Starting Up Again.

So I've been negligent in terms of posting and sharing, but I'm willing to try again. A lot has changed since I started this blog. Hubby and I recently finished graduate school (yeah!) and have both found gainful employment in the same town (yeah!). However we've also taken on a mortgage (a mixed bag of yeahs! and *sighs*) and we've had to start paying back our student loans (*SIGH*). All of that makes our budget pretty tight to start with. In addition, we're also expecting our first child any day now. So in an effort to help us save money, live within our means, and still be able to eat well, I've decided to focus on cooking items that will help us stretch our food budget.

Here are a few of the things I've started doing to help us save on groceries:

• Plan all our meals out for two weeks at a time. It takes some work, some creativity, and some patience. Living on a budget means less flying by the seat of our pants or by my whims on cooking. But it also allows me to be creative in how I buy and use food. Planning has also helped me think of new ways to stretch leftovers into a few different meals without having them be boring or mundane. Hubby thinks it exacerbates any OCD issues I may have, but having a plan gives me sense of control.
  
• Major grocery shopping trips every two weeks. By stretching our food dollars out this far in advanced, I can give myself a little leeway in terms of how much to spend each trip without going over each month. But to do this I have to plan out in advance and that's not just dinners, but breakfasts, lunches and snacks.
• Baking what I can. I might have been a fan of major brand cookies when I was a kid, but I like home baked cookies so much more. So I've started to try to bake one item a week for us to snack on. I've made endless batches of cookies, sweet breads, and muffins to help satisfy our sweet tooth and keep me from buying unnecessary snacks. Additionally, I've also started keeping stashes of pizza dough around and baking for potlucks and dinners at friend's houses.
  
• Shopping smart at bulk grocers. We've renewed our Sam's Club membership and I'm trying to stick to using it for those foods that really are cheaper to buy in bulk. For us to do this I have to (a) know how much it would cost per unit and only buy when the price is too good to pass up and (b) stick with items that won't go bad before we get a chance to use them up. It helps cut down on how much I spend during major grocery runs.
• Combining coupons with sale prices. I've been looking a lot more at how to combine coupons (available at CouponMom and tips from America's Cheapest Family) to help me try to get the lowest prices on items. Since we're still just two adults, it seems a little much to stock up on a ton of stuff, but I will stock up on essentials when the price is right.
  
• Use my iPhone to track how much I'm spending. I must look like a real techno-snob in the grocery store, but I found this app, GroceryIQ that helps me track how much I'm spending on each shopping trip, how much items have cost during past trips, and what coupons may be available for an item. So while I'm shopping I can enter prices (or put them in beforehand based on that week's grocery ads) and see what my estimated total should be. It's been really helping me stay within my means and know when I should put an extra item back and when I can get something extra.
  

All of these have been helping me drop our grocery bill from about $500 a month to under $300. I know it will get a little worse when our child grows older, but for now I feel like I have some control over how we're eating and how we're buying food to eat.

THIS WEEKS RECIPE: Pizza dough (from Giada deLaurentis)
I've tried a few different pizza dough recipes and this one is my favorite. It's simple, it tastes pretty good and it doesn't tend to get too dry. I think allowing it to rise twice helps with the texture and the flavor development. Plus it does well even when it's been frozen and allowed to warm to room temperature.

1.5 cups of warm water
1 packet of active dry yeast (.25 oz)
5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp. salt (I prefer Kosher Salt)
Olive oil

Put water in a warm bowl with a pinch of sugar. Sprinkle yeast and stir just until the yeast is wet. Let sit for 10 minutes to allow yeast to start working. It will start to get foamy.

In a large bowl, whisk flour and salt together. Add yeast mixture and stir until a dough forms. It should be a little sticky (but not goopy) and light (not heavy and hard). If need be, adjust with 1Tb at a time of water (if too dry) or flour (if too sticky). Transfer to a floured work surface and with floured hands knead the dough, folding it over with each turn until it is smooth and elastic, about 10-12 minutes. In a clean, dry bowl, drizzle some olive oil. Take the dough, use it to distribute the oil all over the inside of the bowl and then drop in the center. Cover the dough with a light towel or cheesecloth and place in a warm dry area (You can turn your oven on the lowest setting and place the dough on top of the stove). Allow the dough to double in size (anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours).

When ready, punch the dough dough and cut into three equal pieces. I will usually freeze two of the pieces at this point and then continue with the third piece as follows (or the other pieces when they have defrosted):

Allow to rest for another 30 min-1 hour. Remove dough and begin forming into loaves, pizza, or breadsticks.