Menu plan ...still on Pantry Challenge

We are still eating mostly from the pantry. Starting today and for the next 8 days we have talked ourselves out of eating out several times and I imagine the conversation with continue.

Today we are celebrating Chinese New Year. No we are not Chinese.
Everything is coming from the pantry. Pot stickers, Thai Basil Turkey lettuce wraps, Peking pork chops with Soba noodles, Traditional Mandarin fried rice, stir fry of cauliflower,broccoli,carrot, mushrooms and onion in a garlic ginger sauce, Mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, miniature marshmallows in Greek Vanilla yogurt and of course fortune cookies.

Tomorrow is Clean Monday, the first day of Lent if you are Greek Orthodox ( No we are not again). Still I will do the home blessing (www.flylady.net) and we will have Pasta e Fagioli, salad and oatmeal bread I baked on Friday.

Tuesday is Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gra/Shrove Tuesday. (Hubby sort of does Lent, I support him) I will be fixing Jambalaya in the slow cooker and Smoked sausage. I will BUY a King Cake.

Wednesday is the 1st of Lent. Tuna patties, mushroom and onion stew over mashed potatoes, salad. All from pantry

Thursday is Valentine's day, stuffed pasta shells, salad, garlic bread and Berries and Champagne cream. I will probably do an appetizer of brie cheese, apple slices on cinnamon bread or crackers.

Friday is Lent Friday...so it's fish (this is definitely Hubby) So I will either do the fish fillet in the freezer or salmon patties (canned in the pantry), boiled potatoes with butter  and peas and an apple pie.

Saturday we will be celebrating our anniversary early since it falls during the week. I have steak and lobster tail in the freezer. Baked sweet potato and California blend(homemade  version) and a marble (yellow and chocolate)cake for dessert (cake in freezer).

Sunday will be red bean soup (leftovers to be used in red  beans and rice later in week), fried potatoes and corn bread

Monday our actually anniversary will be pork chops, hash browns, fried eggs, waffles with fruit topping,and oj. Guess I should figure out a couple of veggies to go with it, might end up being V8 fusion as I do have some of it in the pantry.

Blessed be

Baking day

For the past two weeks I have planned to have a baking day but never got the time or had the energy. This morning I got up and thought it was time.

I pulled all the recipes that I had made notes on that I wanted to do, then pulled all the ingredients and pans that was needed. Set up my stations, ingredients in the kitchen, cooling racks on dining table with the final product wrapped on a 6 ft card table in the front room.

I quit at dinner time with the last thing coming out of the oven was the pizza crusts for dinner. I did not get done but tomorrow is another day.I wrapped the evening with making sure all the dishes were washed and tomorrow's recipes together and the ingredients set so I can start right back in. By time I am done I shouldn't have to bake again for a couple months, unless we become little pigs and eat it all this month. Done that before also.

Today I made

2 loaves of oatmeal bread from scratch (freeze 1)

6 strawberry muffins from a mix (freeze 4)

6 apple cinnamon muffins from a mix with apples added to it (freeze 4)

6 triple berry muffins from a mix (freeze 4)

12 blueberry muffins from a mix (freeze 8)

2-8 inch rounds of yellow chocolate marble cake (1 to eat now, the other for the freezer)

cranberry orange scones from a mix (made 8 scones, freeze 6)

cream tea scones with apples added to the mix (made 8 scones, freeze 6)

oatmeal blackberry scones from scratch (made 8 scones, freeze 6)

2 pizza crusts from scratch for dinner.

February is a sad month for me

Even though Hubby and my anniversary this month, I still struggle to find joy during this month. Part of it is I have SAD, not good when you live in a state that has a low level of sunny days. Plus I lost my late husband during this month and I spent Valentine's day at the lawyer's office dealing with his negative estate. I do get excited about ordering the garden seeds and trying to start a few of the tomato plants myself (which usually bomb but I still try). 

So this time I decided to find something every day to make me smile.

Today I went to the grocery store. I love grocery shopping as much as I love cooking (good thing since I am a personal chef, I do not love cleaning up after myself or anyone else). Better I got several good buys. I spent 1/3rd of the month's grocery budget and figure we won't need anything other than milk, bread and eggs. Saved 25% of what I spent with matching coupons with sales and using my digital coupons loaded to my grocery rewards card. SCORE.

I bought 2 turkeys and a pork loin that was on sale, 90 % of what I did buy was veggies and fruits, most of it in season with a couple out of season for recipes we decided to try. I did buy 9 boxes of cereal which I don't normally buy cereal, but Hubby asked for some cereal and then asked me to make rice crispy treats but use Cheerios. His coworker brought some in and he liked them. I had coupons and matched the sales so I got all 9 boxes for less than a dollar a piece. I doubt if I will eat any of it for bfast but I will grab a bowl of cereal for a snack mid-afternoon.

I put veggies and fruit away in an organized way so what needs used first is in the front and what can wait until a week or so is in the back. Focusing on no more food in the back of the frig for science projects.

I decluttered the kitchen frig freezer and restocked it with bfast foods.In doing so, realized that we had more bread than I thought so I  don't plan to buy any more until we have this supply gone.

The frigs are organized that I can put together a simple lunch or snack for myself. I've always kept Hubby's lunch items together, apples and such in a drawer, his yogurt above it. Why in the world I thought I wasn't worth the same consideration, I have yet to figure out.

Flylady over at www.flylady.net has announced that February's habit is 15 minutes of decluttering each day. So I spent 15 minutes decluttering my canning area in my basement and realized I have no foil in the back up storage. Figures that I would run completely out when I fixed dinner. Guess I will be going back to the store for foil.

I am continuing to eat from the pantry, trying to pull at least 1-2 canned goods each day from what was my Mother's pantry. Tonight I used the rice I fixed yesterday to make chicken and rice casserole. Used the chicken I prepped yesterday also and a can of mushroom soup from Mother's pantry. Grabbed a jar of jam from her pantry also to go with the biscuits I baked. Fresh broccoli (bought today) along with cottage cheese( bought today), applesauce and beets from my own pantry. I pulled a can of peaches from Mother's pantry and put them in the frig. Tomorrow for bfast I can have the peaches with the yogurt and granola I have.

What makes you smile?

Blessed Be Juls

Feb 3rd GOD's Day of Rest

I am one of those that struggles with resting. I try to picture GOD on Saturday night. He looks and sees what he has done all week and what still needs to be done. He says "this is good" and takes a day of rest....key words ...good ... not perfect and not even great...simply good; the other word is rest.

What is rest? I don't think it's running to the stores to shop, playing catch up on the house cleaning and laundry, or slaving away in the kitchen all day.I don't think it's doing all the paperwork that has sat all week either.

So what is rest? According to Webster dictionary, part of the definition is the following:

Freedom from activity or labor.....Okay that is pretty well clear, couch here I come for napping...

Peace of mind or spirit....That's not always clear especially if you are sitting them free from the activity or labor and you see everything that still needs done...

This is when I ask myself  "is it good?"

I did spend some time in the kitchen today, I made a large pot of rice as I am making fried rice for dinner tonight( chicken stir fry, fried rice and pot stickers all from pantry) and a casserole with rice later this week. I had enough left for me to have rice, dried cranberries and warm milk or cream for a snack a couple times.Cook once use for at least 2 meals.

After I was done cleaning up after cooking it I thought I should have made it yesterday to  have freedom from activity or labor of the meal today.Some Amish that I grew up with do not cook on this day but serve cold foods or something simple such as soup or popcorn,apples and grape juice.

I remember my aunt always serving cold fried chicken, potato salad, cole slaw, applesauce and pickles or pickled beets.

I am going to try to start practicing that. Either something cold or something simple such as soup, crock pot meal, or a meal in the oven prepped the night before for Sundays and leave the dishes for Monday morning and treasure GOD's day of rest

Groundhog's day

He might be forecasting an early spring here in Ohio but it's pretty nasty outside today.

I spent the day giving the 1st floor (it's the main living areas) a good cleaning. Haven't did much more than a kiss and promise since Christmas with Hubby and me both sick since then.

I fixed a steak and split it between us, neither of us eat as much as we used to before getting sick,might try to keep that as a habit...the eating less not the being sick.

Opened a can of potatoes and a can of corn from the canned goods that was Mother's. Sliced up some fresh mushrooms to go with it and called it dinner.

Thawed some chicken breast. There was several in the package and they were frozen together. I freeze my separately so I don't have to use the whole package but I don't turn food away. I prepped 3 meals out of it for this week.

Going to call it a night and do some pleasure reading.

Blessed be

The start of February

We are under a winter weather advisory for the next couple days. I checked the groceries out of habit. We had just decided 2 days ago we didn't need to go until Tuesday when we would be already in town.

We had sausage that I mixed in with canned potatoes, eggs and canned sausage gravy as a skillet meal. I served toast with it and added apples on the side for fruit. The canned goods came from Mother's pantry and the rest from our own.

Today we ate leftovers and canned fruit (again from Mother's pantry). Friday is our piece day if hubby doesn't work the weekend. Good day to use up leftovers.

I finished going through my Mother's stuff we had brought home, kept what I would use (which was less than what I wanted to keep) and divided out the rest between my 3 children.

Thoughts rolled around as I washed 6...yes 6 Tupperware containers for  veggie trays. She wasn't using them, they were buried where she could no longer get to them.  

So here's my thought...it's frugal to take care of what you have,but if you aren't using what you have you are no longer frugal but a spendthrift wasting your time (housekeeping and maintenance) and money (especially if you have to rent a storage unit). As I scrubbed the bottom of her pots and pans, I can remember her lectures of if you don't keep the bottoms of your pots and pans clean, it takes longer for the heat to reach the food and cook it so you are wasting energy. So true but somewhere along the line she stopped caring if she was wasting energy.Still these pans are over 55 yrs old and still in great shape so I will be using them. I already pulled my old ones to pass on to one of my kids.She has have that set already anyways.

Have a Blessed Day

Lessons I have learned from the Pantry Challenge

Lessons I have learned from the Pantry Challenge.

  If I tell Hubby it has to come from the pantry he doesn't walk around the store and do the "oh,look, let's try this" line with me.

 We had to make a run to the store today to get more supplies for the cookies I was doing for Operation Thank You to send to the deployed troops. I ran out of brown sugar anyways. Lesson learned, I don't stock brown sugar after Christmas baking is done. I need to put back a Cookie fund for the times I bake for OTY.

 I need to do more baking of our breads. I've gotten lazy in this area even though most of everything else is made from scratch.

I need to focus on eating more of our squash.

We saved more money than I thought we would and used it in areas that we would have struggled to get the money around.

Both of us has been sick and neither of us felt like cooking. I need to prep some meals for those times and keep that in stock.

We have decided to do the Pantry Challenge during February to use up what canned goods came from my Mother's pantry. It will be interesting because there is plenty of canned gravy and we don't really eat that much gravy. Probably will have "blue plate specials" to use it up. And that statement of "blue plate specials" just showed my age. Oh well...SMILE

Been dealing with a horrible migraine for 2 days so calling it a nite

Blessed Be

Day 28 of Pantry Challenge.

Jessica over at goodcheapeats http://goodcheapeats.com/2013/01/pantry-challenge-link-up-4/ has decided to end the Pantry Challenge today.

Like me, she actually started in December. Check out her blog for how she has done.

 I saved 50% of what we normally spend. We ended up adding non-food and eating out into the total also so we really did good. We cut down eating out by 50% also and I can actually say except for the Chinese Buffet I haven't missed it until I got sick. I always crave fast food when I am sick...figures that's when I can eat it anyways.

 We spent the savings on garden seed and some other odds and ends we would have been scrimping to pay. I even bought some foaming hand soap from Back and Body that Ree over at Pioneer Woman had talked about for myself as a birthday present. Better late than never I thought.

 As for the Pantry Challenge, Hubby and I have decided to go at least until the end of February. We decided this on the following reasons: 
  #1, we will save enough money to finish paying for the garden supplies.

  #2 we will be able to clean the pantry without moving a lot of food in March/April when I do the spring cleaning.

 #3 we won't be wasting our resources buy throwing away food that went bad because it wasn't eaten.

 The last reason really hit home this weekend when my step brother and I cleaned out our parents pantry. By today we counted up the food that had went bad and realized that my kids and their families (total of 21) could have been fed for 2 weeks with what we threw out.

That makes me very sad because our parents didn't have money to waste like that. I do understand that they forgot what they had because nothing was organized and it was all shoved in different cabinets and some was even in boxes and sacks in bedrooms and the hallways. What was still good I have split between my kids and us.

So now I have more in my pantry than I did when we started the pantry challenge...Guess that is reason #4.

We are going to think about some RULES for ourselves for the Pantry Challenge in February.

 Tonight is leftovers or smoked sausage and mac and cheese if Hubby decided to cook because I have had a horrible migraine since last night and it isn't going away. Have a good day. Blessed Be

Day 26 and 27 of Pantry challenge

Yesterday we spent the whole day across state to our parents. We ate bfast on the road, Subway steak,egg and cheese on flat bread , we worked through lunch at my step dad's trailer with my step brother. Since Mom died in Nov I've been doing what I can to help get the trailer around so my stepbrother can live with my step dad who has Alzheimer's. For dinner we ran through a Mc D's drive thru so we could see my brother for a few minutes before he left Dad's. Not a very healthy day for the menu.

We did clear out Mother's pantry. The shame of it is we had to throw away enough food that would have fed my daughter's family of 9 for 2 weeks. BUT that's not all. My step brother kept enough groceries to feed him and Pop for 2 months. We brought home enough canned goods to fill the bed of our full size truck. I've sorted out the canned goods and split it between us and the kids. Still our share (which was basically what the kids won't eat, can't figure out why none of them eats beets.) filled 2 shelves in the butler's pantry. We will use that up before going back to use our own.

Today was leftover steak,egg and cheese on flat bread, we just snacked for lunch and dinner was the odds and ends of leftovers in the frig.

Day 24 and 25 Pantry Challenge, running low of favorite tea.

I side tracked last night after dinner dishes was done to work on a puzzle we are doing as a gift for another family member.

 We had the meat loaf from the deep freezer, mashed potatoes (potatoes were bought in Nov for Tday dinner) and corn from the deep freezer.Bread, butter and jam rounded out the meal.

 I pulled a container out of the freezer in the mudroom frig. I could tell it have chicken pieces and carrots and potatoes, other then that I was clueless as to what it was. This morning I checked it, it was thawed enough to transfer to casserole dish. I think it's what was left from chicken and dumplings but I don't know what it has potatoes in it if it is.

 Oh well, right now it's in a casserole dish to warm for dinner tonight, I will add bread, butter and jam or apple butter to go with it, maybe cottage cheese,applesauce and beets. I might make a fruit crisp to go with it also. Depends on the puzzle.

 I had a friend ask me what was my point of doing the pantry challenge, I wasn't really going without anything. I am but I just don't acknowledge it because I know how to substitute pretty well in the kitchen. That was knowledge that I had before becoming a personal chef.

We ran out of chips and we are low on chocolate bars. Those are hubby's two junk foods. He eats peanut butter on his chocolate bars before going to work.I got him 2 small bags of chips at Aldi's the other day and that's all until next month.

I am running out of my favorite flavored tea. I have enough for 2 more tea pots. I've been tossing in some home made teas from my herbs.

 I have an herb and spice pantry of over 100 different kinds.My apple mint that I also use for tea is real low and my plant died so I am really having to be careful of how often I use it until I get a new plant in and producing.

 I am out of some types of pasta.I am out of some types of rice.I am out of chuck roast and don't have any roasting chickens.I am out of sub buns, hot dog buns, ciabatta bread and Texas toast garlic bread.
Because there is only the two of us I put our breads in the freezer and only pull out what we need as we need it. I do bake, I used to make all of our bread except for one loaf of sliced bread a month. We don't eat bread as much now days.

I am out of tomato sauce and fire roasted tomatoes that I make tomato bisque out of. Need to plant more tomato plants this year.

I am low on some dried fruits that Hubby favors and he has acknowledged that he is going to have to use the others up. YEP, he asked for them and then hasn't used them. He adds them to his yogurt for his lunch/snack at work.

I am out of eggrolls, I use that for lunch a lot of times or snacks. I am almost out of  pot stickers, that hubby likes for snacks when he isn't working.

I am out of Italian green beans until the season comes back in. Yes I noted to plant more of that type of bean.

There are bare spots in the pantry, in the freezers and in the frigs. That's okay. In fact I changed where I stored a couple things.

I used the last of the onions we raised last year. So I will have to buy onions until next fall...so I need to plant more than I did last year.

I don't look at the grocery ads. I don't go to the store for milk or bread, hubby does that because he drives past the local small store on his way home from work and he gets just exactly what I say we need. If he sees a good sale and thinks I might be interested he will call and ask...not just buy like I would.

I am using things that would have sat longer if not got used at all. I don't want to use up the favorites and then be stuck eating a bunch "why in the world did I buy this" type of food.

I know we have eaten out or bought take out food 4 times since Jan 1st. I know tomorrow we will eat out also. So my thoughts are on that is 5 times in 31 days (as I know we will eat home the rest of the time). That is half of what we have been eating out. So that money has been saved and we have ate healthier also which helps when we both got the flu and I got 2 different flues.

My goal for next month is to do the Pantry challenge again, to drop the eating out down to 2 or 3. I would just say 2 but Valentine's day and our anniversary is in Feb and if I say 2 then I will feel bad if it is 3. Since we didn't eat my birthday dinner and it's in the freezer maybe I will talk Hubby into just eating it instead of us going out.

I know I need to make some pizza crusts for the freezer for those times it's "I want a pizza".

Puzzle calls,

Blessed be
Juls

Day 23 Pantry challenge and grocery store

Felt better today, not well but better.

 With the weather forecast saying it's going to get worse we made a small grocery list of perishables we needed. I checked the grocery budget and realized with eating from the pantry this month that not only was I able to order half of our garden seeds but I could buy ingredients to make cookies for Operation Thank You to send to the deployed soldiers.

I don't keep cookie making ingredients on hand, flour yes but that is about it because we don't eat many cookies...well we would but we over do it when we do. I don't buy store bought cookies very often either. We do make over 100 dozen cookies for the kids and grandkids and Operation Thank You at Christmas time.

So today while at the store I got our perishables, about $10 worth, some personal items, dogs treats and the cookie dough ingredients. AND still had money left in the food budget.

I pulled canned corned beef from the pantry, plopped it in a casserole dish, topped it with what was left of the jar of kraut in the frig to nuke in the microwave for dinner. I will top it with the shredded Swiss cheese I pulled from the freezer and serve it on the deli rye bread that was in the freezer also.  I will serve it with cottage cheese, pickled beets and applesauce. The standard 3 things that is usually on the table, some times it's pickles instead of beets.

While out in the garage I pulled a meatloaf out of the deep freezer to thaw for tomorrow.

If we hadn't been eating from the pantry this month I wouldn't have had the garden seed like I did and I definitely wouldn't have been able to  buy ingredients to make cookies for our deployed soldiers. Just a little reminder to myself of what I can do when I manage our resources better

Day 22 Pantry challenge

tea and popcorn from the new air popper hubby bought me for Christmas.

Yep that's what I had for dinner. Back to being sick and that's what I was craving. At least this morning I made us cream of Wheat for bfast.

Hubby had chili that I had canned last month with Fritos and he talked of buying potato chips before the end of the month. I think I am not the only one craving them along with peach gummy rings...thanks to Ree over at Pioneer Woman.

Going to make more tea and call it a night. Tomorrow is another day.

Stay warm and stay safe

Blessed Be Juls

Day 21 Pantry Challenge.

10 more days this month, plenty of food , plenty of fresh produce.

10 more days until I get grocery money. Potato chips, I am craving potato chips.

10 more MONTHS of food in the pantry/freezer...but not enough potato chips....

I vacuumed bagged shredded pork and ham slices and ham chunks. Which means there are now 8 more meals in the freezer.

 Have different broths in the frig for the fat to harden for me to de-fat tomorrow and can the broth. I will strain the fat into ice cube trays and freeze it then bag it when it's frozen (and LABEL). That shout was at myself for not labeling another batch. I had to melt a cube and taste it to figure out what it was.

Tonight I cooked green beans and diced potato and ham chunks together. As a child this would have been the meal Mother put on the table with corn bread. But hubby grew up on the farm with beef and pork always in the freezer so he isn't satisfied with that type of dish so I grilled ham and cheese sandwiches to go with it. He was happy. Tomorrow I will have the leftover green beans with leftover corn bread for lunch.

I can tell you now with the weather we are having right now that we will be having chili that I canned last month for dinner tomorrow. I just looked at our weather gauge (we live on a farm in the boonies) and the wind chill is a minus 25.

I will be doing some baking tomorrow. Good way to help keep the house warm by using the oven.

Stay safe, stay warm.

Blessed Be
Juls

Day 19 and Day 20

Yesterday when Hubby got home he fixed pancakes for brunch. But come dinner time neither of us felt like eating let along cooking. So we did a run to Wendy's. He got a sandwich and I ended up sharing part of my sandwich and fries with the 2 dogs. I would say we haven't recovered from the flu yet.

 Last night I ordered the first half of my seeds and plants for my gardens. It was a great feeling because I used the money we saved from the grocery budget and we aren't robbing Peter to pay Paul or waiting for what little tax refund we get.

 The thought that crossed my mind was if we eat from the pantry the rest of the year I might actually be ahead financially...on the down side of that is I will still have to replace the pantry.

 Tonight we have left over pasta from the other night so I am adding onions,bell peppers, mushrooms, black olives and pepperoni and some pizza sauce and topping it with pizza cheese for pizza spaghetti as my youngest used to call it.

 So we are back to eating from the pantry with the goal to be able to order the rest of the garden or at least part of it with in 2 weeks. Enjoy the day. Blessed be Juls

Day 18 Pantry challenge and life style choices

Today is my birthday. Happiness in that I am older,( can't wait to turn 56 so when the kids call me an old crone, I can say YES I AM)the bills are paid, there is a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food in the pantry and GOD in my heart. Even though I am sick with the flu, I am happy that I am HOME and not in the hospital like so many others. I also am still, birthday and sick going to have to do the laundry, pick up the house and make dinner.

Today I pulled pasta from the pantry, a can of tomato puree from the pantry, a garlic bulb from the garlic basket and will add some basil leaves from the plant that is struggling to survive in the planter on the dining table.There are mushrooms and broccoli in the frig. I have flat bread in the frig also so I might make a bruschetta just because it is my birthday. There is prosciutto in the freezer that I can top it with along with fresh basil, olive oil, and a little bit of shredded provolone cheese. Even with thinking what to take from the pantry that I acknowledge my kids call Mom's grocery store. I am thinking of how to make what I have last the longest possible time and yet eat well.

To me my pantry is not just come canned goods in a cabinet (on in my house on shelving units in the basement or under furniture depending on the house at the time). It's a life style.

It's a life style that reflects the importance of putting food on the table for my family (whether they are living with me or not) in good times and bad when there is no money for groceries.That choice comes from growing up without enough food and going hungry after my parents were divorced and Mom didn't handle the finances very well.

It's a lifestyle of choosing to buy $20 of groceries that can make a week's worth of food(not always balanced but filled the tummies at the table) or a delivery of pizza or fast food drive thru for one meal.

It's a lifestyle of gardening and processing that food for the pantry even when I had no place to grow anything. Containers on the porch and in front of windows during the winter and farmers markets and even the grocery stores when things were in season and cheap.

It's making food last and not wasting.It's using the little tiny bits that aren't worth a meal and turning them into casseroles, soups or in pasta or rice dishes. Or as hubby does, in to beans or eggs.

My dad who grew up during the Great Depression told me I was too frugal in my kitchen. I would be a match for his grandmother. To me that was high praise as she not only fed herself but her childrens' children and neighbors in the small community they lived in the foothills of the Appalachians in southern Ohio.

It's hoarding when you don't eat it and it goes to waste, it's a pantry when you do eat it and it doesn't go to waste.

It's making plan overs for the left overs.

It takes thought and sometimes more time then you want to give.I would rather sit and figure out how to make the food last then watch a show or movie on tv. I would rather read a cookbook than watch tv also.

But think about this..

take 40% of your grocery money and throw it directly in to the trash can...think I am crazy? The average family of 4 throws away 40% of the food they buy in a month...SAME THING.

Buy 20 lbs of potatoes and toss them in the trash can....WHAT? The average person tosses 20 lbs of food in the trash each month.

On the average of a 4 person family, $2,275 a year of food goes in the trash. That is around $189.58 cents a month.

I had some families take pictures of food left on the plates after each meal and pictures of what they threw away that went bad in the frig,freezer and pantry. Only one family had less than a plastic grocery bag of waste and it was going to the compost pile. Which means there was no meat, meat by products or oil/fats in it. The others...well lets just say that they now wrap the leftovers on their children's plates for snacks that they always ask for later and soups, casseroles etc are now served a couple times a week. The best news was the one family went from $1000 a month for groceries (no non-food) to $400 a month for groceries and was able to fully stock the freezer they were able to buy with the extra money.

If you lost your job TODAY, would you have food to serve your family a month from now WITHOUT government assistance or the local food pantry?

When we moved here, my youngest was worried we would go without food because the only thing she saw in my pantry cupboard was pickles and beets. Bills were high due to medical bills and the outlay of moving expenses(moved closer to hubby's work). My son in law that moved us started laughing at her. Informed her that yes the cupboard only had pickles and beets. Under the bed was canned beans and canned meats, under the couch was canned veggies and under the chairs and love seat was canned fruit. There was canned goods in the office closet, canned goods in the tv room closet, home canned soups was in the garage and dried goods stored in the furnace closet. We weren't going to go hungry. She immediately called and asked me if I could give her some canned soup.

Dinner time...got to go

Blessed Be Juls

Day 17 of the Pantry Challenge

Day 17 of the Pantry challenge. I like this challenge for several reasons, first because it holds me accountable, second because I focus on using what is in the pantry and not running to the store and last I can clean empty shelves a whole lot easier than shelves crammed full when I do the spring cleaning.

I have a pork roast along with the extra bones from the roasts I ground pork from yesterday in the crock pot. I will shred some on flat bread for sandwiches and serve cottage cheese,applesauce,and pickled beets.

I need to deal with the ham we had last night. It made some good broth for soups and I can package it down for sandwiches and casseroles for later. I will keep the bone and toss it back in the freezer for bean soup later.I will strain the fat off the broth and put it in ice cube trays and then in the freezer so I can make gravy from it later or use it as "oil" when making corn bread or cooking.

 I can hear those moans people...natural fats doesn't bother hubby or my cholesterol... shelled seafood sends his up through the roof and microwave popcorn (the oil used to pop it) sends mine through the roof. As long as we eat like we did as kids our cholesterol is good.Neither one of us ate processed food much as kids,coffee, tea and water was the beverages usually served. Dad hunted and fished so our protein was wild game or fish while hubby's family farmed so they had cattle and hogs to butcher. We both grew up with gardens that supplied the pantry for the winter.

I still stock my pantry that way for the year.

Blessed Be Juls

Day 15 and Day 16 of Pantry Challenge

It's official, I've caught the flu that hubby had.I wasn't completely over influenza A so this round with influenza B is just a bigger drain on my system. All I can think is thank heavens I got the flu shot or it would be a lot worse and I would most likely be in the hospital like my daughter's mother in law and niece on her hubby's side.

Last night since we were sitting in the doctor's office until 4:30 and then had to wait until 5:30 to pick up my new meds. Hubby insisted we go to the Chinese buffet and eat dinner. He used the argument that I could get soup,food that had ginger cooked in it and Chinese mustard that also includes turmeric. I have taught him well. I didn't argue back at all.Just figured that was another meal that got moved on the calendar.

Tonight we are having ham sandwiches. I got a ham from Aldi's for half price and tossed it in the oven to bake tonight for sandwiches.Neither one of us feels like eating so a sandwich with an apple or some raw veggies will be plenty.

We did go to the grocery store also to pick up fresh produce,milk and it was suppose to be ground pork...well I am not going to pay $3.89/lb for ground pork when there is a pork roast sitting right by it for $1.29. I needed 4 lbs for the next 2 months so I grabbed 12 lbs of roast. (FYI a 4 lb roast with bone gives you about 2 1/2 lb ground meat)Spent the same amount if I had bought the 4 pounds of ground pork and brought it home to grind myself. I have a food processor and an old fashion meat grinder.Two of the roasts got ground up, their bones got tossed in to the crock pot with the third roast that will cook on low over night to make shredded pork. Balance of grocery budget is 1/4th of what I normally would have spent by now and we have meals on the menu that is in the pantry until March. 

Enjoy your night.

Blessed Be Juls

Day 14 Pantry challenge

Day 14, Hubby has the flu ( he had influ B and  I had influ A)for sure,Doc put him on theraflu and he is home from work. I think that maybe in the last 20 yrs he has stayed home from work maybe 3 times due to being sick. Not something that he does, let alone that he usually doesn't get sick. Just brings it home to me instead. SMILE

I had thought of the leftover salad from when we ordered pizza and some soup but realized there was some bell pepper that was going to go bad if we didn't get it used up. So instead I tossed the bell pepper, onion and leftover turkey from deep freezer together in a skillet and then tossed it in flat bread for sandwiches to go with the leftover salad. 

I also printed off a calendar for Feb. and March. As I find meals in the pantry or buried in deep freezer I am writing it on the calendar. I cross it off when we eat it. Being sick has caused a lot of issues with eating from the pantry. I made hamburger casserole the other night and normally there wouldn't have been anything left and we only ate half of it so that is going in the freezer and on the menu. 

I have started a grocery list, almost decided to go Thursday (normal grocery day) because I have a coupon for $5 if I buy $25 only to realize I didn't have $25 worth of groceries listed and caught myself thinking what I could add to it to get the $25. Kind of defeats the purpose of eating from the pantry.

By eating from the pantry I made a basic grocery list of what we eat and what I needed to make sure was stocked. Then when I sat down with the seed catalogs to start planning the garden I used that same list.That kept me focused on what we actually eat, not what looks really interesting in the catalogs. Then since we expanded the square foot gardens last year I decide to put all the gardens on spreadsheets and input where what was going. That also keeps me reined in because I have been know to have to plant pumpkins around the house because I ran out of room in the gardens. SO that also reins in the pantry next fall. 

Flu meds time. Everyone be safe and well

Blessed Be Juls

Day 12 and Day 13 of Pantry Challenge

I am feeling decent but Hubby wasn't yesterday. He decided he wanted a chef salad and pizza from our local pizza shop. Definitely a splurge because I have been making our pizzas at home. I will put part of the pizza in the freezer to have for later. We will end up making about 3-4 meals total off of it. I think it was his way of compromising since he wasn't up to eating the steak and lobster tail I had planned for my bday dinner He didn't even finish his salad and only at a couple slices of pizza...definitely didn't feel like eating much at all. He works all of next weekend which is actually my bday and we don't eat that big of meal right before he goes to work.Oh well, it will stay in the freezer until another time.

 Today we are back to eating from the Pantry. I chose hamburger pie since it would free up my casserole dish and hubby was already able to eat sloppy joe which is the base of the pie.

 I plan to put together baked oatmeal tonight for tomorrow morning. Temps here are suppose to drop from the high 50s of the last couple days to the 20-30s by tomorrow morning with Friday morning to start out at 10 degrees...lovely to be here in Ohio.A hot breakfast before we run our errands will be good.

 I walked the gardens yesterday while it was still warm and the rain hadn't come in to make notes of what needed down before I started planting. Went to the pantry and looked to see what I didn't need to plant this year.Dill pickles no, bread and butter pickles yes.

Straightened up the pantry will looking it over. Now have some empty spots.I also was able to clear off the top of the cabinet in the dining room where I keep food that is in boxes( the pantry in the basement does sometimes gets damp so what I don't transfer to other containers stays in the cabinet in the dining room). So it shows that we are eating from the pantry which helps keeps me on task with it.

Pull out some cookbooks from the Great Depression and some recipes and notes off the internet about food during W.W.1, W.W. 2 and the Great Depression. My grandpa talked to me about how things were during W.W.1 before he died. My parents lived through the other two and always talked about it.Lots of wisdom for making food last during those times.

Have a great day, stay safe and warm. Eat well.

Blessed Be Juls

Day 11 of Pantry Challenge and more flu

Sorry day 10 was scheduled to post last night but some how I messed that up... I woke up with a fever of 99.1... that is a lot lower than it has been but let me know I still was fighting the flu. Hubby came in from work and after one look I knew he now has it. Ten Bucks says he gives it back to me. Still we are eating from the pantry. We had fruit with our coffee this morning before he curled on couch and went to sleep and I went back to bed. When I woke for lunch I had him take the bed because the pup was dropping toys on him trying to get him to wake up and play with him. I had home made beef broth for lunch. Hubby woke up later and we ate an early dinner of home made sloppy joes and the last of the pears.I make my sloppy joes sauce from scratch, we like it better that way. I already put some of it in the casserole dish for hamburger pie (Sheppard's pie or Chinese pie depending on which of my kids you talk to).It's base is sloppy joes topped by veggie (usually corn for us) and then mashed potatoes. Some times I will top it with cheese. I wrote a menu for Jan and Feb from the pantry. Thought it would be a good guideline more than something that was "I must cook this tonight". It also lets me look at it to see if there is something I can fix fast when it's the "I don't want to cook tonight" or the "I forgot to thaw something" night. The bonus is it reminds me to soak my dry beans so I can use them. We eat a lot of different dried beans in a lot of different ways, not just bean soup. But like everything else I have gotten out of the habit with everything that went on last year between surgeries, Mother dying and my Crohn's putting me in the hospital. Not sure what we will be eating tomorrow since we are both sick...that kind of sucks since we were suppose to have porterhouse steak and lobster tails for my bday dinner since hubby works next week during my bday and we don't eat that big of a meal right before he leaves for work. Stay safe, stay well...Blessed Be Juls