The Week In Review

 

This past week I've been mulling over what food I've had in my pantry and what meals I could make out of that food. Today I've been working on using up these items. For instance, three cans of fruit that no one has been eating and several boxes of jello. I decided to make Jell-O cups with these items. 

In all I made sixteen Jell-O cups with fruit (six lime with pear, six orange with mandarin oranges, and three lemon with fruit cocktail, and one orange/lemon with fruit cocktail). These will make snacks throughout the week and go into several lunch boxes this week as well. 

I also made a pot of hot green tea to sip on since the weather was a chilly 43 degrees this morning. 

Last Sunday I took the beans that were left from the day and made soup out of them. I cooked a box of elbow macaroni, then sauteed onions, two pounds of carrots, and half a head of celery in vegetable broth. I also added canned tomatoes. This made dinner for Sunday night and lunches for several days during this past week. I had two bowls left at the end of the week, so these went into the freezer to make lunches for two more days, which will save me money and time in the long run. 

This soup is an example of the plant based eating style I have adopted this year. This was made with no meat and no oil and is considered to be high-nutrient. 

I also put a two pound bag of 15 bean Cajun soup beans in a bowl to soak overnight and cook in the morning for Monday night dinner. 

I had a box of Penna Rigatoni in the pantry that needed to be used up as well as several tomatoes on the kitchen counter, so I decided to make a pasta salad. I also had some broccoli and cauliflower that I had cut up for family members to snack on through the week, which no one was eating, so into the pasta salad they went as well. I used up a small amount that was left in a  bottle of Ken's olive oil and vinegar dressing and added the last of a bottle of ranch dressing as well. 

Here are the results: 

As far as fruit, jello and pasta goes, this leaves me with three large cans of peaches, three and a half boxes of spaghetti, and two boxes of orange jello. Of course, I will be thinking up ways to use up these items as well. 

Today I recycled two-one gallon containers and filled them with water. These will be placed by our chicken feed for times when it doesn't rain and our rain watering system does not provide them with fresh water. Eggs are made up of 75% water, so providing them with fresh water is essential if we want them to provide us with eggs. 

In my spare time today I've been working on earning Swagbucks. I've met my goal for today and will use these Swagbucks to earn $25 to be deposited into my Paypal account, which I will then transfer to my checking account. If you are new to Swagbucks or just want to learn more about the program, you can read my page on it here. 

Another thing I've done this week is to join a Yard Sale group on Facebook that is close to the area where I live. I usually donate all of our items to charity since we live in a rural area where a yard sale would not work, but lately I've been rethinking that. Last week we took some of our items and set up at a local Flea Market, but the weather was just too cold and we did not have any customers. I thought about listing the items on Ebay, but the cost associated with that and PayPal can be more than I want to pay. So I've already joined a local group on Facebook and I will let you know how that goes in the next few weeks. 

All the laundry from this past week has been washed, folded, and put away. Outfits for this week have been picked out and are ready for both me and my daughter for everyday this week. Shoes are lined up, book bags are ready by the door and as you can tell I am working on food for the week. 

Pictured above are two pieces of flannel material that I picked up at a yard sale for 25¢ last week. I washed them this week and will add them to my stash. I have a project that I want to work on this month, probably during Thanksgiving week as we have the whole week off from school that week. I'll write more about that when I am closer to getting the project done. 

Pictured above is a bag that my daughter received for free from Cleveland State for a Service Project field trip she went to last week. She has a service learning class this semester at school, which not only teaches them about volunteering and service learning, but also gives them opportunities to volunteer at school although those hours do not count towards those needed to graduate with honors. 

Back when I went to high school we did not need volunteer hours to graduate with honors, but these days students do need them. They need twenty hours to graduate as a local honor student and they need eighty hours to graduate as a Tennessee scholar. So far my daughter has put in over thirty hours. 

Here is my current tube of toothpaste. I was cleaning the sink this morning thinking that I should just open a new tube, but I decided to use the handle of my toothbrush and push as much of the toothpaste up towards the tube as possible. There is enough here to last me not only this week, but possibly the week after that as well. Stay tuned for updates. 

Still in Use It Up mode, I had a large can of refried beans in the pantry along with my last can of enchilada sauce and a small amount of sour cream leftover. Perfect to make Bean & Cheese Enchiladas. I'll make that for dinner tonight and if there are any leftovers we can have that for lunches this week as well. I made these two weeks ago and there were no leftovers then. 

So, I have Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, Pasta Salad, Jell-O Cups, and two bowls of soup ready to go in the freezer. I'll put the beans in the crock pot in the morning and we will have that for dinner Monday night. This gives me a good head start on the work week and will help me to save both money and time by being prepared. We won't want to go out to eat after a long day at work if we already have food prepared at home. 

How are things shaping up in your home today?

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2013.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”