Posted on 13th June 2010 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening
eating frugal, food, food budgets, frugal, frugal living, thrifty plan, USDA thrifty food plan
According to the USDA, the monthly THRIFTY plan budget for the groceries of me, my husband and our 7 children is, wait for it…$1217 a month! Holy cow! That’s the cheapest plan they can come up with. If I was LIBERAL with our spending, according to the USDA we could spend $2400 a month! Is there anyone who spends that much per month on food? If so, we need to talk.
I was also reading over at the Jeub Family about a recent NPR article that said it now costs $222,360, on average, to raise a child. One Child! No wonder people get freaked out about having kids. If I listened to stuff like this all of the time, I’d be afraid to have kids too. Seriously, how much do people think car seats cost? And really, soccer was only $35.
Would you believe that we spend less than $600 a month on food for our family? That’s less than $3 per day per person. I’ve done it on even less than that – less than $100 a week – but in the summer we buy more foods to grill than we probably should. Winter is where I really save money.
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Technorati Tags: eating frugal, food, food budgets, frugal, frugal living, thrifty plan, USDA thrifty food plan
Posted on 21st May 2010 by Mish in attachment parenting | food | frugal | homeschool
food, food budgets, frugal living, homeschool, inc. controlling food, large families, large family budgets, unschool, unschooling
I don’t really control what my kids eat. That’s not true. I control what comes into the house. I am very label conscious. I won’t buy anything that has high fructose corn syrup or BHT. If there is an organic version, I’ll buy that. I don’t buy prepackaged foods. I don’t buy pre-made cookies and other treats. Although the occasional bag of Oreos does work its way into our house. We also eat frozen, pre-made pizzas if I have forgotten to make dough in the morning!
I buy a lot – and I mean a lot – of fresh fruit, cheese, all-natural granola bars, applesauce, frozen fruit for smoothies, milk, juice, some types of crackers, carrots, and cereal.
And then I do this crazy thing – I let the kids eat it. Pretty much whenever they want and in whatever order. I’ve had kids who have requested peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, cereal for dinner and all kinds of stuff in between.
Why do I do it? Because I still can’t take more than two cookies out of the cookie jar without feeling like I’m doing something bad. Because I still need to “clean my plate” even at the detriment of my own weight (and I’ve had some issues there) every night at dinner.
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Technorati Tags: food, food budgets, frugal living, homeschool, inc. controlling food, large families, large family budgets, unschool, unschooling
Posted on 17th May 2010 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening | green
city farming, food, frugal, gardening, large families, michelle hogan, michelle kennedy, organic gardening, urban farming, urban homesteading
All day Saturday and Sunday we placed compost thickly over the side yard (we live on a corner lot so most of our yard is on the side) and started planting the tomatoes and peppers I started in March. Eggplants went in as did rows of lettuce, brussel sprouts, more broccoli and cauliflower. We also placed mounds of compost over sod we dug up and planted squash, pumpkins and cucumbers.
Because we have so much yard and terrible grass, we are smothering the lawn and digging up places for the plants. We’ll see how this method works. We are trying very hard to use only hand tools and rid ourselves of gas guzzling machines (yes, getting rid of our mower is next on the list!). We hope to rely on mulching and compost to help us in this endeavor so that maybe I’m not nearly as sore next weekend as I am this weekend!
These photos are from Saturday, but we actually continued the smothering to the path on Sunday with another load of free compost from the yard waste center. If you have a yard waste center near you, check it out, don’t waste your time buying bags! This place is amazing!
Jack helps get compost out of the truck
Technorati Tags: city farming, food, frugal, gardening, large families, michelle hogan, michelle kennedy, organic gardening, urban farming, urban homesteading
Posted on 12th April 2010 by mishakennedy in finance | food | gardening | money | personal finance
food, frugal, gardening, money, personal finance
My oldest son, Matthew, called me a loser a few years back. He was 15 then. OK, he didn’t call me a “loser” specifically, but he was talking to a nurse in the emergency room about how he was thinking of going into politics when he gets older. He wants to be the president, he said.
“Hey,” I said to him after the nurse had gone, “I was going to be president when I grew up.”
I really was going to be president. I had every intention of going into politics when I was between the ages of 14 and 18. My intention was to complete college, maybe go to law school and then run for office – with the White House in full-view. To make a long story short, I went to college in DC and in essence found that I enjoyed writing about politics and being an activist more than I wanted to run for an office – and as I pointed out to my son, who was looking at me with much pity – I still have time to run for an office if I so choose. At 34, I am not even yet eligible to run for president…although the clock is ticking louder now than it once did.
“I know, Mom,” he said. “But I’m actually going to do it.” The way he said it, stung a little. He said it with such disdain, as if I had thrown away my dream. Did he just see me as a wife and mother – with no other accomplishments under my belt? Did he think I somehow failed because my dreams at 14 or 15 were not the dreams I achieved?
He did.
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Technorati Tags: food, frugal, gardening, money, personal finance
Posted on 24th February 2010 by Mish in food | frugal
food, HFCS, high fructose corn syrup, label reading, nutrition
Otherwise entitled: Why I can’t shop at Aldi…
Yup! You can call me yet another crunchy name…I am Michelle and I am a label reader. I read every label for every product that my husband and children (and me) eat, drink, spray, squeeze – you name it. If it somehow gets absorbed by our bodies – I read the label before I buy it. This tends to drive my husband crazy if he’s with me on a trip to Wal-Mart. Fortunately, I know most of my preferred brands and I can pluck them off the shelves without reading the labels.
Now, lest you think that this somehow turns our grocery bill into thousands of dollars each month – you would be very wrong. I read all the labels, buy appropriate products and still keep our groceries (including paper products and cleaning supplies and other miscellany) to between $600-$800 per month. I can do it on less than $400, but I choose not to because there are some things we like to have around and some convenience foods that make my life easier – especially with morning sickness coming on strong.
So, why can’t I shop at Aldi? Well, we went to Aldi last week. I had heard so many great things about it and being one that could care less about brand names, I thought I’d check it out. Unfortunately, every other item I picked up had HFCS as one of its main ingredients. Contrary to what the corn board or whoever they are would like you to think High Fructose Corn Syrup is very bad for you. It encourages obesity and if you need more convincing, go here because I don’t want to write a whole article on it right now! Most of Aldi’s foods also contained MSG which I won’t tolerate. I did pick up some tuna fish and some canned wild salmon, so that was a bit of a bargain. I believe we found a good deal on potatoes. But their cereal, oatmeal (except the regular oats), even their canned soup – all had either MSG or HFCS or worse! I simply won’t tolerate those ingredients in my children’s food. (more…)
Technorati Tags: food, HFCS, high fructose corn syrup, label reading, nutrition
Posted on 27th April 2009 by Mish in food
ace of cake, ace of cakes, cake, computer cake, food, laptop cake
I’ve always wanted to decorate cakes. I’ve gotten pretty good at the standard piping and the like, but I’ve never worked with fondant or anything like it.
But, when Liam – who turned 11 today – wanted a computer cake, frugal me was reluctant to pay someone to make it. So, I decided to undertake the task myself and went about designing and making a laptop cake. It’s far from being the Ace of Cakes, but I thought it wasn’t terrible for a first try! And the kids sure did like it…
This is the result: 
Technorati Tags: ace of cake, ace of cakes, cake, computer cake, food, laptop cake
Posted on 20th March 2009 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening
Barack Obama, food, frugal, gardening, organic gardening
It’s nice to see that our Presidential family has a frugal side…
The New York Times has reported that Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef who prepared meals for the Obamas in Chicago and is an advocate of local food, will oversee the First Family’s new kitchen garden. Here is a picture of the layout as well as video of the space:
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Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, food, frugal, gardening, organic gardening
Posted on 10th March 2009 by Mish in food | frugal | gardening
city living, food, frugal, garden, gardening, organic, simple living
A long time ago, when I lived in a small apartment with two small children, I found a book at a used bookstore called, “The Apartment Farmer.” Within days of reading this book, I turned my small suburban apartment into a small suburban farm. For the cost of the seeds and some containers I found at thrift stores, I grew tomatoes on my little patio in a five gallon bucket. I started seeds in egg cartons. I had peppers of all sorts. You name it, I grew it. I even grew two pumpkins in a huge whiskey barrel -type contraption. I cut down a bucket and grew small cukes, too.
Spoiled by the luxury of a huge garden area in Vermont, I am now faced with a small (in farm terms) yard once again. While I am enjoying the challenges of raising a family green and frugal in the city – I must say that I’ve been concerned about my ability to garden effectively and provide the amount of produce that I once did.
We are fortunate, here in Green Bay, to live very close to the “country” as it were – and a wealth of providers of various produce. But I like to grow stuff. I like the frugality of it. I like the exercise. I like to plant stuff and watch it grow. I like to roam around the garden early in the morning with a cup of coffee and debug a few plants and pull a few stray weeds.
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Technorati Tags: city living, food, frugal, garden, gardening, organic, simple living
Posted on 2nd February 2009 by Mish in food | frugal
food, frugal, organic
Buy organic? What are you crazy? I”m trying to save money!
I know, it does seem like buying organic costs twice as much as buying “regular” food, but it doesn”t. Not if you know how to shop. I avoided my local co-op for years because I was terrified that my already high food bill would skyrocket if I dared buy the organic versions. But I was wrong.
It took a little radical change on my part, but I knew my family had to eat better and so I took what I call the “three-month” challenge. I vowed to find a way to incorporate organic and locally-grown foods into at least 90 percent of our diet within that time frame.
It wasn”t nearly as hard as I thought it would be.
First, I had to dispel yourself of the notion that eating healthy food was more expensive or required a lot of cooking. And second, I had to stop letting the children dictate what goes in the pantry. Yes, my children would think I was a goddess if I let them have gummy, sugary, cartoon-character “fruit snacks,” but I don”t care. They alternately think I”m goddess and hate me on any given day anyway, so I”ve decided that I”m in charge of what goes into their bodies and they”ll just have to live with it. And you know what? They do. They might roll their eyes (my 13-year-old daughter is especially good at this) that there are no pre-fab “granola” bars in the pantry, but she gives me just as big a hug when I put mangoes in the fruit basket. Relying on the approval of children is a silly way to shop.
Children will never, ever choose an apple or a yogurt after school if there are chocolate chip cookies or Ring Dings or “Easy Mac” in the house. But they will choose an apple, orange or organic granola bar if that”s all there is.
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Technorati Tags: food, frugal, organic
Posted on 2nd February 2009 by Mish in autism | food
autism, food, high fructose corn syrup, mercury
You know those commercials that are now on TV saying “what’s the big deal about high fructose corn syrup?” Well, here’s your answer. While I can’t say that my family is HFCS-free (we do indulge in sodas when we eat out and I bought some chocolate syrup last night for my ice cream), we do our best. I read the labels of sandwich bread, yogurts, you name it. I won’t buy it if it has HFCS at least 90 percent of the time.
What’s sad about the list of brands posted in this very comprehensive report by the Health Observatory, is that I confidently fed my family many of these products through the years. Indeed, my husband is still an avid Coca-Cola Classic fan and I don’t know how I’m going to get him to quit smoking and quit drinking Coke too!
Here’s the list of brands:
7-Up Beverage
A & W Root Beer Beverage
Aunt Jemima Original Syrup Syrup
Campbell’s Tomato Soup Soup
Coca-Cola Classic Beverage
Dr. Pepper Beverage
Fanta Orange Beverage
Hawaiian Punch Fruit Juicy Red Beverage
Heinz Hotdog Relish Condiment
Heinz Tomato Ketchup Condiment
Hershey’s Caramel Syrup Syrup
Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup Syrup
Hershey’s Strawberry Syrup Syrup
Hi-C Wild Cherry Beverage
Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup Condiment
Hy-Top Syrup Syrup
Jack Daniel’s Barbecue Sauce (Heinz) Condiment
Jell-O Strawberry Snack
Kemps Fat Free Chocolate Milk Dairy
Kool-Aid Bursts Tropical Punch Beverage
Kool-Aid Cherry Jammers Beverage
Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce Condiment
Land O’ Lakes Chocolate Milk Dairy
Lipton Green Tea Beverage
Manwich Bold Sloppy Joe Entrée
Market Pantry Applesauce Snack
Market Pantry Cranberry Sauce Condiment
Market Pantry Grape Jelly Jelly
Market Pantry Ice Pops Dessert
Market Pantry Thousand Island Dressing Dressing
Market Pantry Tomato Soup Soup
Minute Maid Berry Punch Beverage
Mott’s Applesauce Snack
Mrs. Butterworth Original Syrup Syrup
Nesquik Chocolate Milk Dairy
Nesquik Strawberry Milk Dairy
NOS High Performance Energy Drink Beverage
Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars Snack
Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce Condiment
Pepsi Beverage
Pop-Tarts Frosted Blueberry Snack
Powerade Orange Beverage
Quaker Oatmeal to Go Snack
Smucker’s Strawberry Jelly Jelly
Smucker’s Strawberry Syrup Syrup
Snapple Peach Iced Tea Beverage
Sunny-D Beverage
Tropicana Twister Cherry Berry Blast Beverage
Welch’s Grape Jelly Jelly
Wish-Bone Thousand Island Dressing Dressing
Wish-Bone Western Sweet & Smooth Dressing Dressing
Wyler’s Italian Ices Dessert
Yoo-hoo Chocolate Drink Beverage
Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt Dairy
Zoo Juice Orange
I recommend we start writing to our favorite manufacturers and threaten to not buy their products anymore. If we won’t let our kids play with toys made with lead – how can we reconcile mercury in their food?
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Technorati Tags: autism, food, high fructose corn syrup, mercury
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