Remanufactured printer ink cartridges

I do a lot of printing at home, using black ink cartridges. I had been buying HP ink cartridges from Office Depot, but the price just kept creeping up, and the coupons became fewer and fewer. Seriously, I go through a cartridge every 2-3 months.

In an effort to save some money I looked into remanufactured cartridges. I bought a set of 3 remanufactured ink cartridges from Amazon, back in September, with a hope and prayer that they would be okay-enough for my needs.

I read the reviews and braced myself for the possibility of a dud. I have been pleasantly surprised at how well they perform. And the price is a steal. I could have had 2 of the 3 cartridges fail, and still come out ahead. I was paying about $45 at Office Depot for 1 HP cartridge. I bought a set of 3 remanufactured ones from Amazon for $30. Really, really pleased. Office Depot does have a store-brand printer cartridge, but only for select models (and mine no longer was one).

Anyways, I'm pleased with how these worked for me. Has anyone else tried remanufactured cartridges for their printer? What was your experience?

Senior shopping day

Three very full hours from the minute I drove out of the driveway, until all of the groceries were put away. Gosh that is exhausting. I made myself some lunch then went to sit down for an hour and work on some writing.

What I noticed --

• not as many deals as last year
• orange juice, peanut butter, and soy milk prices are high
• meat is still largely unaffordable 
• egg prices are slowly rising
• no butter deals (yet),
• almonds are a bargain this year 
• Fred Meyer is carrying more and more whole grain versions of traditional, house-brand favorites, such as hot dog buns and saltine crackers, and at the same price as the non-whole grain

I thought about not making a list (I know, stupid, stupid, stupid), because I didn't want to spare the time writing stuff down. Then, I played the tape to the end (a mental thing where you envision the whole process and what will likely happen). In my mental tape I realized that not having a list would mean that I would wander aimlessly throughout the store and my shopping would likely take twice as long, and I would be more exhausted because I would be making choices on the spot for the whole grocery trip. So, I went online and loaded coupons to my card, read the sale flyer, and made my list. 

I spent a lot, but I got a lot. The above photo is what I bought (minus a bundle of bananas, and a bag of zucchini that I left on the counter). I filled the trunk, then added a few bags to the back seat of my tiny car. I went early (thank you, change back to standard time), and that was a big help. The store was not terribly crowded, and I had pick of the markdown produce. I passed by the markdown stand twice, once at the beginning, and a second time just before leaving. I was able to score additional produce by making the second pass. Between sales, mark downs, coupons and the Senior 10% Discount, I saved a lot.

My family will be very happy that we are so well-stocked. As mentioned in comments the other day, managing the kitchen is a big job. It's not something that we just do in our free time, or as a hobby. I think we forget just how time-consuming and exhausting this job is. 

The holiday cup

My daughter took a friend to Starbucks yesterday. I was excited for her, not because of the coffee or friendship, but because of the holiday cup. My first question was not "what did you order?" No, it was "what does the holiday cup look like this year?" I enjoy finding out what the cups look like each holiday season. Some years, I actually do go to Starbucks during the holidays, and actually get a cup of my own. Other years, I find myself too busy. When I do make it there, I save my holiday cup for a while, as a memento.

This year's cup is cool and unusual, in that the design on the cup is meant for coloring in.

Kinda cool. I don't carry markers or crayons with me, but this would keep a little one entertained for a little while, while mom or dad enjoyed a cup of coffee. 

My favorite autumn/winter drink is the peppermint mocha, followed very close behind with pumpkin spice latte. I usually make my own coffee drinks at home, for pennies, using a mini-candy cane, cocoa, milk and coffee for the peppermint mocha, and this easy recipe for homemade pumpkin spice syrup for pumpkin spice lattes. (Now I'm in the mood for a mocha!) Both are especially yummy with some homemade biscotti. And as luck would have it I have all the ingredients that I need to make my own coffee drink and biscotti right here at home! I know what I'm doing later . . .

28 things that I do to stretch our groceries

This post came about because I did nearly everything on this list, just last week. It made me think that we all do a lot of things to save on grocery spending.

1-always use a rubber spatula to scrape out jars. When someone in the family uses the last of a jar of peanut butter, they put the near-empty jar in the fridge. Sometime, when I want peanut butter on bread, I use a spatula to scrape out 2 or 3 jars and get just enough peanut butter for my slice of bread.

2-gladly accept gifted foods and freebies. I volunteer at a luncheon/tea every month. The kind lady in charge gifts us with a bunch of leftovers. I always accept and make use of what is given to us. I also pick up the Friday Freebie, even if it's a product that I would never normally want. I figure a way to use the item in cooking, or offer to a family member.

3-reserve someone's leftovers to serve to them at the next meal. We've done this for years, when one of the kids wouldn't finish their dinner, because they weren't hungry, I would cover the plate or glass and refrigerate it until the next meal. This still happens with glasses of milk. I'll pour too much for one of the family members, they can't finish it. So, I refrigerate it, and serve it to them at the next meal. It's just "normal' for our family. If I don't eat all of my dinner one night, I eat my own leftovers for lunch the next day. I don't know why some people won't eat leftovers. When they eat in a restaurant and don't eat a whole meal, they ask for a box to take home their leftovers. So home-cooked leftovers shouldn't be any different.

4-use someone else's leftovers for myself, with a little "surgery." If one of my kids starts eating a piece of fruit, then decides they don't like it. I'll refrigerate the rest, even if it's been, um, chewed on. Later, I'll trim away the parts where they have eaten, and I'll cut up the rest for myself. It doesn't matter to me that the piece of fruit that I eat is not "virginal."

An example, my daughter began eating a pear of which she didn't like the texture. She thought it was mealy. I refrigerated it, and the next day, I cut away the bite marks, chopped the pear, and made a salad for myself, with this chopped pear, lettuce, chunks of cream cheese, a few pecans, and a dressing of mayo, jam, and water. My salad was delicious, and the piece of fruit was not wasted.

5-serve myself or others only the amount we will eat, such as with bananas -- I can't eat a whole banana, so it's common for me to cut a banana in half, and leave the remaining half on the counter for someone else to snack on later that day. On the rare occurrence that the other half of the banana is not eaten that day, I'll pop it in the fridge or freezer.

If I'm hungry for some bread, but not super hungry, I cut a slice in half and leave the other half in the bag. If I'm serving something saucy and there's too much sauce on my plate, I take a half-slice of bread instead of a whole slice, if that's all I want.

6-use leftover tiny amounts of food from dinner in a tossed salad or soup the next day

7-rinse out milk jugs with a little water, swish around, then pour into a glass or pot of soup/gravy/sauce. This is like using a rubber spatula to get the last bit. In a jug of milk (or any liquid), there's always about 1 teaspoon of liquid that is still on the sides of the container and would take a while to totally drip out. So, I just rinse with a bit of water and use this thinned down milk. I began doing this years ago, adding to my coffee. Since I can't "do" cow's milk any more, I've found ways for the milk rinsings in cooking, or adding to others' glasses. However, I use this trick with my soy milk, and tea for myself. The containers have to be rinsed out anyways, for the recycling bin, so I'm using the rinsings.

8-rinse tomato paste cans, jam jars, salsa jars, any food jar whose contents are sticky, leaving small amounts on the jar's insides. I rinse with water (as I do with more liquidy things like milk) and the rinsings go into something that we will eat. Jam jar rinsings are often added to my tea. Salsa and tomato paste rinsings will be added to a savory dish. Applesauce jars, rinsed with water, and add the watery applesauce to muffin batter. Similar to peanut butter jars, there is usually about 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of food left inside a jar. Applesauce jars are the worst. All of the interior ridges of the jars trap a lot of applesauce. Rinsing gets all of the contents out, and cleans the container for recycling.

9-rinse similar food item containers, as above, but with vinegar and use in homemade salad dressing. Jam jars rinsed with plain vinegar, and added to oil make a wonderful salad dressing.

10-use cores of lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, thin sliced and chopped or julienned, in soups, salads, and stir-fries.

11-use cookie crumbs from the cookie jar or package in muffin batter.

12-serve myself just a little bit less than I think I want. I eat my meal, wait 15 minutes to see if I want more. Almost always, I am completely full within 10 minutes.

13-share meals in restaurants. Restaurant portions are huge. It's bad for my health to eat as much as many restaurants serve. If one meal looks like it will be slightly too little, we also order one appetizer, or an extra side dish. My daughters and I occasionally go to a teriyaki place nearby and split one meal 3 ways. It's plenty of food for us, and in the event that we're still a little hungry afterward, we wait until we get home and make some dessert.

14-grind coffee beans extra fine. most of the time I buy the less-expensive cans of coffee (storebrand). When I do buy the grind-it-yourself beans in the grocery store, I grind them to "espresso" fineness. I get more flavor out of the grounds this way, and can use less to make a pot of coffee. I use paper filters, which catch and hold the fine stuff, making a flavorful cup of coffee.

15-with the above, pricier coffee grounds, I mix them half and half with cheap coffee, and still get a satisfactory-to-me cup of Joe.

16-keep a "dessert tin." When we have leftover odds and ends of commercial desserty things, like graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate pieces from s'more-making, or a few savoiardi biscuits, or a couple circus peanut candies, I put them in the "dessert tin." Some night after dinner, I pull out the tin and circulate it around the table. Everyone chooses something from the tin for their dessert.

17-trim small amounts of mold off of hard cheese and use the rest in cooking. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is "safe" to trim mold from hard cheese and still eat the rest. here's the article which explains which cheese you can trim and eat, and which you should discard if it becomes moldy. We've become so mold-fearful that we forget some molds are not harmful, such as the ones which are used in cheese-making.

18-use milk and eggnog that is one, two or three days past sell-by date, in pancakes or baked goods. If milk is at sell-by date and we won't drink it all, I pour some of it off into containers to freeze, then use in baking, later.

19-keep the fridge on the more-empty side, rather than the more-full. This helps me stay on top of our supplies and use them all up. The above photo shows what my fridge looks like for a couple of weeks every month. It looks like there is nothing to eat in there, but I can scrounge quite a bit, even in this fridge. It's much more likely that I will have to throw away food when I am keeping the fridge very full.

20-keep our fridge at 39 or 40 degrees F and our freezer at 0 degrees F. These are the FDA recommended max temperatures to prevent spoilage.

21-when placing just-purchased groceries in my freezers or fridge I spread them out, so they chill faster, and again, prevent spoilage.

22-save leftover coffee or tea in the fridge. If I don't drink all of a cup or pot of coffee/tea, I save it until the next day, even if it's just an inch or two in the cup.

23-when I still feel tired, after my 2 cups of coffee in the AM, instead of more coffee, or some sugar, I drink a glass of water, step outside for some deep breaths of fresh air, and wash my face. All of these are good-for-me activities, but they save money on groceries, as a bonus. With the glass of water, I usually take this as an opportunity to take my C and B vitamins. I need to take those anyway, and both may help with energy levels. I may still want a cup of tea or coffee later, but for the most part, I drink less tea and coffee when I remind myself to have water and get fresh air to invigorate myself.

24-use small bits of leftover bread in savory or sweet bread pudding. If the amount is very small, I may only make a 2-serving dish of bread pudding. I had 2 scones, a half slice of white bread, and 1 small slice of French bread the other day. Because the scones were sweet, I made a sweet bread pudding. There was just enough for dessert for the small group eating at home that night.

25-I assess the amounts of ingredients that I have on hand before making my menu for the evening. If I anticipate the full family for dinner (5 or 6) I make my menu out of the ingredients of which I have a lot. If I anticipate just 2 or 3 of us eating that night, I seize that as an opportunity to use the small amounts of leftovers to feed a small group. The above mentioned small dish of bread pudding was made for a night when only 3 of us would be eating at home, or eating dessert (one family member is avoiding sweets for the time being). This worked perfectly. The previous night, we had the whole crowd for dinner. I had found a full pint of lemon sorbet in the freezer, and saved that for a night when everyone would be there. A pint of sorbet, plus a savoiardi biscuit made a light dessert and was enough for all of us.

26-I play "musical chairs" with the milk in my fridge and freezer. This may be difficult to explain in type, but here goes. I have 3 jugs of milk, all with near expiry dates. Jug A has enough milk for 1 day, is in the fridge, and has a use-by life of about 2 days. Jug B has enough milk for 4 days, is in the fridge, and has a use-by life of 2 days. Jug C has enough milk for 3 days, is in the freezer, and has a use-by life of about 3 days once thawed. How do I manage to have enough milk for every day, without waste or spoilage? I pour 1 days milk out of Jug B into Jug A, then pop Jug B in the freezer. This will give us enough milk in Jug A to get through 2 days.

But with Jugs B and C in the freezer, they will take 2-3 days each to thaw in the fridge, so we will be out of milk while we wait for them to thaw. If I keep Jug B in the fridge, now, it will go off before we drink it all, so it is best kept frozen until needed.

So, I take the frozen jug, Jug C out of the freezer, and place in the fridge to thaw, while we use Jug A. In 2 days, Jug C will be partially thawed and I can swish it enough to get frosty milk out of it, to use at meals on day 1 of its use, and will be totally thawed on day 2 of its 3-day use. When we finish Jug A, I then take Jug B out of the freezer and begin thawing in the fridge. It will take 2-3 days to thaw. About the time that Jug C is empty, Jug B will be ready to use, and will keep for 2-3 days.

Did anyone follow that? I hope someone got it.  -ha ha-  It's my system for using milk that's soon to go off, while maintaining a steady supply of milk for drinking and cooking.

27-if I accidentally take more butter than I really want for a piece of toast, I put the little bit that I don't want back on the butter dish. In the above photo, there's a tiny dab of butter on top of the stick. That would be mine from the other day. I used this butter, along with the half slice of bread from #5 to make myself some cinnamon toast for dessert after lunch on Friday.

28-the end of bags of chips (tortilla and potato) or packages of crackers get dumped into whatever casserole I make next.

I'm sure we can keep this list going and hit 100 things that we do to stretch our groceries. What's on your list?

Cheap & Cheerful for the beginning of November

Weekend (husband cooked)
scrambled eggs, cole slaw, fried corn tortillas, cooked zucchini, oven-roasted potatoes, canned tomato sauce, garbanzo beans and Polish sausage
My husband's cooking style is mostly about putting food in the stomach. I'm having a hard time with really starchy meals, so on Saturday he made a few vegetable dishes, which really helped me.

Monday
My daughter had made dinner in advance, on Sunday for tonight. She made pumpkin-shaped pizzas, pumpkin soup and cole slaw.

Tuesday
I heated some turkey in gravy from the freezer, plus cornbread stuffing from a package, leftover cole slaw, spaghetti squash, mini candy bars

Wednesday (family dinner)
I made spaghetti and meatballs, using frozen meatballs, frozen tomato paste, garden herbs/garlic, whole wheat spaghetti noodles, also had a kale/zucchini/onion stir-fry, garlic toast from a small loaf of homemade French bread which had gone stale, and for dessert -- lemon sorbet found in the freezer and some savoiardi biscuits bought a really long time ago. I continue to find goodies tucked away in the freezer and pantry.

Thursday
I used some leftover pizza sauce, pasta, zucchini, and meatballs for a one-pot meal, and served applesauce, and bread pudding. Easy-peasy

Tonight
I think we'll do a repeat of Tuesday's turkey, gravy and stuffing. I have turkey and gravy in the freezer, the stuffing is packaged. I need to get out to the store and pick up some veggies. I'll see what looks good, and what might be on sale, and will use that as a side dish.

I hope that your week of meals was interesting and warming. Have a great weekend!

October 2017 Grocery Journal

I think this month will turn out well, grocery spending-wise. Keeping fingers crossed!!!

October 3. Senior Discount Day at Fred Meyer. This is such an awesome deal for my area. I can use the discount, plus coupons and/or on sale, and on store-brand products (price already competitive). I checked the e-coupons and made my list. This is what I bought: 3 cans of Kroger crescent roll dough ($1.30 each), large bottle canola oil (48 oz maybe?) for $1.79, the last 4 48-oz jars of applesauce ($1.30 each), 2 15-oz cans of pumpkin ($1.29 each), 16-oz jar peanut butter ($1.25), 32-oz pure maple syrup ($11.24), trident gum (freebie), about a pound of freshly ground Seattle roast coffee (dark roast, the good stuff), $4.45, 1-lb whole wheat saltine crackers (90 cents), 3/4 lb of sunflower seeds ($1.07), 1.39 lb of raisins ($2.59), 10 lbs potatoes ($2.99), 1/2 gallon soymilk ($2.06). 2 dozen eggs (71 cents/dozen), 5 lbs carrots ($2.69), large head each of green and red cabbage (49 cents/lb), 3 packages flour tortillas (89 cents each), green onions (79 cents), radishes (79 cents), head each of red leaf and Romaine lettuce ($1.29), 4 bags of marked down apples, mix of Rome and Granny Smith (each weighing about 2 lbs) for $1 each, or about 50 cents/lb, about 14 bananas at 49 cents/lb, 4 loaves of whole wheat bread (81 cents each), 1 2-litre bottle of lemon-lime soda (69 cents), 7 anjou pears (99 cents/lb), 1 package whole wheat hot dog buns ($1.12). Total spent -- $71.23, plus I used a coupon for 200 extra fuel reward points.

Oct. 9 My son was coming over and I wanted to show him how easy it is to make pizza at home, using some commercial ingredients. I made a special trip to the store, and lucked out with the marked down produce. They had just put a shopping cart full of bagged produce out. Fred Meyer bags the marked down produce in small net bags and sells the bags for $1 each, except bananas, which are 39 cents/lb. I weigh several bags to get the best price per pound. This time around, I got apples and tomatoes at about 50 cents/lb, and winter squash for about 30 cents/lb. I also bought a bag of 3 Asian pears for about 66 cents/lb. For the pizza, I bought 1 Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust for $2, a jar of pizza sauce, 99 cents, 1 large green pepper, 99 cents, 3 mushrooms (yes, just 3 mushrooms, I love that you can buy just a couple of mushrooms at a time), 1 Italian sausage from the butcher, $1.25, 1 small can sliced olives, 99 cents, 2 packs of English muffins for 69 cents each, and 1 yogurt, freebie. My homemade large pizza cost about $5 to make, as there was leftover sauce, mushrooms, green pepper to use in another dish, and the crust was very good, I thought. Total spent -- $21.48

Oct. 12. A family dinner night, and wanting some beef. I bought a small roast for $4.99/lb. I have never in my life paid that much for beef. I also bought frozen pie crusts, for $1.50, a 4-lb bag of sugar for $1.89, and a head of Romaine lettuce for $1.29. Total spent -- $13.86

Oct. 17. Dollar Tree for tortilla chips and salsa, spent $2

Oct. 25. Yes, another family dinner night, and wanting to make grilled cheese sandwiches, so need cheese. I bought a 2-lb block of cheddar for $5.99, 2 13-oz turkey Polish sausage links/loops for $2.50 each, head of cabbage for 49 cents/lb, head of red leaf lettuce for $1.29, 8-oz sliced mushrooms for $1.19, 4 bags of marked down apples at $1 each (worked out to about 50 cents/lb again for apples), 4 half-gallons of 2% milk marked down to 99 cents each, 1 half-gallon of pumpkin eggnog marked down for $1.50, 2 dozen eggs for 79 cents/dozen, 1 package potato and broccoli soup mix, freebie, and 1 package of peanut M & M's, freebie. Total spent -- $25.66.

For the month of October I spent a grand total of $134.23

Even though I made several trips to the store, just to buy a special dinner or lunch worth of ingredients, I still did not spend much. We are trying to use up what we have in the freezers and pantry, still. I had $180.91 going into October, so this means that I have $46.68 leftover. Woo hoo! Personally, I haven't had much of an appetite this past month, the effect of that being that I don't buy much. I am keeping lots of produce on hand. I enjoy salads for lunch. I am also buying a few convenience products, such a the refrigerator roll dough and commercial bread. I should add that mid-month, one daughter and I volunteered at a luncheon/tea for the day and were gifted with enough produce to last us about 5 days of salads and fruit, plus milk and lots of bread products. Those items did not go onto my list of what I bought, but did help us stretch our budget. I have no idea of what November will cost.

A bonus this month -- I thought that we were completely out of all-purpose flour. There is a large container in the pantry that I thought was all whole wheat flour. Turns out it's white flour. I have a partial bag of whole wheat flour, still, so I've got plenty of both! That was a bonus! I wonder what else I'll find as we plow through the freezer contents.

What I bought

Produce
4 large jars of applesauce
2 cans pumpkin
1.39 lb raisins
10 lbs potatoes
5 lbs carrots
head red cabbage
head green cabbage
5 lbs carrots
bunch of green onions
bunch of radishes
3 heads of lettuce
36 apples
20 bananas
7 anjou pears
1 large green pepper
8 assorted small winter squash
3 Asian pears
8 lbs of tomatoes
3 mushrooms
8 oz package mushrooms

Meat
1 Italian sausage
2 lbs beef roast

Dairy/Fridge
3 cans of crescent roll dough
half-gallon soymilk
2 dozen eggs
individual container yogurt (freebie)
pizza crust dough

Freezer
pie crusts, 2

Pantry
48-oz bottle of canola oil
1 jar peanut butter
quart real maple syrup
package of gum (freebie)
1 lb of ground coffee
16 oz saltines
.74 lb sunflower seeds
3 packages of flour tortillas
4 loaves bread
1 package hot dog buns
2-litre lemon-lime soda
small jar pizza sauce
12 English muffins
small can sliced olives
1 jar salsa
1 bag tortilla chips
4 lbs sugar
package of M&Ms (freebie)

It's a good thing that I did not spend a lot of money on Hallowe'en candy

We had zero trick or treaters. This is a first for us. 

The houses are too far apart and set too far back from the street in our neighborhood. I think that if I were a kid, I would choose a different neighborhood, too. So, I've already eaten more than my share of these candy bars. I suggested to my daughters that we freeze half of them, to pull out some week when there aren't any goodies around. These would be good, chopped and added to scratch brownies. In addition, there's a Baby Ruth and apple salad recipe that looks interesting (Baby Ruths, whipped topping, and chopped apples -- that's it).

How about your house? Did you get many trick or treaters?

I'll be back on Wednesday

I've got a project that I'm working on, and fighting a cold at the same time. One good thing about both of those scenarios is I am not spending any money while I'm pre-occupied. I hope that your week is off to a great start!

Before I go -- a photo of something cute my daughter did for dinner tonight, mini pumpkin-shaped pizzas.

Cheap & Cheerful for (oh my goodness!!) the end of October

Where did the month fly to? We'll be planting spring gardens before we know it, at this rate.

This past week --

Over the weekend, we had rice and lentils, snacks, garbanzo bean spread, salads, and fruit. One daughter and I volunteered at a charity luncheon on Saturday and frankly were too full ourselves to eat much for dinner that night. Sunday's dinner was more usual, with the lentils, some veggies, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.

Monday -- daughter put together a dinner of baked squash, leftover rice and lentils, spinach-onion-tofu saute

Tuesday -- hot dogs in whole wheat buns, tomato wedges, sauteed cabbage

Wednesday -- (family dinner) grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato bisque, potato chips, curried slaw, pumpkin eggnog

Thursday -- leftover tomato bisque (I made a huge pot on Wednesday, sent some home with my son, and we still had enough for last night), whole wheat Yorkshire pudding wedges, tossed salad of lettuce, cabbage, tomato, and cheese cubes with homemade dressing

Friday -- after our discussion about cabbage the other day, I picked up some turkey Polish sausage. I'll be making sausage, mashed potatoes, and cabbage for dinner tonight. Thank you for the idea the other day!!

I was looking out the window today and had a thought about the landscape in autumn. Colored leaves lay everywhere in a haphazard way, yet the world looks beautiful in all of their mess. Usually I associate beauty with a somewhat tidy appearance. But there is something beautiful in nature's untidiness. In case you hadn't guessed, no one in our house has raked any leaves yet. Perhaps this weekend. But if we don't get to the raking, we can still enjoy nature's untidy beauty. Anyways, just my thought as I gazed out my window. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Oh, how I love cabbage (and other romantic odes)

I was chopping cabbage last night and thinking to myself how much I love cabbage. It isn't that cabbage is the yummiest food on Earth. But it's cheap (49 cents/lb the past month at Fred Meyer -- a bargain for veggies), keeps in the fridge for weeks and weeks, and is versatile enough to make either a hot dish or a cold salad.

Last night, we had sauteed cabbage, seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, ginger and a pinch of sugar. Tonight I'll add cabbage to our dinner of soup and sandwiches, as a slaw-style salad like this curried peanut salad, using peanuts from some trail mix which has had all of the other goodies gobbled up. I try to keep a jar of sliced red or green cabbage in the fridge, just waiting to be added to impromptu salad snacking. It's handy stuff for quick side dishes. I don't buy a lot of the usual convenience foods. But I do consider a head of cabbage to be something of a convenience item, as it doesn't require a lot of prep work, and can be ready to eat in minutes.

This time of year, cabbage makes into many of our meals and snacks.

How do you store opened packages of cream cheese?

For many years, I would store an opened package of cream cheese, as is, still in the foil wrap, inside the small box. What would follow is the cheese would linger in the fridge, to mold and/or dry out inside the foil package.

About a year ago I began keeping the cream cheese on a plate, under a small glass bowl, upturned. What I noticed was that the cream cheese not only did not mold readily, as it had in the foil package, but it also was in view in the fridge, and was consumed at a faster rate.

Anyway, this is my homespun cheese dome. You can spend about $15 to $20 and buy a cheese dome, or you can simply use what's in the kitchen -- a plate and a small glass bowl. Saving the cream cheese saves money.

Pumpkin-sausage pasta (using leftover canned pumpkin)

In answer to a request in the comments from Friday, here is something I do with leftover cooked or canned pumpkin. Since the amounts of ingredients varies with the number of servings, I've given estimates of what I use. You can adjust to your own meal prep situation.

Pumpkin-sausage pasta

cooked pasta, according to package directions, enough to serve family, cook pasta, drain and set aside

large Italian sausage links, about 1/4 lb each, 1 for every 2 servings (I use 2 or 3 links for 5 adult servings)
chopped onion, about 1/2 large onion for 4-5 servings
minced garlic, garlic powder or granules, equivalent to 2 cloves of garlic for 4-5 servings
chicken stock, 2 cups for 4-5 servings
pureed pumpkin, canned or fresh cooked, about 1 cup
sage, fresh minced or dried crumbled, equivalent of about 1-2 teaspoons (or to taste) dried, rubbed sage
cream or milk, 1/4 cup
Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup
dash nutmeg
salt, to taste
red pepper flakes, pinch
Parmesan shavings, for garnish, as much as desired

Remove sausage from casing, brown and crumble in a skillet. Set sausage aside. Pour off all but 1-2 teaspoons fat from the sausage. Saute the onion in the sausage fat. Add the garlic when the onion is translucent. Cook until onion is barely golden.

Add the pumpkin, chicken stock and sage. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the browned sausage and heat through. Toss in the cooked pasta, along with cream or milk, cheese and nutmeg. Taste and add salt and red pepper flakes. Garnish with additional Parmesan.

notes:
I sometimes use turkey Italian sausage, in which case there is little residual fat in the pan. For turkey Italian sausage, use about 2 teaspoons of olive oil to saute the onion.

This is a less-meat dish. you can certainly use more Italian sausage, if you have heavy-duty carnivores in your house. you can also omit the sausage for a vegetarian dish. I don't think this would be very tasty as a vegan dish. It seems to need the flavors of the sausage and/or the Parmesan. I go easy on the cream/milk. But if you like a creamier dish, use as much as 1/2 cup of cream/milk.

For buying Italian sausage, the butcher counter in our local Fred Meyer carries pork Italian sausage links to be purchased one at a time. When I made sausage pizza a couple of weeks ago, I bought just one sausage, to brown and crumble. It may not be the cheapest per pound way to go, for Italian sausage, but if you only want 1 or 2, it is simple to just buy what you need. I also buy the turkey version, in tray packs by Jennie-O. The turkey Italian sausage links in those packs go to mark down frequently, as they're sold refrigerated (not frozen, though you can freeze them once home). When I find them on markdown I will buy several packages, split into packets of 2 or 3 links, and freeze.

Very hearty and warming for a fall evening. I serve this with a green salad or green veggies, and a baguette, if we're extra hungry.

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Cheap & Cheerful for a mid-October week

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday -- leftover soup tonight, with muffins and applesauce


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

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

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

Corn starch to the rescue

My daughters have a special dessert that their brother enjoys. And as he was coming over for dinner, they said they would make this dessert. It's a yellow cake, with fudge frosting, and caramel sauce over the slices. Decadent, right?

Anyway, something went wrong with the caramel sauce. One daughter tried to fix it late Monday night. She finally went to bed and I found it like this, in the morning. The chunks are lumps of butter.

I told her I'd do something with it during the day, while she was in class. When heated, the lumps of butter melted, but a layer of butter would form on the top of the sauce when it cooled. My thought was that I needed a binder to hold the butter in the sauce. I cooked their sauce with a little cornstarch and allowed to cool.

After cooling, some of the butter did rise to the top. However, as what I had just made was basically a very sweet, thin pudding, I thought I could now mix in the butter that was on top of the rest of the sauce, using a mixer. And it worked beautifully. (see top photo) The pudding-like caramel sauce was cooled enough that the butter was held in the sauce, and could be poured over slices of cake.

Now who wants a slice? Incidentally, egg, flour, and arrowroot are also binders. All require cooking in a liquid to bind ingredients together.

Definition of insanity

You've probably heard this -- the definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result.

I feel like that is what I have been doing for the last couple of years. Same thing, same thing, but expecting to feel differently about it all. With awareness, and in response, I am trying to create a different path for my life. This has led to me taking classes and preparing for a career. It is also what prompted me to turn over some of the dinner-prep tasks in our house to other members of the household. And it has led me to judiciously use more prepared foods.

I am trying to listen to my body and my spirit. Always making everything from scratch is tiring. There are some good shortcuts available in convenience foods, such as the frozen pie crust that I used last week. I'm making burritos for dinner tomorrow night, and using canned refried beans. I know that I could make refried beans and save about 50%. But just knowing that I can wait until the late afternoon to start on dinner prep frees my mind to pursue something else for the entire day.

Other areas where I am simplifying include the holidays. Christmas gifting will be greatly simplified this year. And I really am okay with that. I've asked each of my children to tell me one thing, just one thing, that they'd really enjoy receiving this year. If I happen to also buy or make something else, that will be a bonus. We all have so much stuff, anyway. There's no need to add to the piles and piles of belongings. Fewer gifts, overall, mean less wrapping paper and ribbon, which also means less clean-up on Christmas day. Fewer gifts mean a simpler credit card statement in January. We may spend nearly as much as previous years, but the statement will be simpler to audit for errors. Fewer gifts mean more time to spend relaxing during the season, and on Christmas. Fewer gifts may also mean fewer headaches for me. Fewer gifts mean less waste in the garbage for December, less gasoline used to get to stores or have merchandise delivered to me, and maybe less of a sense of greed. Fewer gifts mean greater appreciation for the abundance that we already have. Less gives us more.

What I've discovered is that I don't feel like less of a mother, wife, homemaker, friend, sister, etc. On the contrary, simplifying my daily work has given me more energy to really be present with the people in my life. Just something I was thinking about.

Cheap & Cheerful

The week. My husband cooked one night last weekend and made curried potatoes and fry bread, and my one daughter who loves cookouts organized another hot dog roast, the other night. We are moving towards more egalitarian cooking roles in our family. My life is changing and it's time for our household roles to change, too. Here's what we had for dinner this week:

Monday  (daughter cooked) -- pasta and pumpkin, cole slaw

Tuesday -- baked squash, tossed salad, scrambled eggs

Wednesday  (leftover night for two) -- squash, microwaved potatoes, apple slices, baked apples, leftover-filled frittata

Thursday  (family dinner night) -- pot roast, carrots, potatoes, tossed salad and pumpkin pie

Tonight -- some leftovers from last night, but maybe not the meat. I think I'll freeze the leftover roast and use in burritos some night next week. For protein tonight, you guessed it, more eggs to go with leftover veggies, salad and pie

I was pushing eggs on the family this week. I have about 2 more dozen that need using quick, or else I should freeze them. Serving for dinner seems easier in my mind than freezing, right now. Eggs were cheap, with that last major stock-up, so it makes sense to just use them for the protein source in dinners for a while.

I hit the grocery store at just the right time on Tuesday morning. There was an entire grocery cart filled with marked down produce. I bought a few bags of tomatoes, apples and squash, for $1 per bag. I even got a small bag of Asian pears for $1 -- a rare treat for us.

For Thursday's dinner, I was looking for a homey dessert and thought of pie. I had a can of pumpkin in the pantry, and the rest of the ingredients for a filling, but the thought of making the crust sounded like more work than I had time for. So I bought a frozen pie shell, at 75 cents each in a package of two. While 75 cents is a lot more than making crust from scratch at 43 cents each (in this post I calculated my cost for pie pastry), I figured that a homemade pie using a commercial crust was still a bargain, compared to buying a dessert.

That's it for my week. How was yours? Do you buy ready-made pie crusts? If so, do you prefer the frozen ones or the pastry in the refrigerator section of the store? For me, the frozen ones were less expensive and already in a pan, so I went with those. I hope you have a great weekend! See you Monday.

"Instant" egg salad sandwiches, using deviled eggs

This has been my go-to lunch or breakfast for the last several days.

I made a large batch of deviled eggs three days ago, to use surplus eggs. I think they make a great snack; and having them all ready and waiting encourages other family members to eat the eggs. Anyways, I discovered that having deviled eggs all ready makes for very quick sandwiches.

For one 1/2 sandwich (that's all I ever eat, it seems), I take 1 slice of bread and spread it with mayonnaise (not necessary, but that's how I like my sandwiches). Cut the bread in half.

Then, plop a deviled egg onto one of the halves of bread.

Squish the other half slice of bread onto the egg. And voila, one egg salad sandwich.

One of my daughters thought this was a great way to use up leftover deviled eggs, you know, after a picnic or large family dinner/brunch. So, I thought I'd share, as it works so well for sandwiches in a hurry.

Pretty little jars

I saved these two pretty little jars from edible treats.

They are nice enough to hang on to. But what should I do with them? Make some infused honey or spicy mustard? Too pretty to throw away -- what would you use these jars for? Lucky for me the label on the honey jar peeled right off. I'll have to work a bit on the other jar's label.

10 of my favorite freebies of recent weeks

1.  email -- you can send a message to anyone, no stamp, immediate delivery, for free!

2.  library -- it's not just that you can get some books at the library, but you can often get the very one book that you want. Case in point -- when my daughter and I were vintage shopping for business ideas a month ago, my daughter saw a book that intrigued her. She spent several minutes browsing through that book. I took notice, thinking I would buy this book on Amazon as a Christmas gift for her. When I came home, I looked it up on Amazon, then had a thought, "hmmm, I should really check the library's database for this first. I could still surprise her with the book, on loan." Sure enough, our library's system had the very book on the shelf in anther branch. I had it sent to my local branch and picked it up later that week. My daughter was thrilled to see that book sitting on the kitchen table for her.

3.  youtube -- and other video sites. I use youtube to find music that I hear on the radio and want to listen to again. I also amuse myself with funny cat videos and other junky stuff. When I'm in a serious mode, I use youtube for self-help and instructional videos. Free entertainment and self-improvement!

4.  e-coupons on the grocery store's website -- I can load coupons onto my loyalty card to use in store, without buying a newspaper to get coupons. Some of the e-coupons allow for multiple use on the same coupon/purchase (like 5 jars of applesauce or peanut butter, getting the discount on all 5).

5.  journals/notepads on digital devices -- no need for paper or pen. I can write till my heart is content.

6.  online sudoku games -- I use these as concentration boosters a couple of times per day. Once upon a time, I actually spent money on sudoku and crossword puzzle books.

7.  online bill paying, again no stamp, and stamps are getting pricey! Bonus, the payment is made immediately, preventing late charges when I am absentminded.

8.  free shipping with online shopping. Not only do I get to shop while still in my pj's, I save gas, avoid crowds, and on many items I get a lower price if I shop around.

9.  tap water to drink in restaurants. On a chilly day, I've ordered a cup of hot water to sip with a meal. And nothing quenches thirst better on a scorching day than a cup of ice water.

10.  Walking for exercise. No special equipment, except feet. You can walk indoors in wintry weather, or outdoors on trails in the local parks or just in your own neighborhood when the weather is pleasant.

11. bonus freebie, linked to above -- public parks, as playgrounds for kids, walking trails for all, picnic spot for alfresco lunches, or grassy expanse for games.


Your turn -- what have been some of your favorite recent freebies?

Cheap & Cheerful for the week

Saturday -- beef tacos, carrot sticks, salad

Sunday -- beef and potato hash, eggs

Monday -- scrambled eggs, brown rice, sweet potato souffle

Tuesday -- chicken-rice soup from the freezer (I prefer chicken-noodle, but chicken-rice holds up in the freezer better, I think), crackers, tossed salad

Wednesday (family dinner) -- roasted chicken (leftover and frozen from the previous week), mashed potatoes, mustard-glazed carrots, dinner rolls, baked apples

Thursday -- hotdogs in buns, canned corn, apple chunks and banana slices

Friday -- turkey curry over rice, using leftover turkey from the freezer

It was a busy week with a lot going on in our home. However, I did clear time from my schedule to make a nice family dinner on Wednesday (my son was over and said that the dinner seemed very autumnal). But the rest of the week was easy fixins', here. Tuesday was Senior Discount day at Fred Meyer, so I did a major stock-up on that day. There seems to be a flow to our grocery supply. I stock up and we eat like kings for a week, then the following week we eat like ordinary folk, and finally the end of the month we eat more like paupers. I'm not complaining, just noticing. It may actually be a beneficial thing, as many of the cheapest foods are pretty healthy, like beans and rice, carrots, or cabbage. I did well at the grocery store, combining coupons with Senior discount on store-brand items. No more 49 cents gallon milk, though.

How was your week? I hope was well and that fall is settling in beautifully where you live. Have a wonderful weekend!

Radishes: a good buy in the produce department

You get a lot in a bundle of radishes for just 79 cents or so. I bought this bundle yesterday (for 79 cents). I think most folks break off the red root portion and toss out the leafy greens. Those leafy greens are edible, too. Wash them well (they are often sandy), pluck off yellowing leaves, then chop and add the greens to soups or stews. That's what I did yesterday. I had a pot of soup simmering on the stove and I used some of the greens in the soup, and the roots in a salad.

Radish greens are peppery and sharp. However, that sharpness is masked well in soups and stews. And they're packed with vitamins K, C, A, B(s) and E, plus potassium, iron, calcium, and zinc.

Don't toss those leafy portions! Yet another vegetable that you can eat all parts.

Frosted brownies for an October treat

These are some brownies that I made for an event last year. I thought I'd post the photos, in case you're looking for anything cheap and easy, but with wow! factor. I used  this recipe for the scratch brownies, but baked them in a conventional oven at 350 F, for about 22-25 minutes.
As you can see by the photos, you don't even need to pipe straight lines!

When brownies had cooled, I frosted with scratch
orange-colored buttercream frosting

I made a small bowl of dark cocoa icing and put it into a small
ziploc bag. I snipped a tiny bit off the corner of the
baggie to make a "piping" bag.

I piped concentric circles on the orange-colored frosting.

Then I "drew" out from the center in all directions,
using a toothpick. 

After creating this weblike design, I piped a
spider in the center of the web. See top photo.

September 2017 Grocery Spending Journal

Aug. 31 (I'd already tallied August when I decided to go out to Cash & Carry. So here it is in September.) I've wanted strawberries for the last few days, and avoided buying any at the regular grocery store, so those will be on my list today. We need other produce, too, plus mayo, ketchup, and I'll pick up some other sort of prepared or almost prepared supper item, for later fall and winter. So what did I end up buying? I bought 16 bananas (49 cents/lb), 12-ct bag of hoagie rolls ($2.72), 12.5 lb bag of popcorn ($5.87), 2 5-lb bags of frozen peas ($3.89 each), 1-qt frozen cranberry juice concentrate, to make 1 gallon ($1.99),  13 oz chili powder ($3.99), institutional-size bag Uncle Ben's cornbread stuffing mix, enough to make 47 servings ($13.49), #10 can refried beans, it's about 110 ounces, or just over 7 lbs ($5.15), 1 gallon mayonnaise ($6.79), 5-lbs shredded mozzarella ($10.77), 10-lbs carrots ($3.59), three 106 oz cans of crushed tomatoes ($2.90 each), two 19-oz blocks firm tofu ($1.59 each), box of 2 gals milk ($4.87), head of Romaine lettuce ($1.49), head of cauliflower (88 cents), 114-oz can of ketchup ($3.15), 4-lbs strawberries ($6.28), 15-dozen case of large eggs ($12.98). Total spent -- $106.39

You probably don't have a calculator in hand right now, so I'll do some math for you, to give you an idea of the price per "normal" package on a few of these.

peas-- 78 cents/lb
juice concentrate to make 64 oz cranberry juice cocktail -- 99 cents
chili powder -- $4.91 lb
refried beans -- 75 cents for 16-oz can
mayo -- $1.59/ 30-oz jar
ketchup -- 66 cents for a 24-oz bottle
large eggs -- 86 cents/dozen

I didn't always get my "best" price per unit on the items I bought (like milk, I can do better buying on Senior Shopping Day at FM), but overall I got very good prices on most items, compared to my best prices, and definitely saved over running to the local grocery store for an item we are out of. I can make refried beans from scratch for about half the price of canned. But this purchase is for convenience, at a time when I don't have freezer space to big-batch cook beans. My one splurge item was the cornbread stuffing mix. If I pick up some chicken or turkey sausage, the stuffing mix and sausage combo will make a quick supper.

Sept. 5. Senior Shopping Day at Fred Meyer. I bought a lot (long cash register receipt), but my spending wasn't too terrible. Here's what I bought: 5 half-gallons whole milk (89 cents each), 4 one-lb boxes whole wheat pasta (90 cents each), 5 15-oz jars natural peanut butter ($1.34 each), 10 new-crop gala apples (88 cents/lb), 2 46-oz jars of natural, unsweetened applesauce ($1.70 first jar, $1.97 second jar -- worked out to 63 cents/pint), half-gallon organic soy milk ($2.25), 3 packages of meat hot dogs (80 cents each), 2 8-oz cartons of marked down mushrooms (99 cents each), RXbar snack bar (free with coupon), Oreo candy bar (free with coupon), 7 loaves of bread (80 cents each), 3 packages of flour tortillas (89 cents each), 1 can decaf and 1 can regular coffee ($5.39 each), 5 marked down bananas (39 cents/lb), 17 non-marked down bananas (49 cents/lb). Total spent -- $50.86.

Coffee is still expensive this month. October and November usually see coffee priced at $4.99 a can. I will stock up my winter supply when I see that price. Most of the bread went into the freezer. 7 loaves is about what we use in a month. If I run out of bread, I will bake some from scratch. I use both whole wheat and white flour pasta. When I find whole wheat pasta below $1/lb I buy some. For white pasta, I look for 66 cents/lb or less. Last winter I bought a bunch of white flour pasta for 50 cents/lb. We're still using that buy.

Sept.9. A Saturday, out running errands with one daughter. We stop to pick up a rx at Fred Meyer, and buy 12 more gala apples, at 88 cents/lb. Spent $4.03

Sept. 10. Same daughter wants to return a purchase she made, so I give her a ride, and on the way we stop, again, at Fred Meyer, this time mostly for a gas fill-up on the car (using a 40 cents/gallon discount), but also go inside for peaches/nectarines, on sale at 88 cents/lb. I bought 12 nectarines for $5.22.

So far, I've spent $166.50. I'm thinking that I need to find money in the budget to add to my current grocery allotment. I may raise October's grocery budget to $175 or $180.

Sept. 22. We're doing okay for the month. I'm almost out of fresh produce and milk, but otherwise okay. I'm out for a meeting, so decide to stop by Fred Meyer to pick up my freebies, as well as milk and bananas. I bought 14 bananas, at 49 cents/lb, and 2 half-gallons of whole milk. There is a sign that indicates a buy 1/get 1 free deal on the milk, so I'm thinking not too bad. when I got up to the cash register I discovered that the milk deal is actually buy 1 at 49 cents, get 1 free!!! (49 cents/gallon for milk.) I also bought 2 6-packs of cinnamon raisin English muffins on markdown, and my 2 freebies -- a tea latte in a bottle, and a shelf stable single serve meal (a pasta and chicken thing). I spent $4.81 cents. The milk deal was so great that I went back in and bought 10 more half-gallons, for a total of $2.45. my 2 trips through the checkout came to $7.26.

Total spent for the month -- $173.76

Sept. 23.  I thought I would be done for the month, but we were short on produce and one of my daughters expressed a serious interest in getting more, so we stopped at WinCo (I had a bag in the car so 6 cents was deducted from my total). I bought 1 46 oz jar of unsweetened applesauce for $1.98, 72-ct package of corn tortillas for $2.18, 1 package of bologna for 98 cents (daughter's request), some kool-aid packets at 10 cents each (daughter's request), 2 packs of top ramen for 18 cents each (again, daughter's request), 1/3 lb of baking cocoa for $2.38/lb, 1 1/3 lbs of bran for bran muffins, at 43 cents/lb, 1.36 lbs of raisins, at $1.79/lb, 1 large cucumber for 58 cents, 7 black plums at 78 cents/lb, 2 heads of Romaine lettuce at $1.48 each, and 1 quart of soymilk for $1.18. As it turned out, my daughter wanted more than just produce. Ha ha! Spending-wise we did okay. This is a cash-only place, so I knew I was limited to how much I could buy. I spent $15.97.

Total spent for the month -- $189.73

I started the month with a budget of $150, plus $45.64 in surplus from previous months, bringing me to a total of $195.64 to spend for the month. I have just $5.91 leftover. I will have to increase our grocery budget. I will try $175 for October and see how we do.

What I bought

Produce
52 bananas
10 lbs frozen peas
1 qt. frozen cranberry juice concentrate
10 lbs carrots
3 #10 cans of crushed tomatoes
3 heads of Romaine lettuce
head of cauliflower
4 lbs strawberries
22 apples
3 large jars of applesauce
1 lb mushrooms
12 nectarines
1.36 lbs raisins
1 cucumber
7 plums

Meat
3 packages hot dogs
single-serve chicken/pasta meal (freebie)
1 package bologna

Dairy
5-lbs shredded mozzarella
38 ounces of tofu
10  1/2 gallons milk
15 dozen eggs
3/4 gallon of soymilk

Pantry
12-ct hoagie rolls
12.5 lbs popcorn
13 oz chili powder
47 servings of stuffing mix
#10 can refried beans
1 gallon mayonnaise
114 ounces of ketchup
4 lbs whole wheat pasta
5 jars peanut butter
meal replacement bar (freebie)
candy bar (freebie)
7 loaves of whole wheat bread
3 packages flour tortillas
1 can decaf and 1 can regular coffee
2 packages English muffins
tea latte in a bottle (freebie)
72 corn tortillas
4 kool-aid packets
2 packages top ramen soup noodles
1/3 lb baking cocoa
1  1/3 lb bran

I learn a lot from looking over my lists for the months. For one thing, I can look back and see how much of something I bought as a stock-up amount. But also, I can see where I may be able to trim a little, or where we really did okay.

For this next month, we are out of oil and almost out of sugar. I don't know if I will buy the institutional size packages of these items. I'm not baking as much as I used to, so this size might be too much for our family, for now. In addition to those two items, I will need produce, peanut butter, coffee and tea. I'll also be stocking up on any great deals, such as raw nuts. Last fall, I bought a year's supply of whole, raw almonds. I keep them in the freezer and only pull out a couple of cups at a time. Coffee goes on sale in the fall, too. So when I find the large cans at their annual low price I'll buy close to a year's supply of that, as well. Time to fill the pantry, I guess.

I hope your spending kept you within your budget. Have a great day!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for a glorious last week of September

Thursday's chicken
using this technique to cut a whole roasted chicken into individual servings

The weather has been very nice here, this week. I mentioned earlier that I spent a few hours at the beach on Saturday, just enjoying the quiet beauty of an autumn day. Then yesterday was so warm that I had the back door open for several hours.

Over the weekend -- I have a hard time remembering what we ate, as I'm not doing the weekend cooking. I do remember a cookout on Sunday, put together by one daughter. We had hot dogs, homemade buns, pasta salad, green salad, deviled eggs and s'mores.

Monday -- frittata topped with basil, Parmesan, sliced tomatoes, garlic, along with garlic toast and leftover pasta salad

Tuesday -- casserole made from leftovers, tossed green salad, pickles

Wednesday -- turkey breast (cooked, frozen), gravy (frozen), cranberry sauce, green beans, cornbread stuffing, pickles

Thursday -- rosemary roasted chicken, applesauce muffins (I had 2 empty jars from applesauce to rinse out, totaling about 1/3 cup of applesauce), acorn squash (from the garden), green peas

Tonight -- we'll have leftover roasted chicken with vegetable fried rice for a simple dinner


It was a week of heat and eat, and from scratch but humble meals. And although the weather said "summer," most of these meals felt like fall. I suspect the weather will feel more fall-like later next week.

I'm working on using foods from the freezer, like the cooked turkey breast and gravy, whole chicken, and frozen vegetables. It will soon be time to stuff my freezer with holiday specials. We're near the end of the month, so I'll be finishing up my grocery tally soon. I did get an amazing deal on milk this month, really amazing. So I also have containers of milk clogging up space in my freezer right now. But those should be used within the next 3 weeks.

How was your week? Anything special on the menu? Have a wonderful weekend!

Does anybody buy pen refills anymore?

This came up in conversation a week ago, about how we'd buy refills for our retractable ink pens and reuse the mechanical part of the pen.

I have a very specific pen that I like. The ink flows smoothly and dries very quickly. This makes for very fast writing for me. I can write my notes faster with a smooth-flowing pen, and I don't smear the page, as the ink dries so fast. I've gone through a couple of 5-packs of these pens in the last year, spending about $7 per package, or $1.40 per pen. The other day, knowing that my last of these pens was running low on ink, I thought to check for refills on Amazon. Sure enough, this pen that I use has multi-packs of refills for a substantial savings per pen. I ordered a 12-pack of refills for $10.55, or 88 cents each refill. That's about 40% off the price of a new, whole pen.

It just got me to thinking that we have become so accustomed to treating our everyday products as disposables, when some of them can be reused, refurbished, or refilled. Anyway, I slipped a refill into one of my used pens and I'm back in business. Less waste, lower cost -- that sounds good to me.

By the way, several brands of pens do make refills. If you have a favorite pen, check Amazon or Office Depot to see if refills would save you money, too.

Many cooks in the house lead to leftover-waste

With several cooks in the house these days we seem to have more leftovers that go unused.  A cup of rice here, some soup there -- foods get put into containers with good intentions, then the original cook never eats them.

There was a time when I prepared every food that went into my family members' mouths. If I made rice and had leftovers, I made a mental note to use that leftover rice in the next day or two. Now, I'm not the only one making rice, or soup, or pancakes. Someone else's mental note does not get added to my mental list. What's the "head" cook to do?

I started with cleaning out the kitchen fridge. One of our issues was the large one-gallon jugs of condiments for refilling smaller containers were being left in the kitchen fridge. My usual place for these containers is the garage fridge. These large jugs can block the view of other foods. I'll just have to remind others to return the large jars to the garage fridge after refilling small containers. Another issue was opaque shopping bags used as wrapping for leftovers. While this is very thrifty to use a shopping bag, the opaqueness was contributing to overlooked leftovers. I found 2 and 1/2 pancakes wrapped in a tan shopping bag. I also found the brand new, but open, package of bologna in another, similar bag. I put both of these leftover items into see-through containers, and I labeled the lunch meat for use or freeze by date. My plan is to keep sticky notes and a Sharpie by the fridge, so that other family members can label their items, and either the opening date or a use by date.

It wasn't a lot of waste, but it was enough to be a wake-up call for me to encourage all family members to be responsible for the foods that they cook, and either consume them or freeze in a timely manner. I was able to use enough of the leftovers, along with frozen leftovers, to make a tasty casserole for Tuesday's dinner, which in the end was a time-saver for me. Nonetheless, I need to find some solutions to this "new" issue, now that there are so many cooks in the house. For breakfasts and lunches, we all seem to want something different, creating a lot of leftovers for the fridge.

Any suggestions?

From my late September garden

My vegetable garden was not terribly productive this year. However, I am finding a few things to bring in, anyway.

Two lovely orange pumpkins
These are pie pumpkins and will be cooked up later next month.

It's time to cut rosemary for flavored vinegar and drying for seasoning. I'll be baking rosemary bread in the next couple of months, too.

The basil is gorgeous. This is one plant and it looks like a bush. I've been using it as I can. But also, I have cut quite a bit for freezing. We love tomato-basil soup on a cold winter day.

Minced basil, along with garden tomatoes, was used to top a frittata for last night's dinner. Yum!

My weekend

We had such a beautiful weekend, here, in Seattle. As usual, one daughter came with me on errands. We made a detour to the beach for a couple of hours and sat in the sunshine, talked, walked along the shoreline collecting shells, and enjoyed the peace of an autumn day at the beach. Summer days at the beach are filled with lively families; but autumn days are quiet. Even the families who were also there on Saturday were quietly enjoying the sand and water.

The tide was very low which makes finding shells in good condition a lot easier. We also saw the largest jelly fish that we've ever spotted in Puget Sound waters. In addition, this particular beach seems to be a good spot for watching the harbor seals. It never fails that while we are there, we can watch at least one harbor seal bobbing through the water.

Sunday was equally peaceful and filled with sunshine. My daughters put together a cookout for the family in the evening. After dinner we made s'mores, but not with marshmallows. We used circus peanut candy instead (it's what we had). Circus peanuts are a semi-dried marshmallow. They actually do puff and soften when roasted over a fire, just not as much as a regular marshmallow. The resulting s'more is very tasty, although not at all gooey.

And today the rain is back. It's also the first day of classes for my daughters. One daughter is a part time student, primarily focusing on her senior project, which is an art show in the spring. The other daughter is completing her requirements for the other half of her major field -- education. She's taking a couple of classes and student teaching this year. And speaking of said daughter, she overslept a bit, and now I'm driving her to the transit center. I hope you all had a lovely weekend and that your week is off to a great beginning. Be back tomorrow!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers when the house feels cold!

Over the weekend we had rice and garbanzo beans, cooked carrots, chicken and cheese burritos and frozen peas.

Monday--
I had simmered the carcass of a roasted chicken last week, and frozen the broth and scraps of meat for making soup. Monday was just the kind of day where soup would be appreciated -- the skies were dark, it looked like rain could begin at any moment, and the house did not warm much at all (63 F was the warmest it got in the main areas of the house).  The menu for Monday -- chicken soup to go with leftovers from my volunteer work over the weekend (tea sandwiches, potato chips, cookies and fruit).

Tuesday--
Tuesday I roasted my last whole turkey. Roasting the turkey is a decision that no only affects the menu, but also impacts the household heat. The Friday before, I checked the weather forecasts and it looked to be rainy and cool this week. I had no idea how chilly it would feel in the house, though, so I was very appreciative of something so large that needed a long cooking period. Dinner on Tuesday was roasted turkey, gravy, cornbread stuffing, frozen green beans, cranberry sauce from last week.

Wednesday--
With a roasted turkey this week, Wednesday would be a good day for easy leftover cooking. There was cooked rice in the fridge, from the weekend, turkey, gravy and cranberry sauce from the night before, and frozen peas done in the microwave to round out the meal. With the turkey carcass, at this point I had pulled enough meat off of some of the bones to start a crockpot of broth overnight, with leg, thigh, and wing bones. This will reduce my work on the main turkey stock-making day, on Friday, and maybe the rest of the turkey bones will actually fit in my small-ish crockpot, and cook overnight Friday into Saturday.

Thursday--
I forgot to use up the cranberry sauce yesterday, so that's a priority to use up. Lots of leftover turkey, and a bit of gravy. I made stock overnight, so I will make a bit more gravy with a cup of it. The rest of dinner will sound a bit odd, but it works, and uses leftovers. So, Thursday dinner menu -- turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, potato chips, steamed carrots, tossed salad that included lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and cooked green beans. It was all good, even it the combo sounds strange.

I baked bread today, which helped warm the kitchen in the late afternoon, opening the oven door to release all of the heat after baking.

Friday--
I have the rest of the turkey carcass to cook up today. I think that I'll use whatever meat I can remove from it in a turkey curry, or a Moroccan wrap, using spices to help hide the heavy flavors of dark meat poultry.

What was on your menu this past week?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!