Naptime Blog

I love to cook.  I would say that I am pretty good at it, too!  I am of Italian heritage, so I guess the best dishes I make are pasta in tomato sauce and meat (“macaroni and meatballs”!), eggplant parmigiana and sausage and peppers.  I also enjoy making pasta salads and outdoors barbeque dishes.  I try to make a variety of meals, if I am cooking a meat entrée, I always include a vegetable and a starch.

Food shopping gets pricey, especially in today’s economy.  I cannot believe how much more expensive everyday food items have gotten over the last few years, such as milk, eggs and meats!  Olive oil can cost $25!  I often try to clip coupons, but $.50 off of a $4.50 item, although it helps, doesn’t really lessen a grocery bill of $200 that much!

My husband is a stickler for being sure I only buy name brands on certain items…  We can only have Gulden’s Mustard in our house, for instance.  And if I buy anything other than Thomas’ English Muffins, he refuses to eat them (“it’s the nooks and crannies that make an English Muffin, and only Thomas’ has them” is usually his famous line).  But yet he is always making comments if I go grocery shopping without him that I spend a fortune!  Which is usually why I like to go with him so we compromise.  And since I have to be mindful of our budget (which keeps expanding out of necessity as our twin boys are now beginning to move from just formula to formula and baby food and now to formula, baby food and table food), I have to steer away from brand names in some cases.

Since I enjoy cooking and since I make dishes that require spices, I absolutely refuse to spend $3-$5 on a McCormack garlic powder.  I try to use fresh garlic wherever I can, but I still love to add some powder as well.  I was in the dollar store a while back and decided to try their brand of garlic powder.  And unless I took out the container of it during dinner, know one would have known it wasn’t a name brand spice!  Little by little I began to replace the spices in my cabinet with store brand spices as they ran out.  I have yet to have any problems with any of the spices I have bought.  Recently, I found 5th Season spices in Wal-Mart.  The garlic powder, onion powder, parsley flakes and red pepper I bought were only $0.50 each!   I bought four spices for less than the price of one name brand spice!

My husband has gotten used to looking in the cabinet and seeing store brand spices in there.  He no longer makes a face and asks “Why didn’t you buy McCormack?”  He does not taste any difference in my sauce or meatballs since I switched over.

Over time, I am going to try to sneak in some other store brand groceries and try to save more money.  I am not sure I will ever be able to fool him with mustard or English Muffins, but I will try other items.  And if I need to purchase over the course of a year 12 to 15 containers of spices, that’s $36.00 in savings!  Imagine what I can save if I threw in some more store brand groceries in the bill!

Well, I better go.  I have to go check my sauce which is simmering on the stove!

Jennifer
Mom to Juliana (7), Louis (9m) and Anthony (9m)
Expecting #4 in September!
www.nevaland.com