A frugal supper for the last week of the month

I can't believe that I am still under budget for the month of March, and here we are in the very last week of the month!

This was dinner the other night.

I had roasted one of the turkeys from last November's purchases. My daughters helped me get every last bit of meat from the bones, after making stock with the skin and bones. Surprisingly, there was enough meat removed, after making the stock, for 3 pots of soup.

I made a very hearty turkey minestrone with canned tomato paste, carrots, onions, garlic, herbs, cooked garbanzo beans, pasta and turkey.

To go with the soup, I made garlic bread from one of the loaves of French bread I'd baked the week before, kept in the freezer. French bread is so economical to make, and very forgiving, for a yeast-raised bread. So, I make this a lot when I'm low on my regular sandwich bread, and know I won't have the time to do a big baking.

For dessert, slices of birthday cake, a scratch yellow cake, with plum jam between the layers, and cocoa powder buttercream frosting.

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Why do I keep the grocery budget so tight?

I know you must wonder this.

My answer is two-fold. Here's my thinking on grocery spending.

1) It's the only budget category that I have complete (and I mean complete) control over. No one in this house ever goes grocery shopping, besides me.

I can't really control our water bill (I can nag people to get out of the shower, but unless I'm in there with them, with my hand on the shower faucet, ready to turn it off, I don't have complete control). I can't control what my husband might charge at the drugstore or online. I can "suggest" better places to shop, or price points to look for, but I can't control his spending. I can't even control how much electricity we use. Again, I can nag everyone to turn off lights, etc. But without coin-operated light switches, I really can't control use.

But, as I said, I *can* control grocery spending. And we can still eat very well, even when not spending very much on groceries. I can make sure that what we keep in stock is healthful, wholesome and has variety enough to make pleasing meals for the whole family. And still do this on a tiny grocery budget.

And 2) It's the area of our budget that I can make the greatest difference. At $175 per month (my current budget), I'm spending $2100 per year on food.

The USDA currently estimates a "Thrifty Food Plan" for our family of 5, based on age and gender of each member, to cost $862.30 per month, or $10,347.60 per year.

So, here it is, my savings, by cooking and shopping/procuring food in the frugal manner that I do:

I save our family $8247.60, per year on food.

I can't shave $8000 off of our heat bill, electricity costs, insurance, property taxes, or gas costs for the cars. But I can save this amount on our food expenses.

(And these calculations were, indeed, based on the least expensive estimate. I checked and double-checked. Just for fun, I ran the numbers on the "Liberal Food Plan". For our family of 5, we would be spending about $1700 per month, or over $20,000 per year. I think if I spent that amount, there would be a lot of waste in our home, or else we would gain a tremendous amount of weight. Perhaps if we were all training for marathons, year round, we could eat that amount of food.)


So, when the overall budget is under stress, the first area I usually look to reduce spending, is groceries. Basic, (and I do mean very basic), food items are not expensive. I just need to have the willingness and time to turn those basic ingredients into interesting meals.

I choose to spend my "work time" in the kitchen. I think of it as a productive hobby. I could spend most of my "work time" cleaning, ironing, doing laundry, or decorating. For me, though, cooking is the most pleasant of all of my homemaker duties.

So, when you wonder why I make the budget choices that I do, when we could spend more on food, and less on other areas, like education or travel, that's my answer.

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Updates on my grocery spending for the month (and making a dozen eggs last for all of the cooking for a week)

My pantry and freezer are looking so clean these days. You can actually see the pantry floor again! And we can make ice in the freezer, once more, with the new-found freezer space.


Last week, I bought 4 heads of cabbage and 1 quart of soy milk. I had run through most of my soy milk. My thoughts were to just not buy more, but that would mean I'd be left out of any baked goods and no milk for my oatmeal and granola. I chose to buy 1 quart and make it last for the remaining days of March.

The cabbage will add to the carrots in the fridge, canned tomato products and pumpkin, frozen fruits and spinach, and fresh kale, watercress and herbs in the garden, for our produce needs.

The cabbage was 49 cents per pound, not as great a price as many areas were seeing for St. Patrick's Day, but an okay price for our area. I did make sure to choose heads whose outer leaves looked to be in good enough condition for eating, so I wouldn't have to throw those outer leaves out. (You know what I mean? Sometimes the outer leaves look bruised and discolored, not very appetizing.)

I have just a couple of dollars left in the budget for March. Which, while not awesome, is something. Even if I do go over, it won't be a substantial amount, as in previous months. I can see that I am catching up.

However . . .

I'm down to my last dozen eggs. I expect to find eggs on sale the week before Easter, likely at Walgreen's, as in past years. So, I just need to make these 12 eggs last through all the cooking of the next week.

Here's my basic egg-sparing plan:

• use egg substitutes when baking (here's the basic guide that I follow for egg substitution)
• change my own breakfast routine (having something other than eggs for breakfast)
• prepare fewer family entrees that are egg heavy, such as frittatas and quiche, and have more bean-based vegetarian entrees this week (for our vegetarian nights)
• skip the egg (as a binder) when making bean burgers this week

How's it working out?

On Friday, I had wanted to make waffles or pancakes for breakfast, but decided on oatmeal instead, saving eggs, milk and white flour (yes, low on white flour, too). I've been thinking about oatmeal all week anyway, so not a sacrifice to have that instead of pancakes or waffles.

Then on Saturday, I still wanted waffles, so I made a batch with 1 egg instead of 2, plus an egg substitute for the missing egg, and mostly whole wheat flour. I used 1/4 cup of pureed, cooked oatmeal in the batter, to add moisture, plus 1 teaspoon additional baking powder (actually, baking powder substitute). They were delicious, and it was completely unnoticeable that I used 1 egg when the recipe called for 2.

My daughters are making hot dog buns this weekend, wanting to use a recipe that called for an egg in the dough. They weren't happy, at first (but got over it quickly), but I nixed that recipe, and suggested one that didn't call for eggs.



It just seems to me, that when eggs are in short supply, baked goods and quick breads are the least effective way to use the eggs, when there are several egg substitutes available. It makes more sense to use the eggs where the eggs are noticed, such as egg salad, deviled eggs, topping for a potato salad, or boiled, pickled and sliced as a side dish on a dinner plate.


Just trying to hang in there with the eggs, until they go on sale, hopefully in a little over a week from now. I would just hate to spend $2 for a dozen eggs just a day or two before they go on sale, in order to use just 1 or 2 of a new carton of eggs.

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Free manly-man gift wrap

I receive these maps in the mail, free, about once every 6 months. They come with a request for a donation from Doctors Without Borders.

They make great gift wrap, especially nice for masculine gift wrapping.

Father's Day is just around the corner, and I think this map will be used then!

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Salvaging the mildly wrinkled potatoes

I'm down to my last bag of potatoes from my November purchase. I have no idea when I'll find another good buy on potatoes again, so I want to make sure that I use every last one from this bag.

About 25 spuds, of this last bag of potatoes, were found to be in the early stage of wrinkle-dom. They're still good to eat, but I know they should be cooked very soon. Yesterday afternoon, I went ahead and peeled and cooked all 25. I mashed these with plenty of butter and froze all that we wouldn't be eating for dinner last night.

The texture of mashed potatoes changes a bit once you freeze them. However, once thawed, I whip them hard either by hand, or with the mixer, then I use them to top Shepherd's Pie, or, put into a buttered casserole, then sprinkled with cheese and baked for a cheesey-potato casserole, or, as the base for a pot of potato soup.

I have enough leftover mashed potatoes for about 3 more family dinners, all cooked and ready to use, tucked away in my freezer.

That's what I do with leftover mashed potatoes, but what I really want to know, is what do you do with leftover mashed potatoes?

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Needing a small gift for a girlfriend's birthday

(another break from the grocery chatter)

Over the weekend, I found out that I have a girlfriend with a birthday this week. We generally don't do big gift exchanges, and often our gifts to each other are homemade.

I had thought to run out and pick up a small gift Saturday afternoon (to give on Sunday, after church). Then rethought that, and checked my gift stash. Nothing too appealing, so I checked my preserves from last summer.

I collect nice canning jars when I hit second-hand shops. With those, I use to put up some of my nicer preserves, to be gifted later in the year. Last summer I made cherry preserves, and spiced fig jam, both in some of the nicer canning jars that I've acquired. For my girlfriend, I chose a jar of Spiced Fig Jam.

Wanting to spiff this homemade gift up just a tad, I made a couple of labels, using a printable "frame" from Graphics Fairy, and adding customized lettering from the Pages application on my computer.

I printed out these labels onto regular printer paper. I cut them out, then reinforced and waterproofed the front of each label with a strip of clear packaging tape.

I adhered the labels to the front of the jar and the lid with a little glue stick, as well as the small amount of overhang from the clear tape (when cutting the tape, I allowed a narrow margin of clear tape all around the paper label, for extra adhesion).

A plastic bag and nice ribbon and my small gift is ready to give.

An update: I gave this to my friend on Sunday after church, as planned, and she loved it. I knew this would be the sort of thing she would like!

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Still working at keeping our grocery spending low -- I resisted the urge to buy more

To the wholesaler the other afternoon, I brought my "reinforcement team" (my two daughters). They come with me for their brute strength (those 25 and 50 pound sacks get heavy), and to remind me of what I've been saying about needing to get our out-of-whack grocery budget back in line.

My usual, when I find a great deal, is to buy a lot of that item. This week, it's sharp cheddar, at about $2.20 per pound, in a 5-lb loaf. Each loaf was $10.98. When I picked up a block of cheese, it just didn't seem like I would be stocking up by buying only one. I was imagining this 5-lb block of cheese getting gobbled up in a matter of weeks, and how we *needed* much more.

But I was also keeping in mind my goal of getting the budget back on track. I went back and forth on this one. A few blocks of cheese, or just one. It was tough, but I exercised some discipline, and only bought that one 5-lb block of cheddar. And I used some reasoning to come to that decision.

Cheese is not a necessity. We can get the same nutrients from milk, which I find on markdown often enough, to rarely have to pay full price for milk. So, while I would have loved to have bought several large blocks of cheese, my budget goal was more important this time.

I'm keeping a close watch on my spending. I tally up the receipts as I bring them home. For the month of March, I've now spent about $89.

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This and that: what might have ended up in the garbage . . .

Things I salvaged this week

Some paper doilies from one of the church teas. They were used once, each, under plates of cookies. About to be tossed out, I quickly snatched them to take home, knowing I could use them again. I'll be using one of the larger doilies under my daughters' birthday cake next week.

The plastic outer wrap from a 20-roll pack of bath tissue. Fits our kitchen step-can perfectly, as a liner. I also use the large plastic bags that the 25 lbs of dried beans and 12.5 lbs of popping corn come packaged in, for liners.

The tail end of a loaf of sourdough that just didn't turn out well and became hard as a rock. It still tasted good, but was far too chewy to really enjoy. After slicing thin, I cut the slices into strips, then dices, and ran through the food processor. It still didn't become small crumbs, but more like barley-sized lumps. I added these bread lumps to a batch of chili at the last minute, and declared them a "meat substitute", as they kept that chew-texture for the first few minutes of eating the chili.

The scrapings from another pan of homemade cornbread. I can get one or two tablespoons of crumbs from each batch of cornbread. I scrape them into a container for the freezer, then when I have a half cup or so, add them to any recipe calling for bread crumbs. These were added, along with the rest of the freezer container-full, to a batch of bean burgers.


How about you? Did you snatch something up, just before it got tossed, this week?

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So I baked a cake . . .

I was desperate for a chocolate bar yesterday afternoon. I had errands to run, and the thought to stop and pick one up kept running through my mind. Although this would be a treat, it would still come out of the grocery budget.

To save that $2 on a chocolate bar, I decided to bake a cake once I returned home. It's not a fancy cake. Just an ordinary, weekday cake.

Part of the draw to the decision to baking a cake at home is the cake batter. Yeah, you know what I mean! Who here has never baked a cake with the primary motivation being to eat some of the batter?! Cake batter is one of the perks of being the baker, I say.

Since what I was wanting was chocolate with fruit (one of my favorite chocolate bars has chopped dried cherries and roasted almonds in dark chocolate), I decided on a chocolate cake with homemade cherry preserves and chocolate-almond frosting between the layers, and the top and sides covered in more of that chocolate frosting.

I baked two layers. I used one of the layers for last night's cake, and wrapped and froze the other for another day when I'm craving chocolate again.

I handled a craving which would have required me to spend more of the grocery budget, instead with a homemade treat using my supplies at home. I'd say that's a success in the financial column, but a failure in the diet column. Oh well, I'll start my diet on Monday. Yeah, right. . . .

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Getting every last scrap of meat off of the chicken bones

Picking the meat off of bones is not one of my favorite chores. In fact, sometimes I get downright lazy about it and just figure, "oh I got enough meat off of this batch of bones", when in fact there is still more there.

But I am proud to say that I put the effort in this week, to really get these bones ready-for-science-project clean! Not that I intend to use them for a project of any sort.


Recently, I've been able to get 3 good meals from a whole chicken for our family. This time, I was able to get 4 entire family meals from this one whole chicken, two nights of chicken and gravy,

one night of very chicken-y soup,

and this Club Chicken Casserole, in the freezer right now, to be used for an easy on me, Sunday supper this week.

After slicing and pulling as much meat as I could off the carcass, I simmered the bones for a couple of hours, and was able to pick another full cup of meat off, even from the backbone area. I find that if I hold backbone pieces, loosely in my hand, the small bones fall apart from each other, revealing a small lump of meat between each pair of bones.

It wasn't pretty, and my hands smelled like chicken for hours afterward, but I was able to get an extra night's worth of meat to feed my family from this last of my whole chickens. Pretty satisfying.

I think that knowing this was the last of our chickens from the freezer, really gave me the impetus to glean as much from this one as possible. Do you feel that way about things, ever? It's the very last of something, so you try and get the most from it?

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Making a salad when it seems as if there's not enough of anything

To go with dinner the other night, I had planned to make a bowl of cole slaw, with the last of the cabbage.

When I got the head of cabbage out, I realized that there was only a small section of the cabbage left. After shredding it, I could clearly see that this would never feed the five of us.

Out to the garden I went, to see what I could possibly find to add to the cabbage. The watercress was looking good, so I picked all of the leaves big enough, washed and chopped them, and added to the cabbage.

Still not enough salad, I grated a carrot to add to the salad. Now to add some dressing. I am all out of mayo, for a creamy dressing, so I made an oil and chive blossom vinegar dressing to toss the vegetables in.

My salad bowl still looked slightly skimpy for 5 adults, so I cooked up a cup of shell pasta, to add to the salad.


What began as cole slaw managed to morph into a cabbage-y pasta salad. Not nearly what I had planned, but delicious anyways!

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Springtime gifts to make

I'm taking a brief break from grocery budget issues on my blog today, as lots goes on in my humble abode, besides cooking and budgeting.

We have several spring birthdays, plus there's Easter and Mother's Day just around the corner, too. So, I'm busy making some gifts this month. I'll show you one or two each week, until I'm done.

These first two gifts are for my daughters. They'll be turning 20 years old next Tuesday. I had noticed one daughter was pinning one of her scarves to wear as an infinity scarf. Hmmm, that must be something she's interested in.

These are spring infinity scarves. They're made from 1 yard each of lightweight fabric. I spent a grand total of 3 hours sewing them (and that includes working with a misbehaving sewing machine), and they were super easy. Straight stitches, plus a bit of hand whip-stitch at the end. Nothing more to them.

I bought new fabric, but these could also be made with fabric from a garment, cut into sections. I had very specific ideas on fabric choice -- to go with some tops that I bought for the girls at Wet Seal, for $4 per top. So coupons in hand, I went to Jo-Ann fabrics. Each scarf cost about $7.50, after coupons. And even though I bought new fabric, they were still half the price of what I saw at the mall at Claire's.

I have the scarves hanging on flocked, sectioned accessory hangers. Maybe you've seen these in stores. I saw these a while back and thought they would be great to help my daughters with a little closet organization. After Christmas, I found them on clearance at Michael's for $3 each.

While at Jo-Ann's, I saw some lovely burnt red gauzy fabric that I'm thinking of picking up, to make one of these scarves for my step-mom for Mother's Day or her birthday. They were so very easy, I suspect all of the women on my gift-giving list will be receiving one of these this year.

One of the gifts for spring, with more to come!

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Another tweak to my grocery spending

Last month, I made a couple of small purchases, in an attempt to give myself an easier Sunday, each week. I've been working at making Sunday a truly restful day for me. For lunches, I set out leftovers or a jar of peanut butter and loaf of bread, and everyone helps themselves. But I was still left with making Sunday dinner.

So, in February, trying to simplify dinner prep, twice I bought flour tortillas from Dollar Tree, for making bean burritos. Now these only cost a dollar a package, so no big deal, right? But for this month, at least, as I try to cut my spending to catch up on our budget, I had to make the decision to *not* buy any convenience items, like those flour tortillas.

I have a new plan for Sunday dinners, for the month of March -- making something during the week to heat for Sunday supper. This past week, that was pizza. I made 4 large pizzas during the week, and froze the leftovers. On Sunday, all I needed to do was make carrot sticks, a dip, some dried fruit, and reheat a pizza. For a dip, I made a quickie marinara sauce in the microwave, with tomato paste, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, oil, water, basil and oregano. Both the carrot sticks and the pizza could be dipped in the marinara.


Cooking ahead is not a new idea. However, it's an idea that I'm dedicating to my Sunday dinner prep for the month. This should save us $4 in extra grocery purchases (by not buying those packages o tortillas) for the month of March.

This is not a "forever" plan. But it's helpful in a pinch. If I remind myself that a change from routine is short term, it easier to carry out. In April, once the budget is back on track, I may return to buying packaged tortillas to keep my Sunday supper work to a minimum.

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Using my supplies prudently: measuring the cheese for pizza

So, I bought four 5-lb bags of grated pizza cheese last week. Of course, I had to make pizza that very same night. I like pizza as much as the rest of the family!

What I did differently, this time around, was to actually measure the amount of cheese I used on each pizza.

The cheese package label said that 1 serving of grated cheese is 1/3 cup. That serving size has 7 grams of protein, roughly equivalent to the protein of 1 egg or 1 glass of milk. So, I went with that as a portion for each person, on each pizza. We eat 1 large pizza, split 5 ways. I used 1 & 2/3 cup grated cheese on each of the 4 pizzas I made (for future meals). That amount is 5 servings of cheese, so just right for one large pizza for our family. And FYI, it melts down to look like much more cheese than when it is first scattered on the pizza.

The label also says that each 5-lb bag contains about 80 of those 1/3-cup servings. At 1 & 2/3 cup cheese per pizza, I can get 16 large pizzas from each bag. And at $9.98 for each 5-lb bag, the cheese portion for each pizza will cost me 62 cents. Factoring in all the other ingredients, I can make a large cheese pizza for about $1. (My crust and marinara sauce are from scratch.)

You may wonder how we can ever manage on 1 large pizza for our family of 5. To be truthful, we like pizza, but more than what the large will serve us is too much crust for most of our family. I usually serve pizza with a couple of substantial sides, like a pasta, bean and veggie salad, or a green salad with hearty toppings, like cooked garbanzos, homemade croutons and boiled egg slices.

Going forward, I plan on measuring more of my ingredients, the ones that tend to pour out loose, like shaped pasta and grated cheese, to make sure I am using the appropriate amount for the dish I'm preparing. My last big stock-up of cheese was in the fall. and it felt like we plowed through it all rather quickly. I'm hoping to make each bag last a month, which means I won't need more pizza cheese until July.


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Another budget-friendly dinner for the family

This was dinner the other night. It was not just budget-friendly, but downright cheap with a capital CH.

• bean burger patties, using 2 cups of mashed, cooked pintos, a cup of cooked barley (for chew), some chopped onions, chili powder, salt, 1 egg and a handful of bread crumbs from the freezer. (The bread crumbs were the pan scrapings from several batches of cornbread. I can scrape about 1 tablespoon to 1/8-cup of crumbs from each pan of scratch cornbread. Then save in a container in the freezer.) I fried the bean burgers in ham fat (stored in the freezer) combined with veg oil. Very good! I offered mustard and BBQ sauce to everyone for topping the patties.
• oven-roasted potato wedges, using potatoes bought in November for 10 cents/lb. I had exactly 5 packets of ketchup (1 per person) from the horrible lunch at a fast food place, the day of my biopsy. (Anything would have tasted horrible on that day, so I won't knock the ff joint too much.) It's been a while since I made a batch of ketchup. I'll do that again the next time I open a large can of tomato paste.
• dried fruit, part of the tray of dried fruit given to us at Christmas
• dill cucumber pickles, homemade last summer with garden cucumbers
• sautéed garden greens (kale and mustard greens) with onions, sautéed in ham fat/veg oil. The garden greens are from late summer plantings, and will continue to give me fresh greens until the end of the month.

This was one of those dinners that probably cost just under $1 to feed the 5 of us. Add in cookies and milk, and we're talking a dinner for 5, for well under $2. Not bad!

Making sure I stick to my budget: thinking on the purchases for a couple of days

You know my plight, by now. Over grocery budget for several months in a row. And now it's time to get it all under control. On Monday, I went online to see what the stores had on sale this week. I made my lists. And then . . . no, I didn't go shopping.

I've got my list on my dresser, and I'm just thinking on it. You know, the same sort of advice given for other purchases -- think about it a few days. Do we really need all the items I wrote down? Can we make do without them? Are these true necessities?

So, my list is not extensive, by any means. This is what I found on sale at Cash and Carry this week:

• mozzarella cheese, 5-lb bags, shredded $9.98
• split peas, 25-lb bag, $16.98
• soy milk, 1-qt., $1.14
• carrots, 10-lb bags, $3.48
• frozen peas, 5-lb bags, $3.54

It looks like a reasonable list, right? Well, after giving it a couple days of thought, here's what I will really buy at Cash & Carry this week:

• mozzarella cheese -- maybe 4 bags?
• carrots -- probably 1 bag, maybe 2?

Here's my reasoning. The cheese is the cheapest I have seen it in over a year. That's under $2 per pound, spectacular for our area for cheese. The carrots work out to 35 cents per pound, good deal for late winter, here. And I'm trying to put a cap on price per pound, on veggies for the time being, at around 59 cents per pound.

The rest of it -- split peas are a good source of protein, but lately I've been gagging on split peas. I don't know why, I used to love them. Now, I'm hoping to find black-eyed peas or lentils to stock our pantry. So, nix on the split peas.

I was considering the soy milk, because it could be a better quality than Dollar Tree's soy milk. But I decided to stick to bargains for this month, so will save a few cents per quart, and buy my regular soy milk.

Those frozen peas are a very good price for frozen peas, at abut 70 cents/lb. (But over my price cap of 59 cents per pound.)  I am reminding myself that I will be finding cabbage for a decent price per pound in just a couple of weeks. And my garden greens are now coming back. I will do without frozen peas for the time being. They'll go on sale again, sometime.

Giving a few days of thought to my grocery list helped me to really pare down my spending for the week. I've used this trick for other purchases with great success. Now with grocery spending, the same old trick serves me just as well.

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Getting the grocery budget back in line: stuffed baked potatoes

I've been making stuffed baked potatoes often this winter, with our abundant supply of potatoes from November's 100 pound purchase. These baked potatoes make a nice addition to lunches, in lieu of snacky-type items like chips or crackers.

Anyways, I did have a small supply of cottage cheese to add to them. But that is now gone. So, to make this batch of stuffed baked potatoes, without any type of cheese, whatsoever, I had to get creative in the kitchen.

After baking these, I scooped out the shells, and added some sour cream, salt, butter, frozen chopped spinach, and for flavor, I added sautéed chopped onions. Mashed all of this together and baked for about 20-25 minutes at 350 F, until just browned.

Quite delicious! We think of these as finger food. I've eaten a few cold, as well as reheated.

So, another food item, easy to make, and keeps my family satisfied, without a trip to the grocery store. March 4th and the budget is still intact.

If you're currently trying to get an unruly grocery budget back in line, please share what you're doing. Maybe we can help each other out here, and end March under-budget!

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I am working on getting our grocery budget back on track this month, and here's a start

Starting off the 1st week of March inspired to get our grocery spending back to within the budget. There are a few things I will want to buy this month. But this post is the beginning of showing myself just how possible it is to eat from what we have in store (mostly).

Last night's dinner:

a plate of scratch cornbread, with carrot sticks, watermelon pickles (from last summer) and dried fruit  (a gift at Christmas). This was served with a bowl of homemade chili-vegetable soup, milk and cookies.

The leftover cornbread did double-duty as breakfast on the run for those late to rise in the morning. And the last of the soup was poured into containers for today's lunches.

Another day down!
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February 2015 Grocery Money Journal

Going into this month I'm carrying forward a deficit of $51.28. However, due to my husband's cost-of-living increase, I can increase our budget to $175 for the month. So, for February, I have a total of $123.72 for the grocery budget.

Feb. 4. Fred Meyer -- I found a lot of markdown items this shopping trip. Sour cream, 16-oz 79cents (4), cottage cheese, 16-oz $1.09 (2), 2% milk, gallon, $1.50 (9), ground turkey, 1-lb $2.49, extra lean ground beef 1-lb (2), $3.89, spinach-leafy greens salad blend, 99cents (3), broccoli florets 99cents (4), sliced mushrooms, 8-oz 79cents (11), large eggs, $1.25/dozen (4), garlic flakes 64cents. Spent $50.37

Feb 6. back to Fred Meyer with daughters to buy more eggs at $1.25/dozen. We buy 8, spend $10.

Feb. 8. Dollar Tree for soy milk (4), flour tortillas (1), frozen sweet potato fries for Valentine's dinner (1), animal cookies for babysitting (1), vegetable seeds, 25cents (4). spent $8.10

So far this month, I've spent $68.47.

Feb. 10.  Fred Meyer for butter ($2/lb, limit 2), whole milk (half-gallon, 99 cents, limit 4, good for making yogurt), bulk dried onion (for making French Dip sandwich meat w/ground beef, 40 cents), bulk celery seed (for making au jus to go with French Dip sandwiches, 19 cents). Spent $8.55

Feb. 13. Cash & Carry has butter on sale for $1.69/lb, 30-lb case (you can also buy 1 lb at a time, at this price, but I need a case), total for 30 lbs.$50.70. Also buy 35-lb container of vegetable oil (soybean) for $18.75 (that's about $4.29/gallon), another 40-lb case of navel oranges for $15.48 (about 39 cents/lb), several lbs of bananas for 44 cents/lb, dried cranberries, 3-lb bag for $5.87, 2 heads of green cabbage ($1.42 each), 5 lbs of carrots ($2.15), and 50 lbs of onions ($5.97). Total spent today $104.15.

So far, I've spent over $180 for the month. While this is discouraging, as you can see, I'm not buying junk. With this rough patch I've been going through with my health, eating optimally has become imperative for me. For example, I'm eating more animal protein than previously. For both breakfast and lunch, I add an egg to whatever else I'm fixing for myself. So, I may have some chicken or turkey for lunch, along with an egg. And I'm eating veggies at both breakfast and lunch (spinach is pretty good with breakfast). All of my snacks need to have protein, as well. In addition to all of my needs, right now, I'm also spending now to save later. For instance with the butter, buying a 30-lb case now will save us quite a lot in the future. It's not likely that butter prices will match that price again very soon. So, we're set for the time being with butter. While the dried cranberries sound like a treat, believe it or not, these dried cranberries are currently cheaper than raisins, here.

Our fridge, freezer and pantry are super-well-stocked right now. I keep thinking, "what could I possibly buy next month?" But then again, I didn't think I'd be buying much this month, either.

Feb. 16. Fred Meyer, pick up 2 10-oz containers of spring leafy greens, on markdown, 99 cents each. Spent $1.98

Feb. 18. Dollar Tree, buy 4 bags of clearance, foil-wrapped, chocolate hearts (we'll use these this spring and summer for making s'mores), 50 cents/each, and 1 package of flour tortillas for an easy Sunday supper of bean burritos. Spent $3.00

Feb. 19. Bartell's Drugs store. They have bags of decaf French Roast. As I've now pared my caffeine down to just a half-cup of caffeinated coffee per day and 1 caffeinated tea bag, I now make myself 1 mug of half-caff coffee everyday, and want it to be goooooood. So, I buy 3 12-oz bags at $4.99 each, and spend $14.97.

For the month, I spent $201.12, going over the amount for the month by $77.40. So, best I can do is work at it next month, and hope that the budget works better in March. we are fairly well-stocked, so that is a good thing. I have no need to buy butter for a long time, and most of my other staples are holding out. I'll just do my best.

Hope your budgets worked out well last month!
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Up to my neck in tax work

This has been my week to figure our tax obligations for the past year. Every year, our taxes get just a little more complicated. Every year, I have one or more new forms to fill out. This year is no exception. And I do our taxes all long hand.

I think the IRS is in cahoots with the manufacturers of OTC headache medicines. I had a headache on Tuesday, again on Wednesday, in the night Wednesday night and again on Thursday afternoon. I'm done figuring our taxes, but still have to proof everything. I'm not out of the headache woods just yet.

But there is an end in sight. Ah light, beautiful light at the end of the tax tunnel.

You may be thinking, "why doesn't she just use tax software?" At this point, I'm now wondering that very same thing. Oh, there's a part of me that likes a mental challenge (or is it that I'm mentally challenged?). And then there's that old-fashioned part of me that has always done the taxes long hand, so why change things now? But the real answer is this, sometimes I am just too plain old cheap to spring for the $12.99 for tax prep software. After all, if I CAN do the tax work, why not just do it.

So, I spent about 10 hours doing our taxes, and I saved $12.99. So, in effect, I earned myself a whopping $1.29 per hour. Arrrrrgh! Some frugal activities may not really be worth the time spent -- just an FYI. But of course, you already knew that!

Hmmm, on the positive side, my little gray cells got quite the workout this week. Maybe keeping my mind sharp is worth 10 hours of my time. Yep! That's how I'm gonna spin this.

Have a great weekend!

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How I deal with those super large blocks of frozen leafy greens

I buy frozen spinach and collard greens in 3-lb blocks at the restaurant supply (Cash & Carry). Last month, I found the frozen spinach on sale for $2.49/3-lb block. This works out to about 83 cents per pound, or about 52 cents for the equivalent amount in a 10-oz box, typically sold in the traditional grocery store.

The caveat? A 3-lb box of frozen greens isn't so straightforward to deal with. So, how do I use this large of a package?


When I get my groceries home from the store, I set the block of greens on the counter and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes or so, while I put everything else away.

At this point, the block is still mostly frozen, but I'm able to cut it into chunks.

I use my serrated bread knife, and cut the block, packaging and all, in half.

Then I cut each half, in half, leaving me with four 12-oz portions. I wrap each smaller block and pop into them freezer.

It's a few minutes of extra work, but saves me money in the long run.

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Getting it all done

You know the kind of day that I mean, you're rushing from one place to the next, still need to get the laundry in, have nothing available for breakfast the next morning, and dinner is now late to the table.

That was my day last Tuesday. So, when I came in the door from my volunteer work, I had to prioritize the last of the chores. Laundry -- we'd need clean things for the next day. Laundry takes a while, so that had to be job 1.

Next, dinner - we needed to eat. I had cooked rice and some beans on hand, so that's what we'd have for an easy dinner.

Last, we were out of bread and granola. We would need something easy to grab and go for the next morning.

So, while the Rice & Beans was cooking,

I got a batch of muffin batter put together (this time, dried cranberry-orange zest). I've made the same basic muffin recipe for so many years that I have it memorized. And it's the same basic recipe that I use for both pancakes and waffles, as well, just altering the milk/liquid addition as needed for consistency of the batter. Because I don't need to consult a recipe card or cookbook, I can get a batch of batter ready to go into the pan in 5 minutes.

While the muffins baked, I put together a green salad and a fruit salad, to go with dinner. I had brought home some leftover, cut-up fruit from the reception where I hostessed. For the fruit salad, all I needed to do was add a banana and make a dressing with sour cream and jam. A dressing for the green salad was simply chive blossom vinegar, salt, dried garlic, dried onion and oil -- very quick and easy.

When the muffins came out of the oven, the rest of dinner was finished. We ate our dinner while the muffins cooled on the counter. Muffins were bagged up and set on the counter for the morning's breakfast.

One more day managed.

Thank you for reading, this morning, and have a lovely day!

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Getting a real beefy flavor and texture using ground beef

Let's face it, ground beef is often (though not always) the least expensive beef, but also when used as mince, it seems to lack that beefiness that I crave.

Soooooo, if ground beef is the only beef I can afford, I like to prepare it in ways that maximize the beefiness. For me, that means, serving it in chunks, like meatballs, burger patties, Salisbury steak, meatloaf (if there aren't too many "stretchers" in the mix),

and baked in a sheet, using this method, then cutting the cooked ground beef into strips to use in beef with broccoli and for making French dip or bbq beef sandwiches.

I take 1 pound of ground beef, mix in some salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and herbs. My favorite herb with beef is thyme, but oregano will also add flavor.

While you can use fresh garlic and minced onion, I find the powder diffuses flavor through the whole batch of beef better, and those little "bits" don't fall out of the cooked meat strips.

I press this meat mixture into a rimmed baking sheet, like a jelly roll pan (to catch drippings). If the beef is very lean, I grease the pan first. The beef should be about 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thick all over.

Bake in the oven, about 425 degrees F, until browned all over, and thoroughly cooked, about 15-23 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to rest for 1 minute,

then cut into strips for topping a French roll, for French dip sandwiches, or, adding to the stir-fried vegetables at the last minute for beef with broccoli, or, topped with bbq sauce, and placed on small buns for bbq beef sliders.

For the French dip sandwiches, you can make an easy au jus with just beef bouillon granules, onion and garlic powders, heated in water.

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Woohoo -- Oh No!!

So, Monday morning, after dropping my daughter off at the transit center, I stopped in to Fred Meyer to pick up an essential. I always make the rounds of the markdown spots (but you knew that already). In the produce department, I found some more boxes of leafy greens. Perfect! I'll buy 2 boxes. We'll have salads again for a couple of days. The sell-by date was still a a day away, so the greens should be decent quality still. Or so I thought.

Imagine my disappointment when I opened the first box to find the lettuce laced with slimy brown leaves. No, I don't mean one or two bad leaves. I mean loads of bad leaves. I washed and sorted both boxes of leaves, picking out all of the decomposing ones, then repacked the boxes, lining with a tea towel to absorb any excess moisture. I composted 3 heaping cups of bad leaves.

I was thinking I should take these back. But it would have cost me more in gas to make that return than I would receive in a refund.

So, what's a consumer to do when they buy a product and discover it falls way below their standards? (And you know that I can be rather unfussy about some purchases, right?)

I went online and filled out a customer comment form. I made the comment as informative as possible, giving product codes, dates of purchase, sell-by dates, the amount of wasted, edible product, and I emphasized that this product should have never been made available to the consumer, and I'm informing them so that they can continue to work towards their goal of providing excellent groceries at a decent price.

I was nice, but to the point. I gave as many details as I could about the product, so that they could follow up on this item. And of course, I gave them 3 ways to contact me, a phone number, a street address, and an email address. So now, I await a response from them and will give you the info on how they handle my comment.


And just why am I telling you all of this? Because I want you to feel empowered to contact product manufacturers when you find something to be inferior to your expectations. There was a part of me that wanted to say, "oh well, live and learn" and just not do anything about it. After all, it was only $1.98 that I spent.

But I remembered another blogger's tale of contacting a manufacturer about a frozen turkey purchased a couple of years ago. Her turkey came missing a wing. This isn't something that you can see through the opaque wrapping. She felt it her duty and right to bring this to the attention of the company.

That incident stuck with me, and gave me the push that I needed to do something about this past-its-prime lettuce that I purchased. I hope to do the same for you. Give you that little nudge to make your concerns known.

And now here it is, about day after emailing my comment, and I have indeed heard from the customer service department. They thanked me for informing them of the problem and have snail-mailed me a coupon for use in the store. I have no idea what the value of that coupon is, but that wasn't my point.

When I have to make a complaint about a product or service, I don't really count on "getting" anything in return. The thing that I look for in a manufacturer or retail establishment is courtesy and promptness in addressing my concerns. I want to feel like my concerns matter to them.

I'll continue shopping at Fred Meyer, and enjoying good deals. But I will look more closely at all marked down items that I buy in the future.


Have you ever had to make a customer complaint? How did you handle it? Did you feel you were taken seriously?

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The one kind of food that I will not eat after the sell-by date

You all know that many foods are still "safe" to eat after the sell-by date. But there is one type of food that many experts agree that you should NOT eat after a use-by date.

That is cured, packaged meat, like cold cuts and hot dogs. The issue with these meats is listeria, a bacteria that unlike many other germs, can grow even in the cold of the refrigerator.

And this isn't just a phobic reaction on my part. Listeriosis is serious. Here's a link to foodsafety.gov with more information on this type of infection. Read for yourself, and you decide.

I did have to throw away some hot dogs, a while back, because I let them go a couple of weeks beyond the use-by date. I hated to throw them out, but it was one of those instances of better safe than sorry. If those hot dogs were just one or two days past the use-by date, it's possible that I could have just boiled the bejeebers out of them, insured a high internal temperature, and then maybe they'd have been "safe" to eat. However, these were about 2 weeks past that date, and I was taking no chances. There's a good chance that they would have tasted off by this time, anyways.


So, what do I do when I find a great deal on soon to expire hot dogs or lunch meat? I freeze these items the same day I purchase them. When I'm shopping, I have to factor in, "do I have time today to repackage this, if necessary, before freezing?" Only really an issue with large packages of meat, but I do need to think this through. Fortunately, with hot dogs, they can just be tossed in the freezer, and somewhat easily used one at a time, pried apart, even while still frozen. I just had a lapse with that package a couple of month ago.

How about you? Would you eat hot dogs or lunch meat past the use-by date? Do you think I'm just being overly cautious? Have you ever had food poisoning? Did it turn you off from eating that food ever again? I won't eat Vienna Sausages, after a very bad episode with them many years ago.

If I don't keep up with my mending pile,

then a little thing like this

becomes something more like this -- Granny Thongs

But with just a quick zig-zag stitch, doesn't even have to be a matching color thread (c'mon now, who's going to see what color thread I did my mending with, here?), I can get many more serviceable weeks out of this pair.

And that holier-than-Swiss cheese pair? I can get a little more wear out of them, too, with a zip on the sewing machine.

Not glamorous, but it'll do. ("Aw, Mom!!!!! You've got your undies on your blog today!!!")

Hope I made you laugh today! Have a great weekend.
warmly,
Lili

This week's lunch round-up: making do with less fresh produce

We're in the phase of the year when we need to make do, as much as possible, with regards to fruits and vegetables. My kids love produce, so sending them off for the day with just a sandwich and some nuts just won't cut it. It also wouldn't be terribly healthful.

I am out of carrots and oranges. These are my usual winter lunch-box staples. We're just very low on fresh produce for the time being. So, I inventoried the frozen and canned fruits and veggies in my kitchen and came up with: frozen crabapple sauce, some wrinkly fresh apples, potatoes, frozen spinach, canned pumpkin, canned tomatoes, and home-dried prunes.

For lunches this week:

• cooked the wrinkly apples and combined with some frozen crabapple sauce
• mashed potatoes with cottage cheese, garlic and spinach
• individual snack-size containers of prunes and peanuts
• veggie lasagna with pasta, canned tomatoes, garlic, cottage cheese, tofu, herbs and spinach
• pumpkin pie
• peanut butter sandwiches

When I made out my plan, I realized that I had 4 dishes to cook up with this lunch round-up. So I made my cooking do double-duty. What I prepared for lunches, became Monday's and Tuesday's dinners (or at least part of), as well.

Everything I made this week had to be completely vegetarian, as on many days, it could sit out in a heated room for several hours, so no using animal fats for sautéing vegetables, and limited egg use. And it all had to be "safe" to eat without reheating, in a pinch. The spinach lasagna may be tastier when heated, but it would still be good and "safe" if eaten cold. (I like cold pasta, myself.)

Full disclosure, here. This was a lot of scratch-cooking for me on Monday. I also had financial matters to tend to, and be out the door for my class by 4:45. So, as you can guess, my hair did not get combed, nor my face washed until 2-ish! I did shower and dress early in the day, as I'm more productive if I'm dressed and in shoes. A day when I ate standing up at the kitchen counter, had an empty bag in the middle of the kitchen floor for garbage, and many things were set on the floor, table, or chairs, as I was constantly running out of space!

Good music blaring, a plan and timetable, and I was cooking up a storm in my kitchen. Good times!


And just for fun (accounting purposes), I did a little cost estimate.

the lasagna . . . about $3 for 10 servings
the spinach-cheese potatoes . . . about  $2.25 for 10 servings
the pumpkin pie . . . about $1.35 for a whole pie (10 small servings)
the apple-crabapple sauce . . . about 15 cents for 7 servings (apples and crabapples from our mini-orchard, 15 cents for the sugar)

If any one of us ate all of this in one sitting, it would have cost $6.75, (and they'd be exploding), still a lot cheaper than one meal in the cafeteria at my daughters' university, at $9.25 for ONE meal!


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Seeing the potential in markdowns at the grocery store: the dairy case

Whether it's an item marked down to clear (about to reach the sell-by date), or a really great advertised sale, to really reap the benefits of a low, low price, I've found that I need to look way past those sell-by dates and my usual uses for the items.

Many dairy items keep long past the sell-by date, and I've had success freezing and using all dairy products, by knowing how best to freeze each type, and how to use the thawed item.

All dairy products can be frozen. However, freezing changes the texture (water separates from solids). But frozen, then thawed dairy items are still very useful in cooking and baking.

Dairy products will also "keep", unopened, from 7 days to several weeks past the sell-by date. This means the window for fresh use is much greater than one would think.

When I am shopping, and find one of these awesome deals, I run through my mind how many different ways I can use the item (will it solve a shortage dilemma somewhere in my current food supply), as well as how much freezer space I currently have. So, I've identified the "best features" for each item that I find in the dairy case, on markdown, as well as best uses for previously-frozen dairy items.

sour cream
best features

• creamy for soups, sauces and toppings
• adds moisture to baked goods

uses, fresh only

• mayo substitute in salad dressings, add vinegar, salt for flavor (I'm currently out of mayo. Best price on mayo, here, is $2.19/30 ounces. My find on sour cream was $1.58/32 ounces. The sour cream will fill the role of mayo substitute for the next month.)
• top soups
• strain to make a thickened sour cream for scones and topping desserts
• make guacamole or other dips for crackers or chips

uses, previously-frozen or fresh

• add to casseroles for creamy sauce
• make stuffed baked potatoes, to freeze
• add to coffee cake for moisture
• add to sugar cookie recipes

Freeze it to use in baking later. The texture changes, so it's best for baking or cooking purposes.

Fresh, use within 7-10 days past opening.
Any left over at end of the week- freeze in small portions to add to creamy soups and sauces, or amounts for adding to specific baking recipes.
With regards to that sell-by date, I've had unopened containers of sour cream remain good to eat for a couple of weeks past the sell-by date.
How to know if it's gone "bad"? Look for a pinkish tint, mold or an "off" smell.

cottage cheese 
best features

• it's creamy
• meltable as a cheese
• high in protein

how to use cottage cheese, besides the traditional "dieter's plate"

• protein boost to smoothies
• mixed into hot mashed potatoes, or making twice-baked potatoes (can be frozen for future meals)
• use a ricotta cheese substitute in lasagna and other Italian pasta dishes that call for ricotta
• as an open-face sandwich topping, spread on crackers or toast, add salt/pepper and sliced tomatoes
• a lo-cal/high protein/lo-carb "cheesecake" type dessert for Atkins dieters (this recipe was popular in the 70s, my mom ate this a lot) basically, it's eggs cottage cheese, vanilla extract, artificial sweetener -- baked in the oven until knife inserted comes out clean
• can also be substitute for cream cheese in the regular high fat cheesecake
• filling for blintzes and crepes
• a hi-protein/lo-fat ice cream substitute. Puree, add sweetener, a bit of liquid in the form of lemon juice, coconut milk or other milk (depending on flavor you want), flavorings, like lemon extract, vanilla extract, almond extract, cocoa powder, then put in an ice cream maker.
• add to homemade mac and cheese, to boost protein and cut amount of hard cheese needed
• filling pastry for cheese-filled danish or Greek spanakopita
• making a creamy/cheesy spinach casserole

Use within 7-10 days of opening.
Cottage cheese freezes well, but separates after thawing. Best if using in cooking.

whipping cream
best features

• it whips to fluffy consistency
• creamy texture

When I find this on markdown it has just a few days until expiry, so it's best if I plan on freezing it. I freeze it whipped and sweetened, in ready-to-use mounds.
I also freeze in ice cube trays, to add a bit of creaminess to cooked soups and sauces.

half and half creamers
best feature

• creaminess

I use half and half, fresh, within 7 days of sell-by date, kept refrigerated.
I freeze it in ice cube trays to stir into coffee to use in cooking in small amounts later

some ways to use extra half and half

• add to milk when making homemade yogurt, to add creaminess
• make eggnog
• make homemade ice cream (this is a great way to "keep" the half and half in the freezer for future use, IMO, already made up as ice cream!)
• use in baking, soups and sauces, for moisture and creaminess

milk
best features:

• great source of calcium, Vit D and protein
• adds creaminess and moisture to cooking and baked goods

My family has no problem drinking previously-frozen milk. When they were younger, and pickier, I sometimes put the thawed milk through the blender to reincorporate any separation, or would make chocolate milk either in the blender or just by stirring in chocolate syrup, or added to smoothies. But only when they complained loudly. It isn't every container that will have a separation issue, just FYI.

I use fresh milk up to 7 days past the sell-by date.
I freeze it in the gallon jugs, with a it removed for expansion when freezing.
Milk that is souring, I freeze in 1 cup containers, to use for pancakes, waffles and coffeecakes.

yogurt
best features

• protein
• calcium
• creamy

For eating yogurt as is, yogurt is best fresh. It separates when frozen. However, there are many ways to use frozen yogurt.

• substitute for sour cream in baking (either sweetened or plain)
• adds creaminess to sauces/soups
• add to smoothies for protein/calcium
• strain plain yogurt for a soft cream cheese substitute to spread on crackers, or, use in lasagna or other pasta dishes calling for ricotta, or, top desserts, or, make cheesecake-like dessert
• with plain yogurt, use as a starter for homemade yogurt
• make dips for veggies, chips or crackers
• substitute for mayo in salad dressings (makes a great dressing for fruit salad, with a little honey or jelly added)

Yogurt will keep a couple of weeks past sell-by date, if unopened. It may have separated. You can either pour off the whey for baking liquid, or stir it back in. Not an issue for most folks, and separation does NOT indicate that it has gone bad (or has a plethora of bad bacteria).
You can freeze yogurt, but the texture changes. So it's best used in cooking or pureeing like in smoothies, when thawed.

hard cheese
best features

• meltable
• high protein

Hard cheese, still unopened will keep a long time in the fridge.
But also, it freezes well. It becomes a bit drier/more crumbly. To use as you would not-frozen cheese, in sandwiches, you would need to pre-slice loaf cheese before freezing.

soft cheese
best feature

• creamy
• protein source

If freezing, try doing so in cooking or serving portions. Some of the water will separate upon freezing.
Cream cheese has kept, unopened, for months past sell-by date, in my refrigerator.

uses

• use in frostings
• spreads and cheese balls
• creamy soups and sauces
• add to mac and cheese

butter

If keeping in the fridge, try to use within 2 months of sell-by date.
Otherwise, just pop it into the freezer. It will keep frozen for 9 months past the sell-by date. No special wrapping or packaging, just toss the butter in the carton, right into the freezer. If you by your butter in just a waxed paper wrap (restaurant supply stores carry butter this way), then toss it into a freezer bag, just to keep off-flavors out.

margarine

You can freeze margarine, and it will stay fresh-tasting for up to 8 or 9 months past that sell-by date. It may pick up off-flavors past 9 months.
But even kept in the fridge, margarine will be fresh-tasting and safe to eat, up to 5 months past the sell-by date. That was a shocker to me when I read that!


So, by looking past that sell-by date, and thinking of new ways to use the items, I can take real advantage of these unexpected deals. If I had a smart phone while shopping, I'd be tempted to quickly google uses for an item that I found on markdown, to give me an idea of how much I should buy.

Perhaps you live in an area where marked-down dairy is unheard of. These same ideas also work for that about-to-turn last cup of milk in the jug, or that half container of cottage cheese that you don't know what to do with. Or maybe you're an empty-nester and you want to still reap the benefits of buying the most economical size of sour cream, milk or yogurt. It's not a bargain if you have to throw half of it away. Knowing how to use and freeze each item saves me money, month after month.



Input? I'd love to hear what you have to say on this. And if you find this post helpful, please share, as that's what I'm trying to do, here, share what I've learned so that we all can meet our financial goals. Google+, FB, pinterest, all have the potential to reach more folks who could use this information.

Just call me queen of the markdowns?

Running errands on Wednesday --

I hit the jackpot at Fred Meyer. I always make a pass by the packaged produce section, dairy case, and the marked down meat bin when I stop in a store. I was tired and had a head cold on Wednesday, s nearly didn't make these usual stops. Am I ever glad that I did!

I was only going in for eggs ($1.25/dozen), but halfway through shopping, I had to upscale my shopping cart from the small one, to the large!

I found eleven 8-oz cartons of sliced white mushrooms for 79 cents each. I'm cooking some of them in butter, to freeze for future use.

four 10-oz clamshells of broccoli crowns for 99 cents each

three 5.5-oz clamshells of 50/50 baby spinach and spring leafy greens for 99 cent each

nine gallons of 2% milk for $1.50 each (I could have bought more, but that's the limit of my freezer storage

four 16-oz containers of sour cream for 79 cent each

two 16-oz containers of cottage cheese for $1.09 each

and two 1-lb packages of 93% lean ground beef ($3.89 each) and one 1-lb package of 93% lean ground turkey ($2.49)

I left with a large shopping cart filled to the brim, and spent about $50. Not bad!

It varies from one store to the next, but each store usually has several markdown (reduced to clear) spots.

• bulk produce, where you'd find pieces of fruit or veggies, especially bananas
• packaged produce, where you'd find ready-to-eat, preached items in plastic clamshells or bags such as lettuce, fresh spinach, mushrooms, cut melons, fresh broccoli tops, and sometimes tofu
• the dairy case, where you'd find containers of yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, canned biscuit dough, packaged cookie dough
• the milk cooler, where you'd find cartons and jugs of milk, whipping cream, some non-dairy creamers, some non-dairy beverages like some cartons soy milk, and sometimes "fresh" orange juice
• the egg cooler (I've only once found eggs on mark down)
• the fresh meat department -- meat may be in a special section of the meat dept, or it may have markdown labels on the packages in it's regular spot
• the packaged deli/meat dept, for items like fresh sausage, bacon, hot dogs, lunch meat, cheese, sometimes tofu
• a dry goods clearance section, where discontinued, post-holiday, and about to expire items that do not need refrigeration, often at the back of the store

A few of these marked-down-to-clear items, such as fresh melon cubes and lettuce, need immediate consumption. But for most of them, they can be easily frozen, with minimal preparation.

Cartons of liquids (like "fresh" orange juice, milk) will need room in the carton for expansion while freezing, and I'll need to pour a small amount off and use it right away. Some items may need a small amount of preparation, such as pre-cooking the mushrooms before freezing, or blanching fresh broccoli crowns, or whipping the whipping cream, spooning into mounds on waxed paper, then freezing. But many of the items, like the tofu, whole bananas, lunch meat, bacon, hot dogs and fresh meat can go in the freezer in the package that it was purchased in.

And then, a few items store in the fridge for many weeks past the expiry date, such as fresh eggs, canned biscuit dough, refrigerated cookie dough, cottage cheese, sour cream, and chunk or loaf cheese.

Of course, those pantry items, like boxed pasta, that are merely discontinued or post-holiday, will keep on the shelf for many weeks beyond your purchase, if unopened. I buy our holiday candy (such as Valentine's, Easter and Christmas candy) each year, immediately after each holiday, on clearance, then save until the next year.

Some great deals to had. But it is hit or miss!

Do you look for clearance markdowns? What have you found marked down to clear at the grocery store? Tell me what your stores will mark down. Are you in an area that only marks down very old bananas? Or do you find meat on mark down, too? What's been your *best* deal, ever?

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Lessons from my art class

I'm taking an art class this quarter and my instructor has given me a couple of pieces of wisdom that could really apply to other areas of my life.

After I've been working on a piece for a while, she'll come around to me and remind me to stand back a bit, and look at my work from a distance. She can see that I've become entranced with the details of my work, and overlook my progress with the "big picture".

If you like to craft or do needlework of any sort, then you've likely experienced this over-focus on the details. You see the flaws, because you are close to your work, but nobody else even notices what you perceive to be monumental errors. It isn't until I step back and try to see my work through fresh eyes that I can think to myself, "yeah, this looks pretty good!"

And I tend towards this narrow vision, in life itself. I focus on specific areas, those with which I feel I'm most failing. With my role in our family's finances, I sometimes feel I should be doing better -- more exacting, more precise, more perfect. I pretty much know that I'm doing great with our grocery budget. And I feel comfortable with how much we spend on utilities. But I do feel I could do better with other areas, like shopping around for a better rate for our car/home owner insurance. Or taking more economical vacations.

Then I'm reminded to step back, and look at our financial "big picture". We're on track with our goals. We are comfortable with our giving. And even when I'm critical with my spending choices, overall, we are quite sensible with our spending. While details do matter, fussing too much with the details detracts from my overall satisfaction with our finances.

There are no grades in my art class. I either show up and do the work to learn new skills, or I miss out. It's the process and not the final piece that matters. When I'm sewing a pair of pj pants for one of my daughters, I know I won't be graded on the final product. I could very easily buy a pair of pj pants of similar or even better quality than I sew. But that's not the point. The love is in the "making". And fortunately, there won't be a financial report card issued at the end of this life. If I don't manage every aspect of our finances perfectly, we'll still be okay. The big picture looks good.