Shopping from Home

With four young children at home, I've become quite the online shopper!  I actually prefer shopping online, or at least doing some online research before I pick something up in the store.  I like being able to compare prices and read reviews, not to mention the whole not-shopping-with-all-the-kids thing.  Shopping online frees up my time; I shop online in the evenings while I nurse Isaac to sleep, freeing up our weekends for family time together.

So where do I shop?

Amazon  I'm a total Amazon addict.  I always have a running wishlist there.  I read reviews, check out other related products, and really feel like I am able to make good decisions with the amount of information they give me.  Just as often as I purchase things, I talk myself out of them by reading reviews.  Sometimes this leads me to a better version of the product, sometimes I convince myself its a waste of money.  I don't have Amazon prime, but its easy enough to wait until I have enough in my cart to hit free shipping.  With homeschooling, there are always books and resources I need to buy.  :)

thredUP  This is a new site to me.  I just made my first purchase the other day and am very pleased.  ThredUP is like a big online resale shop for kids and womens clothing.  I found it super easy to search by size, color, type of clothing, etc.  They even have a few nursing tops and lots of  maternity things.  I ordered a Boob brand nursing top and a Gap jean skirt.  I guess they are super picky with what they take in, so items are in really good condition or even new with tags.  You can also send in clothing for them to sell.  If you'd like to try it out, click through this link for $10 off!  :)  Totally beats going clothes shopping with kids in tow!

Vitacost is like a health food store online.  Their prices are good, and they carry much of what I would buy at our local health food store, only cheaper.  (brown rice pasta, spices, beauty products, gluten free flours, toothpaste, etc)  Whenever I add anything to my shopping list, I check Vitacost first.  Its usually cheaper and makes my shopping trip that much shorter when I actually do leave the house.  Use my link for $10 off your first purchase.

Diapers.com ships really fast, two days to my door usually.  I use them if I need something quickly, or from time to time they have coupon codes that are worth using.  Their family of sites now includes yoyo.com (a toy store), bookworm.com (books) and several more.  If you're new to their site use ONEWORD for 20% off an order.  Their sites all ship together and uses one cart so you can get to free shipping pretty easily.  Items I recently purchased here include Julia's new car seat, a nice picnic blanket, and Legos on sale.  They have a great return policy (they pay return shipping, Amazon does not), and great customer service.

Price Checking:

Before I make a purchase I usually check around for the best price.  I do a search for the item and check several stores for their current price.  Take into consideration whether or not this store is going to charge you shipping on the item, and whether or not they have active coupon codes.  Sometimes checking the company's web page will help you find a discount.

Always check retailmenot.com for coupon codes before ordering from a website!

If I am curious as to the price history of an item, camelcamelcamel.com will tell me what an item has been priced at on Amazon for the last year or so.  Sometimes a good deal is actually always that price, so it doesn't need to be snatched up right away.  I've seen deal blogs post that something is an amazing deal right now, only to search this site and find out that the item is usually this price or even lower at times.

We have a Discover card.  If I shop through the Discover website, sometimes retailers offer a certain discount or percent back.  I don't remember to use this as often as I should, but its been helpful when I do.  I also can use cashback money for gift cards.  Sometimes the stores offer more than the rewards money.  For example, it costs me $20 of my cashback money to get a $25 gift card to Old Navy.  I charge quite a bit on my Discover card each month and always pay it off, earning free cashback gift cards.  I just got a Kindle with Staples gift cards (free!!!).  We've had our Discover card for over twelve years now and have always had good customer service.  If you're interested in signing up, email me and I can get you a $50 cashback bonus.  christy.vw AT gmail DOT com  :)

Always check shipping costs and see if you can get free shipping at a certain amount.  Also check the return policy.  I recently bought 4 different pairs of shorts from Old Navy, tried them on at home, and then returned all but one pair.  I also did that with Maurices.  Since I purchased enough to get free shipping to me, all I had to do was run into the store and make a quick return once I knew what I wanted to keep.  While I don't advise doing this all the time, it certainly solved my I-need-to-buy-shorts-but-don't-want-to-take-four-kids-into-the-dressing-room-with-me problem.

This post contains a few referral links, mainly because I like giving links to things that I'm talking about so you can find them easier.  Believe me, none of them pay very much, but if you click through and use my referrals it encourages me to keep posting and sharing with you all!  :)

Do you shop online much or is my mail lady the only one bringing package after package to my front door?  I really should bake her cookies or something...

Nesting: Filling the Freezer

I much prefer posts with pictures, so here's a photo of a nest that Grandpa and Grandma found recently and brought over to show the girls. I'm in full "nesting" mode lately (in between naps). One thing I've been trying to do is stock up my freezer as much as possible. We have a chest freezer that we didn't have when either of the girls were babies, so this is my first time really stocking it with meals.

An easy way to fill the freezer is to simply make double of anything you are cooking that can be frozen. We've been eating easy meals lately like spaghetti or eggs and toast which don't really need to be frozen. When I do have something on the menu like chili, soup, or a casserole, its simple enough to double it and freeze half. If I'm making a 9x13 casserole, I can either make two full pans, or make two 8x8s from the one recipe. We like having lots of leftovers, so I usually do two full pans and freeze one.

For a casserole type dish, I sometimes use disposable foil pans (that I wash and reuse). I also have a few extra glass pans that I've collected; these get covered with plastic wrap and then foil on top of that. Chili or chicken pot pie filling goes in a plastic freezer bag (after the food is cooled off). I also use canning jars and plastic lids for freezing things in. Remember to label your dishes with what's inside, the date, and simple baking instructions (350 for 35 minutes, etc). I also find it helpful to keep a list on the refrigerator door of what I currently have in the freezer.

Our freezer was already a bit full with blueberries, strawberries, diced tomatoes, and other summer produce, but I did manage to fit some meals in. If you're looking for ideas, here's what I have frozen so far:

tofu pasta shells - tofu, spinach, and lots of cheese stuffed in jumbo pasta shells and covered with spaghetti sauce and more cheese

enchiladas

chili

taco meat

cooked ground meat - I do this all the time, brown a pound of meat and then only use half of it for spaghetti and freeze the other half

chicken pot pie - freeze the filling and a shell, assemble and bake when needed

frozen pizzas from the grocery store (shhhh...)

a couple kinds of muffins

black beans - rehydrate and cook the beans and then portion out and freeze

freezer jam - this is very easy to make and the girls love it

a few casseroles my mother in law brought over

extra bread dough

I still need to make another batch of chicken stock. I divide the stock into large canning jars and put the meat right in there with the broth so that when I make soup I just have to add the veggies, noodles, and some more broth. One chicken makes 4 or 5 jars and I use those to make a large pot of soup so it goes a long way. I'll have to blog about this next time I do it, it makes the best soup.

Anything else that I cook in the next few weeks will probably get doubled and frozen if I can find the room to stuff it in there. I also freeze things like cookies, granola bars, pancakes, etc. Even after the baby comes I'll continue doubling meals and freezing them just because its nice to have something ready to go for those days I don't feel like cooking. In the summer this doesn't work as well because we eat more salads and fresh veggies, but winter foods seem to freeze well. Its also nice to have a freezer meal on hand to take to a friend if a need arises.

Do you have any other freezer tips to share? Favorite freezer meals? Ways to package frozen dishes for the freezer? Please share!

linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

Healthy Pregnancy

Its hard to believe, but I'm already to the half-way mark of this pregnancy. Today is officially twenty weeks! I'm feeling great, over most of the first trimester nausea, and am really working on maintaining a healthy pregnancy. I absolutely love having a midwife this time around and her overall focus on nutrition and health. After my last appointment I decided to type up a little reminder note for myself of all of the things I need to be doing daily to stay healthy. I laminated them on top of some cute paper and stuck them in places where I will see them constantly.

Here is what I included:

- prenatal vitamins: I take Rainbow Light prenatals. My one complaint is that they are huge and get stuck in my throat or feel scratchy going down. I chose them because they are all natural and are made from whole foods (as opposed to synthetic vitamins). I did just see on their website that they have a prenatal petite that looks like its three smaller pills, I'll have to check into that.

- DHA pills: I am taking Nordic Naturals DHA upon my midwife's recommendation. She said that these aren't fishy tasting and are a great high quality. I'll admit that I've only started taking them recently, but they didn't taste fishy to me. The pills are also small enough for me to swallow without a problem. (I was pleasantly surprised, I thought they'd be huge.) I've read a bit about fish oil helping with mood swings especially after the baby arrives, so I'm interested to see if these make a difference.

- Red Raspberry Leaf tea: I'm drinking one cup per day of this tea, infused for two hours. I don't like tea in general, but I add lemon and honey to this and drink it cold so its not too bad. Red Raspberry Leaf tea has many nutrients in it that are wonderful for pregnancy. Its been called the pregnancy tea for many generations. Helping to stop bleeding after birth, organizing contractions and making them effective, promoting muscle tone and healthy organs, and imparting calcium and magnesium are just a few of the benefits.

- drink plenty of water: My midwife reminded me to keep drinking water all throughout the day in order to stay hydrated and healthy. Dehydration can lead to early contractions and even nausea. I am constantly pouring myself a glass of water!

- eat lots of fruits and veggies: I'm loving being pregnant in the summer when we have so many fresh fruits and veggies available at the farmers' market here. The girls and I love snacking on fresh fruit and we have plenty of veggies to eat as well, thanks to our CSA. If I haven't had enough fruit on a given day, a good way to get some in is to make a quick smoothie with fruit from the freezer.

- yoga/ exercise: After watching several yoga, pilates, and exercise dvds I finally found one that I like. It has a workout that is easy to follow, but still gives a good stretch. The voice-over on the dvd tells you when to switch positions in a timely manner and I also like how the instructor tells you the benefits of certain stretches (this helps with digestion, this tones a certain muscle, etc). I also like that the dvd has a gentle relaxation section so that if I don't manage to fit in my yoga time during the day, I can still do it after the girls are in bed without waking myself up too much.

- Kegel exercises: With our second daughter, we took Bradley method courses and they really emphasized doing Kegel exercises throughout your pregnancy. I need to remember to do these and prepare my muscles for giving birth.

Note: none of the products mentioned in this post are for official product review, I'm just sharing what works for me. Thanks for stopping by!

(I did make too many of my little reminder cards, so if anyone wants one, leave a comment and I'll choose a winner in a week - Sept 2 at midnight.)

Avoiding BPA - Beans

Bisphenol-A is a nasty chemical that's been in the news lately for its bad reputation and being found in baby bottles and various plastics. BPA is also found in the lining of canned goods. Although I'm glad that there is some public outrage and change occurring where baby bottles are concerned, I'm surprised that there hasn't been more of a fuss about canned goods containing BPA. I generally avoid purchasing canned foods and have come up with some easy and healthy replacements. Beans are actually fairly easy to rehydrate and freeze for later use.

I purchase a big bag of dried beans and soak them all at once, freezing them in can sized portions. My crock-pot makes this super easy to do. First, place beans in the crock-pot and cover them with plenty of water. Leave them (no heat) to soak overnight. In the morning, pour out the water, rinse, and cover with more water. Turn the crock-pot to low (or high) and cook all day until the beans are the right texture.

There isn't really a science to this, I tend to leave them too long and overcook them, but they still work just fine in my recipes. Today I had a large bag of beans and put them on low for most of the day. I checked them and they were still hard so I turned it up to high for about an hour, forgot about them and was leaving to run errands so I put them back on low. I turned the crock-pot off at dinner time and then let them cool while I got the girls in bed and came back to deal with the beans. They just need to cook a good long time until they are soft and ready to use in recipes.

I use my canning funnel to help me scoop the beans into jars. I fill each jar almost to the top with beans and add a bit of the cooking liquid. If I had enough jars I would just use the canning jars and white plastic Ball freezer lids, but I have to use some ziploc freezer bags too. To fill the freezer bags I first fill a glass jar and then dump it into the bag. I'm picky about letting the beans cool completely before I do this because I do not want to heat the plastic bag at all. I put the glass jars in the refrigerator to be sure they are completely chilled before freezing. Label your bags and jars, stick them in the freezer, and there you have it, "canned" black beans all ready to use. To use the beans in a recipe simply thaw them out in the refrigerator overnight and use them like you would a normal can of black beans (rinsing the water out before use).

We try to include beans in our diet as a healthy source of protein, fiber, and vitamins. Black Beans and Rice is one of our favorite easy meals (from Simply In Season). We use black beans in tacos, bean and corn salsa, added to spaghetti, chicken tortilla soup, homemade refried beans, and more. I got 9 "cans" of beans from my bag of dried black beans today. Its much cheaper this way, as well as being healthier for you. I've done this with Kidney beans as well and it worked just fine.

As far as avoiding other canned goods - we buy fresh or frozen vegetables, make our own soups, buy spaghetti sauce in glass jars, and I freeze fresh chopped tomatoes (in place of cans of diced tomatoes). I'm still working on cream of soup recipes that I like, but we try not to use recipes with cream of soups in them too often anyway. I just checked my pantry and I only have a couple canned items in there, we've been pretty successful at avoiding BPA in canned foods. Have you found any other tricks to avoiding canned goods that you'd like to share? (and why am I blogging about this instead of cleaning up the mess I made in the kitchen?)

For more Kitchen Tips check here.

Soup Tricks

Today was a cold and rainy day. It is actually a nice break from the hot and sticky weather we've had lately, but still a bit odd to be wearing a jacket in the middle of summer. The girls and I came home from a playdate this morning and needed a quick lunch. I made a package of soup and we had some cheese chips to go with it (put tortilla chips on a plate, shred cheddar cheese on top and microwave 25 seconds). Both girls love soup, especially my homemade chicken stock soup (which is not what we had today, lol). To help contain the mess, I put a washcloth underneath their bowl. I remember my mom doing this with my brother and I when we were little. She would also put an ice cube in our soup to help it cool down. Another tip is that I let them use a straw to drink the broth. Once the broth is gone, its easier for them to scoop the noodles with a spoon. We still had a mess afterwards, but not too bad.

(This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.)