Baking/Food Prep Day

In my efforts to save us some $$ on groceries I have been re-thinking how I prepare our meals. It is possible to do this and still have healthy, efficient and yummy meals. Since Coley and I got married we have had a "NO HAMBURGER HELPER" rule in our house. How un-American is that? Its disgusting- also we don't eat Spam.:) Anyway - You get my point. So here's a few things that I've done this week to prepare meals for us that are healthy, inexpensive and go-far.
- Designate one afternoon to have a "BAKE/Food Prep" Day. I cut up all of our veggies to take with us when we are on the run like carrots, celery, etc. You can also dice onions, etc. and freeze them.

- Make your own spaghetti and pizza sauce. I bought big cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and added our favorite spices, some brown sugar and let it simmer. So easy and fresh! Plus it doesn't have all of the chemicals and corn syrup in it. Ton of it is going in the freezer.

-Granola - so easy to do! Just make sure that you buy the big containers of Old-Fashioned Oats as the quick-cooking will not work. Use your favorite nuts, dried fruits, etc. Let me know if you need a recipe and I will email it to you. It takes 30 minutes to bake.

- Bread - too easy! They make it sound so hard. I found a super-easy recipe for it using my food processor. You just dump in the ingredients, let it do the work, let it rise and then bake. I also made Foccacia bread. It was more work but tasted great with our tomato basil soup.

-Muffins, Breakfast Breads, Waffles - Make these and freeze them. Then whenever you need a quick breakfast put a waffle in the toaster. Also you can individually wrap the bread slices and muffins and lay them out on the counter the night before. Heat for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave. (Thanks to Ellie Krieger of Food Network for this tip).

-Put on some good music, warm fuzzy socks and enjoy your time in the kitchen! You are going to be in there anyway(eventually) preparing food for your hungry family.