Buying in season

I mentioned recently that it hasn't been as expensive as I anticipated it would be to eat healthy. It's all about buying what's on sale and what's in season. Obviously, this is going to be harder during the winter months. But right now, during these glorious summer months, enjoy all the fresh produce you can!


Last week, I went shopping to stock up on produce and some meat to replenish my freezer with. I did not buy a single boxed or canned food. Nothing processed went into my cart. I got enough meat and veggies to feed our entire family for at least a week ... and I spent about $50. My cart was full to the brim, and we are eating like kings! 


Two things helped me do this:
1) buying produce in season and at it's lowest prices
2) buying meat from the discount shelf


I am a huge advocate of going through that discount meat section. Sometimes it's just junk that's not worth buying. But you can often find some amazing buys. This week, we had buffalo meat for the first time. Found it in the discount bin for $2.99, and it was enough for one full meal. Also had some London broil ... got it for $1.99, and it fed us both. I found so many good buys in the discount bin that I splurged and bought some fresh tuna steaks which were not even remotely on sale. If I'd skipped those, our grocery bill would have been closer to $40. But I figured we deserved a yummy treat for finding such good buys and losing the weight we've lost so far.


So, it IS possible to eat healthy and stay within a budget. Challenge yourself to try something new that you find on sale. Try a new veggie that you might not normally buy - do it just because it's on sale for 79 cents a pound. It also gives you a chance to challenge yourself with a new recipe, which is always fun. And it never hurts to try new things!

At-Home Spa Treatments For Summer

I'm not feeling overly creative today ... so, I'm going to pass along a link to some fun ideas I just read about. Not only are these good tips for taking care of your skin, they're great money-savers!

At-Home Spa Treatments For Summer

Fishy times

Okay, folks, I need your help! I need ideas for what to do with various forms of sea life at dinner time! I have never been a big fish eater. The closest I usually get to seafood is a big ol' batch of fried shrimp .... and I'm pretty sure the whole deep-frying part takes most of the healthy out of them! However, most shellfish and lower fat fish are super good for you. So I am trying to incorporate them into our dinners more often. But I am totally clueless on preparing a healthy fish dinner that still tastes good. The shrimp salad was totally yummy, but it apparently used up all my creative juices, and I'm at a standstill in the kitchen again. Help!


On a completely different and random note, I have a new mystery plant in my garden! After hubby turned over all the dirt for me to start planting, more stuff sprouted! We're pretty sure it's something in the squash family, and I'm rather hoping for zucchini, since we can use it in tons of stuff. But I'll take whatever. 


And since my last gardening mention, I have planted potatoes, corn, eggplant, and green beans! Actually, Matilda and I planted the green beans together. We found these adorable Sesame Street vegetable starter kits at Home Depot a few weeks ago. So we planted green beans and tomatoes (more on those in a minute). After only 3-4 days, I came out on the back patio to find the cover busting off the green bean "greenhouse". They were already about 4 inches tall! So, we transplanted them into our garden and have started a second batch.


As for the tomatoes ... I now have to eat my words about never having a tomato grow from scratch. Our Elmo tomatoes have all sprouted! Every single seed produced a plant. And they are now big enough to transplant as well. If these actually produce fruit, I may have to quit buying the plants!  Maybe my brown thumb is even greener than I thought! If the plants produce, I promise to post pictures ... as well as posting a few pics once the garden has really taken off. I figure we should have a nice late summer/early fall crop of goodies to enjoy. Yay!

Saving on extras

Yesterday, I found a way to save money on some things that aren't quite necessities. I stopped off at my nail salon to get my brows waxed (like I said not quite a necessity). When I was paying at the end, the owner pulled out a sheet of coupons to use for the next time I got my nails done or a pedicure or another wax job. I had never seen coupons for getting your nails done! I realize this is an extra, but sometimes a girl needs some pampering. And if I can get something fun and pay less ... I'm all about that! So, don't forget to look for "creative" coupons. You never know what you might find that you can use to have fun for yourself or your family!

Salal jam???

I found something new in my yard that is edible and perfect for canning!! I am still trying to identify all the crazy trees, bushes, plants and flowers that we have in our yard. But an old friend helped me identify several of the bushes behind my garden as the Salal plant. Never even heard of it before. But now that I know what it is and have researched it ... turns out the berries growing on it are edible! We have about 7 of these bushes or trees or whatever they are. I suspect they are more of a bush, but some of ours are in excess of 8 feet tall! And they are all overflowing with berries, which should be ripe sometime in August.

I have already found a canning recipe for silal jam, and I already have all the necessary items. It requires very little sugar to can, because the berry is very high in natural pectin, so it gels easily on its own. Which means it should be a healthier jam for us to eat! I will have a shelf full of jam ... and it's not going to cost me a penny! Well, unless you count what we spent to buy the house that had the bushes in the yard ... but I'm not. :)

I am also mulling over money-making opportunities as well, because the foliage from this plant is apparently very popular with florists, for making arrangements with roses. There has to be a way I can tap into that. At the very least, I can spice up my flower arrangements when I bring roses in from my yard.

What do you have in your garden or your yard that can help you save money for your family? Or what would you consider adding to your yard in order to help out the family budget? I challenge you to start planning for next year and see how much you can save. There are so many benefits to having your own produce section in the yard. Not only is it cheaper for you, but you've grown the plants yourself, and you know exactly what was used on them and how they were grown. There's a certain peace of mind in feeding my family food that I know isn't full of pesticides or growth hormones or whatever else you may find at the grocery store. Plus ... it just tastes better when you pick it and serve it the same day!

Shrimpy delight

Tried another variation of my stir fry recipe last night ... with shrimp! We bought a pound of shrimp back when we bought our house, and were going to break it out to celebrate. It got lost in the back of the freezer. Oops! However, I found it and added it to this week's menu. This variation is not quite as cheap as my usual stir fry. However, it is about as healthy as you can get, since shrimp falls into the leanest of meats category. Plus, it has all kinds of great things in it that are good for you! So, here's the new variation:


1 lb shrimp, de-veined ($3.99)
2 cups chopped zucchini ($1.00)
2 cups chopped white mushrooms ($0.75)
1 cup chopped green bell pepper ($0.75)
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning


Remove the shrimp tails & peel shrimp (I bought it already de-veined, so this was pretty quick). Throw shrimp in a pan with 1-2 tbsp olive oil (or cooking oil of your choice). Add Mrs. Dash seasoning to shrimp. Stir fry until shrimp is almost completely done (should be pink & "butterflied"). Remove shrimp from pan. Add bell pepper, saute until softened. Add zucchini, saute for a couple minutes, then add mushrooms. Once veggies are all softened, add soy sauce and lime juice. Cook for about 2 minutes, then add shrimp back into the pan. Let it heat through (a couple minutes), then plate and serve!

Cost per serving is about $3.25. The veggies will cook down to about half their size, which is why the portions seem so large to start with. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand. These were the ones in my fridge that I thought were closest to "going with" shrimp. Hubby and I scarfed this down in no-time flat! Super yummy, very healthy, and fairly easy on the budget. Enjoy!

Veggie marinade

My new favorite thing to do with vegetables ... is add soy sauce. Since we are trying to limit our sodium and "extras" these days, I use the low-sodium soy sauce, and I use a little less than I used to. But it's a yummy way to spice up dinner. For example, the other night we had a veggie mixture of asparagus, zucchini and mushrooms. I chopped up 3 cups worth (1.5 cups for each of us), put it in a tupperware container, added 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce and a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning, shook it up really good so everything was coated, and let it sit in the fridge for about and hour or so. When I took it out later, I spread it on a baking sheet, put it in the oven at about 380 for 15'ish minutes (I started at 10 minutes, then kept adding time as I checked on the veggies), and voila! They actually turned out almost like they'd been grilled. In fact, my hubby thought I'd fired up the grill just to do the veggies! 


A couple tablespoons of soy sauce is a pretty cheap addition to the meal. What are some of the ways you spice up veggies so that your family will enjoy them? Or, if you have kids, what are some of the creative things you do with veggies to keep them healthy but still get the kiddos to eat them? My kiddo loves the soy sauce marinade, but I'd love some more ideas to keep her eating those good veggies!