Fear of the future or THANKFUL for today?

I'm still struggling to stay within my $360 grocery budget for 2 adults. Yep, I raised it from $260 because I kept going over once we started eating lower carb. I can do $360 but it's still very challenging. I keep trying new things and praying for God to show me how to shop and cook.

Prices continue to rise but my husband disability check is staying the same. My imagination can live in the 'what ifs' of a fearful future if I dwell on the wrong things.

 I would much rather dwell on God's faithfulness. Those thoughts bring peace, thankfulness and joy. And oh my .... how faithful He HAS been for the 56 years he has given  life and breath.

 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true,

 whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure

, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

THINK about such things. Phil 4:8 NIV

When we first started having financial difficulties 5 years ago I often thought about  the children of Israel and their journey through the desert. I reminded myself how the Lord fed them manna DAILY (except on Sat when he gave them extra for the Sabbath). I would remind myself how their shoes did not wear out. "He" was their provider. He was my provider. It brought such peace and increased my faith!

Low carb pumpkin pie

And He has provided for my husband and I daily over these past years ... wonderfully.. unconventionally... and beautifully! It took over 5 years to come through those financial difficulties but God provided food, clothing and shelter in the midst of some very difficult times.

 I can choose to look for God's blessings each day (and boy are they everywhere) or I can choose to fear what 'might' happen in the future. My fear steals the joy I could be living in today as I count the multitude of God's blessings and provision. 

I will leave my tomorrows in His capable hands!

My daughter, daughter in love and granddaughter at a 'tea party'.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?  Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are?"  Matthew 6:25-33 (NET)

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Here are a few ways I stretched our income this week along with my Typical Frugal Day Routine:

- I pressure canned 7 jars of Romano green beans and 7 jars of a variety of hot peppers from our garden. I continue to slice and freeze the okra until I have enough to fry. I'm also freezing the small amount of raspberries that are picked to use for smoothies. 

- I used another eggplant from our garden and made Eggplant Parmesan. It was a meatless dinner meal. 


- I washed a piece of seran wrap to reuse. I also saved a bread wrapper and a high protein cereal box wrapper to reuse. I'm using the cereal box (turned inside out) to mail some items.  Waste Not! Want Not! :-)

- I found an egg farm that sells imperfect eggs for $2 a flat or $10 for a box of 6 flats. I bought a box. Eggs have been so expensive in the stores lately so this should save me quite a bit and last for a month or longer. I plan on using more eggs for lunches. I boiled some today for egg salad and fried up eggs for husband's sandwich. 

- I'm saving the envelopes that come in our bills. I pay my bills through online banking so I don't need the envelopes. They will be used to store the seeds we're saving from this years vegetables.  Which reminds me.. we are saving our vegetable seeds, too! :-) ..

- I made tartar sauce for our fish this week. I used mayo, ketchup and a dill pickle. 

- I tried my hand at a new potholder pattern. It's called  a 'Crocheted Double Thick Diagonal Hotpad'. Here is the free pattern: 

Free Hot Pad Pattern

I'm using a multi-colored cotton thread. I am on Joann's mailing list and get 40% coupons regularly. I keep them in the car until I'm ready to use them. 

- I saved the cotton ball on the top of my new vitamin bottle to reuse for facial astringent or to take off nail poish. 

- I picked up 2 more tall (5 or 7 gallon) plastic food grade buckets at a store bakery to use for my compost scraps. That makes 3 total along with 3 small ones. I should have enough now and they were completely free. 

- I'm searching for low carb  recipes that use meat more as a garnish than the main focus.  I'm hoping this will help lower my food bill. 

- I'm starting to work on Christmas gifts. I know, I know! Summer is not even over yet. But, I don't like to be under pressure so I'll take my time and work on a few projects at a slow pace. Hopefully I can get a nice little stash of handmade gifts set aside before December. 

-  I found a pair of pants at the thrift store for $3. 



How is your grocery budget?  I would so appreciate hearing what you do to keep it low.



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Frugal Friday: Homemade Dog Food

I mentioned in a previous post that I was saving scraps of meat and vegetables to make homemade dog food. I've made it several years ago but this time I wanted to pressure can the jars instead of freezing it. I was motivated to try making it again after I read CANNING GRANNY'S approach. She saves the meat skin,cartilage and other parts of meat that normally would be thrown away. That idea sparked my interest since I'm always looking for new ways to stretch what I already have on hand.

So, I've been saving extra scraps of meat and skin for the past month and came up with quite a bit. I was amazed how much meat I would have thrown away. I ended up with about 12 cups of scraps. I also saved carrot peelings and some celery that I would have normally thrown away.                                                                                                                               

The first batch was made just as CANNING GRANNY suggested. As I was doing a search online to double check the processing time I ran across several warnings to not pressure can rice or noodles because the mixture becomes too thick and you take a chance of the meat spoiling. Since I had already made a batch with the rice I went ahead and froze 2-3 serving sizes per baggie and then put each baggie in a large freezer bag. I just didn't want to take a chance on canning it.

I deleted the rice from the next batches and added extra celery. I tripled the recipe since it didn't go as far without the rice.  I think I will be able to get through a month without buying canned dog food. We will still use the dry food to mix in with the canned.

Here is the recipe:

2 cups cooked carrots
3 cups meat scraps
2 cups chicken broth (Most of the meat scraps were already cooked except for the turkey gizzards and neck so I used the broth once they were cooked. I added 2 teaspoons of chicken broth granuals).
2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar (I only used 1 tsp. to see if my dog would like it).
(I omitted the garlic powder because of mixed reviews and also the white rice and boiled egg).


You could add rice or noodles before you give the food to your dog if you want to stretch it. I do not have a food grinder so I used my blender instead. 

I followed CANNING GRANNIES instructions for the processing. (Always check with your Vet if you're concerned about changing your pet's diet)

This should save me around $10 a month which is a lot of money when you are on a tight budget.  I had all the ingredients on hand  so I didn't have to put anything out of pocket. My husband gave her the first batch tonight and my dog loved it!

Have you ever canned anything that was unusual?

* Be sure to check out more money saving tips at Life as Mom's Frugal Friday!