Monday, March 23, 2009

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Roasted Chicken Chicken went bad so we ate Brats, brown rice, and asparagus
Tuesday - Brown sugar chicken, broccoli, fruit salad
Wednesday - Pork in crockpot, mashed potatoes
Thursday - Sloppy joes, glazed carrots, potato chips
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Freezer shepherds pie, fruit salad
Sunday - Freezer soups (asparagus or potato)

Also on agenda - make breakfast burritos for freezer, make asparagus soup out of left over roasted chicken, make homemade bread to add to our meals?

Friday, March 20, 2009

Frugal Fridays - Discount on gift cards

So, in April I have a "gift card" wedding shower to attend. The frugal part of me has been agonizing over what to do about it, as we all know it's easier to save money when you're able to purchase a gift at a discount, but much more difficult to purchase a gift card at a discount.

So, today I bit the bullet and used up all of the $5 Amazon giftcards I have racked up through SWAGBUCKS and I will use it to buy a Target giftcard on Amazon (I didn't have enough SWAGBUCKS to purchase a Target giftcard). I am slightly disappointed, as I had wanted to use my SWAGBUCKS on a Starbucks giftcard (I have completely given up spending money at Starbucks). But, thats life!

Anyways, if you have any other ideas on how to purchase gift cards at a discount, let me know! I had looked into websites that allow you to "swap" giftcards, as well as purchasing them on Ebay. This proved to be the easiest and least expensive (although I did have to "spend" my Swagbucks)

New members, use code "MOMMYSNACKS" when you sign up and get 2 free bucks! Just enter it in during registration in the box for swagcodes.

Search & Win

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Easy Potato Soup

I really enjoy couponing and deal seeking, but sometimes with a 2 year old who refuses to behave in a store, I don't get to score as many deals as I would like. So, I have starting working really hard on cooking from scratch and using more whole foods to cut down on food costs.

Anyways, lastnight I made potato soup and it was yummy!

5 cups of diced potatoes
1 cup of diced carrots
1/2 cup of diced celery (could obviously use more but I didn't have much to work with)
1 small onion diced (the small onions that come in the bags at the grocery store)
1 can of corn
1 can of condensed cream soup (I used chicken)
3 cups of milk (I used whole)
1 8oz. bag of cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
A pinch of oregano
olive oil

Boil diced potatoes until they are soft. Saute diced carrots and celery in olive oil. Don't use too much oil or it'll make your soup oily... I probably used 1 maybe 2 tablespoons. If you keep the heat low enough on the stove top while you're sauteing, you don't have to worry about burning because you used less oil. I sauteed for about 15 minutes, then added the onion and sauteed another 10 minutes. In a soup pot, I combined all the ingredients and seasoned it with the spices. Serve as soon as the cheese is melted throughout the soup.

So tasty. My husband is a food snob to the highest degree, so when he enjoys the dishes I make, I know they are good!

I would make an entire second pot to put in the freezer for later if I had enough veggies on hand.