Last Week's Thrifty Moves

I hope everyone is doing well and remaining healthy through this COVID-19 event we are experiencing.  As long as we all remain calm and practice good common sense I think we'll be just fine.  I personally am not overly concerned for myself or my family, however I do have a lot of patients I work with that have respiratory issues.  My work with them is all by phone so my risk is minimal, but I do worry for them should things take a turn.  In the meantime I focus on the things I can control and just pray about the things I cannot.

I made French toast with almond milk and Keto bread
It was good!

Last Sunday morning I awoke to a lost hour due to Daylight Savings Time so what did I do to recoup that hour?  Jack and I stayed in bed and snuggled.  It was very nice too.  He is such a little sweetie.  I think he would have liked to stay in bed all day.

French toast made with Keto bread 

I kept meals super simple working off of ingredients we already had on hand, keeping it thrifty too.  We finished up the big bag of coleslaw mix I bought at Cash & Carry by browning up a pound of spicy sausage and making Egg Roll In A Bowl.  I used two large chicken breasts from our chest freezer to make garlic & herb marinated chicken (from a bottle of marinade in our refrigerator I want to use up) one evening and Buffalo Chicken on another.  I steamed some broccoli as a side dish.  I thinly sliced leftover sirloin steak to go with leftover salad.  We also had breakfast for dinner twice.

I had two ham bones in the freezer that I took out and made two batches of broth for soup.  The broth was strained, put into containers and then the freezer.  I am ready to make soup or beans!

Liquid gold

I saved rendered bacon fat and topped off the jar I keep in the refrigerator.  The fat will be used for cooking other meals.  I used rendered beef fat to make my chickens some suet cakes.  That will be Easter treats for them.  I cooked up some more bacon on Saturday and have now begun a new bacon fat jar as my other one is full.

Our Sunday dinner

Even though we were running low on produce the grocery ads were a little flat so there was nothing to really entice me to do much in the way of grocery shopping.  I decided to stock up on some grated cheese that was on sale and use a $1 OFF coupon for two bags of salad mix at Fred Meyer.  I stopped by after work on Friday to find that chaos had ensued the shelves were stripped bare.  It was the craziest thing I've ever encountered.  Fortunately the produce department was still well stocked so I was in luck, but for the meat department or shelf stable items forget about it.  And toilet paper?  Well, we all know how people have lost their minds over the toilet paper.  As I checked out the clerk was telling us that the most challenging customers had already been and gone in the morning.  Everyone since then had been nice, patient and understanding of the low inventory.

Suet cakes I made for our chickens

We decided to hole up all weekend and avoid the crowds.  I pulled a turkey breast from the freezer to prepare for the week ahead.  My daughter's college is closing down after spring break so she came home with a full carload of belongings in preparation of moving back home early and having online classes for the remainder of the semester.

Ham broth cooking in my slow cooker

I rinsed out a jug of laundry detergent and added the soapy water to a load of laundry before the empty jug ended up in the recycle bin.  I squeezed out every last drop of toothpaste from the tube before I tossed it.  I put a bottle of hand lotion upside down on my desk so I will be able to use it all up.

Because I have cats and they have noses I wash our windows a lot
They always have nose prints

Boy!  Did I ever make my fifteen minute increments count last week!  I was on top of it.  I even opened a few windows and let in some fresh air.  Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - cleaned mirrors, vacuumed floors, washed rug, cobweb patrol.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor, cleaned dining room window & windowsill, wiped down baseboard heater.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped the floor, cleaned range hood & stove, bleached sink and countertops, wiped down ceiling trim, spot cleaned the walls.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted, scrubbed sink & tub, cleaned mirror, cobweb patrol, cleaned ceiling heater/fan.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - three loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry, wiped down baseboard heaters, polished wood furniture, cleaned glass bookshelf, cleaned mirror, cobweb patrol.  Swept front porch.

My favorite room in my house is my kitchen

How was your thrifty week?