Holding the line, spending $50 a week for 2 people, or $200 a month

When I went to the store this month, I went over by $33!  And I was not best pleased.  When I got home I looked at the receipts and added and subtracted.  In fact, non-food items totaled about $30.  So I still spent $203 on the month's food.  But I have never done that before, separated the food from the non-food.  So it feels like cheating.  Some things that increased sharply in price were soft drinks, bathroom necessities, and dairy products.  It is also true that I bought all our meat at a local butcher shop.  Their meat was much better quality and I deemed it not excessively more expensive, but it was slightly more.  I spent $24 on 2 # bacon, 3 # ground sirloin, 1 # sweet Italian sausage and 1 # beef stew meat.  I still have chicken breasts in the freezer from two months ago.  That amounts to about 25 meals.  Some canned salmon and soup will round it out for a month.
  It is also true that last month was our midnight foray and while I kept the budget then, I elected not to buy some items that were more expensive at that store.  So you could say we were at an all time low as far as our pantry went.

Empty

 There are still some potatoes but only one sprouting onion.  On the bottom shelf are empty canning jars, which are starting to mount up since we have eaten more than half of our home canned goods.

Full

Empty

Full

Some very successful mini cupcakes on a vintage serving tray.  The icing is flavored with my vanilla bean in vodka home-made flavoring.  Very strong!

Here are my stuffed chicken breasts, using left-over dressing, butter, sage and dehydrated onion on top.  Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

And here is the finished meal, with whipped potatoes and edible pod peas, a little gravy, tea for me and soft drink for Hubby

When I got home from the store yesterday I processed all the meat.  Divided the 3 pounds of ground sirloin  ($3.00 a pound) into meal sized patties and put them up in sandwich bags.  The last 10 ounces I made into little meat loaves.  These are intended to be sliced longways providing properly sized slices for both our plates.  After they are baked the two we don't eat immediately are frozen and can be heated in the microwave for a quick supper.

These are small individual loaf pans.

Today I went with a friend to Spring Mill Park to look at Nature in the early spring.  We go several times a year.  They have a wonderful Inn with a buffet that features fabulous desserts.  I am afraid I had more than one dessert!  Here we are visiting  the Hamer  Cemetery afterward  which I had never visited before.

A veteran of the War of 1812!

A weeping willow expresses sorrow.

A child's grave

Hubby is restoring a box for an early Dremel tool.  Note the tiny clamps.

Almost done!  I am sure the sugar canister has been used to hold something down.

    
Menus for the week:
Tomato soup made with tomato paste and canned milk, a little water to thin, some dill, dehydrated onion, salt and sugar.  Roast beef sandwiches with Swiss cheese and home-made Aioli on dark rye. Tossed salad
.
Quarter pounders on whole wheat rolls, roasted potato wedges, tossed salad.

Fried Chicken strips, baked potatoes, home-canned green beans.

Beef stew, biscuits with slivers of cheese, salad.

Shepard's pie made with the left-over beef stew, flavored with a tablespoon of tomato paste and some extra frozen vegetables and surrounded with whipped potatoes, salad.

Pasta Carbonara, that is, with bacon, dried tomatoes etc, salad.

Pork fried rice, salad, bread and butter.

For desserts, I want to make a Pineapple-upside-down Cake with the fresh pineapple I bought, 4 for $5.  The rest of the pineapple will be cut up in chunks and frozen in sandwich bags for desserts of "fresh" fruit.  We like it very much, half frozen and with a dusting of sugar.  It can also be made into fruit salad as the freezing doesn't alter the texture as it does with strawberries.  I have the sponge for bagels resting on the counter in the kitchen.  I'll finish them tomorrow.  I am already thinking about the Easter dinner, which falls in this month so will be made with things I have already bought.  Here is the proposed menu:

Tingmo (steamed bread dumplings) with 2 dipping sauces
African peanut and pumpkin soup
Pork sesame noodles with shredded cabbage
Home frozen corn on the cob
Salad, my daughter-in-law is bringing
Baklava
 Mini cupcakes overbalanced with Peeps on top, a traditional Easter dessert here.

 I admit it is um, eclectic!

Eating on $50 a week for two adults

     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.

second hand things, pretty things

These lovely sheets with the lily pad motif, are imported cotton and cost about $22.

      As I threatened last time, today I will show you some cheap things, by which I mean second-hand, which I treasure and which decorate my home with-out bankrupting me!  Also, they are being reused and recycled so it's a very "green" thing to do.  Such hand work as many of these pieces are is not to be found new today.  I have a fascination for "Women's Work" in any age
but especially from the  depression.

I cannot read the painters name so far, I just liked the painting.  $25

This came in a lot from ebay the whole thing costing about $10 plus postage.  I'm getting ready to frame it.  Despite what I said about modern work, it is new and very nicely done with ribbon roses on top of the embroidery.

Also from ebay but not the same lot, $3,  it's approx 25 yards of lace!  It will be perfect for the many glass towels I make

I love this pillow case, part of the above named lot.

Crocheted piece from the same lot, Lady with a fan and suitor?

Red work, also from same lot

$3 tablecloth from Goodwill

Another $3 tablecloth, cut up and sewn into glass towels.  The damask is very heavy.  There were holes and small stains which prevented it from being used as a tablecloth.  8 towels.

I watched Ms. Elliot paint this and she charged me $5 for it.

And this is the pot we were supposed to be painting, bought at a garage sale.

We bought this at an Antique store, mislabeled as a print for $40.  It's a watercolor by Wayne Cooper

.

My Husband bought this on ebay for not very much.  The artist is Thomas

I love making pasta with a machine bought on ebay

This is a card sent to me by a daughter, which I liked so much I framed it.

This museum reproduction pitcher was $1 at the very end of an Auction

What on earth are these wild things on this tablecloth?  It was made about 1940, from all the clues.  It cost about $22

Found objects, collecting

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elegant Chip and dip set with two Margarita glasses

      I am always bragging about how I got something cheap or free, so today I want to show you some things that really were free.  Either we found them on the street, in a dumpster or at the little shed at our solid waste facility that is called "the exchange".  Some of them cost money fixing but they were worth it.  I don't think I will try doing a post on things I get cheap, I would have to take pictures of my entire wardrobe for starters!

Nifty Red Riding Hood basket

This painting has been cleaned and in-painted and has a gilt frame.  The artist is Stry.

I had planned to spray paint some twigs but didn't even have to buy the paint.  I used these for a Christmas decoration.

This pan was almost new but had been burned, which took me about half an hour to scrub off. It's a "Whirley Pop".   Now we have Popcorn every night and are fair to being addicted to it!

Most of these plants came from friends and from Florida.

I picked up these Burr Oak acorns under the tree.

I thought this a wonderfully colorful plate.

One of these 9 pressed glasses was badly chipped. so they threw away the whole set?  My husband filed away the chip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This lamp was set out on the street, but the shade is new and  not cheap!

Just some of countless frames in various stages of being painted.

A wonderful parlor painting.

This painting came out of a dumpster, was folded in quarters.  Title:  Charlie Two-bears, by (Charles) Bruce Mulholland.  It did require extensive repair and then was framed.

     If there is a moral to this post, it might be, pay attention.  I am always looking around me and in fact have found  money in the street at times.  Of course, I also pick up sticks, stones, bird feathers, acorns and colorful leaves.  I guess I could be said to have eclectic tastes!

     Will this snow never end?  Every day we tune to the weatherman to hear about more snow.  I have not been running to the grocery to stock up each snow because we have gone to once a month shopping.  Well, almost a month.  I can't seem to reach 30 days, and only have made 28 days once.  But I keep trying.  It's just there are certain things we haven't the moxy to do without.  Coffee, soft drinks, dish detergent, toilet paper.  Other things, we do without fine.  If we run out of bread, I just make biscuits.  Paper napkins, we use cloth ones.  When snacks dwindle, I make graham crackers, always a hit around here.  I really thought we were going to make it this month.  Until the snow prediction.  The weatherman changed his numbers about 11 pm, going from a "dusting of snow"  to "2 to 4 inches".  We had planned to go the the store the next day.  I thought about slogging through the snow with a months worth of groceries.  "Hey!"  I said to my husband, "what say we go the the store now"?  He was working on something in the back room.  He mumbled something which I interpreted as "Naaaaaa, not now".  So I went on watching  tv.  An hour later he came in and said "Yes, I think we should go now".   So we did. At midnight.  The store was deserted.  Fresh vegetables had not been restocked.  We had two carts.  When we got to the checkout, there were no clerks.  It seems we were expected to use the automated checkout.  Which I had never done before, preferring to be waited on by a real live person.  That was a new experience.  It's obvious that the automatons were never intended to process a months worth of groceries because there isn't enough space to bag all that stuff.  But when you remove a bag the machine gets upset and says, out loud, "please replace the object on the shelf" and becomes reluctant to scan the next object.  So it took us some time.  But in the middle of the night, I found I was less concerned about what time it was.  We were having fun, and getting away with a con on the snow, for isn't it just trying to get us snowbound without coffee in the pantry?

So here are all the groceries, except a large box of mushrooms, which we seem to have lost on the way home.

The pantry is restocked  except for potatoes, in the left basket,  I still have a few to use up.  The new ones, ten pounds worth, will be put in the back room, which is cool.

The fridge is full again.  Don't forget that there is another cabinet full of home canned things, which you have seen a picture of earlier.

I keep a lot of things in glass though I am not a plastic-free household yet.  Plastic bags are the hardest to stop using, I think.  It was easy to go to glass jars for leftovers.  On the left are the salad makings, in a vintage glass pan with a removable handle.  The cheese keeper lived for decades in a high cabinet where I put things I never intended to use.  It's great for keeping cheese in all the time.  It's already sliced for convenience.

      So we are ready for another month.  Another month of snow, if that happens.  We have plenty of wood for our wood-burner too so let the cold winds howl!  We had our favorite omelet this morning, without the mushrooms but so what. At least we had coffee.  And a new recipe for an artisanal bread that I got at another blog, can't remember which one now, that turned out great though it's a very plain one, all technique and smoking hot pans in the oven.
     I think it's just one more month of winter and I can begin to watch for spring.  Yea!

I have put away all the Christmas decorations except for this one postcard, which I get out every year because it is such a good likeness to a house I once lived in as a teenager.  Not exactly, of course, being a painting by an Indiana artist, Ronald Mack, called "Homestead".  I have only two photos of the house we lived in, in Virginia but neither shows the house and the approach, the  aloneness of the location, as this painting does.  It was the last time we lived together as a family, dysfunctional but not yet broken.

I have moved a table near the stove for us to eat warm.  We already had our breakfast, the favorite omelette with Swiss cheese and spinach and mushrooms, and now I am sitting there with my coffee, reading the book Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo, translated from the French.  For lunch I had just a quarter of an avacado, salted and eaten from the shell with a spoon and the last cup of coffee.  Mmmmmm, delicious!  Outgoing mail is propped against the lamp, lest we forget to put it in the mailbox tomorrow morning.

This New Year's I did make some resolutions,  to eat less, exercise more and to fast from spending money.  Amazingly, I have actually eaten much less and have walked on the days the street was not covered with snow or it was below 10  degrees outside, but somehow fasting from spending has not worked out so well.  I had read about a woman in New York who did this.  She was asked about groceries and she said Oh well, one has to spend some money but just in general I try to find some other way to get my needs met.  I loved that.  My daughter says that might be called "bricolage".  I understand that to mean working things so that more items do not have to be added, just using what you have.  Sounds a very green thing, no?  But in my own case, I ended up buying a new kitchen range, since three burners misbehaved, on Christmas day even, ramping up to high no matter what the setting was on and burning things all 'round.  However, if you like, you can excuse me because it was still 2010 when I bought the stove.  The new china shown in the picture above was definitely bought in the new year.  And though the first 10 pieces were cheap or free, the necessary plates and cups and bowls were purchased and were not cheap.  They are, however, not made in China!  It is Pfalzgraff from the '60's called "Gourmet".  Oven safe and reasonably resistant to chipping, unlike most new china.  Dark brown with a white drip all around the edges, I have quite fallen in love with it.  Now it takes up the space I used to set the bread dough in to rise.  I already had two pitchers in this style.  However, you will notice some blue and white little pitchers on the right in the picture,  I also have a large pitcher in that style.  Somewhat at odds.  Are you sure that things have to match?

I tell you, I am unwilling to give up the big blue pitcher, its the perfect size for iced tea and frozen orange juice!

Additionally, I found at an Antique Mall a lovely Tell City rocking chair rather like one I used for years that went to it's real home at another daughter's last summer.  And on the back a reproduction coverlet bought at the same booth.  And for this purchase I have no real excuse except that the price was very reasonable.  But saying I bought something because it was on sale sounds like recreational shopping to me!