Shopping and Gas This Week -- Early to Mid-June

I didn't grocery shop this week like I had planned to do. Friday evening, a friend called desperate to find some freezer space for some of her food. She came home from work in the afternoon and found her fridge/freezer had stopped working. She had thought this might happen soon, but was hoping it would be later rather than sooner. She went to Home Depot and ordered a new fridge/freezer. But it couldn't be delivered for almost a week (Thursday of this week). My friend lives about 5 minutes from my house, so she called asking if I had freezer room to spare for her frozen foods. I knew I could make this work for her. I shifted some of my frozen food around and made enough space for her frozen foods. I also lent her my hard-sided picnic cooler and all our frozen ice packs, so she could keep her refrigerated foods safe to eat for several days. 

Anyway, without my cooler I can't make yogurt. That left me with one extra gallon of milk (which had been set aside for yogurt) that my family can drink for the rest of the week. Which means, I have no real need to go grocery shopping just yet. And I didn't even order anything, food or otherwise. So I spent zero on food this past week. If you're keeping track, it's now been about 2 1/2 weeks since I grocery shopped last. We are out of bananas and down to the last few apples, but we're doing fine on produce despite this.  And I have plenty of eggs still. Milk, produce, and eggs would be the motivating purchases which would prompt a grocery trip. We'll get by for a few more days. And I'll have my picnic cooler back by then so I can make yogurt with newly purchased milk. So, big story just to say I didn't go grocery shopping this past week.

Gas for the week

Gas prices are still inching up, but not by as much this past week as previous weeks. In my town, unleaded was $5.83/gallon at 7-11. Last week, I posted that gas at this station was $5.79/gallon, so it's up 4 cents a gallon at this station. The Shell station currently has unleaded at $5.69/gallon cash or $5.79/gallon credit, which is what it was last week. If I drive one town over, where the Costco is located, lowest octane is $5.33/gallon at Costco. In this same town, I found gas for $5.39/gallon at an ARCO station. So, the benefit for buying gas from Costco is a savings of 6 cents per gallon this week. Not nearly as remarkable of a savings as last week. Gas prices seem to be see-sawing their way up, going up at one station before the rest, then the others catch up somewhat. It pays to shop around, using one of the gas comparison websites or apps, such as gasbuddy.com.

Using the Liquid from a Can of Beets

I actually made this using the liquid from 2 cans of beets. These were plain canned beets NOT pickled beets. Canned beets are generally just beets, water and salt (you can sometimes find beets canned in water-only). Some of the beet nutrients and flavors leech into the canning water, making canned beet liquid a by-product worth saving.

I had been saving this liquid for a couple of weeks (although I've read you should use it within about 1 week), waiting for an opportunity to use it. One day last week, the cold and rainy weather motivated me to make a nice soup for the 4 of us, using up the beet liquid. In addition to the beet liquid, I used half of a small onion, a small carrot, a bit of vegetable oil, potato flakes, and chicken bouillon.

I cooked the diced onions and carrots in the vegetable oil until translucent, then added the beet liquid and a little water, cooking until the veggies were soft. Next, I stirred in enough potato flakes to thicken and the bouillon to flavor. That was it. It came out creamy and lightly beet-flavored. This was such a hit with my daughters that they've agreed to save the liquid from cans of beets that they buy for themselves (yes, they like canned beets that much, they'll buy some just for themselves).

Just another way to use a food by-product that might otherwise be tossed out.