TOT Thursday - Weights and measures

A few weeks ago I mentioned how changing your portion size can not only reduce your food budget (by eating closer to correct portions your food will go further) but also reduce your waistline, especially if you're in the habit of filling up that giant dinner plate! But it's hard to eyeball a correct meat portion until you've seen the actual accurate size many times.

How can you make your meat purchase go further this week?

Invest in a food scale!

According to the USDA's food pyramid guidelines, women should consume about 5 1/2 oz of meat/protein daily, while men should consume about 6 1/2 oz. Consider that most restaurants serve up between 3/4 and a full pound of meat, and even at home we're making one full chicken breast (8 oz) for a meal..it's a reality check! If you're serving protein twice a day, your meat portion should be three ounces at each meal. THREE OUNCES! The eyeball measurements I've heard are a deck of cards or a woman's palm...but I've been guilty of "cheating" that size estimate, because it's easy when you're not dealing with hard numbers.

Using a food scale will keep you on track with your portion sizes, and will also allow you to buy meats and other foods in bulk and separate into useful portions more quickly and easily! I picked up this food scale at Ikea (hubby works there!) for six bucks, and I use it constantly - not just for meat, but bulk shredded cheese, veggies, even flour for baking (many really good bread recipes use flour measurements by weight and not cups).

So the next time you pick up that 3-lb package of chicken breast at the store, remember that it should serve up eight daily portions - then get yourself a scale and be sure you're making the most of that purchase!



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Vaseline Sheer Infusion with Stratys-3 - Review and Giveaway!

Winter is approaching, and (at least in the Northeast) so is the dry skin that comes along with the cold weather. If the outside cold air doesn't get you, the dry heat inside will! So it was very timely that I received Vaseline Smooth Infusion with Stratys-3 to try out and review for you!


I'm pretty picky about my lotions because I have my hands in everything during the day and can't deal with sticky or greasy feelings that linger. The first time I tried the lotion, it went on SO smooth and soaked in almost immediately. I noticed that the LOOK of my hands had changed, even after a few hours - the skin looked smoother and healthier, and I didn't feel like I needed to re-apply every hour to keep that hydrated feeling.

Vaseline Sheer Infusion delivers two times more moisture than leading body lotions and is the only lotion that can infuse and suspend moisture into each layer of the stratum corneum (surface skin) – the top, the core and deep down. This results in unprecedented hydration leading to better, more healthy moisturized skin and an unmatched silky skin feel. Clinical studies show that more hydration leads to improved skin softness, smoothness and quicker elimination of dry skin.

The real test for me was a lingering dry spot on my ankle - the one that in my wedding pics looks like someone colored my anklebone greyish white and wouldn't go away with pumice stones, creams, scrubs or anything else. I used it in that particular spot for a week and there was a NOTICEABLE difference in the skin - it was less scaly, more skin-colored and started to feel softer. That alone makes this lotion a necessity in my beauty arsenal!

One lucky reader will win THREE full sized bottles, one each of Botanical Blend, Mineral Renewal and Vitamin Burst. For your first (mandatory) entry, visit the Vaseline website and comment with something you learned about Vaseline Sheer Infusion, or another Vaseline product that helps you fight dry skin in the winter! (and don't forget to pick up this $1.50 coupon so you don't have to wait for the contest to try it out!)

For additional entries (be sure to leave a comment for each!):
- Become a subscriber to my blog via email
- Follow me on Google Reader or subscribe in a feed
- Follow me on Twitter (@scorbett) and tweet this contest! (One entry per tweet, one tweet per day) You can use the Tweet link at the top of this post, or just copy and paste the following: Stay smooth all winter! Vaseline Sheer Infusion giveaway at The $200 Mission http://bit.ly/2d0Do @scorbett ends 11/18

Contest ends at 10pm on November 18th, when the winner will be chosen via Random.org. Winner will be notified via email and will have 72 hrs to claim their prize!

This is a sponsored post and giveaway, and I did receive compensation in the form of free product for this review. The sponsor also provided free product to be awarded in a giveaway. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. This review reflects my honest opinion based on my experience in using the product, and this post was not edited or reviewed by anyone.




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80% off at Restaurant.com - 3 days only!

Restaurant.com is offering gift certificates at 80% off again! That means $25 GC for just $2! This is only good for 3 days (thru 11/13) and GC's will sell out fast.

Just visit Restaurant.com, choose the GC's you want, and enter the code ENTREE at checkout - the discount will apply to everything in your shopping cart.

Be sure to read the fine print, as most restaurants place some restrictions on GC use. This is a great way to get early gift shopping done, or to try out new restaurants without breaking the bank!






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Menu Plan Monday - Nov 9, '09

It's the middle of November, meaning it's time to start pre-planning the Holiday Shuffle! I love that both our families live closeby, but coordinating to make sure BOTH sets of grandparents see the kids can be rough. Anyone got a spare cloning machine?

Last week we did great with the menu plan until Friday, we got home late so I just made spaghetti. Then we ended up out of the house for the whole weekend so I didn't have to cook! The end of week meals will carry over into this week so I can use the ingredients while they're good. I'm still working out the juggling of mealtime cooking with a toddler AND an infant in the house, but we're making progress :)

This week we only have ONE day when the whole family is home for dinner, otherwise one of us working-types is...well, working. I definitely need to squeeze in a baking day somewhere too - my toddler wants to know why the bananas look funny :)

Here's our table for the week, don't forget to visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hundreds more menus and recipes!

monday - Black Bean Quesadillas, sliced avocado ($4.50 for 4 servings)

tuesday - Honey Balsamic drumsticks, veggie, Honey wheat breadsticks ($5.00 for 4-6 servings)

wednesday - Homemade Pizza ($2.95 for 6-8 servings)

thursday - Country Chicken Cobbler in the crockpot ($2.27 for 6 servings)

friday - Leftover Bee Rocks from the freezer, veggie ($0.50 for 4 servings)

saturday - Leftover Shepherd's pie, veggie, rolls ($1.00 for 4 servings)

sunday - dinner at the in-law's (Free!)




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Do you Woot? Halo Sleep sacks for $7.99 shipped!

I love Woot! If you haven't visited them before, I highly recommend it - they get closeouts and seconds to sell at deep discounts, and they offer one item per day until they're all sold out. Definitely worth a daily check-in!

Today at Kids.woot.com they have Halo Sleep Sacks for $7.99 SHIPPED! The only size they have left is small (suitable for babies about 1-6 months but check the Halo sizing info) and you can choose a pink leopard print or olive camoflage print. These retail for $20-30 even at Target, so get it while you can!




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TOT Thursday - Dinner is served - twice!

I chuckle to myself whenever one of the nurses I work with finds out what I've done with our food budget through budgeting, couponing and cooking more at home. The first reaction is generally amazement at how little we spend. But the second response is almost ALWAYS "I just don't have time to cook every night". Sound familiar?

I certainly don't expect the mom who works full time, runs her kids to activities, shops and cleans to throw the ol' apron on and put out a five course spread every night...but with a TEENY bit of pre-planning you can easily reduce how often you eat out or grab frozen entrees during the week. Both dinnertime options are not only costly, but can also have an impact on your health, when you consider the preservatives it takes to make fresh food shelf-stable.

Here's an easy way to reduce your dinnertime costs THIS WEEK:

- Look at your schedule for the week. Is there one night you will have about 30-45 minutes free before dinnertime? Ideally you should try for two nights, but one's better than none!

- Take a minute to browse your cookbooks or online for recipes that won't take long to make. Pasta bakes and rice casseroles work very well for this exercise. Need a place to start? Try some of these resources:
30 Minute recipes at cdkitchen.com
Quick Dinner Recipes at Taste of Home
Allrecipes.Com Quick and Easy recipe library

- Now for the tricky part: DOUBLE THE RECIPE. It will only add about 5-10 minutes of prep time for you to make two full meals worth, and since you're already in the kitchen you may as well put the time to good use! Make your grocery list ahead of time so you'll have everything you need (and to help you stick to the plan - writing down your goals and plans increases your chances of acheiving them!)

Before an hour is up on the day you cook, you will have TWO fully prepared meals - send one to the table, and immediately wrap the other one and pop it in the freezer. I use a sharpie marker and write what the dish is right on the foil, along with the reheating instructions. If your family's schedule makes it hard to all sit down together, invest in some single-serve plastic storage containers. Dish out the servings and freeze for lunches or dinners on the go. Then make your family do the dishes as a reward for your hard work :)

If you can do that once or twice a week, before too long you'll have a nice reserve of frozen entrees sans preservatives at your fingertips - not to mention you'll have made dinner for less than $3 a serving, instead of $10 a head at a restaurant! Getting in that habit may inspire you to start meal planning a week at a time, which will do wonders for your food budget and your peace of mind. Get REALLY good, and you can try your hand at once a month cooking!




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Cleanup in the cereal aisle!

Man, I have a hard time when a good deal comes along! I had read Deal Seeking Mom's post about the Kellogg's cereal deal at Target this week and had to see what I could make of it.

According to the deal, selected Kelloggs cereals were $2.66 and ALL Kelloggs cereals are buy 3, get one free. There are several links to Kellogg's Mfr coupons on the post, plus a Target store printable for $1/1 Kelloggs cereal that can be stacked! I also found a Target printable for Chex mix that could be combined with a couple of Chex mix printables from Coupons.com, and a free Pop Tarts coupon I had from an old campaign.

As it turns out, the cereals under the sale price were VERY limited - the Raisin Bran was the only one I had coupons for (my store didn't carry the Corn Flakes Touch of Honey, and the Special K cereals weren't at the sale price). But I still managed to get all of the cereal for an average price of $1.05 per box after coupons, so I'm satisfied :) Here's how it worked out:

13 Boxes Kellogg cereals (2 Corn Flakes, 1 Rice Krispies, 1 Special K Blueberry, 2Special K Cinnamon Pecan, 3 Raisin Bran, 4 Frosted Mini Wheats) - $40.83
used 10 $1/1 Target Printables
used $8.25 in various mfr printable coupons
Received 3 free boxes as part of promotion
Final cost: $13.64, or $1.05 per box!

2 bags Chex Mix, on sale for $1.75
used $1/2 Target Printable
used 2 $0.50/1 mfr printables
Final Cost: $1.50, or $0.75 each!

1 box Blueberry Muffin Pop Tarts, $2.29
used mfr coupon for a free box
Final Cost: FREE!

1 bag Goldfish crackers $1.89 (The Boy Wonder and I got a snack attack)
1 DVD Cat in the Hat animated $5.00

Grand Total: $22.03!!!




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