Month: August 2020

Categories
Every Day

August 31: The Last Day of the Low Spend Month Grocery Challenge

Today is the last day of my Low Spend Month Grocery Challenge. I have no intention of shopping today so I can tell you how much I saved. 

As I explained to you in my post about doing this challenge, I have $500. budgeted every month for groceries. When I went to the bank to get my cash out for August, I only took out 1/2 of that or $250. So that was already savings for us. 

After totaling up all of my receipts for the month, I had $11.12 left in my wallet from that $250. So I spent a total of $ 238.88 for the month.

I think I did pretty well considering that I had West for almost two weeks and he had some junk food requests. Now it might not have been possible, if I didn’t have food in my freezers and pantries. Regardless, it is very nice to have $ 261.12 in our pocket instead of the grocery store’s pockets.  

I will be back to my budget of $500. for the month of September. But I will be shopping strategically and carefully so that I can keep some of that money to spend on Thanksgiving sales in November.  More on that on Wednesday.

For breakfast, I cooked a dozen hard boiled eggs in the pressure cooker. I also cooked a 12 oz. package of bacon in the oven. I ate 2 hard boiled eggs and 3 pieces of bacon for my brunch. Hubby loves it when I cook the eggs because he loves egg salad on crackers. Me, I am happy to get back to eating healthier food. It was hard while West was here. He is a very picky eater. But I couldn’t have him starve so I cooked things that he loves. 

For dinner tonight, we had taco salads. Yeah, I have been craving one.  Hubby put them together: lettuce, cherry tomatoes, diced onion, a bit of diced cucumber because I love it, sliced black olives, guacamole, and Mexican cheese. I cooked the ground meat with the hot and spicy taco seasoning. Then it was all topped off with a dab of sour cream. They tasted so good tonight!


I hope you have a great evening.

Categories
Every Day

August 30: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

This morning for breakfast we had bacon, egg and cheese wraps made with one half a piece of FlatOut bread.

I am moving pretty slowly today. I have a pinched nerve in my back. It is driving me crazy.

For dinner, I cut up the rest of the lamb into chunks and made some more sauce using the leftover sauce, some bouillon and some more tomato sauce. Hubby made some rice using the rice cooker. I rarely have rice but had some tonight with the lamb concoction on top. We had green beans for a side. There is enough leftover for a lunch.

I hope you all have a good evening and week.  

Categories
Every Day

Leg Of Lamb Recipe

This is for Mary or anyone else who likes leg of lamb.

1 Boneless Leg of Lamb or you could even use Bone In

2 Tbsp. Oil

1 Clove Garlic Minced

1 Can of Beef Consomme

1 8 oz. can Tomato Sauce

2 tsp. Salt

1 Tsp. Oregano

1/2 tsp. pepper

Brush the lamb with the oil. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and oregano.

Put in a roasting pan. Add garlic, consomme, and tomato sauce. Cover (I just wrap the pan in foil) and roast at 325- 350 for about 2 and 1/2 hours depending on how big the leg is. Remove from pan and let rest for 10 min. Then thicken the gravy in the pan.

My leg was almost 7 lbs. I used 350 temp and it was done in about 2 and 1/2 hours. That gave us medium meat. If you like it well done, just cook it longer.

I have used both a boneless leg and a bone in leg. They are both delicious with this recipe but the boneless is easier to cook.


I double the sauce recipe so that we have plenty for leftovers. Campbell’s carries the beef consomme.  

I throw some small potatoes in the pan an hour or so before it is done. We have also skipped the potatoes and served it on rice. 

Anyone who has an Aldi’s, they have butterflied leg of lamb on sale the week of Sept 6th for $ 5.99 a lb. Your price could vary depending on your area’s prices.
 

Categories
Every Day

August 29: Low Spend Grocery Challenge Month

Not getting up until 10AM is a rarity for me. I must have been really tired since I fell asleep about 10PM.

So breakfast wasn’t on my mind when I started to get hungry. I assessed everything that was in our fridge to make sure that we are using up food before it goes to waste. Since we had cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and bacon that needed to be used, I made a salad for lunch. It was so good with Skinny Girl poppy seed dressing on it.  

I already have stripped the bed that West stayed in and the sheets are now in the dryer. All the dirty towels have also been washed. When the bed is made and all other items have been folded and put away, I think I will read for a while. Hubby should be happy with college football on TV sometime today.

We had leftovers from dinner last night. I heated up the leftover potatoes in the gravy from the roast.


Hubby sliced some of the lamb.


After the potatoes and gravy were very hot. I put the lamb slices in just long heat to quickly heat them. I did not want to cook them just heat them through.


Here is my delicious dinner all from leftovers. 


I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend.

Categories
Every Day

August 28: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

It is hard for me to believe that West went home tonight. I am truly going to miss him. These two weeks have flown. We have had a lot of fun. He told me when I hugged and kissed him goodnight last night that he will really miss us and can’t wait to come back again for another visit. I think that can be arranged.

I again made scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. he loves that. We all had the same.

My son and daughter in law came and to had dinner with us tonight and then they took West home. He can’t wait to see his two Anatolian shepherds. He has missed playing with them.

I cooked a large boneless leg of Australian lamb that I purchased in May for dinner. We love lamb and so do they. But this piece of meat was just too big for the two of us. We would be eating leftovers forever. So they will help us eat it. I roast it in the oven with beef consomme, tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. It all makes a nice gravy and I threw some small potatoes in the last hour or so. We had some corn and cucumbers and tomatoes with it.  We had fudge mint cookies for dessert.


No pictures because I got busy with my family and getting West packed up to go home.

Categories
Every Day

August 27: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

We were supposed to get high and damaging winds last night. So I decided not to put the garbage out last night for fear it would be all over the neighborhood this morning. So I got up at 6am with the alarm. That is very hard for me. I hate getting up with an alarm. I think it goes back to the days that I worked. Any of you hate getting up with alarms too?

West and Hubby are still sleeping. I am so glad that I didn’t wake them up opening the garage door to take it out. It’s very peaceful here right now although it does look like we might get some weather. 

I am enjoying my bullet proof coffee writing to you. West wants scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast today so that is what I will be making when they both get up. Breakfast was half eaten before I remembered to take a picture. 

To celebrate his last dinner here before his parents come, we got McDonald’s at his request. He was happy to get 10 chicken nuggets and some fries. Hubby and I each had burgers and fries which were cold and not very tasty. I understand why we rarely do fast food. The worst part was the bill for this awful food. It was a shock. We had not gotten McDonald’s in well over 2 years. I could have gotten takeout at a restaurant for that price that would have been better. I won’t be making that mistake again. 

I hope you all have a great evening. 

Categories
Every Day

August 26,2020: Low Spend Month Grocery Challenge

No one was hungry early this morning. So we had brunch. West had pancakes again. Hubby had chicken, pasta, celery and mayo salad made from the extra pasta I cooked yesterday. I had a collagen and antioxidant yogurt with a little of this keto granola sprinkled on top.

It is getting very humid out right now and is supposed to continue through Friday. But I am not complaining because we are supposed to have the worst winter in the country this winter. So I will just enjoy the rest of the summer heat and this autumn. 


Today is a relaxing day again. West is playing a game on his cellphone. Hubby is trying to figure out how to update the printer software when the information they say is on the back of the printer is not there and he needs it. I think he has written them. 


I am going to watch some You Tube videos and do some paperwork this afternoon.


Hubby and West will spend some time chatting outdoors. They do it every afternoon and I listen to them giggling. It makes me laugh. I can’t believe that West will be going home on Friday evening. It seems like he just got here. It always seems that way when my granddaughter visits too. The time passes way too quickly.  


Dinner was pick your own from leftovers that needed to be eaten. I heated up the mashed potatoes, chicken, and gravy and put that and the pasta salad on the table. West and I finished the mashed potatoes and gravy with chicken. Hubby had the pasta salad. There is some pasta salad left for lunch or brunch tomorrow. 

Categories
Every Day

August 25: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

It is a beautiful windy day here. We are going to spend some time outside so that West can get his fresh air.

For breakfast this morning, I made pancakes with real maple syrup which West gobbled up. Here are the leftovers which he can have tomorrow morning. I ate some more cottage cheese. Hubby is out getting his haircut so I assume he will make something to eat when he gets home. 

Dinner last night was pasta salad. When my sons were growing up, it was one of their most requested meals. West wanted to try it. So not following the menu this week is becoming a theme.

My pasta salad is easy. It is cooked large shells, pepperoni, cheddar cheese, black olives and diced fresh tomato. I use Italian dressing that I make with the Good Seasons packet. West ate two big bowls. I guess he liked it. Here is a picture of my bowl.


I am sorry that I didn’t get this posted last night. I was exhausted and fell asleep before I posted it.

Categories
Every Day

August 24: Low Spend Month Grocery Challenge and a Junk Grocery Haul

We had bacon and over easy eggs for breakfast this morning.

Today was a day of relaxing and playing games with West. Hubby mowed the lawn and I did some more laundry.

Dinner was ramen noodles for West and Hubby. I had some cottage cheese and tomatoes.

I did some grocery shopping yesterday. I think it will be last shop of the month for me.

I went to Top’s to do a few deals. One of which gave me a free rotisserie chicken because I purchased 10 boxes of on sale Pasta Roni for my basement stockpile.  West wanted peanut butter M&M’s. He says they are so much better than Reese’s pieces. Three cans of chicken breast because we love chicken salad for lunch sometimes so I rotate these through my stockpile.

Hubby likes vienna sausage so these are my first two cans in a very long time to put in my pantry.  I decided to try these flatout wraps since they are low calorie and low carb and they were B1G1F.  

The cookies and ice creams were all on sale with coupons available too. They will get eaten by Hubby and West. I found West’s hot dogs which are Ball Park Beef. I could not believe how expensive ($5.99) they were. The yogurts were all free with printable coupons and a digital Top’s coupon.

The bread was needed for grilled cheese sandwiches this week.The SteakUmms were on sale and make an easy meat with eggs in the morning. The bacon was on sale with a Top’s coupon and the eggs were $.99 a dozen.   

The total came to $ 59.09 which leaves me $ 11.12 left in
my grocery budget for the rest of the month. That will be used for milk or something else that I might need. 

Categories
Every Day

Frugal Things The Past Week or So

These are the frugal things we have done the past week or so:

– Hubby needed replacement brush heads for his electric toothbrush. He had a $5.00 rebate form for buying them. I found that they cost the same amount on Amazon and Walmart. They never seem to go on sale. So I spent the $19.78 to have them delivered via my Amazon Prime. I mailed in the $ 5.00 rebate form today. When we need something, we always try to get a rebate on it. 


– For 11 days, I skipped the monthly grocery shopping. We had plenty of food to choose from our main pantries and refrigerator/freezer. 

– I ordered a Christmas gift for a person who will love it. I got it $10.00 off. It’s never too early to start looking for sales on Christmas gifts.


– I washed and dried our SUV in our driveway. I also cleaned the entire inside. Our car is like new with only 34,000. miles and it is over 13 years old.


– I washed our clothes and West’s clothes using cold water detergent and Lysol sanitizer. I hung most of them to dry. I used the wool dryer balls for the ones I dried in the dryer. Those balls cut many minutes off the dryer time plus you don’t use dryer sheets.


– Our electric and natural gas bill came for the past month. We used less KWH and the same natural gas but the bill was $4.00 higher than last year. I was curious to know why so I looked at both bills. It looks like there was a rate increase. I guess I am going to have to really concentrate on lowering these bills again.


– I cooked most meals from scratch. We did do take out from KFC.

– I picked up two more free frosting buckets for storage from Top’s.

– Both Hubby and West want ramen noodles for dinner tonight. I don’t understand why they like them so much. I will not be eating them. YUCK!

– I got a free rotisserie chicken at Top’s yesterday.

– I have spent a lot of time training West to turn the lights and TV off in his room. He is always leaving them on when he is not in there.


– We have spent many days playing board games. That is frugal entertainment and lots of fun. 


– Even with West here, I have been getting my exercise in on the treadmill. 

– The toothbrush heads arrived so I filled out the $5.00 rebate and mailed it in.

– We have been using the automatic timer on the sprinkler system to water the lawn all summer. No water wasted because we forget to turn it off.

What have you done frugally the past week or so?