Storing Leftovers
My compost pile loves our veggie and fruit scraps, but I hate to throw away food that we should have eaten. Honestly, it feels like I’m just throwing money right into the garbage bin. Gomestic has some good tips on how to properly store food so that it lasts longer.
I’ll admit that I have a hard time eating leftovers for days. I often freeze a portion of our meals so that I can bring it out a week or two later and it seems like new. I label almost everything that goes into the freezer so that I can use things in a timely fashion. I also rotate leftovers in the fridge so that the first thing in there works out to be the first thing used up.
Spending Too Much on the Grocery Budget?
We’ve been overspending on our grocery budget lately, so I was surfing around, looking for some inspiration. Get Rich Slowly has an article about (one person) eating on $15 per week. It has some good tips: eat up all your leftovers, eat in-season produce, and avoid junk food and pre-cooked food. I also found the Hillbilly Housewife’s $45 emergency menu for 4-6 people for one week.
I am determined to be better about planning my meals for the week and only grocery shopping 1-2 times per week. For me, that is the key. If I go every day (and without a list), I tend to spend more and buy impulse items that we really don’t need.
Treasure Maps
Older kids (or adults!) might have fun with this website. TroveMaps is a collection of ‘treasure maps’ for you to follow. The program uses googlemaps and each treasure map has clues for you to follow. Scroll and click on various locations to see cool and interesting places on earth. You can also create your own treasure map.
Easy to Make Energy Bar – Logan Bread
My dad loved the outdoors and we always took at least one backpacking trip and many camping trips during the summer. He was a teacher, so we had all summer long to go on family trips. One of our favorite backpacking foods was Logan Bread (named for Mt. Logan in the Yukon). This dense, delicious bread that we ate for breakfast kept us full all morning, even while hiking!
Recently, The Man asked for some sort of snack to take to work that would be similar to a protein bar and I decided to resurrect the Logan Bread of my youth. Sadly, dad no longer has the recipe, but I managed to find a good one at Allrecipes.com.
You can substitute different types of dried fruit for the raisins and I generally use chopped walnuts instead of sunflower seeds. You can also substitute 1/2 to 1 cup of soy flour for some of the whole wheat and white flour to add protein. The Boy loves this bread, as do The Man and I. I bake it once every two weeks or so, cut it into bars and keep them in the fridge or freezer.
This has been a yummy, inexpensive substitute for protein bars for The Man and a tasty way to start the day for all of us!
Games to Play in the Car
A ParentHacks post about playing “I Spy” in the car made me think of our most recent car trip. It was just a three-hour jaunt to my hometown for the weekend, but still, a significant amount of time in the car for The Boy.
We played a fair bit of “I Spy.” We particularly love to spy tractors, trucks, buses and trains.
Counting is another fun game. Several times during the trip, we counted the trees along the road or yellow trucks or stoplights.
For long car trips I pack books that I have nearly memorized. He can get them out and I can ‘read’ to him from the front while he follows along. Books on tape/cd might be a better way to roll with this as he gets older.
The Boy doesn’t love to sing himself, but does love to hear Mommy sing songs. Especially silly, made-up songs about whatever topic he picks. He hasn’t noticed or maybe he doesn’t care that they are usually all sung to the tunes of “Twinkle, Twinkle” or “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
Other car trip tips:
Pack snacks and water that are within easy reach of you or your kids. Depending on their ages, you may want to plan specially timed snack stops. If you are traveling with your spouse or another adult, then it may be easier to have someone else hand out snacks and activities.
Plan regular stops to break up the time in the car. We have found that even a quick bathroom/stretch your legs stop every 1 1/2 to 2 hours really helps!
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