Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 After two lovely sun shine days, we are back to clouds and today involved rain. It was well below freezing when I got up this morning, and the temperature has only risen slightly.

It really would have been a lovely day to do some batch cooking, but of course I was not prepared for that, and I really need to clear more out of the fridge freezer and the other freezers before even contemplating that. Perhaps closer to the end of the month or in early December when I am busy baking as well. 

I did all the mending today, fixed one of my nightgowns, a pair of pajama bottoms for Kurt, and hemmed a pair of jeans that Harvey has been bugging me to do. I really do not like hemming jeans at all, I need a much stronger machine to do them correctly. But all is done and the sewing paraphernalia is all put away.

The leftover chicken has been pulled out of the fridge freezer earlier, and I will be making those chicken taco's and clearing more items out of the fridge and freezer. I hope to save a bit of chicken to use in the jambalaya in a couple of days. Probably will have to hide it on Harvey or he might just be eating on it. 

The second laundry basket has been brought up from the basement and cleaned. I should be able to start putting Kurt's and Kris's gift baskets together. 

Took the day off from doing any extra cleaning and will do that tomorrow when I have a shorter list of regular tasks to complete. 

No weaving or embroidery done today. In fact no project work at all so far. Lack of sun makes some things a bit harder to work on. I will do some knitting tonight, so at least some crafting will be taking place. 

The main challenge for next year has been worked on and pretty much decided. Of course I will still be decluttering and trying for no spend/low spend days, but my main challenge for the rest of this year and into next year will be "Every Little Bit Counts". 

I already save skins and peelings for veggie broth, as well as bits of leftover meat, and veggies for soups. I am sure I can extend this to saving small amounts of rice, gravy, drippings from the roasts, pasta, and spices. Little bits added together can and do have the ability to make an entire new meal. 

However I am not limiting this challenge to only food. I will be doing the same with yarn, fabric and other craft supplies. I have so much in those areas and I plan on making the most of what I have. 

I am also going to try and do even more surveys if possible and gather gift cards. Pretty sure I almost have enough in those to purchase my DVD player and not have to pay much at all. 

Told Harvey I am going to purchase books for my ereader for Christmas from him. I usually get the free ones, but now I am thinking that I can get some of the novels from authors I enjoy that cost a bit more. I had planned on purchasing a few and building up my points there as well. Free is good, but points are even better. 

Off to figure out how to make the chicken tacos without the usual mix... How much water do I add and do I add tomato paste to the mix?

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Oh and if I did not post on your blogs yesterday, it was because all I got was gobbledy gook when I clicked on your blog. I will try again today.

Menu Monday

 

Today I begin using up a few items from my fridge and fridge freezer (along with some items from the chest and upright freezers downstairs). 

It is also where I am going to try and stretch a few items meat wise to see how that goes over with carnivore husband. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Monday

I am going to cut up and fry some garlic ring and serve it with the last bag of homemade perogies. There is a bit of salad that Harvey can have and I will cut up a cucumber for myself.

Tuesday

I am going to use some of the leftover chicken and make some taco meat out of it. There is lettuce, onion, cheese, small cherry tomatoes, and sour cream that can be used to make wraps with the tortilla's I have in the fridge.

Wednesday

I have a block of soup from the chest freezer and will pair that with some egg salad sandwiches (get to use up some of the green onions in this). 

Thursday 

Jambalaya will be made but only using the shrimp from the freezer and perhaps a small amount of leftover chicken.

Friday

There is lots of canned tuna in the pantry, so I plan on making a tuna casserole. Once again I will cut up some cukes to serve along side, or I could make some brussels sprouts instead.

Saturday

Smoked sausages, pasta, and green beans.

Sunday

Roast pork, mashed potatoes, and I am going to try mashed carrots and turnip mixed together.

This is a start to cleaning out a few items that need using in at least the freezers. 

I will also need to use up the dried cherries in the fridge. Perhaps another loaf of quick bread. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Slowly But Surely

 

So far this month is moving along nicely. I am managing to declutter a few things, get some of the smaller projects done and even get work done on those bigger projects (not that they are anywhere near finished). 

I have stocked up on meat, the budget last month was so-so, but I am hoping that this month is much better (even after another good sale on meat). I did not get as many no spend days as I would have liked, but so far this month things are looking up. When we go to Mass tomorrow, I will fill the car. Prices surprisingly dropped by almost 20 cents a liter. Sure glad I waited and did not fill on Tuesday. 

Harvey fixed the hole in the wall from his plumbing work, and we even had some of the paint leftover from our painting a few years ago. I was a bit worried we would need to buy another colour and told Harvey we would go a darker brown and call it our feature wall. Dodged a bullet or should I say an unexpected expense.

I am finding new soup in a jar recipes, stretching our meat consumption, and finding lots of new ways to save on food. Prices are still going up here and now that it is getting closer to winter fresh veggies will skyrocket in price not to mention the cost of fruit. 

The coffee pot may be on it's last legs, but we do have a spare when this one quits. So I won't have to run out and purchase another one right away. We must have our coffee in the mornings!!!

By using up items, I find it much easier to clean the house. I can move around more freely and reach spots that were previously difficult. Some areas, like under the beds (dust bunnies that are probably the size of a cat by now) and the bathroom, are still challenging, but I’m making progress. It’s amazing what can be accomplished in just 15 minutes.

Loving the fact that I am staying home much more, though I should make a trip out to see my sister before the weather makes travel a bit difficult. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

 Thrifty and Frugal

I don't know what is going on with my computer right now. I seem to be having some strange things come up and finding my Blog took a bit of work. Hopefully this is just a minor glitch that will clear up shortly. 

So what frugal and thrifty items have I been up to this week. Pretty much just the usual frugal past times but I have been finding new recipes to try, and new mixes to add to the various gifts in a jar, and some new spice and herb mixes I want to make. 

A couple of the projects for this month have been crossed off. I have managed to get all Kurt's old clothing cut up and ready to be used for quilting. I also pulled all the zippers out to be used in fashioning more clothing or should I say different clothing. 

There could be a few new challenges for next year, I am just putting the final ideas together. They will also be adding to my thrifty and frugal practices. 

I have pulled out a few more items that need using up from the chest freezer. I am getting those older items used up and I can see an end to the older items happening very soon. 

Remembered to save water while waiting for it to warm up and am using it to water the plants. 

Watching free shows on CBC Gem, and Pluto. I have also watched a couple of movies on YouTube. Not my favorite way of watching but free is always good.

Using any extra leftover dinner meals for our lunches.

Baked my own hamburger buns today as well as a loaf of bread. 

Printed out free monthly calendar pages to use for menu plans.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

I must have been very tired due to staying up a tiny bit too late last night as I slept an extra two hours. This put me behind by two hours, and I haven't caught up as of yet. 

Still I am slowly getting the household tasks completed, but ironing and mending will have to wait until tomorrow. Shopping took another 2 hours of my time, searching out deals, and cringing as I paid the bills. I did hold off purchasing fuel today as we still have 1/4 tank and I am hoping the price drops even a tiny bit. 

More meat was bought today, I now am pretty sure that we are good in that manner for months. With the addition of a few more meatless meals (but high protein meals), I know we can stretch things out. I believe the only meat I will need to purchase now is the occasional package of sandwich meat, and closer to Christmas and New Years a turkey and ham. 

Once home from shopping and all groceries scanned into my Neilson scanner, it was time to portion up the meat I had purchased. I had bought 2 pork loins and one was cut into 2 large roasts, the other I sliced 10 pork chops, about a pound of pork cubes and another pound of pork strips. Bought a package of two large chickens and they were separated into two bags. Some mild Italian sausages were purchased and those were bagged in 2 small freezer bags to use on homemade pizza. I purchased 4 pork cutlets on sale and separated those into two freezer bags. Lastly I bought a kilogram of hot dogs which gave us enough for three bags for three meals. Then I needed a rest. 

During my rest I cut apart more of the clothing eldest brought home. Now I know that I have under estimated how long that project will take. I thought two days, but I still have a small pile to get through. Knowing this, pretty sure the ironing of the fabric for strips and the cutting of those will take a bit longer than the one day I had planned. Getting really bad at figuring out how long something will take.

My back was slightly sore when I finished the shopping and portioning out, but not as badly as other shopping trips. I am hoping this is because I am getting a bit used to the change in the weather. Still it isn't that cold out yet and the snow has not really started. 

Hubby made his doctor's appointment. It will be an over the phone one and he wants me to listen in, just in case he misses something Doctor N says. His hearing isn't the best and she speaks pretty softly. That will take place closer to the end of the month. 

Found two unused laundry baskets downstairs, and I think that I will clean those up and use those on the DS's gifts as the baskets. I need to shop more at home than I do.

That is all the news from around here. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 Wow, a whole new month. We also have colder weather coming and I have loads of projects that need to be done before Christmas arrives. So I will be using ready meals that I made before, and quick/easy meals that I have made numerous times before. 

Monday

Butter Chicken, rice and carrots.

Tuesday

The small bag of leftover roast beef in the fridge freezer, along with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. Probably make gravy to go along with this meal.

Wednesday

Cabbage rolls, green beans.

Thursday

Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Friday

Fish fillets from the fridge freezer, fries from the fridge freezer and peas.

Saturday

The last two smoked hamburgers along with hashbrowns, and baked beans.

Sunday

Roast Chicken, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and roasted rutabaga or perhaps parsnips. 

This will clear a little out of the fridge and chest freezer. Each week I am going to try and use things up and get ready for more soup making and batch cooking come the end of this month. I also need the room for baking those treats for Christmas.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Questions

 

Life is slowing down slightly, but raising more questions. First though I thought I should perhaps say that while I was upset with Michael's being a bit of a mess when I visited this time, I tried to remember that when shipments come in they are sometimes hard to get put away before the customers arrive. Also, while I would love a Hobby Lobby, Canada does not have that store. We used to have a Lewiscraft, but that closed down when Michael's arrived. 

Walmart used to have a large fabric and craft area, but that has closed as well. I have been searching for online stores and for small independent shops but there are very few in my area. The search will continue though.

Now I have a question for all of you. There are rumblings on various social media that the war with Iran will be getting much worse. That the United States is moving towards a major attack and that we should start preparing by stocking food and water, perhaps even medicines. The U.K. and Europe are doing so at speed. 

Now I do stock up for bad weather in the winter. Heck I will admit I try to stay stocked up at all times in case of shortages (like we had during our flooding a few years back and the Covid situation), but never out of fear of a coming war. I know there are lots of fearmongers out in the online world, but when the governments of countries are saying stock up that is something totally different. 

Years ago my government stated that we should have supplies for three days, which I am pretty sure most Canadians already have. 

I have also heard from various Bloggers that they have been getting comments like you can stock up, but if they, themselves have need of it they will just take it. Will be become like animals preying on each other if worse comes to worse? Will there be no humanity left in the world?

What if anything have any of you heard.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. Don't let my questions and ramblings get to you.

God bless.