One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1454 of 2143 - 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.

Mavis Garden Blog – Today’s Harvest – Squash, Carrots, Beets, Tomatoes and Potatoes

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By Mavis Butterfield on September 24, 2013 · 11 Comments

Can you believe it’s nearly October and the garden is still producing awesome amounts for fruits and vegetables? We had a less than stellar summer here in the Western Washington and I keep thinking we are going to get hit with an early frost or some sort of wickedly bad weather any day now.

I picked a few pumpkins and other types of squash today. I think I’ll go ahead and set everything on the porch to cure while I figure out what to do with it.

I also picked a few fresh beets and carrots.

And more potatoes of course. A day doesn’t go by around here without some fresh potatoes being dug up. 😉 The HH is Irish after all.

Today’s Harvest

Beets, a pound of potatoes, fresh carrots, squash, squash and more squash, heirloom tomatoes and 3 giant zucchinis. Not to shabby for the end of September if you ask me.

Dinner is in the oven.

So what are you digging up these days?

Mavis wants to know.

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Turning Expired Food Into Cheap, Fresh Meals for the Underserved

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By Mavis Butterfield on September 24, 2013 · 14 Comments

photo credit

A big thanks to reader Holli who forwarded this article about how Ex Trader Joe’s President is turning expired food into cheap meals.

As you know I feel food waste in America is a HUGE problem, and apparently, so does Ex Trader Joe’s president, Doug Rauch. He is opening a market in Dorchester, MA that will take food that is past its sell-by date {only slightly} and turn it into quality prepared meals that will compete with fast-food prices.

how to find free food feed your family for free

The idea came to him after being disgusted with the nearly 40% rate of food waste due to overstock, excess, etc.

He argues {and I agree} that food that has a sell-by date of Oct. 1st, can reasonably be cooked and turned into edible whole foods on Oct. 2nd. His aim is to serve communities that have little to no access to prepared whole foods, all while cutting down on the needless tossing out of edible food.

I have to say, I applaud his efforts–most the stories you read these days have more to do with the…well, deplorable, practices of our food system. It’s a happy day when you get to hear about someone {with actual power and money} attempting to rectify it.

How about YOU, would you eat at Mr. Rauch’s market, knowing the food was slightly past the sell-by date? I know I would–in fact, I smell a new vacation destination coming on!

~Mavis

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Food Waste In America – I Think I’ll Pass on the Corn This Time

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By Mavis Butterfield on September 24, 2013 · 16 Comments

In April of 2012 I started collecting weekly boxes of food scraps from my local grocery store, and over the past year and a half I’ve noticed there is a seasonal roller coaster effect as to what gets but in those scrap boxes.

Fresh corn for instance. There is always plenty of it during the summer months. Corn is cheap, easy to ship and stores probably sell a lot of it. But the thing is, corn breaks down pretty fast. It get’s moldy, and when refrigerated too long, it starts to get slimey and gross.

Now I’m all for salvaging what I can from the free produce boxes, but I’m certainly not going to feed my family slimey corn. If this were the depression, I might cut out the 25% of the corn that was still good, but it’s not. And I’m thankful for the luxury.

Luckily we have a compost bin and chickens to feed our food scraps too.

Chickens eat bugs, so a little corn slim isn’t going to bother them.

Even the fancy smancy chickens will eat it.

So is reclaiming food the grocery stores won’t sell really worth it?

Well for me it is because it cuts down on my feed bill. And anything else I can salvage, is just a bonus.

Life is good.

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past year?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

If you have just stumbled upon this series and are wondering how I got all this food for free, you’ll want to read this story first.

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.

Easy Freezer Meals: Simple Meat Loaf Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on September 23, 2013 · 84 Comments

With fall sports season in full swing, our evenings are ~~sometimes~~ always hectic. Back in July when I picked up my 40 pounds of ground beef, one of the recipes I made and froze was a simple meat loaf. It makes dinner time on crazy nights a piece of cake. I just throw the meatloaf in when we walk in the door and by the time we’ve fed Lucy and tackled homework, there’s a piping hot meal waiting with virtually no work on my part.

Doesn’t get much better than that.

5 from 1 vote

Simple Meat Loaf

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

1.5 pounds lean ground beef {I used Zaycon ground beef of course!}
1 cup milk
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp chopped fresh sage leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage leaves
1 tsp salt
.5 tsp ground mustard
.5 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg
.5 cup bread crumbs
1 small onion, diced

Instructions

Combine all ingredients.
Shape into a large loaf and place in an ungreased 9x5 inch pan. Wrap in saran wrap, then foil, date and then store in the freezer for up to 6 months
When you are ready to cook, preheat oven to 350°F.
Bake uncovered at 350º for about an hour or until a meat thermometer reads 160°F
Let cool to room temperature and serve.

Links to freezer pans I commonly use:

Find More of My Freezer Meal 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.