On Saturday, I don't think that I got a lot done but my husband finished putting together the last of the two piece molding in the house that we are getting ready to sell and spackled, sanded and primed around the new light fixture that he put up because I put the old one in the new house. I know it is a lot of work just to take the light fixture with me but I like it and I just took one that I didn't like as much and put it in the old house but it still goes really well in the room. He also changed out the really expensive dimmer switches that we had in the bedrooms upstairs with normal light switches so that we can put them in the bedrooms at the new house. Because he can do all of these great things, we saved lots of money.
I was determined to make Sunday a really productive day so I started with a fresh pot of iced tea to make sure that I had enough caffeine to make it through the day. I started by cleaning up the whole kitchen because it was a mess. I filled and ran the dishwasher and cleaned all the counters. It is sad when I do that just to make an even bigger mess with everything that I have planned but I guess that is what happens.
I made chicken broth from some frozen veggies and the chicken that I made the previous night for dinner. I normally strain all of the veggies and other things out and refrigerate overnight. I scrape the grease off the top of the broth and strain again to put into containers. I freeze the containers to use later in soup or other recipes.
I cooked ground beef for French Dip Sloppy Joes this week and made Salsa Sloppy Joes to freeze with the rest. I took the other two bags of uncooked ground beef and put them in the freezer too. We are ready for a few weeks of meals with the ground beef that I bought at the end of January.
We were all out of homemade rolls so I cooked up a batch so that we had them for the next few weeks. I love homemade rolls and they are so good fresh out of the oven but still stay great when they are frozen. I just pop them in the microwave and we have hot rolls for sandwiches whenever we want.
I made a big pot of brown rice to make lunch for my husband and froze three bags of rice. I used up the rest of the chicken boullion in the spice cupboard because the chicken broth was cooking on the other burner and I didn't want to defrost any other chicken broth. I am hoping to make a few more batches of brown rice to freeze and us up some of the large stock pile of brown rice we have because it is hard to wait the 60 minutes it sometimes takes to make it before dinner so I like to have it in easy to microwave bags.
We printed up some Valentines to use for my son for school so I cut them out and got them all ready for him to sign his name and wait for instructions. He also made a special Valentine for both of his teachers with cutting, writing, stickers and gluing. We are going to attach a pencil through the middle for the special present which we are going to the dollar store to buy a package tomorrow.
I went online and reserved a few more books at the library so that I will be all set to get some fun new books when I am done reading the few left in my pile. I didn't make it to the library to pick up papers or return the book that I finished but I have that on my list for Monday morning before going to an appointment for more new house stuff.
In addition, I cleaned out the fridge and ran the dishwasher with all the stuff that I got out of the fridge. I put some stuff in the freezer and other stuff went into the trash. I emptied the dishwasher and filled it up again. Lots more dishes washed from the mess that I made with all my cooking. I also got a load of darks and whites done this weekend and hoping to wash coats tonight (or tomorrow if there isn't enough time to dry).
I worked on the meal plan for the coming week which always saves time and money to let me know what we need at the store and what we have ready to eat for the week. For dinner one night, I cut up some homemade fries to put with every ones dinner which was a yummy treat. There are always a bunch of things that you can do to make your weekend frugal and prepare for the coming week at the same time. It takes a little planning and time but I hope that you had a very frugal weekend too!!!
Sigh... your freezer looks so neat and organized... I'm envious! I never thought of precooking rice and freezing it, great tip! I've started cooking my rice in the microwave this past month, it's been really easy, takes only 25 minutes total and the little mess it makes is way easier to clean than whatever mess on the stovetop (because my pot always leaks water during the cooking and it spills all over the stove) This week I was able to get it started and leave the house for about 90 minutes and the rice was ready when I got home). We use white rice, though.
ReplyDeleteI did cook a lot of brown rice two years ago and I also microwaved it. It took much less time. Here is how I did it:
1) wash rice 3 times or until water runs clear to remove starch which makes rice boil over (well, I guess I just found the solution to not making my white rice boil over, lol. I'm so forgetful, I could have sworn I never knew this!)
2) put rice in large bowl and add 4 parts of water to 1 part of rice
3) cover and microwave until water boils (8 to 10 minutes)
4) CAREFULLY remove cover
5) microwave uncovered for 20 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed
6) remove from microwave and let sit until remaining water is absorbed.
To be super honest that is an old
DeletePicture that I pulled up because I didn't want to go downstairs and take a picture but I try to keep it looking like that. We are getting close to defrost so it doesn't look like that currently!!! Hoping to defrost in the next few weeks and move it to the new house... If I can get it through the door!!