All You Health and Fitness Cover Model Search

All You is looking for the next cover model for their special health and fitness issue on stands in January. What a great way to celebrate your success in losing weight, getting active or both! Fill out the form HERE and tell them your achievement, you have to also submit a photo. Hurry though you only have until August 24th to apply.

All You is the only magazine, I've seen, that goes out of their way to recognize their readers printing their picture and story. Just flipping through the magazine you will see lots of pictures and comments from real readers and subscribers to the magazine. It makes the magazine feel like a community project, rather then a bunch of made up models and "experts" no one can relate to. Let me know in the comments if you enter. Good Luck!

All You Grocery Challenge Top 10 Finalist

Yes, that means what you think it means! I'm one of the top 10 semi-finalists in the All You Grocery Challenge! I got the email yesterday and couldn't open it fast enough when I saw the subject line. I pinched myself...a couple of times... and then again this morning.

To be precise, my exact reaction went something like, '"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!" The whole family is so excited, and it's awesome to have made it this far. I've gotten some sweet notes of encouragement, thank you so much, it means a lot.

They requested my receipts, which I already mailed out and now sleepless nights until August 5th when they contact the winner and two runners-up.

I'm thrilled just to be nominated. I've always wanted to say that. Good luck to the other finalists!

All You Grocery Challenge Exit Survey

Check your emails! If you particiapted in the All You Grocery Challenge this year, you should be getting an email that looks like this. The Challenge officially ended yesterday, but the contest has just begun!

Here are the next steps:

1. Fill out and submit the exit survey by Saturday, July 23rd.
2. The top 10 finalists will be notified.
3. The top 10 finalists submit their receipts for review.
4. By August 5th, the winner and 2 runners up will be notified.
5. The top 3 winners will be featured in the Novemeber issue of All You! 

Even though the challenge has officially ended I will continue to update this blog until the winners are announced. Last year 7000 people entered!

Personally, I think anyone who entered is really a winner for trying to save their family money and feed them healthier! Good Luck!

Day 28 and Today I Ate A Rainbow Giveaway!

Today marks the last day in the All You Grocery Challenge! I can't believe what a difference it has made in our family. Within the first couple days it became clear that my biggest hurdle would be to improve the eating habits of my almost 3 year old daughter, Salma. Her idea of a varied diet included different chicken nugget shapes and deciding between chocolate milk or chocolate ice cream. Then I had an inspirational moment  to make it a game and challenge her to eat the rainbow everyday! She loved it and took to the "game" right away. The theme of our family's challenge became "eat the rainbow everyday."

Imagine my surprise and excitement when I stumbled upon a whole kit to help parents teach their kids to eat the rainbow everyday! Kia Robertson, the brains behind this ingenious product, created the Today I Ate A Rainbow Chart to keep track of her daughter's eating habits and found it to be a fun and interactive tool to help her daughter make healthy, varied choices. 

Kia generously sent me a kit to review and it is exactly what my family needed to motivate them and visually track how we were doing in eating the rainbow. With three kids' eating habits to track, it wasn't easy to know if they were all eating the rainbow! Kia's kit makes it super easy! 

I love that each kit comes with enough magnets to track up to 4 children. Salma quickly picked the star shape, Eissa wanted the triangle and I used squares for our 10 month old. The chart can be put on the fridge and with a quick glance I was able to check if the kids' were eating the rainbow and what color they were lacking in; surprisingly we were lacking in yellow and that was fixed easily with some bananas. Although I found the kit late in the challenge, it's going to be key in helping us maintain our new eating habits.

Kia has generously offered to give one lucky reader their own Today I Ate A Rainbow Kit!

One lucky reader will win the following prize package worth $25!

• 1 Today I Ate A Rainbow chart
• 4 sets of magnets 
• 4 achievement magnets
• 2 fridge magnets
• 1 color coded shopping list
• 1 The Rainbow Bunch book
• 1 Rainbow bookmark

This contest will end Friday, July 22, is open to residents of the US and CAN only. I'll announce the winner the next day.

Every participant can have up to 4 entries! For each method of entry make a new comment to this post letting me know you did.

Mandatory entry: Leave a comment below!

1 entry: Follow me @thefrugalette on twitter-leave your twitter name in comment

1 entry: Subscribe to my blog via Google Friend Connect

1 entry: Follow my blog via Networked Blogs (click follow button on sidebar)

Good Luck!

Day 27

The grocery challenge rules allow for $25 per family member, children under 1 are not included. We are a family of 5, but our youngest is under 1, so our weekly budget is $100 on all food, including eating out.

I'm calculating my budget one day early because tomorrow is the last day of the challenge and I have something very special planned..think giveaway..think theme giveaway. :)

Since we focused on homemade this week, shopping was spent at one store and we got way under budget! Yeah for stockpile cooking!
This is how we did this week:

$100
-$38.49 (Shaws/Starmarket)
= $61.51 under budget!

This week we also recycled our soda cans that we started collecting at the beginning of the challenge, which gave us a small $1.25 credit. Some highlights from this week's shopping includes 4 boxes of granola bars, 4 cartons of refrigerated juice, 2 bottles of organic mango juice, organic pears, apples, bananas, milk, eggs and mushrooms for slow cooker beef stroganoff! I can't believe this is the last budget for the challenge, great way to end!

Day 26

Since I'm focusing on everything homemade this week, I'd like to give a special nod to my husband. While homemade dinner was already standard around here; eating lunch was not. Before this challenge began, my dear husband used to regularly stop for lunch at Dunkin Donuts (a Boston icon). His idea of eating the rainbow consisted of white cream cheese on a golden bagel and a black coffee on the side; more like shades of the rainbow. In the beginning I was regularly making lunch for him and I even dropped lunch off at his work a couple times, not an easy feat with 3 jumping beans, I mean kids in tow. I was really trying to get him on board with not eating out, not just money-wise but health-wise also!

We rarely have leftovers from dinner, so lunches are made fresh daily. This morning I witnessed a first, he was making a sandwich for his lunch. I didn't remind him, I didn't take anything out of the fridge, on his own people! He is the one that suggested I write this post also. After what happened this morning, he better believe I'm going to write about it!

Day 25

I used the last of our cherries to make this very easy Julia Child cherry clafouti! I had no idea what a clafouti was before this, but I had all the ingredients so this is what I made. It's a mix between a crepe and a pancake, and brought out the sweet and sour in the cherries. We couldn't wait to taste it and the part you don't see had a big piece taken out before I had a chance to take a picture of it; hence the odd angle.

Julia Child's Clafouti

1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
3 cups cherries, pitted
1/3 cup sugar

In a blender blend the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter in a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish. Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan. Remove from the heat and spread the cherries over the batter. Sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about for about 45 minutes to an hour. The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean.

Julia Child famously said, "You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces-just good food from fresh ingredients." Agreed, Julia, agreed!

Day 24

Homemade is not just for big kids! With the whole family eating more organic and homemade, I didn't want our 10 month old feeling left out. Today I bought a brand new KidCo foodmill for $5! My neighbor got one as a gift and never got around to using it, I happily bought it from her. It's so simple and easy to put together. I already used it twice today, once with fresh cherries and then for lunch I mashed up rice and carrots.

It comes with a cool carrying case and I definitely plan to take it out with us. This is the first time I made my own baby food and I wish I had tried it before with my older kids. I always thought it would be so much work, but I just took whatever food we had in the kitchen and cranked it through the mill, voila, homemade baby food!

Day 23

I was going to wait and take a picture of the finished product; but seeing my son's enthusiasm for the process made me realize that's much more important. We are far from finishing, but homemade is not just about cooking in one's own kitchen, it's about being surrounded by your loved ones and trying your best to nourish them well, and love is part of that nourishment. Laughing, spilling, getting cherry juice everywhere, all of it is what makes something truly homemade.

Yesterday the kids helped make our first ever bread, and Salma, the girl who never eats bread, was asking for more! Sure, it tasted good, but I'm convinced it was the act of being a part of the process and seeing the family's excitement at tasting the bread that made her want to be part of the experience also. Homemade is not Home-easy..but it is Home-worth-it!

Day 22

This is the last and final week of the All You Grocery Challenge! While the past three weeks have focused on shopping, this week will be all about homemade. How creative can we get in the kitchen without going to the store? My bread maker came and I was excited to test it out. This is a picture of our first ever homemade bread, nothing fancy, but so wholesome. The smell of fresh bread baking in our kitchen was worth the price of the bread machine alone!

For me, the challenge began with a budget but is ending up in a lifestyle change. It was all about the money and not over spending, but here I am three weeks later baking bread and waiting on my canning kit to make cherry jam. I started this challenge resisting to change anything except our spending and the month became something much more profound. The first week opened my eyes to Salma's poor eating habits. The second week was an effort in shopping"outside the grocery store" and the third week brought organic produce into our home after years of buying only conventional. 

I talked to my mom the other day and she reminded me about an age old quote, "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey." That was pretty sneaky of All You to disguise my journey in the form of a contest. ;)

What changes have you seen the past month? Good luck in the last week!

Day 21

Every Saturday marks the end of a week in the four week challenge. It's a good day to look at how much was spent, where it was spent and what adjustments can be made for the coming week. The rules allow for $25 per family member, children under 1 are not included. We are a family of 5, but our youngest is under 1, so our weekly budget is $100 on all food, including eating out.

This week had such a different vibe than last week. My challenge this week was to find frugal ways to bring organic food back into our home after a three year break! Organic, like anything, is not all or nothing. If eating more organic is a priority for you and your family, there are ways to incorporate it into your diet without breaking the bank. We always hear buzz words like 'in-season' and 'bulk' and that is key to budgeting organic. Cherries are synonymous with summer, so stock up! When the price gets to $3/lb.,or less, buy in bulk and have recipes on hand to incorporate all that bounty or learn how to can fruit! 

I was so inspired this week to get my family eating more local and organic produce I bought a canning starter kit to make cherry jam and preserve that delicious summer fruit all winter. With conventional jam selling $.40/oz, I estimate my homemade version will cost roughly $.20/oz. and it's organic! Not only will it be a 50% savings, my kids will have so much fun making their own jam.

Here is how we did this week:

$100

-$15.39 (Shaws/Star Market)

-$1.49 (Trader Joes)

-$6.50 (Cedar Market)

-$10.63 (Harvest Coop)

-$53.19 (Whole Foods)

=$12.80 under budget!

Some highlights from our shopping include over 5 lbs. of organic cherries, 16 lbs. of vidalia onions, 2 lbs. of dried chickpeas and tahini sauce (homemade hummus that will last 2 months!),a 4 lb. cabbage head, 8 boxes of honey nut cheerios and 2 gallons of all natural local farmed milk and no eating out at all. 

And how is my other challenge doing? This morning Salma ASKED for a banana for breakfast, not chocolate, not chicken nuggets....a banana. We are heading into the last week of the challenge, how are you all doing? Good luck in the final week!

Day 20

Today only Whole Foods is selling organic cherries for $2.99/lb.! Cherries are my favorite fruit and one of the most expensive. Whole Foods cherries are also well-known for being bigger and juicier than cherries you find elsewhere. Last week I bought conventional cherries for $5.99/lb., so this is a stock up price! I'm already getting my recipes together of what to make, and at the top of my list is this super easy skillet cherry jam. I just ordered a cherry pitter and am waiting on my bread maker; I see lots of homemade bread and cherry jam in our future! Best part is cherries are even a favorite of my super picky eater, Salma.

Besides being delicious, little cherries pack a nutritional punch, better known as a "super fruit." Compared to other fruits, cherries have the highest levels of disease-fighting antioxidants. They contain beta-carotene, 19 times more than strawberries or blueberries! They are also rich in Vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and folate. I hope there's still some left when I get there tonight! Happy cherry-picking!

Day 19

 $9.39 total

Shaw's promotion this week is FREE milk when you buy four General Mills cereals. Honey Nut Cheerios, one of our favorites, is part of the promotion and there are lots of great internet coupons available. After coupons, I paid $5.80 and got back a FREE milk Catalina worth up to $4.50. This week since I'm focusing on organic I was shocked to see a 1/2 gallon of organic milk for $4.79! The kids alone go through almost 2 gallons a week. It would cost us more than $16 a week if we bought organic milk, that's quite a spike in our budget. Since the kids drink a lot of it though, it is important to me that I try to give them as natural as possible with the least amount of  artificial ingredients. Instead, I chose Garelick Farms. The milk comes from local farms here in New England and they pledge to never use artificial growth hormones on their cows. I felt a lot better about that choice, and it's usually $4.19/gallon, this week on sale for $3.79.While not USDA organic, it is all natural, so that is definitely a great step in the right direction!

This week has been a real eye-opener. No one will argue that conventional is better than organic, it's simply cost that prevents us from purchasing one over the other. The key to staying on budget is to prioritize what organic products are important for you and your family. For my family, it's first what the kids eat raw or as natural as possible without a lot of cooking involved and that means: fruits, salad and milk. Their systems are young and developing and if I can buy these items organic or all natural it will hopefully make a difference in their health long term. Have you changed any of your shopping habits recently?

Day 18

$10.63 total

My first organic purchase in over 3 years! It's hard to believe I haven't purchased any organic produce in so long. When we made the decision to tackle our debt and reduce our grocery bill I thought that would be the end of organic food forever. I went to HarvestCoop yesterday. I was surprised to find organic romaine lettuce for $2.29 and the farmer's market sells it for $2.50! I had to resist buying everything. It all looked so delicious and knowing that the store is owned and operated by locals in our community felt good.

I bought organic grapes and organic pears. The grapes were $3.99/lb., conventional grapes are selling for $2.99/lb, so I thought that was a good price. The pears were selling for $2.49/lb. Although my dollar doesn't get as much quantity, I feel better about buying small quantities of organic rather than large amounts of conventional. I'm focusing on prioritizing what I buy. Since we usually eat raw fruit, I will continue to try and buy organic and buy conventional for foods that have a thick skin to remove or that will be used in cooking. Organic doesn't have to be all or nothing, progress not perfection!

Day 17

 

There are lots of alternative ways to get discounts on groceries. A site I like which often posts deals for real consumers is Eversave. I had never heard of them until I won a $100 credit for their site. I mainly use my credit on offers that give discounts for food.

Last week they had a save, as they refer to it, for $10 for $20 worth of products at McKinnons. McKinnon's is a small meat and deli shop here in Cambridge. If you live in Cambridge, McKinnon's is famous! We have shopped there previously and knew their prices were already cheap. For example, a couple weeks ago I got 1.5/lb of steak for $4! They cut and butcher all their meat in house, which allows them to cut out the middle man and thereby passing the savings onto their customers. So, when eversave put a deal for them I knew I had to jump on it. I used $40 of my credit to buy 4 saves, that equals to $80 worth of meat..FREE! If you haven't checked out eversave, I highly recommend it. You might have to wade through a lot of other deals you don't like, but when one comes up that you do like, it will be well worth it. What are some alternative ways you've found for buying groceries?

Day 16

$7.89 total

We came back from our staycation at the beach feeling refreshed and renewed! We couldn't wait to find frugal deals at Whole Foods! Until tomorrow conventional Vidalia onions are on sale for $.49/lb. As you can tell from the picture, we stocked up! We bought about 16lbs. for just under $8. This amount will last us about 6 months. Since we only use this type of onion for cooking, we chop and freeze them.

I am prioritizing my organic budget, which means I am carefully deciding where my precious organic dollars will go and I decided onions would not be it. Since we peel off a good layer of skin and use them only in cooking I thought it would be best to take advantage of the low price and save my organic budget for fruits and vegetables that we eat raw. Do you shop organic?

Day 15

I'm finding myself more drawn to shopping organic for fruits and vegetables. Three years ago, before we decided to tackle our debt, we used to buy organic regularly. We were even signed up with a delivery service that brought fresh, cream-filled raw milk, organic veggies/fruits and even homemade jam to our front door, needless to say it got very expensive! When the reality of our finances kicked in, organics were kicked out unfortunately.

Now that we are on stronger financial footing, and have learned to shop frugally for almost everything, it's time to shop frugal for organic foods! My challenge this week will be to shop smart at our local farmer's markets. AllYou.com has a great article on their site, "10 Secrets to Affordable Organic Food," it really got me thinking how to afford organic fruits and vegetables. Some of the tips I'm planning to try are to shop at the end of the sale when they are more willing to offer a better deal and to prioritize my organic purchases. I will try to buy organic fruits I know the kids will eat, like peaches and strawberries and get conventional bananas, as its skin protects the fruit inside anyways. What a great tip!

Here in Cambridge we also have a food co-op called Harvest, which I will be adding to my list of places to check out. So, looks like I'm going frugal organic shopping! How about you, what are your goals for the week?

Day 14

Every Saturday marks the end of a week in the four week challenge. It's a good day to look at how much was spent, where it was spent and what adjustments can be made for the coming week. The rules allow for $25 per family member, children under 1 are not included. We are a family of 5, but our youngest is under 1, so our weekly budget is $100 on all food, including eating out.
This week was fun as we challenged ourselves to get out of our comfort zone and shop for groceries in non-grocery stores. We found great deals at Rite Aid, OmahaSteaks.com and even Kmart. While I still enjoy shopping the traditional grocery stores, it's good to know there are alternatives and great deals to be had at drugstores and online.
We were going out of town for the July 4th weekend, so my grocery consisted of a lot of snacks and fruit from Whole Foods.
$100
-$.69 (Rite Aid)
-$6.34 (Shaw's/Star Market)
-$52.53 (OmahaSteaks.com)
-$34.67 (Whole Foods)
=$5.77 under budget!
Even though I had a lower budget last week, I'm much happier with our budget this week because it includes a lot of organic fresh fruit and food for our weekend getaway. I only shop Whole Foods for their fruits and vegetables. If you stick to their produce it's not much more than the regular grocery store. Salma ate scallops for the first time yesterday and didn't spit them out! She said it tastes like chicken..mmm...OK! Today marks the halfway point in the challenge, how are you doing? Good luck in week 3!

Day 13

$0 Total

Sears had a Father's Day promotion this year for buy $50 on any men's clothing and get a $25 gift card to use later. I did this promotion and it worked out well for the challenge this week, who knew?! At the time there was also a Shaw's promotion; buy $100 worth of any gift cards and get a $20 Catalina to use on your next order. I bought a $50 Sears card and a $50 gas card at the time. I used the Sears gift card to buy essentials like socks and underwear and got back a $25 gift card. Since Kmart is part of the Sears company I was able to use the gift card there today.

Kmart has a limited grocery section but I was able to buy snack items to use this weekend as we are going out of town for Fourth of July. This has been my favorite non-grocery store purchase this week since it crossed so many different promotions! From Shaw's to Sears to Kmart and now off to the beach with our FREE food!

Day 12

$52.53 total

My husband has been the main meat shopper for our family. He normally buys steak and ground beef at Costco, but for the allyou.com challenge he got out of his comfort zone and decided to see how Omaha Steaks would work out. Nothing better than steak delivered to your front door!

I didn't realize how savvy my husband is with online shopping; he did great! He knew he wanted to spend around $50, so first he went to plasticjungle and bought a $50 Omaha Steaks giftcard for $41.50. Before ordering he clicked through shopathome to get 7% back on his purchase. He used a $20 off $69 home mailer promo code, a text message promo code for $29.99 beef tenderloin tips, a promo code for 4 FREE 4oz steaks when you buy $79 or more and finally a free shipping code when you buy $75 or more. *whew*

The order looked like this:
6 1lb. beef tenderloin tips
1 3lb. beef tenderloin tip
4 4 oz. steaks
=$84.98
+ $19.95 shipping
=$104.93
-$20 off $69
-$8.50 (plasticjungle.com giftcard savings)
-$19.95
=$56.48
-7% shopathome.com
=$52.53

If he had gone to Costco, not including the steak or free shipping, he still came out ahead. Costco sells beef tenderloin tips for $8.99/lb., so $89.90 for the same amount versus $52.53, that's a 42% savings. Mission accomplished, my husband got out of his Costco comfort zone!