As the first frost approached I went out to the garden and scavenged for the last of its production for the year. I found some really nice green beans and a half dozen or so green tomatoes. The beans went into the freezer to be added to soup. The fried green tomatoes made a nice addition to an evening meal we had.
I roasted some granola using oats we bought in bulk several years ago as well as other foods bought in bulk or we stocked up on during some amazing sales. This is probably our favorite quick breakfast these days and sometimes we even take it for lunches. And I found myself without white flour!!! I knew I was close but I did run out so I dug into the wheat flour that I’d purchased at $1.00 per 5 pound bag. Knowing that wheat rises differently than my usual half and half bread I went after a recipe designed specifically for whole wheat bread in order to ensure it would rise properly. Rise it did!!! This slice on the right is sitting on a dinner plate! It was ginormous!!! Needless to say we all ate half sandwiches for the next several days. It was really good too.
Rick’s great Aunt Eleanor passed away and we were the recipients of some of her furniture from her nearby home; a beautiful chair and china cabinet which are both Vintage. The date on the back of the china cabinet is stamped 6/28/60. We also received some lamps, a decorative shelf, glass items, a really neat stool and some other odds and ends that are both beautiful and useful. We also gleaned some paper products, cleaning products and food items given to us from her home. It felt a little strange to be taking these things but it is nice to keep these beautiful and useful things in the family. My mother-in-law was her closest living relative which is how we came to receive these things. Otherwise they would have been donated or sold.
We received a whole box of blue cheese containers for free because they were about to expire. I placed them in the freezer and then pulled one small container out to make blue cheese stuffed potatoes and blue cheese dressing. The potatoes were a great sale at $1.00 a bag and the bacon was also purchased at under $2 per pound meeting my meat price requirement. It’s been a long time since we had bacon. Mmmm!
Kaitlyn went on her first field trip ever to Iron’s Fruit Farm. She got to bring home a sweet little pumpkin from the farm she visited and when asked what she would do with her pumpkin she told everyone she was going to make it into muffins and a pie. That’s exactly what we did and we roasted its seeds along with those from our Jack-O-Lantern as well. No waste!
We popped some popcorn for taking in lunches one day as a fun snack; a smart choice compared with the $4 bag of chips we could have bought. Popped corn, home canned peaches, homemade jam on homemade bread… the only thing we didn’t produce from basics was peanut butter.
And the best fun frugal project of all was digging into the dress-up box in the attic and supplementing from the backs of closets for all of this years Halloween costumes. It even enabled some of the children to be one thing for the Halloween Party we attended and something warmer for actually trick or treating. The kids had a blast trying things on, pairing them and choosing what to be. More on that later…
Successful month but for one thing… the OVEN! The whole thing blew and we had to replace it. I made food in the crock pot or microwave for the days we were without a stove or oven. Usually we pay cash or earn a reward and pay things off right away. With the recent car repairs we had to have done and a promised pay check that has not come through yet we could not afford to do that this time. But we’re getting right back on track with the budget and planning for next years challenges.
And that sums up my economics skills put to use in October.
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