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saving money

Easy Countertop Disinfectant Recipe You Can Make in Minutes!

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This easy countertop disinfectant recipe is a great disinfectant that can be used for most cleaning needs and it will save you a lot of money over buying it at the store!

This easy countertop disinfectant recipe is a great disinfectant that works for most cleaning needs and will save you a lot of money buying it at the store!

Here is our easy homemade countertop disinfectant recipe. This recipe works well as an all purpose cleaner and I use it for lots of cleaning applications in my home. The alcohol is a disinfectant and the ammonia is a disinfectant and also a degreaser.

You can save a lot of money making your own cleaning products instead of buying the expensive ones at the store that have the same ingredients.

When you use this or any kitchen and bathroom cleaner, it is important that you NEVER mix any cleaning product that has ammonia with any cleaning product that has bleach. If you use bleach and ammonia together, it creates a poisonous gas. This applies to all cleaners, not just homemade cleaners. This countertop disinfectant uses ammonia, so you would want to avoid using it with any cleaner that includes bleach.

Here is our countertop and all purpose cleaner recipe. Mix some together and keep it in a spray bottle wherever you need quick clean-ups and disinfecting.

This Homemade Countertop Disinfectant Recipe is from the homemade cleaning products chapter in volume 1 of our cookbook:

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Homemade Outdoor Window Washer Recipe

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Tired of spending money on expensive outdoor window cleaners? This simple and budget-friendly homemade outdoor window washer recipe works just as well—without the high price tag! Made with just a few everyday ingredients, it’s perfect for reaching those high-up windows without needing a ladder. Clean your windows with ease and save money in the process!

Why spend a fortune on a specialty cleaner for your outdoor windows? Here's an easy homemade outdoor window washer recipe you can make for a lot less!

For more easy homemade cleaner recipes like this, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbooks!

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Clean Your Kitchen in 7 Easy Steps

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Many of you are focused on deep cleaning right now, but there are still all the everyday jobs to keep up with. Here are some ideas about how to do your daily jobs quickly (starting with easy steps to clean your kitchen) so you can get on to the big stuff. Some people do things differently and in a different order. This is just a suggestion to help you get started. Feel free to modify it.

Try this easy step by step guide to clean your kitchen quickly. These ideas will help you get in and out of the kitchen quickly! It really isn't hard!

Clean Your Kitchen In Seven Easy Steps

Are you tired of looking at a messy kitchen and don’t know where to start? Cleaning your kitchen doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With these seven easy steps, you can quickly get your kitchen clean and sparkling in no time.

Start by picking up any items that don’t belong in the kitchen, like mail, newspapers, and other odds and ends and quickly putting them away. If there is a lot of this kind of stuff on the counters, gather it and place it in a box to deal with when the kitchen is clean. Don’t waste time sorting through it until after the kitchen is clean.

  1. Gather all dirty dishes and load them into the dishwasher. If the dishwasher is already full, start it immediately to get it done as soon as possible.

    Fill the sink with hot soapy water and put the dishes that must be washed by hand in it to soak. This will help loosen any dirt or grime, making them easier to clean later.
  2. Wipe off countertops and tables with hot soapy water. (This way, if you have unexpected company your table and counters are clean. They will think you have been cleaning all morning.)

    If you have a spot with stuck on food, lay a wet washcloth on the spot for a few minutes while you work on something else. This will help soften the stain, making it easier to clean off.
  3. Sweep the kitchen floor and shake out any throw rugs if needed. This will ensure that your kitchen looks clean and tidy.
  4. Wash the dishes that have been soaking. As you go, place them on the drainboard to dry. Once you finish, put all of the dishes away in the cabinets where they belong. If they have not completely dried, grab a dish towel and quickly dry each of them as you put them away. Don’t be obsessive about the drying. Quickly wipe each one dry and move on.
  5. Wipe down the faucets and dry with a towel. Drying with a towel prevents water spots and makes the fixtures look shiny and clean. (Be sure to wipe any sticky appliances, too. Don’t forget to wipe the door handles, especially on the back where you grab to open them.)
  6. Put out a clean dishcloth and towel.
  7. Take out the trash.

If you have a lot of kitchen items on the counter that you rarely or never use, find a place to store them that is not on the counter. If you occasionally use something, see if you can find a place in a cabinet to store it. If you never use it, get rid of it.

By following these seven easy steps, you can quickly get your kitchen clean and sparkling. Don’t let a messy kitchen stress you out. Try these steps today and enjoy a clean and tidy kitchen every day!

-Jill

For more easy tips and tricks to make it easy to clean your kitchen and keep your whole house in order, check out our How To Organize And Clean Your Home E-books.

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How Many Clothes Do I Need? Do You Really Need So Many?

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If you’re wondering, how many clothes do I need, this easy clothing list and organizing ideas will help you reduce clutter and reduce stress! If you keep a reasonable number of clothes you can do less laundry, have less of a mess and have a lot less stress in your life!

If you're wondering, how many clothes do I need, this easy clothing list and organizing ideas will help you reduce clutter and reduce stress!

Too Many Clothes? How Many Clothes Do You Really Need?

One thing that costs many families a lot of extra money and causes lots of stress is having too many clothes, but many people never ask, how many clothes do I need? Besides the cost of buying more clothes than you need, storing clothes, caring for them and trying not to constantly trip over them can be overwhelming.

When you have more clothes than you need, it takes longer to find something to wear because you have so many options. The laundry seems more daunting because you are more likely to wait until there is a huge pile to get to it. Storage spaces can easily fill up and if you are like many people, it is hard to ever sort through everything you have.

Save yourself time and trouble – Make sure your wardrobe fits your needs!

How Many Clothes Do I Need?

If you’re wondering, “How many clothes do I need?” we’ve put together a general list of how many of each type of clothing we recommend. This is a general guideline and you may need to modify it depending on your own circumstances. When my granddaughter was born she had a stomach valve problem and we had to deal with non-stop throwing up. She needed 3-4 times as many sleepers as a normal baby and more burp rags than usual. Additionally, my daughter and I had to change our own clothes more frequently during this time so we had to adjust the clothes list to the circumstance.

It takes just a couple of minutes when you are organizing your children’s clothes to really figure what they need. Do they wear 7 t-shirts a week and you wash t-shirts twice a week? Then 7 t-shirts should be more than plenty. If they wear 7 pairs of socks and underwear a week and you wash twice a week, 10 pairs of everything is more than plenty. Why put 15-20 pairs of clothes back into the drawer, especially if you don’t have a lot of room?

Be sure to go through and weed out too small or worn-out clothes in your children’s drawers every couple of months. Children easily become frustrated trying to put their clothes away into drawers that are already full of clothing they have outgrown. Sometimes when this happens, they get in trouble for not putting everything away properly. Don’t make it too hard on your kids. There’s a scripture that says “do not provoke your children to anger”. This is one of those cases where parents do it all the time.

Plan how many outfits each member of your family needs. Most families wash the laundry once a week or more. You don’t need 15 pairs of jeans for each child. Three or four pairs will work just fine. A newborn may need 10 pairs of pajamas since the newborn lives in them and spits up on them, but a 10 year old only needs three or four pairs.

Here are a few guidelines to help you get started. As I said, feel free to adjust this to best fit your family. Hopefully, by following these guidelines you will be able to cut back on your clothes budget and get more use out of what you do have.

Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers

9-10 everyday outfits
3-4 dressy church outfits
3-4 casual dressy outfits
4-5 pajamas
2 pairs play shoes
1 pair dress shoes
1 pair casual nice shoes (optional)

School Age

(including teen boys– If your teens complain about the clothes, make them responsible for their own clothes, including paying for the extras that they want.)

3-4 pairs of jeans or school pants
7-9 school shirts
1-2 pairs dress pants
3-4 dress shirts
1-2 casual dressy outfits
2-3 pajamas
1 pair school shoes
1 pair casual shoes or 1 pair of shoes for dirty work
1 pair dress shoes

Women (stay at home)

5-7 everyday comfortable attractive outfits
1 outfit for dirty work such as painting
4-5 casual dressy outfits (depending on your social life)
4-5 dressy church outfits
2 pairs of comfortable shoes (one for painting and one for wearing every day)
2-3 pairs of casual dressy shoes like loafers
4 pairs of dressy shoes for church (black, navy, white and tan pumps or flats)
Adjust shoes for your wardrobe.

Women (who work outside the house)

7-9 work/dressy outfits
5-7 casual outfits
2-3 outfits for relaxing at home
3-4 pairs of work shoes (depends on your work. Only 2 if you wear tennis shoes or similar shoes to work)
3 pairs of casual shoes

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Men

Without knowing a man’s weekly work schedule and exact type of work this list will have to be a little general. This is mostly based on only doing laundry once a week. If you wash the laundry more often, you can cut back on this list.

If you work in an office with air conditioning you will need:

2-3 pairs of “casual” dress pants like Dockers
5 button down “casual” dress shirts
2 pairs of jeans
1 pair of grunge jeans
1 pair of sweat pants
3-5 t-shirts
2 pairs of shorts
1 pair of really nice dress pants
1-2 ties
1 pair each tennis shoes, casual dress shoes and dress shoes.
Most men used to have 1 black suit but so many things are casual now that you might be able to get by without one. Once again, that depends on your lifestyle.

If you need to dress in a suit and tie for work, you will need:

2 neutral colored suits
4-5 dress shirts
3-4 ties.

Make sure you can mix and match the ties and shirts and that they can go with both suits because you can get more variety that way.

If you wear jeans to work, you can get by with 1-2 pairs of “casual” dress pants and 3-4 pairs of jeans.

Of course, this is a general list to get you started and you can add take away where you need to. Men generally need more tops than women because – well how do I say this delicately?? Men tend to sweat and get their shirts dirtier than women. There’s an old joke about why this is true and also why men get ring around the collar more. It’s because God made Eve from Adam’s rib and He made Adam from dirt. : ) : )

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Everyone needs these items if you have any kind of winter:

1 winter coat
1 dress coat
1-2 pairs boots, short and long

Remember, these are just the bare bones of a wardrobe. Add or subtract according to your needs. The main thing is to be ruthless. Most women wear only 20% of the clothes 80% of the time. Get rid of everything else! It is just clutter that takes up too much storage space and causes too much stress!

You can get most children’s clothes at garage sales for a fraction of the new price. Be picky and only buy the few things you love. By spending one morning going to garage sales, I found all the clothes I needed for my 3 year old son. We usually receive enough clothing as Christmas gifts, but this year he didn’t get everything that he needed. I spent three hours and $5 buying everything from shirts to shoes. I got 10 shirts, 5 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of shoes and 4 pairs of pajamas. I saved myself $225. That is $75 an hour I “earned” by going to garage sales or 24 hours (3 days) less my husband would have had to work to buy the clothes.

Linens

Sheets – 2 sets per bed. You can get by with one set if you wash and put it back on the bed the same day.
2 towels and washcloths per family member
5-6 hand towels
4-5 towels for guests
10-12 dish rags
10-12 dish towels
10-12 kitchen hand towels
Shoe box of small rags
Small box of large rags
Stack of old towels for large emergencies like the toilet overflowing

These are minimum suggestions. Adjust according to your needs.

Laundry and Children

I am probably the only mom who would not allow my children to put their clothes away until they were older. Why? Because, by the time I had carefully washed, beautifully folded and ironed everything, I didn’t want it to be dumped, wadded, smashed and mooshed between the laundry room and my children’s bedrooms. It’s amazing what a husband and child can do to a clean pile of laundry!

Even though I say that, children do need to be taught how to do laundry from beginning to end. From the age of four or five, I would have the kids help me fold wash rags and underwear. Once they succeeded in those things, we moved on to other things.

As soon as they were tall enough, I had them help put clothes in the washer, then move them to the dryer to fluff and finally take them out of the dryer. Young children seem to love doing this, so let them.

By the time they are old enough to start cooking simple things on the stove, they are old enough to start ironing with supervision — This is just as important for boys, too.

Once kids reach high school, they should be able to take care of their own clothes from start to finish. Until I had them very well trained, I didn’t expect them to do the laundry alone. This wasn’t a bad thing. I enjoyed visiting and learning about their day while we folded clothes together or while I was ironing.

Jill and Tawra

Zucchini Slaw Recipe – Great Way To Use Garden Leftovers!

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Overwhelmed with zucchini? Try this quick, easy and delicious zucchini slaw recipe, a twist on coleslaw that will help you use those garden leftovers!

This easy zucchini slaw transforms garden-fresh zucchini into a delicious coleslaw. With just four simple ingredients, you can whip it up in no time and make the most of your zucchini harvest!

Zucchini Slaw Recipe

From: Norma

As I was shredding zucchini to put in the freezer, my 12 year old grandson asked, “I wonder what that would taste like made into slaw”. So he got a carrot and we made zucchini slaw. It was awesome!

So here is our easy Zucchini Slaw recipe:

I tried this zucchini slaw recipe and it was yummy! I also tried making it with our garlic salad sauce. Yum! This is a great way to use leftover garden zucchini!

-Tawra

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One Trick To Cut Kitchen Cleaning In HALF! Make Cleaning Easier!

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Here are some useful tips that will make cleaning easier in your kitchen and the rest of the house! Try them and save not only money but on cleaning aggravation!

Here are some useful tips that will make cleaning easier in your kitchen and the rest of the house! Try them and save not only money but on cleaning aggravation!

One Trick To Cut Kitchen Cleaning In HALF and make cleaning easier!

I did a couple of small things today that I thought might help you make cleaning easier in your home. Here are some quick cleaning ideas:

I see so many people with these plastic scrapers always scraping away at kitchen counters and it never really dawned on me that I have never had to use one before. I didn’t know why until today.

One of the key rules of professional cleaners is to let your cleaning products do the work for you. I didn’t realize it but my mom taught me this many years ago when I started doing dishes. I always rinse my dirty dishes and then place as many dishes as I can into the hot soapy water in the sink.

Before I start washing my dishes, I take my super wet and soapy dish rag and run it quickly over all the kitchen counter tops and the stove. I’m not really wiping it, I’m just getting a nice film of soapy water on it.

Then I wash my dishes. When I’m done, I thoroughly wring out my dish rag and re-wipe the counters. When I do it this way, every bit of pancake batter, syrup and honey wipes right up. This works every time and I never have to scrape my kitchen counters.

I don’t do this every time I do dishes. If we only have sandwiches I know there is probably not much sticky stuff on the counter so I wash the dishes without focusing so much on the counters ahead of time.

Years later, this practice worked for me even better because it forced me to put all the dishes into the sink and get my counters cleared. When I had unexpected customers or company, even though the dishes weren’t done, the counters all looked cleared and nice.

I also had to clean my trash can today. I took it outside, filled it full with soapy water and a little Clorox bleach. I placed the lid and a broom that needed to be cleaned into the water and let them soak for a couple of hours. Later, I went out and all I had to do was rinse them. I didn’t even need a rag or anything. All that nasty sticky stuff that gets in the bottom of the trash can just dissolved away. When you can, let things soak.

-Jill

Jill, I just want to say, YOU WERE RIGHT!!! You mentioned how wiping down counters with soapy water eliminates the need for scrubbing and scrapers and will make cleaning easier. Well, I’ve needed to clean the dreaded microwave for a while now. Every time I’d heat something in it I’d cringe and put off cleaning it because of all the food stuck to the inside.

Well, I took your advice. I got my dish rag nice and soapy and wiped down the entire microwave first. Then I went over to the sink and wiped down the glass microwave plate with hot soapy water and let it sit, too. Then I went back to the microwave and really started cleaning. Everything came off quite easily.

After finishing rinsing the plate, I realized that this “dreaded task” only took five minutes. Who knew?

Thanks! Sarah

Mom always says the best cleaner is hot soapy water. Use it more and you will save more!!! 🙂

      -Tawra

Hot soapy water and soaking work wonders!

      -Jill

[organizing]

Save Money At After Halloween Sales

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After Halloween sales can be a great time to pick up a few things at a discount that can help you save for other occasions. Here are a few tips to help you!

After Halloween sales can be a great time to pick up a few things at a discount that can help you save for other occasions. Here are a few tips to help you!

Save Money At After Halloween Sales

Don’t forget to go to the after Halloween sales to get some great bargains on candy and other items. You can get many other things at after Halloween sales besides candy:

  • Packages of little toys for party favors.
  • Cupcake wrappers. Cupcake cups with pumpkins can be used all the way through Thanksgiving and if it is just for your family, most kids don’t mind if their cupcakes have a pumpkin wrapper on it, even in January.
  • Candles and candle holders
  • Napkins and disposable tablecloths

 

hallween decorations - creative pumpkins

Do you have a graduation coming at the end of the school year and the school colors include black? Buy your plates, napkins, streamers and party favors now. Look for bargains on these types of products after every holiday. If the school colors are red, you can find great stuff after Christmas or Valentine’s Day, silver after New Year’s Eve, green after St. Patrick’s day and so on.

Get costumes for next year or pick up odds and ends if your kids like play acting or drama. We always kept a costume box. It had a lot of basics, including a black cape, sword, cowboy hat, cowboy vest, clown wig and nose, black gloves, etc.

You might be surprised about what you find. One year the store had 24 bag packages of lunch chips for a dollar. This was cheaper than it would cost for me to package them up myself. Happy Hunting!

-Jill

 

Easy Meal Planning Ideas! Planning Proper Meals

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Here are some easy meal planning ideas to help you save money and time! Many people find planning meals daunting but meal planning can actually be easy! These tips and ideas will help you get started!

Meal planning ideas to save money and time! Many people find it daunting but it can actually be easy! These tips will help you get started!

We get so many questions over and over about meals and meal planning. While I was looking up something to answer one reader’s question about meal planning, I came across some notes I had written years ago from a class I had taken.

This statement I wrote is clear, simple and pretty much covers everything you need to know when preparing a meal.

Meal Planning 101

Meals should be planned, be regular, be on time, taste good, be nutritious, fit within your budget, smell good and be attractive.

It might help to write this statement out and keep it in your kitchen somewhere or with your coupons and meal planning things. Then, as you plan your meals, you can go quickly go over the list and see if your meal satisfies all or most of these points.

If you remember the above statement, that is all you really need to know about meal planning but I decided to add a little detail to it to give you some ideas about what that statement means.

Planned – Meal planning helps to save money and eliminates the last minute stress of wondering “What am I making tonight for dinner?!” This is the key to all meal planning and probably will save you more money than anything else. If you plan at least a week’s worth of menus. At least plan the night before or that morning what you will have.

Regular – We often know we need nutritious meals but sometimes don’t realize that having meals on a regular basis really helps our digestive system function better. That means part of good meal planning is picking a time to have dinner close to the same time each day.

Having regular meals also helps our families emotionally. We are built to like consistency in our lives, especially children. There is something comforting in knowing no matter what frustrating things happened throughout the day, when your family arrives home, there is one constant in their lives – dinner. If you don’t think this is true, try it for a week or two. Then stop doing it and see how your family reacts. Make setting a regular meal time part of your meal planning.

On time – Getting meals prepared on time can be a little tricky for new cooks. It takes a little practice but you can learn to do it. Start preparing the food that will take the longest to cook first. Then work on the next longest and so on. Also, do as much ahead of time as possible. This goes for everyone. Brand new cooks may want to set the table long before even beginning the meal because it is one less thing to deal with but later, with practice, you can usually set the table while you are waiting for something to cook on the stove. With practice, you will also get to the point where you can toss a salad while you are waiting for the potatoes to cook but this all comes with time. While you are learning, keep your meals simple and composed of just a few easy dishes.

Taste Good – Pick foods your family likes and learn to cook them. I know this can be a meal planning challenge for some of us. Some people have a harder time learning to cook than others in the same way that some are better at gardening or sewing but you really need to try the best you can to learn some basics.

It may take a little work but you need to find foods that taste good. You may have to try different brands and varieties of the food. This may mean learning things like being fresh doesn’t always mean something tastes better. Most of the time I can’t tell any difference when I use frozen or fresh broccoli in my cooked foods but I can tell a difference between the brands of frozen broccoli I buy. To save money, use frozen foods if you can’t tell a difference and use the savings to buy fresh foods where you really can tell a difference.

Be nutritious – I have touched on this a lot in other articles but basically this means you need to learn about nutrients and what your family needs. Study. We grab anything that has organic or healthy written on the label but many of us couldn’t tell you what main foods are more rich in iron or vitamin B. If you are that concerned about your family’s health and insist that you must eat organic, at least learn how many calories and what nutrients are in the food. Read a book or do some research on the Internet. Don’t just read labels.

Fit your budget – This is simple. You may want to have steak for dinner but your budget only allows chicken, so chicken it is. Staying within your budget when meal planning will help you avoid overspending.

Smell Good – You truly use all of your senses when you eat. If your family can’t get the food past their noses, it won’t make it into their mouths. Also, food smells have a strong impact on people emotionally, especially when the smells are connected with home and family. Consider how often you hear an adult talk about memories of home and half of the time they mention some smell they remember.

Be Attractive – Like I mentioned above, we use all of our senses. If the meal doesn’t look good or looks “gross”, they won’t eat it. This should be an important consideration in your meal planning. Don’t forget to use lots of different colored food. Not only does this help with eye appeal but it also is an easy way to know you are giving your family a more nutritionally balanced meal. Many different colors means well balanced. Don’t forget to use different shapes and textures of food, too.

Meal planning is one of those jobs we tend to let go because we don’t consider them as important or as pressing as other things– kind of like folding clothes and putting them away. We can get them washed and dried but not folded and put away. But doing these things and following through with them can really make our lives easier and get rid of a lot of stress and always saves us money.

Rethink some things in your life that you are letting slide including your meal planning. You might be surprised a what a difference changing a few things will make.

-Jill

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Quick and Easy Homemade Breakfast in 15 Minutes Or Less!

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Do you feel too overwhelmed to make breakfast? By planning ahead and getting organized, you can have an easy homemade breakfast in 15 minutes or less!

Here are some great tips for how to make a quick and easy homemade breakfast in 15 minutes or less! A better breakfast that's just as fast or faster than the drive-thru and a lot cheaper!

Quick and Easy Homemade Breakfast in 15 Minutes Or Less!

I just finished writing a future newsletter about breakfast and I realized one of the reasons we don’t often eat breakfast is because we have difficulty managing time. Not only is it important to time things to get them done quickly but, when it comes to breakfast preparation, it is important to get everything done at the same time, too. This can sometimes be a big challenge to a beginning cook, but practice makes perfect.

Here are some helpful tips along with a simple menu I will use for my example:

Sausage
Eggs, scrambled
Toast
Coffee

If time is truly tight, then get as much done ahead of time as possible.

Things to do the night before:

(All of this should take not more than 5-10 minutes.)

  1. Put the coffee and water in the pot.
  2. If it comes in a roll, slice the sausage into patties.
  3. Put the eggs in a bowl, mixed and ready to go.
  4. Set the bread and butter by the toaster.
  5. Place the pan or griddle on the stove ready for sausage and eggs and stage the oil for cooking by the pans.
  6. Set the table.

Things to do in the morning:

  1. Start the coffee.
  2. Put the sausage patties in the pans and start cooking them.
  3. Pop the toast in the toaster.
  4. Flip sausages and start cooking the eggs.
  5. Butter toast, stir eggs, dish up sausages and dish up eggs.

Voila! You’re done!

Of course, this process can vary from person to person. I’m sure some of us do it differently and I do it differently on some days, too. The point is to think through the order in which you will do things.

  • Start your longest cooking items or things that can be just popped into a pan and need no attention first.
  • Look for areas where you can save time. For example, don’t make trips back and forth to the refrigerator. Get everything you need out at one time and put it all back at one time.
  • Mix and stir items as closely to the things you are cooking on the stove so you don’t have to run back and forth. For example, if you are cutting up a bowl of fruit, cut it near the stove area so you can easily stop and flip the bacon.
  • Write down a list of quick and easy breakfasts to make. For example, place oatmeal in the crock pot overnight, have Egg McMuffins ready to warm and have homemade waffles made and ready to pop in the toaster.
  • Again, do as much as you can ahead of time, like having the table set the night before.

Most breakfasts for a family of 4 can be made in 15 minutes or less if you are organized. You might find everyone more excited about getting up in the morning and getting dressed if they wake up to the smell of something yummy cooking in the kitchen.

 

Try these breakfast ideas for your family:

  • Breakfast bowls
  • Breakfast burritos
  • Fresh fruit
  • Oatmeal with fruit
  • Toast with jelly or bacon
  • Breakfast sandwiches
  • Eggs, scrambled, poached or to your taste
  • Hard-boiled eggs
  • Apples, cut into quarters, with core removed
  • Bagels
  • Muffins
  • Dried apples or bananas
  • Oranges, peeled and quartered
  • Pumpkin bread
  • Banana bread
  • Zucchini bread
  • Bananas
  • Crackers and cheese
  • Celery sticks, spread with peanut butter
  • Cheese
  • Homemade granola bars
  • Beef jerky
  • Tortillas with cream cheese
  • Peanut butter snacks
  • Yogurt with fruit or wheat germ added
  • Milk
  • Chocolate milk
  • Homemade hot chocolate
  • Creamy Orange Shake
  • Smoothies 
  • Apples, quartered and cored with 1 tsp. peanut butter on each quarter
  • Bananas sliced in half and spread with peanut butter
  • Bread or toast cut into quarters and spread with jelly, jam, peanut butter, spiced honey or honey butter
  • Crackers spread with peanut butter and jelly or jam
  • Place some peanut butter and honey on a pancake and roll up for a snack. This is great for leftover pancakes.

 

Many of these easy breakfast ideas and more are from our cookbooks!

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