Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

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Dgflorida
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Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by Dgflorida »

I sure hope you get poison ivy free soon. Sad for you.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Dgflorida wrote: Wed May 08, 2019 8:16 am I sure hope you get poison ivy free soon. Sad for you.
Thanks Dg. As they say this too will pass.. I am doing better although to look at my legs they look like someone threw scalding hot water on them.. The itching is somewhat under better control but still room for improvement..
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
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Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

It has been hard to keep up with all of the laundry and cleaning of the poison ivy and application of the ointment. I cannot imagine what my water and utility bill will look like after all of the water used and the electricity for the washing machine and dryer. Now I need to concentrate on trying to save as much money as I can for my increased bills as well as the need to continue to put money away for the $500.00 deductible for my new roof.

I am trying to make do with what I have. I save dibs and dabs of things in my freezer and sometimes I am not sure what they are..lol. I thawed out a small container of meat and it is taco meat but no taco shells or tortillas so will use it to make a taco salad. I still have enough lettuce to make a couple of salads. Will add some shredded cheese, onion, and chopped pickled jalapeno peppers. I am going to make a salsa using canned tomatoes. Found a lot of little jars of peach juice from canned peaches and will add them to my hydrated peaches and make small peach crisps. I am going to bake them in my air fryer. I have been able to toast a bagel in my air fryer and I think somewhere online someone has been using their air fryer for baking so will look for ideas on line.

I have thawed out a beef steak from my birthday gift box from my brother and have some frozen broccoli that was left from a restaurant meal that my brother took me out to a long time ago. I cooked a pot of rice the other day for Teddi's meals. The beef, broccoli, and rice are all free from various sources. I bought a package of pot stickers from Dollar Tree a while back and will have them for my appetizer. They were 5 for $1.00. I will make my own dipping sauce from a recipe that my Mom use to use. I am going to make some hot and sour soup using the chicken broth saved from the rotisserie chickens that I buy. I made tuna fish salad yesterday so using that for lunches for a few days. I am enjoying the challenge but it really is more fun than a challenge to see what I can come up with using what I have.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I had a computer crash yesterday and trying to get things going again took a lot of my time..Not even sure how stable it is right now. I am having to go back through all of my sites and open with pass words and since a lot of them were forgotten more time involved in setting up new. Tired and frustrated.. Did I mention tired..lol.

Yesterday I weighed the steak I had thawed out. I set 2 oz aside for Teddi for his dinner tonight and used 3 oz for myself. I made a nice stir fry with the leftover broccoli and a handful of frozen onions from a bag of stir fry veggies from Dollar Tree. I am getting a lot of mileage out of that bag. It is a mix of bell peppers of different colors and onions. I have used a lot of the bell peppers and still have some left in the bag along with the onions. The stir fry made enough for two meals. I had one last night without rice since I had pot stickers. There were 7 pot stickers in the bag for $1.00 from Dollar Tree. They were filling so I did not use rice with the meal last night. For lunch today I did add some rice. I did not make the hot and sour soup. I was getting short on time due to the computer problems. I am going to freeze the broth for another time. The pot stickers were pretty good. To me the main thing is the dipping sauce that makes them more tasty. They did contained wheat which makes me itchy and makes my muscles hurt. I have found a recipe for gluten free pot stickers so will try my hand at making some in the near future.

I made a taco salad yesterday for lunch using half of the taco meat from the freezer. I made a salsa using canned tomatoes. I used True Lime powder and two packets was one too many. It made the salsa almost taste sweet. However I added some juice from a jar of pickled jalapenos and it made things more savory. I will have the last of the taco meat in a salad for dinner tonight. I just had sliced mozzarella cheese for breakfast with coffee. I was just not in the mood to fix anything else.I did a quick survey of things and I am almost out of almond flour. I am trying not to buy anything so it it is going to get somewhat interesting on what I make.

I checked my apple tree this morning and it looks like it is setting fruit. Glad that the cold wet spring has not destroyed my apple crop this year. I am hoping to get enough to eat fresh and maybe store some for the Fall and early winter. Each year it produces a little bit more and it has taken years to get to this level.

Teddi ate the last of the rotisserie chicken for his breakfast and will have the steak with rice for dinner. I think tomorrow I will give him a hard boiled egg for breakfast. He loves them. I plan on going in to town to buy him some fresh dog food and see if the will be able to eat it and not start to throw up again.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
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Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

It has been a very overcast and chilly day.. Temp only going to around 59 but later this evening it is suppose to go back down in to the mid 40's. So I built a fire in the fireplace. It did help with the chill. It warmed up inside to around 70 but when the sun goes down it will be chilly. I let it burn out after a couple of hours but will rebuild it later this evening as the temp drops.

I did not want to eat the taco salad.. I wanted something to warm me up but by the time I decided that it was too close to dinner time. So I made gluten free Irish soda bread. Just bustling around the kitchen to make it warmed me up..lol. I found 3 toasted ravioli's that were in the freezer. I threw them in the air fryer. I cut up Teddi's beef steak and browned the meat in the air fryer. It really does a nice job doing that. I am going to try to brown a pork chop in it tomorrow. The Irish soda bread was ok.. I had reduced the sugar but maybe too much. It was not as yummy as the last time I made it. However with some butter and strawberry jam it was much better. I had tuna fish salad with some olives as my main dish for dinner. Not exciting but using up what I have on hand and already made. I have thawed out a package of frozen cauliflower and will be making Faux potato salad for my lunch and/or dinner tomorrow. Still not quite sure what I am making.. I am thinking of making BBQ pork with the pork chops (2) tomorrow. I will make cloud bread to use for making a sandwich with one of the pork chops.. I am going to shred one and the other will be eaten with a side of faux potato salad.. I should get two sandwiches from the pulled pork from one pork chop. Teddi will get some pork and rice. He really did not feel like eating the beef tonight and it was really yummy and tender. He finally nibbled at it if I hand fed him. I am not sure what is going on with him. He sleeps a lot but then when he is active he is very spunky. Could be he has the same feelings as a lot of our local humans.. we are all tired of the cold, damp, rainy weather that keeps us confined to the house too much.
Janet Alliesmama
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Jackielou
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: Our 2019 No Spend Challenge

Post by Jackielou »

Janet our cat is the same way. She loves her chicken and turkey cat food, but hates the beef and really does not care for fish of any kind (I can get her to eat a can of fish cat food every 2 or 3 weeks). As a treat for her I usually save a couple of slices of whatever roast we have on a Sunday. Then each day I pull the container out and give her some diced pieces. Let's just say the chicken, turkey, and pork she gobbles down and looks for more. The beef she will eat a couple of days and then turns her nose up and walks away.
Jackie
http://inthelandofthelivingskiesii.blogspot.ca/
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