No Spenduary - Week 3

What we did to save money this week:

1) We have electric baseboard heat throughout the house.  The thermostats on the heaters are original to the house (1970).  Husband replaced the thermostats in the rooms where they were not working effectively.  i.e.- our room, the thermostat is either on, and the temperature is over 80, or it's off.  He replaced 2 thermostats.  We'll see if there's any savings reflected in the next electric bill.

2) This one isn't mine so much as middle child's.  He is getting ready to go back to school, where he does much of his own cooking.  We put together a ton of mason jar meals for him to take back with him.  While we were at it, we made up several other jars to take up to his brother for his birthday.  I'll post pictures from that escapade later this week!

3) I'm in the middle of cleaning out the big, sopping mess from the chest freezer.  I've been looking at the rubber gasket, too.  I think we might need to replace that - there's several places where the seal isn't what it should be - and I think that's why there's as much ice as there is inside of the freezer.

4) This is my third week without a Starbucks run!  I'm not sure whether I should be proud of that - or appalled to realize that I've been stopping by there for tea quite so often....


What we had for dinner:
1) Salmon Filet - with butternut squash cubes and slices brussel sprouts (sauteed in olive oil)

2) Salmon with Rice Pilaf - from the leftover salmon filet. Husband made the pilaf with lemon juice instead of vegetable broth.  The lemons were leftover from the clearance rack find.  We had a side salad to go with this to round out our veggies.

3) Homemade Pizza, with homemade sauce pulled from the freezer.  I'm still experimenting with recipes for gluten free pizza dough.  This recipe wasn't "THE ONE", but it was good!  We topped the pizza with onions, bell pepper, and spinach.

4) Spaghetti- made with - you guessed it - more homemade sauce from the freezer!

5) Black Bean Soup
I made this recipe that I found on Smitten Kitchen.  You know I didn't make the creme - dairy allergies and all...  It's an excellent, stand alone bean soup recipe!  I made corn bread to go with this!

6)Lettuce Wraps
Using ground turkey, they were supposed to take like P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps.  They weren't that good, but they were okay.  I made a vegetarian version for daughter.

7) Ramen Stir Fry
This one's a little harder to explain.  I found gluten free ramen noodles.  Years ago, I used to make a stir fry recipe with ramen noodles.  There were no seasonings in this recipe, though.  I took the leftover ground turkey from the Lettuce Wraps.  (Yes, two pots were going here - one vegetarian, one meatatarian.)  I heated up the meat, and then added a bag of frozen veggies.  I split the bag of ramen noodles between the two pots, added about a cup and a half of water to each and brought it to a boil.  I added bullion to each pot, and I added some of the seasonings I usually use in stir fry.  (Crushed red pepper, ginger, etc.)  10 minutes later, dinner was ready.  THIS STUFF WAS AWESOME!  Better than the original lettuce wraps!

What did you do to save money this week?