I have been reading blogs with the above title and enjoyed the many points of view. Some have good hints I can use and some, well I don't know how they are healthy! Somewhat disturbing are the comments that say "It's no fun" in one way or another. There were blogs that spoke of living on less that that too, which I wondered if I needed to apply to us. I reflected that we actually have a number of luxuries, and that I don't perhaps mention it: that I have bean coffee everyday, that Hubby drinks a soft drink or two a day, that we only have real butter, I buy wine for cooking, honey for tea and the latest, Tibetian pink salt to put in my salt grinder. I also, from the savings I earn, have plenty of cooking gadgets, a pasta roller, a blender, a Mix Master, (albeit second-hand), fine stainless steel cooking pans (ditto), iron pots too. I have to say that frugality is about a kind of self-discipline but not the way it sounds. I don't buy things I don't like or want. So no aluminum pans, for instance. No plastic containers. Pretty dishes and flatware. Big thick pork chops, not those weird mixed up ones with the strange and large bones. Chicken breasts. Fresh salad and vegetables. I do buy some convenience foods, chunky soup for quick meals, prepared red sauce for pasta, which is not more costly than making it from scratch. I also make foods convenient for me. I buy a ham when it is on sale for $.77 a pound, slice it and package it for the freezer. A few slices can be put in the skillet frozen and heated up while the potatoes are baking in the microwave and the home-canned green beans heat up on the back burner. This is a 10 minute meal. When I fix pasta, I make enough for two meals and layer the casserole and put it in the fridge before we eat our dinner. I put in some cheese and some sour cream and we like it almost better the second day. It only takes 30 or 40 minutes to heat up in the oven. In a hurry? We dish it out and put each plate in the microwave, so just minutes.
For the last 4 months, we've been shopping once a month and it's been a challenge. I believe I mentioned going to the store at midnight in a previous post. I get better and better at buying everything we need for a month and then actually making it last a month. Here are this weeks menus:
! inch pork chops, baked, dressing, tossed salad, canned mandarin oranges for dessert.
Lamb stew, tossed salad, home-made bread, dark chocolate
Salmon patties with cocktail sauce, whipped potatoes, steamed broccoli, Jello
Chicken Fajitas, rice, refried beans, tortillas, shredded lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and salsa, frozen pineapple for dessert
Home-made ravioli with sage cream sauce, salad, home-made bread, dark chocolate
Canned clam chowder, toasted cheese sandwiches, canned pears for dessert
Stuffed chicken breasts, baked (stuffing saved from pork chop day) baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, brownies for dessert.
Breakfasts are usually cereal, dry for him, cooked oatmeal for me, toast, juice and coffee or
bacon, fried or scrambled eggs, toast and juice. Sometimes, waffles or pancakes or french toast.
Lunches tend to be informal, sandwiches or left-overs, a hard boiled egg, a banana.
Nearly every night we have a bowl of popcorn in front of the tv.
So those are the menus for this week, I'll post more next week, my dryer is buzzing so I have to go.
