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 »

Glad I have some pork roasts stored in my freezer. I was just checking prices at Walmart and the usual roast that I buy for Teddi has doubled in price just since Thursday. On Thursday they only had 3 roasts left and I bought two. With their latest shipment the cost for one roast will cost as much as I paid for the two. Yikes! Also the cost of evaporated milk went from $1.19 to $1.38. Not too bad considering other places are charging $1.49, $1.89 and at Amazon $6.98 for one can. Looks like a wild ride ahead for groceries.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Recently my NP decided I was not getting the benefit from my monthly B-12 shots so we have gone to weekly B-12 shots at home. I had a phone call from CVS that my insurance would not pay for my home B-12 treatment. I called to see how much it would be out of pocket and there was no way I could afford it. So I contacted my NP and we were going to go back to weekly for 4 weeks in her office which is a 50 mile round trip equal to 200 miles a month. Then not more than 20 min later I had a phone call from CVS that the B-12 was ready for pickup. What the heck? I picked it up today with the syringes. My Co-pay for 10 weeks was $27.14. Not bad compared to road trips and gas costs going so high. The good thing was I received another $5.00 CVS coupon for groceries at my grocery store. I think what may have happened was they billed it under Medicare D and they do not pay for vitamins and supplements. Then someone had an ah ha moment and billed it under Medicare B. It will cover it if it is medically necessary. In my case if is very necessary.

I have been organizing and relocating food to a pantry in my utility room. I even put in another big shelf that was in the garage. I had taken it out to paint and never gotten around to it. I have a lot of things stored in the pantry that need to go to the basement. Then I will combine everything from various places in the house. That way it will be easier to see what I have instead of trying to remember where things are and how much I have. I try to keep a written inventory but I am bad about adding to it when I shop or taking something off of the list if I use it.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Not much going on here right now. I have been doing my reorganizing and making a list of what I have so I can determine what I need. However my wallet needs to wait until Dec 3rd before I can do any significant shopping. I do have a new CVS coupon for $5.00 off of groceries and $6.00 in rewards at that same store. I am going to go over the holiday grocery ads to see if anything looks promising. Also I have my slush fund money in cash. I budget for X amount for some things that are flexible and then when I come in under budget I save that money to use in some other way to buy extras.

We had a great day for November in the Midwest. It hit 74 F. Normally it is 55 F. I drove my car down the hill to my basement to drop some things off and brought some things up including my Christmas tree. I like to put it up the day after Thanksgiving. Hard to believe next week is Thanksgiving. I am all set so nothing to worry or think about.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I wrote something a few days ago but it disappeared while I was working on it and I was too tired to rewrite it. I have been doing some grocery shopping but due to lack of funds I am limited. I have some cash in my slush fund and was lucky enough to receive a $5.00 CVS coupon to be used at my local grocery store. They had their brand of sausage on sale 2 for $4.00 so I bought two rolls and a bag of baby carrots for Teddi. I saved $1.49 off of each roll of sausage. Also, they have pork loin on sale at a really good price. I was happy to see the sale especially considering how many roasts I have had to buy for Teddi at Walmart. It was .93 cents a pound cheaper. I bought one roast and the receipt said I saved $5.59. I need to cut it up into smaller portions and wrap in freezer paper. I am hoping to get up early tomorrow and hit the store again before it gets too busy and buy more sausage and another pork loin.

I was planning on using a gluten free stuffing mix from Aldi's to go with my baked chicken for Thanksgiving. However, I waited too long and they were sold out. I have cornmeal so I will be making cornmeal stuffing. I actually prefer cornmeal stuffing to bread stuffing. I just thought it would be nice to have a stuffing mix that was easy to cook on the stove top.

Not much else planned as far as being frugal. I have everything I need for right now for myself and Teddi. I just need to find the energy to do things. I have a lot of good food to work with and it is going to be interesting to see how well I can stretch it.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

For Thanksgiving I baked a small chicken, made cornbread dressing, seasoned green beans, instant mashed potatoes and opened a can of cranberry sauce. I had planned to make pumpkin bread using a gluten free box mix bought on deep discount. However, I ran out of energy. After I ate my meal and looked around the kitchen, I decided it was not worth all of the work for one person. My brother called to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving and he said they were having stuffed pork chops. A friend was making homemade pizza. She used to do a big turkey meal for her husband and herself. She said they decided they do not need a big meal to be thankful. They spent time with her MIL at a rehab facility and that was better than spending time in the kitchen. So next year will be smaller and maybe not even traditional. Life changes as we get older. I froze a lot of the food last night.

I am not sure what my income will be next month because my aide was off for quite a while due to her vacation and then having covid. In the past the state of IL has paid for my Medicare premiums due to my low income and having in home care. However, they have decided that I no longer qualify. Medicare said they can only go back one month to take the premiums out of my Soc Sec. So, in December I might have two months of premiums taken out. Not good because that is the same month, I have to make my 4th property tax payment which is $840.00. I will be able to pay all of my bills except no money left to buy anything extra. I have about $15.00 in cash left for things like fresh dairy or fresh produce. I do have credit cards but do not like to use them because the money does have to eventually come from somewhere. So, December is going to be a buy nothing for groceries month except for the fresh things I have mentioned. I do have $6.00 in loyalty points at the local grocery store. I am working hard to earn enough money in gift cards to buy some groceries towards the end of December using them at Walmart. So, things are not as dire as they seem. It is going to be interesting to see how things work out.

I bought a small spiral ham months ago when I saw them at Ruler. So, Christmas and New Year's Day are covered as far as meat. I have learned my lesson and do not need to make a big meal for meals on those days. Some simple sides are all I will need. With the large pork loin roast that I bought recently and with what I have in the freezer I think Teddi will be ok for meals until maybe the last week of December. December looks like an interesting challenge. I do love a challenge
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Looks like we might have a shortage of beans in the coming months. I left a thread about it in the chat room. I do have a good supply of dried beans a few cans of chick pea. I like to keep them on hand but tend to use canned beans before I cook the dried beans.

Today I finished all of my cornbread stuffing. I had frozen some for later but decided to use it up to get it out of the way. I also ate the last of the green beans. I saved the last of the mashed potatoes for tomorrow. They were instant potatoes, Hungry Jack. I did not care for them. I prefer the Idahoan brand. I think that is the brand that Little Miss recommended? Tomorrow I am going to add some shredded cheese and onion and make a couple of potato pancakes out of it. Also, the chicken is starting to get the taste that chicken gets when it has been in the fridge for a few days. So, I plan on chopping it up and adding some BBQ sauce and make a couple of BBQ chicken sandwiches. It really was a tiny chicken about 2.4 lbs. Just right for one person. I have the carcass, bones and skin in the freezer to make soup one day. Also, I saved the pan juice from when I baked the chicken and it will be used to make chicken gravy the next time, I bake chicken.

I am working on pinching every penny I can in my budget. Food is one of the few areas in my budget where I can possibly cut corners. However, with the possible shortages and the cost of food going up it is going to be interesting and difficult.
Janet Alliesmama
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