A Lifetime of Love

I am often asked about how I feed our growing family of 8 without breaking the bank. Of course, my number one response is couponing, but along with using coupons, the types of meals we eat also contributes. I was just asked this question again this past weekend, so I thought I would take a few moments to share some of our regular menu items and, time permitting, some recipes!    *Notes: I serve a salad with supper every night. All my kids love salad so lettuce (Red leaf, Green leaf, Romaine, or Mixed Greens) is a staple purchase item. I purchase the head lettuce and wash/prepare it myself (cost-cutter). We usually go through 2 heads each week. Salads are not only healthy, but we eat our salads AFTER our meal (an Italian tradition, at least among those I know) so they help fill up stomachs.  =) I buy my meats on sale, and when it's on sale, I try to buy as much as I can afford. We have an extra freezer so this makes it possible. We are, however,...

I haven't posted in a while because the busyness of the holidays took over. Well, that's not exactly true. The boys did their Sandy Hook fundraiser that ended up being a huge hit! Someone notified the newspaper about it and that sparked more interest, resulting in them baking, cutting snowflakes, and me shopping for supplies. The final tally was 5 dozen banana-chocolate chip muffins, 12 loaves of Amish Friendship bread, 3 dozen cookies, and over 100 paper snowflake ornaments. They collected a total of $241.02 and mailed a cashier's check (donated to them by Family Trust Credit Union) on New Year's Day. They enjoyed every minute of their efforts, and I am so proud of them! Since then, we are back into the routine of school and such. I was able to get caught up on paperwork and am researching options for next year. I am considering doing year-round school simply to afford us more breaks throughout the year instead of all during the summer. The breaks would give the boys...