Menu Planning Is Good!

Last week I really enjoyed having a menu plan.  I did not follow it to a T as a few things came up that prevented doing so, but it was very helpful and it made the meal-making part of my life EASIER!

Having enjoyed that bit of relief from having to plan meals each day, I really do want to try consistent menu planning.

Monday: Breakfast ~ Since Daniel was home and we had slept in, Daniel made egg sandwiches while I fed Sylvia her breakfast.
                 Dinner ~ Hamburgers, COTC, baked potatoes

Tuesday: Breakfast ~ Applesauce Muffins, strawberries (from freezer) and yogurt (homemade)
                 Dinner ~ Chicken and Rice Casserole, leftover COTC

Wednesday: Breakfast ~ Scrambled Eggs, Toast, Oranges
                      Dinner ~ Hamburger Pot Pie (didn't get made last week)

Thursday: Breakfast ~ Leftover Muffins, Smoothies
                    Dinner ~ Marinated Baked Chicken, Macaroni, 7-Layer Salad

Friday: Breakfast ~ French Toast, Fruit
              Dinner ~ Lasagna, Garlic Bread, leftover Salad (OR we might be going to visit friends for dinner)

Saturday: Breakfast ~ Cereal
                  Dinner ~ Choir Social - taking a side dish

Sunday: Breakfast ~ Quiche
                Lunch ~ Leftovers

Menu Plan 6/13 - 6/19

I have jumped back on the menu planning bandwagon recently. I was getting burnt out with the day to day "what to make", and especially being busy with the garden I was finding it hard to find even the motivation to fix supper.

One big help is that over the past several weeks I've decided what kind of meal to have 3 nights a week.

• Monday is something in the crock pot so I can spend more time recovering from the weekend (not me recovering, but me helping the housework recover!), or getting a good start to the week.
• Wednesday is a casserole. A one-dish type meal since we have an earlier dinner before going to church.
• Friday is pizza night, of course :)

It's almost 2am Monday morning as I write this. I took a Sunday afternoon nap and it must've been a really good one. I crawled in bed ready to go to sleep at 11:30pm and just tossed and turned until I decided to do something productive with my wide-awake brain at 1am.

Monday - Roast Beef, Garlic-Parmesan Potatoes, Zucchini (from the garden!)
Tuesday - Pork chops, Cornbread, Vegetable
Wednesday - Turkey Turnovers, Vegetable
Thursday - Apricot Chicken, Rice, Vegetable
Friday - Pizza, Salad
Saturday - Taco Salad
Sunday - Leftovers

All the "vegetables" will either be salad or whatever I'm in the mood for when I go digging in the freezer :) I have a couple turkeys in the freezer from the Easter sale and I'll be roasting one this week to make a little room in the freezer for garden produce :)

I think after this I am more ready to fall asleep :) Hopefully I'll wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!

Weekly Menu Plan and a Peek At My Grocery List

Last night I sat down with my big cookbook and planned out a week of (dinner) menus. I'm planning it to go from Wed - Tues, since I do my shopping on Wednesdays.

Wed - Beef Stew in Crockpot
Thurs - Tater-Tot Casserole (with leftover peas from last night), Garlic/Parmesan Potato Wedges
Fri - Oven Baked Beans (will use up some of the umpteen lbs. of dried beans in my cupboards!), Hotdogs
Sat - Fettuccine Alfredo (w/ Homemade Alfredo Pasta) with Chicken, a Veg.
Sun - leftovers and/or pancakes or waffles
Mon - Salisbury Steak, Broccoli
Tues - Orange Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry

I made this list around what I have on hand, and will only need to pick up a few things to fill out the recipes and ingredients.

I was really excited to see that Kroger is doing another 10 Items Mix'n'Match sale this week! They have the items on "sale" for $.50 off the regular price. Then if you buy 10 of those items, you automatically get $5 off your entire purchase total at the register. By combining coupons from this past Sundays paper and from previous Sundays, there are some really, really good deals.

Armour Meatballs, 14 - 16oz. Select Varieties
$2.49 ea. or $1.99 ea. after $5 savings
use $.55 coupon
$1.44 for a lb. of meatballs!!

Daisy Sour Cream, 16oz.
$1.99 ea. or $1.49 ea. after $5 savings
use $1.00 coupon (in this Sunday's insert)
$.44 for 16oz. Sour Cream! (and you can freeze sour cream, did you know that?)

Green Giant Vegetable Steamers, 12oz.
$1.49 ea. or $.99 ea. after $5 savings
$1.00 coupon
FREE!

Rotel Tomatoes, 10oz.
$.87 ea. or $.37 ea. after $5 savings
$.30 coupon (in this Sunday's insert) that will "double" up to the sale price of $.37
FREE can of Rotel!!

Franks Red Hot Sauce, 12oz.
$1.49 ea. or $.99 ea. after $5 savings
$1.00 coupon
FREE hot sauce!

French's Mustard, 12 - 14oz.
$1.49 ea. or $.99 ea. after $5 savings
$1.00 coupon (in this Sundays Paper, I believe)
FREE mustard

Velveeta Cheese, 32oz.
$4.99 ea. or $4.49 ea. after $5 savings
$1.00 Internet Printable Coupon, in the sidebars of these blogs:
MommySnacks
$5 Dinners
$3.49 for a 2lb. brick of Velveeta!

Kraft Mayo or Miracle Whip, 24 - 32oz.
$2.99 ea. or $2.49 ea. after $5 savings
$.75 coupon
$1.74

Kraft Natural Cheese, Bars, Cubes, Shreds or Sticks, 6 - 8oz.
$1.99 ea. or $1.49 after $5 savings
No coupons, but this is even CHEAPER than Kroger brand 8oz. blocks! I might get a few of these, too.

There IS a limit of 3 "$5 Rewards" per transaction, which means if you want/need to buy more than 30 things, you need to do a second transaction. I'm not planning to wipe out the store that much! If I can get another set of Sunday's coupons (and my MIL is supposed to be getting me some from her neighbor) I hope to get 20 items. The Velveeta has been on my "need to restock" list for 2 weeks now (although it is possible to live without it!), and this would be a good time to get some. Of course the Mayo is something we use daily, so I'll probably get one of those if I can get a second set of 10 things, and the cheese is definitely a stock-up price!

Here's the deals I hope to get:
First Set of 10:
1 Meatballs - $1.44
1 Sour Cream - $.44
7 Green Giant Steamers - Free
1 Rotel - Free
Totals to $1.88/10 (after $5 savings)
Second Set of 10:
1 Hot Sauce - Free
2 French's Mustard - Free
1 Velveeta - $3.49
1 Miracle Whip - $1.74
1 Sour Cream - $.44
1 Green Giant Steamer - Free
1 Rotel - Free
2 Kraft Cheese - $2.98
Totals to $8.65/10 (after $5 savings)

Of course I will do all of this in one transaction, and could have mixed up the list any which way. That's 20 items for $10.53!! There are, of course, other things in the sale that I have coupons for (not many, though), but none of it came out to a good enough deal for me to put it on my list!

I will still have about $14 to get the rest of the stuff on my grocery list (which includes FREE toilet paper! Woop Woop!!)

Another great deal I hope to score tomorrow is at CVS - Excedrin 20-24ct for $1.99. Now I just hope they have some when I go in.

And now I need to get back to the kitchen and finish cleaning out the frige. I've unearthed a few science projects, but my main goal is just wiping off the shelves, reorganizing and seeing what all I have in there that I need to use up. Any ideas for using up apple cider or cranberry juice?

Grocerys for 1/14/09

Check out Gayle's Grocery Roundup for more shopping trips from fellow frugal bloggers!

From Kroger:
(6) Green Giant Broccoli & Cheese, $1.00 ea - $.50 ea. AQ
*used (2) $.50/2 coupons - each doubles to $1/2
*used (1) $1.00/2 Cellfire coupon
(3) Kroger OJ, $1.00 ea - $3.00
Kroger Block Cheese - $2.19
2lbs. Brown Sugar, 1.99 - $1.49 AQ
*used $.50/2 coupon - doubles to $1/2, so $.50/1
(the second one was for a separate order, but in the same transaction)
Kroger Chicken Bouillon Powder - $1.65
Balsamic Vinegar, $2.89 - $1.89 AQ
*used $1.00 coupon
.55lb. Round Steak - $2.11
3 doz. Eggland's Best Lg. Brown Eggs, $.50/ea!! - $1.50
Total OOP - $17.23
Total Coupon & Kroger Plus Card Savings - $12.22
Used my own bags - $.10 credit
Total Savings - $12.32/42%

From Food Lion:
(not pictured, sorry)
Parmesan Cheese Wedge - $4.39
FL Mozzarella Block Cheese - $3.43
Total OOP - $8.02

Totals for this week:
OOP - $25.25
Savings - $12.32/33%

Not bad if I do say so myself! I milked this week's budget for all it was worth. The Food Lion trip was actually this past Saturday. My sister was here for the weekend and we were in the middle of making Lasagna when I realized that I didn't have enough mozzarella cheese and no Parmesan cheese. Bummer. Oh well. I knew it was going to have to come out of this week's budget, so when I went to Kroger this morning I only had $16.98 to spend. Somehow I thought I had it figured out that my total was going to be just a few pennies under $25 (I was even calculating the tax...), but I guess I messed up somewhere on my little tiny calculator there in the store :P

I went in with a list of "must haves" and a list of "things would like to have/restock". I was quite happy to see that I caught their sale week for OJ... I was dreading having to hand over my arm and leg the next time I needed to buy some. I didn't have it on my list, but the savings when it's on sale for $1.00 is SO MUCH that I went ahead and worked 3 cans into my budget anyway. The Green Giant Veggies, while I wouldn't "normally" buy them, they are cheap when they're on sale (10/$10), and when combining the sale with coupons, I like to stock up. It saves me from buying frozen broccoli later when it's not on sale to fill in our homegrown veg. supply.

The eggs!! Oh my, the EGGS!! I have NEVER, ever, EVER bought eggs for $.50/dozen!! I was getting ready to pick up another 1 1/2 doz. pack of Kroger eggs off the bottom of the shelf when for whatever reason, I looked up on the top shelf and saw 1 box for $.50!! I couldn't believe it! I pulled down that box, and there was another one! Then another one!! I will ALWAYS check for marked down eggs from now on! I doubt it happens very often, but it won't hurt to look!

I had finished everything up, tallied up my total and had a couple dollars left. It wasn't enough to get any of the "would like to have" items, so I went to the meat section doubting that I could find anything marked down to fit my little leftover budget money. Lo and behold, there was a steak marked down to $2.11! I grabbed it up, then stood there and tallied up my figures again to make sure it fit. I ended up being $.25 over my budget this week, but I think that's ok. I guess I will leave a few extra pennies designated to Uncle Sam next time I'm trying to figure up my total in the store before checkout :)

I did the self checkout again today and love it! The lady in charge there is SO nice (I've decided that Kroger simply has GREAT customer service and PR!) and it's so easy! Even with using coupons it's very quick. Maybe not quite as fast as going through the reg. checkout line, but this way I can pack my bags the way I like them, scan the items in the order I want them to show up on the receipt (ok, is that anal or what?) and so on :) I'm really not usually picky about my receipts, I promise. Only when I'm getting things that are being paid for out of different categories of the budget. It makes it easier to figure it out in the end.

I'm glad to see that they credit you for using your own bags! I have 2 bags (will be getting a third one soon since I won Liz's bloggy giveaway!! Yay!!) and now that I know they give credit for them, you can bet I'll be using them faithfully!!

Oh yeah, and yesterday while I was digging in the frige I found my original chunck of Parmesan Cheese - up on the top shelf where it doesn't belong. That's why I thought I didn't have any!

Grocery Shopping Trip - for LAST week, 1/7/09

Since our computer was down last week, here is the grocery trip I made. Sorry for no picture... The drive that the pictures are on is unplugged right now and I don't want to mess anything up!!

I was able to get everything from Kroger:

10 lbs. potatoes - $2.99
Wild Vines Strawberry Zinfandel Wine - $4.19
3 Apples - $1.77
3 lbs. onions - $2.59
Cottonelle - $.99
*used $.50 coupon, doubled to $.99 = FREE
(2) Softsoaps - $1.00/ea.
*used (2) $.35 coupons, doubled to $.70/ea, = $.30/ea.
"American" Cheese - $1.39
Bananas - $1.01
8 oz. block Cheese - $2.19
1lb. dried Apricots - $4.69
1 1/2 doz. eggs - $2.67
Total OOP: $24.86
Under $25/week budget by $.14 :)
Total Coupon and Kroger Plus Card savings: $11.05 / 31%

I was really afraid the wine was going to put me over... but it had been SOOOO long since we'd had any, and WalMart stopped carrying it, so I was almost jumping up and down excited to find it at Kroger! I was tickled pink to figure out that it could fit in our budget. This is the only wine we like to drink - it is basically Kool-Aid compared to other stuff. And, side-note here, we don't drink alot. Like maybe 2 glasses a month at the most "not alot". And I don't remember the last time we had some... I think it might have been September?

Anyways, now I must go get dressed and get my gear together to go do this weeks shopping trip. Hopefully I'll have a picture for that one :)

Groceries and Deals for This Week

I put everything in one picture today, but I'll break the itemization down by store.
Kroger:
Lettuce - $1.45
7 Kiwi - $2.34
Sandwich Cheese - $1.39
10 Kroger OJ - $10.00 (Stock-up Sale!!) - not all pictured
(2) Kroger Yogurt - $.88
Kroger Butter - $2.50
Batteries - $2.05
~ $.50 P&G esaver Q, $.75 Q
Goody ponytail holders - FREE (or $.01 moneymaker)
~ $2 IPQ, $1 Shortcuts Q
Kroger Catsup - $1.12
Colgate Total - $.25
~ $1.50 Cellfire Q, $.75 Q
(2) Olay Ribbons Body Wash - $.99 ea.
~ BOGO P&G esaver Q, (2) $1 Q's
(2) Cottonelle - FREE (or $.50 moneymaker)
~ $.50 Cellfire Q, (2) $.50 Q's (each doubles to $1)
Total Before Savings: $45.55
Total Kroger OOP: $23.45
Total Savings (includes Plus Card savings): $22.10 or 49%
I'm really tickled with this :) The OJ is a stock up thing for sure... I normally wouldn't buy that many at one time, but this is a GREAT sale on store-brand OJ!! This stock up will save me several $$ in the long run. I kinda felt like I wasted the Cottonelle Cellfire Q (though it's not really wasted... it made my overall OOP $.50 less), but once it's on your card, it comes off the next time you purchase that item. Thankfully a couple other coupons came off the card that I didn't realize were on there and I was buying those items - a nice surprise :)

Food Lion:
huge Vegetable Oil - $7.35 (stock-up item)
Miracle Whip - $4.19
~ $1.19 MVP savings
FL water (not pictured) - $.79 (I don't normally buy water, but my throat was tickling, I was coughing and my water bottle was empty!)
Total Before Savings: $12.33
Total FL OOP: $11.42
Total Savings: $1.19 or 10%

CVS:
2 Dr. Pepper & 2 Pepsi - $19.56 ($4.89 ea.)
~ $6.56 CVS Sale ($1.64 ea.)
~ $5 ECB's from last week
Total Before Savings: $19.56
Total CVS OOP: $8.20 ($2.05 ea.!!!!!!)
Total Savings: $11.56 or 59%

Whole trip total before savings: $77.44
Whole trip OOP: $43.07
Whole trip savings: $34.85 or 45%

Not as good on the % saved as I wanted, but some of these things like the OJ and sodas, you have to stock up while it's a good deal, otherwise you pay out the nose and wazoo later. The gallon of veg. oil didn't help the budget this week, either, but it will last a long time... I hope!! And it was cheaper to buy it this way than the smaller containers.

Oh yeah, and I went to a new Kroger that opened last week, and today they were giving out a free bag of Rolled Gold Choc. Dipped pretzels to the first 500 customers in the door after 9am. So I got a bag of those!! Not all of them made it home - in the bag, that is.

Unless there are super-duper coupons or sales the next two weeks, I probably won't do my regular weekly grocery shopping. I imagine the stores will be crazy and only a dire need or an amazing-can't-pass-it-up sale will lure me in :) I have plenty of eggs in the frige from the weekend when Food Lion was running a 2 day sale on them for $.88/dozen, so I bought 5 dozen. They will keep for a while and eggs are expensive enough these days!

Groceries and Deals

Special thanks to Andrea, Stephanie and ConsumerQueen for helping me each week in my grocery shopping! Andrea and Stephanie both post the deals for Kroger & CVS (and other stores) each week, and it makes my grocery list planning a breeze! ConsumerQueen is full of tips and tricks for "wheelin' and dealin'" the deals each week, and they are always helpful! Thanks ladies!!

Kroger:~ 4 boxes GM Cereal (2 Corn Chex, 1 Rice Chex, 1 Cinn. Crunch Total) - $14.18
$1/2 Shortcuts Q for Chex
$3/3 Peelie for Chex
$.75 Q for Cinn. Crunch Total
$4 off at checkout if you buy 4
$5.43 or $1.35ea. (at least 2 of the Chex will be used for family Christmas and will be reimbursed)

~ Colgate MaxFresh Toothpaste - $2.75
$.25 Kroger Plus sale
$1.50 Cellfire Q
$.75 Q
$.25

~ 4 Roll Cottonelle - $.99
$.50 Cellfire Q
$.25 Q doubles to $.50
FREE

~ Betty Crocker Walnut Choc. Chip Cookie Mix - $2.39
$.40 Kroger Plus sale
$.55 Shortcuts Q
$.40 Q doubles to $.80
$.64 (you can't MAKE 'em for that!)

~ (2) Betty Crocker Frosting - $3.98
$.98 Kroger Plus sale
$.55 Shortcuts Q (there were 2 DIFFERENT Q's, it only took 1)
(2) $.50 Q's, doubles to $2.00 total
$.45, or $.22ea. (still a great deal!)

~ PAM Cooking Spray (needed more) - $2.99
$.49 Kroger Plus sale
$.35 Q doubles to $.70
$1.80 (cheaper than store brand)

~ (2) Daisy Sour Cream - $3.10
$1.10 Kroger Plus sale
(2) $.50 Q doubles to $2.00 total
FREE

~ Chuck Steak - $2.24
Manager's Special markdown, a treat for us

~ Tangerines - $4.99
$1.49 Kroger Plus sale
$3.50 (for 12 tangerines, cheaper per serving than buying navel oranges 2/$1)

~ Yeast - $2.09
$1.09 Kroger Plus sale
$.40 Q doubles to $.80
$.20

Total Before Savings: $39.70
Total OOP: $15.34
Saved: $24.36 or 61%
Earned a $.50 Catalina (coupon)!! Yippee, my first Catalina!!


Food Lion:
~ (2) 16. oz. Armour Italian Meatballs - $6.20
$1.20 FL MVP sale
(2) $.55 coupons
$3.90, or $1.95/lb. (a decent deal and a treat for us)

~ (3) small FL Pineapple Chunks - $1.98 ($.66/ea)
$1/3 FLIP (FL Internet Printable)
$.98, or $.32/ea (these are also for family Christmas and will be reimbursed)

~ FL Butter - $3.59
$1 FLIP
$2.59 (not a great deal, but I don't have much butter and the coupon expires this week)

~ Soleil 4 pack refill cartridges - $6.43
$3.22 for BOGO sale
$3 Q
$.21 (these will go with my prev. Soleil Deal)

Total Before Savings: $18.20
Total OOP: $8.05
Saved: $10.15 or 56%


CVS:
Transaction 1:
~ Quattro Razor - $8.99
$1.00 CVS sale
$2 Q
$5.99

~(2) Maybelline Lipstick - $13.38
$6.69 CVS BOGO sale
(2) $4.00 Q ($8)
$1.31 moneymaker

Total Before Savings: $22.37
Used $2 ECB
Total OOP: $4.36
Saved: $18.01 or 81%
Earned $4 ECB on razor

Transaction 2:
~ 5 Planters Mixed Nuts - $32.95 (some are for family Christmas and will be reimbursed)
$17.95 CVS sale
$15.00, or $3ea.

Total Before Savings: $32.95
Used $4 ECB from Tran. 1
Total OOP: $11.27
Earned $5 ECB for spending $15

CVS Total Before Savings: $55.32
Used $6 ECB's
Total OOP: $15.63
Saved: $39.69 or 72%


Whole Trip:
Total Before Savings: $113.22
Total OOP: $39.02
Total Saved: $74.20 or 66%

About $9 of this will be reimbursed since it's food for my family's get together. I don't know that I would have done CVS this week except I had the $2 ECB that expired this week and I couldn't just throw that $2 away! So I tried to make it grow. It did cost some OOP to "grow" it, but I think it was well worth it. These were all pretty expensive items, but some of it will be reimbursed, and some will be gifts :) So while it's all "OOP", once I get it all figured out, the amount coming out of the grocery budget won't be ALL of the "whole trip OOP". I think I will wind up close to or even under my $25 grocery budget :)

Question for ya - I've only been able to get "women's" razors for good deals. Do you think that I can convince Daniel to use a "woman's" razor?? :P We shall see! I was going to try and do the deal on men's razors, but they were HORRIBLY, HORRIBLY expensive!! Even with ECB's and coupons, it was going to cost me an arm, leg and my firstborn. I didn't think it was worth it.

Menu for this week:

Ahh, this one is easy :)

Monday (yesterday): Baked Chicken, Green Beans, Blueberry Muffins, Brownies for dessert (company)
Tuesday: Supper at in-laws with 2 sets of Aunts/Uncles
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Thanksgiving w/ my family
Friday: Thanksgiving w/ Daniel's family
Saturday: Christmas get-together with Daniel's dad's family
Sunday: Leftovers or soup from freezer

Groceries for this week

Ahh, don't you just love it when you get free stuff? I walked in the door of my house this afternoon with FIVE FREE items! The prices I list are after coupon prices.
Dun-dun, Duh-DUN!! (drum roll)

Kroger:
Hershey's Cocoa - 2.69
AP Flour - 2.08
7 Cream Cheese - 1.25 ea.
2 Green Giant Frozen Boxed Veg - FREE
2 Redi-Whip - FREE
7 lbs. Sweet Potatoes - 2.75 (.39/lb)
4 Kiwi - 1.34
Lettuce - 1.38
Cornmeal - 1.29
2 Clabber Girl Baking Powder - 1.29 ea.
Kroger Tortilla Chips - 2.50
Kroger Nacho Chips - 1.99
Toilet Paper - FREE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coupons used:
Green Giant, $1/2 Q, (2) $.50 Shortcuts
Redi-Whip, (2) $.50 Q (doubles to $1 ea), (2) $1.00/2 Shortcuts (it took both?)
Baking Powder, $1/2 Q
Toilet Paper, $.25 Q (doubles to $.50), $.50 Shortcuts
Total Before Coupons/Kroger Plus Discount: $64.50
Total OOP: $30.78
Total Savings (coupons and Kroger Plus Discount): $33.72 (52%)
Edited to correct my math. Somehow it was totally, completely off! My total OOP turned out to be a little more, but my savings was more, too!!


Next stop, Target:
3 boxes Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes - $.29/ea.
3 Boxes Au Gratin Potatoes - $.29/ea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coupons used:
(3) $1/2 Coupons from the Nov & Dec All You magazine
Total Before Coupons: $4.85
Total OOP: $1.78
Total Savings: $3.07 (63%)

Total for the whole trip before all savings: $69.35
Total trip OOP: $32.56
Total trip Savings: $36.79 (53%)

I know you're wondering "why" on the cream cheese... my sources said that if you bought 7 or more of these you got a $4 Catalina at checkout (basically $4 you can use on another purchase). My checkout didn't yield a Catalina :( I didn't feel like going right over to the CS desk and returning it all, so I kept it. It is something that I do use, and will use eventually.

And some of you might be wondering "how much of this did you really need?" The items that I NEEDED are the butter, cornmeal, baking powder, flour, cocoa, chips and lettuce. The potatoes I bought because they are on such a HUGE sale (not to mention they are quite HUGE themselves!!!), and I was going to get some fresh fruit anyway (thus the kiwi).

I'm really glad that my whole trip OOP was less this week, but I was still hoping to see the % saved be more :( If I didn't HAVE to buy the things I NEED, I know it would be a LOT more. See, that's the whole purpose behind "stocking up" when you can get stuff for free or almost free by combining good sales with good coupons. That way the more you have stocked up, the less of a chance you'll have need to buy it at full or marked up price.

Ok, that's enough for now. I gotta go finish supper and eat so we can go to choir practice. Toodles!

Menu Plan :)

Finally last night while I was sitting here waiting for the computer to work and do what I wanted it to do, I made a menu. It's a lame one, but it's what I came up with.

Monday (last night): Acorn Squash, Breaded & Baked Pork Chops
Tuesday: Chicken (or turkey), Biscuits, Gravy, Green Beans
Wednesday: Grilled Beef'n'Cheese sandwiches, Broccoli
Thursday: BBQ Pork Ribs, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Beans
Friday: Taco Soup (from freezer)
Saturday: leftovers or something crock-pot since we'll be out all day raking leaves with our church.
Sunday: I didn't get that far yet.

So last night was the first time I'd made acorn squash, or eaten it. I LOVE Ree's website (the acorn squash link) and reading her posts with all her lovely pictures! It was so easy to make, and it was really yummy, too. I think next time I might cut back the butter a little, and Daniel and I both were very full of acorn squash before we each finished our half, so we might just do 1/4 for each of us next time. Whenever that is. It was yummy, but not something I'd want every day, y'know? Now I just need to find a recipe for the butternut squash that I bought. Any ideas?

I gotta get offa here and go switch the laundry over into the dryer. It's a wee bit cool this morning to hang it out... it was 34° at 7:30. Yeah. Just a little cold. My fingers would probably freeze solid and then break off if I hung the wash out. I know, I know. I could be a tough, hard-core, frugal, never use the dryer, backwoods, country gal and brave the elements... but I don't want to :P

I'm hosting a Stampin' Up party Friday evening and last night after we finished painting the dining room we went to Lowes to buy the chair-rail for the dining room. The dining room and living room are (still) in shambles, but Daniel plans to get up some trim stuff tonight (it was too late to get started last night till we got home), and hopefully get the kitchen/dining room doorway trimmed and the chair rail up before Friday. He got off at like 2:30 yesterday... maybe he'll get off early again today and have time to get alot done. Makes for a puny paycheck, but having time to do things is nice, too.

Come back tomorrow to see my grocery shopping success! Not as many great, wonderful sales going on this week. Now if I could only find those coupons that I can't figure out where they are...

Groceries 11/12 (and a SWEET Food Lion deal!)

My shopping trip today started out at Krogers:
I believe that deciding to go early Wednesday morning proved to be a good thing :)

Here's the rundown:
10 bags Nestle Chocolate ($1.65/ea after coupon)
~ 5 Semi-Sweet Chunks
~ 3 Milk Chocolate/Peanut Butter Swirl
~ 2 Semi-Sweet Mini's
========================
(2) $1/3 coupons (11/2 SS)
(2) $.75/2 IPQ
$5 off at register (for the 10 Mix'n'Match sale)

6 Carnation Evaporated Milk (FREE after coupon)
4 Swiss Miss ($.12/ea after coupon)
========================
(3) $.50/2 coupons (double) - Evap Milk
$.50/2 Shortcuts - Swiss Miss
$1/2 IPQ - Swiss Miss
$5 off at register (for the 10 Mix'n'Match sale)

(3) 8 oz. cheese - $5.00
1 Gal. Milk - $1.99 (manager's special)
2 squash - $.69/lb
Mayonnaise - $3.54
Kotex Liners - $1.25 after coupons ($1 Cellfire, $1 coupon)
Cottonelle - $.49 after coupon ($.50 Cellfire)
2 Utz chips - $5.00

Total Before Savings: $76.73
Total OOP: $38.41
Saved 50% ($38.32) - includes coupons & Kroger Plus Card savings

My next stop was CVS:

Transaction #1:
3 Pepsi Products - 3/$10.00
Used $5.00 ECB
Total OOP: $5.14, earned $2 ECB

Transaction #2:
Garnier Fructis Shampoo - $2.49
Garnier Fructis Conditioner - $2.49
Used (2) $1 coupons
Used $2 ECB from trans. #1
Total OOP: $2.18, earned $2 ECB
~~~~~~~
CVS Total before savings: $16.32
Total OOP: $7.32
Saved 55% ($9.00) - includes coupons and used ECBs
Earned $2 ECB

WalMart:
Bag Oranges (13 count, I got the one w/ the most) - $3.24
2 Bright'n'Early - $.68/ea.
2 OJ - $1.42/ea.
Lettuce - $1.38
2 1/2 doz. eggs - $3.63
Total - $12.76 - sorry, no coupons to use here today.

And now, for my favorite stop of the day:
Food Lion:
This one broke the bank, but I love what I got!!
4 Del Monte tomatoes - $.70/ea. after coupon
($1/4 FLIP)
2 Johnsonville Italian Sausage, BOGO @ $4.29, $1.39/ea after coupons
(2) $.75 coupons
3 Birds Eye Veg & Rice - $1.00/ea, $.66/ea after coupon
$1/3 coupon
2 FL Bacon - 2/$4, $1.50/ea after coupon
$1/2 FLIP
2 lbs. Carolina Fried Turkey Breast - $3.99/lb
5 1/2 lbs. Cajun Style Roast Beef - $3.29/lb*
Butter - $2.50
**$1 coupon scanned for something that I cannot remember for the life of me, unless I accidentally pulled a coupon for an item I didn't buy! I have scratched my head over this and exausted my brain waves trying to figure it out, and I can't. So I will just take the $1, I guess. I feel bad if I made a mistake, but I don't know for sure, or what to do if I did.**

Total Before Savings: $59.62
Total OOP: $42.94
Saved 28% ($16.68) - includes coupons and MVP discounts
Edited to add: If I had not bought the roast beef, my savings would have been 41%.

Totals For Today:
Before Coupons/discounts - $165.43
Total OOP - $101.43 (eek!)
Saved 38% - $64.00


Ok, so the reason I was SO excited about Food Lion?? The Roast Beef!! We are out of lunch meat, and I noticed that they had the turkey breast on sale for $3.99/lb. That is what I pay for the "cheap" Land-o-frost meat, so I thought I'd get the better quality for the same price. While I was waiting for the lady to slice up the turkey, I spied this beef roast sitting in the case that was dated 4 days ago. My "Don't Go Outside Your Box" side and my "Go Outside Your Box" side had a little discussion with each other and I finally decided to go outside my box and ask about it. If I'm going to be a die-hard couponin' and money savin' shopper, I gotta at least TRY and take advantage of a possible deal, right? So when the lady asked "anything else?" I put both feet out of my "box" - and said that I noticed the beef roast was out of date, and what did they do with it? Did they discount it? She pulled it out and looked at it and said she would discount it $2 - $3. She consulted with another lady and they offered me $3.29/lb. It was either $6.49 or $6.79/lb originally. She opened it up to smell it and make sure it smelled ok (it did), and then asked how many lbs. I wanted. I took a deep breath and said "I would like all of it". It was 5 1/2 lbs. Not only is it cheaper per lb. than the usual fare we have for lunch meat, but it is ROAST BEEF!!!!!! She very nicely sliced it up for me, and ooo-la-la, when I got home I tasted a piece. I don't know the last time I had sliced roast beef. I thought I'd died and gone to sandwich meat heaven!! I plan to freeze it in smaller packages to stretch and savor it for a long time to come. We might even have some for dinner one night!

So my hopes of not busting the budget this week were dashed, but I won't have to buy lunch meat for a long, long time... Oh, it was SO worth it!!

My fingers are about to freeze and fall off, so I will close this out and go do something a little more active to raise my body-temperature (or at least feel like it).

Oh, Cellfire and Shortcuts - those are coupons that you can load onto your card (I did my Kroger card) from the internet and they come off when your card is scanned and the item is in that purchase. "FLIP" - Food Lion Internet Printable, coupons they email you each week.

Edited to Add: The Cellfire and Shortcuts coupons? You can use that coupon AND a paper coupon on the same item!! Oh yeah, baby!!

My First Couponing Grocery Trip

**How many times have you checked today (or yesterday) to see if I posted about my first try at couponing? Just wondering! LOL :P **

It went well. Of course I didn't come out as well as my "hero" coupon-er (read to the end, I have a link) did, but for my first trip I think I did ok. You don't get all your smarts in one day...

I didn't stay in the $25 range. Far from it. But I did score some good deals. Check 'em out:

4 Total, 2 Cheerios, 2 Trix,

2 Lucky Charms, 10 BC Potatoes

3 Pepsi, 1 Dr. Pepper, 3 Cake Mixes, 2 Crest Pro-Health
1 Accu-Check, 2 Olay Ribbons, 3 OJ/Drinks, 6# onions,
2 1/2 doz. eggs, 3 Green Giant Steamers, Wheat Gluten,
Sliced Cheese, 2 Candy (fillers), Shredded Cheese, Lunchmeat

Let me see if I can explain my purchases and deals.
First to explain some "couponing lingo" in case you're not familiar with it (like I was and still am!):
"OOP" means "out of pocket" (meaning the money I handed over)
"ECB" - Extra Care Bucks. "Money" (a coupon) from CVS to use on a future purchase. Sometimes they might be on a certain product, or $x/$xx purchase, etc.
"2/$2" - two items for $2.00
"$2/2" - $2.00 off of 2 items
"$1/$2" - $1.00 off of $2.00 purchase

Kroger
lunchmeat - $4.99
sliced cheese - $1.39
2 1/2 doz. eggs - $3.45
4 Pepsi products - 4/$11.00 (4/$9 after coupon - $.18/can!!)
10 boxes cereal - $20.00 ($.60/ea after coupon)
10 boxes Betty Crocker potatoes - $14.90 ($.72/ea after coupon)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(2) $1.00 Pepsi coupons = $2.00
(1) $.35 BC Potatoes coupon from Shortcuts (does not double) = $.35
(1) $1.00/3 GM Cereal coupon = $1.00
(1) $2.00/5 GM Cereal register coupon from yesterday = $2.00
(3) $.40 BC Potatoes coupon (DOES double) = $2.40
(2) $5.00 off when you purchase 10 = $10.00
=================================
Total OOP: $39.40
Total Savings: $17.75

Food Lion
(2) 3# yellow onions - $5.00 ($3.00 after coupon)
(3) FL cake mixes, $.88/ea - $2.64 ($1.64 after coupon)
FL Shredded Cheese - $2.99 ($1.99 after coupon)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) $2/$5 produce coupon
(1) $1/3 FL cake mixes coupon
(1) $1 FL shredded cheese coupon
====================================
Total OOP: $6.83
Total Savings: $4.00

WalMart
Wheat Gluten - $6.55
(2) Bright'n'Early drink, $.68/ea - $1.36
OJ - $1.42
(3) Green Giant Steamers, $1.23/ea - $3.69 ($.23/ea after coupon!!!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(3) $1.00 GG Steamers coupon = $3.00
====================================
Total OOP: $10.36
Total Savings: $3.00

CVS
Transaction #1:
(1) Crest Pro-Health - $3.49
used $.75 coupon
Total OOP: $2.91
Total Savings: $.75
Earned $3.49 ECB
*****
Transaction #2:
(1) Crest Pro-Health - $3.49
Filler Candy - $.99
Filler Candy - $1.59
used $.75 coupon
used $3.49 ECB
Total OOP: $1.89
Total Savings: $4.24
Earned $3.49 ECB
*****
Transaction #3:
(2) Oil of Olay Plus Ribbons - 2/$12.00
Accu-Check Aviva Meter - $9.99 (FREE after rebate*)
used (2) $2.00 Oil of Olay coupons = $4.00
used $3.49 ECB
Total OOP: $14.93
Total Savings: $7.49
Earned $5.00 ECB
*Get $9.99 rebate from meter
============================
Total OOP: $19.73
Total Savings: $12.48
Earned $5 ECB

Grand Total OOP: $76.32
Total Savings*: $47.22
SAVED 38%
*includes coupons, ECB's and rebate

Where does $76.32 fit into my "frugal" budget? I'm not sure yet, but from reading up on other people's experience, I will get better at getting really good deals, and eventually be paying very little OOP. That's my plan, Marvalann! What am I going to do with 10 boxes of cereal, 10 boxes of potatoes, and dude, I am not diabetic, so why the meter? Cereal is food. The deals combined with my coupons this week made it really cheap food. Food is what we humans survive on, so even though I wouldn't "normally" buy cereal, cheap food is cheap food. Potatoes - the same. The meter? It was free. Plus I get a backpack back with my rebate. I'll find something to do with it. I might give it away.

I had to really read up and study the art of couponing in preparation for my dive into the couponing world. HUGE thanks to Andrea at MommySnacks (She's the one I call my "hero" at the beginning - check out her deals this week here, they blow me away. Notice that her savings are double and triple her OOP, unlike mine :( I wanna be like her!), Stephanie at Couponing 101, YouTube clips from The Coupon Mom and Melissa, the ConsumerQueen. The blog posts and videos that these women share are so choc-full of information and "dummy-instructions" for how to coupon - and the deals you can get!! These blogs and video clips were really helpful, so "Thanks, ladies!"

Yesterday... ahh yes, yesterday. I couldn't wait to get out there and try my hand at couponing, so I ventured out with my carefully planned shopping list and coupons in hand. I even had written down exactly what items to get and which coupon to use with it. Kroger was my first stop. I didn't have too much on my list, I figured it would take me maybe an hour. Hmmm.... They were out of the Swiss Miss choc. mix that I was going to get for about $.30/each. Bummer. The cereal - that was confusing!! In the add it said "General Mills select varieties 8 - 12.8oz size". Ok... lemme see here... well, I didn't see any huge blaring signs saying "this is the select variety", so I started going through my coupons, checking the flavors of cereal on the coupon against what was on the shelf, and getting the appropriately sized box of cereal to fit the "select varieties" weight. After about 10 minutes of thinking and scratching my head and going over it about 3 times I finally was certain that I had cereal that fit both the ad and my coupons. Yay. I finished my shopping and went to checkout.

They had TWO regular checkout lanes open - pitiful. They had FOUR self-checkout lanes open. The little lady told me to use one of those, and coupons were ok for self-checkout (I'd done self-checkout once before). So I scan all my goods, then give her the coupons. On the little screen thingy I couldn't see the prices changing as she scanned the coupons over at her station. Then the total popped up, I swiped my debit card, loaded up my groceries and left.... thinking "wow, I must've really goofed on my math at home". I loaded all 10 boxes of cereal into the trunk, got in the car and started looking over my receipt. MAJOR confusion. I didn't see $5 off for buying 10 cereals. The cereals all rang up as $3+... oh my, what is the matter?? I called Daniel and thought out loud for a few minutes, then decided to go back into the store with the salepaper and study the shelf labels a little harder - maybe I missed something. And I had - but they hadn't labeled the shelves very well, either. They were out of ALL the "select varieties" cereals. There was NO WAY I was buying 10 boxes of cereal for $3+ ea, so I very embarrassingly loaded my cereal back into a cart, wheeled it back into the store and returned it. But I had to go get the coupons from the cashier lady first... talk about awkward! I'm not sure the customer service lady liked me too well - she said "I don't even know where to start - how do I know which boxes go with what coupon???!!!!" So I just told her and she did the return. And I got my coupons back!! And I still had the $2 coupon from the register, which I used today :)

Today... As soon as Daniel left, I tore around getting dressed and presentable, wolfed down some breakfast and zoomed off to a different Kroger. I wanted that cereal deal, plus I had errands that NEEDED done today that I didn't get to yesterday. I paid extra careful attention to the shelf labels at this store, and while they were out of the flavors I really wanted to get (guess everybody likes Cinnamon Toast Crunch!), I was able to still dig up 10 boxes. I felt bad for the two ladies that walked down the aisle right after I loaded up my 10 boxes and looked disappointed that the cereal was all gone.

What I learned today:
~Kroger and CVS's 2/$x means you gotta buy 2. Food Lion and Walmart (that I am more familiar with), you can buy 1 for 1/2 of the price. I paid about $2 more than I would have if I'd bought both items.
~Go early in the morning. Kroger opens at 6am. I might just try that next time. I also asked the stocker dude when they were getting more cereal in - he said the truck comes tonight, it would be stocked tomorrow morning. So, now I know that Wednesday morning might be a good time to go.
~Kroger ads are confusing. The whole "buy 10" sale was that for every 10 you buy you get $5 off your purchase. The cereal they charged the sale price, then deducted the $5. For the potatoes, they charged me the regular price and the "$5 off" made them the sale price. A little strange to me, but I think I've already caused enough Kroger stress for the week.

What do you think - is this post long enough to publish a book yet?

Wait - one more "lesson learned" - loyalty cards are VITAL to saving money. If I didn't have my CVS Extra Care card, my Food Lion MVP card, or my Kroger Plus card (and this includes using coupons) I would've spent $180.22.

A Really Great Menu Planning Guide

I was over reading the Hillbilly Housewife blog (Oh yeah, tomorrow is the last day to vote for your favorite "hillbilly housewife", so if you haven't voted already, please go vote for my blog! You can follow the link at the top of my sidebar.), and this week she's been talking about menu planning.

I read her article that explains the process of menu planning better than I ever could, so I'm just going to pass the link along to you here. Menu planning has changed my grocery budget. If you're looking for ways to help your budget, just give it a try.

I don't plan my menu around what's on sale like she talks about in one part of the article, but I do make sure I check the sale papers to see if any of the things on my grocery list are on sale, or if they are running a huge loss leader sale on some item that is just so cheap you can't help but stock up on it.

Even if you aren't ready or don't have time to jump in head first, try sticking your big toe in... maybe start out by planning only a few meals a week. Then you can ease yourself into it. For now I just plan dinners, and that makes it really easy. But I do have ideas in mind for whenever I would need to plan breakfast and lunch, too. Right now breakfast is whatever I make for myself (Daniel get his usual), and lunches are leftovers or something simple for me and a sandwich for Daniel. Dinner is really the big, time-consuming, thought-requiring meal, so that's all I plan in my menu.

If you have little kids (or even bigger kids) that you need to feed - I hope you feed them! - than planning breakfast and lunch menus would be a big help, too. That way you don't crawl out of bed, wipe the sleepers from your eyes, stumble into the kitchen and think "what should I make for breakfast today?". You can look at your menu, see "oh yeah, we're having scramble eggs, muffins and grapes ... and the muffins are already made (for a previous breakfast in the week), so I just have to make the eggs and warm up the muffins". Or for lunch, "should I make Billy a Peanut Butter & Jelly, or a ham'n'cheese? Do we even have Peanut Butter? Oh shucks, I don't have PB"... instead, you planned to have PB&J for some lunches this week, so you bought some more PB when you did your grocery trip (or sent your hubby for groceries). And while you're looking at the menu you see that you planned to have blueberries with your lunch so you don't forget to give the kiddo his fruit.

Oh, and last but not least... menu planning really helps cut down in-between trips to the store. Like it eliminates them. Since I started menu planning, I've been able to figure out that we drink about 2 1/2 cans worth of frozen orange juice each week. So I know how much I need to buy to last however long I'm buying for. You could also do this with milk and other "need to buy fresh" items. If your husband does your shopping for you (maybe it's easier to send him to the store than go by yourself with the little kids), you can send him with the list of exactly what you need. You could even write in what brand you want him to buy. The list will also let him know (or should anyway, if he thinks about it) that this means that you have everything you need written on the list, and if you don't have ice cream written down that means he doesn't need to buy it because you either still have some, or you have other desserts planned that don't need ice cream.

Those are my thoughts from the peanut gallery. Come back tomorrow to see how I did with my October budget!!

Menu and Groceries for 2 Weeks

Ahh, what a lovely fall morning! The sky is clear and blue, and it's not terribly chilly out there... I even had my wash hung out by quarter to 10! It should be a good "cool" drying day out there.

So I did my menu planning and shopping yesterday. I got everything from Walmart - Kroger didn't have any sales worthy of my driving all the way over there, so I stuck close to home.

Groceries:
box of trash bags (Glad brand was cheaper than store brand!): $7.12
7 cans corn: $4.41
Sesame Oil: $2.64
Brown Sugar: $1.56
Dish Soap: $.97 (I was getting desperate trying to stay well under-budget!)
2 Orange Drink mix: $1.36
2 OJ mix: $2.84
Swiss Cheese: $2.42
FF Cream Cheese: $1.18
3lb Gala Apples: $3.88
8oz mushrooms: $1.78
Munchies mix: $3.50
Corn Chips: $1.47
1 doz. eggs: $1.52
Total: $37.76
woop, woop!! Under budget: $12.24

Wow, I really, really had to scramble my purchases to come out "under" that much. I had to scratch a few things off the list. And of course last night I suddenly remembered that I had broccoli on the menu and forgot to buy broccoli!! I know I have some in the freezer, but I will just either make it stretch, or figure something out.

The big bag of corn chips were super cheap, and don't taste so bad - they're decent and will fit the purpose of "chips"!! The dish soap... well, I use my dishwasher like a mad woman, so I don't do alot of hand washing except for really big or "food-stuck-on" stuff, so I figured I could make do with cheaper soap - otherwise I just use it for hand soap in the kitchen, so cheap is even more appropriate! And the "Orange Drink" mix... it's a budget saver!! So the ingredients list probably reads something like "sugar, orange color, water, ... and then some kind of fruit juice goop that is leftover from everything else"... but it doesn't taste bad at all, and mixed with the "expensive" (ha ha!!) store-brand cheapo OJ concentrate, it all tastes pretty good! It helps cover up the sour, rindy taste that comes through in the OJ sometimes.

Yay, now I have some more $$ to put to the meat fund :)

Ok, ok, I need to get to the Menu:
Mon - Hamburger Barley Stew, leftover Cornbread from MIL
Tue - Baked Chicken, Brown Buttered Potatoes, Peas
Wed - Plantation Supper
Thur - Leftover Hamburger Barley Stew, leftover Cornbread from MIL
Fri - dinner with our small group, I'll be taking some kind of dessert thing
Sat - Beefy Asian Rice (recipe from Aliisa's blog)
Sun - Leftover Plantation Supper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mon - Chicken Cherry Roll-Ups, Broccoli
Tue - Pork Roast, Sauerkraut, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
Wed - Chicken (or turkey) Pot-Pie
Thur - Pork BBQ (from pork roast), Oven Baked Beans
Fri - Deep Sea Chicken (Chicken/Rice Cass), Broccoli
Sat - Sunday School Fall Picnic - taking baked corn (thus all the cans of corn since I like to save my homegrown stuff for eating plain!)
Sun - Leftovers


So... there you have it :)

Buying Meat

If any of you have noticed, I don't usually buy raw meat with my regular grocery purchases. How do I get around this? Well, it's easy - kind of :)

I started out my new budget with a pretty well stocked meat freezer, which made it really nice on the budget!!

My grocery budget is $25 a week. Each week I spend somewhere around that - I usually try to go less than that.

I keep track of how much I spent each week, and at the end of the month I total them up. I divide the total by the number of weeks I went shopping to get my average (as long as my average is $25 or less, I know I'm "on target" with my shopping and budget).

I then multiply $25 by the number of weeks I shopped. Then I subtract the total from what my entire budget was.

Example:

Shopped 4 weeks, and spent a total of $84.52

$100 ($25 x 4 weeks) - $84.52 = $15.48

The $15.48 (or what's left in my budget at the end of each month) goes into my imaginary "meat fund". As my meat supply starts to run low, I start watching sales for really really really good deals. I try to go for around $1.50/lb on ground beef, and less than $.75/lb on poultry. Then I stock up! Occasionally (and RARELY) I will "stock up" even if I'm not specifically running low, just because the deal is rare and extremely good (like turkey for $.59/lb?? - that's only going to happen now in the fall - once a year). I will make this turkey last several months :)

Usually I only find "good enough" sales on poultry (usually whole chickens). Hamburger is usually on "sale" for $1.99/lb - which is still to expensive for me, so I try and find big family sized packs that have been marked down for quick sale. The money I spend on the meat comes out of the meat fund, and doesn't effect my weekly shopping budget. Just today I started a list of my weekly shopping totals, and how much I have left at the end of the month to put towards meat. Then I also started a list of what goes into the meat fund, and what I spend out of the meat fund.

Things like hotdogs, bacon and sandwich meat do come out of the regular grocery fund. But I don't buy hotdogs or bacon very much, and try to get sandwich meat on sale.

Currently we are fully stocked with hamburger and poultry, and I have $3.99 left in the meat fund! I will need to be extra careful the next couple weeks here in October so that I can add to the meat fund. I try to be "extra" careful each week of course, but there are "drastic" measures that can be made sometimes - called "doing without". Ha ha.

It takes some planning and a little work, but it sure beats running out and having to pay full price for meat!

I Forgot the Menu!

Woops. And I hate to edit a post after I've put pictures in it and posted it because it always messes up on me, so I'm just going to leave it and post my 2 weeks of menu right here :)

Menu:
Mon - Leftover Chic. Casserole and leftover broccoli
Tue - Liver'n'Onions (woohoo for Sally!), Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes
Wed - Leftover Chic. Casserole
Thur - Potato Chowder, Broccoli
Fri - Baked Chicken, Corn, Mac'n'Cheese
Sat - Sunday School Dinner
Sun - Fried Rice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mon - Chicken, Baked Potatoes
Tue - Polish Sausage, Onions & Peppers
Wed - Hotdogs, Beans
Thur - Taco Soup from freezer
Fri - Pork Chops, Salad
Sat - with in-laws
Sun - crockpot beef stew

2 Weeks Menu and Groceries

I have decided to stretch my menu planning and shopping trips to cover 2 weeks at a time - #1 to save gas, and #2 to see how it effects my budget. I also decided to switch my grocery trips from Mondays to Tuesdays, and hopefully have a better chance of getting some markdowns (which I did!!). This morning "early" I hiked my way over to Kroger to take advantage of some sales they had going on, and to compare prices on the other items on my grocery list.


Groceries: (What I got, and where I got it from)
Food Lion:
3 lb. yellow onions - $1.99 (on sale, WalMart only had a 2lb bag for more $$)
5 lb. "new" potatoes - $2.24 (on sale)
5 lb. carrots - $3.99 (should last a WHILE! cheaper per lb. than any other place)
Total: $8.43


WalMart:
1 Bright & Early "orange flavored" breakfast drink - $.68
4 OJ - $5.68
Hair Conditioner to keep me from going bald - $3.76
Total: $10.45


Kroger:
3 Dr. Pepper & 1 Pepsi - $11.00
3 lbs. butter - $5.64 ($1.88 ea!! I HAD to get some even though I didn't "need" any)
1 lb. block cheese - $4.29
2 (12 oz) lunchmeats - $2.98 (Manager's Special!)
Lettuce - $1.38
2 Utz Chips - $4.00
3 doz. eggs - $3.42
Total: $33.53


Grand Total: $52.41
over budget $2.41


The butter and sodas were actually on sale last week, and we stopped by a Kroger Saturday night to get the butter - and while we were there saw their sale on Pepsi products. Daniel was about to go into withdrawal from lack of Dr. Pepper, so we took advantage of the sale and stocked up. It should last much longer than these next 2 weeks!


I got the can of "Orange Drink" to mix in with the Orange Juice. Even though I'm getting the store-brand OJ, it is still expensive! I'm going to try the Orange Drink/Orange Juice mix and see if we can save some - at $.68 a can for the cheap stuff, it's worth a shot!



The very biggest reason I wanted to go to Kroger: Frozen turkeys on sale for $.59/lb. I got one for myself, and one for my MIL. I plan to let it thaw, cut it up, and freeze the pieces - I know I can get SEVERAL meals out of this bird! And... (drum roll, please!!) they had this huge pack of lean ground beef on Manager's Special! It was $1.53/lb. I was tickled pink. I have 1 lb. left in the freezer that I've been hanging on to, and now I have a nice supply again!

So my total "meat restock" expense: $16.65. With this added to the cheap whole chickens I bought a couple weeks ago, I shouldn't have to buy meat for a long time.

Time to Cook!

I just had a lightbulb moment for an awesome post - let's see how "awesome" I can make it !! LOL! And... don't scroll down looking for pictures to see if you can skip the reading - because there are no pictures! Sorry, you'll just have to endure my talking instead :)

The title to this means "how you can have time to cook" :)

Time: 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks in a year, 365 (or 6) days in a year. Not very much, is it? Especially if you work outside the home. (Though working INside the home doesn't give you more "time", trust me - it still gets dark in the evening, you still get tired, you still don't feel like doing anything sometimes, you still get cranky, there's still "nothing" to eat every once in a while.... and you know how it is!)

I worked at a locally owned bank for a little more than a year between last year and the beginning of this year, so I know all about what it's like to come home feeling like any rejuvenated gray matter that was in your head when you left for work had been scrambled, fried, charred and then scrambled some more to see if anything was left. Is EXHAUSTED the right word? And you're hungry, but you do not feel like cooking - you barely feel like lifting the fork or spoon to your own mouth, let alone deciding what to put on the spoon.

I have to say I didn't do it alot, but here are a few things that I tried to do when I would get an "organization" spurt for a little bit.

To buy the food:
Use a day that you're not working (or if you can at all muster it up, go after work to save another trip into town - that's why I like the 24 hr WalMart) and do a massive grocery shopping trip. Today, I would try and make a massive menu plan (to fit my grocery budget of course) first so I'd only be buying what I need to buy, and not just randomly be putting stuff in the cart because I might need/want it for something.

I bought meat in the family size packs, the biggest bags of frozen veggies I could find, several heads of lettuce (it keeps ok in the frige and if it does start to go bad, you only lose the outside leaf or two - unless you really let it go bad!!), boocoos of lunch meat for Daniel's sandwiches, multiple dozens of eggs... Anything that could help me not have to plan another trip for as long as possible.

When I'd get home, I'd put everything away but the meat. If I bought whole chickens, I'd stuff one into the crockpot, the rest into pots on the stove and get them cookin' to pick off later to have chicken meat all ready for a casserole or soup. Then I would pull out my scales and start packaging away. Hamburger I put into ziploc bags. Mash the meat flat to fill the bag, and freeze it. Chicken pieces I wrapped breasts individually in saran wrap, then put them all in a big gallon ziploc, thighs I would wrap 2 per saran wrap thingy, and do the same thing - chuck them all in a big ziploc. Then I'd haul it all down to the freezer. This way, if I needed 1 chic. breast, I could grab one. If I needed 4 thighs, I could grab 2 packets... it really makes it easy!

To make the meal:
The evening before, I would get anything out of the freezer that I needed (this included the vegetable for the meal so that it was all thawed and ready to cook when I'd get home), and put it in the frige. I started to collect other ingredients as well... if it called for a can of soup, I got out the can of soup. I got out the onion, pulled out the bowl, the crockpot, the measuring cup, the flour... and put all that on a clean counter (or shove enough stuff aside to make a clean spot!). If the meat needed browned but I wouldn't have time in the morning, I'd pop it in the microwave to thaw, and then brown away. Once it's done, I'd stick it in the frige.

The next morning (and you could do this stuff the evening before if you don't have time in the morning) I would mix together as much as I possibly could. If it was a crockpot meal - woohoo baby! - that's even better! I'd chop the onion, mix together the flour stuff, or whatever... anything that could possibly be done before putting it in the pot to cook or in the oven to bake. And I would try to leave things semi-organized for when I'd walk in the door that evening so that I wouldn't have to think too much.

When you get home: Ahhh... all I have to do is dump the meat mixture stuff in the casserole dish, pour the milk/egg mix into the dry stuff and dump that on top of the meat and put it in the oven. And dump the corn into a pot on the stove. And then supper's on, and you don't have to worry about it until you go to eat it!

This method really helped with my "working and trying to cook" related stress level. Today, menu planning almost eliminates the need for me to worry about what or when to cook since I only have to think about it once a week instead of every day.

Elizabeth wrote an amazing post yesterday over on her blog about quicker meal times... she does even more pre-freezer prep than I do, so make sure you check it out!! I got some great ideas from her :)

And if you have ideas/methods that really help you out for meal prep, leave a comment about what they are :)

Monday's Menu & Groceries

Groceries:
2 pks BallPark Beef Bunsize hotdogs: $4.00 (had a $1 off 2 coupon)
16 oz. sour cream: $1.26
16oz. bacon: $2.68
celery: $1.48
frozen broccoli: $1.98
2 cans red beans: $1.00
12 pk. Pepsi: $3.00
big bag Doritos: $3.50
25lb sugar (not pictured): $11.82
Total: $31.51
over budget: $6.51 :(

I got kinda frustrated with myself... mostly for going "over", but also because when we got home I realized I could've saved a little, but I hadn't thought about those ideas until we were home!! I totally forgot to take along a little "piece of paper" that I had written down that Food Lion was running a sale on bacon (would've saved $.68). Also, I have several lbs. of Pinto Beans in the cupboard... and I BOUGHT "red beans" to go in the taco soup. I didn't buy kidney beans because they were $.08 more per can... so since I was just going for "beans", I could've easily cooked up a few of those pintos instead of buying some canned beans. Oh well. I about passed out when we went to buy sodas. (I keep saying "we" because Daniel was along since he has today off.) On the shelf both Pepsi and Coke were marked $4.28 a case!!!!. That came out to
$.35 a can! I just looked at Daniel with an "I don't know about you, but I think you're gonna have to kick this habit if we're not gonna go broke" kinda look. I told him we had enough left on the shelf here to last until next week if he could get by on 1 can a day. He said he thought he could probably do that, so we left those price-of-gold sodas on the shelf. We were getting ready to walk to the checkout when we found a display of Pepsi marked 2/$6 ($3 case). That was still more than a really great deal, but alot more feasible!! So we got a case (I told him I was going to hide it! ... just kidding... kinda.... :P ) I also managed to pick up the case of Pepsi "just right" to knock a whole stack of cases over onto my leg/ankle!! Oh, it was painful! They kinda hit my leg and slid down. I have a brush burn on my ankle, and it's looking like a pretty bruise is starting to show, but otherwise I'm fine... just my ego a little hurt :(

Ok, on to the Menu:
Mon: Creamy Tortellini - made with Rotini instead (from Erin's $5 Dinner blog)
Tue: Taco Soup (crockpot)
Wed: Showalter's Chicken Casserole
Thurs: Super Easy Crockpot Hamburger Vegetable Soup w/ fresh bread from bread machine
Fri: Crockpot Potato Chowder (will use ham slices from the freezer instead of bacon), broccoli
Sat: Daniel's 5th yr. college reunion
Sun: Leftovers!

You might notice the "vast" amount of crockpot meals this week... that would be because I'm making another wedding cake this weekend, starting on Wednesday, so I really want to have meals that I don't have to do anything with.

Chick-awwwnnn!

I was going to post about this last week when I "did it", but was in a hurry at the time and never got around to it.

I have made my FIRST meat purchase since June!! (you can read about my meat stash here.) My MIL took me to Costco with her, and I bought a 2-pack of whole chickens. They were $10.21 ($.79 lb, I think?), and they were pretty nice sized, too. I brought them home and stuffed them in the frige...uh, actually, Daniel stuffed them in the frige since I had to hurry up and get ready to go to a dinner, and then I cut them up later.

If you're like me, I was a bit "scared" of cutting up a whole chicken. I was sure I couldn't do it and it be "nice"... Lo and behold, way back when I bought 6 chickens for $.69/lb, I determined that pretty or no, I was going to cut up those birds and "make" my own boneless, skinless chicken breasts, my own thighs, drumsticks, etc. It really isn't hard to do! It just requires a good sharp knife and a bird or two to get the hang of where everything is and how to cut it. It might take me 5 minutes to cut up a chicken. I was going to take pictures, but once I got my hands wet and greasy and "chickeney", I didn't take time to wash and take pictures... and I wasn't sure how to take pictures with my non-existent 3rd hand while my other 2 hands were demonstrating for the camera. Check out one of your "I hardly ever look in there because it's so big and full of fancy dishes that I'll never make" cookbooks - that's where I read and looked at pictures about cutting up chickens!

With these two chickens, I DID have (or rather "take") the time to cook down the bones. Surprisingly, after cooking for several hours on low, I was able to pick off about 2 more cups worth of chicken meat! It took some very careful picking to make sure I didn't get any over-cooked-till-they're-soft bones, and there were no large pieces of meat so it took alittle time, but hey, for that kind of savings, I'll spend a little time. I figure it's enough meat to make a batch of fried rice - which makes 2 meals for us. And 1 1/2 cups of broth which I chilled, scooped the grease off the top, and then froze, either to use in recipes, or to save for my family's Christmas get together since I'm on the food planning committee.

While I know that $.79/lb isn't the BEST deal I've seen this summer, my chicken stash is starting to run low, and I wanted to get a little while I had the opportunity to hopefully tie us over till the next REALLY GREAT deal that I'm hoping some store will run really soon!