Mom Tip Monday: Stretching your Fridge

And I don't mean by packing it full of leftovers that will turn into your third grader's science experiment in the next month! I mean making what is in there go further. I know I kind of blended budgeting and menu planning last week but I want to focus a little more on that budgeting part this week.

Two weeks in a row now I have managed to cook once and make at least three meals out of what I made. And for both weeks the starter was only $10. Have I gotten your attention now? Would you like to know how I did it? Of course you would! Because if you could feed your family for 3 days on $15 (including sides and extras) who wouldn't do it?

Week #1.
I made a four pound beef roast (which I got on sale for $10) on Sunday. I dropped it in a pot of beef stock and let it simmer all day. I know it's not the traditional way to cook a roast but I had a plan because I had my menu laid out ahead of time. I made some mashed potatoes and steamed veggies to go with it (all pantry items at my house) and we were set.

Monday - I took the reserved beef stock, now thoroughly flavored from the onion soup spices (also a pantry item) I had added to the roast, and sliced two Spanish onions ($1.50) into it and again let it simmer away. I made some homemade bread to go with it - but even that is only a few dollars at the grocery store if baking isn't your forte. Day Two!

Wednesday - The leftover roast itself was up for grabs. I pulled it off into pieces and put it to (everyone together now) simmer with a bottle of barbecue sauce ($2.59). We served it on the rolls I had thought to make with half of the bread dough and had dinner for Day Three.

Thursday - If you can believe it, Beloved took leftover BBQ for lunch, and we had leftover soup for dinner.

I fed my family for four days on $14.

Week #2
Sunday - Baked chicken ($10) with trimmings.

Monday - Rigatoni with chicken, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichokes and spinach. (This is a Zookeeper original so you may need to play with it a little to get the flavors you like.)

Rigatoni & Chicken
1 box rigatoni
2 cups chopped chicken
1 jar sundried tomatoes (reserve oil)
1 cup mushrooms (or less to taste)
1 sm jar artichoke hearts (drain and rinse)
2 cups fresh spinach
2 Tbsp four
1 cup chicken bullion
1/2 cup milk

In a large skillet toss together chicken, tomatoes, artichokes, and mushrooms and heat through. At the same time prepare rigatoni according to package directions. When meat and veggies are heated through remove to a bowl. In your skillet add reserved tomato oil and blend with flour to create roux. Whisk in bullion and bring to a boil. Whisk in milk and allow to thicken. Toss chicken and veggies in sauce, add spinach and allow to rest over low heat while draining pasta. Toss all together or serve by spooning sauce over pasta.


Tuesday - Chicken veggie and noodle soup.

The chicken didn't get me as far because there wasn't as much concentrated meat to work with but I still managed to get out with the $10 chicken and emptying my pantry.

There are a million meals you can make with leftovers like this. Pita pockets for lunches in place of those $7 fast food meals that you (and your behind) don't really like anyway. Grab a flour tortilla, a leaf of lettuce and some thinly sliced roast beef with your favorite dressing or some tomatoes and you have an easy and cheap beef wrap. Chik-fil-A makes the most wonderful chicken wraps. But imagine how much you could save making them at home from LEFTOVERS? It's not a dirty word if you know how to say it!

I haven't had any takers on the Pantry Challenge yet so if you stumbled across something this week that had you saying, "Hmmm?" pass it over. I don't have a mission for Mom Tip Monday for next week so if you have a challenge for me feel free to zip it to me at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com and I'll be happy to give you my two cents.

Have a great week and happy leftovers to all of you! Your wallet will thank you!

Mom Tip Monday - Menu Planning 101

It's Monday again! And as promised this week we are working on Menu Planning. In preparation for this post I put up a quick one liner over in the MomDot forum. "What challenges do you face when you are menu planning?" Holy Smokes! The response from my fellow mom blogs was overwhelming so we will be spending more than just one week on this. Remember, if you have a question or you want to hear my take on your challenge, zip it over to me at The Zookeeper's Inbox (ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com). But more on that later.

This week we're vlogging - aren't you thrilled? It's on the old camera so you may need to spike your volume. And please pardon Orangutan's run by interruption. She's got great timing like that!

So are you ready for The Pantry Challenge? Do some digging and send me your challenge at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com. And for those who didn't take notes while the web addresses were zipping by, here they are one more time.

allrecipes.com
kraftfoods.com
and pillsbury.com

I hope this helps you stretch that budget a little and gives you some new ideas for dinner tonight. Next week, Budget Stretchers. How I fed my family for a week for $15! You don't believe me do you? See you next week!

Tissues Optional for Today's Post.

Ok. So yesterday I got scolded for not issuing a tissue warning before putting up my post. Today should be in the clear but keep them close just in case. Don't worry. Tomorrow is completely irreverent and ridiculous as you have come to expect from me. And now on with our show!!

**There are some technical issues over at MomDot so I can't give you the VIP's yet but I'll grab those as soon as I can!**

Sponsors: Flying Colors Baby, Uncommonly Cute and Lollipop book club

The question of the day:

Tell us about a favorite holiday memory from YOUR childhood.

There is a story that is told (entirely too often) in our house that stands out as a superstar memory from my childhood. My mother and father worked in a sewing factory when we were growing up - my mother as a seamstress and my father as the manager of the cutting room/master machine mechanic. I am sure that it goes without saying that the pay for those positions was not rock star pay. Did I know the difference? No. Did I care? No. I just knew that we had food to eat, a roof over our heads and a great community.

One Christmas in a budgeting strategy we can all take a lesson from nowadays, we had a full blown homemade Christmas. My father converted a refrigerator box into a puppet theater with some blue paint, a screen door spring and some cotton curtains. It was my sister’s present but I think it is safe to claim that we both played it to death. There were homemade Care Bears under the tree and there was a red and blue sleeping bag with a built in bear head pillow laid out on the couch.

I was just learning to read at the time. When we came down the stairs Christmas morning we sprinted to the puppet theater and I saw on the tag that there was a name that started with B. That was for my sister Beth. Then I saw the sleeping bag. That tag had a name that started with B too. Grudgingly I said, “Bethie this one is for you too! Wow! It’s really great!” And I was content to move to the rest of the presents under the tree to find a tag with an S name on it.

Then Mom said, “Sarah, look closer at that tag.” I was a huge fan of teddy bears at the time so I was known to family as Bear (something I have never confessed much less in such a public forum). Beth looked at the tag and said, “It doesn’t say Beth! It says Bear!” Before anyone could take it back I was in the sleeping bag and grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

We went home for my sister’s wedding in January 07. Beds were limited so my mom pulled out some tricks. There was an air mattress that Tuck slept on in Grammy and Poppie’s room. And Auntie B slept in Mommy’s old twin bed in her room. Daddy and I shared Auntie B’s full size bed in her room. Munch wasn’t here yet. And guess where Molly Magoo slept?

On the floor beside Auntie B in a very familiar old red and blue sleeping bag with a built in bear pillow.

As if You Didn't Think I was Strange Enough...

Let me just go ahead and show you just HOW off the beaten path I am! It's Day 3 of the Mom Dot Blog Party (just in case you missed that big #3 over there <) and I am still rockin! This has been a lot of fun! I have found some really great ladies out there who make me look a little more normal - until I get done posting today.

Sponsors: Day Three Blog Party Question is Brought to you by Appledonia, Hippos Toes and My Bag

VIP BLOGS to visit are Parent Reviewers , Mom Most Traveled, Mommy Zabs, MomStart, HipposToes, Run DMT

And the Question of the day?

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Do you budget for the holidays? Do you always stick to your budget? Share with us any budgeting tips you may have!

Newsflash campers. There are probably very few things on the planet that I despise more than shopping. And not Christmas shopping – I mean shopping in general. I cringe as I go through the grocery store. I grind my teeth anytime Beloved even looks at my closet with the “you need some clothes” face. I become physically ill if I have no choice but to go to the mall. I. Hate. Shopping.

That being said. When I am approaching Christmas shopping I am methodical. I am precise and I am on a mission. I make a list of who I am buying for, what I am buying and where I have to go to get it. I plan out the order of the stores and I may even go so far as to go online and see if they have a store map so I know where in the store I have to go. Then I take one day and I go. I do it all at once (even trying to get the stocking stuffers in there too) and I come home.

Newsflash part two. I am cheap. I will do anything I can to stretch a dollar so if I can make a bathrobe at home for less than I could buy it I will invest the time before I will go buy it. Why? Because that’s how much I hate shopping. I would rather crouch over a sewing machine for three hours and tear out seams twice than go shopping. That being said, I can stay pretty close to our budget. We set a ball park and if I go over it is usually for Daddy before it is for the children. They get plenty from the extended family so we usually only do a few toys and some clothes from us.

As I write this I am wondering if Part Two could be a contributing factor to Part One. Or could it be that those five years of retail right out of college sapped me of all my retail strength?

(I know baby! I try to hide from it too!)

But that's just my take on it! I'm certainly not the expert so why don't you go see what the other Party Animals have to say about it. MomDot is your Party Headquarters!