Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I was up with the sun, showered and dressed.  I got my electric blanket and flannel sheets off my bed and into the wash and the spring bedding onto my bed.  I opened my bedroom window to let in the cool fresh spring air and was able to look down and admire my handy work.  I am very pleased with the progress I have made in our backyard.

I did really well at Dollar Tree this time

I took the day off from yard work and after putting a ham into our slow cooker I headed off to Dollar Tree with a list to do some long awaited shopping.  I was happy to see the store was well stocked making it so I was able to get the things I was hoping to.  I picked up quite a few grocery items as well as some laundry supplies.

Prepper pantry items!

Later that evening the youngest and I headed off to Winco with an even larger list off stock up items mostly for our prepper pantry.  After putting these groceries away I cut up the ham to be packaged for multiple future meals as well as slice ham for sandwiches.

I picked up 3 large packages of stew meat on markdown

Monday I dashed to Fred Meyer on my lunch break to pick up pork roast on sale for 99¢ a pound.  I have plans for the roast and will share with you what I did with it in another post.  When I got home I packaged up sirloin steaks and sausages for the freezer.  I also cleared out the chest freezer in the garage and organized it.  Newest items are bagged and binned at the bottom and oldest on top to be used in the coming months.  Odds and ends are in the kitchen freezer.

I made homemade pizza with leftover ham

Tuesday I came home from work and loaded up the dehydrator with green beans and a little bit of corn.  I ran the onions I'd done over the weekend through my little food processor to make them more of a minced onion.  Seven onions nearly filled up a quart jar and they smell, oh my goodness.  Those onions smell divine.  I have a lot more onions to go too.

Dehydrated onions smell so good!

Wednesday evening I put the dehydrated green beans into a quart jar and filled it back up with sliced mushrooms and celery.  I also filled up the dishwasher with four dozen canning so I could get busy and do some serious canning that week and weekend.  Before bed I put a giant pork roast into my largest slow cooker with onions and green chile sauce on low and let it go all night.

Pork verde

Thursday morning I awoke to the heavenly smells of pork verde.  I shredded the roast and removed the bone and any fat.  Then I reloaded the slow cooker with another roast on low and let it go all day while I was at work.  When I got home I was able to get both batches of meat jarred and processed.

Saturday I was wide awake at 2:30 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep.  So I got up and went downstairs to the kitchen and found myself cleaning and reorganizing our pantry.  Later, when everyone else got up, I went out to the garage and cut a new shelf so I could expand the storage to accommodate jars of home canning as well as our vacuum sealed and dehydrated items.  I removed and relocated quite a few non food items too.

I put the rice, pasta and beans away in Mason jars and organized everything by category.  By the time I was done it looked really good.

I added a new shelf up on top using stuff I had out in the garage

After overhauling the pantry I got busy and canned a batch of homemade chili to put on the new shelves.  Total cost to can the chili came in at 45¢ a pint jar and I ended up with 17 jars.  Healthy, delicious and thrifty.  You can't beat that!

All finished!

A week earlier I cashed in my credit card rewards points for a Home Depot gift card.  It arrived in the mail last week and I have great plans for that gift card.  I also completed a wellness challenge at work to earn another $50 gift card.  I'm excited to get that one too.

Homemade chili

Prepper Pantry = dehydrated onions, green beans, mushrooms & celery, sirloin steaks, sausages, pork verde & chili.

I got a gift in the mail!

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

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

Dining Room - vacuumed floor.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped floor, cleaned microwave, scrubbed sink.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Scrubbed sink & tub.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - two large loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry, polished wood furniture.  Swept front porch.

Dehydrated celery and mushrooms

How was your thrifty week?