Nancy on the Home Front

Frugal Tips: How to Save on Your Grocery Bill

Even though our current household size is only the two of us, I am always looking for ways to save on our grocery bill. Twice a year I go through our budget and see where we stand and examine if there are any other ways we can save money. There are many areas in which the budget is fixed and we can’t really do anything to change it. However, one area which you can change, is your grocery budget. One thing that has really helped me over the years is to make a weekly menu plan.

calendar, planning meals, menu calendar — A view of my menu calendar.

By planning ahead I don’t have to think about have we’re going to be eating for dinner. Even if I don’t follow my menu plan exactly I know that I have shopped for these meals and have what I need on hand to make them. After I have planned my weekly menu I write a grocery list. When I go to the store I stick to the list. Using my list I know I will have the ingredients on hand to make the meals I have planned for. By having an inventory for my freezers I can also plan my meals around what I have on hand.

Buying in bulk is another way you can save money on your grocery bill. You can buy in bulk through a food warehouse or a local co-op or just be aware of when certain items go on sale. It is important that you know your prices. If you can’t keep them all in your head make a price book. This is a little notebook where you keep track of the prices of items you purchase all the time.

Try to stay away from processed foods. Whole food is much better for you and often processed foods and convenience packaged foods are more expensive.

Eat one vegetarian meal a week. There are many options for meatless meals. This is also a great way to make sure your family is getting in those extra vegetables. One of my favorite cookbooks is called Eating Well In Season, it’s full of vegetarian recipes all of which look delicious!

cookbooks, vegetarian, vegetables, prudent living — My new cookbook!

Plan on eating leftovers for dinner once a week. Have fun and combine leftovers to make a nutritious dinner. Some of my best soups were made from leftovers!

Learn to bake! Making your own bread, cookies, granola is so much healthier for you and will save you money! A favorite in our house is homemade pizza, when you make everything from scratch this is a very frugal meal which everyone enjoys.

pizza, grilling — Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza.

Plan a garden! By growing your own fruits and vegetables you can save a lot of money and enjoy fresh tasty food that you’ve grown yourself.

Make your own cleaners and laundry detergent. It is so easy and the products you can make yourself work just as well as store bought products. Check out my blogs about making household cleaners and laundry soap. You’ll be amazed at what you can make at home!

What methods do you use at home to help save money on your grocery bill?

Linked To: PennyPinchingParty, WFMW, FabulouslyFrugalThursday, ThinkTankThursday

Rhubarb Buckle

It’s that time of year when my garden is bursting with rhubarb. I love rhubarb. I make a wonderful Rhubarbeque Sauce which is delicious when used as a barbecue sauce. Recently we had friends over for dinner and they brought this rhubarb buckle dessert to share with us. The ginger used in the topping gives this buckle a unique taste. We enjoyed the dessert so much I had to make it again. Not a rhubarb lover? You may be after trying this recipe!

Rhubarb Buckle

Ginger Crumb Topping Ingredients:

⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup finely chopped candied ginger
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cake Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon dried ginger
½ teaspoon baking soda
½  teaspoon fine sea salt
¾  cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
¾  cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and thinly sliced

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch round baking pan.

Make finer crumb topping: Mix sugar, flour and candied ginger together in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Set aside.

Make the cake: combine flour, baking powder, ginger, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs. Stir in the flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Gently fold in rhubarb.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle with the ginger crumb topping. Bake for 45-50 minted or until golden brown and firm on top.

My Garden: June Update

I love the month of June in Vermont; the mountains are just bursting with green!

There is new growth wherever you look. Remember that garden I created two years ago? Look how nicely it has filled in.

The bleeding hearts are in full bloom.

The phlox is spilling over the stone wall.

My lilac is a late blooming variety so the buds are still tightly closed.

The irises are just starting to bloom. This variety was a transplant from my husband’s grandmother’s garden.

In the vegetable garden we have been transitioning to raised beds. I like being able to sit on one while weeding in another! The beds are in place and almost all planted. We’ve made some progress since this photo was taken.

I’ve been picking rhubarb like crazy and trying to keep ahead of cutting back the blossoms!

My strawberry patch is full of flowers and if you look closely you can even see a tiny berry forming.

The African Daisies look nice against the red chicken coop.

I can’t complain it’s been a wonderful spring. We’ve even had lots of birds at the feeders including a beautiful cardinal.

Our favorite is the Indigo Bunting; I just love his iridescent blue!

How are things looking where you are?

Linked To: CatchAGlimpse, GreenThumbThursday, FromTheFarm, FarmgirlFriday, HomesteadBarnHop, TastyTuesday, RuralityBlogHop

It’s been a busy week and it’s only Tuesday!

It’s a busy time of year and when the days are sunny I work outside in the garden, when the weather is rainy I’m inside on the computer! You may be able to guess that the last four days have been absolutely beautiful. I’ve been working to get the vegetable garden planted.

I’ve also been enjoying the lilacs which smell heavenly!

When I’m not working in the vegetable garden I’m weeding and mulching the flower gardens! It’s a never ending job but I sure do enjoy it! What have you been up to this week?

Linked To: WordlessWednesday, ShareYourStuffTuesdays, TuesdaysWithATwist, You’reGonnaLoveItTuesday

10 Things For An Emergency Binder

I like to have a well-stocked pantry. Having a well-stocked pantry insures that we will have food on hand in case of an emergency. That emergency might be a storm where I can’t get to the store or a job loss or just unexpected company.

prudent living, — A well stocked pantry.

In addition to a well-stocked pantry I am also working on getting our important papers in order. In the past 17 months I have lost both parents and have had to deal with settling estates. This has made me realize that I want to have my affairs in order.

The first step is to set up an emergency binder. This doesn’t have to cost a lot of money and you don’t need to buy a special binder. You just want to have a place where you can keep all of your important papers in one place.

Our marriage license
Birth Certificates
Home, car and life insurance policies
Copy of our will – Do you have a current will?
Car titles
Power of attorney documents
Credit card numbers and corresponding customer service phone numbers
Passport
How to turn off the water and gas for our house.
Flash drive for computer backup

I think having all our papers in one place will give me peace of mind. If we ever have to leave the house quickly everything will be in one spot. If there is ever any emergency we’ll be ready.

Once your important papers are all in one place the next step is to make sure your finances are in order. Stay tuned, that will be a future blog post!

Linked To: FabulouslyFrugalThursday, ThinkTankThursday

Sautéed Mixed Vegetables

When my husband and I were first married we used to make this Sautéed Mixed Vegetables recipe on a regular basis. It was fairly inexpensive to make, it made a lot and was really good! I would often use the leftovers and add them to a soup. I was looking through our recipes the other day and decided to make it again. Always fun to revisit a recipe you haven’t made in years! The amounts are flexible, use more carrots if you want or less mushrooms. The secret to this recipe is cooking the vegetables and macaroni separately and then combining everything at the end. Cooked vegetables are soaked in cold water to keep their color.

Sautéed Mixed Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 potato (large)
1 turnip
2 cucumbers (small) or 1 large
1 carrot
6-8 mushrooms
10 snow pea pods
6 asparagus
1/3 cup macaroni
2 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch combined with 2 Tbsp cold water to make a paste
3 Tbsp oil
2 cups chicken stock

Directions:

After peeling and slicing the potato and carrot, boil them with boiling water, (put carrot in first, boll 3 minutes, then add potato and continue to boil another 2 or 3 minutes).

Trim the tips off of the cucumbers, slice the cucumbers, then cook with boiling water about 1 minute, remove and soak in cold water.

Cut the turnip into balls, and boil with boiling water until soft (about 7 or 8 minutes). Remove and soak in cold water.

Cut each asparagus into 1” long pieces. Boil the macaroni in boiling water about 7 minutes, then remove and rinse in cold water.

Heat the oil, stir fry potato, turnip, cucumber, carrot and mushrooms together. Then pour in the chicken stock and add salt and sugar. When it is boiling, add macaroni, asparagus and snow pea pods. Add cornstarch paste stirring until it is starchy.

Serve immediately.

My Garden: High Yield Gardening

People that have acres and acres of vegetables don’t worry too much about a few straggly stalks here and there. But for those of use with much smaller gardens must use that space wisely. Many factors – from spacing to weeding have a profound effect on your garden yields. Here are a few tips to maximize your returns on your sweat equity!

Space Out. Vegetables such as melons, cucumbers and pumpkins need space to grow. Other plants are less sensitive to close spacing. Leaf crops such as spinach and lettuce can grow closely together. Upright fruit bearing plants like tomatoes have highest yields when their foliage is almost overlapping. Though increasing their spacing increases fruit size.

Light or Dark. Fruits such as melons and tubers like potatoes are reservoirs that hold accumulated energy gathered from sunlight by the plants’ leaves. These plants should be placed in a spot where sunlight falls on the entire plant. Leaf crops such as lettuce and Swiss chard, do not need as much light as they aren’t feeding any fruit.

Water. To produce the best crops, plants should have uninterrupted growth. This means an even, constant supply of water. Under most conditions that means about an inch per week; however the amount a plant requires may depend on the stage of growth. A little less water while fruits are ripening. Potatoes and onions will last longer post harvest if the water supply is decreased just before harvest.

Weeds Out. Studies show that regularly weeded fields produce six times as many tomatoes as do unweeded ones; onions, more than tenfold; carrots, more than fifteen fold! Vegetables are most vulnerable to weeds from the seedling stage up until they start to bear fruit. Weed after a heavy rain; it’s easier to pull weeds out of soil that is soft and damp.

The corn is mulched! — The corn is weeded and mulched!

Follow these simple tips and you will enjoy an abundant harvest this year!

Linked To: TuesdayGardenParty, OutdoorWednesday, GreenThumbThursday, ThinkTankThursday, Link’NBlogs, WhatToDoWeekends, FromTheFarm, DIY LINKY, CleverChicksBlogHop, HomesteadBarnHop, TheBackyardFarmingConnection, TuesdaysWithATwist

Frugal Tips: 9 Alternatives to Hazardous Chemicals

I’m always trying to find alternative ways to clean, keep bugs away or even remove stains.

Here are 9 alternatives to using hazardous chemicals.

Ants: Do you have ants in your kitchen? Find out where they are coming in and sprinkle chili powder at the entry.

Do you have insects on your plants? Try spraying soapy water on the leaves and then rinsing.

Mildew on the shower celling? Mix equal parts of vinegar and salt. Use that to wipe away the mildew.

Oven cleaner: Mix 2 Tbsp liquid soap and 2 tsp borax with warm water.

Paint Brush Softener: Use hot vinegar to soften your paintbrush.

Rusty bolt or nut removal: Use some carbonated beverage.

Brass Polish: Use Worcestershire Sauce!

Coffee Pot Stain? Use vinegar. Vinegar can also be used to clean out your coffee pot.

Need to remove a decal? Soak in white vinegar.

These are just a few ideas. No need to use harsh chemicals when you have a problem to solve. What are your home remedies?

Linked To: PennyPinchingParty, FabulouslyFrugalThursday, ThinkTankThursday, SimplyNaturalSaturdays

Thai Coconut Beef Stir-Fry

We love stir-fry and we love Asian cooking. This is a delicious recipe; the sweet and creamy coconut milk mellows the spicy red curry paste. This Thai Coconut Beef Stir Fry recipe can easily be halved although the leftovers make a great lunch the next day!

Thai Coconut Beef Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp plain rice vinegar
3 Tbsp lime juice
3 Tbsp brown sugar
4 ½ tsp red curry paste
1 ½ pounds of beef sirloin, sliced thin
4 ½ tsp oil
1 large onion, diced
½ cups carrots, julienne cut
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 cup of coconut milk
4 ½ tsp fish sauce
1 ½ cups Chinese bean sprouts
¼ cup chopped cilantro for garnish

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together the rice vinegar, lime juice, brown sugar and curry paste. Add the beef and let marinate for 10 minutes, turning once.

While the beef marinates, heat 1 ½ tsp of oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add the onions and carrots and stir-fry for two minutes.

Carrots and Onions — Add the mushrooms and stir-fry for two more minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Add remaining 1 Tbsp oil to the pan, remove the beef from the marinade and stir fry for 3-4 minutes.

Stir-fry beef — Add vegetables and reserved marinade and stir for about a minute. Add the coconut milk and fish sauce to the pan and bring to a boil.

Let simmer — Reduce heat, simmer for about 2 minutes and then add the bean sprouts.

Ready to enjoy! — Delicious served on rice.

My Garden: 4 Benefits to Raised Beds

I am slowly transitioning to raised beds in our vegetables garden. Last year my husband built two small raised beds close to the kitchen for my herbs. They worked out so well, I can just step outside the kitchen and cut fresh herbs for cooking.

In our regular vegetable garden we already have four raised beds; two for strawberries and two that I usually plant garlic and lettuce in. This year we are going to triple the number of raised beds. The downside is that I will be a little late in getting the garden planted but that will be a small sacrifice.

I love raised beds. A raised bed is a mound of loose, well prepared soil, six to eight inches high that will make for easier gardening and healthier crops. Raised beds can just be a mound of dirt which you can reform each year or they can be permanent with edgings of stone, blocks, or wood. My beds will be permanent. You can use raised beds for anything from flowers to vegetables.

Here are a few more perks of raised garden beds:

1. Because the beds aren’t subjected to regular foot traffic, the soil always stays porous and loose and never compacts. The loose soil provides good drainage, enabling water, air and fertilizer to penetrate easily to the roots of your plants.

2. If you make permanent raised beds, the path next to each bed is never used for growing vegetables. Because it is constantly being walked on and packed down, it stays dry, clean and relatively weed-free.

gardening, Vermont — Another View of Sylvia’s Gardens

3. Because the beds are segregated by the paths between them, you can take advantage of the layout to rotate the variety of vegetables you plant in each bed each year. Crop rotation maintains the soil’s nutrients and discourages pests and pathogens.

4. Finally, your raised bed garden is always orderly, organized and pleasing to the eye because it is so easy to maintain!

gardening, prudent living — My Dream Garden

Linked To: TuesdayGardenParty, GardenTuesday, OutdoorWednesday, GreenThumbThursday, LHITS DIY, FromTheFarm. FarmgirlFriday, SimplyNaturalSaturdays, CleverChicksBlogHop, TheBackyardFarmingConnection, WordlessWednesday, TuesdaysWithATwist