HouseThrift

Tasty Lentils with Curry for a Crowd*

Serves 10-12

28 oz. crushed tomatoes in puree (I used the kind with Basil in them)

28 oz. broth (vegetable or chicken)

3 TBSP Olive Oil

4-5 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced (I pressed mine)

3 large carrots

2 large sweet potatoes

2 small potatoes

1 small onion

2 cups of lentils, rinsed and drained

1 TBSP plus 1 tsp of curry powder

1 tsp. of Thyme

1 tsp. sea salt

2 TBSP. red wine vinegar

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Chop up the veggies. Saute the veggies, inc. garlic in the olive oil. When they are on the verge of tender transfer to a big pot with lentils, broth, and crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil, add seasonings, adjust seasonings to taste, simmer for about an hour on low (until veggies are fairly soft and lentils are fully cooked). Enjoy with biscuits or a roll!

*This is adapted from Ina Garten’s Stewed Lentils recipe.

My husband and I are expecting our second child this December. If there is something I remember from our first daughter’s early days it is unexpected costs and lots of diapers. This time around I am much better at combining coupons with store sales, so as soon as we decided to go for number 2 I began collecting disposable diapers, cloth diapers, and other things I know we will need.

So my first step in the Baby on a Budget series is about disposable diapers. If you are primarily going to use disposable you are going to need a ton of diapers! Let’s say you’re lucky and your first born is potty trained the week of his/her 2nd birthday.  That is still around $1040 spent on diapers, though some quotes have it as high as $2000 for two years of disposables! So this time around we are planning to use disposables until we get used to the new baby- maybe just the first month, but it could be as late as the second or third month. After that we will go to cloth but have some disposables on hand for babysitters, possibly for wearing at night, or whatever comes up.

Here is my wonderful tower of diapers.

Total cost- (rounded up) $70 before tax

Cost without coupons- $200 before tax

I have collected this over the course of a year. It didn’t take a ton of effort. I used UP+ Register Rewards at Rite Aid* and combined a lot of sales at Harris Teeter* (a grocery store in the southern U.S.) with manufacturer coupons and their E-VIC program. I spent between $2-5.50 on each package compared with $8.99-10.99 regular retail. And the diapers in ziplocs were given to me by a friend who’s son grew out of newborn size before she could use a whole pack. I love when people share.

So here is the break down of what’s in the tower of diapers-

Newborn- 6 packs/215 diapers

Size one- 5 packs/ 220 diapers

Size two- 6 packs/ 204 diapers

Size three-1 big box + sample/81 diapers

Little Swimmers in size small- 1 pack/12 diapers

That’s 731 diapers at around 9.5 cents per diaper. They would have been around 25 cents per diaper without the coupons.

* Learn how to use Rite Aid’s reward system here.

* Learn more about Harris Teeter’s VIC and E-VIC system here. The short of it is that you want to sign up for it in order to get special sale prices at the store, then you want to search your newspaper or the internet for manufacturer’s coupons to combine with the sales. Sometimes there are also E-VIC coupons that can be combined with all this as well, you will see a button to load them to your VIC card in your weekly Harris Teeter emails (which you will begin receiving once you sign up!).

I literally got in front of my computer at 7am this morning and began making my list and organizing coupons for this week’s Super Doubles. I feel pretty good about how much I saved and the quality of what I bought. I spent $52.81 and the groceries totaled $119.47 (I got $3 back from my Dad when I dropped off his Frosted Mini-Wheats which are not pictured here, haha.) Quite a few items were snack items for our 3 year old that I would normally not buy; however, with preschool almost back in session she needs some “fun” foods to look forward to at school snack time.

5 bags of Craisins

5 Old Orchard 100% Juices

1 pack of Organic, Free Range Chicken

2 packs of Johnsonville Sweet Italian Sausage

2 half gallons of milk

Nutella

Colgate toothpaste

3 fruit squeezer things for “tots”

Fruit snacks

Redenbacher’s popcorn

2.75 lbs of bananas

2 peaches

2 pack of Wholly Guacamole

Cinnamon Raisin Toasters

2 packs of Flintstone vitamins

Gerber Crunchers snacks

Gerber Puffs (our daughter’s a little old for these, but they are a big treat to her)

1 box Hefty One-Zips (30 ct gallon!)

Cornflakes

Frosted Mini-Wheats (for my Dad- not pictured)