So for the past few weeks, I have been putting together a list of crock pot meals that can be frozen. I was planning to take the Tuesday after Memorial Day to do a cook-a-thon and go shopping, put all these meals together and freeze them. I wanted to do it before I had both kids out of school for the summer. I made my grocery list, which ended up being two pages long. I was ready to go on Tuesday.
Like all my best laid plans, this didn't happen either... BUT, it actually worked out so well for me anyway. I had my list and my budget and took Nathaniel with me. We went to Aldi first. When we were done there, we went to Fairplay. FP was having a sale on bone in chicken. Anyone who knows me knows that I despise bone in chicken and God help me if there's skin on it, but I'm trying to save money. (And yes, already fried chicken with bones and skin is fine. I'll fuck that up easy!)
So my grocery list was: 30 chicken breasts, 6 pounds of stew meat, 2 lbs pork loin, 6 pounds of ground beef, 2 lbs ham, 8 chicken thighs, 1 lb drumsticks, and 2 lbs bone in chicken breasts. My veggies were a bag of onions, 4 pack multicolored peppers, 6 green peppers, 5 zucchini, 1 lb carrots, 1 bag baby carrots, 1 bag frozen corn. Fruit: 1 lime, 2 oranges. Canned goods were numerous. Box of chicken stock, box of beef broth, 10 4 ounce tomato sauce (Recipes called for 8 ounce cans, but they didn't have them. I subbed.) 2 cans of green chiles, 10 can diced tomatoes with chiles, 2 jars of minced garlic, 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, 5 cans of cream of celery soup, 4 20 oz cans of pineapple chunks, 28 oz can of enchilada sauce, 1 can black beans, 4 6oz cans of tomato paste. Spices/misc were herb and garlic marinade, hoisin sauce, teriyaki sauce, 2 dry mix of onion soup, 2 taco seasoning packets, egg noodles, and a 24 oz jar of salsa.
So it was a lot to get. Plus I got 2 packs of strawberries, a bag of apples and oranges, a box of cocoa pebbles, 6 more packs of pork chops, 2 bags of potato chips, a large bag of shredded cheddar cheese, a large bag of shredded mozzarella cheese, 2 packs of hamburger buns, a pack of hot dogs buns, 5 noodles sides (Knorr kind, 3 rice sides (Knorr, again), two boxes of mac and cheese, diapers, a few packets of yeast (gonna make some bread and some pitas), a few boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix, and a gallon of milk.
My car was stuffed to the gills! I had a few bags in Veronica's car seat even! Nathaniel told me I wasn't allowed to put anything there, But I needed the space. Now guess my grand total. Go ahead!!! I'll give you a minute. Do do do dooo, do do do. Do do do do do! Do do do do do. Do do do do do do do do. Ok, Enough Jeopardy. You get it.
My grand total was $207!!!!!! I am beyond thrilled! I bought all that stuff for so little. I had to process the stew meat recipes today, since they were on super clearance given that their sell by date is tomorrow. But I got a great deal on the other meat too. I made 12 pork chops (thin sliced) for dinner tonight and the 12 of them were $5. I already had the asparagus we had with it, and I used one of the noodle sides with it. So for $6 all 4 of us had dinner. You can't bet that! Plus we have pork chops left over for lunch tomorrow. (Pat and I are STUFFED!)
It's a good feeling.
Some of the recipes I am making are pesto chicken (shit, forgot to get pesto!), Mongolian beef, sloppy tamale pie, teriyaki chicken, ham and pineapples, a goulash type stew, beef tips and gravy, BBQ chicken (two different types), green chile pork stew, orange chicken, enchilada wraps (chicken), some twice baked potatoes to freeze, shredded chicken and homemade chicken stock, chicken caccitore, lime salsa chicken and beef stroganoff without mushrooms, thankyouverymuch. A lot of these recipes are doubled to make two bags for the freezer. I am looking forward to making these bags tomorrow, now that I have what I need.
I also plan on making my own baking mixes, brownie mixes, gravies and seasoning blends (like taco seasoning, Cajun seasoning, etc). We'll just have to wait and see how those turn out. I think I am going to really enjoy this summer!
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
25 Hours From Now
I have about 25 hours left of my teaching career. I really can't wait to not be here or in any classroom for that matter. It's become really bad.
But even amongst the horror, there has always been some light. My colleauges. They are amazing people. They gave me flowers yesterday and a card. I knew I would cry when I read the card, so I waited until I got home to open it. Imagine my surprise when cash fell out. They had taken up a collection for me since I am leaving. They aer genuinely thoughtful people, and I think they are what's kept me going the last year. It surely hasn't been the students I had.
But I do have plans for next week, since both kids are going to day care. (I think after 19 years in education I deserve a week to myself, right?) I am going to spend one day doing some freezer cooking. I have about 18 recipes (and some of them are doubled) that can be assembled and then frozen to throw in the crock pot. I also intend to stock the pantry with a lot of non-perishables. I plan to spend close to $400.
Why? Becuase I'm terrified that my decision to leave and not have a job will mean that my kids will go hungry. If Pat and I don't eat dinner every night, we'll both be fine. (Perhaps even better off.) But I can't allow my kids to have that problem. And with them both eating table food now, and Nathaniel eating all three meals at home (he was having breakfast and lunch at school) I need to find ways to make sure they eat.
This summer, we'll be going to the farmer's market and stocking up on fruits- some to eat right away and some to freeze. Same with veggies. (Plus I found a "reduced to sell quick" section at one of the grocery stores last night that had great looking veggies for 50 cents a pound. That's a lot of green beans and zucchini! Bags of potatoes -that I can bake and freeze right away- for 99 cents.)
I think the fear of my kids going hungry is greater than the fear of being 39 with diabetes and no insurance. I should be able to pull out all of my retirement (minus the taxes and penalties, but you gotta do what you gotta do) and that should help us live for a while. Especially when we'll be saving over $1200 a month by not sending both kids to full time day care. Nathaniel will go to preschool 5 days a week, but it costs $360/month, as opposed to $220/week for day care for him and $180/week for Veronica. So that should help.
Pat keeps pushing me to apply for a teaching position in other districts, but I can't. I don't want to. I don't want to be near any children but my own for a looooong time. He just doesn't fucking get it. It hit me as to why when I was in the shower this morning. He's never held a job for 5 years, let alone 10. Nor has he been in the same industry for more than 5 years. I've been teaching for 19. That's got to be why he doesn't get it. And frankly, it pisses me the fuck off that he can quit his job and everything is supposed to be ok, but I quit mine and it's the end of the world. I secretly hate him for that.
But again, I digress. I've got my shopping lists made for next week and the kids' parties are planned. All I need to get for that is the food, which is really no big deal. And I have to print the invitations. I ordered everything from designers on Etsy this year, since it will be the first and only time they have separate themed parties. HIs is Mario Bros. and Veronica's is 1-der the Sea. OMG did her invites turn out cute!!! I serached for a long time befiore I settled on a design that I really liked. I hope to add pictures, but since it's still a month away, it will take some time.
So yeah, this turned out to not be about my 25 hours left, but about the hours, days, weeks and months afterwards. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life. I just have to have faith that this was the right time and the right decision. Wish me luck!
But even amongst the horror, there has always been some light. My colleauges. They are amazing people. They gave me flowers yesterday and a card. I knew I would cry when I read the card, so I waited until I got home to open it. Imagine my surprise when cash fell out. They had taken up a collection for me since I am leaving. They aer genuinely thoughtful people, and I think they are what's kept me going the last year. It surely hasn't been the students I had.
But I do have plans for next week, since both kids are going to day care. (I think after 19 years in education I deserve a week to myself, right?) I am going to spend one day doing some freezer cooking. I have about 18 recipes (and some of them are doubled) that can be assembled and then frozen to throw in the crock pot. I also intend to stock the pantry with a lot of non-perishables. I plan to spend close to $400.
Why? Becuase I'm terrified that my decision to leave and not have a job will mean that my kids will go hungry. If Pat and I don't eat dinner every night, we'll both be fine. (Perhaps even better off.) But I can't allow my kids to have that problem. And with them both eating table food now, and Nathaniel eating all three meals at home (he was having breakfast and lunch at school) I need to find ways to make sure they eat.
This summer, we'll be going to the farmer's market and stocking up on fruits- some to eat right away and some to freeze. Same with veggies. (Plus I found a "reduced to sell quick" section at one of the grocery stores last night that had great looking veggies for 50 cents a pound. That's a lot of green beans and zucchini! Bags of potatoes -that I can bake and freeze right away- for 99 cents.)
I think the fear of my kids going hungry is greater than the fear of being 39 with diabetes and no insurance. I should be able to pull out all of my retirement (minus the taxes and penalties, but you gotta do what you gotta do) and that should help us live for a while. Especially when we'll be saving over $1200 a month by not sending both kids to full time day care. Nathaniel will go to preschool 5 days a week, but it costs $360/month, as opposed to $220/week for day care for him and $180/week for Veronica. So that should help.
Pat keeps pushing me to apply for a teaching position in other districts, but I can't. I don't want to. I don't want to be near any children but my own for a looooong time. He just doesn't fucking get it. It hit me as to why when I was in the shower this morning. He's never held a job for 5 years, let alone 10. Nor has he been in the same industry for more than 5 years. I've been teaching for 19. That's got to be why he doesn't get it. And frankly, it pisses me the fuck off that he can quit his job and everything is supposed to be ok, but I quit mine and it's the end of the world. I secretly hate him for that.
But again, I digress. I've got my shopping lists made for next week and the kids' parties are planned. All I need to get for that is the food, which is really no big deal. And I have to print the invitations. I ordered everything from designers on Etsy this year, since it will be the first and only time they have separate themed parties. HIs is Mario Bros. and Veronica's is 1-der the Sea. OMG did her invites turn out cute!!! I serached for a long time befiore I settled on a design that I really liked. I hope to add pictures, but since it's still a month away, it will take some time.
So yeah, this turned out to not be about my 25 hours left, but about the hours, days, weeks and months afterwards. I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life. I just have to have faith that this was the right time and the right decision. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Cleaning Out My Desk
I am cleaning out my desk at work. Wow. I have a ton of useless shit in there. I found programs from 10 years ago. No, seriously, I did. It was from March 2003. It's been a long time coming.
ALthough I am terrified at what the furture brings (lack of insurance and income- EEK!) I am excited too. I have told my colleagues that I am leaving, and they are coming in two weeks to raid the place. I have thousands of dollars in books that are going to still be used, and that makes me happy.
But not as happy as the thought of never returning. I know people say "Never say never," but this is a never for me. There are 17 days left, and with the close of each day I thank God that I made it through and have one less to go. I get more and more excited as the end approaches.
And less and less depressed. And I'm not eating crap, either. Woot- woot!
ALthough I am terrified at what the furture brings (lack of insurance and income- EEK!) I am excited too. I have told my colleagues that I am leaving, and they are coming in two weeks to raid the place. I have thousands of dollars in books that are going to still be used, and that makes me happy.
But not as happy as the thought of never returning. I know people say "Never say never," but this is a never for me. There are 17 days left, and with the close of each day I thank God that I made it through and have one less to go. I get more and more excited as the end approaches.
And less and less depressed. And I'm not eating crap, either. Woot- woot!
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