Another thrifty week flew right on by. Sunday morning I was up with the chickens after a really good night's sleep. I felt amazing. There is just nothing quite like getting up feeling fully rested and ready to start your day. I got up and made my bed before heading downstairs for a hot cup of coffee. First thing I did was to check my eBay listings and then put seven more things up for sale. Go me!
I took the chicken bones and skin from the deli chicken I bought the Thursday before and placed that in my largest slow cooker with a couple big carrots, some celery, an onion and some dried rosemary. I topped it up with water and let it go on high for four hours to make a delicious pot of chicken broth. Once cooled and strained it went into freezer containers to use later in recipes and soups. We got a lot of mileage out of that single deli chicken.
Sunday afternoon I made a double batch of meatballs and put them into two containers to freeze. I have plans for one container if the meatballs and the other one will be used in a future meal plan.
I also browned up a pound and a half of ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning. We used up leftover tortillas, leftover grated cheddar cheese, leftover salsa and leftover salad mix and still had plenty of leftovers for another supper and lunches during the week.
Monday morning I used up about ten leftover ripe strawberries to make a gelatin dessert. I just chopped up the berries and stirred them into sugar free strawberry flavored gelatin and let it chill. It was delicious with a dollop of whipped cream on top. I used some of the leftover deli chicken to make my daughter a big pot of chicken fried rice for supper. I also made a fresh green salad to go with it. My daughter ate off of that meal for quite a while.
Tuesday we finally got some much needed and very much appreciated rain. That went a long way toward clearing out the smoke from the skies and cooling the temperature. I opened up doors and windows to let in the fresh cool air and watched it come down. Supper was leftover taco meat and green salad became taco salads using up more of the leftover cheddar cheese and salsa. We had tacos the next day for lunch.
Wednesday morning I checked the new grocery ads to see if there were any good sales items being offered. I found that Fred Meyer had a great sale on facial tissues and school supplies. On my lunch break I headed over there to pick up ten boxes of tissues and some spiral notebooks for my youngest. While I was there I also found a great buy on a 30# bag of cat food which had a $2 OFF coupon stuck on it.
My daughter rescued two organic bananas and an apple one of her co-workers didn't want and was about to toss in the trash. I used the bananas and my banana bread recipe to make two batches of muffins. My oldest took some muffins home with her as well as a dozen eggs to make her breakfasts with and I took some muffins into work to share. The rest were for my youngest.
Thursday my daughter came home with a bag of cheese one of her managers gave her. I love that instead of tossing items in the trash they will hand out goodie bags to the employees. My girls have come home with several goodie bags over the time they have worked at the grocery store. They also earn coupons for excellent performance that are good for free items or store credit and they've received and used plenty of those as well.
We ate up all of our leftovers from the four meals I made last week. Plenty of good food that kept us well supplied for breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the week.
Investment Cooking = meatballs
Prepper Pantry = eggs and chicken broth into the freezer, vacuum sealed almonds, dehydrated apples.
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 & mopped floor.
Kitchen - vacuumed & mopped floor, cleaned sink, cleaned microwave & stove.
Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted. Scrubbed sink, cleaned mirror. Daily swish & swipe.
Other - two large loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry. Swept front porch, swept & tidied the garage.
My assistant taking a break
How was your thrifty week?
I used to love it when my son worked at a store. One time they were going to toss packages of bacon because it was expiring the next week. He asked if he could have it and we had over 100 packages in the freezer. I was always getting veggies because people would open bags and then they would be told to toss the rest. They couldn't sell them when the customers opened them. My son also took carts of non perishable foods out by the store dumpster and left them beside it for an hour or so and then he would come back and everything was gone. Some many hungry people in that area.They weren't allowed to give it to the homeless but they could leave it out for a bit before tossing in a dumpster. The waste was unbelievable. But he tried to make sure things got used up instead of trashed.
ReplyDeleteThe waste is incredible isn't it? I would love it if her manager gave her bacon!!! :0)
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