Archive for the ‘Thrifty Moms’ Category

Quick and Easy Breakfast Ideas for Kids

For “Thrifty Thursday” I thought I would offer you some ideas to create some quick and easy breakfast meals.

With cereal costing  mega bucks per pound, I think it’s time we ban the cereal isle and make our own breakfast! (And please feel free to share some of your own ideas with the readers here.)

Breakfast is a very important meal.  Studies have shown that children who eat a balanced breakfast are more alert in school, perform better and in many cases are less prone to bad behavior than children who skip breakfast.

Here are some quick and easy breakfast ideas for kids:

Eggs – Eggs are versatile and nutritious, plus most kids like them. Scrambled eggs are quick to make;  you can add a little chopped turkey ham, cheese, chopped tomatoes or mushrooms.  Simple boiled eggs with slices of toast will make an excellent breakfast too.

Bake Ahead Muffins – Muffins aren’t always the most nutritious meal, but if you bake your own muffins you can use mashed banana, chopped walnuts and a little honey for a naturally sweet breakfast muffin.

*You can also replace half of the amount of white flour for healthier whole wheat flour.  And you don’t have to stick to just sweet muffins; try a savory turkey bacon and chive muffin or cheese and turkey ham muffin. Bake them the night before for a quick and healthy breakfast.

Fruit – Try a fresh fruit salad with a yogurt and cheerio dip. Using a rolling pin, mash a handful or two of whole grain Cheerios in a plastic bag and transfer to a bowl. Fill another bowl with yogurt and let your kids dip the fruit pieces in yogurt then in the cheerio mixture. Whole grain Cheerios have a lower sugar content then many of the cereals on the supermarket shelves.

Pancakes – Prepare a basic pancake batter the night before, cover and refrigerate in the morning. In the morning all you need to do is heat the grill and your entire family can enjoy delicious homemade pancakes. Serve with a little maple syrup or jam and some fresh fruit on the side.  *Peanut butter can also be spread on pancakes for a different flavor.

Pizza for Breakfast – Split a couple of bagels in half, top with a little pizza sauce, grated cheese and some chopped turkey ham. Place under the grill for a few minutes and you have a nutritious breakfast pizza. You can also use English muffins or pita bread.

Breakfast Burrito – Wraps are a great alternative to toast and cereal. You can make a scrambled egg breakfast wrap with a little bit of  turkey ham or cheese added to it or you can add a little cream cheese and turkey or even make a breakfast pizza burrito.

Oatmeal -  You can use your crock pot to make delicious oatmeal that will be ready in the morning.  I also found a nifty recipe earlier this week for “Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal” that I intend to try really soon.  (It looks yummy!)

Remember breakfast doesn’t always have to consist of the traditional toast, cereal and eggs.  You can experiment a little to keep things interesting.

As a final note, don’t put too much pressure on yourself to always make the perfect family breakfast. If your kids really aren’t hungry at breakfast time a simple banana (or peanut butter spread on a banana) and a glass of orange juice will give them an instant boost.

Save Money Creating Natural Beauty Remedies at Home

For Thrifty Thursday, I thought I would share a few ways that will keep you from spending a fortune on beauty products at the store.  In fact, all of the ingredients you’ll need are right in your kitchen or pantry cabinet.

Here are three ways in which you can create natural beauty remedies at home in a flash…

Olive Oil: You cook and bake with it; but did you know that you can use it in a variety of other ways? Because olive oil is chemical free, it can be used on your skin; as a bath oil, moisturizer, massage oil, and conditioner.

For example: You can apply a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice to your skin before bedtime to moisturize your skin. To strengthen your nails, soak them in warm extra virgin olive oil for five minutes. Massage your sore muscles with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and rosemary. Apply olive oil to dry hair as an overall conditioner. It will leave your hair smooth and shiny.

Oatmeal: Wouldn’t you love a facial? Get out the box of oatmeal from your cabinet and begin. This oatmeal facial will not only exfoliate, but moisturize your skin as well…

Oatmeal Facial Recipe:

1 package of instant oatmeal
1/2 cup water
2 TB yogurt
2 TB honey
1 egg white

Mix the water and oatmeal, then add the additional ingredients. Apply a thin layer to your face. Leave it on for about 15 minutes or until you feel tightness; then rinse your face with warm water.

Dry Skin Brushing: Here is a technique that will leave you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Before taking a shower in the morning, use a brush or sponge and begin the dry skin brushing process to exfoliate dead skin cells, and improve your blood circulation.

Here’s how to do it: While standing the shower with the water off, start at your feet and begin brushing in small circles toward the upper part of your body. Then work your way down the back of your body to complete the process. Do not scrub hard, but apply even and light pressure. After you have completed this procedure, take a shower.

For extra exfoliating try these homemade sugar scrubs…

Sugar Scrub Recipes:

Lemon Sugar Scrub:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 TB grated lemon zest

Green Tea Sugar Scrub:

2 cups white sugar
1 cup honey
3 TB of green tea
5 drops vanilla

*Please  feel free to share some of your own homemade beauty recipes with our readers.

Five Featured Friday Freebies

Hope you’re having a great Friday! Here are some featured freebies, and of course, they may be discontinued at anytime.  Hope you’ll find something here that you can use.

Post-it Durable Tabs – Offer good until Mar. 31, or while supplies last.

Free Sample Emergen-C Vitamin drink packet

Free Interactive Potty Training Success DVD

Free Sample of Fekkai Glossing Cream for your hair – from Walmart website.

Joint Oats for Dogs free sample

How to Feed Your Family Healthy Meals on a Tight Budget - Video

Thought you might enjoy this video today on “Thrifty Thursday”

Step 1: Start with hot cereal

Start the day with a hot cereal; they’re much cheaper than cold cereals. Oatmeal is a nutritional winner and very inexpensive if you buy a container of plain, old-fashioned oatmeal.

Step 2: Stretch your milk

Stretch your milk dollars by diluting a can of evaporated milk or some powdered milk with water to create whole milk.

Step 3: Stock up on frozen veggies

Stock up on frozen vegetables when they go on sale. Unless your produce was just picked, it’s just as healthy — or even more so — to eat the frozen stuff, which locks in the nutrients.

Canned vegetables are another cheap alternative to fresh, but rinse them before eating because many are loaded with salt.

Step 4: Eat fruits in season

Limit your fruit purchases to whatever is in season, the exception being bananas and apples. The former are relatively inexpensive year-round, and the latter are low in calories, high in fiber, and may reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer.

Step 5: Snack happy

Enjoy healthy snacks without spending a fortune by air popping corn kernels and buying nutritious nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, and peanuts. Buy in bulk.

Step 6: Limit meat consumption

Only eat meat two or three times a week, and make cheap meats as tender and tasty as pricier cuts by marinating them overnight or slow-cooking them in a Crock-Pot.

Step 7: Eat alternative proteins

Make the most of alternative sources of protein, like peanut butter, eggs, chunk light tuna (which is not only the cheapest kind of tuna, but also contains the least mercury), and beans.

Buy bagged beans in bulk — the kind you soak overnight. They’re cheaper and healthier than canned beans, which are high in sodium.

Step 8: Eat brown rice

Eat brown rice. It’s a bit pricier than white, but much better for you and still a nutritional bargain.

Step 9: Indulge in dessert

Indulge in desserts by making them from scratch using nutritious ingredients that you have on hand. Bake your own oatmeal and peanut butter cookies; mash and freeze overripe bananas for “ice cream”; bake bruised apples with a little honey.

Fun Snack Ideas for Kids

It’s no secret that kids love to snack.  While kids are young they use a lot of energy that requires constant refueling of their hungry tummies, but as you know, buying pre-made snacks can be quite costly.   It only requires a little planning to keep snacks fun, exciting and affordable.

Here’s a few healthy and fun snack ideas for kids:

Fruit on a Stick – Cut up a bunch of different fruits such as apples, bananas, kiwis, mango and add a few grapes. Thread them onto a skewer for a delicious summer time treat. To make it a little more special add a few pieces of marshmallows between the fruit.

Pickle on a Stick – If your kids love pickles, put a big sweet or dill pickle on a stick.  They’ll think it’s extra special.

Quick Banana Ice – Take a few bananas and mash them in a bowl. Cover and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove from freezer, fluff up with fork for a healthy, ice cream like treat.

Pitta Pizza – Spread a little tomato sauce on a pitta bread and cut into small triangular pieces. Top with a little grated cheese and place in a moderately heated oven for about 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese melts and starts to bubble.

Sweet Tortilla Shapes – Using small fun shaped cookie cutters cut fun shapes out of a tortilla (wrap). Place on non stick cookie sheet and lightly brush with a little butter. Lightly sprinkle (you only need a little) with a mixture of 1 part cinnamon and 3 parts brown sugar and bake in a moderately hot oven for 10 minutes for a sweet and crispy treat.

Frozen Mandarin Wedges – Peel a few mandarin slices and cover in plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for about an hour for a thirst quenching treat.

Banana Wheels – Place a cup or so of cheerios in a plastic bag and using the back of your hand or a rolling pin flatten until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Slice a banana into rounds and place a few at a time in the plastic bag. Shake lightly to cover the banana pieces (banana wheels) with the cheerios mixture.

Mini Wraps – Lightly spread a tortilla with a little cream cheese and place one or two slices of thin ham or turkey over the cream cheese. Roll tightly and cut into small rounds.

Jiggly Fruit – Make a portion of strawberry flavored jello per package instructions and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Open and drain a can of fruit cocktail and add to the jello and mix. Place back in the fridge until jello is fully set.

Ants on Boats – Cut a few apple wedges and spread thinly with peanut butter. Add a few raisins over the peanut butter and enjoy. You can also use cream cheese instead of peanut butter.

Pick and Mix – Kids seem to really enjoy the variety of finger foods rather than eating a lot of one thing. A great snack is to place a selection of finger foods on a serving plate and let the kids choose. You can serve a combination of foods like carrot sticks, cucumber rounds, cherry tomatoes, pretzels or pretzel sticks, small savory crackers, bread sticks, little cubes or slices of cheese, small slices of ham or turkey, grapes and other pieces of cut up fruit, mini muffins, and dried fruit such as raisins or apricots.

*Please share some of your own fun snack ideas for kids by commenting below.

How to Save More Money on Groceries

There are two ways to save more money on your groceries:  buy less or pay less.  The good news is, there are several ways to do both of these things.

Buying less may sound like you have to cut down on what you’re buying,  but this isn’t always true. Spending less always sounds like going into the supermarket with a bag full of coupons.  It’s true that these are both ways to cut down on your grocery shopping bills but with a little bit of thought you could probably cut down your spending many other ways as well.

1.  Save More Money on Groceries by Using Less.

- Reuse some items more than once like plastic bags and containers.

- Make some items last longer such as diluting fruit juices.

- Be smart with your purchases.  Think about all the things that you might be wasting because they’ve gone bad or expired before it gets used. Large quantity items that are perishable and some fruits and vegetables can cause this problem.

- Replace some disposable items with permanent ones.   For example: permanent coffee filters, plastic food containers instead of disposable bags, razors for shaving, even water filters. There must be tons of people throwing money away because they buy bottled water instead of using a water filter at home.

2.  Save More Money on Groceries by Paying Less.

- Buy the items on sale, buy cheaper brands, or buy in bulk. Often items that are reduced on clearance are perfectly suitable to consume it’s just that the store has to sell them quickly or face throwing them out.

- Avoid impulsive buying. Many people buy impulsively because the products are there on the shelf in front of them. You know what they say, “never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry or without a list.”

- Shop around different stores to find more bargains.  You might be surprised by how much you can save.  Also, you can inquire whether the store will match prices from other stores which will save on gas from running around.

- Beware of supermarket tricks. Watch for common practices such as raising the price of a popular brand for about two weeks and then ‘”price cutting” to just below the original price to make it look like it’s on special offer.

-  Consider the value of the sale. When supermarkets place items as special offers, such as “buy one and get one free” people believe it’s a great deal. It often is, but this may cause you to consume more than you normally do.  So to optimize your savings, use your normal amount and save the “one you got free” for the next time you would normally use it.

*The best “two for the price of one” offers are on items that you can only consume at a certain rate like bathroom and cleaning products, another other items such as toothpaste and soap powder.

- Be careful with your coupons. Sure coupons are a great way to save money on groceries, but if you’re buying things you normally wouldn’t buy or twice as much to get the special sale price then you may actually end up spending more. Often times the coupon offers are higher priced items than the store brands.

- Be careful of store brand or value products that are cheaper imitations of the real thing. Buying lower quality can be a money saver if you choose wisely, but if you end up using twice as much and the product lasts half as long, then you might as well enjoy the real thing.