So Little and So Much

 

I started my day with so little planned except taking a friend to lunch to celebrate her birthday. My outfit was centered around wearing one of the linen shirts I scored last week. It worked perfectly with the yoga pants I wore last week with a lacy tank. My jewelry was based around a green aventurine necklace, which I don't wear often enough! It was so blazing hot that even the linen couldn't keep me cool. But I enjoyed this outfit and got a compliment from a lady who had a garage sale I went to.

And speaking of garage sales... it was so odd to see one mid-week. My friend told me about it and directed us to it after lunch. I only spent five dollars but could've spent more. She had lots of garden things that were red, white, and blue. Her garage has a black and white theme, so she was selling stuff from that too. Plus, yellow decor items. These are all my colors! I chose to bring home a Lenox trinket dish. I just love anything Lenox, and it will hold jewelry that I have taken off but am too lazy to immediately put away. It was $2. The black and white checked rug which is now under our high-top table was $3. Both purchases were just perfect.

I had nothing planned for dinner, so Tommy suggested pizza. After having spent $30 (at a hamburger stand!) for lunch, that was a hard no for me. With my freezer full of bargains, I knew I could find something. The solution was to defrost a piece of marked down salmon, then raid the refrigerator for whatever we had on hand. The first picture is all the stuff I mixed together to top a spinach and kale salad. We had a bag of potatoes, and one large one was more than enough for both of us. I know it all looks like a gloppy mess in my pictures, but the greens along with the fig, feta, almond, and herb encrusted salmon was tasty. We have one serving left which will make a nice lunch tomorrow. Any extra potatoes are always great to make with eggs in the morning too. Dessert was homemade vanilla ice cream. I did stop into a Tops near my friend's house to buy two quarts of light cream. At $1.08 per quart (Flashfood), I will have four pints of delicious ice cream for less than the price of a pint of the "gourmet" kind. The salmon fillet was $5.83!

I did stop into Save-a-Lot on my way home to see if they had marked down meat. It's always best to check in the morning, but that was not an option. There was boneless pork roast, along with 85% lean ground beef. The price of meat has gone up. I am paying almost 40 cents more per pound compared to a year ago. This haul was $9.50 for four pounds. I had been able to get this amount for about $8 before. I also picked up a sweet potato for 99 cents per pound. 

This was all for Frankie, so I made her food which I started in the crockpot before dinner. It was a simple mix; pork (diced), beef, spinach, kale, sweet potato and water. My method today was a bit different, and I am going to do this again. After letting everything cook, I strained out the food and left the liquid behind. I added oats to that. Since I always give Frankie oats for lunch, I had everything I needed for the next week and a half. Two containers of food, and two containers of oats. And only one pot to clean up!

With the price of meat rising on account of tariffs, I am even more comitted to making my own food. I fear pet food manufacturers are going to mess with ingredients in order to keep prices down. Also, so much of the product sold for pet consumption comes from China. I really fear that manufacturers and wholesalers will be looking for ways to cut corners. Skimping on meat and other important ingredients will probably be one way to do it. Cooking this food was so simple. To balance it out nutritionally, I added two tablespoons of powdered calcium citrate. That's all we need to do. We do also give a daily multi-vitamin to be safe. Frankie is super healthy and very happy too. Plus, we have peace of mind that she won't be fed tainted or adulterated pet food. Have you considered cooking for your pet?

I did end up getting so much done, even though I had so little planned!