Saving Money on Food

How I Stopped Throwing Away $150 A Month On Snack Foods

Nearly everything comes in convenient snack pack sizes these days. While their size may be small, their price is certainly not. When I reviewed our grocery budget and realized we were spending $100 or more each month just on snacks, I realized I needed to take some action and start making our own. With just a little bit of advance planning we have fun snacks but not at the expense of destroying our food budget. Here are some ways I save money on snacks:

1. Make the baked goods from scratch.
I bake nearly all my muffins, cupcakes, cookies, and bread from scratch. When baking any item, I double the recipe and freeze them for use later in the week (or at another time). If I find a ready made mix on sale I will buy that since it will usually be cheaper (and quicker) than homemade.

2. Buy full size fruits and veggies and cut them into smaller sizes.
I usually purchase an assortment of fruits and vegetables like celery, carrots, broccoli, etc. at the store and then do all the prep work as soon I get home. (I learned that tip from Rachael Ray of 30 Minute Meals). The fruits and vegetables are all washed, cut up, and put into baggies so they are ready to go when the snacking urge hits.

3. Buy the large size bags of chips and pretzels and divide them into single size servings.
I place the appropriate serving size into a small baggie (snack bags work well for this because they get filled to the top)! Stick pretzels are 42 sticks each, chips are 13 chips per serving, and Cheerios are 1-1/2 cups per bag. If I don’t do this, my children think that “half the bag” is a serving size.

4. Purchase cheese in wedges and cut them into cubes.
I place each serving into a single size container, and place it in the fridge. This is much cheaper than the string cheese packages.

5. Watch for “buy one get one free” sales on snack food items.
I regularly look for the special sales at my local grocery stores on snacks in the larger sizes. When I find those on sale like different brands of chips, crackers, or pretzels, I stock up! I especially look for opportunities to combine these sales with coupons so I can really maximize my savings.

10 Minute Frosted Chocolate Brownie Cookies

By DT

Note: This is not a sponsored post but does contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure statement.

It is hard to believe that Halloween is right around the corner. Our church is having a trunk or treat next week and the kids will have parties at school. I needed to come up with a quick treat for a school party. I wanted to do something special for kids with allergies, since I have one child who has food sensitivities. We have been using Enjoy Life Soft Baked Cookies and have been very pleased with them. They have a great variety of treats which are dairy free, egg free, nut free, and gluten free. One of the favorites in our household has been Enjoy Life’s soft baked cookie in the double chocolate brownie flavor. I chose to frost a batch of the cookies with cream cheese frosting and Halloween sprinkles.

First, I spread out the cookies onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. The cookies come 12 to a box.

Next, I frosted the cookies with the cream cheese frosting. The Pillsbury Supreme cream cheese frosting tastes yummy with these chocolate brownie cookies.

Then I added the Halloween sprinkles. I preferred the multicolored ones versus the single color sugar.

This is a really simple and fast way to dress up store bought cookies into something special. An added plus is that Enjoy Life Soft Baked Cookies are dairy free, nut free, and egg free. The cookies themselves are gluten free but you would need to be sure that the frosting and sprinkles are gluten free as well. You could use other gluten free cookies too, either store bought or made from scratch. As I mentioned above, the cream cheese icing paired really well with the chocolate but you could use vanilla frosting on a vanilla cookie or vanilla on a chocolate chip cookie.

Ingredients:
Enjoy Life soft baked cookies double chocolate brownie
Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Cream Cheese frosting
Halloween Sprinkles

Directions: Place cookies on baking sheet which has been lined with parchment paper. Frost cookies. Decorate with sprinkles. Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Spanish Rice Bowl With Bacon And Cheese

By DT

My family has been getting really bored with the plain white rice I’ve been serving. In an attempt to keep peace in the household, I’ve been looking for some new recipes for rice. I thought I would experiment with layering some traditional flavors of onion and green pepper and bacon. While searching through some recipes I found a few that had the basic ingredients I was looking for. After a few modifications, I came up with this recipe which turned out way better than I had expected and was a big hit at my household this week. I served this as a side dish with baked chicken. However, since it is such a substantial dish, it can really serve as a main course if you just add a protein to it (either shredded chicken and/or black beans).

Below are the steps I took in making the spanish rice bowl. (I’ve listed the ingredients at the bottom of the post).

First, I sauteed bacon in a frying pan. While the bacon was cooking, I chopped up the green pepper and then the onion.

Once the bacon was done cooking, I drained it on a paper towel and set it aside. I discarded all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings and added the chopped green pepper and onion to the skillet. I cooked them over medium heat until they were tender.

Next I added a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes to the skillet along with the black pepper and cayenne pepper. I did not drain the tomatoes. I let the mixture simmer for 15 minutes. At this point the kitchen was really smelling nice!

While the skillet mixture was simmering, I made a batch of long grain rice. (I combined 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice, brought it to a boil, and then simmered it for 15 minutes.)

Once the skillet mixture had simmered for 20 minutes and the rice was completely cooked, I added the bacon and the rice to the skillet and combined all the ingredients thoroughly.

I served the rice in individual serving bowls, and added shredded cheddar cheese to the top.

Quick & Easy Spanish Style Rice

Ingredients:

3 Pieces Bacon
1 small white onion
1 small green pepper
1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups water
1 cup long grain rice
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Optional
2 cups shredded chicken
1 cup black beans

Quick Oven Baked Chicken Alfredo Pot Pie

By DT

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of RAGÚ® Pasta Sauce. All opinions are entirely my own.

I’m always looking for ways to streamline my mealtime. Like most of you, my week has been filled with afterschool events, parent teacher conferences, and morning and afternoon drop-offs and pick-ups. That does not leave much time for cooking. Yet, I know that I will have a houseful of hungry kids at dinner time. For busy weeks like this, I rely on some easy fix recipes to get a meal on the table quickly.

Publix is having a RAGÚ® BOGO event which starts now and runs through Wednesday, October 11th. One of my favorite ways to save money is by using BOGO sales.

Since time is really short this week and I needed a quick go-to meal, I purchased the large RAGÚ Cheese Creations Classic Alfredo Pasta Sauce (Family Size, 21.5 oz.), and because of the BOGO sale I received another one free. Win, Win! RAGÚ Pasta Sauce can easily be found in the pasta sauce aisle at Publix.

We are a cheese loving family and the RAGÚ Classic Alfredo Sauce is packed full of Parmesan and Romano cheeses. It is thick and creamy and wonderful in Chicken Fettucine and Chicken Alfredo. Made with real cheese and fresh cream, this classic Alfredo Sauce is just bursting with cheese flavor. The sauce is available in 16oz and 21.5oz jars (which is the perfect size for feeding a large family like ours).

Here is a quick recipe I developed using RAGÚ Alfredo Sauce. I hope you enjoy!

Quick Oven Baked Chicken Alfredo Pot Pie

Ingredients:
4 Cups shredded rotisserie chicken
2 Cups frozen broccoli, carrots, cauliflower mix
1 21.5 oz jar RAGÚ Family Size Cheese Creations Classic Alfredo Pasta Sauce
2 Cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 Container refrigerator biscuits

Directions:
Spray a 9 x 12 baking dish with cooking spray.
Place the cooked rotisserie chicken and broccoli/carrot/cauliflower mixture into the dish and stir to mix. Pour the RAGÚ Classic Alfredo Sauce across the mixture and stir to combine. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly across the mixture. Separate the biscuits and cut them into fourths. Layer them on the top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes to 40 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and are thoroughly cooked.

6 Tips To Reduce Your Grocery Bill

By DT Leave a Comment

One of the areas of our spending that I must constantly monitor is our food expenses. With the continuing food price creep, I found our spending can really spiral out of control if I’m not really watching it closely. I keep a running total of how much I’ve spent to help me stay on budget throughout the month. When I see the grocery budget is running low, I get really creative with the meals. Here are a few ways that I’ve been able to whittle our grocery bill down every month:

Plan a Menu
I’ve found that making a weekly menu (and forcing myself to stick to it) has really helped to lower our grocery bill. Every Sunday I sit down and look through the pantry to see what I already have on hand, then I make a daily list of what we’ll eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I post it on the fridge so everyone in the family knows what to expect for meals the coming week.

Meatless Meals
Adding a few meatless meals into our week has also helped to decrease our grocery spending. Egg or bean burritos, salad and soup nights, as well as “breakfast for dinner” have all been favorites in our household.

Cooking From Scratch
I’ve mentioned several times in the past that I’m not a great cook, but I do know how to make a few of the basics. My bread machine gets used every day. A fresh loaf of bread or breadsticks combined with a salad and simple soup makes a complete and filling (but inexpensive) meal.

Stock Up on Sales
Every week when the grocery sale ads come out I look them over to see what items are on sale that I regularly use. When I find a good sale on an item I stock up on it so that I won’t be buying it again until it comes back on sale. Since I do a lot of my shopping at Publix, I really like their buy one get one free sales (BOGO). I’ve been most successful using this method with cereal – I don’t think I’ve paid full price for a box of cereal this year.

Freezer Meals
Inspired by some other bloggers, I’ve taken to preparing meals that I can store in my freezer. This has been tremendously helpful not only timewise, but dollar wise as well.

Coupon Codes
Of course, any discussion about grocery savings wouldn’t be complete without mentioning how coupon codes can also help you to save money. To really maximize the savings with coupons, I always try to pair them with an existing sale. Some of the best deals I’ve gotten have centered around coupon stacking – a method whereby you combine a store sale, with a manufacturer’s coupon. I can save quit a bit using coupons when I purchase the items during Publix’s BOGO sales. I usually find my coupons in the newspaper inserts.

What are your best tips for keeping your grocery budget in check?