It’s a challenge to keep up your house when you are working full time. It’s possible to keep everything clean, without having to spend a fortune on a service. Continue reading
Consumers Distributing
One of my childhood memories is Consumers Distributing. I loved this store – and I loved the catalog. You could “shop” at home, then go into the store, and just order what you wanted, and they would bring it to you (they also offered free delivery). There was a small storefront, with a few displays, but nothing that you could pick up and look at. They were similar to the Sears catalog, except that you would go to the store in person. Stock issues were a common problem, as many items were often out of stock, and attempts to fix the inventory issues led to overextending the company, and they ultimately went out of business.
Here are some flashbacks from 1979, and what they offered. Continue reading
Do you reuse plastic containers?
As you know if you read the Bone Broth post, I made my own stock. Usually, I save empty sour cream and yogurt containers, and freeze the stock in there once it’s cooled. I didn’t think too much about it, since I wasn’t heating foods in the plastic. But an article got me thinking – even if I am not heating the plastic, do the chemicals leech into my food while frozen in the freezer? Continue reading
Mississauga Grocery Flyer Deals
Happy Easter everyone!! Every week I scan the flyers to see what’s on sale, and what great deals exist that I can stock up on. Certain things only go on sale periodically, and it makes sense to grab those items while you can, and if your grocery budget allows, buy enough to get you through to the next time it goes on sale.
This week the theme seems to be “meat, meat and more meat”! This is a great opportunity to get some special occasion meats at a great price.
Here are some of the best deals this week: Continue reading
Frugal Living: Doing more with less
A big part of frugal living is not only saving money, but finding ways to do more with what you already have. We are so used to running out and buying something new as the need arises. But how many of us will actually stop and think ‘what do I have that I could use instead of buying another…?’
It really is a shift in mindset. Especially when we are busy, it is easier to solve a problem with money, then to spend time trying to find a creative solution. When reorganizing my office this week, I realized that the small bookcase I bought at Canadian Tire 10 years ago had finally had it. I started automatically thinking about what I could replace it with, and how much it would cost. As I put the books away, I started thinking ‘maybe I don’t really need to replace the bookcase – what would happen if I just moved a few things around?’ Continue reading
Dealing with baked goods when your child has food allergies
One of the things that changed for us when we had a child with food allergies was no longer being able to buy items from the bakery section of our grocery store. Most baked good have warnings about tree nuts, sesame, eggs etc. Many are peanut free, but the other allergens are usually present due to the other items that are produced in the factory/store. There are a few brands of things we can buy here in Ontario (Old Mill English Muffins are sesame free), and some wraps, and one brand of rye bread, but that’s about it.
I have come to the realization that if I want brownies, cookies, buns, etc, that I just have to make them myself. I have had a migraine all weekend, and haven’t felt up to doing anything except laying in bed with an ice pack on my head. As a busy mom, it’s a big deal to be down and out on a weekend – this is the time when I get everything done for the week (those of you that suffer from migraines will understand that everything just shuts down when the pain hits). To make matters worse, I missed a family get together (a triple birthday!!), as well as a beautiful day today (the temp was 19 degrees and sunny). So when the pain finally subsided late this afternoon, I got to baking, and produced a few things to get us through the week.
I have found a few sites that have wonderful egg-free recipes, and some standby’s that I have made time and time again. I made three things tonight- see the links below for the recipes.
Cereal Squares – there is no recipe for this, but if you check out Alexander’s Corner, then you can find a similar recipe. I used Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies for these ones – about half and half.
Banana Bread: This recipe from The Fresh Loaf is so good – it is really moist and versatile. You can use applesauce, oil, butter – whatever you happen to have on hand.
Brownies: I found this recipe on Little House Living, and I double it since my pan is a larger pan than what they call for (I have a 9×13 pan). This recipe is a great one, and doesn’t call for expensive ingredients such as solid chocolate (uses cocoa powder).
Even without the food allergy component, homemade baked goods is a great way to know exactly what is going into your food, with the added benefit of saving money. It cost me very little to make the items above (I was able to make everything in under one hour, not including the time it took to bake the banana bread).
Happy Baking!
Meal plan for this week (plus some great finds at the grocery store!)
This week is a light shopping week. I was able to stock up on a lot of food last week, as there were some great sales that I was able to take advantage of. So the freezer is pretty full, and there wasn’t a lot that I needed this week. Even on weeks like this, I will still go through the flyers so that I don’t miss any deals. Here are some of the highlights for this week:
Antibiotic free chickens – BOGO free (works out to be $1.99/lb) . This was at Longos.
Tide: $3.00 – I price matched these at Walmart, and used a coupon ($3 of two Tide). So each one was $1.50. I think this one was advertised at No Frills.
Danino Yogurt Drink: $3 for a package of 8. I also used a coupon for $1.00 off, which made it $2. I priced matched No Frills’ price while I was at Walmart.
Activia yogurt: 8 pack $3. I used a $1 off coupon, and price matched No Frills’ price at Walmart.
Here is the menu plan for this week:
Sunday: Enchiladas salad. Used the chicken that I bought on sale last week.
Monday: Pork Fried Rice, salad and veggies (made from leftover Pork Tenderloin we had yesterday for dinner)
Tuesday: Meatball Soup and salad (this recipe if from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook). It’s one of our family’s favorites, and it’s easy, and freezes well. We use ground turkey for the meatballs.
Wednesday: Skillet Chicken and Vegetables (see blog post for recipe) from Epicurious. This is using the chicken thighs I bought on sale last week.
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Minestrone Soup
Saturday: Turkey Burgers, fries, salad and veggies
This was a great week for coupons and deals – when I went to Longos to get the chickens, I found blue corn chips (regularly $3.50) on sale for $1.29 on their reduced cart. This is one place that I urge you to look at when shopping – the reduced cart (normally in the produce section). There are tons of really great buys there, and most of them are just as good as what you can buy from the regular produce section. There is one store that I go to that has really great deals – I often wonder why the fruit has been reduced. It isn’t over-ripe, has no blemishes..how did it end up on the cart? This is a great way to reduce your grocery bill, and try new things that you otherwise wouldn’t buy because they are too expensive, or out of season.
What you should and shouldn’t buy at the dollar store
I read a lot of posts from people who sing the praises of dollar stores, and many of their household items there, including food. While there are a lot of great deals to be had, there are definitely things that you should leave on the shelf, and buy elsewhere.
The frugal way to make bone broth
A few years ago, this thing called “Bone Broth” started to become all the rage – people were going on about it being a super food, with it’s healing properties etc etc. The person who came up with this term deserves a marketing award – they took something that people have been doing for hundreds of years, re-marketed it, and voila – new trend. Which leaves me thinking that there must be something that my mother/grandmother etc did that I can re-market into something that sounds hip and healthy, and make a fortune. Continue reading
How to feed your family for $100/week
I have been wanting to do a segment for a while on how to eat well within a budget. Every week, I scan the flyers, see what’s on sale, and plan around that for each week’s menu plan. When something I use often is on sale, and the sale is particularly good (good=only on sale once every few months at that price), then I stock up on that item. My rule of thumb is to buy enough to get me through until the next time it goes on sale. Continue reading