 |
| Ezrom bought some clay with his birthday money from his grandparents and made the Polie family. |
I harvested green onions, garlic scapes, marjoram, thyme, and rosemary from my garden this week.
I planted dill and mustard seeds from my pantry in the garden.
I planted several more seeds in the garden–both flowers and food. I transplanted my lettuce thinnings and moved my green onions to a new spot in the garden.
I planted the basil that I bought at the nursery. The plants were actually several plants per pot; I divided the two pots into several places in the garden. I covered them with quart-sized mason jars for the mini-greenhouse effect that it would provide, so that we will have more basil, sooner.
I watched Downton Abbey on Pbs.org. I also watched a couple of shows for free on Hulu.
I had a couple of at-home dates with my husband after the children were in bed.
My husband redid the hooks in our mud room. He used molding that we already had and hung the molding over the old holes, painted it with paint that we already had, and then hung the hooks back up, including a few extras that we had, so that everything would fit better.
I mended the hem of a dress.
I made 3 pairs of earrings, using the beads I bought at a garage sale last year and the findings that I bought for Christmas. Each pair costs me .15. I used these as gifts for birthdays for 3 of the girls in my Sunday School class. I called their mothers first to find out the girls’ favorite colors. These were similar to the ones I made at Christmas.
We had company this week for dinner. We had ham sandwiches and soup.
I cooked a ham the day before and I made French bread. We sliced the ham with my meat slicer and we sliced the bread on it, too. We topped it with mayo, Italian dressing, lettuce and tomatoes. I had to buy lettuce and tomatoes (Roma tomatoes were .79 a pound and the lettuce was 3 romaine hearts for $1.79. That was the least expensive option for lettuce; heads were $2.28 each! I am looking forward to our lettuce being big enough to harvest in the garden).
I ordered a pair of shoes for myself online. I went through Ebates when I ordered, which gave me a coupon code for 15% off, plus 8% back, from Shoes.com. The shoes I chose were already on sale, so these discounts were on top of that. (My whole family has wide feet, so I order shoes online.) Shipping was free.
My husband washed the windows this week for very little.
What did you do this week to save money?
Note: This post contains referral links.
I made laundry soap. My son has been on a pancake kick so I have been saving a lot since pancakes are so economical. I made some with half a medium roasted sweet potato mixed in and they were delish. We used a gift card to buy my husband new shoes for work. While we were at the mall we took our son to the lego store. He loves it there. I got a case of free cat food. It was a pretty quiet week here. We are gearing up for my son’s first birthday next week, I am making his favorite, beef stew and my sister is bringing the cake. Then we are decorating with the stuff I saved from our older son’s first birthday. Ivory’s birthday must be soon too! Where did this year go? We were delighted to receive our son’s big present from their grandma, a one year family pass to the Please Touch Museum! It includes parking and unlimited carousel rides and we are looking forward to all the fun.
My Cooks Illustrated magazine says that the very best hummus is made with dried chickpeas that have been soaked.
Martha Stewart http://www.marthastewart.com/276934/recycled-christmas-card-craftswe made these with old christmas cards but they would also work with any heavy paper, like childrens books or invitations. They are beautiful, and then they become favors.
Congratulations!
Thanks for the tips. I just assumed garbanzo bean flour wouldn’t be that much different than whole garbanzos which have been ground . . . live and learn. Thanks!
Thanks! Right now I’m in Germany but relatively close to the Polish border so any information whether I could get it there would be useful, too. I don’t speak Polish so although I looked up what “borax” is in Polish, I can’t really figure our where to ask for it.
You might find a recipe w/o borax on one of my favorite blogs. She is in Australia. http://down—to—earth.blogspot.com.au/
I find that rubbing the skin of a chicken or turkey with oil makes a huge difference in moistness. Like Brandy said, a covered pan makes a big difference too.
if i’m making just breasts i poach them, in water, lemon juice, with peppercorn, garlic and bay leaves and rosemarythey are VERY moist and keep well for leftovers and are very (possibly too) juicy..
If you go to Sam’s website you can print a one day pass. Some states have a law against charging an upcharge so in those states you pay the same prices as members. My state, SC, is one of them and we have used this option in the past. My husband’s new employer pays for out membership now so that is a blessing.
When I mill garbanzos for chickpea flour, they are still dried and raw. When I make hummus, I use cooked garbanzos. That could make a big difference in texture and flavor, I bet. Did you cook the mixture? Just wondering. 🙂
We do have an upcharge here, so it would cost me 10% more without a membership. But, after looking at Brandy’s list–it’s been a while since I took a peek at it, because I had basically written Sam’s off because of how far away it seemed to be–and after checking out their prices, I do think it’s worth it. I paid $3.49 for 5 lbs of bread flour the other day at Kroger (not on sale, White Lily brand) and was disgusted to pay that much, and when I did the math, I discovered that I’d pay $17.45 for 25 pounds, vs $8.76 at Sam’s. That’s $8.69 worth of the membership right there. I’m going to keep looking, especially at the other baking products, and talk to my Mom about splitting the cost of a membership and shopping together so we both save money. Thanks for all your input. Sometimes it’s really helpful to have someone else offer advice and help you learn to save money. I guess that’s why this post each week is so popular!
Brine before cooking. Times vary by weight/size. 🙂
Thanks, momma-lana, this is great!
I make hummus using cooked garbanzo beans as well. I’ve tried it with flour and the flavour and texture are never quite the same. I DO use the flour for making gluten free corn bread. You can’t tell the difference but it is much more nutritious.
Vanessa…I had asked whether anyone had a recipe not using the non-dairy creamer. Someone listed a link and I did not write it down, just the recipe. Now the recipe makes a regular chocolate cocoa, just uses white chocolate chips to replace the creamer.3 C nonfat dry milk2 C powdered sugar1 1/2 C Dutch process cocoa powder1/4 tsp salt1 1/2 C white chocolate chipsMix in a food processor and pulse until finely ground.Store in airtight container for 3 months.Use 1/3 C of mix to 1 C milk or hot water.I am sorry to not be able to credit the recipe to whomever thiswas , but I just don’t remember the site.
Debbie…I usually cook without recipes…I just mash (don’t mash smooth though) brown rice, cooked lentils, an egg, some crumbs, cooked minced onion, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, you can add some grated Parmesan cheese too. They work best if not too big, more like a walnut size. Oh , I have added finely chopped walnuts too at times. Fry them in oil or roll in oil and bake in the oven at 375 until crispy on the outside. Don’t soak them in sauce as will fall apart…I just serve them hot on top of the pasta and sauce. I get meatless recipes from the Seventh Day Adventists. I took a cooking class as their church years and years ago.
Even if you have to pay a 10% upcharge it would only be 88 cents more for a bag of flour. It may be worth doing if you are picky about bread flour like I am just to try their brand. I have a local grocery chain that puts White Lily on sale for 1.99 a few times a year and I really do a big stock up then. I do not like Sam’s bread flour because I prefer unbleached flour.
momma-lana, Sam’s also sells unbleached flour, though I believe it is only unbleached all-purpose. You can check online to see if your store carries unbleached flour. I really like Sam’s Club’s bread flour; it is so much fresher than the Kroger brand.
My Sam’s does not sell anything unbleached and the flour is in 50 pound bags. As empty nesters this would last us way too long besides the fact that I have nowhere to store flour in such a quantity. The store where I buy my flour on sale goes through a ton of flour and it is quite fresh, I usually have to get rain checks and pick it up the next week. White Lily is such a popular brand in the south that the stores in my area can hardly keep it on the shelves.
No White Lily flour here that I have seen. Our Sam’s has 25 pund bags of flour, but the unbleached comes in a 10 pound bag. Different Sam’s clubs carry different items; I know there is another Sam’s here and they have some things that are different.
Your son’s little people are amazing!! What creativity he has=)I love reading your blog, I’ve learned so much!
Here you go, Marivene: -We ate through the pork roast much faster than I anticipated. Instead of being tempted to go grocery shopping or grab a meal out, I used the last of my homemade pasta sauce and some pasta I bought on sale weeks ago. We had a simple spinach salad based on what was in the fridge.- I reorganized my freezer above the fridge and my chest freezer. I’m doing my best to make sure that all of our frozen foods are being rotated regularly. I found 2 lbs of butter and some pork steaks I thought that we had already ate.- I made some fruit cobbler with some blackberries and blueberries from my freezer.- My husband brought home some leftover pizza from work.- JoAnn’s had a Presidents day sale. I have been waiting to pick up some heavy duty thread to repair a button on my winter coat. Can’t wait to get my coat fixed.- Took an online survey, earned $10-My dear husband broke my Rubbermaid mop a few weeks ago. I’ve been making do until we can save up enough to replace it. My husband has been pitching in with keeping the floors cleaned.- We are running low on dog food. I’ve been adding some white rice to the dog food to stretch it out. (We are getting a new bag later this week).- We completed our transition from traditional cell service to VOIP and pre-paid service. We negotiated a lower internet rate. In total, we will be saving over 48% or $804/yr.- We sat down and made a plan to pay off the last student loan within 5 years. It’s an reasonable plan that still allows us a little wiggle room for “rainy days.”- When we went to reconciliation, we ran errands on the way home, saving gas.- Got a free product coupon for pulled pork.- Got a free Air Wick sample.- Earned a $5 Dunkin Donuts gift card. We will save it for a coffee date next month.- Called my friend who is coming to visit this weekend. I found out she gave up meat for Lent. I was planning on making a roast while she was here. Now that I know her dietary restrictions, I can plan ahead and we can avoid eating out because I didn’t have anything pre-made.What were your frugal accomplishments?Check out The Prudent Homemaker
Today is the first day Ive read your blog. Very inspirational. Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad you’re here! Make sure to check out my website; the blog is just a small addition to what is on my website: http://www.theprudenthomemaker.com