Saturday: Lori brought food from home for the children. I made waffles for the adults breakfast this morning. I had sausages as well but knew that John, coming in from work, would be extra hungry so instead of making more sausages, I decided to scramble eggs to go with the meal.
The kids made peanut butter sandwiches for the children and gave them apples with a yogurt dip. Then they went off to enjoy some alone time. John and I had sandwiches when he woke up from his nap.
Funny what kids will enjoy. The 'new' toys this time to the toy box was a cardboard box big enough to sit in, an old aluminum coffee pot that poured out blocks all weekend long. Neither one of those items cost me a single thing but they were sure enjoyed. In the music room there was the new drum with cymbal. It cost a whole dollar and the kids enjoyed it, too.
I had a supper plan but Lori did, too, and brought ingredients along to make it. I didn't mind a bit having someone else make dinner. That's one thing we are both agreed we like: to eat someone else's home cooking! Lori very often prepares at least one meal when she visits.
We turned on the AC in the very late afternoon for a couple of hours, but switched it off and turned on the whole house fan in the evening when temperatures started to drop.
I washed a full load of dishes after sundown. John washed a full load of clothes.
Sunday: We were up early to go to church. I made peanut butter toast for adults and served that to the grandchildren along with a yogurt smoothie.
John and I stopped at the grocery store on our way home. My list was short: Advil and a bag of salad to go in his lunch on Tuesday. John wanted an extra item and I picked up two extras: a mango and an on sale carageenan free chicken. I held hard to my budget all weekend long and we bought no extras while the kids were here, simply used what we had on hand. The chicken and mango will come from my grocery budget for this coming two weeks.
I checked the freezer contents when we got home. I figure I have enough meat to see me through April. We'll go end of the month to buy from the meat market. I will try to set aside the majority of the money required over the next two pay periods.
We came home to eat dinner. I had spaghetti sauce in the fridge that was made Friday. All I had to do was boil spaghetti while sauce heated. After dinner I put leftovers into quart jars. Each jar had about 3 1/4 cups sauce in it. Those went into freezer for future meals.
John felt the house was stuffy when we came in. I suggested that he set the AC at 74, but turn on the house fan to bring in fresh moving air. I turned that off about 3 hours later when the AC came on. Some think that running the house fan and the AC at the same time is a good thing. Per my AC repairman, the combination of the two (warm air being recycled and the cold air from the AC) causes moisture to build up in the vents.
We were on our own for supper, each eating what we chose or could find. I opted for leftovers from supper the night before.
As evening came in, the air outdoors started to cool down immediately. The Ac had stopped running so we switched it off once more and turned on the house fan once again. Later in the evening, even that was too cool to be comfortable so we cut it off.
Monday: John made breakfast omelets this morning. He used a leftover hot dog as filler.
I cut up the chicken bought yesterday and oven fried the breasts and the back in a deep cast iron skillet. The skin was nice and crispy, the meat tender and moist. We had the breasts today and I set the back aside for a meal for me later in the week when I'm alone. The rest of the chicken pieces will be our meal on Wednesday.
Boiled the livers/gizzard and meat scraps for the cat to eat tonight.
Reheated the last of the rutabagas Mama brought to dinner last week. John doesn't care for these so they were all mine.
Clipped coupons from the Sunday paper we picked up yesterday.
Gave myself a fresh pedicure and manicure.
Went through fridge to see if any other leftovers were 'hiding' in plain site. I found leftover mashed potatoes from Friday night. I noted this on my menu plan on the fridge.
We have cookies in the cookies jar and John had a couple of doughnuts, so I skipped making the cobbler. That can wait until we have fewer sweets in the house.
Opened junk mail. Received another small American flag (like kids play with at July 4th) and a sheet of address labels.
Made John's lunch for work tomorrow.
Tuesday: My day to go out with Mama. Up early to see John off; I made his breakfast and packed his lunch.
Used last of the pimento cheese and a thawed hotdog bun to make my breakfast. I love toasted pimento cheese.
Washed and hung to dry two loads of clothes before leaving.
Had a Harvest Morning on my own. John called to let me know the numbers on his check.
Took bills with me and did banking while in town as well.
Mama and I went to Target. I am looking for a new purse. I found two that I liked but put both back. I can buy a better quality purse at Ross for Less or TJ Maxx for the same price of either of those.
Checked clearance end caps. Didn't purchase a thing from any of them.
I did make purchases today. I paid for a portion out of my allowance and the rest, all grocery items, I purchased from the grocery funds. These were not extras but things from my list.
Mama's turn to buy dinner. I paid the tip and bought us an ice cream cone on our way home
My dinner was more than I could eat, so I brought home half and had that for supper.
Wednesday: Sorted and clipped and organized coupons today.
Made out a grocery list.
Used a slightly expired yogurt to make tandoori marinade for our chicken dinner. This was the 'second half' of the chicken purchased over the weekend.
Put leftover rice into fridge to avoid waste.
Cooked the last of the crown of broccoli (after using what I needed to make our salad to go with dinner) in the microwave.
Made a lemon meringue pie from scratch, including the graham cracker crust.
Washed a full load of dishes.
John washed and hung to dry more laundry. It was a full load. Then he went about house and gathered enough laundry to make up a second load which he also hung to dry.
Thursday: waste: the broccoli I put in the microwave to steam, I forgot all about. In the trash it went.
We did housework this morning as a joint affair. I gathered trash to take off with us.
We had planned a meal out, but when Katie called to say she was heading our way, we hurried and left home to buy groceries. We opted for a frozen rising crust pizza which we cooked when we got home.
Came in just slightly under budget for the groceries this pay period. Quite happy over that.
Made egg salad from boiled eggs to have for supper.
Friday: It was necessary to push hard today. I had to go into town to add to my booth, and to settle up for last month. Gathered trash before leaving home. It seems impossible that I could find enough to take off but I did.
John finished the inside of the last window this morning. The curtains that were in that room had hung there for too many years. We tossed them in the trash and hung up a pair that I'd put away some time ago when Katie moved away from home.
Did not pick up dinner while in town, nor did I go to the grocery or dollar stores as I'd thought, nor the yard sales I'd meant to check out. I simply did not feel well, so I came on back home.
Prepared an easy meal here of chicken nuggets and french fries. The chicken was left here when our kids visited. Since they will not be back this month and we have Feast of Unleavened bread in about a week, it seemed expedient to use that item up. I'll replace after the seven days of the Feast so it will be here when the grandchildren return.
Made up a meatloaf using the last of the breadcrumbs in the house.
Made a dish of potatoes au gratin...I sprinkled dry cheese powder from a box of macaroni and cheese over the potatoes. Both meatloaf and potato dish went into fridge for tomorrow's dinner.
I cleared the kitchen cupboard of all products with yeast in them. I set them out on the counter so I can easily use them up over the next week or so.
Cleared all of the older potatoes from the cabinet. Some went into the au gratin dish. Some were diced for roast beef hash. I boiled those and put in the fridge. We have not had opportunity to eat that meal yet this week but will have it early next week.
Went through fridge and gathered items that needed to be tossed or moved to freezer. waste: 2tbsps tuna salad.
Sign of just how weary I felt today and how hard I was struggling. I tossed 4 clementines that were looking worse for wear, but which I might have salvaged. waste: 4 clementines.
Pulled Challah from freezer to use for our Shabat tonight.
Shopped at home: grits from pantry, bread from freezer.
4 comments:
Sorry the broccoli that you left in the microwave went to waste, but on the other hand, I am glad that I am not the only person who has done that. I have done the same thing twice in the past few months, once with carrots, and another time with rice. Each time I was cooking them ahead of time for something I was making the next day. Isn't it aggravating to do such things? Each time, I didn't find it until the next day. Ick.
I forget about stuff in the microwave, too. Or on the stove, or the last four pancakes on the griddle.......If I walk off I have to set the time so it will keep going off, because I will NEVER remember.
Terri,
I so enjoy every post you write. You do a wonderful job of keeping track of how you save each day.
I try to save every day and watch food waste, as well as, use items in meals that are in the frig, but I am not good at tracking it daily as you do. I do sometimes get lax and waste more food than I would like. It is only the two of us and I love to cook. I try to freeze what we don't eat, in portion sizes, so we have it in the future for meals
The past week we only spent $32 in groceries, as we are very well stocked up in the freezers, refrigerators, and storage room. We only made one trip into town shopping; the town is 25 miles from our home. I do believe living further from shopping helps save :). It is easier to run to a store when it isn't that far away.
We usually wait for the Natural Grocers ad to come out then purchase accordingly for our 'several month' usage. Since the past week was the end of the previous sale and the new one started today, we were waiting to see if any items we use regularly would be on sale so we could stock up. We will purchase those items this month and have them in our storage for the next few months. We were happy to see that two of the items we use regularly were 50% off on sale.
Our son came from 'town' one day this past week to help his Dad rearrange some furniture for me. I fixed the two meals we ate from what we had on hand.
For lunch we had organic round steak* that I cooked and shredded, then made into sandwich spread for sandwiches on spelt bread with sharp cheddar cheese; homemade Refried Bean Taco Dip made from organic refried beans, home canned taco sauce, homemade taco seasoning, organic sour cream, and Tillamook shredded cheese (baked in the oven to heat all together)with organic corn chips; garden grown green beans; and homemade gluten free oat blueberry muffins and gluten free oat/banana/chocolate chip cookies.
* We buy our meat from a local organic rancher and it is extremely reasonable. The cost of the organic hamburger is the same as the conventional hamburger in the grocery store.
I used some bananas, for the cookies, we had purchased on sale previously. Whenever we find organic bananas on sale I mash them and freeze them in recipe size portions in Pyrex glass containers. I take them out of the freezer and sit them in the refrigerator the night before I want to use them.
I used flour I had ground in our Nutrimill for the flour in the recipes. We purchase the whole grains in large bulk quantities, then I grind what I am going to use for the month and store it in one of our extra refrigerators. Saves on time, electricity (for grinding), and is much healthier than store bought flours. Buying in bulk, also, saves a little and allows us to have it in storage for when needed. I usually grind a mixture of grains to have a nice cross section of nutrients, a high protein content, a high calcium content, along with a low gluten content.
For the second meal I fixed a hot pasta casserole with peas, melted shredded chicken/cheese sandwiches, and watermelon sorbet. When watermelon and canteloupe are in season, during the summer months, I purchase them and make canteloupe balls and watermelon balls to freeze. They both freeze very well and last all winter that way. I place them in a wax paper lined rectangle Pyrex baking dish and layer wax paper between the layers of the fruit, so they are easy to get out for smoothies or to make sorbet.
I am sorry this is so long. Just wanted to share a bit of what I try to do, although, I would truly like to do better. I have been in flare-up lately from a chronic autoimmune issue and I find that when that happens I tend to gravitate to less work and more convenience (sigh). I need to plan ahead better!
Thank you for this wonderful blog and all of your time in writing to share with us.
Your *waste* is so minute compared to other peoples' wastes.
Try not to be too hard on yourself!
I can't believe you have turned on your AC. We are still wishing for days where we don't have to feed the fire! :-)
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