My Tireless Retirement - Week 98

 

Hello my lovelies!  I hope everyone is doing well.  My week last week was busy but at a much less hectic and more relaxed pace.  I was able to carve out some time for paper crafting, one of my favorite activities that I truly enjoy.  To spread a little joy I made a journal for a friend and I have plans to make up another one for another friend.  Almost all of my friends have one of my journals now and they say they absolutely love and use them on a regular basis.  That makes my heart so happy.

 

My sweet friend was super surprised & very happy with this 😀

After work one day I made a quick little run into Trader Joes for some fresh produce.  I have really been enjoying the fresh salads I’ve been making lately and I do love that Trader’s is so close to the downtown bus station.  It not only makes it really convenient, but now I no longer have to drive there and try to navigate their tiny crowded parking lot with the narrow tight spaces.  Big win for me!

 

I stopped into Trader Joes for a little extra salad stuff

Ways I Saved $$: 

I removed a whole chicken from my grocery wish list because I realized I have plenty of meat in the deep freezer that I can prepare and serve for Easter.  Originally I was planning to make a roast chicken dinner but now I am thinking that instead I will just roast some bone in chicken breasts that I already have.

 

Say cheese!

I was getting low on grated cheese in the freezer so I had placed that on my working grocery list for next month.  Cheese was on sale at Albertson’s for $5.99 for a two pound block so I decided to go ahead and purchase it now.  I plan to box grate most of it, slice the rest and package it for the freezer. 

Thank you ladies!

I washed out two gallon size Ziploc bags to reuse for food storage in my freezer.  My chickens are laying again so I may not need to purchase eggs at the store much longer.  Yay!  Moving forward that should save me a small bundle on my grocery budget. 

This past week I rode the bus three out of the four days I worked.  I also noticed gas is beginning to creep up in price again.  It makes me want to keep up on my bus riding even more now.

 

YUM! 😋

Meals I Prepared: 

It was another simple and thrifty adventure in the kitchen last week.  Last month I had sausages & peppers on the menu.  I had eaten three meals of that which left me with two remaining sausages (there were five sausages total in a package) that I put away into the freezer.  Since I don’t want to keep leftovers in the freezer for any extended periods of time I knew I’d want to use them this month as part of my meal plan.

 

There was some very good eating going on last week

I thawed and then diced up those two remaining sausages, added a pint jar of home canned pasta sauce one of my friends had given me last fall along with a can of Italian style diced tomatoes plus some dried herbs from my spice cabinet to make a delicious pasta sauce.  I then cooked up a half package of leftover penne pasta I had sitting in the pantry.  Once it was done I combined it with the sauce and served it with a nice green salad on the side for myself and a guest.  There were more leftovers from that pasta meal than I thought there would be after we both finished eating.  I put away two servings in the refrigerator to eat during the week and then two servings into the freezer to enjoy later on.

 

After finishing up a single leftover serving of soup I still had in the refrigerator from the previous week I took a little break from the soup and salad meals.  Instead I cooked up a packaged rice mix (with some homemade vegetable broth from the freezer instead of water) I had in the pantry that I wanted to use up and added a can of diced chicken breast to it that was fast approaching its best buy date.  I steamed and seasoned some frozen broccoli to go along with it.  I placed one serving of the leftover chicken and rice into the refrigerator for another meal and two servings into the freezer to eat later on. 

One day I was just craving a hotdog.  I have some angus beef wieners as well as some low carb buns in the freezer so I gave in and made myself one.  I toasted the bun and cooked the wiener in my electric skillet.  It was delicious!

 

All I need is a little spicy brown mustard & some relish!

Things I Used Up: 

I was able to finish up the last of a small jar of sweet pickle relish that I’ve had in the fridge for a bit.  I like to use that in ham salad and tuna salad or in this case on a hotdog with a little spicy brown mustard.  I had just enough relish left to dress up a hotdog and then I rinsed out the jar and added it to my glass recycling bin.  I have no plans to repurchase this particular item as I home canned some sweet relish last summer and I am very excited to finally get to use it.

 

Oh my gosh!

It works!

Did you have a sweet Valentine’s Day?  I sure hope so.  My BFF got me a “toy” and some chocolate.  I received a fun little gift of a new mini appliance to add to my collection.  It is a mini fryer and we tried it out this past Saturday by making a small batch of French fries.  We made hamburgers too and it made for a very fun and delicious meal!  Let me know how your week went my friends.  XX OO 

 

I think this was the best burger I've ever made! 😁

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.