Thrifty Thursday: Start As You Mean to Go On

 

Thursday:  It was a busy hectic morning.  I had Millie.  Did I do anything to save today?  I did!   Every piece of fruit and the yogurt that Millie refused to eat, I allowed Caleb to have.  He is not fussy about food.  Millie is the sort who wants it on her plate if someone else has it, but then will refuse to eat it.  Not so with Caleb.  If it's on his plate, it's usually GONE within minutes.

I received the loan repayment and put it in the bank straight away.  No temptation to spend where it's not needed with it safely in the bank.

We ate leftovers for lunch.  

I do not need to order a convenience item for our supper.  My supper is pretty well prepared already.  It's just a matter of boiling pasta (I can steam broccoli on top of the pasta), reheating egg rolls and warming the rest of the meal.  I'm so glad I took time to do weekly meal prep this week.  And it's a sure sign I need to be doing this EVERY week!   Of course, I've also got a few frozen entrees ready to heat as well.  

Admitting that my mind is awfully muddled at present, so I'll just finish this day's posting quickly,

Meals:  Peanut butter toast and Bananas for John and I.  Yogurt, strawberries and peanut butter toast for the children.

children: mac n cheese, snack mix, grapes, pepperoni slices, gummy fruit snack packet, juice    grown-ups: chili, rice 

I've just been in the kitchen doing a few things towards supper and realized that I have a lot of leftover items in the fridge.  I'm going to take time to sort that out after supper and determine what I can do with those leftovers to make them into fresh meals for the weekend.  The fridge is just too full at present and I need the space.

Friday:  I found a box of pancake mix that was nearing expiration in my pantry earlier this week.  This morning, I made pancakes for breakfast and put a few in the freezer.  It's not enough for many breakfasts but it's one more breakfast item in the freezer than I had to begin with.  Next week, I'll use the mix to make some waffles and put a few of those in the freezer.

Which reminds me.  I saw an idea on a YouTube channel, perhaps Frugal Life Thrifty Wife or Meals with Maria which I know several of you have mentioned in the past, to make breakfast sandwiches.  She took her pound of sausage and pressed it down into a pan to bake and then cut it into squares!  She said it took about ten minutes to cook (it was very thin).  There's a time saver and a meat stretcher at the same time, I never thought of using.   

I've been watching a few of the frugal girls also bake eggs in this manner, then slice into squares.  I can learn from others and take those same shortcuts to make breakfast sandwiches quickly.  I could serve some for breakfast this next week and put some in the freezer.

I have a menu idea I'm not using tonight after all.  Instead, I'm going to make a much simpler meal than the planned one and just take an evening off.  When I told John my alternative meal plan, he suggested I contact Katie and ask her to bring home a pizza for our supper tonight...Not a savings but at least we don't have to make the drive over to pick it up and then drive home.  She's right next door to the pizza place at the moment, so she's not using any extra gas to run by and pick it up.  I'll take the item I meant to use tonight and come up with a Plan B menu for that item.

John and I have done laundry today, and he then went outdoors to weed-eat about the house for me.  I've worked at cleaning up a few spots here and there in the yard.  I pruned the dead growth out of the Rosemary bush, pulled up some dead plants, noted which pots will need to be replaced this year due to age/splitting, picked up a handful of limbs in the yard, cleared the drawer where I keep Caleb's cups and lids and sundry other things needed, went through a trunk in my room and found I had a newer spread and didn't need a new one for summer after all, decluttered a handful of items and did basic housekeeping.  Then I made up the last of the homemade apple juice into apple jelly.  I gave a pint to Sam and have three pints to go into our pantry.  

I found a discount code on Krazy Coupon Lady for a Vitamin C serum that made it a really low price.  I'm almost out of my current bottle and knew I'd need to order this week. Thanks to that website I also placed an order for a June Birthday gift, for another sale item that I think will be perfect for my grandson.

I decided to finish up the jelly making task this morning while bread was baking and rising.  I got two more pints of jelly from my scraps (cores and peels and a few half apples that weren't getting eaten).  I've been popping more cores into the freezer over the past week.  

I'm already thinking ahead to what I can do this next week to add to my pantry/larder.

Meals: Pancakes, Bacon.  I opted to use the bacon brand I really like a lot that is pricey but oh so very delicious.  I have to contrast the 10 slices at 50c a slice to the Butterball...I think I'm going to try the Fit and Active Turkey bacon from Aldi and see how that compares in taste to the Butterball which just comes across a bit too smokey for my taste.  

Reubens, Chips.  This used the rest of our corned beef dinner, a partial jar of sauerkraut and a homemade Thousand Island dressing that was made up of the last bits of mayonnaise, catsup and mustard.  

Pizza.  I had a different meal planned, switched plans to something else and then John decided he didn't want that either and asked me to have Katie bring a pizza home.  It was just okay.  Pizza loses something in the translation when it must travel forty minutes to the house.  But John was happy enough so there's that.  

John has apparently gone off his restriction on sugar and has moped about because "We haven't got anything sweet anyway..."   Well, we have had something sweet, but I tired of hearing him and made up a box of the Krusteaz Triple Chocolate Chunk cookies ($1 on clearance at Kroger a few weeks ago).  He had cookies this evening.  I'm too full of pizza to even consider eating anything more.

Saturday:  We stayed home today because of possible rain and storms, none of which really produced.   Oh well, it was nice to be 'at home' and have it on our own for a bit.  We ate leftovers from the freezer or fridge as meals.  

I spent my afternoon reading through blogs.   I went through the three sites that list Amazon deals and found two games that I think the older boys would enjoy for their Christmas this year.  I was well pleased to knock out two more gifts at a price that fits what I've budgeted for that purpose.

Just a quiet day at home and it was much appreciated.

Meals:  Bagels/Croissants

Ham Sandwiches and Chips

A variety of leftovers for us all, each of us choosing our choice from the offerings.

Sunday:  Today we went to Lowe's after church and priced the components for our kitchen remodel.  We are not changing the floor plan though we are rearranging.  Major plumbing and no electrical work will be necessary.  All we have to do is just replace cabinets and countertops.  I figured high, doubled the cost for labor and am quite happy with about where I think we'll end up pricewise.   

We also priced vanities for both bathrooms and the flooring (just roll out tile) for them both, but the one thing we could not price were showers.  There were NONE.  I am quite serious.  There was not one shower in the whole of the store.  However, I think we'll come in under the amount I rather thought we'd need to do all the work.

I wanted to go to the garden center but restrained myself and reminded myself of my own promise to get pots cleaned and refurbished before I started buying plants to fill them.  I did indulge in one thing though, a lovely golden Hibiscus.   This is a color I absolutely adore in Hibiscus and haven't seen one for years now. 

We went out to eat and as usual brought half our meals home. I told John that my entree alone today could easily have been shared between the two of us with just the order of a separate side salad.  When I mention doing such as this, he seldom finds the idea as appealing as I do.  I think this is because typically he prefers to order a hamburger and I only want one now and again.  At any rate, we've another meal to eat off our dinner out.  We had a gift card to use to pay for the meal today, so only tip money came out of pocket.

The only other items bought were related to putting a better closure on the electric panel cabinet door.  Caleb has discovered he can not only open the cabinet door (hook and eye closure is all we'd put on it) and then open the electric box.  It's his delight to flip the breakers on and off...Not much delight where we are concerned!  So, we're going to put a hasp and latch and zip tie the cabinet door shut.  He won't be getting inside that and switching anything else off.

Tonight's supper will be made up of more leftovers.  The house has been tidied and we're all involved in quiet activities of our own.

Meals:  Peanut Butter Toasts

we ate out, family ate more of the leftovers.

Chicken Pot Pie, Cranberry Sauce, Green Beans

I used the same recipe that Patsy shared on her Working Pantry blog last week.  I had a smaller amount of chicken so made 1/2 the recipe.  My family ate this up and not one bit was leftover!  John and Katie both kept saying, "This is so good."  Which reminds me yet again that while I love to cook new to me recipes, sometimes it's the simple old-fashioned sorts of recipes like this that wow my family the most.  It's very gratifying to take up the casserole I'd made the food in and find it completely empty.

Monday:  My kitchen has been 'producing' this morning.  I cleaned out the fridge immediately following breakfast.  

I found that the last of my last five-pound bag of apples had partially frozen.  I took those out to make applesauce with.  Did you know that a whole apple that is partially frozen peels quite easily?  I pared and cored those later and put them on the stove to gently steam.  I prefer to have my apples for sauce to cook gently very gently and usually don't add sugar.  We'll eat this fresh.    This made 2 pints.

I had two bananas that were quite ripe.  I made two small banana nut loaves from these.  I had a hard time convincing Caleb that this was the best possible use for the bananas.  He was sure they'd be much better in his little belly as they were.

I pulled all of the poultry frames from the freezer, along with a big bag of parings from celery and onions, some carrot and a few bay leaves into a big stock pot.  What will I do with all the broth and pickings of meat from the bones?  Not sure.  Honestly, I'm not.  I put 2 quarts in the freezer, 1 quart in the fridge for later this week, and made soup for our supper using the meat I picked from the bones and perhaps 2 quarts of the broth.

I put apple cores into the freezer to save to use to make apple cider vinegar.  I don't see the need of making any more apple jelly at this point in time.

All in all, it's a pretty good bit of production for what was meant to clear out items.

Meals:  Toast, Fried Eggs, Mini Doughnuts which pleased the littlest member a great deal.

'aRoni and cheese for Caleb, Grapes, a slice of Banana nut bread.  John and I ate the leftovers of our dinner out yesterday.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup, Garlic Bread.  I'll likely remove the stew from my menu for this week since we've had this.  

Tuesday:  I've had a very satisfactory morning.  The menfolk of the house will eat whatever I prepare for them for breakfast.  I knew they'd like eggs again this morning, but I couldn't stomach the thought of them.  I can do eggs about twice a week at best and then I am done!  The very thought of them in any form just turns my stomach.  I've been this way since my teen years when Mama and Daddy had chickens.   Daddy went in halves with a friend of his.  We kept the chickens, fed and watered them, cleaned up their nesting boxes, fought the blamed mean rooster, gathered the eggs and Daddy would carry the eggs into town to give to the folks who went halves with him.  I think they got the better end of the deal!

In summer, we had eggs literally coming out our ears.  So we ate eggs for breakfast, eggs for lunch, eggs for snacks and Mama took eggs to work to give away and we still had eggs and that was just our half of the eggs!  Ever since then, I've been 'off' about eating eggs.  

All that to say, the menfolk ate eggs and I had toast and sausage and strawberries which suited me just fine.

After breakfast I was going to start my supper prep and found all the meat I'd taken from the freezer yesterday was still frozen solid.  I set out the meat I wanted for supper and let it thaw at room tempe for a bit.  

I wanted to put away the stockpot I used yesterday and somehow that led to my rearranging and decluttering the cabinet where it lives.  And that led me to sweeping the floor (Caleb helped) and then to decluttering the two drawers on the island, I decluttered the junk drawer on Friday of last week) and then to rearranging the side of the island that holds my pans.  I have one item to donate, two items to go to the shed and one item that really could be repurposed or trashed depending on my mood when I come to that point.

I have taken time to go over the sales sheets for the week ahead.  The sales are sales at today's prices, but let me reminisce briefly when this time of year we could get pudding 4/$2.  Now it's 4/$5...Inflation for sure!  There are some sales to be had and some quite worth taking time to purchase as stocking up prices, but not a great deal.  

A lot of times my grocery list is mostly wish list.  By that I mean that I jot down every item I feel is a good buy and wish I had enough money to indulge in it all.  In the end, I'll scratch off two thirds of the items and then buy only half of what I have left.   

Now to check Fetch and Ibotta and check for coupons...My work is only partially done!

Meals:  Eggs, Sausage, Toast, Orange juice, Strawberries for Caleb and I

Taco salad for me, Tacos for the other two, Caleb also had peaches.

Meatloaf, Italian Peasant Vegetables, Tossed Salad, Muffins

Wednesday:  I remembered last night to take something from the freezer to thaw for breakfast so I could have an easy meal this morning.  Yay!  It made it a lot easier to get a cup of coffee in me.  I'd planned to do more in the kitchen this morning towards prepping breakfasts but Millie requested coming to play and I quickly agreed.

I gathered all my leftover bits of breads and grated them on the box grater.  Then I piled them on a cookie sheet and cooked them for about 2 hours or so at 200F.  This dried them out nicely, turned them a plate golden brown.  There were so many that I had to stir the pan and move them around several times, but result was one quart of very good homemade breadcrumbs, ready to top casseroles, bread meats or add as filler to ground meat.  Where I can I want to assign a value to my homemade vs. store bought.  For 32 ounces of homemade breadcrumbs, I saved our household $7.  And I made these strictly from end pieces that we hadn't eaten before the loaf began to dry out.  I just tossed them in the freezer and let them accumulate for about 2 months.

Supper is in the slow cooker as I write. The chicken breasts were thawed out just enough to separate but still were frozen solid.  The sauce was from a previously made batch of this same recipe that I'd frozen and added dibs and dabs to over time.  

My food in the fridge is freezing slightly so I turned the control down a bit.  I need to get a proper thermometer for both the fridge and the oven so I can check temperatures.

Meals today:  Muffin and Egg Sandwiches.  The filling was the salvaged crustless quiche I'd overcooked one day a few weeks ago.  This worked out very well.  I've always found that frozen eggs have a tendency to be watery.  Well the added moisture helped rehydrate my dry quiche filling and it turned out very tasty.

Chicken Noodle soup, PBJ, Applesauce

Chicken Indienne, Rice, Asparagus.   This is the fancy name for the Catalina chicken recipe that has the orange colored French dressing, dry onion soup mix and cranberry sauce dumped into the slow cooker.  The last time I made this I had leftover sauce, added some extra cranberry sauce to it that had been leftover and a partial packet of onion soup mix.  No need to add more dressing or liquid as there was plenty of wet ingredients already.  It smells amazing, as it always does.

After lunch, UPS stopped to drop off packages.  I had ordered a car mat for my trunk.  You can buy them custom fit, but this one can be trimmed if so desired.  I thought a rubber mat in the trunk would cut down a bit on the fussing John does when I haul mulch, soil and plants home spring through fall.  His chief complaint has always been that it would soil the felt mat in the trunk.  It was very reasonably priced and I think will more than pay us for the added protection it will give our car.

Amazon Associate Affiliate Link: