Eating out is EXPENSIVE. My family of 5 can easily spend $60 at a casual dining establishment. Usually it’s less thanks to getting waters instead of soda and looking for coupons and specials. I sat down and really thought about the last few times we’ve eaten out- the most common reason is that  I got busy & forgot to start dinner in time for us to eat!  So instead of using some of the food in my overstocked pantry we ran to a sit down restaurant and paid $9+ for a hamburger when I have ground beef in the fridge I had paid just $1.35/lb for!

Now, we all deserve to eat out every once in a while because it’s fun and enjoyable to sit back and have your food cooked, served and cleaned up for you- but it should be the exception to the rule rather than a common place occurrence (for the benefit of your budget anyway!).

Here are a few things I have implemented in my life that has allowed me to avoid the impulse decision to eat out rather than eat the budget-friendly foods I already have:

• Prepare the night before. As I cook dinner for tonight- I plan & prep a little for dinner tomorrow. If we are having pot roast today – I decide what we’re having tomorrow. Chili? Ok- chop some extra onions & green peppers so I don’t have to do it tomorrow. Saves time & saves me from the impulse of dining out.
• Marinate & prepare before even putting it in the freezer. I marinate my chicken and beef before I put it in the freezer! I use Italian dressing or a brine (I mix about 1/2 gallon of water, a palm full of salt, pepper, and about 1 tbsp of sugar and mix it up. I put the chicken in a freezer bag- and pour the water over leaving a little space at the top- seal the bag & freeze. Once thawed for use- rinse the chicken with cold water before using) for my chicken and this allows me to simply take out of the freezer & use!
• When I get hamburger for a steal I make some of it into hamburger patties. I make extras into patties and place them on pieces of wax paper or parchment paper and lay them flat into freezer bags and freeze them. Knowing I can grab a bag of pre-made burgers makes that $9 hamburger a little less appetizing.
• Double duty- If we’re having tacos tonight I may brown an extra bit of hamburger to use in spaghetti tomorrow. If I am making lasagne (one of my favorites!) instead of doing all that work for a single pan- I make two pans. I wrap the second pan in foil and overwrap in plastic wrap- date and put in the freezer. Those cheap aluminum pans from the Dollar Tree are wonderful for this!
• Make your own frozen dinners. Like the lasagne above there are a lot of meals that freeze well. Here is a good list of 101 meals that are freezer-friendly! Sometimes I cook extra- like my favorite chicken caccitori on purpose and put 1/2 of it in a freezer bag before I even serve it- date and label and freeze for a busy night when I’m too tired to cook! These are cheaper & healthier than any frozen meal you can buy in the grocery store!
• Use your crockpot! Many times it is 4 p.m. and I realize I forgot to take ANYTHING out of the freezer for dinner! So now I have a pile of frozen meat and I personally just can’t stomach microwaved meat. So we end up eating out. Now I use my crock pot many nights of the week! The night before, I take out whatever meat I will be using and before I clean up the breakfast mess- I put it all together in the crockpot (HINT: Crock pot liners are the BOMB! Check them out- no clean up- just pull out & toss!). It cooks itself and by the time my husband gets home a home-made FRUGAL dinner is ready!
• My family LOVES baked-fried chicken (where I bake it instead of frying it) but it takes forever to bread that chicken.  So now I make double batches and freeze 1/2 of it breaded and ready to bake!  I just thaw in the fridge & bake when I need it.
• Remember that it’s OKAY to eat out! I am just personally working on making it a special occurrence rather than an every week event. Besides being healthier (I can control the salt and other not-so-healthy additives) but I want my kids to learn how to cook and it’s a family affair when we cook!

What tips do you have for avoiding the eating out temptation?

*This was originally posted on MSM in 2012.

Taking Stock Part IV: Maintain

This is a new series on MoolaSavingMom.com all about stockpiles!  For strategic couponers, a stockpile is the evidence of our hard work. 

View Part I here
View Part II here
View Part III here

In the last sessions we’ve talked about how to determine your needs and how to organize the stockpiles.  In this session we talk about how to keep it organized & up to date.

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I love flowers, bushes & other plants but I don’t like paying a lot for them!  I also like fresh flowers in my house, but again, I prefer not to pay for them!

We have a lot of Forsythia bushes around my house and just as they began to bud- I took cuttings and they are blooming nice & bright yellow in my house!

Last year when I did this, they sprouted roots in the vase & I planted them outside after a few weeks- I ended up with 5 new bushes!

You don’t even have to start them off in water!  You can simply bend a branch over to the ground and place some dirt on top- then a brick (or rock) on top of that.  Give it a while and it will grow roots- then you can cut it from the “mother plant” and dig it up & plant it elsewhere!

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Many people say that couponing isn’t worth it because they end up (a) buying things they don’t need because they have a coupon or (b) are actually spending MORE money!  And it’s true- with stockpiling many times you will see your out of pocket cost go up before your spending goes down.

The reason why it goes up first is that they have no stockpile- so they are buying the items to create a stockpile PLUS buying what they “need” to feed their family (and keep them clean) for the week.

There is a way to keep that from happening but it takes discipline and effort. This is my suggestion for not seeing your budget go up too much while starting out. And if it does go up anyway- analyze why and make adjustments.

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I wanted to point out some of the great FREE resources here on MSM. I try to answer each question and request for information within a few hours but some times I need to sleep…or cuddle my kids…and you need the answer NOW so here’s a few places that may help you!

Coupon Database: This is a great tool to search for a coupon that you need.  It tells you which insert or which website you can obtain the coupon!

Sunday Coupon Preview: Each Wednesday we post the coupons we are expecting in the Sunday Paper.  This varies by region but gives us a good general idea so we can decide how many papers we want or if we should put our subscriptions on hold.

Stock Up Price List: This is a guide of what the lowest prices we’ve seen on select items (dish soap, laundry detergent, paper towels, etc).   This helps us know if a deal is really a deal!

Coupons 101 Resources: This is the list I provide my Coupon Classes of websites that offer great coupons and places to sign up for e-newsletters.

Coupons.com: This link makes it super easy to change the zip code.

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I just got home from from grocery shopping and went into the basement to put some frozen food in the deep freezer.  I rarely go down there because my kitchen freezer is stocked- maybe once a week I visit my basement friend. I go down there to put in the fish sticks, and notice that the power light isn’t on….Heart attack.

I reach in- freezing.  I touch things- frozen solid.  Last night my kids were in the basement and apparently unplugged my deep freezer.  It was almost 2 years ago that I had to toss the entire contents of my chest freezer because it had been unplugged (read about that heartache here).

So my Public Service Announcement: Check your chest freezers, basement fridges- anything you don’t see on a daily basis. Set a day a week just to check.  A blown fuse can cause you to trash an entire stockpile!    Accidents happen and things get unplugged but catching it early is better than having to waste all that food & hard work!

Have you ever lost the contents of your freezer because of a silly mistake?

Need help organizing a chest freezer? Here’s how I do it!

Taking  Stock Part II: Edible

This is a new series on MoolaSavingMom.com all about stockpiles!  For strategic couponers, a stockpile is the evidence of our hard work. 

View Part I here

Last session we talked about taking stock of our personal care products stockpile.  It’s a little easier to take stock of those products because they have a longer shelf life than some food products. Also their use is a bit more predictable- most of us brush our teeth everyday but we may not eat grits everyday!

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Today is my sort-of 13th Wedding Anniversary!  Sort of because I was married 2/29/00 and for 3 out of every 4 years there is NO 2/29!  What a lucky husband I have.  So I thought what better day than to share some budget friendly ideas for having a beautiful wedding without a huge bill. I’ve seen/helped my sisters plan and execute their weddings and got married in a courthouse myself!

A frugal wedding doesn’t have to be cheap.  The DIY weddings I have attended have all been beautiful, FUN and unforgettable.  Remember that the important part of the wedding is that YOU ARE MARRYING THE ONE YOU LOVE. Not the flowers, not the music, not the dress.

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This is a new series on MoolaSavingMom.com all about stockpiles!  For strategic couponers, a stockpile is the evidence of our hard work. 

Taking Stock: Part I: Determining your need (Personal Care)

There is very little as bad as working hard to build a stockpile only to find out you have 20 tubes of toothpaste that have expired!  So to avoid this, it’s important to determine your family’s needs.

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Did you know that if you email me, message or leave a comment I do my absolute best to answer you!  Sometimes I miss one or two- and if I miss you- ask again!  That said, when I get the same basic question multiple times in a week I may use the question to share with everyone.  Here’s one that has been showing up lately:

I found a coupon online that is a PDF.  Is it a valid coupon I should print? If so, how many can I print out?

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