I’m a long time lip balm addict and newly obsessed Pinterest user.

After a long session of repinning, liking, and drooling over food porn, I stumbled across a recipe for homemade lip balm.

Imagine my excitement.

There are a bunch of items I’d like to make, but this one rose to the top of the pile given my penchant for applying lip moisturizer 50 plus times a day.

If you’re so inclined, try it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks to Anna at Life + Lessons for telling the world’s lip balm abusers they can make their own supply at home. 

What You’ll Need

Ingredients

• 4 Capsules of vitamin E
• 2 Teaspoons of 100% cocoa butter
• 2 Teaspoons of coconut oil
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 Ounce of beeswax
• 14 to 15 Empty lip balm tubes and caps

• Pyrex measuring cup and pot or double boiler
• Metal spoon for stirring
• Large, sharp knife for cutting
• Pipette (optional)

What to Do

1. Gather all of your ingredients.
2. With your knife, shave off fine portions of cocoa butter until you get about two teaspoons worth. Set aside.
3. Chop up beeswax into manageable sizes which will help speed along the melting process. If you’ve never handled beeswax, you’ll find it melts pretty slowly. So try to cut it into smaller sections than the ones shown.
4. Pierce your vitamin E capsules with a sharp knife and drain the oil into a measuring cup. Add remaining ingredients to the vitamin E.
5. In a medium size pot, add a few inches of water and bring to a light boil. Place measuring cup in the pot. Stir with a metal spoon. Let the concoction fully melt.
6. Test the consistency of your lip balm by pouring a tiny amount into a cool spoon. Let harden for about 1 minute. If it’s too firm, add more beeswax or cocoa butter. Too soft? Add more olive oil or coconut oil.
7. Once the lip balm is to your liking, remove the measuring cup from the pot and place on heat resistant surface.
8. Use a pipette to transfer the mixture to the lip balm tubes or pour directly from the measuring cup.
9. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
10. Enjoy!

Where to Find Ingredients

• Beeswax, lip balm tubes and pipette: eBay seller genegenejr or Amazon
• Coconut oil and olive oil: Whole Foods or other supermarket
• 100% Cocoa Butter and Vitamin E: Whole Foods or drugstore (recommended because the price of Whole Foods cocoa butter is insane)

The Cost of Homemade Lip Balm

I calculated a cost per tube of about $0.85. Lip balm will set you back around a dollar and some change at the grocery store.

Woohoo! My little DIY project saved me about $2.

It doesn’t look like you’ll be able to retire early on the savings, but if you’re a habitual lip balm user, and you happen to have a little beeswax on hand, you could whip up a batch real quick in an emergency.

Have you ever made your own homemade lip balm? Will you?

The last time we talked about menu planning, I told you I was getting fat. In order to not be fat, I have to be more careful about what I eat.

Although I cooked and enjoyed the Beef Daube Provencal from last week, I didn’t get around to eating much else on the menu plan. It was a lot of food. Because I ate other small meals throughout the day, the recipe lasted me even longer than it normally would’ve.

Beef Daube Provencal

Crab Stuffed Salmon

In my experience, it’s much easier to ensure you’re not consuming excess calories when you keep your diet simple. This week I’m going to try something a little different. My menu plan will consist of one main dish and a bunch of other foods I eat to feel full, satisfied and healthy throughout the day.

• White-Bean and Sausage Stew (main dish)
• Hard boiled eggs (including yolks)
• Rolled oats with ripe banana as a sweetener
• Grilled chicken breast
• Beans, either black or pinto
• Almond butter and apple butter on whole wheat bread
• Broccoli
• Brown rice
• Fruit (this week is pineapple and cantaloupe)

Find other menu plan options on Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

What are some of  your favorite healthy staples?

In regards to sticking to the menu plan, last week was even worse than the previous one. I must shamefully admit I didn’t make a single meal. This week will be different.

Some people are yo-yo dieters. I’m a yo-yo exerciser / “change my dieter”. How I wish I was more consistent. From time to time I get lazy and neglect my appearance and health. But that phase will last just long enough for me to feel fat.

Lately, my pants have gotten almost unbearably tight. Unlike many people who see their weight creep up, I refuse to buy bigger clothes. I won’t make getting fat and unhealthy comfortable. Plus, I don’t wanna spend the money. (Surprise, surprise.)

I’ve set a goal to lose 15 pounds in 12 weeks. That’s 1.25 pounds per week, which will bring me to a weight of 135 pounds. Although no reasonable person would say that I’m fat (except for me), I think it’s easier to lose 15 pounds as opposed to 50. So, whenever I see my weight getting out of control, I get serious. Yes, I should be serious all the time, but I’m not. Let’s see if this time will be different.

Monday/Tuesday – Chicken Stew

Wednesday/Thursday – Blackened Crab Stuffed Salmon Fillets and Garlic Green Beans

Friday/Saturday – Beef Daube Provencal

Sunday – Cube Steak with Onion Mushroom Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

Find other menu plan options on Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

What are some of your favorite healthy, low calorie meals?

I did not successfully adhere to my menu plan last week, but it wasn’t my fault.

The exact day is a little fuzzy, but I think it was Tuesday when the plan fell apart. It all began when I started starving. Too hungry to wait for a delicious, home cooked meal, I decided I’d drive to KFC for an order of fried hot wings and potato wedges.

Since you tend to get more bang for your buck at the supermarket, I had the brilliant idea to pick up some sort of frozen entrée from Harris Teeter instead. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but I thought I’d figure it out once I had a chance to look around.

Well, I didn’t figure it out. I ended up buying a bunch of crap I didn’t need: beer battered fish sticks, ice cream, mozzarella cheese sticks, buffalo wings, and tater tots. I don’t know what came over me.

I exited Harris Teeter $33 poorer and covered in shame.

With all the convenience food safely tucked away in my freezer, I couldn’t resist not cooking. It was too easy.

Next time I’ll know better.

Monday/Tuesday – Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff over Rice (modified to include garlic and beef bouillon cube)

Wednesday/Thursday – Baked Salmon & Broccoli

Friday/Saturday – Salisbury Steak and Green Beans

Sunday – Broiled Trout with Rosemary, Lemon, and Garlic and Mashed Potatoes

Find other menu plan options on Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

We all have bad weeks. What events usually cause your menu plans to go awry?

I was a mad woman last week – frying up bacon, cutting up ham, grinding up black pepper. Instead of making the taco salad from the previous Menu Plan Monday, I kept making house salads. They were so good, I couldn’t stop myself.

After the Taco Pasta Toss flopped, I wanted something quick, easy, and delicious. That’s where all the salads came in. I normally don’t do this, but I have to tell you the ingredients.

• Romaine Lettuce
• Avocado
• Deli Ham
• Bacon
• Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• Croutons (Rothbury Farms, Garlic Flavored)
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Blue Cheese Dressing (Harris Teeter, Full Fat Version)

And no, I don’t have any measurements. The beauty of salads is adding as much or as little of each ingredient as you like.

Since I planned on putting carrots in my salad and failed to do so, I’m going to use them in a stew this week. As a matter of fact, I didn’t go grocery shopping today. As such, it seems like a good week to use what I already have in my pantry and refrigerator in my menu plan.

Monday/Tuesday – Bacon and Potato Chowder

Wednesday/Thursday – Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Friday/Saturday – Indian Chicken Curry and Mashed Potatoes

Sunday – House Salad

Rookie Cook Tip – Don’t use 93% lean ground beef for anything. Even after 6 or 7 hours in the slow cooker, it was still tough. It’s too, well, lean and too dry to be of any use.

Of course I’m not completely serious, but 93% lean ground beef won’t have to worry about me again.

Find other menu plan options on Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Please let me know if you’ve ever cooked lean ground beef with any level of tender, moist success.

After two weekends of being stuck in the house, I’m finally free. Because of all the snow we’ve gotten, I hadn’t been able to grocery shop like I want. On Friday, I decided to head over to Harris Teeter for a few items before driving the car back to my office parking garage and taking a cab home. I learned the hard way people don’t like it when you park in the space it took them hours to plow their car out of.

Although I felt like a prisoner of mother nature, the experience made me really grateful for learning how to cook.

Before the first snow storm began, I rushed to the supermarket to stock up on a bunch of junk food. Somehow I bought too many salty snacks and completely forgot about the sugary stuff. After going without sweets for over a week, I was desperate. For the first time in many, many years, I attempted to make a batch of cookies from scratch.

By no means were they delicious (maybe because I used salted butter), but they satisfied the craving. If you cook on a regular basis, you’re bound to have certain staples on hand, e.g., butter, sugar, flour, eggs. I’m so thankful I had the ingredients for a basic sugar cookie recipe.

The snow has made it miserable the last few weeks, but I did relearn a money lesson that’s easy to forget. It’s quite simple really.

Use what you got.

Monday/Tuesday – Taco Pasta Toss from Everyday with Rachael Ray (using slow cooker to prepare taco meat)

Wednesday/Thursday – Swedish Meatballs and Vegetables

Friday/Saturday – Pork Chops and Roasted Asparagus

Sunday – Layered Taco Salad (using taco meat from above)

Rookie Cook Tip – I hate it when a recipe calls for tomato paste. Primarily because I almost never have any. Also, it seems you usually only need a tablespoon or two from a 6 oz can. Thanks to Tipnut, now I know you can make tomato paste by cooking tomato sauce until it’s reduced to half. And now you know too.

Have you ever learned anything about cooking as a result of a traumatic mildly inconvenient event?

Find other menu plan options on Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Photo credit: Masashi Mochida

Last week’s menu plan was pretty much a bust. You see, I made slow cooker chili last Sunday evening. It was so much food, the darn thing almost carried me through the entire week. On Friday, a colleague asked me to walk with them to Chipotle. I agreed, and now I have a decent portion of a leftover barbacoa bowl in the fridge. It’ll be making a guest appearance on this week’s menu plan.

I did get around to making the Oven Crisp Chicken Wings. Although bland, they actually had the texture of fried wings. Admittedly, the blandness was totally my fault. I didn’t have any garlic salt, so I tried to make my own using 2 teaspoons of garlic powder and about 3/4 teaspoon of salt. As it turns out, the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of garlic salt is 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder plus 7/8 teaspoon of salt. Now I know.

Oven Crisp Wings

Monday - Beef Burritos – I can’t let my Chipotle leftovers go to waste.

Tuesday/Wednesday – White Bean and Sausage Stew – This actually appeared on a menu plan from less than a month ago, but it was so good I simply must make it again. Besides, you know how much I love beans.

I’m looking forward to using my first successful batch of cooked dry beans in this recipe.

White Bean & Sausage Stew

Thursday/Friday – Sun of a Gun Beef Stew – Of course I’m modifying this recipe for the slow cooker and eliminating stuff I don’t have on hand like celery, turnips, and barley. The remaining 73 ingredients should add enough flavor.

Saturday – Vapiano’s Bolognese – I haven’t had this in so long. It’s really good, and I can pay someone else to cook it. I can’t wait.

Sunday – Leftovers

Rookie Cook Tip – Don’t over mix cake batter or any batter for that matter. Doing so will cause your cake to be tough. A few lumps are fine. You’re done mixing once you stop seeing flour.

Find other menu plan options on Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Oh, and one last thing. Don’t forget to enter the $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway sponsored by Buxr.com.

Beef Stew from Menu Plan Monday ~ Jan 25, 2010

Some may wonder why I’ve been talking about food so much at You Have More Than You Think. Besides the fact that I like it – I mean really, really like it. Food is an area in my finances where I’ve always struggled.

When you yearn to savor the delicious flavors of all things edible, you’re probably prone to spending a great deal of money on food. But there are other things I want to do with my money. As a result, food is where I’m focusing on cutting back.

I’m sure my mother isn’t the only one who’s said, “If you really like to eat, learn how to cook.” Well, I do, and I’m learning.

This month, I spent about $320 on food and alcohol. These past few months, my food and alcohol budget was set for $350. This is the first month I’ve been successful in sticking with that plan.

For many people, $320 is still a lot of money to spend on food and alcohol for one person. Keep in mind I didn’t acknowledge I had a problem until my budget peaked at over $750 in October 2009.

I’ve been able to reduce my food and alcohol bill, primarily, for three reasons:

1) I drank less alcohol in bars and more at home,

2) I used coupons, and

3) I learned how to cook.

Oven Fried Chicken Chimichanga from Menu Plan Monday ~ Jan 25, 2010. I know it's a burrito. Work with me.

Not knowing how to cook is a strong deterrent to, you know, cooking. I discovered that a bad cook can ruin a good recipe. I’m still a work in progress, but I wanted to share with you some of the best web sites I’ve found for those who are just learning how to cook.

Kraft Foods Cooking School - The kitchen basics section is my favorite. Of course Kraft shamelessly pimps their products, but that’s to be expected. From how to carve a turkey to how to pack a kid’s lunch box, they really do an excellent job providing short, easy to follow videos.

(I really wanna try the layered salad. Perhaps I could put the dressing on the bottom with some mixed greens on top. Hmm.)

Howcast - Although Howcast has so many videos about goat knows what, their Food and Drink section is filled with high quality, how-to videos from up-and-coming film makers. I’ve taken a special liking to the  How to Jazz Up Ramen Noodles and How to Make Ketchup videos.

Chowhound - Their You’re Doing It All Wrong series taught me how to cook bacon and how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Next up, nachos!

Taste of Home - I thought garlic was the only flavoring for butter before watching the Flavored Butters Cooking Video. Now I’m even more excited about grabbing the marked down, about to go stale baked bread rolls at the supermarket.

Campbell’s Kitchen – Although I couldn’t find any video footage on this web site, there are a ton of helpful tips for the beginner cook. For instance, The Prepared Pantry is a must read for anyone who’s just getting started and who’s kitchen lacks the basic ingredients for dishes common in the United States.

Well, I hope that was useful for ya.

Here’s what I’m cooking this week.

Monday/Tuesday – Oven Crisp Chicken Wings and Broccoli

Wednesday/Thursday – Slow Cooker Lasagna

Friday/Saturday – T-Bone Steak with Mixed Vegetables

Sunday – Popeye’s spicy fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits. Yes, I will be consuming more than one.

The Rookie Cook Tip – I have a new spin on the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” My modified version of the old adage is just as useful. “When you buy lemons for a recipe you never end up making, instead of letting them rot in your fridge, make lemonade – even if you have to prepare it by the glass.” I know it’s a little long, but I promise it’ll change your life.

I didn’t care to learn how to cook when I lived at home with my parents, so now I’m forced to teach myself with lessons learned from the interwebs. How’d you learn how to cook?

Find other menu plan options on Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Remember when I made that New Year’s resolution to reduce food waste by 75%? Yeah, I’m serious about that. Thus far, I’m doing pretty good. There’s much room for improvement, but still, I feel like I’m on the right track.

As I mentioned about a month ago, part of my strategy for decreasing food waste is to learn how to freeze food properly. Well, I have. Check out my learnings in The Beginner’s Guide to Freezing Food at Modern Hippie Mag.

If you have time, you might also want to take a peek at 7 Simple Ways to Save Energy in the Kitchen, another guest post I wrote for Modern Hippie Mag. I totally forgot to tell you about it when I wrote it *clears throat* over a month ago. The information is still applicable.

Before I forget, I sincerely enjoy compensation via commentation. So, please leave a comment on the article if you have any tips, anecdotes, rants, or complaints regarding freezing food.

There are two things I’m loving right now: my slow cooker and beans. Both make the frugal life worth living.

A few years ago, I tried to save money by substituting T-bone steak with chuck steak. At the time, I thought you cooked both cuts of beef the same. So, I seasoned the chuck steak and fried it on the stove. What a mistake. There was no salvaging that disaster. Not even the powerful jaws of a pit bull could break that meat down it was so tough.

A couple years passed before I decided to try my hand at preparing chuck beef again. My past failure served as a learning experience. It wasn’t until recently I realized tough cuts are no match for the tenderizing, deliciofying slow cooker. No words in the English language can adequately describe the emotions that welled up inside of me when I discovered I wasn’t relegated to eating $5 per pound beef for the rest of my life. God bless you inventor of the slow cooker.

In case you’re wondering, I still haven’t cooked any beans from scratch. The canned varieties are so convenient, nutritious and delicious. I even managed to snag a few cans of white beans from Harris Teeter for $0.67 each.

Earlier today, I pulled everything out of my pantry in preparation for an organization voyage I’m about to embark on. As a result, I noticed my bean collection is piling up. I’m going to do something about that this week.

Monday/Tuesday – Beef Stew with Carrots & Mushrooms

Wednesday/Thursday – Oven-Fried Chicken Chimichangas

Friday/Saturday – Chili with Black, Pinto & Kidney Beans

Sunday – Red Baron Pepperoni Pizza (Bought for $1.75 per box after discount and coupon. Hehehe.)

Check out other options on Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Is there a particular kitchen gadget or food you’d recommend to someone who’s new to frugal cooking?