Look what I managed to do:

I know it doesn’t look like much in the picture, but I now have THREE meals made from scratch chillin’ in my freezer.  Made by yours truly.  All while I managed to study for a test, take care of my busy toddler, and then work all afternoon/evening. Oh, and I was fighting a cold.  BOO-YAH!

TOOT TOOT!

What you are looking at is a chicken & veggie noodle casserole (which is pretty good, I must say), and an Italian veggie & pasta soup.

Normally we try to stock up our freezer with a couple of frozen meals for the week, just in case we’re too tired to cook anything.  Typically we buy a bag of some sort of frozen pasta meal, which would consist of chicken, veggies, noddles, and some sauce.  It costs around $10 a bag.

By making my own convenience meals I was able to make three for just under $10.  I got triple the value by doing it myself.  Plus, I was able to control how much salt and fat went into it, without the preservatives too.  Yeah, I had to sacrifice some time.  But I gotta tell ya that it feels good to know that I am taking care of my family.  There is something surprisingly satisfying about it.  It feels so…wholesome, I guess that’s the word I’m looking for.  And I’m saving money, too.

I’m almost done with Miserly Moms.  I haven’t applied everything, but the few things I have done so far have worked out well.  Now I just have to keep it up as I try to master some of the other skills of being miserly.

I made the soup using a guide I found on a cooking blog I like.  The soup guide is awesome.  It gives you directions on how to make a soup out of pretty much anything.  The book I’m reading suggests instituting a soup night or baked potato night once a week, since it is an inexpensive but typically hearty meal.  On a night you don’t know what to cook you can use the soup guide to make use of some of the leftover veggies, proteins, and grains you have kicking around in your fridge and pantry rather than spending the extra money to go out.  Seriously, check it out.  The soup guide is in the left column if you scroll down.  You can thank me later.