Jan 1st pantry challenge

Berry pie for bfast
appetizers for lunch
ribs, kraut, mashed potatoes and apple pie for dinner
guac and chips for snack later.









I had an extra Flylady calendar and decided to use it in the kitchen to write what I actually cook (compared to what I put on the menu). I also noted what food  has what Vit etc in it to make sure that I have that covered.

This deep freezer is what I call baby as it is the 7 cf and the smallest. It is my focus to clear it and the 2 frig freezers first in this challenge.

Jan 2017 monthly goals

FOR the gardens:
start sweet potato slips

 start forcing paper whites and amaryllis.

 plan/plot what to plant where this spring/summer/fall check seeds and decide on what plants

  Organization/cleaning
 use declutter 365 starting in kitchen.(Home storage solutions 101)

 set a home blessing routine...reflect that it will have to float some due to health and doctor appts.
 work on time management issues ...I am horrible with time mgt.

  Sewing/crafts
keep mending current (not a basket at a time)

 make an afghan for great grandson

 make new aprons for myself

 set up/organize the sewing/craft room and remove things that should not be in that room. I'm having trouble deciding what will work and what won't in sitting the room up as it is a small room and there is no heat in that room without a heater being brought in to it.

  Financial
rebuild the savings as we are FINALLY out of the Ch 13 bankruptucy (slow pay) and are no longer limited on saving.

 purchase a 2nd dehydrator

 continue to pay off loans...we paid off 2 last year and have 3 left. Time frame is set for 4 yrs but I would like to get that done in less....

 Have money for Christmas already set aside by Oct 1st.

  Personal
 Keep Crohn's flare ups down by watching diet, eating smaller meals and more often and exercising.Hopefully the new meds with allow me to go into remission and come off meds completely for awhile. Walking with the dogs here at home at least 3 times a day even when cold (BURRRR) and going to the wellness center (5 miles away) to attend classes for free connected to Hubby's work. I've just been lazy about going. I have a girlfriend that is willing to do some classes with me and my doctor has "ordered" me to start lifting weights to rebuild my strength and bones.

  Kitchen/pantry

I need to shine my sink(Wash dishes) twice a day...

 I am doing the pantry challenge with Goodcheapeats this month. Our pantry is out of control as you will notice if you are reading my blog. My goal is to have the pantry cleared down so this late summer and early fall I have room for NEW food.It won't be empty but I would like to have it down about half.

 I also want to go back to baking my own breads

 I NEED to finish taking out the preservatives in my diet

. I need to have the kitchen set up to be able to process the food coming in faster so it's not just sitting.

2017 goals and "support "

My goals...to be chaos and clutter free, to have the last 3 debts paid off and to rebuild the savings and to eat healthy. My "support team" of family and friends of Hubby, my youngest daughter, my middle son, and my sister (of heart). My "support team" of bloggers... Brandy over at The Prudent Homemaker , she's my go to for frugal ideas and making the pantry last. Dave Ramsey with his Debt Snowball Method which has worked for YEARS on digging us back out after losing 2 yrs of income. Jessica Fisher ...lifeasmom and goodcheapeats for her pantry challenges , revive course and her personal planner that uses post-it notes...my favorite and it actually will work for me. Marla and the Flybabies at Flylady.net... From Chaos to Clean in 2017 , monthly habits (Jan is shine the sink) and fling boogies etc. She has been there "for" me since 2001. Taylor Flanery at Home Storage Solutions 101 for her declutter 365. Ree at The Pioneer Woman...she's my go to for "man meals" so Hubby doesn't feel deprived plus I love Charlie. Katie over at goodlifeeats.com for recipes. Jaden at Steamykitchen.com, not only for recipes but for reviews of products she uses. They are who I look to when I have fog brain.

Pantry Challenge 2017

This is from Jessica over at GoodCheapEats.com . She does a pantry challenge twice a year that I try to at least do 2 weeks of.

This year I plan to do a lot longer...like MONTHS...why? The goal is to clear out and restock after I've defrosted deep freezers and to wipe down and restock the pantry with the FRESH garden stuff that will come in this year.IT is also a goal to pay off the final 3 debts and rebuild the savings account. ALSO I want another dehydrator for this summer and this is a good way to save for that purchase.

This is not an easy task for me, I get the shakes when I see empty spots where food was. BUT I know if I don't focus on clearing it out every other year completely I will end up with food being wasted.I went hungry growing up. We lived where if we didn't grow it we didn't have it. When my parents divorced there was no meat on the table because Dad hunted and fished. We didn't buy meat at all.

I have rules...can only eat out twice in during the month...that might go to 3 times if we go see our parents as we take them out to eat when we do and that depends on my health and the weather as they live over an hour away and we don't see them every month.

I have  a list of meals that is stocked that can be made within 20 min. That is about the time it would take us to drive to the closest fast food drive through and get back. I would like to focus back on eating out a something SPECIAL and being at a sit down restaurant.

I can get items needed off the basic weekly grocery list Hubby and I wrote out the other night. Basic vegetables (carrots,celery etc) apples and bananas (requirement of my diet due to health) and dairy and if needed baking supplies.Still we decided to go every 2 wks to the store as he can stop and get milk at the local little store on the way home from work. I chose to wait 3 wks this first time as I just stocked the frigs for the holidays. I do have a monthly basic list but it is mostly staples for baking etc and I stock it usually at Sam's club. I will limit grocery store shopping when I do it to either Aldi's or click list at Krogers (except for a milk run if needed and that will be the local IGA)...that keeps me (and Hubby as he ALWAYS checks clearance and markdowns) from getting the sales. Ads will be tossed before coming in the house. If I don't see it I won't want to get that SALE.

Menu MUST provide potassium, magnesium,Vit.D,Vit E,Vit.K,Vit A, B12,zinc,folate,calcium,iron and LOW fiber.  Thank you to a new GI that caught that my Crohn's was not letting me absorb these.

SO here is the pictures of the two refrigerators and their freezers...just a start as I have 300 sq ft plus pantry and a butler's pantry and onions in an upstairs bedroom hanging in the closet and produce that needs dealt with under the bed and kitchen table and in crates in the mudroom.ALONG with Monty, 27 cf deep freezer (Montgomery Ward AKA Monty) Newbie (21 cf deep freezer, it's new) in the basement laundry room and Baby the 7 cf deep freezer in the mudroom....please be sitting when you finally see the pictures when I post tomorrow and Monday.

This is the mudroom frig and it's freezer. We used to use it for condiments when I was working as a personal chef and then it was beverages and now it is OVER FLOW of what ever I am processing...right now there is turkey broth and beef broth to can and still some baking items that are needed to finish the Christmas candy and cookies that didn't get done due to me being in the hospital right before Christmas. The cookies and candy are to be delivered by end of Jan.

This is the kitchen frig and it's freezer. SIGH. I do have containers in this frig that has some of it organized but it is definitely overloaded and stacked up. Be back tomorrow with more pictures and the menu.

New Year's eve Frugal wrap up of the week

I loaded Mobisave, Ibotta and Checkout 51 to my phone for rebates. Already have around $20 in rebates.

I saved $90 in coupons and sales at Krogers not counting the fuel pts that we will use this coming month.

I found a place to get a discount for the supplement my GI doctor has ordered for me to take that is NOT covered by my ins saving over half and it's shipped from the mfg .

I transferred my Pinecone pay to cover the journals I ordered for myself.

I transferred my Swagbucks to Amazon to pay for our subscribe and save order.

I inputted my coke pts and also got a free calendar (had to pay shipping) as a gift from Coke and Shutterfly.

I got 4x4 picture magnet from Walgreens for 99¢ to give to my in laws for the frig. Its a "selfie" off my cellphone picture of Hubby and me. I will be mailing it to them this week.

We found LED Christmas lights to replace the ones we lost this year. We had priced them at $35 a strand before Christmas and paid less than $7 a strand AFTER. Being LED will help keep the electric bill down next year also.

I got next year's Christmas cards for 1/4 th the price.

I saved the ham fat from the ham. turkey fat from the turkey and beef fat from the prime rib roast. Now in freezer. IF I don't use it for flavoring I will use to for the birds

I "simmered" turkey carcass for broth, prime rib bones for broth and bagged the meat off those for meals like noodles or casseroles for the freezer.

I froze the leftover strawberries we were given after a party.

I dehydrated eggs.

I fixed appetizers yesterday since we were home and tired of eating all the "buffets" we were invited to. We will have what is left of that today. The ribs I was going to fix is going to be for tomorrow instead which means I now have 2 meals in the freezer that isn't going to be used this week.Not sure if that is good or bad since the freezers are filled to the brim and so is both frigs.

Happy New Year's

End of the year

A storm is what I feel like I have been going through the last month or so. I now have a new GI doctor that is more into doing what works for me than just prescribing meds. She made some requests for changes in what I eat with the understanding I wasn't not to put us in any kind of problem financially or health wise (if it bothers me don't eat it) and keep her updated through email of how it is going. I will eventually have to have surgery. My ilium in too small (birth defect that was just caught) and it causing "back" ups when blocked and the pain meds I have taken decades for the back pain pretty much is what triggered the Crohn's. She changed the meds to something that should help more and added a supplement to add good bacteria to my gut...HOPE PRAY AND DANCE IN THE RAIN...

Meantime between  coming out of the hospital, dealing with Christmas (still have 1 candy and 6 types of cookies to deliver late Jan) I used Kroger's pts and Wagner pts for fuel (lots of driving long distance since the kids and both sets of parents live over an hr from us and we visited a friend that was in to see her parents , she's from Montana.

I used the leftover prime rib to make broth and meat for beef and noodles (and probable a casserole).

I used the leftover turkey to make broth and meat for noodles (and a couple casseroles for next month).

I saved the wrapping paper of a couple gifts we were given to reuse next year.

We got ham for 97¢/lb. I got 2 and then Hubby stopped in a couple days later and got 2 more. We are giving one to his parents.

I found bulk food storage containers to replace what finally gave way including new ones for the brown sugar and powdered sugar to keep ants out. This past year has been a battle and I have had to throw sugars out due to ants...went right through the containers I was using that I thought were airtight...NOPE. The containers were on sale and I went through my Swag bucks so that is even better. I got free shipping also.

I found good thick work socks at Rural King for Hubby and got free shipping and used a coupon .

I ordered the new office supplies going through Swag bucks and got them on sale. I ordered enough I hope to make it to school supply time this summer.

We went over our 2017 budget and figured out we have a couple areas too tight due to increase of prices around here so we are figuring out where to shift that from without taking away from the increase in savings. My new meds is one of those costs.

I did gag gifts for the 12 days of Christmas for the kids and grandkids. Great grandson got toys and Christmas ornament of him, his dad and his great great grandpa.

For the 12 days I did
1st= pear fruit cup (Dollar tree)
2nd = plastic turtles (Amazon on sale and used Swag bucks to pay for it) along with dove candy from Odd Lots.
3rd =feather's from JoAnn fabric black Friday
4 th = note that said messages was left and 4 positive messages written out by hand
5 th gold rings made from gold pipe cleaners
6th 6 tsp of dehydrated eggs
7th  7 tsp of Dead sea salt (swans were swimming in the Dead sea LOL)
8 m packages of Swiss miss hot cocoa except for my granddaughter that doesn't do any choc and she got shelf stable milk. She put it in her emergency supply since they have their own place.
9 lady's dancing needed candy canes that was given to us from a friend that didn't need any more for her own gifts
10 lords leaping for joy over 10 brownie cookies
11 pipers piping...they were preschoolers that "pipes" were made from drinking straws
12 drummers drumming...kids got a hoot out of it. I saved ever popcap I could including asking a friend to save hers so I could make "drums" out of the caps and hot glued a circle of linen paper on the cap and 2 small match sticks for the drum sticks...kids thought it was funny I used what was my TRASH for their gifts and then got to thinking about how many pops I had to drink to give each of them 12 drums ( over 200 until I admitted I had taken caps from them that they didn't realize what I was doing. I do coke points so that's what they thought I was doing LOL
I used paper from my late mother to wrap and only bought tape.

I could have done a lot better on the cost of the candy and cookies.... I didn't buy choc like I usually do so paid the price even with it on sale. Didn't make the run to Sam's club like I usually do and the costs showed it. Something I will have to change to handle that outlay this coming year.

We have to go visit Hubby's parents yet (tomorrow) and we have a neighborhood party tonight to take something to.

THEN it's take down Christmas , rest and start the New Year with new goals .

Christmas/Yule cookies and candy and Crohn's OH MY

My week started off good with being frugal. I got eggs at Kroger's for 99¢for 18, 2 lbs of xxx sugar for 99¢ and did that while going to the bank so it wasn't an extra trip.

I cooked up the 3 lbs of sausage we got for buying 2 lbs of ground chuck to make 3 meals of sausage gravy and 4 meals of sausage hash with sweet potatoes and 3 bags for pizza or calzones.

Amazon let me know my Subscribe and save amt was going to be about 1/3rd off what the sale price was when I ordered.

Our health ins offered a free magazine of our choice for a year and then offered up to 5 more for $2.00 for a year of our choice also. I got the Saveur for free (Retired personal chef) and the other 5 was Food and Wine, Real Simple,Kiplinger's Personal Finance,Bloomberg Business and Reader's digest. I will be sharing this with family after I read them.

I downloaded the Walgreen's app and Google Fit and connected it to the Veryfit I wear. So not only am I now earning points to keep my health ins costs down and providing info for my doctors. I am earning points at Walgreen's.

Hubby and I went over our 2017 goals to make sure we were on the same page and starting it out to have good results.

THEN I WAS IN HOSPITAL....

I have Crohn's. I've had it all my life just didn't have the name for it. Two years ago with a lot of push from my doctor I went to a GI specialist. I was in remission and had been for 2 yrs but was having kidney stones that due to what the Crohn's was doing.

GI doctor puts me on remission meds and I was okay, not better but not worse until this past fall.

Since Sept I have been in twice due to blockage. My original doctor left state and I scheduled an appt for the doctor I will be seeing that specialize in women's digestive...but I haven't seen her yet so I got the doctors that was on coverage at the hospital that flipped when they saw the meds I had been on....the meds I am/ was on was for colitis not crohn's....hum. I have a cyst on my liver, not cancer or life threatening and I have hiatal hernia. So now I am taking 18 pills a day to deal with the damage while the entire GI office is talking about my case trying to figure out what to do with me next as I am allergic to 95 % of the drugs that are for crohn's. At least this time I didn't pass a kidney stone or get an kidney infection. I usually do.

I have 7 appts between now and Dec 31st so that's more gas money going out. My primary doctor shifted my follow up appt with him to the day he knows we come to town anyways so I'm not making an extra trip then . The GI office it trying to work it out that I use my "meet my new doctor" appt for the follow up to save me gas money also.

Hubby ate all the leftovers but forgot the pan of tomatoes and a bowl of orange peel so those had to be tossed. Not actually a bad loss considering I went down in the middle of the night.

SO today I started bar cookies instead of the others and will do what I can about finishing getting Christmas wrapped up before Friday when we deliver.

It's nice to be home for Yule,Advent, Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing day.

Blessed Be

finishing the garden and staying frugal

This is one of the pans of tomatoes I have stored under the bed to turn red that I just cooked up for juice. The pan on top is a 9 x 11 cake pan just so you know how big the sheet pan holding the tomatoes is.

I still have one pan of this size with partially turned tomatoes and another of mostly green tomatoes

This is the last of the bell peppers that was stored under the bed to turn also. I dehydrated them.

















I am writing down daily what we are doing to be frugal.It helps keep us focused on saving.

I turned in my coke caps and got a reward and then used the coke caps to make "drums" for the 12 days of Christmas gifts for the kids and grandkids.

I cashed in my swag bucks and my Survey pts to pay for our Subscribe and save at Amazon which saved us $49.33 this month( not including what I cashed in to pay for it) for what is a necessity for the house.

I did a pre-order of Nora Roberts Island of Glass and got is for half of the price when it came out.

I ordered the prime rib (the only thing Hubby asks for at Christmas, it was a tradition from his grandparents that are no longer living). I found it at a butcher shop for $3.00 less a pound if I pre-ordered it.

I returned a glue gun to Walmart that didn't work instead of just tossing it . Yeah,a bad habit I got from Hubby who also has a bad habit of not putting things back and then going and buying more when he can't find it.We are working on that this spring when we clean the garage out.I tape the receipt to what is being returned and put it on my purse.

I turn the printer off after using it. Our old one shut itself off after 30 min but this one doesn't. I give my empty ink cartridges to the local school. They use them to get things so they don't have to increase the taxes to cover more stuff.

I shut my laptop down after I use it and then shut the power strip down that it is plugged into . I found one I don't sit and waste the day on social media and two the electric bill dropped.

We had a few Christmas lights die so we replaced them with LED lights. I also picked up LED light bulbs for the closets we forgot about when we replaced the other bulbs with LEDs.

We are using Gasbuddy to find the cheapest gas  instead of just going to the one gas station. We check the area we are going to be in and what is around us at home.

We used Speedway card to get 3¢ off a gal.

We used Wagner's card to get 19¢ off  a gal.

We used Kroger's card to get 70¢ off a gal.I do the survey to get extra points.

We moved our daughter in one trip (instead of the 3 we feared) with the help of one of her friends that had a trailer twice as big as ours. She had a couple bookcases and some stuff that would fit in her car left. As it costs about $40 to go down and back that ended up being an $80 savings.

We dropped our electric bill another $15 compared to last year.

A friend gave us some candy that they won't use so we will add that to the gifts we give the family.

If I am using the oven I will put a tea kettle of water on the burner over the exhaust and heat my water for tea that way. Takes a while but a slow roast or a turkey in the oven can keep me in hot water  for the afternoon with no extra cost of the burner or microwave. Even a short amount of time will take the chill off the water as our water is cold due to coming from a well.

We are using "scrap " paper for notes and what ever that we get from expired coupons, envelopes and back of letters in the mail.

We ate home except for 2 meals. One meal Hubby's HAM radio group paid for and the other we got the special for pizza that provided meal all weekend. I think we are tired of pizza.

Hubby turned down Directv offer again. Even though it would not cost as any more that what we are spending for the home phone and internet the offer was only good for a year. We have already went through the " let's make a deal" more than once. We will just stay with our antenna.Don't really miss anything except Alabama football and his buddy will text him the scores as he lives down there. We are in OH.

We went to the grocery stores for sales. We got cake mixes (girls use them for cookies since they don't buy flour...I can't imagine not having flour) to give as gifts since they were under a dollar. We got smoke sausage for $1.59/lb . We got sausage for $1.92/lb and ground chuck for the same price.I got butter for $1.99/lb and lg eggs for 59¢ a doz. I got a turkey for 68¢/lb and pork loin for $1.39/lb.Depending on the freezer space I will pick up another turkey and a couple hams. I will get pork roast at New Year's. I got a rack of ribs the other day for 99¢/lb. One rack is all we need through this time of year.

One of us (including the dogs) has an appt every day this week so I plan to cook up some root veggies tomorrow that can be reheated to go with the protein of the day is. Will spend things up.

I know I will be having to buy gas for my car at least 4 more times this month. I usually only have to do once a month.That was figured into the holiday budget.

I am still working on the 2017 budget as we know there will be a change in health insurance (some of it will save us $180/month) but I figure there will be a down side somewhere.

We still have a hospital bill that is outstanding...kind of...the hospital is trying to get the ins to pay MORE because it was a necessity so our bill will be less. I hope we get that bill soon so I can get that done with for this year's taxes.

Blessed  Be

Frugal time

I am baking the cookies and making the candy for delivery to our kids and grand kids (and great grandson is too young) for this weekend. I am also finishing the gifts.

Since I wasn't going to deliver until closer to Christmas I dragged my feet about having the stuff to do it.SIGH

FRUGAL...
I went to Aldi's to do the bulk of the shopping, substituted somethings to keep the price down before finishing at Kroger's using my digital coupons to get the rest.

Found sweet peas and mixture of peas and carrots in freezer section of Kroger on sale. I got 5 of each as we use 1/3 of the bag per meal and I serve it twice a month. Neither of us like peas all that much. I use the peas and carrots in fried rice and pot pies.

I have Chinese food in the freezer I will be pulling out tonight so fix so we have leftovers. I made 123 pasta last night with extra sauce. One I won't be tempted to order out since I am in cookie and candy mode and two, I have my back injections on Friday morning and was warned there would be at least 4 injections and I would have pain due to the inflammation that is there. SO I would probably be down 3-4 days instead of 1-2. BUT then I should be fine until late spring. That is my norm.

Saturday, Hubby will be delivering the stuff and helping our one daughter move. SO I will be on my own and need to "fix "myself meals...definitely leftovers.

I put plastic on the windows in one bedroom. I have all the winter curtains up now. I put a wool lap blanket rolled up at the bottom of the staircase that goes upstairs(not heated).

I close the curtains in the evenings and open them when it's daylight. We don't turn on all the Christmas lights until evening. Out door lights are on a timer.I don't have the tree up yet due to stopping to do cookies and candy.

We are looking into doing Click list at Krogers (input order online and pick it up in parking lot) or continuing with Aldi's. Might be , this is the sale but I don't want to go in because we pick up other things. LOL

Blessed Be

Dec Groceries

I just made the bulk of the list as I will be finishing the Christmas candy and cookies to deliver to the kids this coming weekend.

regular choc chips
mini choc chips
brown sugar ( I will be completely out when done)
Crisco (for sugar cookies )
Butter (I will be completely out when done)
Eggs (I will be completely out when done)
some odds and ends to finish cookies and candy for delivery
Milk

I will order the prime rib roast for Christmas Eve.This is the only thing my Hubby asks for all year.

I would like to get a couple more turkeys and a couple more hams.

I might get (depending on money) some things to make some special items like sugar plums for stocking stuffers

I need white vinegar and apple cider vinegar but it is for the pantry not to use right away.

Blessed Be

December 1 2016 Goals for this month

To have the last of the house winterized by Dec 4th.

To have the house done decorated for Yule and Christmas by Dec 5th.Hubby celebrates St Nick's day.

To have all the gifts, cookies and candy done by the 18th and delivered.

To see Hubby's parents and my dad.

To see a friend that is coming in from out of state that has spent this whole year fighting breast cancer.

To not stress out over the amount of medical appts I have this month. Keeping in mind that our ins is paying for it this year and they won't be paying as good next year.

To start and complete the afghan for my great grandson.

To do some sewing beyond mending.

To eat...yeah really , after 50 some years of only eating one meal a day and a high calorie snack and living on coffee ...I am focusing on eating and eating healthy,

To walk the dogs three times a day

To eat from our pantry. I know of three times we will be eating out. One a company party( no costs to us), another with our son when he comes to visit at his request (favorite restaurant) and once with my Dad who will want to go to Bob Evans for his sausage gravy and biscuits. I would like to hold it to that though I could see another one in there depending on time of travel and meeting our friend.

Frugal Black Friday

Last night we had Thanksgiving dinner in a friend's home. Their son and his lady came in late as they had dinner at her parents home. The talk was of shopping on Black Friday. They were getting up and going here and there and the scores they wanted to get and where...when the young lady stated it wasn't a big deal to her if she even went let alone got what she had listed. The silence that followed probably came from shock. Hubby turned to me and asked what I was buying on Black Friday. I calmly looked at him and said NOTHING. Most of my shopping is done, we do gag gifts, homemade cookies and candies (Buckeyes and snickerdoodles are required 🙂) since we have so many. I give the gift on myself.

The best gift I (Hubby and I ) can give my family is our time. We live over an hour away from all of the family due to Hubby's work. So if I can go visit, even for an hour it's a memory they have . A lot of the children and grandkids that are now adults live in the same area so I can make the rounds. I just have to time it with their schedules (HA HA) and money for gas. Our parents live in the same area (over an hour from us and closer to hour and half from grandkids) so we make that a trip. I take food to our family, our parents are living on social security and the kids are trying to make ends meets with large families.

My parents on the other hand always went shopping Black Friday and on Boxing Day (day after Christmas) They shopped where my mother's sister worked and the store allowed the sister to use her employee discount for my parents as my parents had raised her and her twin. That was a frugal choice that allowed them to give a bit more to my brother and me.

I will say today we will be doing some shopping (me with a cane as I have sprained my ankle and now have tendonitis on top of it that has not mixed with my Cerebral palsy) We need a generator. Last couple years we have lost power which means we have no water as we live in the country. When we moved here the landlord had use of his uncle's generator when he bought this house from him until there was a spat between the two of them over not being honest about the condition of the house. After that we have borrowed a couple times from others that wasn't out of power. We found what we were looking for on sale and we have saved up enough to buy it so we will go get it today.I hope we don't have to use it.

Blessed be

Nov Food thoughts after talking to Hubby

I told Hubby I posted my Nov shopping list and it was mainly for Tday dinner as the pantry was full.

He immediately asked if we need another small deep freezer as we have no turkeys in the freezers. Nor do we have pork roasts, pork loin(for roasts and chops) or beef roast after I make Tday beef and noodles.

So we talked it over, as I do not think we need another freezer and do not know where we would put one unless it went to the garage which is already full because the garden stuff is there since the landlord put baby calves (just off bottle) in the pig barn where we stored the garden stuff and I haven't had time to clear the farrowing house to move the garden stuff to it so I can get my car in the garage this winter.

ANYWAYS... HA HA. Sidetracked there. We decided on three -five hams and 3 turkeys if the price doesn't drop up to 6 turkeys if it drops enough. I will cook all the turkeys except one or two depending on how many we get and what room I can make by shifting things around.

Also we decided on 50 lbs of potatoes for Tday and 50 for our storage.We might pick up another 50 in December. Save a Lot here will allow us to order 50 lbs at a reasonable price that is lower per pound than 10 lb bags.

I took another look at the pantry. We have over 100 lbs of different rices, We have over 100 lbs of onions,plenty of frozen corn,home canned green beans, a mixture of zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant,broccoli, cauliflower,bell peppers and green and red tomatoes in the freezers along with the home canned tomatoes. We have delicata squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, butternut squash and jack be littles pumpkins for our winter squashes. I am okay on pasta over 50 lbs , a couple shapes I would like to have for certain dishes but I won't get them unless they are on sale.

We could use about 5-10 lbs more of sweet potatoes. Maybe more if I make sweet potato chips in the dehydrator.

I need about 6 bags of peas and carrots mixed. I will get it when they have frozen veggies on sale. I use them in my fried rice.A bag last us two months unless I serve them as a side and then it's one month

I need dried beans. I gave some to one of my kids when they lost their job and haven't replaced them yet.

We need canned 3 bean salad. They don't sell canned yellow wax beans around here or I would get that instead and make my own 3 bean salad.

We need canned pineapple. Crushed, chunks, rings yep...a case of all 3.

We need dried cranberries, they usually go on sale this time of year. Might grab a couple bags of fresh for the freezer because I am the only one that likes them,dried, Hubby will eat them.

Butter, I stock up on butter. I found a recipe to can butter that I haven't tried yet but I know we go through at least a pound of butter a month without baking

Blessed be

Making frugal choices

Every once in awhile I check out this site. Not that I base my food budget on it but it definitely shows the rise in the cost of food. https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodPlansCostofFood

It looks so empty now. The flowers are blooming quite well, the white thing is the row cover put over the eggplant.

We chose to go get the last of the LED bulbs we needed to replace, we figured we could either spend the money now or the next 3 months when our electric bill is at it's highest.So all of that is done. We have found that we can use the lower wattage and get a brighter light than what we were getting with the CFL so we are not turning on as many lights as we were.

We used the Kroger points to get 60¢ off (200 pts for surveys) for gas (truck)

We used the Wagner IGA points to get 25¢ off for gas (ford top off)

I have dehydrated eggs and cayenne peppers and roasted several eggplants(and put in freezer).

We cleared the gardens except for the herbs, lettuce and one lonely eggplant that had 2 eggplants on it that is not quite ripe. I covered them with a row cover to help protect it. If they don't ripen by this weekend I will have to let them go as we get our first hard freeze. I will finish the harvest before that frost is here. I covered the eggplant because I can buy lettuce out of season but I can't buy eggplants.Since I need all the colors of veggies and fruit , eggplant in the freezer helps keep the costs down for filling in that blue/black/purple.I have the green tomatoes on trays under the bed and about half of them sitting to be cut and dehydrated with seasoned salt. I have bell peppers that should turn red or yellow in paper bags also under the bed. I check these every two days so when they are about 1/2 turned I put them in the mudroom in the morning sun.

We had the furnace off during the middle of the day

curtains open when it starts getting daylight and closed at dusk

power strip turned off to computer.

I use the junk mail and envelopes for scratch paper.

We went out with friends for dinner , went at lunch time and used a coupon.

I changed some of what we will be serving to our Tday dinner to what I already have to keep the costs down.The budget is $800 So far I have less than $10.I am hoping for the price of turkeys to go down because right now we need 108 lbs and that comes to over $150.00 as they are running $1.39/lb. Last year I had four in the freezer but didn't restock those.I really really need space in the deep freezers so I am using some of the older stuff for our Tday.

I used the clothes line.

We no longer have to mow which saves us 5 gal of gas every 7-10 days. Since there is cattle in the barn here the landlord's sons will be clearing our driveway,not before Hubby gets home from work in the mornings as one is still in highschool and the other works second. So instead of buying a snow blower (unless we find a good used one we can afford) we will be buying a generator something we have been going without. Not good as when I lose power I lose the water since we are on a well.

What did you do this week ?
Blessed be

Nov Shopping plans

We have Thanksgiving day dinner the Sunday before due to several family member working and being a divorced parent, grandparent.

So the majority of my shopping is for this dinner as we provide most of the food. I will not be buying
green tomatoes or onions except green onions LOL 







as we have finished most of the harvest and pulled plants. I got the plants out to the field (we don't do much compost due to using sq ft gardens and straw bales) before they came through and disk the field for the winter.. Composted the field you could say.



As for the dinner we serve the average of 40. Most are big eaters or grazers that end up eating a lot also. We provide most the food. This year it will be at our son's as he bought his house and has the best parking area. I'll be going to his home to do the majority of the cooking there the week before (feel for him as I pack my kitchen stuff into his house LOL) My older daughter is bring ham and sweet potatoes. Another daughter and granddaughter is going to help prep if their schedules allow them to that is,We have deep fried turkeys (4-6 depending on RSVP and sizes) homemade noodles, turkey noodles and beef noodles, 30-50 lbs of mashed potatoes. several vegetables sides, around 40 pies (plus I make a dessert for each person to take home as part of their Christmas gift), mini cheesecakes , homemade bread and rolls and appetizers . Usually there is 100 different dishes including the desserts,I have most of the flours,eggs and veggies. Today I will be writing out what I still need and the schedule of cooking along with equipment I need to take.  I budget $800 for this meal. It came in around $750 last year even with the family growing.

Blessed be

Last week of October

This is half the butternut squash that was at the Produce Auction. Since I don't need squash and there wasn't much of anything else in the amount I was will to buy I told Hubby I was getting some baked goods and we would get our apples else where. An elderly gentleman offered to sell me some of his apples that he had in the auction.Said it wasn't a problem at all for him. So I got 20 lbs of apples for 45¢/ lb. and baked goods at a good price so I won't be baking this week.

I started making the noodles for our Tday dinner (the Sunday before because so many of us work retail,food service, medical) It figured out to be 15¢ per person.

I bought a pork roast regularly $1.79/lb for 99¢/lb and ground pork regularly $2.99/lb on sale for 99 and more eggs for 79¢/ dozen. I was told that by the holidays get here eggs will be back up over $1.00/dozen. So I decided to dehydrate the amount I use in the holiday baking.

I dehydrated some pears and apples we weren't going to get used before they went bad.

We bought LED light bulbs. I've been saving as my son warned me they would cost a pretty penny, especially with the amount of lights we have here at the farm. We decided to replace the CFLs in the lights we use daily and go from there. Main amt of lights was 27. THEN we realized as we were changing them out we had forgot about ceiling lights through the entire house and 3 lights at the doors...that is 15.There is 24 in the out building that need changed. I suggested to Hubby we replace the rest in the house (which are CFL) and use them in the out buildings which is the old incandescent and then replace the outbuildings. That alone should save more money. We did save around 1/3rd the amt on the new bulbs by buying what was on sale (even though it was a less watt than we were using) so I was happy with that. I can take that savings and put it towards the next round of LED's we buy.

We got Subway one night we both of us was just too worn out and was thinking of just not eating.  We gave them our Subway card and told them to take what they could off it...we ate free.We were both shocked there was that many points on the card when we very seldom go to Subway unless we can get a special and have to eat out which isn't all that often.

With cold coming in, I have been closing the curtains as it's getting dark and waiting until the sun is out before opening them. I turn the furnace off  as long as the house holds at 68° during the time, when it drops to 67 I'll turn it back on.

I turned the dehumidifier off in the basement. By next month I will be turning on the humidifier on in the front room.

I'll be pricing 50lb bags of potatoes this week as there was none at the auction. I need it for us and some for the family (as early Christmas present) I will also be pricing beets, sweet potatoes and watching turkeys as I need to roast one early for the noodles since our dinner is the 20th.

frugal week 10.23.2016

This time of year I make a lot of condiments. Like Balsamic vinegar syrup. It took two bottles of what is on the left to make the 4 oz bottle of syrup on the right.

I will also take 3 gal of apple cider to make apple cider syrup. I will end up with about 1 gal of syrup.


I have and will make more of my Mother's BBQ sauce also.

Apple peelings and cores from applesauce and dried apples will make apple butter, apple caramel jelly,apple jelly and apple juice.

Veggies are washed before peeled and the peels go in the gal freezer bag in the freezer until it's full and then I make veggie stock from it. Broccoli stems go in a separate bag for when I make broccoli soup.

Water I cook potatoes in is saved for making gravies and potato soup. The water is starchy so I need less starch/flour to thicken the gravy. Good for breads also when you need a bit of liquid.

I bought 15 lbs of assorted pasta for $14. I still need lasagna (both regular and oven ready), alphabet and couscous and that will give me enough to go the year or more without buying any more.

I got large eggs for 94¢ for 2 dozen , so I got 6 dozen. I still have some of the medium eggs I bought last time for 48¢ a dozen in the frig. I will dehydrate some to replace what I have given to family. A lot of it will be going into noodles I make this week for Thanksgiving. I will also make noodles to give as gifts.

I have worked out what the budget is going to be for 2017.I do this now as Hubby's employer has you sign up what you want your benefits to be at the first part of Nov.I'll finish working it out this week.

I've been closing the curtains before dark to help keep the heat in and reopening when the sun comes up. Been able to turn the furnace off about 10 and not turn it back on until around 5.

I've been doing good on the new diet. Only ran into a few issues when eating out with my Dad and then with friends last week. I needed green and Dad gave me pickles to eat when we got back to his house. I just filled in the "gap" when I got home after eating with our friends...we go out with them about every 6 wks. We pick places that have specials or we have coupons. They are retired and on a limited budget also.

I read The Prudent Homemaker blog every day. Someone always post something that helps.

Blessed be

Frugal week 10.19.2016

Frugal hack.. the curtains I bought at yard sale didn't have the loops on the tie backs any more so I used paper clips

this is actually a cloth for a end table or what ever and I decided to use it this year on the kitchen window that I don't want to block what little light comes in. I used binder clips a friend gave me when they closed down a factory and he cleaned out the offices.

because of the decorative woodwork above the sink you can't even see how I hooked the lace to the rod at all.

Hubby needed a new winter coat for when we are going some where instead of wearing the work coat or the "barn" coat that really looks nasty with stains and worn spots.We found one on sale at the local hardware (only a couple places carry carhart coats which is what is worn in this area). When it was rang up it came out that the tag was wrong ($150 coat was on sale for $99.99 but the tag said $59.99)
They honored the tag. Actually they said of course they would honor the tag when we pointed the tag said less than the "scan" code did. Still, we would have paid the $99.99 as that was a good sale for that coat because it included the $30 hood that we have always had to buy separate.

I finished dehydrating the last of my herbs and gave the herbs their "winter" hair cut.

I cleared all the sq ft gardens and planted the fall onions and fall garlic. Found more onions so they are now curing. I still have a couple gardens on the south side and the north gardens(straw bales) to clear.

Harvested the sweet potatoes and they are curing.

Pulled the last of the bell peppers in south gardens. They will be loaded tonight in dehydrator. That way the house is warm from the dehydrator in the morning and I'm not having to turn the furnace on to take the chill off.

GI doctor changed my diet, have to eat magnesium,potassium,calcium combination (it's what makes your digestive system work the best) along with 1 serving of fruit/veg from each color ...colors are white/tan/brown , red. orange/yellow, blue/black/purple and green-lt/dark AND I'm to eat at least 1/2 cup of food every 2-3 hrs as NOT eating regular times can cause issues of digestive system shutting down.  I thought this was going to cost us a fortune...until I checked what is in the pantry... pretty much have all of it, might run out of the blue/black/purple but doc was okay with red/purple grape juice or V8 Fusion once a day.The only thing is I have to eat yogurt daily. I had some given to me that will last a couple weeks then I will most likely start making it myself.

We have ate from the freezers or pantry most the time, I think we have one time that each of us ate out by ourselves due to NOT being home and missing a meal...both of us spent less than $5.

I have started focusing on our Tday dinner...going to have to really go over the menu as the head count has almost doubled with YES WE WILL BE THERE. LOL.

Have a frugal week.

Oct 10 Monday morning frugal week

This is what I didn't use this week for the laundry. We pulled everything and I mean everything of the warm weather bedding,pillows and curtains and then everything of the cold weather bedding, curtains and clothes and loaded it up in the back of the pick up and hauled it all to the laundromat. Can't wash heavy bedding and curtains in this machine. I love my wringer but that is a big negative of having it. Hubby said he saw no reason to not just do it all when I am still recovering from being in the hospital (better but no where near normal energy wise or other.). I don't allow him to use the wringer washer , too scared he will force the wringer and break it.

Three hours later, 16 triple loads, 18 double loads (think about it 19 windows with a set of sheers and then regular curtains EACH, that's 57 curtains (I use the same sheers) to be washed) we were home and I was loading the dryer,drying rack and the 200 ft of clothes line. Took less than 24 hrs to get it all dried thanks to the wind being 15-20 mph as I reloaded the clothes line before going to bed . Hard to get the items on and off the line, well maybe not off as I kept having to go out and repin things to keep them ON. LOL

We had 4 throw pillows that matched our couch and love seat fall apart.Not surprised as they are over 12 yrs old. I used the fillings (after making sure it was dry) to restuff the cushions that are the backs of the couch and love seat. I will need to replace the throw pillows as we use them to support me as need to sit "forward" on that furniture because I am short.

I reused a couple bed pillows that fell apart also (closer to 7 yrs old) to make one pillow. Going to have to replace a couple of those also, but can make due until I find what we want and on sale.

Now my house is "covered" in laundry baskets as I sort what needs to be in storage and what is going to be used now.Financially it wasn't cheap on the other hand it made us think about what washer we should be looking. Do we want to continue to use the laundromat twice a year at over $150 each time (no dryers, used just washers) or do we want to put it towards a washer that can handle to bedding and curtains? Already looking at life cycles and limited computer parts as I went back to the wringer because I had 3 washers that the mother boards died.I will not do a front loader again either unless I am in a wheelchair.

While doing all of this I started the fall cleaning with Hubby's help. We focused on the bedroom first as we both feel that we do better if we can rest without seeing any messes.

Went to town and got caulking as I found air leaks when taking the curtains down. Got dog food on sale while there (almost same amt) that we been getting at Sam's club so that put off the trip until next month plus they had some canning stuff on clearance so I got that also to get off my list.

Our grandkids got their first apt so we are taking kitchen stuff down to them that I was getting rid of. Pretty much they will have something from everyone in the family. Surrounded by love is what they called it.We will combine the trip to drop off pumpkins and pick up anything the kids need us to get. Will save a us a second trip down which is a 3 hr round trip.

I dehydrated thyme, oregano,flat leaf parsley, curly parsley, garlic chives and chives. I canned 8 pints of pears.

Blessed Be

October shopping plans

                                        Jack Wee be littles from the Amish produce auction.

This is what I want to shop for....with acknowledgement that it's going to depend on if there is money to buy it.

Since I will go back to baking most of our breads and stuff I need to restock the supplies. I had quit, didn't see the point with just the two of us and neither of us big bread eaters but that was one thing that was put in to my diet by the GI specialist, it just can't be whole grain. I do eat oatmeal without issues so I can make oatmeal bread (cook oatmeal first , Mary at Owlhaven recipe).Hubby eats bagels weekly and both of us eat English muffins. I just need space in the freezer to split it up so it doesn't start going bad (no preservatives so you have to eat it now)go into the dogs mouths as treats. LOL

Sam's Club: Dog food and carrots. I will walk the whole store to see if there is anything else but I pretty much already picked up the baking supplies. Might get oil for the deep fryers as Hubby deep fries our turkeys ever since the house burnt a month before Thanksgiving . I used the church kitchen to make the rest of the dinner and we had it in a house with the dining room and kitchen torn apart.THANKFUL we were all okay.

King Arthur Flour or Amish country store (no shipping and usually better priced): caramel coloring,asorbic acid,citric acid,pretzel salt,non-diastatic and diastatic malt,barley malt,baker's ammonia,Vietnamese cinn, cinn baking chips,vanilla bean paste,lemon juice powder, lime juice powder, orange citrus oil, boiled cider, dried buttermilk ,rye bread improver,easy roll dough improver,pizza dough flavor,special dry milk,deli rye flour, rye flour,pasta blend flour or semolina and durum flour(this is only for Thanksgiving noodles otherwise I use regular all purpose, this blend holds up better to sitting in crock pots through the day),fruit blend (KAF) Hubby prefers this in his granola bars and oatmeal. and sticky bun sugar.

Dollar stores etc. Candy that I can use for Christmas goodies along with tape and paper to wrap with odds and ends for presents.

Wagner's or Walter's butcher shop for sausage patties(by the case) smoked sausage (by the case) canned pork,canned beef and canned chicken . Both places butcher their own meat and can it so I know what is in it and where the meat is from. I will also buy dried beef in the jar. We use it at Thanksgiving for dried beef pickles and I use it for gravy and cheese balls through the winter and lard.

Amazon is been my best price for dog treats, (yeah I know I shouldn't but I do) I always check sales and coupons before I order.

Other groceries will be eggs (I'll use 20 dozen at Thanksgiving and another 20 dozen at Christmas) Crisco for sugar cookies and butter for baking. I need crushed pineapple, chunk pineapples and pineapple rings, yellow wax beans ( or 3 bean salad Hubby eats through the winter), yellow and white hominy, kraut, I need a bit more ginger root also. Storage needs sweet potatoes, white potatoes, apples ( citrus is Dec) and I will pick up celery, fresh mushrooms (if on sale and I have coupon) and colored bell peppers (I can't eat the green ones). I might get more beets depending on price as I would like to make beet chutney and beet chips.

We'll see how it goes.
Blessed be