Sign up for my newsletter and get a copy of my "28 Ways to Slash Your Grocery Budget"

One Hundred Dollars a Month

I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.


Instagram did not return a 200.

Easy Slow Cooker Recipes – Hobo Bean and Bacon Chili

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By on · 4 Comments

Hobo Bean and Bacon Chili

My friend JJ can cook a mean, well, anything really. I’m always trying {and loving} her recipes. So when I saw this one {which she technically found in a book about Casey Jones, of all places}, and she raved all about it and about how her children were begging and harassing her to remake it daily, I knew I had to put it on my list. And those kids have some taste buds I agree with. It was awesome. Every last spoonful of it!

Hobo Bean and Bacon ChiliIngredients

6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
1 pound of ground beef
1 large onions, diced
1 pound dried red beans, cooked
1 cup crushed pineapple
1 cup brown sugar, gently packed
1 quart of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon brown spicy mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of vinegar

Directions

In a large skillet, fry bacon until crispy, drain and set aside. Leaving the bacon grease in the pan, add the ground beef and onions and cook until meat is browned.

Throw all ingredients into a slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 hours. Enjoy!

~Mavis

Looking for more easy crock pot meals? Check out my Crock Pot Meals recipe index or check out my Crock Pot Board on Pinterest,

slow cooker crock pot cookbook

My favorite Crock Pot – Crock-Pot Cook’ N Carry 6-Quart Portable Slow Cooker
My Favorite Slow Cooker Cookbook – Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook: 1400 Best Slow Cooker Recipes!

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

What’s In My Food – How Commercial Milk is Made

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By on · 26 Comments

How is Commericial Milk Made

I know I’ve asked before, but do you buy raw, local or commercial dairy? This year we are getting our milk delivered from a local dairy. After going back and forth about it for awhile, we decided we’d rather pay a little more for our milk, and know where it is coming from.

The thing is, commercial milk is one of those kind of borderline if-y sorts of foods.  One gallon could contain milk from literally thousands of different cows–and it has been heated, fortified, homogenized, separated and reconstituted.  If you want to get right down to it, it is a shadow of its original self.  It is stripped of a lot of its health qualities.  In days gone past, people drank milk straight from the cow.  It had inconsistencies, cream at the top–and occasionally, it wasn’t white, but instead a cream color.  When pasteurization was born, mostly out of a response to poor milk handling practices, people started to believe that real, raw milk wasn’t safe and “grocery store milk” became the standard.

To make commercial dairy, the milk is put into HUGE industrial centrifuges, where it gets separated into fats, proteins, etc.  Then, the parts are recombined to make whole, low-fat, and skim milk.  It is pasteurized and then bottled and sent on its way.

A lot of peeps I know are starting to go back to local dairy milk or raw milk, so I think it’s starting to make a comeback.

So, do tell, what is it for you:  raw, local, or commercial milk? And can you taste the difference?

~Mavis

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Mavis Garden Blog – Setting Out Transplants

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By on · 5 Comments

broccoli starts transplants

It never fails, we get one really nice sunny day up here in Washington and before you know it I’m rushing outside to transplant seedlings. And this time of year, it’s a total crapshoot.

If we get another cold snap, all the seedlings will die a horrible death. But, if the weather stays decent, I’ll totally be ahead of the game. And even though I know the odds are about 50/50 I still do it every year. 😉

mavis butterfield garden planting broccoli

Yesterday I transplanted broccoli starts to the center of  8 wire cages. I planted peas around the edges of the cages last week and am waiting for them to pop up through the soil anyday now. I figure by the time early June rolls around both the peas and broccoli will be ready to harvest and then I’ll be able to plant something else in their spot. growing leeks

Check out the leeks. Aren’t they gorgeous? Too pretty to harvest if you ask me. growing garlic

And take a look all the garlic. Whoa Momma! The big ones in the center of the bed is elephant garlic. red onions

Red onions. I’ll be sharing a little more about these later in the week. Typically I like to grow 3 types of onions. Red {for salsa}, Walla Walla {for salads and sandwiches} and Yellow onions {for cooking}. I’m sure they are a gazillion different varieties I could try, but I like to stick to what I know goes best in my garden.

raised garden beds boxes

My backyard garden. It’s not much, but it’s a start. Before you know it all those raised garden boxes will be full of vegetables. Yee-Haw… the light at the end of the tunnel is finally here. 🙂

Spring – Bring it on!

~Mavis

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Free Kindle Books, Sewing Deals, Linen Pants, Natural Health, Safety Deals, Tide Coupons and More

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By on · 6 Comments

lucy puggle dog

Happy Wednesday everyone! Yesterday Puggle love and I spent the afternoon in the garden transplanting a few starts and pulling weeds. Sunshine is in the forecast again today so you can bet I’m headed outside as soon as the sun comes up.

Have a great day everyone. 🙂

♥ Mavis

miracle gro garden kit

Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day – Miracle-Gro AeroGarden Indoor Garden with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit plus Bonus Seed Starter System

free kindle books

Available Kindle Books I think are cool…

The prices on Kindle Books can change quickly, so grab them while you can.

stylus-pens

Get 10 Stylus Pens for your iPad or iPod for just $2.12 shipped!

sewing deals

angel softNeed toilet paper? Get 48 Double Rolls of Angel Soft Toilet Paper for just $19.89 shipped when you clip the $1.00 off coupon {must be logged into your amazon account to see it} and use the subscribe and save option at checkout. No more lugging it home from the store!

Tide OXI Multi-Purpose Stain Remover

Print a coupon good for $2.00 off Tide OXI Multi-Purpose Stain Remover

linen pants

Jane has Oceanside Linen Pants available in 8 different colors for just $18.99.

groupon deals

Groupon Deals:

jones New York

6pm has Jones New York Clothing on sale starting at $12.99 plus free shipping. All the tops above are just $12.99. There are a ton of great deals in the sale.

natural health magazine

Discount Mags is offering a 1 year subscription to Natural Health Magazine for only $4.99 a year when you use code MAVIS at checkout. This deal will expire tonight 3/12/14 at midnight EST so be sure and grab your subscription before then.

make up brushesGreat deals on beauty supplies:

pink fire box safeFire and Safety Deals:

Coca-Cola-Sixer Coupon

Drink Coke? Print a coupon good for $1.00 off any TWO (2) SIXER™ 6pk 12oz cans

Find More Printable Coupons

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Mavis Butterfield Etsy