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sweetpumkinpye

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Apr 23, 2008
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Ticked off everything on my to do list.
 

jampss

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Oct 24, 2007
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Last night did a mini spa for my feet ... warm soak, did nails, lotion, fuzzy socks. So relaxing.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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I got everything on my grocery list (plus a few extras) and stayed under budget.
 

Minta

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Oct 14, 2007
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One of my goals for 2023 is to be more mindful of my food budget, which includes eliminating food waste. Although I usually cut recipes in half, making 2 servings instead of 4, there's often something that doesn't get used up when I repurpose dinner into lunch (i.e. chicken with all the fixings for dinner, leftovers made into chicken salad for lunch the next day; what do I do with the rice or stuffing and leftover veg?). Had leftover stuffing from the weekend, and made a 1/2 batch of meatloaf for dinner tonite. Hmmm ... why use breadcrumbs for the binder, when I have leftover stuffing? My recipe calls for sage, and that's in the stuffing, so I gave it a go. Turned out excellent! A win-win toward one of my goals AND on dinner.

Oh this is me too. Grocery budget is nuts. Need to follow sales more closely and use up leftovers or freeze them. Sometimes those smaller conatiners of leftovers gets pushed to back of the fridge only to be found 3 weeks later :eek:. We are good about bringing lunch to work. I really need to work on weekly menus, to many time I forget to take something out of the freezer and there goes the dinner idea right out the window.
 

Minta

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DH and I signed back up with the gym this week and we have gone twice so far.

Been putting more focus on my side business in the evenings instead of watching TV. Definitely need to ramp up with it.
 

Lori K

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Nov 13, 2018
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Oh this is me too. Grocery budget is nuts. Need to follow sales more closely and use up leftovers or freeze them. Sometimes those smaller conatiners of leftovers gets pushed to back of the fridge only to be found 3 weeks later :eek:. We are good about bringing lunch to work. I really need to work on weekly menus, to many time I forget to take something out of the freezer and there goes the dinner idea right out the window.
The key for me is to make sure my weekly menu is front and center in my kitchen, so that if I need to pull something from the freezer to thaw, I see it first thing, before I (used to) leave for work, head out the door, or start some household project. I used to use a magnetic planner tablet on my refrigerator, then switched to a book-format. The magnetic menu planner worked better for me. But, now, I just leave the notebook open on the counter each night.
 

PamelaG

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May 27, 2011
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We'll probably have a COTF - clean out the fridge - night every other week to take care of those smaller containers. Makes for an interesting combo meal but no waste.
 

Minta

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The key for me is to make sure my weekly menu is front and center in my kitchen, so that if I need to pull something from the freezer to thaw, I see it first thing, before I (used to) leave for work, head out the door, or start some household project. I used to use a magnetic planner tablet on my refrigerator, then switched to a book-format. The magnetic menu planner worked better for me. But, now, I just leave the notebook open on the counter each night.
I usually know what to pull out the freezer before leaving for work but sometimes my mom ties me up in the morning causing me to run late and I forget" to go to the freezer. I need to pull stuff out the night before. I do like the notebook on the counter idea .. this way DH can see it and help make sure the meat is out of the freezer.

My mom is a non-admitting diabetic with other health problems that limits her. She refuses to admit she is a diabetic and if I don't check her sugar and give her the insulin then it doesn't get done. It's like having another child in the house only worse.
 

Miss JoDee

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Apr 22, 2011
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I set aside, Saturdays as leftovers. It keeps the fridge clean out. I cleaned out the fridge yesterday and found that 1/2 container of yogurt I thought might have something lurking behind it. Nothing behind it but the yogurt needed to go. Ah well, will have to watch closer.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Apr 23, 2008
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The magnetic menu planner worked better for me.
I use a calendar from the dollar shop. It cost $2. It is attached by magnets to the front of my fridge. I can see a whole month of menus on there and also look back and see when I last prepared something. It also helps remind me how long leftovers have been in the fridge/freezer. I keep the calendars from the past few years and look at them every now and then as a reminder. This system has worked for us for many years.
 

MrsSoup

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Oct 13, 2007
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I didn't loose my ish today at school. That is success enough for me.
 

AnnieClaus

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Nov 6, 2007
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Same with Jessica. Maintained Peace and Positivity at work today even though yesterday I left work completely demoralized and devastated.

Also- I have not had anything from any restaurant in two weeks!!
I dug my heels in and stuck to it!!

Annie
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Finally hemmed some curtains for the farm!!! Only been waiting since October.
 

missjane

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Oct 13, 2007
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Louisiana
Same with Jessica. Maintained Peace and Positivity at work today even though yesterday I left work completely demoralized and devastated.

Also- I have not had anything from any restaurant in two weeks!!
I dug my heels in and stuck to it!!

Annie
No restaurant meals in two weeks is big, IMO!! I've been working on that, too, but DGS#1's baseball season starts soon. It WILL get harder, if not impossible! And, it's SO expensive now. I always think how many groceries I could have bought with that amount of money!
 

Minta

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No restaurant meals in two weeks is big, IMO!! I've been working on that, too, but DGS#1's baseball season starts soon. It WILL get harder, if not impossible! And, it's SO expensive now. I always think how many groceries I could have bought with that amount of money!
As a HS Marching Band parents some things we did to reduce food costs were to being premade sandwiches or bring a cooler of sandwich fixings. Thermos of Hotdogs or container of cold fried chicken are other options. Containers of potato and/or macaroni salad, cole slaw.
Bags of chips, packages of cookies and other snacks. fruit.