I cooked a big pot of pinto beans this morning. I'd meant to make Cowboy Beans, a recipe I found earlier last week. Well I couldn't find that recipe for love or nothing! In the meantime, my husband saw the cooked beans and exclaimed over them asking if I were making baked beans...Well yes, you breakfast making husband, I am! lol. I made Bbq beans to be exact, with cornbread and a big green salad, since peach coleslaw seemed a bit too much sweet for my taste. I made my own Bbq sauce savings of $.99 seasonal sale price just now.
Cleaned off one of the kitchen counters and gave it a good scrub. I do not know what material my counter tops are made of. It isn't laminate, nor wood but some composite sort of material for sure. However, that is the sturdiest stuff I've ever met. I can set hot pots on it without damage (though I don't make it habit!). It's white, and tends to look scratched and dingy after a bit of time. I just take a damp dishcloth, a sprinkle of baking soda and scrub. If I have a stubborn stain (like the pinto bean bag transfer that occurred this morning), I use one of those green Scotch scrubbers and I have a white counter top all over again. I confess when we first moved in I thought I'd replace those counters at first opportunity. I'm so glad funds were not forthcoming, because I honestly can't imagine a sturdier more user friendly material.
Made up 7 Calzone from leftover spaghetti sauce, 'dry' cottage cheese and homemade pizza dough. Not a bad deal for a leftover makeover. I figure the Calzone would cost me $10 frozen. I daresay I didn't put more than $2 into mine. Savings $6.
July 16: I had a change of plans come dinner time today. I simply couldn't face the meal I'd meant to have. I dug about the freezer and found the last box of Chicken Kiev that I'd bought a couple of months ago on a great sale/coupon combination. My mind clicked into the idea of having that, roast asparagus and a tossed salad with homemade croutons. I popped all the components into the oven and had a decent meal ready in under half an hour. Now why am I going to say this is a savings? Because I felt really ill and didn't want to make anything at all. I was within seconds of asking John to go to town and buy take out. Savings $8.
July 17: Mindful of budget I went into the grocery today with my eyes set on two goals. I did well. My total expense was under $10. I confess I seldom stay as on task as I did today. Typically I spend about $20 in impulse purchases, and I'm counting that as a savings.
I did not have supper this evening as I had to leave home prior. I'd planned to stop off after my meeting, but ultimately decided to just go on home. Savings $5, the dollar menu purchase I'd planned to make. I came home and had a granola bar and glass of milk.
July 18: Sorted coupons and went over sales ads. There are a couple of items I really want to take advantage of in the sales papers this week. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts for $.99/pound for instance and cat food, a favorite orange juice brand for another. This brand only goes on sale about once every twelve weeks. John really enjoys it. Both sales will last through Tuesday, so I can safely wait until after our Harvest Morning to go pick those items up.
Asked Mama to pick up another bag of corn for me. I'll put up another few packs and call it good enough. The farm's Facebook page says this week is the last, sigh. A tiny part of summer coming to an end all too quickly!
No desire for a big supper tonight so I made a simple Strawberry Banana Milkshake. It's not so calorie splurge-y as it might sound, just frozen fruit and milk, no sugar or ice cream, but it was thick and creamy. Filling, too.
July 19: I really must have felt unwell this week. Every single entry except Monday's was dated "June"! lol I kept saying my head felt weird...
Up early this morning. I took advantage of the cooler morning air to bake. Cookies first, to refill the cookie jar. My recipe cost under $1 and made 3 dozen cookies. Just yesterday I was amused to note that a sale was ongoing at a favorite grocer's deli/bakery. 2 dozen cookies $5.99. Humph. That would mean mine were valued at something like $8.99, right? I promise you I would never be tempted to buy deli cookies. Candy bars are much cheaper. ;-p
I purchase (via Mama) that extra bag of corn. I haven't processed it fully. Today I cut off ends and shucked and de-silked the corn. I've bagged it all up and put in the fridge until Sunday. I'll let you know then how much I get from this batch of corn. Sadly it is the last of the season.
Mama gifted me a big bag of shelled butter beans. I separated into smaller bags of about 2 cups each and honestly I'm thinking that is too much for just John and I. I put up ten bags. I'm figuring at the sale price of a $.99 for the not nearly so good, super starchy frozen beans, I saved $10 putting them up for the freezer.
While I was in town picking up the vegetables, I went out to the peach shed and bought a bag of peaches and another of Roma tomatoes. $8 out of pocket and worth ten times that in my view. Bliss...I asked how much longer we'd have peaches and I was assured they'd run through August this year. Praises sung for the milder temperatures and the extension of at least one lovely seasonal item.
To the local grocery. I bought four orange juice. This is a brand that John likes a lot. It's not a well known big name brand either and it's been 12 weeks since it was last on sale. Typically this stuff runs about $4 a 1/2 gallon. I got it today for $2. Savings $8.
I don't buy shredded cheese as a rule. I can do that myself, but now and then the Borden's shredded Gouda is on sale 2/$4. I can't buy Gouda as cheaply as I can buy two bags of the shredded cheese. It's so nice melted over crackers or in quiche or scrambled eggs. Gouda runs about $6.99 half pound round on sale in the grocery. These are 5 ounce bags, so you can see the savings: $2.99 (really a little more but my brain is too tired to figure it out in ounces at the moment.).
Made biscuits for breakfast. 1 dozen is what I got from my batch and it cost me under $.50 to make them. Nice great big handsome biscuits too. Compare that to 8 canned biscuits nowhere near the same size, the savings is $1.09.
July 20: I spent my day simply enough, reading blogs and my current book. The book is a little more scholarly than I'm used to and I had to look up a number of words. I earned swagbucks using the search box to look up definitions.
My dinner today was not difficult to prep ahead yesterday but I had no idea I'd net so much from it. I put away enough leftovers to cover two more meals for us and that from one average sized chicken and 1 small pan of dressing! I put one pan of dressing with sliced chicken in the freezer. The other will suffice for my solitary suppers.
July 21: Put another six bags of corn in the freezer and have one other packet for our meal tomorrow. That is the last of the corn for this year, I'm afraid, but I'm happy to have put up what I did. Savings with this batch: $22 ($28 for similar amounts of frozen store bought minus the $6 I paid for the corn).
Made a batch of fresh salsa for my use this week. Savings $2.99.
Used Challah bread that was getting old to make French Toast for breakfast. Savings $1.50.
Washed a full load of dishes and a full load of laundry. John hung the majority of the laundry to dry. He timed the few items in the dryer so that it didn't run unnecessarily. Those items generally dry in under half an hour.
Total: $85.56
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