Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I was up early and got ready to head out to do some final grocery shopping for the month and for Thanksgiving.  I decided to go to Trader Joes as most of what I wanted to get was produce and I knew they would have what I wanted and it would be great.  Trader Joes did not disappoint.  I was able to finish up my little bit of grocery shopping and get back home in 30 minutes.

Once the groceries were put away I tried another yummy and easy cake mix cookie recipe.  I then got them all on a plate and ready to take to work and share with my co-workers.  No way did I want to keep those in the house.  Very dangerous.  I'll be posting that recipe on Wednesday.

Sunday afternoon I transferred the big turkey I got last week from the chest freezer to our big cooler.  I left it in the garage to slowly thaw which it did.  It was only slightly frozen when I removed it Wednesday night to clean it.

My grandmother's roaster held that big turkey perfectly

My daughter was out of school all week so no early morning runs to school.  I still got up each day at the same time, but I enjoyed a much more leisurely morning at home which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I also really enjoyed the break from packing her school lunch/breakfast/snacks.  Tuesday my daughter did have to cheer at a basketball game, but other than that we had nothing important to do.  Other than Thanksgiving Day, of course!

I love pumpkin pie!

Wednesday I worked and as soon as I got home I made the brine for the turkey, a keto cheesecake and a keto pumpkin pie.  We got the 20# turkey cleaned and into my big canner to soak in the brine overnight.  No way would it fit into our refrigerator, however our garage was the perfect temperature so I lugged the canner out there and we left that bird to do its thing.

I made my roll dough in my bread machine

Set to rise at our fireplace

Thursday I was up early once again doing what I absolutely love to do.  Play in my kitchen!  I started dough for dinner rolls in my bread machine and then got busy peeling potatoes and assembling dishes to go into the oven.  At 10:00 I had the turkey in the oven to roast and then took a short break before continuing on.  We sat down to eat at 3:00 and there was so much food it was almost ridiculous.  After games and desserts we finished loading the dishwasher and I ran that before heading off to bed.

The rolls were ginormous!

So much wonderful food for our Thanksgiving table

I worked on Friday and it was relatively quiet, even with a short crew as many of our co-workers had taken the day off.  It was really nice to come home knowing that all I had to do was turn on the oven and load it up with leftovers to reheat for supper.  Especially as I had a house full of company.

The one day of the year I allow myself not to be Keto
Although most of what I made was actually Keto friendly, but not everything 😊

Saturday while everyone slept in I got up and started a fresh batch of dough in the bread machine to make more dinner rolls.  It was heartily requested that I make more so I was happy to do it.  As a break from the turkey I decided to put a pot of meat sauce in my slow cooker and serve that for dinner with pasta, the rolls and a nice big salad.

My daughter's roommate made this Taiwanese shrimp that was utterly fantastic!

My first attempt at Keto pumpkin pie and it was a great success!

I used some Bath & Body Works shower gel to make three batches of foaming hand soap solution and filled up all of our soap dispensers.  I even colored some of it with food coloring to make it pretty.  I used Marshmallow Pumpkin Latte and Warm Vanilla Sugar shower gels so we have a good assortment of nice smelling hand soaps to use.  That day the hand soaps were on sale for $3 each in the store, which is a really good deal, but by making my own I saved myself $12 plus a trip to the mall.  I didn't even have to get dressed!

Making foaming hand soap solution

I think the green is adequate for Christmas

The chickens ate like queens last week with all of the food scraps we gave them.  We literally had no food waste which was fantastic.

I worked quite a bit of overtime again last week.  My next paycheck should be a good one.

Investment cooking = I put the turkey carcass into my largest slow cooker along with some celery, carrots and an onion to make broth.  I froze most of it and plan to make soup with the rest.

Neat & tidy

Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed floors, cleaned sink & toilet.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor, cleaned inside the top half of the china cabinet.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped the floor, cleaned microwave, organized the pantry, cleaned and organized the spice cabinets.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - one large load of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry.  Swept front porch & raked up a big pile of leaves.

How was your thrifty week?