When the Cupboard is Bare: #Lowcarb Challenge Day 6

Almost there! Yesterday - day 6 (I didn't have time to blog last night) - we did fine. For breakfast/lunch I made pancakes. Not in the plan, but my grandson wanted macaroni and cheese or hot dogs, neither of which I had in the house, and I knew he loved pancakes and we had Carbquik so that's what I made. Mine were heavily buttered with just a little SF syrup...his were more syrupy.

Hubby had popcorn when he got home from work, and ate leftovers later in the afternoon; he and I ate supper at 11 p.m. before he went to work. I made the last steak in the freezer, which we split, and a big sheet pan of roasted cauliflower. I'm out of olive oil so I had to use Crisco oil (yuck!) to coat them, then tossed with seasonings and parmesan cheese (the "green can" kind) and it was one of the best suppers - if not THE best - this week!

Today is day 7 and we not only survived but I think we ate pretty well!

Another bonus to eating without grocery shopping is that our big chest freezer in the garage is empty, so we won't be paying to keep that monster running until I get the opportunity to build up my stock of meats and vegetables to the overflow point; meanwhile my freezer here in the house can contain a couple of weeks' worth at least, and I will use that. I planned a large grocery shopping for tomorrow, but 2 things happened: I was asked to work, and also my dog injured his back. The vet can see him tomorrow morning but the vet bill is an unexpected expense. Since we don't "do" credit (Romans 13:8), I will have to get the $ for the vet bill by taking from other planned expenditures from tomorrow's paycheck...that's how it goes in the wintertime when I'm not working full-time, but it's ok, God always supplies our needs and I am grateful and thankful!

So hopefully we can do some shopping tomorrow evening, I will be done with work, and will know what I have to work with after paying the vet bill. Meanwhile, we still have popcorn - lol!

(Seriously, I still have a few eggs, some chicken, 2 chubs of sausage, several packages of frozen vegetables, butter, a little half'n'half..and plenty of Carbquik - hahaha!)

When the Cupboard is Bare: #Lowcarb Challenge Day 5 - Update

I didn't end up making the roasted cauliflower on Day 5 but everything else worked out just as planned and posted :).

When the Cupboard is Bare: #Lowcarb Challenge Day 5

I'll post again at the end of the day but I just wanted to share with you my super-cheap breakfast/lunch meal for today...and I actually remembered to take a picture :).

First, I had purchased a bunch of brown-and-serve-type sausages during a 10/$10 sale. Yes, full of all kinds of nasty chemicals, I know...but handy to have around for something quick - especially when my husband gets home from work in the morning, or when we're rushing around to get somewhere and don't want to be tempted with fast food, or whatever. So when there's a sale like that, I get 10 boxes that I thought were used up. Then yesterday when I was digging through the drawer at the bottom of my freezer (side by side, so it was near the floor) for some vegetables I saw a box of sausage patties that had slipped behind the shelves and fallen back behind that drawer! Since I couldn't get to it, this morning I had my 30MO grandson dig it out for me...and that was the "inspiration" for today's breakfast/lunch.

I laid the patties out on the bottom of a greased pyrex cake dish, then put some cubes of sharp cheese around them. In a bowl I whisked together 5 eggs and some half'n'half and had planned to stop there but really wanted a little more substance so I stirred in about 1/2c of Carbquik (about the only thing I have a lot of this week!). Poured that over the sausages and cheese and baked it for about 45 minutes at 325.

It was WAY good! I mean really REALLY good!

The next time - tomorrow maybe, when I use one of my ground sausage chubs I have left - I will try something a little different: I'll cook/crumble the sausage first of course, them probably just mix it with the eggs/half'n'half/Carbquik, and fry it as "cakes" on my griddle. And pour SF maple syrup over them! And now I can't wait, it sounds so good!

I will post again later tonight if things change, but right now I'm planning pork chops, fried cabbage, and roasted cauliflower for supper. Pete likes to eat a bowl of popcorn before he goes to work so I'll probably have one too. Thus will end day 5, with only 2 more days to go, and not totally out of food yet! :)

When The Cupboard is Bare: #Lowcarb Challenge Day #4

We're going to make it, I think :). I spent my $15 today (actually $17...found an extra couple of bucks...) on a few things that will get us through the next few days, until I can shop Friday morning. I picked up a half-gallon of half'n'half to use in various dishes (scrambled eggs, for example, for $3.58) and/or sauces; plus my husband likes it in his coffee. I got myself more decaf tea (99c), a small roasting chicken that was a buck off (4.5 lbs for about $3.25), some shredded italian cheese blend $3.19/12 oz), about a pound of fish ($3.29) for tonight's supper, some no-sugar-added Hunts tomato sauce (99c), dish detergent (99c for the grapefruit Ajax - the ONLY kind I use), and a tiny head of cabbage to go with my last package of pork chops in the freezer tomorrow evening.

Today for late breakfast/early lunch (I only eat 2 meals a day) I made a one-minute bread, split it in half, toasted it, and ate one half of it with butter, cream cheese, and SF raspberry jelly. They are big, 1/2 is plenty! Supper was fish which I baked, and I diced some sweet potatoes, tossed them with melted coconut oil and sea salt, and roasted them. My grandson and husband of course ate the lion's share, I had some too but mostly I ate fish.

And that's about it for the day, will be heading off to bed shortly, only 3 more days to go! In my freezer I have the pork chops for tomorrow, one last 1.65# steak for Wednesday, and I'll roast that chicken on Thursday. Friday morning, if I'm not working (I work as-needed) I will be at the grocery store! Meanwhile, leftovers, scrambled - or fried - eggs, still have some sausage, and plenty of frozen vegetables such as spinach, cauliflower, and green beans...we're gonna make it, I do believe! :)

When The Cupboard is Bare: #Lowcarb Challenge Day #3

Good day today! Before church I had a sausage patty "sandwich" on one of last night's Carbquik biscuits split in half. Mid-afternoon I had supper of a chicken thigh, green beans, some squash, and a small spoonful of the leftover cranberry sauce from Thursday. I stopped on the way home from church and bought some squash, it is sale-priced at 59c/lb from a local business that will be closing for the winter in a couple of weeks. So we'll be eating some of that most days. (It's one of those carbier foods that's so nutritionally dense that I indulge in about 1/2c of it when I prepare it.)

Tonight if I get the munchies - as I surely will - I will either make some cheese chips, or else I'll have more heavily buttered popcorn. Today didn't feel challenging after all! And only 4 more days to go, for Friday we shop! :)