Homemade Cleaning Recipes: Wipes

Make your own laundry detergent; prepare some homemade cleaners; make your own baking mixes.  Whatever it is that you currently buy at the store to keep your home running, from baby wipes to toilet cleaner, chances are that there is a homemade version that will save your money, be gentle on your cleaning surfaces and your family. Non-toxic cleaners are healthier and easily made. Plus, who doesn’t like saving money in the household budget? I’ve gather some of the best and complete homemade cleaning recipes and make your own blog posts on Families.com. Bookmark these posts, so you can come … Continue reading

Oven Saving Strategies

With the warm weather coming, I am reluctant to use my oven. Not only because the heat of it will add to the warmth of the house when we don’t need it, but also because of the cost of the energy involved. With summer, our electric bills rise because of the need for air conditioning. Using the oven in a smart way, or finding alternatives is one way to balance out the extra summer energy cost. Using the Bread Machine If you have a decent bread machine, you may be able to use it for cooking items other than bread, … Continue reading

Stretch It Out for Grocery Savings

You can stretch your grocery bill when you stretch your food. I do it all of the time, and it helps me keep our grocery bill less than $100 a week for a family of five. Now that is great grocery savings. So many meal items can be stretched without compromising health or flavor. For example, I frequently stretch out ground meat with bread crumbs, oatmeal, TVP or even wheat germ (if I get it on sale). Meat is expensive, so it is one good area to stretch. This works for pretty much anything that uses ground beef, hamburger, chicken, … Continue reading

Simple St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

For some families hanging out at a bar on St. Patrick’s Day knocking back green beer and Irish whiskey cocktails is not the ideal way to celebrate the holiday.  If you are looking for family-friendly ways to capture the spirit of the Emerald Isle, forget about heading to the local pub, and instead, leap like a leprechaun into the comfort of your kitchen.  That’s where you and your clan can have fun whipping up these easy and affordable St. Patrick’s Day-inspired dishes: Super Simple Corned Beef Ingredients: 1 boneless corned beef brisket (3 to 4 pounds) with seasoning packet 4 … Continue reading

Favorite Recipes

Sometimes it is hard to keep track of all of the great recipes that are our there. Today, I thought I would make it a little easier by linking up some of the favorite Families.com recipes that we have posted over the years. It is a good selection of different kinds of food, from soup to desert, although I have to say that I am partial to the desert. Enjoy! *** The Serious Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Cake Have you ever seen the gigantic chocolate cake that Costco sells? It is a 5 layer chocolate cake, with chocolatey whipped frosting and … Continue reading

9 Meal Ideas for Leftover Chicken

The prices on whole roasting chicken has been pretty good lately, so I have been finding myself buying quite a few chickens for our meals. My family likes roast chicken, so it isn’t usually a problem, except for the leftovers. They can get a little boring after a while. That is why we usually have one meal of roast chicken (I vary the seasonings), and then use the leftover chicken in new dishes, some of which I can freeze.   Here are my favorite ways to use leftover chicken.   Chicken Pot Pie: You can use a butter crust, shortening … Continue reading

Money Saving Meals for Busy Families

Busy families shouldn’t miss out on the savings just because they have little time to cook. Home cooked meals are one of the best ways to save on the food bill. With a little knowledge, you can spend very little to cook at home, no matter how hectic your life is. Here is how. Crockpot Recipes I’m convinced that the crockpot must have been invented by a busy mom. If you don’t have this little appliance, run out right now and get one. Don’t worry about the expense. You can pick your first one up for a few dollars at … Continue reading

The Easy Way to Cook from Scratch

Cooking from scratch is a great way to reduce your overall food bill. Eating out can cost three or four times as much as cooking at home, on average. Faced with the reality of the savings, why don’t we all cook more and eat out less? Well, one of the main reasons is that the idea of cooking every meal at home when our lives are so busy can seem daunting. Guess what, though? Eating at home can actually be less time consuming than going out in many cases. Plus, if you follow the following advice, you will see that … Continue reading

Fun Ways to Get Rid of Leftover Turkey

Thanksgiving hangovers are no fun. However, you can prevent the post-Turkey Day pain by being prepared. I’m not referring to an aspirin run; rather, I prefer hair of the dog treatments. If you gobbled til you wobbled on Thanksgiving Day, then get right back up on Black Friday and do it again, but with fun-filled, kicked-up turkey recipes like these: SPICY TURKEY SKILLET Ingredients: 2 pounds of leftover turkey, shredded or sliced 1 package taco seasoning mix 1/4 cup water 1 cup chunky salsa 2 cups corn 1 can (15-ounce) black beans, drained 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend 3 … Continue reading

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Soup and pumpkins are beautiful signs of fall. Combining the two will warm up a cool autumn evening. The soup is great paired with a salad or a sandwich. Keep the recipe on hand for Thanksgiving celebrations. You may want to have it on hand to give to your guests as they are sure to ask you for the recipe. I was surprised that a few of my kids also liked pumpkin soup. Normally, I make butternut squash soup but this goes over a bit better. If you don’t like curry the omit and get creative. Think about how squash … Continue reading