Family On A Budget

My daughter loves the chicken noodle soup at our local Eat N Park restaurant. It contains a thicker chewy homemade noodle that is really good. I have found a similar tasting noodle that we used to make an inexpensive Chicken soup. It really hits the spot on a cold winter day and costs approximately $.25 for entire the batch (noodles only). I will post my soup recipe soon.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon oil
1/3 cup water

In a bowl, mix the flour and salt together.

In another bowl beat the eggs, oil, and water together. Form a depression in the flour mixture and add the egg mixture. Mix well.

Turn the dough out onto a floured countertop. Knead for eight minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Divide the dough in half with a knife. Roll each dough piece out with a floured rolling pin until it is 1/16 to 1/8-inch thick. Place the pieces on waxpaper and cover the dough and let rest for 20 minutes.

Using a knife or a pizza cutter, slice the dough into strips 1/4-inches wide. Drop the noodles one at time into simmering soup. Cook until tender. Approximately 10-15 minutes.

Baking your own bread is a great way to save money and have a fresher product. Below is the recipe I use for sandwich buns. I use my bread machine for this recipe. It makes the recipe easy and less time consuming. I estimate these cost approximately $.40 a batch which is much less than the 2.98 in the grocery store and bakery. We use them for sandwiches and for burgers. There is nothing better than fresh bread.

1-1/2 cups of warm water
1/4 cup oil
2 teaspoons of salt
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Add the items in order or in the order recommended by your bread machine maker. Set using the Dough setting and start it. My machine takes an hour and a half to mix, knead and proof the dough.

Once the dough is done, separate into 12 to 16 equal pieces of dough. Roll the pieces into balls and place on a greased baking sheet approximately 1/2 inch apart.

Cover the rolls and let them rise until they are double in size. About 30-40 minutes. Sometimes I will proof them in the oven with a pan of hot water placed on the bottom rack.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 18-20 minutes. The top of the rolls should be lightly brown and slightly hard sounding when tapped. Remove from oven and very lightly brush with oil or butter to keep them soft. Let them cool before slicing in half.

These make a very soft bun which my hubby loves. Dividing them into 12 pieces make large kaiser sized bun -the 16 count is slightly smaller than the average hamburger bun. We like the 16 size because we make fat, short burgers. The first few times I made them I tended to overcook them or space them too far apart. Now even my teenage daughter can help me whip up a batch.

Enjoy and let know how they turn out for you.

My husband likes to use the Gillette Mach 3 razor and I decided to find a less expensive way to purchase the razor refills.

With some online research, I have located a few different sources for them.

Sams Club - Our local Sam’s club has these for 20 at 33.44 + tax. at slightly more than 1.67 each this is not the best deal. and similar to the cost at local drugstores and grocery chains.

Ebay Gillette Mach 3 listings - Today it seems that ebay has the best deal. I was able to locate a few auctions for with ‘Buy it Now’ for a quantity of 16 for $15.99 ($4.50 shipping), a qty of 30 for $29.99 (4.50 shipping), and a qty of 100 at $85.00 ($9.00 shipping). At $1.28, $1.14, and $.94 respectible, Ebay appears be the cheapest.

Amazon.com Gillette Mach 3 Listings - I found a deal on the 2 pack of 4 count (8 total) for $13.99 (4.98 shipping), with the added shipping it comes to $2.37 each and the highest cost. With Amazon prime these are probably a good deal.