Macaroni and Peas

It’s August and that means school will be starting soon for many of us. It’s hard to believe the summer is nearly over! Summertime blues aside, getting ready for school can be fun or it can be a horribly stressful experience.

School Supplies

The PTA for my son’s school district sells school supply boxes for something like $20-25 at the end of the school year. The boxes contain everything on the school supply list for the grade you choose. You pick up the box at registration in early August and drop it off on the designated supply drop off night.

It’s a win win proposal. The PTA gets the supplies at a significantly reduced cost because they can buy in bulk. That means they make money on the sale of the supply boxes. The parents don’t have to fight the crowds shopping for school supplies (big time saver) and save money in the process. I spent way more than $25 last year on school supplies.

If your PTA doesn’t do this, you might want to ask them about setting up a program. It’s been a huge success for our school district.

Alternatively, consider ordering your child’s school supplies online. Get a few other families involved and you can split the shipping costs. This way, you’ll get exactly what you need without running around from store to store fighting with crowds of other stressed out parents.

School Clothes

Take advantage of your state’s tax free weekend. Most states have a weekend where they waive the tax on clothing. Tons of stores offer great sales at this time too (more incentive to get you in and spending, I suppose). Check out the sales and plan ahead.

Check your kid’s sizes before you go. If nothing they own fits, take them out beforehand and have them try on a few sizes to see what will work.

Go early in the morning and don’t take the kids. You’ll get in and out faster if they’re not tagging along. If you’ve got kids who want to help pick out their clothes, make it easy for them. Ask them to pick from these pants or those pants rather than saying, “Find three pairs of pants.” If they’re old enough, give them a budget and let them pick everything. Wait at the front of the store with a good book. You’ll want to review their picks and pay.

How About You?

Do you have any time or money saving tips to share? I’m curious how many of you send your kids to schools where there’s a dress code or uniforms. Also, I’m very interested in how the homeschooling parents handle the back to school rush.

Everything costs more these days, including food. Grocery shopping is a significant portion of most family’s spending. If you’re like me, you’re looking for ways to cut costs without sacrificing taste or quality.

Buy Food at the Grocery Store

This should go without saying, but a lot of people pick up cleaning supplies and personal care items (toothpaste, shampoo, that lotion that smells like vanilla cookies, etc.) at the grocery store. Grocery stores typically charge more for those types of items because they know its more convenient.

Buy Other Stuff at Discount Stores

Pick up your non food items at discount stores like Wal-Mart or Target. Yeah, I said Wal-Mart. Look, I don’t like ‘em either, but they are cheaper. If you can’t stand the thought of shopping at a place like that, try getting stuff online. A lot of places will offer free shipping if you order a certain dollar amount, so stock up and order in bulk.

Try Store Brands

Go with store brands where you can. Generally, the store brands are just as good in quality as the name brand items. However, some items do taste different - many name brands have proprietary formulas that can’t be exactly duplicated by the store brand folks. For example, I splurge on Heinz ketchup because I grew up with it and I’m not ashamed to say I’m picky about my ketchup.

Use Coupons Wisely

Don’t buy things just because there’s a coupon, but use coupons for items you normally purchase. Check with your favorite brands to see if they offer coupons online. Don’t forget to take advantage of store coupons and double coupon days. Our local grocery store sends a mailer each week telling us about sales and offering coupons.

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Summer means vacations for families all over America and vacations often mean desserts, splurges, and fast food. You can keep your family on track with healthy foods and still have a great summer vacation. This is the first in a series about vacation foods and traveling with kids.

Do not pack a cooler full of healthy food for road trips. While this seems like the obvious solution, chances you’ll end up eating out anyway and the food will go to waste. If you do eat it, I suspect your family won’t appreciate your hand crafted low fat tuna sandwiches as much as you do.

Try to avoid fast food joints if you can. You’ll get better service, fresher food, and more options at a local sit down restaurant. Remember restaurant portions are huge, so share with your kids or your spouse (or both).

If you do end up in a fast food joint, stick with the smallest burger on the menu. Don’t be ashamed to order a kids meal for yourself and your spouse. Your kids will get extra toys (or you could keep them for yourself) and you’ll end up with a more reasonable meal. Most fast food places now have healthy options for sides like apple slices, apple sauce, oranges, milk, and juice. Stick with whole fruit if it’s available (apple slices over apple sauce) and milk over juice.

Wherever you eat, do not take a doggie bag unless you intend to have it in a refrigerator in less than two hours. Even then, don’t keep it more than two days and make sure you thoroughly reheat it before eating your leftovers.

Remember that cooler I told you not to pack? Fill it with water bottles. The water will be great for everyone in the summer heat and keeping it cool will help everyone enjoy it more. If your family doesn’t love water as is, grab low calorie add ins like the ones from Kool-Aid or Crystal Light. Just pour and shake…viola! You’ve got a flavored drink with almost no calories. Even kids can dig that!

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Image Credit: Jennifer Daley

Here at Macaroni and Peas, we aim to help parents feed their kids better food in less time. I want to focus on the “less time” bit right now. I want you to be able to get a meal on the table in fifteen minutes flat. That’s simply not possible if your kitchen is a disaster and you can’t find anything.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying your kitchen has to be as neat and tidy as Martha Stewart’s, but you should be able to put your hands on measuring cups, pots, and bowls without having to search. The first step is seriously editing what’s in your kitchen. This goes for food and for other kitchen stuff.

Safety First

Keep knives, cleansers, and alcohol out of your kids’ reach. If they’re young, keep them away from breakables. I used a combination of child safety latches and close monitoring in the kitchen when my son was young.

Less Food

If you’re proactive enough to have an emergency stash of food, don’t keep it in the kitchen. It belongs with your family’s emergency supplies (think tornado shelter). No matter where you stash it, you probably want to go through it at least once a year just to check expiration dates. What’s the point of an emergency food supply if it’ll make you sick?

Keep your food supply rotating. No one wants to find a ten year old can of creamed corn in the back of their cupboard. This goes for the fridge and freezer too. Check expiration dates every week when you put groceries away. Yes, your ketchup and mustard will go bad at some point.

You want to have enough food for the current week (’cause you’re shopping weekly, right? link to shopping post) and for a handful of unexpected meals. Any more than that and you’re just wasting cupboard space. The exceptions would be flour, sugar, vinegars, oils, and spices. I know I don’t want to buy a new $4 bottle of oregano every time I make lasagna.

Location Location Location

No matter how big your kitchen is, you’ll want to keep the stuff you use the most within arm’s reach. Generally, this means on the lower shelves of upper cabinets. Keep heavy things down low. Dropping a crockpot on your toe at 6am is never fun.

Take a look at what’s on your counters. How often do you use your food processor? I know it looks cool and makes you look like a gourmet, but it’s a waste of counter space. If you don’t use it at least once a week, move it to another place. We keep our “extra” stuff in a closet off the stairs. Of course, if you really don’t use it, give it away. I prefer to keep the counters clear of stuff. It makes them easier to clean and keeps the kitchen looking tidy (even if the cupboards are a mess).

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Image Credit: Grafissimo

If you’re like most parents, by the time you sit down at night, you’ve put in a full day at work, taken the kids to and from some practice or lesson, and run a few errands. I know the last thing I want to do after a day like that is spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Heck, I want dinner on the table fast; I’ve got a hungry kid to feed.

Dinner in 15 minutes? Really? Yes…it is more than possible. Here’s how to do it:

Prepared Foods

We’re talking canned beans, bottled sauces, and frozen veggies. Some of my all star staples: beans in chili sauce, tomatoes with great stuff added right in (onions, spices, chiles, etc.), bbq sauce, and steam in the bag frozen veggies. Worried about salt with all those canned foods and prepared sauces? There are two tricks: rinse the canned stuff that you can (beans and veggies without sauce), and buy low-sodium stuff whenever you can.

Quick Cooking Foods

Pasta, rice, and small cuts of meat are also huge time savers. While your pasta is cooking, steam your veggies; many pasta type pots come with a made to fit steam tray. Buy chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts; they cook twice as fast and make ideal chicken fingers. Instant rice cooks in five minutes flat - who doesn’t love that?

Planning Ahead

Crockpots may have been made to cook your grandma’s stew, but they are a crucial tool in the busy parent’s arsenal. Prep dinner in the morning, turn it on, and you’ll walk home to a house that smells amazing and dinner that’s table ready. I know that’s not exactly a fifteen minute dinner, but it’s still a huge time saver.
If you know you’ll need chopped veggies for a stir fry, either buy them chopped or chop them when you get home from the grocery store.

Put together tough meals like lasagna or enchiladas in advance and freeze them. Stick the dish in the fridge before you leave for work and pop it in the oven when you get home. Some of these dishes may take longer than 15 minutes, but how often do you get lasagna prepared from scratch?

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Image Credit: Sean Locke