Cheap Dinner Meal: Chicken Pot Pie

You start off with 2 frozen pie shells ( walmart brand $1.28 for 2 pack), one small can of vegall and one can of cream of chicken soup ( $1.50 for both), I had left over chicken so was able to use that at no extra cost. I used 2 large boneless thighs to make 2 pies.















Here is my cream of chicken soup and vegall and chicken mixed with about 1/2 cup of broth to thin some.














after you fill one pie shell, take the other and put on top, mine broke apart, if it does not you need to remember to put some vent holes in top. Also remember to cook on a cookie sheet so it does not drip onto the bottom of you stove.













Here is the finished results, very easy to serve with salad or some other side or just have alone. I was so happy that Gus liked it, since it tastes really good and is very cheap to make, especially if you have left over chicken you use. Total cost for 2 pies was less than $5.

Laundry Detergent

Well I got up this morning and took a look at my detergent and it was very congealed on top. I had to stir it quite a bit to mix it up well. I took an old detergent bottle and washed it out well and filled it up to take up to my laundry area.

I ended up using about 1/2 a cup, for my largest load setting. It does not make a whole lot of bubbles but you can tell the water is soapy. Even with the lavender essential oil it is not very scented. So far the clothes look clean and just have a nice clean smell.

My First Attempt at Laundry Detergent

First I wanted to show you my supplies and the cost. A 5 gallon bucket $4.26, Washing Soda right under $3, Borax around $3 and Zote laundry soap $.88. I ended up using just over half the bar of soap so you could use half and get two uses out of each bar. I will end up getting multiple uses out of each box of the other ingredients, so in the end this will be very cost effective.

I ended up using the recipe from the Duggar's website, since I had a 5 gallon bucket.















Here is my 1 cup of Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.
















Grated Zote soap, it was not hard to do at all. I thought it was going to be hard to grate, but was very easy.
















Here is the grated soap, melting in boiling water. I thought I did something wrong at first b/c the soap all clumped together, but as it boiled it all dissolved.
















Here is my dissolved soap, washing soda and borax all mixed and all I had to do was top off with water and mix well. I added a bit of tea tree oil and lavender essential oil for a mild sent.

I will update tomorrow after I use it to let you know how it works.

Best Deal of the Year

The kids and I went up to visit my parents for a few days this week. When we go I always love to go and take a look around this store they have called Dirt Cheap. It is a store where they get all these randoms clothes and things from stores and they mark them at least 50% if not more off. Well I lucked up big time. They had about eight racks that had clothes on them for $1 a piece, mostly winter stuff. It is time consuming b/c there is not rhyme or reason to the order. How every I got the two Quicksilver jackets you see above for Boog this coming winter for $1 a piece. They will be a bit big, but he will probably end up wearing them for 2 winters, which ends up being an even better deal. These retail for $20 a piece new.
















I got these 3 shirts for Baby Girl for $1 a piece, new they were from Old Navy and were priced at $9.50 each.















Lastly were these two pairs of gym pants for Boog at $1 each, retail for $16.50 each.

I was so happy to get all these thing for less than $8. Who says you need lots of money to have kids? :)

Walgreens

These deals were done in 4 separate shopping trips. First stop last week bought the items in the bottom picture. Large bag of wipes, 2 things of shaving cream and TP, used one of my $10 catalina's from Huggies deal and paid $3.09 out of pocket.

Second trip got the two water color pads and big markers for just under $4.00 they were all on clearance at $1.09 each.

Third and 4th trips were done today. First stop got Bull Frog sunscreen on clearance for $2 (usually $10), baby toothpaste for $1 on clearance, two Reach toothbrushes and floss. Paid $3.24 out of pocket by using one of my $10 catalina's and got $6 catalina for the Reach deal.

Next stop bought 8 more single bars of Dove soap and another pack of TP. paid around $4.00 out of pocket and got another $10 catalina.

So for all the above I spend between $14-15 out of pocket and got back $16 in catalina's to spend again. I plan on trying to do the Dove deal again before the month is over.

Walgreens deal

Walgreens has a deal this week for Huggies. Buy $25 in products and get a $10 catalina coupon to spend in store like cash. They are on sale for $10 a pack and there are some coupons out there online for $5/one and $3/one. For the month of March you can buy 8 Dove products and get a $10 catalina to spend in store like cash.

So first trip I bought 3 packs of Huggies, 8 single bars of Dove soap, one bottle of Fructis shampoo (there is a $2 off coupon in the monthly saver, making it $.99), one tube of toothpaste (coupon for $2.50 in monthly saver, making it $.49), and 3 packs of gum for $.99.

Total out of pocket was $33 and come change. I got back the two $10 catalina's. So in essence only spent $13.

Second trip bought 3 more packs of Huggies and tried to use my catalina from the Dove and it would not take, but I spent $21 and got another $10 catalina back.

So I spent $54 out of pocket today, but have $30 to spend. I am going to try roll over one of my Huggies catalinas for more Dove and hope to get another $10.

So everything you see in picture cost $24. Not bad for 6 packs of diapers alone!

Cloth Diapers

I started buying new small and newborn size cloth diapers for the new baby today. I did not use them with my son, I actually did not know much about them. With my daughter I met a few people online who used them and got interested. I did tons of research and started buying some. I have used all types. Prefolds, Prefitteds, and Pockets: they first two require a cover the Pockets have a waterproof outer. I have found that I prefer prefitted and prefolds. I use my pockets as well, but use a prefold and then use the pocket as the cover.

There is so many different types out there it can be overwhelming if you are thinking of giving it a try. I just bought some different ones used off a great site diaperswappers and that way I did not spend the full amount if I decided I did not like them.

Coth diapers are really not that hard to use and not that gross. There have been so many great inventions is this area. One is the diaper sprayer, a cool gadget that hooks to your toilets water line and you just spray the poop into the toilet with out having to really handle it. I wash every few days. The cost of water and electricity to wash is minimal compared to the cost of diapers for 2-3 years. I have seen different quotes on the amount you can save. Most state between $1,200 and $1,800 a year. Especially if you end up using them for multiple kids you can save tons. Of course they are a thousand times better for the environment than disposables. I am not a total die hard "green" person, but like the idea that we are not creating as much waste as we could by using cloth.

If any of my readers would like to know more specifics please ask away, I will try to get information together for you. :)

We are now 2 weeks into...

our no eating out challenge.  We accomplished another week, with the exception of last night.  Gus wanted to take me on a date, so we did go eat at a resturant.  My mom offered to watch the kids, so we took the chance to get out alone.  That does not happen often, so we decided it would be worth it to break our challenge for that purpose.

I have to say however, that it was harder this week than last to withstand the temptation of eating out.  I swear you must have to detox from the stuff.  It is pretty neat though, because I have been making the things we would usually pick up at home.  Hamburgers last week and pizza is on the menu today.  The only thing I don't really know how to make that we would usually eat is Chianese food.  I guess I need to do a google search for some recipes.  

Making meals stretch

I am always trying to find ways to stretch the meat I buy for our meals.  Meat can be the more expensive part of the meal and if I can find ways to make it into two meals, I am very pleased.  So far I have found left over chicken the easiest to reuse.  One of the things I do is buy a whole cut up chicken and bake it in the oven or in my crock pot.  We usually have a good bit left over, so I will take that out the next night and either cook rice, scrambled eggs, and broccoli then add the left over deboned chicken to it and sort of stir fry it into fried rice.  Or I cook spiral multi-colored noodles, broccoli and add a sundried tomato with pesto sauce to it with the left over chicken and you have pasta.  Both of these are very easy to do and pretty inexpensive.

Recently I tried a new meal.  I bought a whole roasting chicken, cut off all the skin I could, took out all the insides and got it ready to cook in the crockpot.  I made a concoction of one can of cream of mushroom soup and one bag of onion soup mix.  I mixed those two together with around one cup of water.  I just poured over the chicken and cooked it on high for 6 hours.  Well the wings and legs cooked so tender the meat was totally off the bone.  I did not want to waste all that meat in the soupy broth, so I came up with an idea.  After it had cooled completely, I went througth the mixture and took out all the bones and gristle and fat and added any left over meat we had from that night.  The next night all I had to do was make a veggie and some rice and we ate the mixture over rice and it was really good.  So now I have a new way to use my left over chicken.  

If you have any ways you have learned to stretch a meal, please share! :)

The no eating out challenge

Well we have gotten through the first week.  Today starts week two.  I am excited about this.  All I have to say is boy do those advertisments work, everytime I see one I think I want something from that resturant.  So here's to week two and getting through the next 7 days.

The no eating out challenge....

Gus and I were talking about cutting the amount we eat out for some time. I have come up with the idea to do a 30 day challenge. I want to see if we can go 30 days with out spending to eat out. I know to change bad habits you have to form new ones. I added up this past months eating out when our bank statement came in and I was shocked. It was way more than I would have thought and that did not include the 9 days the kids and I were on vacation with my aunt. We are going to do this week by week. We think it will be more feasible with short term goals to get to the big one.
The biggest challenge will be when the kids and I are out doing errands around lunch time. We usually just swing by a fast food place and pick something up, so I will have to make sure we get to swing by the house or get everything done before lunch. We started on Saturday, so we can mark off the first 3 days.

By doing this, I hope it can be another way for me to show Gus that I can be responsible with our income and his hard work.

CVS deals of the week

I have learned through some friends of mine, how to CVS. It is a wonderful thing, that helps me get household things cheap with money gained back. Here is my deals from today. I usually do about 2 deals a week, today I did 3 different transactions to get what you see in my picture.















So I got:

7 boxes of cereal (it was suppose to be only 6, but I messed up my first deal)
1 Huggies 232 count wipes refill
1 Huggies Jumbo size 4 diapers
1 Gas-x
3 boxes of band aids


I spent right at $15 out of pocket
Used $19.98 in ECB's
Use Q's on the cereal, wipes, diapers, and gas-x
Then got a gain of $21 in ECB's back to use next week.

I love CVS and how much it helps my grocery/household budget. I have to give a big Shout Out to Carlie over from Why Ask Why and Teresa at A Life at Home. With out them I would have never known that this kind of thing existed. Thank you ladies so much, for introducing me to coupons and CVS!!

Triming Down the Budget

I have been trying to think of ways to trim down our spending. I feel I have been doing pretty well with menu planning and doing CVS deals. One of the huge hurdles that we/I need to overcome is the eating out syndrome.

I have been planning the menu and making sure we have everything we need for meals, but on lazy days I will still run out and pick us up something to eat. This is not only extra money spent, but less healthy than home cooking.

So I wonder, is there any practical ways to get this done? Or is this going to just take plain ol' self control? I have asked Gus to tell me "no" when I ask to go pick up food, but he is just as bad as me and loves to have Micky D's or Cane's pretty often. So, we are really no help to each other. I think we are just going to have to buckle down and make eating out a special treat, instead of being a regular meal.

As you can see I need help, if you have had the eating out syndrome before and overcame it please let me know how you accomplished that! :)