Thrifty Thursday-Can't Pay for Rain Edition

      Still no rain to speak of and the haze from fires in Canada is creeping more south with each day. A colleague who lives way up north had to cancel both an outing on the lake and an elders picnic. Well, they moved the elders picnic inside the tribal community center, but not the same as a picnic. That's just lunch!  I'd like nothing more than to hear a good thunderstorm and the patter of rain, but rain is something not for sale. Finally the city added a lawn watering ban between 11:00 and 6:00. I wish it was more restrictive. I don't get to decide that, but I do get to decide what I can spend my money on, what I do with my time, and how I conserve resources. Here is my summary of the thrifty positives for the week.

Time

•  A good happy hour followed by games at my sisters was a good place to spend my Saturday.
• With DD1's help, we tackled some of the hardest to deal with clutter in her old bedroom and the office is on it's way. 
• I almost bailed on Trivia since so few were able to make it, but then thought it still would be fun. Well, we had the "youngsters" come, and it was fun-and we won!  I bought a round-which was cheap since three of our six couldn't even drink beer or seltzer, lol. 
• I got caught up with a few  graduation and other cards that needed to be mailed for events we were not able to attend. 

Resources  

• DD2 brought yet more produce home yesterday including sweet potatoes, both diced and chunked, a kabob kit, fresh salsa, and veggies and dip. We sure are eating a lot of produce. It amazes me how much  of the items are cut and then packaged and sold in grocery stores like that. I understand some people may have limited time, kitchen space, or decent knives, but how hard is it to peel a  sweet potato, or slice a zucchini, onion, and peppers? The price as it would have been in the store is on the container and  woah! There was a container that looked like it had an onion and perhaps a punnet of mushrooms.It was labeled "steaker toppers", and was priced at $5-plus the plastic container to dispose of. 
• Last Friday she distributed 10 bags of produce to people who would use and saved from waste.
• Daughter and I have been eating the leftovers for lunch. My fridge is overflowing and I fear though there may be potential waste so on my list for tomorrow.
• While many things had to be thrown from the old bedroom, there was a lot of good stuff such as  winter coats and warm jackets, like new jeans plus movies and books to donate. My daughter did that on my behalf as she practically passes a Goodwill on route to work, saving me both time and gas money. We'll have another load this weekend. 
• She had a few finds of items and gifts forgotten about (or were hidden by clutter) that will work well in her house now.

Money

•  I already said above, but our team won $30 in beer money for next week's Trivia. 
• With the cleaning, I found some treasures! In a box of old cars, I found 5 good postage stamps, a $20 Walmart gift card, and a $40 Target gift card. Never just throw cards and envelopes! 
• I did a top off shop and had a few things specifically needed-yogurt and deli meat. I happened on a clearanced refrigerator case and got three packs, 14 oz each of Hillshire Farm turkey at $2, 66% off, and four Oikos Greek Yogurts at   $ .50 each-these sell normally for over a dollar and even  compared to Aldi price it was a deal. I also grabbed some little  snack packs at $ .75 each as good for throwing in a bag  rather than purchasing a snack out and about. They are really small though so maybe not a great find. Lesson learned, clearance is great, if the item are things you will  use and is still a good price for quality/item. It can be easy to get lured into buying because of the discount, but that's still spending money on items not intended. 

     The local sweet corn is starting to come in. A friend posted on Facebook that her parents farm will have their regular corner set up starting tomorrow-it's really delicious! I'm sure they have irrigated so the lack of rain shouldn't hurt the crops, but I do feel bad for the added costs they'll face. How about you? How did you spend your time, use your resources, and spend money wisely this week?

     

Po-tay-toe, Po-tot-oh What to do with them all?

I still have almost 1/2 a bag of a 10 pounder of potatoes bought right before Christmas. While I have kept them in a dark place, I fear they need to be eaten this week or they will soon be bound for the garbage can, and that is just not the direction I want to go and as yo can see, some are already sprouting. Potatoes of some sort will be my choice of side dish this week. Please add your ideas in the comments below. 

Helen Soup, known to most as Potato Cheddar, is a family favorite, first made in 1993 when an older colleague, Helen, shared her evening meal recipe. A particularly cold and wet fall, and a new job that added 15 minutes to my commute, with a traveling DH, and a 2 and 4 year old at home, meant my hands were full. Inexpensive, hearty, and easy was the dinner game plan. This soup is easy, with four cups diced carrots, four cups diced potatoes, cooked in 8 cups water with 8 stock cubes and 2 tsp of pepper. Remove half the soup to puree with a blender or hand mixer, pour back in, and add 1 cup shredded or cubed cheddar cheese. I still have cheddar from my Christmas shop, and a buy one get one on 2 pound bags carrots yielded a bounty there as well.

Parmesan Potatoes-Dice 4-6 medium size potatoes. Toss with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. When coated, toss in a mixture of  1-2 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of salt, 1-2 tsp of Italian seasoning, and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Roast on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, watching until they get crispy, and turning at least one time. 

Home Fried Potatoes are so good, my mouth waters thinking of these and a great use of leftover baked potatoes. I'm intentionally creating leftovers by baking up a bunch in my microwave. For a medium potato, dice 1/4 medium onion and fry in a tsp of butter, for a good onion to potato ration. I seem to have four leftover potatoes a lot, so usually 1 onion, 4 tsp of butter, cooked until the onion is translucent.  Add the cold, diced baked potatoes, and cook on low to heat the potatoes through. Turn up heat to get a good fry; turn gently to fry the other side, add salt and pepper to taste. 

Good old mashed- with a tsp of butter, roughly 1/2 ounce of cream cheese, and a1/2 ounce of sour cream (or plain yogurt), whipped in per potato. A five pound bag of potatoes for a holiday will have at least a stick of butter, a package of cream cheese, and a 8 ounce tub of sour cream. This method works great for reheating, or keeping warm in a crock pot. Not low cal, but a small portion does the job. Alternatively, I'll whip with just skim milk at times.

Potato Patties were a favorite as a child if we had an abundance of leftover mashed, and were getting sick of them that way. My mom would crack an egg in the potatoes, add salt, pepper, then form in a patty shape and fry on both sides in a little butter. When I do this, naturally as I do to most of my cooking, I add a ton of garlic and Italian seasoning, and if I have any cheese remnants, I'll throw that in as well. 

We'll be eating a lot of chicken this week, along with hamburgers, Sloppy Joe's, and eggs. Carrots will be the vegetable of choice due to the sale mentioned above. some of these potato sides can be frozen, like the patties and even the mashed potatoes for next week if we get tried of them. The humble, yet versatile potato.  What's your favorite way to serve? 

Use It Up Soup and Pizza Sunday

 Yes, I know it is now Tuesday morning. I meant to write about my little kitchen successes from Sunday, sure to save me a little money and hassle tonight and tomorrow, but forgot yesterday morning in my fund raiser exuberance. Tuesday and Wednesday are my most stressful days.Tuesday always, just because! No fresh new week, most of the work week still to come, and Wednesday's are just crammed full. Still tired from the fun parts of the weekend. I knew I had to tackle the refrigerator before many things went bad. Try as I might, I still have not conquered food waste, but it is a work in progress. 

First was to take care of four small chicken breasts, cooked Thursday but not put back in the freezer in smaller portions. Two went into a medium batch of wild rice soup, also using two of my starting to look sad carrots. That worked for lunch, plus soup leftovers for DD2 before or after violin today. The other two were also cut up, but placed in the freezer ready to go in a hot dish or alfredo sauce for Thursday.

The rest of the carrots, plus a soft onion went in the crock pot with 8 cups of water, 6 stock cubes, and a heaping teaspoon of pepper. Later I diced a couple potatoes to throw in. I had a bag of fresh broccoli florets that got shoved to the back of the refrigerator.  I steamed them, then through those in too. Later, when the vegetables were soft, I whizzed it all with the hand mixer to thicken it up, still keeping loads of broccoli chunks, added  four ounces of shredded cheddar, and voila, cheddar broccoli soup for Wednesday night supper. I think I'll make some drop biscuits to go with them. 

After working at the meat raffle, I still needed something for supper. We didn't eat the second soup as we had the wild rice for lunch. DD had made herself pasta and jarred sauce on Saturday, leaving 1/2 a jar. I had small size packet of pepperoni in the pantry, another small soft onion, some wilting spinach, and made my own flat bread no rise pizza crust. It was delicious, and stuffed the three of us full. 

I had to send DH to the store earlier for cheese for soup and pizza, but Cobornes had Kraft packages for $1.98, with a buy 6, get $3.00 off. Mot too shabby. I'm cheese stocked again. He also grabbed six Roma pizza's for $10, perfect as no school Wednesday-Friday this week and we are bound to have an extra kid or two around. Other deals included 3 for $5.00 post cereal, a loaf of bread, two packages of deli meet, and buy one get one instant oatmeal packets, spending around $33.00 for fill in groceries. 

I salvaged/used up:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 soft onions
• 5 soft carrots
• 1 about to go bad broccoli
• wilted spinach
• 1/2 jar of pasta sauce 
• and DH ate the last pork chop (that maybe should have been thrown-fingers crossed no illness) for lunch Monday

I'm getting four meals from these ingredients, plus leftovers. Granted, I threw a few things, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been in the garbage.  I am ahead of the game for a few meals as well now. We just had quick sandwiches on Monday as DD had a concert and I had a couple more appointments later afternoon. What success have you had recently in the kitchen? Who's tamed the food waste beast?

(Sorry for no pictures-I had them posted, but then was getting a linking error so just deleted them.)

It's Not Just Roots and Berries

Expand my horizons, eat healthier, get physically active. These three areas have been part of my mantra for my personal growth for a while. I'm a fickle kind of person though. I jump on a bandwagon for a really short amount of time, learning about something, diving in for weeks, perhaps months, but eventually slip back in my old ways and habits. However, little bits and bobs of knowledge or curtailed behaviors stay behind. I guess I am like most people trying out things that sound like they make sense, seeing how they fit in my life and rejecting, or ignoring what doesn't. Last night I tried expanding my horizon and attended a lecture at a co-op in a transitional neighborhood in Minneapolis. I've learned over the last few decades that transitional means the neighborhood used to be really sketchy and now is just sort of sketchy, but becoming more an more populated by hipster people and hipster shops and restaurants. This particular coop is a smaller sister of a larger grocery store style one a few blocks over, but features a cafe and deli with sit down tables, plus a large community room that hosts lectures like the one I attended and of course, yoga classes. 

The lecture was given by Jordan Ruben, author of Patient Heal Thyself and his newest book, which we received a copy of, Planet Heal Thyself. In Patient, Mr. Rubin wrote about how he was able to transform his sickly 19 year old body that was plagued by  a host of illness and digestive disorders by overhauling everything he ate and put in his body. With Planet, he wants to go further and implore all of us to do the same, while also taking steps that will regenerate the planet. The first book is the one that got my friend V going going grain and sugar free and she insists she is a new person inside and out from her changes. Planet, at least from the lecture I take it, will go deeper into how to be part of a revolution that moves food growers, distributors and sellers into providing more readily accessible and affordable foods free from  additives, herbicides, and other toxins that are killing our body and our worlds soil. This, Rubin says, is done through changes each of us make in what we choose to buy and consume-change though our dollars. 

He was a slick speaker, obviously on the lecture circuit for decades honing his presentations. Much of what he said has become basic knowledge. Eat real food as close to the natural state as possible. Eat artisanally-meaning how our ancestors ate, without added chemicals and preservatives. He talked about the GMO debate, and super foods, and the miraculous properties in plants as the main source of vitamins and minerals as opposed to popping tablets. Most made sense, and I was feeling a stirring of wanting to tear apart my kitchen pantry and start over again. 

Then the lecture turned from a presentation on his book and sharing of what he has learned into an infomercial for his new line of health products Get Real Nutrition. It was a 180 degree shift. In all honesty, I lost retention of 50% of what he said as he moved from all the points about saving ourselves and the world to touting these powder to mix into your smoothies and hummus. I guess I should have expected it. He was doing a free lecture, and the book was part of the evening. There had to be a marketing catch, and sure enough there was. We all received the book, a cloth bag, a magazine from his company, and three coupons for $4,00 off each box of Get Real  we wanted to purchase. I didn't buy any as I feel like I need to read more to understand what the heck he is peddling, and why, if I followed the 10 points he was trying to convey in his speech, would I need his super food powders? He lost a bit of street cred there with me.

Still, I think it is important to learn new things, challenge our status quo, even if we decide reverting back to said quo is best. I certainly agree with increasing the vegetarian meals in our diet and staying away from additives and chemical preservatives is a good thing. I was excited to hear and want to know more, about the power, not just in flavor of herbs and spices, but in their support of healthy immune and digestive system. On the other hand, removing the 8 allergens he sites, such as tree nuts, dairy, and eggs is not a change I want to take on right now. Who else has attended a lecture on a topic that is trending that you've been curious to know more about? Have a great weekend. I may be off to forage roots and berries.

As part of the free lecture, everyone got a copy of the book.
This was not an endorsement for any book or product, but
 merely my opinions and experience. 

An Ordinary Saturday

I woke up this morning craving coffee...and leftover cheese curds. Coffee cup at my side, and cheese curds warmed and devoured, I'm popping in for a little post before planning and starting my ordinary day. Ordinary is good-too many people don't get to experience ordinary enough, or ever. Since my Waste Not post earlier in the week, we've still been living off what has been in the house. My resolve earlier in the month to limit my total eating out the month of September,  has been busted, however. This week alone I caved in and had Leeann Chin's for lunch on Thursday, and then last night, we ended up joining a few siblings for Friday night Fish. DD#1 unexpectedly dropped in on Thursday afternoon and just headed back this morning to work the weekend, and my brother is in town from Florida. Plus I lost track of time in the office and was late getting home, so when my sister's text came to join them, no second thought was needed. The cheese curds were leftovers from the girls meal. 

DH picked up tacos for him and DD#2 on Wednesday before picking her up at church at 7:30.  We had a coming and going schedule, which is a post in itself. I had just popped a couple pieces of bread in the toaster when I came home, at 6:00 but he bought four tacos for the kid, and I ended up eating one of those as well before heading out the door for my 8:30 volleyball game.Even though I had already eaten too much restaurant food this week, those curds were calling my name, and would have gone to waste as no one else would have reheated them. I feel a bit like that Spurlock guy might have felt in Super Size Me. 

The rest of the weekend will be better. I've got loads of chicken and will throw a bunch in the crock pot for several meals, perhaps pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches, traditional chicken dinner, soup, and a hot dish or stew. I think there is hamburger, and several cans of tuna too. I'll swing into the farmer's market and hopefully find some zucchini's, which is odd that they have been missing in past weeks. I thought everyone always had a glut of zucchinis? I need to buy pantry staples of sugar, flour, buns, and bouillon, veggie/fruit bin basics of carrots, celery, apples and pears, dairy items like milk, eggs, cheddar cheese, yogurt and sour cream and then we will be set again until I really purge and clean.  I have been procrastinating the full fall kitchen clean, but really want it orderly and sparkling when we leave on vacation in less than three weeks so have put a moratorium on huge grocery shopping. I did buy a 20 pound bag of Pup's food.  He was down to dust.Despite the restaurants, I have done  well on the waste front, though admittedly, the tomato, pepper angel hair blob did get thrown.

I successfully made rhubarb and raspberry jam two Saturday's ago. That was what used the sugar up. We had six nice tall jars of jam, DD#1 taking one home.  These were the berries I picked and froze little by little until the bad thunderstorm that beat up the bushes, destroying the last of them.I always feel very Heloise or Martha Stewart when I make jam.

 I have strawberries frozen as well, and think I can round up enough jars to do a batch of strawberry.  I'd like to do it with rhubarb as well, but DD#1 wants to save the last of the frozen rhubarb to make her crumble again this winter. I can't blame her.  Don't we all want to nab a little bit of summer in the heart of winter? 

Waste Not

This desert was the best thing we ate all weekend.  It was not actually this one, as made memorial day weekend, but the same recipe made by DD#2 this afternoon. On Thursday, National Public Radio was doing a story on how the average household in the United States is wasting as much as 1/4 of the food they purchase.  I knew it was a lot, and that I am guilty as charged, but hearing that high amount, made me almost sick.  I decided it would not happen in my household.  

DH had made fajitas on Thursday, and on Friday, I pulled together a mac and cheese and chicken chunks meal on the fly before we settled into evening activities.  There was a good portion and a half of mac and cheese left. Saturday I came across a few cherry tomatoes and peppers that needed something done with quick, so I threw the in the crock pot with some broth.  Great base to a soup I thought.  I went to my nephews football game, and when I came home, through some  angel hair pasta in.  It did not turn out as expected.  instead of a tomato-pepper noodle soup, it was a sticky mess.  We ate it for lunch anyway.  There were also leftovers. DD#2 had a sandwich and popcorn for supper and DH and I went to a corporate event, so not a real meal for supper had to be cooked. 

After church today, as much as I would have loved to cook up a nice brunch, I started pulling things from the fridge and we cleaned up all the odds and end leftovers from the week. The leftover mac and cheese, one serving of tortellini soup, the fajitas,  a smidge of salsa and another smidge of queso dip, along with a couple ore tortillas, and I even ate the sticky mess from Saturday.  Guess what?  There is more for my lunch tomorrow.  I may give in and toss, but really want to just suck it up and eat it, knowing full well, another 1/2 of the worlds population is packing nothing for a lunch tomorrow. For supper, I used the half bag of meatballs from the freezer, rinsed out the last of the BBQ sauce for two different bottles to cook them in.  We ate these with broiled egg plant, a couple bananas, and for desert, the delicious dump cake-strawberry and rhubarb, with produce from the freezer. I feel pretty accomplished.  

While the meals might have been weird, I saved food that might have easily gone in the trash without a thought.  I have a lot of meat in the freezer, but the pantry is starting to get low, and I am OK with that.  I think we need a good dose of planning, and organizing to figure out how to make good nutritious meals, and plan for not wasting leftovers. To do this, I am planning to only buy ingredients we need for meals, as oppose to a full on grocery shop until at least Thursday. Until then, I will improvise, as we needed to do with my daughters cake.  We are completely out of pantry staples like flour and sugar. I learned you can substitute  powdered sugar for granular sugar in this recipe with similar results.  She probably added an extra 1/4 cup to be on the safe side, but her cake was every bit as good as any other I've tasted-maybe better because she was so proud of it. If you have tips for avoiding food waste, please share the in the comments.  Wish me luck for the rest of the week. 

Culinary Awareness

After several posts by others summarizing their grocery bills, their eating out bills, and their food waste logs, I was feeling pretty down trodden about my efforts in all three areas.  Not only do I estimate that we spent more than $175 on meals out and take out, our grocery bill for a family of three, including household supplies, exceeded $500 (of what I could track), and I did a very guilty fridge and freezer toss. Last month was 1)not thrifty, 2) not minimalist, and 3) not healthy. Why this realization over a week into August? First, our credit card goes from the 7th of the month to the 7th the following, and I also wanted to get the 4th of July spending off because I didn't want to be able to justify the out of whack spending with the holiday thrown in. 

My plan this week is to stay completely away from  restaurants, deli counters, and drive through windows. I'm going to do a good look and see that I find any perishables that are lurking in the back of refrigerator or freezer, and cross my fingers that they do not need to find the trash bin. So here is the plan.

Sunday:
I was very under the weather yesterday and sent DH and DD#2 off to the lake for the day.  I was alert enough to send a cooler with hot dogs from the freezer and buns, a cantaloupe, can of beans, chips and salsa, and two mini loaves of banana bread that were in the freezer as contributions to the communal meals. I drank loads of water, ibuprofen, and had toast.
Monday:
Feeling more myself, I used up 5 good noodles and a bunch of broken ones to put a small lasagne together using canned tomatoes and nearing the sell by date cheese. Today is DH's birthday, so I did stop for three slices of $1.00 pie, as he is not much of a cake eater.  We are celebrating his and  other birthdays on Sunday, so this will be about as much attention as he wants. 
Tuesday:
I used a large onion hiding in the bin, two large and three small zucchini that needed to be cooked, and the last of the plain yogurt from last weeks masala dish to make a zucchini curry.  Made tonight, I'll just reheat tomorrow. 
Wednesday:
Spinach, cucumber, and tomato salad with chicken cutlets.  
Thursday:
DH is usually the one that makes the meals, so I will leave him to his own devices, but make him promise to use what is in the house. I'm going to take a wild guess and say he will make spaghetti. That would be fine as have a few egg plant I can bread and fry up, and I'll make an extra chicken cutlet or two to make chicken and eggplant Parmesan. 
Friday:
Comfort food by weeks end is in order, so think a tuna hot dish, with peas and cheese might fit the mood. 
Saturday:
Use up any leftovers, and if needed some grilled cheese sandwiches or omelets.

I'm not much of a menu planner, but I am fed up with the waste. These are all foods my family enjoys, so shouldn't fee like we are giving up anything.  Lunches will be any leftovers form the night before, yogurt, cheese and crackers, and sandwiches. No fast food.  No take out. I have a lonely ear of corn-would that taste well in the curry? What's on your table this week?

Minimalist Journey Days 13 and 14

Minimalism is quite hard.  The not buying part has been a breeze, but the decluttering stage, has been quite rocky.  It is hard to undo 28 years of accumulation of unnecessary stuff, Yesterday was for selling, and today is for digitizing documents, photos, kids art work, or anything else that we may need or want to keep, but doesn't have to occupy physical space.  I have two actions to share.  First, I did set up an E-Bay account.  I have no clue how to use it, but at least it is created so as I do find things that might have enough value monetarily, but not enough to warrant space in my home, I could try and sell it.  

Second, I bought a couple (yes I know these were new to my home but pretty tiny) flash drives. After we complete purging old paper work that we really do not need to be holding onto, the next step will be to slowly scan the documents we do want to reference, but do not need originals.  At last count, we had 16 bankers boxes of old papers.  I think most is beyond the years of needing to keep records at all, and another 4 boxes worth could be scanned. 


At present we are in the it has to get worse before it can get better stage of attacking minimalism. I say we, because if this is going to work in the short run, and continue to be a lifestyle, I need my partners who helped do the crime in the first place to be on board and stay there. I don't live alone as did Ryan in the Minimalist blog, and I was holding onto a whole families worth of stuff.  Still, any progress is  progress and I need to tell myself that. 

Some success and flops this week, not strictly n the 21 Day plan, but important to my goals include:

Food and meals flop:

• Yuck, with working late a couple nights, dinner one night was takeout tacos and another was a bucket of chicken.  Then there was the infamous chicken sandwich.
• Joined the work group and went in on ordering Jimmy Johns one day.  I did make it vegetarian, and loaded with veggies for some consolation.
• Let 4 avocados go bad.  They were fine one day and when  went to use the next, they were moldy and inedible, that quick.

Food and meal success:

• Used all the leftovers from the weekend for lunches
• Turned  a handful of grape tomatoes about to go bad, and 1/3 of a can of diced tomatoes left from making guacamole ( I had planned on making more before the avocado fiasco), olive oil, and lots of seasoning into a tomato sauce for some leftover noodles. It essentially was a free lunch for DD#2 and I as all were such small quantities individually that many people would have just chucked aside. 
• Had a lovely steak dinner and wine of our own at home last night, with the meal prepared faster than we could have walked to the bar and grill. We capped dinner with a stroll as the full moon was coming out-quite storybook.

Household Success

• Saved a soccer bag, basketball bag, and back pack, all heavily used, soiled, and stinky by washing in a mix of laundry soap and baking soda, on delicate, and then letting them air dry.  all look practically brand new.  Each of these items new were over $50 each.  The sports bags have been used by DD# 2 since she was 8, and have years of life. While we bought new, it is a good reminder that buying good quality second hand things is smart as opposed to buying new cheaper made things that will need replacing. 

That is all I have this week, and am not all that pleased on the kitchen front, but the week ahead should be less chaotic. How do you manage the kitchen in weeks of chaos? As for paperwork, what are your methods for staying on top of it?  Besides legally required documents such as tax filings, and titles, how long do you keep things like utility bills?  For those of you with children, how long or how much do you save of your kids school days? 

Pantry Intentionality

I took a vacation day, the last I will have for quite a while since I am starting a new position in two weeks.  DD#2 has the day off since it is Presidents' Day and I will have lost a day of vacation if I didn't take one before he 28th.  After a running weekend, today will be focused on laundry and some sorting and organizing.  First was to do another inventory and clean out of pantry, freezer, and refrigerator.  I know I wrote about doing one just a few weeks ago, but it was incomplete, and lacked detail. Once again, I'm completely frustrated with my self at the amount of forgotten and now freezer burnt items in the back of the freezer, and  unrecognizable items left in Tupperware and Pyrex storage containers in the refrigerator.  In throwing so many items, it dawned on me that what has been missing in my grocery shopping is intentionality.  Many of the items purchased, or the leftovers  put in containers never to see the light of a kitchen table again, was because of a lack of intention. 

My inventory.  "I know I'm in my own little world, but it's ok.  They know me here."

Some might call this organization or lack of organization, though I see it a little differently. Knowing what you have in the kitchen and a plan to use things up is being organized, but to me it starts more with being intentional with what you buy and put in the kitchen to begin with.  Take for example the tilapia fillet I found in the freezer.  I think I have shuffled that piece of fish 6 times in the last year. Neither DD and I are particularly fond of fish, unless it is the fish and chips kind found at fish fries or a box of battered Gorton's, like I bought the other day for Valentines dinner, but not used. DH would not really know what to do with the fish should he try to cook it up for himself, and if I did it, I would still be cooking an alternative for the two of us.  Therefore, it sat, and was moved, and it was taken out, and put back in the freezer with each clean out. Now, the use by date is over 12 months old, so into the bin it went.  I also found a big bag of shrimp, with a date of November 2014.  I think since it has been frozen, it might still be good, but why it was bought I have no idea. I found 14 bananas frozen.  Obviously we purchased too many , at various times, than we had intent to use, and then Iet the stockpiling of frozen bananas get to the point that at least two were no longer useable, even in banana bread.

Four are thawing for banana bread, but still many left frozen.

Expanding this theory beyond the kitchen to the concept of time. In the twenty four hours of the day, I need to sleep, eat, and personal care, and basic housekeeping.  On work days I need to drive to the office, complete the days work, and drive home.  If DD#2 has things, I must transport her.  After that, and within those times, I can either focus intentionally on what I want and need to get done or do, or let distractions and non priorities creep in and suck the minutes away. I have no magic bullets to bring more intentionality to my life, but starting in the kitchen seems to be a good place to start.  With the exception of the shrimp, I have a plan for most items.  Now to get intentional about the use of my time to put the plan to action.

My Little Bistro

I've not had a Stoptober for spending, but have tried to get a better handle on food waste, and not overstocking items that may end being wasted if I don't manage the kitchen better.  I've not done a big grocery shop for weeks, instead have filled in along the fringes.  We've had some interesting and makeshift meals.  Last night was  a frozen taco pizza, steamed frozen sweet corn, and a garlic shells pasta side dish.  Everyone at home got fed, my daughter got to basketball practice on time, and I used what was on hand.  It was quicker than waiting in line in a drive through or ordering and waiting for a pizza, as I was tempted to do after a chaotic work day.  It definitely was cheaper to feed the three of us, probably about $5.00, and not totally unhealthy. 

I've planned a bit better tonight, though am still relying on convenience food, and store short cuts.  I bought a bag of frozen cheese ravioli , mixed it with jarred pasta sauce, served a salad and bread, and voila, a quick Italian home made meal.  The cost is a bit higher than last night, but the addition of a loaf of bakery  Italian bread at $1.00, and  salad dressing push the meal to just over $6.00.  There will be left over bread, probably a snack later for my daughter with some humus. There might even be a bit of spinach to cook up with eggs or in a quiche tomorrow.  I didn't count the wine in the price.

DD#1 is away visiting college friends for a last opportunity before she moves in mid November.  I have to get used to cooking for just three of us again. Even though she is often gone at meal times, she likes the leftovers  being available for a quick warm-up in the microwave after her odd work schedule. 

There are gads of recipes out there for pasta dishes, quick and thrifty.  I'm sure there are clever cooks that easily make their own ravioli.  This bag is quite large and will feed four people, or three with leftovers, very well. The pasta and sauce allows me to dump things in a baking pan, or a slow cooker, and  get other things done. What short cuts do you allow yourself, in spite of trying to stay on a lean budget?   If your tempted to just call it in and get take out, how do you think yourself out of it? 

I'm happy with our nice meal tonight., As the sun is setting, I can imagine I am at a little Italian bistro-minus the price of airfare.