Daily Preparedness

By special request, here’s an addendum just for those with little ones in the house. Before proceeding, be CERTAIN that you consult your baby’s pediatrician as to current guidelines for the introduction of semi-solid, solid and finger foods. Let your physician know of any family history of food allergies. NEVER leave a baby or young child alone while they are eating!

Loving parents of Little Ones are the perfect targets for the savvy marketeer. The Ad Guys know that parents who want to do what is best for their baby are often chronically tired, over-worked and short on time. This combo plate of weaknesses allows those Ad Guys to convince you that you need to part with a greater portion of your hard earned cash to keep your baby well fed, happy and ‘in’ with the other babies. Ah, but you are smarter, aren’t you?

Let’s start with the littlest of babies, the beautiful little newborns. Newborn humans cannot tolerate solid food and must be fed with either breast milk or a formula designed to replicate breast milk. The health benefits of breast feeding are well established. However, have you considered the economic benefit? Conservative estimates are that the breastfed baby costs at least $1500 a year less to feed than the formula fed baby. The savings takes into account the added calories required by the nursing mother.

As baby progresses to semi-solid foods, the marketing gurus go into high gear! Buckle up your wallets and protect yourself from the slings and arrows of ads especially tailored to pierce your financial armor.

The first weapon in your self-protection arsenal is the knowledge that you can prepare at home nearly any baby food your Little Darling will ever need. The ingredients are easily accessible, quickly assembled and DO NOT have to come in cute packages with little chubby baby faces. Recipes abound on multiple reputable websites for everything from baby cereal (whirl some instant oatmeal from the adult grocery aisle in the blender, add hot water and you have ‘baby’ cereal) to combination meals for older babies.

Is your baby ready for applesauce? Purchase a large jar of unsweetened, all-natural applesauce from the ‘adult aisles’. Freeze the applesauce in ice cube trays for single serving portions. When frozen, pop out the ’sauce’ cubes and store in ziploc bags. Going out for the morning? Pop a frozen portion in a small bag or plastic bowl and allow to thaw. Difference in cost? ‘Baby’ applesauce is $2.18lb. ‘Regular’ applesauce in small containers is $1.32lb. In a large jar? 87 cents a pound.

Bananas? Smoosh a ripe one and you have baby bananas. Again, freeze the excess or eat it yourself for a healthy snack. Baby food bananas? $2.49lb. ‘Regular’ bananas? 39 cents per pound.

Veggies? Mash up a baked sweet potato. Purchase salt-free canned vegetables and smoosh them up! Canned lima beans, peas, green beans, sliced beets, asparagus and other soft vegetables become baby food quickly and offer you a huge savings. If baby can’t eat the entire can within a day or two, freeze the left-overs in ice cube trays. Baby food peas?  $2.18 per pound. ‘Regular’ peas? 45 cents per pound.

Fruits? In addition to bananas and applesauce, don’t forget the wide variety of canned (in juice, not syrup) fruits available as well as frozen fruits (without added sugar). Thawed frozen strawberries are mushy already! Canned pears are easy to mash or cut up for a baby ready for finger foods. ‘Baby’ pears? $2.18+ per pound. Canned pears? 60 cents a pound.

Proteins? Scrambled eggs, smashed up hard-boiled eggs, mild white fish (microwave a small piece), boiled or canned chicken can be reduced easily and quickly to a moosh that baby can swallow. ‘Baby’ chicken & noodles? $6.33 lb. ‘Regular’ chicken noodle soup? 76 cents per pound.

Carbs? Baked sweet potato, soft cooked pastas, canned beans, rice, quinoa, oatmeal and other grains can be cooked and pureed for your spoon fed baby. Frozen cooked carbs without added salts, fats or preservatives are a great alternative. Cooked items can always be pureed and frozen in individual-sized portions. ‘Baby’ pasta? $3+ per pound. ‘Regular’ pasta? As little as 69 cents a pound. ‘Baby’ oatmeal? $3.19 pound. ‘Regular’ oatmeal? 98 cents pound.

If you want to speed up the mashing process, purchase an inexpensive baby food mill. Many fresh fruits can be easily ground in the baby mill. Watermelon, blueberries, raspberries, ripe mango, strawberries, kiwi and any other soft fruit can be processed quickly and easily. AGAIN, CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT FEEDING GUIDELINES AND HOW TO INTRODUCE NEW FOODS. BE ESPECIALLY ALERT TO REACTIONS TO HIGH ACID FOODS SUCH AS ORANGES!

The golden moment for many parents is when Baby is old enough to sit in a high chair and feed themselves. Hooray! You can now (hopefully) get a bite or two into your mouth while Baby is happily eating independently. Even better, Baby can be entertained and contained while you take care of nearby tasks. Independent eating is not only important for your sanity, but Baby develops eye hand coordination, fine motor skills and a host of other developmental necessities. Ignore the mess and let Baby have at it as soon as it is safe.

Nearly any food that you have been grinding for the spoon fed baby can transition into finger foods. Introduce new flavors, textures and tastes to avoid developing a picky eater. Eventually, Baby will be enjoying the nutritious, economical meals that you prepare for the rest of the family.

It is important to carefully watch your baby as they begin to feed themselves. The ability to masticate foods and swallow them is a learned behavior. Be certain that early finger foods are cut into small pieces, are easily mashed without molars and won’t choke Baby if they slide down without adequate chewing.

Finger foods are a Golden Egg for companies that want to separate you from your money. If smooshed baby foods are silly expensive per pound, ‘junior’ and ‘toddler’ foods are absolutely absurdly expensive!

Early finger foods that require nearly no preparation on your part could include thawed frozen peas (they are easier for baby to pick up than canned peas), small well cooked pastas such as alphabet pasta or ditalini, canned or cooked fruits in small pieces (fruit cocktail packed in juice is a good choice though some babies have trouble with the ‘cherries), scrambled eggs, any soft fruit cut into small pieces, canned green beans, other beans, etc. that are soft. Merely cut the food up into small pieces and put on a clean high chair tray. Remember that you can freeze meals and thaw quickly in the microwave or by immersing the container in hot water. ALWAYS double check the temperature of Baby’s food before serving.

Combo meal? Try draining a can of low-sodium, natural soup such as chicken noodle, vegetable or alphabet soup. This is a great way to transition Baby to the tastes and feel of table foods. Small size cans may be more expensive per serving, but are ideal for quick baby meals and meals out of your home. ‘Toddler’ meal? $3.25 per pound. ‘Regular’ soup? 50 cents a pound!

Meats and proteins? As soon as it is allowed, small pieces of canned chicken, fish, cheeses and tofu can be quickly chopped up into bite sized pieces. Canned meats will be soft enough for baby to chew without molars, are thoroughly cooked and easy to have on hand. Thoroughly cooked and drained ground beef in small pieces can be eaten by older babies. Eventually, Baby will transition to small pieces of baked chicken, turkey and other meats. ‘Baby’ chicken ’sticks? $8.90 per pound. (And do we really want to know what is in a chicken stick?) ‘Regular’ tuna? $1.75 lb. Boneless skinless chicken breast? $1.99 lb.

Carbs? Small pieces of lightly toasted bread, canned beans, pastas, cubed sweet potatoes, little clumps of rice or other grains are all easily eaten. ‘Baby’ pasta with cheese? $3.79 lb. ‘Regular’ pasta with some fresh cheese? $1. per pound.

Snacks?  Baby ’snacks’ are a relatively new and OVER-PRICED, OVER-PROCESSED, UNDER-NUTRITIOUS ploy to separate you from your money!  Everything that goes into their mouths should be highly nutritious, as minimally processed as possible and contain little or no processed sugar. Whole grain, unsweetened dry cereal is an easy snack on the go. At home, Baby may be a ‘grazer’ requiring many small meals throughout the day. Give Baby a small portion of fruit, cheese, veggies or other ‘regular’ food rather than an over-priced, nutritionally challenged ’snack’. Not only will your wallet thank you, but Baby may just grow up thinking that ’snacks’ are for healthy foods! ‘Baby’ snack ‘banana puffs’? $10.81 per pound. (What snack do YOU eat that is $10.81 per pound?) A real banana? 49 cents a pound and MUCH more nutritious! ‘Baby’ snack ‘blueberry yogurt melts’? A WHOPPING $47.84 per pound! Organic frozen blueberries? $3.75lb. Baby ’snack crisps’? $23.65 lb. Whole grain oat cereal? $2.27 lb. Difference in nutritional value? Every ‘baby snack’ item showed the predominate nutritional contribution to be SODIUM with a bit of fat. That’s right! Up to $47.84 lb for SALT!

Feed your baby healthy, simple, nutritious snacks and save your money for their college education!

And you will have MORE MONEY in your bank account!

Wahoo–you did it! You are back home with your car loaded with groceries that you have saved at least 20% (hoping closer to 30%) and it is time to store everything so that you maximize the potential waiting in those bags. Let’s get started.

Put the cold things away immediately. This includes meat that you are going to put in the freezer or cook up. Be certain that the raw meat does not contaminate surrounding food. Keep it in plastic grocery bags and on a low shelf of your frig.

If you have purchased dairy or meat products that are close to their expiration date, grab a sharpie and write the expiration date on the packaging in very LARGE letters. This will be a visual reminder to help you use the product before it is too late.

For non-cold items, put the newest purchases to the back of the shelves. Pull the older items to the front. This is the same system that grocery stores use.

Need to store small items such as chewing gum, muffin mixes, etc that can tend to get lost? Categorize them and store in inexpensive plastic shoe boxes. Empty plastic tubes from ‘Crystal Light’ type drinks also are wonderful for storing things like cough drops, small amounts of pasta or mints. Write on the tube what is inside and your pantry will be easy to use as well as save you money.

Store your re-usable bags and dispose of plastic bags that have held raw meat products. It is safer to pitch these than to risk cross-contamination. One exception might be to use them when walking the dog, IF you can keep them separate from bags you might utilize elsewhere. For plastic bags that haven’t held raw meat, use them to line small trash cans, as a waste receptacle on your counter when you are cleaning vegetables, sort laundry….there are literally 100’s of uses for these bags. If you want to organize them, check out the plastic bag holder sold by IKEA that mounts on the wall. It is inexpensive, holds a ton of bags, holds up well and you can get the bags back out easily.

Wash down the counter that you placed the grocery bags on with a disinfectant cleaner. The bottoms of those bags are germ factories! Finally, wash your hands thoroughly and sit down to catch your breath. While sitting, congratulate yourself on a job well down.

After your little rest, recheck your menu plan for the coming week. Do you need to adjust it due to finding an ingredient you hadn’t planned on buying? For instance, you purchased near-its-expiration-date chicken and should use it up quickly. Or the produce man was clearing out bananas. Make necessary changes and repost your menus.

If you purchased near-its-expiration-date meat, consider cooking it now and freezing for later use. It will make great last minute meals and you’ll not risk further spoilage. This is also a great way to quickly process those club packs of meat. Make one mess and have multiple meals nearly ready to serve! Be certain to handle the meat carefully, package well, label with contents & date, cool appropriately in the refrigerator or a bowl of ice and then pop into your deep freeze.

If you are going to break down club packs without cooking, prepare your work area by assembling everything you will need. Scrub your hands and then divide the meat into appropriate smaller containers. Label and freeze. Sanitize your work area when you are done and give yourself another round of applause!

Still not satisfied with your savings? Be certain to utilize the internet for websites that match coupons to sales, notices of freebies, email alerts for your local grocery store flyers, inexpensive meals such as www.5dollardinners.com or www.hillbillyhousewife.com. Work your long-term storage foods such as whole grains and dried beans into your menus, double check your portion sizes, be certain that you are using every bit of food possible–never, ever waste left-overs! Scrutinize carefully what sorts of foods you are purchasing. Be certain to comparison shop periodically.

LEARN TO COOK SIMPLE, QUICK, INEXPENSIVE AND NUTRITIOUS MEALS AT HOME ! ! !

Like any great athlete, becoming an X-treme Grocery Shopper requires patience, practice, coaching and fine tuning of your game. You won’t be saving 30 to 50% overnight, but you will get there if you persevere!

Do you have great tips for saving money while feeding your family? Please, email them in and we’ll share your ideas. Further ideas are also listed under frugalmania above.

So, you have your shopping list carefully coordinated with your menu plans and activities, you’ve taken an inventory of what you have on hand, have your menus planned, your coupons organized, you know your budget and you are ready to go to the store.

Hold the presses! Not so fast there, X-Treme Shoppers. Sit down for a moment and look at that list. How serious are you about trimming the X-cess from that X-treme list? Want to save 10%, 20%, 30% or even 50%? Do you NEED to save 50% or more? Let’s look at that list and find the hidden money-wasting time bombs that will blow your budget sky high. The top budget busters to be avoided by X-treme Savers are:

1. Prepared foods. That box of Hamburger Helper is an over-priced, well preserved & nutritional questionable box load of budget waster. Read a recipe and cook it from scratch–you’ll save 50% or more. Chicken fingers, frozen entrees, store-prepared entrees, etc, etc, etc are almost all low in nutritional value and high on cost per serving. Also avoid recipes that require you to purchase expensive premade items. For instance, while searching for a lemon chicken recipe, one ‘celebrity chef’ included a jar of lemon curd. Lemon curd is usually $4 to $5 a jar–a lemon is 50 cents! BUST them all off the list!

2. Single Serving Packaged Foods. Yep, anything that comes in a single serving size is probably over-priced and wiping your savings off the plate. Instead, buy the big size and portion it out yourself. You not only save money, but excess packaging to boot. It takes mere minutes to package up lunchbox goodies in mass.

3. Chips & Snack Foods. Nearly all are priced per pound higher than the best fresh fruit or meat. The average cost of potato chips is over $5lb. Apples average $1.79lb and are loaded with nutrition rather than empty calories. Substitute popcorn (yes, you can pop it one day and send it in lunch the next), fresh veggies or fruits for those snacks and chips. Your family will be healthier and your wallet fatter.

4. Baby juices, cereals & baby foods. Baby juices are merely ‘regular’ juice watered down. Water is cheap, so buy frozen juice and add extra water to it. Baby foods can be made in minutes at home with an inexpensive hand grinder, food processor or potato masher. Baby oatmeal can be made by whirring up some regular rolled oats in the blender before cooking. Add extra water to the oatmeal once it is cooked and you have baby oatmeal for pennies. Better yet, breast feed your baby and skip all of that baby food for a longer period of time!

5. Disposables. We throw away everything from diapers (one of the greatest health hazards in landfills) to wipes to plates, pans, cups, towels, toilet bowl cleaners, mops…on and on and on. Want to green up your wallet and the planet? Remember the three R’s–REDUCE, reuse, recycle. Substitute cloth diapers and save thousands of dollars between birth and potty training. (Some economists claim that getting rid of disposable diapers, wipes & ‘baby’ juices, etc is enough money to finance a child’s higher education–put that money in a tax-free account & Junior will go on to college). Make your own wipes if you must have disposable or use a washcloth at home! A dollar store toilet bowl brush and some bleach do a great job of cleaning the toilet. Paper towels? Use & wash cloth dish towels. Carefully scrutinize how many items (look at them as DOLLARS) you are hauling to the curb every week & think about what those dollars translate into. Google for ideas on making your own wipes, etc. for pennies on the dollar.

6. Cleaning Products. In addition to the disposable mops, dusting cloths, toilet bowl cleaners, most households spend ten times or more on cleaning products than they need to. Most household cleaning, including clearing clogged drains, can be accomplished with a short list of inexpensive products. Bleach, baking soda, vinegar and ammonia (DO NOT MIX THEM ALL TOGETHER) can take care of nearly any household mess you will ever need to clean up.

7. ‘Air fresheners’ and related ’smell good items’. Oh please, scratch these off your list. Home air fresheners either mask odors with chemicals OR coat the inside of your nasal passages with an oil that blocks smells. Both can be hazardous to pets and humans who suffer from respiratory ailments. Instead, open the windows, find the offensive smell or make your own boiling potpouri from citrus rinds, apple cores, some cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg. Boil it on the stove and then simmer for a few hours. Your home will smell apple pie welcoming and your neighbors will think you are baking.

8. Over-priced hair care. Compare prices occasionally between the grocery store, discounters and beauty suppliers. You can often buy the best products for much less if you purchase in bulk from a beauty supplier.

9. Name Brands. Always try a ‘generic’ version or store brand of your most commonly purchased items. Try them at least once and you may find that you like them! Start your children off with the generics and they’ll be happy. Many store brands are packaged in name brand factories and simply relabeled.

10. Impulse Items. Avoid anything near the registers. Smart shoppers often segregate impulse items from the rest of their groceries and harshly reconsider each item before checking out. If an item isn’t on your list, think not twice but three or four times about whether you need it and can afford it within your budget guidelines.

Again, review your list for budget busters and carefully weigh their value against fiscal restraint. Now, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I have sufficient time to shop carefully?

2. Am I going to be hungry half way through the store? (if yes, have a snack now)

3. Am I too tired or stressed to shop carefully?

4. Are there other errands I can do on the way to the grocery store?

5. If the weather is warm, do I have a way to keep cold items cold on the way home?

6. Do I have my chosen method of payment with me?

If you passed this mini-quiz with flying colors, it is time to go to the grocery store! Join us next week as we battle the budget busting lay out of most grocery stores in order to claim victory. Cross the finish line with your budget intact, your pantry organized, your menus healthier and your time saved!