Free Cleaning Products & a Giveaway!

You want to know the hardest thing about writing this blog? Finding a clean enough space on my kitchen counter to take a picture of the finished products after I’ve cooked them, LOL. I don’t know about you but I am a super messy cook. And I feel like EVERY day I’m fighting a constant battle against my kitchen. Part of the problem is that I do a lot of cooking so I’m always in the kitchen. Also, with two little ones I don’t always get to clean up the mess right away and it multiplies.

What my kitchen looked like after making Strawberry Bread this morning

I would love to say it’s just my kitchen that gets messy but that wouldn’t be completely true :) I have to admit, if it’s a choice between reading my boys a book when they ask or picking up the living room, I’m going to choose the boys every time. One thing I’ve found that has actually helped me clean less and play more is Stephanie O’Dea’s Daily Seven on her site Totally Together Journal (her other site is the crockpot blog that I LOVE) Whew… that was a lot of links all in one go.

Once you get your cleaning routine down, you’re going to need some cleaning products to help you along the way. There are usually sales and coupons for different cleaning products each week but you want to know what’s even better than a great sale? Getting a bunch of free full sized cleaning products shipped to you!! I’m a member of a word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing network called BzzAgent where I get to try new products and spread word of mouth. As a BzzAgent, I join a BzzCampaign to try new products and services from some of the biggest companies around. Then I share my honest opinions through reviews, Facebook posts, video testimonials, blog posts…however I want.



The contents of my goody box from SC Johnson...
did I mention this was all free and was delivered to my house?!?!

If I find something I really like (like these Granola Bars, LOL), I always share it with my friends anyway. Now I get to enjoy free products while doing it :) If you would like to be a BzzAgent too, click HERE. I love, love, LOVE SC Johnson products and I'm an especially big fan of scrubbing bubbles so you know I was doing my happy dance when this box showed up.

Since I got a whole stash of free products, I thought I’d share some of the savings with one of you. Also included in my box of goodies was a booklet with over $58 in savings on SC Johnson products. These are high value coupons on things like Pledge, Glade, and Scrubbing Bubbles.

One lucky Freeze Your Way Fit reader will win the whole booklet. Entry is simple! You just need to answer the question below by leaving a comment on this site! You can gain up to 3 bonus entries for doing each additional item listed (just make sure that you leave one entry for each one — up to a total of 4 comments.) As a reminder, comments left on Facebook, Twitter or other posts will not be included. I will choose a winner on Sunday 4/9 around 11pm.

REQUIRED ENTRY:

1. What is your #1 tip for keeping your house or kitchen clean? - 1 entry

BONUS ENTRIES:

2. Follow Freeze Your Way Fit on Facebook or Twitter and comment on this post that you did (or already do) - 1 entry

3. Subscribe to Freeze Your Way Fit HERE or follow by e-mail HERE and comment on this post that you did (or already do) - 1 entry

4. Leave a comment on any other post and mention it here - 1 entry

:)

Perfect Barley (OAMC)

Makes 12 servings, about 1/2 cup each
This recipe is very similar to the Perfect Brown Rice. I LOVE brown rice but every now and again I want something different. Barley has a nice texture and a slightly nutty flavor. It's really great in salads too because it soaks up all of the dressing but is big enough to not get mushy or lost in the rest of the dish. 

To really save yourself some time, make a batch and freeze it in 1 cup portions. Once they’re frozen, put them all together in a big gallon-size freezer bag, break the chunks up (sometimes it helps to let them defrost a little bit first), and throw the bag back into the freezer. This will leave you with a big bag of individual cooked barley grains. That way, if you need a cup as a side dish or to throw into a soup or something, you can just scoop it right out of the bag with a measuring cup. Throw it in the microwave for 45 seconds or a minute and it's ready to eat.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups hulled barley (can use pearled but it is not whole grain, the bran has been removed)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups boiling water

ONE: Preheat oven to 375. Spread barley in a 9x13 baking dish or large ceramic baking dish with lid. Boil water and, once boiling, stir in oil and salt. Pour over barley and cover baking dish tightly with a double layer of foil (or skip the foil and use the lid of the dish if it has one). Bake 1 hour or until barley is tender.

TWO: Remove dish from oven and fluff with a fork. Serve immediately. 

NUTRITION INFO:

Per Serving: 128 Calories, 3g Fat, 0g Saturated Fat, 0mg Cholesterol, 23g Total Carbohydrates, 198mg Sodium, 5g Dietary Fiber, 4g Protein, 0% Vitamin A, 0% Vitamin C, 1% Calcium, 6% Iron

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

Bread crumbs are a really versatile ingredient. You can use them in meatloaf and meatballs, to bread meat and fish, and to sprinkle on top of baked veggies for an a gratin effect just to name a few. But finding whole wheat bread crumbs can be tricky. My store almost never has them and, when they do, they're ridiculously expensive. So I figured, why not just make my own.

What you'll need:

• 6-12 slices of whole grain bread, at least one day old (I save the ends from our sandwich bread in the freezer in a bag until I have a collection)
• Cookie sheet
• Food processor or blender
• Gallon-size freezer bag

ONE: Preheat the oven to 300. Lay the bread slices out in a single layer on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes, turning over once in the middle, until the bread is dried out and crispy.

TWO: Break the slices of dried out bread into smaller pieces and throw them in your food processor or blender (if using a blender, you might want to only do one or two slices at a time depending on how good yours is). Grind until they reach the desired texture.

THREE: Store in an airtight freezer bag in your pantry. They last forever. If you go to use them and they seem a bit stale, just spread them on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven at 300 for a few minutes.

I usually grind mine until they are mostly fine bread crumbs with a few bigger chunks. If I need really fine bread crumbs, I will either regrind a small batch in my coffee grinder (we don't drink coffee so our coffee grinder is solely used for grinding nuts, seeds, and grains) or use my colander to separate out the big chunks. (I actually got the colander idea from my Mother-in-Law. She uses her colander to remove all the dust and crumbs from the last bit of cereal in the box, leaving just the bigger flakes. This prevents the big-bowl-o-mush effect. Isn't that a great idea?!)

You can also make whole grain "bread crumbs" by grinding whole grain cereal (we've done cheerios in the past) or whole grain crackers. Since they are already dry and crispy, just grind them and store them in freezer bags in the pantry.

Super Stockpile 2/20

I am LOVING the Italian Days sale at Publix right now. I wait all year for this and I buy all of my canned tomatoes, chicken broth, and beans for the rest of the year. When I realized that Italian Days was starting I actually ran around the house squealing…until Matt reminded me that it was 11:30 at night and our kids were sleeping. I’ve already been to Publix 5 times and I’ll probably go another 10 more before the sale is over :)

There were some really great sales in produce this week. I bought 8 big sweet onions ($.99/lb), 6 red bell peppers ($2.49/lb), and 6 green bell peppers ($1.49/lb) just to feed my freezer stash. I chopped them all up and dumped them into 3 different gallon-sized freezer bags (one for each different veggie). Once they are frozen, I break them apart with my hands or by lightly banging the bag on the counter until I have a big bag of individual pieces instead of a frozen chunk. I throw the bags back into the freezer and then, when I need diced onions or chopped peppers for a recipe, I can just scoop them out of the bag with my measuring cup without having to get a cutting board or chef knife dirty.

I also bought 3 bags of grapes ($1.69/lb). Did you know you could freeze grapes?! I was really excited to find that out. I pull them off the vines, wash them, and again just toss them all into a gallon-sized freezer bag. I'll take a few handfuls out and set them aside when I'm getting the boys' lunch ready and by the time they're done with the main part of their lunch, the grapes are defrosted and ready to eat. You can actually eat them frozen too, which the boys love to do in the summer (cut them in half first because they're a choking hazard).

Here are some of the deal scenarios I’ve done so far on the canned/packaged items:

Scenario 1 -
Items bought:

• 8 Cartons Progresso 100% Natural Broth Chicken 32 oz carton, BOGO $2.59
• 6 28oz cans Hunt's Tomato Sauce, BOGO $1.89
• 6 boxes Green Giant Frozen Vegetables. 10/$10
• Multi Grain Baton from the bakery, $1.89

Coupons Used:

• 1 -$5/20 Italian Days items Publix Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1/4 Progresso Items Italian Days Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1/3 Hunts tomatoes 28 oz Publix coupon -Italian Days Sheet Found In Store
• 1 -$1.50 off Publix bakery bread wyb 6 Hunt’s tomato sauces or pastes Publix coupon Italian Days Coupon Found In Store
• 4 -$0.50/1 Green Giant Vegetables (printable)
• 1 -$0.50/2 Green Giant Boxed Vegetables Rolling (printable)

Price Before Coupons - $23.99
Price After Coupons - $10.99
Total Savings Including Sales – $32.99 or 75%

Scenario 2 –
Items Bought:

• 40 cans Progresso Beans 15 to 19 oz, 3/$2

Coupons Used:

• 2 -$5/20 Italian Days items Publix Coupon (printable)
• 10 -$1/4 Progresso Items Italian Days Coupon (printable)
• 1 -$5/$25 CVS coupon (e-mailed to me from CVS)

Price Before Coupons - $26.67
Price After Coupons - $1.67
Total Savings Including Sales - $39.60 or 96%

Scenario 3 –
Items Bought:

• 8 Cartons Progresso 100% Natural Broth Chicken 32 oz carton, BOGO $2.59
• 12 Hunt's 100% Natural Tomato Sauce 8 oz, 6/$2
• 2 Multigrain Batons from the Bakery, $1.89

Coupons Used:

• 1 -$5/20 Italian Days items Publix Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1/4 Progresso Items Italian Days Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1.50 off Publix bakery bread wyb 6 Hunt’s tomato sauces or pastes Publix coupon Italian Days Coupon Found In Store
• 1 -$5/$25 CVS coupon (e-mailed to me from CVS)

Price Before Coupons - $18.14
Price After Coupons - $3.14
Total Savings Including Sales - $28.48 or 90%

Scenario 4 –
Items Bought:

• 8 Cartons Progresso 100% Natural Broth Chicken 32 oz carton, BOGO $2.59
• 6 28oz cans Hunt's Tomato Sauce, BOGO $1.89
• 6 28oz cans Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes, BOGO $1.89
• Multigrain Baton from the bakery, $1.89

Coupons Used:

• 1 -$5/20 Italian Days items Publix Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1/4 Progresso Items Italian Days Coupon (printable)
• 1 -$1.50 off Publix bakery bread wyb 6 Hunt’s tomato sauces or pastes Publix coupon Italian Days Coupon Found In Store
• 4 -$1/3 Hunts tomatoes 28 oz Publix coupon -Italian Days Sheet Found In Store

Price Before Coupons – $23.59
Price After Coupons - $11.09
Total Savings Including Sales - $34.20 or 76%

Scenario 5 –
Items Bought:

• 4 Cartons Progresso 100% Natural Broth Chicken 32 oz carton, BOGO $2.59
• 6 28oz cans Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes, BOGO $1.89
• 2 6oz cans Hunt's Tomato Paste, 3/$2
• 4 cans Progresso Beans 15 to 19 oz, 3/$2
• 4 boxes Green Giant Frozen Vegetables. 10/$10

Coupons Used:

• 1 -$5/20 Italian Days items Publix Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1/4 Progresso Items Italian Days Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1/3 Hunts tomatoes 28 oz Publix coupon -Italian Days Sheet Found In Store
• 4 -$0.50/1 Green Giant Vegetables (printable)

Price Before Coupons – $16.18
Price After Coupons - $5.18
Total Savings Including Sales – $26.89 or 84%

Scenario 6 –
Items Bought:

• 8 Cartons Progresso 100% Natural Broth Chicken 32 oz carton, BOGO $2.59
• 12 6oz cans Hunt's Tomato Paste, 3/$2
• 2 Multigrain Batons from the Bakery, $1.89

Coupons Used:

• 1 -$5/20 Italian Days items Publix Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1/4 Progresso Items Italian Days Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1.50 off Publix bakery bread wyb 6 Hunt’s tomato sauces or pastes Publix coupon Italian Days Coupon Found In Store

Price Before Coupons – $22.14
Price After Coupons - $12.14
Total Savings Including Sales - $11.32 or 48%

Scenario 7 –
Items Bought:

• 6 28oz cans Hunt's Crushed Tomatoes, BOGO $1.89
• 6 28oz cans Hunt's Diced Tomatoes, BOGO $1.89
• 8 cans Progresso Beans 15 to 19 oz, 3/$2

Coupons Used:

• 1 -$5/20 Italian Days items Publix Coupon (printable)
• 2 -$1/4 Progresso Items Italian Days Coupon (printable)
• 4 -$1/3 Hunts tomatoes 28 oz Publix coupon -Italian Days Sheet Found In Store

Price Before Coupons – $16.67
Price After Coupons - $5.67
Total Savings Including Sales – $13.42 or 70%

By doing the above scenarios over the past few days I’ve gotten 36 cartons of chicken broth, 12 28oz cans of tomato sauce, 18 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes, 6 28oz cans of diced tomatoes, 10 boxes of frozen veggies, 52 cans of beans, 12 8oz cans of tomato sauce, 14 6oz cans of tomato paste, and 5 fresh baked breads, $236.78 worth of food, for less than $50. That’s a savings of $186.90 or 79%. Now do you understand the running-around-the-house-squealing hehehe :)

Once a Month Cooking (Freezer Cooking) Basics: Unleashing the Power of Your Freezer (AKA How do I freeze this?)

I used to use my freezer only for storing extra meat and bags of frozen veggies. I would occasionally freeze leftovers but I generally did so by just putting all of what was left in one big container. Inevitably it would be forgotten in the back of the freezer somewhere and I wouldn’t actually know what it was once I unearthed it again and so it would get tossed. Once I discovered all of the different methods there were for freezing things a whole new world opened up for me and I really started to use my freezer for the awesome tool that it is.

Small Portions

• Ice cube trays work wonders for this. Spoon food into standard ice cube trays, cover tightly (tin foil or Glad Press n’ Seal work well), and let freeze until solid. Once they are frozen, you can pop the cubes out like you would regular ice cubes and the trays are available to be used again. Store the food cubes in a labeled freezer bag.
• Use this method for things like hummus, tomato paste, chicken broth, pasta sauce, peanut sauce, and pureed veggies for baby food or healthy add-ins. Basically anything where you would want just a small portion of it defrosted at a time.

Medium/Large Portions

• Similar to using an ice cube tray for small portions, you can use individual sealable containers for medium or large portions. Spoon individual servings of food into separate freezer containers, seal tightly, and freeze solid. Once frozen, pop them out of the container like a big ice cube and store in labeled freezer bags.
• Use this method for things like soups, stews, chili, casseroles, pasta dishes, side dishes, sauces, marinades, or larger portions of pureed veggies

Flash Freeze Method

• Arrange pieces of food on a cookie sheet or anything flat and freezable so that they are not touching. To do more than one layer, cover the first layer with wax paper and place the next layer on top. Cover tightly and freeze until solid. Once the pieces are frozen you can remove them from the tray and store them in a freezer bag. Since the outsides are frozen already they won’t freeze together, similar to bags of individually frozen chicken breasts.
• Use this method for anything that you want to retrieve separately: pancakes, waffles, chunks of fruit, french toast, turkey burgers, pieces of lasagna or pot pie

Double Bagged Method

• Place individual servings of food in a regular sandwich bag or quart-sized bag and then store all of the smaller bags in a larger freezer bag
• Use this method for things like breads, muffins, sandwiches, granola bars, or breakfast burritos. I use this method for my diced onions because the double bagging prevents the onion smell from stinking up my freezer :)

Perfect Brown Rice (OAMC)

Makes 12 servings, about ¾ cup each
This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Cook’s Illustrated The Best Light Recipe. I’ve made probably 500 batches of rice this way by now and it’s literally perfect every single time. I love that it cooks in the oven, too, because I can just shove the pan in the oven, set the timer, and forget about it. What can I say; I really like it when things cook themselves with no effort on my part :)

To really save yourself some time, make a batch and freeze it in 1 cup portions. Once they’re frozen, put them all together in a big gallon-size freezer bag, break the chunks up (sometimes it helps to let them defrost a little bit first), and throw the bag back into the freezer. This will leave you with a big bag of individual cooked rice grains. That way, if you need a cup of rice as a side dish or to throw into a soup or something, you can just scoop it right out of the bag with a measuring cup. Throw it in the microwave for 45 seconds or a minute and it's ready to eat.

It seems so small but this rice has made a HUGE difference for our family!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups brown rice
• 4 2/3 cups water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

ONE: Preheat oven to 375. Spread rice in a 9x13 baking dish. Pour 2 Tbsp oil and 1 tsp salt over dry rice and stir to coat. Boil water and pour over rice. Cover baking dish tightly with a double layer of foil (I use a large oval Corningware baking dish. It has a glass lid so I can skip the foil). Bake 1 hour or until rice is tender.

Could this be any easier?

TWO: Remove dish from oven and fluff rice with a fork. Cover with a dish towel and let stand 5 minutes. Uncover and let stand another 5 minutes before serving.

Do you like my fancy containers?... Old butter tubs, hehehe :)

Toss the frozen chunks into a gallon-sized freezer bag and break them up

NUTRITION INFO:

Per Serving: 190 Calories, 3.5g Fat, 0.5g Saturated Fat, 0mg Cholesterol, 36g Total Carbohydrates, 200mg Sodium, 2g Dietary Fiber, 4g Protein

Fit and Frugal Has a Blog!!

The first official Fit and Frugal meeting was this past Thursday and we had a total blast!! What a great week to start our group because there are some AWESOME sales at Publix this week. We went over so much great stuff, I thought it might be good to have it all in one place for us to review. That way those who couldn’t make it can have access to the info as well. Here’s what we discussed this week:

1. Review of the basic couponing info that we covered at the joint Thrifty Mamas/Fit and Frugal meeting.
2. What “Healthy Eating” means and how to get started.
3. How to Unleash the Power of Your Freezer to cook less and save more.

For our hands-on portion, we had a lesson on dicing onions using a chef knife. Once I started doing more home cooking, I noticed that I was dicing onions CONSTANTLY. By using a chef knife and a good technique, I can dice my onions much quicker than by using a smaller knife, like a paring knife. The same goes for chopping other veggies, like carrots or celery... or mushrooms as Hannah found out after dicing about 7 million of them :) A big chef knife can be kind of intimidating if you don't know how to use it, though. We all got a little friendlier with our chef knives and used a fairly simple technique to dice our onions. Here is a video that shows how the pros do it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6piiuxJx4o.

In addition to proper technique, the biggest thing that saves me time in my cooking is not having to dice my onions at all. Dice several large onions all at once (after buying them on sale of course) and throw them into a gallon-sized freezer bag. Toss it into the freezer and, once frozen, squeeze the bag or bang it gently on the counter to break up the mass into little pieces. This will give you a bag of individually frozen bits of diced onion. That way, when a recipe calls for diced onions, you can just scoop them out of the bag with a measuring cup. You don’t even need to defrost them before using them.

Another thing I noticed was how LONG it took to cook rice when I switched from white rice to brown rice… and how IMPOSSIBLE it was to make brown rice that was actually edible. Then I found a recipe that makes perfect brown rice every single time. This might not seem like a big deal to you but I get very excited about this sort of thing. Plus, we eat a lot of brown rice so it’s nice that it’s actually edible now.

Once again, my biggest time savings comes from freezing the cooked rice. I make a big batch and freeze it in 1 cup portions. Once they’re frozen, put them all together in a big gallon-size freezer bag and break the chunks up (sometimes it helps to let them defrost a little bit first). This will leave you with a big bag of individual rice grains. That way, just like with the onions, if you need a cup of rice as a side dish or to throw in a soup, you can just scoop it right out of the bag with a measuring cup. Throw them in the microwave for 45 seconds or a minute and they’re ready to eat. We eat it as a side dish with dinner, I add it to soups, and I even sprinkle a ¼ cup on my salads sometimes for some extra whole grains. It adds great texture and soaks up the flavor of my salad dressing. Yum :)

Once we were all done chopping (and crying… except for Katie who actually has special onion chopping goggles!), we moved on to cooking some main dishes. I came up with a menu for the week based on what was on sale at Publix. Each recipe will have its own individual post.

• Chocolate Walnut Zucchini Bread
• Portobello Mushroom Ragu
• Perfect Brown Rice
• Lean Stuffed Peppers
• Pork Ragout
• Vegetarian Tacos (These are AMAZING! The moms loved them and ALL of the kids ate them including the spinach and asked for more. But….. they’re a recipe that I’m testing for an upcoming Clean Eating magazine so I can’t post it yet. Those members who came to Fit and Frugal will have it e-mailed to them and the rest of you will just have to wait. Besides, there has to be some benefit to coming to the meeting!)

I hope you enjoy this week’s menu and you pick up some good tips to help your waist get smaller and your wallet get fatter. Stay tuned for more meal plans and couponing tips.