I'm watching curious George! snuggling baby granddaughter and writing a blog. Is that multi tasking? LOL.
Multi tasking in the kitchen is hectic and stressful. I try to find recipes that let me put ingredients together and go on to do other things. Slow cookers, oven meals and things that cook in the microwave without having to be watched reduce the get everything on the table stress syndrome.
The other way to reduce the stress is to deligate. When I am trying to make a taco dinner, I chop the condiments, have someone else do the refried beans and heat the meat while I do the rice and cook the chicken, heat the shells. Premade taco meat is a help as so refried beans out of a can. It would also be a help if we didn't have semi vegetarians in the group. I sometimes just do chicken, but dad is not thrilled with chicken.
My husband solves the problem , he just makes the main dish. If we want balance, we need to add the veggies and starch.
I am still a believer in the food pyramid. In moderation. The new food pyramid addresses fat and sugar consumption and balance. We all need some salt and carbs. Carbs give is energy, and salt keeps our electrolytes in balance. Moderation is the key. Anytime, in my opinion,that we go overboard on any one food group, we are asking for trouble. Our bodies need balance.
This blog so about trying to create balanced, nutritious diets while feeding families on very low income. It is very easy to spend more on food. My thought is that if I can show people how to do it at rock bottom budgets, the rest will take care of itself. Adding more expensive choices in vegetables and meat is easy. Doing it on the cheap, not so much! LOL
I still buy more expensive ingredients if I am bring to a potluck out of respect for the people that are not on a cheap budget. ( the foodies). I have no problem with foodies, I just can't do that on less than the poverty level budget. LOL. XX!? Happens. We can all plan for our lives. But sometimes life slips you a curve ball. It's up to you to pick up the ball and run with it. I have had more than enough curve balls in my 70 years I really can't help picking up the ball! Leaving it sit on the ground doesn't solve any problems.
Shopping is not my whole life, it is a portion of it. I essentially get more benefit from shopping wisely than I do the cooking part of dinner. With health issues, I don't have the energy at the end of the day to set down and do a two hour meal. I have found ways to get around it. I suspect that people that have children or children and jobs , or just lead a full life are on the same boat.
I still run two businesses, one of which is labor intensive, fun but time consuming, run a household,
work two days a week and help take care of a baby and belong to a service group for women. I really don't have a princess life. LOL. it's worth shopping WISELY to save 4000.00 a year-- especially if you don't have the 4000 in the first place.
I recently heard from a lady who's husband had lost his job and found one after 8 months for a lot less pay. She picked up the ball and ran with it very effectively. It's a matter of survival. I still can't top the lady on the Today show that Matt Lauer asked what she said to naysayers about her couponing. She (paraphrasing) said " if you don't understand, you ain't been broke enough. Enough said.
I coupon when it makes sense. There are some coupons out there that are for necessity items. If you can get your personal items free, it frees up money for food. There are some things that it doesn't pay to make from scratch unless you are in a position to cook for hours and like to cook. Also, I am finding dairy coupons. Of I can find something free or nearly free, cheaper than scratch, I will get it in moderation.
We have more than my usual supply of basic food. We also have a situation looming that could make us loose 25 percent of our income. We will need to pick up the ball. I have four mouths to feed. LOL. This is not about hoarding. I am not buying 93 bottles of hot sauce that we will never eat, or cat food when we don't have a cat, or a closet fill of soda pop. We have a stock of foods I buy on a regular basis. I just paid 1/2 price or less for them. It would be nice if everything was 1/2 price everyday, but then the grocery stores would be out of business. LOL. It would also be nice if we could sit with a drink in your hand and dinner would magically appear on the table. What a fantasy!
Back to reality, coupons work. I save the inserts in the newspaper. I buy 1 paper a week. I keep them in binder clips. I download the coupons of the things I buy at the first of the month and put them in a binder that I paid a total if three dollars for. I check coupon connections once a week to find any match ups that make sense to our family. I tell you about them. Whether or not you use them is up to you. Not every bargain is a bargain of it doesn't for your lifestyle. I certainly don't spend hours planning coupon trips. I don't get my groceries for 1 cent, but I think I do a fair job.
Taking a little time on the front end of a shopping trip, you will spend less time shopping and less money. Using tips to get out of the kitchen faster and still get well balanced on the table balances the shopping time. You actually spend less time of you are the person that goes every two or three days to buy one or two days of food. Or of you run out of something and run to the store to get one thing.
Planning your trips to save gas is a real help. Gas is expensive in this economy even of you have a car that gets 50 mpg. If a store is far away, we go less often and I make sure that I can buy enough to save considerably more than the gas money. We are about due for a bread run. Finding the cheapest place to buy certain foods is a real help for the budget. If you need to go out of your five mile radius to get cheap food, consider going with another person . Stock up so you don't have to go often.
Knowing your rock bottom prices, even in this time of drought driven prices, is the best tool you can have. My mother used to have an expression, " some people wouldn't know a bargain if it got up and bit them in the butt". It PAYS you to know what a bargain is.
Funny story. I have pointed out when walking through the grocery store with my husband, "look at this , it's 7.99. We paid 3.20 ." Etc numerous times. Last week, I had to get something at the fabric store. Knowing how much my husband LOVES walking through the fabric store, I suggested he go to big lots and get the leaf bags and a personal product I needed. He came back with a double package because it was less than double the price. I got 48 for the price of a small package at the grocery store. It almost never pays to get Personal products and paper products at the grocery store. I must be rubbing off on him. Or, it was the statement , "if we don't pay full price for necessities, we can afford some luxuries. ". It makes for a more fruitful and fulfilling life.
I guess it's time I get to the mounting laundry pile and the housework. No little elf does that in this house either, DARN! LOL
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Jane
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