Reader Response to "Find Cash in Your Kitchen"

I'm a Stay at home mom. Well, I was until I decided to go back to school because being a military wife gives my resume' more holes than Swiss cheese. But how was I going to do it? Things were already tight financially with three people living on one income (less than 30K). How was I going to afford the extra expenses of child care, gas, tuition, books, uniforms. Thank God I was able to apply for scholarships to go to school but that still

didn't cover the extra $335.00 a month for child care or the extra gas I would be using. But with the extra help of your book, I was able to cut my grocery bill by HUNDREDS every month!

My usual grocery list consisted of a hungry, busy, stressed, and broke mom trying to remember all the things I needed to buy for a weekly family menu. So I travel up and down all the isles getting all the things I "need" including meats that I have no recipes for, veggies that usually go bad, and snacks (because I'm starving by this point!).

So my mom gives me your book and I am so tired of running around like a chicken with my head cut off but getting nothing done that I'm willing to try anything. I dive right in. I want to know how to shop, what to get, how to prepare everything, and save time doing it.

First I write my list based on the recipes I'm going to make when I get home, a few more meals I will prepare later, and the essentials (milk, bread, etc). Second, I need a crock pot. It's payday so I take my "half" of the money that's left over after bills and buy a crock pot. And I'm thinking I better use this thing because those pink stilettos have been eying me since last week and if it weren't for this crock pot they could be mine! Third, I go shopping and get ONLY what is on the list. I don't go down the snack isle because there is nothing there on my list. No chips, no sodas, no cookies, just what i need. I check out and I'm about to faint. My grocery cart is loaded with fresh foods but my grocery bill is $50 less than usual. And I'm thinking "But there's so much more than usual, how is it less?" And the savings were enough to cover the cost of the crock pot!!!

SHUT-UP!!!!! : )

I hurry home and I'm ready. I had cleaned my kitchen before I got home so "it's on"! I don't bother putting away the unrefrigerated things. I get straight to work on the meats. I pull out the new crock-pot and put in my onions, 2 whole (washed) chickens and set the timer. I've never used a crock pot so I'm worried. But practice makes perfect right? Next I'm browning ground beef and making spaghetti sauce. I'm working on 4 meals and it's only been 5min!!! OMG!!!

The sauce is done so what am I going to do with it. Lasagna with 1/2, and freeze the other for spaghetti. I've got the oven going and I make the lasagna. Well I've got an extra pound of uncooked ground beef I had gotten, so I save a little time (and electricity) and make a meat loaf. The lasagna comes out, meat loaf goes in. Once these have cooked and cooled they go in the fridge so they can set and I cut them into smaller portions and freeze for meals on the go or a 5 minute home cooked meal!!!!

I check on the chickens a while later, de-bone, split the broth, chicken and dumplings with one half, chicken salad with the other and I've got extra homemade broth to make soups or use in other recipes.

Thanks to your book, FIND CASH IN YOUR KITCHEN, after 4 years, I feel like I can really do my part to help the financial stability of my family and still be able to do things I want to do like going back to school. I may not be working, but I can stretch that dollar twice as far as my husband can, which means we can save more.

Thank you Cia!!!!
Mallory - a proud USArmy wife