RUM-N-NOODLES

SETTING GOALS       "I want to be rich" is great as a daydream, but it sucks as a goal.  Goals really only to meet 3 criteria.  A goal needs to be specific "i want to be a millionaire" works.  It needs a timeline "tomorrow" uummm ok.  And it needs to be realistic "not tomorrow".  Your goals can be about anything, I want to lose weight, I want to improve my marriage, I want to go on vacation or whatever.  The same principals still apply.  But I'm writing this about saving money so we will stick with the millionaire.  Five years is a long time for a goal so we need to break it down a little.  Set an amount of money you want to save every week (or every two weeks if that is when you get paid).  Just keep in mind that number may not be the same every week, bills rent ect come in at different times of the month.  For me I have money that is taken out of each check that I never see and try to forget about and set my ...

      I am doing this mostly about saving money, but that doesn't mean it has to feel like a chore.  You can cook with someone you love, make it a date night every night (thanks for the inspiration Christian and Jennifer).  Talk about your day, day dream together about how you will spend the money you are saving,tell the person you are with how great their butt looks from all the healthy eating, convince yourselves the weird thing your kid is doing is "just a phase".  Basically just BE TOGETHER and enjoy the quality time.         If you are cooking alone that's great too.... crank the tunes, watch cat videos,  or listen to an audio book or podcast.  I don't care what you are into there is an audio book or a pod cast about it.  Want to feel good about the world, watch videos of military personal surprising their families (the one where the guy dresses as Captain America to surprise his son is great).  Wan...

  RE FRIED BLACK BEANS AND RICE      Beans are another food that is very healthy and super cheap.  Add some onions, chilies, tomatoes and some spices to the rice and you have a tasty meal for nearly nothing.  I cook the entire 1 pound package of beans and make burritos to freeze for lunch at work or just freeze the beans for later use. Ingredients 3  cups cooked black beans 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice 1/2 of one medium onion 2 tablespoons cooking oil 1/2 of a 10 oz can of enchilada sauce 1/2 of a 10 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies 1/4 cup nopales  (cactus) optional 1/4 teaspoon cumin 1/4 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon adobo salt to taste     Start by cooking up the beans.  I cook the entire 1 lb package and save the rest for later.  This recipe takes some time, but most of that time is soaking and cooking the beans where you don't even have to be home....

Tuna Casserole      I'm a little slow getting this posted, I got the noodles on sale at Woodman's for $0.49.  Going forward I will try to get recipes posted while sales are still active, I was just a little to slow on this one.      This is the classic easy Tuna Casserole your grandma made.  It's a simple recipe with cheap ingredients for any weeknight dinner Ingredients 1 - 12 oz package of egg noodles 1/2 of a medium onion 1/2 of 1 package of cream cheese 2 cans cream of mushroom soup 3 - 5 oz cans of tuna 1 cup frozen peas 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese      Start by adding the noodles to a pot of boiling salted water, cook them for about 5 minutes (or about a minute less than the package instructions) until they are firm and still have a little bite to them.  As the noodles cook saute the onion.  When the noodles are done drain them and add the onion and cream cheese while the nood...

R-N-N: The name       The name Rum-n-noodles comes from a Dave Ramsey caller.  Driving home from work one night a woman called into Dave's show.  Anyone who listens to him know he talks about being on "beans and rice and Ramon noodles".  The woman told Dave that "with his southern accent she thought he was saying run-n-noodles" and him her 1st thought was "i love rum.... getting out of debt is going to be fun". That story just stuck with me and sounded like a fun blog name.

OVERNIGHT OATS      Ok, you don't get any easier or cheaper than this. Ingredients 1/2 cup old fashion oats 1/2 cup milk (or what ever non dairy you like)      Just combine the oats and milk and put it in the refrigerator overnight.  With oatmeal being one of the best foods to lower cholesterol this is a breakfast that will make your doctor want to give you a good morning kiss.      There is also lots of things you can add to change up your breakfast each morning.  Try adding frozen berries when you mix the ingredients the night before.  Or mash up some bananas with the milk.  A little brown sugar, cinnamon and sugar or maple syrup all taste great too.         Running total To help keep everyone motivated on the saving side in going to keep a running total of how much you can save be using each recipe 1 time...

RUM-N-NOODLES      I'm writing this blog to help friends save money on their meals everyday, but also to help me keep on track myself.  I'll post recipes that are cheap and hopefully taste good.  I'm also going to keep a running total of how much money you can save.       After each recipe I'll give the cost per serving that I paid to make the meal.  I'll try to keep everyone up to date on grocery sales in the Madison area that I'm using to keep the cost down.        I checked out some other sites that have a concept close to the same but they all focused more on making fancy meals cheap, I am going to focus on the cost and making them healthy when possible.  One thing I did notice is that all the other sites have really nice pics of the food.  So I'm starting my first contest for the blog.  Make on of my recipes and take a picture.  Then send it to...