Weekend Preparation (HOMEMADE POTATO SALAD!)

Thursday's are the day I figure out what I have in the pantry or freezer that I can cook on Friday for the weekend.  I usually always spend Sat. doing something away from the house and if I have something prepared or in the crockpot waiting for us to get there and eat then we are way less likely to go out to eat.  Also I try to make it a favorite of everyone so we actually look forward to coming home to it and not bummed that we aren't going out to something better.

For today I had boiled 5 lbs of potatoes whole yesterday and took them out of the water and refrigerated them to make potato salad today. Potato salad is pretty frugal.  I got my potatoes for 3.47 for 10 lbs so it took 1.75 for the potatoes.  I boiled 10 eggs (1.00) and peeled them. Then I scraped the peeling off the potatoes and cut them into medium chunks into a large bowl.  .

Then I chopped all the eggs and 1 large onion and dumped those in.

Then I dumped in 3/4 jar of salad dressing, 3 Tbsp of mustard, 3 Tbsp sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all together well and then taste and adjust any one of the ingredients till its the way you want it.

Delish and is way cheaper and better tasting than the store bought.

  I had left over pinto beans from the veggie burgers so I put them in a baking dish and poured some bbq sauce, brown sugar, molasses, salt, pepper, pancake syrup and a dash of cinnamon in and stirred it up.  Taste and adjust any one thing and bake until thick and bubbly.

  Then I took 5 lbs of chicken leg quarters ($1.75) and simply placed them in an oiled cooking sheet and sprinkled with seasoned salt and baked for an hour approx.  Alot of food for little cost plus I had left overs for the next day for lunch.

  I have the turkey I talked about in the last post thawing in the fridge for roasting on Friday.  My plan is to look through some websites for turkey recipes and go from there.  I am thinking some bbq's one of the days but we will see what find that sounds good.  I will have a ton of turkey so I can make probably 4 meals. Some for eating and some for freezing for a busy day.

  One thing I do to save money is run 2 breadmakers at a time.  I either make 2 batches of dough to freeze for quick pizza later or I will make 2 loaves of bread so there is 1 for dinner and 1 for french toast or lunches the next day.  You can pick up breadmakers for 5 bucks a piece at yard sales all the time.  I see them at goodwill all the time also.  Good investment!

  We are expecting some freezing rain here in NC tomorrow starting at noon till 10 at night and again on Sat. morning so I am planning on this being a weekend that we will be staying indoors and at home.  Not sure what we will do.  Should do some organizing and sorting because I looked on craigslist and found a church that is doing a clothing swap in Feb. and that is the perfect chance for my kids to go shopping for free.  They will enjoy that.  I sit a box in the hallway of my house and its usually the goodwill box but now its for the clothes swap.

   I am also using all the t-shirts with holes or stains to make homemade baby wipes. Its suprising how many wipes you get out of one t-shirt you would have thrown away.  This isn't just for if you have babies. You can make these to keep in your car for quick clean-ups also.  You can toss or bag to wash at home.  Either way you are saving money and it is a good feeling to know you can have all the conveniences that people who go out and spend alot of money to have and it costs you nothing!

  I found a math bingo game I had bought at a yard sale awhile ago and I thought I could play this with the kids this weekend for prizes.  I thought I would take a couple sheets of paper and cut them into like 2 x 2 pieces and think up prizes for them to win like  1 extra hour of tv, 1 extra hour on computer, a bubble bath with my special bath foam, choice of what movie we watch that night, a sleep over, pick out of 3 choices of desserts I would make or they could make, use my makeup, ride in the front seat of the car next time, sit in the favorite chair, choice of chairs for a whole day, no chores for a day, etc, etc, etc.  FREE and FUN!

  Well should go look at the cookbooks and websites for the turkey recipes.  Will be back tomorrow with what I find.  Have a great night!

EXTENDING SHAVER LIFE

Frugal Tip:
 
Razor blade dullness is from oxidation, microscopic rusting, than from contact with hair. Water that sits on blades between shaves causes this.  Corrosion can cause metal on the blade to flake off and become jagged. That causes blades to pull and tear hair instead of  slicing through them.  Some say that it has extended their shaver life from 2 weeks to 5 months.  Worth a try!!