View Full Version : February 2015 Frugals
A new month! We had a great dinner last night, simple, frugal and totally restaurant-worthy that I wanted to share.
Lemon-Parsley Pasta
6 oz uncooked pasta
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1.5 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon rind
salt & freshly grated black pepper
The instructions were basically to cook the pasta & then combine with the other ingredients. We used a 12-oz package of fresh fettuccine I had bought at the Winter Farmers' Market so DH doubled the sauce ingredients. I think the fresh pasta and the fresh parsley made it great, but it would probably be decent even with dry pasta and dried parsley.
Thanks for starting our new monthly thread, rosarugosa!
Lovely stay-at-home, frugal day yesterday. We baked cinnamon rolls, took the dogs for a long walk through our meadow in the deep snow (good way to tire them out!), ate popcorn made on the stove-top and drank hot chocolate from my homemade mix. Then stayed up way too late watching the last 3 episodes from season 5 of Downton Abbey. :D
Weather kept us in all day Saturday, and it may be the same for today with winter making a comeback after record-breaking high temperatures in the 70's. We'll have twice as much stuff to take to the recycling center next week, but we kept our cars clean and saved on gas.
I found a box of red Inca quinoa tucked away in the pantry and cooked the remaining 1/2-cup this morning to use for making a gluten-free quinoa pizza crust for tonight (http://www.firstforwomen.com/food/gluten-free-pepperoni-pizza#.VM41qmc5Aeg). I already have everything else for the toppings --- leftovers from last weeks meals. Pizza is a wonderful way to use up small amounts of meat and cheese, and to find a use for those veggies dying of neglect in the crisper drawer.
lessisbest
2-2-15, 10:59am
February is a "no shopping month" (other than groceries) so that always makes for a frugal month. I only "shop" every other month, so 6 months a year. The only shopping I did in January was when Big Lots had a 20% off everything in the store sale and I stocked up on several items I typically purchase there.
This morning I'm taking leftover beef broth from another meal and using it to make soup with the container of vegetables in the freezer where I stash those dabs of leftovers. I also baked a recipe of gluten-free cornbread and that freezes well and will last us several months.
Blackdog Lin
2-2-15, 9:46pm
It got cold and dreary, so haven't left the house in days, which saves gas and money and whatall. Perfectly content just staying in. And today's menu was the leftover Super Bowl party-platter plate, recycled into oven-baked sandwiches; and tomorrow's menu is leftover Saturday's stew oven-heated with biscuits on top. I'm trying to stay out of the grocery store.
My new frugal is that I made spreadable butter. The recipe I found calls for 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter and 1/3 cup of oil. I used olive oil. I used softened (room temp) butter and whipped the butter and the oil together. Worked out great and the taste committee approves :D
My non-frugal hasn't happened yet but since I had to buy some new (used) binoculars for birding, I will cut back on several expenditures this month(clothing/shoes/eating out) to cover that amount ($135) plus some. DH has a class tonight and had suggested eating out but I persuaded him to cook some lentil soup instead since he will get home before me. I will bring home some leftover fritatta from a work meeting to go with it. That saved us $15-20 right there since we normally just get some take out pho on a cold night like this.
Homemade pizza and homemade cinnamon rolls, courtesy of my dearly beloved. :D
Stayed at work late yesterday so that I could go straight to the gym. Saved on gas and got in a good workout.
I got a $1 raise and an increase of 5 hours a week.
I turned down a full-time job because of the above, I make more at part-time (25 hours a week) and have flexibility.
I got paid for some extra hours I worked last month.
Today we close on the re-fi and that will put $200 extra towards paying down my "stupid bill" and $100 extra will go toward the principle payment each month.
Congratulations, Float On! $300 a month to further your financial goals is something to celebrate!
I was going to take DH out to dinner Weds night after his MD appointment, but he didn't want to go out, so I was frugal in spite of myself. I've taken a five-day weekend 2/4 - 2/8, so less expense for travel, although keeping the house warmer while I'm home may offset any travel savings. Went out yesterday to pick up a book at the library, and that's the closest I've gotten to shopping.
A friend was here last night talking about how he is always broke, even though he does side jobs and has taken roommates, etc. He mentioned that he does eat out a lot, and he called in a take-out order while he was here. I mentioned that we only do take-out 3-4 times a year, and he said sometimes on Friday night making dinner is the last thing he wants to do. I said same here, but we do it anyway; it takes less time and energy to make grilled cheese sandwiches, for example, than to acquire a take-out meal. It isn't a matter of being judgmental (I was planning to spend money at a restaurant Wednesday), but we all make choices and live with the consequences, and there are definitely causal relationships between spending and wealth. It's crazy to not at least acknowledge them and be aware of the trade-offs we're making with these choices.
early morning
2-7-15, 10:52am
This will no be a frugal winter/spring for us, I fear - we have several major non-negotiable expenses looming. We also have several family members with poor health prognoses, and this impacts our discretionary time significantly. Having little time and not being in an upbeat mood has a direct effect on our willingness to DIY and cook from scratch. Of course we don't have time to spend much money, so I guess that's a positive consequence. Today we are meeting family including some in from the west coast for lunch. We will try to keep expenses down a little by sharing a pizza and not ordering soft drinks. Also we're piggybacking some errands since we'll be traveling about 45 miles each way. I hung a load of laundry in the house this morning. I'd been slacking a bit and using the dryer for a load here and there, but it seems to be on the fritz. Still taking lunch and coffee to work, and have cut way down on fancy coffees out. Fixed a pair of shoes, so they are back in the wear basket. I don't have many shoes for winter, so they were sorely missed. Recycled some old towels into rags, mended the binding on a perfectly good blanket. Little things, but they do add up.
I've finally gotten DH to load the refillable Keurig cups rather than buy the plastic ones. I've been doing that all along, but he finally saw an article that said how many billions of K-cups are thrown away, and they are NOT recyclable. But the kicker for him was the fact that K-cup coffee winds up costing you $50/lb.
Duh, haven't I been saying both of these things all along?? (well, I think I officially converted to the refillables only about a year or so ago after seeing the light.)
So, now he's sharing with me the non-GMO organic Costco coffee at $5.00/lb.
Oh, and I throw all the grounds in the compost--it's great stuff for the garden. I put a lot directly in the compost but save some to sprinkle around the blueberries and other acid-loving plants
Tussiemussies
2-7-15, 10:52pm
Just fyi...Eddie Bauer has some great winter clothing items on clearance. Just a thought for those who like to pick up next year's Christmas gifts when there is big savings...
Instead of our usual Sunday night run to Trader Joe's for bananas & bread (and invariably several other items), we decided to make bread in the bread machine and eat the blueberries this week that were gifted to us by my Mom. So that saves us about $30.00, and the blueberries are very delicious. :)
I mentioned that we only do take-out 3-4 times a year, and he said sometimes on Friday night making dinner is the last thing he wants to do. I said same here, but we do it anyway; it takes less time and energy to make grilled cheese sandwiches, for example, than to acquire a take-out meal.
That's how Friday nights became "Frozen Pizza Night" at our house. We stock up on decent pizzas on sale and Friday's dinner is solved. It's worked for some other nights when the temptation to get takeout was quite strong.
Frugals ...
... well, the dog hasn't been terribly frugal. We bought a used crate, so that saved some money. A lifetime dog license will save us the money and energy required to renew every year. We were told by the foster that the dog didn't play with toys, but we got a $2.49 toy at the pet store anyway, just to try and ... nothing. The dog does not know how to entertain herself. I suppose that will be a training issue. We're on our second small bag of dog food. The decent stuff is not cheap! And we've been buying it in the smallest packages available because it does not seem frugal to buy a big one if she won't eat it or if we need to tweak her diet one way or the other.
We've learned to go through our Chinook Book (kind of like those entertainment coupon books, but centered on sustainable products and services); it more than pays for itself every year if we're diligent about looking through it.
Filled my car for the first time since New Year's -- I don't like to go much below half-full in winter. At least this fuel was about a dollar a gallon less than the last tank.
Been using up more of what's in the fridge and freezer with soups, omelettes, and add-ins to other meals. Really sticking to the menu plan and purposefully looking for ways to use up what I know will be left over (like half a head of cauliflower).
Got my knives and garden tools sharpened at the place in town that does it for most of the restaurants; turned out they were having a sale on sharpening, so the bill was 20% lower than I expected.
Little wins.....
Steve: That's a good strategy with the frozen pizzas. Perhaps I'll suggest it, although with some folks there are always reasons why any frugal strategy won't work for them. Which is fine, but I'm not the one who was complaining about being broke.
We usually keep a couple of frozen pizzas for just that reason. We doctor them up with additional ingredients and that makes a big difference. But it's still much easier than cooking or going out.
Today was a no drive, no spend day. Made refried beans in the crockpot. Some went into the freezer and some were made into bean & cheese burritos for lunches this week. Have the baked oatmeal in the oven right now. So breakfast for the week is prepared.
Forgot to say that I my oatmeal recipe called for 3 cups of old-fashioned oat. Well, I didn't have that much. So I used what was left of the instant oats. Not enough. So I added in some steel cut oats LOL I guess in the morning I will see if it worked out. :)
seedycharacter
2-8-15, 11:20pm
I am avoiding the grocery store even though I need a few things. I'm focusing on what's in my pantry and fridge and freezer and being creative with what I find. Feels good!
Not a lot in the way of new and different frugals over here. We've made homemade pizza last week and this week. And we discovered that we can blend our special homemade pizza sauce (from the freezer) with plain old tomato puree (from the freezer) and it's even better than the homemade pizza sauce (which is pretty darned tasty, if I do say so myself!). All of this comes from tomatoes that we've grown, but we were previously at a loss for what to do with the plain tomato puree as that was a last ditch effort to preserve tomatoes at the end of the season two years ago. So this was a happy discovery because we never manage to freeze enough of our yummy pizza sauce and now we've got a brilliant way to extend it! :D
I've been on an oatmeal eating kick for breakfast, but I ran out of raisins, which I buy in bulk, last week and I haven't had a reason to go to the grocery store where I can buy them in bulk since then. I don't want to make a special trip and I don't want to pay the higher price for non-bulk raisins at the other store. I decided I would get fancy and instead of using something healthy in my oatmeal, I would try mixing in these dark chocolate covered ginger pieces that a colleague at work gave me. Her dad had bought them for her and she knew she wouldn't eat them (can't remember her reason why) so she gave them to me thinking that they sounded like something I would like. Now, I'm not one to turn down free food (especially dark chocolate!), but they were really not that good for some reason. I like (but don't love) ginger and I think these are perhaps just the wrong ratio of dark chocolate to ginger for my taste. But I was determined not to throw them out! I had been eating a few pieces in combination with some almonds as snacks -- sort of a very lame attempt at trail mix. Palatable, but I couldn't keep that up for long. So I tossed some in the oatmeal. Again, palatable. I made it through three days worth and now I have only a tiny little amount of dark chocolate covered ginger left. I think I'll be able to finish it off one day soon. I do so love using up food that I really thought was destined for the compost pile!!!
We've been keeping up with our bread baking. I don't think we've had store bought bread since back before Christmas. We get on these bread baking kicks, but they always seem to fizzle out eventually. I'm hoping it's a habit that we can finally make stick this time around!
Another snow day today, so the college is closed and that means no work for me! Of course, in some ways it just creates more work as I have to figure out how to keep my students on track to finish all of the material by the end of the semester. So far we've had 3 snow days in 3 weeks and I doubt we're done for this winter. Oh well, at least it saves on driving and therefore gas. And I can make up the hourly work that I get paid separately for on another day this week. So now it's just a matter of making good use of my day off!
Okay, sorry for the double post, but thought I should report back that I did indeed find a good use of my snow day! I've got black beans soaking so that I can put them in the crock pot for overnight cooking. And I'm making a large pot of lentil stew to use up the last of the onions, some celery that's getting a bit wilted, some carrots, and the remaining lentils from the pantry. I love it when I have all the stuff I need in the pantry and fridge to make a giant pot of something on a cold, snowy February afternoon. And I got my dearly beloved to bake some bread so there will be some delicious lentil stew and homemade bread for dinner tonight. YUM!!!
A little bit later on I'm going to make a spinach frittata so that we can eat it for lunches over the next few days. Then I think I'll hard boil the remaining eggs so that they get eaten this week as well. All this cooking means that I'm clearing off some space on the counter, where I tend to keep the random things that (in my mind) need to get used up. I have a bad habit of buying things and then forgetting they are in the pantry. For example, remember my 21 pounds of dried pasta?!? Yeah, there's still some of that to be eaten...
"We've learned to go through our Chinook Book (kind of like those entertainment coupon books, but centered on sustainable products and services); it more than pays for itself every year if we're diligent about looking through it."
Hey Steve.... when do you buy the Chinook Book... or when do the coupons start? I see they run until Oct 2015. This might be a good idea for my son who lives in Mpls! Thanks for mentioning it!
[QUOTE=cdttmm;197467]blend our special homemade pizza sauce (from the freezer) with plain old tomato puree (from the freezer) and it's even better than the homemade pizza sauce (which is pretty darned tasty, if I do say so myself!). [/QUOTE
Oh.... would you be so kind as to give us your pizza sauce recipe? I have been looking and trying but have yet to find a "special one". Thanks..... FO
A great score today: a mother of the groom dress for $17.99 at Ross Dress for Less. It's a navy sheath with an overlay of navy lace, cap sleeves, and a little extra lace hanging just below the hemline.
Now I'm wondering if a smallish hat would finish the look. Funny how you can save $$ which then allows you to have more money to spend on extras ...!
frugal-one, here's how we make our pizza sauce.
- a bunch of fresh tomatoes (we use a random combo of romas, beefsteaks, and cherries -- whatever happens to be ripe in the garden at the time)
- roughly chop them up and toss them in a 9" x 13" glass pan -- enough chopped tomatoes to make a (not tightly packed) single layer in the dish
- add a few cloves of diced garlic and/or some (Egyptian) onions -- we've used shallots, too, when that's what we've had on hand
- add a liberal dose of olive oil (enough to coat the tomatoes and cover the bottom of the dish about 1/8")
- season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Toss the whole concoction on the smoker (or the grill) for about 45 minutes. Then dump it in the blender and blend it to the consistency of your liking. We blend ours pretty smooth because we've found this minimizes any pieces of skin that might otherwise seem unappealing in the sauce.
We've roasted them in the oven, too, but the smoker (or grill) seems to be key to making the taste something special. And we've discovered that including cherry tomatoes really gives the sauce a wee bit of sweetness that makes it oh so good.
Yes, I know, it's not a very specific recipe, but we've discovered that it's pretty darned good regardless of the minor differences between how we make each batch. When we're swimming in tomatoes during the late summer and early fall, we just turn them into pizza sauce the minute we think we won't be able to eat everything we've picked that day. So far, so good. We always wish for more pizza sauce before the summer is upon us!!!
Hope that helps -- happy pizza sauce making!!!
lessisbest
2-10-15, 8:52am
Another pizza sauce recipe from home food storage ingredients.
For a 12-inch pizza.
1 T. tomato powder (I purchase it in #10 cans, but to give it a try: http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/tomato-powder
3-4 T. water (to thickness desired)
a small amount of sweetener (honey, sugar, etc.)
a small amount of vinegar
pinch of salt (optional)
Italian or Pizza Spices (to taste)
Mix together in a small bowl.
NOTE: You can also dehydrate tomato skins to use as tomato powder, but it's not as strong as the Spice House brand so it takes more.
Dry tomato skins at 125°F in a dehydrator until crispy dry (they dry very quickly). Store the skins, whole, in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Use as needed by grinding in a coffee/spice mill to a fine powder. Do NOT blend into a powder until you need it because the powder will get hard since there aren't any anti-clumping ingredients.
To use homemade tomato powder:
1:1 ratio with water for tomato paste
1:2 ratio with water for tomato sauce
SteveinMN
2-10-15, 10:12am
Hey Steve.... when do you buy the Chinook Book... or when do the coupons start? I see they run until Oct 2015. This might be a good idea for my son who lives in Mpls! Thanks for mentioning it!
You're welcome! I bought our current Book no more than two months ago. I buy mine at my food co-op, though I'm guessing some of the participating businesses sell them as well. There's usually a free-standing display when the new book comes out.
There also is a smartphone app version. I tried that one last year and ... well, found it lacking. So I stuck with paper this year. I'm told they're seriously updating the app; I can't be the only one who complained. I dislike wasting a good portion of a paper book, but the app was glitchy enough that I was "losing" money.
frugal-one
2-10-15, 8:25pm
Thanks for the pizza sauce ideas. I do make homemade pizza sauce from scratch but all recipes say pizza (or Italian) seasoning to taste (hard to tell). I have also tried adding fennel and a bit of red pepper flakes. It always turns out ok... but nothing spectacular. I will hit upon it yet.
Blackdog Lin
2-10-15, 10:28pm
This isn't what I call spectacular, but it's good..... Lazy Busy Parent's Pizza Sauce. With thanks to my sister for telling me about it circa 1987. And it saved my butt during the "having a teenage boy/and his friends in the house" years.
Open an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and spread 1/2 of it over pizza crust. If not making 2 pizzas pour rest of can into sandwich-size ziplock, label, and throw in freezer. (use for next pizza.) Sprinkle 1/2 tsp. garlic powder over, then 1 tbs. basil, 1 tbs. oregano, and 1 tsp. Italian seasoning (to get the fennel and other seasonings without messing with them). Finish pizza as desired/usual.
Not gourmet, but teenagers and unexpected Friday night company do not care. It makes a good pizza.
I discovered Amazon sells paper shooting targets. At my indoor range, you can't just use copy paper clipped to the target hangers, as they often get shot up that way. You have to have a bigger target to tape smaller ones to. I would pay $.50/each at my range for their 22"x14" targets. I found 100 on Amazon for $33. Since colored targets make it much easier for me to see shots on, I also purchased a ream (500 pages) of bright pink copy copy for $9.50 to tape to the bigger targets.
I'm happy.
A great score today: a mother of the groom dress for $17.99 at Ross Dress for Less. It's a navy sheath with an overlay of navy lace, cap sleeves, and a little extra lace hanging just below the hemline.
Now I'm wondering if a smallish hat would finish the look. Funny how you can save $$ which then allows you to have more money to spend on extras ...!
Sounds very nice! You might see if there are any stores near you that sell vintage clothing/accessories. I've seen women pull out vintage hats for special occasions, and the results are smashing. Especially if the hats are in darker colors, as those seem to age better than light colored ones.
I am ripping some songs I have on album to my PC so I can have them on my digital devices. Rather than re-buying the same songs in a different format on i-tunes, I just checked out the CD from the library. I am also using my library card a lot more. I have two new audiobooks to listen to on CD (ripping those as well, so I can listen to them anywhere). I checked out a nice e-book and read it last week.
Our trip to Aldi today saved probably $60-$100 in groceries.
I ate a lot of leftovers for lunch the past two weeks. Double bonus, the food doesn't go to waste, I don't make new food from home and I avoid restaurant food. I guess thats a triple bonus.
rosarugosa
2-14-15, 6:52pm
Welcome, cscox. I was just today looking at my vast CD collection and wondering if I have the time and inclination to move it all to my PC (and I would need a few back-ups in order to sleep at night) and get rid of all the physical stuff that isn't really necessary to a music collection anymore. And I decided that's just too much work for me right now, but perhaps at some point. It is all well organized and stored, we have a 300-CD disc changer, which is a pretty functional way of enjoying at least 300 of our CDs. And we do still have a bit of an album collection. I commend you on your progress :)
On a related note, I can't believe that I used to go out and spend $10 - $15 for a CD every time I liked a song of the radio. Today I was looking at a CD I own by a band called Fluorescein, and I was wondering what song made me buy it. I concluded it was "Cathy's on Crank." Cause that was so deeply meaningful to me or something. Geesh. !Splat!
rosarugosa
2-15-15, 7:50am
Frugal Valentine's Day: Delicious dinner at home followed by gelato dessert and a really good movie on DVD (borrowed from my Mom so free entertainment).
I thought we would be going to the Winter Farmers' Market today, however, we are in the midst of yet another major blizzard, so we won't be going anywhere (which does save us money).
We actually would like to spend money on a snow rake for the roof and some ice melt, but the local home stores don't have any of that stuff and are instead pushing Presidents' Day deals on gas grills and appliances. It seems like they're kind of out of touch or ill-prepared to shift gears to take advantage of the realities of their local market.
A frugal Valentine's Day here, as well. Delicious homemade dinner (with plenty of leftovers for today!), cocktails, ice cream cake from Friendly's (our secret, overly processed, food dye-infused indulgence), and a movie from iTunes.
It's snowing here, too, so there will be snow removal later and a trip to the gym (we have a special Tae Kwon Do class today so I need to be there). Tomorrow is a holiday so I'll be enjoying my third 3-day weekend in a row, the first two were due to well-timed snow storms.
Otherwise, just trying to stay frugal in every way possible after the expensive vet visit for darling dog #1 to see the specialist in Boston last week. Totally worth it to get the good news that her renal insufficiency is micro at this point and with proper dietary changes and care she should be with us for some time to come.
early morning
2-15-15, 10:54am
great news about your doggie, cdttmm. Tradd - do your purchased targets have to be a specific size and weight? We cut cardboard pieces out of light weight (non corrugated) boxes and put paper targets on them on the clip. Or we did - haven't been in ages, ammo is so expensive. We sort of forgot Valentine's day, here:|(. I remembered to call my cousin (it's her birthday) but then with out of town family here to see DH's hospitalized brother, DS having car problems, DH sick, it got totally forgotten! We did an extended-family lunch at a restaurant but no one mentioned the holiday... Oh well. that was a pretty frugal Valentine's day, lol. Esp since out of town BIL paid for lunch for all! Finally forcing myself to wear the new bras I bought and hate (they are just like my old ones, I hate them all for a couple months until they are a bit, ah, stretched....:0! (sorry if that's TMI...) So now I don't have to wash my unmentionables quite as often. Changed up our living room accessories with things we already had, for a fresher look with no money spent. Using the library and watching PBS only for entertainment, as usual. Using the indoor cat food that is apparently stale (it does smell different) for the outdoor cats. It's more expensive than we usually pay for barn-cat food, but if the indoor cats don't want to eat it, I am NOT going to waste it!! So I won't have to purchase food for them for another week or so. And the inside cats will have to limp along with it too, until the new bag gets here.
Tradd - do your purchased targets have to be a specific size and weight? We cut cardboard pieces out of light weight (non corrugated) boxes and put paper targets on them on the clip. Or we did - haven't been in ages, ammo is so expensive.
No specified size, but 14" x 22" are the smallest ones the range sells. I'll have to keep my eye out for lightweight cardboard. Thanks for the idea. If you can bear to shop at Walmart, their ammo prices are the cheapest you're going to get without buying online (and then shipping needs to be figured in). I shoot 9mm. I can get Federal red box 100 round value packs for $25.67. Winchester white box is $26.67/100 rounds. Tula Brassmaxx is even cheaper ($23/100 rounds), but it's foreign made and dirty, which results in more extensive cleaning after shooting. I'll pay a bit more to get American made ammo that's cleaner shooting.
I was just today looking at my vast CD collection and wondering if I have the time and inclination to move it all to my PC (and I would need a few back-ups in order to sleep at night) and get rid of all the physical stuff that isn't really necessary to a music collection anymore.
Actually, at least some of the physical stuff is still necessary: the CD/tape/record/whatever. That's the proof that you purchased the music and didn't just download it from somewhere. At least as you hold on to them, you can do it without jewel boxes/liner notes/whatever and put them in a (much-)less-accessible location, still saving the space.
rosarugosa
2-16-15, 6:52pm
Good point Steve. I never thought about that aspect.
An unintended and delightful consequence of DH's and my decision to move towards a more plant-based diet is that we are now getting more food for less money than when we were routinely eating meat once or twice a day. We are also putting our slow cooker, food processor, and juicer to great use--we were worried when we bought them that we wouldn't use them. Now we're really getting our money's worth out of them!
Also, and I forgot to write this in my original post, another benefit of having spent a week juicing and then moving towards a plant-based diet is that I've dropped a size in clothes and can now fit comfortably back into some old clothes I was on the verge of donating (and needing
to replace with bigger clothes). Whoo hoo!
Packratona!
2-20-15, 1:53pm
Thanks for starting our new monthly thread, rosarugosa!
Lovely stay-at-home, frugal day yesterday. We baked cinnamon rolls, took the dogs for a long walk through our meadow in the deep snow (good way to tire them out!), ate popcorn made on the stove-top and drank hot chocolate from my homemade mix. Then stayed up way too late watching the last 3 episodes from season 5 of Downton Abbey. :D
Ah that sounds dreamy, what fun!
Packratona!
2-20-15, 1:56pm
I am avoiding the grocery store even though I need a few things. I'm focusing on what's in my pantry and fridge and freezer and being creative with what I find. Feels good!
Me too except for a few fresh ingredients I need to do specific recipes with the ingredients I am excavating in my pantry.
lessisbest
2-27-15, 4:07pm
February is a NO shopping month (other than groceries) - mission accomplished. Groceries for February - $107.98 out of the $125.00 food budget.
I am loving all of the recipes on this thread! Yum!
Veronica's first birthday was this week. I made her a chocolate cake with Nutella buttercream frosting. She loved it. That was about all we did, though. She is one. She doesn't care. :) My parents and sister got her clothes, since she is just out of season for Charlotte's 18 month stuff. Charlotte was born at the end of April, so her 18 month stuff is summery.
I finally tried a bread store that a bunch of my friends have been raving about. It's a bakery that sells the more gourmet type breads to grocery stores. They had baguettes, multigrain baguettes and Jewish rye 3 for $2.50 and marble rye for $.50 a loaf. I tend to make a lot of soup this time of year, so some good breads will be nice to have. I do bake bread a lot, too, but sometimes I'm not in the mood.
Cheyenne's birthday is in a week and a half (11! Where the heck did that go?) and we are setting up a music area for her. Zach is making her a guitar hanger and a guitar stand, and I am looking for a picture or icon of St Cecilia (patron of musicians). Her big present, which will be partially bought with grandparent contributions, is going to see a Midsummer Night's Dream at the Guthrie. She loves Shakespeare. That isn't cheap, but I think, with the grandparent contribution, it is at least a good value.
Like so many in New England, we've been spending virtually all our time indoors either at home or work or in transit between the two. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny Saturday, and we went for a great walk in Lynn Woods, which we haven't been able to do as often as we could last winter. While we were there, it occurred to me that lots of folks were probably at the mall or someplace like that for similar reasons, but probably getting less pleasure at much greater expense. Bonus: we didn't come home with anything but smiles and some images on our digital camera, no superfluous stuff :)
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