Mastering the Merchants

I have finally figured out groceries. I say finally because I have consistently spent $100 (give or take a few dollars) for 3 weeks in a row. That's down $50 a week for me! And that includes food, paper products, toiletries and all baby needs! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm awesome! LOL.

This mastery didn't come easy, though; I had to read several different books, join a few websites (which means sifting through a million junk emails), and read many, many blogs. But it was well worth it. I feel like I know something amazing that not many people know...and no, it's that you buy less! That's the amazing part; you still buy a lot, you just pay less. Coupons are my new bestest friend, and so are store deals that match my coupons.

I spent $103.53 today at 2 different stores and brought home more than enough groceries for the week and plenty of diapers! My purchases included brand names; in fact, everything was a major brand except for 2 items. Not that I need specific brands, but it's nice to know there are ways around brand pricing. I got most of my big name brands for less than the store brand price. I did forget about a little over $3 of coupons in my purse at checkout, so that would've put me UNDER $100. I got flustered and wasn't prepared when we got to the register; I was so angry when I got in the car. But, that just means I can save those coupons for when prices are even lower, and maybe walk away with some items for free!

In a little while, I'm rewarding myself by driving over to CVS and using my $1.00 Trident Layers coupon....that item is on sale at CVS for $.99. That means it's free for me! Wonder if they'll give me the $.01 I made on the purchase to use for next week's purchases...

GROCERY GRUDGES

Every week, I set aside almost an hour to organize coupons, make a list, and map out my grocery shopping with the weekly ads. Up until today, I assumed almost everyone did this. Nope. Apparently I am the biggest nerd. :)

I will say, though, that my nerdiness and time-consuming grocery organization has saved me bundles. Last Friday, I was able to purchase 7 days worth of groceries and diapers for $102! For around here and a family of 5, that's awesome! I haven't scored like that in a while. $150 is my weekly budget, but some weeks I go shopping while I'm hungry or go down aisles I can't control myself in (lol), and I end up spending all $150 or more for what seems like a few groceries. I always wonder where the money went on weeks like that.

When I take the time (even if I feel like I am going to DIE if I have to rewrite the list one more time!) to plan it all out and do some digging to find online or paper coupons, it is sooooo worth it. I don't know how folks do it without planning...I would go nuts! So, of all my habits, I guess coupon clipping and Ad comparison aren't so bad. Maybe the money I've saved each week can go toward some therapy for my other crazy habits!

Ailments

We have been ailment-free for a few weeks...until now. Sadly, I have come down with a sore throat and now a full-blown cold. Boo!

I did some googling to get ideas for at-home remedies of my sore throat. I found a couple I thought were worth sharing. Some suggestions seemed to be a bit out there, with questionable ingredients. I felt like I was reading the ingredients for a witch's brew and not a simple remedy for a sore throat!

I haven't had luck with permanent relief from the sore throat, but this one gave me a couple hours of relief:
1 TBSP lemon
1 TBSP honey
1 cup warm water
Mix and sip before it gets cold. Sounds easy enough, so I tried it. It's the same ingredients for when I make tea (except for the tea part, of course); it tasted good. The honey did a good job of coating my throat for a while.

This one was nice, too:
Raspberry tea
Hot water
Honey
Add water to tea bag/leaves. Steep for 10 minutes. Remove bag/leaves and add honey til very sweet. I don't know why the raspberry tea is supposed to be used. It didn't seem any more effective than regular tea, but it was Caffeine Free which was helpful since I drank it in the evening. And I'm nursing my youngest, so I'm pretty sure she was glad it was caffeine free as well!

I have not yet tried this one, but it received very good reviews online:
1 cup milk
1 TBSP butter
1 TBSP honey
Heat together and drink while warm/hot.

Hot milk does not exactly appeal to me, but everyone that commented online said it was surprisingly delicious and worked better than anything they'd tried. Looks like tonight I'll be trying it out for myself!

I bought the Equate brand (Wal-Mart) sore throat spray just to save a couple bucks; it was $2.00 less that Chloraseptic! It works just as well, I've found. Save yourself the money and buy generic.

We were hoping to keep the illness-free era going, but it has ended at our house. My oldest has been sneezing and blowing her nose all morning. Looks like the sickness will be around for a while. Tonight I am making chicken noodle soup and hopefully some homemade rolls. I have zero energy but homemade things are so much better when you're sick.

Time to go spray my throat and put the water on for tea...

Reflections

It's that time of the year for reflections. I heard this statement in church today. Everyone thinks about how the year was - good, bad, so-so. Everyone plans ahead for 2010 - resolutions, commitments, new chapters.

I am determined to be more relaxed...starting now (I won't wait until January 1st!). I tend to get worked up about simple things, things that aren't going to make a difference tomorrow. I need to "take a chill pill" more often, so I'm sure not to miss out on the important things - my girls, my husband, my wonderful life. God has given me so much, and here I worry and whine about the little things.

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On a totally unrelated note, I have added a Pies section on the right. I recently baked an apple pie for a friend and worked out the pricing finally for it, so I thought I'd officially add it to my list. :) I also make english toffee and fudge. No pricing yet on those yet...was going to wait and see if anyone was that interested. If not, I won't bother adding them.

I am baking all week, if there are any orders for New Years Eve parties. I have one order so far for the week, and I will have other things for our own get-together. Let me know if there's anything you need!

Have a safe and Happy New Year! See you in 2010!

A Preview of My Pieces

So, the pictures above are just of different breads or pies or cakes that I've done for my family. I have finally taken some photos of my work and thought I'd share. Here's a description of each:

The first is pumpkin bread I made for our family's get-together this Thanksgiving. I can make it with or without walnuts. This one was without.

The second and third are the pies I made for our Thanksgiving - pumpkin and apple, respectively. The apple pie was my first lattice-topped pie. I thought it turned out pretty well. I will be trying to do a woven lattice the next time....it's a little more difficult, so I thought I'd try the easier version first. Both pies' crusts are homemade.

The next is a batch of pumpkin muffins with cinnamon/sugar topping. These I made while fooling around with the pumpkin bread recipe and incorporating a pumpkin muffin recipe I found online. It's actually a recipe for muffins tops, but I made it for the whole muffin and they turn out to be pretty decent size muffins! We took some for snack foods while we attended the Chicago Marathon this October.

The 3 cakes are ones I made for my daughters - a Mickey Mouse 1st Birthday cake, a purse cake for my daughter's 3rd birthday, and a butterfly cake for another daughter's 2nd birthday. All were fairly easy and I used boxed cake mixes. I figured I was spending enough time designing them, that I would take the simple route with the mix. :)

The last photo is of an apple pie with a crumb topping. That is my favorite top for an apple pie; I make it like that almost every time. The bottom crust on this is also homemade.

I'm always trying to take more pictures of my baking creations. Hopefully, I'll have more of my rolls - cinnamon and dinner - soon.

Thanksgiving To-Do's

This year, we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house! This is the first holiday we've had at our home. It'll be a very small gathering, but you have no idea how excited I am!!! I've been wanting to host ANYTHING for a long time; I usually just let others (with more space at their homes) host events/holidays.

My mother-in-law is baking the ham. My brother-in-law's girlfriend is working on the green bean casserole and a small turkey. I am preparing the carrots, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, and pies (Pumpkin and Apple, of course!).

While there's a lot that goes into Thanksgiving meal preparations, there is a good amount that can be done ahead of time. I am making and freezing the rolls this week. They are brown and serve (yep, they're the ones I sell), so I can pull out however many we'll need and bake them from frozen in under 20 minutes! The pie crusts can be made and frozen as well. You can freeze pie crust dough for up to a month.

The carrots I am slicing up the day before and storing in water in the fridge, so they don't dry out. I will just cook them before the meal on Thursday. Potatoes can be peeled and cut in advance as well. Just cover them with water in a bowl with a lid, so they don't turn brown. If you aren't using them within 3 days, replace the water with fresh water. I have heard of folks keeping peeled/sliced potatoes for a whole week's worth of dishes. They just keep the water fresh and the lid on when not in use. I haven't personally tried it, but I am considering slicing mine up on Tuesday to be used on Thursday.

The pies I will make on Wednesday; that's close enough to the meal that they'll still be fresh.

Thursday morning will be a busy one for us; my husband is running a 5 mile race and 2 of my daughters are running a kid's 100 yard dash. I want to make sure we have enough time to prepare everything before guests arrive in the afternoon, so I will do as much in advance next week as possible.

Tomorrow is grocery day, and I plan to get EVERYTHING needed for next week's big meal...I refuse to fight the last-minute Thanksgiving food shoppers next week! :)

If you're in need of last minute rolls or breads, please let me know. I still have some open time between now and Wednesday to fill orders.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thinking Ahead

So, the holidays are right around the corner. Are you ready? Maybe I can help...

Are you having company stay with you? How about ordering some cinnamon rolls to serve warm to them for breakfast? I'll even let you take the credit for them if you want. :) I will prepare them as brown and serve, so all you have to do is warm them up! Or banana muffins, blueberry muffins, bran muffins....all kinds to serve the different tastes of your guests!

What about holiday dinners? Do you plan to serve rolls? I can prepare and freeze dinner rolls for you. All you have to do is heat them until browned from frozen. Easy.

What about leftovers that you'll make sandwiches with? I can get you homemade loaves of bread to make those sandwiches! Honey wheat bread with leftover turkey? Mmmm.

Snacks, dessert.......what about banana bread or pumpkin muffins?!

If you'd like to order something for the upcoming holidays - parties, guests, dinners, etc - just let me know! Give me a date and time and I'll have it there for you!

I'm also working on offering a muffin variety package....a dozen muffins, but a couple different kinds instead of just one flavor. Email me if you're interested. We can work out the details!

Thanks!
milkandhoneybreads@yahoo.com

Cool Weather = Great Baking Weather

Fall is upon us. This is GREAT weather for baking. The house smells great, the breads/cookies are warm and fresh, and the oven helps warm the house without having to waste money with the furnace running.

I have been baking frequently for my immediate family - rolls for dinner (they go wonderfully with soups and roasts!), cookies and cakes to snack on. I have a few orders trickling in here and there. Please let me know if you'd like to order anything. I am almost always able to bake within 24 hours of the order coming in, so if you needed something the day after ordering....it's almost always possible. I do have a life outside of baking (hard to imagine, I know), so there are times when things come up but not too many that I can't sneak in some baking time.

I did waste $6 the other day at Costco and bought their "homemade" mini cinnamon rolls. The samples they had tasted good (and I was very hungry for lunch at the time), but now that we've been eating them I'm thinking what a waste! I could have made huge homemade ones with as much icing as I wanted and saved my $6 on all the preservatives and junk they put in theirs; plus I could have frozen mine and only used as many as I needed instead of having a bunch of Costco ones that I need to eat before they go bad. Oh well. You live and learn, right? That's why I try not to shop on an empty stomach. Silly decisions.

Speaking of freezing breads, you can freeze all of the breads I make. The dinner rolls I make are brown and serve, so I pre-bake them slightly so the dough sets. I then package them in freezer bags with heating instructions, and you can use them as needed and as many as you need. One order makes 16; you can pull out a few if that's all you needed and bake them til golden. They last in the freezer up to 3 months. The same is true for the cinnamon rolls - I bake them to set and then you can freeze to bake them at a later time.

The loaves of bread freeze well up to 2 months. You do lose some of the moistness (as you would with any bread), but you still get the freshness without the preservatives and artificial flavors. I do double wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in food storage bags, so they are ready to freeze when you receive them.

Happy Fall everyone. I do wish everyone a fun and safe Halloween!

Homemade Blankets

An inexpensive way to acquire blankets for your home (guest use, personal use, decorative) is to buy the material and make it yourself. Try the no-sew way of making warm fleece blankets....

For a kid blanket, I buy 1 1/2 yards of a solid color and 1 1/2 yards of a fun character or print (monkeys, disney, etc). Line up the two pieces, then cut 6 inch deep fringe pieces along all the sides. Tie the top fringe with the corresponding fringe from the bottom fleece and there you have a simple blanket. It takes a little bit of time to do all the little cutting, but it's worth it if you can get the fleece on sale. Yesterday I bought pieces to do a kid blanket for about $13. That's a double-thickness fleece blanket! You can't get a store-bought one for $13.

Plus, the blankets make good birthday or Christmas gifts. They're homemade, so I think the gift is more appreciated because you put your time and creativity into it.

Any other ideas for homemade items? Please post in the comments section. I would love more ideas for making my own things and saving the money. I don't mind putting in the time if I save a few bucks. :)

Here's a recipe I came across online several months ago and copied down. I would post what site I got it from, but now I can't remember. My husband and girls love it! It's a pretty quickly made yeast bread and the garlic/cheese combo is delicious.

Garlic Cheese Flatbread

1 envelope yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast)
1 cup lukewarm water
2 cups bread flour (or 2 cups plus 2 TBSP all-purpose flour)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp white sugar
2 TBSP olive oil

1/3 cup butter, softened
2 TBSP garlic powder
1/4 cup Parmesan (grated) cheese
1/3 cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded)

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
Combine the flour, salt and sugar in large bowl. Add the yeast mixture and oil. Beat with spoon until stiff. Cover and let rise for 35 minutes.
Remove from bowl and knead briefly on well-floured surface. Roll to 1/4-1/2 inches thick to the length of baking sheet. Grease the baking sheet, then place the dough on it. Spread butter on the dough and sprinkle with the garlic powder and cheeses. Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes, until cheese is golden brown.

I have made it several times and played around with different cheeses. I only had mozzarella and cheddar once, so I used those 2 and it turned out pretty good. I've done shredded Colby Jack with no second cheese. If you have fresh Parmesan to grate, that tastes the best (in my opinion). But if all you have is the container of parmesan, that works too.

Since it is fairly quick, I start it right after I start whatever meat I'm cooking for the meal. Then I let it rise while I tend to the meat and the veggies I'm making. I finish the dough prep and pop it in the oven while I'm setting the table and finishing up the meat and veggies. That way, it's all done together and we can eat the bread while it's still hot! Mmmm.

Any comments on good dinner breads are appreciated. I'm always looking for good dinner breads to try. I've done the drop biscuits from the bisquick box; those are really easy and fast. I do make dinner rolls but they are the typical yeast bread that rises twice, so I usually start those only when I can start it in advance and be around to take it to the next stages on time.