January 2015 frugals

[early morning]

New month, new year, new thread! And a Happy frugal New Year to all! Not that I have anything to report yet - December was a pretty frugal month -our major holiday expense is our tree, but we bought it in October. Which makes December look better, lol. I think we need to replace our furnace; we're having someone in on Monday to give us estimates on various models. DH is keeping ours limping along so we can actually CHOOSE what we need, instead of having to have whatever can be quickly obtained and installed because it's 20 below and the plumbing is at risk. Which is what happened at our last house. Wish us luck... today I'm off work and plan to do some mending and over-dye some vintage linens for sale. I am hoping it will be a quiet, drive only to DD's pet sitting gig day.

[domestic goddess]

Good morning and Happy frugal New Year! Not much to report today; on the other hand, that can be a good thing. I did some shopping on Friday morning, so I am pretty well set for now. The rest of my family went to DSIL's brother's house for New Year's Eve, so I have had quite a quiet time. Would like to go to Michael's in the next few days for some yarn for a craft project, and that's about it. Got some Amazon gift cards for Christmas, so I can have some fun without spending anything new.
Early morning, I hope you get your furnace fixed/replaced soon. Ours went out on us one Christmas Eve. The repairman had to order a part (this was a 50 year old boiler), but he did keep it running so we didn't freeze until the part came. Bless his heart, then he was right back to make the repair as soon as it came in. Last month was a "spendy" one for a variety of reasons, so I'm looking forward to a more frugal one this month.

[lessisbest]

We were busy physically indoors today, so kept the furnace down to 61°F. Even though is still only in the low 20's, the furnace didn't kick on much at all because the solar heat was working. Enjoyed a lunch of leftovers from eating out on a gift certificate we got for Christmas. Nothing better than a free meal than two people splitting a single meal to begin with, that feeds them twice! Found a few things that needed mending, so I got that done. The old "stitch in time saves nine", or in my case, sew on the button before I lose track of it is true. I darned one of my favorite wool socks and hemmed a pair of jeans I purchased at the thrift store in November, but didn't get around to the task until today when I had all the sewing stuff out.

Herb roasted whole chicken for dinner tonight (herbs growing in the sunny south window), with roasted vegetables. I can usually get 6-meals, a couple lunches, and stir-fry or chicken salad out of a whole chicken, PLUS stock by cooking the carcass.

[domestic goddess]

Wow, lessisbest, you sure can get some mileage out of one chicken! There are 5 of us, plus one toddler, so we usually get one dinner and sandwiches for lunch out of a chicken, and the stock.

[danna]

Jan 01,2015
--partially rack dried 2 loads of wash before putting in drier.
--have balanced bank accounts and updated spread sheets on excel...will teak this years later but, was really close with most of my figueres
in 2014. Keeping track has let me continue to see were I can cut back.....Big one last year was gift giving. One family has already agreed to stop
for next Christmas
--Chicken with lots of veggies in a creamy sauce on pasta for supper...lots of leftovers for tomorrow night.
--The next 3 months are quiet in this cold country so a good time to declutter, and organize so doing the 100 items a month.

[seedycharacter]

Happy to be back . . . Bouldercreeker returning as Seedycharacter (cuz I love eating & planting seeds and I don't live in Boulder Creek anymore) . . . I don't track precisely these days but I always look over all receipts a couple of times before I toss them. So today I reviewed a month's worth of receipts and felt pretty good about my purchases. Groceries, gas for my hybrid, gas & electricity, $350 total for holiday gifts for 8 people. My challenge for January is to be more frugal at the grocery store. I shop at Trader Joes, some at Costco, and some at a local store where I buy various organic/local items. Nearly all of my splurges are food splurges, e.g raspberries, blueberries, walnuts. Yummy healthy pricey stuff! I justify these items because I don't buy any meats, but they add up and cause me to feel too pinched by the end of the month. I have plenty of food in my pantry and fridge/freezer so I am going to focus on using up what I have on hand . . . thanks to all for great ideas and inspiration!

[lessisbest]

Wow, lessisbest, you sure can get some mileage out of one chicken! There are 5 of us, plus one toddler, so we usually get one dinner and sandwiches for lunch out of a chicken, and the stock.

I'm a stickler for food portions (especially meat since it's so expensive) and a meat portion will be 2-3-oz. depending on other protein providers in the meal. I mix meat with a low-costing meat alternative (beans, cheese, etc.) so we can use less meat. I have a $10 meat limit each week, so I've gotten pretty creative. One good size chicken will use up nearly half of my meat budget, so it really needs to stretch.

The roast chicken meals (for two adults) looks something like this:

-Whole Roast Chicken (we split the first half of the breast and will use the remaining half-breast meat sliced for sandwiches).

-Individual Chicken Pot Pies (meat from one thigh - enough for lunch the next day)

-Chicken Tetrazinni (bits and pieces and one leg)

-Chicken Quesadillas or Tacos (back meat)

-Stir-Fry (bits and pieces and meat from one leg)

-Tuscan Chicken (using one thigh and adding cannellini beans for a portion of the protein)

-Chicken salad (possibly)

-Chicken soup (rice or homemade gluten-free noodles, and could also include vegetables for something a little heartier...)

I'll also save the chicken fat.

[pinkytoe]

Wow-I'm impressed with that chicken usage. We roasted a very small chicken yesterday with vegetables but ate half the chicken. Other half tonight with rice and mushrooms. Maybe I should see if I can get one more meal out of it? DH likes his meat though. Also, I don't have a separate freezer so can't store a lot of frozen broth everytime I roast or boil a chicken. As far as frugal moves, I tallied the majority of expenses by category from this past year and was blown away by how much spent on certain ones. I am embarrassed to say but now know which ones to be more careful about...so that we can retire sooner rather than later.

[frugal-one]

I'll also save the chicken fat.

What use do you have for this? hmmmm

[lessisbest]

What use do you have for this? hmmmm

I grew up in the country where we raised chickens and hogs and used chicken fat and lard on a regular basis. We made a big deal when mom brought home shortening and cooking oil for the first time....

Chicken (and goose) fat is also called schmaltz (when it's rendered). We used chicken fat for frying (potatoes are especially good fried in chicken fat). You can add a dab to cooked vegetables for a little chicken flavoring much like adding cooked bacon with a little bacon fat. It works well as a fat when making a pan sauce (a quick replacement for gravy). When making a chicken-flavored casserole or pot pie you can grease the dish with chicken fat for some added flavor.