Adventures in Savings Coming to an END???

I think there won't be a lot of Redskins talk on this blog in the next coming months. I don't think we could get much worse this year. Check out this article on Yahoo. Despite the "soft" schedule, they've been playing some kind of terrible. At least I have my Hokies. Their first game against #3 Alabama just about ripped my heart to shreds, but they are building my hope back up. Tech is currently ranked #4. Hopefully, they'll knock some GA Tech #15 butt come Saturday.

Well, today I bought a dozen eggs for 39 cents and a gallon of milk for 9 cents. Pretty cool... but I'm no longer impressed by my money saving skills and I'm considering making some changes. Why???

Having just read the "Omnivore's Dilemma" By Michael Pollan I feel like maybe I could be making better choices even if it's going to cost me money. Charlottesville has an awesome network of local farmers that I need to tap into more (specifically for meats as we grown our own produce). In fact, one of them, Polyface farm, is featured in the book Ominvore's Dilemma. You can check out Polyface Farm HERE.

I found the book to be a great critique on "organic" foods. The author is quick to point out that certified organic foods aren't always that environmentally friendly. Like, how environmentally friendly is an organic avocado flown in from Equador when in consumes so much fuel to get it here? He also analyzes those farms that haven't earned the "organic" label (like Polyface) who are indeed environmentally friendly but refuse to qualify as "organic" because doing so would compromise his high environmentally friendly standards. There's a thought!

I highly recommend this read. It's very insightful regarding the food production industry. The first several chapters reminded me of the documentary "King Corn." It's really got me thinking about what I'm ingesting. Though I like the idea of eating less meat less often to compensate for the higher cost of grass fed meat, my husband is less willing to budge. For us, I think the best thing we can do right now is start to really look at our options. Maybe we will continue to buy *some* meat at the traditional market, but maybe we can also make some of our meat purchases from local, sustainable grass farms in bulk once or twice a year and store it.... maybe even Polyface.

Well, enough of my soap box. I hope you guys are having a wonderful fall.

Nick: Fryer Chef

Nick fried the oysters we got during our trip tonight and I thought I'd share the pics.


It was incredibly unhealthy, fried oysters, corn bread and for the sake of saving the meal... some broiled asparagus. I actually do not know how to fry at all. I've never learned. (I prefer Pam) That's why Nick took care of the frying tonight. We don't have fried stuff but once a year, so I'll save it for the experts.

All I could get was a shot of the oysters before they were fried. They went quickly.

Ladybug was skeptical. We called them ocean muffins and she pretty much bought that, hook, line, and sinker.

Christmas Cookies in our Jammies

She was eating raw flour earlier.

On the Cheap - Turkey Burgers

We had turkey burgers and sweet potato oven "fries" last night to celebrate Nick's momentous accomplishment. They are one of Nick's favorites.


I'm kidding, they are on the weekly rotation because the meal is one of Nick's favorites.

Anyway, you can find 93% lean turkey burger in a pound roll in the meat section at Walmart for about $2. You can also find it in a roll in the freezer section at Kroger. It goes on sale periodically for about 3 for $5 there. You could pay up to 6 bucks a pound for it in the fresh section. That stuff is brought frozen and thawed out for you at the store anyway. Save your money and buy it in the freezer section.

The break down of the meal (not including trivial amounts of salt, pam, etc.):
sweet potatoes $2
turkey burger $1.67
buns (1/2 of package, froze the rest) $.90
ketchup $.25
broccoli $2.50 (fresh vegetables are always the killer!)

$7.32 total/3 people or $2.44 per person (This probably could be stretched to 4 if you had a normal husband or $1.83 per person. )

Love Me Some Acorn Squash

As a stay at home mom, my job is to save us money. I'm a complete and utter cheap skate even in good times. It comes easy to me because my parents lived paycheck to paycheck and barely got by sometimes. I wouldn't say we were poor, but we weren't well off. I learned the value of a dollar and how to make it stretch from my mother.

Butternut and acorn squash has been on sale at Kroger for several weeks in a row now for a whopping 69 cents a pound! As such, it's been on our weekly rotation since it's been in season (I believe the sale began in October.) It is a tradition at our house every year around this time. It has become a wonderful comfort food in our house that reminds us of the season. We simply bake it with a little smart balance, splenda and a touch of cinnamon.
Our main course today was broiled parmesan tilapia. I can't say that it was the best paring with the acorn squash but I don't mix eat. I eat one thing and move to the next. I think it's a very left brain thing to do. I'm whole brained so I have both creative and logical tendencies. I like math as much as like art.

Anyway, the tilapia is an absolutely delicious dish that I discovered on SparkPeople. We get frozen tilapia when it's on sale and stock up. A nice size freezer is an essential component in saving money. Nick bought me a beautiful freezer in Albuquerque. He knows that the key to my heart is saving our money.

We never pay more then 3 bucks a pound for tilapia. If I'm lucky, I can get it for $2 a pound. That said, this meal cost us about 5 bucks total. I'm guessing we ate about a pound of tilapia, a couple pounds of squash, some lettuce, etc.

I generally don't clip coupons to save money, I shop circulars. Coupons generally make you buy the brand names on things and I find that even with the coupon AND it being on sale it is not less than the store brand. I know this may cause some of you to cringe, but I take ALL of those circulars that come in the mail each week and I go to super walmart. I use those circulars to get ALL the sales in one place. That's right, I stand at the cashier's desk and tell them all the prices I want from all the different circulars. Sometimes I have to show them the circular, sometimes I don't. It does take some time and I don't enjoy the fact that it leaves a larger carbon footprint than I would like, but I can tell you that my grocery bill went from $125 bucks to about $85 bucks a week, no kidding. Right now, we don't have that opportunity (they are building a super walmart), so I just shop one store and I pay close attention to the circulars. I do use my coupons but I'm paying around $125 a week again. :)

-M

Every Day Stuff

Took this shot of little N today. Life just flies by. The boy is already almost 6 months. He's finally getting some chub.


Healthy mom was in action today. I made a huge batch of chicken nuggets for little R. today (and for us too) from the sneaky chef cookbook. (The nuggets are dredged in a broccoli mixture.) They are quite tasty. I served them up with sweet potato oven "fries" and another side of broccoli. I make a ton extra and freeze the leftovers. Warm 'em up with a few frozen veggies on the side and I've got a tasty preservative free meal for me or the kids anytime. They are big N approved.

-M