Cartoon Character Dishes

I recently threw away one of my daughter's Mickey Mouse plastic plates because the coating protecting the Mickey Mouse image started bubbling up and broke open. I went to the baby and toddler aisle to find a replacement and went wide-eyed, again, at the prices, $3.50 for one plastic plate emblazoned with cartoon characters that I couldn't freeze, microwave or put in the dishwasher. I couldn't do it. After some searching I decided to buy 6 shallow Rubbermaid food containers for $4 and change. They're dishwasher safe, microwavable, freezable and have lids so that I can store leftovers. So, they're not cute. Mickey Mouse never helped my daughter eat more vegetables anyway.

This experience reinforced my #1 saving tip when buying for babies and toddlers: don't buy from the baby and toddler aisle unless you have to. You will pay a premium for something you can probably find cheaper in another section of the store. There's not much choice when it comes to diapers and formula. You can save big money by buying medicine, hygiene products and toddler dishes elsewhere.

Fast Frozen Meals

My husband and I recently bought a house so we're digging deep into our budget to find areas where we can cut back spending. We took on the task of charting our grocery purchases and found we spend A LOT of money on fast frozen meals. We were buying frozen lunches for every day of the week plus two or three frozen suppers. I decided to make the time in my schedule to cook more at home and freeze the leftovers. When it comes to meat, this is extremely easy and only adds a few minutes to my regular meal preparation. Say you're making 4 oven baked chicken breasts for supper. It's no harder to put 12 breasts in the oven than it is 4.

Freezing:
Once the extra chicken is cooked I let it cool off for about 15 minutes.

I line a cookie sheet with wax paper.

Arrange the extra chicken so that none of the pieces touch each other (you don't want them to freeze together).

Freeze for 30 minutes then place in a zip-lock bag.

For extra protection against freezer burn you can wrap the meat before you put it in the bag. You can wrap it in butcher's paper, wax paper or I've heard that cling wrap is ok too.

Cooking
Some items, like frozen ravioli, can go right from freezing to cooking. Other items, like raw cookie dough, are best defrosted in the refrigerator for several hours before cooking. I often take frozen chicken right from the freezer to the microwave. Add a tortilla, cheese and a salad and you have a quick lunch.