Freezer Work

I got a start on the garage freezers today but have a way's to go, I should be able to finish when Karsyn goes down for her morning nap tomorrow. We have a side of beef on the way in a couple of weeks from our local farm buddy so I have to consolidate as much as I can and I needed to see if we are getting low on anything.

Chicken is always low this time of the year, the grocery store doesn't put it on sale after New Years, with all the folks who jump on the weight loss kick the stores know they will sell no matter what the price. I get around the high prices by stocking up in the fall and buying roasted chickens from the grocery deli on Sunday when they sell whole roasted chickens for $4.99 each. I use the roasted chickens as is for a dinner and also buy extra then clean off the meat and vacuum pack it to use in soups, pasta dishes, chicken salad and such. The bones and yuk stuff is what I make our chicken broth from. I used a couple of packs of the pre-cooked chicken and chicken stock for "Bow Tie Chicken Pasta" supper tonight, along with a loaf of french bread and a pan of homemade Cinnamon rolls from the freezer. The kids were happy to have a home cooked meal when they picked Karsyn up and I had supper along with leftovers for a few days, bonus more room in the freezer!!

We are good on pork, I picked up sausage that was on sale this past week with $.75 off coupons (my store doubles) I can't believe how much sausage has gone up!! Sale price this week was 2 (1)pound packages for $7.00 regular price is $4.87 ended up paying $1.25 a pound, hard to believe that was a deal but that's how bad the prices are increasing right now thank goodness for coupons.

Still have 2 turkey's I picked up when the price was down to $.70 a pound back at Thanksgiving that I need to cook, that will free up a ton of space, down to 1 large ham also on sale during the holiday's, we had one for Sunday dinner last week so I can't trow another one on the table for a few more weeks.

We have quite a bit of beef left, but totally out of ground beef, stew beef and round steak. Looks like the boys will be happy next Sunday when I will put them on the grill to BBQ tenderloins that need to be moved.

Lots of veggies and fruit, we should have enough to see us until the garden kicks in this summer (oh please give me more veggies than weeds this year!)

Received the utility bill today, Freeze Yer Buns Off helped a lot!! We saved $140.00 from this same time last year, that's super good since the rate went up this year. We are keeping the temp at 55 during the night but I pump it up to 68 when the grands are here, along with using the sunny Dinning room as the nursery they stay plenty warm. Found a couple of books last night that I put on my Nook wish list, gonna treat myself to buying one tonight in celebration of freezing my buns off savings.

Bow Tie Chicken Pasta (SUPER EASY/CHEAP and makes a lot)
1/4 stick butter
2 Tbls dehydrated onions or 1/4 chopped onion
1/2 Tbls dehydrated garlic or 2 to 3 cloves chopped
2 Bunched broccoli tops (frozen from our garden)
2 jars chicken gravy or 2 cans cream of chicken soup (don't dilute)
4 cups chicken broth (frozen) or 2 cans chicken broth
pre-cooked chicken, however much your family likes
1 box bow tie pasta cooked and drained

Melt butter then saute onions and garlic until translucent.
Add chicken gravy and chicken broth mix and bring to simmer
Add broccoli tops, cook until broccoli is fork tender.
Toss in chicken cook till warm, pour over cooked bow tie pasta

WOW, long post, amazing how good a mood I am in when I leave the news OFFFFF