Do you have pumpkins left over from Halloween?  We had 2 small pumpkins that we got for free when we were camping.  The boys decorated them with markers, but otherwise they were untouched.

After watching Foodie Daddy’s pumpkin pie demonstration at the Saving Up Event (and easy recipe for no-bake pumpkin pie), I was motivated to actually try to use the pumpkins that I had sitting around.  So, on Sunday afternoon, I cut up one of the pumpkins so that I could roast pumpkin seeds.  However, I’ve read several places on the web how easy it is to make your own pumpkin puree.  So, I tried it…it really is quite easy.  I plan on making Money Saving Mom’s pumpkin muffins (without the chocolate chips tomorrow).

Here are some of the methods of creating your own pumpkin puree (with pictures):

• Bake in the oven – Getting Ahead
• Microwave – guest post at Money Saving Mom

Plus, here’s the recipe for the Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

Photo by shuttermon

Over the years, I’ve heard several people talk about using once a month cooking (or freezer cooking).  Basically, you spend 1 (0r 2) days cooking meals that your family will eat over the next month.  Once the meals are assembled, you just need to place them in the freezer and your family is set for meals for an entire month.  You can save time and money by bulk cooking.

There are tons of resources for creating your month’s worth of meals:

• Frugal Mom – great summary of freezer cooking and how it works
• Mom’s Budget – many printable forms to help you get organized
• Once a Month Mom – she is the ultimate resource for planning your monthly meals.  She posts a menu for each month as well as instructions on how to do it, a shopping list, and even printable labels for your dishes.

Although I’ve heard about freezer cooking a lot…once a month cooking just isn’t for me. I don’t have the freezer space to accommodate a full month’s worth of meals, and, more importantly, I don’t want to spend an entire day cooking.

However, just because I don’t want to cook an entire month’s worth of meals at once, it doesn’t mean that I can’t double or triple my recipes when I cook and freeze the leftovers.  For example, I made pea soup this afternoon and I stuck all the leftovers in the freezer.  It will probably cover about 3 additional meals for my family.

Soups are great for cooking in bulk and freezing.  I like to make pea soup, potato soup, and chicken rice soup, plus spaghetti sauce and slow cooker beef stew and freeze the leftovers.  If I plan it correctly, I only actually have to make 1 or 2 meals a week, and the rest of the week, I can just pull meals out of the freezer and reheat them in the microwave.  I like that MUCH better than spending an entire day in the kitchen.

What about you?  Do you do bulk cooking…once a month or whenever you can double up a recipe?  For more frugal ideas, please visit Life as Mom.

Photo by domani

I grew up eating homemade spaghetti sauce, so I don’t think that the jarred stuff tastes good (no matter how much my MIL tries to doctor it up with meat). However, I do have to admit that the jarred stuff is very easy to make. I don’t always have an hour to cook the days that we want to eat spaghetti.

• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 lb. ground beef or turkey
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (try a smaller amount the 1st time to make sure it’s not too spicy for you and your kids)

Chop onion and green pepper. Put in pan with hamburger and sautee. Drain fat. Add tomatoes, paste and spices. Simmer for half an hour.

For more ideas on things that work for other people, check out Rocks in my Dryer. For more recipes, check out The Grocery Cart Challenge and Life as Mom.

Last week while cooking dinner and baking, I ran out of some items that I shouldn’t have. If I had done a better job of planning, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But, with a little creativity, I was able to turn it from a disaster into a frugal success.

I was making tacos for dinner and discovered while I was browning the meat, that I had forgotten to purchase a taco seasoning packet for the meat. I debated what I should do.

First, I berated myself for forgetting…the meal had been planned, and I usually check my cupboards for all ingredients and put anything I don’t have on my shopping list…but I forgot that the seasoning was even an ingredient. Second, I wondered why I didn’t purchase the bulk taco seasoning at Costco when I saw it…then I would never run out of seasoning . I debated making an emergency trip to the grocery store. It was only a mile away, but that was extra gas, and the meat WAS browning…dinner would be delayed. My husband and I discussed it, and decided that I would just make the meat with no seasoning. That was fine with him…since he’s not picky, but I would have to add a LOT of extra toppings to my taco to make me forget that it was DIFFERENT. Then, I had the ingenious idea to research taco seasoning on the internet. In the space of 2 minutes, I had a recipe for making my own taco seasoning using the spices that I already had on hand. It was a frugal alternative, and it tasted good.

Then, later that same night, I was making some cheesecake to bring to my in-laws house for Labor Day weekend. Once, again, my shopping list went awry…I thought I had tons of Baker’s Chocolate, but when I pulled it out, there was less than half of what I needed. Did I panic? No, my lesson earlier that night with the tacos caused me to think about my alternatives. I had several bags of Hershey’s Bliss dark chocolates that I had purchased at Walgreens the previous month on a great deal. Someone had mentioned on their blog that they broke them into pieces for making chocolate chips. I thought, maybe I could use a mix of the semi-sweet Baker’s chocolate and the dark chocolate Bliss. I melted it, and used it in the recipe, and I can’t even tell the difference. If I still have the Bliss around next time, I’m going to use it instead of any Baker’s chocolate, since it’s available, and it was free.

Have you ever had to be creative in the kitchen and come up with some easy and frugal alternatives?