MomsBudget

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Ever had that horrible feeling after you have dropped a favorite eyeshadow or blush, only to discover it has shattered into a zillion pieces?  Well, instead of throwing it out next time, do this handy tip.

Mix the broken pieces with a small amount of vaseline, ensuring you are mixing well.  Then use it as a cream-based eyeshadow or blush, instead of a powdered one!  Just remember that cream-based products need to be applied slightly differently, so don’t use this for the first time right before heading out the door!  While you may apply it perfectly the first time, with others it takes the practice makes perfect method

You know how a bathtub can look fairly clean, simply because of shampoo and body wash being used in it frequently.  Usually, it is a huge buildup of soap scum, or a more obvious sign, such as mildew, that gets us bringing out the cleaning supplies.  But how many of us can say we really gave the bathtub a good scrub as opposed to a quick once over?

Want to know why you should be giving your bathtub the good scrub down?  The Hygiene Council tested family bathtubs and found that the germ that is most commonly responsible for that staph infections was found in over 1/4 of the bathtubs tested… while that same germ was only found in 6% of garbage cans!

And the rest of your bathroom?  Well, for starters, the toilet seat has LESS bacteria on it than your bathroom sink and sink faucet. 

So doesn’t this weekend sound like a really great time to clean the bathroom?  And don’t forget we have a ton of bathroom cleaner recipes you can make, if you prefer to clean your bathroom without using a ton of the chemical laden commercial cleaners.

CNN has a good feature today on nutritious meals for a family for $10 or less.  You won’t find a box od Kraft Mac and Cheese anywhere to be found!

Which got me thinking, what are some of your favorite nutritious meals that cost less than $10 for a family.

Here are some of the things I do:

• Pesto sauce with veggie pasta (or whole wheat pasta) with chopped fresh tomatoes in it
• Homemade veggie pizza (store bought crust, tomato sauce, fresh chopped veggies such as peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms) topped with a small amount of cheese
• Vegetable pasta salad
• Marinated then baked chicken thighs, served with veggies

What are some of your favorites?

Some people get really good about packing lunches to save money, for themselves, their partners and their kids.  But did you know that if you don’t pack some sort of drink, the temptation to buy an expensive coffee drink or even just soda pop out of the vending machine can put a serious dent in your carefully planned budget?

Think how much the vending machine charges for a can or bottle of soda, juice or even bottled water at your work.  Now compare that to what you can pick up the same thing for at the grocery store… huge difference, right?  And even if you have packed a lunch, sometimes thirst is what does the budget in because it is so easy to buy a drink. 

Make sure you pack a drink with all the lunches you pack.  Juice boxes for kids are frequently on sale, or you can buy re-usable drink box containers and fill them yourself each day - which also means you can dilute them with water to cut down on the amount of sugar, or even just add ice cubes, since they will melt by lunchtime.  If your partner insists on soda, buy cans or bottles in large packs, then send one each day.  Or pack tea bags or bring a small packet of hot chocolate into the office and use the hot water there.

Don’t forget we also have plenty of drink mix recipes at MomsBudget, so you can leave a jar of these inexpensive homemade drink mixes right in your office, or bring a plastic bag with enough for a cup each day.

If you are like me and love pineapple, it can be pretty inexpensive to buy fresh when you watch for it to be on sale.  I often like to buy fresh pineapple for recipes that call for pineapple tidbits or chunks, but the problem is that many of them call for the can of pineapple tidbits or chunks WITH the juice.  So just how much juice is in a can?

A quick conversion is for every 1 cup size can of pineapple with juice, substitute 1/2 cup fresh chopped pineapple and 1/2 cup diluted pineapple juice or just plain water.

If you are looking forward to making a Chinese style dish for Chinese New Year, you can make your own Chinese Five Spice powder without having to buy a jar of it pre-made.  This is good if you only make Chinese food occassionally, and don’t want to buy an entire jar.  And as a bonus, most of you will already have all the ingredients in your spice cupboard already!

Recipe for Chinese Five Spice Powder:

• 1 tbsp ground star anise
• 2 tsp ground fennel
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

Mix well and store in an airtight container or spice jar.

Don’t forget we have many other spice jar mixes at MomsBudget including veggie dips, fruit tips, popcorn seasonings and more!

Tired of seeing apples coming back in your child’s lunchkit with only a bite taken out of them?  Or sending the same banana back and forth until it is too brown to even use in banana bread?  The reality is that the majority of parents limit the fruit they pack in their kid’s lunches to the traditional apples, oranges and bananas, when there is actually a whole wide variety of fruit options that increase the liklihood it will actually get eaten

And don’t just think about those little single serving sized fruit cups (which also relates to our weekly grocery shopping challenge this week - Don’t Buy Single Serving Packaged Food).  Buy a large jar or can of it, and divide it into single serving sizes yourself.  Don’t have enough plastic containers?  Carefully divide into plastic bags, then store the plastic bags in a larger container in your fridge to avoid an accidental leak making a mess of your fridge, and then simply put the contents of each one into a plastic container when ready to put one into the lunch.

And if you are worried about the added sugar content of canned or jarred fruit, look for ones packed in water or juice, and avoid the ones that say packed in syrup.

Many kids also loved dried fruit.  And if your local grocery store doesn’t carry much beyond raisins and cranberries, your local health food store will have a huge selection of just about any kind of dried fruit.

So here are some other fruit ideas for lunches that ago above and beyond the traditional tried and true:

• Mandarin orange slices
• Canteloupe
• Honeydew
• Watermelon
• Whole mandarins / clementines (a real treat in the spring & summer!)
• Cherries
• Grapes
• Kiwi fruit
• Star fruit
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Pineapple
• Blackberries
• Blueberries

Don’t forget you can change the fruit experience by freezing them and packing with an ice pack, as they will likely stay mostly frozen by lunchtime.  One of my favorites is frozen grapes!

And adding a low fat yogurt dip can make the fruit an extra treat, and even make some kids feel more like it is a desert!  But avoid caramel dip, or make it an infrequent treat, since it is high in sugar and calories.

You can also put fruit on plastic skewers to mix up the presentation if your child is old enough.

What other ways do you fruit in your child’s lunch?

Today’s Grocery Shopping Challenge is to buy in bulk and avoid those “single serving” convenience packages.  The grocery stores are tempting everyone with foods packaged up in those 100 calorie packages, but you are paying premium when you could just be doing it yourself.  And let’s face it, buying a 100 calorie pack of chocolate cookies really isn’t doing anyone any favors, especially your waistline, even though the marketing companies want you to think those packages are “healthy” with “only” 100 calories… not to mention many people end up eating more that one pack at a time!!!

So the challenge this week is to buy anything that you might buy in those handy single serving packs, whether it is baby carrots, cookies or single serving soup packages, and buy them in the larger size.  Then, when you are at home, go and and divide them into single serving sizes into plastic containers or ziplocs. 

Don’t forget to check out the prices… that package of six single serving packages will cost just about as much as the large package that you can usually make two or three times the number of packages when you do it yourself. 

Don’t fall into the trap of just thinking it is “easier” to buy them packaged in the single serving sizes.  It is easier, but you are probably paying someone the equivelant of about $100 per hour to package them when you do buy them that way, when you can take 5-10 miunutes and do it yourself - and it is also a great chore to have your kids do for their allowance too!

All this week we will be giving great tips and ideas to help you stay on budget by taking your own lunches to school and work, so be sure to subscribe to get all the tips!

The number one reason why people hate to brown bag their lunches is because it seems like it is the “same old, same old”.  And when you are faced with eating the same kind of ham sandwich every day, the temptation to make a lunch run out to McDonalds or to go to a local restaurant is that much stronger.  So variety is important!

So, what ways can you vary up the brown bag routine?  The same deli ham you bought on the weekend will seem different depending on how it is served… maybe whole wheat bread one day and a pita the next.  Or cut up the ham and make a mini pizza with it instead.  Sometimes something as simple as adding cheese or making it with mayo one day and sandwich spread the next can turn a boring sandwich into something new and exciting.

Think the same for the extras in the lunch.  Switch up the juice you include.  Or if you are sending veggies and dip, send ranch dip one day and nacho dip the next.  The same goes for veggies too… if its carrots on Monday, make it brocolli on Tuesday and cucumbers on Wednesday. 

Don’t forget to get input from your kids too… they might happily eat cauliflower with dip every day, rather than switching up with different types, because all kids have veggies they love and veggies they would rather do without, and it is better to increase the odds that any veggies get into their tummies rather than discover that anytime you send carrots they end up in the garbage.

Have you inspected your teflon coated pots and pans lately?  If you are like most, probably not!  But if your Teflon coating has become scratched or flaking - caused by using metal utinsels when cooking, by overheating, or by heating an empty pot or pan for too long - you should replace it immediately. 

Of course, when you are on a budget, it can be hard to throw out something that seems perfectly fine except for one spot on the skillet, when you can “work around it”.  But in actuality, those little flakes and bits that come off wherever the teflon is damaged, even if you can’t see the flakes, are actually toxic to ingest.  And some research has shown that it can cause cancer.

You can prevent damage to your teflon coating by only using silicone or plastic utinsels on the cooking surface, and save the metal ones for your stainless cookware or the barbecue.  And never allow your teflon cookware to sit on high temperature without planning to immediately cook something when it heats up.  Teflon coating releases noxious chemicals into the air if it is allowed to sit on high for too long, so be sure you are ready to start cooking once you begin to heat it up.

If you find that you are still damaging it, or you just don’t want to use teflon anymore, consider investing in stainless steel cookware.  It will be more expensive to buy, but you won’t be replacing it every 6-8 months when the cook surface gets damaged.