Thrifty Thursday: Heat and Humidity

Friday:  I've been busy-ish today.  I wanted to start to tackle the kitchen work for August that I'd planned and since I did little yesterday, I wanted to take a harder hit at it today.  I cleared 1 cabinet on the island (2 shelves) and four drawers.  I neatened and decluttered and straightened.  

I have a counter laden with stuff to be either donated, kept in a different area or tossed.  Right now, my goal has been to clean the cabinets and drawers themselves.  There's quite a way to go.  And no, I'm not going to do the pantry.  My only plans are to finish organizing those shelves where I put the new stuff last week after that restock shopping I did. 

I feel I have made the best of things today.  Some of the items I was sure I'd discard, ended up being reused.  They work beautifully as organizers.  No need to buy anything new since this serves the purpose just fine and are durable and easily cleaned.  

I used leftovers up for lunch.  We still have leftovers in the fridge and at this moment, they are planned as a meal tomorrow or Sunday.  I'll definitely not use them all though, so leftover makeovers will show up on next week's menu or go into the freezer as a fresh entree.

#EveryBitCountsChallenge:  The bread pieces I put out on the counter yesterday to thaw were turned into two large pans of dry crumbled bits, minus four slices that were firm enough to use for French Toast (Sunday breakfast).  I got half a gallon of bread pieces that are fully dry which I'll make into my own homemade stuffing mix.   They will be reserved to use when I finish using all of the boxed mixes I have dated 2024 though.

Meals:  Peanut Butter toast with Peaches

Corn Dog Casserole, Dill Pickles

Corn Moussaka, Cucumber Mint Salad, Cannellini beans with Baby Kale, Pistachio Pudding.  

Expired Items used this week: 10 and two half cans each of Pumpkin and Yams.

Last night I'd planned to make Fried Green Tomatoes, but I just didn't feel like messing with that process, so I pulled a box of stuffing from the cabinet and guess what?  It wasn't on the expired shelf, but it had expired at the end of 2023...So I used up one more item!

Saturday:  We stayed home all day long today and did next to nothing.  I made two meals right here at home.  John made eggs to go with our Croissant/Bagel breakfasts.  

The cheapest thing I did today was to stay home.  I wanted, oh how I wanted, to go pick up take out for a meal.  Truth is, I didn't feel like the drive.  And that saved me about $35 by my guesstimate. 

Meals:  Eggs, Bagel for John, Croissant for me

Lasagna (leftovers), Garlic Toast, Green Beans

Chicken Nuggets, Oven Fries (fries made from scratch)

Sunday:  I bought fried chicken last week when I was at the grocery, and it was on sale then put it in the freezer for Taylor's Gramma's Fried Chicken dinner today.  I carried along the Peach Dump cake that I'd made and put in the freezer last Sunday.  

I thought about taking other things with me but knew Katie would make mac n cheese and that the kids would eat that and want nothing else (except Peach Dump Cake).  

On the way home, John went into the local grocery store and bought ice cream and hot fudge sauce.  I looked at that little jar of Hot Fudge and thought "Didn't I used to make my own?"  I'm certain I did and that it had a tablespoon of corn syrup in it to make it thick and glossy.  I need to pull out my cookbooks and see what else I used to make!  

When we were scratching around for supper last night, John asked why I hadn't asked for eggs at the grocery.  Seriously, I had no desire to go in and get eggs. I had no desire to go into the grocery.  John stopped locally to buy ice cream only because ice cream melts before we can get it home if we buy it anywhere else.  

Smoked Sausage, Pumpkin Banana Bread

Fried Chicken, Mac n Cheese

Hot Fudge Sundaes

Ham Sandwiches, Chips.  (My meal plan is blown already.  I didn't have nearly as much ham leftover as I supposed.  Once I cut away the fatty end I had just about enough for sandwiches tonight.)

Monday:  I thought I was going to go shopping today but I didn't.  I got busy in the house and got so interested in what I was doing that I didn't go.  I suppose that's one way to save money.

I went to work on the kitchen decluttering, and I emptied two shelves.  I also found all the peppermint tea that I thought I'd tossed in January, as well as some black tea bags and my peach tea bags.   I repurposed one empty shelf as storage for paper products such as paper towel and extra paper plates so that I don't have to retrieve refills from another room/closet.  Now I have one counter full of things to either store elsewhere or donate. 

#EveryBitCountsChallenge:  Today the mandarin rinds were dry enough to grind.  I used my blender.  I didn't know they would stain the white plastic top on my blender!  Oh well.  I sprinkled some in Peach Tea that I was steeping.  It made a lovely iced drink this evening.

I put up 1/2 a bottle of dried mint leaves, and 1/2 a container of cut chives.

I peeled all the peaches.  John and I ate what we wanted then I put 3-quart bags in the freezer.  

I know that technically I harvested the herbs on Thursday, but I consider this a pretty good amount to have put by for this challenge:

1/2-gallon breadcrumbs for stuffing

3 1-qt. bags of peaches

.5 ounce of chopped chives

1 ounce jar of mandarin rind powder

.5 mint leaves

And that's just trying to do a little every single day.

Meals:  Pumpkin Belgian Waffles, Sausage Patties. I used the 2nd half of the can of pumpkin I opened last week. I put four whole waffles in the freezer.  John and I can eat 3/4 of a waffle.  

Chicken Nachos.  Continuing to mess up my meal plan.  Never mind I'll sort it out.  I dumped salsa on top of the Greek Chicken breast and then sliced the breast into chunks that I put on top of the nachos.  I was trying to use up a bag of chips that were getting stale.  I'm trying to use up all the things that have been opened, not just the expired foods.

Steak, Scalloped Potatoes, Salad.  Used the expired box of scalloped potatoes and I opened the last carton of UHT milk.  I used 2/3 cup of that in the potatoes.  

I didn't take meat from the freezer until late this afternoon, but I knew I could partially thaw the steak on the cast iron griddle I was going to cook it on and then finish it off slowly as it cooked. It turned out so tender and was really good.  

Tuesday:  We slept so late that breakfast seemed a little silly.  We ate a very simple meal and had coffee.

I have to keep the children this evening, so I prepared our larger meal midday.  I used 3 expired items in this meal prep.  1 can of enchilada sauce, 1 box of black beans and 1 can of green chilies.  I also used some V8 juice from the fridge that needs to be used.

I sorted out the baking cupboard while I was in the kitchen anyway...Dinner was on a timer, and I thought it a reasonable amount of time to accomplish something.   I found some Pearl Tapioca that has just expired.  I'm not too concerned over that.  John likes Tapioca pudding.  I'll see if there are further recipes to help me use it, but I don't think it will be 'bad' because of the recent expiration date.

The rest of the herbs are not quite dry so I'm not putting those in the pantry just yet. 

After lunch, I was just weary.  I am not ill.  I just didn't want to do anything much.  I chose to do quiet work.  

Meals:  Pumpkin Bread, Cheese

Enchilada Chicken and Rice Skillet.  

Chicken Nugget Sandwich.  Totally pitiful.

Wednesday:  We went out to lunch today.  We paid for our meal with an earned gift card I'd purchased.  I think I'm going to try and buy one gift card a month.  I'll use our entertainment fund to buy the card each month.

I went into the grocery after we'd had lunch.  I had a short list of things I was out of and that's just what I picked up.  I did look for some Rye flour.  I could buy nearly every sort of flour but not Rye. I guess I'll settle for ordering that online.  I won't tell you that what I bought was cheap or that I'm in budget.  I was careful, oh so careful.  

Well, it's like war stories, isn't it?  I'm grateful I have the money to go buy these things between pay periods.  I hear everywhere, in person, via email, or here in the comments or on other frugal site comments that no one is seeing real sales.  I concur.  I haven't seen sales either.  I look high and low for clearance items.  I've noted more and more people stopping by the marked down items, looking for food that is affordable.  

John brought home half his meal. I ordered a smaller lunch entree and had nothing to bring home.  I'll get soup out of the freezer for my own evening meal.

Thursday:  For the same money I'm spending these days, I used to buy soda, chips, cookies and breads.  I bought our meat at a butcher and paid top dollar for it. I kept a fully stocked pantry.... I can honestly say that right now we seldom buy any 'extras' such as soda or chips.  We rarely will buy anything except basics, and we go for every single discount we can. I shop clearance for the bulk of the meat and produce that we eat. I am making many things myself, far more than I did in the heyday of homemaking and feeding a family and I worked hard back then!  

I've been visiting a grocery in the next town that is a 'discount' store.  They aren't really a discount but some of their prices are better than other stores.  They have a rack at the back of the produce department that they fill daily with things they want to move quickly and the discount on those is considerable.  Today I got Roma tomatoes (10 for $1), plums, green bell peppers, celery, green onions, tangelos, cabbage and lettuce for anywhere from 75c to $1.  If I lived in that town, it would be worthwhile to go by daily and then go home and preserve stuff.  The bell peppers were 4 to a pack, there were 9 Tangelos in each package (I bought 2).  They also had barely ripe bananas, ripe peaches and grapes, and a strange unnamed fruit/vegetable. I didn't buy any of those.

I checked the reduced-price meat section, but it all looked a bit 'iffy'.  I've never bought spoiled meat at this store, but it has to have some sort of eye appeal for me to purchase it.  I went back up the meat aisle and carefully selected a variety of meats that were decently priced.  I knew that my supply of frozen meat had been considerably decreased over the past two months and I wanted to replenish my baskets.

Per the USDA food plans guidelines, in June a family of four paid $1000 for the foods listed on their thrifty food plan.  I am currently spending the same money I've spent for years now on a monthly basis.  I had to drop back to my former spending this summer when we had unexpected rises in bills and seasonal costs such as mowing and electricity increases.  The amount I'm spending is $150/month less than the thrifty plan for two people mine and John's age.  The same money I've spent for the past twenty years used to cover pet foods, paper products, over the counter and personal care items and fed children.  I bought snacks, chips, sodas, bread, and countless other things.  After Katie left home, we shopped at a premium butcher for the bulk of our meat, buying it quarterly.  I bought the best produce items.  My kids moved in and out through those years and I stocked their pantries each time they moved out from my own pantry.  All on the same budget.

Today that same amount of money excludes pets, personal care items and paper products.  It excludes the nice butchery meats.  Here of late, it's not even stretched far in replenishing pantry items. I am making more food from scratch NOW than I did when I had five children at home, and I worked hard at making food from scratch all of the time to feed my family back in the day.  Our budget also does not include soda, chips, cookies, bread.  I buy meat from the reduced-price bins and the bulk of our produce is from the marked down produce rack at the discount store.  I am continually looking for ways to bring our budget down just a bit more so we can have some wiggle room ore researching how to make one more item myself from pantry basics, just to save where I can.

I'm very grateful that last month, I was gifted a pantry restock.  I'm very grateful for the funds we have to spend and more than grateful for the experience I've had in making food stretch.  I point out the differences between what I used to buy and what I can now buy only because that's how much prices have increased.    As of today, August 8, I have officially hit the halfway spending point on my budget for the month.  Will the amount left cover the basic supplies we will need until September arrives?  I'm talking basics as in dairy items and fresh produce and replacing pantry items that we might use up, like that 5-pound bag of flour I just opened.  It should.  But it would also be truth to admit that I'm not 100% sure. 

And that is why I am so keen on using up the expired items!   

I bought peaches at the peach shed and sure enough, I knew when I walked in that production was grinding to a slow end.  When I asked, I was told that tomorrow would be their last day if they didn't sell out entirely today.

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