Monday, May 25, 2015

This Week

My week was a frugal up and down.  We had started paying someone to do our weed whacking once a month $40 since my husband's health is not good and I have not had the arm strength to pull the weed whacker string.  We bought a new one yesterday that is batter operated and bought a extra battery about $179.00.  I can use it so we will save about $120.00 this year still in the hole a little bit but will pay off over the next 2 years.  We only had fast food once this week pizza on Friday night.  We did go out to lunch while on a road trip Saturday but since we can not go on vacation due to my work schedule, having 3 dogs and not wanting to board them this was a vacation day for us.  I made a very big lasagna today from scratch and we will have 4 more complete meals with the leftovers.  I found at Dollar Tree Aluminum trays with the lids (3 in a pack) for $1.00.  I put the lasagna in those, labeled and froze.  I will reuse them again.  My cherry tree in the front yard I had given up hope on it ever bearing cherries.. I found 3 cherries on it yesterday so looks like it's finally going to start producing.  I have cherries on my tree in the back yard it's a dwarf bing cherry they are green right now hoping I can get some before the birds do.  While at Dollar Tree.. I bought stems of silk flowers, one of those plastic cone things that you put the flowers down in the ground with and found these glass ceramic angels that are knick knacks.  I put the angels up against those cones and saw that they fit snugly against them.  Brought them home, hot glued them to the cones and made beautiful flower arrangements for the cemetery.  Cost for each about $6.00 versus at least $15 to $20 for ones already made into arrangements.  I found shelf stable milk both soy and regular $1 a box.. quart sized that I added to my pantry.  They have a year shelf life.  I keep powdered milk but I am lactose intolerant so the soy will work well for me.  I also found Peach Nectar in boxed containers $1 each which I will use to make Peach Jelly.  Peaches here are very very expensive and usually not very good quality so this is a cheaper alternative.  Box life year.  I also found 28 oz. cans of pears for $1.00 we eat a lot of canned fruit when we can't get fresh cheaper so these are a good pantry staple too.  We have a 70 year wedding anniversary to go to next Sunday.. was able to find dress clothes here at home to wear instead of having to buy them.  I kept all my work clothes from when I worked in a office years ago and some still fit.  Dh was fretting about a necktie found one he had here, he doesn't know how to do the knot so will go to youtube to figure it out.  In the past we always had to have a sales rep. in the store make them up for us or before that his Dad.  He wears a necktie once every cpl.years or so.  I bought another gc this week, this one a Kroger card and got dbl. points for it.  This goes in our emergency supply box for hard times.. they are good at least a year.  I also had coupons $3 off on Bic Razors.  They were $5.29 at Krogers so I got them for $2.29 each pack, bought 4 so we should be good for razors for awhile.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Today's Frugals

I have a 22 quart Nesco Roaster full of chili cooking.

Chopped up, mashed and put in the freezer approx. 8 lbs. of banana's to use in Fruit Smoothies

Chopped up 7 lbs. of strawberries to be used for making jam.  I also saved some out for this week's Fruit Smoothies.

I used a can of crushed pineapples for the fruit smoothies.

I have in the deep freezer and need to bring up today frozen spinach which will also go in the smoothies along with 1 tsp. of cinnamon each day.  Cinnamon helps lower blood pressure.  I need to do research someone told me parsley is good for your health, I think it lowers blood sugars but need to research that for sure.

I have in the oven a meatloaf using chicken burger for dinner tonight and a extra meal for next week.

I want to here in a bit before the oven cools down make a batch of brownies.

And I work tonight LOL!

Anna

Friday, May 8, 2015

How to test expired baking powder

I found 2 containers of unopened baking powder in my cabinet.  One exp. in 2012, the other exp. in 2014.  I didn't know if they were still good or not so I ask on one of my groups if anyone knew how to tell.

I got this website link and after doing the test, Yay! The one from 2014 is still good.  I threw the 2012 one out as it is 3 years or more older.

I want to make homemade flaky biscuits and not have to buy special flours or Bisquick mix so the recipe I have (very old from one of the original hard back books given to folks who bought the old General Electric Food Processors) that will allow me to really make these from scratch.  One of the biscuit recipes is called White Lightning.


http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-test-if-baking-soda-or-baking-powder-is-expired-tips-from-the-kitchn-111759


Anna

Today's Frugals

Making strawberry jam today.  Made 10 jelly jars.  I still have strawberries left that I crushed, will need 1 more cup to make another batch which I'll hopefully do on Monday.

Will mow the yard instead of paying someone to do it for me.  Did the back yard yesterday, today is the front yard.

Will be working today working extra hours this week so the pay check next week will be a little sweeter.

Washing clothes will hang outside today as it's supposed to be another scorcher..

All meals from home this week but tonight will be fast food since I'm working on my day off.

Anna


Thursday, May 7, 2015

Apple Berry Jelly

Today I used some partially saved fruit juices from fruit I made into jam over the last month or so.. Blackberry, Cherry and made up the difference with bottled apple juice from Aldi's.

I made 12 jars of what I'm calling Apple Berry Jelly.

Anna

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Frugals This Week

Yesterday I went a little nuts.  My bil told me Meijers sells every day vegetable plants 4 for $1.00.  WHAT!!!  I called Meijers yesterday before driving the 7 miles to their store.  Yep, they are cheap.. but $1.29 for a plat of 4 prices went up a bit.  I madly dashed to my truck, broke the speed limits getting there and threw as many as I could in my cart.. not really counting just picking Early Girl, Big Boy, Rutgers, and some Habanero peppers.  Got to the register.. "that'll be $30.00.  Sigh!  I wasn't putting them back but that was way more than what I planned to spend or get.  So came home, dropped off the plants then went to Lowes and got 10 bags of Topsoil and 3 bags of good dirt for veggie plants.  Came home, got out all my big plant containers.. 10 gallon each at least in size, these I found at the curb of one of my neighbors several years ago, FREE.  I planted 22 plants yesterday.  Oh the Topsoil, I filled the pots up halfway with Topsoil, then the rest I put the good soil on top.  I still have more little plants out there waiting to be planted, will probably do that tomorrow on my day off.

I also had a coupon for Family Dollar $5 off a $25 purchase.  I had coupons for some of the items I planned to purchase.  So I saved $8 with the coupons, dang it still ended up spending $25 but got some stock up items that we are always running out of.

Today I researched online at Allrecipes.com and found a No Rise Pizza Crust recipe so I can start making our own pizza crust instead of buying it from a bakery.. should save me about $10 a month making my own.  The only ingredient I don't have here is active dry yeast will pick up some packets at Aldi's.

I have a wedding anniversary to attend the end of this month at a fancy golf club.  I needed a new dress to wear.  I saved all my work outfits from back when I worked as a receptionist.  So I shopped in my storage tub and found a very nice (one of several) skirt and matching top outfit, just need to run it through the dryer with a wet wash rag and a fabric softener sheet and we are good to go.  Savings at least $15 even buying at a thrift store.. yay!!

Anna

Friday, May 1, 2015

Recipes For Menu's I Listed

Chicken & Noodle Soup

Cook all 3 of your chickens in 2 or 3 pots of water, cook at least one hour per chicken. Cool, Debone. Use most of your chicken for a large batch of chicken and noodles, save some out for chicken sandwiches. Freeze all of it for later meals.

This recipe is for just the chicken and noodles, no veggies added.

Recipe for Noodles:

Egg Noodles Recipe - Allrecipes.com

Vegetarian Vegetable Soup:

1 jar spaghetti sauce
4 bags mixed veggies
1 or 2 chopped onions

Vegetarain Chili:
2 lg. cans chili beans (see shopping list)
1 lg. can diced tomaotes
1 Jar spaghetti sauce
2 onions

Servings: About 20

Meatloaf: Simple 

1 lb. Turkey Burger
1 1/2 sleeves of crushed saltines ( I use a rolling pin to crush mine)
1 onion chopped or diced with a knife
2 eggs
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce

Mix all together, put in a casserole type pan and bake at 350 F for at least 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. I use a square pan not a bread loaf pan.

Salmon Loaf

1 can salmon
2 eggs
1 onion chopped chopped or diced with a knife

Mix all together, put in a casserole pan again I use a square pan and bake at 350 one hour or make into patties and fry in a skillet.

Anna

Useful Kitchen Tools

I have bought these at the thrift store the cheese slicer I got for 30 cents, the grater around 99 cents. 

Kitchen Tools to look for:

Cheese Slicer:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1972924...tro?ref=market

Food Grater:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/2307422...w_type=gallery

Potato Masher

https://www.etsy.com/listing/2208223...FZeDaQodg0oAQA

Hand Mixer

http://www.shop.woodwardcrossingscou...FcSIaQodoAoAGA

$29 A Week Challenge Menu Part II

30 Days of Breakfasts

Cereal Wheat Bran Flakes $1.79 ( 17 Servings) 17 Days of Cereal

4 Half Gallons =Milk: Krogers 99 cents Half Gallon Sale Last Week $4.00

16 servings of milk in a gallon 8 oz. 32 Meals at one 8 oz. glass per servings

Eggs 2 dozen 12 Days of Eggs & Toast for Breakfast

One Day Toast Only with Apple Sauce

Lunch

Leftovers of Dinner Meals or Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches with Apple Sauce

Dinners:
Homemade Chicken & Noodles Soup

Meatloaf with Homemade Mashed Potatoes

Shredded Chicken Sandwiches Plain or With BBQ Sauce

Turkey Burgers with Whole Pickles

Salmon Loaf

Meatloaf Sandwiches with Mashed Potatoes

Spaghetti (Meatless) with Spaghetti Sauce & Cheese (shredded)

Turkey Hot Dogs with Dill Pickle

Scrambled Eggs with Melted Cheese on Toast

Chili 20 Meals Vegetarian Chili

4 Meals of Fish Sticks 5 each meal with veggies on the side or a baked potatoe

I didn't add it but I think my budget allowed to buy 4 more bags of frozen veggies: Corn, Peas, Green Beans to add to meals.

GFS carries 2 lb. bags of frozen veggies pretty cheap but I didn't include it since I can't remember exactly how much they would be.

$29 A Week Food Challenge Part II Menu

What I did assuming you would get a months worth of food stamps/Snap/EBT whatever you want to call it so it would be $116.00 for a Month of Food:

It was very difficult and time consuming for me to get this together but I did it, I hope:


3 Chickens 4 lbs. Each= $15.00 (Aldi’s)

3 Turkey Burger 1 lb. Each $1.89 X3=7.56 (Aldi’s)

1 Pkg. Fish Sticks 20 Ct. $3.00(Aldi’s)

2 Pkg. Turkey Hot Dogs 99 cents each =$1.98 (Aldi’s)

1 Can Salmon $2.00 (Aldi’s)

2 1 lb. packs spaghetti Noodles $1.00 Each =$2.00 (Krogers)

4 Jars Hunts Spaghetti Sauce 99 cents each can=$4.00 (1/2 jar or less for each Spaghetti Meal 4 Meals) Use Approximately 1 Jar for Meatloaf & 1 Jar for Chili)

2 Packs Hamburgers Buns 8 Pk. 89 cents X2=$2.00 (Aldi’s)

3 Dozen Eggs $1.50 each X 2=$4.50 (Aldi’s)

Condiments.. Mustard, Ketchup, Relish, Miracle Whip, BBQ Sauce (generic) $6.00 (Aldi’s)

Hot Dog Buns 2 Packs 89 X 2=$1.98 (Aldi’s)

1- 5 lb. Pkg. Mild Cheddar Cheese Chunk $8.99 (GFS)

2 loafs of Wheat Bread 99 cents each X 2=$1.98 (Aldi’s)

1 lb. Real Butter $2.49 (Aldi’s)

1 Block Cheese 5 lb. $8.99 (GFS)

4- 1 lb. pkgs. Of frozen mixed vegetables (Krogers on sale) $1.00 Each X 4=$4.00 Use for big pot of vegetable Soup

Chili Beans-6 lbs. 16 oz. X 2=$4.99 X 2= $11.00 (GFS)

Diced Tomatoes 1 Can = 4 lbs. 6 oz. =3.99 (GFS)

2 Bell Peppers 1.00 cents (Aldi’s)

1 Bag Onions 79 cents(Aldi’s) (use for Chili, Vegetable Soup, Salmon Loaf & Meatloaf)

Bag Potatoes 10 lbs. $3.00 (Aldi’s) Use about 8 lb. of potatoes peeled, boiled & made into mashed potatoes.. freeze in small containers for meals. Use leftover potatoes to make baked potatoes for other meals.

5 lbs. Flour $1.50 (Aldi’s) Use to make homemade noodles for chicken noodle soup

Saltines 99 cents a box (Aldi’s) Use for Meatloaf Mix & Salmon Loaf Mix some will be leftover, maybe use crushed in Vegetable Soup & Chili

Peanut Butter 18 oz. $1.89 (Aldi’s)

Grape Jelly 18 oz. Est. Cost 99 cents (Aldi’s)

Large Apple Sauce $1.89 (Aldi’s)

Half Gallon Whole Dill Pickles Mt. Olive Brand (Walmart) $4.00

2 4 lb. Bags of Oranges $1.49 on sale ($3.00) (Aldi’s)

Banana’s 44 cents a lb. =$1.32 (Aldi’s) 3 lbs.in a bundle 8 Meals at one banana each meal

7 cans of Fruit (Pears, Peaches,Tropical Fruit) 14 Meals $6.23 (Aldi’s)

1 box Cereal Wheat Bran Flakes 17 Servings $1.79 (Aldi’s)

2 Gallons Milk (Kroger sale 99 cents half gallon ($4.00 for 4 half gallons)
reserve some milk (see recipe for Egg Noodles)

Chicken Broth (free) save chicken broth from boiling chicken for your Chicken & Noodle Soup)

Anna
__________________

$29 A Week Food Challenge Part I

A hollywood celebrity took on the challenge of trying to eat on a budget of $29 for a week as I guess most people who live on food stamps get a average of $29 per person per week to live on. She failed on Day 4.

It got me to thinking about if I could do it. I was able to get 13 meals with 62 cents left and I need to tweak it to see if I can find a meal for that 62 cents. I did a lot of repeat foods and would like to have seen more variety to the menu and I had to assume that they had some of the basic things in their pantry like flour. 

The meals have to not only be filling but have to be nutritious somewhat as well. I did my menu mostly from Aldi's.

Anyone else want to take on the challenge?

If so, please state what state you are in and what grocery stores you based it on and how much each item cost so we have a better idea of where to shop, what to look for etc.

Oh and we have to assume they live in a apt. type setting or don't have access to a area to grow fruits or vegetables. Foraging might be o.k. to list.. I know if I didn't have my fruit tree's my neighbors do and I could ask for apples for free. So if you actually have a real life situation where you could get free fruit post that and what you did with it fresh. Again, the average folks out there don't can like many of us do.. very sad wish there were free classes to teach this skill.
Anna

Frugal This Week

I have done a lot of prepping this week to avoid the temptation of fast fooding:

I cooked 8 lbs. of potatoes after peeling and cutting it into chunks.  I made a large batch of mashed potoates and froze.  I also cooked a large tray of Mac and Cheese that I bought from Gordon Food Service and divided into smaller freezer containers.  Will use with meat dishes for meal planning over the next cpl. weeks.  We had big servings of it Saturday for lunch.

I completed a month of meals for the $29 a week meal budgeting challenge that a hollywood star tried to do saying the average single person on food stamps/Snap/EBT would get.  It was really hard and certainly makes me count my blessings that I have more than that to work with.  I will be posting that plan here shortly to this blog.

Today I tried to download Krogers digital downloads to my account but their site has crashed due to too many people trying to do it all at the same time.  I called customer service and they are aware of the problem and said to call back to get my points added to my account.  I need to buy all 3 of my dogs Frontline Flea Meds which will be over $100 plus have to buy groceries so those points are definitely a plus.

This week I also used fuel points that I had accumulated with purchases for April saved 90 cents off per gallon at Krogers.  I have a big truck that uses a lot of gas so that was a great savings.  Took my gas price down to $1.47 per gallon.

I left a job earlier this year that was 14 miles each way which saved me using so much gas.  I now work 2 miles from home, took a tiny bit of a pay cut but with the gas saved and now only having to pay Columbus City taxes instead of both Columbus and Minerva Park (small subdivision of Columbus) taxes I actually bring home more money, have stable hours so it paid off.  I miss my co workers from there terribly but a better financial move for me.

Last summer AEP cut down a large maple tree in my back yard that was in the way of power lines and overshadowing my garden and clothesline.  They left 11 big sized logs of wood in the yard which I was not physically able to move.  I posted on Craigslist that I had free maple wood, got so many inquiries and was able to get it out in less than 12 hours.  Awesome.  So I saved money by not having to pay someone to remove it and someone got free burning wood for their fireplace.. a Win Win!

I have several towels that have seen better days.. rather than throw them away I cut them into smaller pieces and yesterday crocheted a border on one so that it doesn't fray in the washing machine.  Used one as a floor mat in the bathroom, smaller ones once I get the border on will be used for cleaning rags.  I just did 2 single rows of crochet and sewed it on to the towel.

Wednesday night I took out a lb. of chicken burger (we don't eat beef) and fried it up, added a can of sloppy joe mix and made sloppy joes which I then froze.  This will be for a meal on Saturday night when I get off work.  Dh is always tempting me to pick up fast food on my way home from work instead of eating at home.  Savings:  $14.00 versus buying meals and sides at Arby's.

I also made brownies from a box mix yesterday morning 99 cents plus 2 eggs and froze most of it for treats when we want something sweet.

Krogers has Wheat Thins on sale this week 2 for $4.  I had coupons for $1 dollar of 2.  I bought 4 at $1.50 each for snacks.  I really need to get out my frugal books and learn to make them myself.

Can't think of anything else right at the moment but wanted to share.

Anna