{guest post submitted by Ashley of Our Family Stone}

One of my least favourite parts about winter is the lack of exciting fresh food available. We live in a part of Canada that all summer has an abundance of fresh apples, peaches, melons and berries. It seems each week a new and exciting ingredient is ripe for the choosing and I am ready for the challenge. Then Fall rolls in, the supply slowly dwindles and before we know it we’re left with overpriced imports and bland tomatoes.

In a desperate effort to help my culinary spirit survive the winter I spend hours washing and freezing berries, primarily raspberries to carry us through those long winter months. Then on the days when the rain is falling (because here winter means rain, very rarely snow) and the dreary is starting to set in, I gather my supplies, pre-heat my oven and reach into the freezer for a bag of my precious berries. In a matter of 5 minutes, I’ve whipped up a delicious batter (that I must say I enjoy raw as much as I do cooked) ready to hit the oven and make my house smell a little bit like summer.

I originally found this recipe on Food.com, and while it’s excellent on its own I decided to make a few adjustments, both to make it more healthy (because who doesn’t want to eat healthy, awesome things?!) and to make it suite the ingredients in my fridge better. It’s taken some tweaking but it’s finally reached perfection and I’m here today to share it with you.

Ingredients

• Whole Wheat Flour 1 Cup
• All Purpose Flour 1 Cup
• Sugar, Granulated ¾ Cup
• Baking Powder 3 tsp
• Salt ½ tsp
• Skim Milk (can sub 1%) ½ Cup
• Half/Half Cream (can sub sour cream) ½ Cup
• Vegetable Oil ½ Cup
• Lemon Zest 1 Lemon
• Juice of Lemon 1 Lemon (approx. 1 ½ tsp)
• Eggs, Large 2
• Raspberries** (Fresh or Frozen UNTHAWED) 1 Cup

 Preparation

1. Pre-Heat Oven to 400 degrees F

2. Line 12 Muffin Tins with Paper Liners (you can grease pans and not use liners but these are delicate muffins that can lose their shape)

3. Combine Flours, Sugar, Baking Powder, Salt and Lemon Zest in a Medium sized bowl

4. In a small bowl combine milk, cream, oil, eggs and lemon juice. Whisk together and set aside

5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients

6. Add wet mixture and stir only until no lumps remain

7. Gently fold in Raspberries. Caution: over stirring will cause your berries to break up and your muffins to be pink

8. Fill Muffin Cups 3/4 full of batter

9. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown I usually find 21 minutes is perfect

10. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before removing from muffin tins to cool

These muffins freeze extremely well and are a favourite in our house. Here’s hoping our raspberry supply lasts us a few more months and that summer comes back soon! Happy Baking Everyone!

**You can substitute other berries in this muffin. Blueberries would be an excellent exchange

Ashley Stone is a Mommy to two beautiful girls, the wife of a handsome husband, and the voice of Our Family Stone. She spends her days working with her kids in tow, baking, crafting, blogging, cleaning and trying to go to the bathroom alone. She started blogging 6 years ago because she wanted to feel like an “author” and to relieve the excess noise in her brain. Ashley has something to say about everything, pop on over to Our Family Stone and you’ll find that out!

Related posts:

1. Easy Family Recipe – Lemon-Garlic Chicken
2. Lemon Berry Muffins
3. Recipe: Raspberry Lemonade Poke Cupcakes

Making my own bread has been a great way to save money for my family.  One item that has made bread making easier for me is my bread machine.   My bread machine allows me to be doing other jobs while the machine does the work for me.  The machine I chose was about $50 and I more than paid for it with what I have saved in making bread for my family. I will admit that I do use the dough cycle on the machine, shape the dough and then cook in my regular oven rather than cooking the bread in the machine itself.  It still is a great time saver and helps me prepare great tasting bread for my family.

Recently I made monkey bread dough in my machine.  Monkey bread recipes started appearing in Women’s magazines in the 1950’s and has continued to be popular in the US.  It is not really known where the bread got its name but there are several ideas.  One is that it resembles the monkey puzzle tree.  Another is that the act of several people pulling at the bread is reminiscent of monkey behavior.   Monkey bread is also called sticky bread because the sugar and butter come together when heated to make the bread seem sticky.  This recipe for monkey bread is different because you do not use the brown sugar, so it will not seem as sticky.  It resembles buttery yeast rolls to me. This bread is so good that once you serve it the bread will not last long. Another great thing about this recipe is that I usually have everything on hand in my kitchen. Here is the recipe if you want to try making it at home for your family.

Bread Machine Monkey Bread

Ingredients

1 cup warm milk ($0.15)

1 ¼ teaspoon salt

1 large egg ($0.10)

¼ cup butter, softened ($0.40)

3 tablespoons sugar ($o.o3)

3 ½ cups flour (plus extra if needed) ($0.42)

2 ¼ teaspoons bread machine yeast ($0.25)

¼ cup butter ($0.40)

Directions

Place all the ingredients into the bread machine in the order listed for your machine.  Select dough cycle and start the machine.  At the end of the cycle, remove the dough to a floured surface.  Roll to about ¾ inch thick.  Using a pizza cutter cut into 1 inch diamonds or squares, don’t worry if the are not all perfect.  Melt ¼ cup butter and dip each piece in the melted butter. Layer the buttered pieces into a Bundt pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and let rise until doubled.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Cover with foil the last 15 minutes of cooking time to prevent the top from burning.

Related posts:

1. Bread Machine Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns
2. Navajo Fry Bread
3. Make Your Own Homemade Bread

If you have not found Pinterest, then you are really missing out. Pinterest is a website where you can store ideas you find online.  Once you find an idea, you can pin a picture of it to your board. Then the picture will link you back to where you found it.  The great thing about this site is that you can link up with friends and see what they are pinning and find even more ideas to pin on your boards.

I really liked having all of my Valentine’s Day ideas in one place and then when I was ready to figure out what Valentine’s we were making for school I could easily find them without having to go back and do a lot of searching.  I have also found a lot of great money saving ideas on Pinterest that I never would have found just searching online.

I will admit I’m sort of addicted to Pinterest and warn you that it is hard not to be.  You do have to get an invite from a friend who is already using Pinterest before using it, but don’t let that stop you, ask a friend.  I started a breads board on my Pinterest.  Last week, I got some time to try two of the bread recipes out.  I thought I’d share one of the recipes with you and my results.

Olive Garden Copy Cat Breadsticks

The first recipe I tried was the Olive Garden Breadsticks.  This is a copy cat recipe that has been floating around Pinterest and online.  I finally decided to give it a try one night when I was making a lasagna dinner for my family.  The recipe I found on Pinterest was made using a stand mixer.  I wanted to give it a try in my bread machine to see if it would turn out that way as well.  I am happy to say that it did.  I have made homemade hotdog buns and the shaping for these breadsticks was really similar. So I took a recipe I found on Pinterest and changed to fit my needs.  You can find the original recipe here, if you want to make it in a stand mixer.

Olive Garden Copy Cat Breadsticks Recipe

Ingredients

Dough

1½ cups hot water ($0.00)

2 tablespoons butter, softened ($0.20)

4 cups flour ($0.60)

2 tablespoons sugar ($0.10)

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon yeast (I used bread machine yeast) ($0.25)

Topping

3 tablespoons butter, melted ($0.30)

Sea salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder ($0.03)

 Directions

Place dough ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order listed.  Set machine to the dough cycle.  When the dough cycle is completed, roll the dough out into a long log and cut the dough into 12-14 pieces.  You can spray your knife with cooking spray, but I found that I really did not need  to do that.  Roll those pieces into long snakes. Don’t worry too much about being perfect, they all will be different.  Spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray, and lay the breadsticks about 2 inches apart.  Preheat your oven to 170 degrees and turn your oven light on if you have one.  Place the cookie sheets into the preheated oven to rise for about 15 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Before Rising:

After rising:

Once risen, brush them with the melted butter leaving some butter for finishing the sticks and sprinkle the bread sticks with sea salt.  Return them to the oven and set your oven to 400 degrees.  Once your oven is preheated to 400 you need to bake the breadsticks for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.  I left my breadsticks in while the oven was preheating and mine were done in about 5 minutes, so make sure you check them during this process as they may brown quicker.  While they are baking, combine the rest of the melted butter with the garlic powder.  When the breadsticks are golden brown take them out of the oven and brush them with the butter/garlic mixture. Serve warm.

 My Review

I really liked that I was able to make these in my bread machine.  It made the process really easy.  While I do not know if they are exactly like Olive Garden’s breadsticks, they sure were good.  My kids and husband loved them, so we will be making these again!  I liked that this recipe only made enough for two for each person in my family of six.  In the restaurant it can be quite tempting with the basket on the table to eat more than that.  I also like how making these is cheaper than going out and still getting a restaurant like dinner at home.  These are also cheaper to make than buying a loaf of frozen garlic bread that we would have used before and taste so much better!

For more bread recipes visit my bread board on Pinterest.

Related posts:

1. Garden Vegetable Herb Dip
2. Deal Alert: Organic Olive Oil Sale
3. Win a Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore

This year many families are struggling to buy Christmas gifts because times are hard. Last week, I read a really great article called Christmas on a Zero-Budget.  It really got me thinking about what kinds of things people could give for gifts that cost little or no money using items already around the house.  I think these homemade gifts are more special when I receive them.  Anyone can go out and buy a gift, but only a few will take the time to use their talents to make an item with you in mind.  Here are a few ideas of some things you can make to give as gifts on a limited budget.

Homemade Bath Salts

This past year I was able to get together with a group of friends and make several items.  One of those items was Bath Salts.  I was quite surprised how easy they were to make.  Look around your house for jars or other containers to place your bath salts inside.  You can also use leftover ribbon and fabric to decorate your jar or container.  Here is the recipe I used.

Homemade Bath Recipe

3 cups Epsom salts

1 tablespoon glycerin

Food coloring

A favorite perfume or cologne.

Use a glass or metal bowl (not plastic-because it will stain). Pour the Epsom salts in a bowl, then add 1 TB. glycerin, a few drops of food coloring and some of your favorite cologne or perfume (or you can mix the glycerin and food coloring first), Stir the ingredients until they’re combined and the color is just right! You can add more color, too. Place in an airtight container. A tight-fitting lid is key to keeping the fragrance and moisture intact. Attach a small card or tag to the container with instructions on use: Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup to a warm bath.

Homemade Jelly

Last Christmas I made small gift baskets for family and friends. One item inside them was a jar of  homemade jelly.  You can easily make jelly at home using 100% fruit juices.  Look around your house for jars to place the jelly inside.  You can keep this jelly in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.  If you want it to last longer you will need to use the proper canning jars and process in a boiling water canner.  After the jars have cooled, you can use scrap ribbon and fabric to decorate the jar.  This jelly is easy because it is made with fruit juice.  I like to add Red Hot candies to the apple juice jelly recipe to make it a pretty red for Christmas. This recipe is for Cheater Grape Jelly.  Just substitute the grape juice for with apple and add 1/2 cup of the red hots to make the jelly a pretty red color.

Rice Filled Heating Pads

Several years ago, I decided to make rice filled heating pads for Christmas presents for my family and friends.  This gift does require some sewing, but it goes together really quickly and is a great way to use scrap material from other projects.  You can also use old clothes that are still usable to make this project.  I made several with some old flannel shirts. These rice filled heating pads can be microwaved and placed behind you neck to give you some relief. 

Homemade Mixes

Another great idea for a homemade gift is placing mixes in a jar or other container. This makes it so easy for another person to make some food item quickly. I love this EZ Bread Mix idea to place the dry ingredients for a loaf of  in a container bought at the Dollar Tree.  These containers already have Christmas decoration on them so all you have to do is add a bow and the instructions for making the bread.  Here are a few other items that make great mixes to give as gifts.

Homemade Pancake Mix

Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

The Master Mix

Hot Cocoa Mix

Freezer Meals

After reading another article this weekend from Once a Month Mom, I added freezer meals to my list of something I could give as a gift.  They have some really great ideas on giving freezer meals as gifts as well as some great recipes.  Busy families or new moms would love this gift.

So figure out your talent and decide on a gift you can give without spending a lot of money.  After all the season is not all about gifts or even how much we spend on them. 

Related posts:

1. Frugal Last Minute Gift Ideas
2. A Homemade Christmas
3. Making Homemade Cheater Jelly

The cost of food continues to rise and many people are looking for relief to make their money go further at the grocery store. One thing you can do is make it yourself. A lot of things that we buy for convenience at the grocery store can easily be made at home. It may take us a little longer to make these foods, but in the long run we will save money on our grocery bill, and sometimes this can be more than you might expect. I also think that a lot of what you make yourself even tastes better! Here are a few items that I make for our family that have saved us money on our grocery budget.

Breads

A loaf of bread at the store can easily be over $2.00 a loaf. Some people think making bread is just too hard to even try. There are several gadgets available that make bread making quicker and easier. My favorite gadget is the bread machine. This machine will basically make the bread itself and all you have to do is add in the ingredients. I have one recipe that I like to make for our sandwich bread. I measure out all the dry ingredients and place in zip lock baggies. This saves me time when I am ready to make the bread. With a little practice, bread making is not really that hard. Here are some breads I make for our family.

EZ Bread

Bagels

Tortillas

Yeast Rolls

Biscuits

Hamburger/Hot dog buns

Pizza Dough

English Muffins

Mixes

I have several recipes that use mix packets like spaghetti and taco mix. Some of these mixes can easily be made at home with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. These mixes can end up costing pennies per serving. If you buy these at the store you could end up paying over $1.00 for each packet. This can be a great place to cut your grocery budget. You could make bulk quantities with these mixes which will save you time later. The mixes are easy to make and only take a few minutes. Here are a few mixes that I use for my family to help lower our grocery budget.

Taco Seasoning

Ranch Dressing Mix

Chili Mix

Pancake Mix

Hot Cocoa mix

Instant Oatmeal Mixes

Condiments

Many of the condiments we use can easily be made from scratch. I think that finding the right recipe that your family will like makes all the difference. Here are a few that I have tried.

Mayonnaise

Ketchup

Salad dressing

Peanut Butter

Related posts:

1. Make Your Own Shampoo and Save Money
2. Sack Lunches that Save Time and Money
3. 10 Coupon-Free Ways to Save Money on Groceries

Some families like to eat certain things on Halloween night. I have heard of spaghetti, chili, and soup to name a few. My family has always ordered out pizzas on Halloween. These make trick or treat night quick and easy for my family. This year ordering out really is not in our budget, So I will be making homemade pizzas for my family. Even the good frozen pizzas are more expensive than making it homemade. The way I have always made homemade pizza is not very quick since I make the dough in the bread machine. My community’s trick or treat night is on a Monday this year, so I have to get things done really quick since the kids are in schools all day and I will only have about one hour to get them ready and fed. Here are some ideas to making frugal homemade pizza quicker and easier.

Pizza Dough

The pizza dough will usually be the part that takes the longest because it will have to rise. There are several things you can do to make it quicker. First you can buy pizza crust mix in a bag at the store. These are usually around $1.00 or less and all you have to do is add water and let rise for five minutes. You can also have homemade crust quicker with a little pre-planning. You can make the dough in your bread machine and freeze it in a zip lock freezer bag. On the day you are ready to bake, take it out of the freezer and place in a large bowl and leave on the counter. It will defrost and rise during the day and be ready to bake that evening.

Another idea is to use a no rise pizza dough recipe. Here is one that I have used that I like. This recipe is made by hand but I mixed the ingredients and kneaded in my Kitchenaid mixer which made this super quick. If you want to make this taste more Italian, I recommend using the optional spices.

No Rise Pizza Crust

1 Tablespoon active dry yeast (I used quick rising yeast)

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 ½ cups flour

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon basil (optional)

1 teaspoon oregano (optional)

1 teaspoon minced onions (optional)

Dissolve yeast in water. Add rest of the ingredients in order listed in the recipe and mix until it forms into dough. Place dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Roll out and press down on a greased pizza pan (I like to use my stoneware for pizzas). Add toppings and bake at 350 degrees F 12-15 minutes.

Pizza Toppings

Choose pizza toppings your family will enjoy. I can find pepperoni for around $1.50. Other meats will probably cost you more. Use veggies like onions and green peppers (I chop mine up when they are on sale or from my garden and freeze them so I can use them on pizza later when green peppers are more expensive.) or canned mushrooms to cut down cost. Cheese can be an expensive topping so go light on it and that will cut back on calories as well. There are also lots of inexpensive pizza sauce recipes online, but I found that buying a large bottle of spaghetti  sauce is cheaper and quicker for me. You could also save money by only having cheese sticks.  Roll your dough into a rectangle and leave off the sauce and add pizza only.  Cut into sticks after cooking.  These are super easy and kids love them.  Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Halloween Pizza Ideas

As I was searching blogs and recipe sites for Halloween themed pizzas, I came upon this recipe for Spooky Spiderweb Pizza that is so cute. It would make your Halloween pizza more special. You could use some of the decorating ideas in that recipe and still use some of the quick frugal tips given in this article. You can also use cookie cutters to cut out spiders in cheese slices to decorate the top of your pizzas. Cut these before and store in the refrigerator to make decorating quicker.

Related posts:

1. Frugal and Time Saving Homemade Pizza
2. Frugal Summer Fun – Pizza and a Movie
3. Frugal Domino’s Pizza Deal!

Have you ever wanted a hot dog or hamburger, but had no buns in your pantry for them? Maybe you also just did not have any more money left in your food budget to buy them. Why not make them yourself, from scratch? Sound a little too hard for you? You should consider using your bread machine to do most of the work for you. I tried several recipes until I came upon this one from Full Bellies, Happy Kids and this is definitely my favorite. You will never want to go back to store bought buns after tasting these homemade ones.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups milk, slightly warmed (I used skim milk) ($0.13)

1 egg, beaten ($0.10)

2 tablespoons butter, softened at room temperature ($0.20)

¼ cup white sugar ($0.10)

¾ teaspoon salt

3 ¾ cups bread flour ($0.47)

1 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast ($0.25)

Directions

Place all ingredients in pan of bread machine in order according to your bread machine manufacturer’s directions. Select dough setting on your bread machine. When the cycle is complete turn dough out onto a floured surface. Cut the dough in half and roll each half out to a ½ inch thick circle (The original recipe called for 1 inch thick, but ½ inch seemed to work best for me). Then cut out to size for desired buns.

For hamburger buns: Cut each half into six 3 ½ inch rounds with an inverted glass as a cutter. You may have to collect dough and roll out several times to get all six rounds.

For hot dog buns: Cut the one inch thick circle into 6 long hot dog shaped pieces and roll them a little to look like hot dog buns. Make sure they are long enough to fit the hot dog.

Place buns on a greased baking sheet far apart and brush with melted butter (I decided not to brush them with the butter and they still came out fine). Cover the buns and let them rise for one hour or until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 9 minutes. If they are not done after 9 minutes add a few more minutes until done and slightly browned on the top of the rolls. Cool on cooling rack.

Freezing Buns

You can actually freeze your bun dough. Form dough in one big ball and then place it in a freezer bag and seal getting all the air out. Label and place in your freezer. On the day you plan to use the dough place the dough in a large bowl and allow it to thaw out, it should be ready by dinner time. This will also allow it to rise. You can also do this overnight in your refrigerator and then allow it to rise in the morning after taking it out. Either way has worked for me. Then cut them out and bake as directed in the recipe.

You can also freeze baked buns. The most important thing is to allow the buns to cool completely. After they have cooled completely, I like to wrap them individually in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil (this helps prevent freezer burn) and then place them in a freezer bag. I place enough buns for one family dinner, in my case six. Then I get all of the air out of the bag and seal and label them and place them in your freezer. When I do this I like to use the buns within a month. When I’m ready to use them, I just defrost them on the counter and then place them in the microwave for about 6-10 seconds.

Extra Buns

These buns also work great as a dinner roll, so if I have extra I will plan to use them for the meal the next day. I just place them in the microwave for about 6-10 seconds and then serve them with dinner. They are always great the next day.

Price Comparison

I estimate this recipe to cost $1.25 for 12 rolls. I found in the grocery that most buns were between $2 for a pack of 8 buns and $3 for a 12 pack. That’s at least a 50% savings and well worth it for me to make my own. I also think the taste is so much better than the store bought. Those factors make me think twice about going back to store bought.

Related posts:

1. Homemade Honey Buns
2. Multi Grain Bread
3. Navajo Fry Bread

gather your supplies… yes, that entire stick of butter is going in! =)

spray the bottom of the Bundt pan with vegetable spray (I use EVOO spray). drop 1/2 the pecans in.

place the rolls right on top of the pecans. sprinkle the pudding over rolls.

mix melted butter and brown sugar together. pour over rolls. sprinkle the remaining 1/2 of your pecans on top of the caramel (I left the pecans out this time).

place pan in cold oven overnight. rolls will thaw, rise, and smell yummy! In the morning, remove pan from oven. Preheat oven to 325*, and bake rolls for 30 minutes.

yummy, gooey, caramelly goodness.

are you drooling yet?

my happy cozy place at the table! =)

Blog Your Way to BlogHer

This post is an entry to the Blog Your Way to BlogHer Contest. Busy Mommy Media is giving away 1 ticket to BlogHer 2011 in San Diego! Visit the contest page for details on entering.

 

Related posts:

1. Make Homemade Rolls for Your Holiday Dinners
2. Homemade Caramel Apples: Easy, Inexpensive, and Taste Better!
3. Tofu Lasagna Rolls

Since so many fruits are in season during the summer, you can usually find them on sale at the store.  I like to wait until my berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries) go to $1.00 a package and then I buy them up and freeze them for later use.  It’s so nice to be able to make a pie or cobbler in the winter with fresh fruit from my freezer, and I think they taste so much better than store bought frozen.  Another thing I like to do with those berries is make muffins with them and then freeze those muffins for later use.  This makes a quick and frugal breakfast for another busy morning.

Freezing Muffins

Freezing muffins is really easy.  After cooking the muffins according to your recipe, let them cool completely.  I like to wrap each muffin individually with wrap and then place enough for a family breakfast in one large freezer bag.  Make sure you get out all the air in the bag. I like to wrap them individually to prevent freezer burn. The muffins can stay in the freezer for up to three months, so make sure you label and date your bag.

Reheating Muffins

Reheating muffins from the freezer is really easy and quick.  First, you can get them directly from the freezer and place them back in the muffin tin and then place them in 350 degree oven until heated through.  If you have time to thaw them out before using them, you can just place them into the microwave for 20 second interval until you the muffin is as hot as you like.

Freezing Muffin Batter

Another way to freeze muffins is to just freeze the batter. In this method, all you do is make your batter as directed in the recipe and then place the batter as you would in the muffin tins.  Next, place the whole muffin tin in your freezer until the batter is frozen solid.  Then all you do is break the frozen batter from the tins with something, like a butter knife, and gently get it out.  Then place them in a freezer bag and get out all of the air. Make sure to label and date the bag.  Frozen muffin batter will last for about four months in the freezer.

Reheating Frozen Muffin Batter

To reheat frozen muffin batter, just place the batter back into the muffin tins.  You will then need to wait until the batter has completely thawed. Then you can heat the muffins as directed in your recipe.  This method is not one I choose for a quick breakfast.  If I know I’m going to have the muffins in the morning sometimes I’ll place some wrapping over the muffin tin and then thaw the batter overnight in my refrigerator.  Then all I have to do is place it in the oven in the morning. 

Berry Muffin Recipes

There are lots of berry muffin recipes that can be found searching online.  Here are a few of my favorite ones.

Berry-Smash Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Raspberry Muffins

Photo Credit: Dano

Related posts:

1. Quick and Frugal Breakfast Ideas for Families
2. Orange Date Muffins – aka The Best Breakfast Muffins Ever
3. Blueberry Muffins

Memorial Day is a day we celebrate and remember our deceased relatives and soldiers. For many people, it is also a time to welcome summer with a three day weekend of summer activities. In fact, many people pull out and fire up the grill and have a cookout. Cookouts do not have to be expensive or hard work.  Just make sure to plan ahead to make this a day of fun and relaxation. Take advantage of this holiday by looking for specials in the grocery store, there are usually lots of deals. Here are a few simple items you can make to save money and still have a yummy cookout and also a relaxing weekend.

Hot Dogs/Hamburgers and Buns

I like to stock up on hot dogs during this time because I can usually find hot dogs on sale for $0.5o a pack. I also like to get ground beef and make my own hamburger patties. This is so much cheaper than buying the frozen patties and I think they taste better too because I can add what I want to season up my burgers.  Another way to save money on hot dogs and hamburgers is to make your own buns. You will want to do this a couple days ahead because they do take a little work. This will also give you more time to enjoy your family on the actual cookout day. Here are the recipes I like to use.

Hot Dog Buns

Hamburger Buns

Potato Salad

I like to make potato salad with my cookouts. I really do not have a recipe. I just throw a bunch of stuff together. I boil the potatoes which I cut into smaller pieces before boiling, and then I add salad dressing, mustard, vinegar, sugar, and some small boiled egg pieces. I usually have everything on hand in my kitchen to make this salad too.

Baked Beans

Baked Beans are an easy addition to a holiday meal. You can just take them out of the can and put them in a casserole dish and heat them, if that’s all you want to do. I like to add a bit more to my baked beans, so I usually make it the night before and put it in my refrigerator and then heat it up the next day. I brown a pound of ground beef and then add that to the beans in a casserole dish and then add mustard and brown sugar. I just add enough mustard and brown sugar to get it to taste like I want, so add a small amount at first and then add more to taste to your desire. The next day I cook them at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Canned baked beans are also a summer item I find easily on sale during this time of year.

Vegetables

I like to add a vegetable of some sort to my cookout dinner. Corn on the Cob is so easy to cook right on the grill. You can cook the corn in the husk and I think they come out so much better when cooked that way. Here’s a recipe that I use when grilling corn on the cob.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Desserts

I have several money saving dessert ideas. My favorite idea is to buy a Watermelon. I seem to see these go down in price this time of year. They cut up easily so they do not require a lot of extra work. Another item I find on sale in the summer is strawberries. I like to buy a one step angel food cake mix, bake it and then top with strawberries and non dairy whipped topping. I cut up my strawberries and add sugar or Splenda to them and then use them on top the cake. My final idea for dessert is banana pudding. It is so easy to put together and people seem to really love it in the summer. Here is a recipe for banana pudding that I like to make.

Uncooked Banana Pudding

Leftovers

I love having a cookout because we always have leftovers that I can use for a lunch or sometimes even a dinner. This also saves me more money and time after the cookout. So, plan for leftovers.

Potlucks

Another great way to save money is ask the people coming to the cookout to bring something for the meal. This will save you money and give you a good variety of yummy food and make less work for you.  Make sure you plan by asking people what they plan to bring so you do not end up with all the same foods.

Related posts:

1. A Frugal Valentine’s Day
2. Frugal Summer Rainy Day Fun for Kids
3. Give a Day. Get a Disney Day.