Frugal Friday ~ November 15, 2019

Welcome to Friday, I hope you've had a great week. 

My daughter and I were out of town last weekend to attend the wedding of a friend. We stayed overnight two nights and used the trip to scour the thrift stores in Atlanta. We found several things we needed and a couple of things we wanted. 

We did eat out a couple of times while we were there. One day we came through Atlanta and saw the Secret Service while President Trump was in town. That night we ate at the Folk Art restaurant, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so that was really fun and the food was great. 

This week I was back to work at school and worked three days, although the weather threatened two of those days. We did end up with a two hour delay one morning. 

This week I did some mending by reattaching two buttons that were safety pinned onto a blazer we picked up at the thrift store. I also sewed up one hole in a pillow created by one of the dogs we pet sit. Also, I've been working on and sewing some presents for Christmas. 

We've put off shopping for groceries and are using up what we have in our pantry and freezer. One day I even mixed up some powdered milk to have rather than go to the store for some. It always surprises me what meals we can come up with by using what we have on hand. 

I've been making an inventory of what food we do have on hand. It helps me to create meals when I can look at a list of the food available. This week in anticipation of grocery shopping, I perused the grocery store sale ads online. 

Cold weather arrived here this week and even though we dressed warmly and were covered up with blankets, we finally had to turn the heat on due to the cold weather. One morning it was 17 degrees outside, so definitely heater weather. That morning we had to salt the steps leading up to the house because they were icy. 

My plans for the weekend include laundry, grocery shopping, and sewing. I also have some computer work to do for my dd's business. 

Next week is our last week of school and then we have a week off for Thanksgiving. This year we will be going to my BIL's house, which we didn't think was going to happen as he had a house fire in October. They are living in a rented house for now and he wants us to come celebrate with them. Naturally I'll be bringing several dishes with us to share. 

I hope you have a great weekend! 

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree
Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living from Frugal Workshop.

Pantry Inventory Sempter 2018

Using resources wisely (time, money, food) is one area of my life that is important to me. Keeping a well-stocked pantry is one important tool toward this goal. Pantry staples, specifically geared towards your family is helpful for good kitchen management.
Robert Waldroup, creator of the Better Times website, says that low and moderate income families should be encouraged to keep some of their household savings in the form of food. It is good advice and one of the tools we use here at the Frugal Workshop. 
Labor Day marks the end of summer for many of us and it is during this time of year when my pantry supplies are at their lowest. 
Now that summer is coming to an end I needed to inventory what pantry supplies I had on hand. My inventory is low, but I will not be grocery shopping again until at least the middle of the month. 
Having an inventory of what I have in my pantry helps me a great deal by knowing what foods I actually have on hand and then using that knowledge in planning meals using those foods, which stretches my resources further. 
By inventorying what I have on hand I can see several different meals I can make that I hadn't thought of making before I inventoried my supplies. That will help me save money by using up our inventory. 
I continue this practice all month long, creating meals from my inventory, scouring cookbooks and Internet resources, to find ways to create meals out of what I have on hand.
Freezer 2 pounds flour 4 packages ground beef 2 packages Italian Beef
Pantry 37 cans diced tomatoes 13 cans chili beans 4 cans tomato paste 2 jars brown mustard 8 cans green beans 2 cans black eyed peas 3 cans corn 1 can cream style corn 2 Ranch dressing 2 Italian dressing 1 Thousand Island dressing 2 Lawry's marinade 2 cans pineapple 1 can pumpkin 25 cans Bush beans 1 box Success white rice 3 boxes Success brown rice 7 boxes mostaccioli 11 boxes elbow macaroni 9 boxes spaghetti Bisquick Cornmeal  Sugar 6 boxes Jello (1 lime, 1 cherry, 2 strawberry, 2 black cherry) 2 packages Instant mashed potatoes 2 packages Teriyaki noodles 1 box Rice a Roni 1 package wild rice 2 bags lentils 8 pounds pinto beans 6 pounds 16 bean soup 2 bags cajun beans 11 boxes Reese's Puffs cereal 4 boxes Life cereal 3 containers Oatmeal Pancake Mix
If you've been a regular reader of mine you can see this is a low inventory for me, but we will build up our pantry as we usually do by shopping the sales and clearance items and will build it back up throughout the coming months. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Pantry Management

Frugal Workshop Pantry Photo 2013

My grandmother's idea of a pantry was to fill everything to capacity. Her pantry was overflowing with canned goods and boxes. 
Her home had three freezers and she filled them to capacity. One of them was so full it did not even close because it had so much food inside. 
My grandfather's bedroom was filled with boxes and boxes of foods they had canned over the years. 
There was so much food there that when they both passed away the food was thrown away including the jars, unfortunately.   They both grew up during the depression and so it was understandable that they worried about food security. 
If financial hard times ever came around again they didn't want to worry about having enough food to eat. 
I understand why they filled their home with food, but believe there is a better way to handle having so much food using some pantry management. 
They could have benefitted from Amy Dacyczyn's "Use It or Lose It" calendar. She inventoried her pantry and then created a calendar based on how much time she had left until her next harvest, and then divided the food equally among the months left.  This system insured that she would use everything in her pantry and not lose anything. 
Her point was that people who lack control over any area in their lives need to design systems to manage these areas effectively, which in the end will save you money. 
One of my pantry goals has always been to eat what we have on hand and rotate the food so we are using up the oldest food first. 
One thing I do is to not fill our pantry so full that we cannot organize it and tell what's inside. That was one of my grandmother's problems. She had so many items in her pantry that it was hard to find what she needed. 
So, one of the best tips is to organize your pantry. In my own pantry I keep all the like items together. All my green beans are together in one section, same thing with tomatoes, etc. 
That way when I am planning my shopping list I can tell quickly if I need an ingredient and can avoid buying something I already have. I don't make emergency runs to the grocery store. I either do without or make something else. 
Every few months I take the time to check and see what we have on hand. This helps me to use up items that are nearing their expiration dates and I can use them up before they expire. 
Also, I rotate the items I have on hand when we unload new grocery items. We move the older items already in our pantry to the front and put the new items behind the ones we already have. 
Recently I installed an app on my phone called "Fridge Pal", which allows me to scan the items in my pantry and also list the expiration dates. And then it will send you a notification when an item is about to expire. It's still new to me, so I've not decided how well I like it yet, but I will keep you updated. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~