In my quest for frugality this weekend, I was trying to use up food at home. I have been trying to organize my food storage and get it a little more presentable so I can take pictures to post for you all!

We had pepperoni and canned olives to use up so we made Pepperoni Pizza Twist! Absolutely a family favorite!

We ate the LAST box of scalloped potatoes. I think I might miss not buying those anymore, but the some of ingredients/preservatives are definitely not good for us. I wish I could master making “real” scalloped potatoes. Somehow, that has alluded me so far.

I threw out some food that was expired and known not to be good anymore. That makes me sad because of the sheer waste of the money spent to buy them. I need to be better about my eating what I have. I like the idea of marking everything with the expiration date using permanent marker. That way I can see the date easily and know by when I need to make the food.

I had two bananas that needed to be used up. They were getting to the point of really mushy and starting to attract the flies’ attention. (Gross, eh?) So I washed and peeled the bananas. They became….you guess it, BANANA BREAD! Here is my Great Aunt Doris’ super easy recipe for delicious banana bread!

Banana Bread

2 eggs, beaten very well
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil of your choice
1-1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bananas, mashed

Mix together eggs, sugar, & oil. Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Mix well. Add bananas & mix gently. Pour into a very lightly greased large loaf pan or two smaller loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Easy peasy, isn’t it? My kind of recipe! After the banana bread, we attempted to make homemade applesauce. I have never made homemade applesauce before. I had bought 10 pounds of apples at the grocery store that were marked down to 19 cents/pound. I had a eye toward making enough to can some of it, but I decided to make a test run first. Besides, I have four people to test this on and they had better like the applesauce before we can it! Another easy recipe!

My Attempt at Homemade Applesauce

We were kind of winging this applesauce recipe. I had the Ball Canning Book and the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook in front of me for guidance. We sent 3 pounds of apples through the apple peeler/corer/slicer (love this contraption!). We added a cup of water to the apples in a heavy 6 quart pot. We bought the water to boiling, then turned the heat to medium low and let them cook down until I could mash them easily, about 40-45 minutes. We cooked the apples in a little bit too much water (lesson learned!) and had a little too much liquid. Maybe I will use only 1/2 cup water instead of a full cup. After I took the apples off the heat, I mashed them down to my desired chunkiness. I added a 1/2 cup of sugar which seemed to be a good sweetness since the apples were already plenty sweet. Then I let the applesauce cool for a bit.

The younger two kids totally loved the applesauce! The older two kids have not tried the applesauce, but will tonight for supper. I loved the applesauce so we will be doing this again and, hopefully, to can it!

Sorry I don’t have pictures for any of this! I couldn’t find my camera until this morning. Grrr…  Later today I will have a post for my Preparedness Mondays!

I am also adding this to the Barnyard Hop! Welcome to all who are coming over to read my ramblings!

And I am adding this to the Frugal Tuesday Tip! Lots of great tips! Check it out!

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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