We have been on vacation this past week and we ate breakfast and lunch in our condo, then enjoyed eating our main meal out each day. I love trying new food options – things I don’t normally make at home. New food and flavor combinations stretch my taste buds and my culinary skills, so I’m always looking out for something a little different on the menu.
Because we were on the coast, we had seafood every day! We also had some other fare that was just delicious! I”ll share a few of the new flavor combinations I loved.
We’ve all seen that grocery prices are climbing. Is it possible to stay within a budget, but also cook delicious and filling meals at home? Yes! Here are my top five suggestions for doing just that!
Vegetable Pot Pie
Banana bread made from over-ripe bananas costs pennies and can be sliced and frozen to accompany oatmeal or eggs for breakfast.
Take note of what’s on sale at the grocery store each week. Going to Southern Savers or Money Saving Mom sites can make it so easy! Also be sure to visit the marked down areas in each section of the store – produce, bread and meats. Then…
Make a weekly menu from the items on sale. A menu will keep you from running to the store last minute and buying whatever it takes to make supper. You’ll also be buying when the items are lower.
Stock up if you can. When items are on sale, buy more than one, if possible. When butter is on sale, I buy two or three and freeze the extras until I need them.
Bake your own bread, baked goods and snacks. This French Bread is so easy and makes two large loaves. I buy my bread flour in bulk at Sam’s Club and this recipe costs very little to mix together. After calculating the flour and the yeast (also bought in bulk at Sam’s), it costs me about 35 cents per loaf! This bread is so good toasted, so aside from a great side for breakfast or spaghetti supper, the possibilities are endless – grilled cheese, French toast, or BLT’s to name a few. These Muffins and this sweet bread can be made so cheaply by buying bananas that are over-ripe. They are cheaper than ripe ones and they freeze beautifully. When berries are on sale, freeze them for berry muffins. Make up a batch of cookies that don’t call for extra items like nuts or chocolate chips (did I just say that?!). Reserve those for special times. Make simple recipes like Snickerdoodles or Sugar Cookies. Rather than buying microwave popcorn, make this easy recipe – it’s much cheaper (and so much better!). These Granola Bars are also a Yummy snack!
5. Have meatless suppers once or twice a week. You can have breakfast for supper and serve eggs, pancakes or waffles and fruit. Go with beans as the protein and have Cracker Barrel’s Pinto Beans and cornbread. Refried Beans in a tortilla with fresh tomatoes, lettuce and cheese is another good option. Broccoli or Baked Potato Soups are both hearty and filling. Vegetable Pot Pie is another yummy, filling option!
Just typing up this post made me really want to cook and bake! Each of these recipes are truly cost-effective – especially when you follow the five steps I shared. I hope this will help you to eat well AND stay in your budget!
I love to cook, however, that doesn’t mean I like to slave in the kitchen every single day! I love to eat good meals that are fresh and delicious, too, so that means when I AM in the kitchen, I like to make good use of that time in ways that will help me for future meals!
I thought I”d show you how I have recently cooked foods that allowed me to have DIFFERENT meals using things I cooked earlier. Say no to Leftovers! These are fresh, different meals each time they’re served!
We all have to eat. But what we fix and how we serve it can make a huge difference in how much enjoyment we give ourselves and those with whom we share the meal. I can remember growing up that my mom always made the table and the food a special part of each day. I don’t go overboard on a regular day, but I try to make the food and the table inviting. Today’s post is just a little glimpse into how I set the table and what meals we’ve been enjoying recently.
Al Fresco Dining – Once the weather turns warm, we eat outside as often as possible! One morning recently I took breakfast outside to the front porch where the sun was shining and ate sitting in a rocking chair. That’s even better than Cracker Barrel! Continue reading “My Kitchen Table – Settings & Sustenance”→
For a fantastic ending to a great summer, we enjoyed our first Family Vacation! Â We were blessed to have our daughters, sons-in-law, and grandsons all join us for a two and half day get-away! Â Let me just start by sharing a few of the highlights:
Coming up with our hashtag for the time away! Â We wanted pics to remember this event by, so we needed a hashtag for Instagram! Â We settled on #hamfamvacay2017. Â Some of the other running options were – #picvacay2017 #hammingitup2017
Having time to just be together. When you have babies in the group, it’s just easier not to be running all over, and we were happy with that! Â We gladly opted to just stay near the condo and only go out one time. Â We truly just wanted to be able to visit and be together.
Having time in the Word as a family. My husband gathered everyone together on the patio and we opened God’s Word to read a chapter and share our “Ah ha” verses.  How thankful I am that we could all contribute and share from the riches of the Bible.  I do not take for granted having a family filled with believers!
Meal time! Â What’s better than home-cooked food, enjoyed at “home” with those you love?
It can be a little tricky feeding lots of people, but we came up with a plan that made it doable. Today I’m linking up with my daughter, Whitney to share how we managed six meals for six people, adding in the complications of two who were dieting, one who had a birthday, and one (kind of) picky eater!
Because we were staying at a Wyndham resort, we had cooking capabilities and decided we would eat all our meals “at home” rather than eating out. Â Aside from being a money saver, it’s also so much easier to visit in the quiet of the resort, than at a restaurant. Â But how do you bring enough food and give what everyone likes when there are six adults eating six meals? Â Here’s what we did:
I offered to make supper for both nights, knowing that they would be the more costly meals.
I suggested that the girls either:
~each take a day and make both breakfast and lunch on their day,
~one take lunches for both days and the other the breakfasts for both days. Â They chose the latter.
Another component in cooking for a crowd is dietary restrictions, or even likes/dislikes. Â One of the couples was on a diet that restricted grains, dairy, sugar, and several other things. Â One in our group isn’t too adventurous with foods. Â We decided that we would do our best to provide a main meat that everyone could have, and then let them fill the gaps with what they could/would eat. Â It can be nearly impossible to please everyone – right? Â This way, the options was theirs to eat what the cook provided, or add their own items to the meal.
We were glad to be able to cook, but no one wanted to be spending lots of time preparing the food. Â For my supper meals, I opted to do a grilled meat one night and an oven-prepared meal the next night. Â Here were my supper menus:
Night One:
Grilled Steaks
(Adding only grill seasoning and no marinade, due to the dieters)
Baked potatoes (done in the oven)
Corn on the cob French Bread
Cupcakes
Excuse the poor picture, but the picture taking was low on the list at the moment! =)
For that first supper, everyone ate the steaks and potatoes, but the dieters didn’t have corn, bread or cupcakes.  We were celebrating a birthday that night, so I got creative with what I had and made a slice of a diet friendly birthday “cake” which also fell on the day of  the eclipse!
My Eclipse “Cake!”
Night Two:
Oven-Baked Chicken Fajitas –
(Everyone could add or leave off what they didn’t like)
Spanish Rice – (The dieters fixed Sweet Potato fries)
Refried Beans
Fresh Fruit
After everyone else left, my husband and I had the blessing of finishing out the week at the resort, so we needed breakfast and lunch meals for those days as well. Â To keep things easy, I tried to get double use out of items I brought. Â For example:
Bacon – Used for breakfast or BLT’s for lunch
Bread – Toasted  for Steak night, Toast and jelly for breakfast
Leftover fajitas for lunch
Fresh tomatoes and fruit – salad, dessert and snacks!
Mealtimes were a huge success!  There was no flurry of wondering where we would go or what we were going to eat.  It was laid out simply and everyone had plenty of good food!
You can go here and check out Whitney’s post to see what she and her sister fixed for the other meals!
What does your  family do to make mealtime happen on vacation?
RefreshHer 