Saving Money on Groceries #8: Inspiration from you!

I love getting ideas from others! Perhaps the following people were too modest to highlight their own blogs, however, I have done it for them.

Ellie (an American expat living with her German husband in England) tells us how she makes her breakfast staple, homemade granola. Ellie also makes her own bread, following the recipe from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.

Her sister, Abbie, describes a program called E-mealz here. Endorsed by Dave Ramsey, E-mealz can save money by helping you create meal plans--it can even take into account what is on sale at the specific store where you shop (if you shop at Kroger, Aldi, Walmart, Publix or RALPHS). Other plans you might choose include: vegetarian, low-carb, portion control, etc. Abbie, what's your verdict on this program?

My sister-in-law, Stacey, has a blog with fabulous recipes she's collected from family and friends. Definitely try the Andes Mint Brownies--yum! I love the idea of creating our own recipe collections--when I married into Eric's family, I was given an Ortlund cookbook filled with recipes from various people in the extended family. It's an ongoing work--some of my own recipes were included when the next bride-to-be received her copy. A website called The Great Family Cookbook Project can simplify that process if you're interested in trying this yourself, as my friend Colleen has done.

Colleen has recently blogged about her gardening dreams as well. She's such a creative soul that I'm sure her garden will reflect that. Abbie has a garden as well. She talks about discovering the idea of eating seasonally, from a book she happened upon at a little neighborhood library in Edinburgh, Scotland, when our husbands were both studying there.

I love this post by Lisa about how pita bread features so prominently in their family meals in Jordan. A perfect example of making the most of the local foods!

Camille is a lawyer turned stay-at-home mom. I can't even identify one post to showcase, since her whole blog is so inspiring and informative for anyone interested in bargain hunting, meal planning, and cooking/baking from scratch.

Finally, I've been intrigued with the website Cheap, Healthy, Good, since I came upon it. Here's an example of the amazing feats they pull off in the kitchen--1 Chicken, 17 Healthy Meals, $26 Bucks, No Mayo. The website has lots of ideas along this line, as well as general articles about cooking healthy and delicious food on a budget.

Any blog posts or websites to add?