Pantry List

A question was just posted to one of my yahoo groups asking what all was kept in your pantry to help stretch your budget. So, I typed mine up and thought I'd post it here for you all... Feel free to ask questions or suggestions :)

Here's my basic pantry list (as I can think of it from my head), all dry ingredients... there's more that's frozen.

*Flour
*Sugar
*Cornstarch
*Cornmeal
*Brown Sugar
*Powdered Sugar
*Cereal (whatever I've gotten free after coupons)
*French fried onions
*Dried Fruit for snacking (I buy fruit when it's under $.99 a lb and dehydrate it myself to save money)
*A few Hamburger Helpers
*Ramen
*Cooking Soups (Tomato, Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Chicken, Cream of Celery, Cheddar Cheese)
*Rice
*Ketchup
*Mayonnaise
*Tea Bags
*A few Kool-Aids
*Crystal Light (when I get it close to free after coupons)
*Crackers (usually bought only with coupons)
*Popcorn (kernels, and we either airpop or stovepop)
*Tomato Sauce
*Tomato Juice
*Tomato Paste
*Mushrooms
*Pasta (many different kinds, usually whatever I can get cheapest with coupons)
*Dried Beans & Peas
*Spices & Herbs (I usually grow my own herbs and dehydrate them)
*Dehydrated Veggies (I buy carrots, celery, etc. when I can get it really cheap, or grow my own, then dehydrate them myself)
*Other Various Soups (Chicken Noodle mostly, and whatever I can get really cheap with coupons)
*Canned Veggies (Green Beans, Corn, Peas, Mixed Veggies, whatever I can get cheapest with coupons)
*Bread Crumbs (Most of the time make my own and freeze)
*Canned Fruit (whatever I can get cheap with coupons)
*Pudding/Jello (only when I can get it free/close to free with coupons)
*Cake Mix/Icing (only when I can get it free/close to free with coupons)
*Molasses
*Honey
*Jam/Jelly/Preserves (usually can my own, or buy it when it's free after coupons)
*Peanut Butter (Buy only with coupons when close to free)
*Gravy Mixes/Jars (Only when very cheap with sales/coupons)
*Bouillon
*Sure-Jell
*Cooking Oils

Pictures to follow... Weather permitting

Well, we've been gone on vacation for a week, and got back on Monday to find our garden growing by leaps and bounds! The potato plants (nearly all of them) are about 6-7 inches tall, some of them flowering already! The tomatoes have finally seemed to get over transplant shock and are growing (and some of them flowering!!!). The cucumbers have started growing and vining up the support. We have corn and beans finally popping up. Everything is growing so well! Every time some one comes over to the house we have to take them over and give them a tour of the garden lol. Well, the camera is still MIA, so weather permitting I'll get hubby to help me take the webcam out and take pictures this afternoon.

My herbs & flowers are doing very well too. When we got home my sage was flowering (the one I thought wasn't going to come back from last year!!!) so I pinched off the flowers. My spearmint that I just planted last week, has already begun to try to fill out the pot we put it in. Most of the other herbs are just trying to get used to their new pots, and all the rain we've had.

My begonias are starting to fill out in the pot I put them in with some other plants, as well as the hypoestes that are all 3 in one pot together.

The irises & daffodils have finally all died off for this year (except for 1 iris bloom that waited until we got back to wither). Hopefully by next year I will have a flower press so I can keep some of these beautiful blooms!

Pictures from the garden :)

Wow! Hard to believe that this is the plant that I left in the back seat of the car 2 years ago and have kept trying to kill ever since :) It looks great! Every year I put it in a bigger pot and it fills it up! Hoping someday I can get one of those huge $100 pots to let it fill!

The Irises are opening!

More onions pop up every day! I think there are 5-6 in this one now!

Lots of onions!

Cucumbers!

Tomato plants

The potatoes are getting big :)

And, I couldn't post without more of my beautiful irises!!!

This is my favorite, I was hesitant to post it, so please don't steal it :) Creative copyright and such :)

Gardening, at last!

Well, we have finally got enough done in the garden to post about it! :) We got the potatoes in before the last snow in March, but they're about 3-4 inches tall now. We got the tomatoes, peppers & cucumbers in last week. Today we planted corn & lima beans, and we're planning on planting green beans tonight. We also got some onions planted in some window boxes last time a couple of our little friends came to visit to help. Here's pictures! :)

Impatiens, and our unnamed plant that we think might be yucca.

In this one you can see the rows of peppers on the far left, tomatoes & then the potatoes on the far right.

We planted the cucumbers in a circle and then put the wire around so the cucumbers can climb.

These are the onions that the kids planted March 19th. In the top pot, there are 5 sprouts coming up, and in the bottom there are 2-3!

Our irises should be blooming any day!

Here's all the flowers & herbs ready to be potted. I ran out of potting soil, so they are sitting here in the wagon for easy moving in and out of the sun, and easy watering until I get some more in a couple of days.

These last 2 are of the garden and what is done so far :)

Spring is here!

Today was a beautiful day! It was 80* with mild winds, gusts up to 25 mph. Perfect weather for line drying clothes. We could have had a revolving door with all the laundry we were taking in and out! :)

It's supposed to rain tomorrow and tomorrow night. We are planning on going over the weekend to get the tomato & herb starts to put in. We're also hoping to get the garden tilled again before putting the tomatoes in. We should be getting our seeds for beans and such any time too.

We have daffodils coming up everywhere! They are so pretty! I am going to try to take the webcam out tomorrow to get some pictures (I still can't find my camera...)

Snow Snow Snow

Well, we were snowed in for the past couple of days. Today it's pretty much all gone though.

Friday it was 70*, we were out in the garden, tilling & planting. Went for a walk with my friend's kids, it was a great day!

Saturday morning we woke up to 38* temps, and a forcast of snow. Within a few hours the snow was falling. By that night it was below freezing, and there was 6 1/2 inches of snow on the ground.

Sunday there was no church, there was another 2-3 inches on the ground, and when we woke up there was sleet coming down. By afternoon it was all over, but we had lots of snow...

Today it is 53* and most of the snow is gone. Tomorrow is to be in the 70s again...

Census Time is Here!

We got our census in the mail today! We were so excited because it is our first census as a married couple, and out of our parent's homes. It was very easy to fill out, however, as a genealogist I was very disappointed that they had cut it short to the 10 questions this year. I enjoy sifting through old censuses and learning more about my ancestors that I never met. How am I to know more about their every day life by only seeing age, race, and where they live on there??? The most fun censuses are the ones that ask about if they are in school, what their occupation is, if they have a radio, and silly questions like that. I love learning the mundane parts of their life that I never would have learned about otherwise.

Sorry about my ranting... we have filled out our sorry little census and it will be in the mail tomorrow...

Spring Cleaning and Living Simply

I have begun working on decluttering our lives and our home. I am going through methodically and sorting through everything we have, asking myself, do we use this? is it useful? do we love it? And, because the extra money would help, I'm starting to sell it through craigslist and websites such as that, if it is not needed in our home. We have begun walking more, to places that we are able to. I am also beginning to find ways that I can bring money in while I am at home, one way being selling things we don't need :).

SNAKES!!!!!

Well, Spring is definitely here! Hubby found a snake outside (in the front yard, by the front door) this afternoon... I'm not impressed, but I'd much rather it be out there, than inside... Warning... There are snake pictures in this post, but they are dead... We think it was a garter snake from what we found online.... Grant is very proud, that he got to kill a snake!

Spring is coming!!!

The robins are jumping around in the yard, the grass is turning green again, and the daffys are popping up!!!! I've been harvesting chives for about a week now!!! Hubby's got a 10 x 10 place in the backyard set up for a raised bed salad garden (It can be removed later Tabby, lol). We're hoping in the next few weeks to be able to borrow a tiller and be in the garden!!! :) What's going on in your garden?

$30 Challenge!

So, we sat down the other night to figure out our budget. DH asked me, how much would I need on an average week for my household budget (personal care items, cleaning, food, etc.), and I said, well, on average here lately, I've been spending between $30 and $40 a week. So we decided that for a while at least that my weekly budget is $30. I'm going to keep track of my progress on my other blog (www.adventuresofacouponqueen.blogspot.com). I'll post my shopping trips, menus, recipes, and everything else I do to stay within that budget. We also bought me a book tonight, that I'm going to post things that I learn from. We bought The Coupon Mom's Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half by Stephanie Nelson (The Coupon Mom). We also ordered my very own shopping cart so that I can start taking public transportation more for my shopping trips, and I can walk to the stores within walking distance (within a mile from the house). I can't wait to see where this takes us!

Dawn

Cool contest I found to win free groceries for a year

"Even if you don't want to enter, please click so I get an extra entry!!!"

Hey, I just entered this contest on Cozi.com to win free groceries for a year. All you have to do is put in your email address.

Even if you don’t enter, please click the link to help me win. (I get an extra entry for telling you.) Thanks!

View >>

New Experience.... Home Haircutting!!!

Ok, so Grant decided his hair was too long...

So I began cutting... We decided rather than trying something hard, I'd just do finger length.

Here's the back 1/2 done

All Done!

Crazy man Grant!!! :) Looks good!

Why did you cut all of Pa's fur off, Ma??? Is this what is gonna happen to us if we aren't good???

Lots and lots of hair!

Then he trimmed his beard up... Looks really good!

It's snowing again...

Right now it is 12* with a wind chill of -5*

SNOW!!!

The icicles around the bathroom window


:) Still have to dry laundry somehow, even if it is below freezing outside!



This is the garden :)

Pretty in the snow!

This one is sideways, cause I couldn't get it to turn, but it's pretty nonetheless. It's one of my windchimes.

Pictures courtesy of my wonderful husband who went outside this morning to take pictures for me! We're supposed to get more snow tonight!

Ok, the computer decided to let me post pictures today.


These are during the snow, at about 1 in the morning...

These are the next morning :) So pretty!

With this snow we got about 4 inches, on top of what hadn't melted yet.

This is sideways, but this is an icicle that is growing outside our bathroom window.