Welcome again to another edition of my summer re-run series. I am bringing topics from the past back up to the forefront this summer so you don’t have to take time out of your busy schedule to sit at the computer and scroll around looking for topics you missed – or can’t recall where to find one you are looking for.

I hope you’ll enjoy this Frugal Challenge today.  I thought it was a timely subject since we’re all running around like crazy this summer.  It’s hard to resist pulling into the fast food place when you’re headed back home from the lake or beach.  But, if you do that even a few times a week the cost really adds up.  Take a moment if you will to read this post.  This is a classic money saving step for so many of us.  Enjoy:

Another Monday, another frugal challenge. Are you ready? This week the challenge is to not eat any “restaurant food”. That means no eating out, no take out, no pizza delivery and not fast food. Are you game?

We hardly ever eat out these days, but that wasn’t always so. When I was working, I was notoriously bad about ordering a pizza or heading through the drive through on my way home from the office. Just the thought of having to cook and then clean up was just more than I could handle after a hard work day. I’m sure some of you are in the same boat.

Here are some thing that helped us make the switch to a homecooked meal existence:

Plan Ahead – If you have what you need at home to cook a fast and simple meal, you’re much more likely to do it and of course you’ll have dinner on the table without too much work or fuss. I make a menu plan for the week and then get what I need in one shopping trip.

Have Some Emergency Meals Ready – This really works well on those days when you’re super busy. Just cook up a few things that will store well in your freezer. Casseroles and baked dishes like lasagna work really well for this. I also like to keep one or two frozen pizzas from Aldi in the freezer for the same reason. I can pull them out, cook them and have dinner ready in about 30 minutes.

Simplyfy – You don’t have to cook a fancy meal every night. My family is perfectly fine with pasta and tomato sauce, a quick stir fry or even eggs and toast or pancakes for dinner. Find a couple of meals that you can put together fast and come back to them on nights when you’re tempted to order out.

Of course dinner isn’t the only meal we tend to eat out. How about lunch, breakfast or a quick snack? Not this week. Pack your lunch and take it with you to work and pack your breakfast or eat it at home before you leave.

Like all of our frugal challenges, this one is designed to develop a new habit that will save you money (in this case by cooking all of your meals and get out of the eating out habit), but this one also has an added side benefit. You’re most likely going to eat a good bit healthier by sticking to homecooked meals.

I started a little “summer re-run” series for our daily posts and have gotten some very positive response.  It seems not everyone has time to scroll around into the archives to find interesting challenges or topics.

Yes, there are several items from the archives that should be brought forward again so you busy folks can have a chance to take a look.  Here is one that is a very simple idea that can save A LOT of money at the grocery store.  I hope you’ll find today’s challenge timely and useful.  Here it is:

photocredit: kozumel

Let me quickly explain the logic behind this week’s challenge. No matter how disciplined we are, each time we head to the store we are bound to buy some extra “stuff” that we don’t really need.

This week, we’re not going to let that happen. The challenge is to only shop once this week. (Or if you’re already doing this..go for 2 weeks or even the whole month). This will do two things.

1) It will force you to plan ahead for the week to make sure you have everything you need and enough food to make 7 breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

2) It will keep you from any extra purchases you may have made that 2nd and 3rd trip to the store.

Let’s talk about how to plan for this once a week shopping trip. I usually start by making a list of all the meals we will have that week. It’s called Menu Planning and once you get the hang of it, it won’t take you more than a few minutes and will make your life so much easier the rest of the week.

Make sure you include items that perish quickly (fresh produce, herbs etc.) early in your meal plan. When you get back from the store, put meat you will need during the first 2 days in the fridge and freeze everything else.

That’s about it… give it a try and enjoy all the extra time you’ll have by not having to go to the store every few days.

Even though many folks are already starting to pick their first ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans, it’s never too late to start your own garden project.

Your neighbor’s corn may be “knee high by the 4th of July” but never you mind that.  Grab a few big containers, take a stroll through your local nursery or farmers market (yes, they sell  plants, too), and get a few veggies growing on your patio.

One of our favorite vegetables to grow in containers has always been the “patio tomato” or cherry tomato.  You can plant this just about any time of the year because they grow and mature quite fast.  It seems like from the time they flower to the time their fruit turns red, it’s only a matter of weeks.

Two tricks to planting cherry or grape tomatoes this late in the season:

1) If it’s very hot where you are, give them a little more shade. Double down your effort to water regularly.  You may even want to do one of those “upside down bottle” tricks so the soil doesn’t get the chance to dry completely in the heat of the day.

2)  Be sure to choose a big deep container for planting, much bigger than the plant itself, and bury that tomato plant as deep as you can.  I have pinched off several bottom “branches” just to get the tomato plant buried deeper and grew some very strong and generous plants.  The plants you find now will be quite large and probably leggy if they’ve been in a small pot for too long, so you’ll have lots of stem to bury.

Tomatoes are probably the simplest plants to start late, however you can always plant things like herbs and lettuce just to get a few green things growing.  The reason this is frugal?  Usually, the plants in the nursery are very inexpensive right now.  They don’t want to baby those things forever!  They want you to do that!  The other frugal aspect, of course, is you get to eat the veggies you grow.

Don’t give up on your garden even though it’s late.  Even a little tomato plant on your patio can brighten your day.  And if you get your children involved, it will brighten their day, too!

Have a great frugal Monday!

p.s.  If you want to get you’re kids started gardening, check out this book to help you get them started right. Click to read Grow It Cook It With Kids and get started today.

You may also want to revisit my article about gardening with kids.  Just click on the link below to get an overview of the 5 basic elements to consider when planning a garden with your child.

Planning A Garden With Your Child