This is what I added to may pantry/freezer for the first week of August.
August 1:
6 boxes of cereal: I got a variety of our favorites. These were BOGO at Publix and a really good deal. I earned Ibotta and extra Fetch rewards on them. I put 5 in the pantry storage. Why 5? Because John opened one right away.
2 boxes of Poptart's (BOGO). We rarely eat these, but they are nice to have on hand especially if the grandchildren come in.
4 cans Organic black beans, 2 cans Organic Garbanzo beans (99c each)
2 Beef Polska Kielbasa
1 can Coconut Milk (on sale for $1.25 per can).
Non-Grocery items:
Glue x 2
single subject composition books x 4
pocket folders with tangs x 4
All of this cost about $54 which I thought was very good.
August 2:
I've been watching tuna prices for the longest time. About 2 years ago, I got a flat carton (24) of 5-ounce cans of tuna for a very good price on Amazon. I've priced them ever since at every store near me. I'm down to two cans and haven't found a sale. On sale these were $1 or more per can! I went to Amazon to look and discovered I could buy the same for less than 80c per can which is quite a good price. I put a case in my cart on Amazon. It will arrive later but I'm counting it now.
2 64-ounce boxes of Old-Fashioned oats. These were put in my cart at the end of July, but I won't receive them until August 15. I'm counting them in now.
August 4:
This morning, I got busy very early in the morning.
I bought a package of four bone in skin on chicken breasts the other day for $2.49 a pound. I put one in the oven this morning to cook for our dinner. I added 3 bone-in skin on breasts to the freezer after vacuum sealing.
The peaches I bought on Thursday did what peaches do. They were almost dry and crispy when I bought them but given a day or two and they started to soften and ripen. Yesterday I noted that they were fully ripe. This morning, I peeled them all. I used some in baking right away and put the rest into the freezer to flash freeze. I vacuum sealed two packages of peaches for future.
I use frozen peaches the same way I use fresh. I eat them thawed (they taste very similar to when fresh), I cook with them, and I make smoothies with them.
August 5:
I went into Kroger this afternoon on my way home. I bought five half-gallons of milk. I put all five in the freezer.
I found 2 pounds of organic Lamb marked down, so I picked those up. No, I don't typically buy Lamb and to be honest, it was a mistake. In my defense, it was in the beef case and the clearance sticker covered the label. Mind you this same grocery put SCENTED vinegar (for cleaning/laundry) on the shelf with the regular vinegars, something I did note when looking for vinegar...Lesson learned to read the labels more closely. I can use the lamb, have recipes that actually call for it that I've subbed ground chicken or beef for in the past. And it really was an excellent price, just $4.38/pound.
I did find a gallon of white vinegar to purchase and put in the pantry. I opted for regular white and not the SCENTED one.
Other items I picked up today which went into the pantry or freezer:
4 bottles of oregano
1 quart Maple syrup
5 pounds of sausage
3# pounds of hamburger
3# of bacon slices
72 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 pound can of Crisco
All of these items were on sale or clearance priced, except the vinegar and Maple Syrup. The Crisco wasn't on sale either, but the price has dropped $3 since I bought the last can which was upwards of $11 then and was now just over $8.
I bought only things meant for the pantry/freezer today. I spent $115 on all of it.
August 6:
I got the chocolate chips vacuum sealed and put onto the pantry shelf. 2 quarts and 2 pints. I put about 1/2 cup into the freezer for immediate use.
I got a 50-ounce bag of Gatorade powder delivered today. I vacuumed sealed that into one quart and one pint jar. The little left was put into a jar and placed on the shelf for immediate usage.
I had some chili leftover last night. I put two quarts chili into the freezer.
I had strawberries in the fridge that weren't being eaten. I topped them and put the berries into the freezer. It's a bit over a pint of strawberries. I have made up my mind that in future when we are getting low on strawberry jam, I'll make my own. I have plenty of berries in the freezer.
I took the strawberry tops and put them in a jar and then I filled the jar with sugar and shook it well. Nancy Birtwhistle does this to make strawberry syrup which she uses over ice cream or in lemonade, etc. In a week I'll strain the liquid off the tops. I should get about 1 cup of syrup from that.
I put 1 quart of chicken pot pie filling into the freezer.
August 7:
I finally, finally, FINALLY used my electric canner. To those of you like me who bought an electric canner and then proceeded to let it sit on the shelf because you are scared, please pull it out and USE it, if only to can water just to practice. It was so easy! I made mistakes and had to start over, but nothing blew up and everything sealed!
5 pints Chicken Broth and 4 quarts of Ham broth are cooling on the counter. Tomorrow they will go into the pantry. That's all I got done today but I'm proud of those jars!
August 8:
1 pound Smoked Sausage link broken down into serving size packets. I got four packets to go into the freezer.
I was very surprised at the price of this sausage locally. It's a well-known brand in our area, Conecuh, and runs about $7 a pound most places but in my small town it was actually closer to $6.50. I'll check in there again when I have more money to spend and buy more.
2 New York Strip steaks. These were a markdown item at $10 for almost 2 pounds of nice steak. I packaged them up one steak to a packet (they are big enough to share). I put two in the freezer. Reminding myself to go to town and check the meat case on Monday to catch post weekend markdowns.
August 9:
I harvested chives, oregano, sage and basil today. They are in the oven drying just now.
There wasn't a lot of any one of them, but I truly am following the idea that #everybitcounts. I had about 2 tbsps. chives, 1 tbsp. oregano, 2 tbsps. sage and 1/4 cup basil when I dehydrated and then crushed them.
August 10:
I bought meat today, but I haven't packaged it up yet so I'm not going to count it in today's additions, but I added other things that were put into the pantry.
Today I picked up four boxes of Rice A Roni Wild Rice Mix. I used to buy bigger containers of wild rice, but it often got rancid before we could use it up. It's better to buy small boxes like this to use than have to throw out product.
I bought 5 cans of black-eyed peas, 3 cans Cannellini beans, and 2 cans of butter beans.
I bought four 29-ounce jars of peanut butter for the pantry.
I think the first ten days of this challenge have been very good and I can't wait to see what I can do in the next ten days! Are you participating in #everybitcounts challenge? Share in the comments what you were able to do thus far.
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