Hello all,
Time flies doesn't it? My newest edition is now almost 7 months and has changed so much over the monthes. His skinny little body has turned into a roley-poley squishy one and his desire to always be held has developed into a desire to discover and play. He has also started solid foods--which he just LOVES. Although he only wants to feed himself and hold the spoon, which he passes back to me to re-fill with whatever mush he's eating. There is no creeping or crawling yet, but I'm sure that will come with new challenges. We have recently moved into a much much larger apartment and are no longer on the North Side. My older son now attends Connaught Street School, which is fantastic. I know he misses Nashwaaksis Memorial and his teacher, Mrs. Dane, but he is fitting in well at his new school. I also now look after one aftershooler who is only a few months older than my son. I would like to take in one or two more children from the school, but no such luck yet. I'm thinking about taking in a preschooler instead, so if anyone lives downtown and needs someone, leave me a message and we'll talk!
This new year has brought everyone extra challenges with staying on budget--well at least it has for me. Especially since I am now at home with my baby. Christmas time brought me a few money saving items that are really helping with this such as;
A food processor--for making my own organic baby food (which I love)
A large soup pot--for dollar stretching meals
An indoor Aerogarden--for growing my own herbs, tomatoes, peppers and salad greens
Cookbooks and chef's knifes--for making great meals at home instead of eating out
What kinds of products help you all save money? What kinds of things are you doing at home now to help with your budget? I would love to know your ideas!
8 comments:
I do all my own baking. I have a bread maker and I use it only to mix he dough, super easy and fast to just throw it all in there. That saves us from spending money on a loaf of bread a day. I also use it to make pizza dough instead of ordering in pizza, that way I get to freeze leftovers for later quick meals instead of buying branded ones. Do the same with lasagna.
Thanks Anon. I do have a bread maker that I bought a couple of years ago and used religiously at first. I really want to use it again, but it just seems to take so long to bake. You have a great idea of using the machine to mix and then removing the dough to bake faster in the oven. I wonder, do you let it rise in the machine as well or take it out to rise? Great idea with the pizza dough as well. I'm going to try it!
I have also been making my own pizza dough. I do have a bread machine, but I've never liked how the bread turns out, so I've been making my pizza dough by hand.
I make my own baby food as well. It's so worth the effort when I see BB eating the food I've made for him! We also cloth diaper, and have found it has saved us a lot of money over the past ten months.
Another thing I've started is a spreadsheet to track how much groceries cost. I always thought that items were less expensive at the Bulk Barn than at the Superstore, but boy, was I wrong! There are several things that I have been buying at the Bulk Barn that are significantly less /100g at the Superstore! My spreadsheet is also helping me to identify a true bargain. I've noticed that at the grocery store they have all kinds of signs indicating that the price is "locked in." I assumed that means the product is at a good price. I've learned otherwise. Just a couple of weeks ago, I bought dish detergent for $1.79. The next week, the price was locked in at $2.29! Some people can keep track of prices in their heads, but I tend to forget from week-to-week, but I'm doing a much better job with the assistance of my trusty spreadsheet!
Cuddles--I love your spreadsheet idea. I also tended to think that the Bulk Barn would be cheaper and have actually been holding off on my shopping until I can get there. Now I'll think twice! I'd love to get a hold of your spreadsheets! I'll have to start my own. Thanks for the tips!
Want my recipe for pizza dough? It saves so much effort when you can throw it all in the BM and just pull it out and throw in the toppings and viola! Supper!
Heads up... Walmart sells cereal cheapest I have seen, and those mini crisp rice chips which my son loves are the cheapest there than anywhere else regularly prices. I always check the flyers for things I need that week.
Oh, I to answer your question I have a dough cycle on my machine, so I let it run through the whole 2 hours. Let me know if you want my bread recipe, I have a large machine so it makes two loaves worth of dough each time. I make bread every 2 to 3 days.
I would love to have your recipes. My bread machine (which I broke out yesterday for the first time in months and made honey whole wheat bread) is pretty big. It makes one dense loaf of bread if I leave it in there to bake. Would I get two loaves out of it if I put it in bread pans and allowed it to rise? Is that what you do? Anyway, I will be trying the pizza very soon.
OK,
IN THIS ORDER:
2 C hot water
1/3 C sugar (white, brown, or molasses)
1 TeaSp salt
1/3 C butter (or oil or shortening)
6 C flour (white, or half & half with WWheat)
1 TableSp Bread machine Yeast.
& Close the door! LOL Put on your Dough setting let complete, take out, cut in two, knead out the air bubbles, and place in greased pans to rise, bake at 375 F for about 18 minutes or until Golden brown. Let cool for about 10 minutes in the pans and take out to cool on racks or a cutting board.
For the Pizza dough I use basically the same recipe but I make sure to use oil and up it a bit. I also add spices to mine like pizza spice, and garlic powder. Beware that the recipe as is makes two very large pizzas, I use it to make panzarotties (large pizza pockets) and freeze what we dont eat) Or you can simply cut it all in half and make one big pizza (fills my pizza stone.)
:) Enjoy!
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