Sunday, January 26, 2014

Menu Plan: January 25, 2014




Saturday:
-leftover Chocolate-Coconut Crumb Cake w/ milk
-pizza tortillas from leftovers, fried apples (tortillas discounted, apples free)
-Venison Sliders, Cole Slaw  (meat free, bread discounted, big batch of slaw for the week-divided cost)
snacks: blue corn chips and hot sauce
Total cost approx per day: $3.75
Sunday:
-Breakfast Cookies from the freezer, milk
-turkey hot dogs, blue corn chips
-Homemade Chicken Soup, strawberry yogurt (home-canned soup w/shredded chicken from the freezer, veggies in soup were mostly free, yogurt bought on clearance)
snacks:salted almonds (gift for Christmas)
Total cost approx per day: $3.25
Monday:
-toast with homemade pumpkin butter (free bread, free pumpkins made the butter)
-1/2 recipe:(mock) Pork and Beans w/ leftover sliced hot dogs (and beans from the freezer), Cracklin' Cornbread, fermented kraut    (cracklin' was free for the rendering and cabbage for kraut was free from summer)
-Venison Tacos, salsa w/ blue chips (wraps were bought discounted at bread store, meat was free), kefir smoothies (homemade kefir, fruit from freezer)
snacks: homemade chili-cheese popcorn, apples (apples free-gift, popcorn bought in bulk)
Total cost approx per day: $2.25
Tuesday:
-fried eggs and toast (eggs almost free from our chicks, bread free from bread store)
-home-canned tomato-veggie soup, cheese bread (discount bread)
-Baked Pollock w/ Parsley Butter Sauce , home canned beets (free), home canned green beans (free)
snacks: home-canned apples with butter
Total cost approx per day: $4.00
Wednesday:
-Chocolate Granola , milk
-PBandJ sandwiches (discount bread,homemade jelly), fresh broccoli w/  Ranch dip, Pantry Brownies
-(1/2 recipe) Turkey Meatballs and Leeks over rice, leftover slaw, brownies
snacks: cinnamon rice cakes with raisins from leftovers
Total cost approx. per day: $5.00
Thursday:
-Kefir Pancakes from the freezer
-Chick Pea Soup,cornmeal muffins, honey(peas from freezer, will add onions and greens, honey free-bartering)
-Venison Joes, leftover cole slaw (meat free, bread discounted)
snacks:leftover brownies
Total cost approx per day:$2.75
Friday:
-oatmeal with (free) dried apples and cinnamon
-Turkey and Pepper Jack sandwiches (discount bread), broth w/ leftover shredded veggies from freezer (free-leftovers and homemade broth), cookies
-leftover chili from the freezer, crackers
snacks: Crunchy Chick Peas, Apple-Walnut Flax Cookies (flax and apples were given to me)
Total cost approx. per day: $3.25

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Menu sounds great! Is there a discount bread store in town?
Everything sounds good!

Unknown said...

Sorry Donna! I don't know why it posted me as unknown! I was asking about the bread store!
Joy

The Prudent Homemaker said...

You said you didn't know how you could budget like we do and now you are! It looks like you're doing a great job of it!

Donna said...

Joy, yes, I posted this about that the other day on FB:
Locals:
Did you know that we have a new bread store outlet?
Yes, it's true! (Well, it's been there for 23 weeks.)
I was able to get 5 bags of goodies the other day for $18!
If you spend $5, you get a free item from the shelf beside the checkout.

**Where is it?- Coming from Cookeville, on Washington Ave, you will pass IGA, Papa John's, cross the railroad tracks, etc. It is about a mile past the Washington Ave Baptist on the right. It is in the same building as the Dollar General Market, around the left side towards the back.
So good to have another one of these in town!

Donna said...

Thank you Brandy- but we have shrunk in size some- so that has made a difference too.

God has been good to give us so many blessings- food and all good things!
:)

Jenn in Indiana said...

Hi Donna, I love your blog and so look forward to your next post. I noticed you said eggs "almost free". I also have chickens and think they are very expensive, to the point that we are thinking of getting rid of them. Between feed and bedding our eggs are way more expensive than I could buy them for at the store. I live in Nortern Indiana, there is no way to let them out right now in the yard to eat grass, etc. We haven't even had an egg since Dec. 14th. I love having our own eggs and know that they are healthier but my husband and I are wondering if our "hobby" is worth it. Love the menu and will be stealing me some ideas!!!

Donna said...

Jenn,
You bring up a great point for which I've made a frugal remedy for :)

First, I don't altogether care for feed-eggs; I may as well get them from the store, there's not much difference minus hormones, maybe?

If mine get plenty to eat, they keep laying, however, next year they likely will molt so during that time, I don't expect any and I am planning on higher protein to rush that time as much as possible.

I try to feed them VERY limited amounts of "feed". Here's some of what I feed them;
-scraps from the yard (we're not too different in temps but I grew as much as I could as long as I could to feed them and there are still dabs of greens in the yard and then some things in the raised covered beds for them)
(-I've read about a lady who gets scraps to be thrown out from her local grocer for her chicks.)
-we gleaned home-grown dried corn from a farmer and possibly have access to more from another farmer if we need it
-all fruit and veggie, bread and grain scraps go to the chicks (anything but meat, pretty much)
-I dry and grind the egg shells and give it right back to them. No, it doesn't make them more prone to eat their own eggs :)
-I still take any veggies etc (cooked or not) from friends because they will eat it if we don't!
-I have a few grains that I sometimes use in the kitchen but they're not favored by us, so when I run really low on scraps to feed the girls, they get some of those.
-We move the tractors around to where there's more grass or weeds.
-We toss boards around the yard for weeks/months at a time. Bugs collect underneath and this is really the secret to an awesome egg-BUGS!

Hope that gives you some ideas and also check out Mother Earth News and Community Chickens for other frugal tips.

Jenn in Indiana said...

We do alot of these same things. I have a lot of family that save scraps and bread, etc. And we will let them out when you can see grass! I also went to our bread discount store and they had some bread products for 10 cents each, which was a great price and they love bread. Just still seems costly, especially when you aren't getting anything from them. Thanks for your advice.

Donna said...

Jenn,
Bedding- a neighbor has given me shredded paper that works well and I put it right in the compost. I also get hay on the super cheap from a close farmer.

I sure hope they pick up for you soon. I'm sure that's annoying to feed them without your pay!

You've made me more thankful that mine are laying 'enough' to earn their keep right now!

Anonymous said...

What are your breakfast cookies? I once had a recipe with bacon and cheese - delicious. Not overly sweet. Of course, I can't find the recipe now.

Donna said...

Anony,
It is from Heavenly Homemakers:
http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/giant-breakfast-cookies

Very good, healthy and this is a sweet version but would love to find the bacon and cheese version :) Perhaps I should come up with one!