I love the idea of taking mason jars and turning them into spill-proof cups . Visit The Chick n Coop, where you will find a comprehensive tutorial showing you how to make your own Mason Jar Spill-Proof Cups.

The only change that I would make to this system is to use Stainless Steel Straws because I prefer to use reuseable items rather items that have to be replaced.

I often hear people say they would like to buy healthier foods, but they are on a limited budget. I think it is possible to buy wholesome foods on a budget because I do it regularly. I’ve written on various elements of my whole food shopping strategy, but I realized I’ve never put it all together before.

Before I start, I should point out that when I say whole foods, I am not talking about shopping at a certain chain store. I mean wholesome real foods in their most natural form, which is available at all grocery stores.

Budget Tips for Buying Wholesome Foods:

Skip packaged foods as much as possible. For less than the price of a can of beans you can buy a pound of dried beans, which when cooked, will produce approximately 3 cans worth of beans. You can buy several pounds of basmati rice for the price of a box of flavored rice. You can make a month worth of oatmeal for less than the price of a box of individual oatmeal packets. Every time you pick up a pre-made item, ask yourself, “can I make this myself?” If the answer is no, google it, you may be surprised to learn how easy it is to make the item from scratch.

Shop the sales. I check out all of the sales flyers from all of the grocery stores in my area and look for the best sales on the items that I need. I also make note of any good deals on items that we want. I have favorite stores, but I am not so loyal that I will sacrifice my budget. Once I have a list of the best sales at each store, I make a plan for incorporating those stores into my schedule.

Take advantage of the sales. Often the produce that is on sale is also in season and at the peak of freshness. I buy extra of the items that freeze well when they are on sale. I flash freeze berries, I dice and freeze peppers and onions, I even zest and juice lemons and limes before freezing them. This prevents me from ever having to buy those items at top price.

Get the most from your produce by buying vegetables with stems and leaves. You already know that you are paying more per pound for peeled baby carrots than an unpeeled bunch of carrots. But you aren’t just spending more, you are getting less. Carrot peels can be added to broths and carrot tops can be made into soup. Radish leaves make a delicious soup. Beet greens and kohlrabi leaves make a great addition to salads. Broccoli stems are edible., I use them in stir-fry and Broccoli Coleslaw.

Prioritize when buying organic produce. I do not buy all organic produce. I buy organic thin skinned fruits, but buy regular thick skinned fruits. I use the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Cheat Sheet to help me prioritize.

Save money on non-sale items. I save even when an item is not on sale by using a Price Book. I use the information I gather to make lists of items to buy from each store. Here is my list of what I buy at Trader Joe’s.

Leave a little room in the budget to take advantage of unadvertised sales and manager markdowns. I look for Good Deals whenever I shop. There is often a spot in both the produce section and meat section for manager mark downs and there is usually a shelf somewhere in the store where you can find non-perishable and package items on clearance. However, be wary of the clearanced packaged items. Can you make it yourself for less? If it something that you usually buy packaged (like pasta), consult your price book to make sure they are a good deal. A half off sale, doesn’t mean it is a deal, if it normally sells at another store for less.

When we are on a really tight budget, we become economic vegetarians. Even when I have more money to devote to groceries, I minimize our meat usage and try to save on the meat we do purchase. I search for the best deals and use the Cost Per Serving Calculator to help me figure out what is the better deal between different cuts of meat. I use all of the meat that I buy. I repurpose leftover meat and make broth from the bones.

How do you save on wholesome groceries for your family?

These tips are shared on Frugal Friday.

My oldest son struggles with anxiety and after a bad experience with a prescription medicine we decided to try a more natural approach. We have found some herbs and supplements that help, but I wanted to learn more about healing herbs and their interactions with other medicines and herbs. I just downloaded Healing Herbs for the Nervous System for FREE on to my Kindle because it shares the side effects and interactions of healiong herbs with other herbs and medicines.  I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but wanted pass this deal on to you. You can download the free Kindle version here. I don’t know how long it will available for free, so check the price before you buy it.

You don’t have to have a Kindle to take advantage of these deals. You can download  Free Kindle Apps for your Computer or Smart Phone.

Thanks to Annie of Haphazard Homestead for sharing this deal on her Facebook Page.

The following article was written by Andrew of Appliance Helps Appliance Parts:

Let’s imagine your fridge. If it’s anything like mine, it’s pristine on the outside and horribly confused on the inside. It’s probably full of things that shouldn’t be there (old tofu? Gross!), and that are so well-hidden that they won’t be found until they start smelling. I’m here to tell you that there is a better way! I have three ways to make your fridge (and freezer) more full of fresh food, cheaper to run, and easier to navigate.

Longer lasting food:

• For your veggie crisper: to avoid rot, mold, and other annoyances, line the bottom of the drawers with paper towels or pack in an ethylene absorber. Why the worries about ethylene? It’s a chemical that’s naturally emitted by some fruit, and which has the potential to cause rot or over-ripening in other kinds of fruit. Another option is to store fruits that produce ethylene (apples) apart from fruit that absorbs it (bananas). Use this chart to see what fruit need to be separated, and use this site to see which of those fruit don’t need to be refrigerated. It’s worth doing some research, because some fruit and veggies should not be kept in the fridge at all, like tomatoes, squash, and oranges.
• Freezers are your best friend: a surprising amount of things will last much, much longer in the freezer. Just make sure that you enclose the food in an air-tight, resealable container.
• Bonus tip: don’t put bread in the fridge at all. Though it might take longer to “go bad,” it will definitely dry out much quicker.

Make the most of the storage space:

Since your fridge isn’t uniformly cold, and some shelves won’t fit items of all sizes, one big challenge is to figure out where to put everything. Here are some basic steps to follow:

1)      Get rid of what you don’t need to store, but don’t get rid of too much. If your fridge is too full, you risk letting the things that need to be used go bad; if it’s too empty, you’ll lose more cold air every time you open the door than if you’d had a full fridge. The balance can be found in dollars: if you’re throwing out more than you’re saving in power bills (and it won’t be too much), then you should pack that fridge more fully. Use the freezer if it gets too full, too.

2)      Store the least perishable items in the hottest parts of the fridge. The top shelf and the door are usually the warmest places, and as a result, you should put resilient items there: large drink containers, condiments, salt-brined or preserved foods, and other things that only need a slightly cooler atmosphere to stay edible.

3)      The longer you have to cook it, the lower it should go. Don’t put meat above your veggies, or you risk cross-contaminating your salad greens with seriously dangerous bacteria. Once I found out about this tip, I ran to my fridge to move the package of bacon that had been sitting over the veggie drawer.

4)      Bonus tip: use a binder clip to stack beverages!

Lower your power bill:

1)      Turn up the heat! For your food to be stored safely below the range that bacteria can grow in, you should have the temperature set between 35°F and 38°F. Much colder than that and you’ll have another freezer, which isn’t a good thing for most produce.

2)      Stock it up. The fuller your fridge is, the more the temperature will be regulated each time you open and close the door. Items in your fridge will act like pizza stones in ovens, but instead of emitting heat, already-refrigerated objects will radiate cold, which helps bring the temperature of the fridge back down quickly after you’ve closed the door again.

3)      Check the condenser coils, seals, and door alignment. The condenser coils (located either on the back or on the bottom of your fridge) should be dust-free; seals should be uniform in shape and free of tears, cracks, or other disfigurations; and the only resistance that a door should have is when you first open it and break the seal that keeps your food cold.

4)      Bonus tip: get an Energy Star appliance. Depending on how old your fridge is, you might get paid to it removed, as utility companies are not too fond of the incredibly electricity demands associated with these old appliances.

By day, Andrew works at Appliance Help Appliance Parts as a Community Coordinator. By night, he’s a dedicated cooking geek and blogger, trying to find new and exciting techniques that will make the tastiest food around.

This post is linked to Frugal Friday and Frugal Tuesday Tip.