Once again it is the middle of the week and actually getting very close to the middle of the month. That is only 8 days away!!!! Must work a bit harder on my projects. Some are at least started, and should not take long to complete.
Got notification today about our electric and gas bills. Both rose one by just a few dollars the other by quite a bit more. I will be working on trying to lower both of those. Probably in a few ways that Harvey just may not like. I have a feeling the water bill will be higher as well since Kurt and Kris were home washing their clothes and having showers.
We have lots of chicken breasts, pork chops and surprisingly pork roasts. Low on whole chickens for roasting, ground meat, beef roasts and no hams at all. I will be watching for sales on those as well as chicken wings, chicken thighs and hot dogs. All the while trying to lower the number of what we have a great deal of.
Part of my frugal plans for this year is making more from scratch and not purchasing already prepared items like frozen fries, hash browns, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, pie crust, crackers and other such items. My yogurt maker can be used to make a soft cheese so I hope to be able to try that out as well.
Costs keep rising and with the way things are in the world this just makes sense to me.
Today I made two bags of hash browns for our freezer. I only used 5 potatoes of the ones we have stored downstairs, but if it turns out we like them I will make more.
They are kind of in chunks but I was told in the directions I found they will come apart once you start cooking them. Thank heavens for food processors, as I don't think I would try this manually.
This summer my ice cream maker will come out and I will be making my own ice cream once again, something I have been lax about doing.
What ways are you going to get your frugal on this year?
Everybody have a wonderful evening.
God bless.
We haven't purchased any of the items you mention in several years and I don't remember ever buying pie crust. We make our own as much as possible and always have. It's far healthier not to be consuming all the preservatives they put into store bought foods.
ReplyDeleteChicken and pork are they cheaper meats around here.
ReplyDeleteI love homemade ice cream and make it pretty regularly during the summer. Probably more like ice milk - but still yummy.
I don't have a food processor. In fact the only equipment I have is a crockpot and a rice cooker. Perhaps rethink what I could purchase to make cooking easier and more efficient.
ReplyDeleteDear Jackie, I hope that your water bill won't be too much higher, dear friend. Thank you so much for sharing your posts, your ideas are always good and welcome.
ReplyDeleteI can relate about the water bill. That has been my focus for several years. It still creeps up and up no matter what i do. It would take awhile to write out what we do but i persevere. Our electric has been about the same for the past few months. They raise the rates but we use less so it stays the same. Next month may be different. We put the heat up ONE degree on a day when we were cold. ack!
ReplyDeleteAs for food, we are pretty well stocked. My intent is to spend as little as possible while maintaining a decent pantry. I want to save a set amount every month so i may have to get creative. My husband does not like too much change. So, i have to make it look and feel painless. I canceled a part of my insurance which should save a small bit. It’s actually cheaper to pay more out of pocket than pay the insurance AND the differences. We’re discussing going to one car and getting a rental when we travel. (We own both.) Which isn’t often. We also discovered that our income is considered low income. We had no clue. We thought we were closer to the middle. Tells you what we know!
Same here Jackie. Eating down as much as I can. I am trying to stay out of the stores as much as possible
ReplyDeleteI’m with Cheryl, chicken and pork are the cheaper meats here too. I picked up a small ham on markdown today. We also have a lot of canned chicken in the pantry to make meals with. I’ll definitely be eating at home this year like last year to be as frugal as possible.
ReplyDeleteI've never made hash browns before Jackie so I will be interested to see how yours cook up. I don't own a food processor either. Our power bills & our rates accounts have gone up drastically over here too. I don't know how folk in town manage, when they have to pay for water to keep their gardens alive. Thankfully we have a bore so our water is free. xx
ReplyDeleteIt's more of the same here, hubby is not so keen on 'my mad ideas' so he does hold me back a bit, bit it's his life as well, so we mix our habits.
ReplyDeleteI'm using up some frozen items from the garden last year. Cleaning out the freezer, ready for new produce.
ReplyDelete