Queen Mother Blog

I can't help but say "get the papers, get the papers"...a little Goodfellas inside joke I have with Marc.

Anyway, the blog For the Mommas has a tentative list of the coupon insert schedules for 2010 (when the coupons will be in the newspaper).  I find this helpful, as I don't have a newspaper subscription (I can't stand having the newspaper lying about the house, which is what inevitably happens) so I just buy the paper on Sundays.

In case you didn't know, there aren't coupon inserts on the weekends of holidays (Easter, Memorial Day, etc.) so you don't have to bother with getting the paper those days.

Click here to read the schedule over at For the Mommas.

A friend recently passed on some information about Angel Food Ministries.  If you've never heard of them (which I hadn't), Angel Food Ministries offers a monthly food distribution that costs $30 and is equivalent to $60 worth of groceries.  They don't require any income or background check; all you do is find your local distribution center (which is usually a church, as Angel Food is a Christian-based organization) and place your order.

For more on Angel Food you can visit their website here.  Personally, I think that Angel Food looks like a viable option for many families.  The price is definitely reasonable, and they are able to pass on savings to the community through their bulk buying power.  What looks especially appealing to me are the "add-on" packages that can be added on to the monthly Angel Food box.  There is a produce add-on package that costs $22 additionally and would really round out the package.  Click here to check out what is in this month's box and the add-on packages.

Since I had never heard of Angel Food before, I did a little bit of research and apparently this charity is not without controversy.  I am not judging the charity founders, but it appears that there are some high salaries & kick-backs going on, which is distracting to the actual mission of the charity.  I am not so sure what my opinion is on all of that, especially as I don't know enough of the goings-on to make any kind of judgment, but I did just feel that I had to mention it.  You know I like to read the blog The Simple Dollar and Trent has written a very thorough overview of Angel Food Ministries, the ethics of using this service and the business aspect as well.  I recommend reading it if you would like to know more.

My bottom line is, I think this is a great idea for many families to pick up lower cost food options in a convenient manner.  The distribution is once a month and seems to be pretty hassle free.  While I think the Angel Food boxes are a great deal, I personally am not going to use this ministry as I really try to control what my family eats (the quality of Rayna's food in particular, and lately with me currently doing Weight Watchers). Using sales, menu planning and coupons, I am pretty happy with my current grocery spending.

If you have any thoughts or have used this service before, I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Recently I bought the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook "Deceptively Delicious". I bought this because as a toddler, naturally, Rayna wants to eat ZERO vegetables. Since you make veggie purees to mix into the recipes, I was left with a *ton* of purees and I want to only make one or two of these recipes at a time to start with. Most of the recipes call for either 1/4 or 1/2 cup of puree, so I froze some of the purees in 1/4 cup pieces by measuring out 1/4 cup of puree into a lightly sprayed muffin tin:

Last year I wrote a blog post about ways to give back a little during the holidays. It was also the first time I had heard about Operation Christmas Child and I made two shoeboxes using a lot of the excess items that I get for free by 'working the deals.'

I love to save plastic grocery bags and reuse them for little trash liners, lunch bags for hubby (he eats a pretty big lunch, lol) and of course, for dog poop disposal. A long time ago my mom taught me to keep the plastic bags in an empty tissue box. I love that, because then you aren't spending $10+ at Bed, Bath and Beyond for a bag holder and you give something a new life.

I've been selling random things on eBay for years. At one point when I was working my way through college, I had a pretty good side gig going buying items on clearance and selling them on eBay. Lately, I've been seeing things pile up around my house and since I could really use the money, I turned to eBay to transform those things into cash.

You probably have some eBay experience under your belt already, but I have two quick links I wanted to pass on to you.

1. Auctiva- One of my friends recently told me about Auctiva, and I am really enjoying it so far. Auctiva is a hosting service that lets you add additional pictures and pretty layouts to your listing, free of charge. Back when I was listing a bunch of things, I used to subscribe to Seller Sourcebook, which is the same thing but costs money.

2. If you are a stay-at-home mom, or just someone who would like to start your own ebay business, there is a great free e-book available here. Suzanne "the eBay coach" has some really great ideas about how to get started selling, even if you don't have anything to sell! I would really recommend it to anyone who would like to get started.

Take a moment to look through your stuff and do a search on eBay to see what your items are going for. You might be surprised what you have that is a hot ticket item on eBay. Ever have a bottle of perfume that you used but changed your mind about? More than likely someone would be willing to take it off your hands for a few bucks. The best is if it is discontinued. One time I bought a bunch of Bath & Body Works "Daffodil Fields" scented products when they were being discontinued and I was able to sell it all on eBay a little while later for quadruple my purchase price.

If you have any eBay questions, I would be happy to answer them. You could leave them in a comment here and I'll reply...I love eBay! (not just because of the name ;)

During this pantry organization series, we have been working on getting our freezers and cabinets organized and inventoried so that we can use what we have on hand. Not only does this save you time and frustration, but obviously the first step to using what you have is to know what you have. If you haven’t inventoried your freezer and pantry yet, you can read my earlier posts here, here and here.

I think that the best way to use what I have on hand is to menu plan. This not only helps me keep on top of what I have, but it saves time and money, too. Even if you don’t follow it religiously, or if you make a very “loose” plan for the week, I would bet that it will help you on those days when you might just make a call for pizza delivery because you have no idea what to make. Not that delivery or take out is evil of course, but it can totally negate your money-saving efforts if you do it too often.

1. Figure out what to use- Once you know what you have, look through your fridge and produce and see if you have anything that is expiring soon or any products that are half-open and will need to be used asap. If there is something that needs to be used quickly, plan to use it early in the week. Also, look at anything you might have way too much of. Make note of these items, too.

2. Decide how you will plan- First, decide how many meals you are going to plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner, just dinner, etc. I only plan dinners, since lunches are either smaller portions of leftover dinner, or sandwiches/soup and then breakfast is pretty straightforward. Larger families seem to benefit from each meal being planned. Now, figure out how you will write your plan. I write mine on my blog, some people write theirs on a calendar (on the fridge), or you can print one of these printable forms and keep it in a recipe binder.

3. Come up with ideas- Now that you know what you have to use up quickly, you have some starting points for your meals for the week. Need help figuring out recipes or meals that use these items? Allrecipes has this recipe finder, that allows you to put in items that you want or don’t want in a recipe. Have a near expiration cream cheese brick, canned tomato sauce and some ground beef? Put those ingredients in the “items you want” section and you will find a casserole recipe like this one. Of course, you can also get as creative as possible to use up anything you want.

I have found that participating in Menu Plan Monday has helped me stick to coming up with a menu plan for the week. Even if you don’t write a blog, stop by and check out some of the other menu plans to get some inspiration and/or recipes.

And remember, your inventory efforts are not to enslave you to making meals from these items only! Of course you can choose exactly what you want to make for the week; the inventory can also just help you know what you might need to pick up at the store.

4. Just write it out- Now that you have gone through all of the steps above, you just have to write out your plan and stick to it.

I hope that this little series on pantry organization and using what you have has helped you get a little more organized and save some money this year. I know that it has really helped me! Love, Bay

image by africankelli on flickr

For those of you who would rather make homemade gifts this year, or don't know what to buy various teachers, co-workers, doormen...There are gifts in a jar. Gifts in a jar can be anything, like the beautiful limoncello above, to pre-made cookies and candies. Most common, and probably the most economical for you to make, are the mixes in a jar.

It is not just soup or chocolate chip cookie mix, either. You can make anything from trail mixes, to breakfast mixes. Here are a few different ones that won't put too much strain on your wallet. Just make little cards with the name of the mix, the additional ingredients and instructions. You can also decorate the tops of the jars with fabric & attach the cards with raffia, or cover with tissue paper and tie the card on with ribbon.

Raisin Bran Muffins (I loved these as a kid!)

Use a 1qt. canning jar & pack the ingredients down in the order listed:
1 1/2 cups All Bran cereal
1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup raisins

Attach to jar:
Additional ingredients needed:
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Empty mix in a large bowl. Combine dry mix and then add additional ingredients. Mix well. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins 2/3 of the way full. Bake 16 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes (or whatever dried fruit you use!)

Use a 1 qt. canning jar & pack down the ingredients in the order listed:
3 cups flour
3 T sugar
2 T baking powder
1/2 cup dried apples (or whichever fruit you want to use, blueberries, etc.)
4 t. cinnamon (if you are not using apples, you can nix this if you want, I'm not a cinnamon fan)
1 t. salt

Attach to jar:
Additional ingredients needed:
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
2 T vegetable oil

Combine dry mix and measure 1 1/3 c. Return excess mix to jar. In a mixing bowl, combine milk, egg and oil. Whisk in 1 1/3 c. of pancake mix until moistened (will still have lumps). Cook on lightly greased skillet. Makes about 10 5" pancakes.

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Use a 1 qt. canning jar & pack the ingredients down in the order listed:
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder (you may need to wipe the jar down after this layer)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cup Craisins
1 cup chocolate chips
Combine 1 3/4 cups of flour, 1 tsp. baking powder & 1/2 tsp. baking soda and use as the last layer.

Attach to jar:
Additional ingredients needed:
1 egg
1 1/2 sticks melted butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Empty mix into a large bowl. Combine dry mix with the additional ingredients and mix well. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake for 13-15 minutes. Yields about 30 cookies.