November 2022 Grocery Journal

It began snowing this morning! A very light dusting.

Nov. 4. I was needing some unsweetened cranberry juice. My daughter went out and bought it for me. Spent -- $4.99

Nov. 9. I'm thinking through my shopping this week. It's been over 2 weeks since I grocery shopped last. I had the opportunity 🙄 to go through my freezers 10 days ago, when our kitchen fridge/freezer stopped working. This appliance is only 13 years old, so it came as a complete surprise. I had to quickly unload everything and find places in our other freezers/spare fridge for everything, so as not to lose anything. In the end, I did have to throw out some fish and some meat fat. The rest was salvageable and caught early enough in the thaw process. But the upside, I was able to see what we have in all of the freezers. I came across about 4 dozen frozen eggs in containers of 4 to 6 eggs each. This means I won't need to buy eggs this month. We still have a case of 5 dozen fresh eggs in the fridge. Between the fresh and frozen, we should be able to get through December on the eggs we have. We do need milk and whipping cream for Thanksgiving. We're going to roast a whole chicken instead of turkey. While there are deals on turkeys, I don't have enough on my list to make the minimum spend. I'll be looking for a deal on potatoes.

On the fridge -- the repair guy said it was a dead compressor controller module. He said these typically fail after 5-7 years in newer fridges. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this replacement will last longer than 5 or 7 years. Fridge is fixed and we didn't lose too much food.

Nov. 11. The first of my twice a month grocery shopping trips. WinCo doesn't have an online database of their prices. Walmart does. So I checked the prices on items I needed for Walmart, wrote them down, then shopped WinCo first. When I got to WinCo I first checked potatoes -- super expensive, over $3/10-lb bag. I skipped potatoes. They had acorn squash for 38 cents/ lb. I picked up 10 acorn squash. Truthfully, at first I picked up 6 squash. Then after shopping around the store I decided to increase it to 10. Sometimes, even I have to talk myself into buying the larger amount. Next I checked the dairy section. Cheese was over my price limit of $3/lb. Milk matched Walmart's price of $3.16/gallon, limit 2. I picked up 2. Whipping cream was lower at WinCo, $4.88 for a quart, compared to Walmart's $4.98/qt. I bought 1 and will hold off on opening the carton until Thanksgiving day. It should keep until Christmas (sell-by date is Jan. 1, but after opening, product deteriorates faster). I bought two 30-oz jars of whipped salad dressing for $2.78 each. Whipped salad dressing is typically less expensive than mayo, and my family doesn't notice the difference. The mayo was $2.88 each. And I bought some holiday treats/gifts, not part of grocery budget. Total spent at WinCo -- $24.61

My other stop was Walmart. My daughters were with me to pick up their own necessities. Walmart has great prices on the things they needed. Although I didn't need anything (I'd bought what I needed at WinCo), I did go in and check the clearance sections. I found a 26-oz bag of trail mix marked down from $5.68 to $3.20 (works out to $1.96/lb). When I find snack treats like this, I buy them for when we have guests over. I'll fill a bowl with this trail mix on Thanksgiving day for the "before dinner" period when my son and daughter-in-law are here.

Potatoes were even more expensive at Walmart. I'll be checking less traditional sources for potatoes in the coming weeks. Gas was $4.89/gallon this week at our "cheap" place.

Total spent today -- $27.81

Total spent for the month -- $32.80

Nov.14. I won't have a car for a while again, so I decided to go to Grocery Outlet (a salvage store) this morning, hoping to find a better price on potatoes. Their potatoes were over $3/10-lbs, too. Fred Meyer is just up the hill, so I'll swing by there for potatoes, as they're advertised this week for $2.79/10-lb bag. That's the best price I'm likely to find this fall. Anyway, at Grocery Outlet I did find a spiral sliced ham for $1.29/lb. I think this is a good price for this year. I'll use this for Christmas dinner. I also found Hillshire Farm beef summer sausage for $2.49. The sausage will be for our tree decorating party. Total spent at Grocery Outlet -- $19.08.

Next stop, Fred Meyer. I had a few things on my list for here. As I shopped both online and in-person this month, I've been comparing prices on specific items, milk, eggs, butter, various meats, potatoes, pretzel twists, mixed nuts, cheese, and peanuts. Fred Meyer looked like it would be the place for several of these items. I picked up 3 of the 10-lb bags of potatoes, a bag of small pretzels for making chocolate-covered pretzels for a gift ($1.50), a 34-oz can of mixed nuts (also for a Christmas item) for $9.99, a 34-oz canister of roasted peanuts for $4.49 (less than Walmart's price), and 2 32-oz blocks of cheddar and 3 32-oz bags of shredded mozzarella for $5.99 each. My limit on cheese is $3/lb. Total spent at Fred Meyer -- $54.30. I could have qualified for a turkey at 69 cents/lb with my purchases today, but I'd already decided I didn't want to deal with taking the turkey apart. It's a lot of work, very messy, and I just don't like doing this. I'll still have to take apart the whole chicken I plan on roasting, but that's a much smaller bird and shouldn't take as long.

So much is interrelated and providential. I expanded my potato beds this past season. I would have no idea that potato prices would have nearly tripled in my area stores. I am grateful for the bonus garden potatoes and the 30 pounds of commercial potatoes I bought today. And my hubby was super stoked when he saw me bring in several bags of spuds. He's one who doesn't like to be limited in his potato intake! And all are glad I bought a ham today. We'd been talking about forgoing a ham if I didn't find a great price.

Total spent for today -- $73.38.

Total spent for the month so far -- $106.18. That's not too bad, especially since I was buying foods for Christmas as well as November.

What's left on my list to buy later this month? We do a breakfast of mini donuts, juice, and coffee the day after Thanksgiving. I've got the juice and coffee, but I need the mini donuts. This is definitely a splurge for us, but treats are good for morale. I'll also need more milk before the month is over. Oranges and clementines will also be on my next list. Our garden is still producing, plus we have a lot in the freezers and pantry.

Nov. 23. The car was finally ready for pick-up. My daughter got it just before rehearsal. She's offered to  stop by WinCo and get the post-Thanksgiving Day donuts for us, as well as some black pepper. I'm grateful she'll do this shopping for me. She did kind of get excited about buying donuts and bought 4 bags of mini donuts at $2.49 each. The black pepper from bulk bins came to $1.38, for a total spent of $11.34. I'd planned on spending about $5, but oh well.

Total spent so far this month --$117.52

Nov. 28. I drove one daughter to and from work today. We needed gas. $4.55/gallon at our cheapest place. It's down from $4.89, but still so, so, so much higher than same time 2021. With one car for 4 adults, we split the cost of gas. So there's that.

Our milk has lasted through the end of this month, thankfully. I found some frozen milk and began using that whenever cooking or baking called for milk. I also thawed some of the frozen eggnog as a milk-based beverage. And I mixed up more cocoa mix for the family to enjoy. And, I didn't need to open the whipping cream on Thanksgiving. My son and daughter-in-law brought over some pumpkin spice  flavored whipped cream to top our dessert. I'll open the whipping cream in December and surely it will keep until New Year's. I do have shopping on my list of activities for later this week. Once again, I don't need a lot, just more milk, oranges and/or tangerines, avocados, and I'll check for deals and clearance items. 

I am still harvesting produce from the garden. I picked 5 heads of cabbage this week, brought them in, washed, and have them tucked away in the fridge. The Brussel sprouts will keep even in this light snow for another week or longer, as will the kale. I'll go out and harvest all I can in a day or two to chop and freeze for winter meals.

So that's it. I spent $117.52 for November.

What I bought:

fruits & vegetables
bottle unsweetened cranberry juice
10 acorn squash

30 pounds potatoes

dairy
2 gallons milk
1 quart whipping cream

10 pounds cheese

meat

spiral-cut half ham
beef summer sausage

pantry
2 jars salad dressing "mayo"
large bag of trail mix
large can mixed nuts
large container roasted peanuts
bag of pretzel twists
4 bags donuts
black pepper

It doesn't look like I bought very much, does it? No worries. We have packed freezers and pantry. In case you're wondering, the donuts lasted 5 days.

Locking Out the Cold: Using Deadbolt Locks as Low-Tech (and Free) Way to Hold in the Heat

I grew up in a time and place when many folks didn't lock their doors during the day. In fact, in my early years, my parents only locked the front door at night, but not the back or side door. Times have changed. Today, I keep doors locked all day. 

But now I have another reason to keep my doors bolted -- a better seal against the weatherstripping resulting in better heat retention in winter. 

Weatherstripping in the door frame is an inexpensive upgrade for sealing out drafts. However, the weatherstripping doesn't do its job if the door itself isn't held tightly closed against it. All of our exterior doors have both the knob lock (in the knob itself) and a deadbolt. On about half the doors, the knob lock doesn't hold the door tightly against the frame. But when I use the deadbolt on those doors, I get that super tight seal.

I was researching what we can actually do for free to help keep our heating costs down this winter. In addition to using the deadbolt during the day as well as at night, the following ideas can all be incorporated for absolutely free to help keep heating costs reasonable: 

• using old fashioned draft snakes for doors and windows (can be as simple as rolled up towels or quilts)
• opening curtains at dawn and closing them at dusk
• closing off unused rooms
• removing window screens on south-facing windows for the winter (window screens block some passive solar heat)
• vacuum heat registers/vents
• keep extra throws and warm clothing/accessories in strategic places in the house

Just like our moms used to say when we complained of being cold, "go put on a sweater."

What I like about these free and low-tech ways to keep heat bills in check is all of these can be done whether you own or rent your home. I also like that I can do any or all of these on a moment's notice. I don't need to find money in the budget or make an appointment with a contractor. I can impact our bills right now. Of course, these are all small efforts towards a larger budget item. But lots of small amounts together will add up.

A Lighter (and Easier) Thanksgiving Pumpkin Dessert This Year

pumpkin mousse

I don't know if it's age and slowing metabolism making me not want the heaviness of pie pastry or if I just don't want to do the making part of pie pastry and rolling it out, but this year I chose to make a lighter version of my mom's pumpkin pie. I've made pumpkin mousse, which is basically a pumpkin chiffon pie filling in dishes without a crust. I also baked a half-batch of gingersnaps, for those who want something substantial with their mousse. And of course I'll top each dish with whipping cream just before serving (oops, there goes the "lighter" part).

Pumpkin mousse is an alternative for those who, for whatever reason, don't want the pie crust. 

Wishing all in the US a happy Thanksgiving. And to those not celebrating a Thanksgiving holiday today, I am thankful for you and wish you a lovely day.

Out With the Old, In With the New

I'm almost embarrassed to show you my now-retiring pots & pans scrubbing sponge. But I know there's got to be at least one friend here who, like me, can't part with a sponge when there are still some good scrubbing spots on it left.

But with company coming over on Thursday, I thought now would be a good time to toss the old sponge and replace it with a brand new one.

I buy sponges in multi-packs at Dollar Tree. The old sponge is the last one of a pack bought before Covid. Dollar Tree still carries the 6-sponge pack, but the price has risen to $1.25. 

Although I use my sponges until they're on their last legs, I do sanitize them frequently in the dishwasher. I know some folks prefer to microwave their kitchen sponges or give them a bleach and water soak periodically, the dishwasher trick is what's easiest for me.

I just like to get my money's worth. And I thought I'd provide a laugh to all of you.

8 Unconventional Tablecloths for an Extra Long Table

Perhaps you can relate: I use the second leaf in our dining room table about 2 to 3 times per year, extending the table to seat 8 or 10. Otherwise, we use the table with one leaf for seating for 6. 

For Thanksgiving this year, we'll be using the extra leaf so we can maintain a smidge of extra distance between both parties (son and DIL plus 4 of us) while eating. With the 2 leaves installed, the surface dimensions are 44" wide by 84" long. A table cloth should ideally have between 6 to 10 inches overhang. So, my table would need a cloth that is between 56" to 64" wide and between 96" to 104" long. 

So here are some options:

thin cotton quilts -- the standard size of a quilt is 70" by 90". This would give me an overhang on the sides of 13 inches and on the ends of 3 inches. I used a pastel, thin cotton quilt for the table at a baby shower many years ago.

flat bed sheets (the top sheet) -- twin size sheets are typically 66" wide by 96" long. Twin extra-long (like what many dorm rooms at universities have) is the same width, 66", but 5-6 inches longer, 101" or 102". For my purposes, the extra-long would be preferable, as the top edge of a flat sheet has a differently-sewn finish than the other three sides. With an extra-long, I could fold this top edge under 6 inches and baste or duct tape this flap in place. When I set up a folding rectangular table outdoors, I often use flat bed sheets as the table cloth. With this particular table, because the legs are not terribly attractive, I use a wider sheet that almost comes to the ground on the overhang.

colorful wool or cotton blankets without the satin top edge -- twin size blankets are typically 65" buy 90". The width would work for my table and the length would allow a very small overhang on the ends of 3 inches each end. I've used colorful cotton throws positioned on the diagonal as a table topper before. This can look especially attractive for a festive dinner, such as Cinco de Mayo.

fabric yardage -- any fabric yardage that is 60 inches wide works for my table. With fabric I already own and don't want to cut to size on the length, I can fold under one or both ends to achieve the ideal overhang on ends. Don't many of us have a stash of fabric waiting to be sewn into something special?

wrapping paper roll -- the standard width of a roll of wrapping paper is 30 inches. The length varies, but many are between 96 and 100 inches long. Two rolls of paper can be slightly overlapped and taped on the underside, creating a near invisible seam down the center of the table. The fun thing about using wrapping paper is that you can customize it to the celebration. In addition to colorful gift wrap, brown craft paper is also an option. After the meal, unspoiled portions of the wrap can be rolled back up and used for gift-wrapping later. This is especially fun for a child's birthday party. I used craft paper for my son's 3rd birthday and gave all the kids crayons to decorate their places at the table.

curtains, rod pocket or clip hang variety, not pinch pleat-- rod pocket and clip hang curtain panels come in a variety of sizes. Common widths for panels include 48 inches, 56 inches, 58 inches, and 60 inches. Standard lengths are 63", 84", 96", 108", and 120". The 48' width would be too narrow for my table, but the other three widths would work. A lace panel would be pretty on a dining table. A lace curtain panel is on my "seek" list for thrift stores and garage sales.

canvas painter's drop cloth -- drop cloths come in a variety of sizes. The 6 ft by 9 ft (72" by 108") would work on my table, with longer overhangs along the sides (14 inches overhang along each side). Pinterest is full of inspiration for turning a canvas drop cloth into a table cloth. I love this look. I saw an especially pretty table topper that was made from a drop cloth. The owner fitted the cloth to the top of the table with a short overhang all around. Then around the bottom edge, she added a ruffle of the canvas. It had a shabby chic sort of look.

if the table surface is in good condition, placemats work very well and most of us have several. Ditto on table runners -- any fabric yardage can become a runner by folding the two long sides under to make the runner's width equal about 1/3 of the table's width. For most of my growing up years, my mother used delicate straw placemats on this same table.

My dining room table was my parents (bought in 1966) and has quite a bit of wear. I prefer to cover it with a cloth to conceal this wear. For Thanksgiving, I've chosen to use a 3.5 yard length of dark plaid wool yardage from my sewing supplies. For many years, I've intended to sew something for myself with this wool. I will someday. For now, it makes the perfect Thanksgiving table cloth for my extra long table, with its dark colors harmonizing with my brown transfer ware dishes. The side edges already have a selvedge finish, so there are no hanging threads. I've folded about 18 inches under at one and of the table to make the length of fabric fit. 

Obviously, the best table cloth for 2 uses per year is something I already own, can obtain inexpensively, or can be reused for another purpose. I likely wouldn't go out and retail-purchase a curtain panel or extra-long twin flat sheet if I couldn't use them other than as a table cloth 2 times per year, especially since I could just buy an actual table cloth that fits for the same price. However, I might buy any of the above items at a thrift store or garage/estate sale, if the price was right and the measurements worked for our table. I would buy wrapping paper, craft paper, or a canvas drop cloth to use again afterward for wrapping or painting, if I was needing items for those purposes. 

How about you? Have you used sheets or other unconventional coverings as tablecloths? 

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the Week Before Thanksgiving

End of the week already! I am getting my preparations in order for the holiday next week. Making my list and doling out chores.

Friday

Usual Friday movie night. We watched The Score (2001), an action-crime drama, my husband's pick. It was good, but suspenseful. I bought the acorn squash at WinCo for 38 cents/lb. I bought 10 squash. So good.

Friday

homemade pepperoni pizza

mashed acorn squash

Saturday

This was the day my daughter baked the turkey-shaped cookies (link here in case you missed them). I spent the day decluttering and starting to clean for Thanksgiving. My husband made dinner. He likes to fry kale in oil until crispy. We each have our own ways to cook our basic foods. That gives us variety even when we're eating the same ingredients day after day.

Saturday

pinto beans

crispy, fried kale

rice and salsa

Sunday

I came across some frozen eggs in one of the freezers. I knew they were there, but didn't know how much I had. I thawed a 6-egg container this weekend to use in dinner. I suggested my husband make pancakes and scrambled eggs with this container. He also chopped up some of that huge kraut cabbage for making slaw. Not pictured -- the blackberry syrup, part of the batches I made in late summer and froze.

Sunday

scrambled eggs

pancakes and homemade blackberry syrup

Cole slaw

Monday

I checked around several stores this month for potatoes and ended up buying 3 bags of russets at Fred Meyer (Kroger), $2.79 each. We love baked potatoes, so I couldn't think of making anything else for dinner. This is a childhood favorite for my kids. It's how I got them to like kale. I normally top these potatoes with bacon bits. I had come across a container of pork cracklins' in the freezer, enough to top all four potatoes. Cracklins' are ham fat that's been diced and rendered until what's left is a pool of liquid fat and tiny browned bits. I strained out the browned bits and add to cornbread or use as bacon bits in soup or whatever. The liquid fat can then be used in cooking. I posted about rendering ham fat for use in cooking, here. Rendering fat is a useful skill to know for when times are lean. It's a way to produce additional cooking fat from scraps that may otherwise be tossed.

Monday

baked potato topped with kale in cheese sauce and cracklins'

crabapple and applesauce mix

Tuesday

Using more frozen then thawed eggs, my daughter made the Yorkshire pudding (and the rest of the dinner). Frozen eggs can be used for making scrambled, in quiches or frittatas, or in baking. For more info on freezing eggs, check this post.

Brussel sprouts leaves are edible! They are thicker and tougher than kale (but not in a stringy way, just more chew). I use them steamed, chopped fine and in quiches, and chopped fine and in soups. It's a way to get one more food item from the garden when it looks like there's nothing left.

Tuesday

meatloaf and gravy

Yorkshire pudding

steamed Brussel sprout leaves

crabapple and applesauce

Wednesday

My other daughter cooked tonight. I had processed another pumpkin this week (using my skin-on cooking/pureeing technique), so there's more puree to use and freeze. Both of my daughters really love pumpkin bread, so this was a natural choice for her to go with soup. The soup used potatoes, celery, carrots, kale, parsley, sage, and garlic all from the garden. It also used frozen turkey from last Thanksgiving, onion, and the liquid from straining cooked pureed pumpkin in place of stock. Very delicious!

Wednesday

Wednesday

turkey and garden vegetable soup

pumpkin spice bread (using aquafaba for half the eggs)

A hard day this week. I made chocolate-covered raisins to help and boost spirits. The raisins make it healthy, right?

Thursday

I took Farhana's suggestion for cooking greens (from the comments on Wednesday). Very tasty -- one daughter even commented on the kale.

Thursday

baked beans and hotdogs

rice with leftover meatloaf gravy

sautéed kale and onions Farhana-style

spiced fig and applesauce

I thought I'd share a photo of my favorite brown transfer ware platter. I have a bunch of different brown patterns that all seem to look good together, despite the differences.

I bought this at Tuesday Morning, a discount store chain that buys up surplus inventory, closeouts, factory overruns, and department store cancellations. You never know what you might find on any given day. Several years ago, my drive to get my daughters from high school took me by Tuesday Morning, so I would stop in occasionally. I found this platter and debated over it for about 2 seconds. I had to have it. I knew it would go with my fall and winter dishes (Friendly Village by Johnson Brothers) and would be the perfect turkey platter for Thanksgiving. When it's not in use, it is displayed on the hutch in the kitchen.

Friends, can I ask you to pray for my sister-in-law? Something terribly tragic happened in her family this week. I don't know how much privacy she or her family would want. So I won't go into any details, except she could use God's arms around her, my brother, my niece and nephew, her brother and his family. This is so fresh and devastating. My heart hurts for her. Thank you.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Getting Close to Putting the Garden to Bed

 

All leaves and practically no roots. These are the last of the beets for the year. I pulled them up yesterday afternoon. I cut off the small roots and allowed them to dry on paper overnight. I sorted through the greens and stems, then washed what looked good. I've got the greens in the fridge wrapped in paper towels and plastic bags overnight. I'll chop them for the freezer tomorrow. We still have various other greens left in the garden. I'm trying to make sure we use some greens everyday. By early to mid-December, the greens will die back from repeated freezes.

It looks like there are two to three meals worth of beet greens and stems. Any suggestions for how to use them? I've thought of added to soups and stews. But I was wondering if any of you have favorite ways to use greens such as beet leaves.

This has clearly been the largest garden and harvest we've ever had. I'm tired, but pleased with how much we've harvested.

Your Favorite Kitchen Tools for Saving $$

Cooking at home is one of the most accessible money saving activities for any household. Whatever you skill level in cooking, preparing foods at home instead of eating out saves money. 

We all have our favorite kitchen tools, some of which help us save food/money more than others.

What are your favorite money-saving kitchen tools and how do they help you save?

Here are 3 of mine:

• rubber spatula -- I can usually get about a quarter to a half a portion out of a bowl or jar by scraping it well. I have 6 rubber spatulas and at least half of them are used each day. If I save a partial portion of two or three foods every day, that adds up to about 365 bonus portions of random foods by the end of a year. Little bits add up. And spatulas are inexpensive tools for making that happen.
• my freezer -- I would have no place to store all of the beautiful free blackberries we forage each summer without my freezer. I also stock up of foods when on sale and keep in the freezer, plus I freeze surplus produce from the garden. On the pro side -- freezers can save a lot of money, but on the con side -- they cost a lot up front. Fortunately, most stand alone freezers continue to run for many, many years, even decades.
• an extra-large, shallow bowl -- I used this bowl to mix and knead dough for our homemade sandwich bread for many years. This bowl is larger than my largest mixing bowl, so large that I was able to go from mixing the dough for 2 loaves of bread at a time to 4 loaves of bread. It was a game-changer for me, as I didn't have to bake bread as often, and I could bake more at one time, using less electricity for the oven. We still use this bowl for mixing extra-large batches of a lot of foods. I originally bought it at Target for about $7. It was one of those bargains that pay for themselves quickly.

How about you? What are some of your favorite money-saving kitchen tools?

My Daughter's November Cookies: A Rafter of Turkeys!

So, I turned over most of the cookie making to my daughters this fall. Last month, one daughter, Grace, made pumpkin-shaped, cut-out cookies, with orange frosting and candy corn facial features. 

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers: I missed a week, so here's a post of 2 weeks of meals

Last week I skipped posting our suppers. I had something else I wanted to post about that day. So today I'll post both this and last week's meals.

You may notice a change in dishes and a peek at a change in tablecloth. November 1 is my day each year to switch our Rose Chintz dishes for Friendly Village (and turkey plates for the month of November only). An exception, I spy the use of a Friendly Village bowl on top of a Rose Chintz plate. I think we needed the larger bowls that night.

You may also notice more pumpkin in our meals. I love, love, love pumpkin. My favorite way to have our pumpkin is in cubes, roasted. I often cube a few slices of Sugar Pie pumpkin and roast it for our lunch along with some purple potatoes. So delicious!

Last weekend I harvested all of the celery. I chopped the top leaves for the freezer and washed and wrapped the rest in a couple of tea towels and plastic bags, then stashed in the fridge to use this month. Many of this weeks meals had some celery in them, including a cream of celery soup, an apple and celery salad, in savory bread stuffing, and in a couple of different vegetable soups.

Onto our meals from the last 2 weeks . . .

Thanksgiving Deals Are Dropping Now (plus what I'm actually going to do this year)

These are the turkey deals in my area:

• Last week I read that Aldi was going to "rewind" the prices on Thanksgiving staples to 2019 prices. 
• Our local Kroger affiliate, Fred Meyer, has advertised their turkey deal for this year -- free turkey with a $150 spend or 69 cents/lb with a $50 spend. 
• Safeway (which now owns Albertsons) is offering a free 10-20 lb turkey with a $150 spend or 69 cents/lb with a $50 spend. 
• Walmart is advertising "this year's meal at last year's price." They have Butterball whole turkeys advertised at $1.18/lb, and Jennie O whole turkeys at 98 cents/lb, no minimum spend on either. 
• My other store is WinCo. While WinCo doesn't advertise online, The Coupon Project indicates that WinCo is offering a free turkey with a $125 spend.

What are the Thanksgiving deals in your area this year?

Now, what I'm doing about a turkey this year: 

Unless I find that I can't resist a cheap turkey, we're skipping the turkey for this year. I'll be roasting a whole chicken and a pork loin that I have in the freezer. I decided I didn't want all of that leftover turkey this year. Believe it or not, we're still eating last year's turkey leftovers (had turkey and dumplings just this night). 

      sometimes a "deal" isn't really a deal

Given that we are really well-stocked on everything (except milk, which is a regular purchase), I didn't think I could come up with $150, $125, or even $50 of other items to buy in order to get a stellar price or a free turkey. Sometimes a "deal" isn't really a deal if you have to spend extra on items you don't need. The only extra food I'm planning on buying for Thanksgiving is whipping cream. We have the mentioned meats, potatoes, stuffing ingredients, vegetables, pumpkin, pecans, and pie pastry ingredients, cranberries, and blackberry juice to serve in place of sparkling cider plus ingredients to make spiced apple cider. We could do without whipping cream, but I like to have it around for the entire Thanksgiving through Christmas holiday season.

Thanksgiving is about more than what we eat. It's about our gratitude to the Provider and the family that we share the meal with. We make it special and festive by setting aside that entire afternoon to joyfully break our bread together. We'll eat in the dining room (we usually eat in the kitchen), and I'll use special plates and goblets for the meal. We'll play a game or two afterwards. Then have pie and coffee.

What makes Thanksgiving special in your household?

Creating Cool Vegetable Storage When We Don't Have a Cellar or Basement

So, our house is built over a very shallow crawl space. We have 2 stories above this, with no basement. I would love to have a root cellar to store those winter-keepers of garden and purchased produce like potatoes, onions, squash and pumpkins, cabbage, apples, turnips, and carrots. But that's just not going to happen.

Storing produce at room temperature shortens usability of fruits and vegetables considerably. For an example, I read that if you keep pumpkins at room temp of 68-72 degrees F, they'll last about 1 month to six weeks. That's been about my experience with keeping Jack o' lantern type pumpkins. If you refrigerate pumpkins at about 40-44 degrees F, they'll keep for 3 months. (But I also read that refrigeration is not recommended for pumpkins.) A cooler temp will double the usable life of my pumpkins. I have 7 bought and 3 homegrown pumpkins left to cook or process. If I kept these in my pantry, I'd have to rush to get them processed or used. To make my life easier this next month, I needed to find a cooler storage place than the kitchen. And this doesn't take into consideration the onions and potatoes I need to store.

I've found a solution that I think will work for my situation. I have enough space in my fridges to store the apples, cabbages, carrots, and turnips. That leaves the potatoes, onions, and pumpkins needing a cool storage space. We have a spare room (my office actually, but I can do without it for the next few months) that is at the far end of the ductwork from the furnace. It's always a cooler spot in the house under normal circumstances. I closed the vent (on the floor) and put a large book over it. I keep the door to this room closed at all times, now. I put a thermometer into the room so I could monitor the current conditions. It's been between 52 and 54 degrees F consistently.

Winter 2020-2021 and winter 2021-2022 I stored the potatoes and onions in this room, closing off the vent and keeping the door closed. The potatoes and onions kept through early February until signs of shriveling and rot began.  In years I stored these in the kitchen pantry, the onions began showing signs of rot in December and the potatoes began to shrivel in January. My cool storage extended the usefulness of both root veggies for an extra month. I'm hoping for a similar extension for the pumpkins, meaning I won't have to finish using or processing and freezing them until the end of December or beginning of January. That works for me.

Do you have a cellar or cold storage in a basement? Do you stock up on potatoes during fall sales? If so, how do you store them?

Using Up Leftover Cooked Rice With the Help of My Blender

We've had this cooked rice (mix of white and brown) lingering in the fridge for almost a week. We've used most of it. But I just couldn't get us to finish off that last 1/2 cup. Instead of freezing it for another time, I decided to use the cooked rice in pancakes. If cooked rice in a pancake sounds unappealing, let me share how I make the rice near undetectable.

Here's the key -- before mixing the dry with the liquid ingredients for a batch of pancakes, I puree the cooked rice with the other liquids, in this case the milk, egg, and oil. In my experience, a batch of pancakes or 12-ct muffins can handle up to 1/2 cup of leftover cooked rice. I used my smoothie blender this time, but I've also used our pitcher blender with success. 

I begin with the rice and about half the liquid in the blender and puree until the blender seems to need more liquid, then blend in the rest of the liquid. At this point, I mix the liquids into the dry ingredients and make pancakes or muffins as usual.

Here's a cut pancake. You can see inside the texture looks like a traditional recipe pancake. I came across 1 particle of rice in my pancake, but it wasn't anything that bothered me. And they taste exactly like regular pancakes.

This also works with leftover cooked oatmeal. Leftover oatmeal can be blended and pureed with the liquids for pancakes, waffles, muffins, snack cakes, and quick breads. Oatmeal tends to puree to smooth texture more quickly than cooked rice. But both can be pureed to smooth enough consistency that my family doesn't even notice this added ingredient.

Skin-On Pumpkin Cooking Technique to Minimize Waste and Maximize Value

I wanted to show you how I cook Jack o' lantern type pumpkins. These are the large carving pumpkins that are usually the least expensive per pound. Jack o' lantern pumpkins have a high water content and are lower in natural sugars than sugar pie pumpkins. They can also be more stringy than pie pumpkins. But they do have food value, and if you process them right, the water content can be reduced and stringiness eliminated. And if you get a great price on these pumpkins, they can be an affordable yellow vegetable. Also, many folks buy pumpkins for carving Jack o' lanterns. This is a great way to get full use of those Halloween decorations. 

I use these carving pumpkins for making puree for breads, muffins, pies, and soups. And now I have an even simpler and less wasteful technique for cooking them. I leave the skin on and puree them flesh and skin together. I've long thought commercial canned pumpkin must be made with the skin on. It seems to me that would be not only be possible with commercial equipment, but would also ensure the greatest profit to use more of the pumpkin than our grandmothers could in their home kitchens. Today, we have food processors and immersion blenders to help us get a super smooth end product in our own kitchens.

My skin-on technique works with smooth skinned pumpkins, like below.

This is Happy Jack. We carved him from a 13-14 pound pumpkin the afternoon of Halloween. We used battery-operated candles inside for the evening. At the end of the night, I took out the candles and popped all of Jack into the fridge. When we carved him, I saved the seeds, the carved out pieces, and all of the inside stringy stuff in the fridge. A couple of days later, I washed and froze the seeds for future roasting. And the stringy stuff to be added to the first batch of cooked pumpkin for puree.

The next morning, I gave Jack a bath, then I began chopping up the little feller. With the skin still on, I chopped the pumpkin into 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubes. 

The only part of the pumpkin that I did not use was the stem (but I used the orange flesh under the stem), the blossom spot (but used the flesh under the blossom spot) and scarring on the skin (I gently trimmed away scars, preserving as much flesh as I could).

I began cooking the pumpkin in batches.

I put the cubes of raw pumpkin into a saucepan and added about 1/2 to 1-inch of water to the pan. I brought to a boil, covered, reduced to Low, then simmered for about 30-40 minutes, stirring twice part way through cooking to prevent scorching. When I could cut the skin on the pieces easily with the edge of a spoon, I knew they were done.

I scooped the cooked pumpkin into the food processor and pureed. Large pieces of skin would collect on the side of the processor bowl, so I stirred them back into the puree with a table knife.

After pureeing a bit more, the skin pieces were considerably smaller. Oddly, they mostly collected on the side of the bowl and seemed to almost vanish when I dumped the puree into the sieve.

I scooped the pureed pumpkin into a mesh sieve set over a large bowl and allowed it to drain and thicken for about an hour while I did other things in the kitchen. The mesh sieve held about 1 saucepan of cooked pumpkin puree. While the next batch cooked/cooled, the puree of the first batch drained.

You can see the difference in thickness at this point. It had reduced in volume by about 20%. I packaged the thickened puree into pint containers for the freezer.

This is the strained-off liquid from the pumpkin puree. I ended up with about 2 quarts of this liquid. I've used some already this week in soup. It has a mild flavor and can be used in soups as stock and in gravy. As it has both flavor and nutrients, I consider this remaining liquid to be of culinary value and not waste.

My original pumpkin weighed about 13 to 14 pounds. I paid between $3.64 and $3.92 for the whole pumpkin. In addition to the 2 quarts of pumpkin liquid, I also ended up with 6 & 1/2 pints of thickened pumpkin puree and about 1 1/2 cups of seeds for roasting. If I calculate the value based on just the puree, each pint costs between 56 and 60 cents, plus the cost of using the stove (a couple cents per pint). In this scenario, the pumpkin liquid and seeds are a bonus freebie. Store-brand canned pumpkin is currently selling for between $1.47 and $1.59 per pint at my nearby stores. I saved about 90 cents per can of pumpkin puree.

I had wondered for several years if I could just cook and puree the pumpkin skin with the flesh. I read in a couple of places that this could be done. So I gave it a try myself. We're very pleased with the results. My husband was skeptical when I told him I would be doing the pumpkin this way. He was sure the skin would ruin the texture and was completely surprised that the skin bits could not be detected in either the pumpkin soup or the pumpkin soufflé made this week.