What is going on? How am I posting 4 days in a row? I don't know either, but I love it!
I'm making a freezer-focused menu plan this week so I can consolidate my freezers and unplug my garage freezer to save energy during the sumnmer. I don't usually need to plug it in again until August/September when I start freezing fruit.
7 Lunches:
Hot Dogs (bbq leftovers)
Chicken Nuggets (from freezer and easy to pack for lunch at church)
Macaroni & Cheese
Pizza (from freezer and too big to even fit in the inside freezer)
Ravioli & Red Sauce (Ravioli from freezer)
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwiches
7 Dinners:
Turkey Soup (turkey broth & turkey from freezer)
Biscuits & Turkey Gravy (turkey from freezer)
Dinner out
Stew (veggies to use up)
Chicken in Sour Cream sauce (uses chicken and turkey broth from freezer)
freezer meal (whatever is an odd shape and won't pack well into freezer)
Popcorn & Smoothies (family move night)
This weekend I'm hoping to put the garden in, but I'm also hoping to make my first pass at combining what's in my freezers. Next week's plan will likely be using up what wouldn't fit in the inside freezer but we'll see! It depends on just how much there is.
Katie
Monday, April 23, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Freezer Photos - 10 day goal!
Yesterday I mentioned my goal of unplugging the garage freezer by April 30. It's just not going to happen this year , but I will see what I can accomplish! I'll make my goal to unplug May 15 instead.
Here's a photo of our freezers a couple days ago:
I'm a great packer but I just can't fit all of this into our inside freezer! Instead I'll make a meal plan this week that is focused on using up bulky items and by April 30th I'll try to shift mostly into the inside freezer and see what I'm left with. Using my oldest stuff is my top priority.
I already know one big challenge is going to be a huge bag of cherries that I need to pit and I've been putting it off until I can buy a cherry pitter. I haven't found one under $15 and I refuse to pay that much! Maybe I'll just borrow one from a friend.
Another challenge is all the turkey/chicken broth/stock I've got frozen. At least one meal this week will be turkey soup!
I also have 20 pounds of chicken, a ham bone, and a bunch of freezer meals coming in tomorrow night or unknown shape & size.
I made good progress last night when we had company for dinner and I used up some skewers, a small pork loin, and some random sausages that were in the freezer.
I also used up 7# sausage, 4 containers of tomatoes, and 3# ground chicken earlier in the week for the chili I made for the meal swap.
Katie
Here's a photo of our freezers a couple days ago:
I'm a great packer but I just can't fit all of this into our inside freezer! Instead I'll make a meal plan this week that is focused on using up bulky items and by April 30th I'll try to shift mostly into the inside freezer and see what I'm left with. Using my oldest stuff is my top priority.
I already know one big challenge is going to be a huge bag of cherries that I need to pit and I've been putting it off until I can buy a cherry pitter. I haven't found one under $15 and I refuse to pay that much! Maybe I'll just borrow one from a friend.
Another challenge is all the turkey/chicken broth/stock I've got frozen. At least one meal this week will be turkey soup!
I also have 20 pounds of chicken, a ham bone, and a bunch of freezer meals coming in tomorrow night or unknown shape & size.
I made good progress last night when we had company for dinner and I used up some skewers, a small pork loin, and some random sausages that were in the freezer.
I also used up 7# sausage, 4 containers of tomatoes, and 3# ground chicken earlier in the week for the chili I made for the meal swap.
Katie
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Pantry Challenge Wrap-up
I continued the Pantry Challenge into March and did pretty well using only $30/week for groceries. The worst part was the kids whining about no cold cereal and me missing chicken.
Here's what the pantry looked like at the end of March. It might not look empty to you, but I assure you it's depleted. Usually it's packed and stacked with cereal boxes running behind the tupperware bins and canned food stacked behind the craft supplies.
As time passed I was turning it into a bit of a Freezer Challenge, too. And that's where I'm focused now. I generally aim to unplug my freezer by the end of April and it might be a challenge this year with only 10 days left! We've been eating lots of the frozen fruit in smoothies, but then I messed it up by buying 20 pounds of chicken! We'll have to see what I can accomplish these next few days.
After that I've got to focus in getting the garden in!
Katie
Here's what the pantry looked like at the end of March. It might not look empty to you, but I assure you it's depleted. Usually it's packed and stacked with cereal boxes running behind the tupperware bins and canned food stacked behind the craft supplies.
As time passed I was turning it into a bit of a Freezer Challenge, too. And that's where I'm focused now. I generally aim to unplug my freezer by the end of April and it might be a challenge this year with only 10 days left! We've been eating lots of the frozen fruit in smoothies, but then I messed it up by buying 20 pounds of chicken! We'll have to see what I can accomplish these next few days.
After that I've got to focus in getting the garden in!
Katie
Friday, April 20, 2012
Safeway - 30% off Kashi, Ground Turkey Deal
Safeway has a great deal today I wanted to share.
3# package of 85/15 ground turkey is only $5.00. It's not organic, but a price that low for 85/15 meat is pretty stellar.
They also have a coupon in their weekly ad for 30% off Kashi products that's good until Tuesday.
There's been a lot of cereal on sale lately, but Safeway has the 14 oz (middle size) boxes of Cheerios for $1.99 with store coupon which is much better than the smallest boxes for that price everywhere else. This also runs through Tuesday.
Finally, I've been having good luck with the clearance areas at Safeway lately. Here's what I found this morning.
12 pack of Dannon Light & Fit was $3.49, so only $.29 per cup
2 Greek yogurts on clearance for $.49 each (I would buy more at this price, but with the other yogurt deals I found, we won't go through more)
4 pack of Yoplait light with granola on clearance for $1.49 and I had a $.70 off coupon making this only $.79.
Organic squeezer yogurt on clearance for $2/box. I always pick these up when I find them and toss them in the freezer. As the weather gets better my kids will eat them up fast like popsicles. At this price it's only $.25 for their snack.
Suave conditioner was on clearance for $.69 (a must with my girls' hair)
Finally, a splurge because it was so cheap, Betty Crocker glitter icing on clearance for $1.99 and I had $1.00/1 coupons so they were only $.99 each. The girls and I will have a great time decorating with these.
Katie
3# package of 85/15 ground turkey is only $5.00. It's not organic, but a price that low for 85/15 meat is pretty stellar.
They also have a coupon in their weekly ad for 30% off Kashi products that's good until Tuesday.
There's been a lot of cereal on sale lately, but Safeway has the 14 oz (middle size) boxes of Cheerios for $1.99 with store coupon which is much better than the smallest boxes for that price everywhere else. This also runs through Tuesday.
Finally, I've been having good luck with the clearance areas at Safeway lately. Here's what I found this morning.
12 pack of Dannon Light & Fit was $3.49, so only $.29 per cup
2 Greek yogurts on clearance for $.49 each (I would buy more at this price, but with the other yogurt deals I found, we won't go through more)
4 pack of Yoplait light with granola on clearance for $1.49 and I had a $.70 off coupon making this only $.79.
Organic squeezer yogurt on clearance for $2/box. I always pick these up when I find them and toss them in the freezer. As the weather gets better my kids will eat them up fast like popsicles. At this price it's only $.25 for their snack.
Suave conditioner was on clearance for $.69 (a must with my girls' hair)
Finally, a splurge because it was so cheap, Betty Crocker glitter icing on clearance for $1.99 and I had $1.00/1 coupons so they were only $.99 each. The girls and I will have a great time decorating with these.
Katie
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
QFC - $14.93
Oh how I miss this blog! www.projecttwentysix.com is productive, but some days it's such a chore! This is pure joy.
Here it is 12:30AM and I should have been sleeping 2 hours ago. But I decided to do this quick post.
I stopped in at QFC tonight for organic lettuce that was on sale for $1.50 per head. It was one of those evenings when I have no need to hurry home so I leisurely wandered the store and checked out all the bargain bins. Here's what I ended up with:
$3.00 2 Heads of organic romaine
$2.00 2 pounds of organic baby carrots
$1.98 2 - 8 oz packages of yogurt cheese. $.99 each on clearance. I'm going to use half of it for homemade mac'n'cheese for the girls' lunch tomorrow.
$0.98 2 bottles of John Freida Radiant Red conditioner $1.99 on clearance and a $3/2 MC!
$1.49 Tillamook Natural sour cream - clearance price
$1.79 Yogurt - organic, whole on clearance for $1.79.
$1.30 Krave cereal on sale for $2.00 and a $.70/1 MC.
$0.99 Juice on clearance
$FREE Easter cookies on sale for $0.99 and a $1.00/1 MC.
$0.79 Toothpaste $1.79 on clearance and a $1.00/1 MC. I can usually get toothpaste cheaper, but this was a larget size tube and my $1.00 coupon was expiring soon.
Katie
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Pantry Challenge Progress!
Sometimes it feels like I make such slow progress with the Pantry Challenge. And then I have days like today when I see so much progress!
We finally emptied one of the oatmeal bins today. We still have another full 5-gallon bucket of it, but one of them is empty! Hooray!
The 5 grain cereal is also being rapidly depleted as we mix it with our oatmeal each morning. It has been a battle some mornings when one girl in particular objects to the oatmeal but its' been a whole week with no complaints!
I have cooked three foster farms chickens that have been hanging out in my freezer. I needed them for my monthly freezer meal swap.
Speaking of the meal swap, I also used four packages of organic pasta that have been sitting in the pantry for months.
We had smoothies a few times using freezer peaches, blueberries, and pineapple juice I'd frozen for the purpose.
With all the tortillas I bought last weekend we've been having Mexican food and using up a huge jug of salsa that's been in the pantry, as well as frozen, shredded turkey in quesadillas.
And finally, we've been using a bunch of applesauce that was in the freezer, too.
Yay!
We finally emptied one of the oatmeal bins today. We still have another full 5-gallon bucket of it, but one of them is empty! Hooray!
The 5 grain cereal is also being rapidly depleted as we mix it with our oatmeal each morning. It has been a battle some mornings when one girl in particular objects to the oatmeal but its' been a whole week with no complaints!
I have cooked three foster farms chickens that have been hanging out in my freezer. I needed them for my monthly freezer meal swap.
Speaking of the meal swap, I also used four packages of organic pasta that have been sitting in the pantry for months.
We had smoothies a few times using freezer peaches, blueberries, and pineapple juice I'd frozen for the purpose.
With all the tortillas I bought last weekend we've been having Mexican food and using up a huge jug of salsa that's been in the pantry, as well as frozen, shredded turkey in quesadillas.
And finally, we've been using a bunch of applesauce that was in the freezer, too.
Yay!
Monday, March 5, 2012
2 Week Menu Plan
It was still pretty easy to come up with 2 weeks worth of meals this time. I can't believe the Pantry Challenge hasn't been too tough yet. Maybe if I limited myself even further with the grocery budget I'd have to dig a little deeper creatively . . .
Dinners for 2 weeks:
Mac 'n' Cheese Pie - pasta from pantry, milk for sauce from freezer
Skillet Squash Pasta - freezer meal & DH teaching
Dinner at church
BBQ Ribs & French Fries - freezer fries & meat, pantry bbq sauce
Men's Meat night - Pork tenderloin (kids & I taking side dish to another dinner)
Soft Tacos - freezer meat, pantry salsa
Fettucini Alfredo with chicken - freeezer chicken, pantry pasta & sauce
Artichoke Heart Pasta - Making for meal swap
Pot Roast - meat from freezer
Burritos - beans from pantry
Baked Potato Soup - milk & bacon from freezer, potatoes from pantry
Pasta & Red Sauce - pasta from pantry, sauce from freezer & pantry
Turkey dinner
I'm also getting an influx of freezer meals halfway through this meal plan! It doesn't seem significant, but I can see the contents of my freezer & pantry slowly and surely diminishing. Another few weeks and it might really start to show!
DH's birthday was last week and he requested brownies with chocolate frosting for his treat. I had a brownie mix, but my frosting seems to have disappeared (none of the kids fessed up, but I'm SURE I had some). Hm. So I made frosting from scratch. It was a bit of a challenge to find a recipe that didn't call for cocoa powder (I have none), but I did have some unsweetened Ghiradelli baking chocolate and that did the trick. It was super yummy.
Katie
Dinners for 2 weeks:
Mac 'n' Cheese Pie - pasta from pantry, milk for sauce from freezer
Skillet Squash Pasta - freezer meal & DH teaching
Dinner at church
BBQ Ribs & French Fries - freezer fries & meat, pantry bbq sauce
Men's Meat night - Pork tenderloin (kids & I taking side dish to another dinner)
Soft Tacos - freezer meat, pantry salsa
Fettucini Alfredo with chicken - freeezer chicken, pantry pasta & sauce
Artichoke Heart Pasta - Making for meal swap
Pot Roast - meat from freezer
Burritos - beans from pantry
Baked Potato Soup - milk & bacon from freezer, potatoes from pantry
Pasta & Red Sauce - pasta from pantry, sauce from freezer & pantry
Turkey dinner
I'm also getting an influx of freezer meals halfway through this meal plan! It doesn't seem significant, but I can see the contents of my freezer & pantry slowly and surely diminishing. Another few weeks and it might really start to show!
DH's birthday was last week and he requested brownies with chocolate frosting for his treat. I had a brownie mix, but my frosting seems to have disappeared (none of the kids fessed up, but I'm SURE I had some). Hm. So I made frosting from scratch. It was a bit of a challenge to find a recipe that didn't call for cocoa powder (I have none), but I did have some unsweetened Ghiradelli baking chocolate and that did the trick. It was super yummy.
Katie
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Weekend Shopping - $63.78
WOW I needed to grocery shop this weekend! Here's a photo of my fridge. I assure you this is very empty! Out of milk, 3 pieces of bread, no cheese, only a little bit of yogurt left . . . I did have a dozen eggs though! 
This was TOP Foods on Saturday morning because we needed milk for breakfast! I also picked up some other sale items.
The bulk of my shopping was at Fred Meyer and a couple things at QFC.
I've been waiting and waiting for tortillas to go on sale! So I stocked up. Quesadillas are a standard lunch for us. I also splurged on 4# of strawberries and lots of creamer since poor DH keeps running out!
Katie
This was TOP Foods on Saturday morning because we needed milk for breakfast! I also picked up some other sale items.
The bulk of my shopping was at Fred Meyer and a couple things at QFC.
I've been waiting and waiting for tortillas to go on sale! So I stocked up. Quesadillas are a standard lunch for us. I also splurged on 4# of strawberries and lots of creamer since poor DH keeps running out!
Katie
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