My husband retired after 29 years of pastoring at Praise Fellowship last September. Our lives have changed dramatically from what it used to be. Since my job was at the church along with my husband, I am now unemployed. I thought I would go and get a job right off, but the economy crashed last fall. I applied for holiday jobs, nothing! In hind sight, jobs came across my desk last summer that I should have applied for, which were gone by the time I got around to looking for a job.
With my "Amish" upbringing, I slipped right back to how I was brought up. I am cooking all of our meals, shopping wisely, etc. Its hard to tell what this receipt says, but on Wednesday shopping at our local grocery store I saved $ 29.01. (I spent around $60) I would say that was wise shopping! The clerk checking me out commented on my savings! This was my best week by far, but with double couponing I usually save in the twenty dollar range.
Its been interesting and a challenge cooking. Lately we have been trying to eat breakfast and later in the afternoon for our main meal with a light supper. We are getting older and don't need as much nourishment as a younger more active person. :-)
I started baking all of the bread we eat. I found all grain frozen rolls, that we love. That supplements my baking. I baked Banana Bread the other week, which turned out wonderful but we ate it within a day or 2 so my husband instructed me not to bake that again! It was yummy.
My chili soup has been perfected! This winter has been great soup weather which included Zesty Vegetable soup, Beef Barley Soup, (I supstituted lintels), very good! If any one would like to try any of my recipes, just let me know. I went online and found some great recipes such as; Split Pea Soup. I always thought that was for old people . . . I guess that's me now!
I started cooking up our beans for soup, (instead of canned beans), instead of the overnight soaking, I do the quick cook, boiling them for several minutes and letting them sit for an hour before cooking them until they get soft. We planned for around a hundred dollars a week for food allowances, but I think we have done much better then we expected and we have been eating well.
We have been walking at the Mall for our exercise because of all the snow and ice on the sidewalks. Making it unsafe for walking. It has finally melted and we have been walking down at the lake again! Yeah! I love the lake, especially early in the morning!
