Saving Money Day 7-Grocery Time

All of the blogs I've read about saving money state it's imperative to cut down on grocery cash.  Some people only spend $25 per person per week.  This seems IMPOSSIBLE to me.  While I'm not sure if I'll ever make it to the $25 dollar mark, I did cut about $20 out of my grocery bill this week.  Here's what I've done so far:

1) Plan, Plan, Plan.  I have a menu written out on our refrigerator.  This is so unlike me.  I try to be a list person, but it seems that the list gods hate me.  I can never stick to them!  It seems to be working in this aspect of my life at least.

2) I've started adding more beans to our diet.  This way we don't have to spend as much money on meat, which is very expensive.  I searched for vegetarian recipes and picked out a few I thought Joel and I would like.  I will supplement them with chicken breasts which seems counter intuitive, right?  Why would I look up vegetarian recipes if I'm just going to add meat?  The beans/pasta in the recipes help supplement all of the meat I would normally use.  Now, instead of needing 3 chicken breasts for dinner, we'll be full on one.

3) I wrote a list of all the items in our pantry and spice cupboard.  This helps me determine what I have to use in meals.  It also keeps me from accruing multiples of one item.  This is a waste...especially when it comes to spices.

4) I started eating oatmeal for breakfast EVERY morning.  I like it and it is much cheaper than store bought cereal.  It's also better for you.  Joel's not into eating "hot food when it's hot outside" so I made him his own granola.

5) We're cutting down on soda.  I know I've said this since I was 20.  I do buy ONE case of soda/week, but that is all. We've started supplementing our soda habit with 2 liter bottles of seltzer water.  The 2 liter bottles are less expensive, and they give you that fizz you just need sometimes.  Seltzer water is also healthier than Diet Coke.

6) Coupons-I don't use them.  I've tried.  It seems to me they are only offered on name brand items that are unhealthy...like Cheetos.  Maybe I'm just bad at couponing.

Anybody have some more tips for me?

Saving Money-Day 6-Making My Own Granola

That's right folks.  I made my own granola.  It's really tasty and super easy to make.  For the most part I followed this recipe.  Since I was baking during the middle of Irene, I decided I would forgo the trip to the grocery store.  Here's MY recipe.
1 cup steel cut oatmeal, uncooked
1 cup rolled oats, uncooked
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional...I added it for fun and liked it)
pinch of salt
1/3 cup slivered almonds, chopped (I skipped this b/c I don't like nuts in my cereal AND we didn't have any)
1/4 cup honey, warmed to liquid
1/4 cup light olive oil (or 4TBS butter, melted)
1/2 cup golden raisins or other dry fruit (I skipped this because Joel's not a huge fan of raisins and we didn't have any other type of dried fruit)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and almonds.  In a glass measuring cup, warm honey until it is no longer viscous.  Add olive oil (or butter) to the honey and stir.

Drizzle the honey oil over the dry ingredients and mix to combine.  Spread the mixture on a baking sheet or in a 9 by 3" pan.

Bake granola until golden and crunchy, stirring once, anywhere from 15-25 minutes.  Stir in raisins.  Makes about 3 cups.

So, I mainly changed the type of oats from the other recipe.  Enjoy eating granola that does not cost $5 per package!  It's also a super yummy snack.