Freezer Meals Day 2: Oven-Ready Dishes

   Day 2 of my operation was a LOT more cooking. I had a few muscle spasms resulting in a few melt downs. This was a lot of food preparation for anyone to take on, especially someone who is 37 weeks pregnant. My loving husband helped as much as I'd let him, but I had a system and it got really crowded in the kitchen even with the 2 (and a 1/2) of us. So he spent most of the day working on the yard. Another way to do this is to make one of these recipes for dinner, but double it and place the second pan in the freezer. That way you slowly stock up your freezer instead of making 30 meals in a weekend. This will save us money in the long run -  not ordering take out when we don't feel like cooking, dining out too often, etc. Plus, each of these meals will involve leftovers for lunch and possibly even a second dinner! It took me about 6-8 hours to make these 10 dishes.

 Layered Enchilada Casserole:

2 cups cooked shredded chicken

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 block cream cheese

2 cups shredded cheddar

3 flour tortillas

Mix the chicken, tomatoes, beans and cream cheese well. Layer on bottom of foil pan and top w/ flour tortilla. Top tortilla with chicken mixture then sprinkle cheese. Repeat. Cover in heavy duty tin foil, label, double wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Quesadilla Casserole:

1 lb ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 tbs taco seasoning (mine is homemade)

16 oz tomato sauce

1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can (4.5 oz) green chilies, undrained

6 flour tortillas

2 cups shredded cheddar

Brown beef and onion in a large skillet on medium heat. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and chilies. Mix well and stir in the spices. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low for 5 minutes. Spread mixture to coat bottom of foil pan. Top with tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer 1/2 the remaining beef micture and top with cheese. Repeat. Cover in heavy duty tin foil, label, double wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until heated through. Top with sour cream and guac for added deliciousness.

Chicken and Wild Rice:

1 box/bag of wild rice w/ seasoning

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can water

2 cups sliced mushrooms

6 boneless, skinnless chicken breasts, uncooked

Mix rice packet, both cans of soup, water and mushrooms. Pour half mixture into foil baking dish. Lay chicken cutlets evely across the pan. Cover with remaining rice mixture. Cover in heavy duty tin foil, label, double wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour.

Goulash:

1 lb ground beef

2 cans tomato sauce/soup

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

2 tbs Italian seasoning

1 can whole corn, drained

1 tsp each garlic and onion powder

2 cups shredded cheese

Brown beef with onion and garlic powder. Drain. Cook noodles and drain. Combine all ingredients, except cheese, in a large bowl. Pour into foil pan. Top with cheese. Cover in heavy duty tin foil, label, double wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until heated through.

Potato Soup:

30 oz. bag of shredded hashbrowns

32 oz. chicken stock

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of potato

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

8 oz. cream cheese

Combine all ingredients except the cream cheese in a freezer bag. (I dumped mine back in the spaghetti sauce jugs I emptied and cleaned while making lasagna. But gallon ziplocks are just as good). Label and date them. Thaw soup and reheat in crock pot or large sauce pan. 1 hour before serving, add the block of cream cheese. Stir thoroughly and serve.

Lemon Dill Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup white cooking wine

1/4 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic minced

1 egg

1/2 cup flour

3 tbs fresh chopped dill

salt and pepper to taste

3 fresh lemons

Sautee onion and garlic in white wine on medium heat. Meanwhile, eggwash and flour chicken breasts. I salt and pepper my flour mixture, as well as added 1 tbs dill. This gives the chicken a nice tasty coat. Cut one lemon in half and squeeze juice into white wine sautee. Add dill to the sauce and simmer until it thickens and bubbles. Slice the other two lemons and layer on the bottom of foil pan. Place floured chicken cutlets in pan and pour sauce on top. Cover in heavy duty tin foil, label, double wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Thaw and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Serve over pasta of your choice. (We do angel hair)

Mushroom Parmesean Alfredo:

3 cups mushroom, sliced

1/2 cup diced onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1.5 cups grated parm cheese

1/2 white cooking wine

4 boneless chicken breasts

Sautee onion, garlic and mushroom in white wine. Turn to low and add cream and grated parmesean. Simmer and allow to thicken. Pour some mixture in foil pan to coat bottom. Layer chicken breasts in pan. Cover with remaining parmasean alfredo sauce. Cover in heavy duty tin foil, label, double wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Thaw and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Serve over pasta of your choice. (We do angel hair). **This will remain a soupy mixture so be careful not to spill it when you wrap it and put it in the freezer.

White Cheese and Chicken Lasagna:

9 lasagna noodles

1/2 butter

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 cup flour (all purpose)

1 tsp salt2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk

4 cups shredded mozarella

1 cup grated parm cheese

1 tsp basil and oregano

1/2 tsp pepper

2 cups ricotta cheese

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

Cook lasagna noodles for 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter in large sauce pan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic in butter until tender. Stir in flour and salt, simmer and stir continuously. Mix in broth and milk and bring to a boil stirring constantly for 1 min. Stir in 2 cups mozarella and 1/2 cup parm cheese. Season with basil, oregano and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

Combine ricotta, spinach and chicken. Pour 1/3 cheese mixture on bottom of foil pan. Layer noddles, then spinach chicken mixture. Repeat twice. Top with shredded mozarella. Cover in heavy duty tin foil, label, double wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Thaw and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Casserole:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cans broccoli cheese soup

2 eggs

1 head broccoli florets

3 cups shredded cheddar

salt and pepper to taste

Dice chicken (raw). Dump chicken, soup, eggs, broccoli and 2 cups cheese in large bowl. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Pour into foil baking pan. Top with remaining shredded cheese.

Lasagna:

9 lasagna noodles

6 cups spaghetti meat sauce

32 oz ricotta

4 cups shredded mozarella

1 tbs garlic powder

Combine ricotta, 3 cups mozarella and garlic powder. Cover bottom of foil pan with red meat sauce. Layer noddles. Layer cheese mixture. Repeat twice. Cover in heavy duty tin foil, label, double wrap in plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Thaw and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Freezer Meals Day 1: Dump Bags

   To prepare for baby and the early weeks of up all night, can't seem to get out of my pajamas all day, baby laundry explosion, constant cycle of eat, poop, sleep, repeat, we thought it would be a good idea to make a month's worth of food for the freezer to make dinner easier on us and our budget. When you don't have time to cook and have nothing prepared, it's easy to just order in our go out for dinner. This new habit could become very expensive and damaging to our budget. So, Operation Freezer Meals was put into action this weekend.

   I spent Friday afternoon at Sam's Club and Publix managing multiple grocery lists for this operation. I bought:

• Meats: 2 beef roasts; 2 whole chickens, 4 large packages of boneless chicken breasts (7-8 in each pack); 2 cooked rotiserie chickens, a 2.5-foot long pork roast (which I cut into 3 separate pieces); 5# of burger meat
• Produce: Large bag carrots; 1 stalk celery; 5# gold Yukon potatoes; 5 packs of mushrooms; a 3# bag of Vidalia onions; 5 heads of garlic; 2 heads of broc; 2 bell peppers; 3 cooking apples
• Dairy: 4# bag shredded mozarella cheese, 4# bag shredded cheddar cheese, quart of heavy whipping (cooking) cream, 64 oz. Ricotta cheese; 32 oz. grated parm cheese; 16 oz. cream cheese; gallon of milk (I already had butter and eggs at home)
• Dry pantry supplies: 4 packs yellow rice, 2 packs wild rice; 8 bottles Lawry's marinade in a variety of flavors (they were b1g1); 2 boxes lasagna noodles, a 3 large bottles red spaghetti sauce, 2 cans each of cream of potato, crm. broc, crm. celery, and 4 cans crm. of chicken; 3 cartons chicken stock and 2 beef stock; a bottle of burgundy; white cooking wine

I split my preparation up into 2 days. Day 1, I did all the prep work for my produce - washing, cutting, chopping, measuring. Then, I made all the "dump bags". A dump bag is the meat, produce and marinade or seasonings dumped in a gallon freezer bag. You can later thaw and dump into the crock pot or baking dish with no mess, no fuss. I made 12 meals and 6 side dishes in dump bags.

• Whole chicken in garlic & herb marinade. Side dish bag included whole mushrooms, carrots and diced potatoes with seasonings. (2 of these)
• Burgundy mushroom and beef roast - a 3# beef roast, 750ml of burgundy wine, 12-15 whole mushrooms, 1 onion quartered. I also cut holes in the meat and pushed in whole cloves or garlic.
• Mojo beef roast - a 3# beef roast with 3 cups mojo marinade, 1 cup beef stock, 1 onion quartered. I also cut holes in the meat and pushed in whole cloves or garlic.
• Santa Fe Chili Lime Chicken - Lawrys marinade, diced 4 boneless chicken breasts, broccoli florets, bell pepper, onion, mushrooms.
• Hawaiian Chicken - Lawrys marinade, 4 boneless chicken breasts, 1 cup orange juice, 1 apple cored and sliced, 1 can pineapple chunks w/ juice.
• Caribbean Jerk pork roast - Lawrys marinade, 2.5# pork loin roast, 1 can pineapple w/ juice.
• Mojo pork roast - 2.5# pork loin roast, 2 cups mojo, 4 cloves garlic and 1/2 onion quartered.
• Baja Chipotle pork roast - Lawrys marinade, 2.5# pork loin roast, bell peppers, 4 cloves garlic.
• Szechuan Sweet and Sour Chicken - Lawrys marinade, 4 boneless chicken breasts (put these in quart freezer bags and made 2 sets) Can be served over rice or cut up for stir fry.
• Honey Garlic Apple Chicken - 4 boneless chicken breasts, 2 whole apples cored and sliced, 3 cloves garlic minced, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup apple butter, 16 oz chicken stock.
• Cheesy Al Grautin potatoes - made this in a giant batch and divided into 4 quart bags. 12 gold potatoes diced (or sliced), 5 cups milk, 2 cups flour, 3 cups shredded cheddar, 1 cup grated parm cheese and 1 tbs each salt and pepper

Thrift Store Find: Vintage Brass Lamps

   While working on getting the nursery ready, the massive amount of crap in our garage is also on my agenda to tackle. It either needs to be put to use, go in the attic, or go to the dump. Among the items that could be put to use were a pair of vintage stiffel style brass lamps I found at a thrift store over a year ago. There's a small, church-operated thrift about 1/2 mile from my house and the stuff is never marked up. One time, I found a Christian Dior cashmere sweater in there for a $1. One. Dollar. When I found those brass lamps, they were $5 for the set. That's $2.50 per lamp! I didn't know what a steal that was at the time. I just wanted some nice lamps for our room that added character.

   

Total cost for these items: $33

      I have been meaning to find shades for them and put them on our bedroom nightstands. Finally last week, I got around to finding lamp shades - something simple but elegant - from TJ Maxx for $5.99 each. Done. Another bargain, I thought. Then, I sent Ian to Lowe's to pick up the hardware that attaches the shades to the lamp base. He did a great job picking out something simple and they were only $8 each.

  

Finished Project! 

    They looked so swanky, I decided to do a little search on eBay to price compare. Similar sets of stiffel style vintage solid brass lamps were going for $150+!! 

Nursery On A Dime: Vintage Window Frame

   When I found out I was pregnant and knew we would have to plan a nursery, I wanted something very unique but not expensive. That pretty much sums up the style of our home - lots of unique and eclectic things that go together but are not matchy matchy or expensive. We decided on a rustic/country/woodland concept, but not overly themed with wallpaper borders and characters or figurines everywhere. Just simple, like us.

   Aside from the main furniture set - crib and dresser - I wanted everything else to be handmade, crafty, thrifty or family heirloom. First on my list was a vintage window picture frame. I saw an idea at a craft fair where someone had put pictures in each window pane. They wanted $150 for this piece of art. I found an old window in a second-hand shop in Georgia while visiting my parents last spring (before I was pregnant). I paid $10 for it. It looked rough but I knew I could do something cool with it eventually.

   I started with deciding what kind of pictures I would want in the window if it were to go in the nursery. Woodland animals. Baby woodland animals. Perfect. First I looked for prints on the web that I could buy. Way too expensive. So I surfed Google for high resolution images I could save and print myself. 6 prints @ $3.99/pic = $25 (with tax).

  

 I dug the window out of my craft room closet, cleaned the cobwebbs off and washed the decades of dirt and dust from the chipped painted frame. Once it was clean and dry, I fastened some picture fram hangers to the back of it to support the weight. **Place the window on a towel or something cushiony to absorb the hammering or the glass could break. Hammer gently!**

   I cut the printed pictures to size for each window pane and taped them on. Then we picked a spot in the nursery for the window frame to hang. Using a level, I made two marks on the wall and tapped in the small pin nails to hold the hangers. Voila!

   The total cost of this project was about $35, compared to $150 for a similar one at the craft fair. DIY pays off!

Like Father, Like Daughter

   It is no secret I come by my thrifty ways from my dad. He was always a saver on a catastrophic level, "storing nuts for the winter" on a natural disaster-government militia takeover-living underground for years-great depression survivor-level. When I talk about the small budget of a married couple, my mom still boasts, "Your father and I lived in a 300 sq. foot apartment with battleship gray cabinets and counters. We ate Encore and Banquet dinners from the freezer and we turned the coffee table sideways to use as a baby/dog gate." If extreme couponing and extreme cheapskates was on TV 35 years ago, my dad would have been an entire episode. Legit. I say all of this out of love and resounding gratefullness because now I have inherited these thrifty character traits that make our household budget healthy. Thanks, Dad!

   My parents have their own baby savings plan - for their grandbaby....my parents are not expecting their own baby, just to clarify. My dad saw my post about rolling coins for baby's savings account and took the liberty to "dumpster dive" his neighbors trash and pick out a wine/cider jug. He took the jug home and washed it and started a coin collection for the little man. I was very touched and not surprised at all by the trash picking element of this sentiment.

   Today, while on the phone with my mom, she tells me "Your father is all stocked up on ice packs for the baby." ::confused eyebrow raise:: I answered her, "I'm sorry, what? Ice packs? Do you foresee him getting hurt a lot?" Mom: "Well so many people in our neighborhood get their medication delivered to them and the medicine comes with ice packs. So he's been collecting them." Okay, THIS is surprising. According to my mother, because they live in a retirement community with a population that receives medication at their door on a regular basis, my dad is "dumpster diving" the entire neighborhood....for medical grade ice packs. At this point in the phone conversation, I am half hysterical with laughter and half with concern. "You're going to put trash-picked ice packs on my baby's face?! Because he's going to be hurt so often while in your care?!" Perhaps I should rethink grandparent daycare? (Just kidding ;o) )

   Honestly I was a little surprised at this savings effort. My dad assured me he washed and sanitized them all and they in the freezer "ready to go." LOL. When you think about it, they could come in handy - keeping my breastmilk cold, injuries, taking him to the pool or golf course and keeping his snacks and drinks cold, grandparents icing their sore joints after chasing him around all day...makes sense.

I May Never Shop Victoria Secret Again

   This post is just for the ladies. My experience is pregnancy-specific, but it can be a useful tip to any woman who likes undergarments. I have always been a Victoria Secret girl. I have the Angels Reward Platinum card. 'Nuff said. Although I use my share of coupons and "Semi-annual sale" deals, I have seen a new light.

   While my bump is ever-expanding, I need some ::cough:: larger, belly friendly waistline undies. I absolutely refuse to go the beige, granny panty route from a superstore. But I don't think dumping a lot of money in lingerie in a size I only need temporarily is a good move either. I did visit Victoria once, a few weeks ago when I first realized I was miserable in my current undies. I only bought a few pairs. When all of those made their way to the laundry, I broke down again.

   As much as I hate the store Ross - for the way it smells and the quality of people that frequent it and the massive dissaray the clothing is always in - I remembered seeing a decent size lingerie section in there and thought to check it out. At first, I didn't believe it....name brand undies like Jessica Simpson, XOXO, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger for $1-3 per pair! I spent at least 30 minutes disecting the clothing racks in this department. I was on a mission for super-stretch comfy waistbands with enough butt coverage to keep me from fidgeting with ass-creepage on my expanding rump. Success. I found 16 pairs, half sporty/comfy and half of them silky/sexy...for Ian's sake, lol.

   As a price comparison, if I had gone to Victoria Secret and taken advantage of their famous "5 for $25" deal, 15 pairs would have cost me $75. But at this new honey hole, I got 16 pairs for $46.39!! And they are name brand, attractive and comfortable.

Saving for Baby

   Of course we want our son - who has not arrived on the earth yet - to be as financially responsible as his parents. So we are starting him off right with his own little savings account. We will also start him a college fund through Florida Prepaid. He WILL go to college. And should he receive a scholarship of some sort, it's just another savings account for us that we can cash in later.

   To get him started, we took our laundry room mason jar that serves as the catch-all family piggy bank and sorted the coins. I rolled for hours while we watched a few movies from RedBox. At the end of the day, we had $65 dollars to take to the bank. Not bad for his first savings deposit! I cashed it in and will set it aside to put in an actual, tangible piggy bank for him in his room that he can add to once he's old enough to earn allowance and receive birthday money.

iPhone Hot Spot = No Home Internet

   Last year, we cancelled our home internet to save money. We just didn't use it enough (at all) since we both have internet at work, and an iPhone. Later in the year, we started a side business and found that we needed home internet for email, placing orders, receiving and printing invoices, website stuff, etc. I called the only internet provider in our area, CenturyLink. I loathe this company and their customer service is the worst in the world, 2nd only to Wal-Mart and Rooms-to-Go, so I dreaded starting service with them again. They advised me it would be a minimum $45 bill to have monthly home internet.
   **Side note: We will be moving the office from one room to another because of nursery planning, so I knew they would have to send someone out to move our wires and cables in the wall/attic. The last time this happened, they told us "they would have to charge an additional fee for labor since we have a split attic". WTF? So Ian had to crawl up there and do it himself! We would have to do this all over again if we signed up for service again. Frustrated.

   Then I thought about wireless internet and the hot spot capabilities some smart phones have. I called AT&T and asked about this process. Long story short, for $20 they added a hot spot capability to my iPhone and we can get internet using WiFi on the laptop! My new plan has 5Gs of data usage (foreign language to me) and I'm only using 1.3 of that on my iPhone itself. So there is plenty left over to use the computer at home for the few hours a week we need it to conduct business or personal matters on the Web. The savings here is $25 per month, at minimum! Bonus: With WiFi on my phone, we can use Ian's phone to Facetime our friends in other states and countries :)

Clearance Clothes

   Some would say any shopping is hindering your saving efforts. But, if you need something, saving while you shop is the best way. We are expecting our first baby this July, so we will HAVE to do some shopping to prepare. So many things we need - nursery furniture, car seat and stroller, clothes, diapers, etc. I think we will try to minimize on the contraptions that first-time-parents think they need but really don't. We'll take advice from blogs and other parents that have the scoop on what you really need and don't need for baby.

   We are having a boy. The first one in our family in 22 years so we can't really count on hand-me-downs at this point. Starting from scratch on clothes and toys will be expensive but I think we can get creative to save money. This past weekend I went to Baby Gap with my amazing friend @Kim O'Laughlin who is always raving about the sales she finds at Gap. **I am now a believer! To my delight, the clearance section of Baby Gap had some awesome finds and on top of the already clearance price, everything was another 25% off. So I got some items for as little as $2....from GAP!!

   They are famous for their zipper pajamas since parents hate fussing with buttons/snaps during middle of the night changings. I found three pairs for about $4 each, orginally $25. Most of the clearance stuff was for winter so I bought 6 month size, which is just what we'll need when "winter" rolls back around in Florida. My total bill was $62.40 for: 3 pairs of pajamas, 2 long-sleeve/pants sweater onsies, 2 Halloween outfits, a striped long-sleeve onsie, and a corduroy jacket. I went back through the items and calculated what I would have spent if I bought these items at full price. Want to take a guess before I tell you and you have a stroke? $257.10! That is two-hundred and fifty-seven dollars and ten cents folks. No joke. 

   I also did this in Toys R' Us a few weeks ago right after I found out we were having a boy. Their kids' winter clothing was on clearance and I found a 3-piece fleece set for $6. It had a moose on it. Having actually visited @Piper Machamer in Alaska, I could not leave without it :) My recommendation to any parent would be to shop clearance at the end of a season or holiday, and buy the size your child will need for the NEXT season/holiday. Huge savings here.

Close But No Cigar

   So after all our best efforts this year, we were shy of reaching our goal of saving $10K in one calendar year. I'm not disappointed though, because we saved WAY more than we would have without this effort. Our savings account is in a really healthy place. And bonus - now that we have adjusted to this low-spending life style, we can keep it up and save even more this year! 
   A small setback was launching a side business. We decided to start a crib and baby equipment rental business as a side gig. We spent about $1,000 on cribs, pack n' plays and other items, and another $1,000 or so on advertising in the month of December. We knew this little business adventure would set us back in the savings department, but we thought it would be a good time in our life to start something relatively low-risk and see if it could turn into a legit business that could be a primary income in a few years. We live smack in the middle of retirement country and those folks are always having family visitors/grandkids and it does have the potential to really take off. We will see. That being said, if we had put that $2,000 in the savings account instead, we'd be really close to our goal. So we did pretty well!
   We hope to save a few thousand more by mid-year 2013. We'll start with a good ol' fashion fiscal fast! Our pantry and freezer are completely full...to the point where things come tumbling out when you open the cabinets. One week of no spending whatsoever starts today!