A week of Bargain Lunches

I was already noodling this post before I read this post from Penniless Parents, Tips to Drastically Lower Your Family's Grocery Bill. After reading her ideas, my lunches seemed down right decadent. She has some great ideas for those that want to radically transform, or even tweak  their grocery budget while still eating relatively healthy. (I have to try the mock tuna salad with chick peas at some point.) I thought it was a good time to take a ponder at what meals have made their way into my lunch bag this week. Not a one even hits the cost of a child's Happy Meal, and I'm really pushing the added fruit and vegetables. Few of the items were rock bottom prices so savy shoppers can do better.

Monday

Slice of meat loaf .55, ¼ bag frozen mixed veg .25, orange .25 homemade muffin .25 Total: $1.30

Tuesday

2 slices deli ham, .58 1.5 ounces cheddar, .30 ¼ sleeve crackers, .13 orange, .25 carrot sticks .10  Total $1.36

Wednesday
Tortilla .25, 2 slices deli ham, .58 1.5 ounces cheddar, .30, orange .25, carrot sticks .10 Total $1.48 (plus my pudding cup-smile)

Thursday
Can tuna* .69, apple* .67, 2 clementines .80, bargain pretzels .08  $2.24

Today
Bowl of chicken  wild rice soup,  .80, apple .67 slice toast .15 Total $1.62

My lunches for the whole week, based on my estimates was exactly $8.00.  My moment of madness trip through McDonald's on Monday night, exceeded $8.00. It doesn't take a mathematician or an economist to figure out the wiser choice. I put an asterisk next to my tuna and apple so I would remember to share the new to me way I enjoyed the meal. I've still not grocery shopped, other than the items DH couldn't pass up on Sunday, and the quick items I picked up, so packing lunches has been a bit like foraging. 

As DD was finishing up in the bathroom this morning, I quickly opened a can, drained the water, added back pepper and a squirt of mayo.  Into my bag it went with the pretzels and apple. I also threw a couple clementines in, as I had not left enough time for breakfast. The apple was on the large side, and I hate biting into big apples, so at lunch I cut it up in little wedges, then dipped one into the tuna salad. Not too bad a taste, so I decided to cut up in chunks a few of the wedges, and stirred into the salad.  Even better.  In went the whole apple, and my rather sad little canned  tuna salad was transformed into a tangy, crunchy, and sweet meal. I proved my point to myself again of low stock piles leading to creative culinary outcomes. This may be added to my top five lunches of choice. 

 I've a new impromptu goal for February of no week day lunches out, take out, or a Target run from the deli. Added to the challenge is to keep it at or under $8.00, for five days, even my day off or working from home days. A final twist to the challenge, fitting at least two servings of fruit and veg in each lunch. I made that this week, actually exceeded, as the apples were large enough to count as two servings. If you have ideas to share on your favorite packed lunches, help me out and share! I'll update you all periodically in the weeks to come.

Menu Planning by the Rules

Oh forget the literal interpretation of my title. In menu planning there are no rules. I'm following the rule of not driving for at least 24 hours after my two procedures yesterday. Not wanting to be a road hazard, that is a rule I will follow. Not driving this morning (though I am back on the road  this afternoon for 1/2 a car pooling run to a bowling party) means my  grocery shop is going to be put off for at least a day, to probably Sunday evening, or even later in the week. Even if I shop tomorrow,I'm counting this shop as the first of February due to how the weeks fall. I'm ending January pretty well in the grocery department, coming in just shy of $250, which may not have been my goal at the beginning of the month, it still is $100+ lower than what I had been averaging in 2016. My new aim is to keep groceries at $300, and household at $50, for the bulk of 2017. January gets me off to a good start. We need the austere budget for February as it will be an expensive month with three show choir weekends, increased car insurance now that DD2 is 16, an honors choir concert so evening in the city with parking and dinner, Valentines Day (yep-I'm cheesy this way), co-pays and deductibles from Friday, and my end of  season volleyball party.

I'll plan a shop once I see the ads tomorrow, so my menu planning is for just what's in my stocks and is for today and tomorrow. I thought this would be using up most of the meat in the freezer, but there still will be a bag of chicken, some hamburger patties, sausage and bacon. I also have some cans of tuna and frozen Sloppy Joe's and bean soup, so if I don't make it to the store until later in the week and need to stretch farther, I sure could. We'll be out of fresh fruit, milk, and bread by Sunday night and very few vegetables other than carrots and onions, but I have canned and frozen fruit and juice, a bit of  plain yogurt, and plenty of baking ingredients, and we can easily just stop at Kwik-Trip for those basics.

Breakfast-Pancakes, with extra for Monday morning, banana oat muffins-my improvised recipe that made 12  muffins. DD2 devoured four of them! The extra muffins also will go in the freezer for grab and go breakfasts, and snacks.

Thawing hamburger for meatloaf and banana oat muffins.

Saturday lunch-DD2 and I had last of unfrozen bean soup, shared a  quesadilla, and apple slices.DH has lunch brought into work.

Saturday supper-I made rotini pasta with red sauce and mozzarella for the oven in the morning. I'll top with the last of the Christmas mozzarella, and I'll cook a couple pre-made hamburger patties instead of meatballs. I have a small loaf of French bread that has been in the freezer to serve with as garlic toast. 

Just pasta with jarred sauce, to be baked with a topping of mozzarella.

Sunday lunch-DH had cooked up a bag of chicken breasts, so I've made a chicken pasta salad (with the other half of the rotini pasta) to have with cinnamon rolls from the dough in the freezer (if I remember to take out an let a 1/2 batch rise), and oranges.
Sunday supper-I have just shy of a pound of hamburger to make a meat loaf, and will serve with mashed potatoes (instant ones DH bought a while back) and a bag of  mixed vegetables lurking in the freezer.There should be some of the French bread left as well.

Chicken pasta salad with celery and snow peas.

Snacks- popcorn, last of hummus and veggies, last of tortilla chips and black bean salsa, fruit, and the bargain pretzels. I wish I would have made chocolate chip cookies while oven was hot for muffins, but may make a batch tomorrow.

If I'm lucky, or intentionally set some aside, I'll have leftover rotini, pasta salad, and maybe even meatloaf for lunches on Monday and Tuesday. I'll boil up whatever I have left for eggs, depending on what I decide to do about shopping. Following the rules is a good thing. Staying put this morning forced me to use what I already have more efficiently.

Taking Care of Business -Healthy Edition

Back when I was going through all my woman's crud again, some additional preventative and a delayed procedure was scheduled for late January. It totally slipped my mind, but the week is here and tomorrow I get to have the fun of both a colonoscopy and an endoscopy to check for some ongoing swallowing/obstruction issues I have. I have made a concentrated effort to eat better, more fruits and vegetables, less restaurant, take out, and fast food, but even with the best intentions, I am in the same boat as every other human for developing  potential colon health problems. While I have heard the worst case scenarios of people's experiences, I feel good about taking preventative charge of my health as opposed to remediation surgery. 

Speaking of meals, here is my lovely lunch from Tuesday. The soup is part of my bean soup batch, estimated at costing $2.20 for the whole big pot of 8 large servings, just $ .27 per bowlful. The pretzels were a dollar store, Old Dutch holiday mix pretzels with a best by date of July 2017, 24 ounces bag, so less than 8 cents for a baggie full, enough for lunch and a nibble with my late afternoon tea. The hummus, originally bought for 2 for $5, became 3 for $5 because they sent me an extra bonus free coupon after the recall, so the tub was $1.67, so about 30 cents a serving. Not pictured, I also had some carrot sticks and raw broccoli, probably about 50 cents worth of veg, and an orange, on sale 2 for 1 bags of 10 ( hubs did well with that purchase), so 20 cents an orange. 

Why am I boring you with these details? Because I am making a continued point to myself that eating healthy does not need to be expensive. My whole huge lunch, cost $1.35. throw in the cup of tea I had, Good Earth Spicy and Sweet, under 25 cents a tea bag, not on sale, and I spent $1.60. Even just running over to the Target deli, grabbing soup, veggie tray, sabra hummus and pretzel snack pack, and and orange, would have been 4 times more. Swing into the Starbucks, and add another $2.00 for my tea, and now my healthy lunch has just passed the $8.00 mark. The difference is huge and worth making note of for my fiscal health.

When talking with the volleyball girls about the procedure, we were joking how afterwards, I'll have a nice clean colon. My friend S said, after hers, she was motivated to eat clean as she didn't want to mess it up again-kind of like keeping your house clean after having worked so hard before company. Perhaps I'll have that motivation, but with an eye for thrift.

Not Quite On My Original December Weekend

Nope, Christmas decorations are still not up, just the wreath ordered from my boyscout nephews. I had planned on cleaning yesterday, then hauling things in, and getting most done, finishing today. Then I saw an ad about workers coming into a home, knocking a Christmas tree over, shooting it through a window, breaking class balls, and dad stepping on one, then a rush to the emergency room. While highly dramatized, I decided to wait until my new sectional comes next week, the furniture we kept is moved back to its rightful place, and I've done another purge and made better room. I'll still have the house decorated for at least two weeks before Christmas, and am satisfied with that.

Instead, my Sunday was spent cleaning out the refrigerator and doing some creative cooking with the remnants in there and the freezer. A white sauce pizza with mozzarella, sausage, onions, and olives, is ready for tomorrow night and a broccoli-Alfredo chicken hot dish not made last week was gobbled today, with leftovers for lunch. I used the last of a container of  plain yogurt for the pizza crust. DH and I made a trip to the store for fresh fruit and vegetables, milk bread, and assorted baking items that are at rock bottom prices. I cleaned out our entry closet, washing coats, setting aside ones for the dry cleaner, to donate, and to throw. I had intentions of making a double batch of mini banana bread, but ran out of steam. I'll do so tomorrow night. I organized where I am at for gift giving, totally on budget, and have some pretty good gifts.  And, I had my first walk in the snow. Not much, just a few inches and it is quite warm, hovering around 34 F and sunny, so much is already melting. We are due more later in the week. Pup was very interested in the new ground cover.

 DD had a Drivers Ed lesson today, which included freeway driving. Her instructor is a youngish retired phys-ed, (formerly mine) basketball coach, and later assistant principal. She is an icon for women's sports in Minnesota and just named to the Minnesota Hall of Fame. DD didn't know she was being taught by a legend, and the lessons went well. She has completed everything she needs to take her test when she turns 16, well besides more practice. 

Below is my make shift recipe for pizza crust. I always pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes before topping it to make sure there are not raw spots. 

Pizza Crust (with clean out the fridge toppings)
1 cup plain yogurt (about what was left in container)
1 Cup plus more worked in later of self rising four
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp garlic powder (probably more with sprinkles)
1tsp Italian seasoning (again probably more)

Mix together, drizzle in olive oil and knead into a ball. Leave in a bowl, covered, and let rise/set. It doesn't really rise, but it gets more settled for rolling out. Roll out as thin as you like on a greased cookie sheet or pizza pan, then make dimples with the end of a spoon. Pour a little more olive oil (1 tsp worth) and spread over the crust. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, then top as you like.  I used about 1/2 cup of reserved Alfredo sauce, half a  remaining onion, some chopped green olives lingering in the fridge, a  half of a $1.00 box of precooked sausages (left from breakfast burritos), and 4 ounces of mozzarella cheese. Baked that again for about 15 minutes. 

The hot dish was 8 ounces of cooked penne pasta, 1 1/2 cups cooked diced chicken,10 ounces jarred Alfredo sauce, 3/4 cup milk (shaken in the jar to get rest of sauce with 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp Italian season, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper), and 8 ounces frozen chopped broccoli. This was mixed and baked in a sprayed casserole dish, at 325 for 50 minutes. 

I don't live an exciting life, but this was a good weekend, and one that suited me. I'm getting stronger, walking longer, and  am feeling well. I'll end tonight addressing cards with something on the computer to listen/watch. I am anticipating a pressure cooker at work this week, so starting with calm is required, Enjoy your week. 

Frugal December?

Frugal Friday posts were plenty yesterday. I didn't feel like anything about the last week was particularly frugal, knowing doctors bills were coming, medication copay receipts were on hand, and  Christmas expenditures are happening. But wait, maybe December is not or does not have to be  money suck conventional wisdom says it is. I can't help the timing of the medical expenses, but there are things to mitigate the out of pocket. Christmas is not a surprise budget item, and I've been planning for months. December is a reason that having a yearly budget, planning for the ebbs and flows of the calendar, is essential. 

I set up medical pretax, less generously than I had in 2015, because I was allowed to roll over $500. with DH's bat bite, some uncovered dental, my surgery, and a hand-knife kitchen accident for my daughter, we will suck that account dry, but now I will start doing all the paperwork and to get the money flowing. Knock on wood that next year is better, but I'm putting the money in my flex account again, so even though no roll over, we still should be covered for most out of pocket costs. Requesting reimbursement in December to early January means the reimbursement comes when my slightly higher credit card bills come. We use the credit cards for the cash back points and pay off in full. This is not free money for going out on the town, but it is money that can be tapped in to help even out cash flow that spiked at other times of the year. 

I'm sticking tight to my Christmas budget, making the decision when we didn't reach the original 2016 savings target, to scale it back by $200. I'm using any promotional tools, coupons, and any schemes I can to keep it low. A November $10 birthday promo plus 20% off at Kohls stretched my purchases the other night. Before I go into a store or sit down on line, I have a list with ideas for the recipient. I want to know what I am looking for, but have alternate if things are unavailable or more than I budgeted. I think I am a good gift giver, really thinking about the person. I won't just throw things into a cart. Still, I'm not opposed to gift cards when sometimes I'm just stuck. I also am keeping an eye out for future gift giving needs. My niece is getting married next summer and I'll need shower gifts.A  gift I have planned is to give her a set of holiday dish towels, buying them year round at clearance. I found "Fall into Love" autumn designs on clearance and with 20% off, just for $4.80 for the pair. I'll do this after Christmas, Easter, and when summer clearance starts in late June to end up with a unique, but usable gift for under $20, less than half if bought full retail These are covered in my annual gift budget, separate from Christmas. 

 In  early December, traditional holiday staples are on special, and many have been paired to match coupons in the Sunday circulars. I'm on the look out for crescent roll and pizza dough, and will snatch it up when it goes on sale. It will keep for weeks until I need for Christmas Eve and day. In the grocery store, check the dates on items, and don't worry about buying too early as my experience as the week of Christmas, the deals aren't as good. Even if you are not a super bargain shopper, December does not need to change your grocery budget. December doesn't need to be a budget buster month. Even using my few strategies helps keep my financial stress at bay, and helps my overall spending stay in comfortable levels for me and my family. 

Convenience Foods I Use

In efforts to control both costs and what ingredients, additives, and preservatives are in my family’s food, I am working hard to limit the use of convenience foods. Sometimes, that is difficult to do in term s of time, availability, financial limitations, and know how. Sometimes, there is just really good deals on convenience foods that when comparing the cost to make from scratch to the cost in time and effort, the difference is negligible. What's negligible is a highly personal decision and I know some people that never cook from scratch and others that always do. Of course being the rationalizing wise soul that I am, I've found a balance that works for me. In the list below, I admit to using each on a regular (R), semi-regular (S), or when on special price (P). For the most part, I can and often do make these things from scratch or have a from scratch alternative.  There are a few though I have never even attempted to make from scratch and have always bought the convenience version (A).  However, if any of you have good success, I might be open to trying.

My list of convenience foods that I use:

·         R-Spaghetti sauce

·         R-Alfredo Sauce

·         S-Condensed soups/chunky type soups

·         R-Frozen Pizza

·         P-Chili or  artisan soup mixes

·         S-Chicken broth

·         R-Baked Beans

·         P-Kraft/Velveeta Shells and Cheese

·         P-Stauffer’s lasagna

·         P-Garlic Bread/bread sticks

·         P-Premade dough like cinnamon rolls, biscuits, pizza

·         R-Hamburger patties

·         S-Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice

·         P-Knorr rice ad noodle sides

·         A-Cheese filled ravioli or tortellini

·         A-Frozen, battered fish fillets

 
I guess I use a lot more convenience foods than  I first would have thought. There are items in my pantry/freezer that others probably would categorize as convenience foods such as canned tomatoes, vegetables, and tuna, dry pasta, or boneless chicken portions. I am constantly looking at labels though, mostly for sodium content because of DH. There are some brands that even if they were practically free, I wouldn’t pick up as not worth the savings. What about you?  How do you determine what will or won’t come into your kitchen?