Weekly Meal Plan and Groceries

I hope y’all had a great weekend. Ours was pretty uneventful which is just fine. I hope everyone is safe after that awful ice storm. Our snow has all melted away thanks to some warmer temperatures, but it has cooled back down now to normal winter temps.

I was late getting my weekly meal plan done this week, but I finally got it done.

Having a weekly meal plan really takes away the stress of what’s for dinner and for me it also keeps my grocery budget in check. I make a grocery list based on my meal plan and go to the store once a week. We started a facebook group for this very purpose. Z Life What’s Cooking Group. It’s also fun to see what other people are eating and to get meal ides and recipes from others which helps with the dinner rotation rut.

img_20170114_100932407

I picked up the needed groceries too.

img_20170113_180725688

The cara cara oranges weren’t on my grocery list, but when I saw them it made me think of a friend so I splurged and bought a bag. Hopefully it will also curb the sweet tooth cravings I’m having and keep me out of the doughnut shop! 😉

I track my grocery expense with the Dave Ramsey “Every Dollar Budget” program. It’s free at his website. To date my grocery expense for January is $75.00 I round up to the next dollar because all change goes into the change jug.

My grocery budget is $300 a month which includes food for us and the dogs, health and beauty, cleaning supplies, everything but alcohol.

Admittedly I am purposefully trying to keep my grocery expenses low by staying out of the stores which in turn keeps impulse purchases in check. Also, keep in mind that we raise or hunt almost all of our meats with the exception of seafood and the chicken I purchase from Polyface Farms. I buy the chickens in a larder of 15 whole chickens at a time and I usually do this twice a year, so I expect sometime around July I’ll be stocking up again. This usually cost between $250 and $300 depending on the weight of the chickens I get. I do have a $50 off punch card that I’ll use with my next purchase that I need to not forget about.

In full disclosure, this is the first year I’ve used the Dave Ramsey “Every Dollar Budget” system and honestly I had become pretty slack in tracking expenses. This year I wanted to get serious about it and I think the Every Dollar system is going to be the trick. Plus it’s free, my favorite price.

I believe this will be a learning experience for me this year to see the actual hard numbers on all of our expenses, but it will show us areas where we can tighten up on for the future. Retirement is getting closer and this will help us get more prepared.

Hope you and yours have a great week.

Till next time,

Lori

Friday’s Frugal Five

We are already almost half way through January. WOW! Time is just flying.

The Frugal Girl is trying a new recipe each week for 2017 and I thought it would be fun to join in. I made curry chicken and vegetables served over jasmine brown rice. It was not our favorite and will not make it back on the menu plan. I’m sure it could’ve been made better, but it was just a bit too sweet and not very spicy like we anticipated it to be.

Friday’s Frugal Five:

While I did stray from the menu plan a bit this week, it did not require a trip to the grocery store as I already had everything on hand. The only purchases I’ve made so far this month were planned. I didn’t plan a no spend January and of course it’s not no spend, but the only other expenses outside of monthly household expenses (groceries, electric, internet) is the physical therapy copay for my finger and a chainsaw for the Z Man.
One of my 2017 goals is to wake up earlier and get my exercise done before leaving for work. So far so good, but I would like (and probably will need) a new pair of tennis shoes before long. For right now I’m using a lightly worn pair I purchased last year for work, I’ll hold off on that purchase for a bit but not too long. Must take good care of the feet. Exercise is a good thing, exercising at home is better and no gym fees is the best.
All the bills are paid for the month. The budget is made out for the next three months and hopefully this will not be a snowy winter and I’ll not miss a lot of work. While I love a good snow day every now and then, I don’t like using my paid vacation time off during the cold winter months.
Meal plan for next week is made, and I’ll pick up any needed groceries tonight. Right now all I need is bananas and kale for my morning smoothies, some peas for a turkey pot pie and some tortillas for enchiladas.
We purchased a chainsaw for the Z Man. We heat our home 100% with wood, wood that the Z Man acquires by finding people who are wanting trees taken down and away. I can’t say that it’s free heat because there is the expense of the chainsaw, oil and gas but it is a lot cheaper than electricity or gas heat. We found a great deal on a chainsaw and it was needed. As hard as that work is, it’s important to have good tools to get the job done.

How about you, what frugal fun have you had this week?

Till next time,

Lori

Our Homestead Ways

This past weekend I posted a video to my face book page of our chickens and their house. I’ve been asked why we don’t free range our girls.

I’m not of the mind that you have to free range your chickens in order for them to be healthy and happy. However, I will share that when we first started out with chickens about three years ago I did try free ranging them and it was awful because two of the neighborhood dogs got three of the girls and they died a horrible death. When that happened it almost completely turned me away from raising any animals on our little homestead. And we didn’t for about a year.

But, I really really wanted some chickens so the Z Man built a chicken house that he is able to move around the yard so the girls can get fresh grass and it keeps the grass from dying off.

Their house is double wired and even has wire wrapped on the bottom to discourage predators from getting to them. We want them as safe as possible.

They have a roost inside the house and three laying boxes, although they only use one for laying eggs. We’ve never had more than 6 chickens at one time, and it has proven to be enough room for them.

Because the house is built partially over their run it somewhat protects them from the weather too.

Our chickens are happy and healthy and I don’t feel like we have given them any less quality of life because we choose to house them. We choose to keep them safe. Yes they feed us and we have and will continue to cull our chickens as needed, but we also treat them as pets.

They get plenty of fresh vegetables from the gardens and from the kitchen in the colder months. We do feed them chicken feed and I put oregano from the herb garden in their water every week which acts as a natural antibiotic. Sometimes they even get a little whey from the raw milk.

The Z Man built their home and took great consideration for their needs before constructing it. He did a fine job and it has proven to be a happy arrangement for all of us.

Every homestead is different, and we can’t all do things the same way because nature and environment doesn’t allow it. But we can share ideas and examples and use what works for us and leave what doesn’t for the next person.

The same holds true for our hogs. We do not have the room to free range our hogs, so they live in a pin and get the same treatment as the chickens.

My Grandma and great Uncle Jimmy kept their farm animals in pins, and if it was good enough for them, then it’s surely good enough for me.

No, not all homesteads are run the same way. But I believe that we all live by the same principle. Live well, take care of yourself and your family and don’t expect others to do for you. And just keep it simple.

Till next time,

Lori

Weekend Eats and Hummus Recipe

I hope you had a great weekend. We got about 6″ of snow this weekend, so we ended up staying in all weekend and watching football and that was just fine.

The babies got to play in the snow with the Z Man and they got to wear their new sweaters.

As for the chickens, well they are stronger than I am. Every winter I’m always amazed how well they do in the cold weather. Of course the Z Man always makes sure they have a cleared spot, fresh water and of course food. I made a video of the chickens and you can see that on my Facebook page. I can’t get it to upload on the blog.

I love to make soup and especially in the winter when we get snow. This weekend was no different. I made a big ole pot of potato soup, and this time I added a jar of my canned corn and I have to say it was fabulous. I stole the idea from a friend who was making a potato corn chowder this weekend. I’m pretty sure corn in the potato soup will be routine in the Z home from now on. I added a little crumbled feta cheese on top.

I was craving some fresh veggies this weekend too, and luckily I had some in the fridge that needed to be used. For some reason I was craving veggies and dip, so I decided to make some hummus. This is maybe the 3rd time in my life I’ve made hummus so I’m not really sure where this is coming from….

I googled hummus recipes and found one that I thought I could work with and tweak it the way I wanted it. The recipe called for tahini and let’s just be honest, I have never bought tahini, and wasn’t even sure what it was till I googled it. It’s a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Not usually in my pantry, but at least now I know what it is.

I’m also not a big fan of garbanzo beans (also known as chickpea) but I did put up several jars of great northern white beans this fall and thought it would be a good substitution for the garbanzo beans.

This is what I did…

In the food processor add…