Time Saving Baked Potatoes

This will not be the time saver you think.... I personally HATE microwave baked potatoes, and it truly would be an emergency of epic scale for me to decide to eat them that way.

But what I will do it bake a huge amount of them... this week, 5 at a time.   Then, a quick trip to the microwave to heat them is completely acceptable for warm ups.

Baked potatoes can be the backbone of a full weeks time emergency menus.

Besides "just" a side dish, here are some other great ways to use that baked potato:

Baked potato topped with chili... homemade is the cheapest alternative (and it freezes great), but in a severe time pinch, with no chili in the fridge, canned chili is a reasonable cost effective solution.

Baked potato topped with steamed broccoli (from the freezer) and topped with cheese sauce (see the recipe for cheese sauce with my cheese steak recipe) http://25aweek.blogspot.com/2014/05/cheese-steak-sandwiches-on-cheap-this.html

Leftover diced baked potatoes sauteed with diced onions in a skillet are a nice way to mix it up as a side.

Or... add leftover diced meat to the diced baked potatoes and onion mixture to make a "hash".

Or.. make a country style breakfast by adding a few beaten eggs to the pan with your sauteed potatoes and onions.

One week "time emergency menu":

Due to an absolutely wildly crazy busy schedule, I am going to put this blog, in it's current format, on hold for one week.  The last "free" evening I had was Tuesday the 29th of last month... and the last free day was long before that.

Putting together the menu, shopping, scanning through ads, searching for creative and inexpensive recipes and creating a family friendly menu... while I enjoy doing it... is a time consuming project.  I am right at the end of finishing my master's degree, and between work, maintaining a house, and school, my time is overloaded.

After coming home from my regional Soroptimist International spring conference (find out more about SI here http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/, http://www.soroptimist.org/, or check out my local chapters facebook page.. Soroptimist International of Hanover)... I confess, I 've been eating in the cafeteria (3 times) and using gift cards to eat out (twice).... plus it has been helpful to have had several meals that have been provided as part of National Nurses Week celebrations (3 times... one consisted of filet mignon and crab cakes!). I've also been eating quick and easy meals I don't have to think about... bagels with peanut butter, yogurt and fruit, coffee, and eggs.

At any rate, I am going to produce an " time emergency menu".  This coming week, I will be focusing on what is cheap, what is easy, what I don't have to mess up a lot of dishes/pots and pans for, and I won't be presenting any menus... because if I don't do a better job this coming week, my budget is going to get blown. Even though I had planned meals... I didn't have time to cook them.  So, I switched to my defaults, which tend to be eating out (even if it is with gift cards or at my less expensive work cafeteria) it is still not something I want to be doing unless it was planned.

So part of sticking to a $25 a week food budget AND not eating out all the time... planning for emergencies! Some of my time saving concessions this week:.. buying a tub of deli cole slaw and using paper plates and utensils.  My parents always give me disposable utensils for Christmas. This is kind of a running joke in the family, as they bring them home from fast food joints they eat at and wash them to give them to me.  I try not to use paper plates, but this week, time is at a premium, and I'd rather spend some money on some paper plates then washing a lot of of dishes.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
bagel with pnt btr	fruit and yogurt	bagel with pnt btr	fruit and yogurt	bagel with pnt btr	fruit and yogurt	fruit and yogurt
Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning
carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots
Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
Ham and cheese sandwich	Tuna salad sandwich	Ham and cheese sandwich	Tuna salad sandwich	Ham and cheese sandwich	leftovers	eat out
carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots
banana	banana	banana	banana	banana
Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
Crock Pot Pork Roast	bbq pork sandwich	egg sandwich	bbq pork sandwich	egg sandwich	leftovers	pizza w/coupon
frozen veggies	frozen veggies	frozen veggies	frozen veggies	frozen veggies
baked potato	baked potato	baked potato	baked potato	baked potato
pineapple	pineapple	pineapple	pineapple	pineapple
	deli coleslaw		deli coleslaw
Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack
carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots
Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost
Total cost per week:

Fighting the feeling of deprivation

“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now"― Zig Ziglar

One of the biggest reasons people embark on a "budget" cutting process and then abort the attempt is because they give into feelings of deprivation.  They see their friends buying that $5 cup of specialty coffee and suddenly their home brewed cup doesn't seem good enough.  Eating a $2 dinner at home is more difficult and labor intensive than just running by the local deli and getting carry out to the tune of $15, which requires no cooking or clean up.  You like steak better than ground beef, and eating ground beef makes you "feel" poor.  

My biggest struggle with the above is avoiding eating out.  My days are long, and I am exhausted at the end of them.  I have a demanding (though enjoyable) career, am finishing my master's degree, am active in my church, and belong to a local women's group.... and as a single person, I maintain my own home.  

When I first started this challenge, I felt mighty sorry for myself that I couldn't just run to Panera and pick up dinner for $12 every night of the week. And eat breakfast and lunch at my work cafeteria.  As the weeks have progressed, it has gotten easier.  I have been reminding myself frequently, that I am actually giving myself a gift by NOT eating out.  While I may "feel" like I should be able to, I am in control of my actions, and I want my actions to bring about what I REALLY want, not just what I want in the moment.  So, I come home and I eat my leftover pork loin with mashed potatoes while I would rather be eating a Fuji Apple Chicken salad with a bowl of black bean soup and a whole grain baguette on the side.  And then I think back to my week in Haiti, where someone would not have dreamed of fussing about leftover pork loin because it may have been the only thing they had to eat that day.  

I've worked to achieve a balance...feeling terribly deprived is the way to find yourself quitting.   I do eat at Panera typically one night a week now. I usually leave directly from work to go to my Financial Peace University class... and currently I am still working my way through some Panera gift cards that I hinted wildly at Santa that I wanted at Christmas time.. so that is my Panera night. And I typically have one meal out on the weekend with friends.  I also will occasionally pick up a favorite at my work cafeteria. This comes out of my $25 a week "blow" money, so my friends are aware that dinner is NOT going to typically be at the Melting Pot, and we are going to be searching for reasonably priced restaurants.  

I also remind myself that disciplining myself in my budget is not supposed to be pleasant, but the reward will be.  

"No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening--it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way". Hebrews 12:11 NLT

How do you keep yourself from feeling deprived?  Share in the comments!

Cutting down on meat...

Meat is one of the most expensive items on the grocery bill. One way to cut this expense without cutting it out is to eat reasonable portions of meat.  However, the American diet tends to be very heavy on meat, and very low in fruits and vegetables.  This is expensive and not very healthy.

One of the biggest issues that comes up is that "my husband is such a meat eater, there is no way he would eat less!".  I am certainly  not going to tell you that you should insist that your husband eat only 2 ounce portions of meat at any time.  I consider myself fortunate in this area, because I have no one to argue with about how we are going to cut the budget.  However, there are some techniques that can be used to help feed the desire for meat in the diet and not break the bank.

For this to work, one  of the first things people sharing a roof have to agree on is the grocery budget.  What I would NOT do is launch into a verbal campaign about the health benefits about less meat in one's diet, or how cutting grocery expenses will make a remarkable difference in the family finances.  The first thing I would do is have a casual conversation about your future financial goals and the dreams you share together.  For most people, this includes a house, children, a decent retirement...and not eating also so you can pay for your prescriptions at the age of 76.  Once you've painted the picture of your dream together, and are going in the same direct THEN you have laid the groundwork to talk about HOW you are going to get there.  I am not going to reinvent the wheel, as there is a lot of information out there. But together, decide where the budget (the entire budget, not just the grocery budget) will get cut so that you can achieve your dreams.  When most people examine their budgets, they will see that food expenditures are one of the quickest, easiest ways to make a large impact on your finances.  When you get to this point, THEN it is time to discuss HOW you will do this, and how far your spouse is willing to go. When they are involved in the decision making, they are going to be more willing to trade in their 16 oz t-bone for a 4 oz ground beef patty.  Look for ways to stretch the meat as well... my 8 oz of chuck went further on steak sandwiches because it was generously mixed with onions and mushrooms.  Chilis and soups make a little meat go a long way. So can stews if you up the veggies and cut the meat down.

Another thing to try is establishing a "Meatless Monday" in your house.  I've tried this, and often use the fall back of egg salad for lunch, and pizza or spaghetti (without meat in the sauce), but there are other things to eat.  Perhaps Meatless Monday is something I should pursue in the blog?

I personally like meat, and don't feel satisfied if I don't have a decent portion at a meal.  Part of the way I do this is buying marked down meat, yet I have friends who turn their nose up at this in disgust... yet I have been doing it for years, and have yet to contract a food borne illness from it, and I have never consumed rotten meat.  But for me, this is the way I can typically eat 6-8 oz of meat a day and still achieve my financial goals.

Come to terms with what you and your spouse are willing to do... and then make it happen.  And if your spouse loves steak above all other things, figure out where else you can cut things down so that he/she won't feel deprived and make getting that steak on the table a priority once a week or every other week.

The picture is my skillet full of some stems of rainbow chard, right before cooking it... I always start the stems a few minutes before the leaves.  It's beautiful! It's also vitamin packed, delicious... and meat free!

Baked Stuffed Chicken Breast

To serve 4:

4 bone-in skin-on split chicken breasts
6 slices of bread, torn or cut into cubes
2 eggs
1 small onion, chopped
2 T chopped celery
1 t stuffing seasoning or poultry seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 350 degree.

Mix all ingredients except chicken breasts together. If stuffing mixture seems overly dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of milk or water.  Divide stuffing mixture into 4 balls.

Place one ball of stuffing under the bone side of the breast,and press it in.  Place in baking pan.  Repeat with the other 3 breasts.

Season top of breasts with salt and pepper.

Bake at 350 degree for about 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Awesome Target Deals with week with mobile coupons!

How about:

 a 6 pack of bagels for 34¢
a tub of lunch meat for $1.55
a pack of poise liners for $1.84
a bunch of bananas, a pineapple, and a lemon for a total of $3.27?

Simply text "offers" to 827438 to get a mobile coupon for:

$1 off market pantry bagels
$1 off market pantry lunchmeat
$1 off poise
$2 off of a $5 fruit or vegetable purcase.

Also go to www.poise.com and register and print a $2 off poise coupon (you can use BOTH the Target AND manufacturers coupon.

Target Cartwheel also gives and extra 5% off of the lunchmeat.  

Cheese-Steak Sandwiches on the cheap

This is probably one of my favorites... and I don't eat it often.  And, honestly, I've never made one at home until now.
When I was shopping several weeks ago, I found a pack of thin sliced boneless chuck that weighed 12 oz marked down to $1.68.  I froze it in 4 oz portions.  The first thing that ran through my mind was "cheese-steaks"!
I added a 69¢ cent package of mushrooms from Aldi's and a 17¢ onion (also from a bag of onions from Aldi's), some whole wheat hot dog rolls from Aldi's, and cheese sauce...I used cheese sauce to stretch one of the most expensive ingredients in this dish... cheese... to get creamy goodness and use less cheese. I was really pleased with the result. While I will admit, they were NOT as tasty as the cheese-steaks from my local sub shop, they cost me substantially less.  I made six of these for around $4.... and one cheese steak would easily cost me $8 around the corner.  

Here is how you can make 6 small cheese-steak subs at  67¢ each (round up to 70¢ to account for price of flour).

8 oz of boneless chuck, sliced really thin in slivers (Giant, marked down, $1.12)
1 package mushrooms, sliced (Aldi's, 69¢)
1 onion, sliced (Aldi's, 17¢)
1 cup milk (Target, organic milk with coupon 31¢)
2 T flour ?
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese.  (Target, sale, 75¢)
6 whole wheat hot dog rolls (Aldi's, 98¢)

In a pan, sautee onion and mushrooms until onions are translucent, and all liquid has cooked off of mushrooms.
Add boneless chuck to pan
Season with salt and pepper, or your favorite seasoning.
Cook until meat is cooked through.

Meanwhile, mix 2 tablespoons of flour into 1 cup of milk.  Pour into saucepan, stirring frequently, heat until milk thickens.  Stir in cheese, and stir until cheese is melted.  Remove from heat.

Spoon meat/onion/mushroom mixture evenly between six rolls, spoon cheese sauce evenly over meat. If you wish, sprinkle a small amount of shredded cheese on top as a garnish.  Serve while hot.