You need to keep this in mind at the bulk stores as well like Sam’s Club and Costco.  Take that calculator and watch your per unit cost.  It won’t take long to figure out the good deals from the same savings.

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Here’s a list of items that I like to keep around:

• bacon
• ham
• eggs
• cheese
• bread
• milk
• cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken soup
• pancake mix or Bisquick
• canned vegetables – corn, cream corn, green beans
• cake mix, frosting, brownie mix
• crackers or bread crumbs
• rice
• frozen packages of ground beef and chicken

With these items on hand, it’s easy to concoct a variety of meals.  It’s also helpful to have some premade frozen meals around, but I only buy those if they’re on sale.

What items do you keep at all times?

image by Karen

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Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese, Bacon, and Balsamic-Fig Dressing

Roast Turkey with Onion and Cranberry Chutney

Wild Rice Pilaf with Sausage, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Celery

Brussels Sprouts with Currants and Pine Nuts

Gratin of Cauliflower with Gruyère

Bakery Dinner Rolls

Pear Pie with Streusel Topping and Caramel Sauce

photo by Becky Luigart-Stayner, courtesy of Cooking Light

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Lisa shares a recipe for baked banana squares.  This sounds delicious and I’m excited to try a new recipe for my bananas.

Linette shares some tips for grilling vegetables.

Marye shares a recipe for homemade caramel frappuccino. She even gives us a recipe for caramel syrup. Yummmmm!

With gas prices so high, perhaps we could follow some of these gas saving tips.  Check out 101 ways to use less gas.

Junk Creation has some crafts and ideas for Father’s Day.  I think the car nut frame is cute.

Inside Fatherhood has a recipe for whoopie pie filling.  Yumm!  I think I need to go eat my rice krispy treats now. 

Check out these cool cakes.  Cheers to the geeks!

Here’s a free smile for today. Check out these cute pictures of a kitten and a parakeet.

At Thrifty Mommy, we have a list of 101 helpful Thrifty Mommy articles.

Do you have a thrifty article to share?  Leave the link in the comments section.

image from istockphoto

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Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Well, it’s blazing hot outside.  If you’re like me, you try not to turn on the stove if you can help it.  Here are some tips to keep you out of the kitchen and keep your house cooler.

 1.  When it’s time to cook something that will freeze well (such as lasagnas, spaghetti sauce, casseroles, chili, etc.) make a double or triple batch for future meals.  These are also great for days when you’re in a hurry.  It will prevent you from spending money on eating out.  Check out my 25 freezing tips.

 2. Prepare larger quantities of meat in advance for future meals and freeze it.  I’ve done this before with hamburger.  When hamburger or ground chuck goes on sale, cook it and drain the fat, then freeze it into the portion sizes you need.  These will come in handy when making spaghetti, lasagna, tacos, shepherd’s pie, etc. 

 3.  Put the crock pot to use.  Toss the ingredients in the crock pot and come back in 6-8 hours for a nice hot meal.  Here are my favorite crock pot recipes or here’s a link to a carnival of crock pot recipes.

 4.  Try simple meals.  Eggs, omelets, cottage cheese with fruit, etc.  You don’t have to spend an hour cooking to enjoy dinner.

 5.  Turn on the grill (or get the charcoal started).  You can prepare your entire meal on the grill.  Grill chicken, potatoes, and vegetables all at once.  Here is the carnival of the recipes, grill edition that I hosted.  You’ll probably find some good recipe ideas there.  Sometimes I grill extra food for lunch the next day.  I also like to grill extra chicken so that we can have salads the next night.  Grilled chicken is yummy on salad! 

 6.  Take time to try new recipes for salads and sandwiches.  Salads and sandwiches don’t have to be boring.  Try this one for oriental ramen noodle salad.  It’s a great side dish and has been a top read at Thrifty Mommy for a while. 

 7.  Try canned foods.  Why spend hours cooking beans (and heating up your house) when you can buy them in a can?   

 8.  Look for frozen foods that you can use for meals.  Sometimes when I’m in a rush, I use the Delimex frozen taquitos.  Add some Mexican rice and canned refried beans and you have an easy meal that doesn’t heat up the house too much.

 9.  Share with friends.  When I lived in Virginia I had a really great friend to share with.  Sometimes she called me on the way home from work to see if I had anything good to eat.  I’d share my pot of chili or give her half a cake (we couldn’t eat it all, nor did we need to).  She would have us over for dinner regularly or she’d share with us.  Neither of us had children and it kept us from slaving over a stove and it was also a nice treat to try new things.

10.   Try convenience foods, within reason.  I’m not big on convenience foods because of the price, but sometimes they’re worth it.  This week I needed some cole slaw mix.  I decided it was worth paying $1.99 for the 1 lb package of pre-cut cole slaw rather than buying the cabbage and carrots and cutting it up.  It didn’t cost me much extra to buy it pre-cut.  Watch out for pre-cut produce or marinated meats.  They’re pretty costly.

11.  Enjoy fresh vegetables.  You can make a lot of different foods that don’t require much or any cooking.  Try making a pasta salad.  You just cook the rotini noodles and then you can add fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and other fresh vegetables, then drizzle with Italian dressing.  Try sliced vegetables with a cold ranch dip.  Have a tomato sandwich to go with your pasta salad or add some ham if you need to have some meat.

12.  Try instant foods.  I use these very sparingly because of preservatives.  If you’re in a hurry though, you can open a can of spaghetti sauce, try some of the precooked rice, or mix up some Hamburger Helper.

13.  Cook your food at night.  It’s too hot during the day to try and cool my house while cooking.  Sometimes I will wait until the evening to do my baking.  Last week I waited until evening to make my husband’s birthday cake and the pasta salad and cucumber salad for his party.  It saved me some stress too!

14.  Try smoothies.  Just writing this makes me crave something cold and refreshing.  Take advantage of the fresh fruit we’re having and make a smoothie for breakfast or lunch.  Making smoothies also enables you to try fruits that maybe you normally wouldn’t buy.  Sounds like a great trick way for me to get my kids to eat their fruit!

15. Try using a toaster oven or small convection oven.  I grew up with my mom using a toaster oven and I love it!  I can use it to cook muffins, little pizzas, baked fries, chicken nuggets, and more.  Try these toaster oven recipes.  A great way to cook without turning on the stove.

I know I didn’t cover all the ways to keep from heating up the stove or working hard in the hot kitchen.  Please share your summer cooking tips in the comment section.  Thanks!

image from sxc.hu

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I was glad that I stumbled across The Pioneer Woman and found Cinnamon Rolls 101.  She gives you complete step by step instructions for making these mouth-watering treats.  She even includes over 20 photos to walk you through the process. 

Check these out.  Cinnabon better watch out!

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20 Things to Do with Old Bed Sheets

American Sign Language

Thai Cooking – complete with great pictures

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Parent Center has over 400 recipes available that kids can make by themselves or help to make.  Yay for free stuff! 

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Earlier in the week, I told you about using hamburger in a way to make your meals easier.  Sunday this tip saved me a lot of time.  I had to make something for a covered dish meal for church and had very little time to do it.  I used the hamburger tip to make this easy sherpherd’s pie. 

1 lb hamburger, cooked and drained
1 can mixed vegetables or Veg-All, drained
1 can of tomato soup
diced onions, optional
prepared mashed potatoes, instant or homemade
shredded cheese, preferrably cheddar

Cook hamburger with onions (optional) until done and drain.  Add about 1/2 – 2/3 can of tomato soup and stir.  Spread hamburger mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish.  Next, spread drained vegetables on top of hamburger mixture.  Top with a layer of mashed potatoes.  Do not mix the layers together.  Bake until hot.  Add shredded cheese to top of casserole.  Cook another 5 minutes or so until the cheese is melted.

If you need more, then just double the recipe.  The picture shown is of a double batch.  Hope you enjoy this easy recipe!

image by Karen

Post from: Thrifty Mommy