Thrifty Tuesday- Canning Chicken Broth

Making your own chicken broth is super easy and practically free!  It makes my frugal heart sing!  This week I cooked up a whole chicken in the crockpot.  Typically whole chickens are the cheapest way to buy meat.  A whole chicken costs $.76 per pound.  Yes the total weight includes the bones so you are not buying only meat.  But I still find it to be more cost effective to buy a whole chicken instead of the more common breasts.  My price-point for meat is $1 per pound.  If I find meat for cheaper than that, I snatch it up.  Occasionally I have to pay more but I really try to stick to $1/lb.  Whole chickens always meet my price point.  Ill buy a few and freeze them in our spare freezer to be cooked up later when we need the meat.
  This week I pulled out one whole chicken and roasted it in the crockpot.  I have a Ninja Crockpot 3-in-1 and love it!  That baby can be used like a normal crockpot and it also has a stovetop function which means I can use it like an extra stove, awesome!  Once my chicken was cooked, I shredded all the meat off the bones and washed the crockpot.  I threw the bones back in the pot, with some chopped up celery (it was all I had in the fridge and I wasn't going to go buy veggies just for this broth).  I covered my bones and celery with water and let it cook slowly.  There's not really a set time for how long you need to cook it.  I just turned the crockpot on low (the 8 hour setting) and let it do it's thing while I did mine.  After cooking, the broth needs to be strained.  I first strain it through a colander to get the big bones out.  Then I strain whats left through a fine sieve (or cheese cloth or whatever you have that only lets the liquid through).  Since there is still little bits of chicken in the broth, I went ahead and pressure canned it to be safe.  All in all I got 3 quarts of chicken broth to put up.  Not bad for some bones that would have been thrown away anyways.  (After making the broth, I definitely threw out the bones!) From my 1 chicken, I ended up with a bunch of meat (we will make tacos, salad with chicken and a chicken casserole with the shredded meat) AND chicken broth!  Can't say I get that much when I buy the equivalent of chicken breasts!
  Making chicken broth is super easy, frugal and I know exactly what goes into it!  Re-using items that would be tossed is yet another method I use to help me stick to my budget.  If you don't have a pressure canner (or a friend with one) you could freeze the broth.  I can it so that the broth is shelf stable and leaves room in my freezer for other items. 

June Budget

 

As promised, here is June's budget. We are always a month ahead, which makes planning the budget a little easier since there are no surprises. However, last month Hubby missed a couple 12 hour shifts at work so his paycheck was a little lower than normal (ok a lot lower!) If the budget seems a little tight, its because of the check factor. Hubby did put in some over time last week, so July will be a little better.

Our budget process is based off Dave Ramsey's plan and we use cash envelopes as our main source of dividing up the finances. At the beginning of the month, we look at what we made the previous month and use that number for our income. Last month Hubby brought in $2000. I budgeted for the set bills (like bills, rent, etc) that we don't use cash to pay for. All the other categories come out as cash and are put in their respective envelopes. That said, here is our budget breakdown.

Income $2000
Expenses
- World Vision-$30
 - Giving- $170
 - Rent- $650
 - Electric- $100
 - Metro PCS (Hubbys phone)- $25
 - Sprint (internet)- $40
 - Storage- $60
 - Groceries- $200
 - Gas- $400
 - Auto Insurance- $60
 - Pets- $20
 - Blow (My spending money)- $40
 - Blow (hubby's spending money)- $40

You will notice there is NO entertainment or eating out category this money. Usually we try and incorporate dates into the budget but we are sacrificing this month. We also don't pay health insurance yet as we are still covered under the military for a couple more months. The above budget adds up to $1835. That leaves us with $165 extra. We will hold this money aside in case something comes up. At the end of the month if we haven't needed it, we will transfer it to our savings account. Also, if we have any extra money in a category we can deposit it into our savings account, or use it the next month for extras.

Each month we do a new budget for the next month. There are certain categories that are set, like insurance and rent. The cash categories are more flexible and we can beef them up or tighten the belts depending on the previous month. I always love looking at other people's budgets to see how/what they do with their money. I am sharing our budget in hopes that it will help someone trying to figure out their own budget. I am always open to comments and tips to help with the budget. I will share in a later post what we do with my income from babysitting.

 

Just Ask

Sometimes saving money is as easy as just asking! The other day I was at KMart, and as usual I went to check the canning isle. I have a habit of going to these isles wherever I am to see if they have anything I need on clearance. They had the plastic storage caps (which we use once we divide up snacks for use in the pantry and lunches) in damaged boxes. I needed to buy more of these anyways, so I asked the cashier if there was any discount for damaged boxes. item was fine, but the packaging was all dented. I got 10% off just because I asked. Sometimes you never know until you ask. These boxes were already damaged- in no way am I suggesting you stomp on a box to damage it just to get a discount. That is stealing in my eyes. However, if I see a product that I need and its damaged, I have no problem asking if they give a discount. This applies to many other places as well. The other day at Home Depot, I got mulch for half off just because the bags were ripped. Mulch is mulch to me, and I am just going to throw the bag away anyways. If you are looking to save money and don't mind damaged packaging or torn bags, just ask! You never know.