Monday Q&A | Snacks, Pasta, and Homeschool Storage
Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you'd like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi! Two things before we get to questions.
I know you guys always love it when I am real and I just wanted to tell you that if you want more of that sort of thing, you should go like my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter. I'm not a total downer at those places, but I do share stuff that I wouldn't normally blog about (like the time when Sonia left an open bottle of mouthwash on the office floor right next to the rolling chair and I ended up with minty-fresh tile for a few days).
Anyhoo, I'm not going to try to tell you that my Facebook and Twitter feeds are life-changing, but if you want to know more about what I'm up to or what I'm thinking, those are the places to go.
I'm also working on compiling your questions for my mom and for Mr. FG, so if you've thought of a question you wanted to ask them, speak now! You can email your question to me or leave it as a comment here.
As a mother of four and former homeschooler on a budget, I totally get so much of what you do/write. One question I have is about snacks since I haven't seen them mentioned on your menu planning days. My kids (ages 2, 4, 7, and 9) are in the habit of having a morning and afternoon snack each day. I think this started at the pediatrician's request when my oldest was about a year old and dropping drastically on her growth curve. We've never gotten out of it. I'm not convinced it's all bad because I do still have quite little ones who probably still need to eat more often. But sometimes I feel like it's the snacks that add to our food expenditures"”even it if is something like fruit or pretzels, yogurt, etc, and not processed junk food. And two snacks a day means eight extra dishes to wash each day too! I'm just wondering if your kids snack, and, if so, what that looks like.
-Jo
My kids don't typically have a snack between breakfast and lunch because we eat lunch pretty early (11:00). They do, however, sometimes get hungry between lunch and dinner (usually Sonia and Zoe are the ones who are hungry).
To tide them over, I try to offer them something easy and that has some nutritional value. I also try to limit their options to things that they will only eat if they're truly hungry (for instance, I wouldn't offer them crackers or granola bars because they'd eat those even if they weren't very hungry).
The usual options are produce (bananas, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, apple slices, etc), or nuts. Occasionally I'll let them have some cheese as long as we're not too close to dinner.
All of these snacks can be eaten by hand and most don't even require a plate, so they don't up the number of dishes I have to do. And except for the nuts (which I consider to be worth the money), these snack options are pretty inexpensive.
Why no pasta? It seems like every menu planning, etc. never includes pasta. Pasta is a relatively frugal option with so many topping/creative possibilities - do the kids not like pasta?
-Laura
Lisey actually loves pasta! She requests Stuffed Shells almost every birthday (much to Joshua's chagrin because he's really not a pasta person).
We do eat some pasta....I make pasta salads (I've posted a number of them here), we eat a green salad with chicken and tortellini regularly, we love ravioli with pink sauce, I make a tortellini soup in the winter, and on our takeout date nights, I often cook up a pot of spaghetti for the kids.
So, I'm not opposed to pasta! On the other hand, it's not like pasta is fabulously nutritious (I rate it the same as white bread), so I don't feel terribly compelled to try to add more of it into our diets.
I was wondering if you could tell me how you organize your homeschooling supplies. When I was a kid, we had a partially-finished basement which served as our school room, so all of our school books and supplies were obviously organized down there. But I don't have a designated school room, and am a little baffled about where to store textbooks and all of those awkward school supplies (especially with a grabby toddler). Any tips??
I have a bookshelf where I shelve the books we're not using (obviously I save Joshua's nonconsumable books to use with my girls), and on one shelf, Sonia and Zoe both have a pile of books for the current year. We carry them upstairs each morning when we start school (we do our work upstairs by the kitchen table) and then put them away downstairs when we're done.
Joshua typically does his schoolwork at a desk in the office, so his books are stored in an old Lego bin by the desk. Lisey also has a bin for her schoolbooks.
Pencils and crayons are stored in two plastic bins which live in a cabinet in my kitchen and rulers are stored in a drawer in the kitchen and also in a drawer in the office.
Do you have any spare cabinets in your dining room or kitchen? Could you buy a bookshelf unit with some cabinets in it? Or maybe one of those units that has spaces for cube storage?
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Readers, what are your thoughts on these questions? Share away!
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Today's 365 post: This is not her regular suit
Joshua's 365 post: Ocarina!
In regards to the mother asking about snacks. Asign a color of plate to each child if each child has his/her own color cup and plate at home then all day they use that cup and that plate (at least for snack and you set as far as dishes go) even littles can learn to rinse a cup or plate when they want a new item on it or in it.
In regards to snacks watch for sales and coupons and combine with what deals are out there. This week we are doing Strawberries .99 and I made mini rice krispy treats and we have popcorn that I made on top of the stove. (I can add things to the rice krispy's and to the popcorn for added flavor in a few weeks we will get apples really cheap from a near by orchard. I go with whatever is on deep discount. Simply Juice was on sale last week we have access to 9 computers and 9 email addresses so for my family of nine I get to pick up nine single serving of Simply juice. Serve for snacks.
I have a number of snack ideas at my website / I bake a cake mix as mini muffins and no icing strawberry cake mix and chocolate work well as well as others.
There is always something on sale . I too got the strawberries last week .99 , rice krispy .99 with free marshmallows (coupon) popcorn on top of the snow .99 to 1.29 at the most. Drinks are on sale often as well last week Kroger had the Fuze drinks and Walmart had the Simply Juice, I got Naked juice on sale with coupons.
Hope some of this helps with snacks. One last idea for many mom's when you have just one hand full of pretzels one handfull of chips and one handful of something else left of snacks serve buffet type snack one day with a choice of each item and and one new like maybe some cheese and watch the little bits disappear.
I recently started following you on Facebook and do love some of the little sneak-peeks you offer on there. Plus, I like that all your + Joshua's 365 posts load to your feed, so it's kinda a one-stop shop and easy to stay updated on it all!
What about whole wheat pasta? And all the baking you do? Sorry so short, on my phone but curious.
I think I have the same problem as Jo. Snacks have not been helping the budget. We eat some serious snacks around here! Thanks for the tips.
We cyber school and last year we bought an Expedit 4x4 bookcase from Ikea and it makes life so much easier. I use one bottom cube for all the cables, wireless router, etc. and the two next to it for our school and personal printers(they fit in sideways, unplugged, but we only print about once a week so it's not a big deal for us). The top cubes are for reams of paper and other supplies, and the kids each have shelves for all their books, binders, etc. I use two bins for art and science materials. This year there are even two cubes that I was able to use for my sewing machine and sewing box. 🙂 My only negative comment is that the plastic storage bins are not the sturdiest, but since we don't use them every day, I think they'll be fine.
When I was homeschooling, I bought a cabinet for our supplies. I put loop-style handles (as opposed to knobs) on the doors. When my younger son was very inquisitive/grabby/fast, I actually put a short chain through the handles and used a padlock (with a combo lock so I didn't have to worry about him finding the key) to keep him out. Fortunately he's outgrown the need for the padlock now. 🙂
RE Pasta: My family loves pasta dishes, so now I only buy whole wheat pasta. The kids love it just as much! I do not buy the name brand, so price is not an issue-- it's maybe a dime more expensive than the other. Very rarely, I might buy crazy pasta, the kind made with beets, spinach, tomato, etc. but that's only for special occasions. Also, if you've never tried making your own pasta, it's very easy and you can control what goes in it (like whole wheat flour).
About homeschooling storage, when we had much less space (1200 sq ft), I used a laundry tub stored in a closet which held all the school supplies. It was a heavy duty rectangular model and held up for years. We'd pull it out daily, unload, and then re-load when we were finished. It kept the dining room table usable! Once we were able to expand the living space (which in-between times went through multiple renovations to make the space work for us), the kids kept the books on a shelf in one room and we had a 4 drawer (IKEA kitchen rolling cabinet - LOVE this unit!) in a new closet which held workbooks, notebooks, and the odd shaped things that come with homeschooling.
Thanks for answering my question, Kristen! I had seen pictures of you all doing school at your kitchen table, so I was wondering where you stored your stuff. And I think I might be starting to figure out my own dilemma...it involves bookshelves and bins in the living room (off the kitchen). So uncomplicated, but still...I wondered. 🙂
Regarding the snack question, we're big snackers at our house. But even so, I try to do what Kristen does and offer my toddler things I know she'll eat when she's really hungry instead of the junkier stuff she'll eat no matter what. I don't give her stuff she DISLIKES, but "snack" does not automatically translate to "unhealthy" for us. We also try to give her things she can eat without dishes.
Questions for you/Mr. FG: How/when/where did you two meet? Did he have a similar upbringing to you (frugal, homemaking Mama? Dad who participated in nightly devotions,etc.)? If not, how did he deal with the transition?
Hi! I've been reading your blog for quite some time now and I love it! Your blog was one of the first things that inspired me to become more frugal in our overall spending! At first I shopped the Aldi's way, and I was spending around $50 a week on the two of us (plus Joey, our cat, and the occasional dinner guest throughout the week), but I've started to really concentrate on couponing in the past few months, and I've been able to bring that total down to around $20 per week, with extra food every week to store/freeze for the future. Just wondering if you've ever considered incorporating coupons into your shopping strategy? I cook from scratch most of the time (except for the bread baking...although I do make quick breads!), and I've found I can get unbelievable deals on healthy foods and staples like butter, cheese, tuna, lean meats, beans, bread, and whole-wheat pasta every week. I also get all of our toiletries/cleaning products for free or very close to free. As for produce, I trade with friends who have large gardens, or accept their surplus for free. I do admit I sometimes resort to convenience foods, and Mike (my fiance) is a notorious snacker, but other than that we have been able to prepare and eat healthy meals for 70% less than before I began using coupons in earnest. I am very careful to only use them for great (or free) deals, and to only buy what we would normally eat, and to only store what we can consume before anything expires. I was just wondering what your take on the whole Coupon Boom was! (and I'd love to start trying your food waste Fridays challenge!)
Love your blog,
Jen
totally unrelated, but i was wondering if you have an update on your Christmas ebook? i think last year you said you were planning to release it in the early fall. just curious!
Well, I'm on the very, very CUSP of releasing my book about ways to reuse old clothes, so that's been occupying all my ebook time for the last 6 months or so.
I do still have a Christmas one in draft, and depending on things go with this ebook, saleswise, I may finish that one up. I'm thinking it won't be ready before this Christmas, though!
My family likes their pasta too! I buy Aldi's Fit and Active Whole Wheat pasta which is only a tiny bit more than the pasta made with white flour. I also buy rice noodles at the Asian market. They are made with rice flour instead of white flour. They cook up in a snap and are perfect when I haven't planned the timing a meal to include cooking brown rice.
Kristen,
I have been following your blog for over a year! Huge kuddos to your thoughts on snacking. I wish more families would follow your lead and it would probably drastically reduce the number of kids that I see in the RD office 🙂 You should consider becoming a dietitian someday 🙂 I know in all your free time right?! Being a mom that feeds her family well is a great job.