Premade Convenience Reviews

Okay, so here's what I've been up to.  I have been forcing myself to make double batches of different types of foods and them freeze them and use them later.  For instance I have done this with chuck roast, ground beef, rice, pasta, meatballs, twice baked potatoes, muffins and waffles.  Then of course there is the cheese.

So far, everything I have made, frozen, thawed and used has been just fine.  Even the twice baked potatoes, and I wasn't too sure about how that one was going to turn out, but it was fine.  I just made them up, then instead of going into the oven for the second baking, I wrapped them individually nice and tightly and popped them into the freezer.  When I wanted them, I took them out, let them thaw for maybe 30 minutes, then put them in the oven with whatever else I was cooking (last time was the toaster oven).  I have also done the second baking of these on the grill too, and they were still fabulous.

The cheese has also done well.  The only difference I can tell is that pre-frozen cheese crumbles a little easier (it doesn't fall apart in your hands, but when you're shredding it, it crumbles a little, but not in a bothersome way, I just happened to notice it).  The preshred I put in the freezer is great too, no complaints there.  It all melts just fine.

So there, cook once, eat 2,3,4 times because the extra is frozen and ready when you are.  Dinner in a snap.  This also helps ward off last minute take out because of planning issues.

Pasta and rice look a little strange frozen, but when they thaw, they look normal again, I dont' really understand why, but I'm also not going to waste brain cells on it, I need all I got!

Homeschool Planners

If any of you homeschool, or have just looked at some of the websites, you know that most every company also has their own pretty little planner with 'everything' in it.  Some cost as much as $40.  $40!!! 

There are also, several sites that offer free printables for homeschool planning and household planning.  My favorite is http://www.donnayoung.org/ and the best part is, she is still adding to the free database.

So go check her out, there are tons of homeschool planning resources, but there are other things too like household planners with calendars, timers, checklists, etc.

Free, did I mention Free!  Not $40!

Stockpiling

This is a newer thought for me, and I mean stockpiling as being a more intense effort than 'stocking up'. Our economy is not better than it was just 6 months ago, and I have been thinking that it may be wise of me to create a stockpile in case of even more difficult times, especially since we are a single income family.

Creating a stockpile does not need to take up a ton of space nor a big investment. For our family, I plan to dedicate just $5 a week to creating our stockpile. I plan on placing the items in different places around the house, like in the back of closets or in other storage areas where the items will #1 be out of the way, and #2 not be used just as routine items. I also will list them items (like a log or an inventory) of where the items are, what they are, how many and the expiration date (so I can rotate items out seasonally and nothing goes bad).

As a side note, does anyone know how I can post any of my listing/recording keeping documents to share - I can't figure it out.

Spring has sprung, and so have sprouts!

Vegetables are one of those things that elicit 2 types of reactions: yum and yuck - mostly dependant on your age group. If you are one of those people who likes to serve veggies to your spouse, your kids, yourself and pretty much anyone else that comes along, try growing a few. I planted a few things in my flowerbed right along with my flowers last year and had a great return. For instance I had 3 grape tomato plants, that probably cost about $2.50 each, but it yielded at least 600 tomatoes over the course of about 3 months. Now, in the grocery store a pint of conventional grape tomatoes is about $2.50, and the organics are about $4. Each pint is worth about 40 grape tomatoes. So, let's do the math:

• 3 plants at $2.50ea yielded 600ish tomatoes = 200ish per plant (.013 each tomato, about 16 per week for 3 months in the summer)
• 1 pint at $2.50 = 40 tomatoes (.063 each tomato)
• A tomato plant in the Southern US will yield fruit for about 3 months
• 1 pint of tomatoes a week for 3 months = $30
• 2 plants that produces for 3 months = $5.00

You can save about $25.00 by having 2 plants that produce during the summer, plus you make your plants as organic or not organic as you want depending on the water and fertilizer you use. If you want to go even cheaper, plant the tomatoes from seeds inside about 4 weeks before the last frost - then you get probably 20 plants for about $1.50 - you'll be giving away tomatoes! Or better yet, let your kids open up a front yard produce stand and you can sell the surplus and teach your kids about money. I personally also planted basil, rosemary, parsley and oregano in my flowerbed because the cost of 1 plant is generally equal to the cost of 1 of those little plastic prepaks of the same herb, so if I just use each plant one time I'm even, if I use it twice or more, I'm saving money already. And as an added bonus, my rosemary, parsley and oregano have survived the winter to give me a second year of fresh herbs!!!

This year, I have also planted green beans, broccoli, mixed lettuce, greeen leaf lettuce, spinach, green onion, chives, cilantro, and bell peppers. My husband is going to till up a portion of the backyard so I can have a small garden to work with the kids. We'll both be learning this year, but I think it's a good lesson for both them and me. If you can't have a garden due to space and or time, go for just a couple of herbs in some flowerpots, they'll be easy to maintain, and give you lots of savings since fresh herbs are so expensive anyway - more bang for your buck

PS - If you're local, I'll be happy to give you some clippings of my own herbs for you to root and grow yourself. I'll also share a few sprouts if you want to pot something.

***If you feel intimidated by the thought of 'gardening', please don't. It is not that hard - but start small. I think most people feel like failures over this because they start too big or too complicated. Find something you like - maybe tomatoes and green beans and just plant 2 of each to start. Next year, you can go onto some more adventurous stuff. You need the encouragement of having a few plants do well in order to gain the confidence to work with many.

Plans, Planners, Planning

I love those three things. I love everything from looking at the selection of planners at my local Staples (and trust me, this could take an hour, easily), to picking out the color, opening it up and taking a whiff of the fresh paper, thinking about how I could use each and every section, etc, etc. Then I look at the price tags. My goodness. Oh my goodness. I do not want to spend $15-$50 on a planner. I can't do that, that's crazy. I have heard people say "Yes, it's expensive, but it can do this, this and this and organizes this, this and this for me." FOR me? When I see a planner get up off my desk, grab my papers, file them in itself (neatly of course), and scribble down my appointments, deadlines and inner thoughts - THEN it might be worth $15-$50. But it otherwise doesn't DO anything for me because I still have to do the work! So, of course I have a money saving solution from the same Staples store, on the same day:

1" 3 ring binder= $.60 on clearance (ugly gray, but who cares)
1 ream 92 brightness, 20lb copy paper = $3.92
1 full package HP printer ink= $35

Now that's enough materials to last probably 5 years of printer planner related stuff. Of course I'm not going to use the whole package of ink just on that, but let's say I just use 10%, that would still only be $3.50. And I'm really not going to use all 500 sheets of paper on planner stuff, but if Used say 25% (125 sheets - still a bit of a stretch), that would be a whopping $.98. So right now my total comes to $5.08. Not too shabby.

Now all I need is a good website. Well, that is the easier part. donnayoung.org has ton of planning related printables including calendars of all types free to print, just browse around for a little while and you'll see them.

The main Microsoft Office Templates site allows you to browse through tons of free printables too, some are in pretty colors, some in black and white - find something you like and looks useful.

Organized Home has nice calendar and planner printables in addition to cleaning, organizing and pretty much any checklist you can imagine.

Of course you can google what you want like "Free printable planner pages" or whatnot. In the end, if you can't find exactly what fits your needs, but have lots of ideas you can start up your good ole' Word program and make what you want tailored to your needs with columns, sections, colors, checkboxes, or whatever else you love!!