Oh, how very sad. For the month of June, I have just $145.32 in grocery money. I've got to get myself together for this. I can, and I will!
June 1. Dollar Tree for peanut butter (2) and soy milk (1). Spent $3
Cash & Carry for 40 lbs of chicken leg quarters, $19.99. Chicken legs are not my favorite, but at just under 50 cents per pound, I'll find ways to make them taste delicious. With all of this information about chicken/turkey and egg prices rising, I thought buying 40 lbs of chicken might be a good idea for right now.
The chicken quarters were packaged in 4 10-lb bags. Not horrible (could have been one solid block of frozen chicken), not as easy to deal with as IQF chicken pieces. But I'll figure something out. Meanwhile, we now have a very good supply of meat, here. 40 lbs of chicken, 10 lbs of ground beef, 1 whole turkey and 2 hams.
I've been thinking about our milk supply. I can get milk with a senior discount, one Tuesday per month, at an okay price ($2.51/gallon). Some months, milk is also on sale, so I can buy it for even less, as this month, it was $1.78/gallon, but limit of 3 gallons. I have figured that we go through about 9 or 10 gallons of milk per month, including the milk I use for making yogurt twice per month. So, my new fill-to amount, for the first week of the month is 10 gallons. That amount will get us through till the next senior discount day, when I can purchase more at an "okay" to "good" price.
June 1. QFC -- right next to the bank, so I run in and buy some milk, 4 half-gallons whole milk at 99 cents each (on sale, limit 4), and 2 gallons whole milk, on markdown ($1.98 each), 2 gallons skim milk on markdown ($1.99 each). Spent $11.90. When I have a choice, I buy whole milk, as I can use it either for family drinking or for making yogurt.
June 2. Senior Day at Fred Meyer. I use my discount to buy 6 half-gallons of whole milk (89 cents each), 1 packet of lettuce seeds for 96 cents, 4 16-oz bags of marshmallows for $1.35 each, 2 48-oz cans of shortening (for pie crusts), for $4.04 each, 1 large can of decaf coffee for $6.29, and 3 dozen eggs that were repackaged for $1.07 each dozen, plus I found 5 gallons of 2% milk on markdown for $2.00 each. I spent $39.28.
Month-to-date spent $74.17
June 7. The ethnic market, Imran's, for produce and corn tortillas. Bought 16 Red Delicious apples (39 cents/lb), 6 orange sweet bell peppers (25 cents each), 8 bananas (49 cents/lb), 1 head of green cabbage (49 cents/lb) ad 1 72-ct package of corn tortillas ($2.29). Spent $9.83. I figure I can afford to stop here one more time this month to pick up produce (and spend $10 again), and will otherwise use what's in the garden for the rest of our fruits and vegetables. The rest of the grocery budget is earmarked for other items.
Month-to-date spent $84.00
June 11. Cash & Carry for 4 64-oz jars of chunky peanut butter (it makes the best peanut butter cookies, IMO), $4.99 each. 1 5-lb bag of frozen cut corn ($3.49), 1 50-lb bag of pinto beans ($18.99). Spent $42.44 (I almost missed the pinto beans, entirely! They were in a separate ad, not the usual Hot Sheet, And when I was in the store getting the peanut butter, I walked right past them the first time. It wasn't until I pulled my cart into the checkout line that I spied them on an end cap. Pintos have been on my "buy" list for a few months, as they can be half the price of many other varieties of beans that I buy. So, thankful to see them this time!)
Month to date spent $126.44
We're doing okay, even thought I'm close to my budget limit, and it's only the 11th. Our freezer is so full, right now, that I am not wanting to bring anything more home that needs to be frozen. That will be a help, for me. And we're not needing too much in staples, either. So all's good for now. Hoping none of the stores have any spectacular deals in the next couple of weeks, so I won't be tempted to overspend.
June 17. Trader Joe's for 12 bananas, at 19cents each. Spent $2.28
Cash & Carry for 25-lb bag of carrots, at $7.98 and 1 29-oz can of coffee for $5.88. Spent $13.86
Total spent month to date -- $142.58
June 22. Fred Meyer for 4 half-gallons of whole milk (99cents each) and 1 pint of heavy whipping cream ($2.69) The whipping cream is for my one daughter who struggles with an eating disorder. I've been bumping up the calories that she consumes, to help her get her weight back up. Spent $6.65.
I'm done shopping for the month of June. I spent $149.23, over $3.91. Not bad! Not bad at all!
So for this month, I bought:
meat
40 lbs chicken leg quarters
pantry
20 oz. creamy peanut butter
16 lbs chunky peanut butter
1 quart soy milk
4 16-oz bags marshmallows
1 large can decaf coffee
1 large can regular coffee
6 lbs shortening (Crisco)
50 lbs dried pinto beans
dairy
9 gallons whole milk
2 gallons skim milk
5 gallons 2% milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
refrigerator
3 dozen eggs
72-ct corn tortillas
fruits and vegetables
packet lettuce seeds
16 Red Delicious apples
6 orange bell peppers
20 bananas (plus we received 8 additional bananas, free, from my son's office)
1 head cabbage
5 lbs frozen cut corn
25 lbs carrots
I've been reworking our overall budget this past week. While inflation has affected nearly every category of our budget, food inflation has had the most significant impact. I've decided to take $10 per month out of another category and transfer that amount to groceries. For July (and forward) we'll have $185 for groceries. I'll see if this increase will ease up some of the stress of planning meals and shopping, for me.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
A cold supper for a hot day
I don't know about you, but we're not even out of June, yet, and the heat is a problem for me. Fortunately, I baked 4 loaves of bread last week, and we still have 2 loaves left. No heating up the kitchen for next few days, I'm afraid.
Cold suppers are it for us, for now.
So, Thursday evening, I got together with my think-tank (my two daughters) and we brainstormed what dinner on the hot evenings should be. One of them suggested ham sandwiches, and the menu morphed from there. Here's Friday's cold supper.
Friday's dinner
- Ham and cheese sandwiches, on whole wheat, spread with mock pesto
- Seasoned, oven-roasted tomatoes topping a bed of lettuce and spinach
- Fresh cherries
- milk, iced tea and ice water to drink (our ice maker is working overtime)
Mock Pesto
Our basil looks pretty great, this year. In cooler summers, I've had straggly-looking stands of basil. Not so, this year! I've been using it to make a mock pesto, to top baked chicken and spread on sandwiches.
I use a couple of large handfuls of fresh basil leaves, garlic powder, salt and pepper, oil and pizza cheese (a blend of mozzarella and provolone), whirred together in the food processor. If I had Parmesan cheese and pine nuts, that would be wonderful. But really, this tastes pretty amazing, with all of the basil. And it's definitely a "more is more" condiment. The more I spread on an item, the more delicious said item is!
An Easy-day Salad
For the salad, I roasted the canned tomatoes in the early morning hours, in our counter-top, toaster oven (to reduce the heat-up of the kitchen). (See this post for instructions on oven-roasting canned tomatoes). When cooled, I cut each tomato half into strips, coated with more oil, dried oregano, a bit of vinegar, salt and garlic powder. Then chilled the whole bowlful for the day. At serving time, I spooned the roasted tomatoes over beds of garden greens. And that was the most cooking I did all day.
In this heat, I can only do so much physical activity. On Friday, I did my gardening as early in the day as I could. I had the day's cherries picked by 9 AM. Then I used some of the rest of my time to set up July's budget, take care of Monday's bill paying in advance and do some menu planning for this week. At that point, I was worn out from the heat. A tall glass of iced tea and a chair on the deck were about all I could take.
How about you? How do you handle summer's warmer days? What are your favorite no-cook dinners?
Friday, June 26, 2015
Life is a bowl of cherries, and a few worms
So, if you're at all squeamish about bugs and stuff in your food, don't read any further!
We have had so much gorgeous and warm weather for June, here. And now the cherries are all ripening about 2 weeks ahead of schedule.
Okay, so here's the buggy part. . . our cherry trees have been infested with currant fly (and yes, our currants are also infested). The cherries are only partially hit by the larvae, so not a total loss. But in not wanting to lose the cherries, I have been pitting and splitting all of them open, picking out larvae, before serving with dinner. I'm sure there are many that I miss, but at least nothing staring back at us, when we take a bite.
Why am I telling you about our buggy fruit? A lot of our homegrown produce gets hit with one sort of pest or another. Lettuce and strawberries get a little bitten by slugs. The kale gets the occasional cabbage worm. And spinach and chard gets hit with leaf miner every year. Usually, I just cut around the ruined part of the veggie. We just don't worry too much about it, and I do what I can, organically, in the garden to minimize infestations. And yes, I have cooked a pot of homegrown broccoli before, only to find a few cabbage worms in the cooking pot at serving time!
I figure that a few bugs have always been present in the food supply. Perfect-looking produce is a modern ideal. Our garden fruits and veggies would never pass inspection at an upscale market. I tell my kids all the time that a slug bite here or there is evidence of how free of chemicals our fruits and veggies really are. And hey, a little extra protein, free of charge, can't be all bad!
So, what's my point here? I know that some of you also have home gardens. And if you do, you've had your share of pest problems in the garden. And I'm willing to bet that you have also just cut away the buggy part, and eaten what's still good. To me, that just seems like the sensible thing to do.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
A summer excursion and cost comparisons
I have another situation that I'm currently thinking though, with similarities to my beach parking dilemma.
This is an excursion for myself and 2 daughters.
The goal is not to spend as little as possible, but to make our time together enjoyable, without being frivolous with the budget. No unnecessary wastefulness.
A few years ago, my 3 kids and I went to a small town across the Sound, called Poulsbo. It's Norwegian in heritage, and a fun little spot to visit. I've been wanting to revisit that town this summer, with a couple or all of my kids.
Here are some of my options.
1) One day trip. Walk on the ferry, then take the public bus to the small town. It's about a 30 minute bus ride from the ferry terminal, which isn't bad at all. The problem is the limited bus schedule on the other end. The first bus of the morning from the ferry to Poulsbo doesn't even run until 9 AM, and we'd wanted to get to the town for an early breakfast at the locally-renown bakery. I love being in a town as it's first waking up for the day. Plus, the last bus of the day back to the ferry terminal leaves at 4:30 in the afternoon, so no chance of staying for the evening. I'll have to make a phone call and verify, but I think my daughters' bus fare would be free, as part of their monthly bus pass that they already buy to get to work, daily. The cost for my bus fare to Poulsbo would be $4 round trip. The ferry cost for 3 walk-ons is $24.
The other factor to consider is finding parking near the ferry terminal, or take local buses ( a series of 2 buses) to travel to the ferry terminal from our home. My daughters would be free on these buses, as well, but my cost would be $4.50 round trip (for a drive that costs $2.24 in gas round trip). Total cost for this trip would be $32.50 (to take all public transportation).
1b) A variation of this option is driving to the ferry, parking the car in a lot near the terminal. walking on ferry, taking public bus to Poulsbo. It would cost $2.24 in gas, and about $15 for all-day parking at the terminal, for drive down, walk on ferry, bus to Poulsbo, for a total trip cost of $45.24.
2) Another possibility, drive onto the ferry, have our car with us when we reach the other side. There's free parking in Poulsbo. But the drive-on cost for a car and 3 adults is about $50. We would be free to take a very early ferry and arrive in town as early as we would want. The bakery opens earlier than we could want to be there, and after breakfast, there's a nice walking path along Liberty Bay to explore. Shops and the free aquarium open around 10 AM. We could stay for free evening entertainment, and take a late ferry home.Total cost for this trip would be $50 plus about $5 in gas, for a cost of about $55.
3) Third (or is it fourth?) option, since we would already be making the ferry trip across the Sound, we could turn this into an overnighter. A nice, but inexpensive, place to stay would cost us just over $100 for 1 night, and would include a complimentary breakfast. It's where the kids and I stayed before. We could take all public transportation to get there, for a traveling cost of about $32.50. As we would be staying over 1 night, perhaps we wouldn't be as put off by the additional time required to do all buses, and limited scheduling of buses on the Poulsbo side of the Puget Sound. If all we had was a small backpack each, we could easily walk from the bus transfer station to the hotel. Our total cost for this version would be about $140.
I also looked into taxi costs to Poulsbo, and it is cheaper to drive our car onto the ferry and have our car to get to Poulsbo, than to take a taxi from the ferry terminal to the town.
Now that I've walked through the costs, I can see the value of each option. Driving to the ferry and leaving my car in paid-parking all day is almost as expensive as driving onto the ferry and keeping my car with us. Taking public buses on the other side of the Sound really limits the time we have available to explore Poulsbo. And taking all public transportation on both sides results in an additional 1 1/2 hours of travel time for a one-day excursion.
Keeping our car with us has one other advantage. We could pack the trunk with a very nice picnic lunch to enjoy in the waterfront park, bring sweatshirts for the cool early morning/late evening, pack plenty of hot coffee for me for the morning and ice water for all of us for the afternoon, plus a few snacks, AND have a place to put any fun finds from the many second-hand stores in that town. (We discovered on our first trip to Poulsbo that they have some great second-hand shops.) If we traveled by bus part of the way, we'd be more limited to what we could take with us (and bring home).
However, if we save $22.50 by taking public transportation the entire way, that could buy a nice carry-out lunch at the market to eat in the park, plus a cup of good coffee to get me started for the day and a couple of bottles of water for the afternoon.
In figuring if the overnight version really is of value, one of the things I take into consideration is just how many extra hours this would net us, for our excursion -- how many hours of enjoying the town do we gain by staying overnight. We would likely not begin our journey until later in the morning, so this would possibly be more leisurely travel. Wouldn't get to the town until about 10 AM, spending the day sightseeing, for about 10 hours of enjoyment on day 1. The following day, we would need to leave the town around 4 PM to make all of our bus connections, and so would enjoy the town for about 7 hours, for a total of about 17 hours. Compare this to driving there for 1 day, and spending up to 12 hours in that 1 day in the town (but more likely, about 10 hours).
Staying overnight doesn't quite double our time there, but almost triples our cost. It would actually be cheaper to drive/ferry there 2 days in a row, than to stay in the hotel, in town, overnight.
I'm still not sure which route to take. I guess we need to decide how many hours we realistically want and could manage for a day away. I am pretty sure we wouldn't really get the full value out of an overnight stay.
The final consideration I'll make, now that I can "see" the costs of all variations, is how to make the very most of a day away. One of my daughters was very disappointed that we didn't visit the free aquarium when we went to Poulsbo a few years ago. We happened to be there on days when the aquarium wasn't open. So, we would want to make sure that it was open for this excursion. I also would check the town calendar for local events going on. We happened to catch a brass band concert in the park on one of the evenings we visited, last time.
Does all of this look like a whole lotta extra thinking, just for a day trip? Or do you also map all of the possibilities out, in order to narrow down your choices?
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Cheap & Cheerful suppers for June
Saturday
lasagna, made with cottage cheese (frozen from a markdown deal in early spring), spinach and chard leaves, mozzarella cheese, garlic for filling, and a traditional marinara sauce, plus pasta
large salad, with lettuce leaves, chopped, drained canned tomatoes, black olives, one Parmesan cheese packet (from a take-out a long time ago)
lemon cake roll
Sunday
pumpkin-pinto bean soup (also had red bell pepper, onion, garlic, cumin, corn, tomato sauce and chicken broth -- found the recipe online, pretty good)
fresh strawberries
Monday
turkey-noodle salad -- spaghetti noodles, sliced frozen turkey breast, cabbage, peanuts, snow peas, green onions, orange segments, in a dressing of oil, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, all over lettuce leaves
fresh strawberries
Tuesday
"crazy soup" adding canned tomato paste to the crazy soup pot in the freezer
Cheddar Bay biscuits
Wednesday
baked beans (making a sauce of sweet pickle juice, tomato paste, soy sauce and onions browned in saved bacon fat)
seasoned brown rice
carrot sticks
fresh strawberries and banana slices
Thursday
refried bean, seasoned rice and cabbage burritos (the cabbage was in a dressing of oil, vinegar, chili powder and garlic powder -- it was good)
carrot sticks
fresh strawberries
Friday
barbecued chicken legs (using up the very last few charcoal briquettes from 2 years ago), made a rub of chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then in last 20 minutes of cooking, spooned on a mix of barbecue sauce, soy sauce, tomato paste, and water
oven-roasted cut corn
carrot sticks
rhubarb sauce
Saturday
Asian-style chicken-noodle salad (like the turkey noodle salad above, but with chicken)
fruit salad leftover from serving at a charity tea (the proceeds from the tea went to the local Fill The Boot campaign)
Sunday
smoked salmon spread, crackers, peanuts, potato chips (given to us at the tea), carrot sticks, tossed green salad, strawberries, 2 pies (apple, also given to us, and lemon meringue that I made)
Monday
bean burgers topped with cheese and quickie ketchup (tomato paste and sweet pickle juice)
brown rice
kale and mustard greens sauteed in bacon drippings
leftover pie
Tuesday
kale, ham and onion quiche
mashed potatoes
steamed carrots in mustard glaze
watermelon pickles
leftover pie
Meals have been heavy on the carrot sticks this week. I bought a 25-lb bag of carrots, and for a busy week, carrot sticks are quicker to do than just about any other veggie.
lasagna, made with cottage cheese (frozen from a markdown deal in early spring), spinach and chard leaves, mozzarella cheese, garlic for filling, and a traditional marinara sauce, plus pasta
large salad, with lettuce leaves, chopped, drained canned tomatoes, black olives, one Parmesan cheese packet (from a take-out a long time ago)
lemon cake roll
Sunday
pumpkin-pinto bean soup (also had red bell pepper, onion, garlic, cumin, corn, tomato sauce and chicken broth -- found the recipe online, pretty good)
fresh strawberries
Monday
turkey-noodle salad -- spaghetti noodles, sliced frozen turkey breast, cabbage, peanuts, snow peas, green onions, orange segments, in a dressing of oil, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, all over lettuce leaves
fresh strawberries
Tuesday
"crazy soup" adding canned tomato paste to the crazy soup pot in the freezer
Cheddar Bay biscuits
Wednesday
baked beans (making a sauce of sweet pickle juice, tomato paste, soy sauce and onions browned in saved bacon fat)
seasoned brown rice
carrot sticks
fresh strawberries and banana slices
Thursday
refried bean, seasoned rice and cabbage burritos (the cabbage was in a dressing of oil, vinegar, chili powder and garlic powder -- it was good)
carrot sticks
fresh strawberries
Friday
barbecued chicken legs (using up the very last few charcoal briquettes from 2 years ago), made a rub of chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then in last 20 minutes of cooking, spooned on a mix of barbecue sauce, soy sauce, tomato paste, and water
oven-roasted cut corn
carrot sticks
rhubarb sauce
Saturday
Asian-style chicken-noodle salad (like the turkey noodle salad above, but with chicken)
fruit salad leftover from serving at a charity tea (the proceeds from the tea went to the local Fill The Boot campaign)
Sunday
smoked salmon spread, crackers, peanuts, potato chips (given to us at the tea), carrot sticks, tossed green salad, strawberries, 2 pies (apple, also given to us, and lemon meringue that I made)
Monday
bean burgers topped with cheese and quickie ketchup (tomato paste and sweet pickle juice)
brown rice
kale and mustard greens sauteed in bacon drippings
leftover pie
Tuesday
kale, ham and onion quiche
mashed potatoes
steamed carrots in mustard glaze
watermelon pickles
leftover pie
Meals have been heavy on the carrot sticks this week. I bought a 25-lb bag of carrots, and for a busy week, carrot sticks are quicker to do than just about any other veggie.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Comparing the driving costs to 2 different locations
Last Friday, I talked about finding a new favorite beach to visit, one with free parking. The subject of the cost of gas to get to a new beach, came up.
I did find a beach that I really enjoy visiting. It's within walking distance of a quaint downtown area, with art galleries, cafes and a wide variety of shops to check out. The homes in the area are older and have sweet little gardens in front, making a walk around the town very pleasant.
This beach is a bit further from my house than my previous favorite beach, so it would cost more in gas to drive there and back.
How to figure this cost to make a comparison? I use Mapquest. When you request directions to a given location, on Mapquest, there's an option to calculate gas cost, based on year/make of car, the MPG it averages, plus type of gas that you purchase.
So, I did a Mapquest calculation for the distance and gas cost to both beaches.
My "old" beach had a one-way gas cost of 90 cents. My "new" beach has a one-way driving cost of $1.12. So, the increase in gas-cost is 44 cents round trip, but I save a minimum of $2 in parking.
Guess which beach I'll be frequenting this summer?
Monday, June 22, 2015
So it's summertime and that means corn-on-the-cob, right?
We love corn-on-the-cob, but right now, the best price I'm seeing is 3 ears for $1.
How do you compare the "value" of corn off the cob vs. corn-on-the-cob?
Right off the bat, I have to admit, we love fresh corn so much that we visit a u-pick farm at least once per summer, when the corn is ripe and ready for us to pick. And before local corn is ready, we also buy produce-stand, corn-on-the-cob, a couple of times per summer.
But for many recipes and meals, on-the-cob isn't necessary. Like corn relish, corn salsa, and corn pudding. All three of those dishes do fine with frozen and even canned corn.
Last week, I had my choice with corn. I could buy fresh ears at Target in the produce section, for 3/$1. Or, at Cash & Carry, I could buy 5-lb bags of frozen corn for $3.49.
With the corn-on-the-cob, my family would need a minimum of 3 ears, for $1. (Breaking each ear in half, that would give us 6 small servings of corn.) With the frozen corn, 16 ounces is about what I would serve our family, for a cost of 70 cents. But these aren't really equivalent servings, are they?
A medium-sized ear of fresh corn has about 3/4 cup of kernels. 3/4 cup of kernels weighs about .27 lb. To get the same amount of corn cut off of the cob, to equal 16 ounces of frozen corn, I would need to buy 3.70 ears of fresh corn, at a cost of $1.22. So, comparing the two, fresh corn-on-the-cob vs. frozen corn, the same amount of fresh corn costs $1.22, as frozen at 70 cents.
For our family, with Cash & Carry's price on frozen corn being my "buy" price for frozen cut corn, corn-on-the-cob needs to come down to 5 ears for $1, which yields about 74 cents per pound of cut kernels.
Your prices may vary. But for you to compare, remember this:
How do you compare the "value" of corn off the cob vs. corn-on-the-cob?
Right off the bat, I have to admit, we love fresh corn so much that we visit a u-pick farm at least once per summer, when the corn is ripe and ready for us to pick. And before local corn is ready, we also buy produce-stand, corn-on-the-cob, a couple of times per summer.
But for many recipes and meals, on-the-cob isn't necessary. Like corn relish, corn salsa, and corn pudding. All three of those dishes do fine with frozen and even canned corn.
Last week, I had my choice with corn. I could buy fresh ears at Target in the produce section, for 3/$1. Or, at Cash & Carry, I could buy 5-lb bags of frozen corn for $3.49.
With the corn-on-the-cob, my family would need a minimum of 3 ears, for $1. (Breaking each ear in half, that would give us 6 small servings of corn.) With the frozen corn, 16 ounces is about what I would serve our family, for a cost of 70 cents. But these aren't really equivalent servings, are they?
A medium-sized ear of fresh corn has about 3/4 cup of kernels. 3/4 cup of kernels weighs about .27 lb. To get the same amount of corn cut off of the cob, to equal 16 ounces of frozen corn, I would need to buy 3.70 ears of fresh corn, at a cost of $1.22. So, comparing the two, fresh corn-on-the-cob vs. frozen corn, the same amount of fresh corn costs $1.22, as frozen at 70 cents.
For our family, with Cash & Carry's price on frozen corn being my "buy" price for frozen cut corn, corn-on-the-cob needs to come down to 5 ears for $1, which yields about 74 cents per pound of cut kernels.
Your prices may vary. But for you to compare, remember this:
- 1 average ear of fresh corn yields about 3/4 cup of kernels
- those 3/4 cup of kernels from 1 ear of corn weigh about .27 pound (just over a quarter-lb)
- it takes about 3.7 ears of fresh corn to equal 1 pound (16-oz) of kernels
- if you're comparing the costs between canned and fresh, a typical can of corn kernels weighs about 15 ounces, and contains about 1 1/2 cups of drained corn, or .54 pound. It takes about 1.85 of the 15-oz cans of corn to get 1 pound of kernels. So, if you can get canned corn at 39 cents per can, that would be about 72 cents per 1-pound of drained kernels, or what works out to be roughly my "good" price on frozen corn.
What all of this means for my family is that in summer, I DO buy frozen corn, for using in recipes. But we also "splurge" on roasting ears a few times per summer, for the experience of eating corn-on-the-cob. However, we're aware that when fresh corn prices are 3/$1, or even 4/$1, it's not the best buy, and it is the experience of eating corn-on-the-cob that we're paying for.
FYI, unless you have a super-cheap source of fresh corn, it's almost never the best deal to cut corn off the cob to freeze for winter. Commercially-frozen corn will, in most cases, be cheaper than doing it yourself.
Friday, June 19, 2015
When something used to be free, but now there's a charge
So, how do you deal with this? When you've grown accustomed to having or using something, that had always been available, free of charge, and now it's no longer free.
Our favorite beach, the one with a lighthouse, lovely park and near a fish and chips place, plus a couple of ice cream stands, is now charging for parking.
Because of the nature of it's location (on the other side of train tracks), there is no convenient street parking near the main parking lot and beach front. You drive over a bridge to cross the train tracks, to get to the beach.
Anyway, starting June 1, there is now a $2 per hour charge for parking. That's just too steep for me, when I just want to spend some time in my thinking spot. I'm really sad about this, so much so I was awake for a bit the other night pondering my options.
There is a local bus, but the fare is $2.25 each way. The nearest street parking, over the bridge, would be quite a hike, but possibly do-able. However, I am very sure that I wouldn't be the only person considering this as a possibility, and free street parking is extremely limited in this small community (some streets require permits). And then there's the possibility of changing favorite beaches.
Maybe I should look on this as an opportunity to explore other possibilities. I think I need some chocolate.
Have you ever been faced with a similar dilemma, something that used to be available for free, now has a charge? How did you handle that situation?
On another note, I want to say a big thanks to all of you who suggested that I freeze homemade flour tortillas. I began doing this about a month ago, and they thawed perfectly. Then, yesterday afternoon, I went to make tortillas for burritos, and I was somewhat absent-minded and accidentally added 2 cups of flour, instead of one (and I'd already added the salt when I figured this out). And then, I remembered I could freeze the extra tortillas. Great! So, half of the tortillas were used last night, and the other half frozen for another day. Thank you!!!
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Salvaging bottles from the recycling bin, for homemade herb vinegar and dressings
Each summer, I make a couple of types of herb vinegars, to use on salads and in cooking. A favorite of mine is rosemary vinegar. But I also make chive blossom vinegar and thyme vinegar.
I always have lots of white vinegar on hand, and plenty of herbs in the garden to use. But I never seem to have enough bottles for my homemade vinegar. I wind up giving away some of my bottles to friends who are interested in making herb vinegars with me.
So, in winter and spring, I begin "collecting" bottles that I think will work well for storing and pouring vinegar.
This bottle, here, is a coffee flavoring syrup bottle. I finished off the hazelnut syrup from this bottle, for my coffee this spring. I like this bottle, as it has a plastic cap, which won't corrode from exposure to the vinegar. (BTW, it does need more rosemary. I'll be adding more as my plants grow this summer.)
Here's another bottle, from sparkling apple cider. The name brand of sparkling apple cider that I see on sale during the holidays, uses a green bottle. But this particular brand uses a clear one, which I prefer for vinegars.
I just gave away a smaller 16-oz bottle. It had contained commercial white-wine vinegar. That bottle was a good size for the vinegars that I only make in smaller quantities, like sweet blueberry vinegar.
When I had a couple of friends over to make chive blossom vinegar, recently, one friend asked me where I got my bottles. I explained that while she could buy bottles at World Market or a thrift store, she could also look around her kitchen for bottles about to go to the recyclers. A lot of beverages, sauces and condiments still come in glass bottles. Some of these bottles have a shape that looks right for storing/pouring the vinegar. While others have a look that I like for storing homemade salad dressings.
For storing homemade vinaigrettes:
This is a brandy bottle, from making brandied cherries 2 summers ago. It looks just right for my homemade vinaigrette, don't you think? when one of my daughters came into the kitchen one day, she thought I had bought bottled salad dressing, that is until she noticed there was no label. I could store homemade dressings in canning jars (and I do from time to time), but I do like how dressings pour so easily and neatly from a bottle with a narrow neck.
Occasionally, I have a bottle that's missing a cap. Bottles that I buy second-hand often come without caps or stoppers. A couple of years ago, I bought a small bag of corks at Cost Plus, for about $2. The bag had about a dozen cork stoppers. Craft supply stores also carry cork stoppers. Or, you could save one (or ask a friend for one of theirs) from a used-up bottle of wine.
The other option to buying cork stoppers for bottle lacking a cap, is a plastic cap from any other bottle. If it's a screw-top bottle that you need a cap for, check other bottle caps about to be tossed, to find one that fits. Those green sparkling apple cider bottles that I mentioned above, come bottled with a metal cap that you use a bottle opener on, not reusable, but they also have a plastic pop on, pop off cap, for resealing the bottle. These plastic caps work well on many repurposed bottles from the kitchen.
I always have lots of white vinegar on hand, and plenty of herbs in the garden to use. But I never seem to have enough bottles for my homemade vinegar. I wind up giving away some of my bottles to friends who are interested in making herb vinegars with me.
So, in winter and spring, I begin "collecting" bottles that I think will work well for storing and pouring vinegar.
This bottle, here, is a coffee flavoring syrup bottle. I finished off the hazelnut syrup from this bottle, for my coffee this spring. I like this bottle, as it has a plastic cap, which won't corrode from exposure to the vinegar. (BTW, it does need more rosemary. I'll be adding more as my plants grow this summer.)
Here's another bottle, from sparkling apple cider. The name brand of sparkling apple cider that I see on sale during the holidays, uses a green bottle. But this particular brand uses a clear one, which I prefer for vinegars.
I just gave away a smaller 16-oz bottle. It had contained commercial white-wine vinegar. That bottle was a good size for the vinegars that I only make in smaller quantities, like sweet blueberry vinegar.
When I had a couple of friends over to make chive blossom vinegar, recently, one friend asked me where I got my bottles. I explained that while she could buy bottles at World Market or a thrift store, she could also look around her kitchen for bottles about to go to the recyclers. A lot of beverages, sauces and condiments still come in glass bottles. Some of these bottles have a shape that looks right for storing/pouring the vinegar. While others have a look that I like for storing homemade salad dressings.
For storing homemade vinaigrettes:
This is a brandy bottle, from making brandied cherries 2 summers ago. It looks just right for my homemade vinaigrette, don't you think? when one of my daughters came into the kitchen one day, she thought I had bought bottled salad dressing, that is until she noticed there was no label. I could store homemade dressings in canning jars (and I do from time to time), but I do like how dressings pour so easily and neatly from a bottle with a narrow neck.
Occasionally, I have a bottle that's missing a cap. Bottles that I buy second-hand often come without caps or stoppers. A couple of years ago, I bought a small bag of corks at Cost Plus, for about $2. The bag had about a dozen cork stoppers. Craft supply stores also carry cork stoppers. Or, you could save one (or ask a friend for one of theirs) from a used-up bottle of wine.
The other option to buying cork stoppers for bottle lacking a cap, is a plastic cap from any other bottle. If it's a screw-top bottle that you need a cap for, check other bottle caps about to be tossed, to find one that fits. Those green sparkling apple cider bottles that I mentioned above, come bottled with a metal cap that you use a bottle opener on, not reusable, but they also have a plastic pop on, pop off cap, for resealing the bottle. These plastic caps work well on many repurposed bottles from the kitchen.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Call me city-folk
So, I guess you could say that I'm a city girl. I've never lived in any place rural in my life. It's been either suburbs or cities.
Imagine my delight when we saw this guy/gal in our yard!
He/she has been wandering in and out for over a week now. Our neighbors spotted it first, about 2 weeks ago.
Mostly, he/she eats the leaves off of the lower branches of the cherry and plum tree, but it leaves the fruit untouched. Go figure.
I hope it can find its way back home, as I'm sure it misses its companions.
In the meantime, so long as he/she stays out of the veggie garden, he's welcome to a few leaves here.
On a humorous frugal note, my first thought when I saw the deer, "oh meat!" And then the next day, my son asked, "can you milk a deer?" I googled "milking wild deer", and apparently other people have wondered the very same thing. No, I don't think we'll use this deer for anything other than visual enjoyment.
Imagine my delight when we saw this guy/gal in our yard!
He/she has been wandering in and out for over a week now. Our neighbors spotted it first, about 2 weeks ago.
Mostly, he/she eats the leaves off of the lower branches of the cherry and plum tree, but it leaves the fruit untouched. Go figure.
I hope it can find its way back home, as I'm sure it misses its companions.
In the meantime, so long as he/she stays out of the veggie garden, he's welcome to a few leaves here.
On a humorous frugal note, my first thought when I saw the deer, "oh meat!" And then the next day, my son asked, "can you milk a deer?" I googled "milking wild deer", and apparently other people have wondered the very same thing. No, I don't think we'll use this deer for anything other than visual enjoyment.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Remember that leaf-cutting I took from my African violet plant?
Well, here's one of them!
Fall of 2013, I took 4 leaves, plunged them into soil, and kept watered. 2 leaves developed into full-blown plants. And one is in bloom right now! Both of my new plants are ready to give as gifts, at the next opportunity.
Exciting, right?
Well, the excitement continues (I lead a remarkably exciting life, don't you think?).
Late winter of this year, I decided I was going to try my hand at propagating Christmas Cactus, to give as a hostess gift for a dinner or party come November or December of 2016. (I plan ahead, way ahead.)
I plucked a cluster of Christmas Cactus leaves off of my one plant, and plunged it into soil, keeping it watered for the last few months.
Do you know how to tell if your Christmas Cactus leaf cutting has developed roots? When you see some reddish or pinkish new growth at the tip of one of the leaves, that's a sign the roots have begun.
I'll be babying this little plant for the next year and a half, and by the holidays of 2016, I should have a full-fledged, and in flower plant to give as a hostess gift.
These sell for $10-15 per plant in grocery stores during the holidays. I think I'll take another 2 or 3 cuttings this week, and get more plants on their way, for holiday gifting.
Fall of 2013, I took 4 leaves, plunged them into soil, and kept watered. 2 leaves developed into full-blown plants. And one is in bloom right now! Both of my new plants are ready to give as gifts, at the next opportunity.
Exciting, right?
Well, the excitement continues (I lead a remarkably exciting life, don't you think?).
Late winter of this year, I decided I was going to try my hand at propagating Christmas Cactus, to give as a hostess gift for a dinner or party come November or December of 2016. (I plan ahead, way ahead.)
I plucked a cluster of Christmas Cactus leaves off of my one plant, and plunged it into soil, keeping it watered for the last few months.
Do you know how to tell if your Christmas Cactus leaf cutting has developed roots? When you see some reddish or pinkish new growth at the tip of one of the leaves, that's a sign the roots have begun.
I'll be babying this little plant for the next year and a half, and by the holidays of 2016, I should have a full-fledged, and in flower plant to give as a hostess gift.
These sell for $10-15 per plant in grocery stores during the holidays. I think I'll take another 2 or 3 cuttings this week, and get more plants on their way, for holiday gifting.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Homemade hot rice cereal (and a math tweak)
So, I realize that practically no one here is making their own rice milk. Not a problem to me. But I thought I'd show you what the home-cooked hot rice cereal looks like, and how I make it.
If you're a fan of cream of wheat, hot rice cereal is most like that cereal. I personally prefer the rice cereal to oatmeal. For me, in addition to a texture thing, rice cereal is so much easier on my tummy.
This is how I'm currently making this hot rice cereal.
I use the leftover rice pulp from making a batch of rice milk. When I make rice milk, I put the pulp in the freezer, to cook up whenever I have some time, and need the rice cereal for a breakfast option for the family.
To cook:
Eyeball-measure the rice pulp. I use an amount of water that is roughly 3 times the rice pulp. This is usually about 3 cups of water to 1 cup of rice pulp. I bring the water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the rice pulp and stir. I also add a few drops of maple extract and a couple of tablespoons of sugar, plus 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt. I stir this from time to time as it cooks. Once it comes to a boil, I reduce heat and simmer until thick, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. At the very end of cooking, I swirl in a tablespoon of butter. The cooking process is very much like making polenta, and takes about 20 minutes.
Some days, we eat it right away. Other days, I let it cool then keep in the fridge to reheat as we want.
Rice is one of the few grains that my stomach can tolerate all of the time. Breakfasts are a bit limited, as a result. So this cereal is a blessing for me.
Now, that math tweak.
I had previously thought of my cost of making rice milk to be about 30 cents per quart (before adding the cost of the calcium supplements). Well, I completely forgot that the rice pulp is valuable to me as a food, too. I would say that the milk is roughly half of the value and the cereal the other half. So . . . my "real" cost to make my own rice milk is about 15 cents for the milk alone, and 12 cents for the supplements, for a total of 27 cents per quart. That's about 1/4 of what I pay for cheapo soy milk at Dollar Tree. Yep! Definitely continuing to make my own rice milk.
As a bonus, homemade rice milk makes a great coffee latte, when I add a bit of almond extract and some sugar to my coffee/rice milk. I do this as decaf after lunch, and this satisfies my cravings for dessert.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Satisfied
Using every last speck of under-eye concealer and powder blush (there's still a teensy bit in the corners, but I'm working on that daily). So satisfying.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
More egg-y stuff: repackaged eggs
I don't know if you've ever seen these in your stores before.
This is a carton of repackaged eggs. When several cartons of eggs have a few damaged ones inside, the store will sometimes repackage the good eggs into a new conatiner, and toss out the cracked ones.
The outside of this carton indicates the store number and date of repacking, in handwriting. The carton says that the eggs are Medium Grade B, but upon opening the carton . . .
I can see that these are larger than Mediums, most look like Large and a couple look Extra-Large. This looks like a carton of eggs of varying size (but given designation of Medium, meaning the one dozen eggs in this carton weigh the minimum of 21 ounces, but likely more).
Grade usually refers to the condition of the shell, whether or not it's misshapen or has slight staining. (But these eggs don't appear to have exterior abnormalities.) As well, Grade can refer to interior condition of each egg, such as how large of an air pocket the egg contains or the thickness of the white portion of the egg -- both of which is determined by candling.
The outside of this carton of eggs also has a space to write in the candling date, but nothing is recorded in that space.
Here's a photo comparing a "regular" Large egg on the left (from a carton of eggs I already had at home), to a repackaged egg on the right. All of the repackaged eggs are large compared to my "regular" eggs.
Regulations concerning the repacking of eggs varies by state. Overall, eggs to be repacked cannot be past the sell-by date, contaminated with egg from other cracked eggs, or packed into a dirty carton. If there is no new sell-by date, 30 days from the repacking date is the general guide for safety and freshness.
These repackaged eggs are sold at a discount over the store's regular price for eggs. I bought 3 dozen of these eggs on Senior Discount day at Fred Meyer, for $1.19 less the 10% discount = my price of $1.07 per dozen.
I have found repackaged eggs on a couple of occasions, at a couple of different stores. They are usually set to the side, but still in the egg cooler, and have hand-written information about packaging, as well as pricing directly on the carton (not a tag on the shelf). My experience has been that these eggs show up late Monday or early Tuesday. Just an FYI. Keep your eyes open.
As for using these eggs in my kitchen, when I bring home cartons of repacked eggs, I move these cartons to the front of the line, for use ahead of any other eggs I may have purchased -- just to be safe. Otherwise, they are just as good as any other egg I buy.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Cheap & Cheerful suppers for the week
A little more than 1 week listed here. Some of these days were very stressful days, some were very busy and 2 of the days I was sick and could barely pull dinner together.
One of the stressful days I spent in the walk-in clinic with one of my daughters, as she had a longboard accident that required medical attention and stitches. We were there for 3 hours, and when I came home I had to quickly rush putting a dinner together.
One of the days that I was sick, the best I could do for dinner was the chunky tomato-basil soup, made from canned tomatoes and tomato paste. We had leftover biscuits and a pie that I had baked earlier in the week, along with cheese quesadillas made with frozen flour tortillas.
So, for me, it is still possible to pull together something (anything) to eat for the 5 of us, even on hard days. Its just not well-thought out or gourmet, but still frugal. But hey, mom isn't a super-hero!
Friday
home-fried tortilla chips, refried black beans, quick salsa, tossed green salad
Saturday
ham and egg fried rice, with cabbage, radish greens, onions, celery, topped with chopped peanuts
Sunday
homemade black olive and onion pizza
Monday
make-your-own ham and cheese sandwiches, on French bread, with lettuce and pickles, apple slices, mixed nuts, cookies and chocolates
Tuesday
Oven-roasted, teriyaki chicken leg quarters, vegetable fried rice
Wednesday
leftover chicken with canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, with linguine, and sauteed onions, cabbage and kale; rhubarb pie for dessert
Thursday
Asian chicken soup, Cheddar Bay biscuits, rhubarb pie and strawberries
Friday
chunky tomato-basil soup, leftover biscuits, cheese quesadillas, green salad, plum pie
(with the quesadillas -- I had some leftover salsa in the fridge, and just this week I found a bunch of volunteer cilantro in a pot on the deck, from last year's plants, so I added a few leaves of cilantro to the salsa -- yum!))
Saturday
leftovers from hostessing a reception after a memorial service (sandwiches and other finger food), plus apple wedges and leftover plum pie
Sunday
tamale pie made with 2 ground beef patties, black beans, olives, canned tomatoes, sweet bell pepper, onion, seasonings, cornbread batter and cheddar cheese
Monday
fried corn tortillas, refried black beans, cheddar cheese, slaw-type salad made with cabbage, chopped canned tomatoes, cilantro, chili powder, onion powder, oil, vinegar and salt, fresh strawberries, brownies
One of the stressful days I spent in the walk-in clinic with one of my daughters, as she had a longboard accident that required medical attention and stitches. We were there for 3 hours, and when I came home I had to quickly rush putting a dinner together.
One of the days that I was sick, the best I could do for dinner was the chunky tomato-basil soup, made from canned tomatoes and tomato paste. We had leftover biscuits and a pie that I had baked earlier in the week, along with cheese quesadillas made with frozen flour tortillas.
So, for me, it is still possible to pull together something (anything) to eat for the 5 of us, even on hard days. Its just not well-thought out or gourmet, but still frugal. But hey, mom isn't a super-hero!
Friday
home-fried tortilla chips, refried black beans, quick salsa, tossed green salad
Saturday
ham and egg fried rice, with cabbage, radish greens, onions, celery, topped with chopped peanuts
Sunday
homemade black olive and onion pizza
Monday
make-your-own ham and cheese sandwiches, on French bread, with lettuce and pickles, apple slices, mixed nuts, cookies and chocolates
Tuesday
Oven-roasted, teriyaki chicken leg quarters, vegetable fried rice
Wednesday
leftover chicken with canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, with linguine, and sauteed onions, cabbage and kale; rhubarb pie for dessert
Thursday
Asian chicken soup, Cheddar Bay biscuits, rhubarb pie and strawberries
Friday
chunky tomato-basil soup, leftover biscuits, cheese quesadillas, green salad, plum pie
(with the quesadillas -- I had some leftover salsa in the fridge, and just this week I found a bunch of volunteer cilantro in a pot on the deck, from last year's plants, so I added a few leaves of cilantro to the salsa -- yum!))
Saturday
leftovers from hostessing a reception after a memorial service (sandwiches and other finger food), plus apple wedges and leftover plum pie
Sunday
tamale pie made with 2 ground beef patties, black beans, olives, canned tomatoes, sweet bell pepper, onion, seasonings, cornbread batter and cheddar cheese
Monday
fried corn tortillas, refried black beans, cheddar cheese, slaw-type salad made with cabbage, chopped canned tomatoes, cilantro, chili powder, onion powder, oil, vinegar and salt, fresh strawberries, brownies
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Comparing the cost of peanut butter to eggs, for lunch-making
So, peanut butter is on sale this week for $4.99 for a 64-oz jar, or $1.24 a pound. That's a fabulous price for peanut butter. But is it the best price for a protein source for lunch sandwiches?
My first thought is to stock up like crazy on peanut butter, and be done with the question of what kind of sandwiches to have available for summer. But I do want to know, could there be less expensive lunch-time offerings?
Other sandwich possibilities include cheese (at about $2 per pound), luncheon meat (best price for me -- on markdown for about $1.76 per pound), bean spreads at about 50-75 cents per pound (can be the most frugal) and eggs (right now about 64 - 72 cents per pound).
There was a time when peanut butter was always the most frugal lunch choice. That's just not the case, any longer. So, I have to weigh this out for myself, and find some alternatives that are easy and welcomed by my family.
I will certainly be making some bean-based spreads for summer lunches. But also want some quick and easy options (bean spread requires soaking and cooking the beans first). The luncheon meat, I think, is best reserved for too-busy evenings, when making sandwiches is about all I have time for. And cheese is kinda pricey for use more than once per week for sandwich fillings, but I do use frequently in preparing dinners.
That leaves me with eggs. Eggs are priced per dozen. That does make it difficult to compare the price of eggs by weight, to other foods. However, I use a nice little calculation shortcut, when comparing eggs to other ingredients. Mostly, I buy large eggs. Large eggs are the size that are typically on sale at Walgreen's, Target and other grocery stores, so most often the best buy for me.
A dozen large eggs weigh about 24 ounces, each egg weighing 2 ounces. So, 8 large eggs weigh 1 pound. My price per egg is about 8-9 cents, these days. (I carry that tidbit of info in my head, as I comparison shop or figure the cost of making any recipe.) So, at 8-9 cents per egg, multiplied by 8 eggs to make a pound -- my price per pound, on large eggs, is currently between 64 and 72 cents for one pound.
The price of using eggs in lunches is not quite half that of using peanut butter. So, while I'll buy some peanut butter this week (maybe 3 or 4 large jars, to last through October), for summer lunches, I will also be planning ahead to make more egg salad. My plan with the peanut butter is to ration it out for the summer, and encourage family members to use the alternatives that I provide.
In case you wish to compare the prices of eggs per pound to other food items, here's my list of how many eggs it takes to equal 1 pound.
Eggs are "sized" by how much a dozen eggs weigh. So, the eggs that you buy in the store "must" meet a minimum net weight to qualify to be labeled a specific size. Knowing this makes calculating our price per pound on eggs, reliable, without having to get out the scale at home and weigh each carton.
To figure your price per pound on eggs:
Figure your price per egg, based on your current egg prices. Multiply that price per egg by how many eggs are in a pound (using the info below), for whichever size of eggs you've purchased. It's that simple. I like that it's the large eggs that go on sale most often AND are the only size of eggs that have a nice, even, round number to make my calculations with.
My first thought is to stock up like crazy on peanut butter, and be done with the question of what kind of sandwiches to have available for summer. But I do want to know, could there be less expensive lunch-time offerings?
Other sandwich possibilities include cheese (at about $2 per pound), luncheon meat (best price for me -- on markdown for about $1.76 per pound), bean spreads at about 50-75 cents per pound (can be the most frugal) and eggs (right now about 64 - 72 cents per pound).
There was a time when peanut butter was always the most frugal lunch choice. That's just not the case, any longer. So, I have to weigh this out for myself, and find some alternatives that are easy and welcomed by my family.
I will certainly be making some bean-based spreads for summer lunches. But also want some quick and easy options (bean spread requires soaking and cooking the beans first). The luncheon meat, I think, is best reserved for too-busy evenings, when making sandwiches is about all I have time for. And cheese is kinda pricey for use more than once per week for sandwich fillings, but I do use frequently in preparing dinners.
That leaves me with eggs. Eggs are priced per dozen. That does make it difficult to compare the price of eggs by weight, to other foods. However, I use a nice little calculation shortcut, when comparing eggs to other ingredients. Mostly, I buy large eggs. Large eggs are the size that are typically on sale at Walgreen's, Target and other grocery stores, so most often the best buy for me.
A dozen large eggs weigh about 24 ounces, each egg weighing 2 ounces. So, 8 large eggs weigh 1 pound. My price per egg is about 8-9 cents, these days. (I carry that tidbit of info in my head, as I comparison shop or figure the cost of making any recipe.) So, at 8-9 cents per egg, multiplied by 8 eggs to make a pound -- my price per pound, on large eggs, is currently between 64 and 72 cents for one pound.
The price of using eggs in lunches is not quite half that of using peanut butter. So, while I'll buy some peanut butter this week (maybe 3 or 4 large jars, to last through October), for summer lunches, I will also be planning ahead to make more egg salad. My plan with the peanut butter is to ration it out for the summer, and encourage family members to use the alternatives that I provide.
In case you wish to compare the prices of eggs per pound to other food items, here's my list of how many eggs it takes to equal 1 pound.
Eggs are "sized" by how much a dozen eggs weigh. So, the eggs that you buy in the store "must" meet a minimum net weight to qualify to be labeled a specific size. Knowing this makes calculating our price per pound on eggs, reliable, without having to get out the scale at home and weigh each carton.
To figure your price per pound on eggs:
Figure your price per egg, based on your current egg prices. Multiply that price per egg by how many eggs are in a pound (using the info below), for whichever size of eggs you've purchased. It's that simple. I like that it's the large eggs that go on sale most often AND are the only size of eggs that have a nice, even, round number to make my calculations with.
- jumbo eggs --- 6.4 eggs per pound
- extra-large eggs --- 7.11 eggs per pound
- large eggs --- 8 eggs per pound
- medium eggs --- 9.14 eggs per pound
- small eggs --- 10.66 eggs per pound
- peewee eggs --- 12.8 eggs per pound
What will be going into summer brown bag lunches at your place?
Monday, June 8, 2015
I saw this . . .
and this . . .
. . . but I made this.
A couple of months ago, I saw this nice display in a store that really attracted me. It was some faux lavender in pots. I really wanted one of these, and even dropped what apparently was too subtle of a hint, for a Mother's Day gift. Oh well. I need to be more assertive with my hints in the future.
Anyway, at home I had a lovely pot that was a gift from my husband for my birthday, about 10 years ago. Clearly, he must have intended for me to fill this pot with something, as part of my birthday gift, right? ;-) Yes, I thought so, too. Filling the pot with a nice something-something was implied in his gift.
So, the two thoughts came together, fill this lovely pot with something and obtain a charming faux lavender, potted "plant" for the bedroom.
I used a stack of Jo Ann Fabric and Craft coupons to buy the faux lavender stems and a block of styrofoam (I didn't say this was a free project, just fun and creative). I had the moss for the base of the plant at home. And it all came together in about 20 minutes.
It looks nice, and makes me smile. And I finally completed that birthday gift of years ago.
Friday, June 5, 2015
A new way for me to look at the cost of commercial rice or soy milk compared to making my own rice milk
In trying to get the most bang for my buck with my own drinking milk, here's a new way that I've been looking at it.
(Just to clarify, I'm not supposed to have dairy milk, as I'm lactose-intolerant. Drinking cows' milk or pouring some over oatmeal, or eating a bowl of cream soup will leave me very miserable for about 2 or 3 days. Bummer, right? I can take pills if I really want ice cream. And I seem to be somewhat okay with small amounts of cheese. But, for my personal "milk" consumption, or when I cook something containing milk, for the whole family, I have to use an alternative "milk".)
Here was my question to myself:
Can I approximate some of the nutritional value of purchased soy or rice milk with a combination of homemade rice milk plus supplements?
These alternative milks are expensive in the stores. Even the bargain-basement soy milk that I buy from Dollar Tree is $4 per gallon.
The nutrition that I am most interested in with soy or rice milk is the calcium and Vit. D. (The protein is not significant in the super-duper cheap soy milk that I buy (4 grams in 1 cup). And I believe I get enough protein from other sources in my diet.)
Commercial soy and rice milk do not naturally contain high amounts of calcium, but are fortified. My body doesn't really know the difference between the minerals it receives from a fortified product and me taking a supplement. If you can understand where I'm going here. It's kind of like how eating a bowl of fortified, cold cereal is not much different to my body than eating a bowl of oatmeal and taking a multi-vitamin.
This week, I bought a bottle of calcium citrate plus Vit. D supplements. Each caplet contains roughly the same amount of elemental calcium as 1 glass of dairy milk or 1 glass of commercial, fortified soy or rice milk. and each caplet cost about 3 cents. For calcium/Vit D alone, I get the same amount of these nutrients in 4 caplets (at 12 cents for the 4), as 1 quart of purchased soy milk (at $1 from Dollar Tree).
To make homemade rice milk, my cost is about 30 cents per quart. If I add the 12 cents for 4 calcium/Vit. D caplets, I'm up to 42 cents per 4 servings/1 quart equivalent of my homemade rice milk, supplement combo.
Let's say, for argument sake, I did need that 4 grams of protein that 1 cup of Dollar Tree's soy milk provides per cup. I could also add half of an egg for that amount of protein. My recent price on eggs works out to between 8 and 9 cents per egg, or 4 1/2 cents per 4 grams of protein. If I wanted to add in the cost of 2 eggs for an equivalent amount of protein that 1 quart of soy milk contains, that would add 9 cents to my 42 cents per 4 servings/quart of equivalent homemade rice milk, supplement, and now egg combo, for a total of 51 cents, as compared to $1 at Dollar Tree for 1 quart of purchased soy milk.
What's the hands-on time investment in making rice milk at home? I've now got my formula memorized, and have streamlined the preparation process. It takes me about 15 minutes of hands-on time, to make 1 quart of rice milk. That's only about a $2 savings per hour of work. Not the most lucrative way to save money. But I can do this while I'm already in the kitchen preparing dinner.
Yep, I'll be continuing to make my own rice milk, for the time being. I'll still buy an occasional quart of soy milk, for convenience when I don't have my rice all soaked for rice milk. But will primarily use the homemade rice milk.
In case you didn't guess, I do enjoy these little calculations, for the mental exercise they provide. But also, if the exercises help me save a bit more money towards our financial goals, then they are well-worth the time. I can use this tidbit of information to continue saving money for years to come, only occasionally filling in different numbers as prices of the different components rise and fall.
One last calculation. I will probably save about $1.50 per month by continuing to make rice milk at home. Multiplied out by 12 months in a year, and I'll save $18 in the next year. Over 10 years' time, I could save $180. Not too shabby, I think.
I just love math!
(Just to clarify, I'm not supposed to have dairy milk, as I'm lactose-intolerant. Drinking cows' milk or pouring some over oatmeal, or eating a bowl of cream soup will leave me very miserable for about 2 or 3 days. Bummer, right? I can take pills if I really want ice cream. And I seem to be somewhat okay with small amounts of cheese. But, for my personal "milk" consumption, or when I cook something containing milk, for the whole family, I have to use an alternative "milk".)
Here was my question to myself:
Can I approximate some of the nutritional value of purchased soy or rice milk with a combination of homemade rice milk plus supplements?
These alternative milks are expensive in the stores. Even the bargain-basement soy milk that I buy from Dollar Tree is $4 per gallon.
The nutrition that I am most interested in with soy or rice milk is the calcium and Vit. D. (The protein is not significant in the super-duper cheap soy milk that I buy (4 grams in 1 cup). And I believe I get enough protein from other sources in my diet.)
Commercial soy and rice milk do not naturally contain high amounts of calcium, but are fortified. My body doesn't really know the difference between the minerals it receives from a fortified product and me taking a supplement. If you can understand where I'm going here. It's kind of like how eating a bowl of fortified, cold cereal is not much different to my body than eating a bowl of oatmeal and taking a multi-vitamin.
This week, I bought a bottle of calcium citrate plus Vit. D supplements. Each caplet contains roughly the same amount of elemental calcium as 1 glass of dairy milk or 1 glass of commercial, fortified soy or rice milk. and each caplet cost about 3 cents. For calcium/Vit D alone, I get the same amount of these nutrients in 4 caplets (at 12 cents for the 4), as 1 quart of purchased soy milk (at $1 from Dollar Tree).
To make homemade rice milk, my cost is about 30 cents per quart. If I add the 12 cents for 4 calcium/Vit. D caplets, I'm up to 42 cents per 4 servings/1 quart equivalent of my homemade rice milk, supplement combo.
Let's say, for argument sake, I did need that 4 grams of protein that 1 cup of Dollar Tree's soy milk provides per cup. I could also add half of an egg for that amount of protein. My recent price on eggs works out to between 8 and 9 cents per egg, or 4 1/2 cents per 4 grams of protein. If I wanted to add in the cost of 2 eggs for an equivalent amount of protein that 1 quart of soy milk contains, that would add 9 cents to my 42 cents per 4 servings/quart of equivalent homemade rice milk, supplement, and now egg combo, for a total of 51 cents, as compared to $1 at Dollar Tree for 1 quart of purchased soy milk.
What's the hands-on time investment in making rice milk at home? I've now got my formula memorized, and have streamlined the preparation process. It takes me about 15 minutes of hands-on time, to make 1 quart of rice milk. That's only about a $2 savings per hour of work. Not the most lucrative way to save money. But I can do this while I'm already in the kitchen preparing dinner.
Yep, I'll be continuing to make my own rice milk, for the time being. I'll still buy an occasional quart of soy milk, for convenience when I don't have my rice all soaked for rice milk. But will primarily use the homemade rice milk.
In case you didn't guess, I do enjoy these little calculations, for the mental exercise they provide. But also, if the exercises help me save a bit more money towards our financial goals, then they are well-worth the time. I can use this tidbit of information to continue saving money for years to come, only occasionally filling in different numbers as prices of the different components rise and fall.
One last calculation. I will probably save about $1.50 per month by continuing to make rice milk at home. Multiplied out by 12 months in a year, and I'll save $18 in the next year. Over 10 years' time, I could save $180. Not too shabby, I think.
I just love math!
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Last week I bought beef, this week I bought chicken
. . . lots and lots of chicken.
I found a 40-lb case of chicken hindquarters on sale for $19.99, or just under 50 cents per pound. Again, I worked the pros and cons back and forth over this.
I realized that even I have a hard time with these large stock-up purchases -- a hard time, mentally. If I buy just a regular, weekly amount of any one thing, then I know that my risk is small. If we don't like it, or it takes up a lot of space in the freezer, or if I come across a better price, then my smaller purchase has limited effect.
But with a much larger purchase, it stays in the freezer for a much longer time, taking up space. If we don't like it, we still have to eat it, for months on end. And if I find a much better price later on, then I have locked myself out from those savings, by making such a large purchase, now.
And with the chicken hindquarters, there was the issue of how to deal with such a large package? Will I be able to break the quarters apart to cook them individually?
So, you see, these major stock-up purchases are not comfortable for me, either.
The tipping point which enabled my purchase was all of the conversation about potential rising poultry prices. If both chicken and turkey prices go up in this coming year, then this purchase will tide us over until next spring. And even if these price increases are not as bad as some anticipate, then I have still made a purchase with a more favorable price than even what I see for whole chickens.
In the case that I bought, the chicken was packaged in 4 10-lb bags. Not super convenient, like IQF (individually quick frozen), but these are manageable, enough. The frozen-solid quarters can be broken into chunks of about 3 large pieces in each of the 10-lbs bags, with the help of a mallet. I figure that thawing and cooking the chicken in this amount will be the equivalent of cooking up a small whole chicken, and will yield about 3 family meals per large chunk.
The other night, I cooked up 3 hindquarter pieces. We had teriyaki chicken the first night, chicken in marinara sauce the second night, and we'll have chicken soup for tonight's dinner.
I know that occasionally supermarkets put these 10-lb bags on sale for a good price. The obstacle for most folks is that the chicken is frozen solid in one large chunk, not exactly user-friendly for family dinners. The way around this, though, is if the frozen mass cannot be broken into smaller portions, the whole thing can be thawed, cooked up, then refrozen in individual pieces, to use the meat later. When you think about it, it's not much different than cooking up 2 whole chickens, or 1 large turkey at a time, then freezing the meat for later use.
Thawing a 10-lb bag of chicken parts takes about 2-4 days in a refrigerator. Once thawed, it can be safely held for 1 or 2 days more. (This means that you could cook up half of a 10-lb bag on day 1 after thawing, and the other half on day 2 after thawing, making the cooking a little more manageable.) And according to the USDA, thawed meat can even be refrozen, though there may be loss of quality. But this is only the case if you thaw the chicken in the refrigerator. If you thaw it in the microwave or in cold water, then it does need to be cooked immediately. Read that page in the link above, for complete information on safe thawing and cooking of frozen meats.
Currently, hindquarters are the least expensive option for chicken. The next best price on chicken that I have seen this spring is as whole chickens, at 88 cents per pound. I saved nearly 40 cents per pound on this 40-lb purchase, over buying the same amount in whole chickens. That's a grand total savings of $16.00. I can use that $16.00 to buy a lot of groceries for our family. AND, I have a hedge against potential rising poultry costs, including turkeys this next fall. Should turkey prices go way up, I may only buy 1 or 2, instead of 4 whole turkeys. I may still have chicken hindquarters in the freezer at that time, as well as a ham and possibly my last turkey from this past year.
Food inflation may be escalating on some items, but there are still some avenues to get around these high prices.
Now, I need your help, here. 40 pounds is a lot of chicken legs and thighs, which I prefer if the flavor is more disguised. I have a well-stocked spice cupboard, and a lot of basic ingredients to work with. What are your favorite, flavorful dishes that use dark-meat chicken? Do you have certain spices or herbs that you like with chicken? How about ethnic chicken recipes? Any that stand out as favorites in your house?
TIA, and I'm eager to hear how you like to prepare chicken legs and thighs!
I found a 40-lb case of chicken hindquarters on sale for $19.99, or just under 50 cents per pound. Again, I worked the pros and cons back and forth over this.
I realized that even I have a hard time with these large stock-up purchases -- a hard time, mentally. If I buy just a regular, weekly amount of any one thing, then I know that my risk is small. If we don't like it, or it takes up a lot of space in the freezer, or if I come across a better price, then my smaller purchase has limited effect.
But with a much larger purchase, it stays in the freezer for a much longer time, taking up space. If we don't like it, we still have to eat it, for months on end. And if I find a much better price later on, then I have locked myself out from those savings, by making such a large purchase, now.
And with the chicken hindquarters, there was the issue of how to deal with such a large package? Will I be able to break the quarters apart to cook them individually?
So, you see, these major stock-up purchases are not comfortable for me, either.
The tipping point which enabled my purchase was all of the conversation about potential rising poultry prices. If both chicken and turkey prices go up in this coming year, then this purchase will tide us over until next spring. And even if these price increases are not as bad as some anticipate, then I have still made a purchase with a more favorable price than even what I see for whole chickens.
In the case that I bought, the chicken was packaged in 4 10-lb bags. Not super convenient, like IQF (individually quick frozen), but these are manageable, enough. The frozen-solid quarters can be broken into chunks of about 3 large pieces in each of the 10-lbs bags, with the help of a mallet. I figure that thawing and cooking the chicken in this amount will be the equivalent of cooking up a small whole chicken, and will yield about 3 family meals per large chunk.
The other night, I cooked up 3 hindquarter pieces. We had teriyaki chicken the first night, chicken in marinara sauce the second night, and we'll have chicken soup for tonight's dinner.
I know that occasionally supermarkets put these 10-lb bags on sale for a good price. The obstacle for most folks is that the chicken is frozen solid in one large chunk, not exactly user-friendly for family dinners. The way around this, though, is if the frozen mass cannot be broken into smaller portions, the whole thing can be thawed, cooked up, then refrozen in individual pieces, to use the meat later. When you think about it, it's not much different than cooking up 2 whole chickens, or 1 large turkey at a time, then freezing the meat for later use.
Thawing a 10-lb bag of chicken parts takes about 2-4 days in a refrigerator. Once thawed, it can be safely held for 1 or 2 days more. (This means that you could cook up half of a 10-lb bag on day 1 after thawing, and the other half on day 2 after thawing, making the cooking a little more manageable.) And according to the USDA, thawed meat can even be refrozen, though there may be loss of quality. But this is only the case if you thaw the chicken in the refrigerator. If you thaw it in the microwave or in cold water, then it does need to be cooked immediately. Read that page in the link above, for complete information on safe thawing and cooking of frozen meats.
Currently, hindquarters are the least expensive option for chicken. The next best price on chicken that I have seen this spring is as whole chickens, at 88 cents per pound. I saved nearly 40 cents per pound on this 40-lb purchase, over buying the same amount in whole chickens. That's a grand total savings of $16.00. I can use that $16.00 to buy a lot of groceries for our family. AND, I have a hedge against potential rising poultry costs, including turkeys this next fall. Should turkey prices go way up, I may only buy 1 or 2, instead of 4 whole turkeys. I may still have chicken hindquarters in the freezer at that time, as well as a ham and possibly my last turkey from this past year.
Food inflation may be escalating on some items, but there are still some avenues to get around these high prices.
Now, I need your help, here. 40 pounds is a lot of chicken legs and thighs, which I prefer if the flavor is more disguised. I have a well-stocked spice cupboard, and a lot of basic ingredients to work with. What are your favorite, flavorful dishes that use dark-meat chicken? Do you have certain spices or herbs that you like with chicken? How about ethnic chicken recipes? Any that stand out as favorites in your house?
TIA, and I'm eager to hear how you like to prepare chicken legs and thighs!
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
When I go grocery shopping, I bring 2 things
I bring my calculator.
And I bring my list, which has 2 parts. The first part of my list has the items that I know are on sale and I want to buy.
The second part of my list has the items that I am looking for, but do not know the store price on yet. Next to each item, I write down a price point at which I am willing to make the purchase -- if the store price meets or beats this price, a lot like putting in a buy-order for a stock, "buy at xx $".
So, for instance, my list this week looked like this:
milk, $2.00 or less per gallon
maxipads <$3.79/48 ct
salt <50 cents/26 oz container
decaf coffee <$4.50/lb
chocolate chips <$1.89/12-oz bag
marshmallows <$1.60/lb
pinto beans <45 cents/lb
peanut butter <$1.25/lb
eggs <$1.25/dozen
shortening <$1.56/lb
meat: beef, not ground <$2.79/lb, whole chicken <88cents/lb, leg quarters <50cents/lb
I determine this price that I'm willing to pay, based on past purchases (through receipts or my grocery journal), or through searching online shopping venues that I would realistically buy this item, if I can't find it on sale. Cash & Carry has a search feature, which brings up the item and it's price. As Cash & Carry is one of my fall-back places to shop, I go with their prices on many items that I buy. I also buy many items at Dollar Tree, and feel I'm getting a pretty good deal, most of the time. So, I sometimes use their $1 price on items for my price point to beat.
Having this price point to beat, all written down, makes the shopping experience easier for me. After about 15-20 minutes of being in the store, my mind begins to feel the fatigue, and I find it difficult to accurately make calculations and decisions. I call it "shopper's confusion". Once shopper's confusion sets in, I am apt to make all kinds of mistakes in my calculations. So I simplify my task as much as I can, ahead of time.
There I am, standing in the aisle at the grocery store, calculator in hand, and figuring price per unit and comparing to my list price. If you happen upon me, I'll try not to block the whole aisle, promise!
Even with my low grocery budget, I still find items to buy that save me 10 to 15%, by using this shopping method.
Yesterday, I did my once-per-month Senior Discount Shopping Day at Fred Meyer. It's a 10% discount on house-brand products. I had been preparing my list, for this once-per-month opportunity for the last several weeks, writing things down as I thought of them.
I've been looking for marshmallows, for roasting at summertime cook-outs. I have been happy enough to buy marshmallows at Dollar Tree, in a 10-oz. bag for $1. I was looking to find marshmallows for less than $1.60/lb (sometimes marshmallows are sold in 10-oz bags and sometimes in 16-oz bags, here). The house-brand ones were on sale (not advertised in the flyer), for $1.50/16-oz bag. As a house-brand, I would also save 10% off that sale price, bringing my cost to $1.35 per 16-oz bag, 25 cents less than Dollar Tree's price per pound on marshmallows. I bought 4 bags, which at our current rate of cook-outs, will last 12 weeks, with once per week cook-outs in summer.
I saved 22% over what I was prepared to spend for this item. All because I put a few minutes into figuring out my list and the price I was looking to beat. I had similar success with a couple of other items on my list, as well -- shortening (for pie crusts), decaf coffee, eggs, maxis, and calcium supplements. I didn't find favorable prices on chocolate chips, salt, pinto beans, peanut butter or meat. I'll keep looking for those items.
With whittling down some of our grocery spending, I'm hoping to free up more of the budget for splurges, like meat and possibly seafood.
Do you make a list before shopping for groceries? What information do you write down on your list? Do you ever write reminders to use coupons? Do you write down prices that you're willing to pay for specific items? Do you carry a price-book when you shop? Can you remember a time when you never made a list, but just wandered the aisles "seeing what looks good"? I do. That's how I began my grocery shopping when we first got married. Now that just seems insane to me, to not plan ahead what I will buy.
And I bring my list, which has 2 parts. The first part of my list has the items that I know are on sale and I want to buy.
The second part of my list has the items that I am looking for, but do not know the store price on yet. Next to each item, I write down a price point at which I am willing to make the purchase -- if the store price meets or beats this price, a lot like putting in a buy-order for a stock, "buy at xx $".
So, for instance, my list this week looked like this:
milk, $2.00 or less per gallon
maxipads <$3.79/48 ct
salt <50 cents/26 oz container
decaf coffee <$4.50/lb
chocolate chips <$1.89/12-oz bag
marshmallows <$1.60/lb
pinto beans <45 cents/lb
peanut butter <$1.25/lb
eggs <$1.25/dozen
shortening <$1.56/lb
meat: beef, not ground <$2.79/lb, whole chicken <88cents/lb, leg quarters <50cents/lb
I determine this price that I'm willing to pay, based on past purchases (through receipts or my grocery journal), or through searching online shopping venues that I would realistically buy this item, if I can't find it on sale. Cash & Carry has a search feature, which brings up the item and it's price. As Cash & Carry is one of my fall-back places to shop, I go with their prices on many items that I buy. I also buy many items at Dollar Tree, and feel I'm getting a pretty good deal, most of the time. So, I sometimes use their $1 price on items for my price point to beat.
Having this price point to beat, all written down, makes the shopping experience easier for me. After about 15-20 minutes of being in the store, my mind begins to feel the fatigue, and I find it difficult to accurately make calculations and decisions. I call it "shopper's confusion". Once shopper's confusion sets in, I am apt to make all kinds of mistakes in my calculations. So I simplify my task as much as I can, ahead of time.
There I am, standing in the aisle at the grocery store, calculator in hand, and figuring price per unit and comparing to my list price. If you happen upon me, I'll try not to block the whole aisle, promise!
Even with my low grocery budget, I still find items to buy that save me 10 to 15%, by using this shopping method.
Yesterday, I did my once-per-month Senior Discount Shopping Day at Fred Meyer. It's a 10% discount on house-brand products. I had been preparing my list, for this once-per-month opportunity for the last several weeks, writing things down as I thought of them.
I've been looking for marshmallows, for roasting at summertime cook-outs. I have been happy enough to buy marshmallows at Dollar Tree, in a 10-oz. bag for $1. I was looking to find marshmallows for less than $1.60/lb (sometimes marshmallows are sold in 10-oz bags and sometimes in 16-oz bags, here). The house-brand ones were on sale (not advertised in the flyer), for $1.50/16-oz bag. As a house-brand, I would also save 10% off that sale price, bringing my cost to $1.35 per 16-oz bag, 25 cents less than Dollar Tree's price per pound on marshmallows. I bought 4 bags, which at our current rate of cook-outs, will last 12 weeks, with once per week cook-outs in summer.
I saved 22% over what I was prepared to spend for this item. All because I put a few minutes into figuring out my list and the price I was looking to beat. I had similar success with a couple of other items on my list, as well -- shortening (for pie crusts), decaf coffee, eggs, maxis, and calcium supplements. I didn't find favorable prices on chocolate chips, salt, pinto beans, peanut butter or meat. I'll keep looking for those items.
With whittling down some of our grocery spending, I'm hoping to free up more of the budget for splurges, like meat and possibly seafood.
Do you make a list before shopping for groceries? What information do you write down on your list? Do you ever write reminders to use coupons? Do you write down prices that you're willing to pay for specific items? Do you carry a price-book when you shop? Can you remember a time when you never made a list, but just wandered the aisles "seeing what looks good"? I do. That's how I began my grocery shopping when we first got married. Now that just seems insane to me, to not plan ahead what I will buy.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Wasting nothing -- fire starters
We have a fire ring on our patio that we use frequently in summer for cook-outs and making s'mores. These are fun and frugal family activities we enjoy every summer.
We have an ample supply of wood, with deadfall from the wooded part of our lot. But our wood is often a tad damp, and needs a bit of help getting a fire lit.
We've used a variety of homemade fire starters over the years. But I think this one fills the role of "waste nothing", best.
When I drain meat or fried foods, I do so on a piece of brown paper bag. When I'm done with that fat-saturated piece of paper, I put it in a particular plastic bag in the freezer, my bag of fire starters. Then, any time we need to start the charcoal grill or the fire ring for cooking out, I have a greasy piece of paper ready to do the job.
I'm not using any "new" materials, nor am I using any materials which may have "other" value to them (like reselling egg cartons, saving items for craft projects, or candle wax, from used candles, that I want to use to make small floating candles). I'm just using what was previously tossed in the garbage.
Now, it surprises me that I would have thrown that draining paper into the garbage, in the past.
If I could just come up with a homemade match to light the fire starter.
 |
| I know you're wondering, "why is she showing us garbage?" |
We have an ample supply of wood, with deadfall from the wooded part of our lot. But our wood is often a tad damp, and needs a bit of help getting a fire lit.
We've used a variety of homemade fire starters over the years. But I think this one fills the role of "waste nothing", best.
When I drain meat or fried foods, I do so on a piece of brown paper bag. When I'm done with that fat-saturated piece of paper, I put it in a particular plastic bag in the freezer, my bag of fire starters. Then, any time we need to start the charcoal grill or the fire ring for cooking out, I have a greasy piece of paper ready to do the job.
I'm not using any "new" materials, nor am I using any materials which may have "other" value to them (like reselling egg cartons, saving items for craft projects, or candle wax, from used candles, that I want to use to make small floating candles). I'm just using what was previously tossed in the garbage.
Now, it surprises me that I would have thrown that draining paper into the garbage, in the past.
If I could just come up with a homemade match to light the fire starter.
Monday, June 1, 2015
May 2015 Grocery Spending Journal
So, for this month, I have $147.02 for groceries.
May 3. Cash and Carry on way home from the city. A lot is on sale, still from the Cinco de Mayo ad and the regular 2-week ad. I buy 2 5-lb bags of organic carrots ($2.95 each), 2 #10 cans of sliced olives ($4.78 each), 50-lb sack of black beans ($27.48), 72-ct bag of corn tortillas ($2.18), 1 head of green cabbage ($1.36), and a 50-lb sack of all-purpose flour ($12.19). Spent $58.67
Also, stop at QFC and pick up 2 gallons of milk, skim, marked down to $1.99 each. spent $3.98
May 4. Dollar Tree online order for baking soda, 1 case of 24 lbs, for $14.16. The in-store price went up to 79 cents/box. But the online site still had it at 59 cents/box, so I ordered a case to be picked up at the store. I saved $4.80. Also, bought 4 bags of chocolate Easter candy to be used, chopped in cookies or for making s'mores, at 25 cents/bag. Plus, 5 24-oz bags of macaroni noodles and 2 24-oz packages of spaghetti noodles (work out to 67 cents/pound), and 1 quart of soy milk. Spent $23.16
Trader Joe's for bananas, bought 21, at 19 cents each, spent $3.99.
Total spent to date -- $89.80
May 5. This is THE day I've been waiting for!! I finally qualify for "senior" discounts!!! Fred Meyer offers discounts to anyone 55+ years old, 1 day per month (1st Tuesday of of the month). This discount is good on clothing, home and garden and private label food, health and beauty. Private label IS what I almost always buy. So this is no sacrifice for me. And the 10% off applies after coupons and sales, even.
So, here's what I bought in the food area. 5 half-gallons of whole milk, for making yogurt, on sale for 99cents each, with my "senior" discount, 89cents each for me. Also at the same price, I bought half-gallon of orange juice to have on Mother's Day and Father's Day (I will freeze half of the juice to save for Father's Day). Eggs, on sale 99cents/dozen (limit 2), but for me, a "senior", I paid 89cents/dozen. And one last food item, a 4-pack of gourmet lettuce blend seedlings. My lettuce seedlings have been very slow to get going this year (cool April). It is more economical for me to buy a 4-pack of lettuce seedlings, now, and have fresh lettuce to eat in 3 weeks, than for me to buy the same amount of leafy vegetables in 3 weeks. And, the bonus, there are way more than 4 lettuce plants in this 4-pack, around 10 little plants! The price was 99cents, but I paid 89cents! So, my total on food items today was $8.01.
Total spent month-to-date -- $97.81
May 11. Country Farms produce stand. this is the produce stand near my daughters' high school from a couple of years ago. One of their friends works there part time. So it's always fun to see her when I get a chance to get to that market. Country Farms has some pretty good prices on produce, so worth the trip. This time, I bought 4 red delicious apple (50 cents/lb), 1 head of green cabbage (69 cents/lb), 1 bundle of celery ($1.29 each), a bag of 5 very ripe medium-sized avocados (99cents), and a bag of lemons, 7 or 8 I think (99cents), plus a 10-lb bag of small oranges for $4.99. I spent $10.98.
Also, stopped by Fred Meyer to take advantage of a couple of sales this week. I bought 3 lbs of butter (3 for $5, limit 3 w/coupon), 1 2-lb block of Tillamook cheddar cheese ($3.99, limit 1 w/coupon), 5 half gallons of whole milk (99 cents each, 5 w/coupon), and 1 half-gallon of orange juice (99 cents, 1 w/coupon), a whole chicken for 88 cents lb ($5.38), onion powder (good for a couple of recipes), 48 cents. Total spent here -- $20.79
Total month-to-date spending -- $129.58
May 15. Cash & Carry for large can of coffee. Spent $5.66
May 17. Dollar Tree for 3 10-oz jars of peanut butter and 1 quart of soy milk. spent $4 for a month to date spending of $139.24
May 20. An ethnic market to try out, recommended by a frugal friend. Red Delicious apples for 39 cents/lb. I bought about a dozen. I wasn't sure if they'd be crisp, still this late in the year. But they were pretty good. I will go back and get more on Saturday, as they are just down from Home Depot. Also bought a head of green cabbage for 49 cents/lb. spent $3.92
May 22. We are running low on milk, and the last 2 times I've been to Fred Meyer, there have not been any markdowns. I've got just over 1/2 gallon of whole milk. I put some brown rice to soak last night, and will make rice milk to stretch the milk I have, and to use in cooking over the weekend. One of my daughters is gone for the long weekend (on a biology field station trip), so that will actually conserve some of the milk. Maybe we will have enough, with rice milk added, to get us through to mid-week. And then, there's a good chance I'll find milk marked down at one of the stores I visit, after a long weekend, when a lot of folks go out of town for a few days. Otherwise I'll pick up 1 gallon, and stretch that one as long as I can.
May 24. Imran's, the ethnic market, again, after church. I pick up 24 Red Delicious apples (39 cents/lb), 7 a little bruised (but not horribly so) bananas (39 cents/lb) and 1 red sweet bell pepper (59 cents). Spent $6.74.
May 27. Cash & Carry for 80% lean ground beef patties. 10-lb case for $26.80 ($2.68/lb -- the lowest price I've seen beef around here for a while). spent $26.80
Total spent for the month -- $176.70
I went over what I'd hoped to spend (again). I had to make some tough choices. In the end, I feel like I made the right choices for our family. we didn't splurge much this past month, but focused on healthy basics, as much as possible. We stocked up on a couple of items that will carry us through a few months, as well. And I never did buy more milk in May, but found that using rice milk worked very well for us. Thank you for all of your input on my milk dilemma. :-)
Next month, I'll have $145.32 for the budget.
This is what I bought --
produce
10 lbs carrots
1 gallon orange juice
28 bananas
3 heads green cabbage
10 small lettuce plants
10 lbs oranges
1 bundle celery
4 apples
5 avocados
8 lemons
40 Red Delicious apples
1 red bell pepper
baking supplies
50 lbs all-purpose flour
24 lbs baking soda
4 bags Easter chocolate candy
pantry
2 #10 cans of sliced olives
50 lbs dried black beans
7.5 lbs of dried macaroni
3 lbs of dried spaghetti
onion powder
can of coffee
30 ounces peanut butter
dairy
2 gallons skim milk
5 gallons whole (4%) milk
2 dozen large eggs
2 lbs cheddar cheese
for the fridge
72 corn tortillas
2 quarts soy milk
meat
1 whole chicken
10 lbs ground beef patties
When I look at my list of what I've bought for the month, it surprises me just how expensive food its, as it doesn't seem like I bought all that much of the "expensive" stuff (i.e. meat, cheese, exotic produce).
My list, by the way, is in part so you can see what we've bought over the month, but also a help for me. For instance, I needed 2 quarts of soy milk this month, but I went on 2 separate days to buy that. I could have bought both (along with peanut butter) on my first visit to Dollar Tree, and saved gas and time. It's those little things, like making just 1 stop in a month at a place like Dollar Tree, that can make it feel like I'm not always out running around. And now that I can take advantage of Senior discount day at Fred Meyer, once per month, I'll be able to plan our milk purchases for the entire month, on that first Tuesday. I can see that we need more than 7 gallons of milk to get through 1 month. So for this month, I'll try for 9 gallons, if the price, with senior discount, is right.
May 3. Cash and Carry on way home from the city. A lot is on sale, still from the Cinco de Mayo ad and the regular 2-week ad. I buy 2 5-lb bags of organic carrots ($2.95 each), 2 #10 cans of sliced olives ($4.78 each), 50-lb sack of black beans ($27.48), 72-ct bag of corn tortillas ($2.18), 1 head of green cabbage ($1.36), and a 50-lb sack of all-purpose flour ($12.19). Spent $58.67
Also, stop at QFC and pick up 2 gallons of milk, skim, marked down to $1.99 each. spent $3.98
May 4. Dollar Tree online order for baking soda, 1 case of 24 lbs, for $14.16. The in-store price went up to 79 cents/box. But the online site still had it at 59 cents/box, so I ordered a case to be picked up at the store. I saved $4.80. Also, bought 4 bags of chocolate Easter candy to be used, chopped in cookies or for making s'mores, at 25 cents/bag. Plus, 5 24-oz bags of macaroni noodles and 2 24-oz packages of spaghetti noodles (work out to 67 cents/pound), and 1 quart of soy milk. Spent $23.16
Trader Joe's for bananas, bought 21, at 19 cents each, spent $3.99.
Total spent to date -- $89.80
May 5. This is THE day I've been waiting for!! I finally qualify for "senior" discounts!!! Fred Meyer offers discounts to anyone 55+ years old, 1 day per month (1st Tuesday of of the month). This discount is good on clothing, home and garden and private label food, health and beauty. Private label IS what I almost always buy. So this is no sacrifice for me. And the 10% off applies after coupons and sales, even.
So, here's what I bought in the food area. 5 half-gallons of whole milk, for making yogurt, on sale for 99cents each, with my "senior" discount, 89cents each for me. Also at the same price, I bought half-gallon of orange juice to have on Mother's Day and Father's Day (I will freeze half of the juice to save for Father's Day). Eggs, on sale 99cents/dozen (limit 2), but for me, a "senior", I paid 89cents/dozen. And one last food item, a 4-pack of gourmet lettuce blend seedlings. My lettuce seedlings have been very slow to get going this year (cool April). It is more economical for me to buy a 4-pack of lettuce seedlings, now, and have fresh lettuce to eat in 3 weeks, than for me to buy the same amount of leafy vegetables in 3 weeks. And, the bonus, there are way more than 4 lettuce plants in this 4-pack, around 10 little plants! The price was 99cents, but I paid 89cents! So, my total on food items today was $8.01.
Total spent month-to-date -- $97.81
May 11. Country Farms produce stand. this is the produce stand near my daughters' high school from a couple of years ago. One of their friends works there part time. So it's always fun to see her when I get a chance to get to that market. Country Farms has some pretty good prices on produce, so worth the trip. This time, I bought 4 red delicious apple (50 cents/lb), 1 head of green cabbage (69 cents/lb), 1 bundle of celery ($1.29 each), a bag of 5 very ripe medium-sized avocados (99cents), and a bag of lemons, 7 or 8 I think (99cents), plus a 10-lb bag of small oranges for $4.99. I spent $10.98.
Also, stopped by Fred Meyer to take advantage of a couple of sales this week. I bought 3 lbs of butter (3 for $5, limit 3 w/coupon), 1 2-lb block of Tillamook cheddar cheese ($3.99, limit 1 w/coupon), 5 half gallons of whole milk (99 cents each, 5 w/coupon), and 1 half-gallon of orange juice (99 cents, 1 w/coupon), a whole chicken for 88 cents lb ($5.38), onion powder (good for a couple of recipes), 48 cents. Total spent here -- $20.79
Total month-to-date spending -- $129.58
May 15. Cash & Carry for large can of coffee. Spent $5.66
May 17. Dollar Tree for 3 10-oz jars of peanut butter and 1 quart of soy milk. spent $4 for a month to date spending of $139.24
May 20. An ethnic market to try out, recommended by a frugal friend. Red Delicious apples for 39 cents/lb. I bought about a dozen. I wasn't sure if they'd be crisp, still this late in the year. But they were pretty good. I will go back and get more on Saturday, as they are just down from Home Depot. Also bought a head of green cabbage for 49 cents/lb. spent $3.92
May 22. We are running low on milk, and the last 2 times I've been to Fred Meyer, there have not been any markdowns. I've got just over 1/2 gallon of whole milk. I put some brown rice to soak last night, and will make rice milk to stretch the milk I have, and to use in cooking over the weekend. One of my daughters is gone for the long weekend (on a biology field station trip), so that will actually conserve some of the milk. Maybe we will have enough, with rice milk added, to get us through to mid-week. And then, there's a good chance I'll find milk marked down at one of the stores I visit, after a long weekend, when a lot of folks go out of town for a few days. Otherwise I'll pick up 1 gallon, and stretch that one as long as I can.
May 24. Imran's, the ethnic market, again, after church. I pick up 24 Red Delicious apples (39 cents/lb), 7 a little bruised (but not horribly so) bananas (39 cents/lb) and 1 red sweet bell pepper (59 cents). Spent $6.74.
May 27. Cash & Carry for 80% lean ground beef patties. 10-lb case for $26.80 ($2.68/lb -- the lowest price I've seen beef around here for a while). spent $26.80
Total spent for the month -- $176.70
I went over what I'd hoped to spend (again). I had to make some tough choices. In the end, I feel like I made the right choices for our family. we didn't splurge much this past month, but focused on healthy basics, as much as possible. We stocked up on a couple of items that will carry us through a few months, as well. And I never did buy more milk in May, but found that using rice milk worked very well for us. Thank you for all of your input on my milk dilemma. :-)
Next month, I'll have $145.32 for the budget.
This is what I bought --
produce
10 lbs carrots
1 gallon orange juice
28 bananas
3 heads green cabbage
10 small lettuce plants
10 lbs oranges
1 bundle celery
4 apples
5 avocados
8 lemons
40 Red Delicious apples
1 red bell pepper
baking supplies
50 lbs all-purpose flour
24 lbs baking soda
4 bags Easter chocolate candy
pantry
2 #10 cans of sliced olives
50 lbs dried black beans
7.5 lbs of dried macaroni
3 lbs of dried spaghetti
onion powder
can of coffee
30 ounces peanut butter
dairy
2 gallons skim milk
5 gallons whole (4%) milk
2 dozen large eggs
2 lbs cheddar cheese
for the fridge
72 corn tortillas
2 quarts soy milk
meat
1 whole chicken
10 lbs ground beef patties
When I look at my list of what I've bought for the month, it surprises me just how expensive food its, as it doesn't seem like I bought all that much of the "expensive" stuff (i.e. meat, cheese, exotic produce).
My list, by the way, is in part so you can see what we've bought over the month, but also a help for me. For instance, I needed 2 quarts of soy milk this month, but I went on 2 separate days to buy that. I could have bought both (along with peanut butter) on my first visit to Dollar Tree, and saved gas and time. It's those little things, like making just 1 stop in a month at a place like Dollar Tree, that can make it feel like I'm not always out running around. And now that I can take advantage of Senior discount day at Fred Meyer, once per month, I'll be able to plan our milk purchases for the entire month, on that first Tuesday. I can see that we need more than 7 gallons of milk to get through 1 month. So for this month, I'll try for 9 gallons, if the price, with senior discount, is right.
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