Frugal Accomplishments This Week

This Memorial Day I want to give thanks to all the soldiers who fought and especially those who gave their lives for the US of A. Notable among these is my dad, who served both in Iraq and in Kuwait, as part of the Stryker Brigade for the US Military, saw many of his friends die, and my dad returned home with a permanent shoulder injury from being thrown around in a moving vehicle while treating patients under fire. Thanks Dad and everyone else who puts their lives on the line to keep us safe.

~ ~ ~

This past week was pretty good in terms of frugality. I specifically did not go grocery shopping at the farmer's market, to try to stretch my produce that I bought 2 weeks ago as long as possible. I just picked up onions, carrots, and radishes to pull us through the week, and we succeeded. I had to get a little creative with my cooking, but I managed. I also did a decent amount of foraging to make our produce last.
We used very few diapers for Anneliese this past week, as she's been better about potty training, and wearing underwear more and more often, though still not all the time. And, still, Rose is fully cloth diapered, exclusively nursed, and we haven't used the dryer once.



Sunday-
Made homemade envelopes.
Made stir fry with orange peppers that were on their last legs and leftover rice.
Worked out at home.
Did yoga together with my kids with a yoga video.
Mike took the kids to a free local show.
Made fried rice with celeriac leaves and other soft veggies before they spoiled, and left over rice.
Soaked mung beans.

Monday-
Made Korean mung bean pancakes with celeriac since that's what we had in the house. Took these to eat on a trip with us together with leftover cake and nectarines I picked, so we wouldn't have to buy food while out.
Went to a free museum day with the kids
Foraged lambsquarters, purslane, hollyhocks, wild mustard and nettles.
Made turmeric and sage pills for Mike since he wasn't feeling so hot.

Tuesday-
Made stuffed foraged hollyhocks, with lentils and celeriac (that I had left over from the mung bean pancakes), in a sauce made from mushy apricots and mushy tomatoes. Made grain free zucchini spaghetti with my julienne peeler, and a lentil tomato apricot sauce with veggies that were "on their way out".
Went to the grocery store and timed my trip so I could use my bus transfer home, so I only paid for one trip, not two. Stuck to the basics at the grocery store, not going over my list just because I was there. I even put something back on the shelf that I took but decided I didn't need anymore. Since I needed meat, and there weren't great prices on anything, I stuck with gizzards and whole chickens, the best buys. I bought onions and carrots cheaply so that I could go another few days without going produce shopping at the farmer's market.
Made homemade chai masala tea mix.
Mike foraged rosemary, olive leaves, and lavendar for tea.
Made a sinus headache fighting bath with things around the house.

Wednesday-
Made homemade gluten free flat bread for sandwiches.
Ate a foraged greens sandwich.
Turned the leftover lentils into a roasted garlic and lentil spread.
Shopped at a sale to just replenish on things I needed- dairy and meat and frozen goods- without being tempted to buy everything else there.
Got a bunch of cool accessories at an accessories swap.

Thursday-
Served leftover medley for lunch to use up all the leftovers.
Hubby took a smaller container of cottage cheese to work for his lunch, which works out cheaper, instead of the larger more expensive one, and was just as satisfied. Will start doing this regularly.
Made blanched and sauted foraged greens.
Kept the water from cooking the greens as a super nutritious drink.
Made homemade coconut milk.
Used leftover almond pulp from making almond milk, and grade C peaches from the freezer to make a peach crumble.
Cooked up a bunch of nectarines that were about to spoil, in a jaggery based syrup.
Used leftover syrup to make homemade jello.

Friday-
Got my ring that I ordered from Aliexpress.com- a beautiful ring for less than 6 dollars including international shipping.
Made homemade buckwheat rolls.
Used somewhat sprouted mung beans to make mung bean pancakes.
Made duck soup from duck bones and duck fat that I saved from when we had duck that a guest brought us.

So, what did you do to save money this week?