Mix it up Monday: Festival Sausage Bake

Thought we would try out a bit of a new format that we have been working on and start sharing some of the recipes that we use frequently and not so frequently around here that taste great and aren't expensive to make.

We recently discovered the blog Mr Food. There are great meal ideas here and free Ecookbooks!

The recipe I want to share with you is called Festival Sausage Bake.

We had this last night for a potluck and made enough to have frozen meals for work and school lunches.

From their blog here is the recipe:

What You'll Need: 

1 pound rigatoni pasta 

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 

1 1/4 pounds hot Italian sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces 

2 large green bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch strips 

2 medium-sized onions, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 teaspoons minced garlic 

2 (26-ounce) jars spaghetti sauce 

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese 

What To Do: 

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.   

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add sausage, peppers, onions, and garlic, and cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until sausage is cooked through and peppers and onions are tender, stirring occasionally.   Drain sausage mixture, and place in a large bowl. 

Add pasta, spaghetti sauce, and Parmesan cheese; mix well. Pour into a 9" x 13" baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and bake 20 minutes.   Remove foil; sprinkle sausage bake with mozzarella cheese then bake 10 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. 

Read more at http://www.mrfood.com/Casseroles/Festival-Sausage-Bake#BsvHftoueopBQkbM.99

We cheated with recipe a bit for time and money purposes. Here's how we cut corners:

We didn't preheat the oven while the sausage and pasta were cooking. We waited until about 5 minutes before we put it in the oven and we cooked it at the same time as our dessert to save money on heating costs.

We used 3 sausage lengths instead of 1 1/4 pounds (We bought from a local farmer to save money. We purchased a large amount and froze them to save even more money).

Peppers (switched one for a jalapeño to add some more spice. Peppers, onions and garlic were used from our garden to lower the cost even more and keep it local.)

Only one jar of spaghetti sauce instead of two (I bought a tonne of it on sale for $0.90 awhile back).

Used less Parmesan cheese and used mozzarella cheese that I had bought and stocked up on when it was on sale last month.

This meal cost us around $5 to prepare, served a bunch of people at the potluck and made 4 extra lunches for the freezer. I had to bake it in the largest casserole dish and it was filled to the brim!

We loved it. Everyone said it was very tasty. I would definitely make this again.

Let us know if you've tried it and what your thoughts are. 

Do you have a meal that is low in cost and high in taste? Share the recipe and the picture with us and we will feature it on a future Monday post.

Enjoy your day!

Salsa Recipe

Here for your tastebuds and garden bounty, is my salsa recipe. I hope you like it! Have a salsa recipe to share? Comment, email, or Facebook us!

Liz's Salsa Recipe:

20 large tomatoes

6 large onions

1 3/4 cup vinegar

6 large peppers

3 hot peppers

8 tsp cummin

8 tsp salt

9 dashes of hot sauce

3 small cans of tomato paste

7 tsp oregano

10 cloves og garlic

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp crushed chillies

1 bunch of fresh cilantro

6 tbsp cornstarch

I cut everything up in my food processor, throw it all in a large stock pot and simmer it for 25 minutes or more, stirring occasionally. This makes a medium hot recipe. Sometimes I switch the quantity around for the hot and sweet peppers depending on what has grown in the garden and if I want hotter salsa or not. Then place it in a hot water bath for 20 mins. Tastes better after it's been stored for a few months and the flavours have had time to set.

What's your favourite salsa recipe? Please share it with us!

Enjoy!

Cleaning Your Freezer

(http://powermylifetx.com/whats-in-your-freezer/)

How often do we go in to our freezers and find something that we can't even recognize? By not labelling, rotating, organizing and using our food, we are just throwing our money out. I am not sure about you, but I don't want to waste my money that way.

Do you have a chest freezer, or an upright? Do you know what's all in there?

Today, I cleaned out our chest freezer in preparation for the arrival of our 1/4 side of beef arriving tomorrow. We purchased a second freezer on kijiji for such a purpose and today was the day I moved all of the fruits and veggies from our current chest freezer to our upright freezer. This is our first time getting a side of beef and I am not sure how much room I am honestly going to need.

Although while I was cleaning I did find an extra stash of butter that I had purchased on sale, I am pleased to say, that I didn't have to throw one thing out!

So this week, why not put it on your schedule to organize your freezer, defrost it, label everything and take an account of what you need to use and just what exactly is in that big ominous chest of ice.

Here are a few places to get freezer inventory lists:

My favourite: http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-notebook/freezer-inventory

http://beautyandbedlam.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/BBB-Freezer-Inventory-final.pdf

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ani0eqb0Ai4_dEpHZWtoaTZJOURBcnZhUHVYYU1LdXc&hl=en#gid=0

Too Hot to Make Strawberry Jam Now? Why Not Make it From Frozen Fruit?

I love strawberry season and I love strawberry jam. I DO NOT like having my stove going in the heat, but the berries won't wait. What to do. Well, if you're like me and would like to make your jam on your schedule, I have a recipe for you! Yes, you still have to pick your berries and hull them and freeze them in the season, but then freeze them 8 cups to a bag. It also only uses half the sugar, which of course you are buying in good quantities because it's on sale a lot at this time of the year.

I got this recipe out of a magazine years and years ago. It's the only one I make and may I add, do not stray from it! Tell me if it worked for you and what you thought of it.

Strawberry Jam From Frozen Fruit

8 cups whole unsweetened frozen strawberrries

1 box of light pectin crystals (warning: DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THIS FOR ANY OTHER KIND!! trust me!)

4 1/2 cups of sugar

Thaw berries until just a few ice crystals remain. Drain, reserving juice; crush fruit. Combine fruit and juice to make 6 cups. Pour into heavy saucepan. Mix pectin with 1/4 cup of the sugar and stir into fruit. Bring to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add remaining sugar (4 1/4 cups). Return to full rolling boil, stirring. Boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir and skim off any foam for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil lids for 5 minutes. Fill sterilized jars (8- 1 cup jars or 4- 2 cup jars), leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims if necessary. Seal with prepared lids, screw on bands fingertip tight. Process in boiling water bath canner for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool on rack for 24 hours, inverting jars several times to distribute fruit. Check seal, wipe jars and store in cool dark dry place.

I have also used raspberries for this recipe and they turned out great! Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.

Enjoy your day!

Gardening for Frugal Local Food- May's CBC Radio Column

Hello readers, the May CBC Mainstreet PEI radio column is up and ready for your listening pleasure. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!

Enjoy!

How to Bake Bread

It's amazing the things that you take for granted. I love homemade bread. I can remember my mom and Nanny Pat making bread when I was a small child. I go to my MIL's home and there is generally always homemade bread there. My dad won a bread maker at one point and he started making his bread that way. My parents gave me a bread maker for our wedding present ions ago and that was my start to making my own bread.

However, soon enough it wasn't enough to have one loaf being made, it was gone as quickly as it baked and homemade bread still tasted better than bread maker bread or boughten bread. (Yes, boughten is a word. It's a colloquial saying from the south shore of Nova Scotia where I grew up. You either had homemade bread or boughten bread [which would be the store bought bread]. In our home, boughten bread is the treat.) I soon went to my MIL to relearn how to make bread.

I have figured out that when I make my own bread it costs around 50 cents a loaf and takes me about 2 and a half hours from start to finish to make it. That's when I don't have any extra little hands helping me. It sure takes a lot of extra time when they do help, but it's also a tad more fun.

Baking bread is one of the easiest ways to save money. It really doesn't take much time, one evening a week while you are watching tv. Really. Think about how much you spend on a loaf of bread, how much a week, a month a year. Then figure out how much you would save if you baked your own bread, about 50 cents a loaf is how much it costs to make it, and see what you are saving in a year. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how much you save and how easy it is to do.

The recipe that I share with you is my MIL's. It makes 3 loaves at a time, I double it for my family so that I only have to make bread once a week. Please remember that when you see the 6 loaves at the end of the post.

Recipe:

3 cups warm water (too hot and your yeast won't rise, warm to your wrist)

3 tbsp yeast

1/3 cup sugar

3 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

7-8 cups of flour (maybe more, depends on your consistency)

To start with you need a big bowl, water, yeast and sugar.

My bowl is huge because of the 6 loaves I make. It only fits on top of the fridge, it was one of my favourite Christmas presents several years ago. I buy my yeast in the biggest package available and then keep it in the freezer in a resealable bag. It keeps the yeast fresh longer and it's cheaper to buy it this way.

Place water, sugar and yeast in bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. It looks like this when you put it in the bowl:

And like this 10 minutes later:

To this, add your eggs, salt and oil. Yes I said two eggs in the recipe and the picture shows four eggs, but remember, I doubled my recipe. I buy my oil at costco when someone heads over there as it's the cheapest place that I can get a large quantity of it. I also get my white flour there.

Mix together with your mixer:

To this we will add our flour a cup at a time. Mix it with your mixer until it won't handle it any more. Then use your rubber spatula to mix it in. With my kitchen aid, I only have to knead in one cup at the end. 

When that won't work it's time for your fists!

Keep adding flour until it gets to your desired consistancy. Then oil your bowl (rub oil all around the inside of your bowl that you are going to let your dough rise in. It can be the same bowl that you mixed the dough in.)

Cover it and place it somewhere warm and draft free to rise. It can be in your oven and you can set it at the lowest temperature and it will rise nicely. I set mine by the wood stove and it rises rather quickly.

Once it has doubled it's height (about 30 mins here), take it back to your spot and punch it down.

You are almost done. If you are not using non stick loaf pans, you need to spray, oil or whatever you do to your bakeware before you put your dough in the pan. At this point you are going to divide your dough into three sections and roll them under so all the rough edges are at the bottom. I apologize, but I don't have a picture of this step as I had to use two hands to do it and had no one else to take the picture.

I hope you are able to understand from the next picture what I mean.

Cover once again and place in that nice spot you had last time.

When it has doubled in size it's ready to bake.

This is what it looks like going into the oven.

30-40 mins later after being baked in an oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit, it looks like this:

I usually rotate my bread about half way through the bake time so that it browns evenly.

You know it's done because all sides are toasty brown and it sounds hollow when you knock on it. Once it cools a bit, remove it from the pans and allow to cool on racks. You can butter the top if you wish. Once cool, bag to keep the moisture in and freeze what you don't use so that it stays fresh.

Now when I was growing up and at my grandmother's, I can remember her serving me fresh hot bread with butter and molasses on it. Have you ever tried it? I am told that it is definitely an east coast thing. If you haven't, I strongly suggest you try it. So good.

Strawberry Time!

(http://images.craveonline.com/article_imgs/Image/strawberries_3.jpg)

Strawberry picking is one of my favourite summertime activities. My children and I head out to a local u pick site and pick till our hearts are content getting all of our berries for the next year. It's a great fun and frugal family activitiy and helps your children learn more about where their food comes from.

Looking for a place to go picking in your area of the woods? Check out this link to find out where they are located.

This year, my mother in law and mother decided I was a tad too pregnant to go picking and so both of them decided to pick for me. My mother in law came by the other day with 30lbs of strawberries for me already picked. It was so appreciated. Later in the day my mother showed up and she, my oldest daughter and I hauled and packed the berries away for the winter.

My biggest complaint about berry picking use to be that the jam always had to be made in the hot summer when the berries were picked. I then found a recipe in an old Canadian Living Magazine on making jam from frozen fruit and from that point on, the jam making took place on a cool day when I was ready for it instead of when the berries dictated they had to be done.

After washing and hauling the berries, I freeze 8 cups of berries in each resealable bag so they are ready to go for the winter. The 30lbs that I have currently will make 21 large jars of jam. In our home that lasts about 21 weeks. I figured out with the sugar, pectin and berries, each jar costs me about $1 to make (depending on the cost of sugar at the time) instead of the $5 it costs per jar for a smaller amount of jam with more sugar in it.

Want to try it out? Here's the recipe:

8 cups whole unsweetened frozen strawberrries
1 box of light pectin crystals (warning: DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THIS FOR ANY OTHER KIND!! trust me!)
4 1/2 cups of sugar

Thaw berries until just a few ice crystals remain. Drain, reserving juice; crush fruit. Combine fruit and juice to make 6 cups. Pour into heavy saucepan. Mix pectin with 1/4 cup of the sugar and stir into fruit. Bring to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add remaining sugar (4 1/4 cups). Return to full rolling boil, stirring. Boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir and skim off any foam for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil lids for 5 minutes. Fill sterilized jars (8- 1 cup jars or 4- 2 cup jars), leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims if necessary. Seal with prepared lids, screw on bands fingertip tight. Process in boiling water bath canner for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool on rack for 24 hours, inverting jars several times to distribute fruit. Check seal, wipe jars and store in cool dark dry place.

I have also used raspberries for this recipe and they turned out great! Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.

Enjoy your day!

It Pays to Shop Around and to Check Flyers

We use extra virgin olive oil here. To buy it at the local store it is tres expensive, so whenever my father in law goes to Costco I get him to pick up a container of Kirtland's for me. We get the 5 litre container and it's usually about $28. 

(http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10278476&whse=BD_827&topnav=bdoff&browse=1)

However, this week it was on sale in TWO flyers! Superstore and No Frills. Same brand. Same company owns both stores. WAY different prices!

Superstore had their 1 litre Gallo extra virgin olive oil on for $5.99. That's $29.95 for the same amount that I pay $28 for. No savings.

(http://www.atlanticsuperstore.ca/LCLOnline/flyers_landing_page.jsp?flyerView=flip&flyerId=15500003)

Then I saw the No Frills flyer and I had to do a double take. There, on the front page, was the EXACT SAME OIL on sale!! Gallo extra virgin olive oil on for $3.33/litre! That's $16.65 for the same amount that I pay $28 for at Costco! YES! It's a great deal! Today, I bought 12 for my storage. 

(http://www.shopnofrills.ca/LCLOnline/flyers_landing_page.jsp?flyerView=flip&flyerId=15400044)

So, if you use olive oil, run to No Frills and check it out! From what I have been able to understand, No Frills DOES NOT give out rain cheques. Please let me know if I am wrong, but last night I wasn't able to get one for chicken.

Know of any other great deals out there this week? Send it on in and we'll post them all!

Enjoy your day!

Compare and Contrast

We are big orange juice drinkers in our home. We buy frozen from concentrate as it is cheaper than purchasing it already made. Our favourite is Minute Maid Pulp Free (closest picture I could find!)

(http://fresh.amazon.com/product?asin=B000Q3CJLE&qid=null)

Unfortunately, it has become expensive ($1.99 a can) and not on sale as much as we like. Although, I do stock up whenever it does go on sale.

So, we have been using an alternative when it's not on sale. We use President's Choice frozen orange juice.

(http://reviews.presidentschoice.ca/6584/F17970/reviews.htm)

However, it has gone up substantially in price also (regular price is now $1.79). Although it tastes great, I've started looking elsewhere to see what's out there.  I stayed at Superstore and tried their No Name brand (couldn't find a pic of of their logo). It was NOT a go in this house! Children absolutely detested it!

Next, we went to Sobeys. 

(http://www.sobeys.com/en/Home.aspx)

They had some great sales going on and while I was there and I picked up some of their store brand. It was $1.49 a container. It was a better hit than the No Name brand, but not a huge hit. It's one we can go to though, when we can't get Minute Maid.

So then the other day I was at coop getting some sales and thought I would try theirs.

(http://www.130thavenueshopping.com/supplier.php?id=404&name=Calgary+Co-Op+Grocery+Store)

The cost was $1.39 (I think) per container. Brought it home and tried it on the children. 

I should say at this point, that they were not aware of each brand that I purchased. They would make comments on each juice as we had it. 

Coop brand was a hit! 

Their favourite is still Minute Maid, but they said to them this was the closest in taste, and lucky for me, friendliest on my wallet. 

Now your taste buds may say something else, but that's what we can go with here. I'll still get Minute Maid when it's on sale, but it's nice to have something cheaper to turn to.

So what do you use in your home for juice? What do you like the most?

Enjoy your day!

Free Food!

(http://www.savingadvice.com/articles/2008/04/05/102089_short-list-grocery-shopping-tips.html)

Did the title grab you? It's almost completely free. I have heard of the show extreme couponing, but I don't have cable and haven't seen the show completely yet. I think I would get depressed watching it, because here in Canada, it just can't be done that well. Oh how I wish! Hear that Canadian businesses? We consumers would like more coupons!

Anyway, there is a way that we can get free food here, besides collecting coupons (which is always beneficial!) Are you intrigued?

I find that sometimes I take for granted the frugal things I do, everyone does, and did so with today's topic also. That was until someone pointed out to me that they weren't aware they could do it and that I should share it with you.

So, with that long introduction, I give you rewards points. You know what I mean; pc points, airmiles, aeroplan, etc.

(https://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=146471992076524&sk=info)

(http://smartcanucks.ca/tag/airmilesca/)

(http://my.munalum.ca/giving/aeroplan.php)

I am a pc points user, among other reward cards, but this post is about my excitement with my pc points yesterday. I collect points with my bags, purchases and some banking needs. Does it add up? Yes.

Yesterday, I went to get a few groceries and ended up getting more then I went in for. I know, it goes against everything I preach about, but there were some good sales in the store that I didn't want to miss and I knew that I wasn't going to get back in for them later this week.

Another confession- I hadn't had a chance to check the flyers before going in to the store. So I had no idea what I was walking into. You see, I had an appointment in town, borrowed someone else's car and thought I would stop in to get some milk, cheese and some oranges. I didn't even have any of my bags with me to get more points and had to bring plastic bags (gasp) home with me.

My total bill came to $135. It was more than I had budgeted for (as that is a lot for milk, cheese and oranges) and I was truly kicking myself in the pants about it. Then I remembered that I had been accumulating points for a couple of months. I asked the cashier to check and see how many I could redeem and apply them to my bill. I had $100 free in groceries! How wonderful is that? I love it.

I am a big promoter of having these little reward cards with you. Yes, they take up room. Yes, it's annoying to remember them. However, it's great to be able to use these cards in everyday conveniences and get things back.

Now, I won't say what's the best one for me, as something else may work for you, but, if you can use them to get a discount on your insurance, heating bills, groceries, entertainment, why not?

I am not talking about credits cards. Although there are people out there that can do it responsibly, there are others that have a difficult time managing these cards, and so I promote the ones that aren't attached to anything or those that piggyback your regular chequing account. That way you aren't going in to debt to use them.

Do you use rewards cards? What do you them for? Do you have a certain one that you recommend over others?

If you're going to be regularly shopping at a store that offers this, why not let your shopping work for you so that you can use less of your money?

Looking for more ideas on how to save on your food budget? Check out our frugal food posts here or check out this article at SavingAdvice.com

Enjoy your day!

Gardening for the first time?

Gardening, as been stated so many times is a great way to save money on food, help the earth and eat very local. But it can be rather intimidating.

Here are a few books and links where to purchase them to help you get you started. Check them, or something similar out at the library first. If it seems like a way of gardening you would like to follow, I highly recommend buying them so that you can keep a quick reference. It's your gardening bible.

(http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/StephanieSuesanSmith)

(http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/tools/books/carrotslove#closed)

(http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/tools/books/buildingusing#closed)

(http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/store/tools/books/thebackyard#closed)

Don't think you have the space to garden? Check out container gardening:

(http://www.amazon.com/Lasagna-Gardening-Small-Spaces-Containers/dp/0875968864/ref=cm_lmf_tit_6)

How do you garden? 

Enjoy your day!

Transplants and your garden. Frugal food!

(http://www.arthurgreenhouses.ca/index2.php)

Don't these veggies look absolutely delicious? Don't think you can afford to have fresh veggies? Gardening is a great way to save money, and now is the time to start planning your garden and growing your transplants. It's a great way to cut down on your food budget and beat the higher food prices that are coming. Remember the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper?

(http://www.ncfreshlink.com/shipperdirectory/vegetabletrans.htm)

You don't need much room or time to start your own transplants. You need an indoor mini greenhouse, like this one:

(http://mysweetshack.blogspot.com/2010/04/starting-seeds-indoor.html)

Seeds:

(http://www.yenra.com/seeds/)

Dirt:

(http://www.cryosites.com/images/soil_mffzn2h)

And a sunny window:

(http://thecouponproject.com/2011/04/todays-shopping-and-gardening-adventures.html)

And about 4-8 3weeks before your last frost. That'll depend on where you are living. 

We have started peppers, tomatoes (3 types), cucumbers and watermelons for our garden. Mind you my peppers aren't doing as well as I would like, but they are in and it's much cheaper than even buying the transplants. It's amazing how quickly they go from seeds to plants. I'm going to be starting my second tray of flower transplants and more tomatoes and peppers today. Here's hoping that they take off this time. We use them all to make salsa or canned tomatoes for the winter. 

Do you grow your own transplants? What are you growing?

Enjoy your day!

Shoppers Drugmart and Rising Food Prices

http://www1.shoppersdrugmart.ca/en/Home.aspx

You may not think of going grocery shopping at a Drugstore. However, Shoppers has lost litre sales quite frequently. That's when you should head on in and stock up on the deals for your pantry or freezer. Until close tomorrow, Shoppers has Delicsso pizzas on for $3.99. This is a great thing to have in your freezer for a night that you need a super fast meal, need something for school lunches, or you are invited to a pot luck.

Shoppers is also having their 2 kg Sugar on until June 10 (so the sign said in the Charlottetown store) for $1.99. That's much cheaper than the grocery store. 

But, here's the thing: This Saturday their sugar is going to be on for $1.79/2kg! There's a limit of 4 per visit. Take your spouse, your children and yourself in and stock up. This is one item that we have been ensured is going up over the next several months. 

Shoppers is also having their butter on sale this Saturday only, for $2.99/lb (limit of 4)! After that the price is $3.49 (which is their sale price this week). Yes, I am making room in my freezer. 

The last thing that I see that's a great stock up item is Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal. It's on for $2.49, plus take any coupons with you. There is no limit stated in the flyer for this item and it's on all week!

This is just one way of helping yourself out with rising food costs. You see what you regularly use and when it's on sale, you stock up. Find a shelf, put it in the basement, closet, or a section of your cupboards and make room for items when they are on sale. Your budget will thank you.

What are you doing to beat the rising cost of food?

Enjoy your day!

Globe and Mail Article About Rising Food Prices

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/trends/trends-features/any-way-you-slice-it-food-prices-are-going-up/article1950411/

There was an interesting article featured in the Globe and Mail newspaper yesterday about rising food prices and how they are affecting all families. Whether you are a low, middle, or higher income household, this is something that will effect all of us. And... there were a couple of quotes from little ol' me in it! 

Over the next few posts I will be sharing with you some of my ideas on strategic shopping and how to save more on your food bill. Please feel free to check out the categories to the right and see where else you can change your grocery focus. Any extra ideas you would like to share with everyone feel free to write in and let everyone know!

Enjoy your day!

Stock up on butter and cheese

 

http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/11/18-24

I am a firm believer in stocking up on food when it's sale, especially with the threat of food prices climbing this year.  This week, there are a few things that I think are worth putting your money into to stock up on. One is butter. It can be so expensive, but this week, Atlantic butter is on sale 2/$7 at coop and Everyday Butter at Shoppers is $3.49lb . My freezer will be getting quite a few added in as we bake a lot with butter. I highly recommend if you use butter, you stock up too.


Cracker Barrel cheese is on sale at Superstore this week 500g/$4.99. Another great thing to put in your freezer, just remember to defrost it in the refrigerator and not on your counter, otherwise it will become extremely soft.

Did you see something on sale in the flyers that would be a great thing to stock up on? Share it with the rest of us and submit it for posting. What sort of things do you stock up on?

Enjoy your day!

Food prices going up

It's on everyone's mind and in the news a lot. This is just a little reminder that Coop has their flour on sale for $6.99/10kg until close tonight. Something that would be great to stock up on now while it's cheap. What are you purchasing now to stay ahead of the price increases that are coming?

Enjoy your day!

Coupon for seeds

Hello all, gardening is one of the most frugal ways to save money on your grocery bill, and believe it or not, spring is coming and it's time to start those transplants. Time to buy your seeds, dirt and containers. Don't you feel warmer just thinking of the garden? Home depot has a deal on this week for buying seeds. Print this coupon off and when you buy two packages of seeds, you get the third free!

It says one per customer, but it doesn't say anything about being a customer at different times or printing off more than one and getting your family members to help you out! Happy gardening!

Enjoy your day!

Frugal Food Recipes

Have you ever splurged on a delicious cinnamon bun from cinnabon? To me, they are the most delicious cinnamon rolls around, but I can't justify the cost of splurging for one of these. I have a recipe for those cinnamon rolls! I found it over at cdkitchen. I adjust it so that it makes close to thirty smaller buns instead.  When it comes to the rolling up part I roll it the long way instead of the short way of the rectangle. You'll understand when you read the instructions. These are so great and save you some dollars.

Another item we make a lot here is jam. I freeze my berries in the summer in resealable bags and then make my jam in the winter. This recipe calls for half the amount of sugar as my normal jam from fresh berries recipe. If you have any berries in the freezer, why not take a stab at this recipe? It ends up making 6-7 jam containers worth. One jar of jam at the store runs roughly around $3-6. This recipe lets the cost come down to approximately $0.96 a jar and it's home made! It only takes about 30-45 mins to make it too!

Strawberry Jam from Frozen Fruit

8 cups of whole unsweetened frozen strawberries
1 box of light pectin crystals (DO NOT TRY ANYTHING ELSE! Trust me, it WON'T work!)
4 1/2 cups of sugar

Thaw berries until just a few crystals remain. Drain, reserving juice; crush fruit (a lot!). Combine fruit and juice to make 6 cups; pour into heavy saucepan. Mix pectin with 1/4 cup of the sugar; stir into fruit. Bring to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add remaining sugar. Return to full rolling boil, stirring. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir and skim off any foam for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil lids for 5 minutes. Fill 8 sterilized 1 cup canning jars (or whatever size you decide to use), leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe rims if necessary. Seal with prepared lids; screw on bands fingertip tight. Process in boiling water bath canner for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool on rack for 24 hours, inverting jars several times to distribute fruit.

I clipped this recipe out of Canadian Living magazine 12 years ago , so I don't have a link for you, my apologies.

You have jam!

Another recipe that goes over great here are chocolate chip cookies. I double this one! I have tried a lot of recipes, to date, this is my favourite. Tempt me with yours!

Chocolate Chip Cookies


1cup butter softened
3/4 cup each brown and white sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
2 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Cream butter and sugars together. Add one egg at a time.

Mix dry ingredients together in a seperate bowl. Mix half of the dry in to the wet at a time. Add as many chocolate chips as you can! The more the better!

Shape into balls and put on cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-12 mins.

Let me know if you try any of these or if you have some frugal food recipes you would love to share.

Enjoy your day!

Healthy Food on a Budget

When trying to be frugal with food, the first rule to follow is buy what you eat (don't buy it just because it's on sale), eat what you store (don't want to waste it) and rotate, rotate, rotate! You don't want to buy newer foods and have older foods not eaten.

When trying to put nutrition in your food there are a number of ways to do it frugally. Some of them include:

- cutting back on meat -substitute meat for beans, dried peas, chick peas and lentils, oatmeal or breadcrumbs. Use less meat in your meals. Our family uses two chicken breasts for supper and we have leftovers. Buy your meat when it's on sale and then pack it in individual portions for the freezer. Eat meatless meals. We had curried lentils with carrots and peas tonight and it was a great hit. A little on the spicy side, but very good nonetheless. Buy a 1/2 cow for your freezer for the winter from a local farmer. Can't afford/don't have room for that much? Go in with a friend or a few and divide the bounty. Buy chicken and pork from your local farmers as well. 

- cut back on salt and sugars when baking and cooking -substitute honey and applesauce for sugar

- sneak vegetables in to the recipe- puree zucchini, beets, spinach
- no prepackaged foods

Ingredients needed to cook more frugally:

-lots of veggies
-less meat, or even no meat. At least one meatless meal a week will really give you savings.
-make your own mixes (cook from scratch)
-plan leftovers for lunches
-use slow-cookers -this allows you to use cheaper cuts of meat and tenderizes it as it cooks slowly and for a long time.
-no prepackaged snacks
-beans, tofu

My other ideas for frugal foods:

-have a cold room so you can buy your produce in bulk. I buy my potatoes and carrots in 50lbs bags, onions in 10lbs bags and apples in 20lbs bags. All of these I purchase at a local produce store. Everywhere has them, it's a little mom and pop establishment that has lots of local produce. The one I frequent is Mount Edward Grocery in Charlottetown.
-have a pantry room to store other items that you buy in bulk when they are on sale. I stock up on soups, flour, sugar, rice and other items that I use so they are always there.
-buy your eggs in flats instead of by the dozen

-watch the flyers for sales of your everyday products and stock up. I get some very strange looks from the cashiers when I come through with 60 orange juice, but when they are onsale for $1 off, I stock up!

-garden. That should say enough, but having your own garden cuts down on your produce prices over the summer. If you are a canner, freezer, dehydrator, it cuts down your costs throughout the year as well. Last year, I was able to can enough tomatoes to last our family for 9 months. This year, I made enough salsa to last us well over a year. We dry baking beans, peas, apple chips and onions for the year. We freeze strawberries, blackberries and blueberries to last us over the winter.

-go to upicks and orchards. Great way to save money, get outside and spend quality time with your family. Then take home your produce and put it up for the winter.

-bake your own cookies, rolls, bread, pizza dough etc. It's much healthier, tastes way better and is much cheaper. We make all of our own bread here and when I am organized enough, I grind my wheat first to have whole wheat bread. No one here likes the heals of the bread, so I dry them, food process them and toast them for our own bread crumbs.

What are your ideas to cook more frugally? We would love to hear from you. Drop us a line.

Enjoy your day!

Breakfast - a must for the day to begin

Ever find your mornings hard and rushed and you think no time for food? How many skip breakfast? How many children miss out on this most important meal of the day?

Breakfast is very important and the more filling you make it, the longer it lasts through the day to engerize your body!

So I would like to offer you some frugal breakfast choices to begin your day with.

Idea number one and most popular here is oatmeal. Remember your mother told you that it would stick to your ribs? She was right.  It lasts longer in your body and keeps you feeling good. Don't like plain oatmeal? Who does? Add some brown sugar and maple syrup to it. Top it with yogurt, dry or fresh berries. Sprinkle cinnamon in it while cooking it for extra flavour. Have it in addition to a fruit smoothie to round out your food groups. Here are two places to get more ideas for oatmeal, one and two. Personally I like my oatmeal cooked on the stove instead of in the microwave. I'm old fashioned :)

Idea number two then would be the smoothie. Although not as filling for children generally speaking, it is a great way to get their fruits and veggies in to them for the day. All children love smoothies and there are many healthy foods that you can hide in there to get them to eat/ drink them.  Looking for some recipes? You get your fill here and here and here! The great thing is that you can even make these ahead and freeze them in popsicle stands and have a great afternoon snack for the children.

Another great and filling breakfast idea would be the breakfast sandwich. It's something that can be eaten on the way out the door as well. There are lots of fantastic options out there that will fill anyone's belly. Check here and  here for some ideas to get you started.

Two more options for you besides the usual cereal or toast. Try out some breakfast muffins! Again, a great thing to eat on the way out the door, on the bus or in the car. Three links for you here as well. One, two and three.

There are also omelettes, boiled eggs and scrambled eggs on/with toast or in a wrap.

One of the favourites in our home are waffles. These you can make ahead and freeze them on the weekend. Then, when you need them, just pop them in the toaster and a nice warm breakfast morning of! Check out one and two links for some ideas.

We also make our "syrup" for our pancakes as well. We like to buy real syrup, but it's not always feasible to pay out for this, or there are times that you run out of syrup. If you buy imitation syrup like Aunt Jemima, or any other brand, try out our recipe for some nice warm syrup made in a few little moments.

Maple Syrup Recipe:

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2-3 tsp of maple extract
2 tbsp honey or corn syrup.

Put all of it in a pot mix together and heat until it's boiling. Voila! Homemade "syrup"!

My one piece of advice; put a list together and see what your children will eat and what they won't. No point to make something that they won't eat, right?

Have anything that you would like to add to our breakfast list? Please email us at smile_zil at yahoo dot ca or leave a comment here.

Enjoy your day!