Update on DS's consumer experiment
Here's an update on my sister's "live off you food storage" experiment.
Enjoy, how are you all doing?
We have been very blessed, although I do not shop for groceries out of my budget, we are on WIC for milk, eggs, cheese and some cereal, plus I go to our foodbank once a week. I got 4 bushels of apples last week, I just finished putting them all up.
I got 13 more quarts of applesauce and about 15 or so pints of apple butter, and then froze 3 qts of it, because I ran out of jars. We'll eat those up first. I'm trying not to have too much in my freezer in case the power goes out again for a week.
Here's Sis's update:
Hi All,
Maybe this is Provident Living Practice.
Here’s my confessions. A couple of people asked if I were going to buy gas, or Christmas. I thought I’d better define my parameters for this experiment. All I’m really trying to do is not go grocery or household shopping. We have a couple of roasts, about 20 lbs of hamburger, 5 pounds of sausage, half a dozen packages of chicken (in various parts and pieces) and some fish and salmon. I have frozen and canned vegetables. Since our family is smaller and our children are still under 10, we don’t’ eat as much as some families would. For us so far, it’s just the same, maybe a little better, because I’m trying to plan meals and not be so impulsive. We are buying gas, of course, but I’m trying to drive around less. If you stay at home, you need less fuel. I realized about mid-week that there was a zip lock bag of old salad in the vegetable drawer and I was sad that it had gotten brown because I couldn’t go buy more salad. This is making me realize how wasteful I’ve been in the past.
Monday I went to our local grocery store two times to pick up a prescription I’d ordered on Saturday. I just recently have been able to get a 3 month supply of my prescriptions, so I wanted to do that before we started non-shopping. But on Saturday, they didn’t have 90 pills—so I went Monday to pick up. But, the pharmacist had an emergency and the pharmacy was closed. Finally, Tuesday I was able to pick up my pills. Then on Wednesday, DH asked me if I’d pick up a prescription for him. So, I went back again. But, I only walked through the store to the pharmacy. In the past when I’ve gone to pick up a prescription, I’ve always picked up something else—just because I was in the store and sometimes because the kids were with me and they wanted a snack. It was a good reminder of how easy it is to impulse shop. Plus, even though I was trying to plan ahead on the prescriptions, I didn’t plan far enough in advance.
I actually had to buy something today. A friend asked me to bring her crock pot home from an event on Saturday and bring it to her later, which I was happy to do. I did and dropped it in my garage yesterday. So, today I bought a new crockpot. I realized that emergencies (minor though this was) happen and you need to be prepared with some cash.
I made a chicken casserole with stuffing; we’ve had taco soup; everyone loved the rigatoni casserole sprinkled with cheese. For breakfast we’ve had French toast, cooked oatmeal, and cold cereal (that will end soon.)
I’ve mixed milk half and half with Morning Moo. It’s actually very good. I can’t tell the difference. I think I have another week of mixed milk and then we’ll be drinking Morning Moo all the time.
I had a big package of cheese sticks frozen in the freezer and have gotten a new set of 12 out when the old ones are gone. We’re eating them much faster that I thought.
I did get a haircut on Friday, but I justified it by saying that I’d actually made the appointment a week before I began the experiment; Friday was just the first day that would fit my schedule.
(End of update)
How are you doing in your experiments? Post and let me know.
Enjoy, how are you all doing?
We have been very blessed, although I do not shop for groceries out of my budget, we are on WIC for milk, eggs, cheese and some cereal, plus I go to our foodbank once a week. I got 4 bushels of apples last week, I just finished putting them all up.
I got 13 more quarts of applesauce and about 15 or so pints of apple butter, and then froze 3 qts of it, because I ran out of jars. We'll eat those up first. I'm trying not to have too much in my freezer in case the power goes out again for a week.
Here's Sis's update:
Hi All,
Maybe this is Provident Living Practice.
Here’s my confessions. A couple of people asked if I were going to buy gas, or Christmas. I thought I’d better define my parameters for this experiment. All I’m really trying to do is not go grocery or household shopping. We have a couple of roasts, about 20 lbs of hamburger, 5 pounds of sausage, half a dozen packages of chicken (in various parts and pieces) and some fish and salmon. I have frozen and canned vegetables. Since our family is smaller and our children are still under 10, we don’t’ eat as much as some families would. For us so far, it’s just the same, maybe a little better, because I’m trying to plan meals and not be so impulsive. We are buying gas, of course, but I’m trying to drive around less. If you stay at home, you need less fuel. I realized about mid-week that there was a zip lock bag of old salad in the vegetable drawer and I was sad that it had gotten brown because I couldn’t go buy more salad. This is making me realize how wasteful I’ve been in the past.
Monday I went to our local grocery store two times to pick up a prescription I’d ordered on Saturday. I just recently have been able to get a 3 month supply of my prescriptions, so I wanted to do that before we started non-shopping. But on Saturday, they didn’t have 90 pills—so I went Monday to pick up. But, the pharmacist had an emergency and the pharmacy was closed. Finally, Tuesday I was able to pick up my pills. Then on Wednesday, DH asked me if I’d pick up a prescription for him. So, I went back again. But, I only walked through the store to the pharmacy. In the past when I’ve gone to pick up a prescription, I’ve always picked up something else—just because I was in the store and sometimes because the kids were with me and they wanted a snack. It was a good reminder of how easy it is to impulse shop. Plus, even though I was trying to plan ahead on the prescriptions, I didn’t plan far enough in advance.
I actually had to buy something today. A friend asked me to bring her crock pot home from an event on Saturday and bring it to her later, which I was happy to do. I did and dropped it in my garage yesterday. So, today I bought a new crockpot. I realized that emergencies (minor though this was) happen and you need to be prepared with some cash.
I made a chicken casserole with stuffing; we’ve had taco soup; everyone loved the rigatoni casserole sprinkled with cheese. For breakfast we’ve had French toast, cooked oatmeal, and cold cereal (that will end soon.)
I’ve mixed milk half and half with Morning Moo. It’s actually very good. I can’t tell the difference. I think I have another week of mixed milk and then we’ll be drinking Morning Moo all the time.
I had a big package of cheese sticks frozen in the freezer and have gotten a new set of 12 out when the old ones are gone. We’re eating them much faster that I thought.
I did get a haircut on Friday, but I justified it by saying that I’d actually made the appointment a week before I began the experiment; Friday was just the first day that would fit my schedule.
(End of update)
How are you doing in your experiments? Post and let me know.
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