Freezer Sandwiches & Everything Salad

At the end of the month, our fridge looks like this.  {Our ‘Groceries and Toiletries’ envelope is even emptier!}  Read on for three ideas of meals to make that we have on our table this season!

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There are a lot of pros to this.

  • It is easy to clean the fridge by wiping the empty shelves clean each month.
  • Minimal clutter means less stuff has the chance to get hidden and go bad.
  • We rarely throw away any food.  We eat ALL our leftovers.
  • We appreciate the little things and see God’s Provision.  Countless times towards the end of the month, someone has given us the exact item we ran out of without even knowing!
  • At a quick glance you know what you have to work with for meal planning.

…Which can require some creativity and use of more pantry goods when there’s not as much fresh food to work with!

On Our Table:  Southern & Cajun

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Our favorite Cajun spice recipe (pictured above) can be found here.  We use it for Southern style ‘dirty rice.’  Ole helped me measure and mix, and now he asks every day if we, “Can make more spices, Mom?”

The other day when we were out of food in the fridge {I say that relatively – that’s how it felt}, I was equally out of ideas.  Since one of my friends is often making grits to go along with various meals, I thought

Grits.

We have grits.

And we had just enough for the meal.  Then I wondered… Now what could go with that?  CHEESE!  We had a bit left in two bags of shredded cheese.  That would be protein to go with the carbs.  That’s a meal.  Then I remembered the bacon we had left in the fridge.  Grits are good.  Cheesy grits with bacon is even better!  If only we had a green veggie to go with it…  And I found an unopened bag of broccoli in the freezer!  Fried up with some onion powder (because we were out of onions), it was delicious and we ate in style, even at the end of the month!  {This is a very typical brain path for my meal planning… or, lack thereof?! :P}

I love having grits on the menu – it adds variety to bread, noodles or rice. 🙂  It is also the season for sweet tea which is so. much. happiness!

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After budgeting for June, we finally could go to the store!!!  They were my shopping helpers:

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This is what a grocery cart should look like!  So much FRESH REAL FOOD!!!!  (Ok, except maybe the very-processed cereal…)  I love summer!!!!!  😀

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On Our Table:  Everything Salad

With all those fresh veggies, it is time for Everything Salad!  This is a homemade recipe that you can tweak just about any way you want.  I usually make it with a pasta and tuna base, with whatever fresh veggies we have on hand, and sprinkles of all kinds of spices that look like they might be good.

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Everything Salad Recipe

  • Decorative pasta, cooked and cooled
  • Tuna with mayo
  • hard boiled eggs
  • lettuce (separate)
  • cucumber
  • tomato
  • bell peppers, any color
  • celery
  • black olives
  • avocado
  • onion
  • chives
  • cilantro
  • salt and pepper
  • parsley flakes
  • thyme
  • oregano

Variation:  Today we used the salad as filling in a tortilla to make a healthy vegetable tuna wrap!  Let me know of other great variations or ingredient additions!

The other day on the Dave Ramsey Show Live, this family marked the milestone of becoming debt free.  This family of SEVEN spends only $400 per month on groceries!  If they can do it… our little family of four can do it on half that!  Inspiring!  We will need to raise our grocery budget a little soon due to two more mouths – so far not been increased since we were just a couple – but our goal is to hang on and keep it at what it is through summer when the garden will hopefully help out some!

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Photo credit: Ramsey Solutions, screenshot from The Dave Ramsey Show Live

We got to try Taiwanese bubble tea the other day, made by university exchange students.  Black tea + milk + “bubbles”… Yum!

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On Our Table:  Freezer Sandwiches

This sandwich trick has revolutionized my world!

This is not my original idea; credit goes to Crystal Paine, aka the Money Saving Mom, who is such an encouragement to me, both as a mother, blogger, and in my walk with Christ!  She was on Periscope the other day giving the main TIP for making freezer PB&J sandwiches – put peanut butter on BOTH sides of the bread so the jelly doesn’t make the bread soggy.  I decided to try salami and pickle loaf sandwiches as well using the same technique.  I put the two slices of meat on either side touching the bread, and mayonnaise in the middle.  I also made bean and cheese quesadillas.  I made enough sandwiches for Ben for two weeks of pack lunches.  Less than a week later they’re all… gone.  The kids and I ate them too! 😀  They are SO handy to grab for a lunch on the go or when you don’t have much time but need to eat and feed the kids!  I took some on our most recent grocery shopping trip so in between my chiropractor appointment and grocery shopping we could have a picnic lunch without having to spend $ eating out!  {Grocery shopping while full instead of hungry saves money too!  This is a win, win!}

I’ll be making a lot more of these soon to restock our freezer with easy lunches!

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Now excuse me while I go wash all the dirty dishes that these yummy meals create!

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