30 Days of Nothing: day 21
At the produce terminal on Friday, I got:
- 8 lbs. of white seedless grapes
- 17 lbs. of oranges
- 20 lbs. of tangelos
- 18 lbs. of bananas
- 30 broccoli crowns
- ~25 orange bell peppers
- 12 lbs. of plums
All for the bargain price of $36! I also spent $47 at Costco on milk, cheese, eggs and tortilla chips. This brings our total for the month to $383, with plenty to get us through the upcoming week. This includes all non-food expenses too: paper products, diapers, pet food, and any other incidentals available at WalMart.
I’ve also learned something new about operating out of a smaller freezer - our big freezer is so unreliable that we unplugged it and emptied it, and are now using just the little freezer above the fridge. I have found that I can not only save time, but can also save an enormous amount of space if I cook meat before freezing it.
When I shopped at WalMart on Thursday, I bought (among other things) 10# of ground beef and 10 # of chicken legs/thighs. Rather than freezing them as they were, we browned the meat in an 8qt. stockpot with 5 onions and about 10 cloves of garlic, then drained and divided it into 6 meal-sized portions. This will be perfect for either spaghetti or the Mexican food that we enjoy so often, and takes up far less space in the freezer! It will also defrost much more quickly.
While that was being done, we dumped the entire 10# of chicken into the roaster and set it on 300 degrees. After a couple of hours I switched it off to cool. A bit later I deboned it all and bagged it into 3 portions for enchiladas, casseroles, etc. This saved even more space than the ground beef, since I was doing away with not just grease, but bones, skin, etc. I could easily have fit twice as much chicken in the roaster, and might just do that next time.
Now instead of struggling to fit enough food into our little freezer to last the week, my freezer is well stocked but neat and orderly with plenty of extra space for spontaneous purchases.
Wait, that might not be such a good thing…
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[...] part of her participation, Kim C. from Life In A Shoe shares a cheerfully frugal take on an unreliable chest freezer. By processing meats for the top freezer alone, she saves both [...]
:0) In your extra time, would you mind sharing what chicken dishes you all eat? I am on the prowl for some new chicken ideas.
We MIGHT travel to my parent’s home in October. I’ll email if we do!
you will also be saving extra money unplugging that freezer!
it is true these type of things end up even saving you time because we become less hasty as we plan ahead with cooking etc. i am more organized when I adapt a plan like this, etc.
now if i can just stay with the plan…
homemakerang,
That definitely crossed my mind! We were losing money at least 3 ways: just running the beast, losing food because it kept defrosting and refreezing, and I wasn’t keeping it full because I knew how unreliable it was (full freezers are far more efficient than empty or partly-full).
Mrs. Klause,
I’ll post some recipes soon, but I’m afraid I’m a pretty unimaginative cook. I could use some new recipes myself!
Would love to see you if you’re in the area. You already knew that, right?
I’m curious about where you buy your produce? What is a produce terminal?
Dh has been working overtime and that will end soon, making our already small budget even smaller.
And are you guys able to eat all of that before it goes bad?
We have 9 children and a small budget.
We live 24 miles from our Wal Mart and make TOO many trips into town in our “Beast”. Amazing how much gas a 15 passenger van guzzles.
Anyhow…. I’ve enjoyed reading how you (don’t) spend money. Thanks for sharing!
So funny! We’re 22 miles from our WalMart, so we have the same issue with our 15 passenger van - which I frequently call The Beast!
Which part of Texas are you in, if you don’t mind my asking?
Our produce terminal is a warehouse in downtown San Antonio where many small local retailers buy their produce at wholesale. They sell to the public in case quantities, so when I get there and see what’s cheap, I call a friend who has 6 children. We chat about the specials, then I place a combined order for both our families. We also have another family or two who often take smaller portions.
We live in North East Texas. Farmersville 75442.
I’m wondering if Dalls or Fort Worth might have something like that? Gracious, I don’t even want to think of the gas to get there!
Wish we lived closer to you, we’d chip in on that produce!
We’ve been precooking our chicken for a couple of years now. I usually use chicken breasts when I can catch them on sale. We shred them and put them in freezer bags - it’s amazing how much less room they take up in the freezer. I use the chicken for chicken salad, noodle soup, casseroles, or any other dishes.
Amazing deals Kim! I wish we had something like that here in South Florida!
God Bless,
Michele
Sorry I posted in the wrong one previously. We are in San Antonio, close to Seaworld. I never heard of this. We have friends w/ 4, 5 , and 7 kids so would be nice to split between a few families if cheaper….hmm
No problem. The San Antonio produce terminal that I go to is called River City Produce. I hear there’s another in town, but have never checked it out. I love the one I go to - their accents can be a little hard to understand, but it’s family run and very friendly. I may not spend as much as a grocery store or restaurant, but they make me feel like a valuable customer nonetheless.