One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1687 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.

Easy Slow Cooker Recipes – Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 18, 2013 · 5 Comments

I used a can of cream of chicken soup today for the first time in my life. How weird is that? Had it not been for my recent bartering session with Francisco, I probably would have gone my entire life with using it.

I made a batch of creamy chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight in the crock pot and THIS SOUP ROCKS! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken {about 2 chicken breasts}
8 oz Egg Noodles {I used No Yolks brand}
3 large carrots, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup {Thanks Francisco}
1 1/2 cups of water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes {totally optional}
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Toss all the ingredients in the crock pot except the egg noodles and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.

When the soup has finished cooking, add the noodles, and cook soup {with noodles} for an additional 20 minutes.

Serve with a crusty chunk of bread.

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!

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How to Compost Kitchen Scraps

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 18, 2013 · 43 Comments

This year, I’ve decided to crank it up a notch in the composting department. Growing 4000 lbs of fresh produce is going to require that I really think about my soil. In the words of the movie Uncle Buck, I am going to start “cooking our garbage”–all of those wasted food scraps {that are too rotten for the chickens} are going right back into the wood pallet compost bin, to cook into glorious FREE compost. {I’m also totally curious to see how much less garbage and recycling I have each week as a result.}

I’m going to use a counter-top compost bin for all of my compostable kitchen scraps–that way, I only have to run it out to the compost bin when it gets full. I found this one on Amazon.com and loved it because it claims to trap odors inside, instead of making your kitchen smell like, um, well, rotting food. The reviews were awesome as well, so it must do as promised.

If you are interested in composting your kitchen scraps, here a few guidelines of what IS and IS NOT compostable:

Compostable Items:

Peels, rinds and clippings from fruits and vegetables {if it was once alive, you can most likely compost it}
Coffee grounds, old coffee and coffee filters
Tea bags, old tea and tea grounds
Paper towels and napkins
Cardboard – inside pizza boxes, cereal boxes, cardboard food packaging and other thin cardboard {Make sure the pizza boxes are not caked with cheese and oil, though}
Brown paper bags
Receipts
Old cotton dishtowels or clothing {100% cotton is a must}
Stale bread
Flour, oatmeal, or cornmeal
Nutshells except walnut shells which are bad for compost
Freezer-burned vegetables and fruit
Old spices
Paper or wood matches
Molasses residue
Potato peel
Egg shells
Old pasta
Stale potato chips
Apple cores
Shrimp, crab and lobster shells
Pie crusts
Melon rinds
Seeds
Date and olive pits
Bread crusts
Rice
Spoiled wine
Old beer
Fish bones
Wooden toothpicks
Stale breakfast cereal
Dust clumps from under the refrigerator
Coconut hulls
Dead flies and bugs from the windowsill {gross!}
Peanut butter sandwiches
Old Newspapers
Egg Cartons {Not the Styrofoam kind}

NOT Compostable:

Metal
Plastic
Man-Made Substances or Fabrics

Somewhere In-Betweeners {These have a tendency to ROT FAST, so they stink, I mean, REALLY stink. It is up to you whether you would like to avoid the hassle or not}:

Meat Scraps
Dairy
Cheese
Yogurt
Oil

The rest is easy-peasy. Just throw all of your scraps into your countertop kitchen compost bin or bucket and empty into the compost pile once it is full. If you don’t plan on starting an outdoor compost bin, that’s okay too. Just make sure to “stir” your kitchen compost frequently while it “cooks” to give it a little air–you can also add a little dirt to the mix to speed up the process and minimize smell.

Is there anything on this list that I missed? Do tell!

~ Mavis

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Mavis Mail – Bob and Sherle From California Share Their Vegetable Garden Photos

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 18, 2013 · 10 Comments

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have a rock star garden this summer. Keep them coming!

Check out this story and the amazing backyard garden photos Bob and Sherle from California sent in:

Hi Mavis,

I have been gardening most of my life, either with my dad or my husband of 30 years, mostly in small backyard gardens. As a result of not having a whole bunch of space in which to garden we had had to be very innovative so we could get as much as possible out of the space we do have.

Our garden plot is 20×25′ and we have harvested over 1k from it.

We use concrete reinforcing wire to create “cages” for our plants, so everything grows up instead of out. Our tomatoes often grow to over 10′ tall and produce lots and lots of tomatoes.

I usually put up about 100 quart jars of tomatoes every year. We have two connected towers for our green beans and they grow all over it. It’s very nice for picking as well, though green beans seem to be masters at hiding in plain sight. Our cucumbers are planted in “cages”, four plants to a block and they grow all over their cages. My husband or kids need to pick them though as I always break out in hives from them and the squashes.

The zucchini and summer squash grow up round towers and it’s so neat and easy for us to pick the fruits. We even grew cantaloupe in a tower, though we had to support them with little slings while they were getting big. We used nylons to create the hammocks, though they really need something stronger, we just haven’t come up with another solution yet.

We lay newspaper under the plants and in the walkways and then put down straw to hold the newspaper down which effectively blocks the light thus doing away with anything like weeds. The added benefit is that the tomatoes like the color that’s being reflected up from the straw.

We start all of our plants in our little greenhouse. The color tipped toothpicks were painted to match a paint swatch on the seed packet so I knew what was in the pots.

You can see more pictures and read some how to’s in a little book I made through Shutterfly, though this is a digital version at: http://www.gospellearningcenter.com/resources/Garden/Garden.asp

This year we have determined to grow squashes and pumpkins in the front yard. I thought I would be able to plant them in pots, but I learned that pumpkin roots are extensive, so they will be planted in the ground.

I love following your blog and you have inspired me to grow 2k pounds this year.

Holy canolies Bob and Sherle, your garden is GORGEOUS! And those tomatoes are out of sight! I complete confidence that you tow will reach your goal of growing 2,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in your garden this year.

~Mavis

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so, show me some picture of how you are going about it.
Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
Cool Arts & Craft made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.

Go HERE for the official rules.

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.

Mondays with Mavis – How to Feed Your Family for $100 a Month

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 18, 2013 · 8 Comments

There were plenty of garden chores this past week but I still managed to squeeze in a few quick shopping trips while I was out running errands. This year has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start, I’m already at $400+ for the year and we are only 7 weeks into it. I’m not too worried though, I suspect that once the garden starts producing we’ll have so much fresh food to eat I’ll just be running to the store for milk.

Or at least I hope so anyway.

Here is what I bought at the grocery store last week:

Costco – $15.49

The problem with shopping withe teenagers is that they want stuff like chips and ham for their lunches. It’s hard to zip in and out of Costco for bananas when there is so much to look at. Luckily I like to give in every once in a while and say yes.

Fred Meyer – $6

Fred Meyer had their milk and orange juice on sale last week for $1 a 1/2 gallon so I stopped in and picked some up. Monkey Boy loves their chocolate milk and orange juice.

Mr. Produce Guy- FREE

Free produce? Heck ya I’ll take it.

Albertsons – FREE

I popped into Albertsons yesterday to snag a few freebies. I find myself going there less and less for coupon deals because we just are not buying boatloads of processed foods anymore. I can’t wait until I’m shopping almost exclusively out of our backyard. Only a few more months to go!

Bartering with Francisco – FREE

I don’t know about you, but I love to barter with my neighbors. Whether it’s a cup of sugar or a pantry full of food, I think it’s major fun.

How did you do this week? Did you find any sweet deals out there?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $21.49
Total Spent This Year $408.05
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $627.79 {I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree, Rhubarb crowns, 6 Fruit Trees and 15 yards of soil}

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

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.