As you can see from the photo, we buy a lot of fruit.
I bought this fruit late last week, and within 3 days, the raspberries and cantaloupe were GONE.
So why am I sharing this photo of my fruit purchases? To illustrate that you can eat healthy on a budget.
I visited Our local Ralphs, armed with 8 $1/1 Driscoll Coupons (Internet printable coupons from their surveys), a $5/$15 Produce E-coupon on my Ralphs card (like them on Facebook here and you’ll be notified when new produce coupons are added- usually once a month), and a free Muller Yogurt E-coupon (Free Friday Download).
The raspberries are $1.28/carton, so after $1/1 Q they are a paltry .28/carton. SCORE. I saved over $50 with my coupons and ralphs club card. UGH. I can’t imagine paying full price for anything.
The only not so “real food” purchase was the whipped topping. I made the Cool whip into Bachelor Mousse (1 small box instant chocolate pudding, 1 1/2 cups milk, whole carton of cool whip, beat together and serve with fruit) and we had it for dessert a few times. It’s quick, easy, and the boys LOVE IT.
So you can do it- keep your eyes open for sales on produce, meat, whole grains, and other stuff your family likes to eat. Don’t forget to take advantage of printable coupons and rebate/money saving apps!
This is a family favorite, even little man loves it!
You can make as much of it from scratch as you’d like, or if you’re in a hurry, you can use pre-made sausage and sauce.
This recipe is also great because you can make it vegetarian with soy crumbles, or even vegan if you use alt. cheese. Use Gluten Free Pasta and this dish Gluten Free!
This is a great dish to take to potlucks!
Italian Sausage Casserole
Serves 8-10
Ingredients:
1 box of pasta, your choice, cooked al dente and drained
1 jar of your fav pasta sauce, or 4 cups home made sauce
1 lb bulk Italian sausage, crumbled, cooked and drained (or 1 package soy crumbles) You can use ground beef if you prefer.
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (or 1 cup vegan cheese)
Directions
In a large baking dish, mix the pasta, sauce, and sausage.
Top with cheese.
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until cheese is bubbly and melty.
I was cleaning out some files yesterday and I came across some notes from when we planned our family vacation to Disneyland 2 years ago. I know with Summer vacation coming up, a lot of you will be planning trips to The House of Mouse and other locales. Here are a few tips to help you save on your summer fun!
The first part of planning a trip is budget. Where you’ll go, how long you’ll stay, what you’ll do while you’re there, those things are all (sadly) dictated by budget.
When we plan a trip, in order to keep our costs down, I’ve formulate a budget that takes into consideration a few things:
We’re getting a m/hotel room with a kitchenette. That way we can eat some meals in room and save money. The average price per person per meal in most tourist areas is $10.00 plus tax and tip, so just by eating in our room three times we’re saving $90.00 plus tax and tip. The difference in price between a m/hotel room without a kitchen is about $10/day. For us, it’s worth it.
I’ll be using high value and free item coupons for some of the menu items we’ll be eating. I trade coupons online on site like HotCouponWorld, and of course, my local coupon club. (For more info on coupon clubs and online forums, check out this post)
I use as many deals and savings programs to earn gift cards and cash to defray costs. I’m save Swagbucks for a Paypal payout, I save Mypoints points for a gift certificate or a Paypal payout, And if we happen to eat out, we’ll try to eat at Mogl restaurants to earn a little green back!
I save various gift cards as well to be used on the trip (like the $20 pre-paid Visa Gift Cards I earn from SBKC)
So with our budget in mind, I set to finding a m/hotel that fits our budget and has the amenities we are looking for: swimming pool, complimentary continental breakfast, and free parking.
With inflation skyrocketing, more of us need help feeding our families nutritious foods. Luckily in San Diego, there are plenty of programs and organizations that can help.
In large metropolitan areas like San Diego County, there are many resources for those who have food insecurity. Some of them require proof of need, proof of residence, or extensive paperwork to qualify. For someone who is embarrassed by food insecurity, these requirements can be a deterrent. Other organizations put a cap on how many times a family can visit.
Here are a few local Central and East San Diego County Area organizations that offer food assistance that do not require any proof of need.
Central San Diego County
The Cupboard on 54th. Located at Calvary Lutheran Church 3060 54th Street, San Diego, CA 92115. They are open 3 times a week.
You can get dry goods one time per month and a produce bag is available each day they are open (for a total of three times a week).
This is located at the same location as a free clothing closet. They have clothes for men women and children, as well as shoes and accessories.
Christ Ministry Center 3295 Meade Ave San Diego, CA 92116 has a food bank three days a week. Hours: Mondays 1-3pm, Wednesdays 10am-Noon and 1-3pm, Fridays 10am-Noon and 1-3pm. Park in the rear lot and look for the Good Neighbor Center Food Bank sign. They also have other services for those in need. Check out their website for more information.
The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank has neighborhood distribution sites all over San Diego throughout the month. Each time and location is different, but you can expect to go home with a lot of fresh produce! There are no requirements or proof of need (no ID either). Just bring a few reusable bags or a cart to carry your food home.
Faith Chapel in Spring Valley has a great event once a month called Meet the Need. It is on the 1st Sunday of each month.
There is a free lunch starting at 1pm with some fellowship (a great way to meet your neighbors), followed by shopping in their boutique for free clothing and household items, and you will go home with a bag (or two) of free, healthy groceries.
Similarly, Pastor Josiah and his crew have been doing weekly food distributions- Visit their website (address below) and get on their email list to learn more and find out when the next distribution will be- or subscribe to my blog- I post about their distributions in advance!
You can learn more by visiting or contacting Faith Chapel here. Pastor Josiah and his crew are wonderful people!
For residents of the City of Santee, the Santee Food Bank is available to you once a month. Proof of Santee Residency (like a utility bill) is required, and ID for everyone in the household (ID cards, drivers licenses, school ids, health insurance cards). The Santee Food Bank is open for regular distributions 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. every Wednesday and Friday, as well as the first and third Saturday of each month.
The Santee Food Bank also hosts USDA Commodities twice a month. Commodities are available to anyone, regardless of where you live. They are healthy food staples, and frequently consist of Meat, rice, pasta, canned veggies and fruit, cereal, milk, and bread. Items change each time, but there are always lots of healthy options. Commodities hours are the third Tuesday from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Feeding American San Diego has a map on their website of various resources in the San Diego area, many of them require no proof of need or paperwork.
If you are located in Northern San Diego County, here is a post that has options and locations for you.
While not strictly free, Porchlight Community Services (which I wrote about here) frequently has free food distributions. Check their website, or follow them on Facebook for updates and events.
If you have any food resources to share, please leave a comment!
Lil’ Man loves him some waffles. And pancakes. Pretty much anything hot that he can have slathered in butter.
Recently the awesome folks over at Nicole’s Natural’s offered me a canister of their gluten-free waffle and pancake mix to try out. We’re not a GF family due to allergies or sensitivities, but I love trying new products, especially new breakfast products!
What I really liked about these waffles is that despite being Gluten Free, they cook up super crispy. They contain brown rice, corn meal, and GF oatmeal, all of which gives the waffles an amazing texture. Even when I re-heated some the next morning in the toaster oven, they stayed crispy, as if I just made them!
Each 22 ounce canister makes about 8-10 waffles, depending on your waffle iron size and how thick you like your batter. I got 12 waffles out of the mix, but I added a little extra milk because the batter was a little too thick towards the end of the bowl.
All you add to the mix is water (or milk of your choice), melted butter or coconut oil, and eggs. It’s easy peasy.
Nicole’s Naturals Mix:
Is Gluten-, Wheat-, Dairy- and Soy-Free (but definitely not taste-free!)
Contains 150 calories per serving
Has only one gram of sugar (much less than other mixes that contain upwards of nine grams per serving) and two grams of fiber
Is independently tested at less than five parts gluten per million, far below the FDA regulation of 20 parts per million for products labeled gluten-free.
12 waffles is a bit much for the three of us, so after we had eaten, I cut up the remaining waffles into quarters, let them cool and put them into a freezer bag. The next morning we enjoyed them again after a quick trip through the toaster oven.
San Diego Residents can find Nicole’s Natural’s at the following stores:
I was given a canister of Nicole’s Naturals gluten-free waffle and pancake mix at no charge to facilitate my review, however I was not financially compensated for my review.
One of the ways that we save money is to cut down on food waste. For me that means once we are home from the store and all of the perishables are put away, I pull out the cutting board, a sharp knife, the spiralizer, some zip top bags, and reusable storage containers.
This was last weeks fresh fruit and veggies (plus 3 bags of baby carrots and a cantaloupe- not pictured).
I set to work, chopping, packaging, and spiralizing. In less than 30 minutes I had all of the fresh fruits and veggies prepped and measured into small bags to be dropped into lunches, or packed into plastic containers.
This of course is only for the fruits and veggies that require prep. The oranges, apples, and bananas require no prep to eat, so they just go into the fruit bowl.
Fruits and veggies all ready for a week of healthy lunches!Cantaloupe chopped up and ready for my belly!! The bottom container has 3 spiralized Italian zucchini squash, ready to be made into “pasta” salad.
By spending a little time each week getting veggies and fruit ready to eat, you’ll cut down on food waste, because the food is all ready to eat. No scrambling to cut up cucumbers for lunch early in the morning, no putting off eating something because you are short on time in the evening.
You will also be saving money over purchasing pre-chopped and pre-packed vegetables and fruit. All of this produce was purchased at 99 Cents only for less than $12.00. So you can eat well (and healthy) on a budget!!
And if it turns out atthe end of the week that you aren’t able to eat all of your veggies and fruit and they can be frozen (pretty much anything except melons), toss the bags in the freezer and you now have veggies for a casserole, or fruit for a smoothie!
The average American family of four throws away $25.00 in food a WEEK! Here are a few more tips to help your family curtail food waste!
Eat your leftovers: this seems like a no brainer. When you divvy out your portions for dinner, make yourself your lunch for the next day. If you won’t eat it right away, pop it into the freezer- label it, so you don’t forget what it is.
When it looks like your fruit is about to go south, freeze it. This includes bananas! You can use defrosted bananas in banana bread or frozen bananas are great in smoothies. Other frozen fruit can also be used in smoothies.
Citrus fruits can be juiced and frozen or the juice can be consumed for breakfast or put in smoothies. Apples can be peeled cooked into applesauce or made into apple butter.
When I buy fresh tomatoes and they get just a little too ripe- I freeze them whole, then I bake them with chicken breasts and herbs and top with fresh parm- Yummy!
Buy less. I know it seems like a strange concept, especially with all of the really great deals you will be finding, but, the one proven way to waste less is to bring less home to waste.
I love free stuff. I also love sharing free stuff with friends and family. When I discovered Moms Meet a few years ago I was psyched! It combines everything I love: Free stuff, natural products, and sharing with friends!
Moms Meet offers exciting opportunities for Mom Ambassadors and their groups (moms groups, play groups, church groups) to sample the latest healthy, green products. Past sampling opportunities have included EO all-natural hand sanitizer, Wallaby Organic yogurt, and To Go Brands Trim Energy.
I receive 1-2 sampling opportunities per month. It’s nice to provide free snacks at play dates that accommodate so many allergies, and moms get coupons and samples to take home.
Coming up next week, our play group will be sampling Applegate Half-Time meal kits! In addition to sampling the yummy lunch kits, we are going to decorate re-usable thermal lunch bags. Each friend will go home with a coupon for a free Half Time kit and a few other coupons.
If Moms Meet is something that you’d like to try, all you have to do to get started is fill out the form here, and Moms Meet will contact you when they have a campaign.
Summer is on it’s way! The kids will be out of school soon and the choruses of, “I’M BORED!” will being heard across the county.
Here are some cheap and free things that you can do this summer around San Diego County to alleviate the boredom.
The splash ground at Santee Lakes is GREAT! It’s only $2.00 per kid to play and if you park outside the Santee Lakes, you don’t have to pay to park! Take a picnic and it’s a great frugal outing! We go at least once a week in the summer and it’s always
a GREAT time!
The Santee Lakes hosts free summer movies throughout the summer. If you park your car outside the gates (there is lots of street parking!), there is no cost of the movies. If you drive your car into the park, it’s $8.00 per car, regardless of how many ppl are in your car. Bring a picnic and some blankets and kick back for a fun family movie!
Balboa Park still offers Free Tuesdays at various museums in the park.
San Diego County Libraries have story time and various kid events each week. I love taking Henry to the Santee library story time, and then we play at Mast Park right next door afterwards!
El Cajon, La Mesa, and Escondido all have classic car shows/rallies each week that are free. Most have free music too! Check out some sweet rides, cool tunes, and have a fun frugal night with the fam! DiscoverSD has a list of free events and classes offered in San Diego (not all are kid friendly)
Speaking of Parks- San Diego County has great parks, as do most of the cities in San Diego County! Our favorite parks include Big Rock Park in Santee, Kennedy Park in El Cajon, La Mesita/Junior Seau Park in La Mesa, Harry Griffin Park in La Mesa (great for little kids).
If you love soup as much as I do, this deal will excite you. Now through Friday (4/24) Olive Garden is offering their unlimited Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks lunch for only $5!
For those of us living in CA, NV, AZ, TX we have the opportunity to save money by shopping the great deals at 99 Cents Only. 99 Cents Only is different from other discount/dollar stores in that the majority of locations feature a refridgator and freezer case with a variety of name brand foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables. In addition to fesh and frozen foods, most locations have a great diverse stock of shelf stable foods too.
And 99 Cents only has more than food, they carry the same types of items that you have grown accustomed to seeing at discount/dollar stores, such as health and beauty aids, school supplies, and kitchen tools.
While 99 Cents Only does not accept manufacturer coupons, they frequently send out coupons that are good for a free item when you purchase X number of items (most recently they have been buy 5 items, receive one free). And there are a few apps that are not retailer specific (such as checkout51, snap by groupon, Mobisave, berrycart, shrink,and shopnimium) that you can submit your receipts to to earn a little extra cash back!
Not everything is .9999/each, many of the items are .7999/each, .6999.each, 2/.9999, or 4./9999. .9999? What? That’s right, after many years in business, last year 99 cents only had to increase prices just a fraction to keep up with inflation. So at .9999/each (or really, rounded up to $1.00), many things are still a screaming deal.
Here are just a few of the great deals that you shouldn’t pass up:
Carrots. A 20 ounce bag (that’s 1.25 lbs) of baby carrots is .9999. At most regular grocers The same bag is upwards of $2.50.
Bagged greens. Most locations carry multiple brands including Dole, Ready Pac, and Earthbound Organics (just to name a few), which can sell at most mainstream grocers for upwards of $4.00/bag!
Disposable person care items, such as cotton swabs. 1000 cotton swabs for $1.00! That’s a lot of clean ears! A box of 500 or so can run upwards of $5.00 at most mass merchandisers.
Men’s dress socks. I’m serious. At $1.00/pair, you’re saving approximately 75-80% over department store prices. Most of hubs socks come from 99 cents only, and he’s been wearing them for about 2 years.
Cake mix. I’m talking name brand here. Unless there is a sale and you have a coupon at the local grocery store, you’ll be spending a few bucks for a cake mix. Drop by your local 99 cents only and take a gander, you’ll be surprised by the variety and brands of cake mixes available. Last time I stopped in to my local store, they had Pillsbury cake mixes!
Bananas. Most grocery stores in San Diego charge .65/-.80/lb for bananas! Most 99 cents locations have bananas for just .49/lb. some select locations have 3 lbs/$1.00!
School/art supplies. Perfect for the parent of an artistically minded kiddo or a homeschooler, most locations have a great selection of construction paper, paint, craft kits, and bulletin board supplies. We get most of our craft supplies at 99 cents only!
Party Supplies, from disposable plates and utensils to goody bag filler, most locations have a decent variety. Not just plain colors, but fun themed goodies as well. Our local store has princess, pirate, minion, TMNT, frozen, sweet 16 themed party supplies.
Bread. This photo isn’t the best representation of what they have most of the time,cut most stores have a variety of fresh breads from companies like Sarah Lee, Orowheat/Arnold’s, and bread in the freezer case too from brands like Ecce Pannis and Texas Toast. Don’t forget to look for bagels and buns too!
Ethnic spices. Making a batch of menudo? Trying your hand at curry? Need Jugo? Don’t forget to check your local 99 cents only for ethnic spices before you start cooking! I get a large bag of bay leaves twice a year and split it with a friend. Perfect for soups and stews!
There is a lot of stuff that may be a good deal, depending on what your rock bottom price for specific items is. To determine if something is a good deal for my family, I keep a price book with the prices of the top 20 items I buy most often at the 5 stores I shop at most in my area. You can learn more about price books here.
Yummy fresh strawberries- right off the truck!
Recently I spied .79/can Starkist Tuna can, 10 lbs of potatoes for .99, 1 lb packages of fresh Dole Strawberries for just .99, and name brand ketchup, mustard, and BBQ sauce for just .69/each.
If you are hesitant to buy produce at a discount store because you are concerned about freshness, call your local store and ask them what day their produce truck comes. Most of our local stores receive their produce truck on Thursday mornings, so I am ready to shop for fresh fruits and veggies as soon as I drop the Kiddo off at school.
For my family, 99 Cents Only is the starting point for my shopping each week. I start by filling my cart with tons of fresh fruit and veggies, checking the freezer case for any deals, and picking up any needed canned goods that are not on sale elsewhere. By starting my shopping at 99 Cents Only, I am able to keep our food budget at $50/week! When there are really good deals (like the case of Larabars for only 99 Cents!) I tend to spend a few extra bucks and stock up, since quantities are limited and 99 Cents Only doesn’t offer rain checks.
What’s your favorite thing to purchase at 99 Cents Only?
As you can see from the photo, we buy a lot of fruit.
The Cupboard on 54th. Located at Calvary Lutheran Church 3060 54th Street, San Diego, CA 92115. They are open 3 times a week.
Faith Chapel in Spring Valley has a great event once a month called Meet the Need. It is on the 1st Sunday of each month.
What I really liked about these waffles is that despite being Gluten Free, they cook up super crispy. They contain brown rice, corn meal, and GF oatmeal, all of which gives the waffles an amazing texture. Even when I re-heated some the next morning in the toaster oven, they stayed crispy, as if I just made them!
I love free stuff. I also love sharing free stuff with friends and family. When I discovered 
Coming up next week, our play group will be sampling 
The splash ground at Santee Lakes is GREAT! It’s only $2.00 per kid to play and if you park outside the Santee Lakes, you don’t have to pay to park! Take a picnic and it’s a great frugal outing! We go at least once a week in the summer and it’s always
If you love soup as much as I do, this deal will excite you. Now through Friday (4/24) Olive Garden is offering their unlimited Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks lunch for only $5!
Hewes Family Fun 