Sometimes, saving money isn't the thing that motivates me to make changes

Do you know why I'm drinking way more water and way less coffee these days? Here's a shocker, it isn't to save money!

One day, I looked in the mirror and noticed this skin hanging down on my neck. Yep! I think I'm developing "turkey neck". Where did this come from? It really just crept up on me. Anyways, I am downing the water and nixing the post-morning coffee. Because water can help your skin's appearance to improve if you're on the dehydrated side. Hey, I'm willing to give water a try. It's monumentally cheaper than a neck-lift.

But, I'm not buying bottled water. I understand that not everyone has decent tap water, readily available. And if that's the case, I'm not knocking your choice to drink bottled water. But for me, we have good-tasting tap water in our area. And the price can't be beat. We pay less than half a cent for a gallon of water, here. If you triple that, to account for wastewater fees, it's still just 1  1/2 cents per gallon, or less than a 10th of a cent for an 8 ounce glass.

I do use a filter for our drinking water. It's installed in the fridge. I replace these every 9 months, at a cost of about $25 a replacement. That works out to $2.77 per month, or about 9 cents per day. We are all drinking a lot of this filtered water -- including myself, perhaps as much as 15 glasses per day, on average. So, dividing the cost of the filter by the water consumed (in glasses), each 8 ounce glass of water costs about a half-cent to filter. Our "complete" cost of drinking our filtered tap water, then is still under a penny per 8 ounces. In comparison, Wal-Mart sells Aquafina bottled water in a 32-pack of 16.9 oz bottles for $13, or 2.4 cents per OUNCE. That's 19.2 cents per 8 ounce portion, roughly 20 times what it costs to drink filtered, tap water from home. Oh wow! That's ridiculous!

Do you know what's really mind-boggling for me? During the recent recession, bottled water consumption did NOT drop off significantly (the figure is about a 3% cutback in bottled water consumption for the years of 2008-2009). And it's not surprising that Americans drink the most bottled water of any country in the world.

I used to think it was a sort of status-y thing, to be seen carrying around your bottled water, like carrying around that Starbuck's cup. Now I just think it's a mindless consumer thing.

So, I may be improving the appearance of my skin. And I'm certainly helping my body and not hurting it, by drinking more water and less coffee. As a bonus, I'm saving money, as tap water is way cheaper than coffee. Time to go fill up my glass!

Because really good food starts with. Really. Good. Food

I top-dressed the strawberry beds last week. This was the most sickly of
 the beds. I'm hoping the top-dressing will help in the rejuvenation process.

Do you remember the first really amazing strawberry you ever tasted? I remember mine. It was picked directly from the garden. I couldn't believe that this delicious, sweet, flavorful berry was related to those other things I'd always bought at the supermarket.

Being frugal with the grocery budget isn't just about buying the cheapest foods available. It's about obtaining the best foods possible within one's budget. Many of us do things like keep a garden or make our own soup stock from bones. These activities not only save us money, but they yield really delicious foods. Berries that taste like berries were meant to taste. And chicken stock that tastes just like chicken stock is supposed to taste.

We sometimes find ourselves fooled by the manufacturers, fooled into thinking "they" know what chicken stock is supposed to taste like, or the cheese sauce on boxed mac and cheese is how cheese should taste. And then we make something from scratch and wonder why ours doesn't taste like the manufacturer's version. Why doesn't grape candy taste anything like grapes? Why does strawberry jello only remotely taste like strawberries? Why does canned chicken-noodle soup taste more like salty broth than chicken?

I began growing a garden to save money and make sure we were eating enough healthy foods. What I found was that freshly harvested vegetables and fruits taste amazing. And to take this even further, I discovered that fresh apples, purchased or homegrown, taste way better than apple, fruit-flavored snacks.

I'm an accidental foodie, you could say. I didn't set out to prefer really fresh produce, or scratch-baked breads and treats. I set out to save money on groceries. I just discovered, somewhere along the way, that these foods taste really good.

Do you remember the homemade ice cream I made with my surplus of whipping cream, back in December? I had made a quart of chocolate ice cream, to save for my daughters's birthday in the freezer, over winter. This was some of THE best chocolate ice cream that I have ever tasted, made with real whipping cream, whole milk, real vanilla extract, cocoa powder and sugar. It was a bargain to make, and turned out to be as good as any "premium" ice cream available to purchase.

Because I have a small grocery budget, I need to dedicate almost all of my budget to really good, whole foods. I don't sweat that organics and free-range are not in my budget. I buy the very best foods available that do fit into my budget.

And as I am able, I go to the effort and work to keep a large garden. Why? Because really good food begins with really.good.food.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the first week of April

(no photos this week. My camera is on loan to a daughter who is taking a photography class this quarter. I'm happy to loan it to her. We've agreed to share it for the time being.)

Friday

French bread pizza, on a loaf of homemade French bread from the freezer, with green peppers and black olives for toppings (made extra pizza/pasta sauce for Saturday and for the freezer)
Frozen green beans
Toffee Bars

Saturday

Meatloaf (made double and froze half)
Polenta squares
Leftover pasta/pizza sauce
Kale sauteed in ham fat
Rhubarb-blackberry pie

Sunday

Black beans, rice, peppers and canned tomatoes
Carrot sticks and dip
Tortilla chips and salsa

Monday

Black bean burgers, topped with 1000 Island dressing
Sweet potato oven fries
Cabbage, carrot and kale slaw

Tuesday

Ham and bean soup from freezer
Pumpkin muffins
Carrot and celery sticks

Wednesday

Black beans and rice from freezer ( had it in the crockpot to warm while I worked outside all afternoon)
Strawberry, rhubarb and orange gelatin salad (using orange juice, orange zest, cream cheese, frozen strawberries and fresh cut rhubarb, stewed)
Pumpkin souffle (from frozen pumpkin)

Thursday

Cream of kale soup (made Wednesday while I made dinner, using 2 baked potatoes from the fridge, a large bunch of garden kale, ham fat, ham stock, some onion, shallots, garlic, nutmeg, flour to thicken, salt and only about 1 cup of milk so I can have some if I take a pill)
Leftover gelatin salad
Leftover pumpkin muffins

Another easy dinner, so I can work outside all day.

So I bought this handy-dandy tool in November, which I am really finding useful. It's one of those stick blenders that you can put into a pot of soup and whirl away to puree. I really wanted one for years, but thought I wouldn't use it enough to make it worthwhile. As it turns out, it's one of my favorite tools now. It's easier to clean than a stand blender, and far easier to use for pureeing soups. The blending part detaches from the motor part. I can quickly wash the blending part, and set to dry on the counter before putting in a cupboard for storage. The motor part stores in the drawer with my hand-mixer. I still use the stand mixer, and the food processor for other foods. The stick blender didn't replace those two, but gave me an easier option specifically for pureed soups, sauces, and gravy that turned out lumpy. I used it on Wednesday, when I made Thursday's soup. When I think of all the times I made pureed soup before, and had to wait for it to cool enough to pour into the blender or food processor, puree, then pour back into the pot to reheat -- the stick blender is such a time saver. I bought it on sale, and used it as part of my minimum spend to get a deal on a turkey, just before Thanksgiving. I am hoping it will continue to work well for many years.

Favorite food this week -- I think the gelatin salad was a big hit. I cut some fresh rhubarb and was looking for a way to use it that seemed new to us. I came across a recipe for rhubarb and strawberry jello, that also used orange juice and orange zest. I didn't follow this recipe, but it gave me a springboard for adapting my creamy rhubarb jello salad. Quite delicious, and it used up some shriveling frozen strawberries from last year's garden.

What was your favorite meal this past week? Do you have a favorite kitchen tool that you think is worth the expense and space to own?

The gigantic oil jug became a pantry storage container

I buy cooking oil in these 35-lb jugs, at the restaurant supply. One jug lasts about 9-10 months. They come packaged in an outer cardboard box. In the past, I've tossed the cardboard and the plastic jug into the recycling bin.

Last week, I had one of those "silly me" moments, "why haven't I used these jugs for storage before now?" At the very least, they would make good surplus rain water storage, or a large container for storing compost tea, both for the garden.

And I then I thought of all of the foods that I buy in large sacks that make the pantry look untidy. I recently bought a 50-lb sack of brown rice. Hmmmm

side by side with a 1-gallon vinegar jug, to give you an idea of the size

So I cleaned out the jug with hot soapy water and white vinegar. Several rinses later and it felt clean-enough inside. I allowed it to air dry for a day and then filled it up.

About 30 lbs of long-grain rice fit inside, and now my brown rice looks neat, tidy and is in an airtight storage container.

I can hardly wait for my new oil jug to be used up and empty!

I am working my frugal muscles, these days. I had a coupon for Storables for 20% off any purchase. I had thought to go there and buy a container or two for the pantry. This one was free! I may still use that coupon for shelving for the pantry. But at least I saved on the container.

My April shopping plans for groceries, household and garden items

We are pretty well-stocked in almost all consumables these days. It's a good feeling to not need very much. But there are a few items I'll be shopping for this month. Here's my list.

Fred Meyer

This Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at Fred Meyer, private label groceries, health & beauty,  plus gardening supplies, plus kitchen & household items are included.

I've almost used my box of fruit and vegetable fertilizer while working the beds for the season. So, I'll need one more box of that. And I need some potting soil, which will also receive the senior discount.

I'm needing lightbulbs. I will pick up a 4-pack of LED bulbs at Fred Meyer, using the discount. Fred Meyer has many of their GE lightbulbs on sale at 25% off this week, including LED's. I can combine the sale price with my senior discount, making LEDs very affordable. (A 4-pack of 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs is on sale for $19.99, and 40 watt equivalent LED bulbs for $16.86. I'll save 10% for my senior discount on those 4-packs, meaning the 60 watt equivalents will cost me $4.50 each, and 40 watt equivalents, $3.80 each bulb.)

While at Fred Meyer, they have Kroger vitamins/minerals on sale, buy 1 get 1 free. I'll pick up more calcium chews and multi-vitamins with iron, using the discount.

Also, I am almost out of decaf coffee. I have a coupon for Fred Meyer brand ground coffee. I can stack that coupon with the senior discount, and pick up one can.

Milk is on sale, Fred Meyer brand 1/2 gals 99 cents, this week, limit 6 w/coupon (this coupon also includes half-gals of oj, which my daughters like to take to class with them, and I pour into 8 oz. bottles -- far cheaper and healthier than buying soda in the machines). I can stack the in-ad coupon with the senior discount.

I went through the coupons which are loadable to my card, and in addition to a couple of free items, I found a bar-soap coupon. (Kroger brand, so will also get the senior discount) and an anti-perspirant coupon. (Not store brand, so only the sale plus coupon, but one family member specifically requested a stronger deodorant than what I normally buy at Dollar Tree, so I'll pick this one up.) I'll compare the prices to Dollar Tree's comparable products, once at the store.

On top of these deals, I have 1 catalina coupon for $2.50 off any purchase, and 1 mailed coupon for $1 off anything bought in the nutrition center aisles. (The brand of iron supplements that I take are found in the nutrition center, so I will get the senior discount, the sale price and the $1 off coupon on that.)


So, maybe you'll find this humorous -- since I started using the senior discount last spring, I've been getting an interesting selection of catalina coupons at the register, funniest being the one last month for adult diapers. I think they're making quite an assumption, here!

Cash & Carry

I'll keep a watch on Cash & Carry for sales on cheese (both Cheddar and Mozzarella), and laundry detergent. They have a bathroom tissue I bought last time, on the same sale, 48 rolls for $15.49. This particular tissue lasted us about 3  1/2 months, which is pretty good. So we'll go with the same.

Produce and bulk bin items from the ethnic market, Trader Joe's and WinCo

And I need produce. I'll go by the ethnic market, first, as their prices are lowest for a lot of produce. I am thinking I will find more apples for 49 cents per pound, and green peppers for 3/$1. Then sometime in the month, I'll go back to WinCo (making a stop by Trader Joe's en route for bananas), for carrots, other produce on sale, and pick up bulk bin items like raisins, dates, and sunflower seeds. WinCo's prices on bulk bin items was better than Fred Meyer's regular price plus senior discount, for the most part. When I was last at WinCo, I forgot to check for bulk bin cocoa powder, and compare prices to Trader Joe's cocoa powder (lowest price in town for cocoa powder, in my area).

Our garden is beginning to produce. We have rhubarb, now, and some leafy greens. We are still a couple of months away from strawberries and blueberries. But having home-grown berries make one very picky when it comes to buying grocery-store berries. I will wait until our garden gives us berries for my fix.

Dollar Tree

I'm now just making 1 stop per month at Dollar Tree. Just this little change in shopping really curbs my spending. I did a thorough cleaning of the bathroom cabinet last month. I found we had a plentiful supply of deodorant, toothpaste, floss, shampoo and conditioner, band-aids, sunscreen and lotion. But I will pick up more bar soap (if I don't find what I need at Fred Meyer), both for laundry soap and showering, toothbrushes and razors. My last bottle of liquid dishwashing detergent has such a perfume-y scent, too perfume-y for dishes. So, I've been adding it to the laundry soap. If Dollar Tree has the lemon-scented liquid dishwashing detergent, I'll pick up a bottle of that. As a laundry detergent, the perfume-y one is working great.

My brother has a birthday in early May, as well as Mother's Day. DT has greeting cards for 50 cents each. I'll go through my selection of cards at home, first. Then if I don't have something I want to use, on hand, I'll pick up cards for those occasions, this month.

In the food section, I will probably buy 1 box of crackers, to have with a cream cheese and herb spread some weekend day in April, and 2 quarts of soy or almond milk.


With exception to always needing milk, I am pretty well-stocked in groceries, for the time being. I'd like to use up some of the freezer stash and make room for spring and summer garden produce. Although I have a substantial surplus in grocery money right now, I may not need any of it for April.

Just a little info for you -- I find making out these shopping lists very helpful for me. By making out a list that covers all of the stores I frequent, and over the course of a month, I find I am much more thorough in my planning for the month. Back in the day when I didn't make out these comprehensive lists, I would find mid-month that, "oh, we're out of lightbulbs. Better run to the store." Then the next week, " oh we're out of dish detergent, better go to Dollar Tree again." You get the idea, right? By making a master shopping plan for the month, I can make sure I take advantage of any deals, special discounts, coupons, and lowest prices in town, and not have to back-track to all of the different stores because I didn't plan very thoroughly. Time and money-saver. So, basically, by having you guys here, reading along with my thoughts, you are all helping me to plan better! Big thank you, to you all!

When to cut tulips from the garden

There's a just-right point to cut tulips in the garden, in order to get maximum enjoyment indoors. I find that if I wait too long, my tulips will be spent within a couple of days of bringing indoors.

These tulips, right here, are right where I like to cut them. The buds are tightly closed, having never opened. If I cut them at this point, bring them in and pop into a vase of water, overnight, they become "perfect" barely-bloomed tulips, like the below photo.

With recutting the stems and changing the water, every day to every other day, they will be beautiful for an entire week. And yes, with tulips, I do cut the leaves with the stems, and submerge in the water, leaves and stems, all. It gives the bunch a fuller look, I think. And as tulips will only last, once cut, for about a week, anyway, I don't feel I'm shortening their "life" in the water any.

With each water change, I also give the tulips a pinch of floral preservative. If you don't have any floral preservative, there's a recipe for homemade preservative/food in this post.

Happy April, everyone! I hope you have tulips in your area now, or very soon!

Look what was in the free pile at Kohl's!

Okay, just a joke. No real "free" pile outside the doors at Kohl's. but you know how many garage sales have free piles? I was joking with my daughters about the free pile at Kohl's last week.

I had a $10 coupon in my stack of mail waiting for me when I returned from my trip. Luckily for me, it hadn't expired.

So off I went to Kohl's, coupon in hand. And going into the store I looked down and spied 2 pennies on the floor. Of course, I stooped to pick those 2 cents up. You never know when you're going to need 2 more cents, right?!

I wandered the home section of the store, looking for good deals. There are these knobs/hooks that I like. I picked up one of them a few months ago, on sale and with a $10 off coupon. But I knew I wanted another to make a pair of hooks on the wall. And this must be lucky day, as they were on sale, again!

I picked up one, price-checked it on the price checker machine, and found I needed to spend about another dollar to use the full $10 off coupon. In checking all of the clearance items, I found a bath bomb for 60 cents. This will make a great gift. Then I found a couple of gift bags, one for Mother's day and another for Christmas. Double great!

So i took my purchases to the cash register. After the gal rang them up, the total came to . . . you guessed it! 2 cents! I reached into my pocket and pulled out those 2 pennies. In and out the door with no money spent. The Kohl's free pile.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers beginning with an Easter ham

the bench on my front porch

Sunday lunch (we did our Easter family meal at lunch and scrambled for ourselves for dinner that night)

Baked ham
Homemade dinner rolls, using an overnight, refrigerator roll dough recipe
Marinated asparagus salad, with deiced roasted red peppers and celery (the only food item I bought especially for Easter was the asparagus)
Carrot sticks and celery sticks w/ bottled creamy Italian salad dressing (clearance rack) for a dip
Deviled eggs, olives, watermelon pickles
Pretzels and crackers w/ cream cheese, Craisin, pecan spread
Apple slices
Pecan pie
Rhubarb pie

Monday

Baked potatoes, topped w/
Sauteed kale, onions, ham dices, and smothered in
Cheddar cheese sauce
Steamed carrot chunks
Choice of leftover pie

Tuesday

Potato, egg, cheese, ham, kale and onion casserole, (made Monday as I made that night's dinner)
Fruit salad of bananas, apples, dried cranberries and almond slices
Last of the leftover pie

Wednesday

Ham and bean soup
Dinner rolls (using last of the refrigerator roll dough)
Cabbage, carrot and kale slaw
Rhubarb-blackberry sauce

Thursday

Kale and onion baked frittata
Oven-roasted sweet potato chunks
Brown rice with peas
Toffee bars

Just a short week this week. I didn't record the various menus from last week. Although I recall a batch of chicken enchiladas on evening, an easy rice bake another evening, and a ramen soup, made with 2 Cup of Noodles, some beaten eggs, frozen peas, shredded cabbage, onion powder, garlic powder and soy sauce made in minutes when we walked in the door returning from our trip. It was about 8 PM and my husband hadn't eaten yet. So, I made a pot of soup for the 4 of us and called it dinner.

When I make ham stock, I roast the bone first, then simmer in water. roasting improves the overall flavor. With this ham bone, I actually roasted and simmered it twice. After the first time, I picked off as much meat as possible. But a fair amount of fat remained attached to the bone. So I roasted it again, refrigerated overnight, and simmered in water the next day. I didn't get any more meat the second roasting/simmering. But I was able to make some pretty decent stock with the second round. And it rendered just enough fat to leave in the roasting pan for my oven-roasted sweet potatoes on Thursday evening. The second batch of ham stock is now in the freezer to use as a soup base for the next pot of bean soup.

Since returning from my trip, I've been trying to cook double batches as much as possible. My instinct is to cook just enough for one meal at a time. So this is mental work to overcome that instinct. But the end result is worth it, as I am gaining additional afternoon work time, on almost half of my days, for gardening. And now I have a few extra main dishes in the freezer to pull out on very busy nights. You may have noticed, Tuesday's casserole used very similar ingredients to Monday's main dish. I have baked extra potatoes, and sauteed extra kale, onion and ham. For the casserole, I sliced up some of the baked potatoes, and layered with the kale, onion and ham mixture. Then I poured milk and eggs over the top and some grated cheese. It was very hearty.

Tell me, what was on your menu this past week? Did you do an Easter ham, or do you have other Easter menu traditions at your house? We had pie for dessert on Easter. Does your family have a traditional Easter dessert?

March 2016 grocery spending journal

March 1 It's Senior discount day at Fred Meyer. I felt really prepared, my list made, coupons in my purse, calculator with me. But the shopping didn't feel like it was going right. You know? How some days it just feels like all is going as planned? This wasn't one of them! I think I let myself get bothered by rising grocery prices on a few items. And that just put a wet blanket on my happy shopping day! LOL!

Anyway, I did buy some necessary items, using my senior discount, and coupons. Again with the canned corn, I had another coupon to use, plus my discount, 6 cans at 44 cents each, a large box of powdered milk (great for smoothies) for $7.55,  a little over 2 pounds of raw sunflower seeds, at $2.24/lb (almost twice the price that I paid in the fall, but still way cheaper than tree nuts, for snacking), 1/2 lb of oat bran for $1.43/lb, almost a 1/3 of a pound of raw, whole almonds at $5.84/lb (I had intended to buy more almonds than that, but I bought the very, very last of the whole almonds), a couple of tablespoons of celery seeds for 45 cents, 1 gallon of whole milk for $2.33, and my free (with download coupon) individual container of plain, Greek yogurt. Also, not a food item, but for our vegetable garden, I bought 1 package of vegetable and tomato garden fertilizer for $4.91. Total spent on food, $25.15

I've been using the celery seeds to add to soups and sauces, for celery flavor, as whole celery has been kind of expensive this year.

Not food, I also bought acetaminophen, ibuprophen,vitamin C, some summer flowering bulbs, all with my senior discount combined with a couple of coupons, and buy one get one free offers.

I watched the cash register like a hawk today. One of my coupons didn't scan, and that was taken care of at the register. Then on the way out the door, I was checking my receipt, and found several items which should have received the senior discount, which did not. I took my receipt to the service desk and got everything amended. It was a difference of about $5, so worth taking those minutes to read the receipt.

March 1 On the way home from Fred Meyer I stopped at Dollar Tree, for soy milk (2 qts), a bag of pretzels, 24 oz. spaghetti, 24 oz penne (both work out to about 66 cents/lb). The penne pasta was new at our Dollar Tree this time. So it will be a nice change of shape for us. Spent $5 on food items (but also bought 1 tube of toothpaste, 1 package of dental floss, 1 package of coffee filters and 1 bottle of shampoo).

Total spent for the month so far, $30.15.

March 8. Fred Meyer has milk on sale, 99cents/half-gallon. I buy 5 milks, and 1 orange juice (same price). Also buy 1 large eggplant (99cents), about 9 lbs of bulk polenta (on closeout for 59cents/lb), almost 3 lbs of sunflower seeds (dry-roasted and salted, $1.39/lb), 1-lb package of breakfast sausage, on markdown for $1.49, 6 packages of Lil Smokies, beef cocktail sausages, on markdown for 99 cents each (13 oz packages). I also got my free (with download coupon) Lindt truffle candy egg. Total spent $23.52

March 8. While out running errands, I also stopped by Imran's (local ethnic market) for produce. I bought 21 small Pink Lady apples (49cents/lb), 10 bananas (49cents/lb), 3 green bell peppers (3/99cents), and 1 package, 72 ct, corn tortillas for $2.49. Spent $8.23 (I paid 12 cents more for the corn tortillas than I could have at Cash & Carry. I was remembering the price incorrectly, and I was hungry when shopping. Hard to make a good food decision when I'm hungry. But on the up side, at Fred Meyer, the polenta was 16 cents per pound cheaper than if I'd bought a 25-lb sack at Cash & Carry. So I came out $1.37 ahead on the polenta.)

Total spent for the month so far, $61.90

March 10. I had to make a return at Fred Meyer, so I went into the food section, and snagged a few deals. I bought another 5 half-gallons of whole milk, a 1 half-gallon of orange juice (limit 6 total, w/coupon), for 99cents each. I bought another large eggplant for 99 cents. I also bought 2 quarts of lite mayo for $1.49 each, a bottle of creamy Italian salad dressing for 49cents, and 2 small bottles of chipotle mayonnaise for 59 cents each. I picked up 3 packets of seeds for the vegetable garden, at buy2 get one free (spinach, Romano beans and snow peas). Total spent today, $15.56

Total spent for the month, so far, $77.46

March 11. Cash & Carry for all-purpose flour (I have a birthday cake to bake!!). Fortunately, one of the brands is on sale, $11.99 for 50-lbs. I also pick up 1 gallon of lemon juice on sale ($4.39) and 3 heads of green cabbage ($1.25 each). The cabbage are riced per head, not per pound, so I choose the heaviest-feeling ones. I've had the cashiers weigh them for me in the past, and they weigh right around 3 lbs each. So, I"m figuring they cost about 42 cents/lb. The lemon juice is on sale, about $1 cheaper than usual. I don't need lemon juice right now, but the spare jug can stay in the pantry until my current container is empty. Total spent, $20.13

March 11. Trader Joe's is just down the street. I like their price on bananas and cocoa powder. I buy 14 bananas at 19 cents each (and they were very large bananas this week), and 1 9-oz. container of cocoa powder at $2.49. Spent $5.15

Total spent for the month so far, $102.74

March 13. Walgreen's is right next to St. Vincent de Paul's Thrift store (Sunday is/was 99cent day). I stopped into Walgreen's for jelly beans, on sale w/ coupon 50 cents for 7 oz bags, limit 4. I buy 4, and spend $2.

Total spent this month so far, $104.74

March 15. Running a bunch of errands today, so stopping in places to pick up food for our trip.

World Market -- Cost Plus, for hard salami, 8 oz for $3.99 (doesn't need refrigerating until opened).
Target (right next door) for sliced provolone cheese, $2.64 for about a half-pound, 10 oz of raisins, $1.99, 3 containers Cup Noodles, 29 cents each.
Fred Meyer, for 1 box of 4 servings of Cup of Soup, Cream of Chicken, $1.49, a little over a half-pound of raw almonds, for $5.99/lb, and my free item for the week -- a Marie Callender Chicken Pot Pie
Walgreen's for 4 more bags of jelly beans, at 50 cents each.
total spent on these errands -- $16.51

Spent for the month, so far -- $121.25

March 16. Dollar Tree for Sweet Potato fries, for my daughters's birthday dinner. I bought 2 bags, as my son's girlfriend will be coming over, and I wanted to make sure I'd have enough. One bag is a wee bit on the skimpy side when it's just the 5 of us. Spent $2 (and I really didn't buy anything else there today -- that's a first!)

Spent for the month, so far -- $123.25

March 20. China town, SF, bakery for 3 buns for our lunch, $2.80 spent

March 23. Fred Meyer for butter (6 lbs, $1.99 each w/ coupon), 6 half-gallons whole milk, 99 cents each, about 3 lbs yams (99 cents/lb). Spent $21.08

March 23. Target for eggs, 99 cents/dozen, bought 20 dozen. Spent $19.80

total spent for the month, so far --$166.93

March 24. WinCo -- not very convenient for me, but it was in the general area where I was running other errands. Thought I'd stop in and check their prices, especially looking for asapargus at a good price. I bought celery (1 bundle for 88 cents, I weighed it and it was about 1  1/3 lbs, so a good price per pound for celery for this year), 5 lbs of carrots for $2.28, 10 lb bag of potatoes for 98 cents, about 3 lbs of bananas for 48 cents/lb, 1/3 pound of wheat bran (for bran muffins) at 43 cents/lb, haf pound of steel cut oats for  62 cents/lb, a half-pound of raisins for $1.79/lb, and almost half-pound of date pieces for $2.14/lb. This was 1 full, large paper grocery sack plus the 10-lb sack of potatoes, for $8.28, total (asparagus $1.88/lb, more than I wanted to pay)

March 24. Almost home, stopped by Imran's ethnic market for produce. Bought 5  2/3 lbs of Pink Lady apples, at 49 cents/lb, 3 green peppers for $1, yams for 79 cents/lb and asparagus for $1.79/lb. Spent $7.14

total spent for the month, so far -- $182.35

March 29. Wanting to check Easter clearance, I went by Fred Meyer on my errands. In addition to a few things for Easter, I also found turkey bacon (12 oz packages), on markdown for $1.39. I bought 3. Plus, 2 gallons of skim milk marked down to $1.75, and some red tape bananas at 49 cents/lb. Total spent on groceries -- $8.41

Total spent for the month of March -- $190.76

My new monthly budget is $190.00 for groceries. So, I spent 76 cents more than the regular budget. However, I had a surplus coming into this month of $124.24, giving me a total budget of $314.24. So, going into April I once again have extra I could spend, if needed. My budget will be $313.48.

Included in March's grocery shopping were snacks and lunch fixings for my trip (and to leave at home with my husband), all food purchased on our trip, stocking up on eggs for spring, some asparagus for Easter, and a couple of items for a birthday dinner. Considering all that went on in March, I think we did pretty well on grocery spending.

I'm glad I checked out WinCo. I'll be going by there once per month, I think. Their bulk bin section is fantastic. Prices on many items that I like to buy from bulk bins at Fred Meyer, were lower at WinCo. As it's a further distance from home, I'll have to make sure I keep our supplies from there, well-stocked at home. In particular, the wheat bran, raisins, dates, sunflower seeds and almonds will be on my list regularly for WinCo.


What I bought this month

Dairy
32-oz box of instant nonfat dry milk
1 gallon of whole milk
16 half-gallons whole milk
2 gallons of skim milk
1  5.3 oz container of Greek yogurt (free item)
2 qts. soy milk
half-pound sliced Provolone cheese
6 lbs butter
20 dozen eggs

Meat
1 lb of breakfast sausage
6 13-oz packages of Lil Smokies beef sausages
8 oz hard salami
Individual chicken pot pie (freebie with download)
36 oz turkey bacon

Pantry
about 2 lbs of raw sunflower seeds
about 1/2 lb of oat bran
almost 1 pound of raw, whole almonds
a couple of tablespoons of celery seeds
24 oz spaghetti noodles
24 oz penne pasta
1 bag of pretzels (snacks for our trip)
about 9 lbs polenta
about 3 lbs of roasted, salted sunflower seeds (snacks for our trip)
Lindt truffle egg (free item)
72-ct corn tortillas
2 qts of lite mayonnaise
2 8-oz bottles of chipotle mayo
1 16-oz bottle of creamy Italian salad dressing
50 lbs all-purpose flour
9-oz container of cocoa powder
3  1/2 lbs. of jelly beans
3 containers Cup Noodles
4-serving box Cup of Soup
3 buns, 2 w/meat, 1 w/durian
1/3 lb. wheat bran
just over a pound of steel cut oats

Produce
6 cans of corn
2 half-gallons orange juice
2 eggplant
39 Pink Lady apples
37 bananas
6 green bell peppers
1 gallon lemon juice
3 heads of green cabbage
22 oz raisins
2 bags of frozen sweet potato fries
4  2/3 lbs yams
10 lbs potatoes
1 lb asparagus
1 bundle celery
5 lbs carrots
1/2 pound date pieces

Vegetable garden
1 package of vegetable garden fertilizer
vegetable seeds (Romano beans, snow peas, spinach)

Yes, I am back!!

Good morning, friends!

Spring break turned out to be an exhausting, painful, fun, adventurous, wet, delicious and laughter-filled 10 days!

The painful part, (and maybe some of you have experience to share with this), the first day of our trip to San Francisco I did something to my leg/hip/groin. I noticed it in the airport when we deplaned and were walking towards the BART. I thought it was just a cramp that would go away in a few minutes. But it took several days to improve. Whenever I'd sit or lie down for any length of time, the pain would be back when I started walking again. Then the pain would ease with walking. By the end of the trip, the pain was mostly gone. And I thought it was a thing of the past. A few days after returning (a full week after the first inkling of pain), I took a bad step on uneven flooring in an antique shop, and all of the pain returned. Again to dwindle over the course of a few days. Then on Monday, I was squatting in the garden planting lettuce seedlings, and the pain was back. So, I'm trying to be mindful of this pain, and gentle my way through the days. Has this happened to any of you? In googling groin pain/strain, it doesn't look like there's much to do about it, except rest/ice/compression. Advil helps.

Onto much better parts of my spring break!

Okay, I'll get to the adventurous part. My son and his girlfriend went to Shanghai over spring break. My son's girlfriend is a university student, graduating this spring, so she still lives by the university schedule, meaning her vacation time is limited to breaks between quarters.. She's originally from Shanghai and she wanted my son to meet her family and see where she's from. My son is an adventurer. He is up for all kinds of travel. The two of them flew non-stop, 13 hours to get there. They stayed a little over a week, and flew about 11 hours, non-stop to get back home the morning before Easter. Wow! They had some adventure. Looking through their photos, they saw so many sights in Shanghai.

While my son was in China, my two daughters and I had our own adventure. We spent 3 whole days and 2 partial days in San Francisco. 4 nights of hotel stay was all we could afford, so we jammed in as much as we could in the mornings, days and evenings. Even with pain in my hip, we walked all over the city, up and down hills, along the waterfront, in neighborhoods and parks, through a posh district or two, as well as after dark in a rather shady part of town (this is where I grabbed my two daughters's hands, and whispered, "quick let's get out of here", as we practically flew ourselves back to a well-lit, well-traveled street). That evening was the only time I felt even remotely unsafe in the city.

What we saw--

We spent a day in the Legion of Honor art museum (and saw Rodin's The Thinker, Monet's Waterlilies, Raphael's Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn, as well as scores of other European paintings and sculptures. At one point, one daughter even said, "Rembrandt, is that THE Rembrandt?" This was exciting for them to see actual works from the great masters of Europe.)

The day that we visited the Legion of Honor, we brought a picnic lunch with us of hard salami and cheese sandwiches, apples and oranges, pretzels, cookies and water. We sat in the park-like setting on a bench, overlooking the entrance to the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. You can't get much more scenic in SF than that!

Our fee to get into the museum was very reasonable, a whopping total of $16 for the 3 of us. We were able to get a $2 discount on each ticket, by showing a transfer from the muni bus we took to get there, stacked with a student rate for 2, by showing student ID for my daughters. The Muni (SF's city bus system) was also reasonable, at $2.25 one-way, per person, for the 30-minute journey out to the museum.

typical selection of "appetizers" every evening -- this particular evening there
was French bread, artichoke dip, fresh fruit, a variety of cheeses
 and an almond tea cake -- enough for the 3 of us to call a light dinner

Later that evening, after a light dinner, we walked the hills of different neighborhoods out to the top of Lombard Street, then walked down the zig-zagging street to the base. A lot of folks like to drive down Lombard, but I think the best way to see this famous venue is to start at the top and walk down the steps, then at the intersection at the base, look back up to the flower-filled beds which are centered on this street's zigs and zags.

at the gate to Chinatown

The next morning, we walked to Chinatown. There's a fortune cookie factory, where you can watch the ladies folding fortune cookies. It's on one of the alley-streets parallel to Grant Ave (the main drag in Chinatown). I also took my daughters to see how the locals buy super-fresh fish, by scooping live fish out of a tank of water. My son and I had seen that several years back, and it stuck in my mind at how different shopping can be in different cultures. Chinatown was the only place in all of San Francisco that we bought food. We walked into a bakery and bought 3 buns for lunch, for a grand total of $2.80. That's it for our eating out in all of that city.

on the cable cars

We also rode the cable cars, walked along the waterfront, saw the old ferry terminal and Ghirardelli Square (free chocolate samples in both Ghirardelli shops in GS), went to the theater, climbed Nob Hill, walked to Union Square (another Ghirardelli shop giving out free samples, plus a super large Williams-Sonoma caught me eye).

the Painted Ladies in the background

On our last morning, we took a vote on how to spend those last precious hours. taking the Muni out to Alamo Square, the park which overlooks the Painted Ladies (Queen Anne Victorian row houses, seen in the background to the credits of the television series Full House).

The three of us enjoy walking, so this was a great way for us to really see the city. The few times we needed to travel a great distance, we took the BART (to/from airport), the Muni (city buses, took 2 round trips) and the cable cars (one-way, inbound, just a few blocks up from the waterfront, no line for the Powell-Mason line, whereas down at the waterfront there was a 30 minute line for the Powell-Hyde line). Muni is very reasonably priced ($2.25 most destinations in the city, in contrast to the cable cars at $7 per person), and well-worth the ride through the various neighborhoods.

Our hotel was at the base of Nob Hill, near Union Square. It was a boutique hotel, an old apartment building converted to a small hotel. It wasn't the cheapest place to stay in the city, but it was a far cry from the posh hotels in town.What sold me on this particular hotel were the amenities.

just part of my breakfast the first morning

Each room had a mini-fridge, stocked with complimentary bottled water and soda pop. The fridge alone was fantastic, for stocking lunch ingredients. But to have the free beverages was a bonus. There was a complimentary hot breakfast every morning, fresh apples and oranges in the fruit bowl all day, fresh-baked cookies in the afternoon in the lobby, coffee, tea and cocoa available in the sitting area all day, and an evening reception of wine and appetizers. As my daughters and I are not drinkers, we used the appetizers as our light dinner each night. The appetizer selection was quite good each day, with fruit, veggies, dips, spreads, cheese, little quiches, crackers, bread, and always a sweet treat. If we felt hungry later in the evening, we still had a stash of foods in our room, which we had packed with us.

Which brings me to. . .

what we packed with us

a whole hard salami (I had to borrow a knife from the hotel to slice each day, next time, I'd pre-slcie the salami)
1 loaf of home baked French bread, sliced
1 package of sliced Provolone cheese
exactly 3 oz of peanut butter, which traveled in my ziploc "liquids bag" on the plane
Cup of Noodles
Cup of Soup packets
crackers
pretzels
peanuts
sunflower seeds
raisins
jelly beans
home baked gingersnap cookies

The three of us only had 1 backpack each, which we carried onto the plane. Yet, by dividing up all of the food, we were able to carry all of the above with us. We used most of this for our lunches, daily, as well as snacks whenever hungry. As I mentioned before, by bringing some of our food with us, and by taking full advantage of the offerings at our hotel, we kept our eating out spending to $2.80, for 3 people for almost 5 days.

We had an awesome all-girls trip, with much giggling, fun window shopping, lots of sight-seeing, and more walking than I do in a month at home.


I hope you all had a happy Easter!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Mid-March

my favorite food this week, a modified Eggplant Parmesan on Tuesday

Friday

Fry bread, topped with
Hummus (I was out of parsley, so I used frozen chopped dill instead, still quite yummy)
Ratatouille
Cole slaw

Saturday

Leftover hummus on Dollar Tree crackers
Lil Smokies in BBQ sauce
Fruit salad
Cole Slaw
Leftover plum pie

Sunday (power was out for about 5 hours. I can light the gas cook-top with a match for cooking, but the kitchen was getting dark, so simple dinner it was)

Maple-pecan pancakes and syrup

Monday

Sloppy Joe's on homemade buns
Sauteed cabbage, in reserved sausage fat, with a bit of onion powder sprinkled over, and about 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds, cooked till still bright green
Pumpkin souffle

Tuesday

Eggplant Parmesan (more of an eggplant/spaghetti squash/tomato gratin)
Herbed pasta (basil, thyme, olive oil, butter, garlic powder, onion powder and Parmesan cheese on penne)
Frozen peas

Wednesday

Chicken enchiladas
Spanish rice
Canned corn, with chunks of canned tomatoes, in about 1/4 cup of leftover enchilada sauce

Thursday (birthday dinner)

Hamburgers on homemade buns (baked on Monday)
Sweet potato fries (from Dollar Tree)
Frozen green beans
Birthday cake and homemade ice cream (made in December with whipping cream about to expire)


So, am I the only one who didn't make corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day? With a birthday that falls on the holiday, we usually do something other than SPD foods.

I have to tell you about the modified Eggplant Parmesan. First of all, there wasn't any Parmesan in it. I used mixed pizza blend cheese. I also added 1 small spaghetti squash from last summer's garden, seeds scooped out, peeled and sliced, added as a layer in between two layers of eggplant. I don't bread the eggplant, but saute the peeled slices in a bit of sausage fat, then sprinkle each layer with seasoned bread crumbs and a small amount of cheese.. I didn't have any pasta sauce handy, so I used the tail end of a large can of tomatoes, cooked down with the juices and some seasonings added (herbs, garlic powder and onion powder). It was really good! And the house smelled divine while I was cooking.

What was the yummiest thing you made this week?

Just a heads-up, I'll be scaling back on blogging for next week, maybe just checking in once or twice. My daughters have spring break through Monday after Easter, and I want to snatch as much time with them as possible.  We'll use a small bit of that time in our trip to SF, and then hang around the house, go vintaging, hit the beach with a picnic if the weather is nice, and prepare for Easter.

Have a great weekend!

A day for celebration!

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I hope everyone has on their green, today!

In our house, today is my daughter's 21st birthday. I can scarcely believe that it has been that long since they were born. But time does pass, doesn't it?

This is finals week for the girls. One has a final today, and the other has a job interview. Gone are the days when life around them stood still so they could bask in the sunshine of being the center of attention. We shall celebrate when they come home this evening.

I've got a cake, thawing, that I baked last week. And a bowl of frosting all mixed up waiting to spread between the layers and on top. It's a vanilla cake with cherry filling and fudge frosting.

For our family dinner, tonight, we'll have homemade burgers, sweet potato fries (Dollar Tree), green beans and the cake plus homemade ice cream (made in December with whipping cream nearing the expiration date).

I wanted to show you something I made yesterday.


As this is a cause for celebration, I wanted to do something special with the cards and envelopes. Something that they might just hold on to. When I was at Jo Ann's Fabrics in February,

I saw these pretty velum papers in with the scrapbooking supplies. I thought how lovely they'd be as envelopes. And really not at all difficult to do.

I used an expendable envelope as the pattern. I slit the seams, with a table knife, of that envelope, so I could trace around it onto the velum.

I then cut the velum on my trace lines, and folded the 4 flaps into place.

It was a matter of using a glue stick to seal the flaps into an envelope.

To go with each envelope I used sheets of scrapbook paper for the cards.

They turned out sweet and only took about an hour from start to finish for the both.

Velum envelopes make a lovely holder for cards, invitations, or seeds from your garden to gift. And yet, they're not that difficult to do.

Just thought I'd share.

Have a happy St. Patrick's Day!

Needing a few new clothing pieces to take on a trip

Okay, so I don't NEED these new pieces. But I sure wanted something new-to-me to take to San Francisco, and for around town, here.

This past Sunday was our local St. Vincent de Paul's very last 99cent Sunday, where all clothing is priced at 99 cents per piece. So disappointed that this is going away.

Anyway, I did go on Sunday, and found 4 new tops for myself, for yes, you got it, 99 cents each, for a whopping total of $4.34! So, yes, I wanted some new clothes to take on my trip. But I didn't want them bad-enough to pay mall prices, or even clearance mall prices.

This is what I found, that fit well, was flattering and in my taste.

1 gold, 3/4 sleeve, silky blouse.

1 black, long-sleeve, flowing tunic

1 black, sleeveless, Eddie Bauer sweater

1 black, lace-front, Ann Taylor, long-sleeve tee

All of these pieces are been-in-the-bag overnight, and in need of laundering. FYI. The black is indeed, very black (lighting made the black look navy).  The lace-front tee is a little boxy, and I'll be nipping in the sides a bit. Otherwise, a launder-job and my new clothes are good to go!

What do you do with "leftover" flour from kneading and rolling out dough?

A friend asked me what I do with the leftover flour on the counter, after rolling out or kneading dough.

I told her that since I usually clean the counter before working dough on it, that I usually assume the flour is clean enough to go back into the flour bin.

Yesterday, I was making burger buns, and over-estimated how much flour I would need to work the dough on the counter. (My head is in a fog, from the changing of the clocks. I'm having a hard time focusing, period.)

Usually I'm pretty close in my estimation of flour needed. Not so, yesterday. And my dough was on the sticky side, so there were bits of dough in the leftover flour. Not something I wanted to scoop back into the bin.

Well, on the menu last night were sloppy joe's. I usually add about a tablespoon of flour to the beef-veggie filling for SJ's. When I scraped the flour on the counter into a pile, it came to about a tablespoon. So, for yesterday, I was able to just scoop that counter flour into the SJ filling as it cooked. Nothing wasted. I know, 1 tablespoon of flour won't save me a fortune. But I could not have allowed myself to just throw that out, now could I?!

If I add up all of the little bits of money saved, sometimes just fractions of a cent, I know that over a lifetime it will amount to something. It's like picking up pennies. If you pick up 1 penny per day, in a year's time, you have found $3.65. In 5 year's time, you've picked up $18.25. In 20 years, that one penny per day, either found or saved, will amount to $73.00. In the next 20 years, if you add one penny-saving bit of work to your agenda each day, you will have $73 more to spend, save, invest or give. I think that's worth it.


What would you have done? Do you save the counter flour from working dough? How do you usually use that flour?

Easy Rice and Spinach Bake

This is a great, frugal supper recipe, using leftover cooked rice, eggs, cheese, frozen spinach and milk. While nice and easy for supper, this also makes a good brunch dish.

The veggies could be switched up, using broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, or green beans. (If using fresh, raw veggies, steam them briefly in the microwave before adding to the other ingredients.) Fresh spinach can be used, if steamed and drained before adding. For fresh spinach, begin with about 1 pound leaves. Chop then steam.

The cheese could be increased up to 2 cups, if your family likes more cheese. And the topping could be grated cheese, in place of a crumb topping, especially helpful if you're following a gluten-free diet.

The black olives can be left out, or something like water chestnuts, canned mushrooms, or pimento can be substituted. You can also add cooked meat, for an even heartier dish (about 1 cup diced cooked meat, such as ham, sausage, turkey or chicken).

Be creative! Think of this recipe as a guideline for how much of each basic ingredient to use, and how long to bake it.

To make 4 hearty servings or 5 to 6 side-dish servings:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 small onion, diced
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded Mozzarella, Provolone and/or Cheddar cheese (I use a pizza blend cheese)
2  1/2 cups cooled, cooked rice
1/2 of a 10-oz package of frozen, chopped spinach, thawed, liquid pressed out (about 3/4 to 1 cup packed, once thawed and drained)
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1 teaspoon each freshly chopped parsley, thyme and/or basil leaves
salt (about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) and dash black pepper

bread crumb topping:

1 teaspoon butter and 1 small slice of bread, ground into crumbs

Melt butter in small skillet and toast the bread crumbs in the melted butter for about 3 minutes, over Medium flame.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and 8-inch by 8-inch square casserole dish.

In a small skillet, over Medium-High, saute diced onions with 2 tablespoons butter, just until soft.

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Stir in milk, cheese, cooked rice. Add spinach, olives and seasonings.

Pour into prepared casserole dish, and top with buttered bread crumbs. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, then cut into squares and serve.

This rice bake can be made in the morning or evening before, to just before topping with bread crumbs. Keep refrigerated. Then just before baking, top with the crumbs and bake. Allow an extra 5-8 minutes for baking from refrigerator temperature.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for early March

Friday

Rosemary-garlic pork roast
Brown rice
Frozen peas
Leftover blackberry-apple pie

Saturday

Spinach-onion quiche (from the freezer)
Mashed potatoes (from the freezer), topped with sausage-chicken gravy (drippings from roasting chicken and sausage, reserved after cooking and kept in freezer, turned into gravy on Saturday evening)
Frozen peas
Rhubarb-blackberry cobbler (using frozen rhubarb and frozen blackberries from last year's garden)

Sunday

Bean, cheese and avocado burritos, on homemade whole wheat tortillas
Roasted pumpkin
Canned corn with roasted red pepper strips
Homemade gingersnaps (from the freezer, from last month's baking)

Monday

Bean burger patties
Grilled onions
Oven-roasted pumpkin chunks
Brown rice topped with leftover gravy from Saturday's dinner (made extra brown rice to use in Wednesday's casserole)

Tuesday

French dip sandwiches (using this easy technique for turning ground beef into strips of beef), on homemade French rolls, with au jus (onions, sauteed in reserved beef fat, with water, soy sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, dried thyme, splash of herb vinegar, salt, black pepper and crushed celery seeds)
Veggie medley of frozen spinach, onions and canned tomato chunks (seasoned with garlic and herbs)
Banana slices

Wednesday

Easy rice and spinach bake (using leftover rice, eggs, milk, cheese and spinach, assembled in the AM, then baked just before serving)
Ratatouille
Pear Mousse (gelatin salad with pureed frozen pears, cream cheese and lemon jello)
Fresh-baked bread and butter

Thursday

Vegetable-beef soup (using leftover Au Jus and the drippings from the French dip baking sheet for the beef flavor, and barley, cooked garbanzo beans, canned tomatoes, frozen green beans, frozen peas and onions, garlic and herbs)
Kale frittata
Plum-blackberry pie (using frozen plums and blackberries from last summer)


My freezer is beginning to show signs of diminishing stock. I've tried to use something from the freezer's long term storage, everyday. Some days that only means reserved fat from cooking meat. Other days, I'm able to use some of the blackberries, rhubarb, pears, apples or plums that we picked last summer and froze.

I found a good deal on eggplant this past week, at 99 cents for pretty large eggplants. I'm a huge fan of ratatouille. It's long been one of my favorite vegetable combinations. I rarely have eggplant, here. And when I do, I'm torn between eggplant Parmesan and ratatouille. So, I bought 2 eggplant this week and will make both! 99 cents each, is about what I pay at the produce stand, so I believe that is a good price for my area.

You may also notice a few egg main entrees (quiche, frittata and the easy rice-spinach bake). I'm working on the supply of eggs I have stashed in the freezer, with hopes for finding some good egg sales just before Easter.

Again, not a lot of meat-based meals this week. One dinner with pork and one diner with beef. I know some families prefer much more meat than our family eats. But this is working for us, for the time being.

I have noticed something about my meal planning and prep. I tend to cook even more frugally, when I feel like other areas of our budget and income are being depleted quickly. Meals are the one area that I have confidence that I can control the spending. And yep, this is a comparatively "expensive" time for us. With the not so fun things like my husband needing costly dental work, our main car needing new tires all around, and the water heater on it's very last legs (to replace this summer, if it makes it that long), combined with some fun things, like a mini-trip to San Francisco and getting new French doors in our living room this spring, the stress of seeing the money go out so quickly makes me hold really tightly to the purse strings. When our furnace stopped coming on earlier this week, I about panicked, thinking we'd need another expensive repair or replacement on that, too. (Fortunately, it was just the thermostat needing new batteries. Phew!) Everything will be fine, financially. We've set aside money for all of the repairs, replacements, health stuff and the trip. So, nothing will set us back. It's just a feeling I get when I watch the money go out. And with the aging furnace (it's 20 years old), we've already begun a fund for it's replacement and are 2/3 the way there in it's funding. So, we're okay on that front, too, I think.

While all of this is going on, I am reminded of how unimportant all of this really is. A friend's father's health is failing. And all I can offer is prayer and an ear. It's such a painful, difficult time for my friend. Money matters always seem to work themselves out, and are not really that important in the grand scheme.

Just some calculations

As I was making lunches for today, I was thinking about just how much we save by always packing a lunch. I had to get my calculator out for this.

For my daughters, in university. . .

about 9 weeks per quarter
5 days per weeks
8 quarters completed, so far (tomorrow is the last day of classes for this quarter)

that's 360 days of packing lunches, so far.

Here's a sample lunch that my daughters take (it's actually breakfast and lunch, here, but for calculations, the lunch-only portion is listed):

a peanut butter sandwich (heavy on the peanut butter), on homemade, whole wheat bread
leftover spinach-rice casserole
1 apple
1 banana

I estimate that we spend at most, about 75 cents per lunch. Multiplied by 360 days. So far, we've spent $270 on lunches for each daughter while at their university.


If they were to eat in the dining hall, on campus, the cost is $9.25 for an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. The total cost to eat on campus for every day of classes, so far, would have been $3330! That's $3060 more than taking lunch with each of them, or $6120 for the both of them.

And if you look at the lunch that I packed, it's obvious that it was a quick and easy to make lunch, today. So not a lot of work for that $6120 in savings.

Sometimes, I just need to do these calculations to remind myself of just how valuable a little frugality can be.

Shoulder season bedding (or, how else can I use the "leftover" top sheets?)

It's so annoying that fitted sheets wear out twice as fast as the flat sheets. Yet, it can be difficult to even buy replacement fitted sheets, in some sizes. So, I'm left with lots of pillowcases and flat sheets.

I found a great use for the flat, flannel sheet to my Cal. King bed. In early fall, when the nighttime temperatures weren't cold enough for an extra blanket, but a bit chilly, with just the bedding from summer, I used the flat flannel sheet as a very lightweight blanket, on top of the smooth cotton sheet. Kind of the in-between just a sheet and a sheet plus blanket.

With a cotton quilt on top, it was just the right amount of warmth for me, so much so that I've done the same for our spring shoulder season. I really like that I'm getting more use from a sheet that was seeming useless, just sitting in the linen closet.

Remember those spring-flowering bulbs I potted?

I'm almost done planting them all out.

Here are most of the daffodils and tulips. It's a section under the cherry tree, where we had strawberry plants that never did very well. I think it was too shady for them. So I've pulled out the strawberry plants, and put an assortment of yellow and white daffodils, and the mixed Darwin hybrid tulips (Darwin hybrids naturalize in our area). This area of the garden is in view from the kitchen and family room windows.

I've also been working in an area in view of the driveway, breakfast room/nook, and walkway up to the house, planting yellow daffodils and grape hyacinth. Those pesky squirrels have been digging up the grape hyacinth, chewing on them a bit then moving on to the next. Fortunately, they leave the daffodils alone. I'm going to make up some red pepper spray to spray over the grape hyacinth. I'll need to spray near-daily, as it's very, very wet here this March.

About half of the pink, large Dutch hyacinth are in an area along the walk to the pond (where I had a few other pink hyacinth), and the other half I used in pots, (such as these in the photo below), on the deck.

Most of what I planted, I put in view of the house. Some springs, it is so rainy (like this year) that I have very little opportunity to get outside to see the flowers. So having the flowers in view of the house allows us to enjoy the blooms even when we can't be outdoors.

Buying all of these bulbs on clearance worked out very well for me. I was able to save 75% on all of the bulbs, pot them in early winter after Christmas when I had time, then move them outdoors as the weather became manageable for outdoor gardening. I will definitely be doing this again next year!

You know, I often just try something out, even when I don't know if it will work. Some times these experiments work out, and sometimes they don't. But I figure that I'll never know if something will work if I don't try. And now, for the future, I know that I can buy bulbs in late fall, plant in pots in the garage, then move them outside when the temps are not so freezing, to be planted in the ground without a huge rush. In all of my replanting, I only came across about 3 bulbs which rotted in the pots, out of 155 bulbs. That's pretty good, I think. I could have just as easily lost a few bulbs over winter, if directly planted in the ground in fall.


To give cover to the ground after the spring bulbs are done for the season, I've started some annuals from seeds, under grow lights, to take their place later in spring.

Candy Apple Salad

This is either a very healthy dessert, or a very decadent salad. Either way, it's yummy!

Dressing:

2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1  1/2 tablespoons Cool Whip or sweetened, whipped cream (I keep already whipped cream in mounds in the freezer. For something like this, I just cut however much I need from one of the frozen mounds. See this post.)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice


In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, Cool Whip or whipped cream, and lemon juice.

Salad:

1 large apple, skin on and chopped
1 large banana, sliced
8-10 whole dates, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup of almond slivers or slices, toasted very lightly, on a baking sheet, in 350 degree oven, until just barely golden
1/4 cup butterscotch baking chips


Add all of the above ingredients to the dressing and toss. Serve over lettuce leaves, or as is. Makes 4-5 servings.


Alterations:

If you don't have the Cool Whip or whipped cream, you can also substitute a tablespoon and half of vanilla yogurt, and leave out the lemon juice.

You can make this with 2 large apples, instead of 1 apple and 1 banana.

If using pre-chopped date pieces, use about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of date pieces.