This Month's 2024 Extreme Budget Grocery Spending – July

 

In July I embarked on a pantry challenge in order to use up a bin full of items I had collected as they had been hanging around the house for a while and quite frankly had worn out their welcome.  I was ready to see them go.  In the process I didn’t need to purchase much of anything which allowed me to save up most of my grocery budget and do some stocking up next month for the upcoming winter.  I always like to be well stocked for winter so I don’t need to spend a lot of money on groceries when the heat bills start to roll in and I don’t have to worry about grocery shopping when the weather turns bad and the roads get icy.

 

Boneless skinless chicken breasts - $1.99 a pound

Having more cash on hand allows me to take advantage of bulk buys and stock up on any good sales, both of which save me a lot of money.  Family packs of meat and poultry go on sale and allow me to get more food at a lower price per pound.  Now that I have a Costco membership I’d also like to pick up some of their larger products to add to my freezer and pantry.  I’m pretty excited about that.

 

Last month I picked up a half gallon of cream from Costco for my coffee habit as well as to use in a few recipes I made and plan to make.  It has a best buy date of late August so I will be able to use it well into next month.  At Fred Meyer I picked up two three pound packages of Angus 90% lean ground beef that was on markdown for $9.43 each.  An outstanding deal!

 

I took advantage of the holiday sales

I also picked up just over six pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts that were on sale for $1.99 a pound.  I used a $25 Kroger gift card I had earned from Fetch rewards points I’d saved up to pay for most of that meat purchase leaving me with a balance of only $7.02 out of pocket.  I was pretty darn happy about that.

 

All of this went into long term storage

and this!

With a great sale on buns for 99¢ each I also stocked up on a package of hot dog and one of hamburger buns which I added to the deep freezer as well.  I like to take half of the hotdog and half of the burger buns and place them in the bags so I have four of each stored together.  It is the perfect size for meals here at my house.  Then the bags of buns are slipped into a two gallon Ziploc bag and into the freezer until I need them.  Other than a head of lettuce I picked up at Trader Joes to make salads and use in sandwiches there wasn’t much else I needed to buy last month.

 

I used a gift card and treated myself to a handful of "want" items

Mid month I made a second trip to Costco and picked up a handful of items.  In the midst of a heat wave I decided not to bake my own bread and instead opted instead to purchase a twin pack of whole grain bread.  I also picked up a package of their romaine hearts, a rotisserie chicken and some yogurt.  I admit that I needed none of these items, but since I had a Costco gift card I treated myself.

 

I was able to restock some LTFS supplies

The non food items I purchases were two boxes of canning lids for $2.97 each to replace some of the ones I’d used so far this year.  I also was just about out of quart size vacuum seal bags so I bought a 50 count box of those for $19.99.  I hadn’t bought vacuum bags since 2020 so I expect this box should last me at least for the next four years, if not longer.  These purchases sent me over budget for the year so that part of my 2024 budget challenge is a bust.  I’ll just have to learn to live with that.

 

Hotdogs, potato salad & coleslaw for 4th of July! 😋

My food budget however was way under budget and thanks to those two Kroger gift cards I earned and redeemed I was able to use both of those to offset the majority of the cost of the items I got on sale and markdown as part of my winter stock up plan.  My deep freezer is now fully stocked and even more so with the addition of some hotdogs, Italian sausages, ground beef and chicken.  I even used a digital store coupon to add a FREE jar of mayonnaise to my LTFS.

 

The deep freezer is fully stocked

The pantry challenge was a success.  I even made it through the 4^th of July festivities and created a great meal using up leftover items I already had on hand.  My total spending for food in July came in at $23.07.  I will be taking my rollover amounts from previous months and adding them to my $50 budget for a grand total of $110.42 to work with and to do some more winter stocking up in August as well as to add a few fresh produce items to the refrigerator.  And perhaps another Costco rotisserie chicken, who knows?

 

I didn't buy a lot, but what I did buy made a big impact

Did you find any great buys this past month?  Are you canning anything or doing some shopping ahead for winter?

 

Investment Cooking - Boneless Skinless Chicken Packets

 

I still find investment cooking or preparations very helpful even in retirement.  I do most of my cooking for two these days, sometimes four, with the idea of having a leftover meal to enjoy a couple of days later or for a guest to join me.  As I meal prep or do any type of investment cooking I do so with that in mind as well.

 

A sale on boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 a pound (haven’t seen that price in a good long time) offered me the opportunity to do some investment preparations for future cooking.  I picked up a 6 ½ pound package with six large chicken breast portions.  Each portion was huge so I ended up filleting them into cutlets for a more appropriate serving size, the size of my palm.  I then took two cutlets and placed them inside a vacuum seal bag ending up with ten individual packages of chicken.

 

I could have sealed them and been done with it, but I decided to go a step further and added Italian salad dressing to four of them, buffalo wing sauce to three and lemon pepper to the other three so they can marinade in the freezer and are ready to grill or pan fry once thawed.  Italian dressing makes a tasty marinade, buffalo sauce is a nice and spicy alternative as well as lemon pepper seasoning.

 

With buffalo wing sauce

Lemon pepper

I ended up with some pieces leftover after trimming and filleting so I sliced what remained and placed it into a vacuum seal bag and left it plain.  It is ready to go to make fajitas or a quick stir fry.  I also have individual bags of sliced onions and peppers ready to go in the freezer.

 

Italian salad dressing

Eleven meal packets - two servings each

I ended up with ten packets of chicken cutlets seasoned and ready to go plus the packet of strips each containing two servings each or enough pre-prepared chicken for twenty two meals.  I spent just under an hour from start to finish, used up some condiments and seasonings that had been hanging around in my kitchen for a while and saved myself a good chunk of change over purchasing overpriced prepackaged pre-prepared meat at the store.  Not to mention how easy this was and what a timesaver it will be for my future self to fix dinner.

 

Ready for the freezer 😊

If you come across a really good sale on meat consider doing something like this to invest in your future meals.  Your future self will thank you.

 

My Tireless Retirement – Week 121

 

Hello my friends!  How is everyone doing this fine day?  I hope all is well in your world and everyone is surviving the summer heat alright.  My main goal lately has been to keep everything well watered, including my animals and so far so good.  Despite the extreme heat and smoke from the wildfires everyone is doing well.

 

I am so pleased with my tomato plants this year

My tomato plants are currently loaded with green tomatoes as well as the pear and apple trees so I’m hopeful for a good harvest and busy canning season in the next couple of months.  Now if I could just get a few green peppers on the plants I’d be happy.  I have blooms, but no peppers yet.  I’m working on the new garlic bed for this coming fall and have already started emptying the bunny bin into it for the added nutrients and fertilizer for a good harvest next summer.

 

I won't show you a picture of my toe 😂

While filling and putting up the hummingbird feeder on the pergola I stepped up onto the patio chair like I always do and the seat gave way.  The way I landed with my leg through the chair I ended up breaking my little piggy toe.  Ouch!  I guess it could’ve been worse.  Upon further inspection I could see that the seats on the patio chairs have all weathered in the extreme heat and it would be quite difficult to repair them so I’m going to have to make arrangements with our trash service to get rid of them.  Bummer!

 

Meals I Prepared: 

As part of this month’s pantry challenge I was able to make quite a dent last week in the bin of items I’d collected from the pantry that had been hanging around for a while or that I just wanted to get rid of (processed foods).  First up was a pint jar of ground turkey I had canned, a box of cheeseburger mac Hamburger Helper (I added an extra ½ cup of elbow macaroni), the final remains of a jar of powdered heavy cream (to use in place of milk) and a can of green beans that hit its best buy date in December of last year.  A friend and I demolished this meal in short order.

 

Refried beans

Next I took a packet of Knorr Spanish Rice (I added an extra ½ cup of rice) that I made up.  I also made refried beans to go with it using 2 pint jars of beans I had canned earlier this month and rendered bacon fat from the fridge.  Half of the refried beans went into the freezer for later.  I grated up an eight ounce block of pepper jack cheese that I’d purchased quite some time ago and enjoyed all of that with a nice green romaine lettuce salad and some salad dressing I’m trying to use up.  I’ve decided that most of the store bought salad dressings just aren’t for me anymore.  They just don’t taste very good to me.  I’m ready to start making my own.

 

Jell-O Poke Cake 😋

Over the weekend I needed a dessert to entertain with so I grabbed a box of cake mix and a package of strawberry gelatin from the pantry (more items to use up and not repurchase) and I made a Poke Cake.  I had stopped on the way home from work the day before and picked up a container of non dairy whipped topping to frost the cake with.  It made for a nice, cool and refreshing dessert on a hot summer day and it was a big hit.

 

Chopped cabbage and grated carrot combined with a can of chicken breast and some Toasted Sesame dressing from the pantry made for a super quick and refreshing Asian style salad to serve to guests for lunch.  When I served the salad I topped it with chow mein noodles for a tasty crunchy garnish. 

I also made a fruit salad.  Very refreshing!

Next up on the docket, I grabbed an eight ounce jar taco meat I had canned last year and used that along with the leftover rice and leftover refried beans to make tacos using corn tortillas I had in the fridge as well as some chopped romaine lettuce and leftover grated pepper jack cheese.  Quick, easy and delicious. 

After removing and thawing a container of mushroom gravy from a recent meal prep I baked a couple potatoes, heated up the gravy to pour over the potatoes and finished up the leftover green beans.

 

Mushroom gravy over a potato I "baked" in the microwave

It was definitely a week of pulling together pantry items and thinking outside the box to come up with things I could prepare without a trip to the store.  The only thing I really needed from the store was the whipped topping which I literally paid for with loose change I had in my wallet, everything else I used I already had on hand.  I’m pretty happy with how that all turned out.

 

This month I was hoping to get a nice pork butt this month to cook in the slow cooker and also use up my big can of green enchilada sauce, but I didn’t find a roast for a price I was willing to pay.  My hope is to make up a batch of pork verde this summer and get it canned for the LTFS.  I currently have no pork verde on the shelves at this time and it’s a favorite around here.  Even if I don’t find one on sale or perhaps marked down for quick sale I have so many other options on the shelf right now.

 

Okay, here is my poor little toe
Looks pretty good after a week, it was a lot more colorful & swollen before 😧

Enjoy this weekend and the week ahead.  I hope you are all doing well.  Don't fall through any chairs! 😄

 

My Emergency Fund

 

If I can give anyone any solid piece of financial advice it is to have an emergency fund.  I cannot express enough how important it is to have one of these.  If nothing else the peace of mind that is provided to me just knowing I have the funds set aside to cover almost any emergency makes it entirely worthwhile.

 

The amount we should save and set aside depends entirely on the individual.  How large is your household?  What type of a house do you own?  What kind of cars do you drive?  What are your typical monthly expenses like?  What other resources do you have available?

 

Don't forget to adjust for inflation

I personally keep a $5,000 emergency fund at the ready.  When I was raising my family it was adequate to cover us.  With the rising prices and inflation I have left it at this amount even though it is now just me in my household right now.  It may surprise you to know that since I established this account I’ve never touched it.

 

Try to plan ahead for unexpected expenses

Many things can constitute an emergency, such as my recent need to replace my refrigerator and that is a perfect example of where I might tap into this fund, but my goal is to never need to.  Before I will use my emergency fund I will do everything else I can think of to cover that expense before I head to my emergency fund.  Usually I can find a way.

 

Don't panic! 
Before going for your emergency fund look at all options

With the refrigerator I was able to finance it on my PayPal credit account for 0% interest for six months.  I didn’t buy a fancy or super expensive refrigerator and I knew that I could probably cover the cost of this appliance using money from my part time job to make payments and pay it off long before the six months is up and I accrue any interest.  If, for some reason, I can’t do that then I also have my savings to fall back on and pay it off.  In the meantime my emergency fund remains untouched and intact for what I consider a “true” emergency.

 

For me a true emergency is any unplanned event and expense that I’m not able to cover on my own by any other means.  Then, once I pull money from my emergency fund I will get myself busy, tighten my belt and work hard until those funds have been replaced before I do anything else.  It is that important to me and I take it very seriously.  My emergency fund provides me with security and it keeps me safe.  There is no better feeling in the world than to feel safe and secure.  Do you have an emergency fund?

 

Meal Prepping From The Pantry - #2

 

One of the best things about meal prepping is that it helps me to use up those random items that end up taking up residence in the pantry, refrigerator or freezer.  I’m able to collect those items together in a bin and make sure I incorporate them into meals so they don’t go to waste.

 

I had a handful of home canned jars of meats that I wanted to make sure I got used up and a boxed rice pilaf mix that had been hanging out for a while.  One day I grabbed a jar of pork roast and that box of rice pilaf which I prepared with an extra quarter cup of white rice and a bouillon cube to add some extra flavor to the water I used to cook the rice. After heating up the jar of pork roast I was able to put together a quick meal that ended up making five servings which I divided up amongst three of my food storage containers.

 

I had extra eggs on hand so I scrambled up half a dozen of them along with a few strips of bacon I had diced and fried up nice and crisp.  With some salsa, grated cheddar cheese and flour tortillas I made breakfast burritos with the eggs and bacon mixture and put them away into the freezer.  I will occasionally have breakfast for dinner so these will come in pretty handy for a quick meal after a busy day.

 

Since I was already in burrito mode I decided to cook a cup of black beans in my slow cooker.  Half went into a freezer container to use later and were frozen.  The rest were used in my meal prep.  I went ahead and heated up a jar of pork verde (my last older jar, yay!) and made some rice which I used along with the black beans as well as more cheddar cheese and tortillas to make restaurant style pork verde burritos.  They are so good!

 

It didn’t take me very long at all to put the rice meals and burritos together and once I was done I had several more meal options to add to the freezer.

 

Vintage Cookery - Muffins!

 

Many, many years ago I acquired my grandmother’s All About Baking cookbook.  She gave it to me and told me it was her very first cookbook.  It was reprinted in June 1936 which made her just about to turn thirteen years old.  I suspect it may have been a birthday gift, although I don’t really know for sure.  What I do know is that I've made a lot of recipes out of this book over the years.

What I do know about my great grandmother is that she was all about raising and preparing her girls for life as a wife and mother so she taught them all how to cook, clean, sew and do needlework from a very early age.  Lessons that my grandmother admitted she didn’t necessarily appreciate most of the time.  She’d much rather go outside and play in the dirt with her cousins.

 

Muffins were one of those quick bread items one could whip up and bake in no time to accompany just about any meal – breakfast, dinner or supper.  With a good basic muffin recipe you can make them plain or add ingredients, either sweet or savory, to jazz them up to go with whatever you happen to be making.  Adding in fresh, frozen or dried fruits and a little bit more sugar for a sweeter muffin goes well with breakfast foods or perhaps some leftover corn and some bacon bits for a savory option next to a hot bowl of soup.  The possibilities are pretty much endless.

 

I hope you enjoy this muffin recipe I’m sharing from 1936.  I’ve been making these for years.  They are definitely heartier than the commercial modern muffin mixes you can buy in the store.  I think they are so much better and tastier.  Add a smear of butter, maybe some jam, they just never disappoint.  So good.