Going grocery shopping tomorrow

Things have been tight around here lately so grocery shopping has been very planned.   I've been thinking back on my old shopping trips and lists...wondering how much more it costs then in previous years.    So this week I'm hoping to start keeping track.   It'll be fairly accurate since my pantry and freezer aren't well stocked.

What I've been doing is making a shopping list at Wegmans.com of things we need, even though I know I'll probably buy things on the list cheaper at Save-A-Lot or Aldis.   I figure if I can keep my list in the vicinity of my budget then buying things should bring me under budget or allow me some extras.   I keep track of how much less money I'm spending on the margins of my list.  So if I have $2.00/lb for chicken breasts on my list but find it for $1.70/lb and I buy 5lbs I'd write + $1.50 in the margin.   Then if I buy something extra I cross off the margin amounts to total the price of the extra thing.   It's been working out well.   I love that I  don't have to keep a running total in my head when I'm going through the store.  I do have to remind myself that I can always come back another day and pick up more extras if I come in under budget at the end of the shopping trip.  And also to leave some $$ for restocking perishables since I have to go 2wks between major shopping trips.

So hopefully on Monday (won't be home this weekend) I can come back here and let you know how things went.  

How many eggs does it take?

With our hens starting to lay, our fridge was getting full of eggs. We're getting between 8 and 10 eggs a day now with more hens to start up as we go (today I got 11 eggs!). So after 2.5 wks of gathering we needed to deal with the surplus. That can only mean one thing....scrambled eggs for dinner!!!!

So I gathered the ingredients...



That's 2 short of 7 dozen eggs (yes, those are green eggs...aren't they pretty!) They're on the small side....starting to become medium.
1 bag of precooked and previously frozen bacon
shredded mexican cheese blend
green pepper (I added another pepper after I took the picture)
and a yellow onion

Because some people in this house have aversions to onions (makes them physically ill) I made 2 large pans of eggs...one with onion and one without...all the other ingredients were the same. Usually when I make scrambled eggs I dole out the servings and there isn't any left for seconds. For the first time in a while everyone was allowed to eat as much as they wanted.

Dinner was declared a hit. I'm left wondering though...how many weeks can we have scrambled eggs before the kids stage a revolt? We'll have to start getting creative with them.

Care to share any favorite dishes that use lots of eggs?

A chilly rainy day

I'm sitting here under a blanket, smelling the pot of bean and bacon soup Tom has simmering on the stove. YUM! It's a perfect soup day. I've mentioned to Tom and the kids what I've been doing here with my grocery trips. Tom, not doing the major shopping very much was shocked at how much I've spent in less then a month. I don't blame him I tend to look at the amount and say OMGosh too. But it takes a lot of food to feed a lot of people. In the grand scheme of things $250 a week isn't unheard of, especially for 12 people. Still, it's more then I'm used to spending or would like to spend ($0 would be nice thankyouverymuch lol).

$250/wk isn't accurate either since what I bought will be eaten over the next few weeks instead of when I bought it. I know I'll still be spending money those weeks, just not the huge chunks like I just did. Unless of course I fall into the common shopaholic trap of thinking it's ok to shop and spend since it's food. I know I've done it before and can easily do it now. I mean here I'd just bought a boatload of groceries and I was still checking out grocery ads on Sunday. Not a good idea. Especially when I saw the chicken breasts I bought for $1.69/lb last week on sale at the same store for $1.39!!! Boooo! (hmmmm I'm going into the dentist again on Friday...should I buy another few bags? lol) If I was comfortable with my pressure cooker I could buy a bunch and can it. Then I wouldn't have to worry about having freezer space. But I'm not yet. Guess you have to start somewhere. I'll think about it.

So yesterday we went off plan already. I never got spanish rice going so told the kids to have nachos and sandwiches. I think we'll have spanish rice on Wed and move the Shrimp alfredo to Friday, but not positive yet.

I think in the next day or so I'll be taking inventory. Then I can get an acurrate picture of how far what I've purchased in the last few weeks will last.

It's that time of year again

Back to school time. Time for summer to be over and fall to start. When supposedly the days get cooler and the nights get downright cold. It's when I start to think of heartier meals...chicken and gravy, soups, casseroles, and homemade baked goods. Unfortunately the weather hasn't gone along with the plan. It's sweltering here now! I'm wanting to make bread and I can't even breath in my kitchen. There is NO WAY I'm turning on the oven. I've taken things out of the freezer to make for dinner and then nixed the idea at the last second due to the heat. No sense making a menu when you aren't going to stick to it at all.

Now that things are settling down a bit making a menu can be useful. There can't be anymore nights of trying to figure out what to eat at 8 (after it's started cooling off in the house) with us sitting down to eat at 9. That's bedtime for a school night now. Church activities have also started back up so many days the kids need to be fed and out the door by 7:30. It's easier when it's dark at 6 but for now...a bit hard. THAT'S where the menu comes into play. No thinking, just do it. Now if only I can get organized enough to stick to it.

So Sunday we'll be starting back up with my menus.

Being done with logistics

I'm now left to think about the below exercise in "frugality". I know that the main purpose of the article was to show that ANYONE could feed a family reasonably with $100 (albeit boring with lots of rice, potatoes and beans lol).

I still can't help thinking on how I could've done it better and cheaper. Especially since that allows for more fruit and veggies. I deliberate chose certain cuts of meat. I didn't want someone's bias against certain parts of the chicken to go against me. So instead of getting $.99/lb thighs which are much moister then breasts in most situations. I opted for the breast which most people see as superior. The one place I didn't do that was in the canned tuna. I just don't care for albacore and you're only going to splaster it with mayo anyways (hmmm forgot to add that to my shopping list...oops!)

The 3lb bag of chicken could've easily made 3 chicken breast meals. Afterall a reasonable serving of meat for an adult is only 4oz. So a family with 2 adults would use 8oz, a 4yo and toddler maybe another 4oz but I'll even give them 6oz. That's only 14oz for a meal! So in reality they only needed a pound of meat per meal, not the 1.5 pounds I gave them. They could make it go even further by using the chicken in a casserole or as an ingredient instead of the main portion.

Buying in bulk really does save. My theoretical $300/wk for my family will buy a lot more food per dollar then their $100/wk. I had to decline the use of some meat in the ad because the cheap price was for 3lbs or more. Fine for my family for a week...not so much for a family of 4. Unless variety isn't something they're striving for...Are they ok eating Italian sausage 4 days a week? lol If they did the experiment for a month and allowed the family to buy things one week to save for a different week, it would've been even easier to do.

The same goes to say for shopping the sales and having a stocked pantry/freezer and shopping at a discount store (or multiple stores) which of course weren't allowed in this project. I still couldn't help but think...Man! $2.00 for a dozen eggs! I can get them for $1.25 at the convenience store! That's a whole nother dozen of eggs with change to spare.

The problem is, even with all the right knowledge at your fingertips. Unless you have a desire or drive to do it....it is a hardship. Not to mention it's all perspective. What's my easily doable and yummy menu is someone else's impossible time constraint inferior menu. To some countries it's a banquet fit for a king.

Dusting off the cobwebs!

And what brings me out? Well for one thing I need to get back on track with my food planning, especially now that my kitchen is nice and clean and I can work in it! The main motivator though was this article over at MSN...Can a family eat on $100/wk

I had to laugh at the stereotypes in this article...sick of beans, rice and puffed rice. I'd LOVE to have $300/wk to spend on groceries. (my family=3x family of 4 so 3x the budget) I'd even love to have $300 every 2wks to spend. Things are so tight here that on paper I have ZERO food money. Granted I always seem to find enough to get us by with. Usually it's pocket money, overtime and robbing Peter to feed Paul. So I can't complain. Still I decided to try my hand at this gimmick.

I decided I'd use a store fairly close to NYC so it couldn't be said that prices were too low where I lived. (plus I don't advertise the location other then Central NY). I picked a Price Chopper in Middletown, NY. I also decided I would try to have some meat in almost each meal. I did fairly well. I even managed to do a no cook/take out dinner of pizza! For the things that weren't in the ad I OVER estimated according to what prices I pay at the Wal-mart near me. I think I was generous with serving sizes since the article featured 2 adults, a 4yo and a toddler. There'd be leftovers with my menu but I only counted on one lunch with them. The milk amount might be weird as we don't drink it with meals. I tried to compensate for that. So here's my menu, food cost and shopping list...

Breakfasts
Scrambled Eggs with ham steak/Toast
Egg sandwiches with ham slices
Yogurt/toast/grapes
PB toast/Cantelope
Oatmeal/grapes
Pancakes

Lunch
Tuna sandwiches
Ham sandwiches
Ham sandwiches
PB&J
PB&J
Baked potatoes
Leftovers

Dinner
Pizza/baby carrots
Raviolis with sauce/bread/spinach salad
Baked chicken breast/frozen corn/rice pilaf
Shrimp Alfredo/spaghetti/sauteed veggies
Ham steaks/parmesean egg noodles/frozen green beans
BBQ chicken breast/spinach salad/cornbread
Pork chops/sauteed veggies/mashed potatoes

1.50 - raviolis
1.50 - spaghetti sauce (know I can get it for $1)
6.80 - 6 loaves Friehoffer's split top bread B1G2F - $3.40/3 22oz loaves
2.00 - 2 bagged spinach B1G1F - $1.99
1.00 - margarine
2.00 - 2 european cukes B1G1F - $1.99
1.50 - Italian salad dressing
4.00 - parmesean cheese
1.50 - egg noodles
6.00 - 3lb bag individually frozen chicken breast
2.00 - 2 bags frozen veggies (corn & green beans)
2.40 - 1/2 lb cooked shrimp - $4.80/lb 71-90ct
9.00 - 3 gallons milk
1.20 - 1 lb spaghetti/linguine
5.00 - 12 slice deli take out pizza
1.00 - 1lb baby carrots
2.00 - 2 lb summer squash - $.99/lb
4.00 - 2 pkgs ham steaks - B1G1F - 12oz each (estimate original pkg price)
4.00 - 2 pkgs sliced deli ham - B1G1F - 12oz (same as above)
1.00 - rice
1.00 - boullion
1.00 - 2 pkgs cornbread mix
3.00 - 5lb bag of potatoes
3.00 - gallon OJ (loss leader...Great price!)
3.00 - 3lb red grapes - $.99/lb
2.00 - 1lb pork chops
4.00 - 2dz eggs
1.50 - 2 cans chunk light tuna
2.00 - skippy peanut butter
2.40 - yoplait yogurt $6/10
1.50 - oatmeal
2.00 - flour
3.00 - sugar
1.50 - jelly
4.00 - instant coffee
3.00 - cantelope
----------
$97.XX

With the remaining (and surplus I know I'll have from estimating) I'd add one or some of these....

bananas
bag of popcorn kernels
Brownie mix $10/10
Pretzels $1.00
tea bags (to make sweet tea)
bottle lemon juice (to make lemonade)


Funny...I don't see any puffed rice, no beans and only one yummy side of rice. So I have NO idea what this article is talking about!