February's Once a Month Shop

I'm trying something new. It isn't perfect, and it is a little outside of my comfort zone.  I've created a video of my grocery haul.  I did a Sam's Club pickup and an Aldi pickup.

I'd appreciate it if anyone has any feedback.

I've already noticed I need to be careful about background noise and the tapping.  I also didn't think about the black frame when I was filming.  Next time I will.

January’s Top Ten Review

The month is at an end so I thought it would be a good time for me to look back over my January goals to see how I did.  

1. Keep grocery purchases to minimal and work on using up what is on hand.
I’m pleased with how we did on this.  While I do not try to separate every piece of household or work related items out, we managed to do pretty well for January.  We spent $385.91 on food and $10.33 on a coffee and fast food meal.

2.  Utilize my planner to help keep things organized.
The planner is fabulous!  I’m able to keep things organized.  Including my school work.  I’m not sure why I didn’t do this before.

3.  Do my best to keep Sunday's free from school work.
This didn’t work.  I did my best, but these classes are intensive and a lot of them have work that is due on Sunday.

4.  Purchase or make Valentine's Cards to mail for next month.
I purchased.  No way was I going to find the time to make them.

5.  Finish the skull shawl I am crocheting. I still haven’t quite finished.  I’m one skeleton repeat and the edging from being there.  Gotta get in gear!

6.  Inventory my freezer. I did this...and I have pasted the list on the side of my refrigerator.  A bit of an eye sore, but I am being faithful about marking things off.  I know if it is too inconvenient I won’t....so this is working.

7.  Continue with my 12 Days of Pintos recipe share. Sigh....I think I got one recipe shared.  I have more recipes.  I’m just having a hard time getting to them.  I promise to keep trying.

8.  Menu plan for the month. I did this.  We managed to stick to it at least in spirit.  In fact, I’ve already made out February’s menu.

9.  Try at least one new pressure cooker recipe. I did this.  I love, love, love using the pressure cooker.  

10.  Don't stress myself by insisting on perfection -- go with the flow. I was hit and miss on this one.  I didn’t do horribly, and I think the only real meltdown I had was related to being sick.  I was just so tired I finally gave up and went to bed in the middle of the day.  A very rare occurrence for me.  

So I am considering this month a success.  Not perfect, but life rarely is.

Opening Food Storage

We don’t keep a lot of food storage on hand, but I do have a few items for hurricane season.

I try to rotate them on a regular basis.  

This one had been lingering and I decided today would be a good day to try it —

A quick and easy dessert.

It came with 3 pouches of raspberry mix, 3 pouches of chocolate cookie crumbs, and 3 “cooking” bags.

Directions are simple.  

Open the raspberries, add boiling water, and wait 5 minutes.

It can be served hot or cold with the cookies sprinkled on top.

Since this was not an emergency situation I altered it slightly.

I poured the raspberries in a dish that has a tight fitting lid, added my boiling water, and stirred.

I put the lid on and let it sit until I was ready to serve it.

A quick dollop of whipped cream because dessert is always better with whipped cream.

My husband loved it!

I have two more packages that I will try to rotate in our meals over the next month or two.

Shopping for Personal Supplies

I spent $23.66 (including tax) on personal supplies.

I was only going to buy 1 package each of foundation sponges and cleaning pads.

However, they were having a sale.  I bought 3 and got 2 free.

Since these won’t spoil I decided to go ahead and pick them up to put aside.

The brush is to replace an old one.  

The cream hair remover is a different brand than I normally use, so time will tell if it was a waste or not.

Chapstick is for my daughter.

I did do one impulse purchase.

These were reduced to $1.89 so I picked one up to toss in my purse.

Household Shopping Expenses

My area rugs have seen their better days.  

I was able to pick up 3 kitchen rugs — one goes in the kitchen, one by the entryway, and one in the half bathroom.

(We have an open area and I like for them to match.)

I went with kitchen rugs for all three because of the price difference.

A “bathroom” rug for the half bath (which didn’t need a shower rug) was $24.99.

I replaced all three of these for $29.97

The soap holder was a need because I have finally converted all of our stuff over to supplies bought in bulk. ($16.99, which I felt was pricey, but the lower priced ones did not feel like they had last power and this one does.)

The sponge holder was to replace my current system, which just wasn’t working for me.  ($6.99)

This was my biggest expense.  

It was originally $59.99, but I was able to get it $10 off.

After almost falling backwards down the stairs vaccuuming the other day I decided enough was enough.

(My last fall down the stairs resulted in 6 months in a wheel chair.)

I’ve already tested it, and it works great.

(My regular vacuum is an upright.)

These are to replace dwindling supplies.

Bandaids were $8.99.

The Downy was $19.98, but I received a $5 gift card towards my next purchase.

Shopping Day Food Items

 

For the office my husband requested canned sodas and bottled waters.

These are for offering to clients.

Sodas were $3.99 each for a total savings of $3.96 so almost got one package free.

(The water was $1.79.)

These are for my daughter’s lunch box.

The protein bars were on sale for $6.99 (a savings of 80 cents).

Cookies were $2.89 and a special request.

I also bought 3 bottles of Skim Fairlife Milk and 1 bottle of Chocolate Fairlife Milk.

Total for milk was $13.69.

Week 4 What We Ate

Sunday — Breakfast was coffee and cheerios.  Lunch was GF chicken nuggets, tater tots, and cheese sticks.  Supper was beef tips in gravy, yellow rice, and string beans.  Yes, that was different than the menu, but my husband wasn’t at home.  We went with my usual rules of not taking anythign away from other meals.  

Monday 

The flu has hit our house or a flu like something.  I was up and down all last night with sick stomach, fever, chills, bodyaches, the works.  My daughter is going okay.  Today I have lived on dry cereal.  Even plain rice and things like that haven’t stayed down.

She had eggs, toast, and bacon.  I was asleep during lunch time, and I think she grabbed something quick from the pantry.  For supper, I heated up the rice, baked some chicken, and heated up some chickpeas.  A bland looking plate.  I thought I was feeling better, and it all sounded good to me.  Big mistake!

 Tuesday I was feeling a little better when I woke up.

Sorry about sideways photo.

I made my daughter a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich.

I had an egg and a piece of bacon.

Today was her day on campus and she ate there.  

I had half a GF tortilla with sunbutter.

By mid afternoon my head was throbbing again, but I wasn’t down.

For supper I made mac and cheese (from the menu) and my duaghter had BBQ pork with hers.

I ate a bit only to discover the pounding headache is what seems to be killing my stomach.

Ugh!

Wednesday

I woke up feeling marginally better.

My daughter ate cereal, and I opted to not eat.

Lunch was scrounge through the refrigerator.

By midday I was feeling better, but didn’t want what was on the menu.

Since it was the first time I was really hungry in days I decided to just go with it.

I fixed turkey breast filets, rice, green beans, gravy, and opened beets.

Then I cooked a yellow cake to serve with peaches.

It was all very good!

Thursday

I feel mostly human today!

Breakfast was waffles, eggs, and bacon.

Lunch was a protein shake for me, because I spent the day working on a research paper.

Supper was a “clean out fridge meal.”

Friday

Nobody wanted to really eat this morning.  

I had coffee and my daughter had some cereal.

Lunch was a protein shake for me, and my daughter ate ham biscuits.

Supper was supposed to be hamburger steak with gravy, but once again it didn’t work out where my husband could come home.

We took a vote and opted to just have burgers instead.

Saturday 

Breakfast — we made a batch of blueberry waffles and I had a protein shake.

Lunch was the two leftover burgers.

Supper was supposed to be quiche.

We kind of hand unassembled quiche.

We just cooked our eggs and bacon and had them with toast.

All in all I am pretty pleased with how the week went.  

Despite feeling horrible and switching some things around we did not pick anything up.

We stuck to items we had and tried to stick to the idea behind the menu.

Frugal Happenings Week 4

Sunday January 21st

• I washed four loads of laundry.  I hung everything to dry except my daughter’s bedding.
• I changed the menu, but used a jar of home canned beef cubes to pull together an easy meal.
• I used the pressure cooker to save on electricity.
• I washed and saved the mushroom containers to use for something else.
• I took advantage of the warm temperatures to dry the dehydrator trays outside.
• I opened a bag of coffee that was given to us.  It is a brand that is stronger than I normally like.  I played with the ratio for two days and finally ended up going at about half strength.  At least the coffee will last twice as long.  LOL
• We didn’t leave the house so no monies were spent.
• I used half a saved lemon that was looking a little long in the tooth to flavor a pitcher of water.  I drank this all day.  No wasting of the lemon and better for me.
• I opened my last package of dish washer detergent.  Fortunately with the new planner system I already have this on my February list.
• I did double sided printing on my school print outs.  I can’t avoid the costs totally, but I am trying to at minimum save on paper.
• I took advantage of Facetime to talk to someone over the WiFi.
• I watched a 30 minute show on Netflix to unwind.
• I dyed my own hair.  

Monday January 22nd

• I used reward points to help pay for an unexpected, but necessary expense.

Tuesday January 23rd

• I cancelled a summer class I ended up not needing after my transcripts were reviewed and scheduled two in its place.  Money saved in the long run on tuition.  
• I ordered a spice rack for the kitchen.  Money out, but I had noticed I was losing things in the cabinet so I am hoping to see less waste and duplication long term.
• We stuck to the menu, and I pulled some extra items from the freezer.

Wednesday January 24th

• Still not feeling well.  Easy no spend day.  I used the slow cooker to cook turkey.  Nearer supper time I was feeling better so I used some pantry items to make us dessert.
• My husband came home so I washed his laundry.  (First time in 2 weeks!) Because he had to head out in the morning I did run his clothes through the dryer.  Since I was running laundry anyway I did a second load to hang.

Thursday January 25th

• I organized my spices.
• We had a clean out refrigerator meal.
• I used scrap printer paper to scribble ideas on for a research paper I am working on.

Friday

• I ordered and had birthday gifts shipped directly.  Saving on the cost of a second postage.

Saturday

• I had to run out for milk.  We did pretty well in the planning.  I’m down to the last week and considering I used a bottle of the original six for yogurt that isn’t too bad.
• I also had a few items I needed personally and for the house, as well as a list of things my husband needed for the office.  I’ll share about these in another post.

Chatter and Organization

My class schedule is extremely full right now.  Between my two courses we will have covered 14 chapters by the end of this weekend.  The good news is I am staying so busy I don’t have time to fret about it.  I just do it and go.  The bad news is some kind of flu bug hit me last weekend, and I have been slow to bounce back.  Today is Thursday, and this is the first day I have felt human since last Saturday.   I spent most of my day working on school work, but after a while I needed a mental break.  I tackled a lingering project.  

I put this thing together and organized my shelf of extra spices.

While this wasn’t difficult to put together, I am torn about recommending it.

Time will tell how it sturdy it is.

For now I am willing to say that I like having my extras where I can get to them easily.

Before they were in a tupperware type container that I had to take down and pull through every time I needed to rotate something out of that cabinet.

The end results.

This cabinet holds all my bigger containers.  The top are unopened and the middle are in various stages of use.

As if that is not enough, these are the spices I go through quickly enough that I am willing to chance leaving them out full time.

It looks like a motley collection, but they are all used quite regularly.

Several bottles have been refilled multiple times using the contents of containers I buy from Sam’s Club.

 

Citrus Preservation

When I purchased my citrus fruit for the month I did not plan on more snow.  My husband normally comes home and helps me snack on it.  I also pack some for him to take with him.  That didn’t happen this time, but I didn’t want to let the fruit go to waste.  I love it, but I knew I couldn’t eat it fast enough to use it up in a good time frame.

I sliced and dried all  the lemons except for one to use in lemon pasta.

I sliced the last of the oranges and dried them.

I peeled and segmented the grapefruit and canned them.

I’ll use these in a couple of ways.

Lemons and Oranges:

1.  Hot teas

2.  Cold iced tea (I add to the pitcher as the bags steep.)

3.  In meat dishes such as lemon or orange chicken or to add a little zing to a grain dish.

The grapefruit can be eaten as is or added to fruit salad.  

Store Sales Papers

I took half an hour to go through all the local stores weekly sales.  (I do this online.). I’m really disappointed in general.  Makes me glad I know we are covered for a bit.

Aldi basically has a lot of processed foods on sale.  Pineapple and white mushrooms are at a pretty good price.  

Foodlion again mostly boxed/bagged items.  A lot of which I can’t use.  Plus their prices tend to be higher and I can usually find the same item less by shopping around.

Harris Teeter has eggs on sale for 97 cents a dozen with a limit of 4 dozen.  This is worth considering, but they don’t have anything else worth making the trip for.  

Publix had a lot of items I don’t use on sale.  They also tend to be on the pricey side.  A second downside with them is that I also have to send someone else in to shop for me at this store. Lidl didn’t have anything grand either.  A few things I would pick up on impulse if I were in the store, but nothing worth making a speical trip for.

Amusingly the best store around over all was Piggly Wiggly.  However, I would drive almost 45 minutes one way to get there....negating any savings since I don’t need to be in that town anyway.

Walmart has their Great Value canned veggies on sale for 38 cents per can.  Not a bad price at all, but I am well stocked. I feel comfortable in saying that I was okay with waiting on all but two of those items and really considered simply not buying anything.

However, my daugther pointed out that she needed cookies or something of the sort to take to school.  I decided if I was going to buy those I would go to Aldi.  When I was at Aldi I saw that their eggs were only 99 cents per dozen, so I picked up 3 dozen.  I also picked up 8 cartons of mushrooms to dehydrate.  

Not bad.  The eggs will carry on into next month, as will the mushrooms.

The cookies will also, but even if she and my husband munch on them I am okay with that.

I’m not sure I could make them for much less and even if I could I just don’t have the time right now.

As for the mushrooms, 8 packages filled the entire dehydrator.

The finished product:

 

Frugal Happenings Week 3

Sunday — My brother gave me a bag of venison that I am adding to our freezer inventory list. I think I will probably cook it for a weekend lunch in the next week or two. I washed and hung a load of clothes to dry. I cooked a chicken casserole, using the oven heat to help warm the house.  (We’ve dropped back down to below freezing again at night.)

Monday —  It was a cold day.  I used the oven to bake two cakes and to bake fries.  This helped by providing extra heat.  (I put one cake in the freezer for later.)   I checked the refrigerator to see what needed using up.  I determined the kale needed cooking, and that I had some zucchini that needed cooking.  The kale went in the pressure cooker with 1 cup of water.  I cooked it on high and did a QPR.  (Quick pressure release).  I’ll add this to my meals this week.

The zucchini went in the pressure cooker with dried onions, bell pepper, and mushrooms.  

I added some water, beef bouillon, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, and some Italian seasonings.

I let them pressure cook for 30 minutes on the soup function — basically high for 30 minutes.

When this was done I use the immersion blender to blend it.

I stirred in a can of tomato sauce to thicken it a little more, added some black pepper, and simmered it for a few minutes.

This sauce went into the freezer in bags for future use.

Tuesday —

The man came to put the gutters up.  While he was here he hung my menu board for me.  I’m finding the menu board to be great because I don’t have to think about meals while I am so busy.  At bed time I take out anything I need for the next day and transfer to the refrigerator if need be.  This wasn’t a no spend day but his labor was well worth the expense.

Wednesday —

Home all day working on computer assignments.  I had to order one supplemental textbook.  $28 out the door, but I did put an add-on of pens I needed, which were cheaper on Amazon than locally.  Some good in most things if you look hard enough.  

Ran the dryer in the morning to take care of towels and to help heat up the upstairs some.  I sliced lemons and put them in the dehydrator.  The extra heat won’t hurt, and we love lemon slices added to tea.

Thursday — 

We got up to snow.  I checked the lemons, and they weren’t quite ready so I put them back on.

While I was in the kitchen, I canned 5 pints of grapefruit slices.

When the lemons were finished, I took stock of the last three oranges and decided to dry them, too.

Friday —

We used up the last of some lingering hot dog buns for my daughter’s lunch.

Saturday —

I did what little shopping I was going to do.

I’ll share a post about that called Store Sales Papers.

 

What We Ate Week 3

Sunday — Breakfast was waffles for the crowd and a protein shake for me.  For lunch everyone fended for themselves with what was available.   Supper was supposed to be chicken pot pie, but I had a box of GF stuffing mix that I wanted to use up.  I made my usual filling and topped it with the stuffing.  (I cooked larger than we needed with plans for leftovers to go with my husband this week.)

Monday

Breakfast was cheese toast, eggs, and turkey bacon.  This was the last of my homemade bread from the freezer.  The rest of the loaf was sliced to go with my husband to have with his meals for this week. 

 (He took homemade yogurt, some waffles, fruit, casserole, and a variety of other things.)   Because of the freezing weather we decided my husband would leave early.  We opted to do the burgers we had planned for supper for lunch instead.  (Burgers, fries, buns, and baked beans). Supper was a kind of a fend for yourself — CORD — meal.  We baked a cake using a GF mix I had in my cabinet.

Sorry for the sideways photo.  I baked two GF cakes — mini bundt pans that equal about the equivalent of one layer each of a two layer cake.  One for this week — split into slices to go with lunches — and one for the freezer for later.

Tuesday 

Breakfast — protein shake for me and an egg/bacon sandwich for my daughter.

(Somehow I only ended up with an in process photo.)

Lunch — daugther was on campus and took a protein bar. 

I had homemade yogurt.

Supper was Cajun Dirty Rice.

I altered a recipe in this book to suit our tastes.Soooooo good!

(I cut the recipe in half thinking we would still have leftovers, but there is barely any left.)

Wednesday 

More snow in the forecast so I am glad I have chili on the menu.

Breakfast — coffee for me and an egg/sausage/cheese roll for my daughter.

(I used up two lingering buns over the last two days.)

Chili

Baked potatoes with Chili and the last of the kale

Thursday — We got up to snow.

We went with waffles for breakfast. 

Daughter was on campus for lunch, and I had leftover chili.

Tacos were on the menu for supper.

I had a little leftover turkey that I mixed in with the beef.

I sent some with my sister for an easy supper for them and put some aside in the freezer for my husband for next week.

We had fresh fruit later in the evening as a snack rather than having a side with our tacos.

I had intended to cook rice, but didn’t.

Friday — 

Breakfast was waffles.

For lunch my daughter wanted “just a sandwich” and nothing else.

I had two hot dog buns lingering.

They served as the base for bacon and cheese sandwiches.

I ate bacon, fruit, and cheese.

Supper was vegetarian — baked lemon pasta with veggies for sides.

(Menu change since my husband wasn’t going to be home.)

In general I’ve accomplished a couple of things this week.

We have finished off two partial bags of coffee, finished off two partial bags of buns, taken and used some items from the freezer, used up some pantry goods, and preserved some citrus foods.  We’ve stuck to the menu in spirit with the exception of one night, and life has to be flexible some times.  I’ll just move that meal forward or have it one day for a lunch when my husband is home.

As of Friday night, I literally had no leftovers in the refrigerator other than a couple of waffles that we will have for breakfast Saturday morning, which is a really good feeling.

(Saturday update -- 

Breakfast was waffles, lunch was a protein shake because we were on the road, and supper was cereal.  We had company and got side tracked.  However, they had all snacked on doughnuts so I just settled for a bowl of Cheerios.)

Utility Bills — Good, Bad, and Downright Ugly

Last month I was very frustrated to see that my utility bill had crept up to $212.  My target goal for this bill is $200.  It includes electricity, water, sewer, and trash pick up.  (None of which I can opt out of.)  My electric bill arrived in yesterday’s mail.  

THE GOOD

I’m excited to say I’ve managed to get it back down a lot closer to my target.

I did this through a combination of turning down the heat another two degrees, using the pressure cooker whenever possible, and only running the dryer for towels and bedding.  I’ve also limited my baking except for on days when the temperatures made it advantageous to bake.  (Running my stove uses less electricity than my heating system simply because we have an open floor plan, and I cannot shut off rooms.)

Now for 

THE BAD

The bill for where my husband stays during the week came.

It went up $74...almost doubling.  

This doesn’t include his water or sewer.

(Trash pick up is not available.)

His comparable total would be $218.  

Sigh....

He’s agreed to keep a better eye on it.

THE

DOWNRIGHT UGLY

We have had snow twice and colder than normal temperatures for all of this month.

While I have been monitoring things here, I am still expecting a higher than normal bill.

I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been watching things carefully there so I have no clue what to expect from that bill.

I know it is a balancing game because there are spring and fall months where I can keep it lower, but I just hate to see them creep up.

Link to 18 Ways to Use Whey

18 Ways to Use Whey

Just sharing in case anyone decides to try making their own yogurt.  I like that this showcases ways to avoid wasting the whey.

Baked Lemon Pasta

Friday night found us staring at the menu.  The meal had been planned around something my husband really likes, something I am okay with, and something my daughter isn’t crazy about.  When we found out — thanks to snow and temps — that he wasn’t coming home, we opted to change the menu.  My self imposed rule was that I had to use things I had on hand, but not detract from other planned meals. We decided to try Pioneer Woman’s Baked Lemon Pasta.  The original recipe is here.   Of course, I made quite a few changes because I am using what is on hand, using ingredients we like/can eat, and because some of the ingredients were pricey. So my changes were:

1. I cut the recipe in half right from the start.
2. I used gluten free rotini pasta from Aldi.
3. I used my homemade (thick) Greek yogurt instead of sour cream -- the experiment part of the meal.
4. I used the bottled sprinkle parm.  (I know, but it is what I had on hand and shredded parm is pricey so I don’t keep it on hand.)
5. I added margarine, garlic powder and a touch of onion powder — per daughter’s preferences.
6. I sprinkled dried parsley on before I baked it.

The results were a lemony, fresh tasting pasta.  Reminds me of an Alfredo sauce.  This is actually very good.  

Cold Start Yogurt

Over last weekend I made Greek style yogurt for our family using the IP.  I didn’t want to share the post until I knew how it went over.

This is it straining because I wanted it thick.

One bottle of this milk and 1 heaping tablespoon of starter yogurt (Aldi brand Greek)

yielded:

2 1/2 pint jars full and 3/4 of a jar of whey

The yogurt is very tart and just the way I like it.

I used it for a sour cream replacement, in potato salad for a quick lunch, as a base for a ranch style dressing,  and as a breakfast food.

The whey went into my baking.

(My husband took 1 jar with him.)

It doesn’t get any easier to make.

Make sure your Instant Pot liner is sterilized.  

Pour in cold milk.

(It needs to be ultra pasteurized.  Aldi brand organic in the red carton will work. 

I’ll try to remember to get a future photo.)

Whisk in a heaping tablespoon of starter.

Hit the yogurt button, cover, and let count down for 8 hours.

(Normal setting.) 

If you want to make yogurt with other milks you will need to follow the more traditional method.

Links for ideas:

Cold Start Yogurt

Traditional Yogurt Recipes