BLINKIES AND PEELIES

Grocery shopping with Mother’s Little Helpers can be a challenge. During the school year, it may be easier to escape to the market to shop. Summertime shopping requires stealth will-power when extra sets of eyes are ogling the shelves.

Summertime shopping requires a strategic plan. The grocery list is set. Check. Match the blinkies and peelies and catalinas to the list. Check. Load Little Helpers into the car. Check.

Blinkies, peelies and catalinas? Those are types of coupons! Peelies are those coupons that are affixed to a box that you peel off for today’s shopping or a later shopping trip.

Blinkies are coupons found in the refrigerator section but will occasionally be attached to a shelf in the aisle in a little black box.

Catalinas are the coupons the cash register churns out with your receipt. It is a manufacturer coupon that can be used at any store, not just the store that gave you the coupon. Sometimes, I can find awesome catalina coupons left behind at the self-check out. Between the Sunday newspaper, internet coupons, and the ones obtained at the grocery store, my coupon box contains a variety of money saving coupons of shapes and sizes!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip! I find using a plastic 4 x 6 index card box great for sorting coupons. By sorting according to month, January through December, my coupons won’t expire!

                                                                 MY COUPON BOX

 

 

 

THE SOUS CHEF

Due to an ineptness on my part to find my way around a stove-top and oven when I got married, it was a personal goal of mine to raise Mother’s Little Helpers who were, well, not as inept as their mother when it came to meal preparation.

For them to be self-sufficient, kitchen organization was key to my grand plan.

First, the kitchen dishes had to be at a level they could reach which meant I was the only mother that stored kitchen dishes in the bottom kitchen cabinets. Every kitchen where we lived had dishes in the bottom cabinet.

Second, the pots and pans had to be within reach as well. They, too, found a home on the lower bottom shelves.

It defeated my purpose of raising self-sufficient Mother’s Little Helpers if I had to always retrieve the dishes and the pots or pans for them.

One of the helpers loved to bake. Another helper liked to make pasta. None of the helpers liked to clean up the mess.

It was out of utter frustration that one day I was forced to call in late to work. The kitchen cupboards were bare of pots and baking pans. The counter-top and sink was full to the brim and overflowing with dirty kitchen equipment.

I found a large cardboard box in the basement. All the pots and pans were ferociously scrubbed; then the pots and pans from the kitchen counter were loaded into the sink so they had a turn at getting scrubbed and rinsed. Once dried, everything went into the box. The box went into the trunk of the car.  Off to work, leaving one small pot and one small frying pan for the Mother’s Little Helpers.

Outrage was the expectation from all. Instead, not a peep! The box remained at work for days while I waited for the outrage. I was so disappointed. The box was hauled back home. Pots and pans were restored to their prior shelves. In the end, Mother's Little Helpers did grow up to be self-sufficient in the kitchen. Except now, the pots and pans are in their sinks and on their counter tops!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: If you live near a pick-your-own berry farm or fruit orchard, involving Mother’s Little Helpers is a great way to purchase fresh fruit and save money. A bounty of berries can be frozen, made into a fresh jam or berry sauce for ice-cream, even smoothies for great snacks….while they last!

 

MEATLESS MONDAY

How many remember Wednesday night as “Prince Spaghetti Night”?  Now, nobody is talking about meatless Wednesdays. It’s all about Meatless Mondays.

It was launched in 2003 in the United States and Meatless Mondays is now a global phenomenon. It expanded beyond the US in 2009 to Belgium and then to England. Currently, Meatless Mondays exists in 34 countries around the world.

When trying to reduce costs in your weekly grocery budget, designate one day a week as meatless, you will see savings.

Pasta, beans, vegetables and combinations of any two are of lower cost yet nutritious alternatives to meat consumption. The cost of these items are less than meat as well. 

It was a hard sell to Mother’s Little Helpers. All those vegetables! I learned early on that the less desirable the dinner, the more desirable the dessert had to be in order to get them to eat dinner.

When making chicken cacciatore, I always add more green peppers, onions and mushrooms to the recipe. I know there will be leftover veggies. For a meatless meal, the vegetables served over a plate or bowl of spaghetti are filling and nutritious. Should I mention it “meets” my cook once, eat twice mantra?

For variety, toss cubes of peeled eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, fire-roasted canned tomatoes, onions and garlic with your favorite Italian seasonings to simmer in a pot for a delicious ratatouille. Dinner can be ready in 20 minutes.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Store leftover vegetables immediately in the freezer. Summer and winter soups are a versatile way to use leftover vegetables for a meatless meal. Corn from the cob, with zucchini, garlic and onions, fresh tomatoes make a light and delicious summer meal. If you need an extender, add pasta or rice to the soup bowl and a roll or slice of bread to round out the meal.

                                                         STUFFED ZUCCHINI
                           

 

BLACK EYE PEA SALAD

 

                    ARTICHOKE AND FIRE ROASTED TOMATOES OVER PASTA

 

RED BEANS AND RICE

 

SPINACH PESTO

 

CREAM OF POTATO AND BROCCOLI SOUP

MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING

Roughly seven years ago, coworkers clued me in to the strategic way to use credit cards to collect points. When a designated credit card accumulates a certain number of points, the points could be converted into a gift card. The selection of gift cards varies from movie theaters, gas, hotels, retail or grocery stores and restaurants.

I have this type of credit card. Every December, I check to see how many points have been accumulated over the course of the year. Some years, I have accumulated enough points for a $50 gift card and some years a $100 gift card!

The gift card that I would purchase would be to any store that sold groceries, with Target and Walmart being my “go to” gift cards.

When I had a month that I was short on money but long on month, I’d pull out my emergency gift card to supplement my budget for the remainder of the month. Usually, it was a month with 5 weeks and I’d only budgeted for 4 weeks. I may need only $10 or $20, but it was a great resource to have and to use when I needed it.

Another source of discounted gift cards would come through Groupon. I’ve been able to purchase $20 cards for $10. I have not tried Gift Card Granny yet, but I understand one can buy and sell discounted gift cards through that website.

When using my credit card, much like food, I want to be able to get the most from it.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Familiarize yourselves with the benefits of a customer appreciation store card.  For example, with a Kroger store card, the grocery store will reward 4X points towards fuel when purchasing gift cards during special promotions. Combining customer appreciation card with a credit card that rewards with points is much ado about something!

 

HOW BURGERS MUSHROOMED

There was an awesome sale on Jennie-O ground turkey two weeks ago and I purchased two packages because I had two great coupons. One package made a tray of Caribbean turkey/black bean sliders while the other tray was saved for ground turkey stuffed mushrooms and turkey mushroom burgers.

After the stuffed mushrooms were prepared, the stems were set aside for turkey burger dinner. The weight of the mushrooms was 5 ounces. The weight of the ground turkey was 10 ounces. Adding an extender of mushroom stems increased the weight of the mixture to almost a pound.

By doing this, my yield of burgers “mushroomed” and it did not cost any additional money. The mushroom stems in some households may have been considered garbage but in this household, every last bit of food is used to some good.

Another healthy addition to ground turkey for burgers or sliders is pre-cooked black beans. I have tried them whole but in the future, I’m going to consider a rough mashing before mixing into the ground turkey. Sliders were too small for whole beans; they may work better for the larger burger.

With meat being the most expensive part of your dinner entrée, nutritious extenders make a little meat stretch a long way.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Use your imagination when adding extenders to ground meats. Chop green peppers, minced onions, or shredded carrots are other options that can add flavor, nutrition and volume to ground meats.

                                                    GROUND TURKEY

 

DICED MUSHROOMS STEMS

                              TURKEY MUSHROOM BURGERS FOR THE GRILL

                                       TURKEY BLACK BEAN SLIDERS

 

COOKED SLIDERS

 

ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION

My mother never owned a meat mallet or any object other than her hand to pound flat a piece of meat.

There were countless evenings when I watched her lay her hand out flat and pound a piece of chicken flat using the heel of her hand. As she got older, she would use a wide knife to lay flat atop the chicken and make a fist to pound the chicken thin.

I’m a wimp by comparison. I bruise whenever I do that, so I purchased a meat mallet. It’s another utensil to wash during the clean-up process but it’s either the meat mallet or my hand that takes the pounding. Rock…paper…scissors. The mallet lost.

I use a cereal box liner of wax paper to place over the piece of chicken and hammer until it reaches my desired thickness.

What piece of chicken gets hammered?

If you hold a chicken breast that has been removed from the rib cage, underneath each chicken breast there is a piece of meat that loosely dangles from the breast. Detach it from the breast. The grocery stores sell these as chicken tenders. Like all cuts of meat, they are mighty expensive too.

Before grilling or cooking your chicken breasts, remove all tenders. It doesn’t require much effort, just a knife to slice it off the breast. It helps you along, implying it really doesn’t want to be there by loosely hanging from the undercarriage of the breast. If you have several breasts, you can easily make another meal from all those chicken tenders. By subtracting the tenders, this adds another meal to the menu!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Tenders cook quickly and are very versatile. Dredged in flour and sautéed in a skillet, once cooked remove from skillet and add orange juice and honey to the skillet for a sauce to coat the tenders. Served with rice and a vegetable, you have dinner in a jiffy! They can be coated in bread crumbs and baked, then served with honey mustard or BBQ sauce, just as you  could buy at a fast-food restaurant. They will be healthier (baked not fried) and at no additional cost to your family.

                    DANGLING CHICKEN TENDER ON A CHICKEN BREAST

 

SAMPLE OF TWO CHICKEN TENDERS SITTING ALONGSIDE A BREAST

                                    
                                         VARYING SIZES OF CHICKEN TENDERS

 

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A MEAT MALLET ON HAND, USE YOUR OWN!

 

 

A BOW TIE AFFAIR

Summer holiday season is just around the corner and it will soon be time to take out the bow ties.

Elbows will be bumped as my hands rearrange the boxes. Winter boxes will be moved to the back and summer time boxes to the front.

I keep my bow ties in boxes. For variety, I have two sizes. Regular sized bow ties and minis. Each style is fragile; they have to be handled with care to avoid crushing them.

Mother’s Little Middle Helper is a bow tie fan too. If there is a good sale on bow ties, I keep her in mind. She is busy these days with work and her own Mother’s Little Helper. It’s just a matter of time before he is introduced to bow ties as well.

My favorite summer dish is a bow tie salad with raspberry vinaigrette to accompany a grilled meat.

Wait….we are talking about pasta, aren’t we? Orzo I thought!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Pasta salads are a great way to use up leftover vegetables. The transformation into a new dish is not only delicious but appealing to the eye with the bounty of colors incorporated into the bowl. As a side dish or the main entrée, cool pasta salads are a great meal on a hot summer night.

                                 LEFTOVER MIXED BEANS and CARROTS FOR PASTA SALAD

 

NONA'S WAFFLE MIX

When Mother’s Little Helpers were young and living at home, I would make a large container of pancake/waffle mix. Aunt Jemima and Hungry Jack box mixes were labeled “add only milk” or “add egg and water”. Wasn’t that what my pre-made mix required? I was paying money for a box when the ingredients were in my pantry!

Once all the ingredients were mixed into the large container, the contents were divided into smaller packets. I would create my own labels and store my packages in a decorated box stored on my pantry shelf. Right there next to the homemade corn muffin mixes.

As I was strolling down the aisles of CVS one weekend with my 25% OFF coupon, I found a waffle iron that made animal shaped waffles. I already had two waffles irons but this wagon red waffle iron tugged at my heart. You see, over the years, the family has expanded by a few new family members. They are all under the age of three.

The only rationale to purchase the wagon red waffle iron that made animal shaped waffles was Grandmother’s Little Helpers and my coupon. That was reason enough for me. It sits upright on my shelf next to the adult looking circular waffle iron. One waffle iron was donated to a Mother’s Little Helper. Three waffle irons would be a bit excessive even by my frugal standards!

Nona’s Waffle Mix

§  2 cups flour

§  4 tsp baking powder

§  2 TBS sugar

§  1 tsp salt

That is the original recipe, but I eliminate the salt. Baking powder contains sodium. Adjust to your needs. I use a fraction of sugar as in the recipe. I whisk and divide the mixture in half and store in air-tight plastic bags. When ready to use, I add ¾ cup milk or buttermilk, one egg and 3 TBS of melted butter. If you are making the entire batch, double the wet ingredients. Pour batter in a pre-heated waffle iron until crisp and ready to serve. Leftovers freeze well and when ready to serve, reheat in your toaster!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Real syrup is real expensive. Alternate toppings to syrup include jams, fresh fruit, a drizzle of honey or a dollop of whipped topping or all of the above!

 

EMPTY THE CALORIES...NOT THE WALLET

Some have described it as a champagne appetite on a beer budget. You know, that moment when you want to prepare an elegant meal but have only a few dollars to work with.

Getting started to control spending on groceries first requires cash.

Yes, those oft not used greenbacks, with pictures of Presidents and numbers embossed on them. Put away the credit card, hide the checkbook and go to the ATM for cash. With technology, “cash” can also be a pre-paid card with a set amount of money on it.

Cash is limiting. It has restrictions. When you run out, there is no more. Financing food with a checkbook or a credit card is open access to money. It is easy to let it get out of control. But cash will force you, the shopper, not to exceed your budget and will help you to develop into a more thoughtful shopper.

If you need immediate savings in a hurry, consider dumping all those empty calories from the grocery cart. Junk food. Items we consume of little to no nutritional value. Need to eliminate $10 from the grocery bill? Skip the 12-packs of soda. Have you seen the price of packaged, name brand cookies these days? Two packs are almost $10 in price. Those carb crunchy bags of potato or corn chips? They cost over $4 per 10 oz bag. These items will tip your weight and wallet over the edge.

Try cash for a week. Target a set amount of cash to spend on groceries and adhere to it. If you are in serious need of shaving dollars off your spending costs, using cash is a great way to start.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Coupons are cash gifts from manufacturers. Used wisely during sales and combined with store coupons, they will reduce the item to a fraction of its original cost.

                           HARRIS TEETER TRIPLE COUPON SALE IN NC SEVERAL MONTHS AGO

A LITTLE PRAIRE HOUSE COMPANION

It was a 5^th grade Social Science project assignment for one of Mother’s Little Helpers. Memory fails me on many of the details but the outcome was a handmade pie crust.

Maybe the class was learning about life before electricity and modern appliances or maybe it was to replicate foods of wagon trains and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. But whatever the reason, I recall being grateful for two things.

First, was to be able to share the experience of baking in the kitchen with my middle Little Helper. A pie crust is so versatile; so much can be done with it. As a bottom crust, it’s a quiche. As a top crust, it’s [Shepherd’s] pie.

What a life skill to learn! Pour some leftovers such as chicken and vegetables into a pie plate with a liquid binder such as gravy, cover with a pie crust and there’s a meal. Chicken pot pie!  My 10 year old had learned a lesson in reinventing leftovers.

The second thing that I was grateful for?

 It wasn’t a project that I heard about the night before it was due!

Sound the bugle! Today’s tip: If your family does not like to eat the same meal days later, reinvent the ingredients into a new meal. Having stock on hand in the freezer, many leftovers can be made into soup. Another idea is a casserole which only requires a meat, a vegetable, a carb and a liquid binder such as gravy. Some meat leftovers lend themselves to a stir-fry while others can be stuffed into jumbo pasta shells. The tip is that wasting leftovers wastes both money and resources. Not a very frugal thing to do!

 

LONG ON MONTH, SHORT ON MONEY

Mornings are a hectic part of my day. I suspect they are for many of us. It must be true. As I make my morning commute, I pass various coffee and breakfast drive-thru windows. I can’t help but notice the parade of cars lined up waiting to place an order or pay at the window.

Some in need of their daily morning jolt of java. Others need a more substantial morning meal.

An English muffin with a slice of cheese and an egg seems to cost about $2.79, if one orders only the English muffin with a slice of cheese and an egg. That is almost $14/week. The financial hit for the month is $55.80. No coffee, just the morning English muffin breakfast item.

A toasted bagel without cream cheese seems to find itself on the dollar menu. That would be a financial cost of $20 month. Again, the coffee/beverage hasn’t been factored into the equation. Buying any combination of the two items, daily for the month, can deplete your wallet anywhere from $20 to $55.80 per month. The same applies for the cost of a daily cup of coffee.

For a small investment of $4.95, I purchased a 4” round frying pan. Coincidentally, it is the perfect size to cook eggs that fits nicely between two slices of an English muffin or a bagel.

My price point for eggs, discounted English muffins, and Swiss cheese makes the total cost of my homemade, Egg McFrugal about 64 cents. A month’s worth will cost me $12.80. Hmmm…pay $55.80 or $12.80?

To be frugal with my time and my money, I make a week’s worth of these egg whites in advance on Sunday morning. The time spent on line at the drive-thru burning fuel can easily be longer and more costly than toasting my English muffin at home. The quality of real cheese from home is better than the processed cheese food atop the restaurant item.

Yes, I have to say, I do like having it my way… much better!

SOUND THE BULGE! Today’s tip: Discretionary income is money that you spend on non-essentials.  If you are habitually long on month and short on money, review where you are spending your discretionary income. Cutting back on non-essentials is one step to help you to get to the end of the month with money in your wallet.

                                                            4" FRYING PAN

 

                                     EGG WHITE OMLETTES FOR THE WEEK

 

                                                SANDWICH THINS TO GO

 

EGG WHITE CORN TACO TO GO

 

                                                EGG MYFRUGAL MUFFIN TO GO

 

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

To be successful in keeping a food budget, stick to the grocery list.

Sometimes, that is a hard task to do when unexpected, surprise ‘in-store’ specials glare at you with that invisible “buy me” neon sign flashing in front of you. A store may be needing to reduce inventory or it may be close to a "sell buy" date and prices are lowered for you, the shopper.

In cases of such great buys, I find myself sometimes tapping into the following week’s budget. For some months, that’s not problematic. Some months, it’s a problem.

Having tracked my spending for the past year, there were those months when overspending took place. It could have been as low as $20 or as much as $40.

Combine the unexpected in-store specials with a month of 5 weekends, and I’m pouring over the ledger book trying to make it balance.

Toss in a holiday during a 5-weekend month and I’m looking to take a scalpel to the budget.

Over the years, one solution that I have found was to “stockpile on sale” in advance of the holiday for those needed items. As the holiday draws near, this shortens my holiday shopping list. It spreads out the buying season (and my dollars) just a little bit longer.

Another tip that has helped was to purchase the in-store special and remove another item of comparable price off the list. Add chickens, remove laundry detergent. With the prices listed next to my groceries, I can quickly and easily swap out one or two items for my unexpected surprise item.

Lastly, if there is any money left at the end of the month [yes, rare as that is] set it aside for those months when you have overspent and need to use those dollars for the unexpected surprises.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: As you are compiling your grocery list, write down the purchase price next to your grocery item on your shopping list.

By doing this, there should be no surprise at the cash register of how much was spent during your shopping trip. Check your receipt to be sure you were not overcharged for an item. Some store policies will give you the item for free if it is the fault of the store.

                                   UNADVERTISED WHOLE CHICKENS @ .69/lb.

 

CHICKENS AFTER THEY WERE DEBONED

 

BREAD .39/LOAF with BOLOGNA $1.29 and CHEESE $1.50

 

GRILLED SANDWICHES FOR THE FREEZER

 

SURPRISE SALE! EGGPLANT .89/EACH!

 

PHONY BOLOGNA

Do you recall when one learned to spell a brand bologna as b-o-l-o-n-g-a? It was a catchy TV commercial jingle.

Bologna was a staple lunch item in my mom’s refrigerator. Not the brand kind, but the kind she would ask the deli counter person to slice for her. Thin. Not shavings, not thick but thin. And if she ever sent her eldest helper out to the deli for bologna, it had to be thin. Not shavings, not thick but thin.

If you have children or are surrounded by little ones on a regular basis, you may have had this similar experience when children go through food jags. They will only eat one item, repeatedly, for what seems to be an eternity.

I was no different. Every day, my lunch would be a bologna sandwich because I wanted it that way. Mom would say “the day will come that you will not want to look at another bologna sandwich” but that day did could not come soon enough for her.

She would serve it daily on two slices of round white bread that mom would buy daily at the bakery, with a thin layer of mayo. The round bologna deli slice fit perfectly on the round bread. No deli meat to tuck in because a square slice of meat on a round slice of bread was just like putting a square peg in a round hole.

There was no deviation except for Fridays. Fridays were relegated to peanut butter and jelly or cream cheese and jelly. Not by my choice, but by religious upbringing. Fridays were meatless, therefore, no bologna.

That day did eventually come when I could not look at or eat one more bologna sandwich. Instead, my new food jag was liverwurst. Yes, another perfectly round slice of deli meat on a perfectly round slice of white bread with a thin layer of mayo, every day.

Today, my taste for bologna is not as ravenous as when I was a child. Now, I buy phony bologna. It has turkey in it. The grown up version is on square bread, with cheese, mayo on the meat side, tomato if available, then grilled until gooey. Okay, so gooey is not an adult word but then again, my spelling of bologna is still b-o-l-o-g-n-a.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: The price of fresh sliced deli meat from behind the counter is exorbitant for my budget. If I must buy fresh sliced deli meat, I order the exact number of thin slices that I will need for my sandwiches. Add some crunch and texture (read as extender!) to your sandwich with lettuce and toasted bread. For some sandwiches (ham and cheese), thinly sliced apples will work too!

                                                          GRILLING EQUIPMENT

 

                                       TURKEY BOLOGNA and SWISS CHEESE

 

HAMBURGER BUNS FOR THE "ROUND" EFFECT

 

NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN

That moment in time when I realized that I could learn from Mother’s Little Helpers changed my relationship with them. There was not one defining moment but a plethora of them.

Reflecting back on this Mother’s Day Weekend, the most recent thing I learned was how to make sliders.

This is a frugal column, so my take on how to make sliders will have a frugal slant to it, but not absent in flavor.

My first experience eating sliders came with a sampling of cheeses, sliced in a variety of thicknesses. Diagonally laid across the top of each slider, there was goat cheese, brie cheese or sharp cheddar; then topped with its slider bun. Each looked very appealing to the eye and not at all disappointing to the stomach.

Given my need to ration sodium, a flavorful twist had to be devised in order that I could continue to consume these tiny squares of succulent meat.

Spinning around the spice rack, there it was…Caribbean Jerk Seasoning! This was a donation to my kitchen from another of Mother’s Little Helpers.

Some parents cringe when their Little Helpers move “stuff” back home but not me. I’ve been on the receiving end of some pretty neat “stuff”. The Caribbean Jerk Seasoning also came with a Sunbeam grill. It functions like the “George Foreman” brand, except it is made by Sunbeam. I digress….that will be a blog for another day!

With ground turkey, black beans in the freezer and Caribbean Jerk Seasoning on the spice rack, the components were all there for Caribbean turkey/black bean sliders. My griddle was warm and the sliders sizzled! The aroma of the spice filled the kitchen. I will be able to enjoy the slider experience without added salt but if I need to add some cheese, Swiss will be on hand in the refrigerator to top off my mini-burger in a bun experience.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Using beans as an extender to ground meat not only gives a greater yield to your meal but economically adds nutrients and fiber to your family’s diet.

                                                                           RECIPES

 

FINAL PURCHASE PRICES WAS $3.24

 

LARGE RECTANGLE TO CUT INTO SQUARES

                                                    READY FOR THE GRIDDLE

                                                           READY FOR SERVING

 

THE CHEESE STANDS ALONE

It was the best of times and the worst of times. Oh wait, that line has already been used.

I live in the South now, but I grew up in the Northeastern part of the United States. With the exception of a brief 18-month stint to the state of Oklahoma, I’d always lived in the North.

One random weekday, I picked up the phone and was asked how I’d feel about moving to Portland. When one lives in the North, the only “Portland” that comes to mind is in Maine.

It was quickly brought to my attention that it was the Portland on the West coast, the one in Oregon. For those who have never been, that would be pronounced “ore a gun” and not “ore a gone”. If one was going to blend in, one needed to know how to pronounce the language of the land. The next vocabulary word was “Willamette”.

Feeling like a pioneer mother, the family packed up and loaded into the wagon with wings and flew to the West Coast to one of the most beautiful places that I’d ever seen and that included the airport.

But it wasn’t without its challenges. It was traumatic for Mother’s Little Helpers to leave their home. While on the wagon with wings, the youngest little helper placed chewing gum into his sister’s hair. Within days, we met the pediatric dentist on an emergency visit when my Middle Little Helper broke front teeth before we even moved into our new home.

The best part was the ability to blend into a frugal lifestyle for the first time in my adult life. I found the best grocery store outlet. Brands that were considered “off brand” there were “name brand” where I came from. It was a place where family fun was affordable and in some cases free. Yes, it was some of the best of times.

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: When in a new place, be willing to try the local brands offered by the grocery stores. I’m a huge fan of cheese and I would have been missing out on the wonders of Tillamook Cheese had I not placed it in my grocery cart one day. To extend cheese, purchase and shred a bar of sharp cheddar cheese and sprinkle sparingly to not only extend the use but also save on calories!

 

IT'S NOT JUST FOR BREAKFAST

Do you remember your favorite reason for eating cereal as a child? Was it the games on the back of the box? Was it for the prize that may be inside the box?  Was it the combination of flavors?

My dad is a big Kellogg’s Corn Flakes fan and had been for years until he discovered Raisin Bran Flakes. You get the theme, he likes those flakes.

For Mother’s Little Helpers, they would go through cereal mood swings. The youngest of Mother’s Little Helper enjoyed two types of cereals. One he would classify as “healthy” to be eaten at breakfast and one that he would consider as snack food, such as anything “chocolate” mixed with milk. 

On the other hand, I was not a cereal fan as a child. Breakfast foods just were not appealing to me.

However, as a frugal mother, with the price of cereal escalating, I want to get the most out of those cereal boxes. Over the years, I’ve found some tasty cereals but my favorite part is the wax liner!

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Those wax liners are money in my pocket! When the box is empty, I rinse the liners to remove all the crumbs. Then, I open the liner at the seams to lay flat. Once dry, I fold the flat piece of wax paper and store it in my pantry.

When I need to use wax paper, I pull out my cereal liners!

They can be used to pound chicken breasts thin. I have used them between layers of homemade hamburgers or “sliced at home” pork chops to store in the freezer. When breading fish or chicken, I sprinkle bread crumbs on the wax paper as I find it easier than working in a bowl. If I have the need to wrap and freeze, I will first wrap in the cereal wax liner.

The wax paper liners can be confiscated from boxes of crackers and cake mixes giving you a variety of sizes from which to choose!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: I subscribe to the local newspaper on weekends. Before recycling the paper, I will save a few sections. First, wrap freezer items in wax paper or clear plastic wrap and surround the outer layer with newspaper wrap to protect from freezer burn. It is cheaper than using aluminum foil and I like the concept of paying once and using something twice!

                                                             CLEAN CEREAL LINERS