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Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010 | 
Posted by
Chris
There are many items that will make your time in the kitchen quicker and easier. Unfortunately, most of us don't have unlimited funds to buy them all or a place to store them. If I had to choose the most vaulable item in the kitchen it would be a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. If you like to bake, make pasta, or make homemade recipes, a stand mixer will make your life easier. They are much more than just a mixer. You can purchase many different attachments that will make you time in the kitchen mush more enjoyable.
Many people never purchase a stand mixer because they are an investment. I believe they are well worth their money. Take a look at all the things you can do with these mixers.
First of all, you are able to free up your hands to work on other things while the items are being mixed.
Second, the pasta roller is a life saver for those of us that like to make homemade pastas.
Third, the slicer and shredder attachments are great for all of your slicing and shredding needs.
Fourth, the dough hook is a must have. This attachement works great for mixing that perfect ball of dough for many recipes.
Fifth, the grinder attachment is great for making fresh ground meats, salsas, shredded cheese, and much more.
These are just a few of the many attachments that go with the Kitchenaid stand mixers. It may take a while to purchase all of the attachments, but they are well worth the investment.
Labels:
If you cook for every long, you will find that recipes will use different terminology to describe measurements. This can be frustrating at times. Below you will find a conversion chart to use in your kitchen.
A pinch..............................................1/8 tablespoon or less
3 teaspoons........................................1 tablespoon
4 tablespoons.....................................1/4 cup
2 cups.................................................1 pint
4 cups.................................................1 quart
4 quarts..............................................1 gallon
8 quarts..............................................1 peck
4 pecks................................................1 bushel
16 ounces............................................1 pound
32 ounces............................................1 quart
1 ounce liquid.....................................2 tablespoons
8 ounces liquid...................................1 cup
These are just a few of the many conversions used in the kitchen. Check back to find more.
Monday, February 22, 2010
We all want to save time and money when it comes to cooking and groceries, but most of us cannot stand to take half a day on sunday and scroll through the newspaper and sales ads to find the best sales. Add to that the time it takes to cut and organize all the coupons and it just doesn't seem worth it. Or is it?
The truth is, shopping sales and utilizing coupons can save you major money in your grocery budget and it does not have to be so time consuming and painful. I was introduced to a the website http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ a month ago and it is great.
This site will give you step by step instructions on how to save money with every sale at your local grocery stores. You just sign up (the first month is free), put in your zip code, and select the stores you like to shop. It will then generate a shopping list for each store. The lists are amazing. They show you the item, the regular price, the sales price, which coupon to use, where to find the coupon, and the net cost. All you have to do is print the lists, gather the coupons included in the lists, and start saving. It even tells you when the best time to shop is and the day the sales start.
Give it a try! If you do not like it, just cancel within 30 days and you are out no money.
Go to http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ and click sign up. Please add my email bluecollarkitchen@gmail.com in the referral area.
Start saving time and money today!
The truth is, shopping sales and utilizing coupons can save you major money in your grocery budget and it does not have to be so time consuming and painful. I was introduced to a the website http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ a month ago and it is great.
This site will give you step by step instructions on how to save money with every sale at your local grocery stores. You just sign up (the first month is free), put in your zip code, and select the stores you like to shop. It will then generate a shopping list for each store. The lists are amazing. They show you the item, the regular price, the sales price, which coupon to use, where to find the coupon, and the net cost. All you have to do is print the lists, gather the coupons included in the lists, and start saving. It even tells you when the best time to shop is and the day the sales start.
Give it a try! If you do not like it, just cancel within 30 days and you are out no money.
Go to http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ and click sign up. Please add my email bluecollarkitchen@gmail.com in the referral area.
Start saving time and money today!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
If I only had more time...how many times have you said this? It would be easy to watch the sales if I just had more time. If you are like me, you probably have a bad habit of waiting until you run out of the grocery items you need before you decide to buy them. You jump in the car and run to the grocery store and purchase the item, usually at regular price. This may help you get dinner on the table tonight, but it will end up costing you in the long run.
I recommend making a grocery list that you can put on the side of your fridge or pantry door. Here is a link to a pre-made list that you can edit for your own needs.
"Grocery list with space for brand"
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010186181033.aspx?pid=CT102530571033&WT.mc_id=42
Find more templates (including more Home templates) at http://office.microsoft.com/templates
If you have never used microsoft templates before, they are great. You can templates that download to Word or Excel for anything you need help with.
Make sure your grocery list has all of the staple items you use cooking on a weekly basis. When you use an item and only have enough left for one more use, add it to the grocery list. Check the local grocery adds each week and purchase any item that is on sale that you have added to your grocery list. You will find yourself buying more items that are on your list and fewer items you have ran out of. Within a month, you will notice a significant difference in your grocery budget.
Here is an example.
Ground beef: 10lb family pack
Regular price: $2.99/lb = 29.99
Sales Price: $1.29/lb = 12.99
Instant savings: $17.00
I recommend setting a goal of purchasing 80% of all staple items through sales within two months. Don't try and do it all the first weekend. Don't forget to shop the sales at all the different stores in your area. I recommend watching the sales at 3-4 grocery stores. Most stores rotate their sales every 12 weeks.
Be sure to watch out for Part 4 of Taking Control of Your Grocery Budget coming up in a few days!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
In order to create a storage area for extra food storage, you must have good shelving. This can be expensive with the average shelving until costing between $30 - $50 each. You could spend $250 on five shelving units to setup your storage area. I have a better idea, build them yourself for free.
I know what you are thinking, where can I get free lumber? The company I work for has a warehouse division. They are constantly getting things in on pallets. The unused pallets just stack up and are then usually given away to anyone willing to pick them up. You can use these to make all types of outdoor woodworking projects and they also make strong sheving units. Just drive around town and ask local businesses if they have any palets they want to get rid of, you will be surprised how easy they are to find.
The average pallet has three 2X4's and 10-15 planks. I drew a diagram of the dimensions I needed my shelves to be and figured out how many pallets I needed for the project. When selecting pallets to use, try to find ones with thick planks to use for the shelves and 2X4's that have not been pieced together. I disassembled the pallets with a Sawzall
, cutting the nails between the planks and the 2X4's.
I assembled the shelves using the 2X4's for legs and support arms and the planks for the shelves. If you need tall shelves, you can stack two units on top of each other and use short peices of the planks on the sides of all the legs to connect the two units together.
This project will take a Saturday to complete, but will save you money. Using pallets for shelves are not cosmetically attracting, but since I used mine in the garage, they worked fine. They can be sanded and painted if you need them to match your decor.
This is another great project to get the kids involved in. My sons loved hammering the nails. Since the pallets already had nail holes and flaws in the wood, I did not have to worry about the mess ups.
I know what you are thinking, where can I get free lumber? The company I work for has a warehouse division. They are constantly getting things in on pallets. The unused pallets just stack up and are then usually given away to anyone willing to pick them up. You can use these to make all types of outdoor woodworking projects and they also make strong sheving units. Just drive around town and ask local businesses if they have any palets they want to get rid of, you will be surprised how easy they are to find.
, cutting the nails between the planks and the 2X4's.I assembled the shelves using the 2X4's for legs and support arms and the planks for the shelves. If you need tall shelves, you can stack two units on top of each other and use short peices of the planks on the sides of all the legs to connect the two units together.
This project will take a Saturday to complete, but will save you money. Using pallets for shelves are not cosmetically attracting, but since I used mine in the garage, they worked fine. They can be sanded and painted if you need them to match your decor.
This is another great project to get the kids involved in. My sons loved hammering the nails. Since the pallets already had nail holes and flaws in the wood, I did not have to worry about the mess ups.
In order to make the most out of weekly sales and items purchased at warehouse stores, you will need to setup a place to store extra grocery items. There are two things to consider when planning for extra storage. The first you will need is a place to store your dry goods. Items like canned goods, flour, sugar, and condiments can usually be store in a cool, dry place for up to several years. The second item you need to consider investing in is a freezer. A freezer can help save money on perishable items like meat, fish, bread, and milk.
Make plans and schedule 3 to 4 hours one weekend to set up your storage space. Before the weekend arrives, write out a plan that includes the location of your dry storage space and a freezer. These can be in separate parts of the home. For me, I have both places in my garage. In your plan, also include a list of items you will need to complete your storage area. The main item you will need is shelving. There are many types of shelving that can be used, just make sure the ones you use can hold the weight of heavy dry goods. You can find heavy duty plastic shelving
at most discount and home building material stores. If you are tight on money, see my upcoming article on ways to make storage shelving for free. All you will need is a hammer, a saw, and a few nails.
at most discount and home building material stores. If you are tight on money, see my upcoming article on ways to make storage shelving for free. All you will need is a hammer, a saw, and a few nails. For dry storage, you do not need a very large space to store a large amount of groceries. I utilized the space under the staircase in my garage. You need enough space to setup four or five shelving units. A free closet, a corner in the garage, or floor attic space will do well for this.
If you do not own a freezer, consider investing in one. It will pay for itself in just a few months. Over half of the average household's grocery budget is spent on meat. However, most grocery stores will rotate sales on different types of meat every month. If you have a freezer, you can purchase large quantities of meat while they are on sale and freeze them for use later.
When buying a freezer, you need to determine how much space you have available to setup a freezer. This will give you an idea on what size and type you will need to buy. Next determine how much money you can afford to invest. Currently, places like Sears, Lowes, and Home Depot are running no interest and/or no payments for most appliances. If you are able to take advantage of these deals, you can pay for your freezer with the savings you have from sales items over the next few months. I prefer to buy a chest
freezer because they are a little cheaper and if the power goes out, they will keep your food colder longer than an upright
. Another thing to consider when buying a freezer is the size. You do not need a large 21 cubic feet freezer to freeze a large amount of food. For example, a 14 cubic foot chest freezer can hold around 800 pounds of food. That is a years worth of meat and perishables for the average family.
Once your space is complete, you are ready to move to the next step. See the upcoming blog for Part 3 of Taking Control of the Grocery Budget.
The grocery budget is one area of our household budget that we can actually control each month. With more and more people out of work and the economy still weak, most households struggle each month to meet the monthly budget. After talking with friends and coworkers, I have found out that many people spend up to 50% more on groceries than they need to. I am not talking about eating less or buying fewer groceries. I am talking about shopping smarter. What I have found out, is buy implementing these five simple steps into my monthly grocery shopping, I was able to reduce my budget by 60% and end up with more groceries in the pantry.
Below you will find 5 steps that you can take to help control your grocery budget. I will go into each step in detail in upcoming blogs. To be successful with this, I recommend making a plan and setting short term and long term goals. Many people give up before they see the results because they try to do to much in the beginning and get frustrated and quit. Take one step at a time and implement them in stages. After a month, you will have all steps in place and should see a significant savings in your grocery bill.
Step 1 - Plan ahead. Don't wait and buy groceries because you run out and must buy groceries to prepare a meal. Keep a running list of items you are getting low on. You could pay twice the price of items you run out on at regular price compared to the same item bought when they go on sale.
Step 2 - Shop outside your box. Plan ahead and shop multiple stores to get the best price on the items you need. Most towns have three to four grocery and drug stores and many have a warehouse savings store. If you purchase all of your groceries at one store, then you will usually pay twice as much for 60% of your grocery items each month. Shopping at multiple stores and taking advantage of their specific sales will greatly reduce your grocery budget.
Step 3 - Prepare your home for extra storage and/or bulk storage. Most homes have a free closet or extra corner in the garage that you can turn into extra storage for commonly used grocery items. You do not need a large space to store a lot of grocery items. Consider investing in a freezer if you do not already have one. Meat can make up 40% or more of our monthly grocery bill. If you have a freezer, you can take advantage of meat sales through the month and really cut down the grocery bill.
Step 4 - Mix up the recipes. Most of us have a bad habit of dinning our or ordering delivery because we do not want the "same old thing" again. Instead of spending the extra money, look for a different recipe using the same ingredients.
Step 5 - Take advantage of the sales. This is one of the easiest and most profitable ways to greatly cut the grocery bill. I know what you are thinking; I don't have time to go through sales papers and clip coupons. You don't have to. Check back to see the upcomming blog on taking advantage of sales, without having to spend hours going through sales papers.
By implementing these five simple steps into your monthly routine, you will be suprised how much money and time you can save on your grocery shopping and budget.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
It seems like the older I get the less time there is to get things done and even less money to do them. We could sit down and write a book on all the different places our time and money goes, but I will just start in the kitchen.
For me, twelve hours of my day goes to work. I usually leave around 6:30 am and get home around 6:00pm. Then most of us have kids in sports, dance, music, or some other extra curricular activities most nights of the week, not including the weekends. Then we have church and social activities, honey do lists, and usually several "unexpected" events during the week. So, what is the easiest way to free up some time? Eating out, take out, delivery, and fast food.
While this may seem to free up some time, it has some bad side effects. Loss of family time around the dinner table, health problems due to unhealthy eating habits, and a huge hole in the family budget are just a few. The truth is, we get so busy trying to meet schedules and make enough money to pay the bills, we don't take time to stop and see where the time and money is going.
The average family eats out four times a week. And at an average cost of $30 per meal. That adds up to $120 a week and almost $500 a month. Add to that, most parents that work, eat fast food four times a week at $7 a pop, and you can add another $112 per parent. Needless to say, the average working family of four can spend over $700 a month just on eating out. I can think of a lot of things I could be doing with that money.
I know what you are thinking; I don't have the time to cook. That is what I said also, until I began to figure out that you can cook a real meal in about the same time it takes to order pizza and have it delivered, while spending time with the family, learning new recipes and tricks, and most importantly save major money!
In this blog you will find articles on how to make delicious and quick meals, how to get the most out of your time in the kitchen, and ways to cut your grocery bill in half. You will also learn techniques you can use to make the great looking, great tasting, and expensive meals that you love at your favorite restuarant.
For me, twelve hours of my day goes to work. I usually leave around 6:30 am and get home around 6:00pm. Then most of us have kids in sports, dance, music, or some other extra curricular activities most nights of the week, not including the weekends. Then we have church and social activities, honey do lists, and usually several "unexpected" events during the week. So, what is the easiest way to free up some time? Eating out, take out, delivery, and fast food.
While this may seem to free up some time, it has some bad side effects. Loss of family time around the dinner table, health problems due to unhealthy eating habits, and a huge hole in the family budget are just a few. The truth is, we get so busy trying to meet schedules and make enough money to pay the bills, we don't take time to stop and see where the time and money is going.
The average family eats out four times a week. And at an average cost of $30 per meal. That adds up to $120 a week and almost $500 a month. Add to that, most parents that work, eat fast food four times a week at $7 a pop, and you can add another $112 per parent. Needless to say, the average working family of four can spend over $700 a month just on eating out. I can think of a lot of things I could be doing with that money.
I know what you are thinking; I don't have the time to cook. That is what I said also, until I began to figure out that you can cook a real meal in about the same time it takes to order pizza and have it delivered, while spending time with the family, learning new recipes and tricks, and most importantly save major money!
In this blog you will find articles on how to make delicious and quick meals, how to get the most out of your time in the kitchen, and ways to cut your grocery bill in half. You will also learn techniques you can use to make the great looking, great tasting, and expensive meals that you love at your favorite restuarant.
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