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Save on Chicken with Zaycon

February 7, 2013 By: amyswanderingcomment

 

zaycon chicken 3

Have you heard of Zaycon Foods?

My mom introduced me to this company a couple of years ago & I am thankful!

They bring fresh meat straight from the farm to the consumer at low prices.

The chicken is absolutely delicious – fresh boneless, skinless breasts with no added hormones, additives, or artificial ingredients. It is also missing that funky raw-chicken smell that usually accompanies packages from the store.

It is so tender and juicy that no knife is required. We ran out once and my husband immediately noticed when I served  grocery store chicken.

The best part? It is only $1.89 a lb!! Note that it is a bulk purchase, but you can easily split with another family. There are several other foods available too, like lean ground beef, premium bacon, salmon, and old fashioned ham.

Here’s how it works:

  • Sign up for  Zaycon email notifications
  • You will receive an email when there is a food event in your area
  • Place your order & pay online – act quickly because they sell out
  • Print out your receipt to take with you for pick up
  • You will get a reminder email a few days before the event – don’t forget because it is only on one day for a couple of hours!
  • Pick up is soooo easy! My event is in a church parking lot. I drive up, tell them my name & (maybe) show my receipt, and they load my purchase into my van after thoughtfully laying down a plastic sheet. It takes less than a minute.

I thought you might like to see what an order of chicken looks like, and how I get it ready for the freezer. My photography skills are almost non-existent,
but maybe you can figure it out. 🙂

Supplies:

  • cutting board
  • sharp knife
  • freezer bags
  • Ziploc Perfect Portions Bags (optional)

Your 40 lbs. of chicken will come in a heavy-duty, wax-coated box.

zaycon chicken 7

I like to set up an assembly line in this order –> box of chicken, cutting board, freezer bags (opened w/top folded down), box lid (for holding filled bags)

zaycon chicken 1

The chicken is in 3-4 smaller bags, inside of one large sealed bag. The breasts are butterflied & have a small amount of fat that needs to be trimmed.

zaycon chicken 2

It is tempting to just start dividing up whole breasts and tossing bags into the freezer, but I know that I would regret that later. 30-45 minutes is all it takes to trim the fat and cut up the meat. I leave mine big so I can use them however
I want, but you could go ahead and cut them into tenders or nuggets.
Be sure to label!

There are always little bits & pieces mixed in with the fat sections that can be cut off and saved. I toss them all into a small freezer bag and use them in chicken pot pie, casseroles, soup, or Chinese food.

*Optional* I recently discovered these Ziploc Perfect Portions Bags. They are perfect for those of you who are squeamish about raw chicken. You put your hand inside, pick up your chicken, and turn the bag inside out. I use them because my chicken doesn’t freeze together in one huge lump, allowing me to take out just one portion if I want. (I didn’t use these in the pictures.)

zaycon chicken 3

My (not so) hard work usually results in 12-15 bags of chicken. I am feeding a family of 7, so you might have several more bags if you have a smaller family.

After all my bags are filled, I fold each one over, squeeze out the air, and seal.

zaycon chicken 4

I store these in my deep freeze in one of two ways: piled in the box lid,  or in two plastic baskets that I got at the dollar store.

zaycon chicken 5

Don’t forget about dinner after all that work!! My gang would not be happy if we had all that yumminess & didn’t eat it right away.
I usually marinate some chicken in Italian dressing and toss it on the grill.

zaycon chicken 6

So there you go, an easy and inexpensive way to serve your family healthy food!

Since you will want to share about this food with everyone once you taste it, Zaycon has a referral program. You will earn a $1 credit each time your friend makes a purchase if they first sign up through your link.

*I am not affiliated with Zaycon Foods in any way other than being a very satisfied customer. This post contains my referral link –
I hope you love them as much as we do!!

FHF-FL

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Pretty Little Pumpkins

October 24, 2012 By: amyswanderingcomment

We have a great time crafting and cooking with pumpkins as October rolls around again each year. Take a look at some of
our activities from previous years.

Here are a few ideas to get your crafty brains (& taste buds!) going:


Orange Slice Pumpkin

Pasta Pumpkin


Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats


Pipe Cleaner Pumpkins


Curled Paper Pumpkin


You’ve Been Punk’d


Peek-A-Boo Pumpkins


Roll A Pumpkin Game


Cheesy Mini Pumpkins

Yummy Pumpkin Recipes:

Pumpkin Hot Pockets

Pumpkin Spice Challah
Pumpkin Cheese Fondue
Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage
Pumpkin Bagels and Maple Butter
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Cinderella Cake

Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars
Pumpkin Crunch Cake
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Pumpkin Fudge
Pumpkin Better Than…Cake
Pumpkin Crumb Coffee Cake
Easy Whole Grain Pumpkin Banana Bread
Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream
Big List of Yumminess from Real Mom Kitchen
Pumpkin Recipes from Land O’Lakes

See more Autumn Blessings: Celebrating the Everyday

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A Taste of Autumn

October 18, 2012 By: amyswandering1 Comment

Autumn food is so cozy and delicious.
Whip up some of these recipes and open your home!

Betty Crocker Soups, Stews & Chilies

Mr. Food Fall Favorites

Gooseberry Patch Fall Favorites

Autumn Dinner Menus

Season-a-Belle: Autumn

Spooky Eats and Party Treats

Pillsbury Halloween

Fall Recipe Collections:

    • Taste of Home
    • Epicurious
    • Cooking Light
    • Southern Living
    • Whole Living
    • Martha Stewart
    • Allrecipes
    • MyRecipes
    • bon appetit

See more Autumn Blessings: Celebrating the Everyday

Don’t miss a day … follow me on Facebook!

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Your Grocery Budget Toolbox *Giveaway*

July 17, 2012 By: amyswandering

Do you ever decide to do a little project around the house, get frustrated when you can’t find all of the tools or supplies, and quit before you ever get started?

(What? That’s just me? Ok, then you’ll have to pretend! 😉 )

The same thing can happen when it comes to eating healthier. You decide to start feeding your family whole foods, go to the store and have a minor stroke over the price of healthy food, and quickly fall back into your old pattern of eating.

Your Grocery Budget Toolbox is going to teach you how to feed your family real food on a real budget!

I used to be a couponing pro, regularly saving 60-85% on my shopping trips. Those savings rapidly declined when we started transitioning to a whole food diet a few years ago. I plan my menu according to the weekly sales, and make the majority of our meals from scratch, but I know our grocery bill could be lower.

I was over-the-top excited when I started reading Your Grocery Budget Toolbox! Anne not only takes you step-by-step through the many ways you can save on healthy food, she also breaks each chapter down into specific details.

Take my favorite chapter for example: Sourcing Healthy Food

A lame ebook would simply list all of the stores that carry inexpensive organic foods. But this is no lame ebook, it is a Toolbox, and it lists exactly which organic items can be found cheapest at each store!

Every chapter is filled with valuable information!

  • Budget (how to make one, what you can afford on your budget, a sample $250/month budget, and more)
  • Price List (what it is, how it helps, how to make one, how to maintain)
  • Sourcing (a comprehensive review of sources – online and brick-and-mortar – for inexpensive healthy food)
  • Once-a-Month Shopping (maximizing your budget by shopping once a month)
  • Price Caps (learn how to set limits for how much you will spend on different items)
  • Coupons (can coupons be effective when shopping for healthy foods?)
  • Do it Yourself Foods (foods you can make yourself and save money)
  • Take it to the Next Level (develop frugal habits that will save you LOTS)
  • Saving Money in the Internet Era (frugal hacks from the modern age of internet and social media)
  • Resources
  • Printables

There are several challenges in the book, and I decided to take the Once-a-Month Shopping Challenge. I know that fewer trips to the store will add up to bigger savings each month.

Here is my best guess of (some of) what my family of 7 eats in a month:

  • eggs – 6 dozen
  • milk – 18 gallons (wowsers)
  • bread – 6 loaves
  • pasta – 6 lbs
  • rice – 2 lbs
  • produce – 20+ lbs
  • flour – 4 lbs
  • sweetener – 2 lbs
  • meat  – 20+ lbs
  • butter – 6 lbs
  • oatmeal – 2 lbs

I will be using several of the challenges in Your Grocery Budget Toolbox over the next month to help me figure out my Once-a-Month Shopping plan.

You can purchase Your Grocery Budget Toolbox for only &4.99!

Even better, order by July 24th and save 20% off with this code: wandering

Feel free to go ahead and buy yours now because you will get a refund if you win the giveaway!!

Giveaway Rules

closed – winner announced on Tuesday!!

(Leave one comment listing everything you completed)

Mandatory: Leave a comment telling whether you are a.) a whole foods wannabe, b.) a whole foods newbie, or c.) a whole foods fanatic

Extra Entries

  • go ahead and purchase Your Grocery Budget Toolbox
  • follow Are We There Yet? on Facebook
  • follow Are We There Yet? on Pinterest
  • follow Your Grocery Budget Toolbox on Facebook
  • follow Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy on Facebook
  • share this review on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog

Giveaway ends on Monday, July 23rd!

This post contains my affiliate link, but I would be crazy about this super-duper ebook even if it didn’t. 😀

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{31 Days} Grocery Shopping Helper

October 11, 2011 By: amyswandering2 Comments

I came across a very helpful site today called Food on the Table.

It combines a menu plan with your local store sales and creates a customized grocery list. For free!!

Here is how it works:

  • Create an account.
  • Choose a local grocery store from the list.
  • Select your food preferences (low-carb, kid friendly, Italian, etc).
  • You will then be given a list of meats – ones that are on sale that week & also regular price- choose the ones you like. (Or do like I did & also choose stuff you have on hand so it will give you recipes for it.)
  • The website will give you a bunch of recipes based on all of your choices. (You can narrow the recipes by Cheap, Quick, Healthy, or Simple) Choose the ones you want included in your meal plan.
  • Once you have picked your recipes, you will be given a grocery shopping list that you can print out or add to your phone as an app.

Making a menu plan based on weekly sales is a great way to save money as food prices climb higher each week. Combine Food on the Table with the Coupon Mom database and save even more!

Here are a few more easy-to-use menu/grocery planning sites:

~ Say Mmm

~ Monthly Meal Planner

~ Meals Matter



See all of the {Days} HERE

***Don’t miss any great links! Choose one of the buttons over on the far right to subscribe –>

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