More of Frugal Living

I realized after my rambling post yesterday that tips on living more frugally may be better in small bites. So I am going to try to post more frequently (no REALLY) with a few tips at a time.
SALTINES!!!!! What a wonderful inexpensive snack!!! Ok, I will be honest, I love the GOOD, pricey, fancy crackers... There are so many that I love, my favorites being those rice crackers. Yum. (which you CAN buy a little more cheaply at Trader Joe's). However, when feeding a family of 7, those do not stretch very far. If I buy the generic brand or aldi brand of saltines, I am looking at approximately $1. My kids often will have peanut butter on them (another staple) or I will have Nutella on them (not exactly on my budget-friendly budget items... but I am weak, what can I say). My 1 year old will eat them plain. I even used them in soup last week! Ok, that may not sound like a big deal, however, my family is spoiled. I often make homemade bread with soup. Or if it is a southwestern or Mexican type soup, we will have tortilla chips with it. Growing up, soup meant SALTINES! So I made my kiddos crush some up & put them in their soup. It was a broccoli cheese soup & it was quite tasty. And the saltines S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D the soup a little further. Who knew? (my mother knew, that's who!).
It's funny, when I am doing these frugal things, I see so much of what my mom did when I was growing up. I had no idea she was so good at stretching that grocery budget. Now she is my hero!