mommato3boys

We use black beans instead of pinto beans. We hardly ever use pinto beans.

While you were typing this I had already started a topic "Grocery Challenge" in the Kitchen forum.

One of the ways I am trying to stock our pantry is by doing grocery challenges and using the other money to buy extray with. So starting February I will be doing a $20 a week per person challenge. I will use the remaing amount of my grocery budget to plug holes in the pantry. I am on the hunt for meals that have 5 or less ingredients and lean heavy on rice and dry beans. Fresh fruits and veggies are expensive right now in my area, so I will be depending on frozen veggies pretty much all month. We are big Tex-Mex fans and that means lots of burritos, tacos, and other Tex-Mex recipes. BUT that gets old after a while and I will be falling back on my southern roots for comfort foods. Plus I will be making lots of soups and stews so that I can stretch them for 3 or 4 meals. Spaghetti is on the list, one recipe of sauce will yield like 5 quarts. I can use the sauce for many different recipes like stuffed shells, chicken parm and Italian bake. I am not a spaghetti fan but it is hubby's favorite. I also like the website http://www.mexicanplease.com he has some really good recipes that are "cheap." Week One Menu We usually only eat two meals a day - brunch and lupper - Brunch around 10 or 11 and lupper around 5. Breakfast x7 Sourdough Pankcakes x2 Waffles x 1 Breakfast Burritos x2 Molletes X2 Lupper Sloppy Joe Sweet potatoes Entomatadas Blackbean and Guac tostados Chicken Tacos Quesadillas Bean and Tostadas Chicken Flautas Food per Wal-Mart App - (I am hoping to catch some sales / coupons for the chicken and sausage) I did not include flour, blackbeans or oatmeal because I am well stocked in those. Great Value Corn tortillas - $1.98 16 oz Great Value Sour Cream - $1.88 One dozen large eggs - $2.80 Queso Fresco cheese 10oz $3.38 2 Sweet Potatoes - $2.28 3# bag of yellow onions $2.74 5 limes - $1.50 Fresh Cilantro - $0.47 Fresh Garlic 3 cloves - $1.78 8 Roma Tomatoes $1.68 1# Tomatillos - $1.56 Great Value 3# chicken thighs $8.47 (this will be used over 2 weeks) 1# ground Turkey $3.68 (this maybe replaced with ground beef if I catch it on sale or find it reduced. Plus I will only use half of a pound for the recipe) 1# great value breakfast sausage $2.87 4 oz dehydrated hashbrowns $1.73 ( will buy these at Dollar Tree for $1.25 but for the sake of this thread I am only using the Wal-Mart App) 2 cans of Chipotle pepps in adobo Sauce $2.96 Total $41.76 -

We did a little rearranging today. We live in an OLD house that needs some TLC and a lot of winterizing. This is our first winter here and it will be be a winter of plugging holes. So we have opted to move hubby's computer to the back of the house into the spare bedroom which is on the southside of the house. It is much easier to heat and keep warm. The living room is on the north side of the house I will be picking up caulk and weather stripping and maybe spray foam insulation in hopes of cutting down on the amount of wind that is seeping in around the door and windows. For the next week plastic and fleece blankets will have to do. Starting Feburary I am doing a grocery challenge of $20 a week per person. For us that would mean $40 a week. So now I am searching for recipes that have 5 or less ingredients and lean heavy on dry beans and rice. It is cheaper now to buy a bag of frozen peppers and onions that buying fresh peppers and onions. I was reading an article on inflation and this gentleman was tracking 60 different emergency food storage items like spam and canned soups. Since he started writing his blog in 2008 through 2023 inflation on these items have been 95%. So the grocery challenge of $20 a week per person so be interesting and challenging especially since my egg supplier is not producing much right now. Wish me luck.

Jeepers I just have 4 ice cube trays and when what I put in them freezes I dump into ziplock backs. Takes up less room because I can stack them or put them in a basket in the freezer to keep them organized. I got mine at Dollar General 2 for $1.

CAT !!!! Welcome back !!!!

About the only beef we eat is ground beef so I tend to buy it in bulk. I will buy a couple of 10 pound rolls when the local store has it on sale. I will then cook it and add sesaonings for spaghetti, tacos, and chili. I will then freeze it in one cup portions which is perfect for a meal for two. You can also make up hamburgers and freeze them. If you cook them then freeze them reheat them using broth and they will be nice and juicy. Don't forget campfire aka hobo meals aka packet meals whichever you call them, they freeze well also. I usually use hamburger patties, potatoes, carrots and onion in mine. I have used sliced ham or a porkchop. I agree cook up a batch of pancakes and waffles and flash freeze them. Hubby loves when I do this. He especially likes when I used the tiny waffle maker and he can pop the waffles in the toaster. He likes his waffles crispy. We do a lot of breakfast burritos and muffins. I also do quiche or breakfast casseroles in muffin pans and freeze them. These are good for any meal of the day or just a snack. High in protein also. I usually have the casserole muffins with a bowl of fruit or granola and yogurt. The casserole muffins are the bomb and you can do so many different kinds, from plain eggs and cheese to country style with hashbrowns and ham. Same with the quiche, plain to mushroom and cheese. Along those lines I have some homemade mac & cheese frozen in muffin size servings. We haven't tried them yet. I am hoping they will be fine. It will save a lot of time when the grands come to visit. Homemade mac & cheese is their favorite request. I make homemade pizza sauce and freeze it in ice trays. One cube is the perfect amount for an English muffin pizza or a personal pan size pizza crust. These are easy to prep and freeze. Slice an English muffin put parchament paper between the layers put in a sandwich bag along with any toppings you might like - hubby's favorite is pepperoni and jalapeno so I put like 10 slices of pepperoni in a snack bag then 2-3 tablespoon of cheese in another snack bag. Put these in the bag with the English muffin and freeze. There is always an open jar of sweet hot jalapenos in the refrig. Then all he has to do is pull out one cube of pizza sauce and the bag of pizza ingredients and has lunch in a matter of minutes compliments of the microwave. Besides breakfast burritos I make beef and bean, green chile and cheese and chicken burritos. These all freeze well. Yes we are big Tex-Mex fans. We live in Texas what can I say. Public service announcement, fish tacos do not freeze well so I just buy frozen fish and make them from scratch. I do however, freeze corn tortilla shells and the cooked peppers and onions that we put on top. Hubby's favorite is beer batter fish sticks with peppers and onions. Not the most healtiest but he doesn't get them that often. The fish sticks are easy to prepare in the air fryer. Then all he does is assemble the taco and stick it back in the air fryer and in just a few mintues he has fish tacos. These are also easy to prep and freeze. The corn tortillas fit perfect in quart size bags. I then put the fish in a sandwich bag and the peppers and onions in a snack bag. Put these in with the corn tortillas and we grab them and a have tacos within 15 - 20 minutes.

Happy New Year to all

They will send you a bill, if they don't have your insurance information on file.

Well 2023 is almost over but before I commit to 2024 I want to read the fine print. Why, well 2023 sure didn't turn out the way I had it planned. About the only good thing I can say for 2023 is we were healthy. The only this that happen was a stomach bug struck about a week ago. But everything else was taken to you know where by the flying monkeys in a hand basket.

Well.....hummmm.....maybe..... It's probably coming anyway

I need a distraction how about another "Without Warning" I need fantasy for a while, reality...well its no fun

Mother I know I am late to the challenge but I wanted to share my experience. First of I have had the worst luck with container gardening the past 2 years. I think it has been the soil. Others here in my area have had issues too. Hopefully we will be out of the apartment around the first of the year and in a house. When we get into a house we will do square foot gardening again. When we lived in NC I had a square food garden and had more veggies than I could handle some times. I like the square foot gardening because I didn't have a lot of weeding. Since I was working full time I needed a low maintenance garden. I have it all planned out I just need a yard now LOL

Well, my storage is a mixture of ideas. My working pantry is arranged by hubby, in other words it is all just stuffed in the cabinet (OH MY OCD BRAIN) My storage is a little different since it is all over the apartment. You know I had to find room in this tiny apartment. Long term is by product, yes, all my green beans are together, soups are together, and they are arranged by kind of soup, ie all veggie soup are together, all potato soup etc (you get the idea). Then my favorite, my oh crap I forgot to put something in the crockpot or I really don't want to cook. I too saw the bags with meals and incorporated those into my food pantry. I have about two dozen that I can grab and throw together a meal. It may be as simple as meatless spaghetti or mac&cheese tuna casserole. I call these my oh crap meals. They are not my favorite meals but they are my quick and easy meals. I went to the Dollar Store before it became the 5 Quarter store and bought the bags with handles and put everything needed for the meal in the bag. Wrote on the bag what the meal was and set it on the self above the washer. There is also a 5x7 index card in each with written instructions so that hubby can prepare the meal. Got to love him he tries LOL. When I use one I take the bag go to the storage bins and gather the ingredients and restock the bag. One this helps rotate my food and two when the work day as whipped me good we still have a decent meal in minutes. I have learned one system will not work for everything. My working pantry is arranged by hubby because he does most of the cooking during the week and he likes things grouped a certain way. My food storage, we both agree, needs to be by item so we can see the holes. Then we have our camping food, aka get the heck out of Dodge meals, these are for when / if we have to grab and go in case of natural disaster or an emergency (and when we do weekend camping trips just to have a break). These are mostly no cook meals or take little to no prep and can be eaten cold ...camp food... like beanie weenies. soup, cheese and crackers, pop tarts, granola bars and beef sticks. We keep these in Bug Out Bags so they are easy to grab and go. The BOB has about 10 days worth of food for the two of us. I am trying to figure out how to make it a whole month. I figure it would take that long to get the supplies again if we are lucky. Then there is my oh crap bags as explained above. Food storage a multi facet system and it takes time to find one that will work for you.

Yes, you automatically get Part A. No, you don't have to get Part B... BUT...you must have covered under another policy because at a later date you will be penalized if you decide to sign up for part B and have not been covered under another policy. The good thing about Part B is you do not have to have referrals to specialist. You can use any doctor you want as long as said doctor takes medicare. With HMOs most require referrals to specialist. Do your homework, figure out how much it would cost you to purchase part B and a supplement then compare it to what you are paying for your current coverage. Another thing to take into consideration is if your current policy covers short term and long term care. This is a big consideration.

You are hoping for ham, I am hoping for chickens and Cornish hens. We don't eat pork and very little beef even though we live in beef country it is way too expensive.

I agree with Martianchick, Foster daughter may have bought those through a school fundraiser and thought hey these would make great Christmas gifts. I have done that, bought stuff the grands were selling only to turn around and give it for a gift. I was able to support the grands and bless someone else. No matter the cost your Foster thought enough of you to realize you would probably enjoy it. So chalk it up as a gift and forget what was stamped one the box. My two cents, even if someone spent that much on something like that and put it in their panty, well at least they were making an effort. Not everyone out here on this big blue marble are cost conscious as I am. But they are trying to do something. I know a young family that is trying to stock their panty, but they don't shop like I do. They spend way more than I do but at least they have something in their panty. They are young and are buying the "best" of everything and name brands to boot, which may serve them in the long run. I am old, I know how to make do or do without. So....

Yes Dee, you are just old and cheap....NOT!!!!!! I wouldn't pay that price even for baked and ready to eat. But then again, I don't buy coffee at Starbucks either.

These were in south Texas around San Antonio and Austin. The video of the red truck in the tornado in Texas was in Elgin, TX east of Austin. I am in the panhandle 10 hours north of there. The day of the tornado in south Texas we had snow...go figure.

Welcome back...you are living in my dream home!!! It is beautiful.

Avoiding the news...keeping my head down and looking for a better paying job. Have stuck with this place through everything the past two years but, I am officially burned out and tired of being used and abused. So, I am on the hunt. I like my job, but Wal-Mart is starting their employees out making $5 more an hour than I am making. $5 more an hour to do other people's shopping. If they had better insurance, I would apply there in a heartbeat. Although, I detest shopping, I had rather scrub toilets than shop, still it is $5 more an hour. Plus, you get (or used when the kids worked there) a discount when you shop at WM. Sorry to be Debbie-Downer. Like I said just burned out.

Whew...I took a chance on the address. I wanted it to be a surprise so I wouldn't ask for your address. I am glad it arrived.

Snowmom, USPS shows your's delivered today. I hope it arrived in one piece.

Midnightmom, I got your's today.

Thanks everyone. It has been a whirlwind of a week. I went back to work after a week of vacation and 2 days of Thanksgiving holiday on my birthday. But we had a blast on vacation. We went with some wonderful friends and that made it all the more special.