My Thrifty Week - Post #9

Good morning, Sweet Ladies! 🙋 Welcome to 'My Thrifty Week' - Post #9! 

I'm so excited to be getting back to these posts and into thrifty-thinking mode again! With the final push towards debt-freedom, it's becoming a game to see where and when we can cut and it feels super good when we overcome and conquer in any given area, no matter how big or how small it might be!

Here are some of the things that happened this week that contributed to 'my thrifty week'...

- I was given a big bottle of Oil of Olay body wash by a friend. She had received it as a gift for Christmas and was unable to use it, so she decided to pass it on...which was great!!! I was nearly out of body wash and it was on my shopping list for the next trip out. Thankfully, I was able to cross that item off my list and save a few bucks! 

- Another friend occasionally passes on extra vegetables that she receives in her weekly organic meal shipments. Last week she gave me a half-head of cauliflower, a green pepper, and a package of celery. I used the cauliflower, green pepper, and half of the celery in a pan of roasted vegetables, to which I added carrots, an onion, and a half a can of baby corn that I had in the freezer. I drizzled the whole thing with olive oil and baked in a 450 degree oven until the vegetables were tender and slightly caramelized. Delicious!

Vegetable Cut Up, Drizzled with Olive Oil,
 and Ready to be Roasted

- We had almost a full half-gallon of milk left over (we don't buy regular milk, as a rule, so I'm not used to having it on hand, but we had bought this a while back to use in a specific recipe) and it was about to expire, so I used it and the other half of the package of celery and, adding a few carrots, an onion, and a box of instant potatoes that had been sitting on the shelf for a while, used them to make a pot of potato soup. It turned out well!

- My husband loves having vegetable broth on hand to use in soups, pasta, and other dishes that he prepares and we've been buying it regularly at Aldi's. I finally made a point to start saving my vegetable ends again and have just been popping them in a bag in the freezer. Once the bag is full, I will boil them altogether, strain the broth, put into containers, and freeze. There will no longer be a need to buy vegetable broth.

Vegetable Ends Saved For Broth

- When I got done cleaning the vegetables for roasted vegetables and saving the ends to freeze for broth, this is all the waste that remained to be disposed of...

Onion Skins - The Only Thing Not Saved For Broth

- One other thing that I did this week was make a double batch of one of my husband's favorite snacks...Protein Snack Balls. I still had a bag of sunflower seeds and a bag of chia seeds in the cabinet that really needed used up. We had cocoa powder and most of the other ingredients on hand. The only thing that we were out of was honey and chocolate chips, so I picked those up on our last trip to town and viola! Protein Snack Balls (most of which are in the freezer)! 😄 Here's the recipe for anyone that might be interested in making them...

PROTEIN SNACK BALLS

1/2 c. raw honey
1 c. natural peanut butter
1/2 c. melted coconut oil
3 1/2 c. regular oats
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. chia seeds
1/2 c. unsalted, roasted, sunflower kernels
1/2 c. raisins, chocolate chips, coconut, or chopped nuts

Mix ingredients together, shape into 1-inch balls, and refrigerate until ready to serve. Delicious!

Well, Ladies, that's it for now. You all have a great day and feel free to inspire and encourage others by sharing your thrifty finds in the comment section below.

Until next time...
~Rebecca

Recent posts that you might enjoy...

Happy Homemaking Monday - February 5, 2018

My Thrifty Week - Post #8

Eighteen Things That I Want To Do In 2018