Thrifty Thursday 1st week of July

Sunday:  We've eaten leftovers for the past two days, though we did stop for burgers on the way home Saturday evening.  That was a pricey meal but when I entered the receipt into Fetch, the point count soared.  I was surprised.  I earned 1000 points which shoved me right over the top so I could purchase a $25 gift card to our favorite restaurant.  

After church today we went into Publix.  Lots of good Buy One Get One sales this week.  I bought mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, peanuts, Rice a Roni mixes (had a coupon on those, too, making the price even better), and cheese.  I picked up some produce items that we were out of.  And I added an Ibotta deal that was a BOGO online of frozen chicken tenders and nuggets.  I had to purchase two items, but one of those purchase prices was refunded.  

The tricky part, proved to be getting Ibotta to accept the deal!  I persevered, cancelling and starting over on my receipt upload several times, but I finally figured out how to do it.  That netted me nearly $18 back and then I had additional $3 of offers.  Ibotta is something I seldom have offers that actually apply to my purchases.  I keep it anyway, because now and then I do get a few cents back.  Today was the happy exception, so it was worth working to get the app to accept my deal.

I started a pantry inventory this afternoon.  I have half a shelf devoted to expired items I need to get busy and start using.  I may stick to my current menu this week, but I'll definitely be gathering ideas and recipes to help me use things up starting next week.  

Meals: Bagels with cream cheese, Peach

Leftover Brats, Chips, Pickles

More leftovers for John and I chose to make a wonton soup for myself which I served with chicken nuggets for the added protein.

Monday:  After breakfast this morning, I took meats from the freezer to thaw for this week.  While I was digging in the freezer, I did an inventory of the meat baskets and the basket that holds my frozen entrees.  I made one change to the menu this week while I was digging around.  I took out some meatballs, some spaghetti sauce and plan to make hot dog bun sized Meatball sandwiches for one of our meals this week.  Not sure if it will be lunch or a dinner, but I had no date on the meatballs and I feel they were the oldest item in the basket.

Then I finished my pantry inventory.  Oy.  I added quite a lot to the expired foods section.  Mind you all, I knew some of these things were expired but they'd gotten 'lost' in the shuffling of items to find other items.  Now they are all in one space.  

I came to the reluctant conclusion to dump out the jars of jelly I have made.  John is no fan of my homemade jellies as they none of them seem to gel like a commercially purchased jelly.  These have been on the shelf now for long enough.  It's time to call it a loss and move on.

I've seriously considered today if I want to forgo jelly making entirely in the future.  I'm considering that carefully.  I bought a bulk lot of pectin last summer, planning to make more jam and jelly in the future.  I'll think about it, but right now I'm going to think hardest about how to use these expired canned goods.  

Later:  I've had the most fun this afternoon!  I took my list of expired items and went in search of recipes and ideas to use those items up.  I came across so many good ideas that I feel purely inspired to get busy using those things up right away!  I think those ideas will translate to another post just in case any of you can use help using ingredients you've 'forgotten' in the pantry.

Meals:  Bacon, Eggs, Toast

Bologna and Cheese Sandwiches

Taco Salads

After supper tonight, I checked the peaches and found them to be at the peak of ripeness.  I peeled and pitted them and put five bags of slices in the freezer.  I found seven that were still firm and set them aside for eating fresh.  Well, I put six aside.  One of them didn't make it back into the box.  I found it delicious.

Tuesday:  I made a very simple but so delicious breakfast that I enjoy during peach season.  It's an old Weight Watcher's breakfast idea: Peanut Butter toast topped with a sliced fresh peach.  It's unbelievably delicious.  One advantage of being a veteran of Weight Watchers is that I recall the TWO recipes I found delicious in all my various times of following.  One is this breakfast, and the other was to add a few tablespoons of orange juice to a bowl of frozen ice milk.  I still love that.  The rest...well you can have them all.  I recall more icky recommendations than good ones.  Probably why I didn't last at WW.

I decided to try my hand at English Muffins again.  I used my bread machine to mix my dough.  The recipe declared I'd get 8 muffins. I got 6.   The instructions were so vague that I looked up another recipe and read the directions there.  That one declared you just 'pour' the batter into the molds.  I did end up adding a half cup more flour and I think I might have added more.  It was a very sticky dough, certainly one worthy of dipping.  I used a measuring cup dipped in water to press the dough into the greased rings (I used wide mouth jar rings).

They look good...We'll see how they are when I make breakfast sandwiches tomorrow or Thursday.

If it proves to be a decent recipe, I'll let you know.  I'm determined to keep trying until I find a recipe I like both the flavor and texture of.  I want the nooks and crannies I'm used to in commercial English Muffins.  So far, every recipe I've tried has been more like a scone or biscuit.  I've tried both sour dough and standard recipes, with buttermilk and without.  I figure it's like gingerbread.  All the recipes I tried over the years had pretty much the same ingredients, but none ever came out just as I wanted them until I found that one recipe that hit me just right.

After lunch today, we had a nice thunderstorm with a load of rain.  I hurried outdoors and put plants under the eaves so they could catch some of that good water.  I was shocked to find everything outside looking lush and pretty.  I have not been outdoors to check my plants in a week.  That's what heat does to me.  I just retreat indoors and stay there!

Peaches on Peanut Butter Toast

Chef 's Salads, Sour dough bread slice

Barbecue Pork Chops, Green Beans, Buttered Potatoes, Coleslaw.  

I'm on a mission to use up the last of a head of red cabbage.  I often buy red cabbage to add to our salads because it's a nutritional boost and because it adds a pretty color component to our salad.  Even though I make salad frequently and I do try to buy the very smallest red cabbage, it takes forever to use them up. Cabbage is one of those things that will last months in the fridge if it's properly stored.  However, after a while, you get a bit wary of finding it in the drawer.  Will this be the time that it's gone too long?

Yesterday I found a recipe for a Red Cabbage Slaw that had an Oriental profile that sounded good, so when making our salad for lunch today, I thought I'd just go ahead and slice it thinly into coleslaw.  Well that proved to be more than a quart of cabbage...I decided to make a slaw for tonight with a portion that is a different recipe than the one I came across.  I mixed some Apple Cider Vinegar, a bit of Splenda, a little mayonnaise, salt and pepper with some of the celery leaves I'd recently dehydrated, shredded carrot, diced apple, and the red cabbage.  

I admit, I never expected there was still enough cabbage left on that piece to make slaw twice, though.  Will I eat the remainder before it spoils?  I guess we'll wait and see.

John declared we were leaving early in the morning to get the car serviced, so I went ahead tonight and worked on the bills and got my paperwork together for tomorrow.

Wednesday:  On our way out this morning, we took off trash, took mail to the post office.  I gathered up water and a book to read.

We bought breakfast at McDonald's this morning.  It was the best way to handle our very early start to the day.   Meal courtesy of our entertainment fund for the month ahead.

On our way home we didn't stop to get takeout for lunch.  We did stop by the discount grocery.  Today the only produce to be had was a lot of just ripe bananas.  I have too many in the freezer at present to even consider bringing more of those home.  I grabbed two items on sale, a box of sausage patties and the shank end of a ham.  I also checked out the reduced-price meats and came away with four packages of ground beef (lean) that weigh a little more than 1 pound, and a big bone in Chuck Roast.

When we got home, I put together a quick lunch then I put the meats away.  

I took the kids to the library and when my planned outing failed, I ran into the grocery store and bought them Rainbow Sherbert and a box of Banana popsicles.

I was very pleased that my new restaurant gift card arrived.  While I was on the website, I discovered that I have another card that I'd purchased last year and forgotten.  I entered the McDonald's receipt into the survey site and have another coupon good for a BOGO on any sandwich. We currently have four coupons for rewards at three different fast-food places and three different gift cards for nicer restaurants.  

Meals: McMuffins

Bologna Sandwich for John, leftover Chicken Gnocchi for me

Meatball Heroes, Chips and Watermelon Chunks

Thursday:  I made a loaf of bread today, prepared a meatloaf for tomorrow night's supper.  Then I cut up that piece of ham into more manageable pieces.  I recall now why I usually buy a butt portion of ham.  There's less bone and more big chunks of meat.  Never mind.  This will do just fine for multiples of uses.  I have three nice chunks/slabs and a very meaty bone in the freezer now.

A friend of John's called to say he had corn for us and then he stopped by the house.  I put a dozen lovely ears into the freezer.  I process mine quickly and have done it this way for years.  I cut off the tail end, cut off the tip end and then wrap it, still in husks and silks, in foil.  I put it right in the freezer.  I can stick an ear in the oven or on a grill or unwrap from the foil and pop it in the microwave.  I can shuck it silks and all with relative ease, both frozen and cooked.  It keeps extremely well in the husks and tastes as fresh as summer when I take it from the freezer.

Meals:  Yogurt and Peaches for me, Toast for John.

Chicken Patty, Mac and Cheese (using an expired box).  I added a little cheese and cottage cheese to up the protein count on the pasta.

Fried Chicken Legs, Corn on Cob, Potato Salad, Sliced Tomato

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