Grocery Shopping 101

So one of the big challenges that we faced in our household was grocery shopping. We cook everyday almost three meals a day, so imagine how much we would spend on produce at the supermarket. Recently I have been reading tons of articles on how to save money during grocery shopping, most of them included coupons, but who has time nowadays to spend hours clipping coupons and comparing prices?. I certainly do not have that type of time, so I started experimenting on my own grocery shopping and finally cut down my final receipt from $100 to $60 almost 40% saved!. I know many of you out there would say that you have seen better and your right, I have heard stories of 60% saved, but as I said in my case this is amazing because it was done without coupons or much price comparing. Here a few tips that worked for me: 

1. Plan out your meals for the week. We have a notepad on the fridge with the dinners of each day. Based on this notepad we start off our shopping list. 

2. We tried a couple of supermarkets until hit the jackpot with one where meat prices were $0.50 to $1.00 lower than other supermarkets. (In our case meats are the most expensive item in our shopping list). 

3. Try to stick to the specials as much as you can, certain cuts of meats, in season vegetables, etc. 

4. Stick to items you can use in various dishes during the week. For example maybe one day you did mashed potatoes a few days later you can try roasted butter and rosemary potatoes. 

5. Reinvent your dishes this way you don't have to buy many items just a few and re-invent them during the week, check out my Beef Rice recipe on my previous post. 

6. Have basics always in stock like broths, spaghetti sauce, spices, condiments like BBQ sauce, salad dressings, etc. 

7. Stay away from the processed junk food this is way more expensive than making it yourself (in some cases) 

8. Non - Produce items like toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoo, soap and other stuff sometimes is more expensive than getting it from your local department store or even drug store, so make that extra stop. 

9. Stick to the necessity of that week. Do not add items just because; Make sure your budget covers your daily meals, including breakfast and lunches. 

10. Finally review your list make sure you have everything. If you have items that were not on the list decide if you really need it and can expense it. 

Bonus - If you have space and time to start a garden in your backyard it'll save you money on produce. I myself have plans to start of with an herb garden. 

Hope these tips work for you as they worked for me. =)    

Turn up plain white rice

Living in Puerto Rico is a dream, especially when it comes to the food. The gastronomy of the island has to be one of the best untapped secrets the island has to offer. A selection of foods makes it into the typical puertorrican menu such as pernil asado, chuletas, arroz con pollo and many other. While I believe we make the best white rice; so good in many families around the island this side is served almost everyday. That being said it can get kind of bland, so experimenting in the kitchen I came up with beef rice and heres the recipe to share. 

Beef Rice 

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter 

1/2  chopped medium onion

1/3 cup of sliced mushrooms

2 cups of good low sodium beef broth 

1 1/2 cups of medium grain white rice


Procedure

- In a saucepan melt the butter

- Sautee the onions and the mushrooms

- Turn the heat to medium and add the beef stock salt and pepper, bring to a boil

- When a rolling boil is achieved turn down the heat to low, add the rice. Mix and cover 

- Fluff the rice every 15 to 20 minutes. 

- When the rice reaches it's soft point you'll know it's done 

Your family will love you for turning up the volume on this classic side. Hope you enjoy as much as we did. 

Easy Homemade Soap

On the verge of entering this year's gift giving season I came to wonder what would make a great but small inexpensive present to give out around the office?; in my case store, daycare and a couple of special friends, we don't want to spend a fortune but rather demonstrate that deep appreciation and gratitude for every thing they do... simple handmade something...

It's amazing the quantity of things yo can do with your own hands with the help of just the right tools. I ventured out on soaps. Rather than buying the thing ready made or just paying someone double the amount for making it for me, I settled on researching and finding the time to make these adorable presents personalized with my thanks to them. So here is how I made them:

What you need:
100% glycerin soap (you can find it at your local craft store or candles store)
Soap colorant (also at your local craft store)
Essence oil (there is a variety of essences like lavender, sweet pea, you can even find of your favorite perfume)
Candy mold
Small whisk
Dropper
Microwave safe bowl

Procedure:
1. Cut into small pieces the glycerin, which is nothing but ready made soap this soap cures in 24 hours.
2. Place them into the microwave safe bowl.
3. Blast 10 seconds and stir. You have to be real careful not to burn the soap because it could scorch and go bad, nobody wants a stinky soap.
4. Whem glycerin is melted add just a couple of drops of colorant; a little goes a long way. If soap is setting up blast a couple of seconds in microwave to continue, carful not to scorch it.
5. Add the essence.
6. Pour into the candy mold.

7. Wait a couple of hours for it to set up and unmold.

Voila you will have in hand beautiful artistic soaps made by... none other than you!!!

Hope this tip works for you as it did for me. Happy soaping!! :)

Hot flavors for Cinco de mayo...Or any other day

Let's start off by mentioning what is the celebration of cinco de mayo. Many people think we celebrate the independence of Mejico which in fact what is really celebrated is the victory of el ejercito mejicano against the french army, which by the way was unlikely to happen and also happened during the american civil war. So in honor of el ejercito mejicano in the town of Puebla, Mejico and the freedom of every Mejicano, in the United States they observe 5 de mayo.

So I have been watching so much t.v. these day since I had a couple of days off my regular job I remembered a recipe thateven though is not mexican it does have some of the flavors of Mejico and here I share a simple breakfeast.

Poached egg over a tortilla hash

Hash
Couple of cubes of smoked ham
1 small potato cubed
Half an onion diced
1/4 cup poblano pepper diced
 couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce
1 tspn of garlic powder
1tspn of cumin
A dash of hot sauce

Sautee the potato, onion and pepper with 1 tsp of oil and a couple of tablespoons of butter.
Add the smoked ham and keep on sauteeing.
Add a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce or sub for a tomato salsa which is a mixture of tomato, red onios, peppers and cilantro.
Add garlic and cumin
Add hot sauce to your liking.

Heat up a tortilla and fold it un quarters
Place it first on the dish.
Add a couple of spoonfulls of the hash
Add a poached egg on top of everything
Add some chopped green onions or in my case I added some romaine lettuce for crunch.
Add some cheese i used cheddar and jack
A dollop of sour cream

And we are done could be a great brunch item

Here's a picture of mine turned out, hope you enjoy

A little intro will start things just right

So let's kick off this blog with some introductions my name is Melissa and I am from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. I love all things home and even though I don't get to spend that much time here, since I am a working mother, I love spending a few minutes of my day learning something new. I absolutely love the kitchen so don't be surprised if you read more about cooking than gardening. As I mentioned I am a working mother, I work at a retail store and mother a happy baby boy. I have made it my life purpose to experience as much as I can from experimenting foods to traveling places, finding those simple life hacks to get through life easier, parenting and work techniques. Life is a beautiful thing to just waste it on just working and sleeping, so I hope this blog will entertain and also be informative on all things lifestyle. Write ya back soon ;)