Food Storage for Dinner

Almost every week I make a pot of soup. Usually something with minimal meat, a lot of beans, and a ton of veggies. This is one of the best ideas I've had. Seriously. It lasts my husband and I a week at least, sometimes I freeze half and pull it out a few weeks later. We eat it for lunch or dinner depending on the day and whether or not I'm making something else for dinner.

This is a great meal idea for eating through some of your FOOD STORAGE (the church I belong to suggests each member have a year's supply of food for each member of the family). Whether we're talking about short or long term food storage you need to rotate through it.This dish is great for either- but in this post I used short term as a matter of convenience. Our short term food storage is comprised of a lot of canned vegetables, since we live in a condo and only grow very few potted veggies in summer.
Rotating through tons of canned veggies or beans isn't always the first priority when you wanna cook food you like, so this dish has been a life saver for getting through all the stuff we store.

This week I'm making a variation of chili, which is one of our favorites.

I make vegetarian recipes because they put in so many vegetables, but then I also put in lean ground beef (93 or 97% fat) 

We love the chili option because you can eat it with chips and cheese or maybe just sour cream on top. I am always using different variation on the vegetables and this keeps it from getting old.

This dinner is AWESOME for several reasons:

*It will feed each of us 5-7 times, making 10-14 meals. That makes the cost approximately .78 to $1.10 a meal. I buy the canned foods at Costco in bulk, I use whatever vegetables are on sale, and buy my meat in bulk.

*Although there is very little meat in the chili, my husband is always happy with it and feels like he's getting a regular hearty meal. He is a HUGE meat eater and wants it every single day and he feels  there's enough to satiate him- although it's more likely the beans are what's filling him up.

*It takes very little time considering how many times it saves you from cooking.

*It is so healthy! I always leave out the noodles in the soups so we're filling up on healthy veggies, beans, and lean meat.

Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 medium onion, chopped 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon ground cumin 2 tablespoons dried oregano 1 tablespoon salt 2 stalks celery, chopped 2 green bell peppers, chopped 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained 2 (12 ounce) packages vegetarian burger crumbles 3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed 1/4 cup chili powder 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained 1 (15 ounce) can black beans 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn Directions Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes. Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving. Nutritional Information Amount Per Serving  Calories: 342 | Total Fat: 7.7g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Linked up with Laugh Love and Craft, Tatertots and Jello, Funky Junk Interiors Beyond the Picket Fence,  Some What Simple and Tip Junkie.

Counting my Booty

Just a little update on my mission to redo our entire living room without spending any money we didn't raise for this makeover. 

We have successfully sold our biggest ticket item and will be bringing in 800 smackeroos. This along with another sale made today makes 975 bucks to add to the living room makeover fund. I originally listed almost 2 grand worth of goods, mostly stuff that has sat around for years without being used and some things had never been used even once!

For example, the big ticket item was a fridge that we purchased right before we sold our house. We decided to buy stainless steel appliances to encourage a buyer to pick our house. We got a great deal on a stainless suite by stacking some discounts. First I looked for brands that several retailers sold. I picked appliances that were on sale at Best Buy, then printed off the sales and took them to Lowe's. I don't know how many people know this but Lowe's doesn't just price match, they will actually beat competitor's prices by 10 percent. Sweet, right? We then purchased everything with a Lowe's card during a promo and saved an additional 10 percent on top of all the other discounts! Basically we saved several hundred dollars and got coupons for free delivery.

Fast forward to now, we do not have a new house to put said fridge in. We sold the rest of the appliances a while back but getting someone to pony up the big bucks was slow going and my efforts sort of just fizzled out. Now armed with new motivation I was back on the horse and, actually, it took about three weeks.

We still have a few things to sell. Some tips to others when selling:

1) Price reasonably but still a little above what you really want for the item. I actually do not sell something unless I can list it at least a few bucks cheaper than my competition (same item and same QUALITY) and still able to make a reasonable profit. A lower price basically says to everyone, "Hey! Choose mine first!" Saves me time and hassle.

2) Be available to meet and promptly get back to people. People very easily lose sales and interest in your items if they have to wait. A lot of people are calling on impulse, so help you sale out and get that item to them fast- even if you have to go out of you way to meet them!

3) Clean up your crap! You can go out of your way to call someone and then meet them only for the item to look dingy/dusty/dirty and they change their mind and/or want money off the sale price. Make your stuff look as good as you can so there won't be any changed minds. I like to hear people say, "that looks brand new!"

Ironically, I feel like when I'm buying second hand the stuff is always filthy and I have to go pick it up in timbuktu. But the real reason I'm buying from the particular seller is usually the price or maybe the scarcity of the product. I'm buying from someone who couldn't care less if they sell their item and that's why it's the cheapest deal around or they know they have the market on it and I'm at their mercy.