Once a Month Grocery Shopping.

I pinned a interesting blog last year by Blissful and Domestic that has been rolling around in my head ever since.  Could I really only go to the grocery store twelve times a year?  I mean, it kind of seems like an unreal dream.  I don't usually have the luxury of going to the store without the boys, so every trip ends up being an adventure - even the most well behaved ones. 

I spent my time last week while my gallbladder was making me miserable and I was otherwise unproductive to really sit down and plan out a monthly menu - including all snacks, meals to take to others (three this month), anything needing taken to church (chili cookoff and cake), dog needs, office needs, birthday gifts needs (three in the next 30 days) .... you get.  Everything. 

Most of the blogs I had visited researching this told me to expect to spend four to six hours getting a month's worth of groceries.  After reviewing the Sunday ads and realizing that not a lot of what I needed was on sale anyway, I made a little adjustment to my plan.  I placed most of my monthly order online at Sam's Club using their Click & Pull service.  I used to use it all the time when the boys were babies.  It was so simple.  You simply click what you need and add it to your cart.  Then you pick a time for the following day that you want to pick it up.  When you arrive at Sam's you can go straight to the check out lane, hand them your membership card and tell them you have a Click & Pull order. 

Here's a breakdown of my trip on Monday.  And yes, all three boys were with me.

12:30:  Left house.
12:40;  Arrived at Walmart.
1:00:  Done at Walmart ($60.02), headed to Clarksburg
1:25:  Arrived at Sam's Club.  Filled up tank with gas at $3.74 ($56) and got hot dogs at concession stand with boys (hot dog and drink $1.70 each = $7.20), picked up a case of Nestle Quik, Olive Garden Italian dressing, and liquid Zyrtec then headed to check out to pick up my order. 
2:10:  Done at Sam's Club ($383.12) and heading to Aldi's.
2:15:  Arrived at Aldi's - heading straight to bathrooms thanks to giant drink at Sam's. 
2:45:  Done at Aldi's ($41.89) and heading home.
3:10:  Distracted by kids pleas to please go through the car wash.  Pulled into Laser Wash in Fairmont.  Waited for almost fifteen minutes in line to wash the car ($7). 
3:40:  Arrived back home just in time for Ronnie to get home from work and help us unload the haul. 

Thanks to placing my order the night before, it didn't take me any longer to go to these three stores than it does on a biweekly basis.  Plus, the guy at Sam's loaded the two flatbeds of already packed boxes of stuff into my van for me. 

Here's a picture of what I picked up:

 

Grand total for the trip: Groceries  $485.03

                                      Gas:  $56

                                      Boys: $14.20

I know, a lot of the produce is stacked on top of each other.  I also bought fifty pounds of dog food, two gallons of vinegar, 7 1/2 dozen eggs, six gallons of milk, a case of juice in bottles, and a case of bottled water. 

Ronnie and the boys played outside while I put all this away. 

Even with this big day, I had dinner on the table (thanks to a chicken in the crock pot and stuffed potatoes from the freezer) by 5pm.

Produce wise, my plan is to eat the quickly perishable first (berries, salads, ect) then focus on the better storers (apples, clementines).  Also, my extra bread and milk are in the freezer.  The only thing I think I'll have to pick up this month is more milk.  I can have Ronnie do that on the way home from work. 

Now to see if it lasts a month.....

Beeswax Everywhere!

This Fall, Ronnie harvested his honey and I rendered the beeswax.  I mean, I see all over Pinterest where people spend good money on beeswax.  I certainly wasn't going to let it go to waste.

Last week, my friend Tracey from Building My House came over and made beeswax lip gloss and lotion.  It was actually very easy.  We had plenty of time for chatting and coffee which in my book makes any project a success. 

Here are the recipes we used:

For the lotion you'll need:
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup beeswax
1/2 tsp vitamin E oil
20 drops of essential oil if desired - we didn't use this.

For the lip gloss you'll need:
4 Tbsp. of beeswax
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1/2 honey
5-10 drops of essential oil - we used spearmint.

Both recipes worked the same way.  Also because we didn't want to clean up a big mess with making a double boiler, we used clean old mason jars that we could just toss afterwards. I had a couple with chipped rims perfect for this job.

Step one: 
Gather all your ingredients and add them to an old mason jar.
.

Set jars in a pot of water and bring to boil.

Use this as a type of double boiler until the beeswax is melted, then carefully remove the jars.

Carefully pour the hot mixture into your containers.  We used empty baby food jars for most of it, but Tracey also brought some cute little lip gloss containers as well.

This was me, not carefully pouring the very hot wax/oil mixture.  And then crying a little.   Did I mention to pour it carefully?

It sits up pretty quickly.  I'm using on the boys every night.  It's really a nice texture and so very rich.

Here's the final product:

This was such an easy project, I'm planning on doing it  again when we harvest our Spring honey. 

Thanks again to Tracey for helping with another of my hair brained schemes.

You need to make this....soon!

Oh my goodness! 

We had a fantastic meal, courtesy of Pinterest, that I just have to share with you.

This week, I made Chicken Ranch Tacos.  I made this in the crock pot instead of the stove top.

Easy & totally delish.  This one's a keeper.

Here's what you need:

2 pounds thawed chicken breast (I threw in 4 large breasts)
1 packet of Ranch dressing
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 can chicken broth
Corn tortillas
Taco fixins (lettuce, tomato, green onion, cheese, sour cream)

Throw your chicken in the crock pot, sprinkle the packets on it and pour broth over.  Cook on low for three hours. 

When cooked, shred your chicken with a couple of forks. 

Heat up your tortillas, layer you meat in the bottom, fixins on top and enjoy.

I'm trying it next time with frozen chicken breast.  I need more cooking time than three hours when I'm working. 

I also don't use taco seasoning packets.  I think they're a waste of money and they have a ton of sodium.  I just sprinkled cumin and chili powder on top of the chicken until it smelled "right". 

This one will be showing up on the menu plan again.

Pintervention: Sour Cream Biscuits

It's been a couple of weeks since my last pintervention.   In that time, I've been discovering Jackie over at Moms on a Mission.  She's all about freezer cooking and easy meals.  That's right up my alley.

Here's the pin that led me to her site:

Sour Cream Biscuits

I made just one little substitution.  Instead of 4 cups of white flour, I used 3 white and 1 wheat. 

Here's my version:

Yep.  I nailed it. 

If by nailed it, I mean completly failed and ending up with flat, little round discs. 

Being the frugal gal I am, I started thinking about what to do with them.

Answer:

Add a little sauce, pepperoni and cheese.

Bake until cheese melts.

Lunch is served!

Nice!

Pintervention Week 5

I know I've mentioned my intense feelings about Coffeemate Coconut Cream creamer.

 

If you haven't had it, you just can't understand.  You can try, but it will be hard.

This weeks Pintervention was to make my own diy coffee syrup.

Of course, I chose coconut.


Here's what you do:

Gather your ingredients.

I ended up changing the sugar out for xylitol.  I also used my fudge pan. 

Here's what you need:

¾ cup sugar
¾ cup water
¼ cups cream of coconut*
2 tsp. coconut extract

Combine the sugar, water and cream of coconut in a small saucepan.   Heat the mixture over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut extract.  Let cool.  Store in the refrigerator.

I've been using this for about a week. 

It is not my Coffee mate. 

But it is good. 

I don't see myself switching to this full time, but it will do if I need to make some up in a pinch. 

Check out Annies Eats for more of her flavored syrups.

Pintervention Week 4

I love things that are easy and economical. 

This weeks Pintervention fits that description perfectly.

Recycle old candles into fresh candle tarts!

I have a couple of candle tart warmers that plug into the wall.  They use very little electricity, no flame and they disperse the scent through out the house.  I have one in the bathroom and another in my bedroom. 

And yes, while tarts are still a cheaper alternative to buying whole candles, why not use what you have?  Right? 

Right.

Here's what I did:

Take one candle that's down to where you can't burn it anymore.  I choose this great pineapple mango that my friend Cessna gave me for my birthday last year.  It smells fantastic.

Melt it.  I used a candle warmer, but you could also very carefully melt it on the stove in a pot of water.  Very.  Carefully.

Once it's melted, simply pour it into an ice cube tray.  Then, pop it into the freezer until it's solid.  Be careful.  It is hot.

Once they're solid, just pop them out.  They're ready to go.  

Loved this one!

Pintervention: Week 3

124. 

That's how many Valentine's I have to do total for this week. 

OK, maybe I'm slightly exaggerating.  I mean, Josh is filling his out on his own.  So that brings the number down by 31. 

93.  Well sure, that seems more manageable.

The boys picked their own out at Walmart, but I....well I kinda fell in love with these....

blonde-designs.squarespace.com

I can not wait to see a whole room full of K-1 kiddos sporting big pink lips and mustaches. 

Add that to the fact that I always pick up as many bags of blow pops as I can carry after Halloween on clearance and it's a home run. 

Here's what I did:

Go to blonde-designs.squarespace.com and print out the template.

I actually shrunk the template down by 50%.

Then cut out your pattern and trace it onto foam.

Simply cut out, poke the sucker through and slap a tag on it.

My Valentines!




I can't wait to see my little K-1 Latin class with their big lips and handlebar mustaches.

I love it!

Thanks again Pinterest.

Pintervention: Week 2

NERF BATTLE!!

This was a fantastic pin from obviouswinner.com. 

The boys & I were hid throughout the house with our Nerf guns locked & loaded when Ronnie came home from work.  What a blast!  I need to remember more often that making memories is worth the mess. 

I tried to get a picture of our fun to show you, but I kept being shot at.  While I'm not sure who won the battle, I'm pretty sure I lost. 

At least we had fun!

Pintervention: Week 1

Obsession.  Addiction.  Oh my, such strong words.

Let's call it an "issue".  Yes.  I may have a Pinterst "issue".  I've come to this conclusion based on the following items:
        1.  I now have 850 some pins.
        2.  Pinterest has become part of my morning routine. 
                    Ronnie to work.  Coffee & devotions.  Email.  FB.  Pinterest.
        3.  I now set a 15 minute timer when I get on Pinterest to limit myself.
        4.  I reference "pins" in normal conversation. 

On the flip side, I have to give credit to Pinterest for so many great ideas. 
         English Muffins, plug in refills, foaming hand soap, laundry & dishwasher detergent.  I've also found the best recipe for pancakes that's now a favorite. 

I've decided that I'm going to start a weekly update of what I've done from Pinterest.

Here's today's:

DIY Cash Envelopes from todaysnest.com.

This was actually a great project.  I just downloaded the template and printed it out on pretty scrapbook paper that I already had.  Next, cut them out and secure them with glue or tape (I used both).  Easy peasy.

Here's my version:

Sorry for the picture quality.  My battery on my D90 is dead.  I had to use my IPod.  I think you can still get the gist of it.  I love them.  They are tucked away in the side of my planner pocket.  As I use the cash, I put the receipt in the envelope until I have time to jot it down. 

And really, they're just too cute.  So much better than plain old envelopes.

Dave Ramsey would be so proud.