LMG: Baby Food

So there's a huge industry making baby food. And another industry selling items to make and store "healthier" baby food (steamers, processors, fancy ice cube trays for storage, etc.). I'm here to tell you that babies need none of these things (or at least not very much). Here's a short list of what a baby can eat that you can make in seconds. 

• Steam in the bag veggies
• Applesauce
• Yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Ripe bananas
• Tiny pieces of bread
• Baked or mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes)
• Avocados
• When the baby gets a few teeth: sliced cheese, small veggies like peas, tortillas, cheerios, noodles, eggs, small pieces of basically whatever you're eating

See? Save yourself some money and hassle. I bought one box of rice cereal, and I've bought I think two small containers of baby food for travel. There's so much false hysteria in the baby industry - that doesn't mean you have to buy into it. 

LMG: Every Other Night

Another tip from my future book, The Lazy Mom's Guide to Half-Assing It.

Cook lots of food. Way more than your family can possibly eat in one night (I realize this is probably easier with smaller families). Then you can have leftovers, and you'll only need to cook every other day.

Don't like leftovers? While some things are fine to serve again as they are, sometimes you may need to turn your leftovers into "new food." Here's a short list of foods that can easily be made with leftovers.

• Soup: Shred or cube meat and/or veggies. Simmer with some broth or stock, or put it in the slow cooker. BAM! New food. Crusty bread really takes this to the next level. 
• Pasta dishes: Again, cube meats or veggies. Toss with a jar of sauce and some noodles. To really fool 'em, top with cheese and heat through. 
• Quesadillas/nachos: Cheese, tortillas or chips, and leftovers. That's it. You could also make burritos using basically the same principles. 
• Loaded potatoes: Bake some taters (in the microwave for even more speediness) and top with leftovers. Use big potatoes and put a veggie on the side to make these a whole meal. 

See how easy this is? Now you can cook every other night!

Frugal Fran

It's not an exaggeration to say we're not rich people. And now that there are three of us, money is not going to get looser (Side note: do people say that? Or do they just say that money is tight?). So here's a list of things we do to save money, along with helpful links where appropriate.

• Make our own laundry detergent. We're powdered detergent people, so it's actually remarkably easy. We've been doing this for a few months now, and I don't notice our clothes being more or less dirty. The are without scent, which I think is a good thing. And since we have borax handy, I use that to pre-treat special stains. 
• Line-dry our clothes. Although there was an initial investment ($60ish) to put up the clothesline, I'm convinced this will be a money-saver in the long run. Caveats: We don't line dry our towels or jeans (because they get too stiff), and as we live in Minnesota this is strictly weather-permitting. 
• Make our own baby wipes. We priced these out at about 1 cent apiece, which is about half the price of store-bought wipes. It's not a huge saving per wipe, but as we will go through many wipes over the years it will add up. And these are made with things we always have around the house. 
• Ride a scooter. Nick was lucky enough to be gifted a motorized scooter (like a Vespa) from my parents. It gets about 75 mpg, and it's handy for going on short trips (like his work) on nice days. 
• Eating at home. Enough said. We've always done this, and it's a good idea for many reasons. Last night I made a pizza. Usually when we eat out we go for something cheap, use a coupon or do a mystery shop. 
• Stay out of the store. No temptation. 
• Coupons. 

I'm sure there are more ... I will share as I think of them. Next I will share areas where we splurge.