in the kitchen
How to Make Your Own Seasoning Blends
A great way to save money on pricey prepackaged or pre-blended spice mixes is by making your own. Homemade seasonings can be customized to suit your personal preferences and taste better too. Be sure to check out my latest article over at Home Made Simple for detailed instructions on how to make your own seasoned salt, chili powder, ranch seasoning, and lemon pepper, plus tips on how to store your spices! Read the full article here. Pin It
How to Make a Sandcastle Cake {Tutorial}
Oh, the cake! I knew as soon as we decided on a mermaid theme for Trouble’s 4th birthday that a sand castle cake would be perfect. I had seen a few really photos on Pinterest, I just couldn’t find any detailed instructions. Since paying hundreds of dollars for a professionally decorated cake was out of the question, I decided to go with plan B: wing it! I kinda prefer plan B anyways. Let me just start by saying that I am not a professional baker, or even anything close to it, but what I lack in technical skill I make up for with sheer determination. I’m not going to lie, ... read more
DIY Home Maintenance {5 Ways to Save Big on Home Repair}
This is a guest post by Angela of Angela Says: Tips for a Cleaner Home Too many times have I called a repairman out to fix something in my house and found out it was something really dumb, that I could have fixed myself causing the problem. For example, the dishwasher was leaking and not cleaning the dishes very well. The repairman looked at it for ten seconds, pointed at the top spray arm, and then said, “See this hose connected to the spray arm? It needs to be in the little holder ring.” Snapped the hose back into place then charged me $65 for fixing my dishwasher. That fix ... read more
How to Make Homemade Butter {in a Stand Mixer}
Okay, so maybe I just tend to get overly excited about butter in general, but I am pretty sure that making homemade butter in my Kitchen-Aid is both the coolest and the most domestic thing I’ve ever done. Just when I didn’t think it was possible to love an appliance even more….I mean really, what’s better than homemade butter? Mmmmmmmm…..butter…… But I digress. It was seriously so easy that I see a lot more butter making in our future. Since this was technically a homeschool activity (and had no selfish motivations whatsoever!), we tried to follow the instructions from Little House in the Big Woods as closely as ... read more
{Minimal Effort} Freezer Cooking
One of my big goals for 2013 is to plan ahead and be more proactive and intentional with my time. Those 24 hours go FAST and it is so easy to let them slip away if you let them. I’ll be honest, when it comes to meals and cooking dinner for my family, I really struggle. Not because I don’t want to do it or don’t like to cook–I really do–but usually because a.) we have a lot of activities in the late afternoon that cut into meal preparation time b.) after a full day of working & homeschooling & mommy-ing (and getting up at 4am), I am TIRED come ... read more
How to Save on Food for the Holidays
Thanksgiving. Christmas Dinner. Holiday Parties. Seasonal baking. For most of us, food plays a starring roll in our holiday festivities. We all have our favorites, that certain special dish we only eat once a year. Without it Christmas or Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be the same. Oh, the pressure. And while our mouths start watering at the mere thought of golden roasted turkey & homemade apple pie, the cost of food, especially when combined with all of the other expenses this time of year, can be a serious strain on your budget. Even scarier, it is often one of those “hidden” expenses that we don’t account for when we think about ... read more
How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half
Food is expensive. The average family spends just over 10% of their household income buying groceries–over $6,000 a year–and even while average wages have gone down, the price of food keeps going up. When you are just trying to feed your family, that is a pretty scary prospect. That said, as more and more people are beginning to realize, coupons can be a great way to save money on food. If you’ve ever watched TLC’s Extreme Couponing, you probably already know that sometimes those savings can be quite dramatic. The problem is that those dramatic savings often come from seasoned coupon users who have spent countless hours clipping & ... read more
Eat “Out” at Home {Day Five}
This is the fifth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One or visit the Overview Page. * * * My family really loves going to restaurants so eating out has always been our biggest non-essential expenditure (and money waster!) I know I’m not alone; many of you shared the same struggle last week when we talked about searching for financial peace. And while I know it is not essential and often a huge waste of money, I do still really miss eating out. For my family, it has probably been the ... read more
Plan a Meal Swap {Day Four}
This is the fourth day of my 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero challenge. To read all the posts in order, start with Day One here or or visit the Overview Page. * * * Now that you are (hopefully) bursting with meal ideas, it is time to do a little proactive meal preparation. It is both cheaper and easier to double, triple, or quadruple the SAME recipe than it is to make four different meals. We are going to take advantage of this fact! Today your assignment is to call, email, or Facebook a few of your friends & make a plan to trade a meal ... read more
How to Make Homemade Pickles {Tutorial}
When I was pregnant with Trouble, my best friend Alysha gave me a basket of homemade goodies for Christmas, including a jar of pickles she had canned herself. It was all good, but those pickles were the best thing I had ever tasted and I ate the entire jar in one sitting. I couldn’t stop. And then I asked for another jar. And another. And thus began a lifelong (well, okay, 3 year) obsession with homemade pickles. Since then I have begged, pleaded, & even cried to her and all my other pickle-making friends for more pickles. I have to avoid farmer’s markets because if I see them for sale, ... read more
Once-a-Month Cooking {30 Meals in One Day}
For me the hardest thing about extreme couponing is figuring out what to cook with all that food. In fact, I started posting stockpile meal recipes each week for that very reason. Because, really, what good is getting everything at rock-bottom prices if you have no idea what to make? I first heard about once-a-month (OAM) cooking here, on one of my favorite blogs, Under the Sycamore. The concept intrigued me, but I found it far too overwhelming to even seriously consider. I mean, really, how do you know what recipes are going to taste good after being in the freezer? How do you know how to best prepare them ... read more
7 Ways to Save on Produce
“How do I save money on produce?” This is one of my most common reader questions. As a vegetarian and as a mom, it is a question that I face every week. I save an incredible amount of money on my groceries with coupons, but I will readily admit that much of what I buy is often processed or packaged food. It is not unhealthy, per se, but it definitely needs to be supplemented with the nutrients that can only come from fruits and vegetables And while I have gotten much better at “shopping” from my stockpile and coming up with creative stockpile meals using the ingredients I have on ... read more
How to Make The Best Sugar Cookies {Tutorial}
I love baking sugar cookies. I make them for almost every holiday and birthday and I have had lots of people ask me how I make them. I’m not going to lie, they are very time consuming and the ultimate labor of love. But for those of you who are interested, here is my process, step by step. My philosophy is that successful sugar cookies are a result of the process and not the recipe, but in case you are wondering, I use Martha Stewart’s Sugar Cookie Cutout recipe from her Cookies book. (If you like to bake cookies, then I highly recommend it! It is a fabulous book ... read more
