Sorry it's been 3 months since my last blog post. Lots of things have happened since then to many to write about here. I've been trying to grow vegetables in my gardens and between the bugs and my nemesis the squirrels they have been dining on anything and everything. Oh that is so frustrating!! Most of my plants I started indoors earlier this year and to see them gone overnight saddens me. My rhubarb was doing great and this would be the 3rd year so we would be able to eat some but the squirrels have dug up about everything I had in that bed including the new giant asparagus roots I planted over a month ago. If I'm lucky I'll still get tomatoes from the garden inside of the chicken run, the chickens don't other animals invading their space (okay maybe it's more about protecting their food). The wind hasn't helped either it blew over a few of my squash plants and broke them. The pictures are from before the damage. Wish me luck sure seems like I'm going to need it. :)
On side note I'm helping start a farmers market in Ash Fork and Seligman, Arizona which is greatly needed since there is not a grocery store in either place. For more info go to www.facebook.com/AZRT66FarmersMarket. First market will be June 30, 2018.
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This was a good shopping trip for stocking up on pantry items. I purchased 25 items for under $20. First stop was the Dollar General website which I clipped the digital coupons (even tho I didn't use any) , second I did a survey from my last receipt and I was emailed a coupon $2.00 off $20.00 all before leaving home. Other than coupons I had a list of items that I want to stock my pantry with, mostly canned items for longer storage. The other items like flour, sugar, brownie mix and instant potatoes will be fairly quickly. The Gold Metal AP Flour was $2.00 for 5 lbs, that's a pretty price. DG brand of sugar was $2.00 for 4 lbs as well. Since I bake a lot I try to keep those staples on hand. Canned vegetables are 2/$1.00, canned diced tomatoes are $0.70 each, Carnation Evaporated milk $1.00 and DG brand cream soups $.50 each. I'm slowly building up our pantry but that's okay because I don't always have the extra money to buy stock up items. So some weeks or months it may only be 1 or 2 items I buy or on occasion 25 items. Anyone can build up a pantry by adding a couple cans of vegetables, fruits or soups each week/month. Start with a list of items you and your family will eat, watch for sales or check different stores prices and decide how much of your food budget can go towards filling your pantry. Happy Shopping!
Now I know I have spent entirely too much time inside this winter because every speck of dust and dirt is getting on my nerves. The wood stove is great for heat and cooking on but it also makes a huge mess too. Ashes no matter how careful we are they seem to make it into all the rooms making it look like I haven't dusted in years. Plus all the winds blowing the dust around we are bound to get some in the house too.
I'm on a cleaning frenzy, I even bought a new broom today because I broke my old one. This past week I even tried cleaning my shower with vinegar and original dawn (after reading that on Pinterest) but I don't have patience with that, it worked I just want faster results. There are hard water stains & soap scum I want gone so while shopping this morning I also picked up some CLR to try, I'm hoping for better results. I'll post about that another time. The Floors are swept & mopped, dishes are done after hand washing because half the load in the dishwasher didn't come out clean, 2 loads of laundry done & folded and a few windows cleaned. I still have more to go but at least I have a start on my Spring Cleaning. Spring can't get here soon enough for me. Ha Ha. We cancelled our satellite tv service almost a year ago and wow I'm so glad that we did. Our bill could range from $80 to $120 per month without any special channels. That's a savings of $960 to $1440 for this past year. At first we bought an (rabbit ears) antenna which wasn't always reliable especially during storms but yesterday I purchased a digital antenna and what a difference! We went from having 4 channels to 12 channels. That may not seem like a lot but when you only have 4 channels and nothing to watch on those channels that sucks. Luckily Fox was one of the 4 so we watched that often. I don't know why I waited so long to get a digital antenna but I/we sure are happy we did!!
I saved money too on this shopping trip, I used a $5.00 off $25.00 coupon. It was like I paid for the antenna and got the other items for free. Score!! Wow, it has been cold! It snowed on Monday & Friday of this past week. Yesterday when I got up the thermometer said it was 18 outside and 55 in the house. Hubby & I both fell asleep watching a movie and neither one of us stoked the fire during the night. BRRRR! Needless to say I started a fire before I started coffee which almost never happens, I have to have my morning coffee before I can function. Ha Ha.
I'm lucky enough to have a flexible schedule from my 3 (part time) merchandising jobs so I stayed home both Monday & Friday. Since I was staying home and inside I made breakfast for hubby and I all on the wood stove. I started with frying some diced potatoes. Hubby asked for pancakes so I pulled out my trusty old Betty Crocker Cook Book and mixed up some homemade pancake mix. Doubling the recipe made extra that he ate the next morning while I was at work. Then came diced onions and ham that I added to the fried potatoes. To finish off the breakfast we had over easy eggs from our chickens. Surprisingly it only took about an hour to cook it all. Yes that may seem like a long time but I was in no hurry because I wasn't going anywhere, only outside to feed & water the chickens & ducks. This breakfast was inexpensive because the potatoes I buy in 10 to 15 pound bags, the eggs are from our chickens and the pancake mix I made. The wood stove was already heating our house so no need to use propane to cook with. Nothing like a hearty breakfast on a cold winter day. Have you ever opened your freezer door and something falls out on your foot? Well I sure have. My refrigerator freezer doesn't have a shelf, it never came with one. Wow I can't believe how much of a mess it gets. I try to freeze most things flat so they will stack but that isn't always the case. The small rack and the black food container only helps so much as you can see. I ended up pulling turkey, turkey stock and the last of the ham leftover from Christmas and pressure canned them so now they are shelf stable. It still needs to be organized but has so much more room. Can you relate?
With the exception of dairy products we have been eating what we already have in our pantry, cupboards, freezer and refrigerator over this past month. I haven't done much shopping since the beginning of January. I recently quit 1 of my 4 part time jobs so my income has decreased so I'm looking for additional ways to save money. I consider myself a extremely thrifty person but figure I can always learn new ways to save.
I'm the type of person that likes to make as much of my food from scratch whenever possible and none of our food goes to waste. What we don't eat goes to our chickens & ducks. Over this past month we have ate a few of the same meals that hubby & I both like. I feel that if I would have started at the beginning of the month by looking in all cabinets and the freezer I could have came up a monthly meal plan instead of just winging it like I did. Some days I opened the pantry and just stood there looking and thinking what am I going to make for dinner. That's hard sometimes when nothing in there sounds appealing. I ended up making several soups, scalloped potatoes & ham, chili, spaghetti, other hearty and filling meals. Having salad or vegetables and bread helps to round out most meals. Luckily I had canned potatoes, beans and some meats that I home canned and used to make a quick meal on days I worked. My biggest take away from eating this way is that I need to plan and prepare ahead of time. You can eat healthy, hearty food and save money doing it. Now I need to replenish my pantry and freezer but that will take some time but hopefully I be able to find some good sales. Would I do this again? Absolutely!! My printer is on the fritz so I went to my local library a few days ago to print off a couple papers I needed. While there I looked around to see what movies they have. I decided on to check out dvd's to watch instead of regular tv-limited to 4 channels. This weekend the weather was cold and snowy so I have been watching seasons of tv shows. It sure is a nice change and no commercials. I definitely have under utilized my local library and missed out on activities there as well. Be sure to check out your local library who knows what kind of fun things you'll find. I know I sure will and it's free.
Lemon Sugar Scrub was one of the items I made for Christmas Gifts in 2017. Luckily there was extra left over for me to have some to use too. I absolutely love this scrub! It only has four ingredients so it's easy to make. I use it every other time I shower, it leaves my face soft and smooth. Normally I don't use anything other than Dove soap because of my sensitive, combination skin but this works for me. Yes it makes my face red from using the scrub but that redness goes away. Bonus for making this scrub- I already had all four ingredients. Ingredients- organic coconut oil, white sugar, Young Living Lemon Essential Oil and yellow food coloring. You can add more of the essential oil and food coloring to your liking. Since this was my first time making it I didn't want to go to strong. I will definitely make this again and keep using it. Gotta love homemade!
Most of my food related posts are on my food business website www.michelessweetsneats.com but I think it's important to share that I rarely ever buy bread. I bake my own bread because it's cost effective and tastes really good. We like a variety of bread but white is what I make the most it's my husbands favorite. I prefer a heartier bread such as sourdough, rye or multi-grain. Most of the loaves I make for us is in a bread machine. They are so easy to use and I get good results. It takes 3 hours on the main cycle but that is fine with me because it allows me to do other things unlike making and baking in the oven. The bread machine is used to make dough for pizza and rolls too. When time allows I will pre-measure all the ingredients so when I want to make bread I just add the required water then dump in the mix. It's as simple as that. Depending on what kind of bread I'm making it will be around $2.00 or less. White bread is the least expensive to make. I don't know about you but I love the smell and the taste of fresh baked bread. YUM!
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AuthorHello I'm Michele & I'm the matriarch of the Leverone Family Farm. I'm a wife, a mother of 2 grown/married sons and have 4 adorable grand kids. Thrifty for more than 30 years. I love gardening, cooking and saving money. Archives
November 2021
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