Sunday, April 9, 2023

Frugal week


 I stepped out on the front porch to what Charlotte was barking at, must have been a rabbit. I thought this "just before" the sun came up looked great.

Since we are expanding the garden we made a list of what we need.  Hubby looked it up and ball park figure was $2500 with taxes. We watched for sales and got it all for $1408.10. That included onion sets and the majority of plants and seeds for the pollinator gardens. I will have to completely redo the herb garden but I knew that last year and have been putting $$ back for that.

I am watching sales as 26 of the 32 beds need replace  with in the next year. I am buying metal beds when I find them on sale. Not looking for everything to match or like that.

The hall humidifier and the front room humidifier are off and unplugged. 

We have ate from home the whole week. Even though Hubby said he almost called when he was getting fuel for the work truck and ask if I wanted gas station pizza at $11. It's decent pizza. He decided not to even offer to be supportive of our(ok, mostly MY) choice to focus on getting perennials in and then getting the mortgage paid off as quick as possible. 

Our waffle maker died... we held off replacing it, waiting to see if we missed waffles. The second time I bought Eggo waffles , we agreed to buy a new waffle maker. Now I have to figure out a homemade waffle mix as I am trying to wean Hubby from Bisquick. Though I will admit I like it for cheddar biscuits.

Since it is light out longer, we are not turning the lamps on until an hour later.

I planted apple mint in the one grow tower and orange mint in the other. I am not sure where I want them yet so this will work.

I planted 4 varieties of dwarf peas in hanging baskets. I can't remember where I saw it at but they looked good so I decided to try it. 

On the 8th , I told Hubby I figured out my "work" for the month so I wouldn't trigger anything. April has 30 days minus the 8 days already past, minus 4 Sundays, 2 Tuesdays that are appts/ errands and 2 days to go visit the kids and his parents. Leaves 14 days for work. I have 28 "work items" on my list so I need to do 2 a day. Maybe I will be frugal with my time???

Prayers for peace

Blessed Be


 


What I do with what I grow

 We eat it fresh through the season. DO you know how tempting it was just say" EAT IT"??? 😋 I needed the laugh.

  I can (water bath canner and pressure canner), freeze, and dehydrate for when not in season. 

I used to "store" 2 yrs. of food. During the pandemic I ended up way too low after helping kids, grandkids and a couple friends. Two of the kids are now growing small gardens. 

Hubby told me to aim for 3 yrs. (I do first in , first out) this time as we have 3 that might not get paid (but still have to report to work ) if the debt ceiling doesn't get taken care of. Been there and done that the last time that happened. AND 2 that are having female surgeries this summer.

Heart.org says you should eat 4 servings of fruit and 5 servings of veggies a day per person. What I usually serve is 1/2 cup servings. That is 2 pints of fruit and 2 1/2 pints of veggies a DAY for the two of us.

That's 730 pints of fruit and 912 1/2 pints of veggies for a year.

 In my case I can 1460 pints of fruit (we don't eat the same fruit 2 days in a row) and 1825 pints of veggies for us for 2 yrs. 

That is not counting  the pints of, jam, jelly , fruit butter, pickles, relish, pie filling (for pancakes, French toast, waffles, cakes and ice cream), salsa, tomato sauce, whole tomatoes, or broths.

That's not counting the quarts of meat, beans, broth, soups, pasta sauce, tomato juice, grape juice. Or half pints of jams, pickled onions, pizza sauce and that types of things. 

Hubby asking for 3 yrs. Would be 2190 pints of fruit (minus what ever is left in the pantry) and 2737.5 pints of veggies (minus what ever is left in the pantry)

Since I freeze and dehydrate along with canning and I have large canners I can handle the increase. Plus he has no problem using the burner to the 3 turkey fryers to heat the water bath canners or sitting in the swing while watching them and timing them. Been and done that 5 yrs ago.

I would say most people don't think about how much they buy of anything when it's not done by season. MIL just told me Saturday that FIL asked why they have a case of green beans and a case of corn. She told him it would last 3 months... he didn't realize they ate one of week of each.