I had a girlfriend who once said, "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'."  We're talking about food, of course.  Time is a commodity.  Let's face it, we're all maxed out.  Whether you're a working mother (who isn't), a single mother, a stay-at-home mom, or an empty-nester, we are all busy!  Our busy schedules don't have to mean take-out or drive-thrus every night, though.  Long gone are the days of vacuuming in our high heels, pearls and aprons.  Here are some tricks I've found that save time (and money!):

1.  Since I don't grow my own vegetables, I have found that frozen or canned work just fine.

2.  I don't make my own dough or pie crusts.  I use the pie crusts that are in the refrigerated section.

3.  I don't make my own whipped cream.  Cool Whip is a staple of Southern families...and let's not forget the containers are excellent for leftovers.

4.  I don't spend hours slaving away over homemade spaghetti sauce.  Why do you think they invented Ragu?  You can doctor it up with diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, spices (and don't forget that sugar cuts the acidity!).

5.  Boxed cake mixes count as homemade.  Brownies, too (put some sifted powdered sugar on top and they'll never know the difference). 

6.  Crock pots are a major time saver.  A few minutes of preparation in the morning before you head out the door and you've got a wonderful meal when you get home eight hours later.

7.  Stove Top stuffing is good!  Who has an extra eight hours to make a side dish on Thanksgiving when you have to do five others, homemade rolls (yeah, whatever!) a turkey and desserts?  A little trick to call it your own:  add some Jimmy Dean sausage!

8.  Icing from a can is just fine.  Fancy it up with sprinkles!

We're all in this together.  We're not all Martha Stewart.  We don't have to sacrifice making nice meals for our family, but there's no reason to reinvent the wheel, either.  Best of all you can still sit down around the kitchen table and have a meal together as a family at the end of a long day.

Let me hear your time and money savers.  Email your tips to:  editor@thecypresstimes.com.