Meals, Life, Finances

Well the pantry, fridge, and freezer has many bare spots and the recycling bin is very thankful to be filling up.

I gave the kids the choice of either pancakes or oatmeal with milk this morning. They choose oatmeal. Lunch consisted of peanut butter with jelly, turkey, or tuna sandwiches. Two kids had peanut butter and jelly. One child declined. My husband and myself had tuna sandwiches. I opened two cans of tuna, mixed it with some mayo, added half a stalk of chopped celery, and 1/4 of an onion. Everyone enjoyed their lunch. Yesterday the kids had french toast for breakfast. I save all the bread ends in the freezer until we have enough for french toast. The kids and my husband had french toast. I did not have any. There wasn't enough for the five of us.

Dinner consisted of opening a package of pork chops. These were very large and only had four in the package. I baked them in the oven and when finished cooking we emptied 2 dredges of BBQ sauce on the pork and let it finish cooking. The BBQ containers were washed and went into the recycling. We made a package of red beans with rice. It was a prepackaged kit. The box went into the recycling. I also steamed some Aldi green beans that we had in the freezer.

We are almost out of milk. We used the last of the eggs yesterday. I made carrot cupcakes (a box mix in the pantry and used the last bit of frosting in the fridge). My kids had scrambled eggs the other morning for breakfast. I used the last of the butter yesterday for the eggs and had to scrape the butter container. We have no cheese. We have some pork and beans. No other type of beans at this time. We love beans.

For drinks: we have bottled water, tap water for the animals, decaf tea, and a small package of lemonade. I am making a gallon of tea to put into the fridge for those who want something other than ice water. (boiled water, four tea bags, 1/2 cup of sugar, one empty cleaned out milk gallon jug).

Snacks: a few carrot cupcakes are left and I will have to look around to see what else we have. We have no fruit.

Produce: a few potatoes, a head of lettuce, a couple of cheery tomatoes, 6 medium size onions, fresh garlic, a pound of baby carrots

Bread: a package of hot dog rolls, half a loaf of bread (I need to get some yeast. I have everything to make homemade bread including a bread machine). I have a Jiffy corn bread mix.

I took out a bag of chicken quarters that I bought a while back for 89 cents a pound and it is a ten pound bag. These are thawing in the fridge and I will come up with a plan. The ten pound bag will make quite a few meals for the five of us with leftovers which will be a blessing.

Frozen veggies: several bags of corn, peas, green beans, brussels sprouts

Meats: 2 large packages of chicken breast, two small packages of pork ribs (from mother in law grocery package in August), 2 pounds of ground beef, a pound of hot dogs, one pound of bratwurst, 3 pounds of ground turkey, one package of bacon, two single serve meat loaves (grocery package from MIL in August), one single chicken cord on blue, one package of beef tips (grocery package from MIL in August), and half a pork tenderloin.

We have spices. We are limited on canned goods. We have two cans of beans, one can of corned beef hash, two cans of tomato soup, one can of mushroom soup, and I am sure there are a few other things. We are out of canned tomato products.

So, with that being said I was looking over this post and noticed that I was rambling about groceries. We have finished paying off the old bills in Virginia. We have to get the two cars registered in Florida. We have to pay October bills. Funds are very tight and I am concerned that I will have to transfer money from my savings to the checking to pay the bills if I do not receive the vacation time that I did not use at my former job this week.

We have not been to the store since August 27th for any major grocery shopping. I am a bit stressed but thankful that the water/gas/trash bill is paid and the electric is paid. The rent is paid until November 1st. I start my job on Monday. It is a blessing.