. But before leaving, I needed to plan out that night's dinner. I pulled pizza dough and sauce out of the freezer to thaw, and off we went.

We had a splendid time popping in and out of vintage shops, enjoying the riverside park watching the fishermen, and sharing some pie. It had been almost a year since our last jaunt to that area, and there was so much new stuff to look at. I spent some of my birthday money from last year. And one of my daughters bought her sister a belated birthday gift. Fun times doing the girlie stuff we enjoy!

So, there's the logical explanation of why I'd post about freezing pizza dough today!

Curried pea and peanut slaw

I've been using all of your suggestions for cabbage this past week. I've sauteed cabbage in bacon fat, made cabbage rolls, and a particular highlight was this curried pea and peanut slaw.

I didn't have a recipe to go on, but simply made it how I'd enjoy it. So, here's an approximation of what I used.

Dressing:

Combine in the bottom of a large bowl --

3 tablespoons mayonnaise
about 2  1/2 teaspoons vinegar (until the dressing looked thinned enough)
2 to 3 teaspoons plum chutney (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder

The remaining ingredients:

1 & 1/2 cups of frozen peas, thawed and drained, but not cooked
1/2 cup of roasted peanuts
2 large handfuls of shredded green cabbage (I think about 3 to 4 cups)
1 - 2 tablespoons of minced chives, or chopped green onions

Toss ingredients with dressing, and serve. It was simple to make and very delicious. I'll be making this again, and again.

If I were to add anything to this salad, it would likely be some green onions or sliced celery. Both would go well with the dressing, I think.

The suggestion for this salad was posted anonymously in the comments last week. I wish I could thank you, whoever added this idea!

Snowballing the savings: electricity

Since September 2013, we have shaved a total of $254.76 from our electricity bills, averaging about $30 per month less in electricity use/spending for the exact same time periods from the prior year.

Of that $254.76, $123.00 has been taken up with a reduced budget for the last 8 months, leaving us with a net savings of $131.76.

We could have just spent that $131.76 on who knows what. But instead, we've chosen to help this savings snowball into greater savings.

Half of this money has been set aside for a new garage fridge/freezer. And the other half is being used to purchase energy-saving LED light bulbs.

By spending our surplus in the electricity budget on these energy-saving items, our energy consumption will continue to drop over the coming months, freeing up even more money for energy-saving improvements in our home.

I call this "investment" spending. Many standard methods of investing (stocks, bonds, real estate, collectibles) are off-limits to those living with financial constraints. However, there are some methods of investing that are possible, even when an income is restricted.

Buying energy-saving light bulbs is an investment in lower energy consumption/spending. What you save on your electricity bill is your "gain". Many of us don't think of that savings as a "gain" in investment terms. And we wind up spending that savings on who knows what, and never fully feel the gain that we've realized. How you choose to spend the gain is up to you. For us, we're choosing to reinvest our gains on electricity savings.


On LED light bulbs

I've been appalled by the lack of LED light bulbs in our local stores. I was in Target the other day and found just a couple to choose from. The local Fred Meyer (a discount chain in the NW) didn't have many more than Target. I haven't checked Wal-Mart or Lowes yet, but will when I'm in those areas.

However, Home Depot has a very good selection of LED bulbs. (And Home Depot is very close to our home.) They're carrying several brands now. You know what that means. More manufacturers, greater selection. Greater selection, more competition. More competition, better quality and lower prices!! Win!

Home Depot has recently reduced the price on their Cree 40 watt equivalent soft white bulbs, running around $7 a bulb now (previously about $10/bulb). I've already purchased a few of these bulbs, and will continue picking up one or two when I'm there. Just my experience, but I think these 40 watt equivalent LED bulbs are brighter than a similar 40 watt equivalent CFL. So for us, I can put a 40 watt equiv LED bulb where I might have put a 60 watt equiv CFL.

And I'll add this about LED light bulbs. Some people don't care for the quality of light in indoor LED Christmas strings of lights. And I agree, they bother my eyes, as well. The light bulbs seem to be different. We're using them in 3 rooms, plus a walk-in storage area, and we've been very pleased with the quality of light. I began small, with just 2 bulbs. I wanted to try them out, and make sure they would work for us. This has been a very good way to introduce LED bulbs into our home.