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.  

Banana Bread

Cream together
1 cup butter 
1 1/2 cups brown sugar 
4 eggs  
24 oz overripe bananas  (4 2/3 cups)

Add
4 cups all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 


mix until  well combined

Pour batter into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake 50 min at 350ºF

Anniversary Cupcakes

Yesterday was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary.  My sister, brother and I threw them a reception.   I volunteered to make the cupcakes for the party.   We had....

Lemon Lovers White Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate with Raspberry Frosting 
Vanilla with Vanilla Frosting
Carrot with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

And here's my notes/thoughts....

Lemon...  I needed more lemon zest in the frosting.  If I'd filled them with French's lemon pie filling they'd have been perfect!   I need to use an open star piping tip when I have zest in the frosting.  It clogged up the one I used (2D)  and made the job very difficult.

Chocolate...  I realized after making another batch of the frosting that I'd doubled the first batch but only put in a single batch of the jam.  The frosting was still good but would've been fantastic with all the jam in it.    I tried the chocolate cake recipe I did because it had more chocolate in it.  Everyone loved them and I thought they were ok.  Although it's claimed that the recipe makes a good stacking cake.  I'm tenative on that claim.   I originally planned on making the linked raspberry filling (smitten's) in the recipe but decided I didn't want the extra work.  I think if I'd made the frosting as I was suppose to AND filled them it would've been too much.

Vanilla... I wouldn't call this vanilla but almond which is fine by me because I LOVE almond.   The cake was delicious.  The frosting was ok.   I made it because everyone raved about it and said it was very workable.  I agree with the workable part.  I could see it being used for decorating a cake.  For all the frosting though, I'd prefer a frosting with some real butter in it.   I'll use the frosting recipe again, as decoration purposes only.

Carrot...  I added crushed pineapple and used pecans instead of walnuts.   It was  good cake but next time I'd substitute the yellow cake for a carrot cake boxed mix.   It didn't have enough spices as I'd like, even after adding allspice to it.   The frosting though was out of this world!!!!  Allison suggested we tell everyone the carrot cakes stink so they'd leave them alone and we'd have tons to bring back home.  lol   I told her we COULD make more in the future.  I was eating the frosting on the chocolate and almond cupcakes and it was yummy too.   This coming from a person who doesn't care for  most orange flavored things.  Again, a note about the zest clogging up the tip...change to a more open tip... 1M perhaps?

I made 2 batches of each...one batch regular size cupcakes and the next mini cupcakes.  We frosted 66 or so of the minis to take.   I came home with just enough.  Allison took a tray of them to a cookout today and we had them for breakfast.  I think there are about 6 large ones left and 10 mini ones.  If there's a next time I think I'd consider just mini ones...giving each guest a plate to take a sample of each.  They didn't have plates at the reception and I didn't think to ask for them until it was almost over.

As I mentioned above we used the 2D tip to frost them.  We started from the inside and went to the outside so it made the cake tops look like roses.   The mini ones were actually harder to frost them the regular sized ones.    For decorations I used white chocolate.  I piped an outline of a heart for the large cupcakes and made solid hearts for the mini ones. I then hit them with gold pearl dust.   I tried the wilton's edible spray paint but it didnt' adhere to the chocolate very well.   Thinking I might have wanted yellow colored chocolate instead of white.  But it still looked good.

Well I MADE a menu.....

It was midweek by the time I got it figured out, I just never posted it here.

Wednesday.... Pizza, veggies and dip
Thursday.... Spaghetti with Italian Sausage, garlic bread
Friday.... Ham and bean soup, cheese biscuits
Saturday... pork loin roast, mashed potatoes, peas
Sunday... burritos

So far I've been so so in following it.

Wednesday we did have pizza. I made 4 pizzas...garlic spinach, garlic artichoke and 2 cheese with sauce. There was tons leftover that were used for breakfast, lunch and snacks. I need to redo the spinach version...it was dry and bland...plain garlic would've been a lot better. The artichoke was delicious but expensive. I used artichoke tapenade leftover from our trip to Niagara Falls. Price breakdown... dough ($2), spinach ($.50), artichoke tapenade ($3), 4lbs cheese ($9.80), sauce ($.44)

Total for Wednesday's dinner... $15.74

Thursday I wasn't feeling so great after getting home from Carrie's doctor's appt. It was almost a FFY (fend for yourself) day. Just before bedtime I decided to make 20 grilled cheese sandwiches. 30pcs bread ($1.86), margarine ($.35), 30 cheese slices ($2.75), celery ($1.10)

Total for Thursday's dinner... $6.06

Friday I finally got the spaghetti and Italian sausage made. 2lbs linguini ($1.36), 2 cans spaghetti sauce ($.1.76), can of crushed tomatoes ($.69), Italian sausage ($5.94)

Total for Friday's dinner... $9.75

Running total cost of meals since April 15th.... $316.99 (24 meals...one being pizza delivery and another a birthday)


We ran out of milk. Carrie ran into the store and grabbed 3 gallons... $6.09

Running shopping total since 4/15.... $584.02

Quick run through the stores

Carrie hurt her elbow this weekend so into the dr's we went to get it checked out on Monday. Xrays say it's not broken, only bruised. We needed to get some essentials so ran to Walmart after a quick run through the dollar store...

Dollar store

3 8oz containers philly cream cheese
3 1lb pkgs chicken hotdogs
12 beef sticks (4/$1)
9 fizzy bomb candy (6/$1)
3 4pk jawbreakers candy (3/$1)
bag of garlic onion chips (for the car)
3 jars cream of chicken gravy (2/$1)
_______
Total... $13.50


Walmart

4.00 - 4pkgs frozen dinners (Tom's lunch)
1.76 - 2pkgs frozen dinners (Tom's lunch)
3.75 - Malt O Meal fruit rings cereal
1.38 - Snack crackers
1.38 - Wheat crackers
1.48 - 2 loaves sandwich bread
2.66 - strawberry preserves
6.00 - 6pkgs linder bagels
6.96 - 2pks 24oz mushrooms
7.56 - 2 jars instant coffee
2.22 - 6 gallon water refill
1.54 - Minute maid limeade, half gallon (for me in car)
1.48 - sobe drink for carrie
1.98 - cup of popcorn chicken (for car)
_________
$40.40 Total

Running shopping total since 4/15.... $577.93

The rest of the week

This weekend was pretty simple in terms of meals. Friday night was the lite fare. There was just me, Tom, Eileen, Olivia, Danielle and Sean for dinner. Val and Michelle are in NYC/NJ until today. The rest of the kids went out to eat with the youth. I'm not including what they ate into my meals cost. I figure it was a special occasion and would be considered entertainment. I made a pot of salt potatoes fully intending to make something to go along with them. It never got made, we just had as many potatoes as we wanted. Sean and Danielle are potato freaks so it was fine by them. Tom was looking for a bit of protein come bedtime, I'm not sure if he had anything or not. Because I'm pulling the potatoes from a 50# bag I'm estimating how much I made. I'm pretty sure it was equivalent to a regular bag of salt potatoes, so I'll say 4 pounds. ($1.54) and we used one stick of butter ($.56)

Total for Friday's dinner... $2.10

Saturday was the lite work night. The kids and I were at church all day and ate at the grill our fellowship runs. Tom came by to drop the van off and grabbed an Italian sausage with peppers and onions sandwich so I'll even include that into the price...although he may have had something else for dinner later in the evening. There was roasted chicken (a big thigh or 2 drumsticks) for $1. Italian sausage sandwich...$2.75, Hot dogs...$1, chili dogs...$1.50, hamburgers...$2.50, cheeseburgers...$2.75, bowl of chili...$1.50, chips...$.75. I brought 2 bags of popcorn and cut up cucumbers and celery to go along with them sandwiches and such. I'm not positive what a few of the older kids had but even if I credit them with the higher end things, it comes to $15 or under...so I'll say $20.

Total for Saturday's dinner... $20

Sunday we were invited to my sister's for a BBQ. I had to bring a dish so I'll consider that my cost of dinner. I brought about 12# of salt potatoes ($4.62), 2# of butter...although we only used 1.5...gave the rest to my sister ($3.38), and a container of Laffy Taffy ($4)

Total for Sunday's dinner... $12

Monday I had big plans. I was going to roast the sirloin tip roast I bought last week. Instead I was running a hurt kid into the doctor's (she's ok...just bruised). So I sliced up the roast into steaks and broiled them (GOTTA fix the gas grill!) ($18.17). I also sauteed up some sliced mushrooms ($6.96), a green, yellow and red pepper ($1.75) and a bag of broccoli normandy out of the freezer ($2.50). There was a good amount of steak leftover so I cut it up and put it in a baggie along with the juices on the tray and threw it in the freezer. Otherwise it'd have been eaten the next day.

Total for Monday's dinner... $29.38

Tuesday it was my turn for a dr visit (checkup) I had planned on making pizza when I came home but was too tired. So grabbed the meat from the night before out of the freezer. I heated it up in a pan of gravy (3pkts brown gravy mix...$1, boullion...$.60, cornstarch and garlic). Cooked a 2# box of macaroni ($1.20) since I discovered I only had ONE bag of egg noodles! Oh yeah, I decided I wanted it meatier so threw in a small bag of cooked burger from the fridge. ($2.50)

Total for Tuesday's dinner... $5.30

Today I'm hoping to iron out the rest of the meals for the week and maybe even make the pizza that I've been trying to make since last week.

Running total cost of meals since April 15th.... $285.44 (21 meals...one being pizza delivery and another a birthday)

A few shopping trips.

Last Thursday I ran through BJ's quick. I don't have the receipt but I think I can remember everything I bought.

11.00 - 2# bag of shrimp
8.00 - bag of pepperoni
9.00 - 4# bacon
8.00 - 48ct cheese sticks
8.00 - 4# box of cheese slices
6.00 - 2 canisters lemonade mix
5.00 - 3pk bbq sauce
6.50 - 20# flour
4.00 - 6pk cake mixes
3.50 - 4 canned frosting
3.00 - dz plain bagels
6.50 - peanut m&m's
20.00 - 5 containers laffy taffy
________
Total... $101.50

Wednesday after Luke's dentist appointment we ran into a cash and carry place. I bought...

18.99 - 50# salt potatoes
18.17 - sirloin roast
17.80 - 10# shredded mozzarella cheese
7.96 - 4dz glazed doughnuts
5.07 - 3# butter
1.47 - 3# margarine
1.00 - 5 lemons
2.38 - 6 cucumbers
2.20 - 2 bunches celery
1.50 - 3 green peppers
3.50 - yellow, red and orange peppers
_______
Total.... $80.04


Then after picking up Michelle it was into Walmart for...

9.28 - 4 gallons milk
3.00 - 3 half gallons peach juice
5.84 - 18 containers yogurt
2.00 - 2 pkgs lender bagels
2.48 - 2 loaves bread
________
Total.... $22.60

Running shoppping total since 4/15.... $524.03

Some catching up to do....

It's been a busy week. It's been nice to know what's for dinner and have that decision off my mind. Although I have to remember to make sure I can make what I plan since lack of ingredients mucks up the plan.

Monday was sloppy joes...$8 ($6.50 3# cooked meat and green peppers in freezer, $1 ketchup, $.50 for rest of ingredients...mustard, brown sugar, garlic powder), 2pkgs buns ($2) Pasta salad...$7.85 ($2 2pkgs rotinis, $.70 green pepper, $.40 rest of roma tomatoes, $2 2 cucumbers, $.25 2 stalks celery, $1 can of olives, $1.50 bottle Italian dressing)

Total for Monday's dinner... $17.85 (leftovers were finished off the next day)


Tuesday was the day that got mucked up due to not having all the ingredients. I ran in the door from Liz's doctor's appointment and set right to work on dinner. Grabbed the ham and hotdogs out of the fridge and sent Jake into the basement to get 9 cans of pork and beans. He came up with 2 cans of baked beans saying it was all he could find. I said he was blind as I just bought a case of them. I went down there to look for myself and only found one more can of pork and beans. I must've made cowboy beans since buying the case. *blush* So our meal became a side dish. I grilled 2 pkgs of hotdogs ($2) on the griddle and threw the 3 cans of beans ($1.33) in with the ham (already accounted for here). I didn't think that would be enough so I mixed up a batch of chili quick. $6.04 ($3 1.5# cooked burger, $1.40 2 cans crushed and tomato puree, $.66 2 pkgs chili seasoning, $1 3 cans of kidney beans). Oh almost forgot the bread for the hotdogs ($1.25). The kids ate and ran as they had church activities. I think I might've been the only one to eat the chili, so it'll be a dinner for another night.

Total for Tuesday's dinner... $10.62

Wednesday I ended up staying at my mom's until it was time to get Michelle (Luke had a dentist appt right near her house). So we ate there. The kids at home just microwaved chicken nuggets ($3.98) and had baby carrots ($.99)

Total for Wednesday's dinner... $4.97

Thursday was the day to use up the already made chili. I knew it wasn't enough to fill everyone as it was so I decided to throw some rice into it. As usual I added too much rice. That meant my chili with rice ended up being chili flavored rice. The only cost was the 3 cups of rice I added to the chili. ($.90) The kids also at leftovers.

Total for Thursday's dinner... $.90


Running total of meal costs since April 15th... $216.66 (16 meals...one being pizza delivery and another a birthday)

Weekend update

I almost forgot what we had for dinner on Thursday. Luckily I had my meal plan made up and had stuck to it. :o) Although I tweaked it just a bit. I knew I wouldn't have time to make dough on Thursday so the regular pizzas turned into bagel pizzas. ($2.99 - bagels, $.44 - spaghetti sauce, $3.25 - cheese, $.75 - pepperoni)

Thursday's Total... $7.43


Friday was chicken nuggets ($3.98), and a bag of tater tots ($4.18)

Friday's total.... $8.16

Saturday Val made her specialty....shrimp alfredo (1.5# shrimp - $7.50, container cream cheese - $1, milk - $.25, margarine - $.20, Parmesan cheese - $2.50, pasta - $.1)

Saturday's total... $10.45

Sunday was Drew's birthday. We ran to a village grocery store and bought some things for dinner, including 2 small cakes. Steaks (pick 5pkgs for $19.99, 2 bags of salt potatoes - $5.98, 3 sticks butter - $1.56)

Sunday total... $27.53

Weekend total.... $53.57

Running total of meal costs since April 15th... $182.32 (12 meals...one being pizza delivery and another a birthday)

Menu... April 26 - May 2

Sunday... Drew's birthday...steak, salt potatoes, cake
Monday... Sloppy Joes, pasta salad
Tuesday... Liz's late dr appt... Cowboy beans
Wednesday... Luke dentist appt probably not home for dinner... Chicken nuggets, canned veggies, mashed potatoes
Thursday... Pizza
Friday... Spaghetti and Italian sausage, homemade bread
Saturday... Weekend conference at church...eating at the grill/snack bar probably. Sandwiches if not,

Popping into a few stores

It's a dangerous thing.... Oh I'll just run into X and get X. Then you find all those things you didn't know you needed until you see them.

BJ's Wholesale Club

8.00... 4 gallons milk
4.00... gallon orange juice
6.00... 5# apples
6.00... 2dz bagels
8.00... container of mini half moon cookies (I know! I know!)
3.50... 2 loaves of bread
_______
Total... $35.00

Big Lots

4.00... 2 boxes of Honeycomb cereal
2.00... bag malt-o-meal, fruity bits
2.00... bag malt-o-meal, muffin tops
1.15... 8pk Torestas salsa cheese crackers
1.15... 8pk Torestas Black bean sour cream crackers
2.00... 2pkgs 16ct flavor ice
0.90... 2pkgs sunflower seeds (Drew's birthday present)
________
Total... $11.20

Real Deals

3.00... 3pkgs 6ct Heart Healthy muffins, cranberry orange
2.00... 2pkgs 6ct Heart Healthy muffins, banana chocolate chip
3.00... 6pkgs 4ct ssips apple juice boxes
4.00... 4pkgs philidelphia cream cheese tubs, 8oz
1.00... various snack bags of chips 6/$1 (for weekend getaway)
_________
Total... $13.00

$59.20... Total

Shopping running total... $319.89

Oops! I forgot

I threw the porkloin roast ($8) into the oven before picking up Michelle, figuring I was just running there and back so would only be gone an hour. Then it was...we're out of milk and bread so I'll run and grab some. Then I remembered I was suppose to stop and pick up chicken feed. Seeing as the tractor store was in the same plaza as Big Lots and the dollar store and I was without kids...we HAD to stop. It was only on the way home and seeing the clock say it was after 6 that I remembered I had the roast in the oven. Just a tad longer then I'd expected to cook it. I walked in the door, dealt with a sick kid, set Carrie up to make a tossed salad ($2... 1 head of lettuce ($1), cucumber ($.50), couple stalks of celery and dressings from the fridge), reheated the leftover rice (already calculated) from Friday, and sliced up the roast. In the door and dinner on the table in 15mins...not too shabby.

Total for Wednesday's dinner... $10

Running total of meal costs since April 15th... $128.75 (8 meals...one being pizza delivery)

Impromptu grilling session

I hadn't planned a big meal for Sunday because we were having a feast at church. A family is moving back to Norway and we were saying good=bye. :o( It was a full meal at late lunch/early dinner time. So I thought soup or ramen noodles with some snacks would be ok. Instead Tom's big brother brought us a bag of Hoffmann hotdogs and set Tom off on having him over for grilled hotdogs and burgers (BIL was going to the feast too). So when I got home they were in the back grilling. Unfortunately that meant a few more expenses for me as I had planned on making hamburger buns for the burger dinner which was impossible so quickly. So I had to send Val and John to the convenience store (meaning even more expensive then it'd be if I bought them at the grocery store). She spent $15 on 5 or 6 pkgs of buns and rolls. Luckily there were leftovers. They are now in the freezer until Saturday's dinner of sloppy joes. We also had leftovers of burgers and dogs which the kids finished off for lunch/after school snack the next day.

Sunday's dinner...
16 Frozen burger patties.... $7.25
3# bag of Hoffmann hotdogs... $8.50 (even though we were gifted them...it still cost money to buy)
Rolls and buns..... $15
Bag of corn chips.... $1.33

Sunday total... $32.08

Monday's dinner consisted of tacos with homemade tortillas. ($2.50...figuring 9 cups of flour = $1.60 and 1/2 lb of lard = $.75...add a little for the rest of the ingredients) I made a triple batch and put the leftovers in the fridge. The kids will make quesadillas for lunches and snacks with them. It was nice to be able to just grab the 3# of meat already made out of the freezer ($6.50...meat + seasoning). We used 1 head of lettuce ($1), 5 out of 7 tomatoes ($1.10), 1 out of 3 green peppers ($.73), 8oz pkg shredded fiesta cheese ($1.50), container sour cream ($1), 1 or 2 cups salsa ($1).

Monday total... $15.73

Tuesday was dentist appointments. I forgot I was picking up the Eileen and Olivia before lunch and had nothing for them to eat. I realized I was hungry too. So we stopped at McD's on the way and blew $20. I think I'm going to keep track of eating out separately though....especially since this was lunch and I'm mostly keeping track of dinners. We ate out for dinner too...I ordered a sheet pizza and had it delivered to my parents' house (the joy of living in suburbia lol) That was another $20. While that will be included in the take out, I'm also including it into my meal total.

Tuesday total... $20

Running total of meal costs since April 15th... $118.75 (7 meals...one being pizza delivery)

Menu... April 19 - 25

OK, I think I have this nailed down finally. I was having a hard time because Tom and I are planning on going away for the night on Saturday. Michelle has to work until 7, so dinner has to be quick and easy.

Sunday... Grilled burgers and hotdogs. Tom's oldest brother brought us some Hoffmann hotdogs and joined us for dinner.
Monday... Tacos
Tuesday... Dentist appointment...probably end up at my parents' house and ordering a sheet pizza.
Wednesday... Pork Roast, mashed potatoes and salad
Thursday... Pizza
Friday... Chicken nuggets, veggies and dip
Saturday... Sloppy Joes, pasta salad

Ran into Walmart quick

I forgot to get a few things when grocery shopping last week. So after picking up Michelle from work we ran into Walmart. I also needed to get a "fancy" dessert to bring to church on Sunday.

1.00 - mustard
0.98 - honey BBQ sauce
2.73 - mayonaise
1.50 - coffee creamer (Tom to bring to work)
3.98 - frozen cream puss (splurge for the few of us home)
1.64 - whipped topping (dessert for church)
7.68 - lg pan peach cobbler (dessert for church)
_______

$19.51 Total

Bringing the running total to...$260.69

Now THAT wasn't in my plans!

Friday night I cut up and roasted the 10# bag of chicken leg quarters ($5.90). They came out CRISPY brown just like I like them. The original plan was for me to bake them and set aside 3 thighs before serving them. After all, if I waited until AFTER the meal to save them, there probably wouldn't be any left to save. After dinner I deboned the thighs into a pan and deglazed the first roasting pan. As I started working on the second pan I saw Sean out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting in the kitchen next to me and picked up something. As I turned to investigate further he overturned what he had into the pan of chicken and drippings. It was the sugar bowl!!!! 2 cups of sugar mixed in with all those golden drippings and moist thigh meat. I put it aside with the thought that I'd figure out what to do with it in a few minutes. I needed to get Sean out of the kitchen and occupied. Well I did find something for Sean to do and so did I. I got distracted and forgot about the chicken until it was bed time. 5hrs sitting there, it then became cat food. Luckily it wasn't too much. But still there went the batch of chicken and gravy or chicken noodle soup I'd planned on.

So what did we have with the crispy chicken leg quarters? 5 cans of sweet potatoes from the pantry ($3.96 - $.79/ea - Aldi's) with a stick of butter ($.50) and 1/4 cup of brown sugar (< $.25) and 4 bags of Knorr Sides plus Roasted Chicken Rice ($2.67 - 6pkgs/3.99 - BJ's wholesale club) We had lots of leftover rice which will be used in another meal. (had to add a stick of margarine to the rice mix... $.19.

Total for Friday's dinner... $13.47

Saturday I made dinner while I experimented in the kitchen. We have to bring a "fancy" dessert to church today. We're having feast for a family that is moving. I had the brillant idea of making mini chocolate cups, filling them with an orange flavored custard and topping it with a strawberry. I had plastic 2oz (I think) cups that I tried to use for the mold. I dipped them in the chocolate...it went on too thin and broke whenever I tried to remove them. I tried using the inside of the cup but it came out too thick. Then Sean woke up from his nap and all my creative juices went down the drain. I decided to see if I could buy mini pie/tart shells at the store and make lemon merginue pies. They didn't have any, only phylo ones which were teeny and expensive. So I sold myself out and bought a large pan of frozen peach cobbler and a container of whipped topping.

So dinner was a quick throw together of Scalloped potatoes. I used 6 bags of hash browns ($6), although I could only use 4 as 2 were gross (risk of buying food at the dollar store even though it hadn't hit it's sell by date), 3 cans of cream of mushroom soup from the pantry ($1.77 - $.59/ea - Aldi's), a stick of margarine ($.19), dried onions, salt, pepper, ham from the freezer (see this post) and a few cups of milk ($.50). It was plenty enough without any sides since there were only a few of us here. There were even leftovers.

Total for Saturday dinner... $8.46

Running total of dinners cost.... $51.34 (4 meals)

Ham cooked and taken care of

I cooked the ham in the oven last night. We sliced up a good portion of it and served it with 5 cans of sweet peas ($1.88 - $.37/ea - Aldi's) and half a box (16 servings) of potato buds mashed potatoes ($1 - $3.99/2 boxes - BJ's Wholesale) from the pantry. We used 2 cups of milk ($.25) in the potatoes, 2 sticks of butter ($1) to cook and to top the veggies with and 1 container of sour cream ($1)

I'll include the entire price of the ham ($12.70)into today's dinner. That means when I use the rest of the ham in dishes, I won't figure in the price of that ingredient. I ended up cutting the leftovers of the bone and came up with a jam packed sandwich baggie full of ham pieces for scalloped potatoes (Saturday's dinner) and a soup bone with a very generous amount of meat on it. Both are in the freezer.

Total price for Thursday's dinner... $17.83

Wednesday's dinner was half the box of frozen burgers ($7.25) and 2 pkgs of hamburger buns ($3.34 although we didn't use all of them, rest were used for lunches) and a bag of baby carrots I already had in the fridge ($.99)

Total price for Wednesday's dinner...$11.59

Running total of week's dinners....$29.41 (2 meals)

Menu from April 15th shopping trip

List of what I bought on the April 15th shopping trip

I had a brown sugar ham in the fridge which I'm using today, so I'm including the price of that in the shopping trip total....$12.70, making the total $253.88.

Brown Sugar Ham
Scalloped potatoes and ham (with hash brown potatoes, soup from the pantry, milk)
Ham and bean soup (beans from pantry)

Roasted Chicken leg quarters
Chicken and gravy (using a few chicken thighs from 10# bag)

8# burger patties - 32ct - divided box in half for 2 dinners (used 16 last night for dinner)

10# burger...already cooked and in the freezer
3# Seasoned for tacos
3# cooked with green pepper, ready to be made into sloppy joe
Rest divided in 3 baggies...one plain for stroganoff, two with green peppers for spanish rice and goulash

6 - 2.5# meatball and meatloaf mix (beef, veal, and pork)
1 for Chili
2 for Meatballs
2 for Meatloaf
1 TBD (to be determined)

Hotdogs.... 3pkgs for hotdogs in a bun, 2pkgs for cowboy beans

Pork loin roast - cut in half for 2 meals

Banquet chicken nuggets

Raw shrimp....shrimp alfredo

Italian sausage - spaghetti

Mozzarella cheese... pizza


According to my count that's 24 meals. Not too shabby! :o)

Break over... Shopping trip

I haven't done it in a while but I'm up to documenting yesterday's shopping trip. Most of the time I didn't keep track because I was doing a lot small trips and eating out of the freezer and pantry. Yesterday I did a trip like I used to do when I shopped for 2 wks at a time.

Real Deals (dollar store)
5 - 1# pkgs hotdogs
6 - 1# pkgs hash brown potatoes
2 - Kraft Mac and cheese cheddar crackers
4 - 64oz 100% juice blend juice
6 - 4pk apple juice box (2 for $1)
3 - brown gravy mixes (3 for $1)
1 - pkg'ed lunch (was my lunch)
1 - lemonade soda (also my lunch) (2 for $1)
12 - white chocolate bunnies (2 for $1)
12 - fizzie bomb candies (6 for $1)
_______
$30.50

BJ's Wholesale Club
24 - 6pks 2.5# meatball and meatloaf mix (clearance)
16 - porkloin roast
13 - 5# shredded mozz cheese
8 - 4 gallons milk
5 - salsa
3 - gallon white vinegar
______
$69 (not exact as I lost my receipt, I rounded up most times)

Walmart
4.18 - Tatertots
4.28 - French fries
7.96 - 2 pkgs Banquet chicken nuggets
4.00 - 1# raw shrimp
14.50 - 8# frozen burger patties
5.98 - 10# bag of chicken legs
19.64 - 10# ground beef
5.94 - Italian sausage
1.49 - Roma tomatoes
2.18 - green peppers
3.00 - 6 cucumbers
1.98 - 2 bags baby carrots
2.00 - 2 heads lettuce
2.20 - bananas
5.47 - 5# bag apples
6.57 - 7# blue bonnet margarine
2.32 - gallon milk
1.50 - 8oz shredded colby/jack cheese
1.50 - 8oz shredded fiesta cheese
3.18 - 3 sour cream
1.98 - Frosted flakes cereal
5.48 - Malt-o-meal golden puffs cereal
4.22 - malt-o-meal fruity bites cereal
7.58 - 10# pancake mix
1.00 - 1# garden rotini
1.00 - 1# rotini
5.26 - 6 cans spaghetti sauce
0.88 - cornstarch
3.78 - Instant coffee
0.92 - black olives
0.98 - saltines
2.48 - 2 loaves bread
2.34 - 2pkgs hamburger buns
1.00 - pretzel sticks
1.33 - corn chips
1.58 - cheese puffs
_______
$141.68

Total....$241.18

Menu that I made from these groceries

Not feeling like doing much in the kitchen

With the recent passing of BIL who I referred to on this blog as UB (see my main blog which is listed on the left) I've been a little numb. My brain is mush, the thought process is in slow motion with a few speed bumps in the way. I know having a menu planned would ease things but making the menu itself isn't in my line of thinking right now. Still, considering everything it does seem that I'm managing to feed the family well and at a decent time.

Let's see what we can do for this week. Tom bought steaks (actually a lot of them!) with the 5 pkgs for $20 deal at a local store. We intended to grill them on charcoal but life got in the way, visitors were here and the charcoal was never started, so I broiled them. We had 2pkgs of egg noodles and Michelle's pkg of sweet potato fries to go with them. I still have 5 pkgs in the fridge to deal with soon.

Yesterday I managed to put a dent in our egg supply. I haven't been quick to give them away because they have been pretty icky looking with the chickens having a dirty coop and a VERY muddy yard. Actually I've thrown away quite a few just because they didn't get dealt with in a "safe" timeframe IMO. Hopefully with the nicer weather the condition of the eggs will change. I have to be honest too. In the grand scheme of things...the chickens haven't been our top priority the last week and have been slightly neglected. Anyways, we had ham slices, hash browns and eggs for dinner on Monday. Every week to 10 days I've been boiling up 7-10dz eggs and storing them in an aluminum pan in the fridge. This allows us to grab one for a snack or meal whenever. It also makes for quick egg salad, which I used up the last batch for on Sunday. So Monday I boiled up 7 dz more.

So now what to do? Michelle wanted corned beef and cabbage for today but I never got my rear to the store. I wanted to buy to briskets...one for a meal and another to make Rueben salad. It's basically shredded corned beef and thousand island dressing. We then spread it on rye bread, add swiss cheese and sauerkraut to make sandwiches and toast it. It helps make a regular amount of corned beef serve our crowd. Maybe we'll buy a few of them this week, and if I'm lucky they'll be clearanced lol.

I just talked to Tom, I think he wants to grill the steaks out. It's a good thing that steak is my favorite food...3 times in 6 days could be a bit much. lol (we had it for Val's birthday dinner last Wed) I was thinking of using those for sauerbraten. I guess that's what I can do with the rest of the roast I cut Val's steaks from...it's in the freezer.

So that leaves... Wed, Thurs, Fri and Saturday. I need to go grocery shopping so maybe I'll leave them as TBD (to be determined) Athough I could trim the rest of the ham and use the bone for soup, freezing the big hunks of meat. And there is spaghetti and eggs and.... I guess we'll see. Gee for having a brain for mush, I sure did ramble on enough.