Shopping trip to Walmart

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...

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

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)

Newest LOK Kitchen Challenge is up!

The LOK Cooking Challenge has been revamped to include everything Kitchen...cooking, budgeting and organizing. This month's challenge goes along the lines of Kentucky Fried Chicken's tv ad to make their meal yourself for under $10 (how much it costs to buy it at KFC). You can read about it here... October's kitchen challenge

I love this type of challenge! I'll definitely be joining in and might even do 2 of them...a maximum budget ($15) one and a cheapest day I can.

How about you... are you up to the Challenge!?!

Artichoke Spinach Dip

Makes 8x8" pan

3 8oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
1/2 pt sour cream
2 cans artichokes, chopped
1 can spinach, drained VERY well
1 - 1.5 cups parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp garlic powder

Mix cream cheese and sour cream together
add other ingredients and mix well
spread evenly in 8" square pan
bake in 350° oven for 20mins until warmed through and turning golden around edges
Serve with tortilla chips or wheat crackers

Broccoli Soup

Makes 8qts

water
6lbs frozen broccoli
1/2 lb butter/margarine
12 chicken bouillon cubes
milk
1/2 - 1pt sour cream (optional)

Fill the 8qt pan with 1 - 2 inches of water
add butter, bouillon and broccoli
cook 20 - 30 mins until broccoli is soft
stir and mash occasionally
at end of cooking time mash until desired consistency (smooth or chunky)
add milk to taste (I usually add enough to make the pot full)
add some hot soup to sour cream to thin out,
stir sour cream into soup and heat for another minute or so
serve

Menu... October 5 - 11

Yeah yeah I know...think up a menu for crying out loud! I've got 2 days done....does that count? lol

Sunday we had a late dinner since Pat took all his siblings out apple picking. Tom and I were busy butchering 6 roosters while they were out. So I threw together a pot of Broccoli soup (recipe coming up after I'm done here). It was nice to get something out quickly that everyone was looking forward to eating (it's been a while since I've made it). So now onto the rest of the week....

Sunday... Broccoli Soup, bread
Monday... Roasted rooster, mashed potatoes, sweet peas
Tuesday... Homemade macaroni and cheese, ham
Wednesday... Chicken and gravy, rice, green beans
Thursday... Pork roast, sauteed broccoli normandy,
Friday... Shrimp Alfredo
Saturday... church conference...have to bring lunch and dinner
Lunch... sandwiches, chips, fruit
Dinner... taco salad, tortilla

Now lets see how well I stick with it. :o)

New Group Blog for me

I'm a member of the LOK's Large Family Cooking Blog which started up this month. It's off to a good start and my first post is up...

Get it Done Ahead of Time which talks about my favorite shortcut in the kitchen.

Make sure you check out all the posts so far. And of course feel free to comment, we all love to get comments.

Two new dishes this week

Both didn't go over too well. The first one was on Monday and was my mom's vodka sauce. I tried to double the recipe and added a bit more cooking time on it. I don't think it was quite enough time though because the sauce had chunks of tomatoes in it...my mom's never does. I don't know, maybe it was the brand of crushed tomatoes I used. The taste was ok, just the texture was off. I know the recipe is great, everyone always asks her for it. So it has to be operator error.

The second one was Tuesday and was Michelle's version of Chicken Marsala with penne. She picked an Olive Garden copycat recipe. This time we tripled the recipe. We also substituted deboned chicken thighs for the skinless chicken breasts. I'm not sure if she added too much oil or if it was the fat from the thighs (I tried to remove as much as I could) but it was WAY too greasy. It seemed like the sauce turned into a huge layer of butter/oil. I'm not sure if we'll try this particular recipe again but we'll definitely try making the dish again.

Last night I made tried and true homemade pizza. 2 topped with pepperonis and 2 with bacon. I made quite the mess when I tried to slide the pizzas off the tray and onto the rack for the 2nd half of cooking. They were both a bit too soft to be on the rack yet. The first pepperoni ended up in pieces and with melted cheese all over. The bacon fared a lot better. The last 2 came out beautiful. :o)

Today is Michelle's birthday!!! (she's 21 now) She's been wishy washy about what she wants for her dinner. I bought her a carrot cake from BJ's and we'll have vanilla ice cream and/or root beer floats. (I bought Michelle birthday cake ice cream too, not sure if we'll have it for the party though). She's finally settled on breakfast for dinner! So I guess we're having pancakes, sausage, bacon, and fruit parfaits. Can you tell it's been a while since I made pancakes around here? LOL

No set plans for tomorrow but I think I'm heading toward broccoli soup with garlic rolls. Michelle is having friends over on Saturday night. The kids are set to be gone so it'll be just Tom and I with the 2 littlest kids. I'm thinking of doing a snacky party type of meal.

Maybe next week I'll get it together and post a menu BEFORE I'm using it! Oh yeah, and stick to it too.

I almost followed my menu

On Wednesday I realized I made a fatal error in not buying milk Tuesday night. Not having much milk meant that I couldn't make my scalloped potatoes. I'll get a recipe up soon Noelle, it's fairly easy. This time I bought a boneless ham that comes in a loaf. It's not chopped ham quality but not top grade either....works well for dishes and for under $1.60/lb you can't beat it. Instead I browned up a 6+ lb package of ground beef I bought at Wegmans, put half away for a meal (probably chili) and made stroganoff with the other half.

Friday is when I failed. I had spaghetti planned. It's an EASY dish! I can just boil up spaghetti and throw on canned sauce. Or I can make it a bit harder and brown italian sausage in. I could've even made meat sauce with the burger I'd cooked on Wednesday. UB (Uncle Billy) let us know he'd bought steaks that needed to be cooked so that was going to be dinner. Then it was discovered that the charcoal was wet and time was dwindling (kids needed to be out the door). So they had sandwiches and/or cereal to tide them over until they got home. I'd broil the steaks after 9. Yeah right. I was dragging from my new cold and didn't see me making anything (I just wanted to go to bed even though I couldn't). Instead I texted Michelle and asked her if she'd ask her dad if he wanted to pick up $.99 Arby Q's for dinner. He agreed. Give me an F-!

Today instead of BBQ sandwiches (which we had last night) I was going to attempt to get scalloped potatoes in the oven. I just realized though that it's suppose to be warm and muggy today...not oven running weather. Besides I also forgot that UB has steaks that need to be cooked. So guess scalloped potatoes will be in the menu NEXT week. One of these days I'll hold to my written menu.

LOK September Challenge is up!!

LOK September Cooking Challenge

The challenge... create a dish incorporating cereal. Since we are trying to use up the cereal, you should incorporate at least a one cup of cereal.

No limit on which brand or type of cereal you can use. The recipe should be original, or a fair alteration on an existing recipe. Creativity will factor heavily into this challenge, so keep that in mind. (in other words, no rice crispie treats)

This month is going to take a bit of brain work. Cooking with cereal? I can't say that I make anyone besides cookies or marshmallow treats with it. Ok...MAYBE I use it for a coating in fried foods or a filler in meatloaf. I don't think that really counts though. Gotta find and think of something new!

I'm looking forward to seeing what people come up with. How about you? Care to join in?

Menu... August 7 - 14

Sunday... Carrie's birthday...snacked all day...Mozzarella sticks, chicken spring rolls, tomato sandwiches
Monday... Italian sausauge sandwiches, salad,
Tuesday... Hamburgers, buns, sauteed vegetables
Wednesday... Scalloped potatoes and ham
Thursday... Chicken nuggets, garlic egg noodles, green beans
Friday... Spaghetti, garlic bread
Saturday... BBQ venison sandwiches

The only thing I can see needing to buy this week is Rolls for the BBQ venison if I don't get around to making them myself. Then WHY do I keep finding myself eyeing the grocery ads for this week? The bottom round roasts on sale at multiple places is looking really yummy! Of course I'll have to go to the store at some time this week. We'll still need fresh fruit, veggies and milk.

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.

I'm so pathetic

I'm enjoying the look of this blog so much it's ignited a desire to actually make an effort to cook good things and post them here. (as opposed to having the kids throw chicken nuggets into the microwave. It's also renewed my interest in other foodblogs around the net. I've always loved food porn! (just haven't learned the art of creating it) but to actually read the recipes and think about making things...that's different...and I like it! I'm considering starting a running, "I'd like to try" post on here. A place where I can list links and/or recipes to new dishes I'd like to try. Still trying to think of the logistics of it though.


So the propane man came yesterday afternoon and I gleefully ran into the cellar and through the cobwebs to the hot water tank. Kissing the basement floor I got the burner churning and the water heating. For those few minutes I was a goddess! lol

If you read my menu below you'll know we were suppse to have pizza for dinner last night. Let's just say I procrastinated on making the dough a bit too long. Then my kids decided to go for a bike ride and run with a stopover at Drew's and Allison's house. They attacked his Rock Band game with vigor and ended up getting themselves invited to dinner...woohooo! Thanks Drew and Allison! So the few of here had leftovers, no major cooking involved. :o)

With a 5 pound bag of shredded mozz in the fridge waiting to go bad, I pushed homemade pizza to today (Wednesday). Not sure how I'll do the rest of the week (moving things or just forgetting the shrimp alfredo for now or until I need an easy quick meal)

I did a lunkhead thing today. I almost sliced the tip of my right pinky off. I was trying to pick up a can lid off the counter but it was cemented down (I left it there...so it's entirely my fault). Well the lid stayed put but my finger didn't and it traveled around the edge of the lid. I thought it was going to need stitches for sure (and for all I know it still might be a good idea). Fortunately I managed to put enough pressure on it to seal it up and end the bleeding. So I'm trying not to use it because if I bump it, it'll open up and start bleeding profusely again. We'll see how long that lasts.

I was in the middle of making the 2nd batch of pizza dough when it happened. I ended up trying to not to bleed all over and barf while instructing the kids on what still needed to be done. They all pitched in to help put the pizzas together. They didn't do too bad and we all had fun. We made 4 16inch pizzas...bacon and pineapple, pepperoni, cheese, and chicken wing (which no one was really crazy about).



I didn't get my banana banana bread done. :o( Hopefully in the morning I'll be able to do it. Otherwise the bananas will become compost (hmmm wonder if the chickens would like them?) I also want to try to make french bread but that might have to wait a few days.

Menu... August 17 - 23...A gliltch in the system (sorry a rant included)

We are out of propane! I'm getting so sick of this! I paid them last week and told them we were almost out. I ran out in the middle of cooking dinner on Sunday. So I called them Monday morning and specifically said...I was wondering if we were scheduled to be delivered today. She asked what our tank gauge read and when I said we're totally out her response was...We'll get someone there as soon as possible. GREAT! Until 5pm and there was still no delivery. I called again...the owner, no you'll get it tomorrow, we didn't have anyone driving out your way today. WHY didn't she tell me that in the morning!!!

My whole day would've been different! I would've thrown something in the crockpot instead of having to buy something that was easy to cook on the griddle and microwave, taken the kids somewhere to take showers, done laundry and hung it out to dry or taken it to the laundromat to use their dryers. BUT NOOOOO! I've been waiting for the gas man all day instead!!! GRRRRRRRRRR! I'm seriously considering changing companies. Just have to do the legwork to get it done. (which I stink at)

Sorry, back to the matter at hand...the menu

Saturday... Mu Shu chicken was switched to BBQ chicken on the grill after UB decided it's what he wanted for dinner and bought it.
Sunday... Chicken tenders, stuffing, fried zucchini, and salad
Monday... Hofmann hotdogs, corn on the cob, leftover salt potatoes
Tuesday... Pizza, (IF the propane guy comes today!) salad
Wednesday... Shrimp Alfredo, garlic breadsticks, green beans
Thursday... Meatball subs, sides TBD
Friday... Grilled pork roast, garlic egg noodles, peas
Saturday... Spaghetti with italian sausage, bread

Update...I called the propane company in the middle of writing this. They're suppose to be here...any second. I asked her if she could do me a favor...tell me the truth when I call and ask if I'm getting a delivery that day! That doing so allows me to make appropriate plans. I explained how things are here (not that I expect special treatment because of my family size, but it does make things a bit more complicated for me). I also asked if there was SOME way I could get a delivery without having to call and say I'm out of propane. She said she'd look into it and see why it was happening and what she could do about it. So I guess they get a second chance, but not much of one!!

Macaroni and Cheese

3lbs macaroni (or pasta of choice)
3 cans evaporated milk
1 cup butter
onion powder (can use real onions but we have allergies)
garlic powder
salt
pepper
3lbs cheese (I use seriously sharp, monterey, colby)
1 cup parmesan cheese

Cook macaroni according to directions
Add rest of ingredients to saucepan and heat over med heat stirring frequently until cheese it melted and incorporated
Add cheese sauce to cooked macaroni
If you like it creamy serve as is. If you like it dry, cover and heat in 350 degree oven for 15-20 mins.

Corndog Chili Casserole

Mirz/Michelle posted the Corndog Casserole recipe on LOK's Household Tips Board. She also posted a chili cheese dog casserole recipe. I took elements from both recipes and made the corndog chili casserole.

Makes a 11" x 17" Lasagna pan
Oven 400°F

4 15oz cans chili with beans (will use homemade in the winter)
4 pkgs corn muffin mix (I've used both jiffy and store brand successfully)
3 pkgs (12-16oz) hot dogs
1 pkg real bacon bits (can use imitation or omit entirely)
onion powder (can't use real onions due to allergies)
4 eggs
1 1/3 cup milk

Spread chili evenly on the bottom of the pan
Quarter hot dogs lengthwise and dice into bite size pieces
Mix one pkg of hot dogs into chili
Make corn muffin mix according to directions (with egg and milk)
Mix in remaining hot dogs, bacon bits and onion powder to muffin batter
Gently spread batter over chili
Bake 20-30mins until golden brown and done in center

Menu - The rest of this week

Fellowship week was awesome! It was so nice to have all the meals planned out ahead of time. No thinking, just grab and go. Ok...some of them I had to cook or fix before we left..but it was still easy. I changed things up at the end of the conference and Tuesday night we bought food at the grill. I didn't have the time to fix chicken and gravy. Instead we had grilled chicken sandwiches (chicken breasts were HUGE!), hamburger and cheeseburgers, hofmann hotdogs and salt potatoes. YUM! Also once we were home on Wednesday I didn't make the corn dog casserole because they had a lot of leftovers to eat. So it was leftovers night. Corn dog casserole is tonight! :o)

Wednesday... Leftovers
Thursday... Corn dog chili casserole
Friday... Homemade mac and cheese, spinach salad
Saturday... Mu Shu chicken

Fellowship Week worked out

I had to do a tiny revision of this week's menu because yesterday we went to the beach and had hot dogs on the grill. Jake also revised his birthday dinner request. His main thing is the blooming onions. I'm not going to be home most of the day so I told him I'd buy him onion petals from Arby's (they're having their pick 5 for $5.95).

So now this week's menu looks like...

Tuesday...
Wednesday... Shells with sauce, Italian Sausage, bread
Thursday... Jake's birthday, his choice... Steak, mashed potatoes, onion petals from Arby's
Friday... BBQ Venison sandwiches, pasta salad


Fellowship week menu is....

Saturday... Taco Salad, tortilla chips
Sunday... Meatball Subs
Monday...Chicken & Gravy over rice
Tuesday... Venison fajitas
Wednesday... Corn dog casserole (dinner at home)

Lunches will be Sandwiches...Tuna, PB&J, Salami, Turkey

Breakfasts will be...Bagels, cereal, toast, poptarts, hard boiled eggs, yogurt

I'll also have on hand...

Fruit (at least one serving a day)... Grapes, plums, watermelon, cantelope, nectarines...bananas and oranges for breakfast

Veggies... Carrots, cucumbers, celery, spinach salad, garden salad

Chips... Sun chips, cheddar popcorn, pringles, cheese curls, cherrio snack mix, corn chips, and nacho

Snacks... Cheese dippers, honey roasted peanuts...may buy more

Desserts... Berry fingers, zebra cakes, cosmic brownies, rice krispy treats, cookies

ICK! How did THAT happen?

I had a package of 5 dozen eggs in the fridge so decided to boil a bunch up for sandwiches and to eat out of hand. I took off the top of the pkg so I could throw them into the pot of water. Some of the eggs shells had black on them, like they were sitting on newsprint. WHAT was it? Is that mold!?! I had never seen moldy eggs before. I didn't even know eggs could get moldy.

I did the float test...it went to the bottom...so good. I cracked it open to smell it...smelled fine. So I washed off the shells and threw them into the pot. Then something caught my eye. It was the cracked egg and shell sitting in the bowl. Inside the shell were HUGE black mold spots. OK...NOT eating them! I finished cooking them but they are chicken food now.

I was irritated. That's a lot of eggs to lose! Especially at the price they're at now. How could that happen? I was bound and determined to go into the store, complain and get my money back. I reached for the label so I could bring it into the store. That's when I actually READ the label. The sell by date was June 11th!!!! OOPS! AGAIN HOW did that happen? Everyone knows you rotate groceries. So what if it's a huge package and it's easier to grab the smaller cartons around it. Oh well, I guess I'm just as guilty as the rest of them. But grrrr!

Now I'm adding eggs to my shopping list

Menu... August 3 - 9

Why do I even bother? I make a menu, revise it and still couldn't stick to it last week! So why go through all that planning? Oh well at least we ate SOMETHING. This Saturday starts our Fellowship Week at church. I normally camp over there but this year I don't think we will. That means the menu will work since I'll have to plan ahead (can't run to the store) to bring meals that I can take in the morning and serve at dinner. Or I could just bring sides/snacks and buy hotdogs or burgers from the grill. I haven't decided what route I want to go yet...it's too far away to start thinking of it. lol

So this week looks something like this...

Sunday... Homemade garlic and pepperoni pizzas, baby carrots and dip
Monday... BBQ cocktail weiners, mashed potatoes, canned sweet peas
Tuesday... Spaghetti with sauce, Italian Sausage, garlic rolls (ready in the fridge)
Wednesday... BBQ Venison sandwiches, (meat cooking now)
Thursday... Jake's birthday, his choice... Seafood salad sandwiches, blooming onions, poppers
Friday... Homemade Macaroni & Cheese, canned green beans

I'll post the conference meals later in the week (need to figure lunches also)

What's in your freezer?

I've been meaning to do inventory of the freezer for a while. I knew most of the contents were venison but to plan things I needed to know how much. So this morning while everyone was sleeping (yes I was the only one awake for about 15 mins this morning...woohoo!) I took everything out, rearranged it and wrote it down.

Meat
Tilapia fillets - 3lb bag
Pork Roast
Meatballs, Italian - 5lb bag
Chicken & Stock - 2
Sausage, Italian - 3
Sausage, Breakfast Roll
Sausage, Breakfast Patties - 18
Venison - 8 lg packages (could be one meal if an ingredient, need 2 for BBQ or such)
Venison - 5 sm packages (for stew...maybe use 2 for a meaty stew)



Fruit and Vegetable
Cranberries - 2 - 1lb bags
Strawberries, whole - 1lb
French Fries - 5lb bag
Hash Brown Patties - 17
Green beans - 1lb
Carrots, sliced - 2 -1lb bags
Green Peppers & Onion Mix - 1lb
Snap Pea Stir-fry - 2 - 1lb bags



Miscellaneous
Ice - 3/4 bag
Split Pea Soup, Individual - 2
Split Pea Soup, Side dish - 1
Pie Crusts - 4
Hamburger Rolls - 3
Hot Dog Rolls - 2
Hail, 1 bowl
Ice Stick, Small (for water bottles) - 6
Ice Stick, Large (for water jug) - 1
Blue Ice, Large - 1
Blue Ice, Small - 1
Chocolate Santa, foil wrapped - 3/4
3 Muskateers Bar, mini - 1 (now GONE!)

LOK Cooking Challenge - June/July

The latest LOK Cooking Challenge ends today and being the procrastinator that I am...I just completed it! LOL

This month's challenge is to provide a 3 course meal (appetizer, main, dessert) for 4 with ingredients purchased soley at a dollar store. You can't use anything from a cold case, only shelf stock.

I spied a can of Old El Paso Chickekn Cheese Enchilada Flavor Soup and thought...that would probably make a good base for a rice dish. I bought a can to take home for a taste test. It was a hit! It had huge chunks of chicken and veggies, perfect for a base. Eileen loved it so much she begged me to buy more so we can take it camping. So the challenge was on.


My purchases... $14.75
2 El Paso Chicken Enchilada Soup
2 sliced carrots
2 tuna salad kits
pouch of tuna
lg can diced tomatoes
rice
jar marinated garlic vegetables
bag of dried cranberries and golden raisins
orange marmalade
mango perserves
sharp cheese spread
chocolate frosting

Let me just say....Cooking for 4 is HARD! I'm now convinced Tom and I will be empty nesters with multiple freezers jampacked full of leftovers. I'll be making up care packages for everyone who stops to visit. It was so hard to gauge how much rice was needed for a main dish for 4. And the veggies, I kept thinking...that's not enough!

Appetizer



I had two options in mind when I bought my appetizer ingredients. I definitely wanted the jar of marinated garlic vegetables. It was what I was serving with it that I was wishy washy about...Tuna. I was leaning toward tuna cakes but I'm not a huge hot tuna fan. I decided to put out both options. So I took the tuna on crackers picture, crushed up the crackers into the tuna salad and added the additional pouch of tuna, formed it into patties and fried...tuna cakes!



Personally being the country bumpkin that I am, I'd opt for the super easy tuna salad on crackers, it wasn't half bad. It also made the meal a $1 cheaper (didn't need to buy the pouch of tuna). Most of the kids who were up when I did this liked the tuna cakes. They were so so on the marinated veggies which is fine by me...I'll eat the whole jar myself!



Main Dish



The veggie portion of this challenge gave me fits! Knowing that the rice dish was bland and orange/yellow in color I thought canned asparagus would liven up the plate. Thing is...I needed two cans to be what I deemed a reasonalbe serving. Can I serve hot asparagus without any butter or flavoring? Then I spied the canned veggies that were 2 for $1. Hmmm some glazed carrots might be yummy. Won't help me on the presentation but as long as it's good. I thought I grabbed an apricot perserves to glaze the carrots with, I grabbed the mango one instead. It worked, made it intersting and everyone liked it...Sean LOVES them!



I simmered a half pound of rice with 2 cups of water, 2 cans of soup, juice that I drained from the diced tomatoes and half the can of tomatoes. Being the cheese freak that I am, I didn't think the soup gave the dish enough cheese flavor to it. To fix this I decided to add a container of cheese spread to the dish near the end. I opted for sharp cheddar since I was making the dish on the mild side. The pepper jack or nacho might've been a better choice for this dish but the sharp worked out ok. This made TONS of rice for 4 people. It might have even been too much for my family as a side dish. People liked it well enough here (I had some as I wrote this out)

Dessert



I knew the base of my dessert was going to be pound cake. What I didn't know was what I'd serve on it. First I picked up a package of vanilla pudding cups to make trifle. Then a pouch of cherry dessert was in my hand (like cherry pie filling), then a can of lemon pudding, I decided to do something totally different then what we're used to. So I went dried cranberries and golden raisins plumped up in an orange marmalade glaze with melted chocolate frosting drizzled over it. I didn't want to be repetitive with the glazing but thought it was different enough in taste to be ok. A few of my kids aren't raisin lovers so they didn't go gaagaa over it. I liked it a lot and it served the purpose of why I made it...it was different then our normal.



I'd say the challenge was a success. Everything I made was liked well enough by enough people in the house to be ok to serve as a meal. I'm pretty sure I won't be running to the dollar store to get our next meal though.

Other entries...

Anne's
Michelle's
Annie's

Menu revisited

As in classic form, I have to revise my menu already. Tom went camping Sunday night and bought some steaks to cook over the grill. For whatever reason they were never used. So I now have to make something with them before they go bad. Also I figured it was senseless to make up the delicious chicken and broth without using some of it so I'll add that to the menu too (freezing the rest for another meal or two in the future).

The two meals I'm booting from the lineup are the corndog casserole and Friday night's breakfast. The corndog casserole seemed to be a hit on LOK's Household board so I thought I'd try it last week....it was a hit at our house too. There weren't many people here to enjoy it. A few that missed expressed a desire to try it soon so that's why I added it to the menu this week. Unfortunately that means it's the meal I needed to buy the most ingredients for. That fact alone makes it the sensible one to boot from this week's line-up. Friday's menu is booted just for lack of wanting to have it or do the work for it. (takes a while to make pancakes for this house!)

So now my menu looks like...

Tuesday... Beef and gravy over shells, canned green beans
Wednesday... Homemade chicken and rice soup, biscuits
Thursday... Spaghetti with Italian sausage, homemade garlic rolls
Friday... BBQ venison sandwiches, canned corn, macaroni salad
Saturday... Meatball Subs, salad (maybe pasta salad...haven't decided yet)

Shopping list now looks like...
---------------------------

Salad fixings
fruit for snacks
milk
margarine
bbq sauce
refill water containers
bread for sandwiches for lunch (if I'm lazy and don't make my own)

Let's see how long this one lasts lol

Tye-Dye Duo over and done with

We roasted the 2 roosters tonight. I took a picture before we roasted them but forgot to take one before we cut it up for serving.



Never having had free range bird before I wasn't sure how much fat there would be. My thought was, not a lot. Instead of my normal olive oil I buttered the birds using real butter. Then I seasoned with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper and into the oven they went. They smelled DELICIOUS cooking!

The size of the drumsticks and thighs surprised me. Those two guys gave us a lot of meat even though I left a decent amount on the carcass when I carved them. (planning on making stock with them). My concern that the kids would balk at the idea of eating the roosters and the taste of it were for naught. Everyone that ate it, liked it. I choose a thigh and while it was very tasty, it was also a bit tough. I can see why people cut their chickens into pieces. The thighs and drumsticks are definitely geared more toward stewing. Then again maybe these birds were a bit older then I'd like my roasters to be. (we don't know how old they were) Also I'm considering not allowing my meat birds so much freedom...but not sure about that yet.

Anyways back to the roasted roosters. Immediately after dinner I took what was left and put it in the crockpot with the carcasses and pan drippings. I'll let it cook on low until the morning when I should have a pretty meaty crock of broth.

Menu... June 27 - August 2

Sunday... Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Monday... Roasted yard fresh roosters (see here for an explanation), mashed potatoes, sauteed zucchini
Tuesday... Spaghetti with Italian sausage, homemade garlic rolls
Wednesday... Chili corndog casserole, tossed salad
Thursday... BBQ venison sandwiches, canned corn, macaroni salad
Friday... Breakfast for dinner...pancakes and scrambled eggs
Saturday... Meatball Subs, canned green beans

Shopping list
--------------
Salad fixings
4 boxes cornbread mix
4 cans chili
1 pkg real bacon bits
fruit for snacks
bread for sandwiches for lunch (if I'm lazy and don't make my own)
milk
refill water containers
margarine
bbq sauce

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!

Menu... May 25 - 31

Last week went along fine until Friday and Saturday. Friday we had sandwiches and leftovers...I think. I know we all ate lightly since there was a stomach bug going through the house last week. Saturday we were gone all day and night at the semi annual church soccer tournament. We bought the $.50 hotdog special for lunch and I brought salami for sandwiches with apples, chips, baby carrots and cookies. I'd missed the deadline to order BBQ dinners and was really regretting it...it smelled SO good!

This week is half way done and I think I can cob together the rest of the week, so shouldn't be too hard.

Sunday... 2 cookouts...first at my brother's and then finished the day at my sister's. Lots of burgers, hotdogs, bbq chicken, and whatnot.
Monday... Cookout here with the kids...steak, salad, watermelon, deviled eggs.
Tuesday... Spaghetti with sauce and Italian sausage, bread
Wednesday... Baked Ham, parm noodles, broccoli normandy
Thursday... Burgers on a bun, salad
Friday... Beef and broccoli stir fry, refried rice (might change to chicken stir-fry)
Saturday... Cookout at my parents for my mom's birthday.

Menu... May 18 - 24

I've managed to go shopping a few times. I really need to get back into the habit of not running to the store for whatever. It's just so easy when I'm always on the go. Thing is it's a killer on the pocketbook.

Sunday... Hofmann hotdogs, salad and chips (Michelle's graduation - her choice)
Monday... Burgers on a bun, salad
Tuesday... Venison Fajitas
Wednesday... Grilled Chicken breasts, macaroni salad
Thursday... Grilled Steak, sauteed mushrooms, potato salad
Friday... Spaghetti with sweet italian sausage pieces, bread
Saturday... Pizza, leftovers, baby carrots and dip

Menu... May 11 - 17

Oh this is getting hard. For the first time in a looooong time the house is dangerously low on food. It's really unsettling for me to be in this position. I know that the amount of food and choices I have affects me emotionally. I have meat in the freezer thanks to the venison we were gifted this spring. It's the other stuff that is missing....eggs, milk, pasta, bread, veggies, etc.

I'm hoping that our stimulus check comes on Fri like it's scheduled to so I can do a major mega shopping trip. Hmmm it might be a good chance to do a 34 meals for $500 type of post again using 2008 figures. I keep wondering how things would compare between then and now (including our different eating habits). All I know is I am DYING for some roasted chicken!

Anyways...onto the task at hand...trying to squeek by until payday. I'm only planning until Friday though since it's payday and I have to be in the city. That means I'll most likely pick up some groceries.

Sunday... Take and Bake Uno pizzeria pizza (Tom's Mother's Day surprise...picked it up when he picked up Michelle)
Monday... Hot dogs and chips thanks to Uncle B
Tuesday... Venison Fajitas
Wednesday... Scalloped potatoes, bread
Thursday... Chicken Pot Pie, bread

(These things are almost definites since I have the main ingredients for all these dishes defrosted in the fridge right now. I may even get them all made today!)

Oh quick note! Don't count out your local convenience store for grocery deals. I ran there last night on the way home for milk (not too bad....used to be one of the cheaper places actually). I was amazed to find a dozen eggs for $1.49 ($.124/egg). Cheapest I've seen it at the regular grocery stores is Wal-Mart's 18ct carton (which are $.14/egg)

Menu... May 4 - 10

Things are tight still/again. I'm going to have to plan out of my freezer and pantry which are getting bare too. Guess that means preplanning and prep work to be expected.

Sunday...Grilled steak, mashed potatoes
Monday...Fajitas (with leftover steak added to venison), canned corn
Tuesday...Macaroni and Cheese, canned peas
Wednesday...Turkey and gravy over rice, cranberry sauce, biscuits
Thursday...Brunch for dinner...quiche, pancakes, canned fruit
Friday...Spaghetti with sauce, bread
Saturday...Scalloped potatoes and ham, biscuits

I guess I took a week off

Life got in the way and I let my food planning go. I don't think I can even remember how the last menu ended. Let me just say, it didn't resemble what I had written down. lol

I missed not having a plan to use last week. It really does help alleviate some stress. We actually ended up ordering pizza one day. Mostly it was due to being out of water but still, if I'd planned ahead I might've been able to avoid that.

So I'm working on my menu for this week. Hope to have it up REALLY soon.

Menu April 20 - 26

Michelle wanted hofmann hotdog again so we bought them on Monday. I'm not really sure what to call the stuffed steak except YUM! lol Pat sliced up a 6+ lb angus roast I had, sandwiched onions and spices between 2, rolled it, wrapped it in foil and then threw it on the grill for about an hour. I could see myself doing this with a LOT of added things (green peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, etc). I have to figure out more things besides chili to do with the venison in my freezer so I can start using it.

Sundy... Shrimp Alfredo
Monday... Hotdogs, potato salad
Tuesday... Stuffed steak, mashed potatoes, veggies and dip
Wednesday... Pizza
Thursday... Scalloped potatoes and ham, bread
Friday... lemon garlic bay scallops with rice and broccoli normandy
Saturday... ? Drew's birthday, cookout maybe, probably burgers and dogs

Catching up...how last week really went

PHEW I'm behind and I had to wrack my brain to remember what we had. The kids helped me out too.

Tuesday we ended up at my parents' house for dinner so we ordered pizza. That moved the thawed meatballs to Wednesday. Thursday we went bowling as a family and were starving afterwards, so ordered Little Ceasar's Pizza in the van. I also stopped for a few things at the grocery store on Thursday including $1.99/2lb bag of chicken nuggets. Hence all the nuggets in the menu after that. Friday being our everyone out the door night. Saturday my SIL came over and we grilled out. YUM!

Tuesday.... Pizza
Wednesday... Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Thursday... Pizza and chicken nuggets
Friday... Chicken nuggets
Saturday... cookout...Burgers, hotdogs, veggies, chips

Menu April 13 - 19

It's spring break and I should be planning more then dinners but I'm not. Feeling lucky to just get the dinners planned. If I'd posted this Sunday like I'm suppose to, I'd have had a revision already. Gotta love a quick trip to Walmart to change things around. I was only grabbing a few things and came out of there $55 poorer. Michelle decided she wanted Hofman hotdogs (delicious Central NY regional thing). So she paid the pretty penny for them and I paid for the hot dog buns and tater tots to go with them. lol

Sunday... Venison Chili
Monday... Hofman hot dogs with buns, tater tots, salad
Tuesday... Sweet and sour meatballs, broccoli normandy, rice
Wednesday... Pizza
Thursday... Shrimp alfredo, bread, salad
Friday... Leftovers probably (may not be home for the day, then the kids run out the door at 7:30)
Saturday... Scalloped potatoes and ham, green beans, biscuits

Sorry, no recipes up yet.

Life got in the way and I didn't have the time or energy to get on and blog. Unfortunately I don't have a choice about whether to feed anyone or not, so we still ate. lol My menu was totally blown though from Tuesday on down.

Tuesday I went to make spaghetti and Michelle mentioned the cocktail weenies. I think we finished them up...unless there's a pkg hiding in the back of the freezer I can't see. So we had BBQ weenies instead of spaghetti.

Wednesday BIL gave me money to order a 50pc box of chicken from Walmart. Everyone LOVES WM's fried chicken. 50pcs usually lasts us for a meal, lunch/breakfast and maybe a snack here or there. We didn't have everyone here and got home late (so everyone had ramen noodles earlier in the evening). I think the person making the box of chicken was VERY generous with his counting too. I've never had a heavier box of chicken in my life! We had chicken for almost the whole rest of the week.

Thursday was Chicken and Macaroni salad made with medium shells. YUM! We hadn't had mac salad in a looong time. Now I'm wanting potato salad too. lol

Friday was chicken and whatever else you could find in the fridge.

Saturday was chicken and gravy. I'd had it defrosted in the fridge already and we had to eat it before it went bad. I had also started a batch of venison chili before the defrosted venison went bad.

Note to self....

After figuring out the menu and posting it...READ IT! I had an original menu made up with Tom and Michelle picking up a few things for me on Sunday. They forgot some things and I was determined to NOT go anywhere until Wednesday (when Michelle has to go to work) so I had to redo the menu even before I posted it.

Unfortunately my brain didn't reorganize and I didn't look at my menu before I made dinner last night. Looking at it now made me realize...I messed up! Granted it wasn't a big mess up but it negated all the refiguring I did.

So instead of Spaghetti we had Bean Soup and it was yummy! Even Sean liked it. I think I'll just shift everything down one day.

Sunday... Steaks, baked/grilled potatoes, sauteed broccoli normandy
Monday... Bean soup, bread
Tuesday... Spaghetti, bread, salad
Wednesday... Turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes
Thursday... Venison chili, cheddar biscuits
Friday... Scalloped potatoes and ham
Saturday... Pizza

I realized I forgot to add some things onto my grocery list....
Mozz cheese (pizza)
Potatoes (Scalloped potatoes)
Canned Tomatoes (crushed, puree, whole) (chili)

Since I intended this place to be my online recipe book I guess I should try to include recipes. I'll try to get some up today

Menu - April 6 - 12

Tom was so busy trying to fix the van he never had time to get the charcoal going. We ended up microwaving chicken nuggets (I THINK they're gone now), making nachos and/or ramen noodles. Basically a FFY (fend for yourself) night. Here's this week's menu so far...

Sunday... Steaks, baked/grilled potatoes, sauteed broccoli normandy
Monday... Spaghetti, bread, salad
Tuesday... Turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes
Wednesday...Venison chili, cheddar biscuits
Thursday... Scalloped potatoes and ham
Friday... Bean soup, bread
Saturday... Pizza

I'll need a few things from the store this week. For the meals listes...mozz cheese (kids used most of what's in the fridge for "nachos", and potatoes. Then the regular stuff...milk, fresh fruit and veggies, eggs, etc. My fridge is looking pretty bare, a good time to clean it out.

Drew and Allison brought me a gift today, Amish Friendship Bread Starter, 2 batches even. (they figured one batch wouldn't make enough for our family lol!)

Noelle, eggs are our goto meal too. We go through tons of them every week. All the kids (except the 2 littlest) know how to and can cook their own eggs. They eat them whenever they get hungry and they think there's nothing to eat (meaning no bags of chips or cookies). lol They especially love it when there's a ton boiled up and ready to just grab and peel. Val's been wanting pickled eggs lately and I agree with her it sounds yummy. So I think we may be making up some of those this week.

Lasagna Rollups

Makes approx 22 - 24 rolls

Cook lasagna noodles according to directions and cool

Melt:
3 Tbsp margarine

Add to margarine then cook till bubbly:
1/4 cup flour

Mix and microwave 2 min:
1.5 cup milk
1 scored bay leaf
pinch nutmeg

Whisk warmed milk into margarine flour mixture. Cook until boiled.
Allow cream sauce to cool.

To the cream sauce add in...

3 eggs, beaten
2-3 pounds cottage cheese
1-2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 lb grated mozzarella
1/8 tsp nutmeg
cooked spinach (I used one can, drained well)

Mix well to combine

Dump one can (26oz) of spaghetti sauce into a large lasagna pan (think mine is 16")

Lay out a lasagna noodle on the table and and spread filling on noodle (estimate about 1/4c for each noodle, didn't measure, just scooped with my hand). Roll noodle short end to short end. Place rolled up noodle in pan. When pan is full dump another can of sauce over the top. Add 1/2 can of water over the top and jiggle pan to incorporate. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 pound I just grabbed handfuls out of a 5lb bag).

Bake for 1 hour in a 350° oven

Kids were asking to try a meat version...probably add some italian sausage next time

And we have a revision once again.

The lasagna rollups were a hit. I used ma's Canelloni filling as a base. I'm going to post the version I made after I'm done here.

Tom came home Friday night with a treat for us....mahogany clams! Woohoo!! We fired up the 18qt roaster and steamed away. He bought enough of the little buggers that we all had as much as we wanted. Served with real butter...YUUUUUMMMM! Granted I'd prefer if they were littlenecks but that would've cost us a mint.

He also bought steaks which we'll grill on Saturday. It was a really decent deal, 5 pkgs for $20. I think it amounted to 13 steaks, might be 11 (too lazy to get up and count them lol). We'll serve it with sauteed broccoli normandy and baked/grilled potatoes. Lucky for me Tom does all the charcoal grilling (I only do gas lol)

Now to work on a plan for next week that I can stick too!

Oh I hate when that happens!!!

I had to throw out a WHOLE 8qt pot of chicken and broth this morning!!!! It was one of the richest and meatiest pots I've ever made too. I just want to cry...it could've made at least 2 meals. All that money and work gone. Actually I haven't thrown it away yet, I'm not sure exactly WHAT to do with it. I can't dump it down the drain, can't throw it in the trash. I'll probably have Tom dump it into the weeds. Makes me wish we had animals that could be fed it.

So WHY do I have to toss it? Because I just got up and see it's sitting on the back of the stove. I hadn't bothered to debone the thighs, just threw them in along with the pan drippings which I never do...that usually goes straight to gravy. It simmered all day long and made it smell Yuuuumy in here. I'd turned it off around 3pm so that it could cool enough to allow me to debone it. (figured I'd do it after dinner) Sean was super fussy with a fever and I got stuck in my chair with him. I eventually decided sitting with him wasn't working so took him to bed. Shortly after climbing into the bed I realized the pot was still on the stove. I couldn't get up so figured I'd ask Tom to throw it in the fridge before he climbed into bed. I fell asleep before he came in!!! So the pot sat and sat and sat. And now 14hrs after turning it off, it's trash. :o(

Wish I could console myself with the fact that it's only $.49/pound turkey and we already got one meal out of it (turkey salad tonight), but I can't. It's just too much and would've gone so far. I actually sat here at first and tried to reason that it wouldn't be bad and I COULD use it. Of course nothing is worth that risk to my family's health, not even almost free meals. OK, take that back, if we were starving or going to starve without it, it'd be a different story. Thankfully that's not part of the equation today.

I don't know how I did it

I messed up the turkey! I wasn't home at all on Tues so decided to cook it last night, cut it up and stick it in the fridge then it'd be ready for the next day's dinner. (number of days in the fridge were getting too many to wait another day) Everyone kept saying the turkey was done and I kept putting them off. I checked it and saw the doneness gauge on the turkey had popped (I hate those things!) so I stuck it with my meat thermometer. It immediately went up to 190...oh great...a dry turkey. I took it out and let it cool so I could handle it. When I went to process it, it wasn't done! UGH! So I threw all the pieces back into the roaster and stuck it in the oven. Eventually I started dozing off and knew I'd never stay up until the turkey was done. So I turned it off and thought to get up really early and take care of it. I never got up! This morning it was still warm but dried out. :o( So my yummy slabs of moist turkey for sandwiches became turkey salad and the broth gained a bit more meat then it normally would. Not what I wanted but I made do anyways.

Of course you know a revision is coming. We resorted to the meal in a pinch...chicken nuggets. That means Fri meal has to change too. Now I think it'll look like...

Tuesday...Chicken nuggets and baby carrots with dip
Wednesday...Turkey salad, rolls, salad, green beans
Thursday...Lasagna rollups, bread
Friday...Pizza
Saturday...Venison stew, biscuits

Menu - March 30 - April 5

Sunday...Bagel dogs, raviolis, tossed salad, cottage cheese
Monday...Beefy mac and cheese, salad
Tuesday...Turkey, mashed potatoes, sauteed mixed veggies
Wednesday...Pizza
Thursday...Scalloped potatoes, irish soda bread
Friday...Dino chicken nuggets, mixed fruit
Saturday...Venison stew, bread

I have everything I need for these meals, so no shopping needed. :o) I'll still need fresh fruit, veggies, milk and probably eggs (for breakfasts and lunches). I'm not sure on Thurs, but we'll deal with it then if it comes up.

My birthday

Tom was fretting over the fact that we didn't have any cake mix in the house for my birthday cake. He must've asked me 20 times if I'd find him a recipe for an easy cake online. Then the concern was dinner. I informed him that Pizza was on the menu today and I'd make the crust which only takes a few minutes, everything else was in the fridge. He went out back for a while and came in with some money. Seems BIL decided he wanted me to get some things at the store. I was informed to get LOTS of steak and some snacks...other then that, I could spend the money as I saw fit. And I did! Not only did I spend that money, but I spent some of our's too. oops! Michelle was laughing because I was throwing things in my cart that I had in there earlier in the week but decided we could do without (like blueberry muffins lol)

For my birthday dinner I bought...
Steak - bought 2 huge roasts and sliced into steaks myself
Mushrooms,
stuff for a HUGE salad (also have enough for a few more meals)
Vanilla ice cream (Michelle bought toppings for sundaes)
Birthday cake (was going to buy mixes but Michelle twisted my arm on getting this instead)

Other things I bought...
Starburst candies
Blueberry muffins
cream cheese (for bagels and various dips)
velvetta cheese (cheese sauce for EVERYTHING lol)
milk
orange juice
green grapes
frozen strawberries (sundae toppings, smoothies and parfaits)
vanilla yogurt (smoothies and parfaits)
honey roasted peanuts
various chips and pretzels

We were all able to stuff ourselves full of whatever we wanted and had leftovers. The kids cleaned up in no time flat (amazing what you can do when you work together). Michelle had the sundae bar set up really nicely. We had gummi worms, reeses pieces, strawberries, bananas, sprinkles, crushed up cookies, assorted mini marshmellows (fruit flavored), hot fudge, chocolate magic shell, and canned whipped cream. YUMMMMMM! We never ended up eating the cake until Sunday night because we were stuffed from the sundaes.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

I use this whole recipe for sweet and sour meatballs (throw in 3 - 4lbs of frozen meatballs and heat) as we like a little "gravy" with our rice. Also goes well with chicken

makes approx 3qts - 1 gallon

1 can (20oz) pineapple chunks, drained, reserve juice
1 can (46oz) fruit juice (used pear nectar...can use apricot, pineapple, apple, mixed)
1 can (14oz) chicken broth (can use 2cups water instead)
1 1/4c vinegar (used white but cider or rice would work also)
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup cornstarch
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Set aside pineapple chunks.
In a med size bowl put in cornstarch, ginger and garlic, stir to combine and set aside.
Add everything else into a pot and stir to combine.
Add 1 cup of combined liquid to cornstarch and stir until cornstarch is disolved
Pour cornstarch liquid into pot and stir.
Add in pineapple chunks and any additions
Simmer on med until boiling and thick, stirring often
(may need to simmer for a bit to thoroughly cook addtions).

Additions...can use sauce without these but I like to add...
additional pineapple chunks (reduce fruit juice accordingly)
Green and/or red pepper (used frozen pepper & onion mix and took out almost all of the onion)
chopped carrots
chopped celery

Menu....March 23 - 29

I wrote up a menu Monday while waiting for Michelle to get out of class. I haven't had time to get it online until today though.

Sunday... Easter dinner at my aunt's house (brought a huge fruit salad)
Monday... Split pea soup, crackers... BBQ cocktail weenies for those that didn't want lots of soup
Tuesday... Originally...Turkey and Gravy with mashed potatoes. Ended up eating at my parents after a dentist appt. Sloppy joes, hot dogs with sauerkraut, salad
Wednesday... Turkey and Gravy with mashed potatoes (in the fridge waiting to be served)
*Thursday... Sweet and Sour meatballs with rice
*Friday.... Fried mozzarella sticks with pasta salad
Saturday... Pizza (unless someone makes something else since it's my birthday)

*Ended up switching Thurs and Fri

Funny/embarrassing story about Sunday involving food. At my aunt's there was tons of food. They'd grilled two turkeys and two spiral sliced hams. Near the end of everyone eating I hear...KIM! Tom's taking home the turkey carcass...guess you have to make soup (Tom likes to make soup so it could be either of us). I played it off like it was no biggie. By the time we walked out the door not only did we end up with a turkey carcass, we also had both ham bones and the odds and ends. Now I'm very thankful for my aunt for providing us with a great meal. She of all my aunts and uncles seems to appreciate my family the most. So I didn't take it as a "pity" thing. The rest of the relatives there though....Oh well, good thing I don't care what they think. Although I probably do more then I care to admit because it felt a bit weird walking out of there with stuff that was destined for the trash can. (Tom stopped my cousin as he was about to dump the turkey carcass and drumsticks) The thing is, I found myself having to restrain myself at times too, like when my sister was throwing away the cheddar cheese slices that were leftover on the cheese tray. I was thinking...hey! That'd make a great cheese sauce for mac and cheese!

As soon as I got home Sun night I put the biggest pieces of ham into the freezer...they'll be used in scalloped potatoes. I threw the turkey carcass into an 8qt pot and the rest of the ham pieces and bones into another 8qt pot, filled each with cold water, brought it up to a boil and then turned it down as low as it could go. I ended up falling asleep and woke up at 5am to the smell of yummy ham cooking. I turned them off and went back to bed for a bit. By 8am I had both pans picked through. A pot of split pea soup simmering and a pot of chicken and gravy doing the same. I'd thrown a huge baggie of turkey and broth into the freezer for turkey noodle soup. And a baggie of ham and broth followed it destined for bean soup. So out of someone's "trash" I ended up with the base for 5 good size meals that will probably provide leftovers or lunches too. Not too shabby. Thanks Aunt A!

How last week played out....

Revisions to the menu continued through the whole week. We ended up not eating ANYTHING that was planned. What we ate looked like this...

Wednesday.... Bologna sandwiches and Chicken nuggets
Thursday....Penne with Vodka Sauce (my mom fed us)
Friday....FFYS (fend for yourself) night....cereal, sandwiches, nuggets, leftovers
Saturday... Venision...backstrap, baby carrots and dip

It helps to have other people feed your family when you're trying to save money. lol Of course not having to do the work wasn't half bad either. We ended up at my parents' after Carrie's TODAY study appt. I HAVE to get my mom's vodka sauce recipe. She says it's easy. At first I didn't think they kids would like it but they all ate it, even the kids who don't normally like sauce on their pasta (preferring butter and parm cheese instead)

Friday I ended up running around as usual and I said I'm not cooking for get whatever you want out of the fridge. There was ONE pkg of chicken nuggets left when dinner was over. (originally were 9 of them) The older kids needed to bring something to eat to church with them on Sat and finished it up. We had chicken nuggets so much this last week that I REFUSED to buy anymore this weekend, even though they were on clearance for $3.99 again (3 - 20oz pks). I did end up buying Seafood Salad that was on clearance 2lb container for $3.99. I can't make it for that price. Everyone LOVES it and the container goes amazingly far.

Tom brought home another doe on Fri night. (he knows someone who hunts on a nuisance permit) He strung it up in the trees and we took care of it Sat morning. His brother was out of town for the weekend so I offered to help Tom do the dirty work. We took off the hide together and then Tom decided he'd go on his dump run before starting the butchering. I told him I'd start while he was gone and I did. By the time he came home I was almost done. I think I did pretty clean and quick work considering I had NO idea what I was doing (had never done or seen it done before). I was worried about getting grossed out and turned off to eating the venison. Instead it helped me accept it more readily. I think I had made it worse in my mind. Eileen said she was glad she came out and watched since it wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be. We've talked of getting chickens and the main thing holding me back was the processing part of it. After doing the deer I think I can handle chickens just fine. And from there came Sat's dinner. :o) Gotta enjoy the choice cuts at their freshest.

It's a keeper....

Soda bread where have you been all my life!?! I don't know if we'll ever buy crackers again! Well we will because we like crackers for other things then soup/stew. It was the perfect thing to go with the stew. I substituted sour milk for the buttermilk and we had a little oven temperature mishap (my temp gauge is very easy to turn and tends to get bumped to different temps at times) but it was still good. Jake woke up this morning asking if there was any left. :o) I can't wait to make it again, this time with buttermilk.

I'm already revising this week's menu. Poor burritos are getting booted from the lineup once again. They are the classic...I have NO idea what to have so we'll have that meal. Michelle needed to run into the work and I stupidly ran in too. I keep telling her her job is costing me a mint! lol Of course I HAD to peruse the fresh meats section for clearance things and taaadaaa 3 - 3pks of Perdue chicken nuggets magically appeared in my shopping cart. So burritos will be replaced with chicken nuggets. Along with mashed potatoes and boiled cabbage that I never managed to make last night. The rest of the nuggets will see the inside of the freezer for another time.

Things that also managed to find their way into my cart... navel oranges, grapefruit, instant coffee, clearance bologna (pkgs were broke apart), Nestle crispy variety pk, Toberlone chocolates, Ferraro Rocher, and Emily's chocolate covered cranberries and almonds (DELICIOUS! and I only paid $3.99 for my pkg). The candy was clearance...mostly from Christmas. The first three will be added to Easter baskets. Emily's will be lucky to see the end of day. And I'll consider myself lucky if more find their way into my cart...although there were only a few left as of last night.

Menu... March 16 - 22

Sunday... Venison chipotle rice
Monday... Venison stew, boiled cabbage, Irish soda bread
Tuesday... Bean and cheese burritos (never had last week)
Wednesday... Beer batter fried fish sandwiches, canned veggies
Thursday... Burgers, chips, green beans
Friday... Pizza, veggie tray with dip
Saturday... Pork loin roast, sauteed veggies, mashed potatoes

Things may change up at the end of the week as I'll need to go grocery shopping for most things on the list. I'm picking up my sister's girls after school on Thurs (my kids have the day off) and they're staying until Sat night. I'm thinking burgers will be quick and easy after being out all day. We may or may not have Olivia's birthday party on Fri or Sat since some guests she wanted there are going out of town for the night. We'll still have a little party here with my sister's girls anyways.

Special thanks to Anne for the Irish bread recipe. I'm really looking forward to trying it.

Shopping trip and menu revision

I ended up revising the rest of the week's menu.   I ended up having no tomatoes or spaghetti sauce for Wed night so had to switch things up a bit.  Michelle and I ran to the store after she got out of work for a few things.  I had the receipt and meant to post a list of what I bought but have since misplaced it.  

Wednesday....BBQ cocktail weinies, baked beans, canned sweet peas
Thursday....spaghetti and meatballs
Friday.... Eggs, sausage and toast
Saturday...Late lunch of spaghetti and sauce with a  later "snack" of venison

The venison was an unexpected but welcomed gift.  Someone Tom knows has permits and takes down damage causing deer.  He called Sat morning to say he had 2 small does for us.  Tom and his brother did the butchering and split the meat.   We bagged up the meat for the freezer.  Then cooked the backstraps/loins for dinner YUM!    They aren't very seasoned in butchering so things were a bit chopped up.  Most of it will probably end up as meat chunks with the larger hunks becoming roasts.   I was wishing they'd saved the hides, I'd love to try to tan them.   Tom thought it was too much work and he's probably right.  It just seems like a huge waste!  Maybe if we get more he'll allow me to have it.    

I bought a few things that weren't on my list from the earlier post.   Mostly it was 2 bags of apples, 2 heads of cabbage and 4 - 22.5 oz pkgs  of spreadable cheddar cheese.  Oh and a loaf of bread.  I haven't been so great about baking our bread.  Right now my excuse is that my dough hook for my kitchenaid seems to be missing.   I could do it by hand but I'd be lucky to have enough freehand time to throw things in the mixer.   I couldn't pass up the cheese they were 2 for $2.00!  Each pkg contains 1 container of chipolte and one container of smokey bacon.   I'm thinking at the very least I can use them to make mac and cheese.   I'll be looking for other ideas too, so share if you have them.

Crab Rangoon

2 - 8oz blocks cream cheese
1 can crab meat
dash soy sauce
green onions or onion powder
pkg wonton wrappers
water

Soften cream cheese
Drain can crab
Mix first 4 ingredients together
Put a small spoonful of mixture in center of wonton wrapper.* Wet fingertip with water and paint edges along 2 sides of the wrapper. Fold wrapper in half...forming a triangle, press edges...gluing together.

Fry in 375 degree oil for about 3 mins

*Note...overfilling will cause filling to leak out of wonton during cooking

Midweek report

This weekend I cooked up the last 2lbs of bacon I had in the fridge and divided it up into 3 meals. Originally they were going to be Baked beans, cowboy beans and potato soup. Being snowed in on Sunday, without a set plan on what to make special for Val's birthday...we opted for Pizza. I was out of margarine/butter and oil so made the dough using shortening, it didn't come out half bad. Knowing I had cooked the bacon earlier Val asked if one of the pizzas could be garlic bacon...oh well baked beans can be done without bacon. I also made one BBQ chicken (used chicken nuggets for the meat..wasn't enough for a meal) and 2 pepperonis. There were leftovers for breakfast the next day. :o) I also whipped up some crab rangoons which I ended up baking. They were OK but would've been better fried.

After cooking up the bacon I cut up and fried the hot dogs for cowboy beans. Tom and I were planning on taking Val and her boyfriend to dinner for her birthday (gift cards and borrowed money from Michelle). Having the cowboy beans almost done helped out Michelle for dinner that night. It was basically a mix and heat type of deal.

Tuesday night's potato soup was interesting. It started with me being out of butter still and almost out of milk. So powdered milk it was. Unfortunately the butter was missed. I tried to compensate it with added bouillon which helped. It wasn't the best soup but served it's purpose.

Tonight is spaghetti and meatball. I THINK I have everything I need for it. Guess I should go check my canned tomato supply. Oops...looks like I'm going to the store tonight. Man! I hate running out of things!

Shopping list so far...

Milk
margarine
veg oil
canned tomatoes
flour
eggs
black pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
cat food

Menu...March 9 - 15

Things are REALLY tight around here this pay period (2wks) so I took inventory and planned a menu with minimal groceries needed. It's going to be not so "fun" as I haven't kept up my stocked pantry/freezer. I'll definitely need to go shopping when I'm done.


Sunday... Pizzas, baked crab rangoons (Val's birthday)
Monday... Cowboy beans, canned green beans (kids meal)
Tuesday... Potato Soup, crackers
Wednesday... Spaghetti and meatballs, bread
Thursday... Bean and cheese burritos, canned corn
Friday... Pancakes, eggs and sausage
Saturday... Pork Roast, sauteed Normandy blend veggies, mashed potatoes

Oops!

On Wednesday I kept thinking...I can't remember what's for dinner but at least I have it written down on my food blog.   Imagine my surprise when I got home and checked here to see what I had planned and there was nothing listed!!  I skipped over Wed and went right to Thurs because I knew what Olivia had wanted for her birthday.    It was decided we'd have a baked potato night.  The kids micro'ed potatoes and topped them how they wanted them.   I picked up some things at Michelle's work that night.  The kids were excited to see I bought seafood salad that was clearance.   So they ended up also eating seafood salad sandwiches before bed too.  

I've been sticking with what I've planned.  It's been nice having the menu written out.  Although I think part of me sticking with it is that it was a lot of premade/processed food.   I'm really going to try getting back to planning meals ahead of time again...especially with finances being tight.  I know that it would benefit all of us in both time, money and health if we went back to our old way of cooking/eating.   

Menu....March 2 - 8

Sunday....Meatball subs served with stuffing (Luke's birthday dinner he picked)
Monday....Broccoli cheese soup with frozen bagel bites
Tuesday...Cocktail weinies/pigs in a blanket, baked potatoes, mixed veggies/normandy blend
Wednesday...
Thursday.....Pizza rolls, the rest undecided (Olivia's birthday pick)
Friday....Chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, canned veggies
Saturday...beer battered fried fish

Later in the week may change as I'll probably go grocery shopping sometime after Wed (haven't decided yet). We have a few things that were clearanced for dirt cheap at Michelle's work (cocktail weinies and chicken nuggets). Makes the need to get out the door quick nights a bit easier.

I made up the broccoli cheese soup while cooking Luke's birthday dinner last night. All I had to do was reheat the soup and throw the bagel bites in the oven. Easy Peasy. :o)

Giving it a try here again

Yes, I've resurrected this place yet again. I even revamped it with a new layout and categories. Hopefully it'll make maintaining the recipes a lot easier. Thus posting here easier. I still have the problem of not knowing exacctly how I want things to go here. Hopefully that won't impede me.

I won't be going grocery shopping for quite a few days (or weeks). That means we'll be living out of the freezer and pantry. I don't have an exact menu set yet, hopefully I'll get it going in the next day or so.

Menu - Oct 23 - 29

Monday - Spaghetti with sausage meatsauce (sausage precooked adn frozen), Garlic roll or bread

Tuesday - Taco Salad

Wednesday - BBQ Chicken Sandwiches on Rolls, canned veggies

Thursday - Fish Sandwiches (frozen), French Fries

Friday - Cream of Potato Soup, cheese biscuits

Saturday - Roasted Turkey (trying again) with the fixings
alt - Stroganoff over egg noodles

Sunday - Turkey Sandwiches and/or Turkey and Gravy over mashed potatoes or rice
alt - Homemade mac and cheese

I'm pretty set grocerywise. :o) I was planning making all the bread but now I won't be home until late on Monday so I'll buy Italian bread while out. I never put side dishes with my meals since those tend to be easy to figure. Most of the time it's a salad or some cans of veggies, etc. If I need to assemble and cook it then I'll add it to my list (or if I need to purchase it that week).

Yep, I'm trying to remember to defrost and bake the turkey this weekend AGAIN! Incase I don't I've planned alternative meals, so I'm good to go. I'm so with it this week I even took down the school lunch menu and made sure chicken, spaghetti, etc weren't too close together. The lunch lady and I tend to be on the same wavelength when it comes to meals. Last minute planning tends to cause it to be exactly what they had for lunch that day or are going to have the next. LOL

I'm hoping to get to the farmer's market on Tues or Thurs so hope to have lots of apples and such for snacks. I'm trying to hold off on shopping until next month. I don't want to start keeping tabs on totals midmonth

Oct 16 - 22

I forget what I had planned for Mon and Tues. The rest of the days I'll list what I planned and what I actually did. So I'll be editing this entry as the rest of the week goes on.


Monday....Chicken Patties and/or BBQ beef, cheese puffs, apples Not what I planned but we were only home for 20mins before kids ran out the door again. So did quick and easy.

Tuesday...Beefy mac and cheese (started off as stroganoff but realized I was out of mushroom soup after I cooked the burger), apple bake

Wednesday...Sausage/Pizza rolls, salad
Actual...Sloppy Joes I took Val to the ER to be with Janna who had kidney stones (they think) Drew and Pat made dinner. Went grocery shopping

Thursday...Taco Salad (use up the salad fixings before they rot)
Actual...Baked Chicken Leg quarters, salad

Friday...no school...snack/party day. Rye bread and dip, artichoke and spinach dip, crab rangoons, veggie tray, etc
Actual...Rye bread and dip, crab dip and fried wonton chips, shrimp cocktail, cheese, crackers, pepperoni and braunschweiger

Saturday...I'd planned Roasted Turkey and some fixings but never took it out of the freezer so isn't going to happen. I'll do pizza and maybe try falafels.
Actual...Pizzas, went to open house at my nephew's new place and had snacks beforehand.

Sunday...And of course turkey sandwiches (or turkey and gravy over mashed potatoes...or both lol) isn't going to work either. Not sure what I'll do. It's a pretty busy day.
Actual...Beans and hotdogs (have a meeting at church during dinner time...so something easy for the kids to make)

Cleaning up around here

Yep, I'm considering starting this blog up again. I need to get back to staying within my food budget. Actually I need to figure out WHAT my food budget is first. LOL Right now I'm trying to eat out of my freezer/pantry until the beginning of November. I did go grocery shopping on Wednesday and spent about $110. It's not all that was spent this payday though since Tom bought some things and I found a great bread sale at Big Lots.

Meals in my freezer/fridge includes....

Chicken
Split breasts (no idea what I'll use these for, not enough for everyone to have their own)
Thighs...chicken and gravy probably
Skinless/boneless breasts...Stirfry...flavoring TBA (to be announced lol)

Burger
Taco Salad
Spaghetti
Stirfry, probably teriyaki
Sloppy Joes (Drew's pushing for)
Stroganoff

Fish sticks
Stuffed Shells
Raviolis
Veal Patties
Broccoli for broccoli soup
Eggs (breakfast for dinner)
Cheese for homemade mac and cheese (mom's pushing for)

2 wks of groceries for 12...then

I made this webpage in 2001 after being asked how I spent under $500/mo to feed my family. I decided to record and keep track of how much I spent and how many meals I could get out of it. I'm hoping to redo this with today's prices and food amounts. Afterall my kids are a LOT bigger now. lol Our financial situation has eased up a bit since this time so I know I buy and spend more.

Link to the shopping trip that started this foodblog. Sept '04 34 meals for under $500.

I visited 3 stores and spents $198.16 all together. This is more then I usually have ($150), but my dh had some overtime. I splurged in a few places. I get some of my things from my stocked pantry. I stock it with sales and extra income (OT or income tax return). This is a winter menu for a family of 12. In the summer we tend to eat out of our garden a lot so it's even cheaper.

* notes prices that I know have increased

Here's the breakdown....click on each name to jump to that store


$102.53 ~ Save-A-Lot
50.38 ~ Wegmans
46.05 ~ Price Chopper

Here's what I bought.... Click here to jump to my menu


Price Chopper
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4 Betty Crocker Brownie Mix $1.69ea...B1G1
9 P&R Elbows and Thin spaghetti...3/$.99
*12 Tuttorosso Crushed Tomatoes or Puree...2/$1
2 Sunluck Beef Broccoli Seasoning Pkts...$.69ea
4 Quaker Maid Sandwich Steaks...$3.99/12oz pk...B1G1F (substitute for the roast they were out of)
*3.5lbs Boneless skinless Chicken Breasts...$1.59lb
3 Price Chopper Sour Cream...$.88/pint
2 3# bags of Apples...$.1.99 ea (one bag is for Jake's class snack)
2 cucumbers...$.69ea
1.8lbs Green Peppers....$.69lb
8lb bag of Oranges...$4.99
2 rounds rye bread...$1.99ea...B1G1F
1 Deli pk of Chicken Wings...$2.40 (ate in the car LOL


Wegmans
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*2 Half gallon cartons of Wegman's OJ....$.99ea
3 Half gallon jugs of Wegman's Apple Juice...$.99ea
2 2lt Wegman's Soda...$.50ea....$.05 bottle deposit ea
3 bottles Sparkling grape juice...$1.59ea
2 Gallons of 2% milk...$1.89ea
*3 Wegman's Margarine...$.29ea
*16 8oz containers Crowley Yogurt...4/$1
1 12oz pkg Wonton Skins....$1.69
2 cans Bumble Bee crab meat....$1.99ea
1 jar Hormel Dried Beef...$2.50
*1 20pk Wegmans toilet tissue..$8.99
1 box Kleenex Tissues...$.99
2 1lb bag Wegman's Chips...2/$3
*3 1lb pkgs Salad Mix...$.79ea
*2 1lb pkgs Babycut carrots...$.79ea
*2 small celery...2/$1
*2 pkgs grape tomatoes (kids ATE one!)
*1 12oz pkg Mushrooms...$.99


Save-A-Lot
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3 1lb bags Broccoli spears....$.89ea
4 1lb bags Broccoli cuts....$.79ea
*3 lb margarine....$.39ea
*5 lbs ground beef...$.99lb
*2 3# pkgs frozen ground beef...$1.19lb (out of $.99/lb chubs)
*5 Hotdog...$.59ea
17lb Frozen Turkey...$.79/lb
1 Blister pk Pepperoni...$.99
3 boxes fish sticks...40ct...$2.49ea
3 Frozen OJ..$.79ea
2 Vegetable Oil...$1.29ea
1 Canola cooking spray...$1.19
1 BBQ sauce...$1.19
1 sweet relish...$.99
2 Ketchup...$.99ea
1 Brown mustard...$.69
2 Mayo...$.99ea
4 Cream of mushroom soup...$.49ea
2 Gummi Worms...$.79ea
1 Bag blowpop suckers...$.99
1 Jar Hot pepper rings...$1.19
*4 Black Olives....$.79ea
*6 5# bag Flour...$.89ea
3 Stuffing Mix...$.69ea
1 Coffee creamer..$.99
*2 snack crackers...$.99ea
*2 oyster crackers...$.59ea
1 Bag cheese puffs...$.99
1 Bag Corn chips...$.99
*1 Box Gallon zipper bags...$.89
*3 White Bread....3/$1.69
*2 30ct Med Eggs...$1.29ea
*2 5# bag French Fries...$1.99ea
*1 Hash Brown...$1.99
1 Bag Hushpuppies...$.99
*2 Bags mini marshmellows...$.59ea
4.8lbs Bananas...$1.60
*1 bag Lemons...$1.29
1 Head of cabbage...$1.11
1 Bag of Sauerkraut...$.99


MENU ~ back to top

Beef Broccoli Stir Fry (2 boxes QM steak sandwiches, broccoli, 1/2 pk mushroom, gr pepper, carrots(from freezer))
Chinese Noodles

Beef and Gravy served with potatoes and rolls (2 boxes QM steadk sandwiches)

Meatball Sandwiches served on rolls (sauce from pantry), with Salad mix and Corn(pantry)

Spaghetti and meatballs, rolls (sauce from pantry)

Sloppy Joes served on rolls, Salad mix and Green beans(pantry)

Chili served with cornbread

Taco Bake with rice (Burger, salsa(freezer), corn, gr peppers, tomato puree)

Hot Dogs with Sauerkraut, Sweet Peas and potatoes (both pantry)

Hot Dogs with French fries and Corn(pantry)

Hot Dogs and beans (pantry), cornbread

Fish sticks sandwiches with French fries and Green beans(pantry)

Fish stick sandwiches with French Fries and salad

Sweet and Sour Chicken (broccoli, gr pepper, carrots, 1/2 pk mushroom, can pineapple(pantry)
served with chinese noodles

Scrambled Eggs (leftovers added) served with toast, hash browns

Pizza ~ Pepperoni and Garlic (already had cheese in frig), Pasta salad

Pizza ~ Cheese and Garlic , salad mix

Turkey served with Sweet Potatoes (pantry), stuffing, olives

Turkey Sandwiches, served with Corn, Potatoes (boxed pantry)

Turkey and Gravy with rice or potatoes served with rolls

Turkey soup with leftovers (mixed veggies from pantry and leftovers from fridge)

Broccoli soup served with homemade garlic rolls

Tomato soup served with homemade parm rolls.

Scalloped potato (boxed from pantry and mushroom soup) soup served with bread

Alfredo crab noodles (parm cheese from pantry) served with garlic bread and peas (pantry)

Tuna Noodle Casserole (tuna and peas from pantry)

Rye bread rounds with dip (sour cream and dried beef) served with french fries and baby carrots and sparkling grape juice...party dinner

Wonton wrappers for...crab ragoon and mini egg rolls



Breakfasts consist of...Oatmeal, homemade granola, waffles, pancakes, quick bread, toast, yogurt, fruit

Lunch is... some meals above, PBJ, tuna mac salad, boxed mac and cheese, leftovers, soup from pantry

Snacks...brownies, cookies, cakes, fruit, quick bread, candy, chips, popcorn, baby carrots and dip

Drinks....water, OJ, Apple juice, milk, soda, coffee, tea, koolaid

Need to buy before 2wks is up...milk, juice, fresh fruit and veggies

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Playing around here....

I've been considering starting this blog back up. Today I added a picture to my .
Pasta Salad recipe

If I do start it probably won't be until the beginning of the month. Until then I'll try to figure out exactly how I want to go about this. I know I have to make it so it's not a disaster if I slack off on posting here. Although I loved keeping a running total of my grocery budget.

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