Ed Note: With food prices expected to keep rising (and a rumored, perhaps-overblown bacon shortage grabbing headlines; oh no, aporkalypse!), we turned to one of our very favorite budget food bloggers, Beth of Budget Bytes, to help us keep our grocery bill under control. We?re super psyched to welcome her to Block Talk ? and we?re hoping to convince her to cook for us next.
Cooking at home can either be a budget saver or a budget burner. New cooks are often plagued with wasted leftovers, unused ingredients, and massive grocery bills that scare them away from making it a habit.? Luckily it only takes a little know how to start you on the path to filling your belly on a budget. Use these six tips to help you get started!
1. Plan Your Meals ? It may seem obvious, but most people still fail to plan their meals before heading to the grocery store. Going to the store with an ingredient list in hand will prevent you from wandering around grabbing whatever looks good (we?ve all been there, right?). Choose your recipes based on what is on sale that week, what produce is in season, or what ingredients you may have at home waiting to be used up.? Once you?ve chosen your recipe, make a list of the ingredients you?ll need to buy, and you?re ready to go!
2. Use Ingredients Wisely ? Flavor often comes in the form of expensive ingredients. Fresh herbs, cheese, nuts, and meat may all be full of flavor, but they?ll also take a bite out of your budget. Stretch the flavor and your dollars by combining these expensive ingredients with bulkier, inexpensive ingredients like pasta, rice, and beans. Properly combining expensive and inexpensive ingredients can mean having your cake and eating it too.
3. Don?t be Afraid of Leftovers ? Somewhere along the line leftovers got a really bad reputation, but I?ll let you in on a little secret ? leftovers are awesome! When flavors have a time to mingle and meld, dishes often achieve an even more amazing level of deliciousness. Sure, not every dish works well as leftovers, but writing them off altogether is a huge mistake. When stored properly, most recipes can be enjoyed for days and serve as quick ?grab n? go? lunches or dinner on nights when you?re just too tired to cook.
4. The Freezer is Your Friend ? A freezer can help you reduce waste, take advantage of sale prices, and make sure that you always have meals ready to go. When a recipe calls for a half can of tomato paste or just a few stalks of celery, consider freezing the leftovers. Rather than throwing away leftover ingredients, they can often be saved for later use by freezing.
Take advantage of meat sales when you see them. Even meat that is close to the ?sell by? date can be safely stored in the freezer for 2-3 months. Grocery stores often sell larger ?family packs? of meat for a discounted rate, which can then be divided and frozen.
Make your own TV dinners by dividing meals into single serving portions and freezing them in resealable plastic containers. Having a freezer full of microwavable meals is a life saver on busy weeknights and is a fraction of the cost of take out. Just remember to label and date everything!
5. Shop Around ? It?s easy to get into a grocery store rut, but exploring new stores will save you money and can also be quite fun! Ethnic markets often have herbs, spices, condiments, and other hard to find ingredients at much lower prices than regular grocery stores. Produce and farmer?s markets are filled with amazingly fresh produce for very competitive prices. So, take a leisurely Saturday afternoon to explore alternative food retailers in your area. You?re likely to discover new ingredients, find fresh flavors, and save some money while you?re at it!
6. Portion Control ? Overeating not only affects your waistline, but also your wallet. Keep both in check by portioning out your meals as soon as you?re finished cooking. Aim for portions that satisfy rather than stuff and you?ll feed yourself for longer.
Learning to cook and do so on a budget is a skill and like any it takes practice. Start small and don?t get overwhelmed. Soon you?ll be reaping the benefits ? yummy meals and a fat wallet!
For more grocery budget-taming tips and fantastic wallet-friendly recipes, check out Budget Bytes.
What's Content Got To Do With It? Role of Relevant & Customer Targeted Content Writing: Remembering Mahatma Gandhi
Remembering Mahatma Gandhi
Remembering Mahatma Gandhi As we celebrate Gandhi Jayanti, let us take a moment to read some motivational and inspirational quotes by Gandhi ji -
??? There are occasions when silence is wisdom
??? God never answers the prayers of the arrogant
??? The seat of religion is in the heart
??? Hearty repentance breaks the edge of guilt
??? Hate is the subtlest form of violence
??? Happiness depends on what you can give, not what you can get
??? Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts
??? We are but straws in the hands of God
??? Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt
??? A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work - he is the purpose of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to serve him.
??? If we will take care of today, God will take care of tomorrow.
??? The prerogative of destruction belongs solely to the creator.
??? Suffering opens the eyes of understanding.
??? Public opinion alone can keep a society pure and healthy.
??? There is no sin like cowardice.
??? The spirit becomes unclean if the heart is not washed with prayer.
??? God watches us all not with a view to punish but to chasten.
??? Nature speaks through our instincts very clearly.
??? Untouchability poisons Hinduism as a drop of arsenic poisons milk.
Nano-hillocks: Of mountains and cratersPublic release date: 1-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Christine Bohnet c.bohnet@hzdr.de 49-351-260-2450 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
In the field of nanotechnology, electrically-charged particles are frequently used as tools for surface modification. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the TU Vienna were at last able to reconcile important issues concerning the effects of highly charged ions on surfaces.
Ion beams have been used for some time now for surface modification as ions are capable of carrying such high energies that a single particle alone can induce drastic changes to the surface under bombardment. Following careful examination, an international team of researchers was at last able to shed light on the reasons why sometimes craters and other times hillocks are forming as a result of this process. Their findings have recently been published in the scientific journal, Physical Review Letters.
Charge instead of speed
"If the goal is to deposit a maximum amount of energy on a tiny spot on the surface, it is of comparatively little use to simply bombard the surface with fast atoms," explains Prof. Friedrich Aumayr of the TU Vienna's Institute of Applied Physics. "Fast particles penetrate deep into the material thereby depositing their energy over a wide range." If, however, you first strip a large number of electrons from individual atoms and then allow these highly charged ions to collide with the material surface, the effects you get are quite dramatic as the energy that was previously required to ionize the atoms is now being released within a very small area of a few nanometers in diameter, and within an ultrashort time.
This can lead to melting of a very small volume of the material, loss of its orderly atomic structure, and, finally, its expansion. The large number of electronic excitations that result from the ion's interactions with the surface has a strong impact on the material and ultimately leads to the atoms being bumped out of position. The end-result is nano-hillock formation the appearance of tiny protrusions on the material's surface. If the energy required to initiate melting of the material is insufficient, small holes or defects will form on or below the surface instead.
Elaborate experiments at the HZDR facility for highly charged ions were just as important to obtaining a detailed picture of the processes that take place at the material's surface as were computer simulations and extensive theoretical work. "At our new HZDR facility, we have the capabilities for deliberately forming nano-hillocks and nano-craters on surfaces. In close collaboration with the groups of our colleagues Friedrich Aumayr and Joachim Burgdrfer at the TU Vienna we succeeded to grasp the underlying physical mechanisms in more detail", explains Dr. Stefan Facsko. Egyptian physicist Dr. Ayman El-Said, who spent two years as a Humboldt Foundation fellow conducting research at HZDR, made substantial contributions to the current body of research in this field.
Assumptions confirmed
The scientists are calling their results the missing important piece of the puzzle to help them understand the interaction of highly charged ions with surfaces. By subjecting the sample to an acid treatment following ion bombardment, they are able to document the extent to which a surface is modified at given energies. The formation of nano-hillocks depends to a large extent on the ion beams' charge state and to a lesser extent on their velocity. The formation of craters, on the other hand, is dependent upon both the charge state and the kinetic energy of the ions. The Vienna and Dresden researchers had long suspected this and were now at last able to produce the necessary evidence obtained from their experiments conducted at the HZDR.
###
Publication: A.S. El-Said, R.A. Wilhelm, R. Heller, S. Facsko, C. Lemell, G. Wachter, J. Burgdrfer, R. Ritter, F. Aumayr: "Phase diagram for nanostructuring CaF2 surfaces by slow highly charged ions", in Physical Review Letters 109 (2012), 117602, http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.117602, DOI-Link: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.117602
Further Information
Dr. Ren Heller
Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260-3617
Email: r.heller@hzdr.de
Press Contact
Dr. Christine Bohnet
Press Officer
Phone: +49 351 260-2450 oder +49 160 969 288 56
Email: c.bohnet@hzdr.de
WWW: www.hzdr.de
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) conducts research in the fields of matter, health and energy. The following issues provide the main focus here:
How does matter behave in strong fields and at small-scale dimensions?
How can malignant tumors be identified at an early stage and treated effectively?
How can resources and energy be used safely and efficiently?
To answer these scientific questions, five large-scale research facilities provide, in part, unique research opportunities. These facilities are also accessible to external users.
The HZDR has been a member of the Helmholtz Association (the largest scientific organization in Germany) since January 2011. It has four locations in Dresden, Leipzig, Freiberg and Grenoble, and employs around 900 people approx. 400 of these being scientists and doctoral candidates.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Nano-hillocks: Of mountains and cratersPublic release date: 1-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Christine Bohnet c.bohnet@hzdr.de 49-351-260-2450 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
In the field of nanotechnology, electrically-charged particles are frequently used as tools for surface modification. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the TU Vienna were at last able to reconcile important issues concerning the effects of highly charged ions on surfaces.
Ion beams have been used for some time now for surface modification as ions are capable of carrying such high energies that a single particle alone can induce drastic changes to the surface under bombardment. Following careful examination, an international team of researchers was at last able to shed light on the reasons why sometimes craters and other times hillocks are forming as a result of this process. Their findings have recently been published in the scientific journal, Physical Review Letters.
Charge instead of speed
"If the goal is to deposit a maximum amount of energy on a tiny spot on the surface, it is of comparatively little use to simply bombard the surface with fast atoms," explains Prof. Friedrich Aumayr of the TU Vienna's Institute of Applied Physics. "Fast particles penetrate deep into the material thereby depositing their energy over a wide range." If, however, you first strip a large number of electrons from individual atoms and then allow these highly charged ions to collide with the material surface, the effects you get are quite dramatic as the energy that was previously required to ionize the atoms is now being released within a very small area of a few nanometers in diameter, and within an ultrashort time.
This can lead to melting of a very small volume of the material, loss of its orderly atomic structure, and, finally, its expansion. The large number of electronic excitations that result from the ion's interactions with the surface has a strong impact on the material and ultimately leads to the atoms being bumped out of position. The end-result is nano-hillock formation the appearance of tiny protrusions on the material's surface. If the energy required to initiate melting of the material is insufficient, small holes or defects will form on or below the surface instead.
Elaborate experiments at the HZDR facility for highly charged ions were just as important to obtaining a detailed picture of the processes that take place at the material's surface as were computer simulations and extensive theoretical work. "At our new HZDR facility, we have the capabilities for deliberately forming nano-hillocks and nano-craters on surfaces. In close collaboration with the groups of our colleagues Friedrich Aumayr and Joachim Burgdrfer at the TU Vienna we succeeded to grasp the underlying physical mechanisms in more detail", explains Dr. Stefan Facsko. Egyptian physicist Dr. Ayman El-Said, who spent two years as a Humboldt Foundation fellow conducting research at HZDR, made substantial contributions to the current body of research in this field.
Assumptions confirmed
The scientists are calling their results the missing important piece of the puzzle to help them understand the interaction of highly charged ions with surfaces. By subjecting the sample to an acid treatment following ion bombardment, they are able to document the extent to which a surface is modified at given energies. The formation of nano-hillocks depends to a large extent on the ion beams' charge state and to a lesser extent on their velocity. The formation of craters, on the other hand, is dependent upon both the charge state and the kinetic energy of the ions. The Vienna and Dresden researchers had long suspected this and were now at last able to produce the necessary evidence obtained from their experiments conducted at the HZDR.
###
Publication: A.S. El-Said, R.A. Wilhelm, R. Heller, S. Facsko, C. Lemell, G. Wachter, J. Burgdrfer, R. Ritter, F. Aumayr: "Phase diagram for nanostructuring CaF2 surfaces by slow highly charged ions", in Physical Review Letters 109 (2012), 117602, http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.117602, DOI-Link: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.117602
Further Information
Dr. Ren Heller
Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260-3617
Email: r.heller@hzdr.de
Press Contact
Dr. Christine Bohnet
Press Officer
Phone: +49 351 260-2450 oder +49 160 969 288 56
Email: c.bohnet@hzdr.de
WWW: www.hzdr.de
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) conducts research in the fields of matter, health and energy. The following issues provide the main focus here:
How does matter behave in strong fields and at small-scale dimensions?
How can malignant tumors be identified at an early stage and treated effectively?
How can resources and energy be used safely and efficiently?
To answer these scientific questions, five large-scale research facilities provide, in part, unique research opportunities. These facilities are also accessible to external users.
The HZDR has been a member of the Helmholtz Association (the largest scientific organization in Germany) since January 2011. It has four locations in Dresden, Leipzig, Freiberg and Grenoble, and employs around 900 people approx. 400 of these being scientists and doctoral candidates.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Malin Akerman has announced her pregnancy, admitting she wasn’t thinking she would get pregnant so easily. The “Couples Retreat” star, who is three months pregnant [...]
The Ingredients of a Excellent Real Estate Business strategy plan
Real estate organization isn?t one thing you jump into nostril first and also worry about how to proceed later; that?s a surefire strategy for failing from the beginning. On the contrary, it is something which must be approached only one time you have a mindful and well thought-out plan through your hand. Of course, the exact prepare which you will make can be really subjective, yet regardless of there are some measures which you can take to ease the whole process and at least give yourself several sense of direction as to which place to go with your strategic business plan. Here are a few measures which you would do well to undergo when making your plan SFV real estate .
Determining the Precisely why
First off, avoid being going into this sort of business not having some kind of allure behind an individual? something which lights your hearth and will keep you planning. You need to outline your purpose, what you will be trying to obtain with this organization on a private level; if you are only chasing money you are going to inevitably get bored, inattentive, and chances are you?ll slip a place and ruin everything.
Observing your Ambitions
The second step up writing up your real estate strategic business plan is to establish the objectives you are going to always be chasing after. The particular surest way to do this would be to evaluate your current situation, or what you have were able to do inside year. Have you achieved the goals an individual envisioned yourself completing with that stage in your own life? What kind of advancement, or regress, are you dealing with? Basically, you simply must set particular goals (usually people want to set objectives in terms of income) depending on how things have been planning so far.
You must make 2 kinds of goals: short-term and also long-term. With the long-term objectives you shouldn?t truly hold back and also think large, imagining what you want to attain a couple of years from now. When it comes to your short-term objectives, remain practical and worked out, meaning you must not expect to turn into a millionaire inside a couple of weeks.
The blueprint of Motion
This may be the hardest part of the blueprint as you will really need to put together a method for making your goals reality Thousand Oaks real estate . The first part in making a plan of action is usually to give yourself several value by defining your niche and receiving a specialist inside. Valued proposal always plays a huge role inside whether or not consumers trust you together with should never be forgotten.
The next element in making a great real estate strategic business plan is to find a way to generate leads. If you?ve been within this business for a long time as an agent you will probably should fine-tune the ways an individual already use to generate leads. If you are not, you must consider various marketing such article directories, marketing with video, or perhaps also commercials if you can afford all of them.
When making your own business plan in real est it is also vitally important to set up an improvement plan for the long run. Make sure to understand in advance what you will be going to be exploring for your organization, which is very good if you are looking to test some new and also intriguing aspects for your organization but are certainly not sure they?ll actually operate.
Needless to say, you probably aren?t destined to be working alone because let?s face it, a lone real estate agent won?t be able to manage this sort of business by him or herself. You will have to have a group with you, and subsequently step in making this business plan the real deal estate lies in creating a good organizational framework. While it may well not sound like much, each an affiliate your group needs to understand what he or she is performing and how are put into your prepare.
Keeping Track of Almost everything
Naturally, to help make sure that your business is right on observe to achieve your goals you simply must monitor that, and one from the first issues you should do will be schedule expenditure reviews every year. In addition, you should also look into utilizing a production-check prepare which would enable you to monitor how well you?re progressing in regards to your goals monthly. The easiest way for doing that would be to go through the leads and sales generated throughout the month, not to mention the total earnings.
All in all, making a real estate strategic business plan is indeed a great deal of work, however, if you go advertising methodically which has a calculated thoughts and foundation everything in numbers and also calculations, you need to be just fine.
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Public release date: 1-Oct-2012
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