Freezer and Fridge Staples Part 3

Here is a list of items that I keep in my fridge and freezer. Some of the items I get from Aldis on my stock up day, and some I make from scratch and keep frozen for later use.

Fridge

• milk (whole or skim) I like organic
• cheese -block, shredded and sliced. (cheddar, colby,or whatever else I'm in the mood for)
• cream cheese
• sour cream
• eggs usually about 7 or 8 dozen
• fruits and berries whatever are in season
• veggies (collards, mushrooms, celery, carrots,and other yummy goodies i find on sale. sometimes ill try something new)
• maple syrup
• butter 6 pounds
• crescent rolls
• bread

Freezer

• bananas that have browned ( you can later turn them into sweet breads or muffins to freeze and eat later)
• frozen veggies. I stock up when stores have them 10 for 10 and I use them in soups, side dishes, pasta the possibilities are endless!
• frozen fruit. good for smoothies, to make pie fillings and to thaw and eat as a treat. yum!
• homemade pizza dough
• yeast breads
• sweet breads
• ground turkey
• chicken breasts (boneless)

Tomorrow I will write out all the menu possibilities there are with just these staples alone! 01 02 18

Pantry Staples -Living on a Budget Part 2

So as I promised, I am back to share with more money saving tips. As I said before, we have had some really hard times, at more then one occasion we have had to swallow our pride and take food donations from a food pantry. We are very blessed! You don't know what poor is until you have to chose what to spend the 20 dollars you happened upon and don't know when you'll see more money again. That is how bad it was when my husband lost his job a year ago. I was pregnant, had no health care or benefits for me or my two oldest children, the unemployment and government assistance were making us jump through months worth of hoops and in the mean time, we were stuck looking for handouts and trying in anyway to make a buck while my hubs searched desperately for a job in the tri -state area. When he finally did nearly 6 months after unemployment it was not a high paying job. So we are in an incredible amount of debt, and still have to feed five (7 counting our cats) mouths while catching up on all of the bills we were deferring before.
Here is what I prefer to keep in our pantry. When you have a odd assortment of food in your pantry you really get creative in order to make a yummy AND nutritious meal for your family. That is always a fun challenge, and I have created some really good keepers to add to the recipe binder.

So no more yapping , here is the list!

• cream of mushroom soup
• cream of chicken soup
• a variety of pastas
• Panko bread crumbs
• crushed pineapples
• creamed corn
• whole corn
• olives
• jalapenos
• tuna
• yeast
• flour
• pie fillings
• rice
• dry beans
• Lipton onion soup mixes
• taco seasoning packets
• spices of all varieties   salt, pepper, onion powder, savory, basil, parsley, garlic powder, paprika, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg,all spice, dill, thyme, rosemary, lemon pepper salt. these are what we keep in our pantry.
• stuffing mix
• evaporated milk
• sweetened condensed milk
• sugar
• brown sugar
• 10x sugar
• pasta sauce

Next post I will give you the list of the items I always keep in my freezer and fridge. The post after that I will give you guys a list of the recipes I use on a weekly basis, and all of the different recipes you can make with the lists. Yesterday I made corn and peas to go with the chicken stroganoff and had leftovers. Today I sauteed up some ground turkey with taco seasoning, mixed in the leftover corn and peas and put them in a taco shell sprinkled with shredded cheese! Two meals out of one side dish. :)

 

01 02 18

How to make meals on a budget Part 1

Our bulleton board

This is going to be a many part series to how my family and I eat on a very very low budget. I think I speak for most people these days, no matter how much money you have, we all need to spend it wisely. This economy is rough! It is not easy starting out a family in the recession. We personally have been hit left and right with financial woes. So we are always looking for ways to save money. I have been doing a weekly meal plan, for all three meals AND snacks every Sunday. Saturday I will sit down with my coupons, my grocery sales flyer and my list of items we ran out of during the week. I will then ask my family if they have any requests. This week my son wanted chicken stroganoff. ( he calls it chicken strong enough haha) I have seen alot of cute menu boards you can attach to your kitchen wall. I put mine on a bulleton board that hangs either in my kitchen or my dining room.

    As I go through my list of ingrediants that I need, I look through my coupons, and the sales. If I can find sales that I have coupons for, I will get that. I sit with my calculator and plug things in as I go so I know if Im getting off budget. Now make sure you know how much you want to spend for the week. Do not go over this, for any reason. If you want to make sure that you do not go over your budget, shop using cash. So if you are only budgeted to spend 300 dollars for your trip, make sure that you only bring 300 dollars. That way you know that while you are shopping, you will not just throw in that exta treat becuase it was on sale.

   I have things that I always keep in my pantry. I buy it once a month in bulk. I get most of them at Aldis but if I find them on sale AND have a coupon I will get them at Pathmark or Giant. Im going to type up the staples in my pantry tomorrow. I will also post some simple recipes to make with these items. I will later post what I always keep in my bulk freezer as well as my fridge, so keep checking back!

  My kiddos are starting to wake up so that is all for today, I hope I helped in some small way today to get you started and on track to saving money.
01 02 18