Super Thrifty Jerky and Pinatas!

I have a couple of suggestions for the money-saving recipe swap. Being the cheapskate that I am my family does a number of things to save money.

Homemade Thrifty Beef Jerky:
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During the last couple weeks my husband has made 3 homemade batches of beef jerky. We all really like jerky but it is so expense in the stores - even WalMart brands -what a rip off! What 5 pieces of jerky for $3 - $4??!! I don't think so!

Here's what he does:

By the cheapest roast (whatever they have on sale), freeze then partially thaw or just partially freeze. It makes it a lot easier to slice thin if is a little frozen. Slice thin - 1/8" (You could ask a butcher to slice it for you).

Marinade with teriyaki sauce or soy sauce
Mix in whatever spices you want - Garlic, onion powder, season salt (there's plenty of salt in the teriyaki)
Marinade as for a few hours or overnight

Dry on a food dehydrator or in a low temp oven on a cookie cooling rack with cookie sheet underneath to catch the juices.

Watch carefully. Dries quickly depending on how thin you slice it. Yum!
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Pinata - anyone??!!
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About a year and a half ago my second son was having a birthday and wanted a pinata. He like the "Incredibles" pinata. I took it up to the Walmart clerk - it cost somewhere around $20.00!! I almost flipped. I was not going to pay $20.00 for something my kids were going to rip to shreds! We went home and did a school project! We have since made two spiderman pinata's and one diamond-shaped- princess pinata that turned into pinata hockey.

Here's what we gathered together:
cardboard boxes
duct tape
tissue paper
wrapping paper
pictures of your "style" of pinata
a hanger
scotch tape
white paper
marker


Here's what you do:

We cut the two pieces of cardboard into a desired shape (for spiderman we used an octagon shape) however big you want it. I think ours was approximately 15" diameter. (See the above picture.)

Cut cardboard pieces to fit in the sides (eight rectangular pieces for the octagon approx. 3"-4" wide). Use duct tape to attach to bigger cardboard pieces. This part usually takes two people - one to hold the pinata, one to apply the tape.
Before you totally tape all the sides of the pinata, put a hanger in the middle and tape on the inside in place. Bend the hook to a circle. Make a small hole somewhere at the top to put the candy inside. Tape over the hole after the candy is inside.

Decorate with tissue paper or whatever wrapping paper you have.
We put white paper on the front and made a spiderweb and put a picture we copied of spiderman in the middle of the spiderweb.

For the princess pinata we taped a picture of a princess to the front.

You can use ribbon or whatever you have - use your imagination - to decorate your pinata.

Use a rope to hang from the highest tree, hit with a stick.

The kids love doing this. It makes a really strong pinata especially if you use duct tape. Everyone gets to have a turn at hitting it - even the big kids.



We played "pinata hockey" at my daughters party in February. She really wanted a pinata but there was snow outside and there was NO way I would let the kids hit a pinata in the house. So we decided to go downstairs and play hockey with the pinata. We took turns hitting it with a stick, kicking it, just basically "beating up" the princess pinata. It was fun and it worked!





Have fun! God Bless!
Michelle