We needed some basics, milk, eggs, bread, brat buns, cheese, fruit and juice so DH stopped on his way home last night. A few extras came home as well, but he mostly stayed on point. He also stopped Friday when we picked up my prescription and just bought boneless wings and a gourmet style frozen pizza. It is what he felt like eating. The poor guy had to help shovel, plow, and clear the car lot both on Thursday and Friday, despite Thursday being his day off. He knew they were short handed with people being either sick or stuck, but not at work. He feels he will be rewarded with extra days off on Saturdays for DD2's events without having to cut into his valuable three weeks of vacation. I won't even complain this month about his rogue shopping as he has carried a lot of weight this past week. I'm using DD2's help with food prep-great learning opportunity for her. She'll learn how to make meals with real foods.
I may get by without shopping, but if I decide I need to, I'll do on my way home Wednesday and not make a special trip out. DD2 has back to back choir practices that night so I don't see her until later, but I'll make sure there is something she can heat up after school to tied her over until she is home for the night. She and I will need to get dinner in downtown Minneapolis Friday night after she is at her All State rehearsal all day and I'll pack some instant oatmeal or muffins for Saturday morning. Because of the timing, we bit the bullet and are just staying overnight in a hotel, but we can still change our minds up to Thursday noon and cancel. She has rehearsal until almost 8, then has to be checked in by 7:30 the next morning, so we'd have to leave by 6:30. I'll decide how frugal I want to be as the week progresses.
- Shepherds/Cottage Pie (I don't know the difference)-using some convenience foods of gravy packet, already cooked and frozen ground beef, frozen mixed vegetables, and instant mashed potatoes and whack-em packaged biscuits
- Brats, French fries and salad
- Cheese ravioli and salad
- Tuna Hotdish with green beans
- Pasta fagiole soup with cheddar drop biscuits
- Homemade pizza/flat bread
Theses should yield leftovers for lunches. I have pancake mix and DH is going to make waffles for brunch and he'll do extras for tomorrow or Tuesday. I walked DD2 through making banana muffins yesterday and froze 1/2, plus we can make up some egg burritos, so I think breakfast can be sorted. I Hopefully I can have this crud under control and can cook again in a few days with out risking my families health and then I can easily whip up more muffins or pancakes. So far, I am at $164 for the month in total spending, not bade considering I have not done a proper shop this month yet and a weeks groceries in place. We need laundry soap-I eeked out what we had, leaving enough for an emergency load if need be before I get to the store. I'm feeling financially on top of our discretionary budget for H&G. Not wanting to leave the house is truly a good way to not let recreational shopping ruin a budget.
I know being sick was not in your plans, but the side effect of having your daughter learn to get a meal together from real food is a true gift. I taught all my sons how to cook and as freshmen in college all 3 were amazed that very few of their friends knew how to prepare food that was not microwave ready.(or do their own laundry either)
ReplyDeleteGood on your hubby and daughter for pulling extra weight when you are sick. Cooking is a life skill that few kids get these days.
ReplyDeleteShepherd's pie is made with lamb. (That's what the shepherds watched.) Cottage pie is made with any other meat.
ReplyDeleteI think teaching a kid to cook is very important. I didn't learn as a kid--with a big family it was much easier for my mother to keep us out of the kitchen, and in college, our dining service was great. I learned pretty darn quickly when I first set out on my own, though! Like Anne, I am teaching my kids to cook as well. DH never learned--meal plan in college, meals handled when he flew, so he doesn't even know the difference between heating something up and cooking. My kids ate a lot of canned soup and poached eggs for dinner when I was still teaching in the evenings. They also went out to eat a lot as well. Again, that was a way of life for DH for years before we met. To that end, my kids were, and still are amazed at their friends who had no concept of how to order from a waiter in a restaurant! Precious story--Years ago I took eldest DS, just 8, and same age cousin and her mother out for dinner during a visit. Mother, (I think to ease the cost) gave cousin a lecture about how she was to order only water. Waitress came to take drink order, and before anybody could utter a word, DS gestured to his cousin and said very clearly "My cousin will have a Sprite, I'll have a Coke, please." Suffice it to say, she got her Sprite.
Re: Laundry. I remember walking into the laundry room, aghast at the sheer amount in there. In response I shouted out a new edict, "From this day one, Everyone over the age of 10 does his own laundry!" I wish I could say I stuck to it, but I didn't. They would do their laundry at the most inconvenient times for me. I swear they orchestrated it.
I was the laundry queen of the neighborhood, know for getting out all stains and mending the things in the process. I swear every kid in our neighborhood and every friend of my children dropped off problem laundry for me weekly. I did not know that other moms could not remove stains or mend. Stupid of me? I had a slop sink always full of pretreated stains soaking for over 20 years.
DeleteGood bless those gold tessalon drops (other name). I tend to have the cough reflex long after the bronchitis is gone and they always give me those. It's really a pain to be going around hacking and saying " I'm not contagious any more" as people stare at you.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had been taught economics/budgeting in my youth. I admire your thrift and knack - and teaching it to others.
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