Net Stash Reduction Goal for 2008 – 150 yards
Net Used to Date – <42 yards>
Net Yards To Go – 192 yards
This week has gone by so quickly! I was going to follow Vicky with a Motivation Friday post but dang it, I didn’t get much done in the form of quilting. It isn’t that I didn’t get a lot done — just nothing quilt related. Today I got my herbs and tomatoes planted in containers up on my deck, hopefully well out of reach of the deer. I picked up my 10 cases of jars at the hardware store but the clothesline poles got sent back. They were in three or four pieces and you put them together and they were very flimsy. We’re going to find someone who welds and just get our own made.
Since making pizza from Nicky’s blog, Friday night has become pizza night at our house.
It’s working out great because I make a full recipe for the dough, freeze half of it and then I don’t have to start from scratch every other week — just take it out of the freezer. This week I forgot to take ground beef out of the freezer and Chad wasn’t real happy about that!
Every week before, I’ve had a bit less than half of the pizza left over for snacking on Saturday. Vince and Chad must’ve been hungry tonight! Here’s what’s left!
For those who have asked what’s in the jars — everything! I’ve had a mild case of pantry moths but I’ve about decided there’s something in the garage attracting them. There are still some boxes in the garage that haven’t been unpacked and who knows if the packers stuck a cake mix or something in with a box of bowls or pots and pans. I occasionally find a little pantry moth in the house but I’m finding them in the garage almost every day. We’re going to have to go through every box out there and see what’s happening but anyway, I figured it was safer to store food in the sealed jars than in bags. I’ve always bought rice in 20 or 25 pound bags at Sam’s. We use a lot of rice! Last month when I heard there were some limits on rice, I was in Paducah and I mentioned to Vince on the phone that he might want to go to Wal-Mart and get a couple of 10 pound bags. By the time I got home, there was 120 pounds of rice in my kitchen. That’s all been put in jars but I also put powdered sugar, brown sugar, powdered milk, potato flakes (both of which are used in my bread making), yeast which I buy in bulk at the Amish type stores, dry beans . . those kinds of things.
Remember that we eat almost every single meal at home and we live about 70 miles from Sam’s or any major grocery store that has good specials. When I find staples that are on sale, I stock up. Earlier this week while at Wal-Mart, they had dried pinto beans on their mark down row, usually .90/bag for .55/bag. They had 10 bags so I bought them all. I love any kind of dried beans.
Today while at the grocery store, I bought a big roast (I think it was “eye of round”) on sale for $2.57/pound. Monday I plan to smoke a chicken, a brisket and the roast (I’ll put the chicken on the bottom rack because we don’t want chicken drippings on the other meat), then I’ll put the roast on the middle shelf and the brisket on top. The fat from the brisket can drip down on the roast and keep it moist. I don’t usually keep my chickens or my briskets in the smoker til they’re done. The chicken skins don’t get good and crispy in the smoker so I put them in the convection oven for 30 minutes or so right before we’re ready to eat them. I put sauce on the brisket, wrap it in foil and bake it at 250 for a couple of hours. So, I’ll put the remote thermometer in the roast and when the internal temp gets between 130 and 140, I’ll just take everything out and go from there.
Tuesday the slicer will arrive (if everything goes like the tracking info says it will) and I’ll slice up roast beef and maybe brisket, depending on how much is leftover from dinner Monday night.
I looked at roast beef in the deli and it was $6.50/pound. My roast will shrink up a bit during cooking but I still think if I compare $2.57/pound to $6.50/pound, I’m spending a whole lot less for sliced roast beef and I’m probably getting a healthier, better tasting meal. OK! OK! The slicer cost a few $$ but it will be around forever so I’m not factoring that in. That’s how I do things around here!
It’s almost 8:00 and I wouldn’t mind going to bed but . . maybe I’ll find some sewing to do.