Accountability:
1. obliged to account for one's acts; responsible
2. capable of being accounted for; explainable
Our ward (local church congregation) has been having budget meetings for the past few months and it has been wonderful to hear how other families deal with their finances and budgets, etc....
Tracy and I had to participate in our last meeting and I made the following statement:
"Other than buying a Bountiful Basket every week and buying a gallon of milk every other week, we are not going to go to the store for three months and we are going to live off our food storage".
I HATE debt and I just want one of our debts gone and so by living off our food storage and putting the money we normally spend on food/toiletries towards debt for three months it will mean we can pay off the balance of our HELOC in three months instead of six months and then this debt will be gone forever!
(Of course we will be replenishing our food storage over time...but, this little trial run gives us a way to see what we are missing if we were to have to live on our food storage for an extended period of time AND we get to rotate our food storage as well. It is a WIN-WIN!!
BTW...I am not predicting any kind of cataclysmic event, but this is just one of the things that we do as part of our Provident Living and Frugal lifestyle.
(this is the same kind of thing we did in January when we did trial runs of what kind of lighting is best if we were without power for an extended period of time (to see the results of this test click here)
SO,
I had a good friend email me and ask me what we are going to eat for the next three months while we do our "plan of attack" I soon realized that I really needed to be accountable for my statement I made in that meeting.
SO, I am going to journal the meals/snacks we eat every week so that I can have this to remember when I look back on my life in future years.
It's my way of being accountable.
I am always fascinated when I read my past journals and see what meals we ate, how we made our money stretch, etc....
So, here goes now until Pay Day on August 25th
(here are photos of our freezer/food storage
showing what I have to work with the next three months
So, Mondays are going to be
"Kimmie in Real Life"
and a list of what we ate the week before and my thoughts/feelings on how the week went.
It will show that we eat simply, but we eat well and that some days are definitely better than others!
Just for fun...
Jade LOVES looking at our old photo albums of newlywed days and when he was a baby. This photo is awesome in showing that we have always ate frugally as Tracy and I were heading out on date and we had a thermos of peppermint tea and a thermos of Broccoli soup and homemade bread that we ate in the mall parking lot.
Those were the days
and I sometimes miss the simple life that we lived back then.
May 16th to 22nd
SundayTracy and I had to participate in our last meeting and I made the following statement:
"Other than buying a Bountiful Basket every week and buying a gallon of milk every other week, we are not going to go to the store for three months and we are going to live off our food storage".
I HATE debt and I just want one of our debts gone and so by living off our food storage and putting the money we normally spend on food/toiletries towards debt for three months it will mean we can pay off the balance of our HELOC in three months instead of six months and then this debt will be gone forever!(Of course we will be replenishing our food storage over time...but, this little trial run gives us a way to see what we are missing if we were to have to live on our food storage for an extended period of time AND we get to rotate our food storage as well. It is a WIN-WIN!!
BTW...I am not predicting any kind of cataclysmic event, but this is just one of the things that we do as part of our Provident Living and Frugal lifestyle.
(this is the same kind of thing we did in January when we did trial runs of what kind of lighting is best if we were without power for an extended period of time (to see the results of this test click here)
SO,
I had a good friend email me and ask me what we are going to eat for the next three months while we do our "plan of attack" I soon realized that I really needed to be accountable for my statement I made in that meeting.
SO, I am going to journal the meals/snacks we eat every week so that I can have this to remember when I look back on my life in future years.
It's my way of being accountable.
I am always fascinated when I read my past journals and see what meals we ate, how we made our money stretch, etc....
So, here goes now until Pay Day on August 25th
(here are photos of our freezer/food storage
showing what I have to work with the next three months
So, Mondays are going to be
"Kimmie in Real Life"
and a list of what we ate the week before and my thoughts/feelings on how the week went.
It will show that we eat simply, but we eat well and that some days are definitely better than others!
Just for fun...Jade LOVES looking at our old photo albums of newlywed days and when he was a baby. This photo is awesome in showing that we have always ate frugally as Tracy and I were heading out on date and we had a thermos of peppermint tea and a thermos of Broccoli soup and homemade bread that we ate in the mall parking lot.
Those were the days
and I sometimes miss the simple life that we lived back then.
May 16th to 22ndPancakes and Eggs
Spaghetti, Brussel Sprouts, Buttermilk Biscuits
Monday
Steel Cut Oats
(kids) Peanut butter and jelly biscuit sandwiches, carrot sticks, apples,
(Tracy)leftover spaghetti and Brussel Sprouts, apple, dried cherries
Corn on the cob, biscuits and gravy
(THIS was seriously a night I wanted so bad to call Tracy and have him pick up a $5.00 "Hot and Ready" pizza. HOWEVER, I opened my fridge and realized we had corn on the cob, opened my freezer and saw I had a baggie of roast beef drippings and so I made some homemade gravy, baked up a batch of Buttermilk Biscuits and we had this with corn on the cob...YUMMY!)
Tuesday
Steel cut oats
Yogurt with sliced mangos, pretzel mix, carrot sticks, string cheese, frosted grahams
Taco Salad
Wednesday
Steel Cut Oats
Leftover Taco Salad, yogurt with fresh mangoes, frosted grahams
(Ethan…boiled egg, huckleberry muffins, carrot sticks, sliced apples, string cheese, frosted grahams)
Sliced watermelon, Tacos
Thursday
Steel Cut Oats
Homemade rolls/roast beef sandwiches, gumdrop oatmeal cookies, banana, fresh peaches
Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir-fry
**(sandwiches were made out of a roast I cooked all day in the crock-pot and shredded)
Friday
Steel Cut Oats
Leftover Stir Fry (Tracy, Jade and Kimmie) Roast Beef sandwiches (Ethan), banana, fresh peaches, gumdrop oatmeal cookies,
Scrambled eggs, toasted rolls, fresh peaches
Saturday
Leftover fruit and muffins
Homemade fruit leather
Leftover Stir-Fry and Snickerdoodles
(for dinner we were in Idaho Falls and since it is close to pay day we split a "Large Nacho Mucho" between the four of us at our favorite Mexican restaurant and only spent $10.25)
(Sunday-Thursday we had a Fresh Lime drink for dinner from the limes we got in our Bountiful Basket)
(other snacks)
Gumdrop cookies
Snickerdoodles
Muffins
Fruit Leather
Bananas and apples
Hot chocolate
PS...note to self...remember to not start any laundry until after 7:00 pm so we don't have to listen to the washer and dryer while we're enjoying family dinner.
Happy Week!
Happy Week!
Loved seeing the pictures of your storage room. I am so into great ways to store food.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your accountability posts!!!
I haven't ever tried to just live off the storage with a few purchases. I need to dig in and give it a try.
Our food needs are so different now that it's just 2 of us.
I have stored food though that my families could all come home....kids and all for at least 6 months.
I love stuff like this.
Wow! Very impressive food storage room / prepared pantry. Aaaaahhh to have all of that room - I love it.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your weekly meals too - that was fun! Since I did my emergency 2 week test - I learned that I can go for 2 weeks or more without going to the store. Since then that is what I do and it has saved us a ton of money. I like to see how long I can go without going to the store too - and rotate that food storage.
Oh, and I LOVE your bountiful baskets - thats fun to see too!
I think that is cool that your ward has budget meetings / support group. I think that would be very inspiring and make me want to be out of debt and prepared. Great idea! My favorite RS meetings are when they work on recipes/preparedness. Always motivating.
I'm excited to see your menu for the next little bit. I am loving bountiful baskets - sad that we don't get one this week. What do you do with avocados - besides guacamole?
ReplyDeleteWay to go!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you can do it.. as we did!
Your lucky.. because you have chickens.. and so you get eggs. I do have powdered eggs.. but I went to the store for those.
Butter and Toilet Paper were my fastest things to run out. ~ And I have a lot of frozen butter. I have been MEANING to do a post on it.. but you know.. lots going on.. always!!
So.. does this mean no date nights eating out too?
PS: Your food storage room looks great! Woot!! Goodluck!
I love this post and can't wait for more!!!
ReplyDeleteSorry.. I meant to say that we went to the store for Eggs.. Veggies.. milk and bread. That's it.
ReplyDelete~ And also.. so what about vacations and hiking trips? Still no store? Are you packing everything? It can be done! ~ And knowing you.. it probably will be!
I have no doubt you'll be able to do it in style. Can't wait for your Monday posts!
ReplyDeleteGreat food storage and freezer storage! Getting out of debt is a fantastic feeling! Good for you!
Oh my gosh! This is going to be SO INCREDIBLE to read. I really am so excited to see how you do this. It will be a real learning experience for me. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteWhen you have a second will you email me and tell me how you do steel cut oats? Do you buy in bulk? Do you cook them every morning and does it take a really long time? How do you make them taste really good? So many questions... sorry. ; )
Holy food storage! Good for you!! My goal is to have that one day. Slowly but surely we'll get there. I am excited to see all the fun things you do with your bountiful baskets and food storage. We are frugally living so THANK YOU so much for sharing your tips. They have helped us out a ton!
ReplyDeleteoops - that last post was under my husband's name!
ReplyDelete