Pages

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Frugal Doings & Eats

What I've Been Eating Lately:
Full fat Greek style yogurt w/stevia sweetened cherries and homemade granola, Caprese plate, chicken thighs w/roasted cabbage, roast beef w/carrots/potato and salad, birthday cake (didn't eat the WHOLE thing).












Frugal Doings Lately:
**Brought home a bunch of emptied dinner roll bags from work. They're a thicker plastic than the storage bags that I use for my freezer, so I've been double-bagging some items into them.
**Made a batch of (not low-carb) Cranberry & Orange Scones that I had all the ingredients already for. It was my contribution towards a coffee gathering on a Sunday afternoon. Did a second coffee gathering where I'd made brownies, offered crackers/cheese/salami/nuts using all items we already had.
**Downloaded a couple of free apps from the apps store pre-loaded on my tablet. One for tv programs and one for movies. They've allowed me to see several things that I'd have to wait quite some time to see either in Redbox or on the waiting list at the library. Sadly it is a bit buggy and doesn't always work.
**Ordered  from Amazon 3lbs of golden flax meal for roughly the same price as one pound at our local grocer. (Later found it not to be frugal as it is at Sam's Club for under half of the Amazon price!)
**Made lower carb peanut butter bars a couple of times now. These have taken care of my candy bar and sweets cravings and I've typically got all the ingredients in my pantry as I use them in other ways.
**"A" didn't want some coffee grounds that she'd bought over a month ago as they were already opened and she didn't feel it was fresh anymore. It makes a perfectly acceptable cup of joe for myself and "J".
**Spent a couple hours with friends making a Chocolate Ganache Tart. Teaching them this recipe helped build support as they are beginning a reduced sugar way of eating. Hanging out with friends = Free entertainment.
**Started adding in exercise time riding my stationary bike now and then and Leslie Sansone walking dvd's more often.
**While not really frugal, I signed up for a bellydancing class with a friend. For $46 we meet an hour each week for the next two and a half months for class. Affordable workout and socializing, though.
**Saved enough Jumbo egg cartons to start some seeds indoors. Also purchased a bag of potting soil.
**Bought some seeds from an Etsy seller that cost far less than ordering from any of the seed catalogs, especially the shipping. Additionally, they are organic seeds and a couple are for heirlooms.
**Used one packet of the seeds as a gift enclosed with a birthday card for my father.
**Used past Valentine and Anniversary cards from "J" to compile a birthday card for him. It was funny to see his face as he recognized the cards.
**I started using the library again and checked out a new book by a favorite author and am making a list of a few other new books coming out by favorites to request, too.
**Printed a day pass for Sam's Club and bought a few items that I use regularly from there. While I paid an extra 10% for not being a member, I still saved over our local grocer. I go there with a friend who has a membership, too, but she was unable to go at the time.
**Printed a coupon for a free sundae for "J" at Culver's for his birthday treat.
**Bought a new battery for our Escape in hopes that it would get it up and running (it died overnight during a cold snap). It didn't. Bought a fuel pump for our Escape. "J" and son, "D", will attempt to do this replacement under the supervision of a mechanic friend. We will likely still give some $$ to this friend, but it'll be less than at the garage. Vehicle maintenance has been killing our paychecks... grr. We will recoup some of the cost when "D" starts working again and sell him the Escape for dirt cheap.
**Made "A" and my dad's birthday cakes from scratch. "A" had a purple cake and Dad's was a pineapple cake with brown butter frosting. Neither of these were low-carb. But both were good.
**Accepted a pair of jeans that got too big for a friend who has cut way back on sugar and recently lost 16 pounds! Yay, for her... and me! She is now a size smaller than me so that will motivate me to try harder, too. Must. Not. Eat. Fries.







No comments:

Post a Comment