I got a little behind with my updates. In fact, I am a little under the weather today, and have spent the majority of my day trying to rest and generally feel a little better. So far, I still have a headache, but I am praying that I can be joyful when my husband comes home.
On Monday, I confess I went to the grocery store. Mainly because we needed a few things like milk and fresh produce. I ended up not spending any money out of pocket, because we'd received a gift certificate for Christmas. The nice thing about that was that I also managed to come in under budget and still have a few dollars left to spend on the gift certificate!
I can't remember where I left off with the pantry meals -- I think the last one I recorded was before date night with my husband. So in general, we've polished off the clementines and some oranges and bananas for snacks, the kiddies ate cereal and instant oatmeal we had for breakfasts while I stuck to the old-fashioned oatmeal with slivered almonds, agave nectar and some kind of fruit if we had it. For lunches, we have used up leftovers and, on days where there were no leftovers to be had, ate ramen noodle soup or pb&j.
Dinners were a little more challenging. One night we had ground turkey with sauteed veggies over whole wheat pasta. I also made meat loaf, mashed potatoes and green beans and apple sauce (from a jar though, not homemade this time, since I was down to one apple -- didn't think it would stretch to feed all 8 of us!). The night my husband went hunting, 5 of the 6 kiddies went to sleepovers so Sammy and I used coupons and ate at Burger King. This was a very RARE treat, because we generally as a rule do not do fast food, but he was excited and the meal was very, very cheap with the coupon! Then last night I made something akin to chicken parmesean over linguine, but I'd forgotten to bread the chicken! So it was close, and a meal everyone enjoyed despite that small slip-up! Tonight we have a roast on that will now not languish in the freezer, complete with onions, potatoes and carrots (all of which I had!). Oh -- and somewhere in there I made three loaves of homemade whole wheat bread with homemade honey butter, and doctored up a loaf of store-bought Italian bread, splitting it and brushing with garlic butter and broiling to come up with a fresh garlic bread. We will probably finish up the whole wheat bread tonight, which will mean I need to make more of some type of bread tomorrow. It's getting to be so nice not to have to buy bread at the store anymore.
On top of this, we've used fresh fruits, cheeses (from Christmas!) or leftover ice cream to snack on for desserts.
Not too bad. We are so very blessed. I am especially thinking of that today as I am praying for those in Haiti who have been lost or who lost loved ones or who are just trying to help put things back together again. God's mercies are so good, and I am praying that this tragedy will draw people closer to Him, and that we who are not directly affected will be thankful for our blessings and mindful of those dear fellow humans who have and may currently be suffering.
God bless you and draw you ever closer!
~mary
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