Hello one & all...despite the fact that Christmas is fast approaching and we have 3 kids birthdays in the 3 weeks surrounding Christmas, my family expects to be fed. Forget late spring being the starving time...around here the time is now. I wanted to share some simple, proven money savers that may just leave enough in your wallet to purchase that $119.00 Lego set for your son for the big day...well, maybe the $29.97 set...
Breakfast: Serve oatmeal instead of cold cereal a couple of days each week. We use old fashioned oats because my kids like it to have a little texture. Those tiny packets are oh, so expensive, have no whole grains and are loaded with sugar. Old fashioned oats (or quick oats even) cost pennies and really only take 5 minutes. We mix it up by making different varieties. When heating the water to a boil add raisins, frozen berries, apple chunks, canned peaches, or canned fruit cocktail. After cooking top with choices of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped nuts...we've even stirred peanut butter & jelly into plain oatmeal. Yum!
When making pancakes, make double. Microwave for 20-30 seconds and you've got breakfast.
Put the dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another in the fridge for easy morning muffins. Combine, plop in the pan and fresh, warm muffins are baking themselves while everyone scrambles to get ready for work and school.
Lunch: Around here lunch is anything leftover, home canned soup or a sandwich.
Dinner: Sometimes I over plan for dinner. I come up with this beautiful menu and 1/2 of it ends up in the fridge because I make too much. I am learning to simplify meals a bit. If I make a casserole and it has veggies in it - it is a complete meal. (I have a tendency to make another veg and some corn muffins.) The kids are just as happy with a single bowl...they just want to get fed and move on. You can always add bread and butter or a salad for the grown-ups if anyone feels deprived.
Soup is filling and inexpensive...especially if it is made with bits of leftover meats and veggies. A bouillon cube, a leftover piece of chicken, a 1/2 chopped onion and a handful of frozen veggies does a chicken vegetable soup make. Add crackers and a glass of milk for the kids and you're done.
Well, my toddler actually fell asleep at nap time today so I think that I am gonna go and do something that I haven't gotten to do in a very long time. I am going to fold a load of whites without any one "helping me!" Hey, it's the little things that get you through the day...Blessings, Eve
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