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Shopping trip to Walmart

Friday, October 17, 2008

I haven't done a shopping trip account in a while. With the increased prices and having little food allowance, I thought it would be good to keep closer track of how much I'm spending. So I guess I'll be doing shopping posts again.


6.08 - 5qt vanilla ice cream
1.44 - 2 2lts Sam's Club Root beer (and bottle deposit)
0.33 - Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (for the ride home)
2.24 - 2 pkgs GV bite size tortilla chips
2.94 - 2 pkgs GV white corn tortilla chips
2.36 - 2 pkgs GV Honey wheat braid pretzels
2.76 - 2 pks Austin individually pkg'ed crackers (cheese, PB)
1.18 - GV mini pretzels
9.56 - 4 gallons skim milk
3.88 - gallon OJ
2.97 - 3 3gal refilled drinking water (culligan machine)
3.78 - GV instant coffee
1.98 - 2 bags baby carrots
0.79 - 1 bell pepper
9.00 - 6 pkgs (20oz ea) Simply Potatoes Hash Brown potatoes
8.00 - 4 pkgs (8oz ea) Kraft shredded mozzarella cheese
4.00 - 2 pkgs (8oz ea) Kraft shredded Italian
4.00 - 2 pkgs (8oz ea) Kraft shredded Monterey Jack & Cheddar
4.00 - 2 pkgs (8oz ea) Kraft shredded Mexican 4 cheese
4.00 - 2 pkgs (8oz ea) Kraft shredded Taco seasoned
3.84 - Great Value Tater tots - 5lbs
2.96 - 2 cans GV chunk light tuna
1.24 - 22oz sandwich bread
2.78 - 2 boxes GV snack crackers
3.27 - 36oz GV Ranch Dressing
2.87 - GV mayo
2.18 - GV spanish olives

Grand total - 94.80 ($94.43 + $.37 tax)

What I'll do with these...

Snacks
Ice Cream and rootbeer - floats
Tortilla chips - with salsa or as nachos with taco cheese
pretzels - (girls take to school)
austin crackers - splurge for school snacks
baby carrots and ranch dressing - snack
snack crackers - snacks

Side Dishes
baby carrots and ranch dressing
Monterey jack - mac and cheese - sm batch
tater tots - side for Fri dinner
snack crackers - side with soup

Lunch
tuna - lunch during the week (when kids are in school)
spanish olives & mayo - egg salad
Tortilla chips and taco cheese - nachos

Meals
bell pepper - spanish rice ingredient
hash browns - scalloped potatoes
mozz & italian cheese - pizza
mexican cheese - burritos

Misc
snack crackers - out of bread backup
loaf of bread - because the kids insist that air bread be used at times

Not sure what I left to buy to get through the next week/payday yet. Funny thing happened while shopping. Michelle and I went after she got out of work. We separated at the door and didn't meet up until the end. We BOTH ended up grabbing the 5lb bag of tater tots! Neither of us had mentioned buying it and it's something we rarely buy. I hadn't even considered them until I walked by them in the freezer. Michelle planned on getting them when she went in. Funny when we're on the same wavelength like that. It's happened to us quite a few times lately (I'll bring up a subject Michelle was just thinking of and vice versa)

As I usually do...changing things up...

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Ok...so now I know...it's a good idea to take the meat you plan for dinner that night...OUT of the freezer in a timely manner. Not a few hours beforehand. The idea of having a meal plan is so you can be prepared and prevent the last minute thinking. But Noooo! Not me, I have to ignore everything.

The turkey breast was solid as a rock when it should've been thrown into the oven, covered in it's lovely bacon'ness. I grabbed it out of the freezer and threw it into the fridge figuring we'd have it for dinner on Wednesday instead. For good measure I grabbed some hunks of venison out to defrost for Friday's dinner. Yeah me! :o)

So what to have for dinner? I grabbed a gallon baggie of chicken and stock out of the freezer and threw it in a pot. After it thawed out a bit I realized it probably wasn't enough for everyone so grabbed another bag. Pat was here and was excited...it's his favorite. He made sure to walk out the door with a plate of it. Now what to serve it over? Not enough potatoes. Rice? We were suppose to have rice the next day so I didn't really want to go in that direction. Bread...I'd made 4 loaves of bread the day before and overcooked them just a tad. They weren't burnt, just dark. It was perfect for soaking up the delicious gravy. Dinner saved!

I even have enough chicken and gravy to make potpies. This morning the turkey breast still seemed a bit solid so I decided we'd make the potpies instead. I was going to cheat and use the last few boxes of packaged pie crust in the freezer. But again, they were still abit frozen when I wanted to make the pies. I don't really feel like making rice and burritos (no cheese or sour cream....blah!) So back into the freezer I go again...VODKA SAUCE!!! So we had Saturday's dinner on Tuesday, eating Thursday's dinner on Wednesday and having Tuesday's dinner on Thursday.

Yep, it's a good thing I make meal plans or I'd be going crazy at night trying to come up with meals! ROFL!

So let's see what the mix-up did...

Tuesday... Chicken and gravy over bread
Wednesday... Vodka sauce over Penne
Thursday... Bacon wrapped wild turkey breasts
Friday... BBQ Venison Sandwiches
Saturday... Figure it out later, might go grocery shopping

Menu... October 12 - 18

Monday, October 13, 2008

OK...so I did ok until Friday when I didn't come home for dinner. I had a dentist appt that ran close to dinner. So instead of picking up the little ones and running home, we had dinner at my parents house. Those at home had eggs, cereal and/or sandwiches. Saturday I utilized the church grill we run with tasty fare such as...burgers, hot dogs, chili, sausage and peppers, chicken sandwiches and salt potatoes. No cooking for me.

Tom came home from work on Tuesday looking like Santa Claus with a sack over his shoulder. It was 55 gal trash bag with frozen venison and a wild turkey breast...all vacuum packed! I have to admit I haven't really dealt with the deer we processed this spring. So I'll have to incorporate it more. I'd love to hear your favorite recipes for venison.

So now what's for this week? Hmmm...

Sunday... Tom made a huge pot of venison soup. Was yummy
Monday... Shrimp Alfredo with linguini, garlic bread sticks
Tuesday... Bacon wrapped wild turkey breast, sauteed mixed veggies, stuffing?
Wednesday... Rice and bean burritos
Thursday... Spaghetti with vodka sauce (frozen from last time)
Friday... BBQ venison sandwiches
Saturday... Chicken and gravy over rice or biscuits

And just a reminder... Join in with...


(click the graphic above to go to the challenge for October)