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Home > So how is this cooking at home thing supposed to save me money?

So how is this cooking at home thing supposed to save me money?

April 9th, 2008 at 06:43 am

That is kind of tongue in cheek. But, at the same time, a bit true.

Ok, you all know I am HORRIBLE at spending money on food. My husband was down here in the big city with me last weekend and we spent more than $200 in restaurants Fri-Sun! Holy crapper! After tallying that up, and realizing that I eat a sandwich from Jimmy John's most days for lunch (around $7.00) I once again am determined to cook at home and take leftovers to work.

Last week, I bought tortillas, ham, cheese, apples, individual cans of baked beans, chips and granola bars to take to work. The tortillas, ham and cheese could go in the fridge in the break room, the other stuff could safely reside in my cube. That was about $15, and gave me three lunches (two last week, one today). I even had most of the tortillas left, almost all of the chips, 2 apples and some granola bars left over for this week. So, that little experiment worked out.

Last night I ate a frozen Totino's pizza ($.98) and some chips and an apple I had at home while watching the KU game (yeah Jayhawks!) instead of going to a bar to watch it. Going out would have cost > $20 and I couldn't have jumped around like an idiot cheering when we won the whole dang thing!

Tonight, I was in the mood for meatloaf. So, I stopped in at walmart to pick up the ingredients, and here is what I got:
Eggs - $1.98 for a dozen
Generic crescent rolls - $1.66
1/2 gallon milk - $1.98
Orange Juice - $2.50
Generic Saltine crackers - $1.00
Dorthy Lynch salad dressing - $2.58
Tony Chazere's spice - $1.22
2 cans Canned Asparagus - $1.08
3 apples - $2.34
carrots - $1.66
ketchup - $.98
hamburger - $7.28

I got the canned asparagus thinking "I like asparagus, and since it is canned, it will be easy to make." Seriously, pretty much that entire quote went through my head. But, it was yucky! I'm going to throw out what I made and probably not ever make the other can. So, that was a mistake.

I had one apple before the meatloaf was ready and the other two are for work tomorrow. Trying to get more fruits and vegetables in my diet, and it is better than snacking on chips, etc.

Had milk with my meal, and the OJ is for breakfast tomorrow.

I didn't have any ketchup (!) and I didn't know if I had the salad dressing. I should have known I did, because I only use that kind for meatloaf, so now I have two jars of this salad dressing.

So, for the meal tonight, I used:
1 Eggs - but had to spend $1.98 for a dozen
Generic crescent rolls - $1.66
1/2 gallon milk - $1.98
Generic Saltine crackers - $1.00
Dorthy Lynch salad dressing - $2.58
2 cans Canned Asparagus - $1.08
1 apples - $.78
carrots - $1.66
ketchup - $.98
hamburger - $7.28
Total = $20.98

I split the meatloaf into 4 parts, so I'll have lunch for two more days and supper tomorrow night, and there are crescent rolls, milk, crackers, carrots and salad dressing left...well, pretty much everything except for the meat. So, I can make another loaf, but not meatloaf until I get more hamburger. Ba-dum-chick. I guess that is about $5.00 each, plus stuff left over. So, it did make sense. This time. I'll keep my eye on it Smile

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In other news, I have my house for sale! We put it on the market a week ago. I was going to do "For sale by owner" but with me being gone Thursday night - Monday morning, I didn't figure I would be able to show it much, so I got a real estate agent. I know it has been shown twice, and both like it, but one had to go to their bank to get a loan, and I haven't heard from if they were approved. I know the other one was pre-approved for a house more expensive than this one, so here's hoping! But it was an FHA loan, and this is an old house, so I don't know if they will be able to buy.

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In still other news, I had a phone interview the other day with someone in KC. She liked my resume and asked where I lived and if I would be moving to KC. I said it was in the middle of the state, and my husband farmed so we couldn't move. But, I told her I was working in Wichita right now, so we are used to being split up during the week. She then asked how much I make. I answered truthfully, and she said I was out of her salary range. But wait, if you let me telecommute, I can take a pay cut! She said they are not currently hiring anyone who right away is in a telecommuting position, but people who have been with the company have moved away from KS and they keep working that way. She said she would keep my resume and if that ever changed she would call me again. Buggers!

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My husband's father's cousin inherited a 1/2 section of ground late last year, and she offered to sell it to us! (A half section is 320 acres) It is mostly pasture, some CRP for a few more years, about 100 acres of crop land. She offered it to us at $625 an acre at 5% interest, financed through her for 5 years. After 5 years, we'll refinance through a bank with some equity in the ground. We get 50% of the mineral rights, with us getting first shot at buying the other half if they decide to sell...and it used to have an oil well on it, and she said they are thinking about redrilling.

It has a good machine shed, a house that needs lots and lots of work, a big barn that just needs to have the clutter removed, a workable corral that DH can fix up with him being a welder and all. We need to build about 1/2 mile of barbed wire fence and get rural water for the house and a well for the cattle. It doesn't have a pond, but used to...we could eventually clear out the sediment and have another one.

I was a little hesitant because of the amount we would owe, but after talking to a few people, it is actually awesome. My best friend is a loan officer at a local bank, and she told me someone around there paid $1000 an acre for pasture! I told her our information, and she said it was a really good deal. I don't bank with her, because could you imagine not being able to pay back your best friend? Or having your best friend have to foreclose on you if something happened? But it is good to talk to someone about it that knows what is going on.

We told the cousin that we would like to put down $1000 in earnest money now, and then, when the house sells, put down the bigger down payment. We would then have two payments a year.

She is really working with us, and I just am blown away by everyone who is trying to help us. I just can't believe how things are falling into place. Thank you, God.

4 Responses to “So how is this cooking at home thing supposed to save me money?”

  1. LuckyRobin Says:
    1207725421

    You can rescue that can of icky asparagus by chopping it into tiny pieces and burying it in your next meatloaf. Canned asparagus is awful and that's how I used up my mistake of buying it.

  2. compulsive debtor Says:
    1207747108

    I think the key to saving money by cooking at home is to plan your menu out a week in advance, shop the sales with coupons for things you can stock up on and then cook as much as possible from scratch or fresh (i.e. no canned asparagus).

  3. Carolina Bound Says:
    1207749049

    Another thing you can do with the canned asparagus is make cream of asparagus soup.

    I've also used cooked asparagus in a breakfast casserole (i.e. eggs, milk, torn-up bread, cheese, veggies of choice, sausage or bacon -- bake in 350 oven for 30-40 minutes). Yummy.

  4. reginaastralis Says:
    1207787519

    Another thing you could do is donate it to a food bank. Who knows ... someone might really like canned asparagus.

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