Monthly Archives: February 2012

Feb 29 2012

Saving a Few Dollars on Gasoline

Save Mart Fuel Rewards cardGas prices. Ugh. It’s one thing we can all complain about, no matter your political affiliation. And there’s not much we can do about it.  We’re kind of at the mercy of the gas companies.

But here is something easy that you can do, if you live in California near a Save Mart or Lucky grocery store.  You can get a fuel rewards card.  It doesn’t cost anything.  You just swipe it each time you shop and your spending is recorded.

Here’s how it works:

  • Pick up a Save Mart Rewards Card at participating Save Mart locations.
  • Carry your Rewards card and scan it every time you check out at the store. For every $50 you spend in qualified purchases at Save Mart or Lucky, you’ll earn 5¢ per gallon.
  • Redeem Fuel Rewards at participating Shell or other fuel stations.
  • Insert your Save Mart Rewards Card at the pump.
  • Select your form of payment and fuel grade.
  • Watch the price drop – dispense up to a maximum of 20 gallons of fuel per purchase.

I’ve been doing this for several months, and I usually save $0.20 to $0.30 per gallon.  It’s an easy way to save on gas since I shop there anyway.  For full details see the Fuel Rewards section of their site.

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Feb 28 2012

The Lost Art of Home Cooking

The cool blender I had, that broke.

A couple of weeks ago my favorite pastry blender broke. It was a really cool design by Pampered Chef (pictured left) and I used it a lot over the past year. I figured I’d just pick one up on my next shopping trip. Well, first I checked the grocery store where I do my non-Costco shopping. It’s a smaller Save Mart store and the section with kitchen tools is small.  They didn’t have one.

Next I checked at Target. Surely it would be no problem to find a pastry blender there in the extensive selection of kitchen tools. Nope. Not at Target either.  I was a bit perplexed and then it hit me – a pastry blender is not part of a standard kitchen anymore.  Really, when you think about it, what do you use it for? Cutting in butter or shortening when making things like biscuits, scones and pie crusts.  But who makes those things from scratch anymore? Not most people.  So while there are four different sets of measuring cups, a variety of colors of colanders, and ten sizes of cutting boards at Target, there was not a single pastry blender.

I had to go to Bed Bath & Beyond to get one.  And even there, in the floor to ceiling display of cooking utensils I found just one offering. There are four kinds of tools for cutting, pitting and slicing avocados, but only one type of pastry cutter. Luckily it was a decent one by OXO brand.  Still, it made my kind of sad.  My mom has at least three pastry cutters in her kitchen.  They used to be standard equipment, like a rolling-pin.

Just more evidence that scratch cooking is a lost art. Something that used to be handed down through the generations.  And even if your mom wasn’t a great cook, there were home economics classes in junior high and high school.  That taught kids the basics of recipes, kitchen tools and techniques.  Today, home economics is gone. People ooh, and ahh at the cooking shows on TV, but they are mostly for entertainment, not for education. Scratch cooking is a lost art. And I want to bring it back!

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Feb 27 2012

Organized Home: What’s the number?

This week’s challenge is to set up an organization system for contact information. That sounds easy enough, I already have the majority of it in electronic format in my phone. Done, right? Well not so fast.

As I read through the instructions for this week’s challenge I came across a few things that I still need to address (pun intended).

  1. Setting up a list of emergency numbers. In times of crisis I don’t want to be scrolling though my hundreds of contacts on my cell phone, or grabbing the yellow pages. My solution is going to be a list printed on regular letter size paper that contains numbers for Poison Control, Doctors, Dentists, Immediate Family, Sheriff, PG&E and neighbors. I will also implement a great space-saving tip I learned at MOPS – tape this information on the inside of a cabinet door.  I’m thinking the cupboard nearest to the kitchen phone.  That way the information is easily accessible for us or a babysitter, but not visually distracting.
  2. Separate service provider numbers with a business card organizer.  I have a card organizer from the past (when I had my own small business) so I’ve just got to find it. The idea here is to keep numbers for companies you use handy, again like the emergency numbers, you don’t want to be hunting around when you’re not sure how it’s listed.  This will be a great place to keep numbers like plumbers, auto shops, hair salons, tree trimmers, pool service etc. I will also have the information stored in my phone, but it’s nice to have a place to put those business cards.

I’m looking forward to getting another thing done with this challenge. Just one item a week – I can do it, and you can too!

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Feb 23 2012

Spaghetti Fundraiser

Photo by: David Guglielmo

I’ve been on vacation with at my parents’ house for the past week. I stayed a few extra days because my mom is organizing the spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the Grange. Cooking dinner for 250 people is no small task. It takes a lot of hard-working volunteers and a lot of food!

Two days before the dinner we went to Costco to purchase the supplies: approx 50 lbs of ground beef, 10 pounds of onions, 1 liter of red wine, beef stock, 6 huge cans of spaghetti sauce, almost 100 lbs of spaghetti. Then there are all the incidentals – grated Parmesan cheese, garlic, butter, plates, napkins and such. Mom also ordered fresh bread from the grocery store bakery. A Grange member who is a restaurant owner will be bringing all the salad.

The day before the crew got together to cook the sauce and noodles. I was supposed to help with that part, but Sean got sick so I had to stay at the house. I was able to help out by cooking a couple of batches of brownies for the dessert table. Three men and three women worked most of the day cooking noodles and making sauce.

Showtime: The Grange is serving dinner from 4-7pm. That means the crew will have to start putting it all together around 2 pm. Tickets were pre-sold, but they also put a sign along the road for drop-in traffic. It’s $8 for an all-you-can eat dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and garlic bread. There will also be a table with desserts for purchase and a silent auction.

It’s a lot of work but the members feel it’s all worthwhile. The Grange is a community organization founded in the roots of agriculture and community service. Funds raised by the Grange go to scholarships, local needs and maintenance of the Grange Hall. If you’re not familiar with the Grange, check out the California State Grange page.

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Feb 21 2012

Organized Home Challege – Meal Planning

This week’s challenge from Home Storage Solutions 101 is all about healthy meal planning and shopping lists. For the second week in a row the challenge has been something I have already tried – makes me feel good that at least I’m already doing some things to keep my home organized!

I did my first meal planning in January as part of the Kathi Lipp What’s For Dinner Solution challenge. I found that having a plan lowered my stress level considerably. I knew exactly what I would be making, but I also allowed myself some flexibility. When I shopped the last time for my meal plan I planned to make a Italian sausage stew. Only to find out later that Paul doesn’t like that recipe as much as I do.  So instead, I incorporated the the ingredients into other dishes that week.

The other thing I like about meal planning is that I can try some new recipes. It’s fun to plan for just one new thing during the week to keep it interesting.  For my next weeks plan I’ll be trying a recipe I saw on Pinterest for restaurant-style orange chicken.  It doesn’t look too difficult so I’m excited to give it a whirl.

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