1. Shopping: I spent $5.10 on groceries this week. You can see my shopping haul below:
We have been eating a lot of eggs, goat milk (and cheese and yogurt) and garden produce like lettuce and berries. Most of my meal efforts have been geared toward using up those free staples. This week we had salad, grilled cheese sandwiches, baked potatoes and leftovers. We ate out a LOT this week. Monday we had dinner at Famous Dave's (Hubs' business paid), Thursday we went on a date (that's normal, but...), Friday we ended up running to Home Depot and had dinner at Little Ceasar's, and Saturday we were gone most of the day and had breakfast at McDonalds. On Sunday after church we both got $0.50 Frosties and some french fries at Wendy's. Not a real meal, but still eating out.
Between the 4-5 meals at home and 5-6 meals out, we also went to several potluck lunches/dinners this week. And there were several "meals" that I ate by myself consisting of eggs or yogurt and granola. It was CRAZY last week.
2. Garden: harvested black & red raspberries, a couple strawberries, lettuce, thyme, lavender and calendula from the garden. I also harvested Japanese beetles for my chickens, and grass clippings to use as mulch!
Between the 4-5 meals at home and 5-6 meals out, we also went to several potluck lunches/dinners this week. And there were several "meals" that I ate by myself consisting of eggs or yogurt and granola. It was CRAZY last week.
2. Garden: harvested black & red raspberries, a couple strawberries, lettuce, thyme, lavender and calendula from the garden. I also harvested Japanese beetles for my chickens, and grass clippings to use as mulch!
Free chicken treats/pest control!
3. Made yogurt, cheese, and Greek yogurt. I also made my very first Instant Pot cheesecake!! I used half cream cheese (bought on sale) and half Greek yogurt from last week in order to make it more frugal. The yogurt make the cheesecake lighter than normal and not as sharp, but we enjoyed the results. :) I think it actually tasted better a few days AFTER it was made.
In order to waste as little of my goat milk as possible, it goes through several stages before it gets thrown out.
A) Liquid milk. This sits in the fridge between 1-4 days.
B) Yogurt or cheese. Before I make either, the cream is skimmed from the top of each jar and saved in the freezer until I have enough to make butter. The yogurt and/or cheese sits in the fridge for another week. Usually the cheese gets eaten, but sometimes there is leftover yogurt.
C) Greek yogurt. My week-old yogurt is strained to make Greek yogurt (or "yogurt cheese").
D) Cheesecake! This is going to be the last hurrah for my milk before it goes to the chickens.
You could do this with any kind of milk, not just goat's milk. I like this system because it stretches the milk past the normal 1-2 weeks AND gives you higher value dairy products besides just liquid milk. At current milk prices in our area, $1.70 (one gallon) per person could supply us with a week's worth of milk, yogurt, cheese and possibly enough leftovers for cheesecake. Yum!!
4. Collected cans and bottles on various walks to recycle for $$.
5. Went to the Bent 'n' Dent discount store!!! I am saving this haul for next week's Youtube video even though I technically spent the money on Saturday.
6. Line-dried two loads of laundry.
Guys, that is literally IT for frugal accomplishments this week. When you don't stay home, you can't save a lot of money. I did spend a lot of time in the garden and working on writing projects this week. Those are long-term money savers (earners) but week by week it is slow progress.
So here's hoping to a frugal-er week!
-Bethany
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