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Friday, May 3, 2019

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Late April and Early May



Friday
scrambled eggs (4 yolks from making meringues and a couple of whole eggs)
leftover ham and baked beans
swiss chard and ham
mashed potatoes with mozzarella cheese, garlic, and plain yogurt

Saturday
kale frittata with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese
scratch drop biscuits
carrot sticks and dip (made with plain yogurt and an old dip packet found in the pantry)

Sunday (cook-out)
roasted hot dogs in home-baked buns
Swiss chard and onions, sauteed in ham fat
s'mores, using graham crackers purchased in winter, marshmallows (Walmart) and a dark chocolate bar from Dollar Tree that was bought last summer

Monday
cream of green soup
Yorkshire pudding
baked egg custard topped with blueberry-rhubarb sauce

Tuesday
scrambled eggs, veggies, and ham
pancakes and homemade syrup

Wednesday (first day of 5 days of Mexi-meals)
burrito bowls, with refried beans, Spanish rice, homemade salsa, cheese, plain yogurt
vanilla blackberry-rhubarb sauce

Thursday
bean and cheese enchiladas
corn


Breakfasts this week were overnight crockpot steel cut oats, leftover pancakes from Tuesday's dinner, and toast with homemade soybean hummus. I baked caraway-rye bread this week and the hummus was very popular on it, even for breakfast.

Lunches this week included sandwiches with the following fillings: soybean hummus, peanut butter, and egg salad. I also cooked a large batch of mustard-glazed carrots and a quart and a half of vanilla blackberry-rhubarb sauce to supplement lunches. In addition, there have been apples, raisins, and juice this week.

On Monday, I served a green soup as the main dish. Because this soup is on the low side for protein content, I supplemented it with 2 additional egg items, the Yorkshire pudding and the egg custard. I used the recipe posted in this link for the Yorkshire pudding. I modified the recipe by using all vegetable oil and no butter. This recipe has 2 eggs, and makes 8 wedges. The 4 of us ate all 8 wedges, so in this dish alone, we eat received the protein from half an egg, as well as 1/4 cup of milk (plus whatever protein is in whole wheat flour). I used 1 egg and 1 cup of milk in the egg custard, in order to make 4 small servings. While this only gave us each a fraction of a serving of protein in the custard, it is more than many other desserts would contain, and helped boost our intake at this one meal.

For the most part, our meals are humbly created with basic ingredients. However, my family thinks they are tasty, and we save a considerable amount of money on our grocery bill.


Other wallet-enhancing things that we've done this week include:

  • using a bunch of partially-used gift cards to pay for a birthday lunch out for 6 people; the meal as well as tip were covered by the gift cards
  • I received $10 in ebay bucks in my email a few weeks ago, and I used them this week to buy 2 things that I wanted (1- a hair color product that I wanted to try and 2- a fat-quarter of fabric that looked like interesting craft material). I spent just under the $10 amount, so these didn't cost me anything.
  • I've been cutting and dehydrating chives from my garden. After they're dried, I run them through the food processor to make a powder, to use in soups, and homemade dip and salad dressing mixes.
  • I have lots of vegetable and herb seeds started indoors, in place of buying seedlings. So far, I have started parsley, basil, cucumber, summer squash, acorn squash, pumpkin, lettuce, and kale. I have also started the nasturtium seeds directly in the hanging baskets. I bought these hanging baskets last summer to add color to our front entry and back deck, 5 in total. Since nasturtiums perform better in less fertile soil, I didn't do anything to the soil in last years' baskets, except stir it up. I'm still waiting for the seeds to sprout. I also directly planted the seeds for beets in a large trough planter on my deck. I moved one of our blueberry bushes to a better spot in the yard. Before replanting the bush, I dug out tiny potatoes and transplanted them all into another spot of the garden. These potatoes are descendants from a planting about 5 years ago. Every year, we dig as many as we easily find, then the next year, more come up. I had thought I was done growing potatoes, but the potatoes think otherwise. I've been watering what is planted in the garden with free rain water collected in rain barrels.
  • My daughters baked a cake for us, completely from scratch. (Boston Cream Pie, one of my favorites!) I made a pot of tea to go with the cake, using some nice, looseleaf tea that I received as a Christmas gift. I used a blank card from a box of cards bought at Goodwill for a birthday card, and used my improved penmanship skills to letter a message.
  • We ran out of laundry detergent, so I made a large batch of emergency laundry soap, using half of a bar of soap melted in water, then mixed with some liquid hand dishwashing soap. I made enough to completely refill the old detergent bottle, or enough for about 4-5 weeks (we use more homemade soap than we do commercial to get the same laundry results).
  • We've been shopping refurbished laptops and tablets to replace an old, broken computer.
  • I used gasbuddy.com to find the least expensive gas in our area for a fill-up.
  • I answered surveys and redeemed enough points for $50 in gift cards.
  • We batched our errands and everyone who needed to get or do something came in the car with us for one outing.
  • Instead of turning on the heat, we've all been wearing more layers whenever chilled. April is still a chilly-enough month that we have typically used our furnace this time of year. With a fleece jacket indoors, though, the temperature is okay. 
  • I used a camera that we already had to make a video, then edited the video in the free software that came with my computer before uploading to this blog. I helped to make another video for a video audition for my daughter, using her smartphone to record her dialogue. 
  • We used our public library to check-out movies and books for some of our entertainment for the week. We also watched video content online for free. I used an exercise video that I found for free on youtube to get some cardio in most days this week. 
That's about all I can think of for this week. I hope you had a wonderful week!

6 comments:

  1. I'm loving all the eggs for dinner this week! Eggs deserve a role beyond breakfast! We don't eat a lot of meat around here, so eggy dinners or egg-topped dinners are a frequent occurrence. Also love the pancakes for dinner! Yum!

    Can you please share your recipe for the egg custard dessert, as well as the blueberry rhubarb sauce??? Sounds FABULOUS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Allie,
      I love using eggs for the protein source in dinners as they are so easy and quick. No meat to thaw or beans to cook. Love those eggs!
      I'll be posting the blueberry-rhubarb sauce recipe in a jiff. And I'll get a recipe for the egg custard up soon, too.

      Delete
  2. As you have often said, being frugal can be a full-time job. You lists above prove that. And as I have often said, you're family is lucky to have you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It takes a lot of discipline and perseverance to do what you do. Not everyone is able to set their mind and go through with the actions needed. However, I think it gets easier not harder the more you are frugal. It is like tightening a screw, you don't fall backwards that easily, and every effort forward is incrementally a gain. For those who are not frugal, they look at the whole shebang and say it is too hard.

    Hope you had a nice weekend,
    YHF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi YHF.
      I think you're right that it does get easier as you go along. There's something of a snowball effect, too, which provides a lot of motivation.
      Hope your week is off to a great start!

      Delete

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