Making a meal stretch

So, we certainly have a lot of blessings in our life but money is not one of those things, haha - and it's fine. We certainly make it work one way or another. A large part of our financial situation has to do with me being a stay-at-home mom and trust me, I rethink the situation at LEAST once a month. Honestly I just fell into it. 

We decided to move to FL the summer of 2012 and basically 2 months before we would be IN Tampa I started applying for jobs. Hubby found work within about 2 months of moving and my mother (who moved down with us) got a job a few months later. I, however, searched for TWO YEARS. Granted since our son was due in December, I stopped applying for the holiday season, but yeah. Two years. At least 3 jobs a month. I emailed, called, applied... and not even a word back from 98% of them. It sucked. 

But after two years I got fed up and asked Jesse what he thought of me just staying at home (I had already been doing that for about a year and a half at that point) and he basically said he thought it sounded fine. He wasn't super enthused, nor was I. 

Now, almost three years into it, neither of us can imagine it differently. I do still look into job openings and think about applying for jobs but until I finish my degree it really just doesn't make much sense. With the cost of daycare what it is I would be making probably under $100 by the end of the month and never see my husband, not to mention hardly seeing my son. Plus we want to have more kids so until I get my degree or can publish my book, etc., it looks like this is what I'll be doing. 

That being said, we definitely have found ways to make things stretch. One of them being meals.

Now, we are fortunate to have a Winn-Dixie nearby. We have a loyalty card there which gets us really great deals, they do have some organic stuff as well as all kinds of baby stuff we use and even has Seventh Generation products which we love. Also, we get fuel rewards points so after a weekly shopping trip, the next time we fill the tank we pay about 20 cents less a gallon or more. So it really pays to shop there.

For me, lunches are the hardest to buy for and plan. I honestly hate the idea of buying food specifically for lunches, I'd rather just eat leftovers. It's not quite as healthy all the time but it certainly helps save money.

If we have tacos for dinner Monday night, I usually make taco omelets (egg, meat, cheese, veggies) Tuesday morning and then taco salads Wednesday for lunch.

Say we have Fettucini Alfredo Thursday night - I will use some of the chicken I made for salads for another night and make chicken alfredo for lunch on Friday. And also I can use another portion of the chicken for a different night and pair it with rice and veggies.

When we buy hot dogs or brats we usually eat them for dinner one night and lunch another day. Often we will grill them for dinner and just boil them for lunch so that mixes the taste up a bit too. 

If I buy stuff for burritos I will usually use any leftover ingredients for breakfast burritos.

Even something like mac and cheese - if we also have leftover hot dogs, we can have mac and cheese for dinner on a night when hubby works and then for lunch I can cut up some hot dogs to go in it as well.

So, if I buy a package of hot dogs, a box of mac and cheese, 2 lbs hamburger, some alfredo sauce (we make our own pasta), tortillas and about 3 or 4 chicken breasts, I usually get more than 7 days of dinners and lunches (with some breakfasts covered as well). And depending on where you buy, that often only adds up to around $30, and for a family of three that's not bad. Now, I also usually buy juice, milk, applesauce, eggs, fruit/veggies and yogurts so that definitely makes the amount go up but for main ingredients it's not bad.

I'm definitely always looking for new ways to use leftovers so it's not the same old boring stuff day after day. And sometimes we don't have leftovers so we have sandwiches or eggs or toast and yogurt or whatever we have in the pantry or fridge. So anyhoo, if you have any other leftover suggestions, let me know!

Hopefully this was a bit interesting and not totally boring, haha! Just wanted to share some of my meal repurposing tips I've learned over the past few years ;)

TTFN <3

The weekend!

We had a pretty full few days here this weekend!

On Thursday Andrew had an appointment to get a couple vaccinations, so we went to the pediatrician, survived the whole ordeal (on our own/ without daddy) somehow and went to get frozen yogurt. Mama had a little corner of Cake Batter with chocolate chips, and little man had Strawberry and Mango with strawberries, blueberries and kiwi.

The yogurt shop was just a few blocks from where 'Granny' works so after yogurt we drove over to visit and had a little tour of her office/ met a whole bunch of co-workers.

Fridays are our normal grocery shopping days. Every other Friday it's just myself and the munchkin so we headed out for a few very quick stops as we left late and hubby had an afternoon appointment. We made our usual stop at Whole Foods, and then hit up Target. After spending a bit more than anticipated there, as usual, we stopped for a smoothie at the store's Starbucks. I wish I would have bought it on the way in though -- have you seen those awesome new detachable cup holders for the carts??? SO cool. The things I get excited about....

We made it back JUST in time to pick up Jesse and head to his appointment. 

Saturday morning we all headed to the zoo for the "Chill Out" event. Kind of a bummer that we didn't really get to enjoy any of it. #1 we were a bit late so we missed the Elephant talk and seeing them get cool treats, #2 we only had about an hour there so we weren't going to get to see the Orangutans either. SO we went to the Penguin exhibit, saw them get some treats, played in the water park of the Wallaroo Station and then got a Push Pop to share and headed home. 

...We don't give Andrew sugar often whatsoever. He didn't have any other than muffins and fruit for his first year, had a carrot cake with applesauce sweetener for his Bday, and has really only had frozen yogurt twice since then. He's had a couple small cookies also over long periods of time but this is by far the most sugar he has had in such close succession! Luckily after the initial "Why are you taking it away from me?!?" whine, he's pretty chill about having a limited amount.

After dropping Andrew off with his Granny, hubby and I headed to the beach to meet some friends. We stayed in the water for hours, went to Red Lobster for some yummy dinner and then headed home in time to put Andrew down for the night. We both have some very nice sunburns to commemorate the day haha!

Sunday was just a lazy day, got some laundry, dishes and vacuuming done, watched a movie with Andrew, he tried popcorn for the first time,

and we just hung out. And then hubby and I finally watched "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". Now we can't wait to see the next one!

Hope y'all had a great weekend, and no sunburns! Haha!

TTFN! <3