Thrifty Thursday: Start Where You Are, Use What You Have

Friday:  I left more than I'd thought to prep today.  It proved to be hard work to get it all done in time to get ready for church service tonight but, it's all done and tucked into the fridge and I truly am at the point of heat and eat with everything except the rice.  I  didn't cook the rice today because I ran out of room in the fridge. 

I made my own lemon meringue pies and graham crusts. Buying a box of Graham crackers and making my crumbs is less expensive than buying prepared graham crusts.  Two packets of crackers will net me enough crumbs to make three pie crusts if you are using recycled tin pie pans. Since my filling was only enough to make two pies, I put the remaining crumbs in the freezer to make a future pie crust.

I used lemon extract to flavor the meringue.  I can't wait to try it tomorrow and see how it tastes.  This was sooo good!

While Mama often bought Kraft barbecue sauce when I was growing up, more often than not she made her own.  I still like to make barbecue sauce, especially if I'm barbecuing chicken or pork.     The components you want in making barbecue sauce are a tomato base (ketchup), mustard (dry or prepared), a sweetener (brown sugar, maple syrup, cane syrup, jams or jellies, applesauce or apple butter), and finally something sharp, usually vinegar.  You can season the sauce with Worcestershire, garlic, onion, liquid smoke, etc.

For my barbecue sauce today, I used up bottles from the fridge: ketchup, French dressing (a little sharpness and tomato-based), and an oriental orange sauce (sweet).  I added a little vinegar since I found it plenty sweet enough without adding more sugar, liquid smoke, and the last of a bottle of prepared mustard.  Then I thinned the sauce slightly with water.  That netted me about 2 cups of barbecue sauce.  I used a recycled and clearly labeled bottle to store the sauce I didn't need in the shredded pork.

Saturday:  Family Day!  I cooked over five pounds of meat, planning on 1/4 pound per person...Foolishness!  I should have planned on about 1/4 cup per person.  I had plenty of meat left over.   There were only a few beans and a small amount of rice left.  Of the produce, only a handful of diced tomatoes, but I'd chopped another romaine for topping when Katie said the lettuce was running low, since two or three made salads instead of tacos.  No one even touched that last head of lettuce, though.  

John has asked that I make chili with part of the taco meat.  I'll get a couple more meals off that as well.  There's also a lemon pie left.  That will go in the freezer.  There's enough turkey and shredded barbecue to make sandwiches for our lunches in the coming week.

Sunday:  I didn't realize my son and his family were staying through lunchtime today.  When I discovered this, I ran through all the possibilities of foods I had on hand for another meal.  I made Mexican pizzas, using a can of refried beans spread on a tortilla, topping with salsa,  taco meat, and shredded cheese.  They were good.  

For my and John's supper tonight, I made hamburgers and served them with big portions of salad (leftover tomatoes and lettuce).  

Monday:  I made chili with the bulk of the remaining taco meat.  I put about 2 cups into the freezer to have on hand to make a taco salad or Taco Spaghetti with in the future.  I added an onion, a can of tomatoes and one can of kidney beans to the taco meat for chili, and the last of the black beans from lunch on Saturday.

I went to the shed and got a Tray table and the headboard I'd formerly used in the guest room. I think, since I'm going to paint the picture frames black, I'll also paint the headboard black, too.  It is a cherry red, but I really want a more sedate color for the English country cottage look I'm going for.

Since Jd got the wooden library chair, John moved the chair from our bathroom into the guest room.  The scale of the chair is better suited to that room.  I'll use the tray table next to it until I can get a second bedside table, and then I'll switch the little handmade telephone table to be next to the chair.

While in the shed this morning, I cleaned out the one empty corner, started a trash pile, and a new donation bin.  I moved the Christmas and floral bins from the back of the shed up closer to the door because I access those bins far more often than I do other things in the shed.  Even though I only take out the Christmas things once a year, it's always been a struggle if the shed was full to get to the back of the shed to haul those out.  I'll appreciate having those nearer the door.  It also frees space on the back wall to put the shelving unit on the back porch.  It might be handy on the back porch, but the amount of stuff piled on the shelves distracts me as clutter. It's not the vibe I want on the back porch when relaxing.

Indoors this afternoon, I made the chili, put a jar of taco meat into the freezer, cut up squash and steamed it for squash casserole that I want to put in the freezer, shredded the zucchini, decided to stuff peppers this week (likely with the yellow rice instead of serving it under the chili tonight.   I put all the remaining turkey meat into the freezer (we made sandwiches with some of it at lunchtime) and I chopped up two mangoes for the freezer for smoothies.  

It would be worthwhile to go to the discount store's produce clearance rack at least once a week.  I could pressure can potatoes, tomatoes, collards, beans, squash, and apples.  Some things I could freeze, like mango, avocado, and bananas.  The food is not spoiled but it is a little past prime ripeness.  The blueberries I put in my yogurt were perfectly fine, not mushy.  I wonder if one berry had spoiled which they removed and then knocked down the price?

When Sam came over this afternoon to drop off shoes Caleb could grow into, he took home more asparagus and all the open hard taco shells.  He'd mentioned he had tacos on his menu for the kids this week.  

Tuesday:  This week is slipping by quickly.  

I altered my menu plans slightly.  As I dug in the basket to find pork chops, I came across a package of cubed pork steaks I bought in July of last year.  In the chicken basket, I found chicken legs.  Those aren't so old.  I typically use chicken legs to fry or barbecue or make Teriyaki chicken.  I had broccoli, baby carrots (homegrown!), onions, and peppers and thought a Teriyaki Sheet pan dinner would be good with the legs. That's what we had tonight.  

I made sandwiches today and put out a jar of homemade fridge pickles for us to finish eating.  We used the last of the shredded pork barbecue for our sandwiches.

After making sandwiches, I decided to go ahead and make a loaf of bread.  We've just enough bread for our breakfast tomorrow morning.

I hung the pictures in the guest room, unpainted, and put the red headboard in place.  With the chair near the window and the tray set up next to it as a side table, it's all looking rather nice.  I sat and looked and rearranged things in my mind.  The old sewing machine, Grandmother's wooden bench, and an old mirror hung above would make a nice vanity.  I definitely want to paint the frames and the headboard black.  I like the touches of green in the room from the pillows, bedding, and the chair.  A pretty green plant would be a nice touch as well.  I could manage the plant without buying it, but I will buy the mirror.   

Wednesday:  Pancakes for lunch today.  And why?  Because I had an expiring pancake mix, I used the kids as my excuse to use it up.  I made up a double batch and have just enough mix left to make pancakes for two one morning.  I put 14 pancakes in the freezer after the kids ate their fill of two each as did John.  

Because I knew the kids were a bit balky, I decided to add interest to the meal by offering them a variety of toppings.  I set out coconut, chocolate chips, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar, lemon wedges, blueberries, maple syrup, yogurt, and maple syrup.  This won the children right over.   

Supper tonight was fried cubed pork steak (I put three pieces in the freezer after cooking), potato salad, the last of the Brussels Sprouts, and Green Beans.  I'm glad I decided to make potato salad because I caught a potato just as it was beginning to spoil.  I washed off those that had come in contact with the ooze and checked the rest of the potatoes to be sure none of the others were damaged.  I let them fully dry on the dish-drying mat before putting them away. 

I'd first thought I'd use the rest of the cauliflower but alas, it was spoiled.  I dug about a little more and discovered the tail end of the cucumber had also gone soft.  

I just did not feel well today and I allowed myself a day of rest.

Thursday:  A busy day for us today.  I was especially keen to get the refrigerator cleared of leftover foods.  I put several things in the freezer.  I took the ground turkey, leftover rice, and the last diced tomatoes to make Stuffed Peppers.  Those are baked and will go into the fridge for dinner in the next day or so.

I took the leftover Teriyaki chicken, leftover rice, and some asparagus to make lunch today.  It was really delicious.  I added some chicken egg rolls to this meal, that I'd bought at Aldi and frozen.  Those were really good egg rolls and reasonably priced.  

John and I snacked on fruit today.  I ate one of the bargain-priced red grapefruits.  These grapefruit are so mild and sweet that I ate them in sections like an orange, the same way that Granny always ate grapefruit.  

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