Couponing is an Extreme Sport (WSJ)

We’re not talking about the people who come out of the grocery story having saved 75% or the Walgreens shoppings doing 3 purchases to roll their rewards. We’re talking about the guy with 1,142 packages of Jello or the woman who freezes months and months worth of eggs.

It scares me when I read about people using their bedroom closets and coffee tables as food storage, because that’s when I think it  starts to switch from being a savvy shopper and stockpiling food when it’s at its lowest price to hoarding. What the heck are you going to do with that much Jello? And these people don’t stop with massive amounts of one just one item.

If you’ve been reading for awhile, you know that I am a stockpiler, so it’s not like I don’t understand the purpose or impulse of buying when things are low. I also think that my house is a home and not a warehouse and I should be able to open my bedroom closet and find clothes, not canned peas or be able to store my video games controllers in the living room instead of pasta. Fortunately, I know that Mr  wouldn’t put up with that much stuff (he already gets antsy when I buy a single box of tomato sauce)  no matter how much money we’re saving.

A lot of people defend the practice by saying that they donate items to food pantries and shelters, which is well and good,  but they’re also preventing normal shoppers from getting good deals on products. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed to get a rain check on 80% of the items on my list because someone else cleared the shelf already. (If I show up 20 minutes after opening on stock day and the shelf is already empty, I can almost guarantee it was hit by one of these shoppers.)

So what do you think? Are extreme couponers hoarders, savvy shoppers, something else?

Popularity: 16% [?]

No really, I hate buying household products. Not just because of the whole ‘killing tree, chock full of chemicals’ aspect, but because they’re so flippin’ expensive. We usually buy in bulk, so every couple of months when we do have to restock, it tacks another $50-75 to our grocery budget that month.

The worst part is that all the household coupons now are buy 2 get $ off. I don’t the space to store two gigantic bottles of dish soap and two gigantic bottles of dishwasher detergent and so on and so forth. Even if I did, it’s usually a savings of about $.50 on $20 worth of product when you buy in bulk. If BJ’s has a mailer out, then sometimes you can find a good coupon, but they expire in a month. Sometimes, if I’m super lucky and willing to wait/search, I can get good deals at the grocery store on smaller bottles (I got my Mr. Clean Magic Erasers essentially free that way) but we’re very specific about the products we can use thanks to allergies and environmental concerns.

Are  there any necessary items that you just hate to buy because of the price?

Meat also makes me mad, especially since I’d happily eat a mostly vegetarian diet if Mr wasn’t such a picky eater. I love all the variations of rice and beans that his family cooks, but he’d rather eat a big bowl of mealworms.

I do buy meat in bulk for savings except on the rare occasions when the grocery store meat is on a good sale and is actually decent quality (Bloom around the corner, I’m looking at you. Your meat is nasty.) But again, I can only store so much at once.

Popularity: 16% [?]

A super easy sewing project that’s also really inexpensive if you shop correctly. They’re also a little classier than the no-sew fleece blankets where you tie the edges together. These are great, quick gifts for baby showers.

Piece o' cake

I call them floor/car blankets because their ability to go into the washer on hot make them suitable for use as floor pads or emergency changing pads and they’re just about the right size to cover kiddo up in the car seat.

Supplies:

Zig Zag Stitch

• 1 yard fleece
• 1 yard flannel (snuggle flannel if you like)
• matching thread

Directions:

• Pre-wash your fabrics. Since these are intended for babies, use a non-scented detergent and skip the softener.
• Cut your fabrics to size and pin right sides together.
• Either serge the sides or use a wide zig-zag stitch and then trim the edges. Leave a few inches on one side to turn the fabric right side out.
  

  Top stitch the right sides to finish the edges and create a strong seam.

• Turn fabric right side out and re-pin edges together. Turn the un-serged/zig-zagged edges under and pin together.
• Top stitch the edges.
• That’s it.

Fleece is generally sold in 60″ widths and flannel tends to be 48″ so you’ll end up with extra fleece. If you’re feeling extra creative, you can cut the extra fleece into a monogram or other appliques. To sew on the applique, use a zig-zag stitch.

Another fun embellishment is to use a fun piece of ribbon as piping. Pin the ribbon sandwiched between the fabrics and with the bulk of the ribbon towards the center of your fabric when you are pinning the right sides together in the beginning.  When you flip the blanket right side out, the ribbon will extend past the seam.

Popularity: 10% [?]

You know, I had no idea that car seats expire until yesterday. Furthermore, in some states it’s illegal for thrift/consignment shops to sell them, because it’s too hard to determine if they’ve been in an accident.

In my defense, it never occurred to me to buy a used car seat (because it’s too hard to determine if it’s been wet  or in an accident or whatever), especially from someone I don’t know. So yeah, one more reason NOT to try to save money by buying a used carseat.

If you have a carseat approaching the 5-6 year mark and plan to get a new one, please don’t sell it to some unsuspecting mama. If you will be throwing it out, it is a good idea to cut the harness and mark the seat as ‘expired’ so some Good Samaritan doesn’t spot it and try to donate it to someone  in need.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Yes, I froze even MORE food for when the baby comes. This time around, I’m going to talk about the massive quantities of chicken breast I froze.

If you’re super co-ordinated, you can wait until chicken hits the low point in the 12 week grocery cycle (skinless breast usually hits $1.79/lb here at the lowest) and start freezing. I didn’t have the luxury of waiting (being a human time bomb) so I just picked up bulk breasts at BJ’s.

There are two ways to simple cook your chicken, you can poach it like I’ve talked about before, or you can bake it.

To bake chicken breast for storage, first trim off all the fat, membranes, veins, etc. Then salt and pepper your breasts and pop them in the oven at about 375 for maybe 30 minutes. I personally prefer to partially under most of my batches because they’ll retain more moisture for their reheating/cooking. I also fully cook a few so I can use them cold. Just make sure you mark which is which when you freeze.

I prefer to cube my chicken for freezing, since they thaw and reheat faster that way. About 1″ cubes seem to work the best and a heaping handful is usually about 1 serving, unless you have freakishly tiny or huge hands.

“Recipes” for Cubed Chicken: (These ‘recipes’ are designed for convenience and speed. Ingredients listed are per serving, unless noted. For more complex recipes, type ‘chicken’ into the search widget and you’ll find a bunch of recipes from my poached chicken series.)

“Stir Fry”

• 1 handful chicken
• 1 cup veggies (fresh or frozen, we’re partial to zuchini)
• 2-3 tsp prepared stir fry sauce

Stir fry your chicken and veggies together with a little vegetable oil on high. Add your sauce and continue cooking until fully heated. Serve over rice or ramen.

Chicken ‘Helper” (for 4)

• 2 cups diced chicken
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 can water
• 1/2 bag egg noodles
• 1/2 bag frozen broccoli (or green beans)

Saute onion. Add chicken and broccoli and cook until broccoli starts to thaw. Add soup and water, then noodles and whatever seasoning sounds good. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to low and simmer until noodles are tender.

Chicken Salad

• 1 handful diced chicken
• 1 Tbsp diced celery
• 1 Tbsp diced onion
• 2-3 Tbsp mayonaise
• 1 squirt mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• (optional: squeeze of lemon juice, tsp of pickle relish, etc.)

Mix ingredients and serve on toast.

Salad with Chicken

• 2 cups mixed greens (use a bagged mix for convenience)
• 1 handful chicken
• prepared dressing

Chicken ‘Alfredo’ (for 4)

• 2-3 cups diced chicken
• 1-2 cups broccoli florets*
• 1-2 carrots, diced*
• 1/2 cup diced red pepper*
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 jar prepared alfredo sauce

*Save yourself some time and just use frozen veggies.

Saute vegetables and garlic together until they soften. Add chicken. Stir in prepared sauce and cook until heated through. Serve over pasta.

Chicken Pot Pie

Pilsbury, take it away.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Part One – http://www.afamilyofgeeks.com/?p=1735

More on freezing meals for eating later. This post, I’m going to focus on freezing prepared meals.

As I mentioned last post, the Meat Sauce and Chili freeze quite well. I measure out 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup per serving (depending on whether it’s for kids or adults) and freeze the bags flat. Just don’t forget to mark the bags with the contents because it’s very easy to mix the two up and end up defrosting the wrong thing.

My Garlicky Meatballs are also excellent candidates for freezing and their small size means they defrost quickly (or you can just forget defrosting them if you plan to simmer them in sauce). Figure 3 meatballs per serving and freeze them on a baking tray first before bagging them so you they don’t get squished.

Meatloaves also freeze well, but I recommended splitting your recipe into smaller loaves. They thaw and cook faster, meaning you won’t end up with blackened insides and raw insides. I also like to only partially cook my meatloaves when I’m freezing them, so they’re not dry and gross when they’re reheated. (I’d give you my meatloaf recipe, but I don’t think I’ve ever made it the same way twice. You can try this one from Freeze Happy though.)

Baked Ziti

I don’t know why I never put this recipe up before. It made it to my other sites, so I’m guessing it may just be tagged incorrectly and buried in the mess of my archives. This is quite possibly my favorite thing to eat and it feeds a whole crowd (or it can be split into multiple meals).

• 1lb ziti or penne, cooked for only half of recommended time
• 1lb lean ground beef OR 1lb loose sausage (or .5lb of each)
• 2 26.5 oz cans Hunts Traditional Spaghetti Sauce (or any similar sauce
• 1 8oz can plain tomato sauce
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 lb part skim mozzarella,
• 1 large tub ricotta, drained
• 2-3 eggs
• garlic (I use almost 1/2 cup minced)
• oregano/basic (about 2 tsp each)
• olive oil

Prepare your pans. Either use disposable ones, or line your baking dishes with foil. For crowds, I use 9×13 pans (usually two) for smaller groups or freezing, I’ll use 4 9×9 pans.

A few hours before serving/cooking

• Drain your ricotta in a fine sieve or cheesecloth over a bowl in the fridge.

1 hour a before assembly

• Dice and fry the onion in oil in a nice big saute or sauce pan.
• When onions are translucent, add the beef and half of the garlic, oregano and basil. Brown.
• When beef is browned, add 1 can of spaghetti sauce and the tomato sauce
• Let cover and let simmer until ready to assemble ziti. Stirring often.
• Start grating the mozzarella.

30 minutes before assembly

• Start your pasta water boiling.
• Mix drained ricotta, eggs, and rest of seasonings in a large bowl. Let come to room temperature.
• Preheat your oven to ~375.

10 minutes before assembly.

• Cook your pasta for 4-5 minutes less than the packaging recommends. It should be just barely cooked through and very chewy.

Assembly

• In each pan, layer in the following order: 1/4 of pasta, 1/4 of ricotta, 1/4 of meat sauce, 1/6 mozzarella, repeat once. (If you are using 4 9×9 pans, use 1/8 and 1/12 respectively)
• Now mix it all together! (Why layer first? To make sure everything is evenly divided and mixed.)
• Split remaining can of sauce over the top of pans.
• If you are freezing the baked ziti, pop it in the fridge now.

Cooking Immediately

• Loosely cover pan with tin foil.
• Bake in over until heated through. If all the ingredients were still warm when they were assembled, this may take 45 minutes. If they were allowed to cool first, this could be closer to 90 minutes.
• Remove foil and top with remaining cheese. Continue baking until cheese is melted.

Freezing and Thawing

• To freeze, cover with tinfoil and freeze until firm. When firm, reposition the tin foil to lay directly on the top of the ziti. This will allow you to stack these large, silver bricks. If you are using regular baking pans, pull the foil out now and the ziti should hold it shape well enough to stack without the pans.
• To thaw, place in refrigerator at least 48 hours ahead of time. (If you are using regular baking pans, unwrap ziti and place in pan now) Because of the density, these bricks can take a ridiculously long time to thaw. Do NOT try to cook from frozen state.
• Bake as above.

Serving Suggestions

• Keep it simple. A large green salad and a loaf or two of garlic bread will satisfy everyone but the pickiest of eaters.
• To make garlic bread: Slice a loaf of Italian bread in half horizontally. Mash a stick of salted butter with a teaspoon or two of garlic. Spread on bread and broil until the edges of the bread start to brown.

Popularity: 12% [?]

This past weekend I spent a couple hours filling my freezer with food so I won’t have to worry about cooking in the first few weeks after baby comes. For the most part I cooked the building blocks of meals and  not whole entrees (although I did partially bake a few meatloaves and such). By not making full meals, I left myself with lots of flexibility but significantly cut down on the time Mr. and I would need to cook dinner.

To freeze ground beef, I use:

• 4-5lbs bulk beef (since I drain the fat, I often buy 80% which is cheaper.
• 1 bag of frozen, diced onions (you can dice them yourself, but onions are cheap and this is faster)
• small holed colander

If you don’t have a big griddle, this is best done in 2lb batches so you don’t just end up steaming the meat on top. Basically, just fry the onions for a minute or two and then brown the beef. Drain the whole mess in the colander and then portion it out into meal sized servings (.5lb packages for Mr and I). You can obviously repeat for as many meals as you need.

I find the meat stores (and defrosts) better if you squish the meat down in a freezer bag and lay them flat. You may need to use  gallon sized bags depending on how big the portion is.

Straight up, the beef won’t have any real flavor because there’s no seasoning, but that’s on purpose.  The lack of seasoning allows you to make different meals with it, but if you know you almost always make the same thing, go ahead and flavor the meat for that.

To thaw your beef, simply take it out the night before (I remember better if I do it while I’m cooking dinner) and pop it in the fridge. If you’re in a hurry, either take advantage of the defrost setting on your microwave or let it sit in a bowl full of cool water.

Recipes for Pre-Cooked Beef: (most of these recipes prize convenience, simplicity and speed over anything else, so anyone can make them if mom and dad are busy. They usually feed about 4, but you can double most easily.)

Meat Sauce (for Pasta)

• 1/2 ground beef
• 1 Tbsp garlic (minced)*
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1 can or bottle prepared spaghetti sauce (Traditional)

Fry the beef briefly with the seasonings and dump in the sauce. Let simmer until heated through. Serve over pasta (works best with chunky styles). This sauce freezes well, so you can make it ahead of time and freeze it as well.

Chili

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 Tbsp garlic (minced)*
• 3 tsp chili powder
• couple shakes red pepper flakes
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 15.5 oz can black or pinto beans

Fry first 4 ingredients together. Add tomatoes and beans. The longer it simmers the better. Serve over rice. Also freezes and reheats well.

Sloppy Joes

• 3/4 pound ground beef
• 2 cups tomato sauce (not pasta sauce)
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp Worcester sauce
• 1 Tbsp mustard
• 1 Tbsp garlic (minced)*
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Simmer ingredients together. Serve on hamburger buns.

“Stir Fry“

• 3/4 lbs ground beef
• 1 package of favorite frozen veggie (broccoli works well)
• 1/2 bottle favorite stir fry sauce

I’m pretty sure you don’t actually need directions here. Serve over rice.

Beef ‘Helper’ *cough*

• 3/4lbs ground beef
• 1tsp garlic*
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom or celery soup
• 1/2 can water or milk
• ~ 1 Tbsp seasoning salt or whatever looks good from your spice rack
• 1/2 lb egg noodles

Mix ingredients together and simmer until noodles are tender. You can also add a bag of frozen veggies to the mix instead of cooking a vegetable separately.

*I buy it pre-minced in water. Doesn’t taste quite the same, but the goal here is speed and ease of use.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Unfortunately, the pitter patter of little paws in the kitchen is not a new puppy or kitten, but a mouse. Using what little I know of scatology, it seems like it’s a field mouse. If you’ve seen the snow outside my window, you wouldn’t blame the little guy(s) from trying to come inside.

Clearly, I need to get one of these ferocious beasts.

That doesn’t mean he’s a welcome guest though, especially now that we need to devote the time we’d use to getting ready for baby to getting glass storage for all our grains, etc. So f-ing annoying and part of the reason I haven’t been posting much this week.

Our pest control service (we have an annual contract) was supposed to come do their yearly inspection on Saturday, but I guess we’ll have to move that up. While they will take care of the problem, we’re going to have to insist on them using non-chemically baited traps because of  my obvious condition and the fact I don’t want that crap in my kitchen. Normally, I’m a bleeding heart when it comes to animals, but when they are pests in my house, I am not afraid to snap a few mousey necks.

Having an annual contract with the pest company seems expensive at first, but the nice thing is we don’t have to worry about paying anything for the rest of the year, no matter how many calls we put in. We see crickets? They come out for free. Ants in the bathroom? Out they come. Bees in the siding? Our heroes to the rescue. One (probably vastly inflated) price.

So how do you handle pest control? Do you have a contracted exterminator? Do it yourself with natural/non-chemical pesticides? Just pick a name from the phone book?

Popularity: 13% [?]

All the crazy safety issues and recalls are making my head spin (not to mention making my wallet empty.)  It seems like every other day there’s some new announcement on what is or is not safe for the kiddos.

To be totally honest, except for clothes and some toys, everything we have for our imminent arrival is new. For one thing, most of my cousins just had #2 and need their cribs, etc. for their own house. I also won’t buy used stuff for baby from people I don’t know.

Anyway, if you’re not a paranoid nutjob like me, here are some tips for buying used or secondhand for baby.

• Look for new items first. You’d be surprised how many people get stuck with extra items from their registry that they can’t return. A savvy haggler can get a ton of brand new items for pennies on the dollar.
• Breast pumps should not be bought used unless they are hospital grade and you can replace all the tubing. Even though the pump may look clean, bacteria can makes it way through the tubing and valves.
• Don’t buy any car seat or baby furniture if the seller doesn’t know the model make and serial number. If there is yet another recall (and there were several in the past months) you need to be able to identify what you have.
• Washing the straps of a cars eat can weaken them. Be sure to ask if the seat has been washed before you purchase it.
• Keep abreast of the safety recommendations for baby furniture. Many heirloom pieces are beautiful, but can be hazards for infants. Don’t buy any furniture unseen because you should be checking the space between slats, drop sides, etc.
• Vintage toys can be awesome, but be wary of painted pieces and plastic. Many classic toys used lead paint (and were made with lead parts) and older plastic toys can have additives that are now forbidden. Since infants put everything in their mouths, you don’t want to find out junior has been sucking on hazardous chemicals. Stick to toys made in the last 10 years or so and sanitize them thoroughly.
• Double check infant clothes for strings and ribbons, loose buttons or other potential choking hazards. They may be cute, but they’re also hazardous. (Same thing goes for used maternity/nursing clothes.)

There are tons of incredible deals out there if you’re willing to take the time to research and look.

Have you hit the jackpot at a garage sale or Craigslist?

Popularity: 14% [?]

I have whatever the internet equivalent of nesting is. I just can’t get any theme to look right. And to top things off, I lost my copy of PhotoShop when my hard drive died. I could ‘acquire’ it again easily, but I try to keep things legal round these parts.

On the other hand, I don’t seem to be struck by the nesting instinct in real life. We finally got the nursery painting/carpeted, but the dresser is sitting in my garage waiting to be sanded and repainted. It was our former roommate’s ex-wife’s, but she left it behind when she ran off.  Her loss, our gain. I did manage to sort out all the hand-me-downs by size and get them into storage, though. Thanks to all my cousin’s having girls first, out kiddo is going to be the best dressed tot in town. I think Mr. and I bought a grand total of two outfits, yet kiddo has more clothes than I do.

Okay, so it's not this bad yet.

The rest of the rest of the house is just an epic disaster. The guest bedroom is filled with baby paraphernalia (most of which I don’t even understand) and the junk that was in the nursery. Mr is still moving into his office, so there are boxes and boxes of files and assorted other crap in my living room. I’m in the middle of a very complex costume for this weekend (which I might not even get to wear now) so the back room and my studio are a mess.

And the mess really doesn’t bother me. It probably should, but I think my brain finally overloaded from trying to get all the other stuff done for baby and I’ve reach a sort of clutter-tastic zen. Well, that and I’m so huge that bending over to pick anything up is a massive effort.

Oh well.

Popularity: 16% [?]