One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1756 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.

What’s in Your Freezer Mavis?

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 14, 2012 · 41 Comments

Yesterday when I went out to the garage to place a batch of freshly baked cookies in one of our 2 garage freezers, I noticed one of them was looking a little sparse. So I decided to move all of the frozen goodness in to just one freezer.

Which was actually a good thing because there is some serious frost build up happening in both of our garage freezers.

How often are you suppose to defrost freezers anyway? Well I have no idea, but I think we defrost ours about once a year. Maybe twice if I have nothing better to do.

Since we have 2 freezers, I’ll typically defrost one freezer, clean it out, them move all the food from freezer #2 to the clean freezer and then proceed to clean out freezer #2 and leave it empty until we start harvesting of fruits and veggies from the garden.

I know we have plenty of food in our freezer to get us through to the end of the year and well into the new year as well. But it’s having to buy milk that I’m worried about.

Lately milk has been priced around $3 a gallon, and we typically go through 2 gallons a week. So I seriously need to find a deal on 2% milk and stock up so I can reach my goal of spending $1,200 or less on groceries for 2012. I’ve only got $15 left in this years budget. Eeek!

How is your freezer looking these days? Is it empty, full, full of frost?

Mavis wants to know.

Also if you are looking for a way to maximize your freezer space, check out my post on How to Freeze Soup, Sauce, and Puree. It’s super easy to do!

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Easy Appetizer Ideas – Homemade Chex Party Mix

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 13, 2012 · 8 Comments

Do you remember eating Chex party mix at your grandparents house when you were a kid? I remember my grandmother always making this in her huge enamelware pan each Christmas for everyone to snack on.

If you have never made real, homemade Chex mix before you need totally need to. The homemade stuff a way better than the junk they sell in the bags at the grocery store. No comparison, whatsoever.

When it came time to make this I didn’t have any pretzels or nuts, so I called up Mrs. Hillbilly to see if I could barter. I ended up giving her 1 package of deer chops for 1 cup of cashews, 1 cup of almonds and 1 cup of pretzels. I’m starting to run out of things to barter, and can’t wait until 2013 so I can go shopping again. Okay, here is the recipe, it’s super delicious, I promise.

Ingredients

3 cups Corn Chex cereal
3 cups Rice Chex cereal
3 cups Wheat Chex cereal
1 cup mixed nuts {I used cashews and almonds}
1 cup pretzel pieces
6 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

In large bowl, mix together the cereal, nuts, pretzels and set aside.

Place 6 tablespoons in a large roasting pan and melt butter in the oven. Stir in seasonings, then gradually stir in cereal mixture until evenly coated.

Bake for 1 hour, stirring about every 15 minutes. Spread on Chex Mix on paper towels to cool, then store in airtight container.

Looking for more classic recipes? Head on over HERE.

Peace Out Girl Scouts,

Mavis

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How To Make A Candy Cane Vase

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 13, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Are you planning on attending a party this winter and would like to bring something other than chocolate or homemade cookies as a hostess gift? Make a candy cane vase instead. Not only is it quick and easy to do, but the WOW factor might just score you an extra helping of appetizers.

Start by lining the bottom of a recycled glass container with rocks. I was lucky enough to find these polished rocks up over the summer at a neighbors garage sale for a steal. In the end, the rocks will be covered anyway, so rocks collected from your backyard will do just fine.

Cover rocks with moistened potting soil and insert a paperwhite or Amaryllis bulb in the center. I was able to purchase 8 paper white bulbs at Home Depot very inexpensively.

Using Zots* or some other sort of glue dots, carefully adhere candy canes to the side of the vase or selected container.

Once you have covered your vase in wrapped candy canes, use a piece of recycled ribbon to secure candy canes.

Place in a sunny window and wait. Water periodically. When paperwhites are a few days from blooming, present recipient with gift.

So what do you think?

~Mavis

*Direct link to an Amazon.com product

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.