Frugal Friday: Chicken Big

My lettuce and celery ends are producing a little greenery.  I have six more lettuce butts in the house that I mean to plant outdoors this week.

Saturday:  It was an easy enough meal to make today even though I'd done no prep ahead work except to make John's birthday cake.  I roasted the chicken and stuffed the cavity with about half an onion.  I seasoned the outside and put it into a 350f oven.  I wondered how long it would have to cook but it came with a timer just as a turkey does.  Very tender chicken!  There are a ton of leftovers despite feeding five.

I roasted a pan full of potatoes in the same oven.  These were small potatoes and I roasted them whole.  They didn't seem to be getting done very quickly, so I covered them with a piece of foil which helped them both steam and roast.

Taylor does not like green beans, or so her Mama said.  Apparently Taylor DOES like green beans, at least whole fresh ones that are just steamed because she ate the two token ones her Mama put on her plate and then reached over and took more off her Daddy's plate and ate them, lol.

Eating On A Budget: Not Quite Bare challenge Update

As I was reading through my possible list of leftovers I noted a couple of errors I thought I'd corrected.  I'd listed yogurt twice, with two different amounts and forgotten to count in my yeast packets.   I also have updated my broth amount. 

To Carry Over:  Tomato paste (about 3 ounces), 2 eggs, 1 1/2 cups chicken, probably about 1 1/2 quart of broth, and I think about half the noodles I make which should be enough for another meal. At least 6 cups of yogurt will be leftover.  Of the five pounds of flour and four pounds of sugar I should have 2.5 pounds of flour left, and about 7 cups of sugar.  I think we'll have about 1/4 jar of peanut butter left, more if none is used to stuff celery,  but jelly should be nearing the end of the jar.  There may be a potato or two and certainly I will have some celery, carrots and onions left.   I'll continue to have salt/garlic powder and I still have 1/2 pound black beans, too. 2 packets of yeast. Life isn't looking nearly so bleak when you can cook a meal and have foods left in the cupboard and fridge and even put a few things away in the freezer.  If this keeps up I'll have to do a pantry/freezer  challenge!

Meals listed are based upon what I said I'd have in my scenario.  Yes, they are slightly different.  I used what I had on hand and that's more a money saver for me than using foods I might have to go out to purchase.  The point of my scenario is to teach/remind us that we can eat well on a lower budget.  I'll be honest with you, much as I'd liked to have added to my challenge list, I was still mighty impressed with how far I could make things go were it needed.

Meal one:

Roasted Chicken

Roasted Potato Chunks

Green Beans

Cake

Eating On A Budget: Not Quite Bare Cupboard Menu Plan

In my scenario, I am on week two of a very tight budget month.  We survived week one with food enough to eat three meals a day and have a few snacks.  There were even a few things leftover:

Leftovers:
Grape Jelly

about 1 quart homemade yogurt

1 cup of dried black beans

Salt

The following items were either purchased, priced at the store or priced via online ads.   I'm assuming I got smart during that terribly tight week and signed up for the FREE Friday downloads at Kroger, because desperation should lead one to look for food at all possible sources, right?

Here are my purchases listed by store:
Aldi

10 pound roaster chicken that cost $6.00

5 lbs self-rising flour $1.59

4 lbs sugar $1.59
1 lb margarine .89
15 oz. peanut butter $1.59
celery .99
milk $1.95
1 doz. eggs .89
1 6 ounce can tomato paste .33
$16.45 with tax

This Week In My Home: Another Sort of New Year

This week in my home:

...We're celebrating our birthdays. 

Which reminds me of a conversation I had on Friday with the hairstylist.  I was telling her of my lovely Bess' baby shower at her church and how nicely they were gifted even though it is their second child.  We laughed together when I told her I'd never seen so much food for a baby shower.   Then she shared with me how crazily extravagant reveal parties (where the sex of the baby is revealed to friends and family) have become among her set.  We are kindred frugal souls, she and I.  We laughed a little over this new trend but then I said to her worriedly, "But isn't it wrong don't you think?  I mean, to so extravagantly celebrate something like a reveal?  What do you do for the really big events in your life if you've gone way over the top for all the small events?"   Chastity nodded in agreement.  "You're right.... It's all part of that drive to keep getting more and building up more and more debt."

Well there's no debt building with our quiet enjoyment of our birthdays.  I ordered John's gifts last month and gave them to him shortly after they arrived.  It was some audio CDs to listen to on his way to work.  I presented him with a short list of wants: inexpensive silver earrings (all the good silver ones he's bought me have broken, so I just wanted el cheapo nickel free sort this time), and a digital thermometer to use in the kitchen.  I also asked for some underthings.  He purchased those for me a couple of weeks ago and I have used them all already. 

Frugal Friday - All I Can

He who buys what he does not need, steals from himself ~ Swedish Proverb

Saturday:  John in from work this morning.  I made Buckwheat pancakes and turkey sausage.  We've grown so accustomed to eating our oatmeal over the last three weeks that I instinctively felt it was ENOUGH.  And it was.  I made the smallest portion of buckwheat cakes I could.

It was cold.  It seemed like we couldn't quite get warm but I put water on the back of the stove to gently humidify the air and we put on extra clothing rather than increase the heat still further.

I made a new to me recipe which used up one of those 'weird' pantry items.  It was a pasta sauce made with tomato paste and herbs and garlic.  I added in spinach, artichoke hearts (that was my 'weird' ingredient) and a little chopped rotisserie chicken that was heavy on the oregano. This was very good.  Click on the link for the sauce recipe. It's really inexpensive for just the tomato sauce I think and something I think would also be good on pizza as well as on pasta.  The spinach was the last of the bag I used in the Farro Stew and the chicken was leftover from early in the week when I was alone.   

I put the rest of the chicken into the freezer for soup later.

We had leftover pasta.  I put it in the fridge with plans to serve it Monday when we returned from our weekend.

Washed a full load of clothes and a full load of dishes.  I prepacked an overnight bag for our out of town visit tomorrow.

February Declutter Challenge

Last month I shared a link to a January declutter calendar.  I was surprised at how much I was able to remove from my kitchen even though I'd just been through it early last Fall.  This month's calendar may be found here.  Remember to scroll down the page past the sign up block and there you will find both a daily listing and a printable calendar if you'd prefer to use that.

I plan to follow along with this plan.  Some of the work will be done in the kitchen again and some in other rooms of the house depending upon where you store items.   Hope you too will follow along, too. 

I'll be starting a little behind since I won't begin until Monday, but that's not too terribly late to get started especially since some of these tasks were done this past month when I sorted through the kitchen.  I can assure you all however, that I've already scanned the lists and can see that I still shall have some items to tend to.

Eating On A Tight Budget: February Challenge: The Not Quite Bare Cupboard

Last month's challenge was a toughie, wasn't it?  I attempted to feed 2 for $20 and while we would have eaten three meals a day and some snacks, we definitely would not have eaten a balanced diet overall.  We did eat several of the main dishes I shared on my menu and they were good recipes I've used over and over again.  I rounded out with salads and vegetables and fruits.  That helped increase the overall satisfaction with meals and should have kept the budget lower but not necessarily at $20/week. 

I was very mindful of how to put foods to better use for the remainder of the month.  I planted the stem ends of several lettuces.  I think I have 8 at present all of which are sprouting and would almost net enough for a salad if I served scant portions.  As Debbie pointed out one might put the roots of the green onions into water or soil and sprout those anew.  I didn't, because I had already done away with the roots at that point.  Sarah mentioned foraging and at present courtesy the rain and temperatures we've had, with little freezing, I could harvest dandelion greens from the yard to add to the bits of lettuce and there is a ton of wild onions in the yard at present, as well.   I'd  use some of this as a seasoning, as it does have a lovely onion-y garlic sort of aroma.  I've researched and yes, they are edible, but I'll stick to using the green tops and not dig up the bulbs.