Meatless Monday - Red Lentil and Rice Pilaf

I thought I'd go with something easy and quick for my first Meatless Monday. Here's the recipe I'll be using as a guideline:

Ingredients:

* olive oil
* 6-8 garlic cloves -chopped small
* 1 medium onion -diced
* 1/2 cup brown rice (I use brown basmati)
* 1/2 cup red lentils ('cause they cook faster than the green/brown ones)
* 1-1/2 cups veggie broth (actually, today I'll be using chicken stock - not from a can, but from a chicken I cooked a week ago and needs to be used up - which counts as meatless for my purposes, since I'm mostly about the saving money thing)
* Assorted diced veggies - in this case, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, bell pepper and whatever else I pull out of the fridge


* garam masala
* curry powder
* salt and pepper

Start by sweating the veggies you want more done (carrots, onions, garlic, cauliflower)with a bit of olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat.

When they're about halfway cooked, add the rice, and allow it to toast for about 10 minutes (don't scorch it though). The grains should start to look whitened.

Stir in seasoning, lentils other veggies (green beans only for me - I like my bell pepper crispy) and broth, reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for about 40 minutes (closer to 20 if you're using white rice). Don't stir during this time.

When the broth has all been absorbed and the rice is cooked, add veggies you want less cooked (bell peppers for me), fluff and serve!

Introducing Meatless Mondays

The whole point of this blog is to help people live less expensively, but still well. My primary source of information on how to do this is my own life, and I'm constantly making changes to make it more efficient and less expensive.

The latest change in my life is that I'm going to commit to Meatless Mondays. I've been trying for a while to integrate at least one vegetarian day into the week (see this post for how it relates to sensible spending), but I'm not very organized, so it's been sporadic. Part of my commitment to having meatless Mondays is to share one meatless dinner recipe here each week. Hopefully, that will increase the success and regularity of both my eating veggie once a week, and my posting here. Win=win!

Meatless Mondays have quite a history. In WWI, the FDA (US) introduced it as a way to encourage food conservation in order to support the war effort. More recently, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has combined with the Meatless Monday Campaign, in order to try to raise public awareness of the dangers of saturated fats (going one day a week without meat is purported to reduce saturated fat intake by about 15%), and reduce Americans' overall saturated fat intake.*

I got the idea from Whole Foods ad/magazine/newsletter, The Whole Deal (free at the checkout counter or customer service desk).

"Meatless Monday", I thought, "hmmm. Maybe that'll keep me on track!" And so we shall see. Meanwhile, I'll do my best to share meatless recipes and thoughts on a weekly basis. Comment to let me know what you think, or share your own ideas & recipes!


*High saturated fat intake is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and several types of cancer - which is one of the other reasons that I'm trying to cut back on meat consumption; I am at risk for cancer for many different reasons, and while I could just not care what I eat and wait for it to happen, I prefer to try to improve my chances.

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Printable Coupon

Arbie's wants everyone to try their new Roast Burger sandwich (roast beef sandwich with hamburger toppings), so they've put this coupon out in the world.

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Going Vegetarian or Semi-Vegetarian as an Economic Strategy

A lot of people have strong feelings about vegetarianism - almost everyone has an opinion on the ethics, health and lifestyle aspects of eating or not eating meat.

My only opinion is that vegetables are cheaper than meat. It's a simple bit of math - when we buy meat we're paying for the veggies the animal in question eats, its housing, medical care, transportation to market, inspection process, etc., and so eating vegetarian all or some of the time is an important option in saving money. Add in the fact that the majority of Americans don't get enough veggies in their diet on a regular basis, and it really begins to make sense to change focus from meat to veggies in your menu planning.

It's not hard to incorporate vegetarianism into your lifestyle - try it out for just one day a week! You may realize that you don't miss meat as much as you might think.

Breakfast is easy, since many folks don't have meat for breakfast anyway. Your standard bagel w/cream cheese, cereal with milk, pancakes or waffles are all vegetarian to start with.

Lunches can be equally simple: PB&J is a classic old standby, and many soups and salads are or can be vegetarian.

The sticking point most folks have is with dinner...but it doesn't have to be a sticking point. Try some Indian dishes like saag paneer or channa masala, or Mexican dishes like cheese enchiladas or bean & cheese burritos! Want something a little less exotic? Try some quiche or meatless chili! You can find a whole world of vegetarian cookbooks on Amazon, here: Vegetarian & Vegan Cookbooks

Not ready to cut meat out of your diet, but still looking to save money on it? Here are a few ideas:

Spread It Out: A little bit of meat can go a long way. Try dishes like casseroles, where meats are usually used mostly as flavoring, or Pilafs & Paellas
, in which rice is the star ingredient, pasta dishes, or stir fry. Bacon & ham, with their strong, salty flavors, can be used as flavoring in hundreds of dishes, from twice-baked potatoes to a pot of beans, to salads or casseroles. People make fun of casseroles sometimes, but their simplicity and money-savings are no laughing matter. They're also incredibly satisfying and comforting.

Set a Price Point:

I've mentioned this idea here before, but it bears repeating. Study your local grocery flyers and determine what you can reasonably spend per pound to get a variety of meats. In my area, it's $2/lb. For that I can get (on sale) italian sausage, all cuts of chicken - from leg quarters to boneless, skinless breasts, london broil (aka top round), pork loin (in a 10-12 lb package, on sale), ham, stew meat, spare ribs, lean ground beef, ground turkey, and turkey breast. It's really important to shop the sales and create your menus around them! If your grocery store has a meat section called "manager's specials", check out their offerings as well - it's often premium meat that is nearing its sell-by date and is reduced for quick sale. This can be integrated right into that week's menu, or re-wrapped and frozen for later use.

Try it out for a day or a week, and you might be surprised not only at how much you'll save on groceries, but also by how much you enjoy the change of pace!

Spend Black Friday at home, online for the best deals!

I don't like crowds. I especially don't like crowds that are hyped up. I stay at home on Black Friday, and still get the best deals of the year. Here's how:

$5 off your first purchase at www.iherb.com. Use code ROQ627! GOOD YEAR ROUND!

Amazon's Black Friday Deals!

Free shipping & Black Friday Discount at Macy's. Use code PERK.

Free shipping and 10 days of Thanksgiving sale at Drugstore.com.

If you must go out, be sure to use these printable coupons via The Bargainist!

Enjoy!

Money-saving Websites

As a tireless bargain hunter, I am constantly on the lookout for new ways to save. Because I'm also a bit of a homebody and an introvert, much of that savings is found online. My latest finds:

RetailMeNot: Created by the folks behind BugMeNot (a great privacy saver), this is a searchable database containing coupon codes for zillions of online stores. Like any really good system, it also allows you to add your coupon codes to the database for others to use, and has a feedback system that tells you what is working and what isn't. Search by store or by keyword.

JungleCrazy is a site associated with Amazon.com that holds a database of Amazon.com products that are 70% or more off the retail price! There are some seriously amazing deals here.

And now to list some of my old, tried and true favorites (you'll also find these on the sidebar):

The Bargainist - offers sales info, freebies and coupon codes on tons of stores, as well as some good articles on saving money. They also have an email subscription service that allows you to get your choice of bargain info delivered to your inbox.

Bookmooch - A place to swap the books you have for the books you want.

SwapaCD - is a site designed to allow you to trade your old, unlistened-to CDs for the things you really want to hear.

SwapaDVD - is the same as above, but for DVDs!

Craigslist - Look to the Craigslist nearest you for bargains and freebies on new and used items of every description.

Happy Hunting!

Saving Money - Setting Limits (Part 1)

In a long ago business math course I took in high school, I learned the concept and value (and also the how-to) of creating a household budget.

I suck at making and sticking to budgets...or at least the traditional sort of budget. I've learned, though, to work around my budget-following deficiency. Here are some tips that might help you to do the same.

Use Cash

Using cash to pay for stuff helps to save money in a number of ways.

First, it forces you to (at least roughly) itemize what you're putting into your shopping cart, to ensure that you have enough to pay for it when you're done. Like dieting, simply becoming more aware of what you're consuming (in terms of hard numbers) will help you to curb that consumption. It also will help you stick to the list you've hopefully made before getting to the store.

There is a second way for it to help. If you've created a budget, you know that you should break purchases up into categories like food, gas, entertainment, healthcare, etc. (If you've never created a budget before, go here, read up, and give it a try). A trick that I've found useful is to actually divide up my cash into those categories, too, each with their own clearly labeled envelope. If you're going shopping for one category (food, for instance), take ONLY the food envelope with you; leave the envelopes for the other categories at home in a safe place. This will keep you from "borrowing" from one category to splurge in another.

Using cash will often help you at the gas pump, as well. Many stations charge extra for credit or debit card purchases.

Know the Difference Between Need and Desire

We're all guilty of it: choosing a more expensive option than necessary when buying something we need. There are probably dozens of reasons we do it, including convenience, emotional attachment, and status. You *can* break away, though.

Take, for instance, meat. My household eats meat, and in the past we have frequently purchased whatever looked good at the moment, or suited a particular recipe we wanted to make. Now, however, we're changing our ways.

I studied the local grocery flyers for a few weeks, and I realized that there are many meats available for under $2 a pound. So I decided not to spend more than that on meats unless it were a special occasion. It's worked out wonderfully. We dine on many cuts of chicken, london broil, lean ground meats, pork loin and various roasts. It's a choice that we haven't regretted at all, and that has saved us a ton of money. Study the grocery flyers in your area and pick a price point that makes sense for you, and get started saving!

There are lots of other examples of creating a limit that fulfills a need without succumbing to a bloated budget:

-I don't buy shampoo that costs more than $1 per 15 oz.
-I buy coffee out only rarely. It's cheaper (and frankly, often better) to brew it myself and bring it along.
-I put on a heavy fleece pullover when I'm cold, instead of turning the heat up. In winter, I keep the thermostat at about 60.
-I buy almost all of my media used, or I trade for it. eBay, half.com, yard sales, thrift stores and sites like , and bookmooch.com are invaluable.
-I never, ever buy shoes that aren't on sale or used. Clothing, either.
-I buy local, in-season produce, often at the farmer's market, rather than expensive, imported, out-of-season stuff from the grocery store. Even there, you'll find that local in-season produce is usually cheaper.

Try some of these strategies out or make (and hopefully share) your own!

Saving Money - Some Simple Math

With food prices higher than ever, most of us need to take a closer look at how we spend our grocery dollars. One of the best ways to do that is to simply do the math.

Take starches, for example. Unless you and your family are on the Atkins Diet, you spend some amount of your hard-earned cash on carbs. The basics are: bread, pasta, rice, potatoes.

In my area, both bread and pasta run about $1/lb. Rice, between 50¢/lb. and 99¢/lb. Potatoes? 40¢/lb. Got that? Rice is cheaper than bread or pasta. Potatoes are cheaper than either one. Plan your meals and your shopping list accordingly. Also, check out this book:



My second point isn't as specific, but it is equally important, and it is this: Don't be fooled by packaging tricks. This means to always, ALWAYS check the price per pound pricing on items you're considering buying. Think that buying in bulk will save you money? It certainly *can*, but it doesn't always. Somehow, sometimes buying something in lots of little containers is actually *cheaper* than buying something in bulk. I've noticed being the case with both paper towels and tuna recently. Crazy but true.

Next, don't assume that your big box club (Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club and the like) is really saving you money. Once upon a time this was definitely true, but in today's marketplace, you can often find better deals elsewhere, whether it be online, at your regular grocery store, department stores like Target or K-Mart, or even drugstore chains like CVS. The point is, don't assume, CHECK. You might well find some surprises.

Finally, while it's often true that you can get a better deal by driving more, beware! With high prices at the pumps, doing the math is more important than ever. Here's how:

Take your average miles per gallon* and determine how many miles out of your way you would drive for the sale. That should tell you how much of or how many gallons you'll use getting there. Multiply that by the current cost of gas per gallon (and don't forget that most gas pump prices are sneaky - $3.59 is actually $3.599. Round up to $3.60) and voila! You've learned how much gas money it will cost to get you to the sale(A). Now decide how much savings you'll get at the sale(B). Is A bigger than B? If it is, don't go! You'll just be ripping yourself off in the long run. Is B bigger than A? If so, then go enjoy the sale!! Remember to use this formula when deciding whether to drive farther for cheaper gas, too.

So - don't cheat yourself, or allow sneaky marketing to cheat you! Do the math!


*If you don't already know this number, it is well worth your time to work it out. Find out your gas tank size (usually in handbook). Fill it up. Set your trip counter to zero. Drive until you are on empty. Take the number on the trip counter and divide it by the size of your gas tank. Tada! Your average miles per gallon!