80 lbs of ground beef... and italian meatball recipe.

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and the subject of buying 1/2 a cow for stocking up came into conversation.  Of course, she and I are frugalistas so we were all excited at the prospect of it.

I was doing my grocery shopping and my husband and I decided that with some of our tax money, we would stock up on some meats to put into our deep freezer.  Boy howdy, did I stock up!

I bought a case of ground beef from Sams Club.  My intention was to divvy it up and freeze it for meals, as well as pre-make some meals and other useful things.

So my idea was this:
20 lbs:  into 1 lb sectioned bags.
20 lbs sectioned into 2 lb bags.
10 lbs of meatballs
10 lbs of meatloaf
10 lbs of taco meat
10 lbs of random ground beef for incidentals like sloppy joe or to throw into pasta sauce.

Well, when we first brought it home, it was easy and we sectioned it out- I tetris'd the freezer so everything fit- WITH extra room as well as all the other meat we brought home.  (I'll post on that in a few minutes!)  And even frozen vegetables.  The next day I delved into the refrigerator and was able to make some 5 lbs of meatballs.  I'm doing the other 1/2 today, as well as making and freezing the meatloaves.  The only problem I'm having now is finding the room!  Seriously both the deep freezer and the smaller fridge/freezer are packed full.  It's going to get creative here soon!

Anyway, what did I pay for all that ground beef you ask?  in total it was 233.33 not including tax.  Yes, I probably could have found it cheaper doing sales, but I really didn't feel like waiting until meat went on sale considering I had the money now for it.  So, my family will eat well for a while -guaranteed- and this will help me once the baby comes, having pre-made freezer meals, something that can easily be popped out of the freezer and thrown into a crock pot so I don't really have to "make" anything.   :)

So, with all of that said, Smart:  planning ahead always is!  Savvy:  for the most part- buying in bulk is usually cheaper than sales, so yeah, that's pretty savvy!

I have been cooking so long that I have no idea what measurements I used for the meatballs but they came out amazing!  here's what I did:
Italian meatball recipe:
5 lbs ground beef
garlic powder (about a 1/4 cup)
onion powder (about 1/8 of a cup)
salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs
breadcrumbs to suck the extra moisture out.

mix everything until completely and thoroughly combined- do NOT skimp this part!  no really.

deep fry on a lower heat.  You want it completely cooked through but not super crusty on the edges.  Let drain on paper towels and once cool, toss into a bag and pop into the freezer!  pull out what you need when you need it.  Btw, these make some GREAT meatball stroganoff.... just putting that out there.  (yes, that recipe will come eventually!)

Sinus infection gone in 5 days!! Russian Tea!!

Hello Divas!

I'm usually the one who carries a sinus infection for about 3 weeks.  Yes, I'm taking vitamins for my pregnancy but I've had sinus infections that linger even with those.  How did I do it?

Well, I've been drinking my version of "Russian Tea".  (Please know that the FDA hasn't said jack about this product -or concoction!- healing, yada yada yada.  no actual healing statements are being made.  If worse comes to worse, enjoy the tea, it's yummy!)

2 c. tang.
1 c. pre-sweetened lemonade.
1 c. lemon flavored pre-sweetened tea.  (I used Walmart's brand Great Value for both the lemonade and the tea)
2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves


Fair warning, this is some SWEET tea!  but you only use 3 teaspoons in a mug of boiling water.  You can obviously adjust the taste.

But I think it was the overload of the vitamin c and the cinnamon that truly knocked it out of me.  You can ask my friends who came over (and my hubby who gave it to me!) I was in bad shape.  Not a fun way to be while 7 months pregnant.  But, seriously- 5 days ago my face was going to explode just below my right eye, and now- all is well!  I am attributing it to this because like I said before, the prenatals didn't usually help, but this?  HELLO!

Oh, and this tea cost me about $5 to make.  A trip to the doctor for some antibiotics that wouldn't have worked anyway- way more than $5!  Pretty savvy in my book.  (Again, I'm not giving you medical advice, do what you want to your own body at your own risk.)

Enjoy!

Crock pot cooking!

I have been compiling some crock pot recipes.  A few of my favorites are pot roast, stuffed cabbage, chicken burritos, soup, pork butt, meatballs in sauce.. the list goes on and on.  If you're not familiar with your crock pot, or you don't have one, may I suggest you get one and learn to love this little convenient appliance?

When I first got one for my first marriage 11 years ago, I had NO CLUE how to use it.  It's become my favorite little gadget in the kitchen, particularly when I'm pregnant, and KNOW I'll be tired that day.  Not to mention, for all of you working Divas out there, you know that you'd LOVE to come home to a home cooked meal that you prepared that you didn't really have to do anything for.  I mean, throw the ingredients in that morning (or even the night before, and keep them in the fridge and just start it when you get up in the morning!) and you're good to go.

My biggest brainfart on this is not plugging in the pot and not realizing that.  Yeah, I've done that.  it's not the highlight of my day, but you remember to make sure it's plugged in next time, trust me! LOL!

Here's my recipe for potroast: (for reference, T= tablespoon, t= teaspoon)
1 beef roast- FROZEN!
1 bag of stew vegetables (bag of carrots and potatoes)
2T onion powder,
2T garlic powder
2 t of kosher salt
1 T italian seasoning
water.

Put frozen roast in crockpot, and arrange frozen veggies around it.  fill with water until about 2/3 full.  Add the seasonings and put on lid.  (make sure pot is plugged in) and turn on High.  Cook for several hours until done.

more crock pot cooking to come!

for the cost of a loaf of bread...

Okay, so the avg cost of a loaf of bread is about $2.15 here in my neck of the woods- depending on where you go.  This doesn't include tax, gas to get there or the time you take to go get it.  (granted we usually get it with our grocery shopping!)  Tax in middle TN, is 9.95%.  (ridiculous, I know!) so that one loaf of bread cost about .50 to go to the store too.

so, let me get this straight:  for one loaf of bread, it's:
$2.15 bread +
.50 gas + (or more depending on how far you drive!-)
.22 tax. + 
---------------
$2.87   Not bad, considering. but remember, this doesn't include your TIME!  your time is valuable too!!

Now, homemade bread... (don't roll your eyes, it's really only like 20 minutes of actual work)
Flour, yeast, salt and water.  that's all you need.
the most expensive thing on here is the yeast.  and with a jar (about $4) you can make aprox 20-30 loaves with this.  The 10lb bag of flour will cost you about $3- and make about 20 loaves of bread.  salt is pittiance.  it's like .80 and you only need 1 t.  you'll get about 100-150 loaves of bread from it.    Water is- free from the tap. :)

I'm going to price this at the highest price and lowest amount of return.  (least amount of loaves of bread)  this is per batch of dough, and 1 batch will make you 2-3 loves of bread depending on  how large your pans are.
yeast:  .20 per batch.
flour: .15
salt .008 cents.  (let's round that up to a full penny!)

For an entire two loaves of bread- you're paying .36!  (please note, this doesn't include electricity or gas for baking, however .36 beats $2.87 anyday!)

Now, on to the link for the home made bread.  it's a tutorial because I'm just lazy (or is it smart not to reinvent the wheel???)  Joyful Helpmeet's homemade bread tutorial.

Enjoy!

crock pot cooking.

So, today is day two in my husband's old house.  It's supposed to be day 3, so my crock pot has gotten it's workout for the week, and I have to say that I'm loving coming home to a prepared meal, that while I cooked it, it didn't use the last little bit of energy I had for the day.

yesterday was stuffed cabbage.  I'm told I can't give you that recipe because it's a family secret.  we'll see.  I may add it later.  Today is chicken burritos.  I put 3 large chicken breasts (would have used 4, but they filled the bottom of my pot, so that's all I needed)  2 cups of minute rice, 2 packs of taco seasoning, 1 can of red kidney beans (would have used black beans, but didn't have them in the pantry) 2 cups of frozen corn, and 5 cups of water.  6 ingredients, cooked on low, thrown on a tortilla at the end of the day, it's going to be amazing!  clean up couldn't be easier either.  there aren't 30 pots and pans to wash, all you have is your prep stuff and that can be taken care of as soon as you're done putitng your ingredients into the crock pot!  easy peasy lemon squeezy!

For us working girls (I'm a SAHM, but the next two weeks I am working outside of the home!) it's easy to throw some food into the the crock pot so it simmers all day, hits you when you walk in the door with it's delicious smells, and all you have to do.  dinner clean up is the crock pot, and whatever dishes you dirty.  HOW EASY IS THAT?!

this is not only savvy (the crock pot takes less electricity than the oven!) but it's a SUPER smart use of your time!!

Divas- send me in your crock pot recipes!  I want to share them, and test them out myself!