Good morning my dear friends! How are things! The fun keeps funnin here. Einstein, our oldest son, has tested positive for Covid. He is symptomatic. Bless his heart! Went to the Doc yesterday because of a fever and congestion. The list of meds is long, but we're so blessed in that we now have a doctor who's going to get him the care he needs. Einstein's powering thru though. He's out of work for 10 days, but will still be paid. So that's nice.
Our other son, Rubic, also tested positive for Covid. We're thinking his was Omicron in that his symptoms were mild and only lasted a day or so. He's 100% now and he tested Positive Christmas Day. Einstein's symptoms mimic mine and Dh's and so I'm thinking his may be Delta.
This is all 2021 saying good bye. It will be a tearful "so long"......NOT!
Anyhoo. With the New Year on the way and the holiday baking supplies shopping/stocking season in the rearview mirror, I've put aside my pantry storage extravaganza and am looking to get back on my normal grocery budget. My pantry storage extravaganza is mainly due to the fact that basics are more than likely what's on sale during the holiday season. For that reason, I buy and store more in Nov-Dec than any other time of year. There were deals, but few and far between, sad to say. Some I was able to get and some were out of stock. Because I'm stocking up, I increase my budget this time of year. I even will draw from savings if need be. At least that's what I've done this year. I figured it would be cheaper to get it now than wait for the inevitable increase in the new year. Did you hear Dollar Tree is raising their prices to $1.25 in the new year? (sigh)
With all that behind me though, I'm getting back on a normal budget. Maybe I should say normal(ish). Right now my plan is to increase our grocery budget to adjust for inflation. So I added an extra $28 dollars a month. My budget will go from $400 to $428 a month. I haven't raised my grocery budget for years, but feel the need to do it now. I'm hopeful I can raise it that much. That's an extra $728 dollars a year for one category! That doesn't count increases in everything else; Gas, energy, house hold expenses, etc. That amount is my plan for the grocery budget, we'll have to see if we can afford it. I may be cutting that back. It might be hard to even hit $400. So that's up in the air for now.
I've seen some "Pantry challenge" or "No Spend" month videos on Youtube for the New Year. While I understand the concept of a pantry/no spend challenge to use up things in your pantry: I'm not comfortable with that personally with inflation on the rise. If I'm holding off buying an item for a no spend challenge, it's only going to be more expensive when I do get around to getting it or replacing it once used. Plus, there are still things that are a good deal to store even in Jan and Feb
Instead I'm opting to focus more on
1) What I have canned up, dehydrated, or frozen from the garden. I want to use those before I allow myself to buy anything in the produce category. The thought being, these will be replaced thru planting seeds I already have rather than making another purchase. I'm just finishing up my blueberries (sad face).
2) Growing more; even now. I currently have broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, parsley, lettuce, a volunteer kale, and a volunteer Bok Choy growing in my green house! Yes I now have a "Greenhouse". It's not perfect, but it's functional!
In addition, I've thinned out my blackberry, strawberry, and a few blueberry pants and transplanted the thinned plants into other parts of the garden. I'm hopeful this will insure a larger harvest this summer. This is a great investment, because they are perennials, which means they come back every year. No buying new plants!
If interested in building a Hoop Greenhouse of your own, do a search on Hoop Greenhouses and you will see "How to" videos galore!
3) Minimizing leftovers. Any left overs we have need to be lunch the next day or used in another recipe: meat loaf into spaghetti sauce or chili, left over baked potatoes become hash browns for the next days breakfast, etc. This also includes repurposing items that might go bad. Sour milk replaces butter milk in baked goods. So does Yogurt, and sour cream. These are just a few examples.
4) Making more items myself rather than buying them. There are times I've cheated and bought (usually breads) things at the store to save time. Then I started reading labels. When I bought whole wheat bagels, for instance, I discovered the ingredient list contained things that cause inflammation or were otherwise unhealthy. Better I just do it myself. Along these same lines: for health and frugality, I'm focusing on making desserts that use less fat and sugar. Butter is a luxury that's becoming more expensive by the day. I can make chocolate chip cookies blind folded, but none of us need those, and using a half a package of butter to make it probably isn't the best idea. Enter items like the Chocolate Pumpkin cake or Banana chocolate chip cake. These two examples are made with 100% whole wheat, 2 cups of pumpkin or mashed banana, less sugar, and only 1 TBS of butter in the whole thing! When I top the Banana chocolate chip cake, it's with way fewer chocolate chips than I would use in cookies. You can find the recipe on my desserts page. I also am looking to expand my horizons into other things I can make at home instead of buy. Hmmmmm
5) Looking into bartering more. Come spring we're hopeful to be covered up with eggs. There's only so many I need to freeze. So I'm looking to trade for things I can't grow. This one is still a plan in the works, Not sure how it's going to succeed, but I'm willing to try.
These are some of the ideas I have to make the food dollars stretch! What are some of yours?
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