Savings and Goals Journal #39

Minus the occasional windy afternoon, we’ve had beautiful weather that has allowed us to work on some of our outdoor projects. I’ve spent the last week focusing on making the most of my time to really get things done!

In the Kitchen

We’ve been trying to use up what’s in our freezer. I had nine quart bags of peeled whole tomatoes I’d frozen last fall. They were taking up tons of space, and we have plenty of jars of canned whole tomatoes, I thawed them and cooked them down in the slow cooker to make tomato sauce. We used some last week to make enchiladas.

We are usually good about making sure we use up leftovers, or freeze them if we can. We are being extra-mindful about food waste. By shopping the pantry and freezer for our meals this week, my grocery/household expenses for the week were $25 under budget. It would have been even better, but we needed dog food and kitty litter.

This week’s meal plan:

• Sunday: Meatloaf, green beans, roasted potatoes
• Monday: Leftovers
• Tuesday: Pork w/mushroom gravy, Brown rice, Harvard beets, Whipped carrots with cranberries
• Wednesday: Leftovers
• Thursday: Homemade spaghetti sauce w/ground turkey, (I’ll use this recipe as a guide, using ingredients I have on hand) Normandy blend veggies, noodles
• Friday: Leftovers
• Saturday: Turkey bowls (ground turkey, gravy, rice, veggies)

Three of the four main dishes I’ve planned will utilize the slow cooker. I make several meatloaves at once and put them in the freezer. I thaw one in the fridge and then put it in the slow cooker in the morning. Super easy dinner!

I’m frying three pounds of ground turkey (bought at the case lot sale). I will use one pound in the spaghetti sauce, one pound for the turkey bowls and I’ll freeze one pound for later. The side dishes (Harvard beets and Whipped Carrots with Cranberries) were made in bulk earlier and frozen.

I tend to get in a rut with cooking, so I’m trying to mix things up a little. I have a whole shelf of cookbooks, so I’m going to be trying to find new recipes to use what we have. I have several cookbooks I very rarely use, or I only use a recipe or two. As I continue decluttering the kitchen, I will copy the recipes I like onto a card, put them in my recipe box and donate the cookbook.

We are planning menus for two special meals coming up: my daughter’s birthday at the beginning of May and Mother’s Day. I’ll be watching the sales and will possibly modify the menu based on what’s on sale.

In the Garden

One beautiful sunny day, I decided to tackle the area by our front porch. We’ve been wanting to improve this area for a couple of years. I started by taking out the boards for the raised flower bed. It was previously too wide to maintenance easily. I really like working in the new narrower bed. I switched some flowers around from other areas, sticking with my promise to not purchase any new plants this year.

About twenty years ago, Grampy built a gate for me based on a photo I found on the back of a Country Woman magazine. I brought the gate with us when we moved and used it as a backdrop for the flowerbed by the porch. I am in the process of painting it white. I think it will look lovely when the climbing rosebush grows along it…very cottage-like.

I’m continuing my battle with the mallow weed in the east garden. Once I’ve finished that I’ll be hauling wood chips in to spread between the rows in the garden.

I made a small raised bed in the kitchen garden. Last summer my stepmom brought home a wooden display from her work that was going to be thrown out. It made a perfect little raised bed. I’ve planted cilantro, chives, spinach, lettuce, and carrot seeds, using seeds from last year.

I moved 15-20 strawberry plants from the east garden the the kitchen garden. Most of them are looking pretty good.

In the upcoming week, I will transplant my purchased tomato and pepper plants into larger pots.

Home and Family

Even Grampy has caught the decluttering bug! He had gout in his toe last week, and while he was sitting, he decided we should go through the boxes of old photos on the shelf in the bedroom. There were so many pictures we didn’t need. Blurry, out of focus, didn’t mean anything. We condensed three boxes down to less than one! We still have lots of boxes of photos to go through. I’m so glad photos are stored digitally now! 🙂

Then he went through one of the drawers in his dresser and his hanging clothes and got rid of a bunch he doesn’t wear anymore.

I decluttered and rearranged three cabinets in the kitchen. My cabinets were very full and getting things from them was frustrating. It’s working much better now. I’ve installed shelf paper in the upper cabinets. I’ll put shelf paper in the lower cabinet after I paint it.

As we continue to organize and declutter, we are starting to think that perhaps we do not need a larger home. We just need less stuff. 🙂

I’m mentally preparing myself for the big pantry makeover. We’ll be building sliding doors for it. I’m going to do some research to find an inexpensive DIY option for sliding barn doors.

Have a wonderful and beautiful week!