Pantry Basics- Spices, Packets, and Seasonings


     A good spice rack can take your meals from okay to WOW!  I still don't know what all of the spices on my spice rack can be used for, but I do have some that I use all of the time and couldn't live without! 
     There are common spices, or herbs, that should be in every pantry, and these spices are usually found in many recipes.  Let me be specific about spices, herbs, and seasonings.  A spice or an herb is something that is grown and then dried.  The difference between a spice and an herb is determined by the part of the plant that it comes from.  Okay...I know, I know, not the most exciting post so far...but because we are talking about spices and herbs, I thought you may find it interesting that spices and herbs are not the same thing! 

     So what is the difference?  Although both spices and herbs are part of plants, they are derived from different parts of the plant.  Spices come from the root, stem, or seeds from a plant.  Some examples of spices are cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.  Herbs come from the leaves of the plants.  Some examples of herbs are thyme, basil, oregano, and parsley.  As a root vegetable, onions and garlic would be considered spices when dried.  So if you are asked to use onion or garlic powder then that would be a spice. 

     Alright, so I'm now done with my science lesson for the day!  Spices and herbs are written interchangeably on most recipes so try not to be confused.  So what spices or herbs should you have in your pantry?  Great question!  Take a look at your favorite recipes and determine which spices and herbs are required for them; those are the spices and herbs that you should have in your pantry. 

     Below is the list of spices and herbs that I have in my pantry at all times.  If you are just beginning to cook, these are the ones that you will want to have on hand right away. 

Basil
Oregano
Thyme
Cumin
Chili Powder
Red Pepper Flakes
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Ginger
Rosemary
Black Pepper


     What about seasonings?  What are those?  So for these, I think about a mix of different herbs and spices that make a seasoning blend.  For example, Italian seasoning, chicken seasoning, and season salts are all seasoning blends.  In addition, a seasoning packet like taco seasoning and chili seasoning are also spice blends. 

     So, what should you have in your pantry?  All of the above...especially if you are just starting out.  Luckily most of these spices and packets can be purchased for less than a dollar and they last a long time if stored properly.  I try to go through my spices and herbs twice a year.  They lose their potency after a while, especially once they're open.  If you notice that the smell or color of your herbs is not as strong as it was when you first got it, then you may want to replace it.  Try not to purchase an herb rack with a lot of spices that you have never heard of before, you probably won't use them, and that is just a waste of your money. 

Do you have spices in your pantry that aren't on this list?  Please share!  We would love to hear your fresh ideas.

I hope that this was helpful!  Next week I'm going to talk about stocking up your fridge and freezer.

Blessings to All!

Kim

Feeding 6 People on Less than $100 a Week.

       

       Shopping for a small or large family can be a very daunting task, especially when you live on only one income.  As our family grew, it became very clear that I needed to be more careful, especially with our spending.   I have to admit that this wasn't easy for me.  I had to learn how to be frugal.  Everything that I do today came from years of research and practice. 
        When we were first married, we were very young, 21 and 22 to be exact.  My husband was successfully managing the front end of a grocery store and I was in college and working for a bank.  Neither of us made over $10/hour at the time and he was the only full time income that we had.  It was clear, right from the beginning of our marriage, that we needed spend carefully.  It was in those early years that I started shopping at Aldi.  I had heard about it from a friend of mine, and since neither of us were brand loyal, TJ and I decided to give it a try.  We were amazed by the prices!  We began shopping there and fell in love with many of their grocery items.  Although I was thrilled at the savings, I have to admit that I was young and impressionable.  People around us, who had never been in an Aldi before, had a lot of opinions about shopping there.  Some people are convinced that if the product doesn't have a name brand on it that it is inferior, or that by shopping at Aldi, I am exposing my family to food that is old and expired.  Well, I am standing here (shouting from the rooftops!) that neither of those assumptions is correct!  The food is delicious and affordable and the food is not expired or old.  No one should feel ashamed for providing their family with healthy food options because of where they shop! 
        Okay, now that I am off of my soap box, I can go on to explain what I really want to share with you...some tips on how to grocery shop on a really tight budget.  Last year around this time, I asked a friend to help me start this blog.  She was already blogging, pretty successfully, and I needed some advice.  When I explained that I could feed my family of 7 (my dad was living with us at the time) on $75 a week, she asked me to write some of my tips in an article that she would put on her blog.  Many of you probably came here using the link that she has on her blog, happydealhappyday.com.  For those of you who read that article, this post might seem a bit repetitive, but I promise, there may be additional information in this post that might be helpful  to you, so please keep reading!
     I am constantly asked how I can manage to buy groceries for our large family on just $75 a week, and I basically follow these guidelines every time I shop.  Let me be honest and let you know that I do not shop for organic foods, and if you are worried about eating organic, then you won't be able to fall below $75 per week.  It's okay...no judgment here.  If you want to buy organic than you should.  You may have to adjust your budget since organics typically cost a little more. 

So here are the top five tips I have for grocery shopping on less than $100 per week.  I hope that you find them helpful!

1.) Meal planning is essential.  I have an entire page on my blog dedicated to meal planning because it is so important to staying within a budget.  I try to plan at least 2 weeks worth of meals before I go to the grocery store and I usually plan for all three meals including two snacks daily for my kids.  I try to pay attention to details when I am creating my grocery list so that no ingredients are forgotten. Keeping the recipes handy is really helpful so that you can easily reference them when creating your list.  Check out my meal planning page for details on how you can start menu planning today!

2.) Be open-minded-  Growing up I was raised on generic brands and so making the switch was easy for me.  I know that some of you are very attached to your brands and that is perfectly okay, however, if you are trying to stay on a tight budget you may want to try a store brand, or better yet, try going to Aldi.  I find that almost every generic option on the market is delicious and has the same or similar ingredients to their name brand counterparts.  Check them out, you may be pleasantly surprised! 

3.)  Cooking from scratch-  okay...it's time to put your Betty Crocker apron on and trust me!  Cooking from scratch is not difficult, although it may seem so.  I love to cook, but I realize that not everyone is like me.  That's why I choose easy, delicious recipes to post.  Many of the recipes I make can be on the table in an hour or less and don't have any weird ingredients in them.  I find that I can make a full dinner for less than $1.00 per person when I am cooking from scratch. 

4.)  Spread out your meat purchases-  This is a great tip if you want to spend less money per week!  I look at the flyers and decide what I want to purchase based on what's on sale.  Then I spread my meat purchases out through the month.  I have a freezer so I always buy meat in bulk or in the Family Pack at Wegman's.  Usually I will purchase chicken during the first week of the month, ground beef the second week, pork on the third week, and miscellaneous meats during the last week.  Those might include a chuck roast, turkey breast, steak, or whatever is on sale.  By doing this, I am not spending more than half of my weekly budget on meat alone! 

5.)    Choose a from a variety of recipes and change it up!  Last year, our family went through a period of time when we were going through 4 boxes of cereal a week.  I realized pretty quickly that not only was this practice unhealthy, but it was terribly expensive!  Even shopping for generic brands, I was spending nearly $10 a week on cereal alone.  Then when you added milk into the equation it was even more!  Now, I look for healthy alternatives.  I make breakfast from scratch at least 4 times per week and the choices include my Banana Oatmeal bake, Oatmeal cups, cream of wheat, and pancakes.  In addition to breakfast, I also change up the snacks in our house.  I make my own trail mix, granola bars, and offer the kids several other healthy options.  By changing it up, we aren't caught up in any "must haves" so if there isn't room in the budget for something, I know that we can make do with other options. 


Long article, but hopefully it's full of great information that you can use to save money when grocery shopping! 

Do you have any money saving tips that you would like to share?  We would be so grateful for you to share them with us! 

Check out my meal planning and recipe pages for more information! 

Have a Blessed Day!


    

Yum Yum Yummy Burrito Bowls!

Good Gracious this meal was delish!  I have to say that every one of my children was apprehensive when they saw this meal sitting in front of them, but everyone ate it and one of my kiddos had two full bowls!  I was impressed!  I got the idea from The Garden Grazer on Pinterest.  I saw the pin and thought...those look delicious!  So I made them with the creamy chipotle sauce to go with them. 
 
The bowls on my table did not look nearly as beautiful as the picture that is on The Garden Grazer's pin, but I did take one of my plate so you could see what goes into the bowl.  I used instant white rice instead of brown, but I think that a Spanish rice could be beautiful in this meal, a yellow rice might be delicious as well!  Simple ingredients make for a great weeknight meal!
 
Yummy Burrito Bowls- Serves 6-10 (depending on serving size)
 
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
1 cup of frozen corn
3 cups white rice, brown rice, or Spanish rice
1-2 cups of chopped lettuce
1-2 cups of chopped tomatoes
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
 
Directions-
 
In a small sauce pan, cook the beans and corn in water until the corn is tender and the beans are heated through.  Meanwhile, cook the rice using the directions on the package. 
 
To serve- In a bowl, put 1/2 cup of cooked rice on the bottom, then add a layer of black beans and corn, top with lettuce, tomato and cheese.  Drizzle the creamy chipotle sauce on the top.  Serve with sour cream or ranch dressing (the chipotle sauce is very spicy!)
 
Creamy Chipotle Sauce-

1/2- 1 whole chipotle pepper (from a can with Adobo sauce) **Side note**  I used 1 whole pepper and it was way to spicy for my kiddos.  If your family likes spice, go ahead and use the whole pepper, but I am planning on making it with 1/2 of a pepper the next time.
1 tsp. of the Adobo sauce from the can (again, this is very spicy so use caution)
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 cup of sour cream (more if you need to cool it off)

Directions-

1.)  Open the pepper with a sharp knife very carefully.  Remove all of the seeds. (I rinsed mine).  Take special caution when handling this pepper...it is very hot and can damage your eyes.  Please wash your hands very well after handling it.  Do not touch your face with your hands immediately after handling the pepper.
2.  In a food processor or blender, combine all of the ingredients.  Pulse for about 2 minutes or until the pepper is completely combined in the sauce.  Add salt if needed.  Serve immediately. 

****You can use plain Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream.****

I hope that you enjoy this meal as much as we did!  This will definitely go into the monthly rotation.

Blessings to All!

Back in the Swing of Things

 School has started and now we are in the full swing of back packs, lunch pails, and homework!  Since Labor day, this house has been had a whirlwind of activity, which I have to admit has been really exciting and fun!  We have four little ones in school as our youngest has started UPK this year, and so this Mama is trying to organize the house and de-clutter while the kiddos are out of the house, which hasn't left much time for my blog...but today I am back and I have some great stuff to talk about! 
    School can really knock you off of your rocker!  My kids have a strict schedule now that school is back in session and I am working tirelessly to keep them on track with homework, reading assignments, and of course their extra curricular activities.  Then, somehow in between all of that, I have to try to remember when they had their last bath (which is a task in and of itself!)  Crazy town is what has happened in our quiet house!  Now that the dust is settling a bit, I am really excited to get back to work! 
     As many of you know, I work very hard to meal plan, and usually I can plan a great menu in just a few minutes, but this week, with the weather going from cooler to hot, I struggled to figure out what I wanted to make.  So, essentially, I went grocery shopping with only a few meals in mind.  Thankfully, I have enough food in the pantry that I am able to put meals together without too much of an issue.  After my shopping trip, I thought about my pantry and decided this would be a great time to start a new weekly series!  So be on the look out for my Pantry Basics series!  These articles will be essential if you are just starting out on your meal planning journey.  I have to admit that it took me years to get my pantry to a place where I can pull easy meals out of it without much thought.  My hope and prayer for you is that, with these tips and strategies, it won't take you long to get on the road to a well stocked and  functional pantry. 
    Anyone with a cupboard can have a pantry so please don't be discouraged if you don't have a dedicated pantry.  To be honest, I only have two cupboards that I use to store food.  If your storage space is limited, that's okay! You can still have a functional pantry. 


 Getting Started! 
Getting started doesn't have to be expensive.  In fact, my biggest piece of advice in this project is to write a list of really quick, go to meals, that you or your family eat on a regular basis.  Out of those meals, write down the dry or canned ingredients.  For my family these meals include spaghetti, chicken and wild rice soup, and tacos.  My pantry is never without spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, angel hair pasta, wild rice, cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, taco shells, or taco seasoning (I make my own now and its amazing!)   

Step 1-
      If you need to start small, I recommend developing a list of 2-5 meals that you or the family eats all of the time.  I could give you a list of what I have in my pantry but if your family is vegetarian, then what I have in my pantry would be completely wrong for you.  So start there.  Once you have a list of meals in place, write down all of the dry or canned ingredients that you would need to make all of those meals.  What do I mean by dry ingredients? After all, cheese is dry right?  By dry ingredients, I am talking about all of the those that are not in a can or a bottle that do not require refrigeration.  For example, boxes of pasta would be a dry ingredient.  Other examples might be rice, seasoning packets, spices, flour, sugar, and cereal(s) like oatmeal. 
     The next step is to write down all of the canned or bottled items you may need to make those recipes.  In my pantry those items would be any canned tomato product, chicken broth (I make my own but I always keep canned chicken broth on hand too), chili beans, and cream of mushroom soup (I am working my way to making it from scratch, I'll keep you posted!) 

     To keep up with my pantry, I always purchase at least one of each of the items above when I go to the grocery store.  It's just part of my weekly budget and since I don't want to appear on the next episode of "Hoarders" I always do a spot check of my pantry when I am meal planning.  If I have a ton of chili beans in my pantry, I know that I should make chili sometime during that week.  The spot check also lets me know what items I need to "stock" up on.  For example, this week, I used several cans of cream of mushroom soup.  I like to have at least 4 on hand per week, which means I keep 8 on hand because I shop every two weeks, and since I only have 4 left, I put four cans on my shopping list.  I may not even use them, but if I need to drop a quick casserole in the oven this week, I know that I have them to fall back on. 

Now that you have determined what should be in your pantry you need to decide how many of those items you need to keep on hand based on your shopping schedule.  If you shop weekly, then you may only need to keep 1-2 like items in your pantry at a time (this saves space for those of you who don't have much).  If you like to shop bi-weekly or monthly, then you will need to have more.  Determining how much of an item you need on hand can be done with trial and error.  I would recommend a three month trial period to start.  If you never used that can of spaghetti sauce, then you should only have to keep one on hand, but if you purchased 5-10 of any one item during the trial period, then you know that you should keep at least 8 on hand in the pantry.  Make sense?  If not, that's okay!  It's early and I am multitasking, LOL.  If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask! 

Do you have a well stocked pantry and have an idea to share?  We would love to hear it!  What do you keep in your pantry?

***Stay tuned!  Next week: Spices and Seasoning Packets.  What to keep, what to get rid of, and how long they stay fresh in the pantry.***

Check me out on Pinterest!  My Mama's Cheap!  Even if I am not posting on here every day, I'm pinning stuff daily!  Check out some of the recipes that I'm pinning and let us know how they worked out for you and your family!