On March 1st I had the opportunity to go to Pineview Discount store in McBain. Hubby had a meeting about halfway there so after dropping him off I went shopping. I didn't need a whole lot but that is a good store for stocking up on things that I can always use. I ended up spending $65.36 on about a dozen bags of food that included 19 fresh dairy and meat items! Plus some bulk food baking/herb/spice supplies, sauces and condiments, and snacks to pack in hubby's lunches.

I then went to Marion, just a few miles from there, to see what ValuLand had on sale. Not a whole lot that I wanted or needed but I did get a big bag of yellow onions (10 to the bag) for 85 cents, and found some whole raw almonds on sale that my parrots love, and a bag of frozen sweet potato fries that my grandson loves. The total for human food there was $6.78.

So on the very first day of the month I spent $72.14...and ALL of my cupboards AND my refrigerator AND my freezer are packed full now - I couldn't fit anything else into my kitchen if I wanted to!

 
I found another receipt from February - ARGH! It sure was an expensive month! I spent $24.81 at Glen's for some coupon items and things they had on sale...speaking of coupon items:

If you aren't a member of SavingStar, you might want to consider it. You activate certain electronic coupons using their app on your smart phone. When you buy the items you don't see the savings at the register, but once you accumulate enough (I think the minimum is 5 bucks - very low anyway) they transfer the savings into your paypal account! It is always nice to ask for my transfers a few times a year and be able to do something special with it, I'm always surprised at how quickly it builds up!

So, that makes my final total for February $316.46 - YIKES!

But the good thing is, my freezer is full, my fridge is full, and my cupboards are full! I still need to put in a Netrition order, and will probably need more meat before the end of March, but this month should be a much cheaper month!

 
I love those cheese cracker sandwiches with peanut butter inside of them, and could easily eat a dozen before I thought about it, if I let myself. Which, of course, I don't. So I wanted something that might be reminiscent of those, that was cheap'n'easy of course, but a little better than cheese baked until crisp and schmeared with peanut butter. And these little gems definitely fill the bill!

2c finely shredded cheese (I used mild cheddar - next time I'll use sharp)
1c light peanut flour
2 flax eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
hot water

Line a 14x20 baking sheet with parchment paper; spray with nonstick cooking spray

Toss first 2 ingredients in a mixing bowl; add the next 3 ingredients and mix well with hands to form a soft dough - if dough is stiff or crumbly, add hot water by the tablespoonful until it is soft enough to work with easily.

Spread dough on parchment-lined pan; pat down as flat as possible with wet hands; cover with sprayed plastic wrap; roll out until dough is thin and even; this will take the dough all the way to the edges of the pan and shape it naturally into a rectangle about 1/8" thick.

Place in 175 degree oven overnight. Break apart to eat. (If you want perfect squares, wait until crackers are set but not crisp and score with a knife. I don't care about perfect squares.)

These hold up to being spread with room temp butter or cream cheese or peanut butter. They are also great topped with some tuna salad or, I'd imagine, any other kind of salad. And they are great all by themselves!

It took me about 10 minutes to make the recipe, from lining the pan to putting them in the oven. Very very easy, and definitely worth the time!

The entire recipe has about 18gN carbs and cost me a little less than $2 to make. So far it has lasted - just stored at room temp on the countertop - 5 days and we've nibbled and munched our way through about 3/4 of them.