Money Saving Wednesday…Think Food…December Newsletter

Now is the time to save money on everyday living in order to have the extra cash it will take to get you through the holiday season. Your goal should be to get through the season without adding to your credit card debt. Impossible? Not really. Not if you change your priorities a little, tighten your belt a little more and help your family understand that sacrificing now will mean more later. Some of the best Christmases we have had were those when we had no money and had to be creative in our gift giving. Let me give you a few examples.

One year we were really broke with two young daughters, four and five years old. We decided to make a doll house as their only Christmas gift. We took an old display case from a store, that had dividers. It was meant to display cooking utensils. We tipped it on it’s side so the divided areas became the rooms. Next we used a permanent markers to draw windows in several of the rooms. Using scraps of fabric I made curtains which I gathered at the top and glued to the wall. I used another piece of fabric to make tie backs for some. Then I cut furniture out of cardboard boxes, a sofa, table, bed, chairs, a mirror, etc. I upholstered some of the furniture and using left over paint, painted some. I used an empty thread spool for the table bottom and the top was simply a round piece of cardboard which I painted. I make a “quilt”  for the bed using scraps and throw pillows for the sofa. I used aluminum foil for the center of the mirror. I got a scrap of upholstery fabric ( they are free at many stores) and sewed the edges to prevent raveling and that became a rug. I purchase a few dolls the appropriate size for the house and that was their gift. The only cost was the dolls. They loved that gift and played with it for hours and hours over the years. You can do the same. If you lack fabric, or anything else you need, just ask a friend or family member.

If  it is your teens you are worried about then you have an even bigger problem than saving money. We have friends who had a daughter in college, one in high school, a son in Junior high and a son in elementary school and there was no money for Christmas. They explained this to the teens and told them there would be no gifts, or very few gifts that year. They gave out IOUs and mom and dad gave coupons to  the kid’s to do their chores for them. They purchased favorite foods and gave those to the kids as gifts. Then the kids could decide when they wanted brownies or chips, their favorite treats which the family could no longer afford to purchase. Now, all those kids are married and all know how to sacrifice now to get what is more important later. They are all excellent money managers and far ahead of many of their peers.

So how are you going to save even more this months? Food. Yes, if you have been working on your General Store then you already have plenty on hand to supplement or even to live on.

First: get rid of the breakfast cereals for this month. Eat oatmeal, cream of wheat, eggs and toast, or pancakes instead. All are a fraction of the cost. If you have to have juice with your breakfast purchase juice that is on sale or frozen concentrate and cut down the serving size to half. Forget the bacon and sausage. Remember you are saving money now so you have more freedom later.

Lunch: Think tortillas. You can make great wraps for lunches from the leftovers the night before, cheese and veggies or sprouts, PB&J, egg salad, or just a  melted cheese tortilla. All very inexpensive and still fun.

Dinner: Have breakfast for dinner at least once a week. French toast, waffles, and omelets, the breakfasts you don’t have time to prepare on weekday mornings, are all great for dinner and much cheaper than meat and potatoes meals. Think carbs. I know you don’t want to do this every night but a few nights a week will save big. Spaghetti does not need to include meat sauce or meatballs. Fried rice is easy, cheap and a great way to use up leftover veggies and meat. Other very inexpensive meals are soups, split pea and potato are easy and cheap. Homemade pizza is another frugal meal. Make homemade dough, seriously easy to do, use the cheapest spaghetti sauce you can find,you will only need half the jar or less, or season tomato sauce, add a little cheese and any fresh veggies, olives, or meats you have left over or on the shelves in your general store. Freeze the remaining spaghetti sauce for pizza next week.

Split Pea soup

2 C split peas

1 lb. Diced left over ham or ham hocks

1 med. Onion cut into large chunks

1 C carrots cut into large chunks

Rinse peas. Add peas, ham hocks, carrots and onion to 2 quarts of water and cook until

tender and soup begins to thicken.

Remove hocks and trim off the meat.

Remove onion and carrots and dice. Mash peas with potato masher. Add vegetables.

Reheat and serve.

Fried Rice

2 C cooked rice 4-6 eggs beaten

2 green onions chopped soy sauce to taste

2 T butter

Any combination of: frozen peas, shrimp, ham chunks, cooked carrots chopped, canned

corn, any leftover meat or veggies diced.

In frying pan melt butter. Saute rice and onion until rice is lightly browned, stirring to

brown all kernels.

Add beaten eggs and stir as they cook. Add cooked vegetables and meat or fish. Cook

until all ingredients are hot.

Add soy sauce to taste, stirring as you add, to coat all.

Focaccia or Pizza

Divide recipe in half and use half for pizza tonight and half for focaccia to go

with an inexpensive soup tomorrow.

Combine:

1 1/4 C water and 1 T fresh rosemary in small pot. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let

sit 5 minutes. Strain

Combine:

1 1/4 C warm rosemary water

1 T honey

1 T yeast

add:

1 tsp. salt

2 ½ to 3 C flour

Mix until well blended, knead and let rise ½ to 1 hour or until double in size. You can

also add the ingredients to your bread maker and set it on the rise only cycle.

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees

For focaccia:

Roll out to ½ inch thick. Brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary, basil, grated

Parmesan,Romano, Asiago, olives, sun dried or fresh tomatoes….Place on slightly

greased baking pan and bake until golden.

For Pizza:

Roll to 1/4 inch thickness. Spread with pizza sauce or seasoned tomato sauce. Add

favorite pizza toppings. Bake on slightly greased pan until golden.

Seasoned tomato sauce:

8oz. can tomato sauce, add 1/4 tsp. basil, oregano, garlic powder onion and or rosemary.

Please add you favorite frugal meal to this list.

Our December Newsletter is out…This Months:

Our General Store Update and Plan for 2010

Survival Basics: Shelter

Travel with Children

Recipes for inexpensive and quick Christmas gifts from your General Store

Special Deals

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One Response to “Money Saving Wednesday…Think Food…December Newsletter”

1. Mistie says:

   December 2, 2009 at 6:39 pm

   Love how you used an old display case to make a doll house. Very creative.