From My Home to Yours
5/16/25
~ our pantry is going to make hunkering down more doable ~
If you read the last post, you will know that we are back in 'hunkering down' mode again because of a necessary vehicle purchase and in this post, I want to talk with you about how our well-stocked pantry is going to be an important tool in accomplishing our goal of paying off early the debt we incurred. (You're going to hear me talking about using 'tools' in this 'get the debt paid off' journey quite a bit.)
So ... how is our pantry going to be an aid in paying off this debt early? Glad you asked ...
Our well-stocked pantry means we don't have to go to the grocery store as often which means we have more money to apply towards the debt ...
Going hand in hand with not having to go to the grocery store as often is the fact that since the need to spend is less, that means we are driving less which translates into less money spent on gasoline and more money to apply towards the debt ...
Using from our well-stocked pantry daily gives us opportunity to get creative and often time getting creative with what we have instead of running to the store to purchase 'specific items' means we have more money to apply towards the debt ...
(Every little bit counts, no matter how small that little bit is. It's a mindset thing!)
Yes, our pantry is a tool that is going to help us achieve our goal, but always using means it needs constant resupplying. Here are a few ways we've resupplied or have things 'in the works' to resupply our pantry this week with little to no money outlay ...
cranberry beans fresh from the canner
While traveling I found 2 bags of dried cranberry beans at a good price. This week I canned those up using ham bone broth. A dear friend gave me two ham bones; I made broth from them and then used that broth to can the cranberry beans in. I have 13 jars of cranberry beans and 1 jar of pinto beans. Why the one jar of pinto beans? I needed one more jar of something for the canner and since cranberry beans and pinto beans process at the same pressure and length of time, I just filled the 14th jar about a third full of washed dried beans (which I had on hand) and added it to the canner.
Out in the garden, the calendula I grew from seed is starting to bloom. I'll collect and dry these and use them in herbal remedies I make instead of buy.
The garlic is ready to harvest. I'll let it cure and then use it in making herbal remedies as well as for culinary purposes. Again, saving ourselves money!
Do you see what I see? We have baby green tomatoes. Oh, the many things we can do with garden fresh tomatoes for our pantry!
And finally, in spite of intentionally staying out of the grocery store as much as possible, we do go grocery shopping from time to time and today was one of those times. Look at the bargain's hubby found.
Let's do a breakdown ...
the Nestle's Crunch bars were regular priced at $6.19 per bag ... we paid $1.25 per bag
The Hershey's Kisses were regular priced at $9.29 per bag ... we paid $2.32 per bag
Both varieties of candy will be used in cookie making, baked goodies and for those times when the only thing that will do is a bit of chocolate!
The Bob Evans sausages were regular priced at $4.49 per package ... we paid $2.69 per package
The Smithfield sausage patties were regular priced at $3.99 per package ... we paid $2.39 per package
The Johnsonville sausage patties were regular priced at $5.49 per package ... we paid $2.69 per package
We saved a whopping $62.38!
After hubby brought his purchases home, I froze the crunch bars, Chocolate Kisses and the Bob Evans sausage rolls. The other 5 packages of sausage got cooked and refrigerated for breakfast meals over the next few days. A big portion of the cooked sausage will be flash frozen and added to the freezer for quick heat and eat meals in the future.
I found a way to save on liquid soap using bits of leftover soap bars from the shower. Here's what I did, I took one of those 'hard to hold' soap bar remains, cut it up into slivers and added it to a recycled liquid soap bottle. Next, I brought some water to a slight boil and poured it into the liquid soap bottle. I put the pump back on and gave it a good shake. The soap melted into the hot water, and it was ready to use. I give it a good shake before use if it looks like it's not mixed well. (I'm happy with its texture and consistency.) I'm very pleased with this discovery and will no longer be purchasing liquid soap. One less thing I need to purchase makes me happy and puts more of my money back into my pocket ... and you know where that saved money is going!
One more thing, since this post is heavily pantry laden, I thought I would show you one of my pantry areas that I cleaned out and restocked. This picture is after it was emptied and scrubbed down with soapy water.
Here it is restocked with my broths. The top shelf houses beef broth and the lower one houses chicken broth. (You can see that there is very little homemade broth on these shelves, that's because I'm almost out. Thankfully, while traveling we happened across a really good clearance sale on beef and chicken stock, so I restocked. This will buy me some time until I can make more myself! Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do!)
I get asked from time to time where I keep my well-stocked pantry in my small house and I just laugh and say my whole house is a pantry, we just live in it. This is one example of where and how I manage a well-stocked pantry in a 925 sq ft house. Those wooden drink cases under this piece of furniture houses our cream of 'whatever' soups. When the doors to the piece of furniture are closed, you can't see what's inside. You can't see what's inside the crates either unless you get down and look under the piece of furniture. Sometimes you just have to think outside of the box when it comes to places to keep your well-stocked pantry! Where there's a will, there's a way!
This post has been all over the place in regard to restocking our pantry with little money outlay while 'squirreling' away any extra monies to go toward our goal of making 2 vehicle payments each month instead of one. We've already made one for this month and now we're pinching pennies, using the word 'no' a lot and saving everything we can to come up with enough to make a second one before the end of the month. It's going to be hard, some would say impossible on our income, but we are praying and working hard. Don't count us out, we're from the 'old school' where hard work and sacrifice are the name of the game.
I have one more thing to share and then I promise I will sign off. It's time for our Thursday ladies Bible class to do another study. This one is on Hagar. I've learned a lot about Hagar doing the research for this study that I didn't know. I've titled it ...
Ladies, you're invited to 'attend.'
That's all for this week!
I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.
Until the next time ...
Always inspired and encouraged. I’ve had a major life event and a week in hospital. Insurance will cover a lot, but I will need to hunker down to pay my share!! I’d love to know where you found all the bargains!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, those hospital stays can be quite expensive even with insurance. We finally got our part of them paid off from my hubby's 7 day stay in a specialized unit.
DeleteI found the broth bargains at a Mennonite store while traveling and the other food bargains at a Food Lion. We both always have our eyes out for food bargains wherever we happen to shop.
Patsi congratulations on your new to you car and I know you will have it paid off very quickly with your ingenious ways of saving money, hard work and determination :) . With prices being so high on everything it pays to be on the lookout for all those wonderful grocery and other bargains that you can use at a fraction of the price.9
ReplyDeleteLike yourselves we purchased a new car for me this time in December last year mainly because there was a new fuel efficiency tax coming in January this year on cars in Australia which would have made them far more expensive as the car companies passed on the cost of paying fines for inefficient fuel consumption cars. We were fortunate that we were able to pay for the car with cash but now of course we are looking to replace that money we spent from savings.
We have been doing similar and sourcing most everything we need in groceries and other items at bargain prices. This week I managed to pick up 12 x 600ml of thickened cream free :), so I plan to make butter out of most of it and keep some in the freezer for desserts too. I have never made butter before but there is plenty of tutorials online that I can follow that don't look too hard. With butter being $7.00 per 500g that is a huge saving so the savings can go into topping up our savings account again. I was also able to pick up throat lozenges for 50c per 16 pack box and bought 12 packets and they are usually $6.50 per pack so that was another savings of $72.00. I also picked up half price crackers saving $12.00 on usual prices, half price soft drink saving another $14, and a few packets of half price lollies saving another $5. Taking advantage of all these savings certainly keeps down our costs on groceries and some medical items too and adds more to our savings faster to replace money spent on my new car.
Hoping everyone else is making good progress on hunkering down to achieve their goals too.
Lorna.
Lorna, you said it well, 'taking advantage of all these savings certainly keeps down our costs on groceries and on groceries and some medical items too and adds more to our savings faster ..." Our 'savings' are going towards making an extra vehicle payment every month.
DeleteButter is not hard to make and yes, there are several tutorials available free online. You can do it!
We've upped the savings 'game' to meet our goal, and it sounds like you have too!
Congrats on the bargains, the pantry and hunkering down. It is remarkable what we can accomplish when we pay our bills FIRST and then live on what remains. We get out of debt yet we eat :-) Sometimes we simply are more creative out of necessity.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a terrific week!
Elle, thank you and yes, creativity is sometimes a necessity and sometimes it can be quite fun!
DeleteYou have picked up some impressive bargains there :) Sometimes time is as important as money and buying broth while it is on offer will give you more time to garden and save money that way. Win, win!
ReplyDeleteOur son uses huge amounts of shower gel, but rarely empties the bottle before opening a new one. He has severe learning difficulties and is like a small child when it comes to the novelty of a new bottle. My husband uses the dregs for his own showers or tops up one partially used bottle with another one that is only partially used, which will then meet with our son's approval. Once they get down really low we top them up with water and decant into the liquid soap dispenser I keep by the kitchen sink. At least that way we use every drop up, rather than half of it ending up in the bin.
Tracy, yes, we feel bargain shopping is just as beneficial as any other 'savings' tool we use to meet our financial goals.
DeleteI had not thought about doing the dregs of shower gel the same way as soap slivers. My hubby likes a certain shower gel and is good to 'empty' the bottle, but there is always a small amount left in the bottom.
Now I'll be adding some water to the bottle to get those dregs into a liquid soap dispenser. Thank you for sharing!
What grocery store had those great deals?
ReplyDeleteLee Ann
Lee Ann, Food Lion!
DeleteYou got this! Those beans will be so good. I had wondered about doing that with soap slivers. I'm going to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteLana, you can make the liquid soap as thick or as thin as you want it based on the amount of water you add. I'm very pleased with the end results.
DeleteGood job! I am stocking up too, as I expect inflation to come roaring back. Even though I make my own stock/broth, I like mixing it with equal amounts of the stuff in boxes. Finding a box for less than $1.25 means I am going to purchase multiples for sure.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Murphy, we found the boxes of broth we got for less than $1 per box, we just couldn't walk away from it for that price! The cans were $.54/can.
DeleteWe are always in stocking up mode, life is just too uncertain and can throw you a curve ball or two!
Thanks for the inspiration article!
ReplyDeleteBeans canning is the thing, i don't try it before, because in german old books is written, that beans are very difficult and you have to cook them twice so that they do not spoil. Can you write me, how long do these bean jars last.
I canned this week 7 jars soup from green Beans and Zuccini. I got zucchini for 25%.
Greetings from Germany
Sibylle
Sibylle, dry beans are some of the easiest things to can. Here is how I do it. I wash and clean the dry beans. I then add 1/3 cup of the cleaned beans to a quart size canning jar, add 1 teaspoon salt and fill jar with water or broth up to the shoulder of the jar ... about 1 inch from the top of the jar. I put a clean lid on the jar after cleaning the rim of the jar with a wet cloth and screw on the ring. I fill my pressure canner about 1/4 - 1/3 full of water and set the jars in the canner. Dry beans must be pressure canned ... never water bath dry beans! I process them for 90 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure for my elevation. I start the timer for the 90 minutes once the 10 lbs of pressure has been reached. When the 90 minutes are up, I let the pressure come down naturally without any help from me. When the pressure is back down to zero, I open the canner and crack the lid. I let it sit this way for about 10 minutes. Then I remove the jars, sit them on a towel or canning mat and allow them to sit untouched for 24 hours. After the 24 hours, I remove the rings, wash down the outside of the jars and label the lids. I move them to the pantry at that point and the job is done.
DeleteI planted some zucchini today!!! Your beans and zucchini soup sounds interesting.
Sibylle, I made a mistake in these instructions. It should read 'then add 1/3 beans from the bottom of the jar' not add 1/3 cup of beans to the jar. I'm so sorry!
DeleteThank you for the detailed instructions
ReplyDeleteSibylle, you're welcome!
Deletepatsy, are you sure the amount of dry beans is only 1/3 c. for a quart or is it 1/3 full in the bottom, then topped off w/water or stock.? i make these and that is the amount i use. maybe you have a different process.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, thank you! You are right, it should be 1/3 full in the bottom! Thank you so much for catching my mistake and bring it to my attention!!!
DeleteThank you so much for the soap idea! I've got to try that one.
ReplyDelete