Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I slept in for a bit before getting up to begin our Easter.  It was pretty low key this year as you can imagine.  I cooked up a nice ham with all the trimmings.  I made macaroni & cheese and baked beans for the girls along with a fruit salad made with canned pineapple and sugar free lime gelatin, deviled eggs and steamed asparagus.  For dessert we enjoyed a slice of low carb coconut cream pie.

We had the best Easter dinner

I put together Easter gifts for my girls by taking a couple cosmetic bags I'd picked up at Wal-Mart $1 each (after Christmas clearance in January 2019) and filling them with full sized candy bars I'd found on sale and clearance in the past two months.  They loved the bags and the candy inside.

We had several meals from this ham which I cooked in our large Crockpot.
I saved the rendered broth for soup and the fat for making suet cakes.
The bone will be used to make bean soup and is now in our freezer. 😋

Surprisingly our week went by fairly rapidly.  Every evening I came home and worked on either my garden plans or my prepper pantry.  It is going to be a process to put together this pantry and I know I have a long way to go, however I am really enjoying the work I have done so far.  Every day I come up with another idea too and add it to my list.  And I've got tomatoes sprouting!

I got started on my Prepper Pantry

I did not do any shopping or grocery shopping last week.  We are blessed to have plenty.

Ham broth, leftover ham and veggies made up a nice pot of split pea soup
I made cornbread to go with it and the girls loved it

Saturday was my busiest and most productive day spent cooking, cleaning, washing a load of laundry, prepping, doing some small projects and just enjoying being inside my home.  Obviously the extended stay at home order isn't bothering me too much.  The girls were both at work so that left me with most of the day to myself and I was able to get quite a bit done.  I even ordered myself an early Mother's Day present and I can hardly wait for it to get here!  I'm so excited!

I made a double batch of homemade granola

Our weather has been nice enough to turn off all of the heat in our house and open the windows on occasion for fresh air and some much appreciated sunshine.  We're a little late, but the pear and apple trees are starting to bloom finally and I've got tulips in the yard.  Our mornings are still pretty chilly, but once the sun is out it warms up quite nicely.

I boiled up a dozen eggs using half of them for egg salad

We gave the chickens loads of yummy kitchen scraps and in turn they gave us a load of delicious eggs.  We gave a dozen eggs to our neighbors as well as another dozed to some friends.  Normally we sell our extra eggs to offset the cost of food, but it just feels better to give them instead right now.

I washed out several Ziploc bags to reuse.

Prepper Pantry = 5 packages of rice (8 cups each), 4 packages of popcorn (6 cups each), 2 packages of flour (10 cups each), 6 seasoning packets (au jus, chili, taco), 4 boxes of gelatin, 8 cans tuna, 4 cans chicken, 4 bricks of coffee (6 oz each), 4 packages of pinto beans (2 cups each).

A little bit of Barkeeper's Friend will remove the stains from inside
your slow cooker.  Looks almost new again. 😊

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

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed & mopped floors.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed & mopped  floor.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & mopped floor, cleaned microwave, bleached sink.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Scrubbed sink, mopped floor.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - two large loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry, mopped both entry ways.  Swept front porch.

How was your thrifty week?