Mango Chutney – cost analysis

If you’ve been reading my blog for long, you know I’ve been using a LOT of mango chutney.  I’ve used it as salad dressing, in marinades, over warm brie (with curry powder), as a condiment for curried pumpkin soup, and even in chicken salad.    If you’ve never had mango chutney, it’s an interesting mix of sweet and hot.  It can have textural contrast of creamy and crunchy, and it’s good both warm and cold.  

If you’ve ever gone to purchase mango chutney in the grocery store, you know it’s normally found on the specialy aisle (not the jelly and jam section).  The best price I can get for Major Grey’s chutney is around $5 for a 12 ounce jar (amazon has it for $6).  I can buy a lesser known brand for $4 for an 8 ounce jar. 

If you can find mangos on sale and have some time, you can make your own for a LOT less money.  Personally, I think homemade tastes better too. 

I bought five slightly overripe mangos in a net bag for a buck.  They were on produce clearance.  If you watch, mangos will occassionally go on sale where you can get several for $1. 

The rest of the ingredients are pretty straight forward. 

I used 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, 1/2 cup apple juice, some chopped fresh pineapple (also date clearanced, and it was optional), loads of fresh ginger (free from my moms garden), two cups each of chopped red bell pepper and onion, 1/2 cup apple cider, and about 1/2 teaspoon of hot (madras) curry powder.  I used exactly five preschooler handfuls of raisins. 

Cooking with Food TV: Broiled Brown Sugar Salmon

This is pretty much a straight copy of the broiled salmon with citrus glaze that I saw on Good Eats.  More accurately, it’s what Watty saw.  He was so entranced with the idea of coating fish in brown sugar that he just wouldn’t quit asking for it. 

The ingredients are simple. 

Couponing with Kids

I’ll be honest, I prefer to grocery shop without my kids in tow.  I feel like I can make more well-thought out choices, that I do a better job of maximizing the deals, that I don’t forget coupons, and that I make fewer impulse purchases when I shop alone.   But when I shop alone, I loose out on valuable teaching opportunities with my kids.    Shopping teaches my kids…

• colors, shapes, counting, math, literacy, manners… all the basic preschool skills
• the value of money (they see me working hard to save money)
• that they don’t get cool stuff everytime we go to the store
• where food comes from
• all sorts of weird stuff.  why do bell peppers come in multiple colors and are there differences?  where do pickles come from?  why do some of the fish have eyes but not others?  why do the ice cream freezer doors frost up?  all great questions.

When I have my kids with me at the store, I remind myself of the benefits.  It helps for the inevitable problems that arise.  And realistically, they do.  Look at it from a child’s perspective.  They are confined in a small space, asked to stay quiet and still.  Mommy really isn’t paying much attention to them.  They keep getting stimulated by all these colors and sites and smells.  They get bored and hungry (it’s natural).  They see stuff they want, and then the begging starts.

Here’s a few suggestions on how to best manage couponing and kids at the same time. 

Homemade Blackberry Jam — cost analysis

I’m continuing to examine if home canning is really as frugal of an activity as advertised.  

In April, my family had the delightful chance to harvest free blackberries (and dewberries) from the Texas roadside.  This was easy harvesting, even for my 3 and 4 year old kids.  It took about thirty minutes, and we got enough for a full batch of jam (plus some for eating).  Grandma and Grandpa were with us, so it was a fabulous family memory.  From that perspective, harvesting blackberries was priceless. 

Quality blackberry jam is a key ingredient in an old family cake recipe.  Beyond the obvious usage on toast and biscuits, it’s also good in salad dressings and marinades, as an ice cream topping, in plain yogurt, or nestled next to a loaf of bread in a gift basket.   The best price I can find is $1.50 for an 8 ounce jar, and “good” stuff runs closer to $4 a jar. 

Jams and jellies require sugar.  I used less than one and half of the 2 lb boxes of sugar. Since I paid less than twenty cents for each box, I think I can afford the sugar.  Blackberries = free.  Sugar = 30 cents. 

GoGo washed the blackberries and threw them into the pot. Watty “measured” the sugar.

He stood on a stool and stirred the berries too.

Berries = free. Sugar = 30cents. Time = priceless family memories.

I didn’t need any additional pectin.  The batch took about 20 mintues to make, and I could water-bath can it in about 15 minutes.  I already had canning jars laying around.   The kitchen mess was minimal — we were all in and out of the kitchen in less than an hour.

I got six of the half-pint (8 ounce) jars of jam.  It cost me less than two hours to harvest and process the fruit.  My kids were invovled.  I used 30 cents worth of sugar and had everything else I needed.  I would have spent more than that for ONE jar of jam at the store.

In this case, home canning wins hands down if…

• you actually enjoy picking fruit with your kids
• you have canning jars
• you will actually use (or give away) the resulting jam
• you have access to free fruit
• you buy sugar on sale with coupons

As always… I’m not an expert in home canning.  Please refer to the Ball Blue Book for canning guidelines.  Use the USDA recommended time charts for canning.  Check out the pickyourown.org website for canning photos.  Just don’t trust me for the details, I don’t want you to get sick or explode anything (like canned milk).

Tomato Fest Part #3 (and a story of exploded stuff)

On Monday, I chanced across a large number of tomatoes on clearance at Kroger.   It launched me on a journey of canning tomatoes and facing my fears of pressure canning.

As a quick reminder, I bought 6 lovely bags of tomatoes for $1 each. 

The Treasure Box

Don’t tell the pirates, but there’s a treasure box in my closet. 

I got if from the dollar store (it’s cardboard) and have had to reinforce it several times with clear plastic shipping tape.  It’s filled with an odd assortment of kids meal toys, abandoned stocking stuffers from Christmas (and Easter basket goodies), and dollar store finds.  Sometimes I have small pieces of candy (or even a package of cookies).  Sometimes I toss a few quarters in there.  I keep it mixed up so that the kids never know what to expect.  In truth, I have two or three that look identical to my kids.  They have no idea that there is more than one, and that keeps things interesting.

It almost always has toys that the “toy monster” has stolen from our boys.  The toy monster will sometimes visit our house and pick up all the toys that have been left out too long or were found under the couch.   The boys are given fair warning that the toy monster has been seen in the neigborhood.   They know anything left out is forfeit.   (The toy monster also throws things in the garbage or donates them to charity, but don’t tell my kids that.  If my kids don’t care enough about a toy to pick it up off the floor, then it may be time for the toy to leave my house.)

My kids get to visit the treasure box on a fairly regular basis.  Each child has one activity at a time that will earn a trip to the treasure box.  Hubby and I discuss and agree on what the number one priority is for each child (what new behaviour we want them to learn, etc).  Then that become the only way for that child to go to the treasure box.   When they master that goal, we give a few more visits to reinforce the behavior, then we move on to the next goal.  

If this seems like bribery, hear me out.  Most of the toys are recycled.  I’m buying very few things specifically for the treasure box.  It’s more of a method of clutter control.  I get the junk up off my floor, and if my kids really want it back they know how to earn it.   Even if they don’t want their “floor junk” back, they are always motivated to see what’s in the treasure box.    I get to reward my kids and reinforce their new habit (anything from potty training to remembering to flush the potty to picking up dirty clothes).  My kids get recognition and an endless rotation of cheesy toys.  I get clutter control. 

It works for me.

Leftover Love: Pasta with “Stuff”

That’s the official name in my house.  It’s basically random pasta, bits of leftover vegetables, some protein, some kind of sauce, and lots of cheese.  It’s an easy way to clean out the refrigerator and use up leftovers, and it’s a cheap meal.  I fed my family a complete meal for under $5 (the pasta part was $2.35 for four).

Tonights version was multi-colored “veggie” pasta, some leftover sausage patties from breakfast, and the tomatoes I had prepped for canning that didn’t fill that last canning jar.  I added about two tablespoons of jarred pasta sauce, and then topped it with cheese.  GP and I used a ton of feta, the boys ate theirs with mozzarella. 

Cost for dinner?

• pasta was free (purchased last year, but still good)
• pasta sauce was maybe 10cents worth
• tomatoes were maybe 25 cents worth (remember, it was 44cents a pound on sale)
• sausage was $1
• cheese was maybe $1 worth

Total for 4 servings — $2.35.  I added some baby carrots and fresh watermelon to round out the meal, but it really could have stood on its own.

Other ideas for leftover pasta with stuff

• pasta, leftover chicken, cheese sauce, steamed veggies
• pasta, grilled vegetables, can of white beans, parmesean, pesto
• pasta, marinara, crumbled hamburger patty, mozzarella
• pasta, salsa, leftover fajita veggies, leftover fajita meat, cheddar

It’s limited only by your imagination and the contents of your refrigerator. 

Kashi Pilaf — simple, nutritious, delicious

I love Kashi products.  They are always made with multiple grains and are well thought out products.  I’ve been skeptical of those microwavable pouches of pre-cooked grains, but when Kashi put their pilaf in one, I decided it was worth a try.  Of course, it helped that it was a screaming good deal. 

The concept of those microwavable pouches is simple.  Those Kashi pilafs normally take a long time to make (ummmm 30 minute or an hour, can’t remember).  I don’t always plan dinner that far in advance.  With the pouches, all that pre-cooking was done in the factory, all I have to do is warm it up.  The downside is that I lose control of the flavoring.  The upside is that I can eat something healthy in an instant.

Randalls Rant

I rarely rant, please indulge me.

Randall’s Grocery store this week was having some fabulous deals.  You can read about it on HoustonMom’s blog.   It was one of those deals that was hard to work and required concentration.   In the end, I had an overflowing cart.  I spent $114 and saved $120.  Of the $114 I spent, almost half of it was on toilet paper, paper towels, and cooking oil.   It was a good sale.

Randall’s (Tom Thumb, part of the safeway chain) is known in Houston for being a bit snotty and a bit (ok, a LOT) overpriced on non-sale items.  They have a very restrictive coupon policy (only double/triple ONE like coupon per transaction) and are known for being a bit hard to work with.  They’re notorious for using sales to clear their shelves of product that has almost expired (or in some cases already HAS).  So unless the sales are really good, I avoid them.  Kind of a shame really, since they have nice store brands, beautiful produce, and some of the best butchered meat in town.

When I do go, I almost always regret it.  This past Sunday, I ended up needing to quietly match up coupons and products to figure out what went in what transaction.  I found a quiet corner and just got it over with.  I endured countless shoppers snickering as they pushed their carts past me, several cold rude stares, and some whispered comments about “couponers” that don’t bear repeating.  I don’t get that reaction at other stores in town, but I’m fairly used to it at Randall’s.  I wasn’t thrilled, but I could live with it.

The kicker was at the checkout line.  I had to write checks for three transactions (misplaced my darn debit card).   They weren’t busy, there were no lines at any register.  A lady walks up and puts her stuff behind me.  One look told me that she was probably a “huffer puffer,” so I warned her that I had another transaction to make.   She said she’d wait.   As I pulled out my checkbook to write the 3rd check, she said very loudly

Her:  Oh for goodness sake!
Me: Ma’am, I appreciate your patience.  I’m sorry that I need to write a check, I’ve misplaced my debit card.
Her:  This is just ridiculous (as the coupons are being scanned).
Me:  Excuse me?
Her:  All those coupons, what a waste.
Me:  No ma’am, I’m saving money.
Her:  Well, I guess you have to do what you have to do to feed your family.
Checker (smirking):  Ma’am, you just saved another $53.82 on this transaction.  That’s over $120 saved total.
Me:  Ma’am, I just saved $120 on over $230 worth of groceries.  Thank you for your patience.
Her:  If you feel like you need to use coupons to afford things, you should really consider shopping somewhere cheaper.

At that point I was done.  I took my groceries and left without responding to her.  I resent the implication that I was struggling to feed my family (I’m not) or that I somehow wasn’t good enough to shop at Randall’s.   What kind of woman would feel entitled to be so rude and downright ugly to me, and why?   If I really was struggling to feed my family, how would her comment have hurt me?  Why should I have been punished for being a good steward of the resources I had, and why did that make be somehow less worthy than the woman behind me?

The checker and bag person at Randall’s were kind and supportive.  I have no complaint about the store (this time).  But once again I find myself vowing not to ever shop there again.  I just don’t want to shop at a grocery store where the clientelle is that rude, snotty, and inconsiderate.  Life is too short to be miserable while I spend money.

Emergencies come in all shapes and sizes

You run into a lot of articles these days urging for emergency preparedness.  Many are from a faith based perspective, following a belief that a year of self sufficiency is part of their belief system.  Many others are weather based, urging people to prepare for hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, blizzards, etc.  Some are economic based, suggesting that we buy now as a hedge against the anticipated period of hyper inflation or unemployment.

I inadvertently fell into stockpiling when I began seriously couponing playing the Grocery Game.  GG advocates buying twelve weeks of an item when it is on sale because that’s the normal sale cycle for most items.   If you buy 12 weeks worth at the rock bottom price (with coupons of course), then you logically shouldn’t need to buy it again until it hits rock bottom price again.  That created a three month buffer of supplies for us in a very short amount of time (I had NO self control when I started seeing all those bargains).  It was relatively easy to grow from that into a reasonably well balanced stockpile.  We by no means have a year’s worth of everything we need, but little by little, we are getting there.   Occasionally, thinking about deliberately stockpiling items takes me out of my food comfort zone (canned meat comes to mind), but it is an enjoyable journey towards self sufficiency and Independence for our family.  I LIKE increasing our margin.

This past week, as I drug home yet more bargain toilet paper, GP and I had a conversation about how much was enough TP.