The deli closes at 8:00 pm at my super walmart. I you go in right after they close, they sell their cooked rotiserie chicken for $1.00. My guess is that it weighs 3 lb. For us, it make 3 meals.

Used the last of the chicken from walmart to make a casserole with leftover rice. Also had homemade cream corn from free corn I got from the gleaners club. Froze the carcus to make soup next week.

Made homemade garden ranch pizza for tomorrow night's supper. We will be invited to dinner (lunch) at a church couple's house, so for dinner for them and us, we will have the pizza.

Didn't go anywhere.

Spent $24 for repairs/winterisinn.

I made 35 burritos for the girls' school lunches today from the link I was given to Prairie Homemaker. They were yummy and now are in the freezer.

Had to pay $121.00 for the plumber to unfreeze my pipes. I tried putting a heater under the house, but it didn't work. The plumber said my vents need to be closed off for the winter, and that otherwise it wasn't cold enough to freeze the pipes.

Tomorrow my handyman is coming to close the vents and do some other odd jobs around the house.

I went grocery shopping today. I spent $75 for 2 weeks of food (I hope).

I also spent $100 for non-food items. Most of it on the dogs.

$12.00 4 dog bones
$30.00 dog food (dogs have gas problems so need expensive
kind)
$36.00 for new dog heater. Hopefully this one will last.
$36.00 for cat food (the cheap stuff, but we have 5 cats)

ouch!

I made chicken and rice for dinner tonight--still using that $1 chicken I got at Walmart.

2 C. uncooked rice
4 Bouilon cubes
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1-2 C. cubed cooked chicken
water

I put it all in my rice cooker and let it cook away.

I have to say it will be a little dry unless you add some oil. You can also add 1 C. frozen peas if you want.

For lunch, I had left-over mashed potatoes because I didn't fill like cooking anything.

For breakfast, I just had a jar of home canned pears.

Didn't have to drive to town as my neighbor is taking the children to and from school today and to youth group. In exchange, I am watching her 2 little ones so she can eat out to celebrate her birthday.

I love those power outages, so long as they're not out too long. I also don't like them when I'm on the computer.

My girls didn't like the homemade burritos, so if anyone is reading this that might have a good recipe of the type that I can freeze, I would really appreciate it.

Pipes are frozen to my bathroom. I have no way to thaw them until my girls and my neighbor get home. They have a heater that I can borrow to put under the house. I pray that the pipes don't bust when I thaw them.

I am in the process of using up all our food stock in cupboards and freezer. I am also determined not to buy processed foods.

So, for the girls lunch next week, I made homemade burritos using hillbillyhousewife.com recipe. Only thing, I didn't have any ground beef, at least that I could find. I was given a 2 lb package of elk meat, but we don't knowingly eat game (at church most people cook with game, so they just don't tell us, and we don't ask). So I decided to use the elk for their burritos and just not tell them. Don't moms do the meanest things.

I also found that I don't have any more canned refried beans, but I do have pinto beans. I used a pressure cooker to boild the beans. They are sitting for one hour to get rid of gas. Then I will rinse them and cook in the pressure cooker, I think for 20 minutes instead of 3 hours. When they're done, I'll make refried beans. This is kinda free food as it is part of my y2k stock. It was dried canned, so it should be good forever, which is about how long it will take to use it all.

After the elk meat cooked, I put it on the wood stove to cook off the excess water. I am simmering it on the wood stove to thicken the spices and cornstarch I used.

So I got 2 weeks worth of burritos for lunches for the cost of spices, which are probably ancient too. I could have bought 10 frozen burritos at walmart for $3.

I still haven't spent any money. I did order those books for $50, but I won't pay til next month, so it doesn't yet count.

The only money I spent was $9 for food and $15 for gas, but the gas doesn't come in til next month too.

I'm trying not to go to the store this week. As long as the dog food last, it should work. I do need some broccoli for Sunday Supper, but I'll see if my neighbor is going to the store, which she does about 4 times a week.

I keep thinking about those $3 movies at walmart. I don't have any needs, but I sure want those movies! I'm really going to try and keep (as much as possible) my no-spend year.

I made a batch of white rice. Going to use it this week for cereal as I am determined not to buy processed foods.

I made Chicken & Rice Casserole for dinner, still using my Christmas Chicken. I froze the carcass and leg quarters to use as soup. I would have made it tomorrow, but I bought that rotisserie chicken at Walmart, so tomorrow we will have that for dinner.

Today I decided to tackle the refrigerator. I got rid of all the science projects. I found that I had 8 lbs of cheese. One 2 lb block had started to get mold. I cut out the mold and shredded it up with the rest of it. I also had 2 lbs of Jack. I don't know why I bought it as I rarely use it, so I cut it in 4's and put it in the vacuum sealer. Now I'll have plenty of time to decide what to do with it.

I found 3 stalks of celery that were not good for fresh eating, so I chopped them up and froze them for soup. I have 1/2 bell pepper that I debating on cutting up. If it'll last til Sunday, I can use it. I need a fresh one, so it won't work to freeze it.

I was sitting on the couch tonight, and I could feel a draft. I thought it was because the upstairs door was open. Then I remembered the hint to lock all windows to help them seal. I couldn't believe it when I found one slightly ajar.

I'm starting to use my convection part of my microwave/convection
oven. I'm told that it's cheaper to use than a regular oven. It only holds a 9" sq. pan though, so if I'm cooking a large amount, it wouldn't work. Next week I'm going to try and cook cookies on my pizza stone use the convection.

Took a shower with just the nightlight. Worked just fine. Don't have a bathroom window, so without light, I couldn't see.

Saved the excess pizza dough from New Year's Eve celebration and made bread sticks to go with lazanna (sp). I tried to look up lazanna, but either it doesn't begin with laz, or it's not in my 1961 dictionary which I got free from the dump.

Went to church today and didn't get home until after 11pm, so other than $14 in gas, didn't spend any money. I did put some Christian tracks in the credit card slot at the gas station, so if the next person want gas, he has to take a track!

The girls wanted frosting for their applesauce spice cakes, so I frosted them using homemade frosting.

Went to Walmart today only because I had to pick up dd at a friends. Only spent $6.50. I needed cottage cheese for the lazanna I am making. It was really hard to pass up the $3 movies they have. They are dvd's without the fancey packaging. There were about 5 I wanted to get. I'm addicted to movies! I guess that's another reason why we don't have tv.

I also decided to pick up carrots and cabbage for the chicken noodle soup that I will be making from the chicken bones from that chicken I almost lost. While I was in the store, the deli clerk called me over to her. She asked me if I wanted to buy a whole, cooked rotisserie chicken for $1? I bought the last 2 she had. So, the time to go into a super Walmart is just before the deli closes and see if they have any chicken on sale!

I made applesauce spice cake for the girls' lunch next week. I used the home canned applesauce from free apples that we made a couple of years ago. No one would eat it because we made it without the apple presss, and the texture was just not good. No I have a way to use it up. If the girls don't like it, I will add frosting to it because everything taste good with frosting. Because it is for lunches, I will cut the cake in half long ways to frost the center. That way the cake can go in baggies without making a mess.

I made mock lazanna for dinner for Sunday night. I used elbow mac. because I had an over-abundance. I also used up the hamburger that was on its way to freezer burn. For the sauce, I used 1 can of Hunts spagetti sauce. I also used a quart of home canned, homemade tomato sauce. This sauce has been sitting for 2 seasons because I followed balls suggestion and but 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in it. Big mistake! Everytime I used it, the dish I had made tasted like lemon. Now I have a way to use it up.

I ran out of salt yesterday. Instead of going to the store, I used the pickling salt that I bought a few years ago but never used. So an unwise choice is now being used up. I hate waste.

I made chocolate syrup to go with the ice cream for Sunday night dinner. It was so easy and cheap too. I tastes just like the Hershey's chocolate syrup, but about 1/10 of the cost. I even used it for a glass of chocolate milk tonight. Haven't had chocolate milk in years.