I've decided to create a new blog. It'll be more of the couponing, dinner schedules, recipes, and less of the funny family moments. I figured you all probably don't need or care to know what we're eating for dinner this week and I don't want it in our journal-ish blog. I want to be able to this blog out at some point without all the added recipes or coupon trips.
So, if you feel like seeing our recipes, dinner schedule, and coupon things feel free to follow it. It'll be called Heiner Household Happenings.
I'm sure somethings will be linked back and forth.
Thanks,
Taryn
Sunday, August 21, 2011
$35 Challenge REDO
Okay, so that was previously a total failure. Note to self, don't try $35 per week if going on vacation with entire family to California! It isn't going to work. Actually, I had this whole plan on how to make it nearly work but Ben was not for it. He said, "We're not buying bread or packing cereal while on vacation!" Alright, alright...I wanted to eat out at La Comida anyways :) (Apparently, smiley faces are a new type of punctuation, at least on my blog it is.)
Click here to see my plan for super cheap vacation eating.
So, I'm going to attempt, again, the $35 per week grocery limit. I'll add some new goals, and some of the old.
Old goals: includes- food, baby things (ie. wipes, baby food, etc.), going out to eat, household necessities (ie. toilet paper, zipper baggies, laundry soap, etc.), health and beauty items (ie. shampoo, body wash, hand soap, etc.), and couponing trips.
New goals: week starts Friday (payday) and ends Thursday night; can use current pantry items (this will help with cycling through some of the storage that never gets used); fruits and veggies at least twice a day; and I'm not going to stress 2 weeks, just go as long as I can.
Just so you can understand, our usual grocery budget is somewhere between $100-$150 per week but we spend over consistently for no real good reason. Usually it has something to do with the yummy tasters at Costco :) or sodas and cookies at McDonald's.
It's fine, I just like a challenge in something that interests me, plus that extra money can be saved for Fast Offerings and fixing up our basement.
Fun Fun, wish me luck!
-Taryn
Click here to see my plan for super cheap vacation eating.
So, I'm going to attempt, again, the $35 per week grocery limit. I'll add some new goals, and some of the old.
Old goals: includes- food, baby things (ie. wipes, baby food, etc.), going out to eat, household necessities (ie. toilet paper, zipper baggies, laundry soap, etc.), health and beauty items (ie. shampoo, body wash, hand soap, etc.), and couponing trips.
New goals: week starts Friday (payday) and ends Thursday night; can use current pantry items (this will help with cycling through some of the storage that never gets used); fruits and veggies at least twice a day; and I'm not going to stress 2 weeks, just go as long as I can.
Just so you can understand, our usual grocery budget is somewhere between $100-$150 per week but we spend over consistently for no real good reason. Usually it has something to do with the yummy tasters at Costco :) or sodas and cookies at McDonald's.
It's fine, I just like a challenge in something that interests me, plus that extra money can be saved for Fast Offerings and fixing up our basement.
Fun Fun, wish me luck!
-Taryn
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Super Cheap Vacation Eating Plan
We were going to California during the middle of my $35 per week grocery goal and I wanted to see how I could possibly make it work while on vacation. This is what I was planning to do but understandably, Benjamin didn't feel the need to be that cheap :)
Friday-(leave for airport at 1pm)
Breakfast at home, cereal or oatmeal
Lunch at home, sandwiches or Totinos pizza
Dinner: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks, popcorn (pre-popped, obviously), clementines, and an empty water bottle (the airport will allow you to bring food but only empty bottles that you may fill up after security checks you in).
Bracken: 4 frozen baby food cubes with 3 tablespoons baby cereal (will thaw by the time we're on the plane for dinner).
All of that is on hand, no associated cost.
Saturday-
Breakfast: cereal (packed box of cereal, bowls, spoons, dish soap, sponge), buy 1 quart of milk when awake.
Cost: $2
Lunch: peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples, 1 pop tart (packed peanut butter, honey, loaf of bread, apples, and pop tarts).
Cost: assume didn't have apples originally (4 small) or bread (1/3 of a loaf) all bought at home because taxes are 4% less= $1.75ish
Dinner: Super Ultra Delicious Special Gorgeous Yummy Still-Dreaming-About-It Grandma Birthday Dinner made by Super Ultra Gorgeous Talented Cousin (you know who you are )!
See, we were still able to eat real food.
Total Cost: $3.75ish
Sunday-
Breakfast: same as Saturday (we didn't even manage this, we were in such a rush to get to church and were amazed to find we were the first ones there from the family! AMAZING, it never happens.) Instead we snuck goldfish and animal crackers during Sacrament meeting (packed from home.)
Cost: would've cost $2, actual cost $0
Lunch: leftovers from dinner the night before
Dinner: eat more leftovers and cake from party
Total cost: would've cost $2, actual cost $0
Monday-
Breakfast: Same as Saturday
Cost: $2
Lunch: Zot's -there was no way I was going all the way to California and not eating the best hot dog in the world (We didn't make it. Darn it.) Other Grandma bought doughnuts and Dad provided milk.
Cost: if Aunty was there $7-8, if Uncle was there $14 :)
Dinner: La Comida- there was no way I was going all the way to California and not eating at a childhood favorite restaurant. (We did make it and it cost more than I expected.)
Cost: expected $12ish, actual $21
Total cost: w/auntie and expected $22, w/uncle and expected $28, actual spent $23
Tuesday-
Breakfast: haul to the airport, after settled on plane eat apples, animal crackers, goldfish, any packed snacks.
Cost: $1.35ish (apples)
Lunch: prepacked lunches- PB&honey sandwiches, snacks, airplane pretzels and in flight sodas.
Cost: $0.45 (part of bread loaf)
Dinner: not quite home yet, see if we can make it on stashed airplane snacks, sodas, and home brought snacks and any leftover bread. When home eat Totinos pizza, again. Wednesday we'd have a real meal again!
Cost: $0.15 (part of bread loaf)
Total cost: $1.95
I forgot to mention Bracken's food. I found stage 2 foods 2 pack for $1.34 with $1 off coupon for 2 boxes attached to each box. So, I bought 4 boxes, a total of 8 containers, enough for one container for lunch and one for dinner everyday at a total of $3.36, bringing each meal to $0.42. Seems like a bit especially when I make mine at home for $0.10 a meal, maybe, but the cheapest I am able to find for a single container is $0.60, therefore yeah to me! Most the time, however, he just ate what I ate. He only ate about 3 containers.
Complete and Total Cost estimated: $33.06
Complete and Total Cost actual w/estimate: $29.96
(being that we weren't being cheap and so we ate out instead of eating packed bread and cereal)
Actual Cost (since we ate out): about $128
We ate out a LOT, probably 8 times. Oh well.
We had a blast though and didn't have to worry about anything.
Yea!
-Taryn
Friday-(leave for airport at 1pm)
Breakfast at home, cereal or oatmeal
Lunch at home, sandwiches or Totinos pizza
Dinner: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks, popcorn (pre-popped, obviously), clementines, and an empty water bottle (the airport will allow you to bring food but only empty bottles that you may fill up after security checks you in).
Bracken: 4 frozen baby food cubes with 3 tablespoons baby cereal (will thaw by the time we're on the plane for dinner).
All of that is on hand, no associated cost.
Saturday-
Breakfast: cereal (packed box of cereal, bowls, spoons, dish soap, sponge), buy 1 quart of milk when awake.
Cost: $2
Lunch: peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples, 1 pop tart (packed peanut butter, honey, loaf of bread, apples, and pop tarts).
Cost: assume didn't have apples originally (4 small) or bread (1/3 of a loaf) all bought at home because taxes are 4% less= $1.75ish
Dinner: Super Ultra Delicious Special Gorgeous Yummy Still-Dreaming-About-It Grandma Birthday Dinner made by Super Ultra Gorgeous Talented Cousin (you know who you are )!
See, we were still able to eat real food.
Total Cost: $3.75ish
Sunday-
Breakfast: same as Saturday (we didn't even manage this, we were in such a rush to get to church and were amazed to find we were the first ones there from the family! AMAZING, it never happens.) Instead we snuck goldfish and animal crackers during Sacrament meeting (packed from home.)
Cost: would've cost $2, actual cost $0
Lunch: leftovers from dinner the night before
Dinner: eat more leftovers and cake from party
Total cost: would've cost $2, actual cost $0
Monday-
Breakfast: Same as Saturday
Cost: $2
Lunch: Zot's -there was no way I was going all the way to California and not eating the best hot dog in the world (We didn't make it. Darn it.) Other Grandma bought doughnuts and Dad provided milk.
Cost: if Aunty was there $7-8, if Uncle was there $14 :)
Dinner: La Comida- there was no way I was going all the way to California and not eating at a childhood favorite restaurant. (We did make it and it cost more than I expected.)
Cost: expected $12ish, actual $21
Total cost: w/auntie and expected $22, w/uncle and expected $28, actual spent $23
Tuesday-
Breakfast: haul to the airport, after settled on plane eat apples, animal crackers, goldfish, any packed snacks.
Cost: $1.35ish (apples)
Lunch: prepacked lunches- PB&honey sandwiches, snacks, airplane pretzels and in flight sodas.
Cost: $0.45 (part of bread loaf)
Dinner: not quite home yet, see if we can make it on stashed airplane snacks, sodas, and home brought snacks and any leftover bread. When home eat Totinos pizza, again. Wednesday we'd have a real meal again!
Cost: $0.15 (part of bread loaf)
Total cost: $1.95
I forgot to mention Bracken's food. I found stage 2 foods 2 pack for $1.34 with $1 off coupon for 2 boxes attached to each box. So, I bought 4 boxes, a total of 8 containers, enough for one container for lunch and one for dinner everyday at a total of $3.36, bringing each meal to $0.42. Seems like a bit especially when I make mine at home for $0.10 a meal, maybe, but the cheapest I am able to find for a single container is $0.60, therefore yeah to me! Most the time, however, he just ate what I ate. He only ate about 3 containers.
Complete and Total Cost estimated: $33.06
Complete and Total Cost actual w/estimate: $29.96
(being that we weren't being cheap and so we ate out instead of eating packed bread and cereal)
Actual Cost (since we ate out): about $128
We ate out a LOT, probably 8 times. Oh well.
We had a blast though and didn't have to worry about anything.
Yea!
-Taryn
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Dinner Menu for 8/1-8/7 week 1 of $35 challenge
I just want to start writing out my menu plan for the week so that I can refer back to one specific place instead of the 12 different pieces of paper I was randomly using. Plus, this way I can link recipes and easily find things, hopefully.
This week isn't going to be the norm. I hope to write out the menu in advance, this is just dinner that we did at the time.
Monday
Totino's Pizza 2 boxes (we bought while couponing)
Tuesday
Spaghetti with red sauce
Texas Toast (bought while couponing)
Wednesday
main dish: Old El Paso Tortilla Stuffers (previous coupon trip)
vegetable: couple of spinach leaves hidden inside burrito with cheese
fruit: Carnation instant breakfast shake with banana and a few leaves spinach
Thursday
Totino's Pizza (for girls and myself, Ben ate cereal and frozen burritos)
Berry smoothie
(we weren't really that hungry, see family outings Children's Museum, if your curious)
Friday
Dinner was suppose to be Hamburger Helper (available from previous couponing) but it requires milk which we're still out of. So, we made tacos. We didn't have any tortillas, but luckily I had tortilla flour on hand and we made our own. Got out a can of refried beans, salsa, and some cheese, and called it a meal.
(I'll eventually link how to make homemade tortillas)
Saturday
Entegra had pizza at a friends house.
Ramen noddles for everyone else, which Entegra also ate. She was hungry, even after 2 slices of pizza!
Sunday
Pancakes with sweet potato puree mixed in
This week isn't going to be the norm. I hope to write out the menu in advance, this is just dinner that we did at the time.
Monday
Totino's Pizza 2 boxes (we bought while couponing)
Tuesday
Spaghetti with red sauce
Texas Toast (bought while couponing)
Wednesday
main dish: Old El Paso Tortilla Stuffers (previous coupon trip)
vegetable: couple of spinach leaves hidden inside burrito with cheese
fruit: Carnation instant breakfast shake with banana and a few leaves spinach
Thursday
Totino's Pizza (for girls and myself, Ben ate cereal and frozen burritos)
Berry smoothie
(we weren't really that hungry, see family outings Children's Museum, if your curious)
Friday
Dinner was suppose to be Hamburger Helper (available from previous couponing) but it requires milk which we're still out of. So, we made tacos. We didn't have any tortillas, but luckily I had tortilla flour on hand and we made our own. Got out a can of refried beans, salsa, and some cheese, and called it a meal.
(I'll eventually link how to make homemade tortillas)
Saturday
Entegra had pizza at a friends house.
Ramen noddles for everyone else, which Entegra also ate. She was hungry, even after 2 slices of pizza!
Sunday
Pancakes with sweet potato puree mixed in
Week 1 of $35 Challenge
MONDAY
My week begun with a trip to the store for coupon shopping. I went over budget, at least with the amount I wanted to spend on couponing. But here is what I was able to get with the coupons.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I wouldn't have bought most of the things in these pictures and the coupons convinced me to spend money where I wouldn't normally. However, I would still have spent money on food to make baby lunches and the Gerber Lil' Entrees cost me nothing. I would've spent money on cereal, at least $2 per box, these Special K's were less than that (I can't find my receipt to say exactly how much.) I would still have spent money on snacks. The snacks in the first picture were less than the snacks I would normally have bought. And of course who in their right mind or at least decent eating habits would need 10 bags of marshmallows?! It probably would've taken me 5-8 years to buy this many marshmallows but now I can make rice crispy treats for our visiting teaching and home teaching families without thinking twice about it (or Entegra's class, or a neighbor...etc.)
As you can probably count or use a calculator, the total has come to $23.88. That is $10 more than I wanted to spend on coupons. So, for the rest of the week I only have $11.12 to spend. *cringe* I guess I'll have to be resourceful.
TUESDAY
Just realizing how much I needed that extra mula. I shouldn't have bought the pizza's. Today seems to be the day I run out of everything. Here's a list of the things we usually have on hand and are now out of.
Milk
Bread
Eggs
hot chocolate (yes, even in summer)
carrots
graham crackers
chicken broth
tortillas
rice
top ramen
Ugh, what am I going to do for a week?
WEDNESDAY
We needed out of the house and seriously needed butter. We're doing alright considering the amount of necessities we don't have but we REALLY NEEDED butter. So, we went to a store that I had more coupons for.
$11.12 - $3.29= $7.83 until next week, Monday at least.
My week begun with a trip to the store for coupon shopping. I went over budget, at least with the amount I wanted to spend on couponing. But here is what I was able to get with the coupons.
 |
| All of this totaled $50.80. After coupons $6.38! Totino's were the only thing that cost me. 87% Savings! |
 |
| All of this totaled $60.65 before coupons. After coupons $17.50! 71% Savings! |
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I wouldn't have bought most of the things in these pictures and the coupons convinced me to spend money where I wouldn't normally. However, I would still have spent money on food to make baby lunches and the Gerber Lil' Entrees cost me nothing. I would've spent money on cereal, at least $2 per box, these Special K's were less than that (I can't find my receipt to say exactly how much.) I would still have spent money on snacks. The snacks in the first picture were less than the snacks I would normally have bought. And of course who in their right mind or at least decent eating habits would need 10 bags of marshmallows?! It probably would've taken me 5-8 years to buy this many marshmallows but now I can make rice crispy treats for our visiting teaching and home teaching families without thinking twice about it (or Entegra's class, or a neighbor...etc.)
As you can probably count or use a calculator, the total has come to $23.88. That is $10 more than I wanted to spend on coupons. So, for the rest of the week I only have $11.12 to spend. *cringe* I guess I'll have to be resourceful.
TUESDAY
Just realizing how much I needed that extra mula. I shouldn't have bought the pizza's. Today seems to be the day I run out of everything. Here's a list of the things we usually have on hand and are now out of.
Milk
Bread
Eggs
hot chocolate (yes, even in summer)
carrots
graham crackers
chicken broth
tortillas
rice
top ramen
Ugh, what am I going to do for a week?
WEDNESDAY
We needed out of the house and seriously needed butter. We're doing alright considering the amount of necessities we don't have but we REALLY NEEDED butter. So, we went to a store that I had more coupons for.
 |
| Total before coupons $13.75. After coupons $3.29! 76% Savings! They actually "paid" me 12 cents for each soap. |
THURSDAY
Today the kids and I (Taryn) went to Richmond and I didn't want to spend a ton in the process so we bought bread for 78 cents and went home to make sandwiches.
$7.83 - $0.78= $7.05
We really need milk. Ben was asking today about tortillas. :(
FRIDAY
We still haven't bought any milk, but we're surviving on oatmeal and water instead of cereal. We were suppose to have Hamburger Helper for dinner but that requires milk.
We ended up using the meat for tacos. I realized, as I was searching through my cupboards for anything that didn't require milk, that I had Maseca which is tortilla mix kind of. So we made our own tortillas (a big thank you to Mari and her Mom for teaching me how to make homemade tortillas once upon a time in middle and high school.) We heated up some refried beans, got out the salsa, and called it dinner.
SATURDAY
Ben took the kids this morning and they went to Costco and bought our much needed milk!
$7.05 - $5.78= $1.27
SUNDAY
We usually try not to go shopping on Sunday although another loaf of bread would be nice but not necessary until tomorrow.
Wow. So, even after running out of everything, we still managed not to spend over the $35 mark. We even have a tad leftover! That leftover can be used for next week, too. Next week will be a little different due to extra circumstances. I don't know if we can make it work, but we'll certainly try!
One thing that wasn't included in the original goal was eating out. I didn't mention it as a do or don't. We didn't really go out to eat but there were 2 or 3 times when I had cash in my bag and we stopped by McDonald's for cookies and a soda (soda was for me.) This coming week (week 2) I am going to add that any type of going out has to come out of the $35. I don't see us going out much, even for cookies.
To see what we ate this week please click here (this week wasn't done very well, I hope to improve by next week.)
-Taryn
$7.83 - $0.78= $7.05
We really need milk. Ben was asking today about tortillas. :(
FRIDAY
We still haven't bought any milk, but we're surviving on oatmeal and water instead of cereal. We were suppose to have Hamburger Helper for dinner but that requires milk.
We ended up using the meat for tacos. I realized, as I was searching through my cupboards for anything that didn't require milk, that I had Maseca which is tortilla mix kind of. So we made our own tortillas (a big thank you to Mari and her Mom for teaching me how to make homemade tortillas once upon a time in middle and high school.) We heated up some refried beans, got out the salsa, and called it dinner.
SATURDAY
Ben took the kids this morning and they went to Costco and bought our much needed milk!
$7.05 - $5.78= $1.27
SUNDAY
We usually try not to go shopping on Sunday although another loaf of bread would be nice but not necessary until tomorrow.
Wow. So, even after running out of everything, we still managed not to spend over the $35 mark. We even have a tad leftover! That leftover can be used for next week, too. Next week will be a little different due to extra circumstances. I don't know if we can make it work, but we'll certainly try!
One thing that wasn't included in the original goal was eating out. I didn't mention it as a do or don't. We didn't really go out to eat but there were 2 or 3 times when I had cash in my bag and we stopped by McDonald's for cookies and a soda (soda was for me.) This coming week (week 2) I am going to add that any type of going out has to come out of the $35. I don't see us going out much, even for cookies.
To see what we ate this week please click here (this week wasn't done very well, I hope to improve by next week.)
-Taryn
School Supplies
Apparently, at this time of year, there are great deals for school supplies. We were able to get several things for pennies, literally.
The items in pic. 1 didn't cost more than $18, including the backpack. Getting Entegra's school supplies finally got her excited about kindergarten, at least for a day and a half.
Pic. 2 items:
 |
| Pic 1 Entegra with her Kindergarten school supplies and other stationary products. |
Pic. 1 items:
5 packs of pens
3 packs of pencils
2 - 2 pack highlighters
1- 8 pack crayons
1- 24 pack crayons
1- 2 pack sharpies (one already in use)
2 boxes kleenex
1 elmers glue
1- 4 pack glue sticks
1 tape
1- 3 pack erasers
1 box sandwich bags
2 packs printer paper
1 pink backpack w/attachable lunchbox
 |
| Pic 2 Total cost before sales and coupons $67.67. After sales and coupons $8.90. That's 87% savings! |
4 packs printer paper
3 binders
2 boxes 4x6 photo printing paper
10 bottles glue
1 pack mechanical pencils
1 hole punch
1- 3 pack erasers
2 rules
2 packs paper clips
3 note books
10 bottles glue
1 pack mechanical pencils
1 hole punch
1- 3 pack erasers
2 rules
2 packs paper clips
3 note books
AWESOME!!
-Taryn
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Children's Museum Richmond, VA
We had to go to Richmond today because, and we decided to make a day of it. I took the kids to the Children's museum there and we had a great time.
 |
| Entegra, Inara, and Bracken in front of Children's Museum with the echoing disks. |
 |
| Who needs the farm when they can learn the "hard" work of milking a cow here. |
 |
| Excavating dinosaur bones! |
 |
| Bracken on my back, as always. |
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| Entegra preparing for her high school job. |
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| Inara preparing for high school shop class, do those still exist? |
 |
| Baby Bracken Boy finally having his own chance to play. The girls actually loved this room too. Probably because I wasn't constantly telling them not to go to far or to come back. (It's gated) |
 |
| Us...kind of :) |
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Home Made Bread
I have NEVER been able to make any semblance of bread. It's always gooey, flat, or hard as a rock.
Well, I finally managed decent homemade bread!!! I'm so excited! It's not a loaf bread for sandwiches but more of a soup bread, the kind you what to dip into your delicious soup and soak up the yummy broth.
I think I didn't horribly screw up this time because there weren't a lot of ingredients or instructions.
I found the recipe here at the original site (Thank you so much Moneywise Moms for posting!!) or you can find it down below the pictures.
Here's how it turned out.
Well, I finally managed decent homemade bread!!! I'm so excited! It's not a loaf bread for sandwiches but more of a soup bread, the kind you what to dip into your delicious soup and soak up the yummy broth.
I think I didn't horribly screw up this time because there weren't a lot of ingredients or instructions.
I found the recipe here at the original site (Thank you so much Moneywise Moms for posting!!) or you can find it down below the pictures.
Here's how it turned out.
Recipe for Homemade Soup Bread
makes 3 loaves
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 tablespoon salt
6 1/2 cups all purpose flour
cormeal for bottom of bread (optional)
- In a very large bowl, add your flour, yeast, and salt.
- Pour in the water and stir until combined, be gentle with it.
- Cover your bowl with foil or greased plastic wrap and leave for 2-5 hours (I did 3 hours).
- Divide your dough into 3 loaves with a knife. Cover each loaf with a little flour and form into ball.
- Sprinkle cornmeal on baking sheet and place dough rounds onto sheet. Let dough rest about 35 mins, give or take.
- With a sharp knife, slash top of each loaf 3 times.
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and add a small pan filled with 1 cup of water on a lower rack for a water bath. Bake for 30-35 mins.
- When finished, place on cooling rack. Slice and eat with delicious brothy soup!
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