Category Archives: Chickens

Saving on Saturday- Food Edition

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Food is always a huge expense for us, and I am constantly trying to find ways to save money on this expense. The biggest way to save money on groceries is to not throw away food.  We are fortunate to have chickens that pretty much like anything and what they don’t eat they poop on which can be used for fertilizer to grow more food.   I should also mention that yesterday was Valentine Day which added a bit of “celebrating” to this post.

We typically have a special or meal out for Valentine’s Day, but I did not want to deal with the crowds yesterday. Matt offered to pick up take out, which was a great idea. We have been going to the same local Chinese restaurant for at least 20 years so that was my choice for dinner.  We have discovered that recently, ordering out actually gets you more food than eating in. We ordered a Sesame chicken combo dinner which included rice and a soup, and a large shrimp lo mien, total $21.75.  This actually was enough food to feed 4 people dinner and one lunch!  Matt and I headed out early this morning to attend Braxton’s basketball game, we planned to head to Costco to do a stock up trip as I had over 15 items on my Costco list.  I had purchased gift card for a couple of restaurants last year with my Costco reward certificate, so this was a perfect time to use the remaining $25 one for Bad Daddy’s.  Matt and I ate for $8 including tip after the gift card, and we decided to add a Starbuck’s just for fun. Total cost for “Date Day” not including Costco $25! ($8 was to enter the ballgame).

Now on to more food content, I purchased a rotisserie chicken for $4.99 at Costco.  For dinner today, we chopped up some and made chicken and rice, this will also probably be enough for at least 1 more meal and a couple of lunches so that is enough for 10 people to eat, I also will be making a double batch of chicken enchiladas, one for this week and one to freeze, another 10 meals.  That means we spent approximately 25 cent a meal on meat.  But to make this an even better deal, I currently have my roaster oven going with a huge batch of chicken stock with I will can tomorrow!

We have some mini cinnamon and raisin bagel that we purchased a couple of weeks ago and 5 are left, which are beginning to become stale, I have cut these up and will be using for a French toast casserole for breakfast in the morning!

Finally, I have a couple of ears of corn left in the fridge along with a small portion from a can, this will get used for a new honey corn hamburger casserole this week!

I don’t mind food going to the chickens but I prefer to use what we have!

A Saturday of Preparation

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I am not sure if it was Hurricane Helene or the fact that we had frost two mornings this morning or that our deck is finally complete, but I really feel like I need to get lots of preparation done. It may be preparation for the winter or for life in general I am not sure.  But today we were able to mark alot of things off the list.

We did have one big failure; we were not able to finish the gazebo on the deck because we were sent two identical boxes which means we are missing pieces.  Matt did contact the company so hopefully it can get finished soon.

Matt did finish painting the shutters black. We pulled out all the remaining tomato and pepper plants from the raised beds. I am not going to cover the beds this year and am hopeful this will kill off some of the bugs.  Zach tore apart the bucket garden as it was falling apart.

I was able to can 8 pints of hamburger meat these are nice to have inside and by doing so, it made the freezer work less as it was not over the top full.  I made beef stew for dinner in the crockpot which turned out well. Matt also made a gallon of tea.

We continued to battle the racoons. We lost one chicken so have been working to secure the coop as well as try and trap the racoons as there is more than one. Zach added another piece of wood which makes things tight and secure at the moment.

A trip to Costco ended the day. We filled all four of our propane tanks and also filled our last gas can. I purchased paper towels, bath tissue and a stockpile of drinks.

We are officially ready for whatever adventure is ahead!

Weekend

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Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

Last weekend was lots of fun as both Haley and Lily were home. We celebrated Braxton’s birthday, had a family dinner which included a haunted house decorating contest and lots of good conversations.

This weekend was about catching up and getting ahead.   Saturday- Matt, Zach and I spent all day outside. Matt focused on getting started on assembling the new gazebo for the back deck.  Zach and I tried to catch up on the yard work as well as helping with the gazebo.   Unfortunately, we also discovered that one of the chickens was attacked.  Which meant we spent about an hour working to repair and strengthen the chicken coop and run.    The gazebo will require at least one additional Saturday to complete.  I am very hopeful to finish up pulling out the summer garden and possibly throw some seeds in the ground for fall.  I am seriously just debating ripping up what is there and calling it quits for the year.

On Sunday, I convinced Matt and Zach to help me tackle food prep for the week.  I started a huge pot of rice as well as two boxes of pasta.   While these were cooking, I cooked three pounds of ground beef.  I combined most of the rice and the meat in the slow cooker to make taco rice.  This ended up making 5 meals!   The remaining rice will be used for Mongolian beef this week.  Matt and Zach both help chop up onions, cucumbers, tomato and pepper for the pasta salad.  Matt also grilled chicken.  Zach made mini muffins as part of breakfast.     I pulled out a dish of stuffed shells and a bag of chicken broccoli casserole for the week as well.

Plans for this week including packing- more details on that adventure soon, removing the rest of the garden, Baseball game for Braxton and Football game for Zach.

Saving on Saturday

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Finally an entire day at home to focus on not only cleaning and finding my house again but on preserving and preparing food.

The first way I saved today is that I have managed to plan and cook three meals for today and breakfast for tomorrow.  We also did some refrigerator clean out and that saves us food for the chickens.

Next I focused on chopping a bunch of veggies. These will be used for salads for lunches next week as well as in preparation for my preservation project of the week.

I was able to fry up 4 # of sausage, one pound is for breakfast in the morning and the other was used in the 20 omelet bags that I prepared. I also made 10 bags using bacon crumbles.  I decided to use up the Nutrional yeast I purchased several years ago by placing a tablespoon in each of the omelet bags. This should add cheese flavor without the diary in addition to just clearing out my pantry.

We were able to wash and hang out our bed sheets between Friday and today which saved money on the electricity bill. It also eliminates the need for fabric softener or scent beads as well.

I made a menu plan for next week that I will share on Monday as well as just generally straighten and clean parts of the kitchen.

I caught up on the laundry which is a major accomplishment.

Matt with help from Zach did some auto repair which did not save me money but did save both Kendall and Zach money.

The kids were able to use our shredded paper in the chicken coop which will become compost as well as reduces the smell.

Not bad for a Saturday spent in my nightgown!

5 Things Friday

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  1. I think and hope that we are at the end of the busy season for the summer. Last weekend was the county swim meet and this week, we participated in the VBS put on by our church.  I have continued to attend medical appointments so things are still not at a summer’s pace.  I am hoping to begin catching up by doing one ‘extra thing” a day. Today. I cleaned our bathroom, it was nasty. I still need to hand mop the floor but at least it is a start. I have 3 weeks left before we head to Disney.
  2. The replanting of most of the garden two weeks ago has gone well. I also was able to spend a little time and give the tomatoes a good pruning. So far I have been able to can 13 quarts of spaghetti sauce.  I am hopeful after the pruning I will be able to double this for 26 quarts from our garden.  I am also planning on buying a couple of boxes of tomatoes to make into spaghetti sauce as well as salsa this year.  We haver several watermelons and cantaloupes growing but the deer have decided they like my garden as well.
  3. I spend some time and money on Prime Day this year, with the majority of my Christmas shopping completed. I also am planning and actually have already started to wrap the presents as they arrive! This worked well last year so I am hopeful it will work well again.
  4. I am working on putting away extra meals and trying to prepare for an extremely busy school year. I focused on bread this week!  I have 4 pizza crust in the freezer along with 6 loaves of bread.  EVERY BIT counts.
  5. Zach completed the written part of Driver’s Education this week and is hopefully that he will be able to get the driving part completed before school starts as well. Kendal is over half way finished with her hours required to get her license. Her goal is September 12th.

Five Things Friday

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1. I officially have 3 weeks left of work. However, this is my last 5-day week as I have other things happening that require time away from work during these last three weeks.
2. Every Bit Counts- as school winds down, I am starting to work toward a total restock of our pantries and freezer.  This week, I decided to attempt one item a day.  Tuesday- gallon of Strawberries, Wednesday- 10# of mashed potatoes Thursday- 3 # of bananas frozen for smoothies.
3. We are planning to pick up our cow tomorrow.  It is 350# of meat. I am hoping to get around 100# processed this weekend.  I will keep you posted.
4. May is the most expensive month for us. We have car insurance, pool fees on top of end of the year expenses.  We also added Kendall’s birthday party to this year. I am happy to say. We have survived the month and covered all the expenses.
5. Chicken Drama- Wednesday this week, the door did not open. Lily was going to feed at 2pm and let them out.  We have been monitoring and it has not missed again so who knows what is up.   Then on Thursday evening, a dog that we have not seen before was at the chicken coop and growling at the back corner. “Lucky” the rooster managed to get all the hens in the coop before anything went wrong.  We are also struggling with keeping the coop dry with all the excess rain we have been having.

 

Five Things Friday

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  1. Two years ago, Facebook reminded me that I had COVID for the second time. Today, I hope I am at the end of a stomach virus.
  2. We are in the single digit until our Disney trip. I actually have a long list of items that need to be accomplished before we leave. The goal is to get everything completed this week.
  3. Our grocery budget is currently still under $200 which makes me very happy!
  4. We gathered 7 chicken eggs after getting 4 yesterday which means that all the chicken laid an egg today! This is a first!  One that I hope at least for a week or so continues.
  5. We will be spending some time tommorow up potting our tomato plants.  Another first that I am excited about and can’t wait to share on Sunday with a garden update!.

Saving on Saturday

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  1. This week both Matt and I realized that we are in need of new shoes. Both of us have tennis shoes that did not have any trend on the bottom. We decided to check out Belk’s last night as well had some time without any kids. We did hit the jack pot!  Stechers were buy one get one 50% off. With that discount, we purchased a pair of tennis shoes for $63.50 each.   Matt also found himself a pair of dress shoes!
  2. Part of using what is in pantry is not allowing things to go to waste, I am very proud of myself for this!  I used two boxes of Chex cereal to make “muddy buddies” and a ranch Chex mix.   I will not admit how long those boxes have been in my pantry. I also noticed that the Hawaiin rolls had not been openned that I purchased several weeks ago.  Matt suggested that we make a smash burger with them.  I used a pound of ground beef and fed five of us with that one pound!  The burgers were delicious!
  3. I did end up at the grocery store today to purchase some fruits and veggies that we have been completely out of for a couple of weeks.
  4. I am continuing to shred up junk mail and unusable paper to make the grounding and bedding for the chicken coop!  So far it is a win win!
  5. We have spent time cleaning and organizing and cooking ahead again this weekend so I will call it a success!
  6. Gardening update to come tomorrow!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

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I am starting to feel better again!   I started with a new and much more fun cold last Thursday. I came home from work on Friday and literally stay in the house spending most of the time in bed until Monday morning.  Today, I have lots of congestion, but no headache and less coughing!

I am going to continue the pantry challenge into both February and March.   The rules are that we only purchase items we are out of.   So far the lack of fresh fruit has been the problem so we did purchase some last week. We are planning a trip to Costco this weekend. I am going to work hard to only purchase our drinks for a month which is 2 cases of water, 1 case of diet cokes and 1 case of Dr. Peppers. Matt is getting his tea on subscribe and save so I am going to omit the case of regular cokes.  We also need flour and rice, bacon and sour cream.   This will not be a cheap trip but my hope is this will help us hold the course.  I have also reviewed and decreased our Subscribe and Save for February as well, I know that this will be $200.  I also need to order more laundry detergent for Lily which is $70.   Along with the Costco Trip I will be doing well to keep the budget at $500 for the month.   I will also be purchasing some fruits and veggies for our Junk Food Sunday.  Again I may end up around $700 for February.   I am going to be ok with it because I am still saving money and rotating the pantry.  I am starting to see a difference in our pantry and freezers so this is all a good thing.

On a positive note, we are currently getting an average of 4 eggs a day which definitely helps with protein intake and grocery expenses

We have started with our busy Spring Season of sports. This week we have both swim and baseball practice. Which means that Friday is the only evening that we will not be running somewhere.  I have been enjoying my easier, cook or heat meals so we will continue with those which will also help with our grocery budget.

It has reached our 60 day mark for our spring Disney Trip!   I was able to get up super early and got all the reservations that I wanted!   I can’t wait!

 

Saving on Saturday

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Today has been busy but very productive, at least I feel like it has been productive. The weather outside was gorgeous, not to hot not too cold and no really wind.  We needed and actually did get some garden work done.

Zach pulled some chicken poop out of the coop and placed in several of our square foot beds. I went behind and broke up and stirred in the dirt followed by covering with paper mulch for the winter.  I am hoping to finish this process in the next couple of weeks so that it can compose over the winter. Matt helped level and moved one of our greenstalk (vertical planter) to the front. And then he and Zach move one bed to a new spot.  Kendall and I spent some time in the greenhouse. I am super excited to have several green peppers growing in there currently!

Another big project today was making and canning Matt’s chill. This will be used for lunches mainly!  We have 16 pints to put in the canning closet. I hope to post a link to the youtube video soon!