Old Mother Hubbard

... or that's the goal anyway. 


We are in a self imposed grocery spending freeze. 


I have a rough idea of what we spend on a month in groceries and while I know it's way less than the average family, it's more than what I think is reasonable. Especially at this point in our life when over half of our income is reliant on faith. God has been abundant in his blessings and the ways He's provided for us in these months but (predictably and unfortunately) we've gotten really comfortable in the area of finances and before we repeat the same debt cycles we've been prone to in the past we are tightening up our belts. 


I hate waste and I love living simply with less stuff but these ideals have never really transferred over into the kitchen. Our cupboards are bursting from grocery trips past and our freezer full of meals prepped pre-baby so the time is right to start thinking creatively to use up what we have and harness our grocery spending even more. 


We are feasting in just afew short weeks but until then, my goals:

• Buy nothing! Milk is the one definite exception but besides that we should be fine. (I do have to take a birthday snack to Kindergarten mid  month, but I think I can make do with the baking ingredients I already have save a carton of eggs I probably will need to buy) We have an embarrassing amount of frozen veggies and the fruit drawer is bursting with apples and oranges that should last ALMOST to the very end.  
• Bake my own bread/buns/bagels on scheduled days.
• Work out a system for weekly/monthly meal plans to implement when the spending freeze ends that is cost effective, healthy and won't keep adding extras that always seem to fill our cupboards.
• No eating out - even when things are looking REALLY bleak. Friday nights are movie nights though, when we picnic on our bed with a $5 Little Caesars pizza. I do realize we pay $5 to eat a slab of cardboard but it's 5 bucks and right across the street and well, it's a tradition so it gets a pass.
• Think creatively. Make meals we actually want to eat.
• Healthy. We don't keep much (or any) in the way of canned or boxed meals in the house so I'm not worried that in order to use up what we have that we will be having entire meals of ichiban or Alphagetti. This goal should be quite easy I guess but still worth putting it out there to keep me accountable.

I think that's all. 

So far we haven't been to the grocery store at all this week - a record!

Last night I used up a can of mixed beans that had been sitting in the cupboard and otherwise would have just collected dust for months I'm sure, to make Veggie burgers. And not just any veggie burgers - veggie burgers that were eaten with conviction by everyone. For an 88¢ can of beans (and afew other kitchen staples) I say, not bad. Not bad at all. 

Simple Veggie Burgers

1 19oz can mixed beans (use whatever kind of beans you'd like)

1 small carrot cooked

1 small onion

1 small bunch of parsley (totally optional)

1 cup oatmeal (this is an estimate)

1 egg

salt and pepper


(this one is really open to interpretation so have fun adding whatever you think you're family would like - keep in mind the consistency should remain the same as in the picture below though)

This one is really as simple as throwing everything into the food processor and mixing until you have a moist but not wet mixture. I would say by the time I was done I had used 1 cup of oatmeal total, but start off with a half cup and add as you need to. If you end up with a mixture that is too dry use some wine, water, ketchup, etc. to add some moisture and help bind it all together again. 

Form into patties (I got 12 medium sized burgers from this recipe) and let sit in the fridge, tightly covered, for at least an hour to help them set up. 

Throw on the BBQ (or in a skillet or you could even bake them) and cook for about 5 minutes each side. I added curry paste to the tops while they were cooking but you don't need to. 

Fix 'em up like you would a meat filled burger and enjoy. No one will be the wiser and your cupboard a little bit barer too.