Savings and Goals Journal #32

We’ve had several sunny days. In the afternoon it’s almost pleasant, as long as the wind doesn’t blow. The slightly warmer weather is making it much easier to do things outside.

In the Kitchen

I found some great deals at the grocery store this week. I had two coupons for a free box of Pop Tarts. Those are not something I normally buy, but Grampy really likes them, and since they were free I picked them up.

Avocados were 2/$1 at one store, with a limit of two. They were 77 cents each at another store and I had a coupon to save 40 cents off two, so it all came out to a pretty good deal. We like avocados but don’t buy them often because they are usually expensive.

Tortilla chips were 99 cents a bag. I splurged on a bag of frozen buffalo chicken wings that were $2.99/lb. This shopping trip was full of treats for Grampy. He will enjoy the chips, the avocados (as guacamole) and the wings as part of his snacks while he watches his football game on Sunday.

I cooked a ham I had in the freezer and we have had several meals from it. We diced and froze what was left. We will make Ham and Green Chile Breakfast Casserole later. I saved the bone from the ham to make beans. I still have a bag of split peas, so I will probably use some of the diced ham to make another batch of split pea and ham soup. It was delicious!

This week’s meal plan:

• Sunday: Football snacks
• Monday: Pumpkin soup, cornbread
• Tuesday: Leftovers
• Wednesday: Pizza casserole, salad
• Thursday: Leftovers
• Friday: Pork w/mushroom gravy, brown rice, veggies
• Saturday: Leftovers
• Sunday: Chicken parmesan, noodles, veggies, salad

In the Garden

I’ve measured the East garden and have started drawing out my plan for the space. Most years I’ve also planted in the huge garden space to the west of my dad’s house, but not this year. The square footage available for planting in the East garden is about 880 square feet. I do a combination of single-row planting and wide rows. I use cattle panel trellises to utilize vertical space.

I often find I’ve planted my rows too close together, so this year, I’ll hopefully remember to leave a little more space. It seems like plenty of room when the plants are small, but once they reach full size, I find myself lost in a tomato jungle or bumping into pepper plants while I’m working.

I still need to figure out how much planting space I will have in the kitchen garden. I’ll do that once I get the raised beds built and arranged.

I try not to plant the same thing in the same area every year. But I’m tempted to put the pepper plants in the same place they were last year. It is the area that gets the most sun and they always do well there.

Home and Family

Grampy and I set a $5 limit on our Valentine’s gifts for each other this year. We got the grandkids and my daughter each a small treat. We plan to make heart-shaped pancakes for the kids’ breakfast for Valentine’s day. We’re making a meal (chicken parmesan) together. We’ll probably watch a movie after the grandkids go to bed. That’s about as fancy as it’s going to get around here!

I finished putting up the trim around the cabinet above our refrigerator and painted the cabinet. I need to put knobs on the cabinet and paint the walls behind the refrigerator. I’m working on the kitchen in small sections. I’m trying to avoid having the whole kitchen torn up at one time. The mess and disorganization would add stress to cooking time and would likely lead to someone ordering pizza!

Have a wonderful week!