January 23rd, 2012 
admin 
I live in Texas, so we have to be prepared for natural disasters. We have tried several different companies products and they tended to fall into several categories, taste of the food left a lot to be desired, cost of products, timeliness of orders and quality of products used in the menu items. So far only one has passed all of those tests and that is Free Food 2 Go. Not only did they pass all of our qualifications but my sons even approved and my sons are very picky eaters. Another thing I liked about this company, is they are helping those struggling in this economy by allowing people to earn free product by sharing their joy of the product with others. Key points-They have 3 membership lives. 1. Co-op Customer: Free to join and you pay regular retail prices on the products. 2. Co-op Preferred Customer: Think as this as you would a Costco or Sam’s Club Membership. Membership is $25 to sign up and $15 renewal every year. With this membership you get the discounted prices and also the opportunity to earn free food. 3. Co-op Owner: This one has two options, one for $48.95 and $100. The level you choose would depend if you want to work this as a business part or full time. As a Co-op Owner, you earn free food and cash. I also like they are working on Kosher, Vegan and Organic Lines. T read more, you can visit them here. 
By the way, this is what we tried out- Its called the Sampler Pack and it cost $7. We got 2 servings of Cheddar Broccoli Soup, Oriental Beef Fried Rice, 6 Grain breakfast cereal with Honey, Western Chili. You just add water, heat and your ready to eat. It also contained Milk, which tasted like real milk and they say it is not an imitation whey product. A very good investment.
Review of Free Food 2 Go
A place to Search for Telecommuting Jobs
Here is a site that you just type in the type of work at home position you are looking for and it will give you a long list of companies that are hiring for those job. Good Luck! Here is the link http://www.genuinejobs.com
What can you do with 105 oz can of Tomato Sauce
So you saw this great deal for under $3 for 105 ounce can of Tomato Sauce at Sam’s Club. You brought it home and now it just sits in the pantry calling your name. You can make some pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, a marinara sauce and that is just to name a few. Did you know you could even dry it in your food drier/dehydrator to use tomato powder for seasoning? Powder takes up less cabinet space. You can even make your own spaghetti sauce powder, pizza sauce powder, etc. Just rehydrate with water when ready for use. You can prepare the sauces and either can them or freeze them or as already mentioned, dehydrate them. You can also use a foodsaver and a foodsaver canister to preserve them. Your options are endless.
So lets start with the basic recipes-
First you will need to make your Italian Seasoning Mix.
Italian Seasoning Mix
1/3 cup dried crushed oregano and dry basil
2 Tablespoons Dried rosemary
1/4 cup each Dried Thyme, Dried Sage, Dried Marjoram and Dried Garlic Flakes(sorry I love my garlic and you may use less if you prefer)
Airtight jar or container
Measure all of your ingredients into your chosen container, shake thoroughly to combine.
Pizza Sauce
1 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 3/4 Cups Tomato Sauce(14 oz.)
1/2 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning Mix
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 45 minutes. This can be stored in the fridge for up to week, or it can be frozen in ice cube trays, than placed the ice cubes in a Foodsaver bag and vacuum seal the bag and place in the freezer. It will keep for months in the freezer. This recipe is enough to cover 4 12 inch pizzas with light sauce. You can also premake your pizzas, just do not bake them and freeze for quick meals.
Spaghetti Sauce
2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 small green bell pepper, finely diced
2 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
4 Cups tomato sauce (32 ounce)
2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning Mix
2 teaspoon salt(can be omitted)
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoon of Sugar
You can also add a pound of ground beef, Italian sausage or any other kind of meat.
If using meat, combine it with the onion, garlic, and green pepper in a large saucepan. Cook and stir until meat is brown and vegetables are tender. Drain off grease. After you have drain the meat mixture, add it back to the saucepan and add in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan and mix well, than add the seasonings and stir. Simmer spaghetti sauce for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. This can be stored in the fridge for up to week, or it can be frozen in individual servings for when mom is away, the kids can take one out and make some noodles, warm up the sauce, instant meal in under 10 minutes. It will keep for months in the freezer. This makes approximately 16 servings. You can also double this recipe or the pizza sauce recipe for canning or freezing larger servings.
Italian Vegetable Soup
8 cups water
5 Beef Bouillon Cubes
4 Cups tomato sauce (32 ounce)
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups diced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 Cup of chopped any other kind of vegetable you either have on hand or you want to add
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning Mix
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
In a large saucepan combine all ingredients except the salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in salt. You can freeze this in individual containers for future use. When you warm it up, add some elbow macaroni for additional substance. Just let the noodles cook in the broth until done. I do not have you add this before hand, because if you freeze the noodles will go all mushy.
Ketchup
2 Cup Tomato Sauce(16 ounces)
1 Cup sugar
4 Tablespoon vinegar
Mix together thoroughly and add a dash of salt.
Sweety n Spicy BBQ Sauce
2 Cups packed brown sugar
2 Cups ketchup
1 Cup water
1 Cup cider vinegar
1 Cup finely chopped onion
1 1/3 Cup tomato sauce(11 ounce, if you followed the rest of the recipes above, this would be the last of the can)
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup molasses
1 can (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoon minced Garlic
2 Tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
1 Teaspoon onion salt
1 Teaspoon celery salt
In a large saucepan, combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. This can be kept in the fridge for a week or frozen in ice cube trays than placed in a foodsaver bag and vacuum seal the ice cubes.
This completes some of possible choices of what to do with a 105 ounce can of Tomato Sauce. Keep in mind, these are but a few choices.
Cooking healthy and on a Budget
This day and age, so many people are struggling to put food on the table, plus add in the complication of something there picky children will eat. This is for you. Not only will you learn tricks on how to stretch your grocery dollar with out spending days clipping coupons for items you don’t really want. You also learn shortcuts for in the kitchen, which means more time spent enjoying life with your family.
Once a month I go to our local Sam’s Club and buy the majority of the meat for the month. I spend between $80-$150 on that one trip. Buying meat at your local discount bulk grocer store is a lot cheaper than getting it at your local supermarket. You do not have to give up meat and you don’t have to live on just hamburger meat. You also do not have to sacrifice taste by living on premade processed foods. I hardly ever buy anything else from them, because when you are on a budget, every penny counts and most of there items are not a great savings. I get some of my dried spices from the local dollar stores for 2 for $1. Laundry detergent and toothpaste I make myself, and the recipes will all be included.
You can learn to preplan by making a meat one day that can be stretched to make 4 different meals. Other ways you can save money- by making your own sauces, cooking with dry beans and making your own mixes. Not only is it healthier for you and your family, but you can determined how strong or mild you want something. Cooking on a budget does not mean you should have to give up foods you love because they are too expensive. It means alter the way you think, so you can make it from scratch for a fraction of the cost.
A Food Saver is a great investment and something I could not live with out. When you get home from the store, you can break up your meat into smaller sizes and vacuum seal them so they do not get freezer burn in the freezer. Tupperware is also a good investment. The majority of the containers at the stores have to be replaced every 6 months to a year. Some of my Tupperware is over 30 years old. You can also get your Tupperware free by hosting a party.
Here is how to make your own cream soups.
Start with the base, which in most of the Creamed Soups are nothing more than a white sauce with added ingredients. Not only is it cheaper, but it gives you better control of what you put in it.
Cream Soup Base
• 2 Tbs butter
• 2 Tbs flour
• 1/4 tsp salt (optional)
• 1 cup milk
In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter. Sprinkle the flour over it and stir to incorporate. If you have trouble getting this to be smooth, try putting the flour in a cup and slowly add a little bit of the milk while blending with a fork. After you have it well blended and no lumps, slowly add it to the saucepan. Cook over medium low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the milk.
Cream of chicken
Substitue ½ of the milk for Chicken Broth. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat, barely simmering, for a few minutes until thick.
Cheese sauce
To make a cheese sauce, add grated cheese and stir until melted.
Cream of celery
Finely chop a ¼ cup celery and sauté in the butter before adding the flour and use half broth and half milk.
Cream of broccoli
Finely chop a ¼ cup broccoli and sauté in the butter before adding the flour and use half broth and half milk.
Cream of mushroom
Finely chop a ¼ cup mushroom and sauté in the butter before adding the flour and milk.
You can also add a little bit of beef or chicken bouillon to any of the above to change the flavor a bit.
What’s it like to be a Secret/Mystery Shopper
When you are a Mystery Shopper also called Secret Shopper you get to do something we all dream about. That is reporting on the quality of Customer Service. You could be called on to do a Mystery Shop for a Restaurant, Retail, Car Repair, Apartment community and the list goes on. A typical retail shop involves you go to the store, doing a visual check of the parking lot for cleanliness, checking the restroom for cleanliness and making sure it is stocked, checking the store for cleanliness, eye appeal, documenting hazards in the aisles. You must not be obvious in what you are doing. You must tell the store or its employees that you are a Mystery Shopper. It helps if you have a good memory, if not you can jot down notes or carry a recorder with you. Just make sure you are not being over heard. I always wait until I get to the car, to write down the majority of the details I observed. Some shops will require you to make a purchase, that you will either be reimbursed for or they will have you return it so you can also evaluate the customer service on the returns. You will than go home, log onto the companies site and fill out your report. You will have to scan in or fax any receipts that you may have. Each company is different when it comes to pay. So pay within a week of you submitting your paperwork and some pay the following month. Some pay direct deposit, some pay by check and some use Paypal. Each assignment is different and you know before you accept the assignment how much you will get paid for it, whether you will be reimbursed for gas and any other expenses you will be reimbursed for. You will not get rich being a Mystery Shopper. But, it is fun, it is rewarding and you the perks are also nice. I have eaten at nice restaurants with friends and had the entire bill reimbursed. I get my oil changes done free, because it gets reimbursed. So obviously it can save you money. You can sign up with as many as you want. Some will send you emails when they have openings and some you will actually have to check on the site for openings. You will also jobs for Merchandiser posted, Video Mystery Shopping and other miscellaneous opportunities will pop up here or there. But if you commit to an assignment, make sure you have the time to do it and make sure you complete it on time. In my next post for Mystery Shoppers, it will have a list of companies that you can apply at. One last thing, they will NEVER send you money before hand and have you send it Western Union to do a shop on Western Union, this is a scam. I have actually done a excel spread sheet that I keep all of my Mystery Shop Companies along with user name and password for each company.
Working from home
Working from home is very possible. There are a lot of companies that either hire telecommuters or they utilize Independent Contractors. I will try to cover the pros and con and the differences between them. I will also let you in on what you need in order to be successful with working from home. Feel free to post your questions. One other thing I would like to cover is about Mystery Shopping. You do not, and I repeat do not, have to buy a manual, pay a fee or anything like that to find out how to become a Mystery Shopper or as some call it Secret Shopper. I will also be covering in the pros and cons on Mystery Shopping, what is required and companies that hire Mystery Shoppers.
Scams
First off, there are so many scams on the internet. They draw a person in by offering a “free gift card or some other freebie”,but in the fine print is the real details. You have to sign up for this deal or that deal, which those deals bring the website free money off of your back, than after you have completed all of those deals you will be entered into a drawing for the gift card that drew you to the website to begin it. There are a lot of good and free deals on the internet and I will try to bring as many of them to you here as I find them. Some of the freebies, you do have to act on us fast, because some of them have a limit of the first 50,000 people or things like that.
Home Office Setup
Your home office can be anything from your computer on a table or a full desk with all of the bells and whistles. That is entirely up to you. But for most work at home positions, they require your computer to be hardwired, most do not accept wireless connections to the internet for security reasons. The majority also require landline phones, meaning VOIP phones are not accepted. If your telecommute job requires phone work, you must have a quiet work environment away from distractions, such as children, pets, etc.. Actually that is true for most work at home jobs, because even if it is not a phone position, how are you going to get any work done if you are being interrupted by children yelling, dogs barking, etc.
When my children were younger, I would work while they were at school and while they were sleeping. Pets can be locked out of the room you are working in. If you want to work bad enough, you can always find solutions to your problems to make it happen. Hand a note on the front door that states you are working, so please do not interrupt.
