Goals

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Sheila

I talked a little bit on Monday about the changes/ goals I have for the next school year. My goal is to use up the food that we have both in the freezers and pantry. At the same time, I want to reduce the amount of money we are spending on food as well. My goal in that area is to spend less than $475 a month on groceries. I would also like to put at least $300 a month toward meat purchases next summer. The final piece of that is that we have to have meals that are easier to fix on some days just because of your busy lives.

After watching a video on You Tube, I decided to start a meal rotation to make menu planning a little bit easier for me. I tried to make a good list of all the items we have to use for meals. Looking at this list I am estimating that I have at least 100 full meals that can be made with the items we already have on hand. This should be at least 3 full month of meals. So in December, I may need to purchase some additional meats for the remainder of the school year. At that point it should be very easy to purchase what we need as we continue to use up the food we already have on hand. The hard part of this challenge is that we like certain foods and we gravitate to those foods/meals. I am going to have to be very diligent on making a variety of foods using what we have.

Part of my planning was to try a new recipe for each day for the next two weeks. On Monday I made BBQ short ribs. It was very good and it will definitely be something we do again. Tuesday was a Beef Enchilada, not a repeat, just not. Wednesday was chicken parmesan casserole, this one will be a repeat.

I have been canning ALOT this week. I always want to fill up all the empty jars so that we have plenty of food in the winter and this summer I am successful. I also filled the extra 5 cases of jars that I purchased from Walmart. I added 10 quarts and 2 pints of beef stock, 18 pints of pears and 6 quarter pints, 2 half pints and 8 pints of pearsauce to the canning closet.

Not bad for four days!

Wordless Wednesday- Cruise part 2

Posted on August 6, 2025 by Sheila

Monday Menu Plan

Posted on August 4, 2025 by Sheila

I have been menu planning for a long long time. I just looked back and the answer is since 2010. I actually love menu planning but it does become somewhat mandate but after 15 years most things do. Over the years I have changed up my menu planning and a week at a time works well for our purposes. Now moving forward, I have less than two weeks until I return to work full time. My goal for this school year is to use up as much as possible from our pantries and freezers. This should allow me to cut our grocery budget by half, less than $450 a month. I am also looking ahead to needing to purchase another cow by next summer as well so I would like to start saving for this expense so that it does not hit so hard. But I have to be able to plan and make meal quickly due to our busy schedule. I recently saw on line where a person had a list of thirty meals and then they rotated through them. I am going to adapt that just a bit. I am in the process of making a list of all the possible meals that we have in the house. From that list I am going to pick a list of thirty at the beginning of each month. Then I will look at each week and rotate to make things not so boring. But before that I also have a huge collection of different recipes that I want to try. So for the next two weeks, I am not using any familiar and favorite recipes, all these will be new recipes that I can decide to include in the rotation or simply leave out. I will likely also plan to include at least one new to us recipe a month just to keep things interesting. This is going to take a little planning but I hope that it will make meal prepping less stress and expensive in the near future.

Breakfast- Saturday-Pancakes and sausage Sunday- Dutch/German pancakes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk ,sausage, pop-tarts, grits and eggs. I am planning to make a baked oatmeal for one breakfast this week.

Lunch- Saturday-Chinese from yard sale profits Sunday-Christo’s Monday and Tuesday, I am having a salad from Sunday lunch Wednesday -Friday Left-overs or what ever you find most days.

Dinner- Saturday-Left-over Chinese Sunday- More Left-overs Monday-BBQ ribs, squash casserole and cream corn. Tuesday-Beef enchilada casserole . Wednesday- Pork Chops Thursday-Chicken Parmesan casserole Friday-Sloppy joe cheeseburger pasta.

Here is to a new adventure!

Every Bit Counts Challenge/Goals left

Posted on August 3, 2025 by Sheila

The end of Summer break if fast approaching, in fact I have 8 days left. I have mention multiple times before that I begin working on the Every Bit Counts Challenge as soon as school ends because I ended up back at work several weeks before the challenge ends. I am very pleased with the amount of food that I have been able to prepare for the school year. One of the goals of the next year is to use as much of the food that we have as possible and also to spend as little as possible at the grocery store as well. I do not have a source of diary so this will continue to be a huge expense.

We made a planned stop at a roadside farm stand on the way home from the beach. We purchased a half a bushel of peaches. These are some of the best peaches that I have eaten in a long time. I have made a peach cobbler and everyone has eaten peaches this week as a snack. I was also able to can 26 half pints of peaches that will be used in lunches this year.

Before leaving for the beach, I harvested all the ripe tomatoes and threw a couple of quarts in the freezer. We came home to an explosion of volunteer tomatoes as well. With this bounty, I canned up 22 half pints of pizza sauce. I also made a big batch of spaghetti sauce which we used for meals during the week.

Finally, our pears have started to come in. One branch actually became so heavy and broke off. We have been able to can 12 half pints of pears for lunches as well. The goal for this next week is to can another 12 pints of pears for eating and then use the rest to make pear sauce which can be used in place of apple sauce and makes an excellent fruit bread.

The last thing I was able to preserve this week was Waxman peppers. These peppers are growing beyond belief. I am actually thinking that we will freeze as many as we need to use for salsa next year!

One finally way that I am making Every Bit counts was our dinner meal of Friday. I did not feel like pizza so I decided to use some chicken sausage and a couple of boxes of Rice A Ron. The box called for a 14.5 can of diced tomatoes. I did not want to open two cans so I decided to try and use cherry tomatoes instead. I went out to the the volunteer bed and was able to use all cherry tomatoes for dinner. This turned into a very well received and need to be repeated meal. I doubt I will be using cherry tomatoes so the taste may be a little bit different.

July In Review

Posted on July 31, 2025 by Sheila

I am sad because the end of July means that I am returning to work very soon. Two weeks to be exact. July was an extremely fun month. Matt and I enjoyed the cruise for the first couple of days of July. Last week was our family vacation at Myrtle Beach. This was very relaxing and very needed! We all just sat and soaked up the sun and ocean breezes. In fact it was so good we have already booked the same week for next year!

Emergency Fund- Goal is $1000- $300. I decided to enjoy vacations and not focus on this during this month. I am very hopeful to start adding to this on a regular basis. In order to meet this goal I will need to place $140 each month into the account. Time to buckle down and make this an achievable goal.

Groceries- Goal $820 per month. We spent $854.80 Although I did not meet the established goal, I did stay under $900 which was what I planned last month. My hope and goal is to reduce this amount for the remainder of the year.

Gas- Goal is $500. June total is $342.29. This does include two road trips so that is a very positive thing!

Blogging- For 2025- the goal will be 10 posts per month. This is actually post number 8 which I am considering a success considering that I was out of town for at least 15 days this month!

Debit- Goal is 200000 total debit for the end of the year! Still not discussing.

Health/Exercise-No change on the scales this month. I have been walking alot but I want to continue to see some improvements.

Reading through the Bible this year-Today is day 212 and I am on track! This is s huge success!

Wordless Wednesday -Myrtle Beach 2025

Posted on July 30, 2025 by Sheila

Tuesday Thoughts- Camping at the Beach!

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Sheila

The one rule I stated when we first purchased the camper several years ago was “no beach camping” I stuck to that for at least three years. But the convivence of taking everything I want together with the cheaper rates that camping offers along with lots of discussion with my kids. We decided to give it a try.

I am a convert, we will be camping at the beach for many trips to come. I wanted to make sure I had a record of things that worked and things I might do in the future.

I bought a small plastic pool for $10 in April. This worked well as a extra place to wash feet and shoes. We dumped it each day and clean totally at least 3 times. I am going to just use as a shoe catching spot on future non beach trips.

We used the outside shower to rinse several times that just our feet were dirty. We also bought a water hose sprinkler to use to wash off all the beach toys. It was so nice to be able to wash all the beach toys by the camper on the last day. Everything air dried and was put away!

We always keep our bath baskets outside. But each day before going to the beach we packed our baskets so that no one went inside the camper after going to the beach instead we grab our baskets and headed to the bath house. Even swim suits were washed at the shower and hung to dry! No extra sand inside! A huge bonus was that I did not clean any sand from a shower! The pressure at the bathhouse was high but it did remove the sand.

We placed a “screen room” around the picnic table which was a good spot to keep out bath baskets during the day! It was also nice to play cards with a few less bugs outside.

Everyone took a turn for vacuuming the camper each night at bedtime. This also made a huge sand difference.

The rain was a big problem with a sand parking spot. Next time we are going to get a concrete pad so that should make things a tad bit easier.

We ended up eating at the camper the most we ever had and we even ate more at the camper than when we stayed at a house. Ice cream for desert was a treat at least 3 nights but the cost was worth it and much less than meals out.

Monday Menu Post

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Sheila

I honestly did not realize how busy I was the week before vacation. but two weeks have passed so I must have been super busy. Last week, we were camping at Myrtle Beach. My current plan is to post some of my thoughts and tips tomorrow. But for today, a menu plan is needed!

Breakfast- Saturday-Left-overs or find your own before heading home. Sunday- Spaghetti scrambled eggs. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk ,sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. The cereal is still a go to and I am planning to make a baked oatmeal for one breakfast this week.

Lunch- Saturday-Bucces Sunday-Spaghetti Monday- Chicken bacon ranch pizza, Tuesday-Friday Left-overs or what ever you find most days.

Dinner- Saturday-We just snacked alot. I ate the baked potato salad that I purchased earlier. Sunday Hot Dogs . Monday-Meatball sliders and tomato pie Tuesday-Chicken and green bean casserole . Wednesday- Pizza at the swim team party Thursday-KFC bowls Friday- Homemade pepperoni pizza or this may change if we are pizza out. Depends on what is going on. The other option for me is steak and baked potatoes.

Monday Menu Post

Posted on July 14, 2025 by Sheila

A menu plan was a must for this busy week. A couple of the kids began complaining last week because It was a sandwich or left over kind of vibe for me. This week is again focusing on adding to the stockpile of easy to prepare meals and canned goods for the school year.

Breakfast- Saturday-Biscuits and gravy. Sunday- Sausage balls and eggs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk ,sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. I was able to find some good deals on cereal last week so that is a hot treat right now. I also purchased some mini muffins for the kids this week as I am focusing on using garden produce.

Lunch- Saturday-Tomato sandwiches Sunday-Panda Panda Left-overs or what ever you find most days.

Dinner- Saturday-Million Dollar Spaghetti Sunday Rotisserie Chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce and zucchini. Monday- stuffed green peppers and tomato pie Tuesday-Taco Pasta . Wednesday- Cheesy Chicken bake Thursday-Everyone’s Favorite Left-overs Friday- Pasta Salad at the County Swim meet.

Sunday Garden Update

Posted on July 13, 2025 by Sheila

The garden has required some extra time and energy over the last week. Fortunately it continues to provide a decent harvest each day! Here is today’s harvest

One of the things we did in the evening last week was to harvest the potatoes. I have already mentioned that it was a HUGE disappointment for me.

Matt has been working on a new bed to replace the old barrel and buckets that we were using. He made it specially so it would be easy to dump the dirt and find the potatoes. It turned out awesome but I am just no longer sure that we need to attempt potatoes again.

Good news is that our cantaloupe plant has taken off in the front. I counted at least 4 nice size balls.

I am continuing to be amazed that the production of our “volunteer” tomato plant in the back of the deck. Other excitement is the fact that we have several watermelons that are forming on the vine as well.

The waxman pepper plants that I struggled with to get started are producing nicely!