Yesterday, I took everything out of the fridge that needed to be used up soon. While I was doing it, I wiped down all of the shelves and rearranged some condiments. These are all of the things that I need to do something with before they go bad. Sorry there are two pictures that have some things overlapping. But I couldn’t get it all in one picture.
I will start with the lettuce. It is about 6-7 weeks old. I wash and dry my lettuce when I purchase it and put it in canning jars with a paper towel in the bottom. Then I food saver it to get all of the air out. It keeps about 7 weeks perfectly. It is now starting to get old, so we will be using it up in sandwiches for dinner and a salad in the next couple of days.
The half full wine bottle was a gift from family for Easter dinner. It is still good but it is one that is really dry and we don’t like it. So I will find some recipes that call for wine to use it up. I will do the same with the chicken, turkey, and beef broth. I may make some soups. The chicken is half full but the other two there is only about a 1/3 of the container.
I have put the strawberries in a freezer bag and they are now frozen to be used for smoothies or desserts.
The turkey deli meat was purchased to make quick meals while I have not been feeling well. The apples are getting wrinkled so I will chop them up and saute them with onions as a side for one of our meals soon.
The two yogurts are getting old so I ate one for a snack yesterday afternoon. The black olives are a few that were leftover from making tacos. They will get used in a salad.
The tomatoes will be used for sandwiches. Under the bag of tomatoes is one thick slice of ham. Hubby may make ham salad out of it to spread on crackers or we may fry it up to go with scrambled eggs.
The cantaloupe is not quite ripe yet but when it is we will eat slices for breakfasts and for desserts.
The pork fried rice I made for dinner two nights ago will most likely get eaten by one of us for lunch today.
I had a few pieces of bacon raw in the fridge. So I cooked it up yesterday afternoon.
The last item is a bag of condiments from fast food over the past year. Eating fast food is a rarity for us so there are very few in that bag. But they will get used up for meals soon.
Some of the lettuce, the tomatoes, the cooked bacon, and the turkey deli slices all got used up in sandwiches on toasted rolls last night for dinner.
We also had some bananas that were getting very ripe. So Hubby made his delicious banana salad for each of us for dessert to use some of them up. The rest I will throw in the freezer for making banana bread this fall. It is too darn hot to turn the oven on now.
Now that I am feeling much better, I am hoping to run some errands before it gets to be 94 here today. I hope you all have a great money saving day.
2 replies on “My Journey To Keep My Grocery Budget Under Control”
Hi Precious. Loved these tips you shared about using up things. I could just see your mind figuring out what to do with each thing. The way you store lettuce is a new thing to me.
I am pretty tired tonight. Had older granddaughter all day. Was on the phone with Medicare for an hour or so trying to figure out something for my mom. Took granddaughter to her haircut appt and then we went to McDonalds for a treat for lunch. When we got home I finished making the birthday cake for hubby that I had gotten up at 6 am to bake so as to not warm up the house. And put the cheesy potatoes in the crock pot. Before she came I had watered the gardens and put water in the wading pool for the girls. They played later in the afternoon. Besides the cheesy potatoes we had steak, salad and son brought an extra watermelon he had leftover from his party last weekend. And German chocolate cake for the birthday. It was a long day, we just got done with the dishes and putting up outside. Hubby used the pool water to water his garden a little extra tonight.
Hi Chris,
Thanks Chris. I have only been doing the lettuce a couple of months. It really makes a difference on how long it lasts. I do jars that are ready for sandwiches or salads and ones with shredded for tacos.
I bet you are tired. My grandchildren wear me out and they are older. I hate dealing with Medicare. God Bless you for doing that for your Mom.
Kudos for baking that cake so early. Happy Birthday to Hubby. His birthday dinner sounds like it was delicious.
Smart Hubby not just throwing out that pool water.