A Spoonful of Sugar

Hi everyone and Happy Saturday!

I want you to meet my new friend Samantha. She is adorable.Samantha is going to teach you a few fun things this weekend and I can't wait. Please let her know what you think.


P.S. I went shopping at CVS and did the 5 packs of Coke and Xtra laundry detergent deal. I will show you the pictures tomorrow.

Enjoy....

Homemade Dog Treats

As a Stay at home Mom to two young boys (both under 2 years of age), I have spent quite a lot of time making homemade treats and food for them.  But recently, my family grew by two new babies… we recently adopted two Great Pyrenese/Black Lab mix male puppies (Leroy and Jethro… yes I am an NCIS/ Mark Harmon fanatic).  At six months of age,  my four legged boys are over 60 lbs each and growing daily.  So being in the Mommy mindset (and wanting to preserve some of my garden furniture), I went to the local petstore armed with the after Christmas sales and a coupon  with every good intention to  buy my new boys some well deserved doggy treats that would keep them occupied during the day and save my garden furniture at the same time. 

After trying to determine if we would have to mortgage our home in order to purchase the treats (and yes… the Accountant in me did  take out a calculator and determine the per piece cost of each treat… it was more than I pay for milk for my sons but less than I pay for in diapers)… the Shop-a-holic was beat down and the Frugaliesta in me came out.  Why was I about to pay $5.99 for one piece of dehydrated pig skin that my dog would potentially swallow up whole or in two bites… and I needed to buy at a minimum two of them (one for each puppy). 

After looking at the treat very closely… I decided to take a little trip to my local grocery store and have a talk with the butcher before I invested our savings into purchasing treats for the puppies.  Imagine my surprise, when my butcher instead of telling me that it would be a special order directed me to a meat bin where the much desired raw natural pig skin was sold. And I could buy 2 lbs raw for $4.44 in total.  It seems that pig skin is a major ingredient in “cracklins” which in Louisiana is practically a cuisine in itself.   So I set out to make homemade dehydrated pig skin for my pups. 

One note before you make this treat… light several candles and turn the oven fan on as this does smell up the kitchen quite a bit.  I made this using my microwave and oven but you could also use a dehydrator if you have one.  The only other tools needed are a microwave bacon cooker , paper towels,  baking sheet, and a good pair of kitchen shears or a sharp knife.   I wore a pair of latex gloves but this is not required…only strongly recommended.

 Cut the pig skin into strips double the size that you want the final product.  Don’t cut it longer than the bacon cooker.  Along every inch of the strip cut a 1/8^th of an inch slit, this stops the strip from curling up… not that the puppies cared, they ate the curled strips as enthusiastically as they did the uncurled ones.  Put one layer of paper towel on the bacon cooker, then a layer of cut skin… continue this until you have all of the skins on the cooker.  The last layer needs to be a paper towel layer.  For each piece of skin, you will want to cook it in the microwave for one minute.  This part will be trial and error as different microwaves cook at different power levels.  After the initial minute per slice was done, I checked the bottom, middle, and top layers… then I added another minute or two.  (I have now done this several times and I add an average of four to five minutes....but that is based on my microwave).

While you are microwaving, preheat your oven to 200 degrees.  After you finish microwaving, place the strips on a baking sheet or several depending upon how much you bought.  The pieces should be about a  ½ of the raw form by this time.  Put the baking sheets with the strips in your preheated oven for twenty minutes and leave the door open (I propped my door open with mason jar rings and put a dog gate over the kitchen doorway  so my son couldn’t walk in and get burned).  The oven step is necessary to reduce the last of the moisture and to make the treats shelf stable.

After cleanup, I ended up with twenty dog treats the same size as the one in the store for  less than ten dollars.  (I estimated the additional $5.66 for the cost of electricity, gas, clean up supplies, paper towels and gloves… and candles).  The good thing about this is I know exactly what is in the treat that my dogs are eating and they love them.  And for less than what I was going to pay for one day’s treat, I was able to make ten days worth of treats.  I have done this several times now and the treats are not only easy to make but also my dogs love them.  Next, I am going to talk to my butcher about getting pig ears… as dehydrated pig ears are another dog treat that sell in the petstore for over $1.50 to $2 each.  And I know that my puppies love them. 

Samantha Bradley is the owner of “www.aspoonfulosugar”  a blog detailing her transforming journey from Shop-a-holic working Accountant married with no children living off two incomes into a Frugaliesta SAHM with two young adopted sons trying to live off of one income.  The goal of the blog is to be the sugar for others who are going through the hard bitter pill of the current financial market. The blog is focused on frugal living through reduction in expenses by utilizing coupons, strategic shopping, taking advantage of rebates, participating in giveaways and frugal lifestyle changes.

Does Couponing Really Pay?

Happy Weekend everyone! I am busy moving and I hope you are enjoying this weekends guest bloggers. It's always a frugal weekend with the best frugal guest bloggers around. Next up is Danelle. She is going to answer that question couponers get all the time...
 

Does Coupon Clipping Really Pay?

This seems to be the number one question people ask me when they find out that I teach a Coupon 101 class.

My reply: I average a 90.5% savings at the store for my family of three and two pets. We spend less than $100 a month to feed all of us, and that includes personal care items like TP and deodorant. How does that sound to you?

Granted, I have been lucky to find the occasional awesome meat coupon or hit a series of great produce specials but I work the grocery store selling cycle to my best advantage. Meat is one of those items that rarely has a coupon...so, what do you do? Look for your grocery store selling cycle!

Most stores have a 6 to 8 week cycle.

What does this mean? This week ground beef is on sale for $1.69 a pound. It normally is $2.93 a pound. If you usually eat 1# a week, you need to invest in 8 pounds at that sale price. This will save you $9.92 on ground beef.

$10 is $10 in my world, LOL! Just think of saving $80+ over 8 weeks on meat!

The next week, whole chickens might be on sale for $.49 a pound when they are normally over $1.75 You can get a whole chicken for about $2.00, cook it off and harvest the meat. This should get you 2-3 pounds of meat which tastes a LOT better than the 8oz can of chicken for $3.00 **Just think of this:
by using the sale pricing on whole chicken and cooking it off, that means the same amount of canned chicken would cost you $18 - you save $16!! (per chicken this week!!)

We like chicken for tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, chicken chili, chicken ala king over biscuits and more so we need to buy at least 8 chickens when they are on sale.

8 chickens x $16 savings is $128 savings over the 8 weeks that we add to the $80 you saved on ground beef. See how this adds up? 2 weeks of buying meat on sale has saved you $208 so far and we haven't seen pork, turkey, ham or beef roasts go on sale yet!

If you are not keen on this -- just keep this rule in mind...meat for under $2 a pound is usually a great deal for your chicken, beef and pork.

Now what do you do with all of that meat? Batch cook it and break it down into meals. Let's look at that chicken...I like it when the spilt breasts are on sale for about $.75/pound and get about twenty pounds worth.

Make a light breading of flour and seasoning salt. Rinse off 5 pounds of chicken breasts, pat dry, roll in breading and place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about an hour. You now have plenty of baked chicken for lunches, picnics or a nice Sunday dinner! Keep in mind, depending on the size, this could be 4-6 breasts as they are bone in. We aren't talking about 20 breasts cooked and staring at you in the fridge
:)

Bake five pounds of chicken breasts on a jelly roll pan with a little water in the bottom. Cover with foil and bake at 300 degrees for about 2 hours. Remove from oven and let chicken cool. Pull off skin and take a fork, shred chicken off the bone, package in medium sized containers to freeze for a meal that feeds 4. Repeat this with another pan of chicken...

Four to five pounds can go in the crock pot/slow cooker and rip on low for 8 hours. Do the same as with the oven, cool and shred! Keep in mind you can do this overnight - so you are prepping family meals while you sleep!

Now, what are you going to do with all that shredded chicken? I already had chicken chili and chicken enchilada recipes on my blog in previous posts under the recipes...here are a few more ideas:

Chicken Recipes:

-For fajita chicken -> 1PKG.taco seasoning to two cups water in a Quick Shake and shake well. Pour ½ cup of liquid over each of four containers of chicken from previous recipe (in vent N Serves). Freeze containers. Pull one container out & zap in a 1½QT. Tupperwave container with one sliced onion and one sliced pepper until meat is warmed up and pepper is tender.

-For chicken taco salad, warm taco chicken and pour over chips, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, etc.

-For chicken stroganoff, add chicken to cream of chicken soup and 1 cup of sour cream. Heat in Vent ‘n Serve. Pour over noodles or rice. Add can of mixed vegetables for variety.

-For Chicken Noodle Soup, add a quart of chicken broth, bag of frozen veggies and bag or Reames frozen egg noodles to about 2 cups of meat in a large pot. Add a pinch of marjoram and simmer for about 10 minutes then dig in!

-Biscuit roll-up. Take meat/cheese, egg/cheese, vegetable/cheese or whatever your prefer. Place 1½ TB of mixture between 2 halves of a biscuit. Pinch edges together & bake per biscuit instructions.

-Shredded Chicken w/ BBQ sauce - 1 C ketchup, 1 C BBQ sauce, 1 TB brown sugar, 1 tsp mustard. Pour over shredded chicken.

And one of our favorites...CRANAPPLE CHICKEN
1 can (8 oz.)whole berry cranberry sauce
1 1/2 tsp. butter
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 can (13 1/2 oz.) pineapple tidbits, well drained
2 cups Chicken Mix
Combine cranberry sauce, butter, brown sugar and pineapple. Arrange chicken quarters in a microwave Tupperwave Casserole. Pour cranberry pineapple sauce over chicken. Place dish in microwave oven and cook 4-6 minutes, Makes 4 servings. Great with Rice!

Any favorite chicken recipes? Please share!

Happy shopping!

Dannelle

http://operation40k.blogspot.com/

It's All About Saving Money and Giving Back

Hi everyone, I hope you are all having a super New Year's weekend. I hope you are enjoying our guest bloggers. This is another new friend of mine Tracy Shaw. Let me know what you think. She's absolutely adorable...

My name is Tracy Shaw and I am a stay at home mom of two wonderful children.  Before I stayed home, I was a Branch Manager of a Staffing Firm in Brandon, FL (Robert Half International)..My job was to train internal sales people, staff my internal positions, and staff all my clients needs...I was a sales person, I talked to, interviewed, and worked with many people on a daily basis.  I was actually very successful, but when my son was in my womb...I just couldn't think of someone else seeing his "firsts", so my husband and I decided that I should stay home.  Now, I love it with all my heart, but that means we have had to make some serious adjustments to our day to day lives!  And with the economy the way it is and with my husband's salary going backwards instead of forwards,  I got creative...I looked for deals every day, started paying attention to sales and coupons (especially when my daughter was born and we had the extra miracle in the house!)   I found that I was telling my friends via e-mail or phone daily about the good deals I could find when one suggested that I tell lots of people.  So, I started my blog!

I have a whole section about "Giving Back to the Community" click on these links to read a couple of the posts:

http://havingfunsaving.blogspot.com/2010/11/good-afternoon.html

http://havingfunsaving.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-daydonations-and-grocery-shopping.html

I make a donation once a week to our local Food Bank or to the Pregnancy Center depending on what I get.  For a very small amount, I truly believe I can make a difference, and can you imagine if other people thought that way too?  What a wonderful thought that is!

Go Green, Be Frugal Ways to Reuse & Save

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!

I want you to know how much I have missed you all and I plan on making good on my promises for my Christmas List for you.

I will be explaining a little more about what I have been doing the last few weeks tomorrow but in the meantime I want you to meet the neatest lady who has made couponing a HUGE part of her life.....

Go Green, Be Frugal ~ Ways to Reuse & Save!

by Michelle Dudas, author, Military Wives Saving

Being 'green' and frugal can really go hand-in-hand!  What better way to save money and the environment than to reuse everyday household items rather than throwing them away and buying something new!
Gift Wrap - Being couponers, we get our fair share of Sunday papers!  Rather than throw them out (or put in the recycle bin), put it to good use one more time by using the comics and the entertainment section as gift wrapping!  Not a fan of using the paper?  Get crafty and use brown paper bags for wrapping.  To avoid the cheap look, splurge and buy some nice ribbon and tie it around the box.  You can also save and reuse the bows on Christmas presents by not removing the plastic protective piece on the sticky part and instead, use a small piece of tape to stick them to the presents (the tape will come off easier, plus, won't take off the paper like the sticky part on the bows do).  Cute Tip: If you have a ton of really old, expired coupons (any less than six months, consider the Overseas Coupon Project), wrap presents with the coupon inserts for the couponista in your life.  They will love it!!
Trash Bags/Lunches - Prefer plastic?  Reuse your plastic grocery bags as trash bags in the bathroom and laundry room.  Have a dog?  Use them to pick up your pooch's stuff while going for walks (this isn't the greenest, I know, but at least you can reuse it once before just tossing it if you don't recycle!).  Don't have a reusable lunch sak/cooler?  Use the plastic grocery bags to throw your lunch in (just remember to pack your sandwich last as not to smush it).  Also, instead of peanuts when mailing packages, if you have a ton of plastic baggies, use them to secure items in the box - write a note and tell the recipient to save the bags and do the same when they need to mail something!
Pots and Plants - Buy spaghetti sauce in the glass jars?  Wash them out and reuse them as planters for outside and around the house!  Buy butter in the tub?  Use the plastic lids as saucers for your plant pots!  Alternately, you can also use coffee can lids, too!

Candle Holders/Nails, Screws/Craft Items - If you love tea-light candles and votives but don't have anything to put them on while they are burning, consider using baby food jars after cleaning them out!  If you are feeling crafty, glue some cute fabric to the outside of the jars for decoration.  Also, use baby food jars for storing your mini craft items in, as well as screws and nails!

Scrubbers/Makeup - Rather than throwing away your old toothbrush, boil it in hot water to clean them and then reuse them to as scrubbers to remove stains from carpets and clothes.  Cute Tip: Instead of buying an eyebrow brush, use a toothbrush to shape your brows and blend in your eyebrow pencil color.
Envelopes - Save that junk mail!  If you get "spam" mail,  as I like to call it, in envelopes (credit card offers, insurance company recruitments), you can open the envelopes all the way and use them as scrap paper!  Or, if you don't have a coupon organizer, reuse them to store your coupons in.  And, if you have labels, grab a bunch of deposit envelopes next time you're at the bank and use the labels to cover up any wording on the envelopes and use them to mail letters and bills.
Food Storage - You know those butter tubs I mentioned above?  You can also wash them out and reuse them to store leftovers and school lunches rather than buying the plastic containers at the store.  Same goes with sour cream and cheese containers, too! 
Coasters - Use old placemats as coasters!  Just cut them up how you want, and use fabrics to create fringes for a decorative touch.
Michelle Dudas is a military spouse and SAHM, as well as the author of www.militarywivessaving.com, where she helps her fellow military spouses save money and get the most bang for their buck. Before deciding to be a SAHM, she worked in the banking industry for over 10 years, where she worked as a loan officer, helping others think smart about their money.