My Tireless Retirement - Week 41

 

Hello my dear friends.  We are midway through the first month of 2023!  How is it going?  I hope everyone is doing well.

 

Leftovers pulled from the freezer (that is not my Guinness 😂)

I put some green onions in water to regrow
This is the progress after a week

I know a lot of you are doing a pantry challenge right now to save some money and use up items in your kitchen so they aren't wasted.  This past week I was still working my way through all of the holiday leftovers I'd squirreled away in the freezer as well as a few other items I had tucked in there too.  Oh my gosh, the things I found!  So no need to do any cooking this past week as it was pretty much a heat and eat of soups and meals I had put away for a later date.  After two weeks of that I have managed to make it through most of it and now I'm ready to start cooking once again.  Yay!

 

I did cook a couple of breakfasts last week

I had a lone muffin mix in my pantry to use up
This was nice to have as a breakfast or snack option

As I cook I will be sure to share the meals I've been preparing as you've requested.  However, it is only fair that you guys share with me the meals you've fixing too.  We can all inspire each other that way.  So please, I want to know!  Comment down below and share.

 

I pulled this pork roast from the freezer and canned it

Last Sunday I pulled a HUGE pork roast out of my chest freezer out in the garage let that thaw, took all day.  Then on Monday I was able to cook it in my slow cooker, took all day.  Then on Tuesday, I canned the roast in all of its juices.  I let those juices sit overnight in a bowl so I could skim the fat off in the morning.  I put everything back in the slow cooker to bring it up to temperature and added a container of pork broth I had in the freezer so that got used up too.  Once heated through I packed it into pint jars and pressure canned it adding eight jars of meat to my long term food storage.

 

More items pulled for future canning projects

These went into my long term food storage and the rest into my regular pantry

I had to take a break from my decluttering project the last couple of weeks because my sciatic nerve was inflamed and giving me fits for nearly a week.  Thank goodness that is behind me cause it really hurt.  Sciatica is no joke!  So last week I decided to resume some December decluttering by bringing in my toolbox, power tool bin and all my fasteners and going through those.  I was able to offer a pile of drill bits to a neighbor who was happy to have them and then got everything organized.  I added a set of old screwdrivers to my donation bag.

 

Purged and given away to a neighbor

Much better!  I even washed everything and removed years of dirt and sawdust

The power tool bin

Out in my garage is the chest freezer where I stock most of my meat and frozen vegetables.  I put on a jacket and grabbed my gloves and went through the entire thing all the way down to the bottom (hence why I canned a pork roast).  I consolidated some things, pulled a few items to put in the kitchen freezer for meals in the coming weeks, made sure all my older things were on the top and got it all nicely organized.  I pulled out some ham to use to make split pea soup and a huge package of Italian sausage which I will be working on this week.  More importantly, I'm very happy to report nothing in the chest freezer needed to be purged and tossed out, so no food waste.  Yes!!!

 

I pared down the fasteners and miscellaneous hardware items

So much better and no longer a pile of crap on a shelf plus I can now get the lid on!

Midweek the weather finally cooperated, no rain or snow, and I was able to get outside and clean out all of the fallen leaves and winter debris that had collected in the bed of my pickup.  Once I'd done that I was loaded up all of the donation items I'd collected in my garage and took them to the thrift store for drop off.  Yay!

 

This HUGE load of stuff went to the thrift store

I sorted purged & organized all of these empty containers
The ones I decided to keep are now on a shelf in my garage

After that I took in a large shopping bag of food items to drop off at my daughters' old high school for their student food pantry.  Double Yay!!  Once that was done I dashed over to the mall and redeemed a FREE Item No Purchase Necessary coupon I had received in the mail a couple weeks ago and picked up a bottle of hand lotion from Bath & Body Works.  Yay again!!! 

 

FREE hand lotion to add to my toiletry stock

Then when I got home I had a $20 OFF A $50 Purchase coupon in my mailbox from Chewy.com.  I was able to order the kitties sixty pounds of dry cat food for less than $34 with FREE shipping.  In my area cat food has been hit and miss as far as being in stock at the stores so this purchase along with the money I saved is a huge relief to me right now.  My fur babies have got to eat!

 

Perfect timing to get this in the mail

And my latest declutter pile!  Already off to a good start!

Like I said, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying 2023 so far.  Stay healthy, warm and safe.  XXX OOO