I've been using Earthbreeze for at least 3 years!! I LOVE it!! Plus I have it in our emergency prep laundry bucket - I've even experimented using those sheets washing clothes by hand - awesome!! :)
@@windmillridgebudgets I ordered some Dropps laundry products last night for the same reason...... the less I have to depend on China...... the better.
We have a chore called dinner helper in our house. The kid who has this chore for the week helps meal plan, creates a grocery list, abd helps make the meal. It has helped my kids be prepared for when they become adults and need to do this themselves.
I ask my crew every week what they want and I always get, don't know, don't care. This past week I made a meal plan from the freezer / pantry and didn't go to the store at all. I did need cucumbers but wasn't going to the store for one item. When they were younger I once handed them the sales papers for the area with a notebook, told them the food budget and they had to plan the weeks meals. It was a great learning experience and they enjoyed doing it for many months.
When our sons were in Boy Scouts one of the badges they earned required that they plan, shop for and prepare a meal. Turns out they loved doing it. I did enforce a couple parameters - something green, a protein - but they each did that one night a week for years. By the way, they are both in their 50s now and are both fantastic cooks.
I swear Even if you have to call it something else, get the manual and teach those principles! They have so many neat things in there, from crafts to knots to independent living skills! If you don't want to go or don't have the time, whatever, just call it IDEA OF THE WEEK, and pick something inspirational and go with it your own way. I did the girl scout one - which was cool, like teaching cultural differences to how to save somebody from choking - but one day i was at the park and they had a whole obstacle course set up.. man I wanted to join in lol
In my sons’ troop, the boys had to plan and shop for the food for a small group for each camp out. They had to stay within a budget and cooked their own meals at camp.
Love it! Two kids, 12 and 15, both picked meals from stuff on hand. Oldest cooked hers, yummo. We have freezer/pantry overload. I am so tired of trying to pick meals by myself! Thanks! :)
I hear ya ... Burnout with meal planning 😂 Decision fatigue!!!! I switched to asking my kids and it has done wonders with my work load and my budget! Hooray! 👏
Frugal Mom - Years ago I had a large freezer bite the dust. I did not know it until it was too late and lost a lot of food. When we purchased a new one, the guys brought it gave us a tip. A full freezer will keep longer. Take your empty jugs that once held laundry soap, etc. and fill them just about 2" from the top and use them in your freezer lining the outside walls. Also, dollar store large containers as well, they make bricks of ice. Your food will stay frozen much longer.
As someone who only has exactly the food items she needs to make meals for a month, I'm in awe of food hoarding. I get so much joy out of a clean slate when we use up all the food in the house and the shelves are empty. It's like a blank canvas! 😂
I was that way, but changed a bit after the winter storm in Buffalo last year. Now I always have a week extra, just in case going to the store is impossible. Not quite a hoard, but a plan :/
I think I “hoard” food because of many years of living with insecurity and homelessness. Simply having shelves to fill with food makes me feel safe and eases my anxiety. It’s taken a year and a half for me to fill my pantry and extra freezer. I do feel anxious when any area starts to look empty 🤦🏻♀️
@@alicesmith8697 Totally empathize with that!! My step dad is a food hoarder - you open any cupboard in their house ... closets, kitchen, laundry room, garage - you find cases and cases of food. Drives my mom mad, because she's the same way as me! It's so interesting how our upbringing manifests in adulthood.
@@olakraszpulskaI am like you, but I have a lot more than a week’s worth of food. You just never know what might happen that you either can’t get to a store or have no money to go to a store. As a child back in Kansas we had a blizzard hit unexpectedly on a Friday and I remember one night while we were eating supper my dad complimented my mom on the meal and she said well if we didn’t have the freezer’s and the pantry full, she didn’t know what she would be feeding us. We lived out of town on a small farm and we were the only ones on the road so they didn’t get to plowing our road for a whole week. That made an impact on me.
As a single mom for most of my childhood my mother did this a lot. She would open up all the cabinets, refrigerator and freezer. Then let us pick out what we wanted even if it didn’t go together. She said it helps with food waste and buy groceries she didn’t need. Also she didn’t have the money for it.
I did this when hubby was paid once a month! Had to figure this one out. Only did main shopping once a month. Milk, bread, veggies, fruit were picked up in between main shopping. Feeding 2 pre teen boys who could eat huge amounts was a challenge. I kept plastic bins under my bed to hide treats , cereal, snacks. Otherwise in 2 days all treats would be gone! One rule I required was that they had to eat whatever anyone else chose. I was suprised that I wasn't asked for lobster or roast beef. Also, because I was shopping for a month, they had to give me 4 or 5 choices. I got to choose which day I would make their meal. This system made shopping so much easier with very few arguments. I also got them to help cook their meals. Both sons are now very good cooks and are teaching their kids to cook.
When my kids were little I made up 21-25 Index cards. On one side I listed the meal idea (Such as hamburgers with fries or chips, Stew, Mac & Cheese with Hotdogs, Chicken with Potatoes & Vegetables, Spaghetti, etc.). On the reverse side I would list all the ingredients needed to make the meal. Every two weeks I would shuffle all 21 cards and my two kids would each pull 7 cards. They would then turn the cards over and make their shopping list. We would look to see what was on hand & on sale before heading off to the store. We only shopped at one store. They would look for and gather the items on their list. I taught them how to look for sales, compare prices and look for alternatives if we could not find an item. They would also help me make their meal. For fun we added pizza as one of the choices and also added in “kitchen closed/night out” and the reverse side of the card said “your choice” and whoever pulled the card would choose where to eat (w/kids it was usually fast food). My kids are now adults and I recently came across the cards (while decluttering) I worked with my grandsons to review the cards and make up new ones. I plan on giving them to their mom/my daughter, in a nice box so she can use it with her boys. (My son is married to a professional chef so I’m not sure if he needs them! 🤣👩🍳🤷♀️🤣). By the way, their favorite meal was Chili, Chips & Cheese (chili, topped with cheese and sour cream. No utensils needed as we then used Fritos scoop chips to scoop up the mix.)
First, BIG thank you for all The Princess Bride clips❤❤❤ SECOND, yes, girl, this is how I meal plan! I bargain shop, keep a full pantry and freezer, and ask the kids what they want to eat for the week. Everyone picks a night each, and we have 2 regular nights ... Taco Tuesday and Pizza Party Friday. Then I just get the fill in items we need. ❤
We don't have kids, but it's so helpful when my husband tells me what HE wants to dinner during the week. As a bonus, he knows what we have in the pantry, freezer and fridge so he will include those I ingredients. Most weeks I just need fill in ingredients so our we are under our grocery budget A LOT!!! SCORE!!!
I'm always asking my husband what he wants to eat (no kids), and he almost never comes up with any ideas (unless it's meatloaf). He has no imagination and he doesn't seem to care. It drives me insane! If I leave him to make his own lunch, he can only come up with a ham sandwich or maybe peanut butter. I want variety! He's always happy with what I make so I give up. I try to think what needs to be eaten and go from there.
If you make a ground pork meatloaf, and use bbq sauce instead of ketchup or tomato sauce, I guarantee it will taste just like barbeque ribs! It will be a change from your regular meatloaf.
Getting kids involved in the meals is so important. Cooking, meal planning and shopping for food are invaluable life skills. Not mention, they help us think outside the box. Great choices everyone!
I started asking my hubby to choose a few meals each week and he helps me by actually cooking one or two nights when I get home later than him. Boom!!!! Makes a huge difference
I tried the "Pick Your Meal & Cook/Bake With Mom" meal planning with my 4 (still living at home) kiddos a few months ago. They loved the freedom & fun of picking the meal, as well as the 1-on-1 time together while learning cooking skills.
My mom always asked me and my sister what we wanted. I always wanted beef curry after we had a Sunday pot roast. Its still one of my favorites. Mom just turned 101 years old. Miss those days alot
I’m single and for several months I’ve been shopping my pantry. I just made potato soap and spent about $7.00 on milk and brown bread. I had everything else. This week I have enough food for this week and the week after Thanksgiving. Next several weeks should be small budgets.
I love that idea! I don’t have kids old enough to quite do that yet, but there’s already plenty of „help“ 😂 in the garden and I find that seeing how the food grows in the ground already makes a big difference for meal acceptance ☀️
So true! My kids don’t really enjoy raw carrots and will take a few bites at meals. They will easily eat a whole carrot out of the ground barely rinsed 🤣
When my kids were home (all adults now), I asked them and my husband to give me their favorite meals and snacks- all 3 meals by the way. There were many crossovers in all 4 lists, then I did mine and, again, mine crossed over into the other 4 (well, except the liver my husband put on his list 🤢). I transferred all the meals and snacks to one sheet of paper in 4 columns (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks), not repeating any of the crossovers. I was able to create 6 weeks of meals and snacks. From there, I wrote the ingredients of all meals and snacks (I made the majority of them from scratch) on the back of each one week menu plan and then laminated all 6 sheets of plans. When it was time to pick a week of meals, I would look on the back and shop my pantry and freezer and cross out with a dry erase marker of what I already had and made my grocery list from there and go shopping just for the food items. I saved soooo much money and time doing this, plus, if I made meatballs or lasagna, I would double or triple up the recipe and then freeze for another meal (I was really into bulk cooking when my kids lived at home). With just my husband and I, we still will double or triple certain meals and take for our work lunches or freeze for later. I also tried to incorporate a roast of whichever meat is the star for the week to use in 1-2 more meals that week. Like a beef roast for Sunday dinner, the part of it goes for fajitas and hot beef sandwiches and mashed potatoes; or pork roast for Sunday, then pork tacos and pulled pork sandwiches later in that week; roast chicken for Sunday, then chicken and rice casserole later and chicken noodle soup; ham roast on Sunday, then ham and potatoe soup and scalloped potatoes with diced ham later in the week.
I have been meal planning with my kids for years and people are amazed they will eat almost anything. That’s the secret. You let them pick a meal but they also have to eat what others pick. Plus there is less food waste and you can figure out their favorite meals and always have those staples on the shelves! Another tip is to write down on a calendar what you cook every day for a month. Try not to duplicate any meals for 2 weeks. At the end of the month you have 4 weeks of meals that you know your family will eat and the things they love! You can start off the next month with a ready made meal plan if your kids get a case of the IDK’s. Great video!!😊
This only works If you are overstocked. I do ask my family too. Sometimes I do individual portions of different meals. E.g husband eats chicken veg pasta soup, I eat tuna melt sandwich, son eats stir fried rice. The soup goes in the Slow cooker, my tuna melt sandwich takes hardly anytime to assemble, the fried rice is a one pot dish. We have leftovers for the next 2 nights and we each can pick what we want.
Inforywben I asked my family what they wanted they didn’t know. My way around that I have them each an index card and had them write down their 10 favorite meals. 😊
Omg! I’m dead! 😂 I think we are twins separated at birth. If it’s on sale I HAVE TO buy it! My pantry and freezers look identical to yours! I feel like you looked inside my head somehow and discovered what makes me tick! 😂😂😂❤
Same with me lol. Husband is always saying, your sitting in the car! Like that will ever happen lol. At times I buy the things I see marked down because it's a way for us to try something that we might not would have gotten before. Also it will be used even if not from us (3) we have 6 dogs that would gladly take anything people food lol.
You read my mind on this one! If there is a deal, I have got to buy it even if there is no room for it. And I hate picking out what we eat. What part of me on Monday wanted that on Thursday. Aaaaaand, I am not even hungry at dinner time and am sooooo tired from the day.
We raised 7 kids. I tried to make what they would like but impossible to always please everyone 😀. Letting each one have a turn is a good idea. As adults they still have favorite meal they have me cook for them.
We have a saying at our house "cook once, eat twice". We prepare twice as much as we will eat and vacuum seal the leftovers. Just drop the bag in boiling water to heat it. No cooking, little mess to clean up.
We do this with having everyone contribute at least one suggestion for the meal plan for the week, and having the kids take some responsibility to help cook.
You are not the only one .I have Xtra food in the freezer. And Xtra stuff in my pantry. I started doing this. Because I have chronic migraines. And some days I just don't feel up to cooking. Then last year everyone ended up with covid. So we stayed home for about a week and a half. No groceries needed. Take care sincerely Debora Atkins
I have done this before (asking each family member what they would like for dinner) and that has worked well. They are all so picky and what one likes, someone else doesn’t. I just got tired of feeling like I can’t make people happy. So, if they don’t like what I make, they have to feed themselves. And teenagers are plenty capable of doing that!
Have to agree with this..One of the hardest parts of the week is the meal planning! coming up with a new variety of meals is challenging. When you dont have a good "meal Plan" you always spend more on the shopping list. so this kills two birds at once. Eliminates the need to come up with a meal plan (kids do it) and saves money :)
I let my kids pick one meal a week, and I pick the rest/have left overs. Also, I usually buy 3-5 of the pork shoulders when Kroger has them on sale. I make one a month, freeze half of the cooked pork into 2 individual meals, and use the other half for 2-3 family meals the week I make it.
I got taco seasoning chicken for 1.29 a pound got 4 pounds also got ground turkey 97 cents a pound 2.88 3 pounds 2 got 6 pounds and another 1 dollar coupon so 4.76 for 6 pounds comes to 73 cents a pound Albertson's with coupon
Bruh!!! I have actually done this before. Everyone in the house got to choose a dinner for the week. It is always the cheapest and most successful of meal planning
Not trying to add to the paid promo for Earth Breeze, but I have been using it for about 2 years now. I am an older, widowed person and love the product. I get a shipment every 3 months and find it hard to use it up because it works so well. Don't believe the ads stating that the best buy is still liquid detergent. If I didn't use the pods quickly, they popped in the package--messy (not stored on top of the dryer). I no longer need to worry about using up the entire bottle of detergent (darn near impossible) and it takes up less space than the liquids. Clothing is still clean.
I just bought all food for a month, except milk , veggies and fruit. My meal plan is simple 6 proteins x 4 recipes and Fridays at our home is always home made fast food, so four recipes of this. So the flyers in my area of Sweden was ground pork/ beef mix, Chicken, pork loin and pork rost, 2 roast are going be stew meat. So dinners will be Monday : ground meat, Tuesday: Stew, Wednesday: ground meat , Thursday pork loin. Friday junk food, Saturday chicken curries and Sunday Pork roast .
I am a food hoarder as well. Totally with younon the see a sale, fill it. I suffer from filler syndrome. I really dislike "space " in my freezer(s) and pantry. I am going to try this new technique. I will see how it goes as I have 3 kids under 5
that is my husband!...... and empty shelf is an invitation to fill it up.... an it is a compunction with him!..... full freezer, bull pantry shelves, full frig............. and now our kids are grown up and mostly moved out............. and we just can't eat it all..... I throw out so much every Monday night (trash man comes on Tuesday!)
Planning out my meals and only buying the items my family needs is how we choose to stay on budget. It isn’t often that we have the extra money to buy a good deal that isn’t planned so we will usually stand there in the grocery store and replace a meal on our menu with that great buy item. Our budget is so tight that one or two buys that weren’t planned could sink the boat. I wish I could buy like that and stock up on those amazing finds!
I’m pretty lax on meal planning. I make a list of the meals I can make for about a 2 week period, but don’t assign them to any day. Stuff happens and it’s not set in stone.
For YEARS, and I mean almost 6-7yrs, I ask my family what they want. And then I shop my house and I only buy what we need to make those meals. The amount of food we NO LONGER WASTE is INCREDIBLE! I never buy splurge items b/c I’m not even looking for them. I never not have everything to make something. I always have a list of what to cook- and I just pick from the list based on how I feel. I do always kept 3 fast meals- family favorites on stock in case I don’t feel like cooking from scratch. I use to throw away veggies etc b/c we wouldn’t use them or food wouldn’t get rotated properly- and now we never have that issue. And- I cut my grocery budget Ssooo much. I was feeding a family of 7 on less than $300 a month - insane. I tape the meals to the inside of my pantry door and scratch them off as I go!!! When they are all gone. I will go through and do an inventory and see if there is anything else I can add together to use up things I may still have- and then, I start over with a list. We will even do buffet night- where I’ll cook up odds and ends- I few pieces of frozen chicken or nuggets from a bag, (lunch things) the 5 pizza rolls left. Haha. And we use up the little things!
4:36 why do you that? Here in Germany we only have Frontloaders and i put the sheet on top of the laundry - like all do with the toploaders. Bonus-Tipp: don’t tear them apart and throw them right away after the package is empty. I put mine in the closet for towels on top of them and get fresh towels for weeks 🥰.
I make the same salmon bowls in the air fryer but I use Kinder's Woodfired Garlic Seasoning and it makes a nice crispy skin. Also make my own Soy Glaze/Eel Sauce.
Love the idea....but how about a plan for a senior living on her own? Are you up for the challenge Christine? By the way, no food allergies/intolerancess or health issues.....go girl!
I do this every week. Every person picks one meal, some things they will pick something expensive and i will add it to the sales list. Then they pick another one. I am always looking for items on the sales list such as shrimp, bacon, etc.
I do case lot sale twice a year and shop the ads the rest of the year. Most the time, I can make dinner from the freezer and pantry and only buy milk, bread, egg, and bananas on a regular basis. (Freeze butter, sour cream, meats).
I do this with my kids... They both said Bolognese pasta last week... So there....i made a HUGE pan or sauce....with the intent of being able to squirrel away some for future lasagna/spaghetti.... Oh how i was wrong! Every single night....i kid u not! They wanted spaghetti Bolognese with salad on the side....so.... Thats what we had! Im sad coz i dont have any left but at the same time im happy coz they had a well rounded meal each night and there was no waste...they ate it all!!! Will i do this every week...same thing for 5 nights....no! But they ate something decent and they didnt put half their dinner plate in the bin 🎉 Time not wasted.... Saved time on cooking through the week.... This week....im asking for 3 options and will make sure to squirrel away my 'savings' before it comes to the fourth night HUGE MONEY SAVER ASKING MY KIDS! 🙏
Doesn't work when your family picks a menu that you aren't stocked up for. You will end up buying a whole lot of ingredients or disappointing them. A better way is to look at what you have then present them with options. E.g if I have a rotisserie chicken, I ask do you want chicken pasta, chicken fried rice, chicken served with potato and salad or chicken sandwiches?
We don't have a lot of extra money, so we choose to use it to stay ahead on our food pantry. This has paid off over and over when we have had extra money challenges such as a broken water heater, car repairs, etc....we then use food money to help pay on that bill, but are not fearful because we have food in our home to help us get through tough financial spots. It is wisdom, not food hoarding, and gives us peace of mind.
Hi,I’ve been watching you for awhile and enjoying all of your topics.While hiking with my 50 year old son last weekend we were talking,he’s always looking for ways to save and he likes to cook.I mentioned that I liked this channel and he said “oh, Frugal Fit Mom” I watch her all the time😂Who Knew!
Most pleased to see you add potato flakes to thicken up the soup. When my husband helped me making potato salad, he reeealy over cooked the potatoes. So, I reached in the pantry & pulled out my box of potato "buds" and stirred them in. My husband thought I was a genius!
I had a rotation for my 5 kids. Every week one would pick 3 meals and cook them with me. They only helped 1 week out of 5 and it made my life much easier!
It’s just me and hubby and that is my least favorite question so I narrow it own just like this. I give them options of what I have in stock and they decide. Have whittled down the inventory and love it.
i did, multiple times. The answer is always;'' hum, I dont know. whatever. you can choose'' 🤨😂 and since there's only two of us, I have no one else to ask ! 🤣 ahh, pre-teen are fun !!
Thank you for the inspiration on the salmon bowls. My husband wanted teriyaki flavored salmon so I put that on a bed of rice with cabbage sautéed in soy sauce + finished in sesame oil, finely shredded carrot, and a tiny bit of finely chopped green pepper (green onion would have been better, but that’s what I had in the fridge to use up). My husband thought the whole thing kinda tasted like sushi.
I've been doing this type of meal planning for almost 40 years. I would go through the weekly sales circulars and plan around the sales. Then let hubby and son make a list of what they wanted for dinner. I would let son pick out the veggie for dinner. I had to make him choose from a choice of 3 I listed. Or else we would be eating baby Brussels sprouts every night. He hated raw cabbage but would eat it if it was cooked to death. I always make sure we have a full pantry. When lock down happened we were prepared. We aren't preppers but I grew up helping with the grocery shopping for a family of 6. So, always kept shopping for a family on basically a food stamp budget and prepping for not being able to shop during the winter. We also had over 2 years worth of toilet paper and paper towels. Just kept buying it whenever it was on sale. The 12 jumbo pack of toilet paper the name brand for $5. Haven't seen them that cheap since before the pandemic. I always use coupons. I try to get everything on sale. I'm frugal, not cheap. Hubby is cheap and it almost always bites him in the end. I keep telling him quality over quantity. He will shop thrift stores. But, has noticed things costing more than new. He sticks with value village and stays away from goodwill..
Yes! I used to do this, then got away from this. I had a calendar and everything. My goal was to do it for the whole month, but found out the kids could not come up with things that far ahead. So I would do it every week. Not sure why I stopped, but I do need to get back into it. I also used to have a list of things for my kids so they knew what snacks, breakfast, and lunch options so when they said they were hungry they could go look at the sheet on the fridge instead of asking me every time they wanted something. It worked for a while but we all got over it pretty quickly.
I've seen you make the baccon potato soup in the past but have never made it. I made it a few days ago, and my kids LOVED it. My 5 yr old asked if we can have it every night ❤
Pam here….I already found Earth Breeze and really love it. So nice not to haul huge jugs of soap home. For smellier loads I use a couple more sheets, but other wise it is amazing stuff. Another brand the sheets were thicker, got hard and didn’t dissolve and ended up on my clothes in hard baked on clumps after being dried. Uuugh. This brand dissolves 100% of the time!
I ask my kids and I get told nuggets and chips. 😂 I tell my kids and hubby, this is what I have pulled out for tea tonight, what do you think we should cook with it. I give them 3 choices to choose from and majority wins..
I always ask the family what they want to eat. I find it hard to always prepare a full.eeks menu week after week. I am now trying to shop the discounted foods every week as well. Thanks for all the inspiration and the meatballs is on next week's meal plan already 😊
I have the same issue...cant leave a good deal at the store. But i stick to a budget each month. My family and friends tell me I have a grocery store in my home. One friend told me...."You need to teach my wife how you do this" (she is my good friend also.)
😮good to see you here again! There was a lapse in uploading videos and i was worried😂🎉! Your content is always on point! I don't ever remember my mother asking us what we would like for dinner. She ruled that part of the household with an iron fist!
I watched your video with Siel and the only tactic I didn’t 100% agree with was don’t bring your spouse with you. Until today when I did my shopping and my spouse was along for the ride. He bought $34 worth of stuff I wouldn’t have bought. I guess you’re right!
Love this idea, it may stop my daily 4:00 question to the Hubs what do you want for dinner 😂🤣. And his response “what do we have.” Also it always looks like your pot is on the very edge of the stovetop😳
I ask my kids all the time what they want… spaghetti every week. My daughter wants burgers…. Way easier then my husband!! 😂 I write it on paper and they can see what everyone chose. Every week… it’s great!!
I actually do this often, problem is my 4 year old requests pizza every meal! 😂 I also plan my meals for the week and let them pick from the list, that works well too.
For those pizza lovers, try different kinds like taco pizza or breakfast pizza (use biscuits). Also, Stromboli uses dough like pizza but you can use different cheeses, meats and sauces. It also makes two so you can freeze one for another meal. My husband came up with a crust less pizza for the grill..large piece of foil spray it layer hamburger meat, pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni. 350° about 45 minutes depending on how thick you make the meat it might take longer on top rack of your grill or use the oven. Adjust seasoning to taste on the meat.
Just fyi -- Consumer Reports just tested Earth Breeze sheets. The score was 29 out of 100, as compared with my preferred liquid Tide at 84. Of the 6 laundry sheets tested they ranked better than the all the others. The test results found Earth Breeze didn't do much of any cleaning at all. I don't think using them is being a very frugal consumer.
I tried that when my kids were young and the answers I got was, whatever you like or whatever you fancy!!! I used to go to the butcher and ask for a pound of whatever you like and half a pound of whatever you fancy but they were always sold out 😂
I ask them all the time. Problem is they don't know what they want to eat. But they definitely know what they don't want to eat after I make something.
Oh, wow! These recipes! Look delicious! I wouldn't get very far asking my kids what they want for dinner... I only have at home with me. :/ He did want pancakes the yesterday and he bought the pancake mix from the clearance shelf. So I made the pancakes!
