Really Creative Meal Planning and Budgets

We ate well this past week, though my plan was quite skewed. It does help to have a big list of possible meals to pick and choose from. We had no take out or deli meals, though DD 2 had a birthday meal out with friends and a field trip that included lunch at an Italian market/restaurant. this was what the menu looked like this week.

• Monday-Leftovers-Turkey meatloaf, Sloppy Joe's, and assorted stuff from last weekend
• Tuesday-I was fed too well at my meetings, and DH ended up just making a pizza. DD2 had a birthday meal with friends before her orchestra concert
• Wednesday-We ate the leftover frozen pizza (I again was fed well), and I made DD2 a quickie friend rice with veggie and egg when she got home form work
• Thursday Boneless BBQ chicken thighs, baked  potatoes 
• Friday-chicken tacos, Spanish rice, beans, and cheese
• Saturday (for tonight)-Chicken, rice, and broccoli hotdish

I vow to make my self imposed $380 challenge for May. I have a balance of $28.45 until June 1 and today is May 25th. We're just going up to the cabin either later tonight after DD2 works, though she has an online paper due by 11:00 p.m. so depends if she needs to complete, or early tomorrow through Monday night. We then have Tuesday-Thursday meals to plan for. I forgot a package of greens at the lake last weekend, but still should be good, so am not bringing another green salad, but will bring some vegetables and either dip of hummus. I have many other ingredients in my freezer an pantry to supplement these items.

Here's my grocery list and cost estimate.

1 bag frozen boneless chicken thighs $6
1 box frozen hamburgers $6
hamburger buns $1.00
1 container grape of cherry tomatoes $3
1 cucumber  $0.50
1 bag carrots  $2
1 container hummus or dip $2
2 pound apples  $3.00
box of pasta $0.80
Jar pasta  sauce $1.50
1 container cottage cheese $2

Total: $27.80

Lake meal contributions
Chicken for grilling
hamburgers and buns
veggies and dip/hummus
green salad with vegetables
tuna pasta salad with celery
Tortilla roll-ups

Home meals
any leftovers
Crock pot pasta  with vegetables
Tuna hotdish
grilled cheese and bean soup (frozen)

I have frozen bananas and may make some bread later today or muffins to bring along to the lake. I'm making a pan of brownies regardless as I already have the mix. Lunches should be easy to scrounge, but we do have canned soup and pastas. We have oatmeal and bread for breakfast, plus a few eggs. No one will go hungry. I'll give a final testament at the end of the week since this is only a plan, but one I feel will be successful. 

I'm beginning to think ahead to June. We'll save $60 or so a month with no school lunches, but DD2 will be home during the day, plus potential of assorted extra kids. She'll also be gone for 10 days with a friend, but I'll send money along to contribute to road trip meals plus groceries while they are staying with her friends relatives in Kentucky. I'm helping a few friends with grad party desert bars, so ill fit that into my grocery plans. I probably think too much on our meal budget and planning, but it is an area I feel I can have control over. Challenging myself in these ways helps me feel like I can be more generous in other areas of our budget. 

The Saga of May Meal Planning

Happy Mother's Day to all celebrating being a mom, having a mom, or having or being  someone in your life that is special  in a mom like way. I took out the old church cookbook for some homey meal planning inspiration and I can't help thinking of all the mom like folks in the book. We're going for brunch later this morning. DD2 actually will be our hostess, so her grandma will see her for a bit.No gifts for me-I was adamant to all, though I would not be opposed to someone waking me up with the coffee pod already set and a cup  brewed and ready. 

I'm doing well in the household and grocery (H&G) department this month. I'm trying t keep my annual spending to $5,000, which gives me on average $400 per month, plus a couple hundred for overages. January I was self challenged to use up all the extras from Christmas and February if I recall was on target. March and April both had significant overages, but then March shopping went towards hosting Easter and in April I stock piled some paper goods, paper towels or Kleenex not needed for the rest of the year, and a two month supply of TP. I'm hoping therefore to keep May and potentially June to $380, but won't stress myself to do so.

Meals will be humble, but we have several cabin Sundays/weekends, so I tend to make extra food as additional folks could turn up. Leftovers can always be brought home for eating in the week. We have a lot of gift giving in both months with oodles of graduation parties and Mother's Day so tweaking the H&G to a more austere spending pattern will help the overall plan. I have to give Kudos to DH this past week. He only spent $26 picking up fish, tator tots, and sandwich rolls, lemonades, milk, and a couple pizzas. He did pretty darn well with controlling his rogue shop. I mean, he is an adult and if he felt like making fish and tots for supper last Thursday, who am I to always be slapping his hands? Plus, there are a couple pizza's to use if we  end up with a busier week, keeping us from take out. I'm not always an evil grocery  miser.

I picked up breakfast and lunch items yesterday at Aldi's as we were pretty low on both.We needed a supply of fruit and snacking vegetables, and those ate up a significant amount of my estimate for my Aldi shop, but I have an unopened container of hummus plus peanut butter that me and DD2 like for snacking. DH requested trail mix, also a pricey item. Building off what we already have in the pantry, fridge and freezer and my new shop, here's the possible meal plan for suppers for the week and carrying into the following week potentially to have two final low spend weeks.My spending on Saturday was $6.09 at the bakery which included $4.00 for lemon bars for DD2's friend/ my friends daughter who has been unwell and has missed a lot of school, $66.72 at Aldi's and $21.98 at Target, but I used a coupon and received a $5.00 gift card for buying $20 in  beauty supplies. My Target funds went to restocking DD2 in make up remover wipes and micellular water, myself with SPF 15 face lotion and a drastically needed new mascara, and a coral nail polish for us to share. I don't anticipate needing anymore H items for the month. I now have $20 in Target cards, even after giving DD1 some when she was home last month in appreciation of all the help she gave her sister during the snowy weekend. 

Meal Options. Nothing fancy here folks, but should yield a night or two plus lunch leftovers.

• Homemade pepperoni pizza
• Turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, stuffing, steamed Vegetables
• Tuna hotdish with peas and steamed carrots
• Boneless BBQ chicken thighs, baked, sweet potatoes and broccoli
• Loaded baked potatoes, with homemade chicken nuggets, baked beans
• Chicken, rice, and broccoli hotdish-my favorite
• Rigatoni and sauce and salad
• Ham, hasbrowns, steamed vegetables
• Tacos with hamburger, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes, refried beans, Spanish rice
• Veggie and chicken fried rice with Egg 
• Rice crust ham, broccoli, and cheddar quiche with garden salad
• Chili dogs with homemade fries
• leftovers
• frozen pizza

Status Of my H&G budget
Spending goal: $380
Spending as of May 13, 2018 $291 
$89 balance/2$45.50 per week for May 19th and May 26th
Pantry:Full

Another Self Imposed Grocery Challenge

What did we end up eating the last week?

Sunday-leftover lunch, DH frozen pizza, DD2 and I hotel picnic
Monday-DH Chicken Cordon blue(frozen ones to just bake) and rice, DD2 and I stopped and shared assorted DQ items, surpsingy with no ice cream
Tuesday- Baked chicken, mashed potatos, creamed corn
Wednesday-DH and I went out for date night, DD2 leftover chicken cordon blue and rice
Thursday-Ham and cheese toasted on bagette (bought a $0.51 bagette at Walmart clearanced, spinach salad, DD2 ate at her friends
Friday-Spaghetti and meatballs, spinach salad
Saturday-Tuna croquettes/cakes, sweet potato wedges, green beans. DH and I also had some wings with our beers when we joined friends for an ealry evening out 

I'm tallying the numbers after a quick stop for mailing envelopes, milk, bananas, eggs and a couple avocados. I have a tad bit over $106 for the remainder of the month. With what I have already purchased that will go towards Easter, I'm giving myself a $45 budget for everything else for th holiday meal, leaving me with $61 the week of March 18th and 25th. I am going to be tight fisted with my families money-we have big plans and fancy meals at home don't play into them. Humble and satisfying is my mantra. It time for a grocery and household supply inventory. Planning ahead meals with what we have on hand is my starting place. I will need laundry soap, fabric softener, and toilet paper, and  dog food for pup, so should plan to set aside $25 for these items. I also can prorate into April $20 for some health and beauty and baking products purchased in larger quantities to maximize savings, giving me $56 for straight up groceries, or a $28 target per week.

I think it is easiest to start with the main portion or protein when I look at what's on hand to eat from the stocks. Meat proteins aren't that plentiful, since there hasn't been great deals and I've been trynig not to overbuy. Still, there are options to get me started.

1 bag, 22 ounces Simeks prepared meatballs-three meals worth
2 large Smoked Sausages
1 Sausage ring-still lingering around from previous meal planning weeks
1 package hot dogs
1 pound dried navy beans
2 cans black beans
1 can garbanzo beans (but will probably reserve to make a pasta salad with tomatoes for my lunches)
6 cans tuna (though I should reserve a few for lunches when we don't have leftovers handy)
1 dozen eggs
8 ounces cheddar
4 ounces pepper jack
4 ounces Colby
1 pound Velveeta-please, no judgment, bought by DH

We don't have much in the way of canned or frozen vegetables, so I think a lot of the budget will go towards fresh or canned/frozen versions of those items. We also must have fresh fruit, though we do have enough bananas, apples, and honey dew in the fridge for about 2-3 days after this weekend. I also have frozen berries and mixed fruit and canned pineapple.

Looking above, here are a few meal options to get me started. An * means I do not have these items, or we are low and will need to be purchased.

Meatballs and gravy, potatoes* and vegetables*
Penne pasta and red sauce with meatballs
Sliced Smokes sausages in spicy black beans and rice, steamed corn*
Hot dogs on buns* with french fires* and baked beans
Ring Sausage, au gratin potatoes*, green beans*
Navy beans soup, with carrots*, celery* and onions, crackers* and cheese slices
Tuna noodle hotdish, with peas*
Homemade baked macaroni and cheese, mixed vegetables*
Rice crust cheesy quiche with steamed broccoli*, honeydew
Grilled cheese using the Velveeta, again no judgment please) sandwiches and tomato soup
Tuna cakes or croquettes (my croquettes were more like tuna cakes), rice pilaf, and some sort of vegetable*

My * items roughly come to $14 in my head. Add milk and bread, another bag of apples and a few more bananas, I will most likely be at around $23, leaving me a few bucks and several meal options to take into the following week. I am such a nerd when it comes to these things, but the challenge has me fueled. Can I get those items for less than $13? What about my $25 set aside for household items that are not groceries? Can I get pups dog food on sale or find a coupon? Can I creatively come up with a new recipe or two that my family likes and is healthy? What about snacking? Can I maximize my baking supplies, popcorn, and miscellaneous food items for quick on the go snacks without using too much or any of the budget there. The game is on folks.

Someone's pantry-not mine. 

Meals and Other Boring Planning

DH started February with a shop. I can't say this one was rogue because he had showed me the Penny Pincher add and I checked off things that we would need. The fact that he bought twice as many things and spent twice what I thought he should was as part of his efforts. My February household and grocery (H&G) budget is $375.50, carrying the over spending from January of $24.50 into  this month. I plan to keep to an average of $400 per month this entire year. We had a Super Bowl gathering and brought a cheese dip and chips, and cookies. DD2 had a gathering and she was on chip duty, but I also had all the makings for Chex Puppy Chow, so she brought a batch of that as well. The chips and stuff for cheese dip were part of DH's shop. Still, no vegetables in his purchases, though I have a couple bags of frozen in the freezer and carrots in the vegetable drawer. I plan to stop on my way hone tonight to round out the groceries but am determined to  build from his purchases. We have a lengthy list of household items to stock-we are out or running low on everything, which means for food, I need to be particularly planful.

Because we desperately needed laundry soap and toilet paper, which, the nearby grocer had it on sale, I sent DH. Risky business. There were a couple other specials like 2 for $3.00 butter, juice and eggs, which I need for my eating plan. He sort of stuck to the list, forgot eggs; they were out of butter ( so he said but he bought a thing of margarine and quit frankly, I don't think he understood they're not the same) spending a total of $39.85 leaving me with a balance for the remainder of February of $246.20. With just shy of four weeks in the month, that gives us an average of $61.55.

Last week we stayed mostly to the list of meals I had suggested, except I still haven't made turkey meatloaf, the mock lasagna became just fettuccine and red sauce, and DH was hungry for chili dogs and ribs bought through his big spend. We ended up eating all the leftovers for lunch yesterday. My potential meals this week are as follows

Turkey Meatloaf with potatoes and vegetables
Taco bake with rice and corn
Chicken tender wraps with some kind of salad
Chicken Patty  sandwiches with something
Goulash with something
leftovers
Red rice and beans with some sort of vegetable, sausage

The calendar for the week includes DD2's orchestra-jazz band concert, reffing volleyball (a teen quit with two weeks left in the session and I agreed to help out), finalizing our Branson reservations for April, and decorating then working our own show choir competition and purging a minimum of 20 items for donation between the three of us. I have Friday off so hope to make it a productive day-nothing exciting, but productive.I've got a task oriented work week too, with again, nothing excited but hopefully highly productive for tackling over due maintenance needs. How is your meal plan and meals shaping up?

How's My Weight Loss Plan Really Going?

 

 A work colleague shared that she has put on 140 pounds in the last two and 1/2 years after having lost 170 over a two year period before. She was on  Medifast, and slowly but surely once she was off it, the pounds crept back on. I don't want to start a debate about weight loss programs, anyone can do what works for them, but I can't trust that any program that requires you to eat separate meals from your family, rely on packages, and doesn't help adjust an unhealthy life style cannot be successful for the long haul. 

So far, I have not felt like I'm dieting, though I have had the occasional mental struggle over the extra treat.(Someone brought three trays of donuts into our staff meeting Wednesday!) I've been applying a few basic criteria such as reducing sugar, limiting simple carbs, and creating meals around fruit and vegetables. A few side effects I haven't quite gotten over is the bit of stomach distress with the increase in fruits and vegetables, particularly cruciferous vegetables like broccoli. I know the impact now is because of too many years of not including enough fiber in my diet so should dissipate over time.

I've had the occasional treat-skipped the Wednesday donuts, but enjoyed a cookie and coffee at the choir teacher reception on Sunday. No doubt tonight I'll have a glass or two of wine or maybe a beer when we enjoy the first of the summer season bon fire toniht. I'll pass on the S'Mores the kids will be making. I'm curious to see how the 70% discounted Hershey chocolate rabbits will work in S'Mores-a deal I couldn't pass up, so bought three packages for summer and have stored them in the freezer.

Thank you to those that shared their ideas and links on my Rut-terless Meal Planning post.I love reading what works for others, and particularly new ideas on the food front. For you UK readers, tell me about your experience if you have any with the Slimming World recipes. It seems like when I see the prep and final results, the portions and variety are so much greater than when I've tried US program recipes like from Weight Watchers. I'd have to do some conversion, but for a change of pace, would be worth the effort.

Menu Plan is Just a Suggestion

I  menu planned on Saturday. Clearly this was not a plan but  list of suggestions for me. I've changed everything up, including not cooking Tuesday at all really, making myself an egg wrap and cutting up a cantaloupe. I'm not sure what DH ate when he got home, but DD2 made a quesadilla with black bean and corn salsa (from jar) and some of the melon. Last night was supposed to be spaghetti but after a grueling commute home as road construction season is upon us, I wanted to just crash. DH made a frozen pizza, of which I had two slices, and I steamed a load of frozen stir fry veggies. A dash of soy sauce and they were delicious.

Despite setting my meal plan aside, it is a smart exercise to know what food I have and at least a game plan to start the week. Tomorrow may still be fish or maybe Wednesday's spaghetti. Maybe I'll make a meatloaf with the hamburger that was going to be in the sauce. If it helps me not buy take out and fast food or go out to eat excessively, I'll keep giving meal planning a go.

This meant I haven't had the leftovers for lunches that I had intended. DH ate all the bread as he came home for sandwiches. I've been bringing a yogurt, fruit, hard boiled eggs,  and cottage cheese. I even stuck a frozen entree in my lunch bag Tuesday, not great for my improved eating plan, but at $. 88, not bad for my budget. I'm going to scramble a couple eggs to bring for lunch today with an apple. I find with not eating as many starchy carbs, I need a bit more protein or I'm dragging mid afternoon. If you meal plan, are you strict with your planning or do you use more as a guide? If you deviate, what are the reasons why?

 

Thinning Meal Plan

I'm challenging myself to create a meal plan for the week. I've been remiss, but every frugal blogger knows being organized and knowing what you have and how you will use it up is key to reining in the grocery budget. With my weight loss focus, I'm clipping the amount of "white" foods from my diet, which means relying heavily on hotdishes, pasta, and potatoes for myself will challenge me to shop and cook a bit differently. DH and DD2 do not need to lose weight and they love their white stuff. DH could probably improve his diet though, and I need easy to reheat meals for DD2 as the following week will be  a busy one before the play next weekend. Here's the general plan and I've loaded my freezer with bags of vegetables and salad in the fridge to fill me up and ration my consumption of rice, potatoes, and pasta..

Saturday
Pasta Fagiole Soup, French Bread (not for me though-well maybe just a crust)

Sunday
Spinach and cheese egg bake
Pork chops, mashed potatoes, broccoli (no potatoes for me)

Monday
Fish, brown rice pilaf, steamed Vegetables 

Tuesday
Pulled Chicken with BBQ, rolls, baked sweet potatoes

Wednesday
Spaghetti and meat sauce (me-reduced pasta, more steamed vegetables)


Thursday
Home made buffalo chicken strips, steamed vegetables, oven fries

Friday
Vegetarian Curry, white Rice (extra steamed carrots for me)
Leftovers for DH

Lunches: Leftovers and lots of fruit, raw vegetables, hummus, hard boiled eggs.


I'll be working on housework today still as I didn't get nearly as much done yesterday as I had wanted. We're meeting friends later, but  will grab a bowl of soup at home and avoid expensive and calorie laden bar foods. Yesterday I got caught up with laundry. This was massively needed after being gone two weekends ago, and not working from home last Friday, when I usually can get loads of laundry done while working and  avoiding commuting time. I felt better waking up this morning knowing that is done, plus some other chores.I'm hoping DH will help me with the office stuff tomorrow. How's your menu looking thus week?

Planning but not Communicating

Not a Vikings post, though I love my Minnesota football and am devastated for young Teddy Bridgewater and his horrific injury. My readers may know I live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Roughly, Minneapolis and St Paul combined have a population just shy of 600,000 people. It quadruples if you expand to the full seven county metro area, we get to about 2.4 million folks. Quite sizable but not anywhere near the scale of other major metro areas in the United States. We have just two light rail lines, with very limited pick up outside of the cities, and the same with bus services. This leads me to ask how city planners, or at least the  parts of the city governments that approve venue licenses, would not think allowing a home Minnesota Vikings football game, a home Minnesota Gophers college football game, and a home Minnesota Twins baseball game all on the same nights would be problematic for traffic. These events moved 150,000 people into downtown Minneapolis, during rush hour traffic. On the other side of the river, but needing those same highways, buses, and light rail lines, a home St Paul Saints baseball game was being held, and oh yes, I can't forget to mention the Minnesota State Fair was going on, drawing an additional 100,000 plus people into the cities. Who would foresee that adding 33% more people into an already congested area would create travel and parking headaches. Umm, anyone that saw all the events on the calendar the same night. I work a touch north of all this, and can make a wide loop east to avoid much, but the residual effect was still present on my commute home. 

I'm in a work and planning mode this weekend, home focused, and getting the job done mode. As I mentioned, work will be crazy for the foreseeable future, and I don't need things to collapse at home. DD starts school Wednesday and has a really congested schedule filled with nine classes, two meeting alternate days, show choir, violin, and her new part time Wednesday night job as a recreational league volleyball ref. DH is three men down at work, using people from other stores or on a temporary basis, so he has felt the need to be at work longer hours and on his day off for at least short spurts. Just like the Metro planning authorities should have seen, I know we need better planning for the weeks ahead. Here's the deal though. I can plan all I want, but if I am not communicating with the other two in my house,all my planning will be as crazy as Thursday night traffic. We have three sets of hands, and we need to be working in sync on home tasks, car pooling, meal prep, and giving some love and attention to poor little pup who is going to get his fall abandonment complex back once he is home three days alone.

I've done planning before with copies of Outlook calendars, but then it only seems to sit with me, and after a while, cracks emerge in the plan because of my schedule and I didn't communicate enough for someone else to pick up the tasks. Pretty soon we are back to pulling laundry out of baskets, doing the sniff test, and ordering pizza three nights in a week. No excuses this year. I found a great calendar making resource on line. Create printable calendars can help me do the job once, print multiple copies for DD's room, the refrigerator, DH's desk, and have electronic versions I can send to each of our e-mails. I can add items we may need for menu planning, taking a cue from Sluggy's This Week on the Dining Table posts and know what we will have, what needs to supplement food already on hand, and allow flexibility. DH can throw the nights dinner in the crock pot or take out of the freezer to defrost when he runs home for lunch. I can end each day by throwing in a load of clothes, popping them in the dryer or on a hanger first thing in the morning, DD folding things and disbursing them to be put away once she is home from school, and never need the sniff test again. 

Twenty-nine years managing this family and I have had all sort of systems, and depending on the time in our life cycle, more success some years than others. I don't have the energy or the inclination now to spend my days off picking up the slack from the work week and with no real child caring duties, we should not let the house tie us down. What systems do you use to keep your family planned and in communication. Do others carry their fair share? We truly are in September now, and despite being out of school myself, this always feels like the real start of the year. To that end, I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs ever, from one of my favorite musicians. Welcome September. 

Where Will July End? $$ Questions

Part of my austerity measure belt tightening is to pay real attention to the outgoings of cash and credit card use. While we pay off the balance each month, it adversely impacts the cash flow the following month, perpetuating that crash I feel when I look at balancing the budget. While DH is the worst at derailing my grocery budget, his little treats, while they add up over the course of the month, really are more amusement than actually groceries. As much as he might like, he can't survive on his ice cream, chips, and last nights indulgent, mini peanut butter cups.I've decided for my challenge, I am only going to count grocery items I buy, and real grocery items he buys in the $300 grocery budget challenge. As I don't want to go back and recalculate, I'm just not going to count this weeks splurges, but previous treat purchases are in the sum. I'll be back Sunday night with a drum roll and the final. Still, if not counting those purchases in groceries, we still need to be mindful that it is an expense.

Meals out and entertainment is the next area to focus some penny pinching skills. We had a nice $14 savings on a movie night out for DH and DD while I was away for work. I had purchased three bags of M&M's back in June, on sale but also with a deal that gave you a voucher for a free movie ticket if you took a picture and faxed the receipt. As it had a value up to $14, and our theater is only $7 per ticket, they used and got both tickets covered. The deal may still be going on-check it out. I'm always looking for low cost things to do, but am in a slump this summer. Ideas are welcome.

On the meal front, I am using my inventory and list of meal ideas I wrote about on Friday to pull off some tasty menus. Sunday was my throw away day at the lake with easy grilled hot dogs, salads and chips. Suppers though have been/will be:

Sunday- Each of us just sort of picked for what they felt like eating.
Monday-Tacos, with rice, beans, beef, cheese and tomatoes
Tuesday-BBQ sliced chicken sandwiches, potato wedges, cucumber salad
Wednesday-Chili, already made, with crackers, sour cream, and cheese
Thursday-Hamburgers, baked beans, hash browns
Friday-Tuna noodle hotdish with peas
Saturday-either chicken fried rice, or broccoli, rice hotdish with chicken or ground beef

Sunday, no meal prep as it will be a work day. I'll bring muffins and maybe some Rice Krispy bars for snacks, and call it a week. Planning will be needed to shop for the first two weeks of August.  With being gone for almost eight of them, I don't want to over buy fresh foods, though my niece will be here with pup so need to leave a few goodies for her. How is your July shaping up.  Like me, are you challenged with eating and playing well on the cheap?

Mish Mash Kitchen Confidence-ial Update

For my fill in shopping list, I did better than I had anticipated, getting more for my money than I budgeted in my head. I still anticipate buying another 1/2 gallon, or a couple quarts of milk, but I have $4.39 left to spare, so every penny can go to milk and I will be spot on $300 for July. I spent $19.69 at Aldi's. My best buys were getting 5 pounds of potatoes for $1.89 instead of just buying a few loose ones, 2 pound bag of carrots for $1.29, and 3 pounds of onions for $1.69 -all twice as much as I thought I would buy. I even splurged on a bag of ranch flavored tortilla chips, not in my plan, but to go with hot dogs and salad if we go to the lake today. I'm not sure where I  added wrong in my head, but happy for once I miscounted in the right direction. I made the cucumber and onion salad, and am trying not to make a pig out of myself with it, but I love it so much! Onions are such an underrated vegetable.  They pack a punch cooked or raw. Are you an onion fan?

Saturday was stormy-hot and stormy, but I decided to bake anyway.  About 12 years ago when we decided not to move, we upgraded all our kitchen appliances and I am still impressed with the insulation factor of my oven. I lose virtually no heat, so not worried that I'm going to tax the air conditioning. My results are four mini loaves of banana bread and instead of granola bars, I made three dozen oatmeal cookies. I popped 2 dozen, leaving us one dozen, in the freezer to pull out during the week so they stay nice and fresh as with only three of us, a full batch is too much to eat before they start losing their freshness. If we decide to go the lake today, I'll grab a bag from the freezer as swimming burns the calories on kids.I love a good oatmeal cookie; I use the Quaker Oats recipe, omitting raisins. I'm not tempted to eat the dough, and one cookie feels so much more substantial than a chocolate chip so I am satisfied with one. I did the tedious calculations and my cookies came to $2.31 for the batch, and bread came to $2.58, using my pantry food prices. I used the full cost of what bananas would be, though these were frozen past their prime bananas that might otherwise have been food waste. 

To take us into the week, we are good with snacks and will over cook and set aside portions for lunches. We have sandwich meat and bread, and plenty of fruit as well. I have beef and chicken ready for mentioned meals,and will save time by doubling up prep sides such as rice and noodles when called for. The odd thing is, I used to always work my kitchen this way-it was a necessity for a family of five, with a baby/toddler and two active teenagers. I like the sense of order I feel, and the success over the budget is a great bonus. What does your week in meals look like?

Kitchen Confidence-ial

 I’m beyond confident, unless DH plays some domestic sabotage, that I will come in under $300 for July groceries. I just took an inventory of freezer, fridge, and both my top and bottom pantry cupboards, and I with just a few odds and ends, mostly fruit, fresh vegetables, and dairy, we have ample stocks to not just cobble out a few meals, but to feast. That is the positive side of getting a well stocked freezer and pantry when items are at super low costs. However, I must come clean, and admit to the waste. Last Sunday I purged and cleaned the refrigerator part of the fridge and this morning was the freezer. Shameful what was found last week hidden in corners, and items left with sizeable amounts left well beyond their date. ( I used the sniff factor too). The freezer was even worse.  I think we must have had a thaw and refreeze perhaps while out of town as I found the icky ice build up on many items, and that white discoloring. Some might tell me it is fine, but I’ve experienced food poisoning on more than one occasion and will not take that risk with my family. It is hard for me to estimate the cost of such waste, but I am going to say between the fridge and the freezer, easily $30 was thrown in the garbage can. Sad face on me to that. 

So the good and the bad is sorted, and now I can do some meal planning. I have a 40 oz. bag of sea salt and olive oil glazed chicken breasts in the crock pot, and two pounds of ground beef cooking up. Each will yield three meals plus leftovers for lunches. We also have a stock pile of breakfast cereal, oatmeal, and pancake mix, plus a couple large muffins mixes and sweet roll dough, plus baking ingredients, so breakfasts and snacks are pretty well covered.  I don’t have days assigned to these, but here is the list of meals I have brainstormed. 

Two # ground beef.

Ground Beef Dishes-meals
Chili, with crackers, cheese and sour cream
Broccoli, rice hotdish with cucumber salad
Tacos with, fixings, refried beans, and Spanish rice

Chicken cooking.

Chicken dishes-meals
Pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches, sweet potato mash or wedges
Chicken  fillets, alfredo sauced noodles, peas
Chicken fried rice with veggies

Other meals
Hamurgers/cheeseburgers, hash browns
Salsbury steak (hamb patties in beef gravy), rice, veggies
Spicy sliced Italian sausage with red beans and rice, veggies
Hot dogs, baked beans, macaroni salad (picnic supper)
Tuna noodle hotdish with peas and cheese, fruit salad
Bacon, Lettuce and tomato sandwiches with macaroni salald
Tomato and summer vegetable risotto
SpanishTortilla
Cheese ravioli in pasta sauce with  salad
Bean and Ham soup (found the Christmas ham bone with a ton of meat still on it!)
Potatoe corn chowder (found the last of last summers sweet corn)

Shopping Needed
Eggs
carrots
Onions
Potatoes
Zuchini
large tomato
Hamburger buns
Hot dog buns
Multi grain bread
2 cans tomatoes
Milk-whole and skim (but may compromise and just by 2% as it's used in cereal and cooking and don't think we can use a whole gallon)
sour cream
apples
bananas
saltines

Lots of ingredients already.

I estimate this will be around $23, with $1.00 of the budget and many meals to spare. Obviously all will not be made, but the soups can be portioned out for lunches, and frozen. I also have plans to make up a batch of peanut butter granola bars, Rice Krispie treats, and banana bread, and we have loads of popcorn, lemonade mix, and tea for ice tea for snacks and lunches. DD1 gave me the recipes for the risotto and the Spanish Tortilla. I will post those with pictures as I make them.These were her go to dishes when she lived in London and Spain for feeding a crowd with very little money. Oh how I love learning things from my children. 

I think we have at least one night out with friends, entertainment budget, and may need to pick up sandwiches for the last day at the cabin before it is tore down as there will be no water and gas. We've done well on the eating out front; one take and bake pizza, DD2 with her soccer team, and DD and DH went out for burgers and a movie. DH also had lunch and snacks with his friends when they went to an air show. We didn't even get extra food out at wine club this month. I did blow my per diem budget on my work trip, but only two meals-well, maybe we didn't do quite as well as I first thought, but will be under $240 for all entertainment and meals out for July. We've exceeded that plus spent 30-50% more on groceries in other months. We could roast hotdogs on a stick, but it is a final work day, so no time for camp fires. My menu has lot’s of dishes with peas as I came across three family size bags-not my favorite, but will make them work. Can you guess who likes peas and who stocked up on them? I'll plan any fresh veggies I am gifted into salads and sides as well-thanks A!. How does my menu look?  Any suggestions for tweaking?