I have made a habit of making a weekly menu based off of sales and coupon deals. Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a "Women's Fun Day" at my Church, Westside Church International in Placerville. It was a casual day with Ladies sharing tips and tricks from everything from organization, budgeting and money saving tricks. I also shared some of my couponing tips. The biggest advice I would give anyone who wanted to get started in couponing would be go to www.couponmom.com it's a free website. Watch the tutorial that they offer and check in to see what great deals can be had. One of the Ladies that spoke has seven children and lives even further up the hill then I do. Her tip is that she sits down and plans a month long menu, including what she will serve for breakfast and lunch. I have only ever planned my dinners. I loved this idea! So I'm one week into this and I'm loving it so far! She also shared that she buys a lot of her staples like grains from a company called Azure Standard. I went to their website www.azurestandard.com and they sent me out their catalog right away. I can order organic grains such as my new favorite staple, quinoa and spelt flour for much less then I would pay at the market or even Costco.
As much as I like to save money with couponing, I will not buy stuff that is not nutritionally sound except maybe an occasional package of oreo's") typically I go to Costco once or twice a month and buy meat and other staples. Then, I coupon for things like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, razors, deodorant (most of which I get free or at least half off) and things like yogurt, cheese, sauces, and dressings.
Now my plan for menu planning and couponing is as follows:
1. Make a monthly plan for meals including breakfast, and lunch.
(A helpful hint that was shared was to have at least 30 recipes for planning dinners so that there will be a good variety, if there is a recipe that you or your husband does not like toss it)
2. Make a list of what you will need from Costco or Sam's Club. For me this is meat, cheese, and bread.
3. Make a list of organic grains and items that you can order from Azure Standard.
4. Now, I break my month down into a week and post the weekly menu so my family can see what's on the menu. Also, each week I will make a run to the market for fresh produce and anything that I can coupon that we need based on Sunday's adds and the deals on couponmom.com .
March is my first month of doing this. One thing I planned to do was "crockpot chicken Fridays" I'm gone from 8:30 a.m. until LATE on Fridays, sometimes I'm not home until about 9:30 p.m. But the great thing is I put a chicken in the crockpot on low with some veggies and chicken stock and if Mike is home before me or if we make it home for dinner we have a quick easy meal. If not I make chicken salad for lunch on Saturday and use the rest of the chicken in a dish like chicken tacos, or chicken enchiladas on Sunday night. Monday's I'm usually able to stay up at the house but yesterday I had to go to town and got home later than I thought I would. I did not have time to get the dinner that I had planned on the table but you have to be flexible. Not to mention with good planning you will have a pantry of healthy staples. When I cooked my chicken on Friday, I diced the chicken and froze it because I knew I would be making something without chicken on Sunday.
Last nights chicken dinner:
about 2 cups of diced chicken
a can of black beans
a small can of green chili
just mix the above and place in a 9 by 13 baking dish and top with cheese and bake at 350 degrees until hot and melted about 30 minutes.
I served it on top of quinoa. I cooked the quinoa like a spanish rice. I started by doing a saute' of onion, garlic and then some diced tomatoes. Once I put the tomatoes in I add the quinoa, one part quinoa to two parts liquid, I like to use chicken stock. season with salt and pepper bring to a boil and then cover and turn to a slow simmer and cook about 15-20 mins.
I also made some oatmeal cookies that were a big hit! they are high in fiber and protein and low in fat, they average about 60 calories per cookie.
Steel Cut Oat Cookies
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1 1/2 cups steel cut oats
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup coconut or palm sugar
1 large egg
I also added in a half cup of dark chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of cranberries.
mix sugar, butter, coconut oil, vanilla and egg in blender adding in dry ingredients.
bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-13 minutes.
