family

Fetch Rewards: 50 pts on all restaurant receipts!

Abby H.

WOO HOO! This offer came at the right time. Our fridge died on Monday, so we’re eating a lot of shelf-stable foods and stuff that can be safely stored in a cooler.

That also means we are picking up some stuff to go a little more than I like, but Fetch Rewards has my back!

Fetch Rewards Restaurants & Rewards celebration starts today and lasts through September 26.

On the menu: all restaurant receipts earn at least 50 points! Plus pick up Special Offers for your favorite spots, and we’ll be giving away thousands of points in prizes. Fetch Rewards will be announcing other surprises throughout the week. Check it all out in the app and on their social media now!

If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards yet, or want to learn more, check out my post here. Find the Fetch Rewards app in your app store, and when you download it and scan any receipt, use my code ND2TB when you sign up and you’ll score 2,000 bonus points. I’ve earned over $300 in rewards in 2021 alone, just by purchasing my regular groceries and scanning in all of my receipts (grocery, mass merchandiser, gas receipts, restaurants, you name it).

It is simple, takes minutes, and the points really rack up!

9/19/2021 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgI spent all weekend at home, hanging with kiddos and doing meal prep. I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (recipe here), and roasted veggies for various meals. I also made some omelet starters- various cooked veggies, ready to be added to eggs (along with cheese, because c’mon- CHEESE!)

I went grocery shopping on Thursday, and I split a share from Porchlight with my buddy Brooke.  The only thing I need to buy for the week is maybe some milk later in the week.

The CSA box will be here tomorrow AM and I’ll prepare some salads, more roasted veggies, and maybe even some soup (fingers crossed!).

Veggies and fruit are delivered by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $25, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $25. Seriously. It’s a deal.

And I’ve been getting a lot of really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods.

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I have made my own and you can find them for sale here on my Etsy Store.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. They are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. The Ancient Grain bagels from Einstein Bros. are the current family favorite. I pick them up on Mondays when a dozen is only $7. I slice them and freeze them to keep them from going bad too quickly.

Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I’m back to packing lunches again. However, school lunches are free this year, but so far, there is nothing on the menu that appeals to the kids.

Dinner: We’ve got a pretty good schedule down for dinners. We have nuggets (vegetarian for the boy child, chicken for the rest) on the nights that we have respite. It’s quick to prepare and clean up, and I can serve it on our cafeteria trays with other fingers foods (we have trays like these) like cut-up fruit, crackers, and cheese. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday: Roasted Veggies, Salad, Quesadillas
  • Monday: Veggie Chili, Sourdough Rolls, Fruit
  • Tuesday: Shakshuka, Rice, Fruit
  • Wednesday: Nugget night, fruit, cheese, and crackers
  • Thursday: Parm crusted Turkey Breast, Fruit Salad, Kale Salad
  • Friday:  Takeout Night
  • Saturday: Leftovers, fruit

Please stay safe you guys!

Cartoon Network is Coming to the Children’s Discovery Museum!

Abby H.

I posted about Cartoonito earlier in the week. Look what popped into my email last night!

Sunday, September 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00p.m.

Join Cartoonito at The Children’s Discovery Museum for a FREE pop-up event with Cartoon Network’s brand-new preschool-age programming, Cartoonito!

Gather your little ones and get ready for a day filled with creativity, laughter, learning, and fun! Throughout the event, you’ll enjoy:

  • Customizable backpacks,
  • Free school supplies,
  • An ice cream truck,
  • Arts and crafts activities,
  • Previews of Cartoonito programming,
  • And more!
Availability is limited. Save your spot today! And if you aren’t in San Diego, this tour will be all over the US in coming weekends!

Tryazon- Lucky Iron Fish® Cooking Party

Abby H.

We’ve been participating in Tryazon events for three+ years. We’ve gotten to try all sorts of fun toys, games, and food.  You can learn more about Tryazon here.

Improve your iron levels naturally with this Tryazon Featured Party opportunity. The Lucky Iron Fish® is a simple, reusable, and effective cooking tool that adds extra iron to your daily foods or drinks. Iron is the nutrient that helps blood move oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body, and it helps muscles store & use oxygen. Without adequate iron, you may feel fatigued, prone to illness, dizzy, and more. Lucky Iron Fish is easy to use, and just ten minutes is all that is needed to get a significant portion of your daily recommended iron.

They have a total of 100 hosting spots open for this opportunity! Those selected get to receive a party pack with a selection of Lucky Iron Fish products, to sample and share with friends and family! Learn more and apply here.

Tryazon: Zombie Chase Game Night from Play Monster

Abby H.

I showed this to the kids last night- They are both stoked to try this game with their friends. I mean, who doesn’t love zombies?

We’ve been participating in Tryazon events for three+ years. We’ve gotten to try all sorts of fun toys, games, and food.  You can learn more about Tryazon here.

The chase is on with this Tryazon Featured Party opportunity, from PlayMonster, featuring the new Zombie Chase board game! Zombie Chase is a beginner strategy game with two ways to win, as a human or as a zombie. Aged at 7+, Zombie Chase is a perfect game for family game night, and one thing is for sure: to win, alive or undead, you’ll be needing plenty of brains!

Tryazon has a total of 250 hosting spots open for this opportunity! Those selected get to receive a party pack with Zombie Chase and another title, Reign: The Final Battle Royale, to sample and share with friends and family! Learn more and apply here.

Egg Bites: Quick, Easy Cook Ahead Breakfast (Starbucks CopyCat)

Abby H.1 Comment
These are so good!
Ready to get into the oven.

I love the bacon and Gruyere Sous Vide Egg Bites at Starbucks, but… I’m frugal and those little dudes ain’t cheap.

So Sunday night, I set out to see if I could make them. This was a test batch, so I only did 6. I’ll be making more in the future. They are super easy to make, and you can customize them with ingredients you like.

Ingredients:

  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 T butter
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1/3 sour cream or Creme Fraiche
  • 4 Oz chopped/shredded cheese (I used Kerrygold cheddar)
  • 1/3 cup bacon pieces (I use the ones from Costco)
  • salt and pepper to taste
greased cups in the shallow baking dish with water.

NOTES:
I used small glass bowls from dollar tree, but you can use a muffin tin, custard cups, whatever fits into a shallow baking dish (I used a 9×13 baking dish).

Directions:

  1. Spray cups/muffin tin with spray release, set aside.
  2. Fill a shallow pan with 1-2 cups water (start with 1). You want the baking cups/muffin tin cups to be covered in water on the outside, but you don’t want to water to get into the cups.
  3. Set the cups/muffin tin into the water bath pan.
  4. Sauté onions in butter until the onions are clear (about 10 minutes). Take off the heat and allow it to come to room temperature.
  5. In a bowl, beat eggs, milk, and sour cream until combined.
  6. Add cheese, bacon, and onions to mixture.
  7. Stir well to combine and add salt and pepper.
  8. Give it a quick mix and ladle it into the greased cups/ muffin tin.
  9. Bake 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees
  10. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10-ish minutes.
  11. Run knife around the edges to free egg bites from the cups and allow to cool on a plate.

Store in fridge for 4-5 days. Reheat in microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute.

Substitutions:

  • If you are a vegetarian, omit the bacon. You can substitute the same amount of chopped veggies (bell peppers, and spinach are two of my favorites).
  • If Cheddar cheese isn’t your jam, goat cheese, gruyere, mozzarella are all good choices.
  • Finally, bacon can be swapped with crumbled sausage.

9/6/2021 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgHappy Labor Day! I hope you all had a fun, relaxing weekend. The kids and I spent most of it playing with Legos, or swimming with friends.

No trip to the grocery store this week- I did go buy ice (our icemaker is STILL broken- Looking at you Sears) and popsicles, but we have enough groceries to get us through the week. I may have to buy milk… We’ll see.

Getting the fam to eat more fruits and veggies has been my personal mission this year, and thankfully, Yasukochi Family Farms has my back.

Veggies and fruit are delivered by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $25, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $25. Seriously. It’s a deal. I did a great deal of meal prep today after the box was delivered- You can see some of what I did over on Instragram.

And I’ve been getting a lot of really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods.

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I have made my own and you can find them for sale here on my Etsy Store.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. They are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. The Ancient Grain bagels from Einstein Bros. are the current family favorite. I pick them up on Mondays when a dozen is only $7. I slice them and freeze them to keep them from going bad too quickly.

Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I’m back to packing lunches again. However, school lunches are free this year, but so far, there is nothing on the menu that appeals to the kids.

Dinner: We’ve got a pretty good schedule down for dinners. We have nuggets (vegetarian for the boy child, chicken for the rest) on the nights that we have respite. It’s quick prep and clean up, and I can serve it on our cafeteria trays with other fingers foods (we have trays like these) like cut-up fruit, crackers, and cheese. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Sunday: Korean BBQ Beef, Rice, Roasted Veggies with Haven’s Kitchen Gingery Miso
  • Monday: Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce, Garlic Cheesy Bread, and fruit
  • Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner (probably waffles, eggs, sausage, and fruit)
  • Wednesday: Nugget night: Nuggets, crackers, cheese, fruit
  • Thursday: Cheeseburgers ( topped with caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms), chips and dip, and salad
  • Friday:  Takeout Night
  • Saturday: Leftovers, fruit

Please stay safe you guys!

Fetch Rewards: Cruise into the long weekend with more points!

Abby H.

Load up for the long weeekend.

Labor Day is this coming weekend! A lot of you are planning BBQ’s or family get-togethers, and here are some special offers to help you save money this weekend.

If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards yet, or want to learn more, check out my post here. Find the Fetch Rewards app in your app store, and when you download it and scan any receipt, use my code ND2TB when you sign up and you’ll score 2,000 bonus points. I’ve earned over $250 in rewards in 2021 alone, just by purchasing my regular groceries and scanning in all of my receipts (grocery, mass merchandiser, gas receipts, restaurants, you name it).

It is simple, takes minutes, and the points really rack up!

Free Food Resources for September 2021 (San Diego County)

Abby H.

A new month means that it’s time for the monthly update of free food resources in San Diego.

You can still find resources here for Central and East County, and Here for North County.

If you are located outside San Diego County, call 211. If you are not familiar with 211, here is their website and it can point you in the right direction.

San Diego Food Bank Distributions for September 2021 can be found here. Enter your address (or just your zip code) and the map will show you all of the distributions in your area or closest to you. You can filter by the days of the week to find food when you are available. If there is an income requirement/limit to participate, each location/listing will say such.

Neighbor distributions are intermixed with the San Diego Food Bank Distributions, however, they have no income requirements, and you come as you are. These Distributions are primarily fruits & veg, however, some locations may also distribute canned goods, dairy, and bread.

Super Pantry Locations can be found here (this listing is countywide). The San Diego Foodbank website also has resources for Diaper banks, free food resources for seniors, and more.

All kids in public school K-12 in the State of California are eligible for free breakfasts and lunches at school. More information can be found here. 

If you know of other resources, please leave a comment! And feel free to share this post with anyone you may know in need.

Daily Schedules for Kids (with tips for ADHD Family Members)

Abby H.

Recently, I posted our daily schedule for school days on Instagram.

Because the littler kiddo is still learning to read, I do a combination of words and pictures. I find that it also helps as sometimes when kids become disregulated, reading can be a little too much for our brains.

The Afternoon/Night section doesn’t have times because while bedtime is at a fixed time, it is important to grant the kids some freedom in the afternoons to relax and decompress from school. After being “on” all day at school, I like to give them 30 minutes to an hour after school to have a snack and relax without any kind of demands put on them.

There are of course times when that is not possible, for example when we have appointments immediately after school. Having a schedule for them to see really helps them organize and be aware.

Having two neurodivergent kiddos, it’s important to have visual reminders of schedules, family rules, appointments, etc. around the house. Each kid has a calender in room that is updated monthly with upcoming appointments, days off school and holidays. Updating those each month is something I do the first day of each month. I use stickers in addition to writing to help remind the kids of upcoming events on the calenders.

With Neurodivergency sometimes comes what we call “losing time”. The concept of time can be hard for kids to grasp, regardless of their neurodivergency. Another way that we help keep the kids on schedule is to use the old theater trick where we give them a one hour “call”, a 30 minute call, a five minute call, and then a time to go call. Grown ups call out, “One hour until X”, and the kids answer back, “Thank you one hour!” Making them repeat the amount of time they have left until we leave or transition activities puts it in their mind that whatever they are doing/playing/watching will come to an end.

Talk Back: I’d love to hear about the tips and tricks you use to keep your family on schedule!