Another week of working on clearing out the stash of food....

I've spent more than $25 a week (even though menus have been $25 or less per week) the last several weeks building a stockpile, so I wanted to take a break and focus on what is in the house already.  Because of that, the menus aren't going to be earth shattering.  On the other hand, some really scrumptious things like cheese steaks show up!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
oatmeal with milk, 35¢	bagel with peanut butter 45¢	yogurt w/ pineapple tidbits, 40¢¢	egg and toast, 20¢	oatmeal with milk, 35¢	banana smoothie, 35¢	Homemade Latte70¢
Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning
Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
Taco Soup (from the freezer) 87¢	Tuna Salad Sandwich, 70¢	egg salad sandwich, 50 ¢	Tuna Salad Sandwich, 70¢	Taco Soup (from the freezer) 87¢	Grilled cheese, $1.10	Baked Stuffed Chicken breast, $2
baby carrots, 10¢	baby carrots, 10¢	baby carrots, 10¢	baby carrots, 10¢	baby carrots, 10¢	tomato soup, 50¢	Mashed potatoes, 25¢
banana, 15¢	1/2 c pineapple tidbits, 14¢	banana, 15¢	1/2 c pineapple tidbits, 14¢	banana, 15¢	banana, 15¢	winter blend veggies, 25¢
Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
Cranberry Chicken (from freezer,  $1.67)	Steak Sandwiches, 70¢	baked chicken thighs, 76¢	Chicken Noodle Soup (from the freezer) 80¢	Salmon Cakes, $1.10	Scour for leftovers	order pizza
Rice, 20¢	broccoli, 25¢	mixed veggies, 25¢	salad w/ dressing 70¢	green peas, 25¢
green peas, 25¢	Oven Fries, 25¢	boiled, buttered potatoes, 25¢		rice, 25¢
Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack
baby carrots, 10¢	popcorn, 25¢	baby carrots, 10¢	yogurt with fruit, 50¢	baby carrots, 10¢	NA	NA
Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost
3.79	$2.84	$2.51	3.14	3.17	$2.10	$3.20
Total cost per week:					$20.75

.

When a good deal... just isn't
This is one area that I find people who are trying to be thrifty often get mixed up about.  A lot of people feel that if it is a good buy, you should buy it.  I can tell you from experience, that kind of thinking will keep you financially strapped.

I am a pro at stock piling large amounts of stuff at incredibly low prices, but the bottom line if it is excess of what I can use in a reasonable amount of time, I shouldn't have been spending money on it. I am amazed by the storehouses that coupon queens can have of 2 years of supplies for their families.  They have rooms dedicated to the stuff.  I believe moderate stockpiling is more money (and space) efficient for most people. For me, I want to be insulated for 6 months against bad times, so for me, a six month stockpile of just about anything is enough. Recently, I "flagged" myself from further toilet paper and paper towel purchases.  But I do try to keep a six month stockpile of non-perishables that I would "need" to survive for six months. (ok, lets face it, we could live without toilet paper and paper towels if we were desperate, but part of my plan is not only to isolate myself from undue financial stress for 6 months, but also be able to function at a normal level).

Should a worst case scenario happen, like losing my job, quite frankly, I want to have to purchase very little during that time, even if I have six months of expenses saved.  Part of the reason behind that is my expenses could possibly go up during that time.  I would need to pay for health insurance out of pocket, and may have travel expenses for job interviews that may be out of the area and could require air travel.  I could potentially be spending more on gasoline to drive to local interviews. I also have been known to deliver "house starter" boxes to those who have moved, lost their house to fires, or need a helping hand.

The flip side of the coin is I have to have space to manage and hold all my stuff.  I also have to rotate it.  Right now I have about 6 cans of organic pumpkin that I need to use.  I have to search for recipes.  If I am buying so much that I have waste or am having to trip over it or having to have an additional room in my house that I pay for square footage wise and have to climate control, in my opinion, I have gone overboard.

Yes, I could donate all the extra stuff I get at great prices, however, I think this is an area that needs budgeted too. I am finding I generally pull my expenses in around $20 a week for food.... and I am thinking about using that "extra" $5 a week to purchase great deals for donations to local food banks.  I can afford that $5 a week. If I go over, I am not going to meet my financial goals.

And, to borrow Dave Ramsey's though process... right now, I am living like no one else, so later I can live AND give like no one else.  So right now, my giving also has to be in reasonable relationship to my budget. (and I do believe giving is an essential part of a healthy cash flow plan).

Do you stockpile?  How much?  Do you know when to limit yourself?

The photo?  Well, if your pantry area looks like this, you are not doing the stockpiling thing right.  I admit, this WAS my house, quite a few years ago.  I have since gotten this under control, but I learned how to buy lots of stuff cheap before I learned you have to be able to manage what you have.  

Scrounge the Fridge for Leftovers

An essential part of Tightwad Cookery is not letting things to go waste.  It doesn't have to be a boring repeat of exactly what you ate previously.  Once a week (or more) you will find "scrounge for leftovers"

Here was one such recent meal for me.  When I looked, I found some leftover pickled red beets, mashed potatoes, pork loin, ham broth, and asparagus.  While I simply heated the asparagus, potatoes, and pork loin, I made a nice gravy out of the small amount of ham broth I had left (a 1/4 cup of ham drippings can be used to make about 1 cup of gravy. I like to use milk instead of water with ham gravy), and since I had my fill of cold pickled beets this week, I turned the leftover beets into Harvard beets by simmering them in their pickling juice with a little corn starch to thicken it.

There would have been other great things to do as well. Had I had some leftover rice, the pork loin is great for fried rice.  Mashed potatoes cooked in a pan with a little butter and sauteed onions is a great side dish reminiscent of perogies, a popular Polish dish.  I could have used the asparagus and chopped pork loin in a a quiche, omelet, or frittata.

What is leftover in your fridge right now that you can transform into a new meal?  Share with us below!

Salmon Cakes

This is a simple recipe that is quick, and uses very convenient canned salmon.  Canned salmon is a lot cheaper than fresh, and is packed with heart healthy omega threes.

1-14 or 15 oz can of salmon
2 eggs
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
4 tablespoons finely chopped red pepper
4 tablespoons of finely chopped onion
Seasoning of your choice

Crumble the salmon into a small dish.  Add the eggs, chopped red pepper, and chopped onion.  Add seasoning your prefer (I go through my cupboard and throw in whatever sounds good)  Mix well.  This is going to be pretty soupy.  Mix in bread crumbs so that excess moisture is absorbed.  Divide and pat into 8-10 cakes.

In a hot skillet coated with oil, add salmon cakes.  Cook on each side until golden brown, and serve while hot.

I like to eat mine with cheap yellow mustard, or with a dollop of honey mustard.

Yogurt with fruit or with frozen fruit.

This also is a very simple recipe.  And it is a great way to use frozen or canned fruit to provide a full fruit serving in your day, especially when  you can't find fresh fruit at reasonable prices.  It is a lot healthier than those yogurt cups that have ... well... basically a squirt of fruit jelly in them to flavor them, which is what you are buying in those flavored yogurt cups.

To do this the least expensive way, buy plain yogurt (or vanilla yogurt) in large tubs or make your own homemade yogurt... or scrounge stores for cheap yogurt cups, like the 25¢ a cup Stoneyfield Farms Greek yogurt cups I found at Amelia's this week.

If I am making yogurt up for lunches or breakfast for the week, I will line up my bowls (with lids) and put in about 1/2 cup frozen fruit, top with 1/2-3/4 cup yogurt, and whatever sweetener I would like to use (if using plain yogurt... the vanilla is already sweetened.) I put the lids on, and put them in my fridge. When I go to eat them, I stir them up, and eat.  My favorite is frozen black cherries, though they are hard to find inexpensively. This is also awesome with frozen mango (which is a clean 15 food), frozen strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries.  I also like frozen peach slices.

However, recently, I found an even cheaper alternative. I have cans of pineapple tidbits I bought for 75¢ at Target, which contain 5-1/2 cup servings.  At 15¢ a serving, it is hard to get frozen fruit at this price.  However, pineapple and milk often will curdle when put together, so I package my pineapple separately from my yogurt... when I go to eat it, I just pour the pineapple over the yogurt and eat (I do mix some sweetener into the plain yogurt), rather than mixing it all together.  With my organic Greek yogurt find this week, I now have organic yogurt and a fruit serving from the clean 15 list for 40¢.

Cucumber Salad Recipe

This week, Aldi's had a great deal on cucumbers... 29¢ each.  I can remember the day when it was easy to come by cucumbers at 4/$1 or 5/$1, but in recent years, the price has jumped often to 75¢ or more each.  I was tickled to get them at this price this week. here, you can see them nestled on top of the bags of carrots I also stocked up on at Aldi's for 49¢ a bag.

I live in PA dutch country, and we like our sweets and sours, so this is a basic "pickling" recipe I use over and over... however, you do need to adjust the sugar/vinegar ratio to suit your own personal taste or either sweeter or more vinegary.

"Pickling Juice"
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all together in a large bowl until all sugar is dissolved.

For this simple salad:

3-4 cucumbers sliced very thin (if waxed, like they are at Aldi's peel first.  If not waxed, I like to let the shell on... and I use my pampered chef slicer to get this very very thin)
1 onion, sliced very thin.

Put them in the pickling juice, refrigerate,  and let sit for at least 24 hours.

I also use the same pickling juice recipe for tripe, picked heart or pickled tongue.  Yes, these are PA dutch delicacies as well... however, tripe, tongue and heart are difficult to get at decent prices these days!

Pantry and Freezer Challenge week:

I've talked about the fact that some weeks I spend more than $25 on groceries, and some weeks less. The last several I have spent more (though the menus came out to be $25 or less per week), some weeks I spend less. When I have multiple weeks in a row where I have spent more, I do a pantry and freezer challenge.  This challenges me to use up the food I have stockpiled... there is nothing worth than throwing out food because it has gotten to old.

To do this, first I look in the fridge... does anything in there need cleaned out?  Then I look to my cupboards and freezer.  What is there that I could stand to use up?

I still have a pork loin and tub of mashed potatoes in my fridge from the awesome Target deals the other week, so they definitely need to get used up.  I also have cabbage and baby carrots, since I seriously stocked up on both of them recently.

While my goal was to just spend $10 a week, I found 1/2 gallons of organic milk at Amelia's for $1.99. I now have 4 of them in my freezer, as organic milk deals are hard to find.

It is not the most inventive menu, and very few recipes will be needed for this, but here it is:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
oatmeal with milk, 35¢	bagel with peanut butter 45¢	yogurt w/frozen mango, 48¢	egg and toast, 20¢	oatmeal with milk, 35¢	banana smoothie, 35¢	Homemade Latte70¢
Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning
Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
egg salad sandwich, 45¢	Salad, 55¢	Salad, 55¢	egg salad sandwich, 45¢	Salad, 55¢	tomato soup, 30¢	EAT OUT
carrots, 10¢	Pork Loin, 75¢	1/2 can tuna, 35¢	carrots, 10¢	1/2 can tuna, 35¢	grilled cheese, $1.20
cantaloupe, 25¢	dressing, 15¢	cantaloupe, 25¢	cantaloupe, 25¢	cantaloupe, 25¢	cantaloupe, 25¢
	orange 40¢	dressing, 15¢		dressing, 15¢
Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
Pork Loin, 75¢	Baked Chicken thights, 76¢	Salmon Cakes $1	Spaghetti w/meat sauce, $1	Hamburgers 75¢	Scrounge for leftovers	Frozen pizza, purchased with coupons, $2
Mashed potatoes (from a tub) 0¢	rice 15¢	salad w/ honey mustard dressing, 70¢	salad w/ dressing 70¢	oven fries, 25¢
cucumber salad, 20¢	Cabbage, 25¢	baked potato w/butter 25¢		cucumber salad, 20¢
Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack
yogurt w/fruit	yogurt w/fruit	yogurt w/fruit	yogurt w/fruit	yogurt w/fruit	NA	NA
0.48	0.48	0.48	0.48	0.48
Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost
Total cost per week:					$22.52