tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6137646469767562765.post7659558131164338721..comments2024-01-27T01:00:53.693-05:00Comments on Footnotes: Getting started on a budget {A Three Things Thursday post}Kimberly http://www.blogger.com/profile/08159387703524634028noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6137646469767562765.post-41161768972629462232014-06-15T13:24:52.007-04:002014-06-15T13:24:52.007-04:00Frozen vegetables are cheaper a lot of times and l...Frozen vegetables are cheaper a lot of times and last longer (and have nothing added to them like canned). <br /><br />I like to make soup and the put it in canning jars to grab all week for lunch.Julie Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14827476441219850741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6137646469767562765.post-73704952443138296012014-06-13T17:11:18.364-04:002014-06-13T17:11:18.364-04:00Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment and s...Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment and sharing your experiences. People aren't always open about their struggles but it's so important because you don't know who you will help. My thoughts are with you and your family during this time. <br /><br />You are very right about saving money on convenience foods and doing it from scratch. Hummus, especially! A bag of chickpeas is less than $1.50 and makes enough hummus to feed a family for a week. <br /><br />We've considered buying meat in bulk as we have a freezer, too, but have balked at the upfront cost. It may be something we need to budget for as fall comes. Kimberly https://www.blogger.com/profile/08159387703524634028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6137646469767562765.post-7395207023108466772014-06-13T17:08:07.685-04:002014-06-13T17:08:07.685-04:00I almost forgot about Aldi! I have been using a cr...I almost forgot about Aldi! I have been using a credit card to earn points and haven't been going. I did see that they have blueberries for a good price. I will need to check out some of the other stuff!Kimberly https://www.blogger.com/profile/08159387703524634028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6137646469767562765.post-59678453602385487342014-06-13T16:47:15.570-04:002014-06-13T16:47:15.570-04:00Income in the last little while has been a bit spa...Income in the last little while has been a bit sparse for the primary breadwinner of our family, so it's required a LOT of creativity in the kitchen. I had to do with very little produce this past week until a check came in. One small beef roast gave us three meals: one night was the roast beef, a sweet potato made into oven fries, a cabbage drizzled with a bit of olive oil and sprinkled with chopped garlic and S&P roasted in the oven, and some quinoa with a tiny bit of onion and a few raisins included. It wasn't our usual meal, but we made do. The next night, I took the leftover roasted cabbage, a rather scrawny orange pepper, and a tiny onion and combined them with the shredded leftover beef. With homemade BBQ sauce and homemade buns, we had sandwiches with an apple and 1/2 orange split between three of us. Two small pieces of leftover chicken cut into small strips gave enough flavor to a homemade alfredo/pesto pasta dish with carrots and green beans that it didn't feel as sparse as it really was. And the next night, the tiny bit that was left was tossed into a beans and rice mixture that we put in homemade tortillas. (making our own bread products saves a fortune, but does take time)<br /><br />I've learned that saving money for when the farmer is going to offer a 1/4 beef or when another farmer will have strawberries ready for the picking makes all the difference in how we eat. It's been the frozen beef in my freezer and the frozen fruit and veggies that have kept us during the times when there is simply no money for fresh food. Spending $60 on strawberries as soon as I get grocery money this week and taking the time to individually freeze them means we'll have fruit through next spring, or even an opportunity to turn some of them into jam later on if desired. For us, the saving is learning to invest in bigger quantities when we can find it local and in-season. Granted, we're blessed with a big freezer that enables us to put up food "for the winter" (which I've discovered can also mean a season of little income), and I know not everyone has that available. It's a bit hard to shell out $500 at one time for all the meat we'll eat in a year, but when we total up what we would have spent had we bought it as needed, it ends up saving us a fortune and lets us enjoy cuts of meat we'd never be able to afford if we bought them in a store whenever we wanted them. So we save up for fall butchering and summer harvests. <br /><br />I've been learning to use every little bit of something, whether it's making broth out of bones, or "hiding" leftover veggies I'd rather not see again inside spaghetti or pizza sauce. And learning to make convenience foods like BBQ sauce, tortillas, hummus, and beans has saved us a ton too. It just takes time......lots of it.<br /><br />Inklinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07705228810421675423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6137646469767562765.post-36768517662186718222014-06-13T16:15:15.339-04:002014-06-13T16:15:15.339-04:00Aldi! Aldi, Aldi, Aldi!!! I love shopping Aldi bec...Aldi! Aldi, Aldi, Aldi!!! I love shopping Aldi because (most of the time) things are cheaper. Like red peppers- right now, Martin's has them $1.29 each, while they were 69 cents at Aldi. <br />Another thing I tend to do: if I don't know what I"m going to cook for the week, I simply buy building blocks- like ground turkey, frozen chicken breast, and some basic veggies. I can usually turn that into a meal by scrounging through the pantry.Kaseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08989594701535987972noreply@blogger.com