Veggies in the Fridge
My focus for this upcoming week will be to use the vegetables I have in the fridge. Sometimes it’s good to take everything out, make a list and incorporate them into meals to prevent waste. I do my marketing once a month, use my fresh veggies on hand and then move to the the canned and frozen vegetables I have.
Until my cupboards/pantry/freezer are reasonably bare, I will continue to work on my existing budget of 50€ a month (about $67 USD per month, at the current exchange rate). For the month of April, I have about 4,55€ left, which is plenty for that odd baguette I may need or a head of lettuce. I’m actually more likely to whip up some pita bread or Navajo fry bread than buy bread.
I have diced green & red pepper in the freezer if I need those of a recipe.
List of veggies I have:
1 tomato
1 small head of Romaine lettuce
2½ zucchini squash
12 potatoes
3 onions
4 carrots
a few celery stocks
1 lemon
2 ½ limes
fresh cilantro
fresh garlic
2 leeks
½ bag of fresh spinach
4 Simple ways to save on Veggies:
- Seasonal produce is cheaper produce. If it’s the dead of winter, frozen is the way to go.
- Use the leftovers + cooking liquid for making cream of vegetable soup.
- When in season or at a good price, I buy extra to freeze or can so that I can bank the savings year round.
- grow what you can… even if it’s just parsley in a pot on the patio.
Day #25 the joy of giving
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Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Gardening, Grocery Challenge, saving money
WOW… 5 days left of my CHALLENGE to spend only 10€ in 30 days on food, cleaning products & paper products. I still have 2,74€ left! I also went to the pantry and found another bottle of fabric softener that I thought I was almost out of and 1 more box of laundry detergent. I really want to use what is in my panty and ‘shop’ there 1st!
Giving. I wish I could give more. I personally have been given so much. SO SO much. In fact, a lot of what I blog about is a result of those gifts to ME. Cake mixes, corn bread mixes, chocolate chips etc…. too many to name.
I feel blessed when I can give someone something. It can be ‘tithing’ what comes from my garden or my hens, a coffee I invite someone to share or a Bible verse I send to someone. I feel joy when I give.. the little do! Saving money and reducing expenditures gives me a little more freedom to share with others. It’s not all about money … time is such a great gift! For sometime now, my personal little project has been to try to give away 3 ‘blessings’ a day. Nothing fancy just something to share with someone else.
Here are some ideas:
- make a cake and send ½ over to a neighbor
- baby-sit for a friend for 2 hours so she can just read!
- grow something in your garden and plan to grow enough to share… no matter how small you garden.
- clean out your closet and give clothes to the good-will.
- when you hear of a financial need at church, give what you can anonymously.
- buy a candle for your holiday table and another one to give away.
- send a Bible verse to a person who needs encouragement
- invite someone to dinner
- donate to the food drive
- visit someone in the nursing home or hospital.
- serve in your church ~try to give more than you receive
- be that person who brings the cookies to Bible study
- send flowers to someone… just because
- give a Bible or New Testament to someone
- make a long distance phone call to encourage someone
- give someone your attention and listen to THEM
- read a book and pass it on
Well, the list is endless. It’s impossible for me to give more than what I receive.
Do you really want to really pull the plug on your greed? Become a giver. Giving away some of what is most precious to you—your money—is the ultimate thank-you note. Giving opens the door to God’s blessings and your eyes to see the big picture. It allows us to view the world through new eyes of compassion. Giving is an outward expression of a personal affirmation that no matter how bleak your situation may appear, you really do have enough. Lord, help me be creative and open my eyes to what’s around me. AMEN
Day #8 of my grocery SAVINGS challenge
3 Comments Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Gardening, recipes, saving money
November 19th, 2011~Saturday
It will be an early morning for me because our house guests who arrived late last night need to leave early.
In this journey I not only save money on groceries but also use up what I have. By the by, I haven’t spent ANYTHING on food in 8 days!!
I needed to find a good recipe for the whole fat yogurt that I have in the fridge. I think I have 4 ~ 125 gram servings. I ran across this recipe for pancakes using yogurt with fruit. It makes pancakes for 3 so I’m hoping that it will be a hit this morning with our house-guests.
Yesterday I promised to share with you one of my goals for my savings so here it is: We’re finishing a HUGE project here, which is the publishing of the New Testament in Aragonés and we want to celebrate (and a rest is always welcome too) this special event. We have no plans yet, but we want it to be memorable.
Here is my menu plan for the day.
Breakfast for guests:
quiche~ ham, swiss cheese, green onion with a rice crust.
sliced oranges
yogurt pancakes~ to make my mornings easier, I prep all the dry ingredients in a bowl the night before and just add the wet ingredients when I get up.
Yogurt Pancakes
½ cup flour
¾ t. baking powder
¼ t. soda
¼ t salt
1 T sugar
½ cup yogurt, plain or fruit
1 egg
1T cooking oil
Blend dry ingredients. Add yogurt, egg and oil. Mix well. Cook as usual. Serves 3
toast & jam
juice & coffee
Lunch
Bean soup~taken out of the fridge
Macaroni & Cheese with ham~leftover from yesterday.
salad
Dinner
pita bread pizzas~ we liked them so well the other night that I will open another package of 3 and repeat this meal. It’s Saturday night after all and I’ll make some popcorn too. We only have enough popcorn for 3 more batches.
Check out the videos for card making:
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/jerushagish
Canning meat for Anita
12 Comments Posted under: Blogroll, Canning/Preserving, food, Gardening
Here’s what I canned this week to take to Anita’s house when the baby is born:
- 7 jars of meatballs in beef onion broth
- 3 jars of meatballs in tomato sauce
- 16 jars of ground beef with taco flavor
- 5 jars of pork chipote
- 4 jars of cubed pork
- 14 jars of cubed beef
- 4 jars of chicken breasts
- 3 jars of chicken chipote
We’ll be driving to France this week to help out for a week. We are standing by the phone to hear the good news that the baby has arrived.
I’ll also be taking up plenty of produce from the wee patch of garden I have in the backyard.
An Abundance of Tomatoes & Peppers
2 Comments Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Gardening, Spain
It’s a good thing we love tomatoes, because this year we have a lot of them. The peppers also have gone wild and we have several varieties. Here are a few uses for the veggies:
- gazpacho
- we like to grill our peppers. In Spain they are served traditionally along side a Spanish tortilla.
- stir fry~ a scrambled egg, a bit of chicken, all the veggies we have in the house: yesterday we had cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, green beans, garlic and rice. It helps to have some rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and or oyster sauce.
- broiled peppers are nice along side a fried egg & toast for a supper in Spain.
Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without!
2 Comments Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Gardening, saving money
“Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without” this is an old and common adage in America; one that some are once again incorporating into their lives. Stewarding our resources is foundational to our Christian values but in my view, this does not mean that we should not be hospitable or generous. It’s just the other way around… to be a good steward enables us to open our homes and share & give to our friends & family if we see a need.
This latest ‘economic crisis’ has shown us that when we have resources this is the opportunity to be conservative in our expenditures so that in lean times we are prepared.
Here are a few ways to NOT waste fruits & veggies:
- If you have to dice part of an onion or pepper for a recipe, don’t waste the rest of it. Chop it up and store it in the freezer for the next time you need diced onion or peppers.
- Roasted root vegetable leftovers can be turned into an easy, simple soup the next day. Add the veggies to a blender, along with enough broth or water to thin them enough to blend. Heat and enjoy.
- Celery leaves usually get tossed. There’s a lot of good flavor in them; chop them up and add them to meatloaf, soups, or stews.
- Canning is always a good option. If you’re doing tomatoes, you can use a boiling water bath. If you’re canning any other type of veggie, a pressure canner is necessary for food safety.
- Make smoothies with fruit before it goes bad. Berries, bananas, and melons are great candidates for this use-up idea.
- Make a fruit crumble out of almost any fruit you have on hand. Assemble and bake it now, or leave it unbaked and store it in the freezer for a quick dessert. Invite friends over!
- Use up the fall bounty of apples by making applesauce or apple butter.
- I save the broth that I cook veggies in to add to my soups instead of adding water because it adds flavor.
- If you have a garden, you can add interest and stretch your lettuce by adding edible leaves. Examples of this might be: radish tops, carrot greens, the leaves from haba (fava) beans, & leaves from peas. All edible.
Last weeks marketing
No Comments Posted under: Blogroll, food, Gardening, Grocery Challenge, saving money
Last week went well. I continue trying to stay below 10€ a week.
Last week we walked to the market and I bought:
2 bottles of soda water
1 whole chicken breast
yogurt
Colombian cheese
Total spent: 10,36€
I’m using up what we have here on hand. I still have meat in the freezer and for side dishes I’m using up the leftover, lasagna, macaroni casseroles & paella that are all portioned out in the freezer. I also took out 1 package of hot-dogs, and pork chops. We have an iron slab that sits on our paella cooker in the back yard and I’ll be using that today.
Todays meal will be:
skirt steak
macaroni salad (tomatoes, scallions from the garden)
grilled peppers & onions ( peppers from the garden)
Next year 2012 already has several trips we will be making. One to Germany for our conference and one to the USA for my mom’s 80th birthday. We’ll be visiting friends & churches also as the Lord wills. Travel is very expensive from Europe, so every penny (centímo) I save until then is progress.
More garden photos
My little garden has started to produce! I have gotten 5 tomatoes already and we usually don’t harvest those until August. It’s nice to not have to buy veggies. We don’t have a huge variety but 
we certainly are enjoying our:
Swiss Chard
Tomatoes
Peppers
Green Beans
A thought about increased cost of food
No Comments Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Gardening, Grocery Challenge, saving money, Spain
I’ve been thinking about this for some time; maybe because we see little bitty increases in prices on several/most items. If you have a set amount of money that you can count on each month, or like us, you get paid once a month and you don’t know what you have to budget because it changes each month, this can be an interesting subject. It’s practical; it’s spiritual.
Here are a couple of examples from my life:
If a postage stamp goes up (like our did recently) only 4 cents for each letter, we have to ask ourselves, ‘where do we get the extra 4cents for each letter?’ This could mean one or 2 dollars a month in our case. Or if the cheese or gasoline prices (now almost $8 a gallon for us) rise…
I keep a notebook of food prices. I KNOW they are going up! I can see it each time I enter the prices for the food I buy. Maybe in the USA you can do this fantastic ‘couponing game’ but here in Spain it just doesn’t exist.
I have 2 options:
- find a way to get more income.
- find a way to reduce costs somewhere else
I’ve been working on both.
- as far as income goes, we are now (and have been for about 2 years) renting out rooms in our house to other Christian workers. This has been a real help and we look for a win/win for both us & the ones staying in our home.
- I’m always looking for ways to reduce costs.
- I pulled up the rose bushes a few years ago and put vegetables in their place.
- I have 3 hens for eggs & for them to do ‘garden work’.
- I can (pressure can) meat and meals when food goes on special.
- we eat less meat
- I strive to not waste a scrape of food.
- I bake all of our bread or buy when it’ marked down
- I cook from scratch
What do you do? I don’t want even 1¢ to slip through my fingers wasted.
I personally see the Lord for supplying all we need (and more!). We have so many treats that people bring to us or send us. It’s the Lord’s provision and I know it. Last month our daughter-in law, Cheri brought us a whole duffel bag of cake mixes and muffin mixes. Since I make cupcakes for the Ladies meetings each month you can see what a blessing and saver of time this is for me!
When I need inspiration about what I can make with that last carrot or potato, I know that all I have to do is pray and the Lord will fill me with such creativity that I know for sure it’s not me!
We’re living in exciting times and I’m more eager than ever to steward all resources well.
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