My Dollar-Stretching, Cabinet-Clearing, Clean-The-Food-Up Project For March - DAY 1 - 3/1/14

As food prices and utility bills continue to soar I have a renewed determination to cut expenses and get out of debt. In February we were able to finally pay off another credit card...one that has held us in bondage for over 12 long years! It felt so good to finally be rid of that beast and lesson learned! NEVER use a credit card to get a cash advance if you can't afford to pay it back immediately!

Over the past few days I've been making an inventory of all food on-hand...in the refrigerator, in the refrigerator-freezer, in the deep-freeze, the cabinets, and pantry and I am making March's menus based on said items. My goal in March is to spend as little as possible on groceries and put the money that would have been spent on them towards more immediate needs. It is ridiculous the amount of food that is in this house. I'm used to shopping for a big family and now that it's just John and I...well...like I said...it's ridiculous! Anyway...I implemented my plan yesterday and I hope to give you a day-by-day account of my progress. 

So...here goes with Day 1 of My Dollar-Stretching, Cabinet-Clearing, Clean-The-Food-Up Project For March...

DAY 1 - Saturday, March 1, 2014

* Since we have our own chickens we usually have plenty of beautiful brown and blue eggs on-hand, plus a friend of ours, who also had an abundance of eggs, gave us a dozen of her white ones. Another friend had given us a small package of home-grown and processed bacon back quite some time ago, and at the time I cooked it, I took the leftovers, crumbled them, and froze them as bacon bits for salads and whatnot. I still had a small package of them in the freezer. I also had two tortillas left over from the last time I made chicken enchiladas, so, since my husband is careful to keep his egg intake to a minimum and, generally doesn't eat meat...especially red meat (he does eat it, but very rarely and very sparingly)...I decided to take those last two tortillas and use them in breakfast burritos for myself. I had one for breakfast on the 1st and had the second one for breakfast this morning. My breakfast burritos consisted of one tortilla, a scrambled egg, half of the leftover bacon bits, and a slice of Borden's 2% sliced cheese on each. 

* I boiled six of the white eggs to be used as egg salad and/or deviled eggs later in the week.

* I had 6 turkey hot dogs in the refrigerator freezer, a pint of leftover frozen chili, and four frozen hot dog buns, so, for lunch, I made two chili dogs each for John and I and served them with an on-hand, partial bag of Chester's Cheese Puff Corn. The other two hot dogs I will use in something later in the week. 

* For supper I used fresh green peppers and brown rice and made a Stuffed Pepper Casserole. As always it was DE-LICIOUS! :)

* For a sweet treat I used the last three over-ripe bananas and the last of last year's pecans to make a simple Banana-Nut Cake topped with powdered sugar. It was yummy, too, and it will last for several days...unless we have company and then it will be offered up then with tea. :) 

* I also used the last three frozen containers of bits of saved, leftover vegetables (green beans, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, peas, celery, etc...I do this...I use little freezer containers and just add bits of leftover vegetables to them until they're full, then I start a new one...when there are enough, I make soup with them), an open quart of home-canned tomatoes, and odds and ends of fresh vegetables from the refrigerator (fresh zucchini, a quarter head of cabbage, a carrot, etc.), and 3/4 of an already cut-into onion to make a small pot of vegetable soup. Part of it will be eaten throughout the week (my husband could LIVE on vegetable soup...he loves it!) and part of it will be refrozen for quick lunches for him later in the month. 

That's day one of my Dollar-Stretching, Cabinet-Clearing, Clean-The-Food-Up Project for March. My plan is to report today's progress to you tomorrow.

Have a blessed week ahead and, for those in the areas impacted by these terrible winter storms, stay warm and stay safe! God bless all here!

All My Love,

~Rebecca