Valentine's Day on a Dime

Yay for freebies!

The folks at Living on a Dime are at it again! They are offering their Valentine's On A Dime e-book free this month!

Click on the image above and download it! It expires Feb. 15.

And if that weren't nice enough, they are also offering a ONE DAY SALE on that great cookbook - Dining on a Dime that I gave away last year! It ends tonight at midnight, so don't miss out!!

New Year New Focus

I apologize for the unannounced hiatus. The holidays are busy here at Hillcrest (and everywhere else, I know) and it took me a while to recoup. However, I have written a million blog posts in my mind and have taken plenty of food pictures over the last two months, so we'll be on a roll now that I'm back.

One of the things I want to do differently here at EFYP in the new year is to focus more on creating a comprehensive resource than a personal memoir about pantry food. I wanted to enlarge my audience last year and so spent the majority of my time on advertising, giveaways, fun posts, etc. While I will still share things like that (look for another freebie next week!!), I want to get serious about eating from my pantry.

We happen to be entering a phase of transition in our lives that will lend nicely to refocusing here. In April we expect to move into another (Hillcrest) apartment that has two bedrooms!! Since we will be moving, I don't want to stock up on a lot of extra food right now just to have to pack it all up.

Therefore, the first part of this transition that will affect EFYP is that I will not be shopping for groceries from now until the time that we move provided that the move actually occurs in April. There will be a few exceptions to that rule like shopping for dinners to bring to friends experiencing illness or loss, and shopping for our church pot luck if I can't find anything appropriate here. Otherwise I will be doing my best to make our current food stretch and I'll be sharing the experience with you. There is a more detailed post about this to come.

The second thing to note about our moving is that I will have to start from scratch when we move into our new place which includes purchasing staples to stockpile and planning out our new pantry space. I am fairly certain that the kitchen in our new place is just as small as the one here, but we may have a linen closet to fill - in which case I'll get to post about labeling and rotating and all sorts of fun stuff.

I hope you'll continue to follow along as our journey unfolds before us, and I am looking forward to posting things to make your life a little easier and your wallet a little bit thicker. :)

Edible Christmas gifts freebie

Tawra Kellam, author of the Living on a Dime book series I've posted about before has sent me a link to a wonderful freebie for all of you!!


"Gifts In A Jar shows you how to make all sorts of cool, yummy gifts that will save you money while endearing you to your friends for life! ;-) Gifts In A Jar features ideas to make delightful Gift Baskets like those in the expensive stores -- everything from the Honeymoon Basket to the Get Well Basket."

Tawra is offering the e-book free to all of you for Christmas!!! That's a $5.95 value! CLICK HERE to snatch it up and make sure you check out all og her other great poducts, too!

Save Money By Doing It Yourself

Unfortunately, eating well isn't always cheap. Cooking "from scratch" isn't always cheaper than buying processed, prepared foods - especially when you utilize sales and coupons. I am always frustrated to find that locally produced, fresh veggies cost more than salted veggies in a bpa-lined aluminum can do. Demand seems to compensate for transportation and productions costs in our current economy. Many of us are concerned about what implications that will have for our future and have turned to farmers markets and the likes to ease our conscience.

This is, however, a blog about how to cook with what you have on hand in your pantry. And even on the tightest budget, with only bare minimum ingredients, there's a lot we can do at home to save money and take back some of the responsibility of our own food production and consumption. Below are some ideas for cheap food items you may normally buy pre-made that you can actually make yourself.


I'll start off with yogurt because I've made this recently. I was AMAZED at how easy this is using a crock pot. Thank you Crock Pot Lady! It comes out a little thinner than the yogurt you buy in plastic containers at the store, but it's perfect for eating with granola or using in smoothies. The Crock Pot Lady has some tips for thickening it also.

I got a gigantic crock-pot full of yogurty-goodness that cost me only some time and a gallon of milk!

And of course, you can save money making your own granola, too! My husband hand I have never found a store-bought granola that we like as well as our own.



Yesterday I used some leftover pumpkin seeds in place of pine nuts (way cheaper) to make pesto, which usually costs a pretty penny pre-made. Try this recipe and substitute dry ingredients if you don't have the fresh ones needed.


Here are a few more links, let me know how it goes!

Bread

Dry Beans

Pizza Dough

Convenience Foods - pudding, sloppy joe mix, etc.

Sauce and Gravy

Seasonings and Dips - taco seasoning, pumpkin pie spice, etc.

Save Money Using Your Crockpot