It Was A Busy End Of The Week And Weekend

Hubby and I pulled the container of ham out of the freezer to try to use it up over the weekend. On Friday night he made fried ham and eggs for me and ham salad for himself for dinner. I had not had breakfast for dinner in a very long time.

This was the container of ham. We had used it for a couple of meals before I took this picture. The ham was purchased for $.99 a lb. at Aldi’s after Easter. It was already cooked so I just had to remove the ham from the bone. I have one more ham in the freezer that I will use later in the year.

I saved the bone too with a bit of meat on it to make homemade bean soup.

Then I soaked the beans in water overnight on Saturday. On Sunday I drained and rinsed the beans. I put the ham bone and beans in the crockpot along with some spices and water to cover all and cooked it all day. It was not quite done for dinner so I let it cook for another 3 hours.

When the soup was done, I took the rest of the ham off the bone and added it to the soup. I let it cool and then put it in two half gallon mason jars so that I could store it in the fridge.

We have had breakfasts with this ham, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches twice for dinner, and now tonight we will have soup. I think over the next couple of days that we will finish one jar of the soup. The other one I am going to freeze and eat the next time we have rainy days. I will freeze it in reusable individual soup containers that I use to freeze soup.

I can’t buy cold cuts for $.99 a lb. so all of this was a great bargain. I wanted to get some hams around Christmas but I did not have the freezer space. Finally after Easter I did. I also bought two corned beefs around St. Patrick’s Day. I am always happy to find hams and corned beef cheap because they are two of Hubby’s favorite meats. He could eat them for a week for every meal and be very happy.

Meat is so darn expensive these days that I am very happy when I can get it under $2.00 a lb. Hams at Easter and Christmas for $.99 a lb. Butterball turkeys at Thanksgiving for $.99 a lb. or generic for cheaper is the way to reduce your meat bill. You should be able to pick up cheap ground beef, hot dogs, and sausages this week for Memorial Day. I will be making sure that I have enough for the summer. I know I have enough of all except for hot dogs. I will be picking up a 3 lb. bag this week of Sahlen’s hot dogs for $10.99. They are made here in Buffalo and they are delicious.

The only other items I will buy this week are some corn on the cob at $ .39 an ear and some strawberries on BOGO. In another month we should have great local strawberries.

Hubby is at the dentist for his cleaning and check up. When he gets home, I will make some hash browns and fried ham for brunch.

Speaking of the dentist, I am furious with the staff. I had to cancel an appointment for Hubby a bit ago and I mentioned that our Dental Plan was due to be paid today for the next year and that Frank would pay it when he came in today. Then when I had my appointment a week or so ago, I mentioned that again to his receptionist and bookkeeper. Every year the premium goes up so I called the office last week to find out how much it would be. I was told that the dentist is not offering a plan for 2024. I was shocked and asked her why she didn’t mention that fact when I was in for my appointment. She said it was a recent decision. I said how recent and she said two weeks ago. I told her I asked each time and my appointment had been after they made the decision. What was the big secret? Crickets!

My dentist is to expensive that I don’t think I will be going back there. Hubby is there now and we will see how he feels about it. The only thing I ever have done is X-rays and cleanings for my bottom teeth because I have an upper denture.

When I went to have my medical tests done last week, I saw a sign at a local college that they are doing cleanings and X-rays for free. They must have a dental school there. I am going to try to get an appointment for October which is when I have to go again. This would save me $ 305. for the cleaning and about $200. for the X-rays.

Tomorrow or Wednesday I will do a post about how I am sick and tired of making everyone else rich except us. It will be interesting because I am going to make some big changes.

How are you saving on meat?