Minding My Matties

If you are like me, you probably love quick and simple weeknight dinners made with ingredients you usually have on hand.  I bought a 5 pound pork loin a month or so ago at Aldi for a little less than $10 and used half of it then for this same recipe. I froze the other half for future use so I decided to use it last night in the same recipe since its amazzzzinnng and since the ingredients for this recipe are staples in my kitchen. This recipe is great since it doesn’t require any extravagant ingredients and you can put everything on one pan, making clean up so much easier! You can even stretch this even further by serving it with a salad and/or rolls, or another side. Put the vegetables on the pan mixed with the oil and seasonings, then spread apart so there’s room for the pork loin. I honestly never measure vegetables in pounds since I just cut some up until it looks like the pan is full. I only had 4 carrots so I made do with what I had. I think I used 5-6 potatoes but I wo...

Many people have asked how on earth we can survive off of spending just $50/week on groceries. I promise we aren’t starving ourselves and the kids get all the food they need…should they choose to eat it haha.  It has been fairly easy for us to only spend $50/week even though we are a family of 5 including two adults, a 3 year old, and almost 2 year old, and a 4 month old who is nursing but will be starting food in the next few months. November 2018 Update: Our baby is now 9 months old and eating solids but we are still able to keep the same budget since she normally eats what we eat.  I don’t buy baby food, I never have since it’s so expensive! She just has whatever we are having that is soft. Bananas, avocado, organic yogurt, regular potatoes & sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, homemade applesauce , muffins…those are just some of the things she eats! Here are some of the ways I save money while grocery shopping: Shop the sales and store brands! I know not everyone h...

Vacations can get expensive real quick especially if you decide to go out every day for every meal! On our recent trip to Dallas for my husband’s work training, I was able to stay *mostly* within our grocery budget of about $50/week. How, you may ask?! Well it requires a little planning and a whole lot of hoping your hotel has a kitchenette! Ha. I started with planning a few meals the week before that I could make in a hotel room.  Last time when we went to training in Kansas City, the hotel room we stayed in had a kitchenette which included a sink, dishwasher, microwave, plates, utensils, and full size refrigerator! I was hopeful we would get to stay in a similar hotel room on this trip but I was ready to make it work if not. Fun fact: our hotel room did not, in fact, have any type of kitchenette but I made it work.  Yes, I even used some of the hotel-provided shampoo to wash the dishes! Here are some of my favorite ways to save money on food while staying in a hotel: Stay at a h...