Make yer own!

Probably the best way I have found to be frugal is to make your own supplies. I have in the last few months began making yogurt, frozen juice pops, smoothies, chocolate syrup, milkshakes, bread, muffins, breadcrumbs, pizza (dough and sauce)... Cooking as much as I can from scratch. This not only saves money, it is healthier as well. Today we wanted snacks, while out at the park and I hadn't packed any fruit or anything. It was a spur of the moment type of trip. Instead of dropping $25 on fast food, (like we did last weekend, oops *slaps wrist*) we bought our groceries that we needed for the menu plan. We had an awesome frugal lunch and used up some bits and pieces of veggies and and such. I try to make the menu plan interesting so it is not a boring chore. It's actually fun if you know ahead of time that you are going to make, say, homemade pizza, to make the dough have it all ready and then decorate the pizzas to eat. Not only is it a fraction of the cost of takeout, it's good family time too. I find the Kid eats more if he helps make it. Yes, it's true, Racheal Ray!

Now that I am working part time I have to be more creative. Yesterday I worked an afternoon shift so I took a few minutes before work to make yogurt and put it into the cooler to incubate while I was away. When I got home eight hours later, the yogurt had set. There is enough for a week at least. Making things from scratch and using my freezer are lifesavers for the budget and delegation of summer time cooking tasks to the Man. A family can not live off of BBQ alone ;)