Things are tight again time for some creative cooking

Just like life always seems to be, things get harder just when you think they are getting easier. Or renters moved out. One owing a lot of rent but we've learned from this and move on. The important thing to remember is get the rent up front, don't listen to the sob stories.

So with the lack of funds come creative cooking. Thankfully I found a some chicken leg quarters for 69 cents a pound so this will go a long way. During creative cooking times I create new dishes and use a lot of stand bys so I wanted to share a few cheap eats.

Macaroni and cheese with hot dogs- My step kids love this one and both items are very cheap but put them together and you have a meal, just add a canned veggie. All you have to do is add cut up hot dogs to the water when cooking the macaroni and it cooks along with it.

Macaroni Surprise- My sister invented this one. You will need a box of macaroni and cheese, 1 can of tuna (drained), and a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. Just cook the mac and cheese and then add the other two items and mix. Then return to the stove to heat a little more stirring constantly.

Sausage Rice a Roni- My husband and I discovered this when living in a truck. All you need of a box of any flavor Rice a Roni and smoked sausage. Just cut up your smoked sausage into little circles. The add the butter required for your rice a roni to the pan and along with the sausage. Cook until the sausage gets almost brown and then add the rice and brown like the box says. The sausage will finish browning with the rice. Then cook the rice a roni as the box states and Vaula!

Three meal Chicken- Buy some clearance chicken any kind except wings will work (apx 5 pounds). Place the chicken in a pot and flavor with salt, pepper, chicken seasoning, and bay leaves and allow to cook until falling off the bones. Then let is cool and debone the chicken but strain and reserve you stock also.

Meal one- Chicken pot pie
Meal two- Hungry Man Stew
Meal three- Chicken Salad

Chicken Pot Pie- This is the easy way but you can do it away way you prefer. In a casserole place enough diced up chicken to cover the bottom. Place a mix of canned veggies on top of that making sure it only goes half way up the sides or you won't have room for the breading. Some use can of mixed veggies but I prefer one can of each of the following; green beans, sweet peas, corn, diced potatoes. (I can find these cheap at the dent can store or on sale). For seasoning I add more poultry seasoning, garlic, and pepper. I avoid salt because of all thats in canned veggies. For the topping you will need Bisquick. Make the batter like you would be preparing pancakes and pour it over the top of the veggies. Put it in the over at 400 to 450 for 30 to 45 minutes or until the top is nice and brown. (great leftover)

Chicken Salad- All you need is boiled eggs, sweet pickle relish, mayo and chicken. You can also add onion and celery if you like. You can't make this wrong. Dice your eggs, chicken, onion, and celery and mix things in the bowl until it tastes the way you like it. Then place it on bread for sandwiches or it's also good on lettuce leaves rolled up. My husband likes them on tortillas.

Hungry man stew- This from the depression and can be used with any meat stock and leftover meat. It's cheap because it's leftovers from their Sunday dinner and veggies from their yard. The only extra cost was the rice and it's cheap too. This is full of carbs so it suck with them longer.

You will need: Rice, reserved chicken stock, potatoes, and canned crushed or diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.

In a pot with reserved stock place all your leftover chicken that's diced up. Dice you some potatoes (as many as you like but save room also. Cook this until the potatoes are almost done. Then add one cup of uncooked rice. Let this cook until rice is half done and add your tomatoes. Make sure to stay near once you add the tomatoes because this is when it tries to start sticking to the bottom of the pot. Make sure to stir it also because the rice goes to the bottom and that's what sticks and then burns. Once the rice begins to butterfly then it's done. (get leftover but doesn't freeze well)

I'm doing three day chicken because I got it cheap but you can also do this with a roast and most large pieces of meat than can be cooked in the pot. I can even add a fourth meal to this is there enough chicken left over and make chicken and dumplings and all this doesn't have to be done 4 days in a row. Cook the chicken and dice it and freeze it and the broth for later.

This weeks no money food menu

My stockpile a stored food is almost gone due to a roommate moving out and taking my food with her and skipping out on rent. So here I am figuring out how to eat this week.

Tonight's dinner doesn't have a name since I made it up but it's cheap. One can stewed tomatoes crushed, One smoke link (left over from a multi pack) diced, one can of whole kernel corn drained, and cooked egg noodles. While the pasta is cooking dump the rest in another pot and season and heat. You can even add peppers or whatever you have. Tastes pretty good too.

I don't plan breakfast since I rarely eat it and lunches my husband takes tv dinners, sandwiches, and soup he can he at work, but dinners have to be planned. So here's what I'm cooking this week.

Monday is roast chicken (I found on clearance two weeks ago a threw in freezer) with canned veggies

Tuesday- Left over chicken goes into chicken pot pie

Wednesday- Veggy night, two types of canned veggies, rice a roni, and cornbread

Thursday- Frozen Entree bought on sale a few weeks ago over pasta with green beans

Friday- Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup (1 can of cream of chicken and 1 can chicken noodle mixed) with grilled cheese

Thankfully I already have all this on hand but after this week I've got to buy some more veggies and meat or we will end up on the roman noodle diet. UGH!

This is getting fun!

Decorating this place is becoming like a scavenger hunt! I'm starting to really enjoy this because I have to admit this place is really starting to come together and we don't have much money at all in the furniture.

Last night my husband comes home with two bedside tables he found in the dumpster. People can be so lazy! The only thing wrong with these tables is someone broke the inside bottom of the drawers. It's an easy repair and my husband is going to bring home some wood to fix them with next week when he gets paid. The other thing is they are a little beat up. That's also not a problem with a little spray paint. Now I've just got to decide on a color. (probably antique white) Even the hardware on the side tables are nice. I'm thinking I'm going to place those in the front bedroom that I rent out furnished. When I paint them the antique white they will match the dresser in there. Then I'm going to take the antique bedside lamp out of my room and place it in there because it will match perfectly. Then the only upgrades left in the front bedroom will be some bifold doors on the bathroom doorway and some new curtains. Oh! and lefts not forget some artwork on the walls but I've got some great artwork in storage at my mother in laws that will go perfectly in the room. Problem is my mother in law is in another state so that will have to wait.

As for the back bedroom. I had had plans to make it into a colleges student's hangout pad because we have so many college students renting rooms in the area but now I've got someone interested in it that doesn't need it furnished. The plan was to put a twin bed in there, small computer desk, and I currently have a sofa in there. Then there are built in shelves in the closet so I was going to DIY some nice boxes for their clothes instead of taking up room with a dresser. However those plans can wait and I do have storage if I find these items cheaply while the rooms is rented out.

As for our room, it's still a hodge podge of mess. That's fine with us though. We kind of like the mix matched shelves full of books and such. The only thing I would like in there though is a sitting area and there isn't enough room right now. I have talked to my husband about fixing that though. See there is a bedroom door on each side of our room, then two closets (one on each wall) and the furnace closet. So doors take up 80% of our wall space and 95% if you include windows. What I would like to do is remove the closet doors on one of the closets and put up curtains. Then the bedroom door that is beside it I would like to shut and lock that door and put a chair in front of that door. That door leads to the kitchen. We don't have to have that door. We can do like everyone else and go through the hallway. Then my husband keeps protesting taking down the closet doors that are crappy sliding doors that I personally hate! We shall see who wins this fight. After all it's my closet, not his.

Frugal Garden

Money lacking like it is I've posted I want to plant a garden this years. So I've been looking a seeds in the local stores and I'm not quite sure why but seeds have gone up a lot this year so I've been trying to do some thrifty seed shopping and got two of my neighbors involved. See I've found on a few sites that I can buy seeds in larger amounts for cheaper so I'm splitting the costs with my neighbors. Then one of the two neighbors said she doesn't have the time to start seeds so she buys live plants so in exchange for a large pack of seeds I'll give her half the plants. This seems like it's going to be a lot of fun (if the weather cooperates). I also ordered some jasmine seeds to plant along my front fence line. It's chain link and due to living near the coast it's starting to rust so I'm going to hide it and jasmine smells so good plus after a few years the birds will love to nest in it.

My onion and garlic waste plants are doing great also and the first few are already potted. I'm not sure if I posted it here so let me explain how to make onion plants from onion waste. First thing the next time you use an onion make sure to leave about 1/2 to 1 inch on the bottom of the onion where the roots used to be. It will look look this

Next you want to put it in just a little water. It will look like the onion is dying but unless it rots then leave it there and change the water as needed

Then after a week or two you will notice the center is starting to grow. When the center got a little larger I removed the outer dead onion and split the two center growths into two plants and put them in a shot glass so they would stand better

This is a side view of one of the halves

Once they got a little larger I put them in a pot along with two garlic scraps I had rooted. Once the get even larger they will either go in the garden or in a larger pot but at this time I can start using their tops for cooking while they keep growing

Amazed I've furnished my entire home on $341 dollars since moving in.

After the last post I got to thinking and wondering just how much I have spent on decorating and furnishing this house and I've truly amazed myself. See when we moved in her from the RV we only brought our bed, fridge, and personal items. Then we took the funds from the sale of the RV to do some repairs here and bought our kitchen table. So look at the itemized list and be amazed with me.

Kitchen:
Table and chairs- $200 bought at yard sale
Corner Shelves- gifted from my father years ago
wall art- came with house or we bought with us
knick knack shelf- $0 from dumpster
rug- $15
extra fridge- came with house
main fridge- from RV
curtains- $7 on clearance

Living room:
Sofa- gifted when a friend replaced theirs
recliner- found on side of road and cleaned
chair- free from lady throwing it away
other chair- gifted from friend that had no use for it
end tables- gifted along time ago when sister divorced
tv- previously bought so not counted
lamp 1- $12 at Fred's
lamp 2- $10 clearance
persian rug- $0 dumpster
fan- gifted because it was broken, repair $0
wall shelves- found in old home's basement
bookcase- $0 dumpster
curtains- $0 dumpster

Bedroom:
bed- still paying for biggest expense but bought before moving here
bookshelves (all 3)-found in dumpsters
bedside tables- dumpster
lamps- one gifted other $2 yard sale broke and $2 repair but bought before we moved here so I don't count             those
Cube shelving- gifted and repaired with scrap lumber
storage cubes- (9 of them) dollar tree $9 but bought before we move here so I don't count those
curtains- clearance $4

Front bedroom:
Bed- previously owned
blankets set- yardsale $5 but previously bought so not counted
dresser- thrift store $20
antique chair- yard sale $20
stool- gifted
lamp- dumpster, messed up plug, repaired from another broken lamp found in dumpsters wiring
bedside tables- both gifted
curtains- previously owned

Back bedroom
sleeper sofa- $50 (in back bedroom and not living room because current roommate had a stink about                                wanting it in there
curtains- clearance $3

So my Grand Total since moving in the house has been $341 spent on furnishing and decorating the house. This amazes me because besides the back bedroom this home is totally furnished. I did forget to mention the bathrooms but all those items are from previous places we've lived also. It goes to show you you don't need a lot of money to make a home nor do you need to beg (which I hate seeing on Facebook). All you need to do is keep your eyes open. Let friends know what you're looking for so they can keep an eye out too.

All don't be afraid of yard sale or thrift store finds. Oil soap, scratch remover, and spray paint aren't that expensive and can turn someone's trash into your treasure. 

Things looking brighter

We finally got a new roommate in the master bedroom and have two different people asking about the second bedroom. This will help us get caught up on some bills. Also looking brighter that one stepchild will be turning 18 this weekend. She still gets child support till the end of the school year but it's nice to know we get to stop supporting the ex wife soon. We will still give money to his child when she needs it but it will go to her and not her mom. This will also help with budgeting and getting ahead, climbing out of the debt hole we are in. The second step child turns 18 next year so we will probably continue to pay the same amount until then since we got behind when my husband got hurt on the job.

I had so much fun decorating the front bedroom with thrift store and yard sale finds that I'm now trying to talk my husband into letting me decorate the back bedroom also. It's a smaller room so I was thinking of putting a full size bed in there. There are also built in shelves in the closet so instead of taking up room with a dresser I was thinking of putting some nice storage boxes or baskets on the shelves instead. The biggest cost would be the bed so I'm on the look out. I can't decorate while it's rented out but I can store the items I find in the outbuilding. By furnishing the bedroom and can get an additional $100 in rent so it will pay for itself in the long run. The only problem I see is if someone brings in bed bugs. That would be a nightmare. Thankfully we don't have carpet so they shouldn't travel to the other rooms as easy but it's still a nightmare. It's part of the reason we are being picky about who we rent to.

The garden idea is coming together. I'm not going to have a lot of extra money for canning jars this year but thankfully the freezer is empty so I'll use that this year and can what I can. We've pretty much decided on what to plant and my husband found a local place with fruit trees on sale so this will be nice. He also discovered that Home Depot rents a tiller! We would really like to put out an orange and grapefruit tree and so many in the neighborhood have them here. We would also like to put out a few blueberry bushes. My husband's favorite fruit. My husband is also thinking very hard about getting two stands of honey bees.

As far as produce that we will plant we've decided on green beans, tomatoes (of course), carrots, onion, squash, two types of pepper, and potatoes. Just looking at it listed here makes me want to go make some vegetable soup. I've still got a lot to learn because people here also have winter crops. Something that strange to me coming from where nothing grows in the winter but it's all coming together nicely.

Hopefully if we can keep the rooms rented for the next year then we will be able to replace the pickup that my husband lost and pay off the cheap car that I bought also. Then maybe we can look at replacing some of the things we lost last years when we lost our home and had to pawn everything not glued down.

I've also started a wishlist of things I would like but when you living with such limited income I feel greedy just thinking about it. However in the grand scheme of things the items on my list are for the betterment of the house in general. I want to replace the dishwasher that I'm currently using for Tupperware storage. I would like storage shelves in the laundry room for all the items I plan to can. I would also love some new curtains in the living room. The ones my husband found in the trash are nice but they don't split up the middle so they can't be opened to let light in and they are way to long. I know sew them right? These things are so thick and heavy I couldn't do it on my sewing machine and if I have to pay to have them altered then I rather just replace them.

Planning for the spring

I'm planning on putting in a garden this spring. Nothing too large because physically I can handle it but enough that I can can some things and help with food cost. I've been trying to tie my husband down to helping me plan on what to plant but he's refusing and is grumpy because he's so tired. He's now the lead person at his job and has to do double what the others do then on the weekends he's been helping our elderly neighbor do repairs on his home in exchange for a little money, not much, just enough to put gas in the car and buy a few groceries.

So in the past the only things I've grown have been tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries and that's been in Georgia red clay around Atlanta. This is going to be all new to me growing in sand. I've got a lot of learning to do. Everyone tells me I need to get a soil test to figure out what to add. Seems odd since in Atlanta 10 10 10 was good enough.

As for things to grow I really want to try my hands at potatoes and carrots. I would also like to try beans but I'm not sure I have enough room. Then of course there will also be tomatoes, squash, peppers. I'm not sure what else. I don't want to get into melons this year but we have been talking about putting in some fruit trees and maybe two or three bee stands.

We don't plan to sell any of these things. These are all going to be for personal use and the fruit trees won't be producing for a few years.

Anyone used to growing in sand please feel free to give advice.