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October 19th, 2010
We had a wonderful time in Washington last week! It was great to see our friends and family, and the Maroon 5 concert that I won tickets to was amazing. If you’d like to read more about the show and see some of the videos that I took, you can click here for my recap.
Posted in Life | 6 Comments »
October 18th, 2010
As you know, I love to stretch my leftovers and repurpose them until every last bit has been used! And if I can’t find a recipe to use what I have, I see if I can make one up. These are my latest kitchen experiments:
I recently received a jar of raw honey to review for Contest Corner, so I used it to make a honey glaze for the pork roast I got inexpensively with a coupon. The glaze consisted of honey, soy sauce, brown sugar, olive oil, and seasoned rice vinegar – click here if you’d like the full recipe. It was a big hit!
This made enough for two separate meals, and I still had a bone left with scraps of meat and lots of nice glaze. I decided to get really experimental and see if I could make it into a soup!
I put the bone, glaze, and two potatoes in a stock pot with some water and cooked it for several hours. I ran it through the food processor to blend, then added some more water and returned to the stove. The “Soup” was so thick and rich that it was more like a sauce – so I decided to freeze it and use it later as a gravy! I think this would be great on meat or even mashed potatoes; I might use this at Thanksgiving.
Another one of my recent kitchen creations involved repurposing fast food leftovers. I had a tiny amount of nachos left over that we had gotten at a local Mexican restaurant – It wasn’t enough to feed even one person by itself, so I made a “Nacho Scramble”!
I put the nachos in a frying pan and sauteed with chopped green bell peppers and corn.
I then added a little flaxseed, eggs, cheese, and Taco Bell taco sauce – this isn’t the first meal I’ve made with leftover sauce packets!
Nachos and scrambled eggs aren’t a combination that you would automatically think of, but this turned out very tasty!
Readers: Have you come up with a unique way to use leftovers? I’d love to hear about it!
Posted in Coupon Menu Corner | 9 Comments »
October 17th, 2010
Meal planning is an important aspect of preparing frugal meals. By working out a game plan ahead of time, you can streamline what you buy and avoid the take-out trap. So today, Super Coupon Girl and Pocket Full of Posies have teamed up to give away a meal planning system to one reader!
Pocket Full of Posies offer a unique pocket meal planning system. The purpose of the system is to combine your week’s menu with a shopping list, creating a plan for you with the goal of reducing your workload. You are provided with a stack of cards with ingredient lists and recipes, which fit into a magnetized pocket holder that you place on your fridge. Pocket Full of Posies sent me one of their planners to try out so that I could share my thoughts on the system.
I thought this handmade system was very cute! The basic idea is that you choose one ingredient list, then pull the corresponding 5 recipe cards that go with it. You then take the ingredient list to the store and buy all of the items you will need to make five meals – two days a week are left open to utilize leftovers or eat out. You put each ingredient list and matching recipe cards in one of the meal planner pockets; the planner fits a total of 4 weeks worth of recipes. The ingredients needed are also listed on the back of each recipe card, so if you prefer to customize the meal plan, you can refer to the individual cards for your shopping list.
I’ve tried various different approaches to menu planning over the years, so I was curious to see how this would compare to my current system. Since my household is just myself and Jai, I’ve found that our meal plans need to be very flexible: I’ve tried writing out detailed plans for each day of the week, but inevitably I find it needs to change as the week goes along because we end up with more leftovers than I anticipate, or a surplus of a certain ingredient. Also, since our schedules are so hectic, it makes it hard to anticipate what will work the best on any given night; a big pot roast on Thursday may sound like a great plan on Sunday night, but if I work late it may end up being more of a Quesadilla night. So now what I do is write up a big list of all possible meals that could be made with the ingredients I have on hand, separated by category – breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then I can decide on the day what will be most practical, while still having a detailed plan to rely on.
The recipes in the Pocket Full of Posies Monthly Pocket Package 1 Meal Planner certainly look delicious and simple to prepare! I like that you can pick which recipe you want out of that week’s pocket – somewhat similar to how I pick and choose whichever meal works the best off my list – although obviously since the menu is pre-determined that does eliminate some flexibility. The downside to this type of system is that it would be more frugal to go through your weekly grocery ads and prepare a menu based on what is on sale, rather than using a pre-made list. However, for those who may be new to meal planning, something like this could be a great way to get started. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, so this is one way you could reduce the workload and get into the rhythm of menu preparation. And if you’ve never made a meal plan before, then you will save money just by starting, since meal planning reduces waste, helps you streamline what you buy, frees up time, and reduces the temptation to call for a pizza when your family asks, “What’s for dinner?”. The most important thing is just starting, however you choose to do so – as you establish a routine and get the hang of meal planning, you will be able to make your menu more cost effective as you go along.
Reader Discount:
Pocket Full of Posies would like to offer my readers 10% off with discount code “SUPER10”.
Giveaway time!
One Super Coupon Girl reader will win a Pocket Full of Posies Monthly Pocket Package 1 with their choice of pocket design! Here’s how to enter:
1. For your first entry, just leave a comment on this post telling me how you plan your meals!
Want extra entries? Do any of the following, and leave a separate comment for each one:
2. Click here to visit the Pocket Full of Posies blog, and follow them on Google Friend Connect. Then come back here and leave a comment below letting me know that you did!
3. Link to this post on your blog, then come back here and leave me the link!
4. Write about this on Twitter, then come back and leave me the link to your tweet! One Twitter entry per person. You can use the button at the bottom of this post to tweet with one click!
5. Post my button on your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it:
Rules, regulations, and other important stuff: Giveaway ends on November 2nd at 11:59 PM, PST. Winner will be chosen the following day via Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to respond to my notification email, or a new winner will be chosen in their place. Giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents.
Posted in Giveaways | 57 Comments »
October 15th, 2010
I’ve talked recently about some of the great deals I’ve gotten using Amazon gift cards. So I thought it would be fun to give one of my readers a chance to snag a bargain by giving away a $5 Amazon gift code! I earned this code by redeeming Swagbucks, so it cost me nothing – and now I’m passing that savings on to you! I will email the gift code to one winner chosen at random. Here’s how to enter:
1. For your first entry, just leave a comment on this post! Anything goes – say hello, tell me about a good deal that you got, share your weekend plans, whatever!
Want extra entries? Do any of the following, and leave a separate comment for each one:
2. Link to this post on your blog, then come back here and leave me the link!
3. Write about this on Twitter, then come back and leave me the link to your tweet! One Twitter entry per person. You can use the button at the bottom of this post to tweet with one click!
4. Post my button on your website – just copy and paste the following code, and let me know where you put it:
Rules, regulations, and other important stuff: Giveaway ends on November 9th at 11:59 PM, PST. Winner will be chosen the following day via Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to respond to my notification email, or a new winner will be chosen in their place. Gift code may be redeemed by US and Canadian residents.
Posted in Giveaways | 184 Comments »
October 14th, 2010
Here’s a sampling of what we’ve been eating lately:
I’ve been making a lot of stir-frys recently. This one utilized my free tofu, which I fried in olive oil and seasonings and served over grilled veggies.
This stir fry consisted of green bell pepper, cabbage, carrot, and zucchini, cooked in a homemade peanut sauce using peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar.
I’ve also been making a lot of pasta dishes! I whipped up another spinach lasagna in my George Foreman grill, because we enjoyed the last one so much. The tomatoes are one of the few things to come out of this summer’s garden!
Posted in Coupon Menu Corner | 5 Comments »
October 13th, 2010
While I’m away, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of interesting frugal articles on other blogs. I’m also including a “Mr. Linky” below so that you can share your own money-saving tips. Enjoy!
Posted in Tips | 2 Comments »
October 12th, 2010
Today’s guest post comes to us courtesy Jennifer Burg of TheSuburbanMom!
Fall means a lot of things to a lot of people, but to kids October means only one thing: Costumes and CANDY! Little ones across the U.S. are dreaming of the day when they can run door to door dressed as their favorite character begging for candy and eating more candy in one night than mom allows all year long. But someone has to provide all of that “free candy” kids get, and if you are like the rest of us you want to participate in the merry-making without breaking the bank. Here are some tips to keep your candy shopping dollars to a minimum while still providing a spooktacular evening of fun for neighborhood kids.
- Get over brand names – Who cares what kind of candy you give out, kids don’t. Sugar is Sugar! Of course, chocolate is always a popular treat, but it tends to be the more costly candy so go for the cheap stuff. If you grab a handful and toss it in the bag, the kids won’t care. Sure there’s always that candy no kid will eat, but we always send that candy with my hubby to his office and sure enough someone eats it by day’s end. So someone eats it!
- What’s the real cost? – Of course we all want to buy our candy on sale, but don’t fall victim to a “fake” sale. Just because it is on sale doesn’t mean it is the best price. Grab your cell, pull up the calculator app and do the math. The bottom line is price per piece of candy – not per bag or pound. You aren’t serving candy by the bag or pound, you serve it per piece and if you want to make the little kids giddy and keep the big kids from any “tricks” you want to be able to give each kids more than one piece. So calculate accordingly.
- Get the Freebies! – As October progresses, businesses will start offering bags of free candy with purchase. (For example from 10/3 – 10/9 Kmart offered a free bag of candy with a $40 costume purchase.) Like “fake” sales, don’t buy stuff just for the free candy or you are wasting money, but, for example, if you were going to get a costume form Kmart for $40+… get the candy!
- Shop online – My daughter’s favorite lollipops are Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops, so this is what we will be passing out this year. We buy them on Amazon in a 5 pound bag, which is about 300 lollipops! Right now they are $26.92 (although this price fluxuates regularly, I have gotten them for as low as $13!). You can also save 20% on Yummy Earth with the coupon code SEPYUMMY, and it ships free with Amazon Prime or Amazon Mom.
- Coupon Matchups – With Halloween in the air coupons for candy are everywhere you turn. While one coupon might not be enough off to make you buy, matching a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon and a store sale can get you candy for pennies on the dollar. So hold on to those coupons and look to pair them up for better deals. Just remember the per piece rule to make sure you are really getting a deal.
Happy candy shopping and Happy Halloween to all!
I’m a SAHM, I’m a WAHM, I’m a WOHM. I’m thrifty, I’m green, I’m toy-picking-up machine. I’m a woman, I’m a wife, I’m a Modern Momma. I am The Suburban Mom. Jennifer Burg is TheSuburbanMom, and she invites you to visit TheSuburbanMom for product reviews, giveaways, deals, DIY projects and much more. Join the conversation at www.TheSuburbanMom.com.
Posted in Guest Posts | 1 Comment »
October 11th, 2010
We’re going out of town this week, because I won concert tickets to see Maroon 5 at the Tacoma Dome through the SIRIUS FM sweepstakes! We decided to make a trip of it while we’re there and stay a few days to visit our friends and family who live in Washington. I won’t be around to answer comments or emails until next week, but don’t worry – I’ve got some great guest posts, giveaways, and other fun stuff scheduled to run while I’m away! See you next week!
Posted in Life | No Comments »
October 8th, 2010
I haven’t done a garden update for a while – mainly because there hasn’t been much to talk about!
Yep, that sad little wasteland is my garden! Between the raccoons digging holes, birds flying off with my fava beans, and weird weather, the plants had a rough summer. My broccoli was looking good until it “Bolted” after a freak heatwave early in the season – which means that the edible broccoli crown turned into flowers:
The plants that have grown have been rather stunted – I got a couple of tiny onions and now have carrots growing that are the size of my pinkie finger. I assumed that they would just keep growing and getting bigger, but that hasn’t been the case. Yesterday, we got all excited about a “Big carrot” that had grown:
So we pulled it out of the ground…
Yes, that’s our “Big” carrot! 😉
Even the garlic failed:
Those sad little black lumps are the garlic cloves I planted last year, which never grew. At least, I think these are the cloves – they’re so shriveled that it’s hard to tell! It’s funny that this crop failed, when the first crop I ever planted suffered much worse conditions and turned out great!
However, we have gotten some lovely tomatoes:
Earlier in the year, we bought a second tomato plant and a Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter. It hasn’t been a huge crop, but enough so far to compliment a few batches of lasagna!
As I’ve said before, gardening is a new endeavor for me, so I’m not horribly disappointed that this year’s crop was a dud – I didn’t go into this with any expectations other than gaining experience so that I can learn how to grow great crops in the future.
Readers: How is your garden doing this year? Did you get a bumper crop – or a bumper flop, like me?
Posted in Growing Produce | 12 Comments »
October 6th, 2010
Last week, I purchased a $20 gift certificate to Soap.com for $10. I used this gift certificate to buy 20 double rolls (Equal to 40 single) of Cottonelle and 6 SOS scrubber sponges for .97 cents with free shipping. I shopped through Ebates, so I also received .06 cents cash back. I’m very pleased with my order – sponges and toilet paper are two items which are hard to find deals on locally, so this was a great use for my Groupon. The package arrived just in time, because I was on my very last kitchen sponge!
Soap.com also sent me a special coupon code to share with you. If you use coupon code SUPE8183 on your first order at Soap.com, you will receive 15% off your order. Unfortunately, this cannot be combined with the Groupon gift certificate; however, I thought it was worth sharing because some of you may have missed the Groupon deal. I’m actually impressed with Soap.com and will likely purchase from them again – Ebates also has a list of coupon codes for Soap.com, so I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for future deals on items like these which are usually expensive in my local stores.
Posted in Online deals | 4 Comments »
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