You know what I LOVE about Christmas being over? the fact that all retailers, very quickly, are willing to mark Christmas stuff down to nearly nothing in order to rid their shelves of things. This includes two of my favorite items. Egg Nog and Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee. Never fails every year! This year I made sure to go right after Christmas and pick up 2 half gallons of egg nog, aka Christmas Milk, marked down to a dollar each(exp Jan 19th) and then two bags of coffee grounds for $6.25! I decided to take a shot at making Starbucks egg nog lattes and it isn't perfect but wow is it delicious!!

1. boil water

Put grounds in French press
  3. let grounds steep for five minutes
  4. meanwhile take a cup of eggnog & 1/4th cup milk and heat on the stove, before boiling begin to froth with a milk frother.
  5. fill two mugs 1/3 way with egg nog mixture (leave foam in pan)
  6. mix in coffee
  7. top with foam and nutmeg!
easy, quick, delicious and super cheap to make!!

Here it is Wednesday and I have yet to officially go shopping for this weeks groceries. Yesterday I swung by the store on my way home and picked up a loaf of bread, the grocery store received a large shipment so it was on sale 2 for $2 which was convenient. The bread doesn't expire until the 16th so one will be for this week and one for next. The husband and I have been eating peanut butter and hazelnut spread sandwiches as lunches which is super yummy. Last night we actually didn't cook because a friend of ours was hosting a taco Tuesday which she does every first Tuesday of the month which is awesome! We ate fish tacos and they were delicious! I may take what ever left over money I have from this weeks budget and splurge next week to make my own fish tacos.

Tonight we decided to go with Ramen Noodles. No, Not the cheap packets you live on in college... Ramen, the delicious meal you get from traditional Ramen Shops. 

Ramen is actually a fairly simple meal to make from scratch! 


Broth

• 8 cups water
  
• 1/2 onion cubed
  
• 2 tbsp thyme
  
• 3 bay leaves
  
• 10 peppercorns
  
• 3 cloves garlic 
  
• 1 cut up carrot
  
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
  

Put all ingrediants in a stock pot and cover, cook for thirty to fortyfive minutes. If stock looks a bit low add some more water. After cooked you want to strain out the chunks so it is just liquid. Put back on stove on low until ready to use (Must still be super hot in order to cook beef)

Noodles:

• 3/4th cups flour
  
• 1 egg
  
• 3/4th tspn Sallt
  
• 1 tbsp Water
  

1. Mix dry ingrediants and then beat in the egg and water. Form into a dough ball

2.Once in a ball begin to knead. Dough should feel elasticy. If dough feels too sticky add a tiny bit of flour.

3. Let dough rest for about half an hour covered in a bowl with a towel

4. Roll the dough out onto the table. You want to dough to be about 1mm thick. You can also choose to use a pasta maker like I did. However if you dont have one just use a rolling pin. 

5. Once flattened cut the noodles in to small noodle strips

6. Toss the noodles with a slight amount of flour to keep from sticking. 

7. Fill a pot with water, enough to boil the noodles, when you are letting to water heat to boiling put an egg in to hard boil. 

8. Once water boils add the noodles

9. Boil the noodles for about 4 minutes and then once soft drain. Remove the hard boiled egg, rinse in cold water and peel. Slice in half longways if serving two and in 4ths if serving 4

10. While your noodles are boiling you want to prepare your mixins. You can choose a varienty of things but I chose the following:

• Half carrot shredded
  
• 2 bok choy leaves cup into 2x2inch cubes
  
• 1/3rd lb thinly beef shredded (I use a filet knife to get it super thin)
  

11. Place the noodles in 2-4 small bowls. Place raw beef, carrot, bok choy and egg in each bowl evenly. Then turn off the stove and pour the broth into each bowl over the toppings. The broth should be so super hot in order to cook the beef and other ingrediants. 

12. Let sit for 5 minutes and then enjoy! 
Serves 2-4 

If you choose to make this meal with out beef it can be made for about $2.50, with the beef you are looking at about $3.50 if you get a good deal on the beef. 
 
So far this week I have bought
Beef $7 (enough for three different meals including today)
Bok choy $1
Bread $2

Total Spent so far $10
Remaining $20 

Stir Fry is one of my favorite meals to make because it flavorful, simple, ,healthy and cheap to make. Stir Fry is also an extremely flexible dish meaning you can throw almost any vegetable in it and its bound to taste good. 

So the ingredients are super simple! 

• One cup Rice
• One Cup water + 1/4th cup water
• One Large Chicken Breast
• 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
• 1/4th cup Stir Fry Sauce of Your Choosing
• 2 Cups fresh Veggies (I chose Bell peppers, Broccoli, carrots, and snap peas
• Chopped Green Onion (optional for presentation/extra crunch)

1. First you want to cook your rice. Rice can take you anywhere between 15-25 minutes so it is smart to let it cook first while you prepare the rest of the meal. Put your rice and one cup of water in your rice maker and cook. If you don't have a rice maker then follow the instruction s on the bag or box for stove top cooking. 

2. Next you want to go ahead and cube your chicken breast. 

3. After you finish cubing your chicken you are going to heat the coconut oil on medium heat in a wok. Once oil is liquified you want to add the chicken. 

4. Cook chicken thoroughly until you no longer see any pink. Then once fully cooked go ahead and add your stir fry sauce and coat chicken evenly. Cover and cook for 3 minutes, be sure to toss frequently so chicken doesn't stick to pan and burn

5. While chicken is cooking in the sauce go ahead and chop up your veggies. Once chopped add them to the pan and coat evenly, add the 1/4th cup water to thicken the sauce.  

6. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so. 

7. Once veggies are tender serve over the rice, sprinkle with green onions. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!!

Welcome! In the next few months I hope to learn a lot about smart shopping and saving. Hopefully the things I share and learn will be useful to others.
To start with a $30 a week food budget I found I had to make an initial investment in a few starter items. If you plan on doing this it is best if the week prior to starting you  buy a few basic items.
I started out with:

• Cheese -------------------------  $9.00 144 slices    
  
• Canned Tuna -----------------  $10.00 10 cans    
• Red Hot   ---------------------   $3.00 1 Bottle    
• Bag Chicken ----------------   $17.00 20 breasts    
• Oatmeal ------------------------ $5.00 Canister    
  
• Peanut Butter ---------------- $5.00 32 oz    
  
• Jelly ----------------------------- $2.50 12 oz    
  
• Vinegar ------------------------- $1.00 64 oz    
  
• Veg Oil ------------------------- $2.50 32 oz    
  
• Bag of Rice ------------------- $5.00 10 lb    
  
• Flour ----------------------------- $2.50 5 lb bag    
  
• Butter/margarine ------------ $3.00 tub    
  
• 10 lb bag potatoes --------- $3.00 bag    
  
• Sugar 10 lb Bag ------------ $5.00 Bag    
  
• Quinua ------------------------- $10.00 Bag  
  
• Mayo --------------------------- $3.00 Jar

I bought all of this stuff about 6 months ago in bulk and still have most of the stuff and it will last me at least another 3 months. Now I may have to get the occasional sugar/flour or butter but I can tackle that when I get to it.  I also already have an assortment of all the dried herbs and spices I need thanks to 4 years of collecting. I also Have a bag of brown sugar that I got on sale for $2. Now I know if I didn't have these things already then I would NEVER be able to afford all of it with a $30 budget, maybe $45 but Luckily for me I am what my husband likes to call a food hoarder. I am not, I just like to find things when they are on sale for crazy low and If I do find them at unbeatable prices I will buy it for future use. One example of something I never turn down is eggs, my local Key-foods almost always has eggs 3 dozen for $5. I NEVER turn that down because eggs are such a flexible food and they usually have a fridge shelf life of 3-4 weeks which is lovely. The best way to go about a $30 Budget is to find crazy sales, go to farmers market, get managers specials, and clip coupons. (I am HORRIBLE at coupons) Another good idea is to jump around to different stores that you know have good deals. For instance Gristedes By me will sell a pound of ground beef for $6 where as the Key-foods a block away will sell a family (3 lb pack) for $6.50. When you are shopping keep in mind what you will need to complete the weeks worth of meals. Also don't forget to eyeball the prices of foods you may want in the future, knowing the price range of certain foods will really help when it comes to planning things out. Your best bet for a budget is to buy pantry foods in bulk and things that will go bad quickly such as fruits in small quantities. The whole point of doing this $30 budget challenge is to save money, be aware of consumption, eat better, and to order out way less. This is going to be an interesting experiment and hopefully I am successful. Fingers Crossed.