2 Meals Under $10 + How to Save Money on Groceries

Whether you're a victim of our economy (who isn't?) or you're just cheap like me, saving money on groceries and other needed items is a definite PLUS. Lately, my lucky guy and I have been discussing ways to place even more money than usual in savings, so that we have it when it's most needed.

One of the things we'd like to save money on is eating. We've already started the process by limiting the amount of times per month we eat out, but we still spend a chunk of change each week at the grocery store.

Thinking about it caused me to try and come up with recipes that are good, but are really cheap. Below are just 2 of the recipes that I've been using. They're really good, but it costs $10 or less to make them.

Meat and Veggie Pie

This is my kids' favorite meal, and they're super-picky! It's also really good for the meat and potatoes guy.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans roast beef and gravy (found in the canned meat section, about $6)

• 1 can mixed veggies ($.75)

• 3-4 cups prepared instant mashed potatoes (about $1)

• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (about $1.50)

Open the cans of roast beef and gravy and spread it over the bottom of a casserole dish or baking pan. Then, drain the mixed veggies and spread that on top of the meat. Next, layer the mashed potatoes on top of the veggies and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top of the mashed potatoes. Place in a 350-degree oven until the cheese is thoroughly melted. Prep time and cook time is about 25 minutes total. If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it!!

Super-Easy "Homemade" Chicken Pot Pie

Another favorite, and so easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Chicken (about $5 total)

• 1 diced and cooked potato (about $.50)

• 1 diced and cooked carrot (pennies)

• 1 can of peas (about $50)

• 1 can cream of chicken soup (about $1)

• 1 serving Jiffy pot pie biscuit mix (about $.75 to $1.00)

• 3/4 cup milk (pennies)

Cook the whole chicken in boiling water for 1-2 hours. Pick the meat from the bone and preserve anything over 1 and 1/2 cups to use for another meal. After you've diced and cooked the carrot and potato, add this to the chicken in a large bowl. Add half the can of peas and the cream of chicken soup. Add 1/2 to 1 cup of water and stir so that your mixture is creamy. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix the Jiffy mix (about 1 cup) with the milk. The consistency will be thin. Place the chicken and veggie mix into a baking pan and pour the Jiffy mix on top. Place in a 375-degree oven for 1 hour.

Tips for Saving Money on Groceries:

Food is mucho expensive. Until I get to the point where I'm growing all of my own veggies and completely shunning meat of any kind, I'm using a few different methods to save money at the grocery store. First and foremost, clip coupons. You don't have to use EVERY coupon; just the ones that cover products that you're definitely going to use. If your store has double or triple-coupon days, go shopping then and you can save tons of money. I've actually ended up getting free products using this method.

For some items, I buy store-brand rather than name-brand. Granted, some store brands simply will not work, but some things are okay to do this with. For instance, I've found that cereals, milk, canned veggies, syrup, etc. are all okay in the store-brand. However, I absolutely must have name-brand teabags, coffee, sauces, and other things like that.

Always save your leftovers. At the end of the week, have a hodge-podge meal containing all the leftovers. This is a great way to shave some money off your grocery bill. Also, thinking cheaper when you create your grocery list can help. Plan out your meals one week at a time, and buy only the things you've put on your list. Some stores also price-match, so if they have the same item that a competitor has on sale, they'll match the competitor's price. If you have any other tips for saving money on groceries, please add them here!

Image Credit: qmnonic on Flickr

Decorating a Nursery? 3 Adorable, Must-Have Baby Products + Baby Shower Gift Tips

If you're awaiting a sweet little bundle of joy, there's no doubt you're spending time creating a magical place for your baby. I loved decorating the nursery in anticipation of both of my little ones, and now, it seems like everyone I know is getting ready to welcome a brand new baby into their families. Whether it'll be soft yellows, baby blues, or precious pinks, finding adorable and affordable baby products can help you make the nursery a special place for your little one.

CoCaLo Orchid Grace 6-Piece Bedding

This set is absolutely precious! The cozy bedding is perfectly pink, with accent colors in cranberry, green, and purple. It includes the bumper, dust ruffle, quilt, valance, fitted sheet, and diaper stacker.

One of the greatest things about choosing the baby bedding first is that you can then decorate the room around that bedding. For instance, anything with green, purple, and the cranberry color would coordinate perfectly!

Oopsy Daisy Too My ABC's Wall Art

This wall art is absolutely adorable! It contains the alphabet, as well as corresponding pictures. What I love most about this item is that it can be used for a long time, as opposed to art that is simply baby-ish. For example, this could stay in your child's room from birth until age 5 or 6.

Also, it's a perfect opportunity for you to help your toddler or small child to learn his or her ABC's. The whimsical pictures are also stimulating for your child, helping grow that brain that will soon soak up anything and everything in sight!

Baby Love Activity Mat

Starting at just a few months old, your baby is going to need significant floor time! This will help him or her learn to roll over and eventually crawl. The Baby Love activity mat is not only adorable, but your baby will love the bright colors and shapes.

It's super soft, so you won't have to worry that the floor is uncomfortable for Baby. You can also use it as your child gets older, for playtime or even naps.

Going to a Baby Shower? What to Give...

If you've been invited to a baby shower and you're not sure what to bring as a gift, you might be a little hesitant to purchase anything. Well, I'm going to reveal the absolute BEST gifts I received - and you ladies can chime in and let me know what you think a great baby shower gift is.

Receiving Blankets - Not only did these help in the beginning, when my tiny newborns wanted to be swaddled, but as they got older, they were used for EVERYTHING. Spit-up guards, chew-things for teething babies, etc. Now, my daughter uses the receiving blankets to play with her dolls! You can't go wrong with these.

Diapers - Whether the mommy-to-be plans on using disposable or cloth diapers, she can never have enough of them. Find out which route she plans to go, and you'll have a perfect gift. Also, you might want to check out diaper cakes, as they come with diapers and numerous other things Mom will need - and they're SUPER-cute. You might even look up the instructions and make one yourself so it will be really meaningful.

Gifts for Mom - The ladies invited to the baby shower are going to go NUTS in stores, poring over ribbons and lace, pinks and blues, sweet little onesies and more. This means that Baby is going to get a TON of presents. So, purchasing something exclusively for Mom is a great idea. Spa-sets, movie tickets, gourmet snacks...these are all great ideas. Anything that will help your friend feel pampered and relaxed!

So...what do you think the best baby shower gifts are?

I'll Never Forget Sunscreen Again...

Saturday, Mr. Muffin (who wishes to be known as something much more macho...and so I've chosen Mr. Cornbread, but not the sweet kind) and I packed up the kids and headed to the local water park for his company's summer picnic. On the way there, I gave the children copious amounts of sunscreen and pointed out all the missed spots.

When we arrived, I quickly slapped some sunscreen on my arms but by then the kids had already turned into rabid animals and were pulling me in several different directions, shouting about slides and lazy rivers and magical sprinkling firetrucks.

So...I didn't put sunscreen on my chest, shoulders, face, or back. We were there from 10am until about 4pm and the whole time, my skin was roasting like a buttered chicken on the grill. I should also point out that I am a freckled, extremely fair-skinned individual. Luckily, the sunburn isn't too severe (no blisters, etc.) but it still hurts!

In fact, sleep last night would have been almost impossible if I hadn't been completely exhausted. I purchased some pure aloe vera gel, and have been rubbing that (gently) into my skin every few hours. In honor of my stupidity, I'm posting some natural sunburn remedies that you may or may not find helpful if you ever forget the sunscreen. Let me know if you've tried any of these, or if you know of a remedy that's better than the ones I've posted!

Milk - Most of the sites I found recommended milk, as it's great for any kind of burn. I imagine that the cold temp of the milk would also feel really good against the skin, and help let the heat out of the burn. Most places recommend soaking clean gauze in milk and then draping that across the burn.

Vinegar? - Seriously. To me, this sounds very hurty, but I don't know. I'm too chicken to try it. Have any of you tried vinegar for a sunburn?

Aloe Vera - My treatment of choice, since that's what I grew up using. You can use either the pure aloe vera gel (purchased from any drugstore) or actually break a piece of the plant and squeeze out the juice. I used the gel, which I bought for about $5. It's very cooling, and is supposed to help the burn heal faster.

Vitamin E - Squeeze the gel right out of the caplets and spread that on your skin, or purchase a cooling lotion with lots of vitamin E in it. Since this is the ultimate skin vitamin, I can see how this would work.

Tea Bath - Create a tea bath by running some warm water in the tub (not too hot, as that will probably really hurt!) and use tons of teabags. I have those huge gallon-sized tea bags that I bought at Sam's, but regular teabags will work too. You just need a lot. Throw those suckers in the tub and let them steep for a few minutes before getting in. Tea has a lot of great antioxidants and will soothe your skin.

In addition to these remedies, most people recommended taking some ibuprofen to relieve the pain. AND...loose clothing! In fact, I found the biggest, thinnest shirt I could find and have been using that! So...here's to a speed skin recovery, and don't forget to share your thoughts.

Review of Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

First, I'll send a thank you out to Rachel C., who recommended that I read this series. It's technically a young-adult series, but don't let that label fool you. This book is extremely entertaining...and quite graphic at times, I must say. On with the review...

Katniss Everdeen is a sixteen-year old girl who lives in District 12 (part of the ruins of North America, and governed along with 11 other districts by The Capitol.) She's a tough girl who takes care of her mother and little sister, Prim, and has been since her father died in a mine explosion. Long ago, District 13 attempted to rise up and rebel against The Capitol, and in that attempt, was destroyed.

The Hunger Games are not only for entertainment, but to serve as a reminder for the other districts what happened to District 13. Every year, each district must give up one boy and one girl to fight in the televised Hunger Games. Here's where the shady part comes in - the districts are poor...very poor, while the people in The Capitol have more than enough. The children in the districts can get extra food by entering their name another time in the drawing for the Hunger Games. Every child of a certain age must enter their name in the drawing each year anyway.

Poor Kat's name was in there quite a bit, but at least she had the peace of mind knowing that her little sister, Prim's name was only in there once. As luck would have it, Prim's name is called and Katniss volunteers to go in her stead. Also called is a baker's son, Peeta, who harbors a secret crush on Kat. Let the Hunger Games begin...

Peeta wins favor with the audience by revealing his little crush, and Peeta and Kat's mentor quickly realizes that the audience is eating up the story of the star-crossed lovers. The games have 26 contestants, and only one is allowed to live. Sponsors can donate to the teams, so that the mentor can send in things that are needed at any particular moment.

***SPOILER ALERT*** - Scroll over the following parts to read:

Kat deals with injuries, the death of a good friend, and so much more along her journey, but always keeps in mind that she has promised Prim that she'd come home. Will she make it out alive, returning home to the wonderful life Hunger Game winners are entitled to, or will she simply give up?

One of my favorite parts is the end, when Kat and Peeta outsmart The Capitol. They change the rules halfway through the game, telling the contestants that there can be 2 winners this year. This fuels Kat's resolve that she and Peeta can make it out alive. When they're the only 2 contestants left - guess what - The Capitol changes the rule again. So, Kat and Peeta "resolve" to eat poisonous berries, continuing their roles as star-crossed lovers. The Capitol is forced to intervene and save the 2 of them, sparing themselves from the wrath of the audience. Now that Kat gets to go home, will she return to the quiet, faithful Gale, or will she have to keep up with her 'romance' with Peeta to please The Capitol?

This book was absolutely fabulous. I really enjoyed it and couldn't stop reading until I had devoured the entire thing. It's one of the most well-written books I've read in a long time. The writing is crisp, imaginative, and descriptive. In fact, the very moment I finished with it, I had to rush out and get the 2nd in the series, which I'll also be reviewing soon. I am in serious pain about waiting until late August to get my hands on the 3rd book, but it's a bittersweet pain.

I highly recommend this book if you like adventures, a bit of romance, and if you admire tough heroines.

What Books Must I Read? I Want Your Suggestions!

Ahhh, books. They are my vice. I love them - all kinds of them. So, I'm trying to assemble a list of books to read this year, and I want suggestions! Tell me what books you think I should read, and why. Below are the books I've read so far this year:

• ALL of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels - Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, From Dead to Worse, Dead and Gone, Dead in the Family.

• The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown - FABULOUS!!

• Mistress Mellyn by Victoria Holt

• The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright

And - since you're giving me your suggestions, I'd like to give you a few of my own. These books are some of my ALL time favorites:

• My First Two Thousand Years: The Autobiography of the Wandering Jew by George Sylvester Vierick

• Salome The Wandering Jewess: My First Two Thousand Years of Love by George Sylvester Vierick and Paul Eldridge

• The Invincible Adam by George Sylvester Vierick

WHY: The first of these books follows Cartaphilus (the wandering Jew) through his escapades after he is cursed by Jesus just before the crucifixion. Not only is he present at some of the most interesting times in history, but meets some of the most brilliant individuals in the history of the world. The second book, Salome, is the story of Cartaphilus' parallel - the woman who was seemingly made for him. The third is the story of Cartaphilus' sidekick, Kotikokura, the ape man. I know, I know...they sound a little bizarre, but I can't tell you the levels of awesomeness contained in these stories. Definite MUST reads!!

• The Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

• The Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

• The Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

WHY: These are fantasy books, and if you like fantasy at all - you will LOVE these. They follow the trials and tribulations of Mara, who at the beginning was going to devote her life to serving the Goddess but is given the terrible news that her father and brother have been killed. Now ruling lady of House of Acoma, Mara must figure out how to survive in the cut-throat world of royalty...and carry on her family's great name. Mara is a truly kick-butt chick, and the intricacies of the 'game,' or the set of rules that each family must live and die by are FANTASTIC.

• The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

WHY: If you're enamored by tales of King Arthur (ooooh - I am, I am!) you MUST read this book. It's a completely different version of the King Arthur tales, told by the points of view of the women in his life. The story is told by Morgaine (Morgan le Fay) and I love this book so much I've read it multiple times. Each new time, a different layer is uncovered or a different meaning is discovered.

I can't wait to hear which books you think I should read and why...and I'll let you know which ones I've chosen and what I think of them. Also, please let me know if you read any of the above books...

Updates

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted...you know how you can be sitting somewhere doing something and it feels like 5 minutes have passed but you glance at the clock to realize 2 hours has passed and you have no idea where the time went? That's kind of what happened - but on a larger scale!

Between the kids getting out for the summer and the end of the year activities, as well as work and all the other little things that fill up a day, I'm often left wondering how time has suddenly started speeding away. I remember when I was little and looking forward to something - the weekend, the summer, and then later my 18th and 21st birthdays. Time used to pass soooooo slowly that I couldn't stand it.

Now, it seems to be running away from me faster than I can catch up with it. Just last week, the kids were toddlers. A few days ago they were starting school. I feel like I've blinked and now there are these awesome kids with their own distinct personalities, and I'm not quite sure where they came from. I'm glad to have them, though!

I thank you for being patient with me, and hope you'll join me for the upcoming posts. I have some book reviews coming up, giveaways, and other great miscellaneous stuff. In the meantime, tell me below what you've been doing in the past month!

Review of EcoStore Spray Cleaner and Lemongrass Body Soap

Choosing products that are eco-friendly has become easier for me in the last few years. Not only have I learned a lot more about those products (mainly because of the work Priceless Writers does with eco-friendly companies), but because they have become more available.

When EcoStore sent me their citrus spray cleanser and their lemongrass body soap to try, I was thrilled! With 2 kids and 2 dogs, you can bet that I have more than a few messes on my hands each day - and I absolutely love lemon-scented things...from lotions to soaps to perfumes. So, I invite you to read below and see how these products measured up!

EcoStore Citrus Spray Cleanser:

One of the places I clean most often is the master bathroom - which also happens to be the bathroom my 7 year old son uses. Anyone with a small boy knows that the toilet has to be cleaned VERY regularly! I usually use something like Lysol spray or a cleaner with bleach.

This means the smells are extremely strong...not to mention the harsh chemicals included in those cleaners. One of the first things I noticed about the EcoStore cleaner is that it smells great! It's not an overpowering smell (like bleach) - it's fresh and very clean-smelling.

I used it like I use the other cleaners - I just sprayed it on, let it sit for a few minutes, and wiped it away with a wet cloth. It worked wonderfully. Since it passed the 'toilet test,' I decided to give it a more difficult job. I sprayed down the tub and sink (which often has toothpaste stuck to the bowl - thanks kids) and guess what - it passed those tests with flying colors! I have used this cleaner in the kitchen on the countertops and stove, in the microwave, and to wipe down the dishwasher and refrigerator.

I'm extremely pleased at how it works - and the biggest benefit is that it contains no harsh chemicals. It's been independently proven to kill e.coli, staph, and salmonella, and it's naturally antibacterial. Bonus: the bottle is completely recyclable because it contains no metal parts!

Overall, I was very pleased with this product and would certainly recommend it to anyone - and already have, in fact!

Lemongrass Body Soap:

I've mentioned before my commitment to use eco-friendly and NATURAL soaps, so trying the Lemongrass soap was a treat. It feels rich and smooth when you lather it up, and makes suds galore.

The lemon smell is very subtle, and it washed away leaving the skin smooth and clean. I really love this soap and as it says right on the box, it contains no nasty chemicals - including toxic petro chemicals, no animal fats or tallow (hooray), no synthetic dyes, no sodium lauryl sulphate, and no propylene glycol.

The soap is created with vegetable glycerine and essential oils that are wonderful for your skin. I absolutely loved it, and would recommend that anyone (especially those with sensitive skin) try this soap!
Visit EcoStore today and pick up the citrus spray cleaner and the lemongrass soap - and you won't be disappointed!