I lament like everyone on how groceries are going up. However, I don't begrudge the cost if the stores and supply chain are treating and paying staff fair and equitable wages. With more talk of a national minimum wage of at least $15 per hour, which I support, I guess I'd rather cut my corners by eliminating junk and ready meals, and stop moaning about costs going up. My Aldi shop last Sunday came in just shy of $87, so $20 over the $67 target. That left me with just $25. I forgot several things that I wanted for last week, so switched up. Not only had I not planned enough time to make chili on Tuesday, I forgot to grab chili beans. With snow pending last night into this morning, I did an early final shop yesterday, spending $24.85 I can't really spend any more if I want to meet my $500 total spend challenge on H&G/takeout/care package for daughter challenge. However, I think I'll be fine with items I bought yesterday-see below. It's challenging me in a good way to make sure to use all the ingredients I bought, and make sure we are getting a balanced meal. Here's what we ate last week.
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| DH and my pizza. |
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| Daughter’s vegan pizza. |
- Sunday: *Pork loin, mashed potatoes, corn, biscuits
- Monday: Bean and cheese enchiladas with rice (make extra rice for Weds) Used this enchilada sauce).
- Tuesday: Leftover hotdish from Saturday because I didn't get chili started with *hotdogs
- Wednesday: Rice crust quiche with mixed vegetables, **rosti's
- Thursday: Ranch (forgot Parmesan and budget was too stretched so made due without) chicken with roasted potatoes and green beans
- Friday: Homemade pepperoni pizza
- Saturday: BBQ Chicken sandwiches and homemade French fries
- Chili beans
- Salt (I forgot and had to use the remainders from several salt shakers for baking!)
- Hamburger-5 pounds, because it was only $2.55 a pound in a 5 pound chub-plenty to go into next month.
- Milk
- Bread-bought a store brand wheat and a white for French toast that I will make later this morning for a change
- Cheese for DH lunch (no deli meat needed as I bought both a pound of turkey and ham each last week) and grilled cheese
- Cheese for fajitas
- Frozen mixed veg
- 5 Bananas (ugh-let three go too soft from last week so into the freezer they went for smoothies or bread.
We have a lot of leftovers right now bc hubby has been buying takeout left and right! I possibly won’t need to cook until Tuesday. In no particular order for the week-ham soup, getting meaty bone out of freezer, Taco Bell fake out, bbq pork, toasty sandwiches, chicken something. I will do an Aldi shop this afternoon or tomorrow morning and that should hold til the next weekend. I work a few doors down from a Walmart so I can always run in there anytime I need something without going out of my way. I like to think I’m a good enough scratch cook but I just lack the energy/inspiration/time to do it. I doI cook more than most of the other moms I know. JoAnn
ReplyDeleteWorking outside the hosue, plus busy teenagers and I think you are doing a lot. Add that you often work weekends and I can see why not wanting to cook. Leftovers are great to give a break. Do your kids like to cook, or would they? My youngest still doesn't feel overly confident in the kitchen
DeleteMy daughter is 16, loves to cook and is really very good at it but again it comes down to time. She has a few “signature dishes” that she makes-Trisha Yearwood’s beef stir fry, homemade chicken tenders coated in pretzel breadcrumbs served with a lemon garlic butter dipping sauce, a copycat Olive Garden Alfredo and she always makes the best mashed potatoes. She’ll often throw a pan or brownies or something in the oven. She and the boyfriend made homemade hot cocoa bombs over the weekend too. She’s very talented in the kitchen! My son can make a few simple things but makes his own breakfast and lunch every day so that helps me out too. Thanks for the kind words. I guess I do have a lot going on but I still feel like I always could be doing more. One of my New Years resolutions was to ask for more help. I’m not doing very well at that lol. JoAnn
DeleteI've been a menu planner and have cooked from scratch for as long as I can remember. I think both really help keep the grocery budget low. When I do my menu plan I start with what I have on hand and then finish it with sale or BOGO items. I'm eating more and more fresh veggies these days and have cut way back on portions of meat. I've been averaging 4-5 servings of fresh veggies a day and 1 1/2 fresh fruit. It's so good and also really saves on the grocery budget! :)
ReplyDeleteGood tasting fruit is so expensive right now, but I'm adding in frozen with yogurt and so forth to help get more.
DeleteI already do lots of scratch cooking. The thing I need to do is put more meals in the freezer. But, I need to put food on the table and leftovers are here. When I searched and searched for a can of tomatoes and finally found one, I was moved to get several cans until I now have six extra. Did you buy enough beans that you will not have to be short again? Do you ever cook these beans from dry? I never cook black beans from dry even though I have them dried, so not fussing about it. I have not had breakfast, so all this food talk is making me hungry!
ReplyDeleteNot this time-I only bought what I needed because of my challenge. I don't do chili beans from dry. If I don't have something, I just won't cook it, so I don't worry about being caught short on something I simply forgot last week so I would have forgot 2 or 10 cans.
DeleteWe've always menu planned & made (most) things from scratch, but I'm trying to be better about rotating through our leftovers (in the freezer) & being more creative about using up what we have on hand.
ReplyDeleteI inventoried the freezer on Friday, and made an effort to keep all prepped/frozen meals separated. It's already helping. And, I'm trying out a monthly (vs weekly) menu plan, to see if that helps me think slightly bigger picture about the balance of our meals, smart ingredient usage where there can be overlaps, & just reduces work in general.
Sticking more so to a weekly plan is a big enough feat for me, so I'll leave monthly aside for now. Managing and remembering freezer stuff is a need I have-mainly for lunch portions. I know things have fallen to the bottom.
DeleteI started planning weekly menu this past spring. This really helps me eat more healthy and have leftovers for lunch the next day. By the way, last week I made oven roasted sweet potato wedges, following a suggestion you made a while ago! Although I still prefer regular potatoes, these were good and I bought another yesterday to make later in the week. Thanks for the "recipe!" I'd only ever had them in casserole with added sweetener and sure didn't like that! Celie
ReplyDeleteI never liked sweet potatoes, so I thought, because I had only had the as a casserole topped with marshmallows! Yuck. We don't have them a lot-about one time per month, but my daughter loves them so when she's home we have more often. She'll just bake one in microwave and that will be a meal.
DeleteI have cooked from scratch for a very long time for taste and health and it actually does cost a lot less. Plus, I just love cooking.
ReplyDeleteI do scratch, but then use convenience foods within-so I guess quasi scratch! With just two people, there are so many leftover to manage, so I need to plan meals with them in mind.
DeleteI've done more home-cooking these last 10 months than I've done in the past 5 years.
ReplyDeleteI know I did as much when 3 kids home, but not for just the two of us. We also have no out and about stops so leftover get reheated instead of fast food. I guess that is a good thing.
DeleteI spent way to much stocking the pantry and freezer but did manage to make a list of meal ideas just haven’t assigned the days to them
ReplyDeleteYesterday’s IP lasagna soup yielded 2 containers of leftovers
Tonight is grilled steak and fried taters (I wanted to thank our helper for his help on the floor that still isn’t done)
I do that too-list all the meal options. I'm trying this day to day meal planning out for a while and see if it helps get me out of a rut as I plan to cook something new or newish to me. A hoe cooked meal is a nice thank you.
DeleteI am mostly a from scratch cook, but Aldi has crescent rolls for 79 cents a tube, I take it as a message from God to always keep them in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteWe love them, and they are accidently vegan. I found the "parcel" recipe is basically just leftovers wrapped in the crescent roll squares/triangles and I have to remember to add them to my list next month.
DeleteI haven't noticed the price of groceries going up but then I never go to the store. I have ordered from WM a few times- mainly dried beans and canned goods. Last week I made a big pot of black bean soup nd have been eating that for dinner. Tomorrow it's vegetable beef- I have a small beef roast for the stock.
ReplyDeleteSoup is nice to have ready for warming on cold days, isn't it. I know I have several portions of both turkey noodle and bean in the freezer-I hope I can find. Husband opened one of the TJ soups yesterday because he was hungry during the games and I had made French toast and was cooking later and didn't feel like making lunch. He fended for himself just fine.
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