Sweet Frugal Life

Being Frugal Doesn't Make Life Any Less Sweet

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup Mix Recipe

By: Sweet Frugal Life47 Comments

How to make Cream of Chicken Soup Mix from scratch!

Did you know that you can make your very own Cream of Chicken Soup Mix from scratch?  Yep!  You can!  And guess what, it’s also incredibly easy and super cheap to whip up (hooray, I love easy and cheap!).  I am so excited to share my tried and true cream of chicken soup mix recipe with you today.

Truthfully, I really don’t like buying the canned soup in the store, but sometimes I just want a good old fashioned recipe with Cream of Chicken Soup in it, ya know???

I came across this recipe years ago and have been using it regularly ever since.  It tastes so much better than the cans, and is a lot less processed.  I use it to replace cans of cream of chicken soup in soups, stews, casseroles, etc.  All you need is a little water added to the mix and you’re ready to cook!  Easy peasy!

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How To Make Cream Of Chicken Soup Mix From Scratch

This cream of chicken soup mix recipe only takes a few minutes to mix together.  You can even skip a step by just mixing it all together right in the jar rather than a separate bowl.

All it takes is four simple ingredients….and you probably already have these sitting in your pantry!  I love when that happens.

Ingredients

To make this cream of chicken soup mix recipe you will need:

  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 cups dry milk powder
  • 3 Tbsp chicken bouillon powder
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp dried chopped onion

Mix all of the ingredients into a bowl and you are done!

To turn your mix into a soup just whisk together 1/2 cup soup mix with 1 1/4 cups water.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!  Let me know if you try it, I would love to hear if you like it or not!

Cream of Chicken Soup Mix Recipe

4.50 from 4 votes
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1 3/4 Cups Flour
  • 1 1/2 Cups Dry Milk Powder
  • 3 Tablespoons Chicken Bouillon
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons Dried Chopped Onion

Instructions
 

  • Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
  • And you are done!  I like to store my mix in a quart sized mason jar.

To Use

  • When ready to use, just mix 1/2 cup of soup mix with 1 1/4 cups water and substitute in any recipe calling for a can of Cream of Chicken Soup.  Be sure to write the instructions on the jar lid, so you'll always remember!  😉

After making your soup mix write the instructions on the lid of the jar so that you always remember the correct ratio for making your soup!

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In Conclusion:

I hope you enjoy this easy cream of chicken soup mix recipe.  It’s been a staple in our house for years and is one of my favorite frugal hacks!  I truly hope it helps you save some extra money like it has helped me!

Don’t forget to pin this recipe for future use:

how to make cream of chicken soup mix

homemade cream of chicken soup mix

 

Related Articles:

What to do with your bulk chicken; including 6 Freezer Chicken Recipes

Homemade Graham Cracker Recipe

What I Learned From the July Pantry Challenge

Make this Cream of Chicken Soup Mix Recipe today!

How To Make Yarn Pom Poms

By: Sweet Frugal Life1 Comment

How To Make A Pom Pom Garland Out Of Yarn

I recently discovered how to make yarn pom poms and I am now obsessed!  These pom-poms turned out to be easy to make and so cute!  My daughters and I spent all evening making pom poms and experimenting with different sizes and techniques.

We decided to turn these yarn pom poms into a cute garland for Valentines Day.  I love how it turned out and am already planning more garlands in other themes and colors!  I see a spring garland in my near future!

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These were so fun (and cheap!) to make, I thought I would share an easy tutorial with all of you!  I was able to use items I already had at home and didn’t need to spend any money (yay!), but you can find some quality yarn for less than five dollars and it will make hundreds of pom-poms!

easy yarn pom pom tutorial - how to make yarn pom poms

“We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”

Gather Supplies

To make your yarn pom pom you will need to first gather your supplies.  For this project you will need:

Yep!  That’s all you need!  I told you these were easy!

How To Make Yarn Pom Poms

Now that we have the supplies, let’s start crafting!

First, take a small string of yarn and begin wrapping it around two of your fingers.

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Keep wrapping the yarn around your finger until the yarn looks a good size.  I just eyeballed it, but I probably twisted the yarn about 70-100 times.

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When the pom pom looks right, cut the yarn leaving about 6 inches of a tail.  You will then push the tail through your two fingers and pull it out the other side.

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Bring the tail up on top of the yarn and push it through the top of your two fingers.  Pull it tight (this is important!).

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Now, gently slide the yarn off of your fingers, making sure to keep the yarn pulled tight and kept across the middle (this was a little tricky, but you can do it!).

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Knot the tail and wrap the remaining tail across the other middle, this will form a plus sign.  Pull it tight and knot it.  This will form four sections.  Tie another knot securing the yarn.

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Next, grab some sharp scissors.  I used my fabric scissors (aka:  “if anyone uses these for anything other than fabric they will be in HUGE trouble” scissors). 

Begin cutting the loops apart in each section.  Make sure you do not cut the tied tail.  We only had this happened once, but it’s important to remember.

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Continue cutting all of the loops.  Once finished, it will not look very good and you’ll wonder if you did it right!  You did.  I promise.

The pom pom just needs some fluffing.  Shake it, separate the pieces and try to fluff it out as best as you can.

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Once your little ball of yarn is all fluffed out it’s time for a haircut!  This is when you will see your pom pom begin to take shape.

Trim the yarn pieces until they are all nice and even.  I like to cut them fairly short, but not to short.

Play around with it a little bit and you will find the style you like.  My daughters kept theirs a little more long, it’s all personal preference.

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That’s it!  Your pom pom is done!  Isn’t it cute????  The first one takes the longest…..to be honest, I threw away my first five (or was it ten????).

But, once I had a little practice I was able to whip them up much quicker.

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Stick some googly eyes on those pom poms and make little monsters for your kids, OR you can string it together to form a cute garland.  I chose the garland.

Pom Pom Garland Tutorial

Using your pom poms to make a garland is really quick and simple!

DIY pom pom garland tutorial

Gather Your Supplies

To make your pom pom garland you will need to first gather a few supplies.  You will need:

  • Yarn Pom Poms
  • String

After browsing through my house unable to find a string for my garland I resorted to the garage (I was refusing to spend money on this project!).

I found some string in my husbands stash of “stuff” and it worked really well.  Twine or even embroidery thread will work great too.

How To Make A Pom Pom Garland

First, tie a knot at the end of your string and use the string to thread a needle. 

You will then stick your needle right through the middle of your pom-pom, pull it along the string until it reaches the knot, and continue until your garland is at the desired length.

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Knot off the end and you are done!  You can hang your yarn pom-pom garland around your house, but we came up with a different idea.

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We decided to decorate one of our little Christmas Trees as a “valentine tree.”  We have been making little crafts for it all month and decided this pom pom garland would be the perfect addition!

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Let me know if you make a pom pom garland!  I would love to hear how it went.

Related Articles:

Don’t Forget To Pin This Article For Future Reference:

yarn pom pom tutorial - how to make yarn pom poms

I hope this helped you understand how to make a yarn pom pom!

How to Start Budgeting for Beginners

By: Sweet Frugal Life4 Comments

Your Budgeting Questions Answered!

I receive so many messages on a daily basis from people wanting to learn how to start budgeting, but they don’t know how to take that first step.  It is always so amazing to me when I see others who want to improve their life and financial situation.  This isn’t an easy thing!  It can be scary trying to make such a big change into the unknown.  There can be a lot of questions when you first start budgeting and I want to answer some of those for you. 

Disclosure:  “We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”

 

How do I start budgeting?

The very most asked question I receive on Instagram is from people wanting to know how to start budgeting.  I think one of the hardest parts of most new habits is starting.  It is always hard to take that first big, sometimes scary, step in a new direction.  I have three suggestions to help you get on the right track for a successful budget.

1.  Make A Zero Based Budget

I recommend making a Zero Based Budget.  This is a budget where your expenses and income will be the same, in short…..you give every dollar a job to do within the budget.  This does not mean you SPEND every dollar, it means that it has a purpose and place within your budget.

If you are new to budgeting, it might take you a while to figure out just how much money to budget for each category.  This is normal!  A budget is fluid, meaning it is always changing. 

I had about a year of FAILED budgets (no lie) before I finally learned what works for me and my family.

A great resource to get started is my Free Budget Worksheet.  Grab it by signing up below!

 

 

2.  Track All Expenses

Once you make your Zero Based Budget I recommend tracking all of your expenses throughout the month.  Yes, this means writing down every.single.thing you spend.  Even that $1 pack of gum.  Write it down and track it!

Tracking your expenses keeps your budget accurate, and gives you a great window into your spending habits.  By tracking your spending habits, you will be able to see what areas you are over spending in and areas you could cut back.  This is crucial knowledge!

3.  Check Out Dave Ramsey

I highly recommend everyone new to budgeting, frugal living, or paying off debt read the book, The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  This book changed my life and was the one thing that put me on my path to frugal living and mindful spending.

Check it out from your library, borrow it from a friend, or order it from Amazon.  No matter how you get it, just read it.  Dave Ramsey uses easy to understand terms as he explains exactly how to fix your financial situation.

 

What is the best way to keep track of day to day spending?

Ok.  So now that we understand it’s important to track spending, let’s talk about exactly how to do that!

Truth is, there are many different ways to track spending.  There is no right or wrong way to track spending, the most important thing is that you stay consistent.  Here are a few options to try:

1.  Excel Spreadsheet

When we first started budgeting my husband put in hours (and hours and hours) making us an excel spreadsheet budget.  It was full of details and catered to our spending and needs.  

We loved this method.  It was free and easy to customize and liked that we could make it exactly how we needed it.  However, it was very time consuming to make and upkeep.

2.  Budgeting App or Software

After using the excel spreadsheet for a few years we moved on to a computer budgeting program.  It was seriously the best decision ever.

We have been using the You Need a Budget budgeting app for about 10 years now and have never looked back.  It is so user friendly and very affordable!  I love that you can download the app onto your phone and update it as you spend.

A few other great apps available are Every Dollar, Mint, and Pocket Guard.

3.  Paper and Pen

There is nothing wrong with tracking expenses with old fashioned paper and pen.  As a matter of fact, I know many who prefer budgeting this way.

When tracking spending it is important to stay consistent.  Pick a day of the week, schedule a time, and develop a routine for tracking your spending.

 

How do you use cash envelopes?

Cash envelopes are a great way to limit your spending and stick to your budget.  I always recommend them to anyone who consistently is going over budget.  Plus they are so easy to use!

Just make your budget, and then get out enough envelopes for your spending categories.  Label each envelope, “Clothing”, “Groceries”, etc.  Stuff the envelope with enough cash to cover your budgeted amount.

As you go throughout the month, use the cash envelope to purchase items in each category.  Once the cash is gone, your spending for the month is done!  

 

How do you make a grocery budget?

First, I want to remind you that grocery budgets will vary greatly!  There is no secret amount or right/wrong way to budget for groceries.  Food prices vary in different parts of the world, and different families have different needs/diets.

It will take some trial and error to find the right grocery budget for you.  A good rule of thumb is $120/person/month.  So, a family of four would have a budget of $450/month.  However, if you find yourself needing more in your budget that’s OK.  Make your budget work for YOU!

 

How do you save money on groceries?

Groceries are one of the biggest expenses for most budgets.  But!  I have learned a few ways to ease this burden!

1.  Meal Plan

The number one way I have found to keep those costs low is to meal plan.  Plan out every meal you want to eat for the week.  As you meal plan, write out your grocery list, and stick to this list while you shop.  Having a plan reduces the temptation to impulse shop and eat out.

2.  Walmart Grocery Pickup

Another fantastic way to stick to your grocery budget is to use Walmart Grocery Pickup.  It is completely FREE and you get to shop at home (in your PJs!) and then pick your groceries up at the store.  You don’t even have to get out of your car!!

The thing about Walmart Grocery Pickup is that you are able to watch your cart total on the app as you shop.  If you find you are spending more than your budgeted amount, just delete a few items from the cart!  So easy!  So helpful!

 

What are the easiest cashback apps for frugal beginners?

I’m always getting asked about the best cash back apps.  And, I love answering this question because cash back apps are one of my favorite things ever!!  I mean you get paid to buy things you would be buying anyways!  It just doesn’t get much better than that!

Here are a few of my favorite:

1.  Ibotta

Ibotta is the cashback app I have been using the longest.  It’s easy, straightforward and always has a few rebates available!  Sign up using this link for up to a $20 sign up bonus!  Whoo!

2.  Fetch Rewards

The easiest cashback app ever is Fetch Rewards.  Fetch Rewards takes less than a minute to use, and rewards you with points for every receipt.  These points can be redeemed for gift cards to your favorite places (Target and Amazon!!).  Try it for yourself here and use code FETCH2K to get 2,000 bonus points!

3.  Rakuten

Another very easy app to use is Rakuten.  Rakuten gives you cashback when you shop online at participating retailers.  I never buy anything online without first checking the Rakuten website!  Sign up today and get $10 bonus when you spend your first $25!

I share more details about cashback apps here!

 

What should my budget look like?  What is normal for our family?

When you are learning how to budget it’s important to remember that no two budgets look the same, and that’s how it’s suppose to be.

My normal will be different than your normal.  What I spend on groceries, will be different from what you will spend on groceries, etc.  This is one of my favorite parts of a budget.  You can customize it and find something that works for you personally!

With that said, I do recommend following Dave Ramseys budget percentages.  These aren’t the law, but I do like that it gives me a basic number to shoot for.

 

 

What can you do when you cut back, budget and still don’t have enough money?

I loved this question; because it is so relatable and a very real situation for many of us.

My first piece of advice is to keep your head up!  You are NOT alone!  There are so many dealing with similar struggles.  I strongly believe that together, we CAN help each other reach our financial goals.  Reach out to facebook groups and instagram accounts that discuss this issue.  Surrounding yourself with others in this situation should give you the strength, support and ideas to help get you through it.

When you have done EVERYTHING you can think of and the money is just still NOT adding up, that means it’s time to take more extreme actions.  Here are a few ideas to take when you need to be “gazelle intense.”

 1.  Sell items in your home

Look around your house for items you don’t use very often.  Sell these to earn a little extra money.  My goal is to always earn about $50 each month just by selling my clutter.  It’s possible!

10 Items In Your House You Can Sell Quickly To Make Money 

5 Places Online To Sell Your Clutter and Earn Cash).

2.  Start a side hustle

Try to find another way to bring in extra money.  A side hustle is a job you can do during your free time.  Here are a few side hustle ideas you can do at home.

3.  Make some sacrifices

Look through your budget one more time and find a few things you could cut out to have more money.  Could you stop going out to eat, or maybe you could switch cell companies to lower your phone plan, could you cancel your TV subscriptions or maybe not going to the movie theater?

I know that each of these can and will take a huge sacrifice, but remind yourself that the sacrifice is temporary.

4.  Earn more money

Consider asking for a raise from your current employer.  If you have been working at the same location for over a year, many employers will consider giving you a raise.  It never EVER hurts to ask!  Just ask politely and confidently.

If a raise won’t happen you might want to make a job change.  Begin searching around for a job that will pay better and still make you happy.

5.  Downgrade

If you are in desperate need of more money and none of the other suggestions will work for you, you might want to look into downgrading in a few areas of your life.  This might mean trading in your car for a cheaper model or moving into a more affordable home.

I understand it is NOT easy when the money just ISN’T there.  ESPECIALLY when you feel as if you have sacrificed again, and again and again.  I get it, I have been there!  Keep your head up.  Keep trying.  I believe in you!

In Conclusion

I hope this article answered all of your questions about budgeting and gave you the tools you need to know how to start budgeting!  Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.  I’m always happy to help!

Remember that learning to budget takes time, and that’s OK!  Don’t give up if you fail the first few times…..keep trying and keep learning.

 

Pin for future reference:

how to start a budget for beginners

budgeting questions and answers

FAQ from Budget Beginners (2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope this helps you understand how to start budgeting for beginners.

Best Fluffy Pancake Recipe

By: Sweet Frugal Life8 Comments

Your family will love these easy pancakes!

I love to make my kids pancakes for breakfast!  They are easy to whip up, VERY cheap to make, and always a huge hit with everyone in my family.  The only problem is that I am extremely picky about my pancakes!  I have spent YEARS (seriously) trying dozens and dozens of different pancake recipes.  Some have been to sweet, others have ingredients I don’t commonly have in my house.  A few of the recipes had pancakes turn out way to flat.  I came across the best fluffy pancake recipe about 8 years ago…and we haven’t looked back since!  The pancakes are easy to make, ingredients are always stocked in my cupboards, and they turn out light and fluffy every single time!  It is a winner and a must try!

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Best Fluffy Pancake Recipe Tips

This fluffy pancake recipe is so easy to make!  All it takes is a little bit of mixing and stirring, a few minutes of cooking and you’re done!

Buttermilk is one of the secret ingredients for these pancakes, but if you don’t have buttermilk you can use regular milk (they won’t taste as good, but you can do it!).

You can also make your own buttermilk (yep!  it’s possible!).  To make your own buttermilk add 1 Tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of milk and stir.  Let it sit for a few minutes, and then it’s ready to use!

The other very important pancake secret is to not over stir!  You want it slightly lumpy (emphasis on slightly).  Get the flour clumps out, but don’t over mix it so much that it loses the light fluff.

How To Make The Best Fluffy Pancake Recipe

In a large bowl stir together 2 cups flour, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt and 4 tsp baking powder until well mixed.

In a separate, smaller bowl mix 2/3 cup oil, 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cup buttermilk together.

Gently add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir.  Make sure you do not over mix (remember, this is important!).

Cook pancakes on a hot griddle and serve.

Light and Fluffy Pancake Recipe

5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 2/3 cup oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl stir all of the dry ingredients together. 
    In a separate bowl mix the oil, eggs and milk.
  • Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until mixed. (do not over mix)
  • Pour 1/4 cup batter on hot griddle. 
    Bake until bubbles appear.  Turn.  Bake the other side until golden brown.

Freezing Pancakes

You can also freeze these pancakes to use for another day.  I love to double the recipe, and then freeze half of them for a quick breakfast another day.  You can find the tutorial about how to do this here:  Stock Piling your Freezer: How to freeze Pancakes for a Quick Frugal Breakfast

If you are looking for even more family friendly recipes, make sure you check out my eCookbook, Mel’s Home Cooking.

Related Articles:

Easy Overnight Oatmeal Recipe

How to Make Butter in a Jar

Easy Huckleberry Muffin Recipe

Don’t forget to pin this recipe for future reference!

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best fluffy pancakes -easy pancakes to make from scratch

Don’t waste any more time and try the best fluffy pancake recipe today!

Restock Your Pantry after a Pantry Challenge

By: Sweet Frugal Lifecomment

Pantry Challenge Tips

I recently completed a successful pantry challenge.  The goal was to cut my regular monthly grocery budget ($400) in half.  By doing this we would focus on eating the items I already had stocked in my freezer and pantry.

Fortunately, I had many friends on Instagram join me in this challenge.  I loved watching all of the progress and having a group to encourage each other and share all our frugal ideas.  Be sure to check out this article if you want to have your own pantry challenge and save money with a pantry challenge.

“We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”

What’s Next?

My most asked question about this challenge has been, “Will you spend a lot of money on groceries in February to restock the pantry?”  The answer is No.  That would defeat the whole purpose of the challenge.  Today’s article is going to explain how I will slowly restock my pantry while staying in budget!

ways to restock your pantry and stay in budget

Here are five ways I slowly restock my pantry:

1.  Budget for the Pantry

I have a weekly budget dedicated to pantry stock up.  My current budgeted amount for pantry stock up is $15 per week.  This pantry money is taken out of our $100 weekly grocery budget.  Because it has been budgeted and planned for, restocking doesn’t require any extra money or stress, just the way I like it!

Some weeks the pantry budget is spent at local sales.  Other times it’s stashed away to save for another week.  It all depends on our current needs.

2.  Buy Multiples

Next, get into the habit of buying multiple items at the grocery store.  The way I see it, if I’m going to buy one item, and I have a few extra dollars in my budget, than I might as well grab a few more.

I do 90% of my shopping using Walmart’s Free Grocery Pick (get $10 off your first order using this link).  I love this service for about 1 million reasons (really), but a huge reason is the ability to watch my grocery total as I add and subtract items to my order.  Whenever I am below my budgeted $100/week, I will add on a few more pantry staples.  As a result, this helps my pantry to grow and keeps me in budget.

3.  Buy in Bulk

Watch for opportunities to buy grocery items in bulk.  Many groceries will be priced much lower if it is bought in bulk, but not all.  Remember to always check the price per unit to make sure you are getting the best deal.

One of the ways I shop in bulk is by shopping local grocery case lot sales.  To find a case lot sale near you be sure to talk to your local grocer.  In many areas these sales might be called different names or even unadvertised.  So, don’t give up easily!

Another way I love buying in bulk is through a meat co-op.  I have recently started buying my chicken from Savory Butcher.  Their chicken is priced right and are delicious high quality.  If you need some direction of what to do with your bulk chicken read my article; What to do with your bulk chicken; including 6 Freezer Chicken Recipes.

4.  Shop Sales

One of my favorite ways to restock a pantry is by shopping the sales and deals.

My favorite app to check for deals is the Flipp app.  It is completely free to download and extremely user friendly, just the way I like it!

The app is updated weekly as the new grocery ads come available.  I browse it every week to find what the sales are and plan my menus/pantry stock up around those deals.  Many weeks I can’t find anything worth buying, but other times I find some really great deals worth buying.

5.  Take Advantage of Cashback

Always, ALWAYS take advantage of the cashback apps available!  These are not huge money savers, but every.single.little.penny adds up.  For example; whenever I see my husband throwing away a receipt without scanning it for cashback I ask him, “Would you throw 25 cents in the trash???”   Of course he wouldn’t.  But essentially you are losing out on free money if you toss a receipt without first scanning it into the apps.

A few of my favorite cashback apps for grocery shopping are:.

Ibotta:  This is my most used app.  Ibotta offers cashback on hundreds of items every time you scan your grocery receipt.  My favorite cashback offers are the “any brand” items.  These offers include items in the dairy, produce, and other grocery departments.

*If you sign up for Ibotta using my link you will receive  a free $10 bonus!

Checkout 51:  Checkout 51 is similar to Ibotta, in that it gives cashback on participating items when you scan your receipt.  However, they don’t have as many offers as Ibotta, but it is still always worth checking.                                                                                                                        

*If you sign up using this link you will receive $3 when you redeem your first offer.

Fetch Rewards:  Fetch Rewards is so easy!  This is by far the most user friendly app.  All you do is scan your receipt and you automatically earn points.  These points can be redeemed for gift cards to just about anywhere.  My favorites are Target and Amazon.  I really like Fetch because you can redeem your points at as low at $3.

*Use the code: FETCH2K for an automatic 2,000 points ($2) when signing up.

I will be using each of these 5 strategies as I restock my pantry AND stick to my normal budget. The most importantly thing to remember is that nobody is perfect.  We all need to keep trying day by day!

In Conclusion

As a result of the pantry challenge last month I saved $200.  I know it will take a few months to restock my pantry, but I know it’s worth it.  The pantry challenge gives me more than a couple extra hundred dollars.  More importantly, it teaches me how to cook more at home, shop smarter and budget better.  That is priceless!

Related Articles:

15 Easy Pantry Dinner Ideas

Cheap Foods to Buy For a Well Stocked Pantry

Liked what you read?  Pin it to use for your next pantry challenge!

pantry challenge tips

easy pantry challenge tips - how to stock your pantry easily

I hope this gave you some good pantry challenge tips!

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

By: Sweet Frugal Life2 Comments

The very best whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffin recipe!

My friend shared this whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffin recipe with me years ago and I have been hooked on them ever since!  My kids love to eat these muffins for breakfast, after school snacks and in their school lunches.

whole wheat banana chocolate chips muffins

These muffins are quick and easy to make, fairly healthy thanks to the whole wheat, which makes me happy!  They are also super easy to make a large batch to freeze for later….and my ENTIRE family LOVES them.  So, basically just a win all around!

How To Freeze Muffins

This whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffin recipe is perfect for freezing!  I like to double the recipe and then freeze half of them for later!

To freeze these muffins, just place the cooled baked muffins into a ziplock freezer bag and then throw them (or I guess gently place them….either way works 😉 ) into the freezer.  That’s it!

When you are ready to eat the muffins, take them out of the freezer and thaw on the counter.  You can even just pop one into the microwave for a minute if you don’t want to wait for them to thaw.  (this is my kids’ fave trick!)

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Easy Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe

First, beat softened butter, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a large mixer.

Add the eggs, honey and mashed bananas.  Mix together well.

Next, slowly mix in the flour and chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into greased muffin cups.  

Bake muffins for 23-28 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3 ripe bananas mashed
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together until smooth.
  • Add the eggs, honey and mashed bananas.  Beat well.
  • Next, mix in the flour and chocolate chips.
  • Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full.
  • Bake for 23-28 minutes.
  • This recipes yields 12 regular sized muffins.

This is such a great, easy and family friendly recipe!  If you are looking for more easy family favorites be sure to check out my eCookbook, Mel’s Home Cooking, where I share all of our tried and true recipes, perfect for busy families!

 

You might be interested in a few of my other recipes:

Light and Fluffy Pancake Recipe

Homemade Graham Cracker Recipe

Quick and Easy Overnight Oatmeal

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whole wheat banana muffin recipe

I hope your family enjoys this easy whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffin recipe!

How to Freeze Pancakes

By: Sweet Frugal Life1 Comment

Tips to store pancakes in the freezer.

Trying to get my three kids fed, ready, and out the door every morning can get a little hectic.  One of my favorite hacks to make these mornings a little easier was to start making breakfast ahead of time to store in the freezer.  One of our favorite freezer breakfast meal are these pancakes.  They are so easy to make and freeze!  Today I am going to share everything you need to know about how to freeze pancakes.  You will love doing this!!  Promise!

This idea really started because I’m trying to be like my mom.  I really think my mom was supermom.  Granted, I didn’t think that when I was growing up….but now that I have become a mom myself, I am able to look back and realize just how hard she worked for our family.

I feel fairly confident when I say that many of you are supermoms as well.  You wake up early, spend all day serving your family, and go to bed late worrying about your kids.  My goal is to be supermom!  I fail about everyday, but I continue to try!

One of the many “supermom” traits from my mom was her willingness to make us a hot breakfast every single morning before school.  I knew that when I walked upstairs after getting dressed the table would be set, and a fresh warm breakfast would be served.  I TRY to do the same with my kids….but I REALLY struggle some mornings to find the energy and motivation.

I’ve recently started batch cooking many breakfast items and stocking up my freezer for quick breakfasts for my kids before they head out the door for school.  I want to share how you can do that too!

for all ages

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How to Freeze Pancakes

To freeze pancakes, you first have to make the pancakes!  I love this pancake recipe, and I think your family will love it too!

Once you are done making your pancakes, including cooking on the griddle, let them cool completely.

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After they are cooled place the pancakes on a cookie sheet in a single layer.  Don’t let any of the sides touch each other.

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Put the cookie sheet into your freezer to allow your pancakes to flash freeze, this takes about 1 hour.

While the pancakes are in the freezer you can prepare your freezer bags.  This is easy!  Just get out a freezer bag and write “Pancakes” and the date on one side.  Done and done!

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Check your pancakes in the freezer after an hour.  Once they are frozen completely you can take the pancakes off of the cookie sheets and place them all into your freezer bag.  Feel free to fill the bag as full as you need to!  

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Stick the bag of pancakes in the freezer and you are done!  Yay!  Easy peasy!

How To Use Your Frozen Pancakes

Using your frozen pancakes are about as easy as freezing them!

When you are ready to use the pancakes, simply take out the number of pancakes you need and microwave them until they are warm, about 1 minute.  That’s all!  Now serve the warm pancakes with your favorite toppings!

These are also easy for the kids to get out of the freezer themselves!  If you ever have a busy morning, your older kids can get the pancakes out by themselves!  Yay for independence!

Related Articles:

How to Freeze Raspberries

Freezer Chicken Recipes and How to Freeze Bulk Chicken

8 Foods You Should Freeze in an Ice Cube Tray

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I hope this article helped you to learn how to freeze pancakes.

Pantry Challenge Tips to Save Money on Groceries

By: Sweet Frugal Life7 Comments

How to save money on groceries with a pantry challenge.

I just finished a month long pantry challenge!!  It was such a great way to learn more about my spending habits and how to cook frugally.  I’m excited to share some of those pantry challenge tips with you! 

A pantry challenge is a challenge you can take yourself (or as a group) that is meant to encourage you to eat food items you already have at home (pantry, fridge, freezer, shelves, etc.), instead of spending money at the store on groceries.

For my pantry challenge I decided to cut my regular grocery budget of $400 a month in half.  This would mean I could only spend $200 for our family of five.  Honestly, this was no easy task and I was incredibly intimidated from the beginning, but I was determined to make it work.

The pantry challenge is now officially over (thank goodness) and I am proud of how the challenge went.  I would LOVE to say that I met goal….but I didn’t quite accomplish that…..I went over budget by $1.98.  My grand total spent was $201.98 on groceries for our family of five….and you know what I am so PROUD of MYSELF!!!

I wanted to share all about how I was able to make it work and what I learned during the process.

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Make a Plan

One of the most important pantry challenge tips is to plan ahead.  A detailed meal plan is vital to being able to see success with a pantry challenge.  I learned quickly that if I planned every meal and snack with great detail I wasn’t as tempted to go buy something at the store.

At the beginning of each week look through your pantry and cupboard and make an inventory of the food you already have in your home.  I was always shocked at how much food I could find…when I kept thinking, “We don’t have any food at home.”  We did, we had food at home, I just needed to look harder!

I was able to eat out of the pantry exclusively about 50% of the time.  The other 50% of the meals I tried to only plan really frugal meals with only a few cheap ingredients I would need to buy.

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  • If you struggle with meal planning, try eMeals!  They take all the guess work out of meal planning!  For a small fee you will receive meal plans, shopping lists and recipes to help you eat at home more.  Try it out with this FREE 14 Day Trial.

Successful Meal Plans

I listed out a few of the meals and snacks I found to be the most helpful in keeping the grocery costs low.

Breakfasts

Fluffy Eggs

Pancakes

Eggs and Toast

Oatmeal

Breakfast Potato Casserole

Slow Cooker Oatmeal

Lunch

Muffin Tin Lunch

Sandwiches

Salad from Garden

Leftovers

Dinner

Freezer Burritos

Layered Zuchinni

Spaghetti

Taco Soup

Balsamic Chicken

Pasta Bake

Taco Tortilla Soup

Grilled Chicken

Korean Beef

Baked Island Chicken

Snacks

Pretzels

Homemade Cookies

Energy Bites

Popcorn

Canned Fruit

Bananas

Homemade Pudding

Homemade Bread

 

 

Grocery Shopping

When it comes to a pantry challenge, grocery shopping can get stressful.

But, fortunately Walmart Grocery Pickup makes it all so much easier (hello, shopping in my PJs and groceries loaded in the car FOR ME!  Sign me up!).

With my $200 monthly grocery budget, I was only allowed $50 a week.  One of my favorite things about Walmart Grocery Pickup is the ability to watch my cart total while I’m shopping.  (I know I COULD use a calculator at the store, but I’m just not great at it….) Being able to see how much I’m spending WHILE I’m shopping was crucial for me during this challenge.

If my cart ever went over the $50 amount I knew I needed to go back through the cart and delete a few items.  This was MUCH harder to do than I had anticipated!  My family all had to sacrifice a few items we were use to having regularly in order to make the month work (I totally had to give up my daily Premier Protein Shake!  ;( ).

How to Get Family Support During a Pantry Challenge

It’s really helpful to have your family support during a pantry challenge.  I mean, they are going to be eating the food too!  But, sometimes this is easier said than done.

I would LOVE to tell you that my family was totally on board and excited about my little July Pantry Challenge Experiment……but, they actually hated the whole thing.  They couldn’t believe the lack of food I was bringing home from each grocery pickup trip.

My daughters enjoy baking in the kitchen, so I tried to get them excited about helping me make a lot of our homemade snacks.  They enjoyed this….for a while.

As the month went on my family became more and more tired of our pantry challenge.  The biggest problem was the snacks. 

Unfortunately, my family is use to having snacks available in the pantry, and snacks just couldn’t fit in my budget this month. 

Something that worked well for us was making a list of snacks that we had available.  This sign was hung on the fridge for everyone to see.

So, whenever anyone complained about there being “No snacks”, I pointed them to the list.

I think they had gotten so use to those convenience snacks (not awesome parenting, I know) that they had forgotten about all the other great options we had.

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Even though my family didn’t necessarily ENJOY the pantry challenge, I am really glad they were able to go through it with me.  It was such a good life lesson for my kids to learn about stretching dollars and how much food really costs.

What I learned

My biggest takeaway from the July Pantry Challenge is that I CAN live on less than I usually do. Yes, it took A LOT more effort, (preparing a lot more food from scratch and a lot of time planning), but I CAN do it!  We survived.

Moving forward I have a new sense of motivation to stay in budget, shop my pantry, and really spend with a purpose.  I’ve always told myself the lie that I HAVE to spend money on this food because we NEED it……but, we don’t!  We were just fine having less food around.  I am excited to take this new knowledge and adjust my grocery shopping from here on out.

What’s Next

My pantry challenge is over!  Does this mean I get to spend a lot of money next month restocking my shelves?????  Absolutely NOT!

I will be going back to my regular grocery budget of $400 a month.  Of course, I will slowly try to restock my pantry, but I will always stay within that $400 budget.

I honestly was terrified for this challenge, I really didn’t know if I would be able to meet my goal, $400 a month is usually a little bit of a challenge.  But I did it, and I’m so glad I was willing to try!  If you are wanting to find a way to save a little extra cash, try having your own personal Pantry Challenge.  Be sure to come back and let me know if you did it and how it went!!

Related Articles:

25 Items You Must Have In A Frugal Pantry

10 Quick Ways to Save Money on Groceries

Pin for The Next Pantry Challenge:

what is a pantry challenge - how to do a pantry challenge

tips for a pantry challenge - save money on food

I hope these pantry challenge tips helps you to save more money.

Free Budget Worksheets

By: Sweet Frugal Life3 Comments

Are you wanting to get started budgeting, but just feel unsure to start?  I have been there, I understand, and I am here to help!  After receiving multiple questions about “where to start” from my readers, I decided to make a little crash course to help you get started living frugally and budgeting better.  With the 5 Days to Frugal email course you will receive an email each day for 5 days.  These emails will each cover a different frugal living topic, including 5 free budget worksheets.

The topics taught in this free course include:  Budgeting, Making Goals, Meal Planning, Homemade Household and more.  Each day I will share with you all of my frugal living tips to help you succeed.

Along with each email you will also receive 5 of my favorite frugal recipes and these 5 Budget Worksheets.  You will receive a Spending Tracker, a Budget Worksheet, Meal Plan Worksheet, Sinking Fund Tracker, and Household Cleaning Recipes.  No need to worry, I will explain to you exactly how to use each of these worksheets in a way that will be most beneficial to you!

Click Here to Sign Up For The Free 5 Days to Frugal email course and to recieve your Free Budget    Worksheets!

 

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I am really excited for this project!  I hope others will find it useful, helpful and encouraging as they try to save money and live beneath their minds.

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Liked what you saw?  Pin it for future reference!

Free Budget worksheet Printable -how to start budgeting this year

 

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