I mentioned that I was creating my family weekly menu with frugal and kid pleasing recipes. I know that this will be a busy week for us as the kids head back to school on Wednesday and I’d like to spend less time in the kitchen and more time on what’s happening during this first week. My hands will be tied filling out updated registration packets and I’ll be reading the teacher’s curriculum for the year.  So my strategy is to have some readymade meals I can just simply pull out of the freezer or store well in air tight containers.

So far, I’ve made:

Chicken Riddle Soup
Honey Granola Crunch
Homemade Sandwich Bread-1 test loaf

We finally after talking and thinking about it for the past few months moved our second fridge/freezer into the garage. It is clean, hooked up and ready to go. Needless to say, I see lots of freezer cooking in my future. I have a little more time on my hands this week to put my cooking plan into action. (Our office is closed again this week, boss is in Costa Rica.)

I started a kitchen list to work through today and tomorrow before school starts on Wednesday:

• Clean the kitchen.
• Start pinto bean in slow cooker.
•  Make another loaf of sandwich bread.
• Make another batch of brownies for the freezer.
• Make Muffin Mix
• Prep veggies for snacking.
•  Make waffle mix.
• Make Pizza dough.
•  Marinate chicken breasts before freezing.
• Make Kid-Pleasin’ Lasagna for the freezer.
• Bake Oatmeal Raisin cookies.

I definitely have my work cut out for me in the next two days as you can see. If I do all of these ahead of time, I’ll have a much smoother first week of school. Plus, by making a lot of meals and snacks ahead of time from scratch I’ll be saving money in the long run. 

 Normally, these are tasks I would do on Sunday afternoons/evenings.  I may or may not get through everything on my list, but if I write it down, I’ll be more likely to accomplish it before the end of the week. And I’m sure I’ll be adding a few more things to the list that are on my cooking plan for school lunches. I’m working on the recipes too and will post them throughout the week.

Have any Frugal Meal ideas you’d like to share?

In preparation for the launch of Noel’s Family Meals, I created a monthly menu for this month and created my grocery shopping list from that menu. I also chose a few meals that could be doubled, frozen and used for another night. By creating a menu, a meal plan and a grocery list, you can control how much you spend on your groceries.

Each month, I try and keep our grocery bill budget to under $400 for a family of six and only needing to go to the grocery store for necessities like milk. Most coupons, I see are for processed foods and I pretty much like to stay away from those. I look for items that I can stock up on to create homemade foods such as bread and pizza dough, greek yogurt, red sauce for spaghetti and meatballs or lasagna roll-ups.

Even though I may find myself going to the grocery store for milk, I try to focus on making more things from scratch and using up the items we have in the fridge, pantry and freezer. There are lots of benefits from Cooking From My Pantry

• Discovering new recipes and meal ideas
• Enjoy more healthier baked goods (I have control over ingredients)
• Rotate items in the pantry and fridge (they don’t sit on shelf, go stale or expire)
• We save money each month

How often do you cook from your pantry? What are your challenges if any?

Father’s Day is just around the corner and if you’re looking for some last minute gift ideas or meal ideas, check your local store ads. They’ve always got great deals going on! Speaking of deals, I opened the newspaper to review the weekly grocery store ads and saw that Raley’s had come up with a great Father’s Day special. Breakfast is on them!

Today’s post is brought to you by Assistant Chef, Bridget Sandorford. Bridget shares how you can go green in your kitchen, reduce energy costs and save some green too!

Enjoy today’s post!

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There are numerous ways you can save money when cooking meals for your family, whether it be buying bulk foods or whipping up cheap yet delicious meals for you and your children to enjoy. But if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen you may or may not be aware of the fact that the different appliances you use could be wasting high amounts of energy that could raise the cost of your monthly electricity bill as well.

If you’re sick and tired of putting a large portion of your paycheck into your energy bill, or if you’re researching into how you and your family can become more environmentally friendly, here are five different ways you can green your kitchen and save some green at the same time:

1. Dishwashers
Believe it or not hand washing your dishes actually wastes a lot more water than using a dishwasher, especially if you leave the water running while you wash or dry your dishes. If you can, try to run your dishwasher once every few days and turn off the heat-drying option to help save energy.
2. Light bulbs
Compact fluorescent bulbs (or CFLs) last ten times longer than regular light bulbs, and are generally more environmentally friendly as well. Light emitting diodes (or LEDs) are also another smart option, however they tend to be quite expensive.
3. Kitchen cleaners
Try to avoid using commercial cleaners that can not only be damaging to the environment but to your children’s health as well. One of the best ways around this is to purchase non-toxic organic sprays to clean your kitchen, but if you don’t feel like shelling out the extra money then basic soap and dishwasher detergent can be just as effective at cleaning your counters, stove and much more.
4. Pots and pans
If you’re cooking on a stovetop, then make sure the size of your pan matches the burner size, and try to use flat-bottom cookware that is made from copper or cast iron.
5. Ovens
When using your oven to cook, try not to “over pre-heat” your oven and keep the door shut as much as possible. Also, try to bake with ceramic, glass or cast iron as they tend to retain more heat.

Bio: Aside from school and working part-time as an Assistant Chef, Bridget Sandorford is the resident Culinary Schools blogger where recently she’s been researching pastry & bakery training programs as well as culinary colleges in Colorado. Her passion for food has followed her research into many different areas, such as nutrition, fitness, organic foods, gardening, and cooking on a budget. She lives outside of Charleston, South Carolina.

Pastry & Bakery Training Programs

Culinary Colleges in Colorado

Yesterday, I shared with you the beginning of my coupon adventures and how I started to get organized. After browsing through the ads from Sunday’s paper, I found a little bit of savings at CVS.  Most of you know that CVS now offers Extra Care Rewards to their customers. After checking my ECR on their website, I had $9.50 to work with. It’s not a lot to work with but it’s $9.50 of free items in the store. I had found Wisk Laundry Detergent 50 oz. on sale for $4.99, the ad stated with the manufacturer’s coupon for $1 off the customer pays $3.99. I however, had two $2 off coupons. The $1 coupon was no longer available, so I only pay $2.99 per bottle. Irish Spring Bar Soap and Soft Soap was on sale for $.88 (no limit), along with Arrowhead bottled water 24-case for $2.66. I had to make 2 separate transactions in order for my $2 off Wisk coupons to work. This is my Monday’s coupon savings:

Stocking Your Pantry Savings

First Transaction:

1 bottle Wisk laundry detergent $4.00 ($2 0ff) paid $2.99
4 pkgs of 2-pack Irish Spring bar soap $.88 each
4 bottles of softsoap $.88 each

Total paid for this transaction:$.97 (Used my $9.50 ECR)

Next transaction I purchased 3 24-case arrowhead water $2.66 each (limit 3) and another bottle of Wisk $2.99

Total paid for this transaction$14. 99, receipt said I saved $15.09. Not sure if I should have waited to buy the water, but I don’t see cases of water that cheap. Maybe now that I’m getting into couponing, I’ll see better deals. From my calculations I received a better deal for the case of water at CVS for a total of $7.98. Right now Safeway’s sale on a case of water is 3 for$10.

I am slowly working on stocking my pantry with the everyday items my family uses and goes through so quickly. Please keep in mind that the stores I am visiting are in Northern California so store prices and stores deals will differ. If you are in Northern California, I’d love your input on how using coupons works for you.

Have any coupon savings tips you’d like to share? What are some of your coupon finds for the week?

Next Up: BBQ Chicken Pizza……