Stay Connected

Friday, October 20, 2017

Cheap & Cheerful for a mid-October week

It's getting cooler and darker in our area. We have curtains in the kitchen eating area which I've felt the need to close before we eat our dinner. We've been using a jar candle on the kitchen table some of the nights, too. This candle was a gift from friends last holiday season. We have a large assortment of candles and I thought this year, we'd try to use them. They do add a nice ambiance to chilly fall and winter days and evenings.

the weekend -- I think we ate a lot of eggs over the weekend. As I've been telling the family, I'm pushing eggs. I had a few dozen left from a major purchase in early September. One night my husband made French toast for dinner.

Monday -- my daughter made dinner for us. She made egg fried rice. She made this on Sunday afternoon, then reheated Monday evening. It worked great, and she made so much that I had some for lunches during the week, too.

Tuesday -- (family dinner night) beef and bean burritos, using leftover pot roast from last week kept in freezer, canned beans, commercial tortillas and cheese, chips and salsa (both Dollar Tree), baked acorn squash, tossed salad with homemade dressing, scratch cake

Wednesday -- leftover beef and bean burritos, tossed salad, pear slices, refried beans and cheese, chips and salsa, baked squash

Thursday -- turkey-noodle soup, pumpkin muffins, apples

Friday -- leftover soup tonight, with muffins and applesauce


Saving time this week -- On Tuesday, I made twice as much as we needed, so Wednesday was just leftovers, with a fresh salad and fruit. Thursday, I did the same, made twice what we needed so there would be leftovers for Friday. I need to buy more produce very soon.  I'll get out to a store in the next day or two. Otherwise, our supplies are still good. I cleaned up the pantry this past week and took a cursory inventory. It looks like I am well set for confectioner's sugar. Somehow I got overstocked on that last year. And I still have enough canned pumpkin for 10 pies. I do use pumpkin for soups and pasta sauce, though, so I will still buy more this fall. I am also well stocked on whole wheat flour, rolled oats, steel cut oats and brown rice. No chance of running out of grains any time soon.

How about you? Are you using what's on hand this month? Beginning to do some stocking up? Does anyone have a particularly good authentic Thai recipe, for a main dish?  I'm looking for an authentic, but easy to make, and with few extra ingredients to buy (given your standard American pantry) Thai recipe.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I will hopefully be around more next week, than the past couple of weeks. Life got crazy for a bit, there.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Lili,

    Here is a recipe from Budget Bytes--this one is good and so is the vegetable thai curry soup.
    https://www.budgetbytes.com/2016/05/thai-coconut-curry-braised-chicken-thighs/

    I cleaned out/defrosted my freezer with the help of hubby this morning. I took the day off and have a whole list of things to do. No surprises in there. I see that I have 4 whole chickens and a few small legs and thighs but that's all for chicken. There is two pork something or others, one pkg. of pork ribs and two small beef roasts. I have about 4 or 5 pkgs. of ground beef and 4 rolls of breakfast sausage. That's really on the slim side for me. Oh, one whole turkey. I am going to save that for Christmas. Today, I'll go look for chicken breasts, bone in for 99 cents per lb. I might also make two lasagnas and put one in the freezer for when the kids come home at Christmas.

    I have a huge laundry basket in my freezer full of mostly green beans but a few pkgs. of cabbage and red beets. I saw one bag of diced carrots since dad's carrots didn't do well this year.

    I am craving homemade bread again. I bought some recently to get by but I just can't swallow that stuff. Yuck. So last night I made a quick loaf and a half to get us started. Today, I might try it again but using some whole wheat flour.

    I now have a little bit more room in my freezer so I have room to freeze some bread.

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alie,
      thanks for the link to the recipe. I'll check it out. It sounds like you have a fair amount of meat in the freezer. Will all 3 of your kids be home at Christmas? I can understand how you would go through all of the meat when cooking for 5 daily.
      Good luck with your list of chores for the day. It sounds like you'll be busy. Enjoy the weekend, Alice!

      Delete
  2. I did an inventory of my pantry too and found a few things I need to use up. It's been cooler here too and we are loving it! We have the house open up and that feels so good. I can sit here with a blanket on and I like that too. It's such a great time of the year. :) Hope you have a good week, Lili and things start to get less crazy for you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Belinda,
      It does sound lovely, there. I imagine that the temps are warmer this time of year in your area, than mine, if you can have the house opened up. Thanks for the good thoughts and wishes. Have a wonderful weekend, Belinda!

      Delete
  3. Would you mind sharing your pasta sauce recipe using pumpkin? I've got a half can lingering in my fridge that I'd love to do something with... :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Allie,
      I'm typing up the pumpkin pasta recipe right now. I make this several times in winter, as it is fast and hearty. Thanks for asking. I will post this on Monday.

      Delete
  4. French toast for dinner. Yum. I think I know what we're having tonight. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      I hope that you enjoyed your French toast supper on Friday. I was pointing out to my son that French toast is an easy meal to fix for himself. It has egg, milk and bread. With a piece of fruit, he'd have a complete meal, with little work or clean-up.

      Delete

Thank you for joining the discussion today. Here at creative savv, we strive to maintain a respectful community centered around frugal living. Creative savv would like to continue to be a welcoming and safe place for discussion, and as such reserves the right to remove comments that are inappropriate for the conversation.

FOLLOW CREATIVE SAVV ON BLOGLOVIN'

Follow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be a voice that helps someone else on their frugal living journey

Are you interested in writing for creative savv?
What's your frugal story?

Do you have a favorite frugal recipe, special insight, DIY project, or tips that could make frugal living more do-able for someone else?

Creative savv is seeking new voices.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

share this post