Hello everyone and welcome back to the Saturday Savers Club. In our special Saturday Savers Club event, we decided to hold a September NO-BUY MONTH in which we would challenge ourselves and try for a month-long journey of a no-buy experience.
If you'd like to see what this challenge is about, check out the official post here: Saturday Savers Club NO BUY CHALLENGE.
Here's how it works. You decide what you want to do without or cut back on during the 30-day period of September. You set your own rules for what is or isn't allowed to be purchased during the 30 days. Simple as that.
@shanibeer has tempted our Saturday Savers Club with an SPI Give-A-Way and is now holding a Week 1 Challenge for the:
Week 1 of the No-Buy Month
September NO-BUY Month [SPI GIVE-A-WAY]. According to @shanibeer and @susie-saver, every week during our September NO-BUY month there will be an SPI giveaway!
For a chance to win this week, post your favourite NO-BUY or MAKE DO recipe in the comments - two chances in the Wheel of Names if you add a picture of the meal and three chances if you can tell us what the meal costs per person!
What's your favourite low-cost NO-BUY or MAKE DO recipe?
I prepared a family meal on the weekend, but didn't look at our Club announcement. That would have been perfect because I prepared the meal entirely from my pantry and freezer.
Taking time out to cook a dinner instead of dining out was forefront in my mind because I'm participating in the the Saturday Savers' Club September No-Buy Month. Good thing I made sure my pantry and freezer were in good standing. An awesome savings indeed, and good note for my upcoming No-Buy progress report next week.
No worries though. I now have leftover chicken. And we all know what leftover chicken means...chicken salad. A different meal altogether. I love chicken salad. I eat it either as a quick snack or a full meat serving with veggies and fruit.
So off I go to my favorite online recipe site, Cooks.COM. In order to qualify for the low-cost No-Buy or MAKE DO recipe, I needed one where I already had in stock all the ingredients. I love this site because there are numerous recipes for the same item. I found this Recipe: Curried Chicken Salad.
CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD
I made a few substitutions for some of the ingredients and add a few more spices to my taste. I also cut the recipe in half. However, below is the official recipe from Cooks.com:
INGREDIENTS
6 chicken breasts baked, cooled & chopped into bite-sized pieces
(or any type chicken you prefer. I also add thigh meat for texture since breasts can be quite dry)
6 apples, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3 c. red seedless grapes
1 c. walnut meats, broken into pieces
1 c. raisins
1 c. plain yogurt (substituted sour cream)
1 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. brown sugar
4-6 tbsp. curry (to taste)
1/4 c. orange juice
My addition: 1 egg
PREPARATION
First thing I do is gather all my ingredients. The list looks quite lengthy, but it's not really.
Group them into two groups. First, the chicken, applies, grapes, walnuts (I substituted pecans because I love those the most), and raisins.
Next, chop your chicken, apples, and grapes into bite sized chunks, whatever size you prefer.
Place chopped chicken, apples, grapes, walnuts and raisins in a large bowl. My previous chicken meal was barbecue style. No matter. The barbecue flavor just adds to the overall taste. I did wash off a lot of the barbecue sauce so it wouldn't interfere with my other spices.
Toss to combine.
Next, add your remaining wet ingredients.
I love eggs in my chicken salad, so I just boiled, peeled, and tossed it in.
This is also the time to add all your spices and any additional items you prefer. The main spice is Curry.
Combine all the ingredients and blend well.
Your finished Curry Chicken Salad will either look light or dark, depending on the type of spices used. I also love Tumeric to give my dish a bright yellow coloring.
Completed CURRY CHICKEN SALAD
The grapes and apples give your chicken salad a nice sweetness to it. The nuts give it a mild, crunchy texture. A beautiful salad that also freezes well.
If you love Curry seasoning as much as I do, then you'll enjoy this quick and easy Curry Chicken Salad.
Enjoy. And thanks for visiting.
If you have other ways to prepare Curry Chicken Salad, I'd like to hear about it. Better still, if you can prepare your disk without leaving the house to buy any ingredients, you're a perfect match for our Saturday Savers Club "No-Buy Month".
If you're not familiar with the Saturday Savers Club, check it out here:
For the September NO-BUY Month, here's my approach below:
The NO-BUY month starts September 1st and continues through September 30, 2021. Everyone is welcome to join;
I've set my own rules about what I'm allowed to buy or not buy during the month. Here they are:
ALLOWABLE EXPENSES:
- Food - only dairy, bread, produce, and 3 gallons of Blue Bell Ice Cream each 2 weeks (Pralines & Cream, Strawberry, and Vanilla).
- Essential toiletries and housekeeping replacements. This should be minimal.
- Essential repairs or replacements. (currently working on much needed repair projects)
- 1 takeout each week.
- Postage.
- Travel and fuel.
- Grandchild or other family members back-to-school items, if needed.
You may wonder why I feel that ice cream is a necessity. It's not for me. I'm participating in @shanibeer's Wellbeing Club.
NO-BUY ITEMS:
The items below I feel that I can definitely do without for 30 days.
No new financial or crypto investment.
No pantry storage stock items for family members.
No shop-bought non-essential sweets or other treats.
No ready-to-eat cereals (have 15 boxes already).
No silver, gold coins, collectibles.
No ceramic antiques, trading cards, comic or other books.
No new clothing garments or shoes.
No office furniture, or regular furniture.
No household items.
No new magazine or other subscriptions.
NOTES:
In preparation for my September No-Buy Month , I set out a time to grocery shop for all items I'd need for the month. I also set a goal to save 40% of normal monthly expenses.
After rotating all my storage items, including the pantry, I discovered new items that needed to be consumed first before they went out of date. This will assist me in in my no-buying month in September.
See you on September 15th with my mid-month progress report.
I hope you are able to join us in this exciting challenge.
@flaxz initiative #iamalivechallenge (Published my SPI Give-A-Way No-Buy Recipe for the September No-Buy Month Challenge post)
Thanks,
@justclickindiva
Happy rest of the week everyone with whatever your endeavors.
SOURCES:
a) JustClickindiva's Footer created in Canva utilizing its free background and images used with permission from discord admins.
b) Unless otherwise noted, all photos taken by me with my (i) Samsung Galaxy 10" Tablet, (ii) Samsung Phone, & (iii) FUJI FinePix S3380 - 14 Mega Pixels Digital Camera
c) Purple Butterfly part of purchased set of Spiritual Clip Art for my Personal Use
d) All Community logos, banners, page dividers used with permission of Discord Channel admins.
e) Ladies of Hive banner used with permission of and in accordance with the admin's guidelines.
f) Saturday Savers Club logo created by me @justclickindiva in Canva utilizing its free templates and free images from PXFuel (i) and (ii).
