Food Waste Friday

Inspired by The Frugal Girl, I have started tracking our food waste.

For the first time in I don't even know how long, there is no food waste this week, courtesy of some furious baking and a little less grocery shopping last weekend.  I love that!

Gratitude Sunday... in pictures

A busy and wonderful weekend, filled with clean laundry, some rain, some homebaked goodies, and some finger painting.

Food for Baby

Finger painting under the trees

Banana bread and zucchini muffins

Food for Baby

Beautiful peaches from the farmer's market near my office called for cooking a little batch of food for my little boy.  I cooked 4 peaches, but I imagine you could do more or less as well. First, slice the peaches into eights.  (Don't worry about peeling yet) 

Next, place the peaches in a steamer basket over about an inch of water.

Steam the peaches for about 5 minutes until soft, but not falling apart.  Take the steamer basket out, cool the peaches, and peel.  The peels should come off easily.  Place in a blender.

 

The peaches are a brighter color, and the edges were slightly pink.  Blend until the right consistency for your baby.

Feed to baby, or store.  You can save home-made baby food in the refrigerator for three days, or freeze for two-three months. 

Food Waste Friday

Sliced Jicama...  I bought the smallest one I could find for a specific recipe, but still had tons left over.  Next time, I have to find what else to do with it before I buy it.  Any ideas?

Monday Menus

This week's menu planning is more a lack of planning really...

Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Breasts, quinoa, zucchini
Wednesday: Salmon with tomatoes and mustard
Thursday: Pork "Fried" Rice
Friday: Indian Food (from the freezer)
Saturday: Steaks on the Grill

Gratitude Sunday

I can come up with a very long list this week, as every week. I continue to be blessed by a wonderful family, good health, a job, a home, and all the other things we easily take for granted.  This week, I am especially grateful for

• A visit from my always amazing Mom and Dad.
• A new Bible - the Busy Mom's NIV - a gift from my brother who could never guess how much his sister needed inspiration and guidance these days.  It is beautiful, and pink, and full of nice study guides.
• The smiles and laughter of a lovely little boy as he plays with his grandparents.
• A freezer full of food for him - bags of frozen milk, little cubes of squash, sweet potatoes, peas, and zucchini.
• The bounty of summer - including beautiful tomatoes for making gazpacho... 

Food Waste Friday- pickles I failed you

I had every intention to make my husband a jar of his favorite pickles with these cucumbers... I bought them from Whole Foods, and shudder to think what I paid for them.  I wouldn't have minded if they were pickles, but now they are just moldy trash.  I couldn't find my recipe, then I forgot... Carelessness.  Must be less ambitious I suppose... There is no excuse for the strawberries at all.  None.

August Goals

It  has  been August for a whole four days already and I haven’t given that much  thought  to  our monthly budget or my mini goals for this month yet – yikes!

Finances:
1. Budget Meeting: Will happen on Saturday morning.  No excuses.

2.  Monthly  grocery  budget:   I keep shooting for $600 (last month I even tried for $500!) and missing, so try, try again.  This month we will try to feed  two adults and one infant (who now eats rice cereal thankyouverymuch) for $600.  I will aim for $300 (or less!) at Costco, which will give us $50 per week for fresh things.  Watch this space for upcoming reports.

3.  Pack  Lunch  Daily:  this is definitely easier if I plan well (and if I don’t  answer  my  phone from 11:30 until 1 when friends call – I have been tempted to go out even when I did pack lunch.)

4.  College  Savings:  Baby  S  has  a 529 account now – I’m waiting on the paperwork to do our monthly contribution, and then this goal will be done!

Home
1.  Reduce  the  papers: I have not made much progress.  My goal will be to spend 15 minutes (I will set a timer) after dinner each night.

2.  My  Closet:  I’m  still wearing very little of my clothes.  One’s needs change  post-baby!   I’m  not  ready to give up on my clothes yet, and will have  to  focus  getting  my  work  wordobe in order as it’s back to formal business wear after Labor day.  Double UGH.

3. The Baby’s Closet: my goal or this month is to clean out and recycle the 2-3  old  laptops  in  the  top  of  this closet so I can pack away all the newborn-6 month clothes, as well as my maternity clothes.

In other finance goals:
Personal  Spending:  I  think  we  have  figured  out a system for personal spending.   We  have  opened two new FREE checking accounts – one each.  We will  each  have  $30 from our paychecks (every two weeks) direct deposited into said accounts.  Thus we get $60 per month to spend on whatever with no questions  asked.   For  now,  I’m not putting our clothing budget in there yet, although I think that would be a really good thing eventually.  I just think  $60  is  probably  not  enough, but maybe I have not become ruthless enough  yet.   Then  again, I haven’t spent more than $60 on clothes in the past  3  months!   Maybe  we could also make this gift money eventually, so that  if I want to save my money to buy my husband an iPhone, he can’t make me not do it (hehe.)

Food Waste Friday

I post about food that has gone bad over the last seven days on Fridays, as inspired by The Frugal Girl.  I don’t usually link my food waste (or anything else), but to shame myself into doing better, I will link this week...

This week was so ugly I couldn’t fit it all into a picture…  I vow to do better!

• Two packs of organic lettuce (partially liquefied)
• Pieces of 2 eggplants (pictured)
• 3 bananas (too black even for baking)
• 1 package of mushrooms (moldy)
• A piece of green pepper
• Two slices of pineapple – they tasted fizzy

ARRRRGH!!  I WILL do better.

July – No Spend Month

As inspired by the many bloggers who have written about this (I first read about it on Living Well On Less, who was inspired by Rachel at Small Notebook), I am going to have a no-spend month in July.  My version will not be as hard-core as many of my fellow bloggers, but I think small steps are better than sitting on the couch.  The plan is as follows:

1.       No spending except on necessities

• Mortgage, student loan payments, utilities, phones, etc.
• Groceries (and eating out if we must) $600 for the month
• Health and safety (this mostly relates to Baby S, who seems to need a doctor's visit a week!)

2.       Exceptions

• My haircut this weekend (scheduled before I decided to do this, and desperately)
• Whatever cash is in my wallet (I think about $8…)
• Printing photos for the scrapbook I’m making for my Mom. (a VERY BELATED birthday gift)
• Gift cards and credits we already have
• Commuting costs (with record temperatures above 100 degrees, I will not be waiting outside for public transportation with my infant.)

The first test will be this weekend’s monthly Costco trip.  Can I do Costco under $300, so that I can spend $50 a week on fresh stuff?  I will go armed with my calculator and a strict list.

Let the games begin!

June Goal Recap

Finances:
• Have a budget meeting with my husband
Not so good on this front, but the first one is scheduled for Monday
• Track our grocery budget and menu plan again (this is probably the spending category we have most control over)
Finally did it retroactively (less helpful) but set up a more ambitious plan for July (more to come in another post)
• Pack lunch every day.
I did okay on this, but can definitely do better. I have to plan lunch food better, as I still get very hungry (maybe due to nursing?)
• Set up a college savings account for Baby S
Did the research, just have to open it up.

Home:
I made no progress on this front… Yuck!

Me!:
I have decided not to track this goal on the blog – it is not really on-topic, and while I love reading about other people’s journeys and successes, I’m just not that interested in writing a weight-loss blog.

On to July...

Menus and Food Budget

Food Budget
Our food budget is $100 per week for groceries, plus $200 for Costco. (or less for weekly and more on Costco, but total spending should be $600) Meals out are limited to $200 per month.

This week's Safeway bill was astronomical... there were a few things I should probably have passed on - such as ten dollars of sliced mango, and two bottles of wine.  It also included a $15 giftcard for an upcoming occasion.  Total $217.11  Yes, ouch.  And then there was also costco today (for dogfood and clams) $51.89.

Menu Plan:
Sunday: Grilled Paella

Monday: Pasta with clams

Tuesday: Spicy Salmon Cakes, rice, salad

Wednesday: Chicken with chunky tomato salsa, rice, corn

Thursday: Individual meat loaves with potatoes, roasted beets.

Friday: Ravioli with heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese.

Saturday: Chicken Tikka Masala, roasted eggplant, coconut rice, and pistachio brittle with ice cream.
(This is my attempt at adventure this week)

Breakfast: Oatmeal, or eggs on toast, or smoothies
Lunch: leftovers from previous night's dinner or salad
Snacks: Crackers and cheese, fruit, yogurt

Gratitude Sunday - Father's Day

I have so much to be grateful for this Father's Day! It is my husband's first time to celebrate, and he is such an amazing daddy to out little man! It has been wonderful to see him interact more and more with our little guy - smiling and talking to him, making funny faces, and even reading to him. As a husband he is increasingly carrying part of my load around the house too, as he has been cooking for me when I'm tired, cleaned the house yesterday, and folded load after load of laundry. I am blessed to have a husband like you honey, and if I don't say it often enough, here it is again - I appreciate you, and I love you.

I am also grateful for my Dad, who walked into a ready-made family with patience, perseverance, and a sense of adventure. Daddy, I know it couldn't have been easy, so thank you. Thank you for helping me with math homework, for teaching me to love learning and be self-sufficient, and most of all, for continuing to inspire me with your determination and curiosity. I love you very much, and hope that some of the lessons you taught me sticks.

Third, I have to say I'm super grateful for the lovely dish of paella my husband cooked on the grill today so the house could stay nice and cool - it was delicious.

PS: Watch this space! I was inspired by Amanda Blake Soule's fabulous "Ten Things" post the other day (http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2010/06/ten-things.html, so for next week's Sunday post, I'll try to have pictures.

It’s Good to Have Goals

Or "Where I do a bit of an update on goals – frugal, green, and otherwise"

We are apparently moving overseas – will not happen this year, may not happen next year, but will definitely happen. In preparation for this eventuality, I need to do a serious declutter of our home, our finances, and my body. (Simultaneously.) I also have to do something about my career, but I’ll leave that for another month.

Finances: I think I have figured out some long term goals… We will be completely debt free (including the student loans and mortgage) by the time baby S. graduates high school. In the more medium term, I would like to have all consumer debt gone before we go overseas, but as that is a moving target, at the latest by June 2013. (Giving me three years.) For the very frugal of you, I’m sure three years doesn’t sound like a very lofty goal, but for us, between the mortgage, the student loan payments, the daycare payments, and various medical expenses, three years is super ambitious. To accomplish this, I have set the following mini-goals for this month:

• Have a budget meeting with my husband
• Track our grocery budget and menu plan again (this is probably the spending category we have most control over)
• Pack lunch every day.
• Set up a college savings account for Baby S (while this will not reduce our debt right now, I should help us avoid new debt in future)

Home: Our biggest clutter, as I’m sure it is for most people, is paper. If I could get rid of our mailbox, our home would be much neater! There are a few small goals related to this issue this month:

• Stop more junk mail (seems you have to redo this process every few months)
  
• File magazine clippings and recipes I would like to try
• Declutter/chuck/etc all magazines, except the most recent issue.
• File bills and other things I have to keep

Next month – the baby’s closet!

Me!: Declutter the baby-weight! I’m almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but that was no great shakes either, so I would like to continue working towards my healthy weight. This is important for several reasons but also dovetails nicely with my other goals – eating meals I brought from home will save us money, not having to buy (yet another) size clothing is definitely a huge money saver, and having only one size clothing inn my closet will be a fantastic decluttering exercise. Who wants to move five sizes of clothing halfway around the world anyway? Mini goals for this month:

• Keep a food journal (being honest with myself is always a good start)
• Pack gym bag to exercise at lunch time!
• Pack lunch every day (see above)
• Drink more water (I think I eat when I am actually just thirsty… besides it is hot as anything here right now.)

Monday Menu and Food Budgets

Food Budget
Our food budget is $100 per week for groceries, plus $200 for Costco. (or less for weekly and more on Costco, but total spending should be $600) Meals out are limited to $200 per month.

Good news! I didn't go grocery shopping at all last weekend (mostly because I ran out of time) so it end up I can make a week's worth of meals out of the pantry/fridge/freezer. We did, however, go out twice. Once because we were just too tired to cook, and then for pizza and beer after church.

Menu Plan:
Sunday: Grill! Steaks, potatoes, and tomato salad

Monday: Pasta with roast vegetables

Tuesday: Flounder with dill yogurt sauce, potatoes, peas

Wednesday: Curried chicken and rice salad

Thursday: Husband is eating out, so I'll make do with leftovers

Friday: Scallops with tomato and capers

Saturday: Pot roast (with enough for a meal next week)

Breakfast: Oatmeal, or eggs on toast, or smoothies
Lunch: leftovers from previous night's dinner or salad
Snacks: Crackers and cheese, fruit, yogurt

Food Waste Friday

Not awful this week... a little plain yogurt (about 1/2 cup) that expired on April 24th. In a prior life I would have eaten it as long as there was no mold, but since I'm feeding Baby S and his sensitive tummy - not a good plan.

Drum roll... the refrigerator has been emptied of anything that may go bad while we're gone!T

Gratitude Sunday

Today's gratitude day is even easier than usual!

1. My fantastic little son, who is gently teaching me how to be a good mommy to him.

2. My amazing mom, who can do anything, is one of the strongest people I know, and supports and loves me much more than I deserve.

3. The years I got to spend with my amazing grandmother, who embodied compassion and love in everything she did. She was a woman of God, an incredible wife, mother, and grandmother, and while I miss her every day, I am so grateful for the many years we had with her.

4. My mother-in-law, who raised my wonderful husband, and loves her little grandson.

Happy mother's day!

Food Waste Friday

Not good - some asparagus in a weird lemon sauce that was awful and never got eaten, a small (less than a cup) container of cooked cauliflower that somehow ended in the back of the drawer, a small portion of greenbeans we didn't finish before it became a life-form, and a container of buttermilk my Mom used to bake when she was here a few weeks ago... I did not have the time or creativity to use it up.

UGH! Must do better this week as we are going on vacation the next week.

Monday - Menu and Grocery Budget -part 1

Since I have not done the grocery shopping yet, this post will be updated later.

Sunday: Grilled Steaks, roasted veggies, salad
Monday: Chicken breast with mustard sauce, leftover roast veg, and awesome strawberries
Tuesday: *Creamy Risotto Primavera (weight watchers recipe)
Wednesday: *Fish Tacos in honer of Cinco de Mayo (weight watchers recipe)
Thursday: *Cajun Pork (slow cooker) with rice
Friday: Pasta with scallops

* New recipes

Gratitude Sunday

Beautiful weather, my lovely boy who is seven weeks now, and progress on many fronts...

I'm also trying to be grateful for my job right now, but since I'd rather be home with my son I'm having a hard time with this one. I have four weeks to improve my attitude.

Food Waste Friday

Didn't get around to taking pictures, but food waste this week was a quarter bag of green beans that somehow got shoved to the back of the produce drawer, and two bottles of breast milk that I forgot to label with dates, and thus was of unknown vintage...

Oh well, not terrible all things considered.

Wednesday Inspiration

Isaiah 30:15, "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..."

I had a baby boy on March 12, and have (mostly) interrupted blog posting and even blog reading for this sacred time with my new son. It has made Easter especially meaningful for our family this year, and every minute I spend with that precious baby is a prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of life - which is ultimately the gift of Easter.

While I'm getting frustrated with my inability to keep a regular schedule, or any schedule at all for that matter (a two week old will do that to you!) I feel that this time is such an important reminder that the busy-ness of my everyday life is really not that important. What is of utmost importance is to cherish the gifts I have received. While it is still cold and windy, it is Easter outside with daffodils and tulips everywhere - all the signs of life and renewal. On Easter Sunday, we celebrate life - both that Jesus lives, and that we can live with Him. In my family, we will also celebrate the new life we are lucky enough to experience.

For now, I will enjoy the rest of not keeping a schedule, loving my little boy, and giving thanks with every breath.

Baby S Arrived

At 8 pounds, 21 inches, by c-section unfortunately...So my apologies for the lack of posts... I am busy with a very small, but very very important project.

Welcome babe!

Gratitude Sunday

Three things I'm grateful for this week:

My wonderful neighbors! They had such a nice baby shower for us yesterday and we stayed for hours just chatting and laughing. Fabulous friends, food, company...

Fresh snow! It is a fairytale outside my windows. My pup had such an amazing time frolicking in the snow with her friends last night and this morning. I'm also grateful that it wasn't too much snow and the commute tomorrow should be tolerable.

Baby hiccups! I can't stop laughing at the little man when he gets the hiccups in utero. Who knew?

I just realized that this post is full of exclamation marks. I have had an exclamation mark filled week, despite not making much progress on my never-ending to-do list. I love my life right now, and my list of blessings grows every bit as fast as my to-do list.

Menus and Grocery Budget

So last week's grocery spending at Costco was a complete disaster... I could make excuses... For example, we stocked up on diapers for the first time. In addition, I have been buying more food than usual as I am stocking up my freezer with cooked meals for after baby arrives. Theoretically then, our budget should even out in March when we'll be working off the inventory in the freezer. We'll see. Anyways - this was the first month of budgeting, and I hope we'll get better at this as we go. Besides, the eating out is easily half what it used to be, so I'll claim victory (of sorts.)

Groceries:
Safeway: $42 last week and $68.45 this week
Remaining for this month: -$10.15

Eating Out:
My husband took out our house guests while I was at my baby shower $81.57, and this week we went out for Greek food, $45.15.
Remaining for this month: -$14.26

Costco:
Here's where it completely falls apart... $404.24
Remaining for this month: -$204.24

Here's the menu for this week:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, smoothies, toast, homemade blueberry muffins
Lunch: Soup, salad, leftovers

Sunday: Pork stew in roasted pumpkins (it was amazing, and I froze 1 meal)
Monday: Pinto bean and butternut squash chili (+1 to freezer)
Tuesday: Flounder Meuniere with green beans and potatoes
Wednesday: Chicken Cacciatore (+ 2 to freezer)
Thursday: Beef schnitzel, roasted vegetables
Friday: Pasta with clam sauce
Saturday: Quiche

Thanks heavens it's the end of the month and we can start over!

Gratitude Sunday

Three things I'm grateful for this week:

Being able to sleep in this morning! I didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning after going to bed around 11 last night. A full night's sleep has not happened for me in a while!

A stand-up freezer - I have been cooking like mad to fill it up before the baby arrives. It gives me so much pleasure looking at all the neatly stacked meals that will nourish us when we bring our little man home.

Being pregnant - we have wanted this little boy for a long time, and my pregnancy has been easy and uneventful.

Menu and Food Budgets - Last Week

Okay, so this post is late... wayyyy late. I did track and make a menu, but for whatever reason I didn't get a chance to post, so there will be two budget and menu posts today.

I (still!) haven't finished our budget for this year. I'm working with $100 per week for groceries, plus $200 for Costco. We'll limit meals out to $200 per month. Here's the scoop on last week's food budget and eating out:

Groceries:
Safeway: $73.29
Remaining for this month: $100.30

Eating Out:
none
Remaining for this month: $123

Costco:
Still haven't gone yet...
Remaining for this month: $200
Here's the menu we followed for last week:

Sunday: Thai Chicken
Monday: Chicken Thighs with mushroom and thyme sauce, rice, veggie
Tuesday: Roasted Salmon with tomatoes, leftover rice.
Wednesday: Home-made burgers!
Thursday: Cassoulet (froze half for later)
Friday: Lasagna (froze half for later)
Saturday: Dinner out with Mom and brother. Indian food hmmmmm.
Sunday: Leftovers! (love leftovers!)

Menus and Grocery Budget - Last Week

I haven't quite finished out budget for this year as there are so many changes in our life right now. For groceries though, I think the budget will be approximately $100 per week, plus $200 for Costco. We currently spend too much money going out, and I'd like to limit that to $200 per month. While that may sound like way too much for two people, it would be a vast improvement over our current spending.

Here's the menu we followed (mostly) for last week:

Sunday: Pizza (whole wheat dough from Trader Joe's with salami and olives)
Monday: Slow cooker beans and sausage
Tuesday: Steaks (hubby found steaks on sale and convinced me the baby wanted steak - didn't take much convincing. I just move the rest of the menu on day forward)
Wednesday: Cod, potatoes, green beans
Thursday: Pasta Puttanesca (froze half for later)
Friday: Sushi and for me, alas, cooked Japanese food - we ate out and spent
Saturday: Tapas (Garlic shrimp, Spanish ham and cheese, Fierce Potatoes, Spinach, olives)
Sunday: Thai Pork in the slow cooker.

Spending so far for January:

Groceries:
Trader Joes - $94.06
Safeway: $132.35
Remaining for this month: $173.91
(Obviously seriously not good)

Eating Out:
Japanese Food: $77
Remaining for this month: $123
We can manage through this one easily...

Costco:
Haven't gone yet...
Remaining for this month: $200
May go today, calculator in hand for sure!