KID STUFF

Being the frugal mom that I am, having raised three children with the assistance of their frugal dad, it seems that once Mother’s Little Helpers left home for college…they returned….with stuff. Lots of stuff.

They weren’t home long; two of them for about six months each, one not at all. Still, I got his stuff! His stuff was here, but he was elsewhere. How does that happen!

I’ve tried returning their stuff. It seems they don’t want their stuff back.

There are blenders, hand mixers, plates, measuring cups, etc. My eye caught one kitchen tool in particular. A Sunbeam grill. Larger than the smaller George Foreman version they all went off to college with, somehow one of them came into owning this Sunbeam version.

I offered it back to My Grown Helper but alas, I was told that I could keep it. I was giddy with the possibilities running through my head.  

One of my favorite things to do to save time is make sandwiches in bulk and freeze them.

With a 25 cent loaf of bread from Dollar Tree, a 79 cent package of Oscar Meyer bologna and shredded Swiss cheese, I was ready to make two weeks’ worth of grilled bologna and cheese sandwiches.

Once cooled, individually they were prepared for storage in press and seal wrap for the freezer. I marked them with the sodium content so that I could plan my sodium intake for the days when I included one in my meal plan.

Looking for breakfast one morning, I grabbed a sandwich and added it to my lunchbox. At work, I tossed it in the toaster where it crisped up nicely. The aroma was wonderful. I was the envy of my coworkers. Toasted bread and warmed bologna and cheese….yum!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: There is great satisfaction in buying marked down bread. It is wonderful for grilling sandwiches or making croutons, bread crumbs and bread pudding. Costing a fraction of the price of fresher bread, when reconstructed into a new meal, it’s not even noticeable and the savings is “dough” that makes "sense".