• Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals

    Lunch box goodies

    About once a week I pack a special treat for the girls.  This week in their little container I put two Hershey Bliss Milk Chocolate Meltaways and one of each color of M&M’s. The girls love getting these goodies and enjoy sharing with their friends as well. Here’s what they had today:

    • Peanut Butter & Homemade Strawberry Jam
    • Fresh Red & Green Peppers
    • Fresh Strawberries
    • Pita Chips or Quaker Granola Bar
    • Yogurt
    • Banana Muffin
    • Juice Bag or Container
    • 2 Hershey Bliss Chocolate Meltaways
    • 5 M&M’s

    Special treats in their lunch today

    Fresh fruit & veggies

  • Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4

    Jake was traveling for work most of the week and I had a lot of appointments for myself and the girls but I was able to squeeze in a quick trip to the grocery store.  Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.

    Groceries from Ingles, Walgreens, and Save A Lot | RiteAid

    Ingles Groceries:

    • $37.14 at Ingles for 6 containers Fresh Strawberries (marked down to $0.99 on clearance), 3 bags Fresh Oranges (4 pounds each marked down to $0.99 each), 3 limes, 1 box Roarin Twirling Berry Drinks (10 count), 1 box Roarin Twirling Fruit Punch (10 count), 1 box Laura Lynn Oatmeal, 5 packs Kool Aide, 2 packs Wylers, 4 cartons Minute Maid Cherry Limeades, 2 boxes Go-Gurt Strawberry and Blueberry (10 count each), 1 pack Laura Lynn Sliced Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 1 pack English Muffins, 1 large bag Pepperoni, 1 pack Potatoes, 1 small pack Pepperoni and 1 fresh Pineapple.  (All the items were on clearance, marked down or on sale.  I was able to use a couple coupons as well.)

    Walgreen Groceries:

    • $0.00 at Walgreens for 2 cartons of Eggs, a dozen each.  (Used Register Rewards to pay for the eggs).

    Save A Lot | RiteAid Groceries:

    • 20.49 at Save A Lot | RiteAid for 1 bag Granny Smith Apples (3 pounds), 1 bag Red Delicious Apples (3 pounds), 2 bags Carrots, 2 packs KoolAid Drinks (6 count each), 2 bags Cheddar Chex Mix, 1 bag Fresh Spinach (marked down on clearance), 1 fresh Green Pepper, 1 box Frosted Flakes, 1 stalk fresh Celery, 1 can Cinnamon Rolls, 1 box Little Hugs Reduced Sugar Drinks (20 count), and 1 fresh Cucumber

     

    Groceries from Walgreens

    Walgreens Groceries:

    • $0.00 at Walgreens for 1 gallon Milk and 2 cartons of Eggs (They had their eggs marked down to $0.99 each this week and they are still the best price I can find on milk in our area. I used Register Rewards to pay for the milk and eggs today.  We should be stocked up on eggs for a few days.)

    We were able to stock up on some great items this week.  Although we were a  little over we have two celebrations going on this weekend.  The girls Birthday party and Valentine’s Day!

    This week I spent $57.63 on groceries.  I was over on my budgeted amount for the week because of the busy week with traveling, appointments, and upcoming celebrations so thankfully I have a little extra to cover the groceries this week.  I was happy to find fresh eggs and great produce on sale that we can use for several meals.  I hope that next week is better week, back to normal, and we can come under budget!

    It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

  • Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4

    Another week with a busy school schedule, including a “Back to School” Night.   Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.

    Groceries from Ingles, Walmart, and Dollar Tree
    Ingles Groceries:
    • $16.00 at Ingles for 5 containers of fresh Strawberries, 1 container fresh Blueberries, 1 tray White & Sweet Potatoes, 5 bags Bing Cherries, 2 containers Half & Half Cream, 1 bag Laura Lynn Bread, 4 bottles Pink Lemonade,  (all the items were marked down on clearance or on sale)

    Walmart Groceries:

    • $15.40 at Walmart for Baking Soda, 2 cans Peaches, 1 bag Sugar, 1 bag English Muffins, 1 block Cheese, 1 jar Salsa, 2 boxes Vanilla Pudding and 6 packs Taco Seasoning.

    Dollar Tree Groceries:

    • $3.00 at Dollar Tree for 2 bags Whole Wheat Bread and 1 box Toaster Pastries.

    This week I spent $34.40 on groceries.  Even though I was only a little under on my budgeted amount for the week I was able to stock up on several items.     Thankful for the reduced cost of Whole Wheat Bread at Dollar Tree with all the lunches I have been making for school and work.  I hope that next week is an even better week and we can come under budget for the week.

    It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

  • Fresh & Healthy: Deep Freezer Goodies – Purple Grapes, Blueberries, Bananas, Green Grapes, & Strawberries

    Freezing Seasonal Fruit - Blueberries, Bananas, Strawberries, Purple & Green Grapes

    This summer we were able to stock up on some fresh produce, including fruit.  Thanks to friends sharing their goodies, time picking produce as a family, and clearance items at our local grocery store we have been able to fill up a section of our freezer with delicious fruit.  The girls have been enjoying Smoothies the last couple of months and were super excited to stock up on some of these great items.  They are already planning on having smoothies after school because they will not be able to share them with me over lunch.

    Here is a great Smoothie Recipe:

    There are many variations to smoothies, may be sharing a couple more favorites over the next few weeks.  Add a handful of fruit you have on hand, a little cream (milk or yogurt), blend,  and you have a smoothie.  If you want a little extra sweetness you can add a touch of honey.  Usually after adding the fruit that is plenty sweet for us but we have tried a variety of different ones.

    Another great use for strawberries is as a healthy sauce!  When we have pancakes or waffles we blend up a cup or two of fresh strawberries to use as a dipping sauce in place of the traditional syrup.  It is healthier and fresher plus the whole family enjoys it.

  • Fresh & Healthy: Having Fun with Produce

    Fruit and Veggie Snack

    The girls have enjoyed helping pick vegetables and fruits from our garden this summer.   They don’t get too excited about pulling the weeds but have gotten better at spotting produce and picking it.  Once the fresh produce is washed they are always fascinated at seeing all the goodies spread out on the counter.  Many times they pick a variety of pieces to eat at that time.  One night as they were getting into their pj’s I put together a special fruit / veggie snack from the produce we had picked that day (see picture above). They giggled as they ate their special goodies from the garden and talked about how to grow food in a garden.

    Smile – sliced Green Peppers

    Nose – sliced Strawberry

    Eyes – halved Cherry Tomato

    Eye Lashes – cut up Purple Beans

    It’s a simple way to get the kids excited about eating fruits and vegetables.  I love surprising them with special treats and seeing their joy at getting something fun to eat.

  • Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4

    Another week (actually 2 weeks in 1) of doing Groceries $40 for 4. It was a busy week of catching up after being away and since I had been traveling I did two weeks worth of grocery shopping this week. It felt great saving some of the grocery shopping cash since I was doing two weeks worth of shopping while stocking up on some items for our pantry. I mainly stocked up on diary items and fresh strawberries (we ate some, flash froze whole strawberries, and made some amazing Strawberry Jelly) this week. Below are my grocery shopping adventures for the week!

    Groceries from Bi-Lo:

    • $8.86 at Bi-Lo for 3 Gallons of Milk (each with a $1 or 2 – $1 Coupons on them), 2 packs of Cheese, and 2 packs of Yogurt. Plus I used a $5.00 Coupon Off a $10.00 Diary Purchase.
    Freshly picked strawberries!

    Groceries from Hunter’s Farm and :

    • $8.50 at Hunter’s Farm for a gallon of Strawberries.  We picked the strawberries ourselves at Hunter’s Farm in Easley, SC, we definitely got our money’s worth on these with two little ones helping pick and eating a few strawberries in between picking!
    • $8.00 at Sandy Flat for a gallon of Strawberries.  My sweet friend, Ashley from Reflecting on the Simple Things In Life, picked these up for me already since she is closer to Taylors picked so we  could make some delicious Strawberry Jelly!
    Groceries at CVS - restocking our soda for the next time with family and friends!

    Groceries from CVS:

    • $1.78 at CVS for 2 – 2 liters of Mountain Dew.
    Groceries from Bi-Lo

    Groceries from Bi-Lo:

    • $17.23 at Bi-Lo for 2 gallons of Milk, 1 carton of Eggs, 1 Whipped Topping, 2 packs Danimals Yogurt, 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup, 2 cans Shredded Chicken, 3 bags Shredded Cheese, 1 box of Lipton Tea Mix packs, 1 box of Propel packs, 1 box of  Snapple packs, 1 box Elbow Macaroni Noodles, 1 bag of Sucralose Sugar,  2 boxes of Laci Le Tea packs, and pack of 3 fresh Zucchini.

    I am excited to be back doing our Groceries $40 for 4 budget again.  This week (2 weeks in one) we spent $44.37 on groceries so it was a pretty good week considering it was two weeks worth of groceries.  It was still hard to go $4 over the $40 amount but we need a few items for our fridge and pantry.  I was able to stock up on a few extra items this week, including some diary goods and I froze a couple more gallons of milk since they are discounted.

    It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

  • Recipe: Ashley’s Strawberry Jam

    Freshly picked strawberries, ready to make into jelly!

    After our family went on a  Strawberry picking adventure this past weekend I got together with a good friend, Ashley from Reflecting On The Simple Things in Life on Monday morning and made some of her amazing Strawberry Jelly.  The gallon of strawberries we used for the jelly was from Sandy Flats Farm in Taylors, SC.  We had a lot of fun catching up while making strawberry jelly.  Thankful for friendships and time together making delicious goodies for our families and to share with others.  The recipe for the Strawberry Jam is one Ashley generously shared with me.  We made 23 jars of Strawberry Jelly in a couple hours.  Our cost for the strawberries was $8.00 for a gallon.  I went ahead and bought a set of jars since I didn’t have enough, Ashley had the sugar and pectin on hand.  If you go to Yard Sales you should be able to pick up more jam jars for a better price.

    Ashley’s Strawberry Jam:
    • Two pounds of fresh strawberries
    • 4 1/2 cups of white sugar
    • 1 box of Sure Jell premium fruit pectin
    • 6 canning jars
    Wash and drain strawberries.  Remove stems from strawberries and slice.  Blend sliced strawberries in blender or food processor.  Measure 3 3/4 cups of crushed strawberries and 4 1/2 cups of white sugar.  Make sure to measure out the sugar ahead of time because you don’t want to stop in the middle of making the jelly and have to measure it out.  The jelly can easily burn.
    Stir 1 box of fruit pectin and 3 3/4 cups of crushed strawberries into a large sauce pot on high heat.  You can add 1/2 teaspoon of butter to help reduce the foaming if you’d like.  Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that doesn’t stop when stirred.  Stir in sugar quickly.  Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly one minute.  Remove from heat.  Pour quickly into clean jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops.  Cover with lids and screw bands on tightly.  My Mom would always finish with putting them into a pressure cooker to seal the lids.  I was always scared of pressure cookers because I thought they would blow up on me so she told me that most of the time the jelly is so hot that it will seal the lid on its own within 30 minutes.  But to be safe, in case it doesn’t seal, always store the jelly in the freezer.  Majority of the time all my jars have sealed but I still store the jelly in the freezer, just in case.  This recipe makes about 6 cups of strawberry jelly.
    Jars of fresh Strawberry Jam I made this week, there are a couple not in the picture because I already gave one away to our neighbor and opened another one to eat!

  • Fresh & Healthy: Flash Freezing Fresh Strawberries

    Our family went Strawberry picking recently so we have been busy making strawberry goodies.  The day we picked the strawberries we separated them out into containers for the ones we wanted to eat immediately and ones we wanted to freeze to eat later.  We chose to flash freeze our strawberries whole.

    How to Flash Freeze Fresh Strawberries:

    • Rinse the Fresh Strawberries with cool water
    • Place on wax paper in a pan
    • Cut off the stems of the strawberries
    • Put the strawberries on the pan evenly spaced so they are not touching each other
    • Put the pan in the freezer until the strawberries are completely frozen (usually takes several hours for them to freeze completely)
    • Once the strawberries are frozen put them into freezer bags (I usually put them into Quart or Gallon, 2 cups or more at a time)

    When you flash freeze the strawberries they will not stick together when you take them out.  You can take as many or as little strawberries as you like throughout the year. Here are some of the pictures of the process below:

    Rinse the fresh strawberries!

     

    Line the pan with wax paper.

    Cut off the strawberry stems, place on wax paper & stick in the freezer!
    Layers of Flash Frozen Strawberries!

    Bags of Flash Frozen Strawberries - measured and dated for future meals!

     

  • Fresh & Healthy: Our Garden – Fresh Lettuce, Spinach, & Strawberries

    Our first batch of Fresh Lettuce and Spinach from our garden!

    Recently we picked our first batch of fresh Lettuce and Spinach from our garden.  We had grilled steak, a fresh garden salad (with the lettuce & spinach picked fresh only moments before dinner), and pasta salad for dinner this past weekend.  The only other item we have picked from our garden is a handful of full size strawberries which the girls ate before I could take a picture of them.  The girls (and Mommy) are very excited that we can start eating delicious veggies and fruit from this years garden.  Thankful for a husband that took take of the garden while I was away.  The broccoli is already forming a head and several other plants look promising so hopefully we’ll have more goodies before long!

    Strainer full of several varieties of lettuce and spinach!

    I only picked a handful of the different varieties of lettuces and spinach from the garden and the strainer was overflowing.  It was enough for 2 to 3 meals for our family.  We have 4 to 5 varieties of lettuce and 1 variety of spinach.  All the leaf lettuce and spinach is ready to be picked.  Hope it continues to do well so we can share it with family and friends!

    Freshly Picked Wild Strawberries!

    Brina and Karlie have discovered our yard produces Fresh Wild Strawberries.  We never planted the strawberries they just grow in certain areas of our yard every year.  It must have been the perfect climate for them this year because we have more then usual.  The girls have been picking Wild Strawberries after school and even had the neighbor kid helping them one day.  These Wild Strawberries are tiny (about the size of a pencil eraser on average) and are pretty tart.  They are delicious to put on top of yogurt, ice cream or to mix in a fruit slushy.  It has been fun watching the girls collect them.  We’ve been enjoying them with our meals and sharing them with our neighbors!