• Save your fresh herbs in the freezer. You can do this in bunches or cubes and either whole or chopped. They won’t have the same picked fresh flavor but they will last longer than they would in your fridge.Save empty butter wrappers folded (messy side inside) in the fridge – when you need to grease a pan, take one out and grease away. Cheaper than spray for sure.
• Leftover baked or mashed potatoes can be made easily into potato cakes. You can add whatever fixings you like to the cakes like veggies or turkey sausage and top with gravy, sour cream, or other goodies (salsa is fun).
• To keep homemade cookies fresh place a small piece of sliced apple in with them at the bottom of the jar. This should keep them moist for as long as you have them – good for homes like mine because my son is only a semi treat muncher. Our cookies always get dry before we eat them unless we do this trick.
• ALWAYS make all your pancakes or waffles right away. Every time I leave batter in the fridge I forget about it. A better option is to use all your batter at once then freeze the extra waffles or cakes, which heat well in a toaster oven or microwave. NOTE: The first time I froze pancakes I did it wrong. Do not place them in a container and allow them to freeze, you’ll never be able to get them apart one-by-one. Instead, place extras on a cookie sheet, place in the freezer for 30 mins til mostly frozen, then put them into a container or wrap them together.
• Dried out cheese is gross in slices but still works in wet dishes like lasagna or a casserole. Grate it finely and add it to your dishes.

What other ideas do you have?

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• banana bread or muffins
• sliced on top of oatmeal or cereal
• banana sandwich – banana and peanut butter or banana and mayonnaise (I like Miracle Whip.)
• inside waffles or pancakes
• smoothie
• ice cream topping
• banana split
• banana pudding
• banana souffle
• dehydrated into chips
• banana cream pie
• banana ice cream

What ways to you use bananas?

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Turkey sandwich - This one is a given, but it is one of my favorites. Some people like their sandwich with mayonnaise and onions.  I like mine with mustard on white bread.

Turkey salad - This is another family favorite.  I chop up some turkey, add some mayo, diced dill pickles, salt, and pepper, and it’s as good as chicken salad.  I also like to make ham salad.

Turkey and rice - Cook rice according to package directions, add desired seasonings.  Throw in some chopped turkey and some vegetables.  You might also like to make a gravy.

Turkey wraps - Add some turkey, cheese, and fresh vegetables to a lettuce slice or tortilla.

Turkey soup - There are many varieties of turkey soup. You could make a cream based soup or a Mexican style soup.  Use your favorite chicken soup recipe using turkey instead of chicken.

Other sources for recipes:

AllRecipes.com – Some ideas include Turkey a la King, turkey enchiladas, turkey pot pie, turkey tetrazzini, and more.
Recipe Goldmine
National Turkey Federation
Healthy Eating Made Easy

What are your favorite ways to use leftover turkey?

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Although I have been eating tuna since I was a small child, I was excited to try some of the Bumble Bee products.  Bumble Bee has an assortment of inexpensive and nutritious lunch ideas that I want to share with you.

One of my new favorite tunas is the lemon pepper tuna. Bumble Bee now has three flavored tunas – Lemon Pepper, Sundried Tomato, and Spicy Thai Chili.  For less than $1.50, you can get a small can of flavored tuna with crackers.  This is a great inexpensive and healthy lunch idea. Bumble Bee offers the new flavored tunas in larger cans with no crackers.

For those that prefer their chicken and tuna with mayonnaise, Bumble Bee has premade chicken and tuna salad lunch packs. There is also a fat free tuna salad.   

Bumble Bee has a sustainability intiative.  They support global policies and management initiatives that ensure long-term sustainability of these resources. 

By becoming a Bumble Bee facebook fan, you can print a coupon good for $1 off three specialty items such as crab, shrimp, oysters, and sardines.

What inexpensive lunch ideas can you share?

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Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Know your food costs: Track food costs for about a month so you get a fair idea of where your money is going. Divide the costs into necessary foods (bread, milk, eggs) and unnecessary food costs (cookies, soda, dips). You should also keep track of how often you eat out and those costs too.

Set a target: Do you want to cut $50, $100, more? Set a target then start thinking about how you can manage to meet that goal.

Make some decisions: After looking at your food bill costs, decide what’s necessary to keep and what can be tossed. For example, hummus is not a totally necessary food, but lots of people like it, and it’s healthier than say chips if you use it as a dip for whole wheat crackers or veggies. Soda or energy drinks or candy would all be better to cut. Don’t cut in access though which can lead to splurging.

Have a solid plan: Get a decent cookbook with low cost healthy meals and browse through. See what’s manageable and what’s not. Make your grocery list accordingly. Don’t buy stuff you won’t cook – you’re overshooting. Once you know some meals you will cook, make your grocery list, and when you go shopping don’t get other items – unless you see a killer sale on a healthy item, say black beans or veggies stick to that list.

Make the plan stick: Easy ways to make sure you stick to the plan include cooking in bulk and freezing meals – you’ll be less likely to impulse buy if you know you have dinner ready to go in the freezer. Eat dinner as a family. You can also shop while NOT hungry, and shop without the rest of the family, if that’s possible.

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Prepare the foods yourself.  Don’t go out to the ham store and order a precooked ham or turkey.  I’ve heard of some people paying $30-40 for a precooked ham.  Yikes!

Shop the pre-Thanksgiving sales.  Some stores offer tremendous weekly specials to lure you in.  Look for buy 1 get 1 free specials on vegetables, potatoes, stuffing, and frozen pies.  When the turkey and sweet potatoes hit rock bottom prices, go ahead and buy those too.  Make sure you freeze the turkey and follow these safety tips to avoid food-related illness.

Ask others to contribute. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner by yourself is a big undertaking and it’s costly too.  Most people will ask what they can bring.  I recommend suggesting something easy like a pie and green bean casserole.  If you can’t think of anything at the moment, tell them you’ll get back to them in a few days.  If the person doesn’t offer to bring anything, you can say, “Is there a special dish you like that you’d like to bring?”. 

Borrow or use natural decorations.  Avoid spending money or new decorations.  See if someone has something you can borrow.  If not, go outside and gather pretty fall colored leaves, pinecones, acorns, etc.  If you’re looking to save money on new decorations, try stores like Michael’s and A.C. Moore.  Many of them offer 50% off sales before the holiday.  Sometimes The Dollar Tree has some good finds.

You might also want to read Tips for Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner.

What ways can you save on Thanksgiving dinner?

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Directions:

• Unwrap your peppermint lifesavers and set aside.
• Precut your ribbon and set aside. (You can use your craft store coupons to save money on ribbon.)  The ribbon should be about four inches long. 
• Melt the chocolate.  Put a little dab of melted chocolate in the center of some of the peppermints.  You should do this on the back side of the peppermint so that the words Life Savers does not show up on top of the pacifier. 
• Place a mini jelly bean on top of melted chocolate in center.  Set down on flat service to dry and harden. 
• While the pacifier tops are drying, attach the ribbon to the other peppermints (pacifier handles).
• Using melted chocolate, attach pacifier bottoms to pacifier tops.  Let them dry/harden.

These can be arranged on a table as a decoration, set out as refreshments, or placed into favor boxes for your guests.

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Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Not only are foodborne illnesses serious from a medical standpoint, but they take time away from your family, and can create costly medical bills. This Thanksgiving, make sure your family plays it safe with the following resources…

• A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey
• If you have a specific turkey question you can call the Butterball Turkey Talk Line (1-800-BUTTERBALL) all throughout November and December.
• Countdown to the Thanksgiving Holiday – heavy on the safety aspects.
• Food safety for a successful community meal (pdf) – this guide focuses on transporting food safely, say to a relative’s home for the holidays, how to safely plan family meals like a potluck, and covers all sorts of other useful tips as well.

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1)  Use it for Christmas.  The candy that doesn’t have Halloween colored wrapper would work well in the kids’ stockings.  No sense in spending money on new candy when you have plenty.  Set some aside for later.

2)  Put out a candy bowl at work.  A little Snickers bar or Reese’s cup helps make the day a little brighter.  Cheer up your co-worker’s day with a little treat.

3)  Put it in your shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  Each year, our family does several shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse.  I usually save our hard candy for the shoeboxes.  Of course, you’ll want to inspect the candy first and pick out the non-perishable stuff.  Put it in a sandwich size ziploc bag and place in the shoebox with your other items.  Don’t forget - collection dates for shoeboxes are this month!

4)  Use the candy in recipes.  I’ve heard of people adding chopped Milky Way bars to their cake batter or making homemade ice cream.  Search the internet and I’m sure you’ll find recipes.

5)  Donate it.  The local food bank could use it as a special treat to put in their food boxes for those in need.  Perhaps your child’s teacher could use it as a special treat or in the prize box.  Some schools have policies against using sweets, so check with the teacher.

What ways can you use the leftover candy?

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Post from: Thrifty Mommy

1)  Grow your own.  Growing your own can help to drastically cut your food bill.  As an added bonus, you get to control the use of fertilizers and pesticides. 

2)  Can and freeze for the winter months.  Many people plan a large garden so that they will have enough to can and freeze for future months.  These come in handy for soups, casseroles and crock pot meals.

3)  Buy in-season produce.  I am more likely to buy cucumbers, tomatoes, and other produce when they’re at seasonal low prices.  When tomatoes are $.99/lb I’ll plan to make pico de gallo, tomato casserole, and other dishes that use tomatoes.  When they’re $3.99, I find something else to make that’s less expensive.

4)  Buy locally.  Last week I was thrilled when I stopped at the farmer’s market and found squash and zucchini for $.19/lb and sweet potatoes for $.29/lb.  I walked out with two large bags of produce for only $2.97.

5)  Properly store the vegetables.  Some vegetables like to be stored in air tight containers.  Storing vegetables the proper ways lengthens their lifespan. 

You might also like 10 ways to eat more fruits and vegetables.

What ways do you save money on vegetables?

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