My 2021 Challenge

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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I baked a small pork roast for Teddi today. While slicing it up I realized how tender and juicy it was. I ate a small slice and decided I would have some for my dinner. I had two very small russet potatoes left from a free giveaway a while back. So I diced them and cooked them in water. Then opened a can of green beans and diced some leftover onion (free) from the fridge. I save all of my bacon fat so added 2 teaspoons for seasoning. I served the potatoes with a generous pat of butter with salt and pepper. In a very short period of time I had a yummy meal on the table. Finished dinner with a bowl of sugar free instant chocolate pudding.

Breakfast was the last of a carton of cottage cheese bought on sale with some canned peaches from my pantry. Lunch was a few slices of cheddar cheese with a couple of turkey sticks. Sort of like Slim Jim's but heathier.. Late afternoon snack I made a dip using a single serve container of leftover marinara sauce mixed with sour cream and a generous dose of Frank's hot sauce. I used pork rinds for dipping. I do not really like pork rinds but they are on the list for low carb snacks.

It was really hot today with the heat index at (108 F ). It was supposed to go up to around (111 F) to (112 F) but thankfully we did not go that high. Despite the heat I did go out and rake up the debris I had cut down the other day and drug it to my burn pile on a tarp. I just came in from emptying a garden tub of debris on the burn pile. While doing that I heard a rumble of thunder off in the distance. The wind is supposed to be strong and I did not want the debris flying all over the place. We are at storm level 2. Incase we have a power outage I washed all of my dish towels/dish cloths earlier and they are on drying racks. My cell phone is charged, lanterns, and flashlight standing by. Now to get Teddi through the storms with as little stress as possible. As I have mentioned before it is best to hunker down in the master bedroom with the door closed and the TV on loud to muffle the sounds. I am going to give him a few drops of botanicals by mouth as soon as I sign off.

I put botanicals in Teddi's water bowls this morning to relax him before the storms move in. He has basically been a slug all day. He will go outside with me when I go but sits in the shade waiting for me. Then again it is hotter than hades outside and he might have just wanted to stay in the shade. In the house he has been snoozing a lot but what else is there for him to do? I gave all but one of his toys to my aide. They have a very active pup that is chewing up everything. Teddi never plays with his toys even when I try to play with him. He will retrieve them a few times and then that is it. I did keep the pink lamb that came with him when he came to live with me. He never acknowledges it but I thought who knows if he will miss it so I kept it. He has never liked to play with toys. When I have bought him a new toy he might flip it in the air a few times and that is it. I am off to watch TV.
Janet Alliesmama
floridacatlover
Posts: 8038
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by floridacatlover »

You are certainly having wild, stormy weather, Janet. Very scary and I know it creates more work for you with the yard debris. And of course poor Teddi!

You have mentioned cottage cheese lately and I’ve always liked it but haven’t had it in awhile. So it is on my list for next week. Publix has a cottage cheese with pineapple mix I’ve never seen anywhere else. Love it! My mom used to mix blue cheese salad dressing into plain cottage cheese and use it as a dip with carrot and celery sticks. I like it that way, too, but also like just plain cottage cheese.

Take care.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

floridacatlover wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:50 am You are certainly having wild, stormy weather, Janet. Very scary and I know it creates more work for you with the yard debris. And of course poor Teddi!

You have mentioned cottage cheese lately and I’ve always liked it but haven’t had it in awhile. So it is on my list for next week. Publix has a cottage cheese with pineapple mix I’ve never seen anywhere else. Love it! My mom used to mix blue cheese salad dressing into plain cottage cheese and use it as a dip with carrot and celery sticks. I like it that way, too, but also like just plain cottage cheese.



Right now I am in between storms.. We had one early morning that did not affect Teddi but the most recent one has him upset.. Not freaking out but very apprehensive.

I have not looked for it in years but we used to be able to buy cottage cheese with pineapple in it. I usually keep crushed and chunked pineapple in my pantry so it is easy to add to my cottage cheese if I want to. Cottage cheese and fruit make for a quick easy meal or snack for my diabetes. Your Mom's dip sounds really yummy. I will keep that in mind. It might also make a quick salad dressing.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Good morning everyone. I am posting early because I have new thoughts I want to post. With the uptick in covid I have decided to use the extra money I am saving from my utility bill to continue to increase my stockpile. None of us know what the future is going to be like. There may not be any shortages but I do think prices are going to continue to go up. So I will spend the extra savings now in anticipation of saving more money by buying food at a lower cost. I have been taking inventory of what I have and will then decide what needs to be stockpiled. Primarily I am stocking canned goods due to a limited amount of freezer space in my fridge freezer. I am not wild about canned meat of any kind so will be stocking canned salmon, tuna fish, and sardines as well as a few cans of chicken. Also canned veggies and fruit. I know some people do not like sardines but I am going to try to eat one can a week for my leaky gut. Also need to eat salmon at least once a week. Tuna fish is limited. A Dr friend of mine told me to limit it due to the mercury in tuna fish. I have checked with the salmon industry and the tuna industry. The salmon industry said salmon is good at least 10 + years over the Use or Best by date and the tuna industry said tuna is good 3 to 5 years after the Use or Best by date. That is for tuna in a can. Not sure about the product in pouches. Going to be interesting to see how much I can buy with the extra $50.00. The saving is for $49.00 but I decided to round it up $1.00. Using the extra money from my slush fund.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I started a small stockpile using Amazon. It is difficult to find bargains on their site since they want people to buy in large bundles. Being a single woman I do not need or want 3 jars of this or 4 cans of that. However I did stumble on a few single items that I could use. I put them on auto ship which gives a little bit more of a discount. I am hoping to earn some money in gift cards and that will help to keep the costs down even lower. After entering everything into my money program and projected expenses for the month of August things are going to be tighter than anticipated. All bills are covered including paying the first installment on my property taxes. I will just have to buy a few fill-ins of dairy and maybe frozen veggies.

Breakfast was cottage cheese and coffee with milk. I miss my half and half and cream in my coffee but milk is cheaper.

Lunch was the last of the small batch of potato salad made with the last of the free potatoes with a little bit of free onion used in it. I figure the entire bowl cost me (.12 cents) and I have had 3 servings from it. Also had some tuna fish salad and finished the last of the sugar free chocolate pudding for dessert.

Dinner was ground beef stroganoff. I served it over instant potatoes from my stockpile. I nuked some of the seasoned green beans from the other day as a side dish. There is enough of everything for dinner tomorrow night plus another meal sometime this week. I used (8 oz) of the ground beef to make the stroganoff. Added 8 oz of fresh mushrooms, 1/2 of a free onion and about 1/2 cup of sour cream and a few extra things for seasoning. I will get 3 meals from the stroganoff and it is all free. I forgot I had used survey money to buy the groceries. I saved 8 oz of ground beef in the freezer to use to make something later on. I made iced coffee for dessert using the leftover coffee from this morning with a little sugar free coffee syrup, English Toffee. I also used a little bit of milk.

I had a late afternoon snack of pork rinds with a dip made with sour cream and some honey mustard salad dressing. It was good but I think next time I will add some Dijon mustard to give it a little bit more zip.

I baked another small roast for Teddi. When I was getting it out to bake I realized it and the last two roasts were all free. One was from a giveaway and the last two I bought with survey money. Of course it is going to take me a long time to earn money like that again. Still a thrilled to have so much to work with and it was all free. There was a small portion of the bill that was not covered by the survey money.. I need to figure out what item or items to tag as not covered by survey money. That is just for the fun of doing so.. Does not make or break my budget.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I am having satellite problems again. They cannot repair the pole until Aug 13th. So it will be hit and miss as to when I get a signal.

Today I did a small curbside pickup at Walmart. I primarily wanted protein to go with my various canned and frozen foods. Walmart, in my area, was out of bacon, Jimmy Dean sausage, certain cuts of chicken and certain cuts of pork. Also no red potatoes. If you scroll through the various sections of what they have there are a lot of "currently out of" or "unavailable" notices. Today I went over my budget and hopefully in Sept I will be able to buy a small to medium chest freezer. My concern is that there might not be any freezers like when the pandemic hit last year. I am anticipating more shortages. Right now my county is seeing an uptick in covid. Although our state Governor stated they do not anticipate another shut down. I do not want to take a chance. Walmart has gone back to mandatory masks. My pulmonary Dr had mentioned that we live so close to St. Louis, MO that a lot of people that live in our county work in St. Louis and there is a much larger uptick of covid in MO and they may be bringing it back to our area since a lot of people are not wearing masks. Even vaccinated people are having some break through covid.. even my pulmonary Dr. So I want to stock up and try not to expose myself to covid as much as possible as the weather it colder. I am working on an inventory of what I have and what I anticipate I will need. Right now funds are very tight so will have to wait until Sept to do any kind of stock up.
Janet Alliesmama
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