Author: American Dreamer

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Every Day

Filling In The Gaps

I have spent a great deal of time this past couple of days working on filling in the gaps in my stockpile for the fall and winter. I looked at my inventory list and saw what needed to be purchased. I still will be picking items up here and there every week and especially around Thanksgiving.

Aldi was my first stop because the Wednesday specials go fast at my market and I wanted 1 large package of the chicken breasts on sale for $ 1.69 a lb. I had not seen that price in about 4 months. These get cut in half from end to end and we eat one of them for a meal. The chicken breasts are so big today that sometimes I cut them into thirds. I am using two of the breasts cut in half to make dinner tonight which is Keto Enchilada Chicken Casserole. That will give us two dinners. I do not like shredded chicken so I cut mine into chunks.

The rest were cut and put in food saver bags in the freezer for future meals.

The Cup of Noodles Hubby loves. I much prefer to buy these rather than those wrapped packages of ramen because these keep much longer. But I had not found them in stock until this week. I am always picking up whole potatoes especially when we used some up while West was visiting. 


The brown gravy mixes were only $ .30 each which is a great price for here. I use them in many recipes so it is nice to add to my stash. The rices are easy to fix for Hubby and much cheaper than the regular market price.


I replaced the mushrooms that I had used over the past 2 months. The pork rinds are a Keto snack for me. The avocado oils, applesauce,and salt are for the stockpile.


One of my readers mentioned to me that she was going to get some things for her holiday meals so I took her advice. I like to have packets of turkey gravy on hand to bolster the flavor of my homemade turkey gravy. So I picked a few packets up at Walmart. I also like to make homemade fudge at Christmas. I had every thing I needed but the sweetened condensed milk. So I picked up two cans at Aldi.

This is my receipt from Aldi’s.  

Then at Walmart, besides getting the turkey gravy, I got  Skinny Pop, mounds and apple juice for Hubby, a whole bunch of muffins mixes for our stockpile storage. I have the instant milk and water to make these if need be.


I also got some spare lighters for candles and our outdoor fireplace which we can cook in.


The crispy onions and bread crumbs all went into my basement stockpile. All of the medicines went into our medicine storage for the winter. There are still a couple of medicines that I need to buy but Walmart’s prices were outrageous. I paid $ 16.97 for 1 bottle of Pepcid Complete. I am going to wait to see if the rest of the medicines I need go on sale in the next few weeks at the drugstores. 


I always pick up hand soap when they have it. They have always limited it here to 1. The rest of the items will go in my long term stockpile.


I got some fajita mixes, tortilla wraps that we were out of, 60 eggs because they were much cheaper than buying them by the dozen or 18 count. Dried cranberries go in chicken salad. The frosting is for Hubby’s birthday cake this month. The cornstarch was needed. I am almost out. Lastly the M&M peanuts are Hubby’s favorite and the peanut butter M&M’s are West’s favorite treat when he comes on Sundays.

Here is my Walmart receipt. 


Are any of you filling in your gaps in your stockpiles?

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Every Day

My Stock Up Haul

I did a small stock up haul at Top’s yesterday since it was 6% off senior discount day. I also had a $ 4.00 off my next shopping order Q.

I was out of this sausage and I like to have something that I can quickly heat up with my eggs in the mornings. They finally had it on sale for $1.00 each so I got 6. The grey poupon mustard was on sale for $2.00 and Hubby loves it. So I got another one for my long term stockpile.

The Zatarain’s sides were on sale for $1.00 each so I got 5 for my stockpile. The salad dressings were on sale for $ 1.77. I got one for $ .77 with a $1.00 Q and 2 for $1.27 each with a $1./2 Q.These are also for my long term stockpile.


The Poppables were on sale for $ 1.99 when you bought in multiples of 3. I had a $1.00 Q for each one so I paid $.99 each.

My total for yesterday after the senior discount was $ 14.12. 

Did you get any good deals recently?

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Every Day

Waste Not Want Not

It’s time to look and see what we can use up in the refrigerator. I kind of lost track of what is in there while West was here. 

After saving so much money with the low spend grocery month of August, I do not want to waste any food.

So I am perusing my vegetable drawers(I took all of these pictures yesterday morning). This is what I saw: 

2 eggplants

1 container of diced onions 


1 celery

cherry tomatoes and 1/2 cucumber in the cryovac bag


3 heads of romaine lettuce

1 bag of carrots

1 whole cucumber

1 tomato

Next, I looked in the deli drawer. This is what I found:

3 Land O Frost 100% Natural Peppered Roast Beef

1 pkg. of All Natural Honey Deli Ham

1 pkg. of  Hard Salami

1 pkg. of Prosciutto

3 large Pepperoni Sticks + part of another one


Turkey Snack Sticks

Bags of Colby Jack, Cheddar, Mexican and Mozzarella
Shredded cheeses

Mozzarella, Swiss, Colby Jack, and Provolone Sliced Cheeses 


A Few American Cheese Slices

Parmesan Cheese that I grate

Yancey’s Buffalo Wing Cheese

A Few Monterey Jack Cheese cubes


Then I looked at what leftovers needed to be used up.


Cooked Bacon Strips

Container of Black Olives


Hard Boiled Eggs


Part of a Jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce

Lamb in sauce on top of Rice

Half a jar of Unsweetened Applesauce 


I said to myself, these ALL have to be used up in the days ahead so that nothing goes to waste.


The eggs and bacon will go quickly for brunches. 


The applesauce will be served as a side with meals.

Hubby and I will eat the leftover lamb dish and/or the leftover taco meat from our dinner last night. There is a small amount of each left so they should all be gone after dinner. 


The spaghetti sauce will be used for Hot Italian sausage sandwiches this week. Some of the mozzarella cheese will get used up on those too.


I am not too concerned about the cheeses and deli meats. They have a far out expiration date and will definitely get used for lunches, dinners, and snacks before they expire. The pepperoni keeps forever especially the ones that are not open.


The turkey sticks will get eaten by me when the hunger hits. I then eat one to hold me until the next meal.


The prosciutto will get put in our antipasto salads one night this week for dinner.


We will most likely use up the American cheese in grilled cheese sandwiches for a lunch or brunch. I will not be buying that kind of cheese again when it is gone. It tastes like plastic. I would much rather use the other cheese slices for grilled sandwiches.


I will be sauteing the eggplants for side dishes today. I love them just sliced and cooked in a little butter. I can make a meal out of a few slices. 


Some of the tomatoes, onions, and romaine were put in our taco salads for dinner last night. I also used up the small container of black olives in those. 


I use the celery and carrots for snacks to dip in semi-homemade ranch dressing.  I use the packets. I also use them diced up in stews, soups, and other dishes. They last longer than most vegetables in the fridge.


The cucumbers are sliced for salads and just as a side with a sprinkle of salt. 


A little tip for you. All of our deli meats were purchased in July. When I see a sale, I get them and freeze them. Then when Hubby needs one I thaw it. The roast beef is the exception. It keeps a very long time in the deli drawer because they are sealed well. Once they are open, Hubby does not let them hang around long.  

So it was worth the little bit of time I took to see what we needed to use up this week. I absolutely hate throwing out food that has gone bad. I might as well just throw the money away.  

If I see something that I can freeze before we can use it, I do. For example, on Sunday, I sliced up some strawberries that had been sitting in the fruit drawer. Then I froze them. They will get used in smoothies.

Are you staying on top of your leftovers? I can’t say that I do 100% of the time. But I sure try. Sometimes something gets shoved to the back of the shelf and I miss it until it is too late. 

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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.

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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.  

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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.
 

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.