Cheap Eats

I've been obsessed this week with reducing my food costs. Two cars leaking oil will go a long way to get you back in the frugal mindset.

Sidebar: I've also been long obsessed with the idea of the "Food Stamp Challenge" where you try to live for a week/month on a "food stamp budget." Some websites say the average amount a person may receive on food stamps is $3/day. Other places, I've seen $4.50/person/day. At any rate, according to my credit card's online pie chart, I spent between those two amounts at the grocery store during all of last year.

So in the interest of spending less at the grocery store this week, I've been trying to adopt a "use it up" mindset when it comes to my refrigerator and pantry. This week was pretty successful.

Breakfast: I had oatmeal, peanut butter and added 1/2 banana ($0.39/lb) for a cheap-o breakfast.

Lunch: I had imitation crab meat in the freezer, cooked some frozen edamame, an avocado, lettuce and added brown rice ($0.98/lb bag) and cucumber ($0.88). I mixed a dressing out of things I had: miso, wasabi & sesame oil. While not really cheap, the only thing I had to buy was the rice. After this was gone I just ate leftovers.

Dinner: My supposed-to-stretch-all-week Tuna Noodle Casserole (Had: tuna, noodles, milk, flour. Bought: cream cheese $1.69 and milk which we always have on hand anyway.) turned into a family Sunday dinner with the addition of the in-laws. I still had a couple days of leftovers. I also made Fried Rice with Chicken (everything leftover...rice bought (and cooked) for California Roll Salad, chicken & veg in the freezer, egg in fridge), and Easy Red Beans & Rice (used up the last remaining cooked rice, canned red beans & spices in the pantry, salsa in the fridge, faux meat crumbles in the freezer.)

For snacks, I had apples, cottage cheese and bought baby carrots for $0.98/bag.

In all, I spent $44.54 at the grocery store this week stocking up on staples, buying what I needed for my planned dinners (California Roll Salad, PB&B Oatmeal & Tuna Noodle Casserole), getting stuff for my step-daughter (her dad needs something quick and easy to make for her on our hectic Monday nights and I'll shamelessly feed her almost anything to get her out of bed in the morning. Plus she will only take certain vegetables in her lunch: cucumber, red pepper, or carrots. I bought 2 of the 3 this week, just to be sure.), stocking up on spaghetti sauce (on sale with a coupon for buying 3), and buying the stuff I need to cook enchiladas for Sunday dinner next week. That's puts me under $3/person/day mark for this week, too.

Look, I Changed That ^

You know why? Because f' it, that's why. But, not really...except sometimes.

It is late fall and here in the middle-west that means shorter days, longer nights, colder temperatures, changing routines. Raking up the bags and bags and bags of leaves is a chore to be savored because, until it snows, you're not really going to love doing anything outside. So I'm getting ready to coop myself back up in the indoors. Boo!

But it also means lots of time to think in the dark. Boo! Reminders of long-forgotten goals begin to haunt the edges of my mind. Projects like this blog start to tap me on the shoulder. Which isn't a bad thing as I like this blog and blogging in it. I just also like to ignore it and watch Real Housewives. Alas, I've decided I can't afford cable and Bravo doesn't put all the episodes online.

So here's the thing. Husband has been out of work now for OVER a year. We passed the 1-year mark on Guy Fawkes Day. And what I've been thinking about since then is how much we've been able to afford--not about what I can't afford. (Oh, to be sure, there is plenty we can't afford...but it is also not things I need or even want.)

Check it. This year:
I've been to Savannah to see wonderful, awesome friends. I went to D.C. with my husband and crammed as much museum-ing into a few days as possible. We got a new hot water heater, a couple new windows and a couple new doors for home improvement. I've been able to make it possible for the red-headed step-child to continue going to private school and gymnastics. I've become much better at yoga and joined a book club and otherwise had a great time with great friends and family.

We're doing great, still scrimping, yet trying to spend smartly (except when we don't). We're lucky we still have one job and we've made it this far. And we can afford it, after all.

Wedded Bliss

Yesterday was our two-year anniversary. If you're playing along at home, the traditional gift for the second year is cotton. Perfect, since we needed new sheets. I can't guess how old our current sheet sets are. One fitted sheet has an ever-growing hole, while the other set is a those t-shirt sheets which cause me to sweat like Heidi Fleiss in a synagogue.

When we went to buy the sheets at Target (5% savings with our Target card!), we found a comforter we both liked--no small feat in itself--on sale. I wasn't sure and asked Husband, "Do you want to be stuck with this in our bedroom every day for five years?" He looked at me like I was a crazy person and replied, "It's $22. For that price, we can get something new in a couple years and put it in a garage sale if we get tired of it."

Indulge in a modest splurge. Of course, he was right. It's a pretty comforter and a pleasant change to see every day. And talk about an inexpensive anniversary gift! But there is a part of me that feels a little guilty--mostly because I feel like we indulge too many modest splurges. Husband and I are wired differently when it comes to this concept. To him, everything is "only $x," whereas I always think "if you didn't spend that $x a week you'd have $x*52 after a year." It's a delicate balance between being a killjoy and ending up with less money than you started the month with. And I don't always make the right decision--I'm still not 100% convinced that we made the right decision this time, but I will take comfort in my nice new comforter. Besides the countdown in on to cinch up my belt starting in October.

I also made spaghetti sauce to freeze yesterday. It could've been almost free sauce since my folks have been heaping tomatoes from their garden on me since mid-summer. I had stacks of tomatoes from the Hen House Growers Alliance CSA and from my parents' visit this weekend. The tomatoes from the CSA (They were hydroponic hot house tomatoes. You know the kind that seem really good in the spring but are poor imitations after a summer's worth of vine-ripened goodness. My brother calls these cardboard tomatoes.) cost about $4.00 so I ended up with a Ragu sized jar of tomato sauce that cost a little over $4. Not at all cheap when you compare it to the the sale price of a jar of Ragu. But it is worth it knowing that I didn't end up composting $4 worth of tomatoes that I would have left until all the *good* tomatoes were gone and the cardboard tomatoes went rotten on the counter. Plus it was easy and made the house smell pretty darn good for the evening.

Spaghetti Sauce
A bunch of tomatoes: 5-6 big cardboard tomatoes and 4-5 small garden tomatoes
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
Olive oil
Italian herbs, salt, pepper, onion powder

Cook the garlic in the oil. Peel the tomatoes and add them and the seasoning. Cook until the tomatoes break down and are mushy. This filled up a Ragu jar that I saved and washed out. I put in in the refrigerator overnight and pureed it in the blender the next evening. (I waited mostly because the blender was getting clean in the running dishwasher.) Then I put it back in the jar and put it in the freezer.

Update: Squirrel and Short-Cut Chicken Soup

Those things are unrelated. Although I do know some people who eat (or used to eat) squirrel. Not in "chicken" soup, though. I think they got mad-squirrel disease. Not to worry, they're ok now.

And so is the squirrel. He's being raised with other fallen baby squirrels at a nearby nature park. I'm very happy that Husband spent the gas money to take him to the park instead of buying the puppy formula. It's so hard to raise a squirrel right these days.

Other than that, we're having a rockin' Saturday night. I'm checking to see if a new episode of "Project Runway" is available on lifetime.com and Husband is playing a game on his DS.

I just finished making another delicious bowl of short-cut chicken soup for lunch tomorrow. Here's why: I just got a whole chicken in the CSA that Aspiring Maven and I split. I cooked it, freaking out step-daughter as I took it out of the oven and she stared into the cavity. "Eeew, gross. I'm not eating that," she proclaimed. She ate the legs and thighs, even though the recognizable chicken leg bones had already fallen out. Also, had some frozen chicken broth in the freezer from old...it is freezer burned and needs to be used up. Also, we had butter-garlic noodles without chicken last night. Mix it all up--instant chicken soup for lunch.

Update on the Update: We just told step-daughter about finding a home for the squirrel on the phone. She had visions of raising the squirrel to adulthood and it would come back and visit us every now and then. Her response to the squirrel being gone: "NEVER TALK ABOUT THE SQUIRREL AGAIN. EVER. GRRR." Seriously, she growled on the phone.

Notes on our Labor Day Weekend

Sunday as I was picking up sticks to mow the yard, I saw this ball of fur and an eye staring blankly from the base of one of our trees. I went to the open window to our bedroom and said to Tim, “There’s a dead animal out here.” Tim came out with a plastic bag and heavy garden gloves to pick it up and throw it in the unsuspecting Chinese restaurant’s dumpster (where all our stinky trash ends up). Then he says, “It’s alive.” Then he picks it up and starts walking to me, “It’s a baby squirrel.” I back up and say, “Don’t bring it near me.”

So I went and got the squirrel a box and a towel and Tim wrapped him up to warm him up. He had been out of his nest for awhile. We had a little thunderstorm that night—maybe the squirrel fell or was blown out during that. Then we mowed the yard.

Then Tim tries to climb the tree and return the squirrel to one of the two nests in the tree. But, the nests are too high and the squirrel isn’t going anywhere on his own. He’s returned to his box so Tim can Google.

Google teaches us that we can give it Gatorade through a syringe to hydrate the squirrel. We only have Zero-Calorie Powerade, but what the hell, right? Squirrel hydrated. Also, thanks to Google, we know that the mom squirrel won’t come get the baby if it’s cold. Hot water bottle goes into the box.

Google also tells us to build a nest in a box and put the box in the tree and make him make squirrel noise so his mom will find him and come get him. Except baby squirrel won’t make squirrel noise, not even if you hold him up by his hind paw. So my laptop goes outside and plays squirrel noise.

Night falls. Squirrel is getting cold and no parents have shown up to claim him. After I patently refuse to let the squirrel in the house, “even if it is zipped up in Rosabella’s (the guinea pig) carrier in the basement” the squirrel goes into the garage. Zipped up in Rosabella’s carrier, I assume.

Day two, Monday: Squirrel gets more Powerade and goes back into the tree in his squirrel-box-nest. We all go about our business. Evening comes and the squirrel is still hanging out in his box-next. Dang it. Squirrel goes back into the garage for the night.

Day three, today: I think my husband is a baby squirrel father. All he needs to do is sign the squirrel adoption papers. Squirrel’s parents are presumed dead. Google says we have to buy puppy formula to feed the squirrel.

Next time, I’ll know to get a shovel, scoop up the animal, and put it in my neighbor’s yard. I mean, just last month Terry’s little girls accidentally killed a baby rabbit. Problem solved.