Good Morning, Badger!

That's right. Badgers LOVE breakfast.

What this Badger hates is all the fuss and rush of the morning while I'm still bleary-eyed from sleep AND the outrageous prices of breakfast meats today.

Doing it Badger-Style, I've found my own way of battling the whole breakfast issue by taking many of my cues from OAMC. (Once A Month Cooking) I don't necessarily cook up an entire month's worth of breakfast at a time, but I generally plan for it when something is on sale.

Here's one of the household favorites. Cost breakdown is below instructions.

Badger's Breakfast Bagels (Mr. Badger's favorite

• Mini Plain Bagels
• 12 eggs
• Bacon or sausage (whichever is on sale. When none is on sale, we skip the meat)
• Cheese
• Butter

Finish cutting your bagels into 2 halves.
Butter each half. (this keeps the dry bagel from stealing moisture from your meat, cheese and egg)
Make your eggs*** (see note)
Fry your meat - drain well. If using bacon, I break the bacon strips in half for the sandwiches.

When all items are cooled, assemble your bagel, placing the egg, the cheese, then the meat. That order is preferable, as the cheese helps to hold the items together when it's reheated. Put bagel top on.

Voila! Finished Bagels!

 

  

Wrap bagels first in Waxed Paper

Then wrap in foil and freeze

To reheat: Frozen bagel - 40 seconds in microwave.  Defrosted bagel - 20-25 seconds in microwave.
Times may vary.

***Note on eggs: Crack the eggs and whisk them lightly as you would to make scramble eggs. There is more than one way to make these - just use what suits you best.
Method 1: Pour equal amounts into 12 greased jumbo muffin tins - bake.
Method 2: Pour into round ramekin cups and microwave until done.
Method 3: Pour egg mixture into a well greased 9x13 baking dish - bake. Cut squares of eggs with pizza cutter when done.
Method 4: Pour half the mixture into a large skillet - fry untouched as if it were an omelette. Slide out of pan onto cutting board, cut with round biscuit cutter. Repeat with second half of mixture.
Method 5: Your way - something easier than I have seen! (If you have another way, PLEASE let me know!)

I generally use Method 4 - although I only get about five egg rounds out of my size of skillet. I adjust accordingly for the egg batter I put in the skillet each time. I have used the left over egg bits from cutting the egg rounds for other bagels to be eaten immediately. I just pile them on and nuke them so the melted cheese holds all the bits together.

Mr. Badger takes one each day to work for his first break. I make up a batch every Sunday, and they are GONE by Friday, with only two of us in the house!

Cost Breakdown: 
 - eggs - .99 cents at Aldis for a dozen
 - bacon - $1.99/lb for John Morrell bacon at Kroger last week. I used a half pound, so... $1.00
 - 12 slices cheese. I buy 5lb. block, 160 slices of American Cheese from Sam's Club for $9.45. that comes out to 6 cents per slice of cheese.
 - 12 bagels, Kroger brand - $1.49

SO... the whole shebang cost me $4.20, or about 35cents per bagel. That is breakfast for two people for six days. Skip the meat and have just cheese and egg bagels (pretty good, really!) and you can cut a lot off that price. For 30 minutes of my time on a Sunday afternoon, we have breakfast all week!

Dinner With The Badger

I like to plan my meals ahead - first, it makes it easier to do my shopping, and secondly it helps me to have an idea of what (if anything) I need to do the night before, such as thaw out meat, start a marinade, etc.

Today is Wednesday, so I'll post what we're eating tonight and the rest of the week, and I'll post next week's menu. At first, it will seem as I've spent a great deal of money on these dinners, but in fact, I haven't. I buy in bulk when things are on sale, and place them into the dinner rotation. This way, I never buy for a week's meals at a time, nor do I decide what to eat and then buy those ingredients. Deciding to have Swiss Steak and buying a round steak at full price of $4.99/lb will eat your grocery budget up fast.

Seeing a thin round roast in the marked-down bin for $1.99/lb is when I decide to make a variation of Swiss Steak, called Swiss Steak stew out of HALF the roast. The other half is thrown in the crock pot to cook and made into French Dip sandwiches. I might add that both of those meals almost always have leftovers - enough for another entire meal.

How a Badger eats for a week:
Tonight: Leftover Schnitzel and spatzle. (German meal - schnitzel is made from boneless pork loin that I purchased for $1.79/lb at Memorial Day. That $9.00 pork loin has fed us three times, with enough left in the freezer for at least two more meals.)

Thursday: Buffet night. (Whatever leftovers are in the fridge, make sandwiches, etc. This is garbage night, so time to clean out the fridge!)

Friday: Homemade pepperoni pizza

Saturday: Marinated grilled chicken shish-kebobs, Twice baked, stuffed potatoes, steamed green beans - BACK UP PLAN IF RAINING and can't grill: Creamy Chicken Packets, Cream corn, buttered egg noodles

NEXT WEEK:

Sunday: --- no dinner --- (Gone all day to a Germania Member Outing, dinner is provided)

Monday: Swiss Steak Stew, Mashed Potatoes, French rolls

Tuesday: Half Roast - Make French Dip Sandwiches with Au Jus, French Rolls and Homemade french fries

Wednesday: Chicken Broccoli Alfredo, Garlic rolls

Thursday: Buffet night. (Whatever leftovers are in the fridge, make sandwiches, etc. This is garbage night, so time to clean out the fridge!)

Friday - Crockpot Italian Chicken, egg noodles, green beans

Saturday: Salad, Spaghetti, Garlic Bread



Things I make myself:
Pizza Dough
French Rolls (using Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day Method)
French Fries (Sometimes cut fresh, sometimes half-fried and frozen)
Spaghetti Sauce (made in bulk and frozen in portions)
Italian Bread to make Garlic Bread (using Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day Method)


Things Bought in bulk on sale:
Chicken Breast - $1.99/lb
Round Roast - $1.79/lb (marked down bin)
Mozzarella - 5lbs/$10.29 at Sam's Club (this lasts MONTHS - freeze to save)
Pizza Sauce - $3.29 Industrial Sized can from Sam's Club - (portioned and frozen to save)
Egg Noodles - 5lb bag, $3.99 at Sam's club
Frozen Broccoli - 2lbs, $1.99 at Kroger

From those purchases listed above, combined with what I had at home, I built this meal plan. The meal plan itself actually stretches throughout most of July, but I'll add that as we go along - it's overwhelming otherwise! 

Badgers are pretty cool little beasts, aren't they?

Well, that is, unless one is pissed off at you. Then they aren't so cool. They're pretty terrifying, actually.

There's a lot you can learn from a badger - especially in this lousy economy.

The Badger Principles

• Be tenacious. Decide what you want, then go after it. 
• Protect what is yours. 
• Have a plan. Stick to it. 
• Don't be afraid of hard work and sacrifice.
• Make the most of the opportunities given to you. 

How does that apply to saving money?

• We decided to take control of our finances - and we've been pursuing it hot and heavy.
• Mr. Badger works very hard for the money he makes - It's OURS, and we want to protect it!
• Budgeting sucks, and while we've made advancements, the war isn't over yet. But we're sticking to it.
• Whenever you talk about money and household things, you have to make a choice: You either spend time or money. We choose to spend time on doing our own projects as much as possible. That means we don't spend money. This is especially true in the kitchen. We can buy bread for $2.00 a loaf, or I can make it for about 49 cents a loaf - including the electricity to bake it. Time.. or money... Take your pick.
• We never pass up free stuff or opportunities to learn new skills. I think we've used most of it at one time or another - the stuff and the skills.

In the end, being a Money Badger means going after every penny, watching it, protecting it, and deciding if what you're going to trade it for is worth the time spent to earn that penny.

Think of it this way: If you make $15.00 an hour, is it really worth three hours of work out of your work week to buy some popcorn and see a movie on a Saturday night that might last two hours? Is it? (And yes, I'm told movie tickets are 15.00 a piece now, and popcorn and drinks isn't much better)

I always think of things in terms of how long it took to earn that money. If I am not willing to work that many hours to pay for something, it's a deal breaker. It's all about value and perspective - and there is no right or wrong; only what works for you, and what doesn't. This blog will be about what works for me and Mr. Badger.