Hopeful Housewife

Accountability…I thought this might help me stay on track. Maybe you’ll find a cheap and easy dish you like too. Or maybe you’ll point and laugh because I have to eat it and you dont.

I need ten dinners. Instead of listing by day, I’m just going to count 10. I’m finicky from one day to the next. Maybe Thursday I just dont *feel* like beans. Or perhaps the thought of turkey on Saturday puts me off.  Yeah, I dont know how my husband puts up with me either.

Ok, staying on track, right.

1.) Beans w/bacon and homemade cornbread. It’s at www.lainesletters.com under the recipes. It’s awesome. Seriously.

2.) Turkey breast with mashed potatoes and gravy. ohh I even have sweet potatoes and marshmallows too! I’ll make those magnificent rolls with this one.

3.) Jail food. Mashed potatoes with ground beef and gravy. I usually serve this one with corn.

4.) Pasta bake. Shells, spaghetti sauce, a little ground beef…mozzarella… Ohh I have frozen spinach. That’ll go in there too. Crusty bread here.

5.) Chicken and corn chowder with homemade pretzels.

6.) Hamburgers with homemade buns and oven fries.

7.) Spaghetti, meatballs, and french bread

8.) Steak and Cheese Sandwiches (I have a bit of tri-tip left over from dh’s work BBQ today). Maybe I’ll make onion rings with them. This will be tomorrow because I’m a NUT about keeping meat longer than a day or two.

9.) Turkey salad sandwiches with fruit.

10.) Ground beef stroganoff.

I’ll be adding a box of greens to my grocery list, and that will be our dinner veggies except for nights that have canned vegetables.

Now, to get to the store and not go over 25.00….

AND NOT BY CHOICE.

So apparently, God thinks I have something to learn in the area of frugality. Why, I am not sure. I find myself to be remarkably frugal, but for whatever reason, God is trying to teach me something in this area of my “job”. Perhaps its because I stated in my last blog about this that I was “running low”. Come next Thursday, perhaps I’ll know the true definition of a clean pantry.

My son needs dental work.

I dont have dental insurance.

It’s not going to be cheap. In fact, instead of having the work done right away, we’re going to sink 400.00 into a dental plan for the year for our entire family.  A good investment, indeed…but would have been nice to not have to do this next paycheck.

I have 25.00 for groceries.

As you know, I already did a pantry “cleanse” this last pay period.

Let me say, however, that I am up for the challenge. I made maple syrup tonight. I’m going to roll out cinnamon rolls in a bit for tomorrow morning. I’ve STILL got meat in my freezer from two pay periods ago when ground chuck was on sale. I’ve also got a few chicken breasts, an entire turkey breast, and some bacon. I have beans, rice, bread flour, pasta, (and sauce), a block of fresh mozzarella, dried milk, homemade chocolate syrup (for chocolate milk!), eggs, canned veggies, and fresh herbs. I should be just fine. I need to get some frozen juice to make jelly, popcorn, bananas, sugar, a sack of ice,  sack of taters, conditioner, toothpaste, and easter eggs to fill for our homeschool easter egg hunt on Wednesday.  I’m absolutely certain I can do this.

It has me thinking though. With grocery costs rising (and costs of everything rising) I wonder if God is showing me how to be even more resourceful so that we dont feel the pinch being that we are a single income family. I wonder if my garden project is to make us more self sufficient. I think that maybe my recent obsession with (and increased confidence in) sewing is to help with whatever pinch is ahead.

 All things work for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

All things.

Even an extended pantry cleanse.