I love my crock pot.

I know, I've said that before but I really REALLY do!  I want to get a small one for things like I did last night.  Here's how to feed a family of 5 (mine is a fam of 7 but the babies eat off of me...) for a lot less than you'd think.

3 chicken breasts, (you can do this with a whole chicken, cooked and deboned but you'll skip the crockpot for it.)
5 cups of rice,
1 large bag of frozen broccoli bits
4 cans of broccoli cheese soup.
a little bit of milk or cream depending on  your flavor.

water.


I have a rice cooker.  LOVE THAT THING!  I ended up using my rice cooker as a crock pot and in retrospect, should have used my crock pot as a rice cooker.  I put 3 (massive) chicken breasts in the crock pot with about 4 cups of water.  let it cook until done.  (mine has a 4/6/8/10 hour function, so I put them in frozen on the 4 hour timer, came out PERFECT!) pull out the chicken and shred it up and hten put it back in.I added 5 cups of "instant" rice (buy mine in bulk from sams club for like $4 or something), 3 more cups of water, and 2 of the cans of soup plus the bag of frozen broccoli.  Set it back on 4 hours until it starts to thicken up.  feel free to stir in the soup, btw.

On the stove (or you could do this back in the crockpot, but i wanted a sauce) mix 2 cans of broccoli cheese soup with 1 can of milk plus a little bit of cream.  wisk that up over a fire until you get it to be a cheesy soupy but not too thin sauce consistency.

once everything is in the crock pot completely cooked, you can dish it up, add extra sauce and enjoy!  This made enough for 5 people, to have seconds with PLENTY of leftovers for tonight!

I am stoked.  Total cost for 2 meals for essentially 10 people:  $6.  Super smart, and savvy.  Oh, and the crockpot- (my electronic bff; hey, no jokes here people, this is a clean blog!) totally saved dinner. :D  I love NOT having to gunk up tons of pots and pans!

I wonder if I could make this ahead of time and freeze!  that'll be my next endeavor!!

Dog bed for > $10!

Everyone knows I'm frugal.  I actually pride myself on getting the best deal even on things I make to make them extra super cheap.

We just recently got a dog.  His name is beau.  (isn't he cute?)   I made that bed.  I bought that fabric and one in blue intending to make hats, mittens and scarves out of them for my older two children.. about 3 years ago.  After a year, the price on it is null and void in my mind because it's costing me more in storage space than it does in usage, so I used that fabric for "free".  Honestly it was about a yard and a half-2 yards I REALLY don't remember.

Anyhoo, everyone knows how to drive, right?  Well, sewing is something like that.  You press the pedal and the machine makes the fabric go forward (has to do with feed dogs and the presser foot- technical terms you don't need right this second or for this post) and you steer with your hands.

With your right sides and edges together, you sew around the 3 that aren't the folded over side, leaving a gap big enough to get your hand through.  turn it right side out.  Stuff with 2 bags of polyfil (any craft store should have this) and smoosh it into place how you like it. Turn the open edge into itself where the poly fill is and sew up the edge.  TADA!

this project cost around $6.00, where normally a "large" dog bed.would cost around $45.  Oh, and if you count the cost of the fabric, as I bought it on a clearance, it costs around $2.00 a yard, so a yard and a half, made about $9.00 total.

Now, THAT is Smart and Savvy!

dishwasher rinse aids

If you use their product your dishes wll sparkle and shine and water spots will be beaten into submission and afraid to appear on your glasses.  And such a bargain, at only $4.00 a thing, right?

WRONG!

1 simple household ingredient that (if you read my blog) you have in your house will take care of it!  Want to know what it is?  I betcha do.


Here it is:

Wait for it-

White vinegar.  TADA!  Fill that rinse pocket full and wash your dishes until your heart's content!  That's it, seriously!

Try it.  My dishes have never been more super-sparkly, unicorn glitter friendly!  Shining like diamonds in the sun, or some other analogy they come up with.

Oh, did I mention it costs  you less than a penny?  No really, you need to fill it up somewhere around 3 times to make a penny.  BOOYAH!  How's THAT for a bargain?