The Sweet Life On A Budget

  National Donut Day National Donut Day stems from the Salvation Army’s efforts during World War I to provide a comforting meal to the soldiers.   A group of volunteers soon discovered that serving donuts to the troops was the best option given their challenge of cooking in the field.     These volunteers soon became known as the donut “lassies”.      In 1938, Donut Day was established to honor the volunteers who provided comfort to the soldiers.    Nowadays, donut day is celebrated by donut shops around the county offering a free donut to every customer.      Donut Day is the first Friday of June each year.    This year it will be celebrated on June 3, 2022.    We have been going to Krispy Kreme for years to celebrate Donut Day and plan to do so again this year. Where can you pick up a free donut? Krispy Kreme Donuts Duck Donuts Dunkin Donuts 7 Eleven Shiply Do-Nuts Pick up your free donut and lea...

  We have a Meal planning is essential to eating healthy, keeping the grocery bill down, and maintaining your sanity throughout a workweek.   In addition to meal planning, I try to prepare meals as much as possible over the weekend.   This helps to lower my stress during the week.    However, if we have a busy weekend, I try to plan simple or crockpot meals.    With our preparations to move the craziness continues.   However, I am determined to use up our frozen meat and vegetable and NOT eat out!  Wish me luck as we go through the rest of this month.     Meal Preparation Plan Cranberry Scones Egg Sandwiches Red Pepper Hummus  NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices were correct at the time of the blog postings, the current cost of preparation of these dishes may be higher due to inflation and/or location.      Breakfast Opt...

  The Frugal Five With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us to live a frugal life.     1- Cleaning out the Freezers Before Moving   For the last few weeks, I have been working on cleaning out our freezers in preparation for our move across the state.   Although this plan has been a little trying, it has kept our grocery bills down and our loss of food down.   Yippie for decreasing waste and increasing savings.  2- Finding and Fixing a Problem Pipe  Where we are moving the housing market is so tight that inspections are waved in order to be considered.  However, our company still paid for a house inspection to be completed, so we took advantage of it.   The inspector found a pipe that could burst at any time.    It w...

  We have a Meal planning is essential to eating healthy, keeping the grocery bill down, and maintaining your sanity throughout a workweek.   In addition to meal planning, I try to prepare meals as much as possible over the weekend.   This helps to lower my stress during the week.    However, if we have a busy weekend, I try to plan simple or crockpot meals.    With our preparations to move the craziness continues.   However, I am determined to use up our frozen meat and vegetable and NOT eat out!  Wish me luck as we go through the rest of this month.     Meal Preparation Plan Freezer Inventory- Update Cut Vegetables Banana Muffins Egg Sandwiches NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices were correct at the time of the blog postings, the current cost of preparation of these dishes may be higher due to inflation and/or location.    ...

  The Frugal Five With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us to live a frugal life.     1- The Humble Sandwich to the Rescue. This weekend we had a single-day out-of-town swim meet.   With gas, parking, and entrance fees being a set cost, we were looking for ways to cut our expenses.   So, we packed our lunches and drinks, so that we didn’t have to eat out for this trip.    It’s a little bit of savings, but every little bit counts.          2- Focused on decreasing my grocery bill.  I am still doing a pantry challenge with myself this month, so I shopped my pantry and freezer first when planning my meals and tried to limit my grocery shopping.   Last week Kroger had some awesome sales on...

  Meal planning is essential to eating healthy, keeping the grocery bill down, and maintaining your sanity throughout a workweek.   In addition to meal planning, I try to prepare meals as much as possible over the weekend.   This helps to lower my stress during the week.    However, if we have a busy weekend, I try to plan simple or crockpot meals.    The craziness continues as we prepare to move.   So we have eaten out more and have taken advantage of more prepared meals.   Hopefully next week we will be able to eat down our pantry and freezer.  It is essential to complete a freezer so that I know what core elements I need to put into my meal plan.    Meal Preparation Plan Freezer Inventory Cut Vegetables Stuffed shells NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices were correct at the time of the blog postings, the current cost of preparation of these dishes ...

Meal planning is essential to eating healthy, keeping the grocery bill down, and maintaining your sanity throughout a workweek.   In addition to meal planning, I try to prepare meals as much as possible over the weekend.   This helps to lower my stress during the week.    However, if we have a busy weekend, I try to plan simple or crockpot meals.    The past two weeks have been crazy busy for us.   Today’s menu planning will cover the past 2 weeks.  Meal Preparation Plan Cut Vegetables Stuffed shells NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although at the time of the blog postings all prices were correct, the current cost of preparation of these dishes may be higher due to inflation and/or location.      Breakfast Options:  Egg McMuffins Yogurt Bagels Monday (4/25) Tacos Salad Tuesday (4/26) Leftovers Wednesday (4/27) Sandwiches  Chips Vegetable Sticks...