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.

Cowboy Beans

This is a really easy, get done quick meal that everyone likes here. I can never seem to make enough. Unfortunately due to allergies I have to omit the onions. If you ask me, they make this taste a LOT better.

small onion, diced
1/2 - 1lb bacon (optional but YUM)
2 pkgs hotdogs,
9 cans pork and beans

Cook bacon and set aside
In bacon grease, sautee onions until soft and clear
Slice hotdogs lengthwise and then into slices (making half "coins", quarter if you have little ones that can choke)
Add hotdogs to onions and cook until hotdogs are browned
Drain grease from pan
Combine all ingredients in pan and cook until heated through and flavors are combined, about 20mins

Menu... March 1 - 7

Last week went so-so in terms of following my plan. Wednesday ended up being Cowboy beans and Thursday was a FFY (fend for yourself) night as I wasn't home. The major change was on Saturday. Tom ran to Walmart after picking up Michelle at work and came home with 2 bags of frozen flounder. Still hankering for fried fish, I breaded them up and threw them into a pan of oil....YUM! Tons better then the Tilapia but not the delicious paper thin sole I was hoping for when he mentioned flounder. People look at me weird when I mention fried sole but it was my favorite thing to fry up when I was working at the fish store. Anyways back to work here.

Sunday... Shrimp Alfredo finally got eaten
Monday... Luke's 16th birthday so his choosing. He wanted chinese or pizza so we did the sensible and had BOTH! We got some sesame chicken and lo mein from a local place, baked up some frozen digorno's supreme pizzas and I made 2 16" garlic and 2 cheese pizzas.
Tuesday... Breakfast for dinner...eggs, bacon, toast, homefries.
Wednesday... Chicken and gravy, biscuits
Thursday... Grilled cheese and Soup
Friday... Olivia's 9th birthday. She's decided she wants tacos with the works! Sounds good to me
Saturday... TBD (to be determined) I'll probably get groceries on Thursday

Menu... February 22 - 28

OK...so last week didn't go so well. The pork loin roast wasn't teriyaki. Wednesday chicken kabobs ended up being Hoffmann hotdogs Michelle had bought. Thursday was cereal and sandwiches and Friday was the Hawaiian pizza. Saturday was a busy day in the kitchen. We had tons of food as usual. Fried parmesan Tilapia (tasted a bit "dirty", will do flounder next time), Shrimp skewers, teriyaki chicken, veggie tray with ranch dip, tons of goodies to go with milk chocolate, white bark, and caramel dips, garlic bagel chips with roasted red pepper humus and brushetta. The humus was my first attempt at homemade and was ok. I'm not sure what it was about it but something was off. (probably a matter of ingredient quality...used canned and jarred) The "offness" has decreased over time and today it's pretty tasty.

So onto this week...

Sunday... Leftovers from Island celebration. Michelle also bought Arby's for us. :o)
Monday... Sauteed marinated shrimp, sauteed mushrooms, subs
Tuesday... Chili, biscuits
Wednesday... Breakfast for dinner (eggs, bacon, homefries)
Thursday... Grilled cheese and soup
Friday... Hamburgers, french fries, sauteed veggies
Saturday... Shrimp alfredo, salad

A new post up at Large Family cooking

I've been trying to be better about my other writing commitments. I wrote up an article...How many days at the Large Family Cooking Blog. It's based off a discussion over at Serious Eats about what meals you need to learn to make so as to feed your family for 20 meals/a month.

Menu.... February 15 - 21

Is it Sunday already? No? It's Monday!?! Oops! The kids being off for midwinter break has messed up my routine. (I originally typed...It's TUESDAY...then realized I was wrong) It's our annual Island week, so this menu isn't so typical.

Sunday... Frozen pizzas (ICK! Even if they are pizzerio uno's), veggies and dip
Monday... Tom's making a beef soup, biscuits
Tuesday... Teriyaki Pork Loin Roast, sauteed mushrooms
Wednesday... Sweet and Sour Chicken kabobs, sauteed broccoli normandy mix
Thursday... Hawaiian Pizza, snacks
Friday... Cowboy beans (not islandy but I have it in the fridge and I need something easy that night)
Saturday... Fried Seafood

Scalloped Potato Soup

This is a variation of my cream of potato soup I make. It tastes just like my mom's scalloped potatoes which means it's even better the 2nd day!

Makes 8qts and is very forgivable

1 to 2 qts water
8 bouillon cubes (each cube = one cup broth)
1 or 2 sticks butter or margarine (I prefer 2)
3-5lbs potatoes, peeled and cut up
1lb bacon or ham
2 to 3 Tbsp dehydrated onions
3 cans cream of mushroom soup
milk
salt
black pepper

In 8qt pot add water, bouillon, butter, bacon/ham and potatoes...boil until potatoes are very tender...about 30mins
add in soup, mix well
stir in milk until desired thickness
heat until hot but not boiling
remove from heat
add salt and pepper to taste
serve

Menu...February 8 - 14

I'm a little behind and am not up to snuff on the rest of the week. But I'll try and get this done! It really helped last week to have it written. A few times I thought....I don't feel like making dinner, we'll have something easier (like sandwiches). Then I thought...but it will mess up my menu! Besides you don't have to think about it, it's already planned.

Sunday... Broiled steak, sauteed mushrooms, garlic egg noodles, candy sweet potatoes

Monday... Hot dogs and boxed mac and cheese (was out shopping with a few girls)

Tuesday... Scalloped potato soup, biscuits

Wednesday... Spanish Rice

Thursday... Chicken nuggets, corn, mashed potatoes

Friday... Egg spinach casserole, hash browns

Saturday... Not sure if we'll do something special or not, so not planned right now...still thinking

Grrrr! I hate getting old!

I don't know what's wrong with me. Since coming home from Florida I've been falling asleep on the couch pretty early, especially for me. Unfortunately it's effected my kitchen life. Last night was the 2nd night that leftovers I made were wasted because I wasn't awake to put them away. The other night half the taco soup got left out. Last night a LOT of the chicken and gravy didn't get put away. That's at least one other meal of either chicken noodle soup or chicken stew! The taco soup could've/would've been after school snacks and lunch.

February 1 - 7

Having gone grocery shopping a few times this week I have a lot of options to choose from. This makes my menu planning hard. I want to have everything NOW!!!

Sunday... Super Bowl "Party"...snacks...BBQ cocktail wienies, tequila lime chicken wings, cheese tray, chips and dip

Monday... Goulash (elbow macaroni with jarred sauce and tons of browned burger added)

Tuesday... Chicken and gravy, baked potatoes, bread

Wednesday... Pizza, veggies and dip

Thursday... Meatball subs, mozzarella cheese sticks (will be out most of the day)

Friday... Breakfast for dinner...eggs/breakfast casserole, hash brown patties, corned beef hash

Saturday... Burgers, french fries

Busy in the kitchen

I did a bunch of things in the kitchen yesterday that will ease up things later. I browned 12lbs of burger...used 2lbs for goulash and put away 2 batches for future meals. I baked 4 lbs of bacon and put it in the freezer for later. Hopefully hands can keep off of it. I then boiled a 10lb bag of leg quarters. I used half of it for chicken and gravy which is on the stove now. The rest of it is in the freezer and will make a chicken hearty dish. I was going to divide the meat into 3 meals but decided it was cheap enough to be generous.

So with me being gone my grocery shopping tracking has gone down the tubes. I still want to keep track of it. I'm just trying how to do it as easy and accurately as I can...maybe do it on a monthly schedule instead of the year? Figuring the cost of dishes instead? But that leaves out snacks and frivolous stuff which negates the tracking. I'm still thinking on it but for now I'm not noting it.

I'm finding it hard to plan a menu because there's so much to choose from! LOL Poor me. I was going to have burgers last night but then the kids mentioned they had them for lunch...so we had a meaty pasta instead. So now I'll bite the bullet and write that menu down.