This is the time of the year to think about what you typically eat. There are some great sales in the supermarkets on things that I consider shelf stable "staples" for my family. My son, for example, loves boxes stuffing mix. I know that homemade is so much better, but these are just so convenient for those quick meals. Pared with my home canned chicken and home grown/canned green beans with some mashed potatoes and it makes a lovely mid week meal. Usually I have enough leftover's for lunch the next day for me and my husband. I will buy some canned corn, green beans, stuffing mix, butter (you can freeze or can it), cheese (can be frozen or canned), cranberry sauce, etc. I like to think about how many times in a month I will eat certain things such as stuffing mix. If I planned on using 1 box once a month, then I would need to buy 12 boxes to last me until next year when it goes on sale again. Right now I can get brand name for $1 a box, which is a savings of around .39 cents a box so a year's savings of $4.68. Not much, but it adds up when all your sale items are considered. Butter is another one of my favorite things to buy when it's cheap. We use a lot of butter, I make cookies and cakes (to give away and for my honey's at home). I know that eating butter is not good, but it's a lot better than those highly processed snack foods in little plastic wrappers. Let's be realistic, we all need a treat now and then.

When I was young, I learned to save up money to buy Christmas presents for my family. Now as I am older (the presents have gotten more expensive), I've also learned to save up for grocery sales. Hams are typically on sale, they practically give away turkeys. These can be put in your freezer. Cook that turkey in January on the day before MLK day (if you have the day off). Use that Monday to can the left over turkey into turkey soup base. Add some celery, carrots and onions to quart jars and use up that turkey. Save your Thanksgiving carcass in the freezer and boil the two carcasses to make some rich yummy broth. If your a ham person, buy an extra now when they are on sale and freeze it. Later in the year (when you have time) cook the ham and take the left overs and make some ham and bean soup to can. There are so many options out there to save money, this is the perfect time of the year to invest in your future. Can you image, a tough day at work and you fogot to take something out of the freezer to thaw and coming home and having a stocked pantry with items you bought on sale and/or canned. You could throw together an easy meal in no time, or if you have unexpected company, you have a supply of items to choose from to make enough for everyone. It also helps elimante some stress from your life and helps you save money (not only you bought the items on sale), but you won't have to order expensive take out or go to a fast food restaurant and eat junk.

12.00  12 boxes stuffing mix
10.00  20 cans corn kernals
10.00  20 cans green beans (because I did not can enough from the summer garden)
20.00  20 packs of butter (not margarine)
20.00  2 small hams
0.00    2 free turkeys (from saving points from local grocery store)
12.00  6 bags flour (put in freezer for no bugs)
15.00  9 blocks of cheese (shred when you get it home to freeze or can it)

Just with the about listed items I have saved $80 for the year. There are several items on sale such as celery, carrots, potatoes. One new store that is 30 miles from me has had 3lb bags of red potatoes for .99 cents. I have canned 27 pints, it is so easy to make potato salad or mashed potatoes. I just open a can and drain the water warm them in a skillet and ready for use. You can also add them to soups or fry them in butter and add bacon and cheese, yummy burritos with salsa. Those 27 pints (minus the cost of the jars which I already have) was only $3. 27 pints for $3, you just can't image how amazing this is to me.

Nov-Dec Canning Goal:
This year I'm going to be watching the fresh cranberries like a hawk. As soon as they are marked down, I'm snapping them up and freezing them. When I have a whole bunch, I'm canning my own cranberry sauce. Why you ask? It's on sale now, buy some canned. I've had home canned cranberry sauce before, it is so much more yummier than an thing I've ever tasted out of a can. You can't tell (because you've never tried) but canned cranberry sauce has a slight bitter taste. 

Nov-Dec Consumer Goal:
This is the goal I always struggle with. There is just so much garbage generated being a consumer. I am buying coffee in bricks (which has been on a great sale). These bricks are a foil which can be recycled, but just not in the area where I live. BUT I have a huge amount of those plastic bins and I've tried to re-purpose each one. I'm out of ideas and plastic is such a no-no in my book. I am saving the foil packs to make reusable bags for Christmas presents next year.

Nov-Dec Financial Goal:
We are going to have a little extra money coming in December. I'm using this money to pay off all our small debt. I'm totally breaking my credit card habit. I will allow myself one credit card when I'm done paying them off. It's usually not a good idea to close accounts, but there are two I will have to close. They charge a yearly fee. The others I'm locking them away or putting them in the deep freeze. I'm paying the small ones first (my goal is two a month). The the bigger ones there are only two of them, might have to be broken down into two-month payoff's. This summer we are taking a vacation to Mexico. I will have cash for it and I'm not using the credit card unless we have an emergency. I'll be booking reservations with the credit card, but paying it off at the end of the month.

I leave you with a picture of my home canned potatoes (first batch). I also made picked peppers that day. I always try to combine things. I've already got the canner our and I'm sterilizing jars, might as well do two things at once, right?