Once a Month Shopping Tips From a Beginner

I am by far no expert as I have just started on my venture of OAMS, however I feel like as a beginner I can share what few things I've learned that have helped me.  Be forewarned this is a long post but hopefully you will find it helpful if you are getting ready to try OAMS.

The first thing I did when I started thinking about trying OAMS was google search it.  In doing so I found dozens of other blogs with statements of how they organize their trips, make their lists, menu plans, budgets, etc.  I read every one I could find to get the concept and tried to figure out what would work for me and my family.  As you will quickly find out, what works for one person fabulously may not work for you and your family in the least.  Most OAMS shoppers have deep freezers to hold their massive quantities of food as well as large pantries.  When I realized this trend while reading multiple blogs I started to get discouraged thinking because we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with no deep freeze and limited cabinet space I wouldn't be successful.  This is not true.  You may not be able to stock up on a months worth of milk and bread without a deep freeze but you can certainly stock up on many other things with cabinet organization and thinking outside the box in terms of storing items.

I also read many people were doing the bulk of their shopping at Costco and Sam's.  I have never shopped at either so I went online and started to compare prices.  Turns out at this point they couldn't beat what I could find with sale prices and at my local Walmart.  So I started by making a list of items we use often and could buy in bulk, olive oil, veggie oil, flour, sugar, toilet paper, gallons of juice, oatmeal, brown sugar, powdered sugar, etc.  I then went to Walmart, Meijer, and Aldi and wrote down the prices and sizes of each of these items so I could find out where the best prices per size were and so I would know if a sale was actually a great price.  I found that buying a 25lb bag of flour or sugar at Walmart is not necessarily cheaper than buying individual 4 and 5lb bags at other stores, in which case the "in bulk" buying is pointless as I find it a lot easier to find storage for 4 individual 5lb bags of sugar than 1-20lb bag.  I keep my price lists in a notebook along with any other information I come across that might be useful, but I only use this notebook for OAMS info.

Buying the larger package is not always a savings.  My husband and I were recently at Walmart to get non-grocery related items when he informed me we were down to the last slice of cheese (he, of course didn't inform me of this before my OAMS trip and when I did my inventory days earlier we still had plenty).  So we went to the grocery section and he started to pick up the 24 slice package for $2.98.  I had bought this size just a week earlier and told him I had no desire to make another trip to the store in a week for more cheese so I picked up the large 72 slice package for $10.98.  When we started to make our way to the checkout I started doing the math: 3 packages of 24 slice cheese (72 total slices, the same amount in the large package I was planning on buying) totaled$ 8.94, and yet I was getting ready to pay $10.98 for the same amount of cheese. It was the same brand and everything so I of course put back the big package and bought 3 of the smaller ones.  So always make sure to figure up if your actually getting a deal by purchasing items in bulk.

I also started putting dates marked on masking tape on just about everything when I open something.  This way I know how long it takes us to run out of that item.  I keep this written down in my OAMS notebook as well.  The point behind this is so I won't run out of things mid-month and have to do a larger grocery trip than planned.  I will know we go through a bag of sugar in a max of 10 days, so if my main monthly shopping trip is planned for this weekend and I know we have 2 bags of sugar left in the pantry, I know I will have to buy at least 1 more to have enough for the entire month.  Waiting to run out of items before buying them when you're trying to do OAMS defeats the purpose of making a huge shopping trip at the beginning of the month.

I didn't actually have a "budget" for my first shopping trip as I really wasn't for sure how much we had been spending.  I knew how much I had been intending to spend, $120/month, but we were spending that entire amount within the first 2-3 weeks.  I was also using my own monthly "spending money" for small grocery purchases at the Dollar Tree and quick trips to the store which I wasn't counting in my monthly grocery spending.  This unknown is why I chose to pick a month we had a little more wiggle room with finances to start my OAMS.  We had run out of many of the basics and were very low on canned veggies, baking items, and meat, so I knew it would cost more than I would plan to spend.  I plan on keeping a detailed record of how much we spend throughout the month including our weekly  small trips so I will have a more accurate view of what our budget should be.

Before I even made my first trip to the store I made a list of every dinner, breakfast, and snack item I had ever made.  I saved this list to my computer for a quick reference when making out my monthly meal plans.  It will save you loads of time and it keeps me from repeating the same meals because my brain farts constantly and I can't think of anything to cook.  So when making my monthly menu I go over the list and start choosing what I think we should eat that month.  I also write down a few snacks and breakfasts so I don't forget to write down the ingredients on my grocery list and so I don't forget to make them.  I get very caught up in making sure I have everything I need to make multiple dinners that I forget Grant also needs snacks during the day and a home cooked breakfast a few times a week.  So it's a necessity to have these things written down on my meal plan so I know what I have the ingredients to make.

Every month when you are sitting down to make out your menu plan, look back at your menu from the previous month and enter in any meals you ended up not cooking for whatever reason.  Because of holidays and unplanned things I ended up not cooking at least a weeks worth of meals I had planned for November.  I immediately write these meals in for the month of December because I already know I have all the ingredients to make them.  This saves me on my grocery budget for the trip I'm planning and allows more wiggle room to buy bulk items or more meat.

If possible buy more than you need.  If your budget is super small, and sometimes depending on what we need and what unexpected events have occurred, ours is, then you may not be able to buy anymore than what you absolutely will use.  However even if you have an extra $5 you can buy extra of something.  I try to buy large bottles of veggie oil and olive oil even though I could buy a smaller, less expensive bottle to get through the month.  I also buy extra bags of flour, sugar, and brown sugar, along with extra meat than we will typically use.  I always buy the family package of meat and separate it into individual or meal portions.  In November I bought a family package of Chicken consisting of 7 boneless skinless chicken breast.  When I got home I did as I always do and cut them in half making 2 thinner chicken breast (which is more than enough for one person if we are eating marinated/grilled chicken).  So I ended up with 14 chicken breasts from the one package.  There is no way we can use that many in one month so they actually carried over into December and part of January.  This saved me from having to buy that meat and gave me extra meals to make without adding to my grocery list.

If you are planning on going to multiple stores to get all your months worth of groceries make sure you go to all those stores in the same day.  If you don't it will inevitably happen that something will come up or you won't feel like going to the store you put off and you will be lacking an ingredient you need for a meal that month.  There is nothing more annoying with OAMS than spending time making your list and meal plans only to get toward the middle of the month, get ready to make a meal, and realize your missing one ingredient.  I did this my first month (November) and swore not to make the same mistake again.

My biggest tip when starting your OAMS venture is to get real with yourself.  By this I mean, be completely honest about what you use, how much of it you use, and how quickly you use it.  Over the last couple months I have found myself doing what I used to do when I was shopping weekly.  I would think to myself, for example "we have half a bottle of veggie oil, I should put that on my list but my budget is almost maxed out and we can probably get through the month with 1/2 a bottle".  I used to put off buying things for the sake of staying in budget all the time with my weekly trips.  This is how you end up running out of all your basics and you eventually are forced to go way over budget in order to have basic ingredients to cook your meals.  It is better to possibly go over budget by a few dollars one month than to run out of multiple items and have to go over by $20+ another month.  I now keep a list on my fridge and whenever I notice we are running low on any food, spices, cleaning products, or toiletries, I write it on the list.  This will save you from having to do a large pantry inventory every month before your trip.

Once A Month Grocery Shopping 1st Trip & Monthly Meal Plan

A little warning about this post, it's long, like really long, I just thought I should put it all in one instead of breaking it up into a few different ones, so enjoy:

In my dream world I would have gone on my big once a month shopping trip all by my lonesome and been in and out without questions or extra items "magically" appearing in my shopping cart.  Of course this is not my dream world so I assumed my son would be with me since my husband would normally be asleep when I go to the store in the mornings, and I was ok with that, then my husband happened to wake up early and decided he would go too.  This could be good or bad, but figured I should make the best of this "family time".  Plus I knew he would be a big help keeping Grant entertained.

I had a long list and 4 stores to go to in one morning.  The stores I shopped at were Aldi (which is where the majority of my items came from), Carnival Foods, Kroger, and Giant Eagle.

Here is my crappy cell phone pic of all our groceries:

The only items missing from this pic were the 5 dozen eggs, 5.26lbs ground beef, 5lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, 1qt half & half, toilet paper, dishwater detergent, and a large tub of margarine.

 

It took us 2 hours to go through all 4 stores, which was really surprising to me because it normally takes me about an 1 1/2-2 hours to do a weeks worth of grocery shopping at multiple stores.  So if this works out and we decide to continue with OAMS I will definitely be saving some serious time that I'd rather be spending with my family doing something fun, not grocery shopping.

 

In doing all my research of other people who do OAMS I was always curious what they ended up buying during their large monthly trip.  They always included how much they spent overall but it was hard for me to grasp what all they bought because most of their spending was much more than what I had planned to spend.   So I thought I would share a little run down of what I bought.  If this is not at all interesting to you, feel free to skip down a few lines lol.

 Aldi $56.83

• 1 bag pretzels (snacks for the kiddos) $1.29
• 1 box graham  crackers (snacks for kiddos) $1.39
• 1 grape jelly $1.59
• 1 ranch dressing $1.39
• 4 dozen eggs $0.99 each
• 1 baking powder $0.99
• 1 box corn starch $0.89
• 4 boxes stick margarine $0.75 each
• 1qt half and half $1.59
• 16oz shredded cheese $2.99
• 3 pkg tortilla wraps $0.99 each
• 1 small jar olives $0.99 (this was not an item on my list but an add-in per my husband)
• 4 cans generic Rotel $0.59 each
• 2 cans condensed tomato soup $0.59 each
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup $0.59
• 2.04lbs Bananas $0.42/lb
• 1lb bag mini carrots $0.69
• 6lbs onions $1.29 each
• 5lbs boneless skinless chicken breast $1.89/lb
• 2 loaves bread $0.85 each
• 1 pkg hamburger buns $0.89
• 1pkg hot dog buns $0.89
• 1 liquid dishwasher detergent $2.49
• 1-45oz tub margarine $1.89
• 2 boxes saltine crackers $0.95 each
• 1 box onion soup mix $0.79
• 4lbs brown sugar $1.19 each
• 1 large container oatmeal $2.29

Carnival Foods $35.02

• 5lbs+ Ground beef $2.69/lb
• 1 dozen eggs w/coupon $0.88
• 20lbs flour $1.49 for each 5lb bag
• 20lbs sugar $1.89 for each 4lb bag
• 2-46oz tomato juice $1.00 each
• 8lbs russet potatoes $0.98

Kroger $19.29

• 1 small pkg Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix Free with downloaded coupon
• 4 gallons Milk $2.73each
• 2-64oz bottles Sunny D juice
• 1 bottle Hawaiian Punch Aloha Morning $1.19 w/ downloaded coupon
• 2 boxes Barilla pasta $0.45 each with coupon
• 1pkg Eckrich hot dogs $1.00
• 2 banquet freezer meals (another husband add-in item)

Giant Eagle $15.20

• 2-32oz Coffeemate Coffee creamer $1.50 each with coupon
• 2-64oz Welch's juice cocktail $0.50 each with coupons
• 24 double rolls Angel Soft toilet paper $8.89 with coupon

Total Spent a little over $126.  I still need to go to the dollar tree for black peppercorns and a 2lb bag of tator tots.  However I know if I buy tator tots now they will be long gone before I need them for my planned meal.  The total of my shopping trip freaked me out a little because it's $6 over what I was budgeting for the entire month.  Of course as I mentioned before we were going over that budget by the second half of the month it just didn't seem like much because it was in separate purchases.

 

As you can see by the list above I didn't purchase many items with coupons.  There were some ok sales with coupons this week on items I could have purchased. In making my monthly meal plan and thinking about not only dinner meals but also at least 2-3 breakfasts (for the days I babysit), snacks, and a few lunch ideas for variety, I decided I would start making more things from scratch.  Items like biscuits, corn bread, muffins, quick breads, pizzas, etc, are all things I want to keep ingredients on hand for so I don't need the help of Pillsbury Grands or mixes to make them.  Since I'm a stay at home mom and it's getting colder out, which means I leave the house less, I might as well take full advantage of my time and do from-scratch baking and cooking.



Because we don't have space in our apartment for a deep freezer I was not able to buy enough milk and bread to last us the month so those items I will have to buy weekly in a smaller shopping trip.  I'm also a little concerned about snack foods.  I try not to keep much "junk" food like chips, Little Debbie cakes, candy, etc in the house.  For one I don't want the temptation for me to eat them but Grant and my Husband don't need them either.  I used to think Grant needed something sweet for snacks, where I got this in my head is beyond me, and I've come to the conclusion recently that fresh fruit, crackers, pretzels, and similar items are what I'm going to keep on hand and if he doesn't want them then he must not be very hungry in the first place.  As for my husband, I fully look for him to randomly buy the junk I try to steer away from but I'll just have to deal with that I guess, haha.

Before making my monthly meal plan I did an inventory of my pantry, freezer and fridge, writing down everything we had.  I tried to come up with as many meals as possible with just those items then I went through my cookbooks and made a master list of all the recipes we have eaten and like, as well as many recipes we haven't tried but that I've wanted to make.  I saved this list to my computer for easy access when meal planning.  Once I decided on the meals I wanted I wrote down what was needed for each one adding as I went so I would know what to buy.  It was by far the longest grocery list I've ever made.

Here is my Monthly Meal Plan:
November 2-8
Saturday 2-Sloppy Dawgs with potato wedges
Sunday 3-Chili
Monday 4-Chicken Quesadillas with Mexican rice with homemade salsa Tuesday 5-Biscuits & Gravy
Wednesday 6-Turkey Franks with mac & cheese & green beans
Thursday 7-grilled pork chops (freezer) roasted potatoes/corn/biscuits
Friday 8-leftovers

November 9-15
Saturday 9-deer roast (freezer)with carrots, potatoes, corn bread
Sunday 10-chicken Enchilada Soup
Monday 11-fried eggs/fried potatoes/biscuits
Tuesday 12-Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread
Wednesday 13-Meatloaf mashed potatoes/ green beans
Thursday 14-Chicken fried rice
Friday 15-leftovers

November 16-22
Saturday 16-Hamburgers with tator tots
Sunday 17-Tomato soup with grilled cheese
Monday 18-black bean tomato soup with rice and tortilla shells
Tuesday 19-Sausage bean soup (leftovers in freezer)
Wednesday 20-BBQ ribs (freezer), corn, corn bread
Thursday 21-Poor man’s steak, roasted potatoes, broccoli
Friday 22- leftovers

November 23-30
Saturday 23-chicken pot pie
Sunday 24-Deer Stew with biscuits
Monday 25-Onion/pepper omelets, toast, fried potatoes
Tuesday 26-Meatballs with meat gravy deviled eggs green beans buttered bread
Wednesday 27-Spaghetti with garlic breadsticks
Thursday 28-Thanksgiving
Friday 29-Leftovers
Saturday 30-Thanksgiving 2

I have my meals dated just to make it easier for me.  I'm not really picky about what we eat and when since I like all the meals I have listed, however if for some reason the meal I have written in for that specific day doesn't work for some reason I can easily switch the meals around.
There are a few things I have recipes posted for already and I included those links, I'm hoping I'll be able to post recipes for the other meals as I make them.

Once a Month Grocery Shopping-A New Venture

I have been trying for a couple months to figure out how to handle our grocery budget.  I have had the same budget for about 3 years.  The only problem is my son is growing, while he doesn't eat a lot of different foods (he's quite picky) he eats a lot of fruit, peanut butter sandwiches, milk, and juice.  I also started babysitting another 2 year old 3 days a week so the juice and snacks dwindle faster. I've been having a really hard time sticking within my $30 budget in part because of this, the lack of sales on basics, the increase in food prices, and stores in my area no longer doubling coupons.  It is desperately hard for me to "stock up" on basics like canned tomatoes, canned veggies, flour, sugar, etc, because it seems most of the coupons I've been getting for these items are internet printable (which means I can only print 2, which usually means I can only buy 2 or 4 of the item depending on the coupon). 2 cans of tomatoes will last me about a week and if I'm lucky 2.  So while I might get a fantastic deal on a few cans I don't actually get a huge stockpile that's gonna last me months on end til the next great sale, which is what I have been able to do in the past with couponing.

Milk has also been an issue in our house, making it even more difficult to stay within a $30 budget. We go through about 4-5 gallons a week now and when it's not on sale it's $2.79/gal, that's a max of $14 a week just in milk and when you're trying to work with only $30 and another $10 of it goes to meat purchases, and $2 towards 2 loaves of bread a week (Grant will pretty much only eat peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast), that leaves $4.  Definitely not enough even for this couponer to get everything else we need for a weeks worth of meals.

So I've been looking into changing things up a bit.  Since I have only been going over budget by about $30-$40 a month (so about $10 a week)  I know I don't need to change the amount of money by too much, it's just making that amount work for us without needing more.  I've been looking into once a month grocery shopping and the only thing that's been holding me back is  the couponer in me.  I've helped my mom refine her couponing skills, and taught my aunt how to coupon, it's like it's in my blood now.  I can't bear to pay for toothpaste and paying over $1.50 for shampoo physically pains me.  So naturally this part of me says once a month shopping will never work for me.  It says I will miss out on the great deals and rock bottom prices I typically look for.  I'm fighting that part of myself.

We have a baby coming soon and the idea of grocery shopping with an infant and a 3 year old sends me into a small anxiety attack.  Especially with the idea of how I shop now, meaning the 3-4 stores I go to in one morning.  Getting Grant in and out and keeping him satisfied through each one is proving to be more and more of a challenge.  My patience isn't what it used to be and I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that for both his and my sanity the 3 stores in a single morning, getting a handful of items, and spending hours making and tweaking menu plans and grocery lists only to realize I can't get everything we actually need with our previous budget, is not working and needs changing.  I've seen many woman with 3 and 4 kids at the store, and you are rock stars, I just don't have it in me.

I've been reading how other's do their once a month shopping and I'm trying to figure out how to make it work for me and my family.  I still want to be able to get those stellar rock bottom coupon sales but I want to have the luxury of shopping for the bulk of what we need all in one trip.  Naturally since we live in a 2 bedroom apartment with no room for a deep freeze (oh how I miss our large chest deep freezer) I can't buy enough milk and bread in one trip to last us a month, which means I will have to make at least a weekly trip somewhere to get milk and bread.  But that small 5 minute trip into a store is a lot better than the normal hour or two.  I have noticed my weekly lists have a lot of the same items on it and it's only recently I've decided I'm really tired of shopping for the exact same items every week when I could just buy enough in the beginning of the month to last us until the end.  In the past my attitude has been "maybe that item will be on sale or there will be a great coupon out for it and I can get it cheaper, so I'll just get one this week and cross my fingers for next week".  Buying bulk for the month is one thing that is really difficult to do with a small budget.  Obviously with $30-$40 a week to spend there was no way I could spend $15 on a package of 36 rolls of toilet paper, or $13 on a 25lb bag of sugar.  It was too much of a dent in the budget so I've been buying these items every week to two weeks depending on our use.

So my plan, cuz I always have to have a plan, is to start the beginning of next month by making a monthly meal plan.  I specifically chose November to start this venture because my husband happens to get an extra check so I figure if I royally screw up, we have a little more leeway financially to fix my mistakes.  I also want to start now so if this does work for us I have a few months to master it and get a system down before baby comes, that way my husband will only have to make a small trip to the store for milk, eggs, and bread (Lord only knows what he would end up buying or spending if I sent him to the store with my normal list). 
I have already written down the basics of what we go through in a month.  Those basics being milk, bread, eggs, flour, sugar, toilet paper, and juice.  I wrote down all the meals I've made in the past and a few I've been wanting to try.   I still have to take inventory of our pantry and freezer to find out what we already have and how many of those meals I can make with most of those ingredients.  I'm hoping the list of our "needs" for the rest of the ingredients, and our basics, will be within our budget with enough for some wiggle room for those fantastic coupon sales that pop up throughout the week.

I'm really nervous but hoping this will simplify my life a little, right in time for the holiday season, and eliminate the problem of getting to the end of the month and realizing I have all of $10 left in my budget to buy toilet paper, 3 gallons of milk, 2 loaves of bread, a dozen eggs, and 2 bottles of juice.  I'll let you know how it all goes.

Freezer Staples

There are a few things I ALWAYS try to keep in my freezer and I look for these items on sale or on manager special marked down.  Having these things always helps when trying to get by on spending less at the grocery store.  It makes it easy to throw meals together on the fly and makes it possible for me to have a tiny grocery budget.

1. bell peppers (red, green, and yellow) wash and slice them, put them in a freezer bag.  When you want to use them either thaw out the amount you need or defrost in the microwave.  They will be a little water logged but I just spread them out on a kitchen towel and place another towel over the top, press down to absorb the water then use in whatever recipe I'm making.
2. chicken or veggie stock.  I make my own chicken stock when I have bone in chicken breast or a whole chicken I need to cook.  I have a bag in my freezer for leftover veggie parts that I use to make veggie stock.  These include the pieces of celery or carrots you would normally cut off and throw away, corn ears (after I scrape the corn off and freeze it for future use), leftover pieces of onion, etc.  When I get about 2 cups worth of veggies I fill my pot with them and water, add a little salt and pepper and maybe a bay leaf and let it simmer for a while.  Separate the veggie parts from the liquid and freeze the liquid in 1cup portions.
3. veggies, any and all that you can fit but especially broccoli, corn, and stir fry mixed vegetables.  The broccoli and mixed veggies I like to have to make a quick stir fry.
4. blueberries.  I buy these in the summer when they are around $1.25-$1.50 a pint.  They are my favorite fruit to add to muffins, oatmeal, yogurt, or cobbler.  I usually try to have about 3 quart size bags of them in my freezer and that gets me through the winter until they start going on sale again.
5. Meat. In an ideal world I would have smoked sausage, chicken breast, ground beef, pork loin, pork chops, and beef roast in my freezer at all times.  Unfortunately this is rare.  I usually have 3 or 4 of these but not all.  The more variety you have on hand the less bored you will feel with your menu planning. 

A Weeks Worth of Grocery Basics

I think a lot about food, grocery shopping, and budgeting.  I'm always trying to get more for less out of my grocery shopping trips, trying to make the food we have go further and always trying to save more in our budget for other things.  Over the past few years of having a small grocery budget there have been many times where I had to come up with a weeks worth of meals with seemingly nothing to make them from.  Because of that I have compiled a list of must have items, if your grocery budget is tiny or you're trying to make it smaller this week to put money towards something else here are the things you should buy during your grocery trip.

Prices will vary depending on where you live and these are the prices if none of the items are on sale that week, at my grocery stores.

1. Potatoes $2.50
2. Pasta $1.00
3. Canned tomatoes $1.00 for 28oz can at Aldi
4. celery $1.19
5. onions $1.99 for 2lb
6. carrots $0.99 for 1lb
7. rice about $2.00
8. meat (chicken, beef, or pork, whatever is on sale that week)
9. eggs $1.68/dozen
10. bread $0.79 at Aldi

       Total before the cost of meat is $13.14.  You can usually find frozen chicken breast in a bag for about $7 if nothing is on sale.  Usually in my area you can get fresh boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.99/lb or less depending on the store.  This makes family packs of about 7 chicken breasts about $7.  I cut them in half at their width making myself 14 chicken breasts, more than enough for us.

When we lived in Tennessee, my husband's job depended a lot on the weather, if it rained he didn't work so we never knew how much money we were actually going to have at the end of the week.  Obviously we couldn't not pay our electric or rent so we cut costs where we could, groceries.  During those weeks I had this go to list in my mind. If it was on sale I would always buy boneless skinless chicken breast because I can use it in more ways than any other meat, but that's just me.

Potatoes of any kind, mashed, roasted, fried, wedges, homemade French fries, or baked.  I'd change it up each night but we ate a lot of potatoes.  If you have canned tomatoes you can add them to almost anything, pasta, over rice, or pour a can of diced tomatoes over a few chicken breast and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes and you have a yummy main dish.  I try to stock up on them every time they are on sale or I have a coupon, and keep various kinds, crushed, diced, whole, and tomato sauce.  Celery, onions, and carrots are the 3 items you can add to about anything to add flavor,  rice to make fried rice, meatloaf, chicken pot pie or chicken-less pot pie, throw them in the crockpot with a beef or pork roast and some potatoes, sauté them with chicken chunks and add to rice. 
Eggs were always a must because in the worst case scenario we could always have scrambled eggs and toast, French toast, or omelets with just cheese (if we had any) or whatever veggies we had in the fridge or freezer.  These basic items will get you through at least a weeks worth of simple meals.  Remember we aren't looking for a knock your socks off dinner for your in-laws, just some simple meals to get you through a tough week spending as little as possible.

Menu Plan Week 3 -$30 Grocery Challenge

This week is going to be an easy one when it comes to meals for a few reasons.  1-We just finished the Relay for Life and I'm still not fully recovered, meaning the lower half of my body still aches, ALOT. 2- Our family reunion is this coming weekend and I'm planning on making a Maxwell shirt for Grant to wear.  3- The 4th of July is next week and I enlisted my sewing skills to make yet another Maxwell shirt (4th of July themed of course) to wear to the fireworks.  So I'm not over exerting myself on meals this week, so the preparation will be short, the cleanup will be quick, and I will have no excuse to not finish my projects.

Now on to the meal plan for the week:
1. Tuna Helper- I love Tuna Helper and I've made it from scratch quite a few times but I love to have the boxed mix on hand for quick meals when I'm busy or just feeling lazy.
2. Hot dogs and Kraft Homestyle mac & cheese
3. Pizza Buns- these simple little pizzas take me back to my childhood and daycare days, and Grant loves them.
4. Grilled Ham and Cheese sandwiches with potato wedges
5. Leftovers
6. Breakfast
7. Veggie stir fry with brown rice

One day I'm acutally going to get this meal plan up on Sunday like I keep planning on doing.  Until then......

Meal Plan Week #2

#1 Spaghetti with garlic bread (I scored some New York garlic bread at Giant Eagle about 3 weeks ago for free with a coupon!)
#2 Pizza Pasta Box Mix

#3 Meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
#4 Grilled chicken and baked potato
      We had this as part of a cookout for Father's Day using the Mountain Dew marinade recipe:

2cups Mountain Dew

1cup soy sauce

1/2cup olive oil

1/2t garlic powder (I have also slice 1 garlic clove and put it in when I've been out of garlic powder.  It works just as well

Let chicken marinade in this overnight.  I've used this recipe dozens of times and everyone I've served it to raves about how delish it is.  The chicken always comes out super moist and even though the combinations of ingredients in the marinade sound kind of disgusting together they make for one tasty piece of poultry.

 



#5 Breakfast
#6 Leftovers
#7 Frozen Pizza (Jack's pizza I bought this week with a coupon for $1.00!)

Grocery Shopping Week 2 of the $30 Grocery Challenge

Here is week 2 and while last week seemed to take me extra time in the stores with the multiple transactions and multiple stores, this week has taken me extra time in the list process.
This week Meijer and Kroger are having similar promotions.  Meijer is having a Buy 8 get $8 off, Kroger is having a Buy 4 get $4 off.  Both of which are fantastic sales the problem I had was narrowing my list down to fit into my small budget.  There were so many fantastic deals I could have went over my $30 in the blink of an eye.  However I was good,  I kept things in check and narrowed my list down.

KoolAid Jammers- $0.99 used a$1.00/2 coupon paid $0.99 for 2

Skittles $0.50 each used a $0.50/2 coupon that doubled to $1.00=2 for free

Dove Chocolate bars $0.50 each used a $0.50/2 coupon that doubled to $1.00=2 for Free (I bought 4)

Kraft Homestyle Mac & Cheese $1.29 used a $1.00/1 coupon=$0.29 (I bought 2)

Miracle Whip $2.49 used a $1.00/1 coupon=$1.49

Philly Cream cheese $0.99 used $0.50/2 coupon doubled to $1.00=$0.99 for 2

A1 steak sauce $1.99 used $0.55/1 doubled to $1.10=$0.89 (I bought 2)

Kraft Cheese Singles $1.49 used $0.50/2 coupon doubled to $1.00=$0.99 each (I bought 2)

Jack's Frozen Pizza $2.50 used $0.75 coupon that doubled to $1.50=$1.00 (I bought 2)

Delifresh Lunch Meat $1.49 used 2-$1.00/2 coupon=$1.00 each (I bought 5 and received a $4 Catalina Coupon printout at checkout)

Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs $0.99 coupon $0.50/2 coupon that doubled to $1.00 (I bought 2)

Mott's Fruit Snacks $2.00 used $0.75 that doubled to $1.50=$0.50 (I bought 1)

Hillshire Farm Smoked Sausage Links $1.68 used $1.00/1 coupon=$0.68

Nutella $2.49 used $1.00 coupon=$1.49 each (I bought 2)

Oscar Meyer Bologna $0.99 (I bought 3 and was supposed to get a $2 Catalina printout but aparently  that offer had ended without me realizing because I didn't get the printout and the customer service people couldn't find any information about it)

 Total=$23.38

**I used the $4.00 catalina that printed from the Delifresh lunchmeat purchase to buy

Angel Soft Toilet Paper $4.99 used $0.55/1 coupon that doubled to $1.10=$3.89

and Bread=$0.85 

Total=$4.99 (with tax)-$4 Catalina= $0.99

 

 

Pampers Wipes $0.99 used $0.50/1 coupon that doubled to $0.99 making all 5 I bought Free!

Cascadian Farms Cereal $1.99 used $0.85 coupon that doubled to $1.70 = $0.29 (I bought 2)

Smart Balance Butter Spread $1.59 used $0.50/1 coupon that doubled $1.00= $0.59 (I bought 2)

Juicy Juice $1.88 used $1.00/1 coupon= $0.88 (I bought 2)

3 Gallons Milk =$2 each (these were on sale at Giant Eagle)

2 lbs Grapes $0.97/lb

Total=$11.46

 

Total Spent at both stores = $35.83

 

The total was supposed to be $33.83 because I thought I would be getting a $2 Catalina for the Oscar Meyer Bologna which was going to be used to pay for the 2lbs of grapes I bought.  Whenever I need toilet paper or lots of toiletries I give myself no more than $5 wiggle room.  What is the reason for this you may be asking?  Well lets face it, its hard enough to buy enough food to get by for $30 but when you add toilet paper, laundry detergent, cleaning products, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc, it can be near impossible to not go over budget.  Another reason for the wiggle room is that I don't buy toiletries every week and the only thing I buy regularly is toilet paper, which depending on the sale and the week I can usually make it fit into the budget.  I make my own laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, cleaning products, and buy my shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, etc when it is at the lowest price possible and buy enough to last me 6 months to a year.  So when other people are spending $4/bottle for shampoo, I normally pay $1.00 or less.  Deodorant I don't pay more than $0.25 for women's and $0.49 for men's.  I never pay for toothpaste, and shave gel is not more than $0.49 for men's and $0.20 for women's.

 

Once you start couponing and start a small stockpile you will get a feel for the sales and what items you can get at certain prices.  I know I can get deodorant for under $0.49 so I don't buy it unless it's at that price.  When it is on sale I buy 4 which lasts me until the next time it's free or at the price I want to pay.  That's how you start saving the most, by stocking enough of the item to get you through until the next sale when the item's at the lowest price.

 

If you coupon for nothing else, which would be crazy might I add, coupon for toiletries.  These are the items that can take up the bulk of any budget during any given week and contributes nothing to the bellies of your hungry family.

 

Grocery Shopping Week 1 of the Challenge

It took me a little extra time this week to work every thing in I needed to get this week and still stay on budget. 
Here was the haul I brought home on my first trip (yes, there were 2 seperate trips needed due to a cranky 2 year old boy and a cranky 27 year old mom).

 

Meijer:  Spent $11.77

Had the best price on meat this week. Pork Loin 1.79/lb mine cost $7.98

Pure silk shave gel $1.59 coupon $0.70 doubled to $1.40= $0.19each (I bought 4)

3 Musketeer bar $0.50 coupon $50/2 doubled to $1.00=2 bars for free

1/2 gallons Meijer brand orange juice $1.50 each coupon 1.50/2= $0.75each (I bought 2)

Propel Zero water (not pictured) $1.09, I had a store coupon for 1 Free

Pampers Wipes 72count $1.99 coupon $0.50/1 double to $1.00=$0.99

Total $11.77 with tax and after coupons

 

Giant Eagle: Spent $9.87

I did 2 transactions for this store to take advantage of a Catalina that printed off at the register.

Transaction#1

Milk $2.00/gal (I bought 3)

Grapes $0.99/lb mine were $1.60

International Delight Coffee Creamer $1.67 coupon $0.55/1 doubled to $1.10/1 =$0.57(bought 1)

Colgate toothpaste $1.00 coupon for $1.00/1=free

New York Garlic Bread loaf $1.50 coupon $0.75/1 doubled to $1.50=free

Activia yogurt $2 coupon $1.00/1=$1.00 (I bought 1)

Dole Pineapple 8oz cans $0.89each coupon $0.75/2 doubled to $1.50 I used 2 coupons making the 4 I bought =$0.56 *buying these 4 canned pineapple printed a Catalina coupon with my receipt for $0.50 to use toward my next purchase

Transaction #2

International Delight coffee Creamer $1.67 coupon $0.55/1 double to $1.10 = $0.57

I used my Catalina from the 1st transaction of $0.50

Total for this transaction $0.07

Total $9.80 with tax and after coupons

 

Walmart: Spent $0.09

Almay makeup remover pads 15count $1.14 coupon $4.00/1 (I bought 2)

**my walmart allows me to use overage from my coupons to apply it to the other items I buy.  Most stores do not allow this.

flour $1.82

Sugar 4lbs (not pictured above) $2.26

Sauerkraut $1.58

$8.09 after tax and before coupons

I paid $0.09

 

 

Trip #2

 

Kroger: Total Spent $5.88

Kroger had a Catalina printing this week for participating General Mills products, when you bought 5 items you got a $5 Catalina for your next order.

 

Transaction #1

Tuna Helper $1.50 coupon $0.80/4 doubled to $1.60=$1.10 each (Ibought 4)

Chex mix $2.00 coupon $0.50/1 doubled to $1.00=$1.00

Crest toothpaste $1.00 coupon $0.50 doubled to $1.00= Free



 Total $5.40 & got a $5.00 Catalina off my next order

 

Transaction #2

Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix $1.50 coupon $0.75/2 doubled to $1.50=$0.25each

Suddenly Salad $1.99 coupon $0.50/2 doubled to $1.00=$2.98

Green Giant Veggie chips $2.00 coupon $0.50/1 doubled to $1.00=$1.00

Total $5.48 used the $5.00 Catalina from transaction #1, paid $0.48 and received another $5 Catalina for my next purchase

 

Trip #3

 

 

 

Kroger:

I used the $5 catalina from the 2nd transaction and bought the following:

eggs $1.79

potatoes $1.98

Beef Boullion cubes $1.79

Tortilla chips $1.00

Bread $0.80

I used the discount my sister gets for being a Kroger employer which takes 10% off any Kroger products you buy.  My total came to $6.63

I used my $5 catalina and paid $1.63

 



 This week was not a usual week for me as far as making multiple trips and doing multiple transactions at each store.  Normally I go to, at most 2 different stores, and try not to do more than 1 transaction.  This week was exhausting and I definately had to work for my savings, but I'm glad I stayed on budget.  Next week will be easier and less work hopefully.

 

Total spent for the week: $29.24

 

 

 

The $30 Grocery Challenge

A few months back I had a conversation with my cousin about budgets and grocery shopping.  I told her my grocery budget was around $30-$40 a week and her mouth proceeded to drop.  She told me she spends about $100-$150 a week for her family of four and did not understand how I spent so little.  To which I looked at her and said, "you can't spend what you don't have".  With my husband starting a new job after we moved here our income was cut by more than half and sacrifices had to be made.  I couldn't do much about our regular bills, they were what they were, but I could control what I spent on food.

It occured to me that most people probably spend at least $100 a week and the idea of dropping that bill down to $30 seems impossible.  Anyone I have shared my budget with automatically asks what kind of stuff we eat.  They assume with a small budget I'm limited to spaghetti, mac and cheese, hot dogs, and the like.  While I am all about some hot dogs and mac and cheese, this is not an every week meal for us, and is usually more of lunch than dinner.

So this is how the $30 Grocery Challenge was born.  Like many others there are weeks I go over budget by a few dollars or somehow justify spending extra on this or that.  There are weeks I "forget" to meal plan and by Wednesday I'm scrambling to figure out what the heck we are going to eat.  This challenge is to help me stick to my budget and challenge everyone else to decrease their grocery bill.  Maybe $30 seems impossible when you're spending $100 but maybe $60 seems doable.  If even that much of a drop makes you nervous, start by decreasing your bill by $10 a week.  So If your budget right now is $100, next week make your budget $90, then the week after that try $80.  Having a small grocery budget forces us to not buy all the snacks, and junk food.  It makes us conscious of what we are putting in our shopping carts and makes us second guess buying all the little extras that "look good" in the moment.  It also makes us appreciate the food luxuries like Little Debbies, sodas, and chips.  These, I'm sorry to say, used to be staples in my weekly grocery trips and can increase your grocery bill buy $10-$20 easily.  I'm happy to say (and my hips are too) they are not any more.  I only buy snack cakes when I have a coupon and can get them at a great price (nearly free), soda is bought for special occasions like cookouts and parties, and chips are in our cabinet only when I've scored some free salsa or chip dip, and even then I refuse to pay $3 a bag.

Seriously, it's physically impossible for me to put a $3 bag of chips in my cart.

So every week I will post my meal plan for the week, grocery shopping list and total after coupons to prove how much I spend and that it can be done, and the recipes I use (if the meal requires one). 

Here are a few tips on how I make it on a $30/week grocery budget, and how you can decrease yours:

#1 Meal plan-this is essential!  There are so many times in the past I did not meal plan and just went to the store, bought some food, and spent a crapload of money.  Only to get home, look in the fridge and realize there's nothing to eat.

#2 Have a variety of recipes.  After you cook the same thing for so many weeks you get bored and that's when you start to stray and spend more in order to get a variety.

#3 Use your freezer to the fullest.  I'm in love with freezer meals.  They are fantastic and such a lifesaver for a busy family.  I also stockpile meat when it's on sale.  I don't buy 10 lbs but I buy family packs of whatever is on sale each week, divide it into meal portions in freezer baggies and that way I have it for future meals and don't have to pay full price.  For years I have had a large deep freezer to take advantage of, now that we live in an apartment we are limited to a regular refrigerator freezer.  Even with a small freezer you can still take advantage of freezer meals so don't let that deter you.

#4 stockpile/couponing.  No I don't mean stockpile like the people on the Extreme Couponing show.  You don't need a basement grocery store or a whole seperate room full of food to stockpile.  When items are at their lowest, with coupons, I try to buy about 4-5 of them.  For example, Quaker yogurt bars were on sale a few weeks back for $1.79 a box.  I had a coupon for $0.75 off of 1 which at my grocery store doubled to $1.50 making each box $0.29 each.  So I bought 5 boxes.  Occasionally when there is a really great deal on an item I can get for free I will buy up to 10 but no more than that.  Space in an apartment is limited and I only buy this quantity of items for things we go through quickly like ketchup, rice,cereal, etc.

#5 Plan ahead.  Our local pool was not opening for almost a month when I bought the yogurt bars but my first thought was how great they would be to take with us to the pool, park, zoo, etc.  The same thought occured to me when I bought 4 cases of Capri Sun juices a couple months back for $0.75 each.  These are regularly over $2 so I was so excited to get them so cheap.  During the summer months they are a necessity in our house.  If I had waited until I actually "needed" them, I may have had to pay full price or not get them at all.

Are you ready to start saving some money?  Are you ready to stop spending hundreds of dollars a month at the grocery store?  Start this week, take on the $30 Grocery Challenge!

Homemade Shout Stain Remover

I have to admit I am not the mom that spends hours trying to preserve her child's clothes at the end of the day by getting the grass stains out of the knees or the kool-aid stains out of his shirts.  I know I'm a slacker.  No stain remover has ever really worked well for me, there seems to always be a light stain still left after I spray, soak, rub in, spray, soak, wash, spray, soak, wash.

It's like a never ending battle.  Me vs. The Stain.

Somehow no matter how hard I work, I always lose.

So I gave up on even trying for a while and just turned all the really badly stained shirts into sleep shirts.  However the time finally came when he stained one of his good shirts that I really wanted to keep stain free.  Instead of spending a bunch of money on Shout or Resolve or Tide stain remover I decided to give a homemade stain remover a shot.  I've had really good luck with all my other homemade cleaners and detergents so I thought my chances might be good.

I found a recipe here and followed the directions.  I took a white kool-aid stained shirt of Grant's and a white tank top of mine with a stain on it (who knows where that came from).  I sprayed them and let them set for about an hour.  Then I soaked them in cold water for an hour or so.  When I took them out the stains were gone.  I wish I had a before and after pic of the shirts but of course I forgot.

Due the ammonia make sure you do not use bleach and you are in a well ventilated area not breathing in the fumes, because this stuff can be strong if you have a large stained area to spray. 

Homemade Dusting Spray

We recently moved and our stuff has been in storage for over a year, so naturally alot of our furniture needed polished and cleaned.  We have 2 end tables we use in our living room that my Papaw made years ago.  When we brought them to the new place they looked like some kind of white liquid had been spilled on them and dried to it.  Of course I had no dusting spray or furniture polish to clean them and kept forgetting to pick any up at the store.  I think I was intentionally forgetting because I truely HATE buying cleaning products.  Lets face it they are extremely over priced and none of them work as well as they say they will.

While I was unpacking I found a list of homemade cleaner recipes and in them was one for furniture polish or dusting spray.  I love homemade cleaners for a couple reasons;
1. They are usually cheaper because they are made from ingredients you already have.
2.  Most of them are safe to be around little kids.  While I still keep all my cleaning products, including the homemade ones, out of reach of my little guy it's nice to know they won't harm him.

This cleaner only contained two ingredients, which I had in my cabinet, vinegar and olive oil.  All you use is 1/2 cup vinegar and 1 tsp olive oil.  Mix them together in a spray bottle and spray on your furniture using a clean rag to rub it in.

 

Here is a couple before pictures of my poor little end table.

 

 

 

Here is the after:

 

I am so super excited about how well this worked so I knew I had to share.

 

Making the Switch to Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

I wanted to give a bit of an update on the laundry detergent I use.  I know I like to know how long things like this will last me if I make them myself.  Mainly because I'm an obsessive planner and it comforts me to know when I need to restock different things.

Last May I switched from using homemade powdered laundry detergent to homemade liquid laundry detergent.  I used the tutorial found here.

What was my reason for switching you ask?  For whatever reason my Mom's washing machine wasn't dissolving the powdered detergent as well as mine did.  Instead it was leaving a white powder on my dark clothes forcing me to rewash them.  Which I was not happy about. 

So rather than doing what some people would do and resorting to buying regular detergent I decided to try making my own liquid laundry detergent instead.  It was really easy and I ended up with a 5 gallon bucket full of liquid detergent.  I used Ivory bar soap instead of the Fels Naptha that others use, mainly because I'm cheap and I get the Ivory soap for about $0.60 or less for 3 bars with coupons. 

Now for the big question, How long does a 5 gallon bucket of homemade liquid laundry detergent last a family of 3?   For us it still isn't gone yet.  That's right it's been 9 months and I'm still on the same batch I made back in May of last year and I probably do about 4-5 loads of laundry a week (give or take).  The powder I used to use didn't last near that long and used more ingredients so I'm sticking with the liquid from now on.  You really can't beat the price.  I probably ended up spending less than $5 for the ingredients used in my batch and it's lasted 9 months.  I don't even think I could coupon and get that good of deals with regular store bought detergent. 

So for anyone out there wondering whether or not they should try to make their own and wondering if it will be worth their time......

DO IT!

 

Go to the store, buy what you need, make 5 gallons and sit back knowing you won't have to buy or make any more for a really long time.

All My Loot

Well as you may know I have a small addiction to couponing, but I have to say if you're gonna be addicted to something is being addicted to couponing really that bad.  It's like being addicted to saving which I think we all of need to be a little with the way the economy is.

Here is my mini bathroom stockpile, and the amazing part is I aquired all of this in about a month without spending much at all.  I think all of it except the 2 dove deodorants (which I bought for $0.20 each, SCORE!) came from CVS and Walgreens.

Here is what I bought a couple weeks ago.  I had planned on posting it the weekend I bought it but ended up leaving for Ohio at 5am that Saturday morning. 

All this cost a little over $4.  I know it doesn't look like much but when it retails for over $25, that seriously excites me!

Every time I go to Ohio I end up grocery shopping and stocking up on different things.  There are quite a few grocery stores where my parents live which is great because they all compete with one another and have really great deals I don't normally find when I'm at home, and bonus! 3 of those stores double coupons up to 99 cents.  The only store I have that doubles coupons is Kroger which is 30 minutes away.

So here are my cabinets after my almost month long trip to Ohio (the pasta, and poptarts were already there).

This is my favorite cabinet to open because we never have snack stuff, never.  Occasionally I buy chips for Derrick's lunch but snack stuff is usually really expensive and I can't every justify buying it over meat, fruits, and veggies, aka the good stuff.  The most expensive thing in here were the Doritos at $1.77, everything else was $1 or less.

The lazy susan, which was practically empty pre-ohio.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my deep freezer.  How oh how did I live without it before.

I honestly don't think I have had this much food in my house EVER, haha.  Now I rarely buy things without a coupon except for the basics like meat, fresh fruits and veggies.  Although I did luck out and buy 3 pineapples that were on sale for $1 each and used a coupon for $1.25 off 2, but that hardly ever happens.

My grocery budget for a normal week is about $40.  Most people  I tell that to get all big eyed and say "how do you live on that", but when times are tough you really don't have a choice.  I used to think there was no way I could create any kind of stockpile on $40 a week but it's totally possible.  I did go a little over my budget when I found ground chuck for $1.97/lb which I never ever find at home so I bought 8lbs.  Other wise I stayed within budget with all my purchases which made me feel so good.  Now I should be able to shop for meat and fresh food without having to purchase a bunch of random items that seem to normally break the budget.

My piece of advice to anyone reading this, START COUPONING!  Even if it's just for personal hygiene and toiletries at first.  It's the $4 shampoo, $3 bodywash, and $10 razors that seem to break the budget most of the time.  Especially when your budget is super tight.  When you have $40 and you need shampoo, toilet paper, and a razor all in the same week it can easily take up 1/2 your money.  By using coupons and shopping the sales you can eliminate that problem all together and who doesn't like that?

Extreme Couponing!

Has anyone seen this show on TLC.  I am officially obsessed.  The only problem is I don't get the channel with our cable.  I spent the other week in Ohio with my family and got hooked on it.  Now I am a coupon clipping fool.  My husband laughs at me when he comes home from work and sees me sitting on the couch, computer next to me and a stack of coupons in my lap.  For anyone else out there who is getting into the coupon craze here are a couple websites I found and love.

krazycouponlady.com

southersavers.com

both of these sites show the ads for the current week, list the items on sale and the coupons that correspond with them.  Then it shows the price you will pay.  Like last week Walgreens was having a sale and you could purchase Schick Hydro razors for $1.99 after the coupon savings. 

The only problem with getting into the coupon craze is it makes me want to go shopping and right now is not the best time to be spending money.  So in order to justify it in my mind I'm only going to buy the items that are at extremely low prices.  Here's something I didn't know, you can use two coupons on a buy 1 get 1 sale.  I assumed you could only use 1 coupon because the other item is "free".  However what I have learned is even though the other item is "free", you still pay taxes on that item so you can use a coupon with it.  If there are any doubts you can google the Walgreen's coupon policy and it's right there is black and white.  I did read some people have had problems with cashiers accepting the second coupon for the free item but I didn't have any issues when I purchased my 2 Schick Hydro razors and 2 bottles of Schick Hydro shave gel for a total price of $7 for a grand total savings of over $25. SCORE!

Something for you (whoever you are) to think about: every year my mom fills our stockings with items like razors, lotion, toothpaste, deodorant, tylenol, etc.  All the things we hate to buy but have to.  I informed her of these websites and that there are many coupons that do  not specify "excludes trial size".  If the coupon doesn't exclude it and its for $1.00 off deodorant and the trial size is $0.97 then you get it for free.  That's one less stocking stuffer pulling money out of your wallet, and we all know how fast those stocking stuffers can blow our Christmas budget.

Making Baby Food

I opened my cupboard last night and realized I forgot to buy any baby fruit while I was out.  So rather than go out at 9 pm to get some I decided, why not make my own?  Have you seen the infomercial for the Baby Bullet, its like the Magic Bullet but specifically for baby food.  I saw it one morning while feeding Grant and I immediately wanted to order one, however, who has $80 to drop on one of those.  Plus I already have the Magic Bullet, that I love, and they both pretty much do the same thing.

Anyways,  we had apples on the counter and I had already done some research and read that you needed to steam the fruit to soften it.  By steaming it, the fruit supposedly retains all its nutrients.  I bought the Ziploc steam bags a while ago just for doing this.

I took 3 regular sized apples, mine where Golden Delicious,  peeled and cut them into chunks.  I placed them in the steamer bags and on the bags it tells you how long to microwave different vegetables.  Potatoes where listed and I figured apples are kind of the same consistency as potatoes so I nuked them for 5 minutes.

Next I took out my Magic Bullet blender, used the chopping blade, put half my apple chunks in with a bit of water, then pureed it for a minute or so.  When its mixed well check to make sure it is the right consistency, if it's too thick  add a bit more water and mix again.

I save my store bought baby food containers so I know how much to give for each serving, so I just put my homemade applesauce into those containers and I was finished.  3 apples made about 5 days worth of stage 1 food or roughly 3 days worth of stage 2. 

I bought some sweet potatoes to do the same but instead of steaming them I baked them wrapped in foil in the oven at 350 for about an hour, more or less depending on how large the potatoes are.  After they were baked I took the peeling off, put them in my Magic Bullet, added some water, and blended to the consistency I thought appropriate.  I had three smaller sized potatoes and here is how much they made:

That is about 8 or 9 days worth of stage 2 veggies or 16 days of stage 1, and I paid $2 for the sweet potatoes so that's about $0.25 a day for the stage 2.  I don't think you can get that kind of deal on baby food in the store even with a great sale or off brand.

I think alot of people think making baby food is going to be time consuming and difficult, because that's what I thought, but it's actually really simple and quick.