Fruitlessly Frugal Week

Ever heard of Fruitlessly Frugal Week? 

No?  That’s because I just made it up.  It is Fruitlessly Frugal Week at our house. 

Sid reworked our budget, and we’ve been trying to trim down our spending.  We have this crazy dream of paying off our house.  But we’ve had some unexpected expenses the last few weeks that have put us over our budget goals.  According to our books, I have only $25 left to spend the rest of this month for groceries.  If I stay within this amount, we will be back on budget for groceries May 1st.  (We won’t talk about how over budget we are in the Miscellaneous category).

So I decided to be ruthless and fruitless.  I skipped my normal grocery trip altogether this week, though I will hit Aldi Tuesday for eggs and butter.  I wasn’t going to buy milk, but Sid is begging for mercy, so I may relent enough to pick up ONE gallon.  He will have to make it last.  But there will be no apples, no bananas or grapes . . . . . . or . . . . .or . . . . . .pineapple (sniff, sniff).

I know you are dying to know what I will feed a family of 6 without a regular grocery trip.  I won’t keep you in suspense.  Here is this week’s menu based on what I can scrounge from the pantry and freezer.

SUNDAY —  Veggie Soup (using the last dying dregs of my onions, celery, carrots and potatoes, Grandma Sandy’s frozen limas and corn) and homemade rolls

MONDAY —  breakfast — oatmeal

                     —-lunch –4 thick slices of bread smothered in peanut butter so the kids wouldn’t come back looking for more bread we didn’t have and some carrot sticks that didn’t go in the soup

                    —-supper — leftover roast I zealously guarded dumped in rice, spinach from my inlaws garden and homemade rolls

TUESDAY — breakfast — something with rice because I have a lot of it

                    —-lunch — peanut butter balls from pb that is about to go bad

                    —-supper — homemade pizza that will use up the last of the cheese

WEDNESDAY — breakfast —oatmeal

                            —-lunch — homemade cinnamon rolls

                            —-supper —refried beans and rice, sweet potatoes I found

THURSDAY —- breakfast —- eggs

                         —–lunch —– bread, bread, bread, make more bread

                         —- supper — white chili, Grandma Sandy’s corn

FRIDAY ——–breakfast —- oatmeal

                 ——-lunch —- pb sandwiches

                ——-supper — salmon patties, Grandma Sandy’s green beans

SATURDAY —- breakfast —– eggs

                         —–lunch ——I don’t know, bread maybe

                        —–supper —-apple pie because apples are what’s in the freezer

Now the real test of my thrifty culinary ways will be trying to get through NEXT week on mere butter, eggs and milk from Aldi.

I just realized that this week will not be totally fruitless since I have Mom’s frozen apples in the freezer for that apple pie.