Icemaggedon in the DFW area

The weathermen/women in the area kept warning us that winter was on it's way back and I partially heeded them which was partially helpful. Friday night when I got home from work after a brief stop at the thrift store for a quick look for some new non mom looking clothes I headed home to get started on dinner. I decided to go with a quick and easy as well as tasty staple and fixed bacon, eggs and biscuits for the family. As much as everyone, being the 3 of us who are eating table food enjoyed this I actually had some bacon and a couple of biscuits left. The munchkin enjoys left over biscuits so I put those away for him and the bacon I put up for another day. Saturday Phillip was gone all day helping a friend move so I took the kiddos to the library and then to eat some fast food which translates to play time for the munchkin and some reading time for me while the tiny one naps and flirts. After we got home Logan went outside to play and get it out of his system before the storm moved in. I used the time to tote around the tiny one, start work on a total house cleaning and purge and put an amazing wild rice dish on. I should say on Friday night I started cleaning out the pantry and found some wild rice I got in trade near the back. I made this amazing rice dish which I served with pan fried ham. If you were keeping tally that marks the end of the ham. There were a couple of pieces leftover which I ended up eating on Sunday evening in a sandwich. Phillip used this chance to eat the rest of the bacon on a sandwich. Earlier in the day we were at church when the weather really started turning. On the way home I knew I should stop and get a couple of things before it was too late. The kids had fallen asleep in the car so I made the silly assumption that I could just run in while my honey stayed in the car with the kids. He wanted to come in so in we all went. It was a pretty quick trip but I ended up with more than we "needed" due to the people with me. I need to also figure out how this happened but the store sent my non food items like dishwasher detergent and some plug covers through on my food stamp card. Those items should not have gone through and I was caught of guard when they did.  Late on Sunday evening amidst more house cleaning and playing tic tac toe with the munchkin the schools announced they would be closing on Monday. My work was not long after in announcing they would close so I celebrated! Monday I managed to get a lot of cleaning and purging done and all of my JBF items put into the system. In case you are not familiar with the JBF sale then click on the JBF and go to their page. It is a huge resale for kids and maternity items. For dinner on Monday I baked a whole chicken that I had been defrosting and served that with some homemade mashed potatoes and green beans. As soon as the chicken was cool enough to the touch I deboned it and threw the carcass with some spices,herbs, celery left from the co-op and carrots also left from the co-op in the crock pot. This cooked all night and most of the next day before I strained the herbs and veggies out. Immediately I put some more chopped celery, carrots and dried onions into the stock. This cooked for about another hour on high in the crock pot before I added some of the leftover chicken and the leftover wild rice. I allowed this to warm up for about 30 minutes before I added a rue to thicken it a bit as well as some cream. This was a great soup and was based on this recipe. Any celery that was still left from the co-op got chopped and put in the dehydrator since it was getting to the limp stage. I forgot to mention that Tuesday was also a day at home due to icy road conditions. The munchkin enjoyed playing outside and having hot cocoa. The tiny one enjoyed being carried around and loved on. I enjoyed the time at home to catch up on cleaning and organizing. There was supposed to be snow on the ground this morning and so the munchkin's school had delayed opening but I had to come back to work as normal since the snow never materialized. The master closet was going to be my task today but will have to wait for the weekend now unless we of course get some more snow or ice!

Wednesday grocery trip and dinner

My plans to not stop and get bread last night were changed when  I called home and they asked if I would stop and get some. I originally stopped at Target as I wanted to check the selection of baby food for the tiny one. That was a bust, I found a very small section of the jars which is what WIC will pay for so I checked out with the fruit leather I found on clearance and headed toward the Kroger by my house. I tried hard to just get the baby food and bread and get out but then I thought about what I was going to fix for dinner and wanted to do a pass by the clearance section and see if there were any other budget stretchers. There was really nothing I needed in the clearance but then I remembered the Nutella was on sale and I have a coupon making it nearly free, they of course are still out of Nutella. By the time I made the rounds of the store and used some coupons I got out for $17.30 in food stamps. This trip was emotional as I am trying not to spend all that I have on the card so some will carry over to next month, therefore purchases have to be well thought out. The plan was to grill some bratwurst I had in the freezer as well as some hot dogs since I am the only one who likes brats. Usually when I fix hotdogs I make homemade mac and cheese which is one of the munchkin's favorite meals. Knowing there was no Velveeta at home and how expensive it has become I decided to just get a boxed mac and cheese. This is where I started to get emotional, the boxed mac and cheese is what I grew up on and still guiltily like but the munchkin does not. The boxes are also almost $1 and for just a few dollars more I could buy the generic Velveeta and have some on hand for future meals. It was such a tough choice, the cheaper option for 1 meal or spend more than I wanted to and get more meals out of it. The logical me ended up getting the generic Velveeta which is why my total is what it is. The choice would have been worse if I did not have enough on the card which is where I may have put us next month. Despite all my indecision at the store I got home and grilled the brats and hotdogs for dinner. I will bring the leftover brats for lunches next week, wrapped up and put in the freezer they will last.

The brightness in all of this besides baby kisses and school stories last night was the trade left on the porch. For a baby sling, which I had traded for originally I received these items.

These will really help stretch the budget next month, this is why I love my BBT group.

Trades and February totals so far

The totals for February so far are

$9.00 for the Green Chef order
$57.51 spent on both food and non food items before Food Stamp card came in. This includes Logan's snack day at school and 2 parties that he was asked to bring items for.
$18.74 in Non-Food items since card has come
$47.82 in Food Stamps
 $133.07 total for the month to date.

This total will increase marginally as I need to get some more bread.

On another note I mentioned in a previous post how my trade group helps me stretch my budget by allowing me to offload items I am no longer using for items I need. Below are the items I received in trade yesterday for a light jacket and the Green Chef meal we were not going to eat

Tuesday Night dinner on the new budget

It was misting a bit when I got off work yesterday which made traffic sketchy on the way to the sitter. I picked up the kids and went a couple of streets over from the sitter's house to complete a trade. The person did not have the item clearly placed and was not answering my calls so we headed home. The kids and I passed a turned over car on the way home which made me say a quick thank you to God that I had come through when I did. All of this put me home about 7 and so I needed to make fast work of getting dinner on the table. On my grocery run on Saturday I had purchased this ham with a coupon.

With the coupon this ham was $5.84 and I went ahead and separated it out for 3 meals. During the day I had scouted out a couple of recipes to try using the ham and settled on a soup since the weather was a bit dreary. This is the recipe I used with a couple of tweaks. Since I did not decide to make this the night before I did not have time to soak dry beans so I used a couple of cans of cannellini beans. The recipe was good but I think would be better if I had time to allow the flavors to soak in more. I used some homemade broth I had in the freezer as well as some carrots and celery I needed to use up from the last co-op basket. This recipe was a win win all the way around for both my budget and need for soup on a dreary evening. Here is a picture of my bowl right before I ate it!

This morning I packed the munchkin's lunch and thought I will need to stop and pick up some bread tonight or else pack him our homemade version of a Lunchable tomorrow which for him is pepperoni and a cheese stick. Not sure which option I am going to pick right now, will just depend on how things go as I am leaving work tonight. We have already had pasta this week so I am trying to think of what I am going to fix for dinner tonight with stuff I have on hand. I need to use up some potatoes I purchased through the co-op as well as some more carrots and celery. Soup is not really what I want to make again so I am going to mull it over and hopefully come up with something before I head home. For my lunches I brought a loaf of bread and some lunch meat from the freezer. That along with some mayo and mustard stashed at work will get me through this week. As I have a chance I will total up the groceries, non food and co-op purchases for this month and put those totals up.

Sunday Funday and refund trip

Sunday I skipped church this week, I know horrible. The tiny one and I stayed home while Logan went to church with Phillip. After a morning of cleaning, baking banana bread and getting the tiny one to take a short nap we went to the trade group admin meeting which is the reason I skipped church. It was good to talk with other fun ladies and figure out what my role will be in this community we have built. After getting home from this meeting I cleaned a bit more and then took a dive in the Green Chef items and made the Orange Chicken. Below is a picture of the ingredients!

It was tasty, a little heavy on the orange zest but not bad at all. There was really only a smidge leftover so it could not have been too bad.

Monday I only worked in the afternoon as we were not open that morning ( illness with coworker). Since I was home with the tiny one while his dada went to the doctor we hung out and did a little more cleaning and a little more napping. I tried to go by Kroger on the way into work but the line at customer service was insane. While there however, I went by the clearance section and came away with the items in the picture below for $4.90

Since I was not able to complete the return I swung back by after work and got my money back. Once finally home I fixed the Elk Bolognese from Green Chef

I did not manage to remember to take a picture of the ingredients, this is a picture of it in process. This one was pretty good and definitely not gamey as I feared. After baths and clean up the evening ended but then ramped up again. The tiny one threw up on the bed and then started screaming and a couple hours later we had a bed wetting issue that had to be addressed. Thankfully everyone was off to the races ok this morning. Since I have fixed all of the Green Chef meals I have to come up with dinner from stuff I have on hand. As promised I will keep the blog updated on what we are cooking and eating on our new budget.

Grocery Shopping for the First Time on the New Budget

I need to clear the air on a couple of issues I see. My old budget of $200 also included any household supplies, dog food, diapers and toiletries we needed. Food Stamps does not cover these items so I will still have to keep some cash in the budget to cover these items, the $89 budget will cover food. I obviously am not going to still spend $200 with $111 in toiletries. There will also be at least once a month when I spend cash on produce as I still want to participate in my produce co-op. It has been a great way to get a large quantity of produce without breaking the budget so I forsee it as a way to supplement the food stamps without adding a lot to the budget. I am going to need to feel this out for a couple of months before I see how much I need to budget for these 2 things.

That is out in the open now so on to my weekend and the trip to Kroger for my first time to use food stamps. I spent part of Friday getting coupons together and going through the ads to plan my strategy. I was trying to purchase as little as I could to get through this month since the amount that I do not use carries over and next month I would have more to spend. Saturday morning came and the munchkin went with his dada to Lowe's to build another balsa wood creation. It was a lovely picture frame which he gifted to me once he was home. While they were gone the tiny one and I hung 2 loads of laundry out on the line and worked on cleaning up the house. I  took both of the boys to the library for our weekly visit and then home to play outside and plant my Valentine gift from Phillip. I hung out another load of laundry before Logan (the munchkin) had to go with Phillip to get his hair cut. While they were doing this Clark (the tiny one) and I made our trip to Kroger by the house. The area I live in is very working class so I felt more stares for the amount of coupons I had than the lonestar card I was using to pay for the items. Below was supposed to be a picture of the food items I purchased and the receipt. My phone however is eating pictures and although I can see it on my phone it will not upload. I did buy some non-food items(dog food and a package of treats) which I paid for out of pocket. I did not take a picture of these items as I had not completely thought this through on Saturday.

The total for food stamps is $50.79 but I ended up getting $2.97 back for an over charge in foodstuffs. I also got back $4.00 for an overcharge in non food items so my totals are $47.82 in food stamps spent and $13.84 in non food items. I am going to have to figure out why some pictures will not come off my phone and for purposes of this blog start using my actual camera. Saturday wrapped up with grocery put up, baths and books. Logan came home with what he is calling his zebra hair ( a fauxhawk). I think only my child would consider this zebra hair instead of shark hair. Sunday was another day and another post as well as Monday when I had to go get the refunds and came out with some stellar deals.

Friday's Green Chef package

The Green Chef order came on Friday! It was like Christmas to unpack all the amazing food. I made sure to take a picture for my Facebook group and here it is.

This is 3 meals worth of food that I bought on a promotion for $9 to cover shipping. This order really will help us get out of the month on budget.

Here is a picture of the Carrot Gnocchi meal which I am actually trading for some cocoa powder and condensed  milk. If you have read the blog before or know me personally you know that I belong to a trade group and sometimes it is the only way I can get stuff I need. The cocoa powder and condensed milk were on my grocery list so I just asked for those in trade. After all that explanation here is a pick of just the ingredients for the Carrot Gnocchi. 

 

Working Poor and the past few months

I have not made a legitimate post in a few months, and a lot has happened in that time. My honey was laid off which we knew was coming as well as I had a baby which we also knew was coming. What we did not know was that we would be going on 14 months now of unemployment. I have kept my job and benefits which has been a godsend but my honey has been a stay at home dad/full time student for the last 14 months. Being able to cut the time the kids are at the sitter has saved us a ton of money which until recently I had been socking away in our savings account and paying off some small bills. I did apply for and receive WIC once we knew the unemployment was certain. This saved us a ton on groceries/formula and I am forever grateful for this option. We were hoping this was the only assistance we would need as Phillip was going to get a job quickly.....again that was our hope. He finished the police academy in December and had all of his past qualifications reinstated so he thought another job would be imminent. Fast forward 2 more months and he is still looking daily while continuing with classes to get his Bachelor's. This continued uncertainty and unemployment has wrecked the savings we had and while we are not destitute we are now officially among the working poor. I applied for and received some food stamp benefits which will free up the $200 I was spending per month to go toward our house or car payments. The new budget for food is tighter than I thought I could ever work with, $89 a month is what the state deems I need to feed a family of 4. In fairness I think they do not count the tiny one since WIC is still helping with baby food and formula. We are busting every stereotype out there for those who are on public assistance. I have a Bachelor's degree and a professional license. I work in a good job that I have been at for 12 years with excellent benefits. This job has always allowed me to have health insurance on the family and this year before we knew what was coming I opted for dental and vision insurance also. As witnessed by this blog we are not huge spenders and I try to be responsible with my spending. Until our situation changes this blog will morph into how I am making due with $89 a month in groceries. This month I actually have $112 to spend as the card just made it to me yesterday and they had prorated some of January on there. Totals and hopefully pictures to come on how I have made this last. If you are looking at the date you know that I have already made January's $200 stretch clear through mid-February while I waited for them to issue the card.

Labels seem to work best for me at this time

The label option seems to work best for me at this point until I totally figure out the pages option so I am going to keep it simple right now. Simple but organized is what I really need in my life at this point. More to come later today when I have a break at work.

trying "labels" to see if it works......

trying the label suggestion currently.

Figure this out

I have been absent for a time, during that break I have talked with other bloggers trying to figure this out. I am determined to work on and figure it out today!