100 Things You Can Make

Crystal at Money Saving Mom found an interesting blog site listing 100 things we could make ourselves. Crystal asked us to make a list of the things we have made, so here is mine. My parents are great do-it-yourselfers, and I caught the bug early on for trying my hand at assorted odd projects. Many of these homemade things we would never dream of buying already made!

Things I Have Made: 56 of the 100
Applesauce
Bagels
Barbecue sauce
Bread
Cheese
Doughnuts
Gravy
Guacamole
Hummus
Ice cream
Jelly
Maple syrup
Mayonnaise
Pancake mix
Peanut butter
Pasta
Pickles
Pizza
Potato chips
Pudding pops
Rootbeer
Salsa
Sausage
Spaghetti sauce
Stuffing
Tofu
Tortillas
Wedding cake
All purpose household cleaner
Laundry detergent
Soap
Paper
Rubber stamps
Candles
Jewelry
Curtains
Rug
Bookshelves
Couch
Table
Blouses
Coat
Poncho
Sweater
Skirt
Shorts
Compost
Bubbles
Books
Crayons
Crossword puzzles
Fingerpaint
Kite
Pinata
Playdough

I have also made these: (which are not on the original list)

Alfalfa sprouts
Beef jerky
Chutney
Crackers
Croutons
Italian ice
Granola
Jams and fruit butters
Mixes: cake, cookie, seasoning, etc
Whole wheat flour
Tailored man's suit
Jeans
Dresses
Lingerie
Pants
Purses
Tshirts
Sandals
Slips
Slippers
Smocked clothing
Swim suits
Diapers
Crib sheets (fitted)
Pillowcases
Placemats
Tablecloths
Tote bags
Quilts
Reflector oven for camp baking
Gift boxes
Board games
Homeschool curriculum
Dolls
Doll clothes
Stuffed animals
Laundry stain remover

On the Menu

Extended family stopped by yesterday for an overnight visit. On the menu for our buffet breakfast this morning:
Pumpkin Muffins
Baked Oatmeal
Fruit Salad
Juice and Tea

Publix' Conagra Deal

This evening I did the Conagra deal at Publix. I want to get the $25 Home Depot gift card, so I needed to spend $20 on select Conagra products. I got my total very close: $20.04. And then they took off my coupons which totaled $5. So, spending $15.04 out of pocket, I'll get a $25 gift card to Home Depot. Here's what I bought:
4 cans Chef Boyardee ravioli at $1.33 each, $1/4 coupon
Hunt's ketchup, $1.39
large Peter Pan peanut butter, $3.99, $1 coupon
Gulden's mustard, $1.19
4 cans Van Camp beans at 85 cents each, $1/4 coupon
Heb. National franks, $2.25 (BOGO), $1 coupon
Reddi-Wip, $2.50, $1 coupon

I also took advantage of another deal at Publix. This one is called, "Buy Theirs, Get Ours Free". This week we can buy the national brand grill spray (I hope it works on kitchen pans too because we don't have a grill), mustard, and pickles. Then we get the Publix house brand free on each of those items. It's a great deal for me especially since I needed pickles and mustard anyway.

One more great deal at Publix: I have a stack of $1 off coupons for Muir Glen products. I tried their diced tomatoes at Walmart, but I don't like them. So I tried the tomato paste. It's 99 cents at Publix; with the $1 coupon, I earned 1 cent on each can. I plan to donate them to the food bank.

No photo today because the camera is camping out in the school locker.

Kroger Closeouts

Today was a difficult day to shop at Kroger because they are rearranging the store. A million people were running around scraping shelves bare, piling boxes in the aisles, tossing packages in carts, and generally making a huge mess. Paper signs were haphazardly taped up to label the contents of most aisles. But then I discovered the carts. Rows of them lined some aisles, filled with closeout items. European cookies for 50 cents and less. Ice cream for $1.99. Buns and bread. Misc battered packages. Passover supplies (I don't need those, but if you do, run on over to Kroger). Lots of goodies to discover!

Menu Planning

I have a confession: I don't plan my menus. There. The cat is out of the bag. But I have learned that I don't need to plan menus. Why? Because I keep a well stocked pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. All I need is just one inspiration sometime during the day to decide what to make for dinner. The rest of the dinner menu falls into place after that, depending on what we have or what needs to be used, or what "goes with" the main course planned.

Now, my children would argue that the refrigerator is never well stocked, because they usually can't simply reach in and grab some exciting food item, ready to pop in the mouth. They accuse me of buying ingredients, not food. And they are mostly right. But, I tell them, the possibilities are there. Be creative.

Their argument aside, I really do keep a lot of food on hand. I stock up when groceries we use are on sale. I buy in bulk. I refresh the supplies before we are fully out. And, using what we have on hand, I make varied and nutritious meals every day. When I say varied, I mean varied in the outcome, not necessarily varied in the ingredients. For example, I don't buy a big variety of proteins; ground beef and ground turkey, chicken, eggs, beans, and sometimes pork (roast or chops) about covers it here. But there are hundreds of main dishes I can make using one of these proteins as the starting point.

In the pantry, I keep: various flours and sugars, oats, whole wheat berries, pastas of many kinds, rice, taco shells, powdered milk, dry beans, barley, canned tomato products of all kinds, canned beans, corn, and mushrooms, canned tuna, chicken, and roast beef, canned fruits of several kinds, juice sometimes, dried fruit, jams, broths, mushroom soup, tomato soup, canned milk, honey, molasses, nuts, popcorn, graham cracker crumbs, cake mixes, jello and pudding mixes, chocolate for baking, shortening, sprinkles, and a wide variety of condiments, vinegars, oils, and seasonings. Now and then I buy cereal, crackers, chips or granola bars, but only when they are dirt-cheap.

My u-shaped pantry is only 3 ft deep and 5.5 ft wide, but it holds A LOT (the top three shelves don't show in the pictures):In the freezer, I keep: meats (listed above), vegetables without sauce, whole berries, sliced peaches, bread on sale, coconut, nuts, and yeast. Sometimes we also have casseroles, sausage, bagels or English muffins, ice cream, and butter.

The refrigerator usually holds: leftovers, milk, fresh fruit and veggies, eggs, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, meat to use this week, lemon juice, margarine, corn meal, sourdough starter, ice water, and condiments and dressings.

With such a stock of food on hand, rarely have I had trouble deciding what to make for dinner. So I see no reason to plan menus every week.

Frugally Eating Cherries

The other day I bought a special treat for our family: fresh cherries at $3.49 a pound. Ouch! I knew from past experience that some members of the family can inhale the entire bag single-handedly, leaving others in the family with nary a taste of the treat. So I set out to solve the problem, and here is what I came up with:I divided up the bag into four containers, one for each family member. Each lid has one person's name on it. That's their box of cherries, and they are free to eat it as quickly or as slowly as they choose. When their's is gone, it's gone. No raiding of other's allowed.

I didn't think to take a picture at the time I divided them up, but each box was full to the brim. And when I divided the fruit up, I did it exactly equally. I counted out the cherries by ten's until I had just a few left, then I counted them out by one's. It came out with no remainders. Notice the eating pattern seen here; some eat faster and some slower.

May Freebies

I like to keep a record of my great deals, but there are so many that I decided to do a monthly post on my blog just to show my FREE deals. By free, I mean those items that cost me no out-of-pocket money.

I get free items various ways. One way is through the Publix Mystery Coupon on Mondays. The Mystery Coupon item actually costs 1 cent, but that's free in my accounting system. Some items are free after Extra Care Bucks at CVS. Other times, items are on sale at a fantastic price, and, combined with a great coupon, they come out free. Sometimes I get free goods through rebates, when the full purchase price is returned to me. When I send in for rebates, I keep that money separate from my wallet money, and use it only for the little due at CVS or Walgreen's after I pay with Extra Care Bucks or Register Rewards. In reality, when I make purchases this way, the items are free. Sometimes I find coupons in the paper or an online offer for a try-it-free item. And every once in a while, I'm given something free. May Free Stuff
Publix Mystery Coupon:Colgate toothpaste/toothbrush combo pack
spaghetti sauce
CVS Extracare Bucks:

5 Colgate 360 toothbrushes
3 Aquafresh toothpastes
3 Crest toothpastes
2 Addidas deodorants
Sunday newspaper
2 bottles Dawn dish detergent
magnetic photo pocket
folding camp chair ("Quad" chair)
OraPik travel pick
4 bars Olay soap (raincheck)
2 18-oz bottles Spa Radiant body wash (raincheck)
2 Venus razors
Schick Intuition razor
2 bars Johnson's Buddies soap
half gallon Mayfield milk
2 pkgs chocolate chip cookies
shortbread cookies
Snickers bar
Spending My Walgreens Register Rewards:
2 dozen eggs
2 8-oz pkgs grated cheese
2 12-roll pkgs TP
Cottonelle wipes
Coupons for free items:
77 4x6 prints
2 8x10 prints
1 5x7 print
64-oz bottle Softsoap refill
Given to Me:
radishes