tater tot casserole

After someone brought over a super spicy tater tot casserole for us when our 4th child was born, I decided to seek out something a little more bland.  I found this recipe online http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2010/10/tater-tot-casserole.html    It's actually michelle duggar's recipe, and if anyone needs something that will feed a lot of people for a minimum amout of money, it's her.  I love it because the ingredients are simple, but it is so creamy and good and not overly onion-y.  Don't forget to stock up on your cream of mushroom and cream of chicken during the holidays (christmas, easter, and thanksgiving).

Tator Tot Casserole

Recipe by: Michelle Duggar

1 lb Ground Turkey (we just use whatever ground meat is on manager's special.  I got some ground chicken (cage free no less) for $1.87 a pound the other day!  It was kind of a strange color for ground meat (more white than brown) but my kids actually preferred it over beef)

1 (2 lb) bag frozen Tater Tots

1 can Evaporated Milk

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional...but not really.  It's OOOH so good)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and then spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown your ground turkey until thoroughly cooked. Drain the grease, and then pour the turkey into the baking dish. Then pour your bag of tater tots on top of the turkey, spreading them out evenly.

In a medium bowl, mix your soups and evaporated milk all together. After well mixed, pour the mixture evenly over the tater tots. Pop it in the oven, uncovered, and bake for 55 minutes! If using cheese, sprinkle on cheese after 45 minutes of baking, and then put back in oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

The law of diminishing returns

I am not  an statistician.  Nor am I an accountant or an economist or whoever it is that uses this concept.  When I was in college, I bought a carton of raspberry sherbet, pulled out 3 spoons, and shared it right out of the package with my roommates.  It just seemed tastier that way.  In fact, when the sherbet was about halfway gone, I said with an ooey-gooey dreamy voice, "This just keeps getting better and better with every bite."  My roommate, who was a math major, quickly informed me that what I had just said was against the law of diminishing returns.  She then proceeded to explain to me that the first time you do something or try something, it is amazing!  But each time you do it, it looses some of that first time thrill.  So the 20th spoonful of sherbet should not taste as good as the first.  Makes sense, right?

I use this concept all the time now in my parenting, especially when it comes to fast food.  There was a time when we were both working, that we would go out to eat about once a week.  After a while, we got sick of fast food and then proceeded to "fancy" restaurants.  And then we got sick of the cheap stuff and would order the more expensive stuff and before we knew it, we were spending about $30 a meal (which is now my weekly grocery budget).  You know what the problem was?  We were doing it so frequently that it wasn't nearly as satisfying as it used to be.  We ended up digging deep into our pockets to try something new because the enjoyment of eating out was gone.  When I stopped working, we stopped going out to eat.  That was an adjustment for all of us.  But you know what?  By reducing the frequency of going out to eat, we've actually increased the enjoyment of going out!  And we spend less money.  It's now a treat and much more special.  For example, my sweet seven year old had the lead in the first grade play.  He worked SOOO hard at memorizing his lines and even had a solo in one song.  It was so stinking cute.  We decided to reward him by letting him choose a restaurant to eat at before the play in recognition of his hard work.  He picked McDonalds.  The kids shared a 20 piece chicken McNugget for $5 and two small fries.  He felt special and knew that we were proud of him.  If this was something that we did every week, it wouldn't have held that same special place in his heart.  So remember that next time you're tempted to go out to eat or start feeling bad because you don't have enough money to go out to eat as often as your kids would like.  STOP IT!  There's no reason to feel bad.  It's usually not good for you anyway, and when you actually do get to go out, it's more fun and more special, and your children will have fond memories of the occasions when you do go out.

Shopping trips made easy

I find that with a little bit of planning, I can keep our grocery bill WAY down.  My husband gets paid every two weeks, so I try to reserve shopping for pay day.  That means, I plan a menu for two weeks and then purchase the ingredients in a single shopping trip.  Staying away from the stores means spending less money.  Today, I spent $61 for two weeks worth of food.   Yes, convenience foods are often cheap, but they are LOADED with sodium and high fructose corn syrup and preservatives.  While it may seem cheaper in the short run to purchase these foods, buying healthier foods and cooking from scratch will save you a lot of money in health care costs in the future.  Again, if your budget is limited, don't spend your money on empty calories.  You must spend your money wisely on food that will keep you fuller longer (think whole foods). 

Before I go  shopping, I almost always check a couponing site to see what is on sale and if there are any coupons available for those items.  My favorite is www.southernsavers.com  I then determine what is a good deal and add it to my list.  If there is an item on sale that I don't usually purchase, I put it on the list anyway.  For example, I got a quart of half and half for less than a dollar a while ago, even though I have never cooked with half and half.  What I ended up doing was going to allrecipies.com and clicking on their "ingredients" section.  I typed in the ingredients I had (just half and half in this case) and a whole bunch of recipes came up that I could use half and half with.  I chose a couple that required mostly ingredients I already had and then added any other ingredients to my list. 

My budget for one weeks worth of groceries is $25.  I then have another $25 that I spend on "stock up" supplies.  If I find an item that is on sale, I stock up on it.  At my grocery store, sales usually run in 3 month cycles.  So I buy a 3 month supply of that item.  Last week they had oscar mayer bologna on sale for $1.  Yes, I know it's not the healthiest thing in the world, but my kids really enjoy it and when it goes on sale for a dollar, I will indulge them.  I bought two to put in the refrigerator and 8 to put in the freezer.  They will eat it plain and often have it for an after school snack.  Hopefully that will hold us over until the next sale.  That is also why we have an abundant supply of  barbecue sauce.  I got a bunch of it for 50 cents a while ago and we now use it in almost everything.  I have a tendency to prefer my food a little bland, but my husband remedies that by added a tablespoon or two of barbecue sauce and he's happy.  He'll even do that when we're out of spaghetti sauce.  We live kind of far for most grocery stores, so when a late night craving hits and I haven't been shopping for a while, he can usually find something (like a can of beans) and throw some barbecue sauce on it.  He's happy and I'm happy that the beans are being eaten. 

This is what is on the menu for the next two weeks:

soup and sandwiches
mini meatloaves
tacos
tostadas
spaghetti and toast
meatballs
pizza
asparagus and rice
chicken casserole
spaghetti pie
chili bean nachos
stir fry

A while ago, my grocery store had their ortega taco shells on sale for $1.50 and there was a couple attached to them for $1 off two.  So I bought a bunch.  My grocery store sent me the recipe in the mail for the mini meatloaves with a bunch of coupons for the ingredients necessary to make it.  Score.  If they turn out good, I'll post the recipe.  I already had most of the ingredients on hand to make these recipes, which allowed me to spend a little more money on the "impulse buys"  and snack food for my kids (apples and pears...whatever is on sale for 99 cents a pound and has lots of fiber to keep them fuller longer). 

Good luck shopping!

meat for less

A friend of mine shared with me her secret of getting ground beef for less.  She goes to the discount grocery store when they have their beef tips on sale for $1.87 per pound.  She will then take them to the meat counter and ask them to grind it for her.  They do.  At no extra charge.

Adapting recipes to what you have on hand

We are not big meat eaters in our family (in case you haven't noticed, based on our recipes).  I wouldn't really say that we are vegetarians, we're just not fans of meat.  I've seen too many documentaries.  I prefer to splurge on more expensive meat, but don't usually have that luxury...so it's a good thing that my kids are big fans.  But every now and then, one of my kids will surprise me and request something with meat in it.  Lately, with my son, it's been meatballs.  I didn't have a recipe for meatballs, so I look on allrecipies.com and found this one.  It's called meatball nirvana. 
The recipe seemed simple enough and I was able to find some suitable meat on sale as a manager's special. I, um, paid a lot ($3.50), but that was all that I purchased for this night's dinner. So I decided that it was worth it (my modifications are in bold).  I like to think of recipe's as more of a guide.  They turned out really good and my son went back and ate all of the leftovers later that evening.  We, of course, served them with spaghetti.  If you go to the barilla pasta facebook page, they will give you a coupon for $1.00 off of 2 boxes of their whole grain pasta.  It was on sale a few weeks back for just a dollar, so I bought a few boxes for 50 cents each.  It's good.  My kids can't tell the difference. 

1 pound extra lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon sea salt  (didn't have seal salt, just used regular salt)

1 small onion, diced  (I didn't have an onion, so I didn't use one)

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt (didn't have garlic salt, so I used garlic powder)

1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (Didn't think my kids would red pepper, so I left it out)

1 dash hot pepper sauce (such as Frank's RedHot®), or to taste  (didn't have it.  Left if out)

1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce  (I didn't have this, but I did have some honey barbecue sauce that I bought on sale with a coupon that I figured was a good enough substitution)

1/3 cup skim milk

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place the beef into a mixing bowl, and season with salt, onion, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, red pepper flakes, hot pepper sauce, and Worcestershire sauce; mix well. Add the milk, Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. (I was in a hurry and just mixed everything together.  They turned out fine).  Mix until evenly blended, then form into 1 1/2-inch meatballs, and place onto a baking sheet.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.               

Stocking stuffers for less

I made all of my children's stockings myself.  For some reason, I made them really large.  Oops.  That was before I realized how expensive it can be to fill them.  Over the last couple of years, we've come up with a few solutions that are inexpensive, but make our children really happy.  Because we don't have a lot of money to spend on food, we choose to not spend money on junk food.  This makes filling Christmas stockings really fun and exciting for our kids, but really practical for us.  We will get them each their very own 20 oz. soda (that they don't have to share!) and a snack size bag of chips.  There are often coupons for candy bars if you look around and you can get them for either pretty cheap or free.  Target often has buy one get on free coupons on gum (which my five year old loves).  At the end of the Halloween season, my grocery store had their bags of snack sized candy on sale for just a dollar.  They also had their great big bags of skittles for just a dollar.  My kids love skittles.  So they're each getting their own bags (the snack sized stuff went into the advent calendar).   I end up spending less than $10 for 3 stockings.  If you look at drug stores throughout the year, you can usually get chap stick, nail polish and all sorts of small things for either free or really cheap.  My CVS often has a 90% off basket with all sorts of good stuff in it.  Because my kids are little, I usually use that stuff for me, but if I had older kids, I would save it for them.

saving money on not so cheap dinners

We have a meal that we particularly like.  But it's not quite as cheap as we would prefer.  It calls for mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, spinach and pasta shells.  And several other things.  Because this is a meal that we all enjoy (even my kids), I plan for it and stock up on the nonperishable items when they are on sale.  Bags of frozen spinach often go on sale for a dollar at my grocery store and I can usually find coupons to accompany that sale.  So I buy several bags at once.  When the pasta shells go on sale, I buy several boxes.  That way, when the perishable items (cottage cheese) go on sale, I just have to buy that and I already have everything on hand that I need to prepare this dinner.  It's really good.  I'll post the recipe tomorrow!  These simple things cut the price of the meal in half. 

SOOO....I recommend that you make a list of the dinners that your family enjoys and the ingredients required.  When the non perishable items go on sale...STOCK UP!  When the perishable items go on sale, you are ready to make your meal!  So simple.

Breakfast, lunch and snacks

We qualify for the reduced lunch program.  THANKFULLY...our school system has adopted the Michelle Obama program for healthy food in the schools.  Our children often ask for us to pack them a lunch, but we never do.  This keeps lunch costs down considerably for us.  We simply explain to them that the school can provide them with a lot more healthy food than we could if we send them a bagged lunch.  When I have visited the school, I have been happy to see that they are serving many whole grains and fruits and vegetables.  My picky eater has become less picky and is more willing to try foods that he normally wouldn't. 

One way that we save on gas is to have our children ride the bus to school.  Because the bus comes so early, it's easier to have them eat breakfast at school.  They get a much more nutritious meal than the cereal that we would provide them with.  Read what they are having on Monday:

breakfast - fruit juice, pancakes with blueberries, cereal and milk
lunch - philly beef and cheese sub, roasted peppers/onions, chilled applesauce, baked chips, milk.

My kids probably won't eat the roasted peppers and onions, but maybe they will someday.  The important thing is that they see the food and are given the option to try it.  I can not afford to offer foods to my children that will end up being thrown away, but the school can do that.   

Lunch is at 11:20, so the kids are usually quite hungry by the time they get home at 4:00.  I try to feed my kids snacks that are full of fiber that will keep them full longer.  They're pretty happy with apples and other fresh fruits.  My five year old also really likes yogurt and carrot sticks.  Often I will bake homemade muffins.  Nothing fancy, but this really keeps food costs down.  While prepackaged foods are convenient, they end up costing more in the long run than fruits and vegetables because they don't keep you full quite as long and you end up eating something else 20 minutes later.  Fruits and vegetables may cost a little more initially, but when you consider that they will keep you and your children healthier and that you won't be spending as much on medical care, they're not something that you want to skimp on.  I have found that bananas are probably the most cost efficient fruit.