Saving Money…

Nov 9, 2008 by pearsonsprogress    7 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Grocery Challenge

The Garden:

I wanted to tell you that my garden is growing very well. So far, we are eating radishes (well, I am, John doesn’t care for them) and all of our salads are coming from the lettuce I grow. I snip off just enough each day to make our salad. Did you know that radish greens are eatable?  It’s been raining so I’m saving on water too! One of the simple pleasures I have is returning from a week of work in the village to see how much my little garden has grown.

Canning: I have done much this year already and and plenty of jam. The olives are done and I’m looking forward to getting some apples on sale to make apple sauce and pie filling.

Today, John and I have finished the green olive cure and here is the result:

Also, look at these jars of quince that I canned: They will be used for pies and jams this year. Please click on the photo for a larger view. 

Bargains: I bought a ready made pizza on sale at the Lidl (German store) for only 1,40€ after the 30% mark-down. I put on some mozzarella cheese, and parmesan to it’s skimpy presentation and John and I had a fairly decent supper for a good price.

Blessings: We have received some really great blessings from friends. I honestly believe that the Lord is providing for us in this special way. Here are some of the recent blessings from Joye, Debora and Sue:

Jerky, TP, toothpaste, candy, bath soap, pretty smelling bath things, dried cherries, deodorant, 8 cans of albacore tuna, spices, office supplies, lip gloss, tea and more!

I am excited to think of all the recipes I can use that albacore in! I am so thankful for these gals and the wonderful surprise of packages in the mail! It’s a real treat!

Tom and Jeanne sent me the money for my ticket to France!!! Wasn’t that the nicest blessing? I hadn’t seen these grands, or ANY grandkids since they came for Christmas last year. They are so cute and it was the loveliest of treats to be with them. The flight is only 1 hr and 20 mins from Madrid.

Ways I save:

1. I have purchased dried beans; pinto, red beans, white and black beans. I then pressure cooked them separately, divide them in baggies and froze them. I thought at my .49¢ (euro cents) a jar was a good price for the cooked beans, but I can get 6 portions of beans for the price of 2 if I buy them dry, cook and freeze them.
2. Today I once again used my pressure cooker to cook 1 lb (about 500grs) of stew beef. This small amount will stretch to make 3 meals: ♥Shredded beef tacos for today+re-fried beans and salad.♥Nachos (with fried tortilla chips I make, lettuce, salsa, beans & cheese) for Sunday and ♥rolled tacos+ Mexican rice+salad for Monday♥Plus, the added bonus of about 3 cups of really nice beef broth to make a soup.
3. I saved the juice of the pickles I canned last summer and added 3 hard-boiled eggs to it. In 3 or 4 days, these I will have delicious “pickled eggs”.
4. I snip off the tops of my onions from the garden to make “scallions”. I use what I need and dry the rest for future use.

My trip to France: I had a fun trip to France to see Anita and 2 grands, Elijah and Ana. It was relaxing but the weather was rainy the whole time. We got out of the house a couple of times but then, I went to see them, not have fantastic weather.

Please leave you comments! I love to hear from you.