My Tireless Retirement – Week 117

 

I feel like my summer is whizzing right by me, I feel the whole year is!  Anyone else surprised it is almost July already?  I sure am.

 

I’m keeping myself plenty busy though and this past week was no exception.  I was blessed to be able to spend the afternoon with one of my favorite friends last Saturday.  She and I and another friend got together for lunch at a Chinese restaurant before we spent a bit of time trolling through Hobby Lobby (they were putting out Christmas already – Yikes!).  We yakked the whole time and were even coming up with ideas for a “girl’s trip”.  I hope we do it and soon.  I love, love, love spending time with my gal pals.

 

Blessed with free produce

When I got to work on Monday I noticed people with bunches of bananas and bags of oranges.  One lady had filled up her bicycle helmet with oranges, which I thought was pretty cute.  Some wonderful person had donated cases of bananas and oranges to the senior center.  I was able to partake and had a banana at work as a snack and then I took two loose bananas and two of the loose oranges home in my backpack which was plenty for me.

 

I found someone to take that bus pass I won a couple weeks ago and I was thrilled to be able to give it to her.  Probably more thrilled than she was to receive it.  One of my co-workers at the senior center also found her a collapsible shopping cart that she can use to get her groceries with and take on the bus.  The two of us totally made her day!  YaY!  I love it!

 

Meals I Prepared: 

I pulled a small baking dish with Sopa Seca in it from the freezer to “bake” in the microwave.  I also pulled an Eggroll In A Bowl meal kit I had made up a couple months ago out of the freezer to thaw and prepare.  Meals sorted!  Easy peasey!

 

I had a jar of berry jam in the pantry that was getting on in years so I used it up by making a kuchen for Sunday brunch.  I made scrambled eggs and bacon to go with it and after frying up the bacon I added all of the rendered fat to my bacon fat Mason jar I keep in the refrigerator.  I love to prepare my eggs using bacon fat and since I had just fried up bacon I used the residual fat and all those bits of bacon left in the pan to scramble the eggs in. Boy oh boy, those were some tasty eggs!

 

Sunday Brunch - delicious!

I am happily using my new journal and got busy planning for my big winter stock up as well as some more plans for my LTFS.  I made new pages to use for monthly strategizing.  I also finalized my plan of attack for stocking up on pet foods and supplies.  Now it is time to get busy and put those plans into action.

 

I printed off the next six months of planner pages

I love decorating the pages 😃

I made my way into Fred Meyer with one of my Kroger gift cards and picked up some meat on sale to put away in the deep freezer for winter.  I found two of the three pound rolls of Angus 90% lean ground beef on markdown.  I also picked up a family pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.99 a pound.  They haven’t been that low in a very long time. I ended up getting all of that meat for only $7 out of pocket after I used my gift card.

 

A great find!

I hope everyone had a great week and that you are enjoying the weekend.  I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to.  Anyone doing any winter stocking up yet?  How about Christmas plans?

 

My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.

 

This Month's 2024 Extreme Budget Grocery Spending - June

 

I was quite impressed with the amount of produce I had leftover in my refrigerator at the end of May.  Five and a half pounds of russet potatoes, four pounds of red potatoes, a head of cabbage, a head of romaine lettuce, a bundle of asparagus spears, two pounds of carrots, a few celery stalks and a quarter of an onion.  At the first of the month I went to Trader Joes and picked up some green onions and grape tomatoes and continued making fresh green salads to go with my meals.

 

I ended the month of May with a pretty full produce drawer

My first shop of the month

I had two and a half pounds of cheddar cheese, a block of cream cheese and half a container of sour cream leftover.  I picked up a quart of cream for my coffee when I stopped in for butter that was on sale for $2.49 a pound.  I bought two packages of butter.  Condiments remain a constant thing I’m working to use up and slim down the quantity of what I keep on hand, however I do use most of them on a regular basis so I’m not sure I’ll be very successful in that endeavor any time soon.  At Trader Joes I picked up a package of grape tomatoes and some green onions to round out the produce I already had and to make some more tasty salads as well as a pair of bananas simply because it had been awhile since I’d had one.  I don’t eat bananas very often.

 

My Trader Joe's haul

All of the canned goods are for the LTFS
Tater tots for some meal prepping I plan to do next month

My goal heading into the month of June was to use up as much of what I already had on hand in the refrigerator and freezer as well as my kitchen pantry so heading off to the grocery store to do a major shop wasn’t on my radar since I was pretty well stocked.  I had only a few things left on my May/June shopping list to pick up for the LTFS so I did go to Winco mid month and pick up those items – canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and green olives.

 

Five foaming handsoaps (one is a gift) and
a FREE bottle of shower gel to make my refill solution!

For nonfood items I went to Bath & Body Works and picked up five foaming handsoaps that were on sale plus I had a 20% OFF coupon to add to the sales price.  One of those handsoaps I plan to give to a friend as part of a Christmas gift I’m putting together for her this year.  The other four I am putting into the linen closet to replace the three I’ve worn out and leave me with a spare.  The total I spent on the four soaps as part of my household items came in at $17.28 bringing my total nonfood budget spent to $29.01 and leaving me with $20.99 left to spend this year.  I’m still feeling pretty good about where I’m at with this part of the challenge.

 

This month's totals
Lot's of stock up items too!

With the year officially at the halfway point I felt it a good time to look back and evaluate my progress on this extreme grocery budget challenge I have been on.  Currently I am not depleting any of my resources.  My deep freezer and LTFS shelves are full and while I’ve been eating quite a bit of the food I home canned I’ve also added quite a bit of home canning back.  I have made chili and soups, canned some roast beef and I’ve been able to replace quite a few items in the freezer as well as on the shelves as I’ve used them.  I have had plenty of variety in my meal plans with loads of healthy and nutritious options.  Do I feel deprived in any way?  Not even a little bit.

 

No deprivation here!

So far, so good! 😊

I am really pleased with how well it is going.  My monthly budget for groceries this year is only $50 ($600 for the entire year) and although I’m at the midway point I am under budget!  So far I have only spent $266.51 leaving me with a remaining budget of $333.49.  I have big plans for the month of July as I head into it with a fresh $50 plus $33.49 left to rollover from this month giving me a total starting amount of $83.49.  Keep following me to see what I have planned for the month of July.  It’s going to be epic!

 

 

My Empty Nest

 

In a couple of weeks it will be two years since I became an empty nester.  That first year was a little difficult for me, not only because my youngest child flew the coop, but it was also my first year of retirement and I had just retired a few months earlier.  Literally everything about my life had changed all at once.  Now fast forward to present day and what do I think?  Well, I LOVE BEING AN EMPTY NESTER!

 

To be perfectly honest, and please don’t take this wrong, I wouldn’t go back if you paid me good money.  I’ve done my time.  I absolutely love being on my own for the first time in over 37 years.  In my younger days I only lived alone on my own for about a year before I got married and started my own little family.  After my divorce I always had a child to care for and I really loved being a mom.  It is hands down the best job I’ve ever held and it brought me the most joy.  But now, I’m on my own and I just love it.

 

Over the past two years I’ve slowly been going through the spaces in my home and making them my own.  To most people my home appears to be the same in most respects, but as time has gone on the evidence of teenagers has been slipping away and there is more of me present here now.  I am unashamedly creating my own home throughout this house.

 

I love living alone.  I come and go as I please and the best part is that when I do come home everything is as I left it.  I eat what I want, when I want.  I clean the house and it stays that way.  I have the room to do my projects and crafts now.  My home has become peaceful and tranquil.  I have fallen in love with my house all over again.

 

I move much slower than I used to now because I am no longer in a hurry to do anything.  I’ve given up multi tasking.  If I don’t feel like doing something, then I don’t do it.  Laundry will always wait for me.  Housework too.  I no longer have to work my guts out in order to keep up and stay on top of things.  I love that if a friend calls me to go for coffee or to grab lunch that I can drop what I am doing and just go.  I love that I have time for my friends.

 

If I want I can walk around the house naked, leave the bathroom door wide open, talk to myself, sing and dance (I’m not very good at either), vacuum or watch TV late at night and no one cares.  I can eat leftover spaghetti for breakfast and cereal for dinner if I want to.  I have very few rules and I don’t have to set good examples anymore.  I don’t have to watch what I say.  I can swear if I want to.  I can have opinions without someone else telling me why I shouldn’t think that way.  The cat rarely objects.  I don’t have to explain myself.

 

Do I miss my children?  Of course, just not every single day.  They are no longer my priority like they once were.  Highly important, but now so am I.  I am embracing this particular time in my life and loving every minute of it.  It is a good place to be at the moment.  I think I’ll stay a while.

 

Vintage Cookery - Victory Blueberry Scones

 

I shared with you a few weeks or so ago that I’d acquired two new cookbooks for my collection of vintage and antique cookbooks.  This one is the Victory Recipes and features “better recipes for wartime cooking and baking” using rationing and as a way for people to get the most mileage from their food as they could.

 

I think if you click on the picture you'll be able
to read the recipe alright

The scones came together quickly and easily.  I patted the batter into my vintage nine inch pink round Pyrex cake pan.  It only seems right that I make vintage recipes using my vintage Pyrex bowls and baking dishes.

 

They baked in a hot oven for twenty minutes and were done.  I have to tell you this recipe pleasantly surprised me.  I half expected these scones to be rather dry and bland, but they were not.  I cut them and served them right out of the oven with a bit of butter for a Sunday brunch.  They were lightly sweet and very tasty.  Next time, I will most likely cut the salt back to a ½ teaspoon, but other than that I think they are perfect.  I will definitely make these scones again.

 

I think pairing these scones with eggs is perfect for breakfast or brunch.  I also think I’d enjoy one with a hot cup of coffee or tea and be just as satisfied.  I hope you will make these sometime.  I sure did enjoy them.

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 116

 

After a pretty warm week we cooled down quite a bit and wasn’t too sorry about it.  Normally our super hot weather doesn’t hit until July and August but we got a taste of it a bit early this year.  The less I need to use the A/C the better so I can keep my power bill low, plus I always feel bad for how the hot weather affects my kitties and the chickens.  It will be warming right back up however.  It has been a weird year with our temperatures bouncing up and down like a ping pong ball.

 

It was a great week for me to earn some extra “cash” in the form of gift cards.  First I received the $40 gift card after signing up for my Costco Executive Membership.  The next day I received the $50 gift card for signing up for a Costco Visa card which also has my membership card on the back.  The next day I received the $20 Kroger gift card I had earned after the May bus riding challenge I had signed up for and completed.  After that I redeemed my Fetch rewards points that I earned over the past year which included 20,000 bonus points for scanning my receipt from buying my Costco membership and received another $25 Kroger gift card.  Not a bad haul at all!

 

I harvested all of the garlic from my garden and then laid it out in the garage to cure.  It is a small harvest, but I’m thrilled with it.  I feel like I planted the right amount for one person.  It is definitely something I’d like to plant again in the fall.  In the meantime I’ll need to collect more rabbit poo (that shouldn’t be a problem) to add to the soil as I understand garlic are heavy feeders and will deplete your soil if you don’t amend it.

 

I finished the rest of my grocery shopping last week

I was able to get outside and finish cutting up the dead limb I had removed from my maple tree and got it ready for the garbage man to pick up.  My poor tree has a few more dead branches I need to remove so I’ll be working on that project for a while.  I’m taking it a little bit at a time.

 

My little collection of freezer meals for the weeks ahead

Lately I’ve gotten back into the habit of meal prepping on Sundays once again and setting up my meals for the week ahead.  It has become very handy to have it all lined out and in the refrigerator ready for me to reheat when I get home.  Since I am still riding the bus most of the time and doing so much walking I’m usually pretty hungry and ready to eat once I make it back home.  Let me know if you have an interest in some more detailed posts of my meal preps.

 

The quiche was so good!

Meals I Prepared: 

I began the week finishing up the leftovers from the previous week.  I still had a lasagna and asparagus meal as well as a hot dog and some mac & cheese left.  Then I used up another sauce packet from the pantry to make a little bit of a pasta alfredo which I paired with shrimp from the freezer that I made into a delicious scampi.  The alfredo sauce was absolutely gross so I ended up giving the pasta to the chickens.  They enjoyed it, but I sure did not.  I guess not everything can be a culinary success.

 

I was not impressed by the sauce mix,
however the rice was very good

The scampi was quite nice

I had a store brand rice a roni box in the pantry to use up so I made it adding an extra ¼ cup of rice to the mix as well as an extra ½ cup of water.   I find it can be too salty otherwise and it also will stretch it out for an extra meal.  I then heated up a pint jar of pork roast in broth,  added a little cornstarch slurry to thicken the broth and put it over the rice.  I put away three servings into the freezer for later and the other two into the refrigerator which I ate last week.  It was surprisingly good. 

Last year's harvest

I had a quart bag of sliced strawberries and a quart bag of sliced rhubarb that I’d put away last summer.  Both of those needed to be used up so I decided to make a strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert to go with Sunday dinner and it was fantastic!  A friend brought over vanilla ice cream to go with the pie.

 

It had been a good long while since I'd baked a pie

Since I was baking I went ahead and made two small quiches with grated zucchini and carrot I had put away in the freezer last summer, some dehydrated onion, as well as some diced ham I had put in the freezer at Christmastime and some grated cheddar cheese.  I baked one for Sunday brunch and put the other one unbaked in the freezer to enjoy later.  Hands down, my favorite meal of the week!

 

I made some wonderful fresh salads

I am so glad I had my meals for the week lined out ahead for me as I ended up sidelined by a migraine.  I even missed a day of work because of it.  I hardly ever get them anymore.  Instead of how I used to get them every other week I now probably only get one a year or so.  With that in mind, and even though they are not much fun, I really have no complaints.  I know from experience it could always be worse and I’m super grateful it isn’t.  NO BAD DAYS!

 

A fun little goodie bag!

There was also a pair of sunglasses I gave to a coworker

I won something!  Tuesday morning I got an email from Valley Regional Transit that I’d won a drawing for a swag bag which they dropped off at my work.  It was a fun array of items that I will be sharing with others.  I also won a free bus pass, but since I don’t need one myself and it is transferable I’ll be gifting that to someone who can use it down at the senior center.

 

How did they know? 😁

I spent the entire day Wednesday just playing.  I have wanted to make myself a new journal specifically for me to use for meal planning, grocery shopping and tracking my LTFS, freezer and pantry inventory.  Pretty much all things food related.  It is turning out so cute and it has been a load of fun to work on.  I’ve been moving my food section from my dayplanner into the new journal and I think it will be very helpful and give me a lot more room to think, plan and stay organized.

 

I began working on a new journal
to track all things food related

After a rather chilly week it has begun to warm right back up again.  It is hard to know from one day to the next what to expect, so I just roll with it.  At least I got a good bit of rain to soak the garden and flowerbeds which is always helpful and appreciated.  How did your week go?

 

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.

 

I Did Something…

 

Yes I did!  I got myself a Costco membership.  It has been well over fifteen years at least since I’ve last held a membership.  And this time I went all in with the executive membership and their rewards credit card.  So why now?  Well, I came up with several reasons as to why it would be prudent to get one now.

 

A couple months ago I got a postcard offer in the mail from Costco asking me to “come back”.  I did a lot of thinking about this before I pulled the trigger because, let’s face it, this is not an inexpensive membership.  And.  I don’t do a lot of shopping.  So I made a list of all the things I would do at Costco if I had membership and much to my surprised it was a rather lengthy one.

 

This year I need to replace my eyeglasses and to do this at my current eye doctor’s office including the eye exam would cost me a whopping $1000 assuming I reused my eyeglass frames!  What the freak!  That’s a lot of money!  I can accomplish this for less than half the amount at Costco.  This alone makes the membership worth it right off the bat.

 

I remember in the past liking their clothing and finding what they had to offer to be a good value for the money.  I want to add a few pieces to my wardrobe this year.  My last trip to the mall gave me a good idea of what I’d need to spend on clothing as I don’t particularly care to buy my clothes at places like Target or Wal-Mart.  Prices have gone up a lot, but the quality isn’t quite what it used to be in my opinion.

 

I’m looking to replace the tires on my truck this year.  Costco’s tire prices are hard to beat.  Their pharmacy and over the counter medication/vitamin section is extensive.  They have better prices on dairy products that I use on a regular basis like cream for my coffee and cheeses.  I’d like to purchase better quality produce and meats.  They have larger bags of good quality cat food for a better price.  I want to explore their travel services.  Fuel price is the lowest in town.  Rotisserie chicken (need I say more?)!

 

This is totally a want item

The postcard offer included a $40 gift card to use for any shopping I end up doing so that theoretically lowers the overall cost of the membership.  After one year if I do not end up purchasing enough products to get a cash back check sent to me large enough to cover the cost of the membership Costco will “pay me back” the difference and give me a free one year basic membership.  This makes me feel like I am trying this out pretty much risk free.  I also think the rewards points on the Costco credit card are actually better than my current credit card.  We shall see.

 

So I did come up with some really good reasons why it would be a good idea to try out a Costco membership?  I do believe that I have and  I think I’ll make out okay, but the only way to know for sure is to try it.