deals, money and otherwise

A while back my mom turned me on to a great alternative to Ziplocks. We were going through those gallon Ziplocks way too quickly for how expensive they were. I realized that I didn't ALWAYS need that sturdy of a bag. You can find some MUCH cheaper bags at Staters. They are thinner, have the twist ties (instead of the zip), and can be used for almost anything. I still use Ziplocks for things with liquid, things needing to be frozen, etc. However we have saved a lot of money using these for most other things. Here is a pic, however Staters has their own brand I like just fine.

I recently discovered Rice Noodles when I made the Pad Thai recipe I blogged about. A great thing I found is that they have fewer calories than regular pasta. Chris loves the quantity of his dinner now when we have a pasta dish. I found my rice noodles for $2.99 at Staters, but I heard you can get them at Trader Joes for $1.50ish. Yesterday Chris stopped by Fresh and Easy to see what their stock was. He couldn't find rice noodles, but he found some Asian noodles that worked great.



This item will go on my Christmas list, but I think they are such a great idea. While we are not super "green" in our lifestyle, I don't like the number of sandwich baggies we go through in a week. A friend of mine uses these reusable bags and they are so cute. They come in different patterns and are easy to clean. So mom...maybe you can keep this in the back of your mind for Christmas. :) You can find them at www.snacktaxi.com



Lastly, thanks for all your input on ideas for snacks for the car. I actually ended up finding a great graham cracker recipe that the kids love. Next time I'll try decreasing the sugar a little, but I figured I would make them according to the recipe first, to get the kids used to them. Here is the recipe I did substitute butter for the shortening. Next time I'll also try olive oil.