I meet so many women who do not know how to cook. As a teacher and a mom I get to enjoy being home with my boys during the summer. That also means my boys are home for all 3 meals and many snacks during the summer months. My refrigerator broke a few weeks ago. I lost all my stock pile of frozen meals so I'm starting over to refill my freezer this month. So I thought I would use my teacher blog to show how I cook and feed a family of 3 for a month on a teacher's salary.
I grew up on a peanut farm 27 miles in the country. We only went into to town a few times a month. I've tried to keep that lifestyle as much as I can to save money as a single mom on a teacher's salary. Today I went and spent $300.00 on groceries for the month. I may have to go back for milk, bread, eggs or a few other small things, but for the most part my grocery shopping is finished for the month. I buy the really big packages of hamburger meat for around $16.00 a package. I break those packages up into small ziploc bags and freeze them. This saves money and time. When I need to cook a ziploc bag of hamburger I just pop it in the microwave on defrost for about 2 min. and it's defrosted and ready to cook. I bought 5 packages of hamburger meat today, a large bag of frozen chicken, roast, pork loin, turkey sandwich meat and cans of tuna. That is enough meat product for 52 meals. I freeze a lot of my fruit to keep it fresh. You can even freeze or refrigerate bananas to keep them fresh longer. Here is a picture of my ziploc bags of hamburger. I have 40 bags of hamburger in the freezer.
I grew up on a peanut farm 27 miles in the country. We only went into to town a few times a month. I've tried to keep that lifestyle as much as I can to save money as a single mom on a teacher's salary. Today I went and spent $300.00 on groceries for the month. I may have to go back for milk, bread, eggs or a few other small things, but for the most part my grocery shopping is finished for the month. I buy the really big packages of hamburger meat for around $16.00 a package. I break those packages up into small ziploc bags and freeze them. This saves money and time. When I need to cook a ziploc bag of hamburger I just pop it in the microwave on defrost for about 2 min. and it's defrosted and ready to cook. I bought 5 packages of hamburger meat today, a large bag of frozen chicken, roast, pork loin, turkey sandwich meat and cans of tuna. That is enough meat product for 52 meals. I freeze a lot of my fruit to keep it fresh. You can even freeze or refrigerate bananas to keep them fresh longer. Here is a picture of my ziploc bags of hamburger. I have 40 bags of hamburger in the freezer.
I'm a mom who firmly believes if I'm home in the morning my children should never eat cold cereal for breakfast nor should they eat store bought cookies. Here are my recipes for homemade waffles and the most amazing homemade chocolate cookies.
Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 small pkg. vanilla pudding 2 1/4 cup flour 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup sugar 2 sticks of butter (softened) 1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. baking soda 2 eggs hershey's chocolate chips Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl. Combine wet ingredients in the bowl with a hand mixer. Choose a bowl you can store your cookie dough in. I use a tupperware bowl with a lid. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients with a hand mixer. Add chocolate chips and stir into dough with a large spoon. Refrigerate cookie dough for at least 2 hours. When you are ready to make your cookies preheat oven at 500 degrees fahrenheit. Cover your cookie sheet with parchment paper. I use a small ice cream scoop to shape my cookie dough into balls to ensure each ball is the same size. LOWER THE TEMPERATURE OF YOUR OVEN TO 350 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT AS SOON AS YOU PLACE COOKIES INTO THE OVEN. Bake cookies for 9-12 min. or until golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet. These cookies are a little crisp on the outside and so soft and fluffy on the inside. I keep some of this cookie dough in my refrigerator at all times for cookie emergencies. | Best homemade Waffle Recipe Ever 1 egg 1 cup milk 3 tablespoons oil 1 teaspoon vanilla 1-1/4 cup flour 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Preheat waffle maker as you prepare batter. Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix well with a wisk. Pour batter into waffle maker and follow waffle directions for how long to let batter cook. These are the most fluffy, moist waffles you will ever put in your mouth. Your children will beg for them every morning. When my youngest son Gage was a year old he would say "I want waffle" and my oldest son Cody would tease him and say "We ran out of waffles" Gage would go crazy screaming "I want waffles". lol! |
I don't buy a lot of junk food. My boys love crackers with dip with peanut butter, gold fish, chips with salsa and popcorn. I keep cold tea, kool-aid, water bottles in the refrigerator. I have to admit with children if it's out of sight it's out of mind. I only put out part of the snack food at a time, the rest is hidden in my closet for later in the month.
I wish I could say we only eat and drink healthy snacks at our house, but the truth is we all love Dr. Pepper. I keep the extra Dr. Pepper in the garage. It's hot and not very appealing. I only keep a few at a time in the refrigerator so four - twelve packs will last the entire month. I refuse to buy Dr. Pepper at regular price. You can always find it on sale at Walgreens, United, Target or even Stripes. Never pay regular price for soft drinks. I love Pure Water ice. It makes any drink taste so much better. |