Meal Planning & Prepping For One

 

I've been doing some experimenting lately with my meals and prepping them for a moderately busy week ahead.  I honestly think I'm busier now than when I was working, but that's completely okay.  Planning meals and doing some prep work helps me a lot, especially when working on a project and I feel too hot and tired to fix something to eat.

 

Each Sunday I've been choosing two meats from the freezer to work with.  This past week I chose a pair of angus beef patties ($1.75) and a package of pork chunks ($2.12) that I had found in the markdown bin of the supermarket a while back.  I've been on a mission to use up several items in my fridge that have been hanging out for some time as well as to use items in the kitchen freezer to prepare meals.  In the fridge I had loads of leftover items to work with.

 

This made enough for me to have three meals

I began by placing the partially thawed pork into my smallest slow cooker and adding the remains of a bottle of BBQ sauce.  I added a little warm water to the bottle and gave it a good shake to get out every last bit.  I let the pork cook on low for several hours while I prepared my next dish.

 

I used up a jar of pickles, some leftover onion and part of a dozen eggs

I love a good mustard potato salad

It has been ages since I've made potato salad so I placed seven eggs into my egg cooker to hard boil and four medium potatoes into a pan to boil.  I chopped up the last two dill pickles I had floating in a jar and a small piece of onion I had leftover from another meal I had made the week before.  Once the eggs and potatoes were done and cooled I peeled four eggs and the four potatoes and chopped those.  I finished it with mayonnaise and mustard along with some salt and pepper.  After transferring the salad to a bowl with a lid I sliced one more egg to arrange on top and sprinkled it with paprika.  Not only did it look pretty it tasted delicious.

 

Two beautiful little quiches, one for now and one for later

It baked up beautifully in my little toaster oven

How's this for a delicious quiche?

Next I made a batch of pie crust divided it in half and set it in the refrigerator to chill while I tidied up the kitchen.  I mixed two eggs, 2 Tbs of cream, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Then I got out two little pie plates I had acquired from thrift stores, they fit in my little toaster oven perfectly.  I divide the dough in half, rolled out a crust on a floured board and placed it in a pie pan.  Then I did the same with the other half.  I chopped up some frozen broccoli that needed to be used up and divided it equally between two crusts.  I had two packages with leftover grated cheese in the refrigerator that was just enough to equally divide between the two pies.  I sprinkled that on top of the broccoli and topped one of the with the egg mixture.  I then made another batch of the egg mixture to top the other one.  While I baked one of the quiches in my toaster oven I placed the other one in the freezer for another time.  Once it was frozen I slipped it into a gallon sized Ziploc bag and put it back into the freezer.

 

Each quiche is four servings

I had two meals with the angus beef patties and potato salad

Three meals of BBQ pork, potato salad & seasoned green beans

For supper I pan fried the two angus patties and enjoyed one with potato salad, the other was saved for another night.  The next evening I heated up the pork, a can of green beans and had some more potato salad for supper.  Between these things I had prepared, plus two slices of leftover homemade pizza from the previous week I had plenty of food to fix quick meals all week long.  Healthy, delicious, economical and all made from scratch meals to keep me going while I get on with my busy little life.

 

5 Inexpensive Nonfood Items To Add To Your Preps - Part 4

 

How are you doing with your nonfood prepping?  Did you stock up on any of the items mentioned in part 1, part 2 and part 3?  Let's talk about some more items you may or may not have considered to add to your prepper pantry.

 

Grocery Bags 

Keep some plastic and paper shopping bags on hand for disposing of messes.  This is a very affordable option and may not cost you a thing.  Reusable shopping bags are a good option to have too for storing, organizing and carrying things.  At 99¢ a bag it is very affordable to add a few of these to your prepper pantry.

 

Tape 

Make sure you have a roll or two of duct tape on hand as well as some electrical and packing tape for making quick repairs.  We all use duct tape for repairing a variety of things around the house.  Electrical tape is useful for not just wiring but I've used it for fixing handles on tools and bikes before when grip tape wasn't readily available.  Packing tape is useful for temporarily repairing a cracked window or patching a tear or cut in a plastic bag.  Having an assortment of tape rolls is a very good idea.

 

Rope/Zip Ties/Bungi Cords/Tarps 

Having options for tying things up or down as well as securing a load is smart.  Rope has multiple uses and we should all have a roll.  Zip ties are great for repair and securing items.  Bungi cords are very handy and usually run $2 to $4 a piece.  Also consider keeping a couple tarps on hand too.  You never know when you might need to cover something.

 

Buckets 

A few buckets for carrying water as well as a couple five gallon buckets is another good idea.  Five gallon buckets can be used for storage, carrying items or even to make an emergency toilet.

 

Manicure Set 

This is an easy and inexpensive item to put together.  You can pick up a pair of nail clippers and toenail clippers for not a lot of money.  Consider a few emery boards as well.  I also have cuticle scissors.  A small plastic container or vinyl pencil pouch to keep it all in and you are good to go.

 

How are you doing with your nonfood prepping?  What have you acquired so far?

 

Back-To-School = Not-For-Me

 

It felt really weird, but for the first time in thirty years I didn't get a kid ready to go back to school.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  A few months ago I gathered up all the extra office supplies and grabbed the school supply bin and had my girls go through and take what they wanted for college.  After they loaded up I put what was leftover in a bag and donated it.  I no longer have a school supply bin to add to in preparation of this annual event.

 

We didn't go shopping this spring and summer for shoes and clothes on clearance to set aside for Fall.  We didn't go to the thrift stores to find items to fill in the gaps and this fall I won't be picking up the clearance backpacks for a buck or two to set aside for when they need one.

 

I didn't go through the plastic lunch containers or the insulated bags and freezer packs.  I didn't make a new list of lunch ideas for them to pack.  Along with the extra school supplies I also donated their lunch box items.  I didn't do any special grocery shopping for items they might bring to school to eat or for snacking between classes.

 

My youngest headed off for her first year of college, but there wasn't any fanfare about it.  We had been preparing for this for so long and she actually moved out in July, well ahead of the first day of school, with all of her boxes of items we'd been squirreling away.  She didn't need anything new to take with her.

 

One thing I'm very happy about is that there is no check I need to write for school registration and school pictures, although I think I'll miss those annual pictures a little bit.  Normally, I'm gearing myself up for the onslaught of scheduled practices, concerts, conferences, meetings, events.  This year my schedule is clear and I've got nothing on the docket.  It is kind of surreal.

 

Once your youngest has left home there is nothing quite like Back-To-School time to make you realize just how done you are.  It is final.  I've raised my children to be very much ready and prepared for life on their own.  They want their independence and to do things on their own, I totally respect that.  I'm not sad about the finality of my role as their parent or the lack of the back-to-school process and responsibilities.  It just feels weird to not have to do any of that.

 

What does feel good is that now, as their mom, I'm just Mom.  We can talk and visit, but for the most part, I get to what I want.  When I want.  How I want.  I get to schedule my own stuff.  I don't have to work around school schedules and events.  I don't have to deal with the school stuff anymore.  It feels weird.  It feels really weird.

 

Small Home Improvement Project - The 2nd Bedroom - Decorated

 

I began collecting and making items to redo this bedroom years ago.  It's my neighbor's fault really.  She gave me this beautiful white vintage bedspread and I knew I couldn't use it until my girls were grown and gone.  A mother just knows these things.  A white bedspread and children, not happening.  Not at my house anyway.  So I tucked it aside and dreamed of all the things I would do with this bedspread and the room I'd create around it.

 

I think this bedspread is just beautiful

Several years ago I picked up some vintage lamps, very similar to the ones I had as a child.  I acquired lampshades at thrift stores and even got one at Lowes on clearance.  I made doilies and dresser scarves that I carefully packaged and stored away for "someday".  I made pillows that I would add to the bed I made up with that beautiful bedspread.  And I had keepsakes from my childhood tucked away in my bedroom closet.

 

I recently got this handmade wooden doll cradle on Facebook Marketplace
The Irish Chain quilt I made while waiting to adopt my oldest daughter

In celebration of my children heading off on their own journey into adulthood I went on a little shopping spree one morning.  It has been soooooo long since I've done a shopping spree for frivolous items and I had a lot of fun.  With some of the money left over from my big landscaping project I was able to get quite a few things I otherwise probably wouldn't have.  I picked up a set of white book shelves, new blinds and some darling curtains and a can of spray paint to refresh an old desk.  I also ordered a pink fuzzy rug from Amazon.

 

The refurbished nightstand with a vintage lamp & shade

A few years back I had picked up a nightstand at a neighbor's yard sale for $10 and refurbished it.  I had stripped off the very bad paint job it came with and sanded it smooth, replaced the warped back with a new piece of luan, and repainted it.  I even added a new knob and stitched a darling little drawer liner for it.  Again, I kept it safe until I could place it in this room "someday".

 

More to come!

Now that "someday" has arrived and the room has been renovated (I still need to do the closet) I was able to get in there and put the finishing touches on this space and use my carefully created and curated items in here.  I could not be happier with how this sweet little room has turned out.  I'm not quite finished in here as I've got several plans for this room and it will be a work in progress, hopefully for a very long time.

 

5 Inexpensive Nonfood Items To Add To Your Preps - Part 3

 

How are you doing with your nonfood prepping?  Did you stock up on any of the items mentioned in part 1 and part 2?  Let's talk about some more items you may or may not have considered to add to your prepper pantry.

 

Cast Iron Skillet 

Do you have a good heavy cast iron skillet that would work should you need to cook on your grill, rocket stove or even over an open fire?  Cast iron skillet can be expensive if you purchase them brand new, but yards sales and thrift stores are a great place to find one for a much more affordable price.  Don't be afraid of rust.  It can be cleaned and seasoned.  Along with your skillet a good dutch oven is something to consider as well.

 

Flashlights/Candles 

A good flashlight plus an assortment of candles is something we should all have on hand in case of a power outage.  Consider picking up a decent LED flashlight.  The dollar stores sell those tall 80 hour candles which is a great way to inexpensively had some to your prepper pantry.

 

Batteries/Solar Charger

 

Batteries do go on sale.  I have an assortment of Amazon Basics batteries on hand for my LED flashlights and our LED lantern as well as anything else we need to put a battery in.  They last a long time and have a 10 year shelf life.  Make sure you are stocking the right size batteries you need too.  Consider adding a small solar charger to your prepper pantry for charging small items such as your cell phone or a rechargeable flashlight.

 

Matches/Lighters 

Pick up a couple boxes of kitchen matches as well as a package of lighters.  I have the bigger boxes of matches as well as the little boxes that can be easily slipped into a pocket.  I keep an extra barbecue lighter on had too as well as a package of the regular lighters.  If you have a zippo lighter make sure you have extra flints and lighter fluid set aside.

 

Let me know how you are doing?  I love the feedback.

Our Quality Of Life Is What We Make Of It

 

Regardless of what is going on in the world around us our quality of life should always be a priority.  For me that is a daily endeavor.  I am always thinking of and planning ways to improve myself, my home and my life.  To be steadily working on making things better is in a way its own reward.  I am blessed with the desire and ability to make a good life for myself.  I think we all are.

 

Embracing simplicity, practicing gratitude on a daily basis, counting my blessings and thanking God every day has been life changing.  It is very difficult to be sad or angry when you are grateful.  It is hard to feel deprived when you are looking around at all that you have with a full heart and know contentment.  There is no resentment to be felt when you are actively working on a task that will improve your current situation.

 

I find a lot of joy in lesser things.  A blue sky, the sound of running water, the smell of freshly cut grass, the beauty of a full moon on a dark night.  I listen to music, take walks, water the flowers, write in my journal, cuddle with a kitty and visit with my chickens.  I am alone, but not lonely.

 

It is important to really care for myself, protect my health, nourish my body and my soul, rest when I'm tired and work when I'm not.  I find a lot of joy in preparing a simple, healthy meal that I eat slowly, tasting each bite.

 

Over the years I've consistently removed items from my home that I no longer need, want or use.  Having less stuff has made room for more time to spend on projects I enjoy.  Less physical clutter has made room in my head for more peaceful thoughts.  Clearing my calendar and limiting commitments has had a dramatic effect on my stress level.  Slowing down allows me to breathe.

 

Defining what is important to us and then working to make that happen.  Taking things one step at a time and doing our best each day.  Our quality of life is what we make of it.

 

 

 

Small Home Improvement Project - The 2nd Bedroom - Complete!

 

After completing the demo on the bedroom I took an inventory of supplies I still had out in the garage.  I had quite a few things saved out there knowing this project was on the list to be completed once my daughter moved out and was off to college.  Then I made a list of items I still needed and after shopping around and checking prices I placed an order to Lowes for most of those things.  I wanted to make sure I was really careful with my spending because I didn't have a much of a budget for this project.

 

Oops! Naughty bunny!

On day two I picked up my Lowes order first thing in the morning, then headed home to wash the walls and the ceiling in preparation of paint.  I also used spackle to fill holes in the walls left by nails and wall anchors after I removed some shelves.  Our sweet little bunny had a nibble on the wall near the door so I repaired that as well.

 

My order from Lowes, minus a backordered item

The next day I used trim I already had in the garage that I'd acquired from the FREE WOOD bin near where I used to work.  I had purchased a twelve piece pack of trim from Lowes, but it wasn't quite enough to finish the room and they were short on trim, not to mention the price has shot up on that stuff.  So I needed to get resourceful and fortunately I had quite a few pieces that were very similar I could use in strategic places.

 

Some of the supplies I already had out in the garage

I used one piece, the least similar one, under the wall mounted electric baseboard heater because I knew it wouldn't be easily seen and no one would notice it didn't match.  I then remounted the heater and gave it a coat of white paint to cover up its outdated original color.  I had the paint in the garage so this was a no cost project.  I also gave the phone jack a makeover with that same paint so it would blend into the wall much better.

 

Ready to start installing the new mouldings

On day four I brought up my compound miter saw to cut trim up there and save my knees from multiple trips up and down the stairs.  That proved to be a really good idea.  I then went to work trimming out the door frame and all along the floor.

 

New moulding along the ceiling

I had to wait until my decorative corner pieces arrived before I could trim along the ceiling.  Finally, four days later, they arrived and I was off and running.  By the time I was done my scrap pile was very small.  I didn't waste a thing and had just enough to get the job done.

 

Talk about cutting it close (no pun intended) but, this is my scrap pile
 after I finished installing all the trim.  No waste on this project!

Next up was to caulk all of the trim and let it cure overnight before I painted everything with two coats of pure white paint.  Fortunately I already had one gallon in the garage so I only needed to purchase a second gallon.  Boy has the price of paint gone up!  Along with everything else, I suppose.

 

Hurray for paint!!  Pure White by Behr - Love it!
I always remove the outlet & switch covers as well as drop the light fixture so I get everything

When I picked up the decorative trim pieces I also picked up a gallon of "Oops!" paint to use to seal the floor.  Once all of the walls, the ceiling, trim and the door was painted I did a massive cleanup.  After sweeping the floor I vacuumed it and laid down a nice coat of paint to seal the plywood and keep what drywall mud remained on the floor after scraping entombed.  As I have completed each room in my house I have done this to protect the new carpet and keep the dust and dirt better controlled.  I think it has helped immensely.  The paint I got for the floor was ugly, but it did the job and was only $11.

 

I'm pretty sure the name on the swatch was "baby poop"
I can't imagine why someone would want to return this lovely color to the store - ???

Ready for carpet!

With the room all done I was ready to install the carpet and call this job complete.  I ordered the carpet from Home Depot and installed it myself.  I ordered extra for the closet, but renovating that closet will be a job for another day.  After eleven days of working on this bedroom I was more than ready for a break before taking on another project.

 

I removed the heater from the wall (after shutting off the breaker!) and painted the wall behind it
Then I reinstalled it, masked off the wall and used white spray paint to give it a refresh

The final tally- not too bad!

I didn't have any money set aside to do this room, but because I did so well with my landscaping project, I was able to shuffle some of those funds over to this project.  I got the entire room done for less than $400, which quite honestly blows my mind.  Getting the carpet on sale for half price and installing it myself was a huge help in keeping the cost down.

 

Like the icing on a cake 😋

Ta da!  All done!

Now I get to do the fun stuff.  Decorate!