Saturday, May 23, 2009

Weekly Glimpse of Pantry Challenge #3

Sara over at Learning The Frugal Life is having an "Eat from the Pantry Challenge" during the month of May and I am joining in even though I did something similar last month. I am thinking that doing these challenges is helping me to use those items that have been sitting in my pantry & freezer over the last few months. It also is helping me to keep my grocery budget low and in check as well. If you want to catch up on my progress from the previous weeks you can read here and here.

Here are the happenings for this week:
  1. I was able to stretch a pork loin just a little bit further for a meal by using some creativity. 

  2. I once again managed to keep my grocery total for the week under $100!  I went to the bread outlet store this week so my overall total is a bit closer to $100, however, I will not need to get bread for a couple of weeks.

  3. Menu plans went very smoothly this week.  I stuck with the plan all week.

  4. Baking was a little sparce again this week.  I did make up some cupcakes from one of the mixes I had in my pantry for a nice treat for hubby and the kids.

Not much to write about this week, hopefully next week will be a bit different!  I think that about covers the week in the area of food details at Sonshine's house.  Take the time to let me know how you did this week!  Also don't forget to blog about it and then link up the post over at Sara's!

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Friday, May 22, 2009

Weekly Shopping Trip---Savings $57.70

Since I have been trying to work out of my pantry & freezer for most of my meals, I have not been needing much in the way of groceries each week.  I am still hitting the deals at the grocery store and getting those items that we need to finish completing a meal but not doing a lot in the way of stockpiling.   

I have challenged myself for the month of May to not spend over $100 each week when I do my shopping as I have joined Sara over at Learning the Frugal Life in her Eat out of the Pantry Challenge.

For the third week in a row, I have spent less than $100 for the week!!  I do this for too many more weeks and it might become a real habit rather than just a challenge.   Also this week, I purchased my WIC for the month--4 gallons milk, 2 doz. eggs, 36 oz cereal, 3-46oz bottles of juice, and 1 lb cheese.

Last week, I thought I might be able to get by with the meat that I had on hand but finding out that hubby is taking all of next week off of work has changed that plan. So I grab a couple of pkgs of meat to have a few more on hand for the next week.

Here is the breakdown of the other items purchased this week:

Meijer:
  • 11.64 lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts $23.16
  • 2 bottles Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce 76¢
  • 2 cartons lemonade $1.98
  • 1 box cornstarch 99¢
  • 1 bottle taco sauce $1.88
  • 2 pkgs Kraft cheese slices $1.88
  • 1 carton Breyers ice cream 99¢
  • 4 pkgs Country crock margarine $4.10
  • 1 box Lipton teabags $$3.07
  • 3 pk. Kleenex $3.99
  • 3 bottles Pepsi 2 liters $3.30 with deposit
  • 2 boxes cream cheese $1.50
  • 2 pkgs deli lunch meat $4.00
  • 3 boxes poptarts $6.00
  • 1 bottle Propel water FREE
  • 1 bottle Sobe water FREE
Total OOP: $57.84
Total Savings: $47.86
Total without sales or coupons: $105.70


Family Fare: 
  • 5.77 lbs ground beef chuck $10.33
  • 2 pkgs smoky links $3.98
  • 2 pks Northern TP $10.98
Total OOP: $26.01
Total Savings: $11.84
Total without sales or coupons: $37.85

Aunt Millie's Bread Outlet(shop here every 2 weeks and stock up)
  • 6 loaves sandwich bread $5.34(89¢ each)
  • 6-8ct pks buns(5 hamburger 1 hotdog) $4.14(69¢ each)
  • 2 loaves Texas Toast $2.98($1.49 each)
  • 4 bags donuts $2.58 (65¢ each)
Total: $15.04

Grand Total OOP: $98.89
Grand Total Savings: $57.70(plus shopping at the bread outlet)
Grand Total without sales or coupons: $143.55(plus if I had gotten the bread full price at the store)

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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Living on a Grocery Budget Lessons

I have had several people ask me about how I keep my grocery budget in check.  So I am sharing the lessons that I have learned and am still working at applying to my family's lifestyle. 

1. Shop your house before you shop the store!! It is amazing how many things you might find that you forgot that you had on your shelves.  Those items that are close to expiration dates find a way to use first before using older stock or buying more. 

2. Make weekly menus for every meal and snacks AND around the grocery sales. If you are stumped as to what you can make look through your cookbooks or input your ingredients into Allrecipes' Ingredient Search. Looking for a menu planner sheet to write out your menus, this is the one I use that my friend, Joy made up.

3. Make a pantry list of EVERYTHING you buy and post it on your fridge so that when you run out or are getting low you can circle or hightlight that item. I made up a form that has different categories(canned goods, frozen items, produce, etc) and then wrote down everything in those categories that I purchase. One place where you can get some of these forms(pantry list) is at Organized HomeHere is a printable master grocery list. You can either print out or use as a guide to make your own.

4. Start making bread and baked goods/sweet treats from scratch. Actually try to make as much from scratch as possible! You will be amazed at how inexpensive you can make a batch of cookies.   When you make a batch of cookies--double it and once the cookies are cooled immediately put half of the batch in the freezer for another day!

5. Use coupons for items that you purchase consistently! Watch the sales and when those items are sale use the coupon and save more!

6. Start following the sales, and make a price book of items that you buy regularly. You will find that stores have what are called "loss leaders" in the ads...basically an item is advertised for a major discounted price. I am sure that you have seen in the ads where the same items are sale week after week...well track the price of those items and you will see that one of the weeks that an item is on sale it will be discounted more than any other week it was on sale. Also you will find that if you track those certain items that you buy on regular basis you will find your stores' sales rotation on those items. Around in my area, stores like to put those same items on sale every six weeks.  

7. When you find an item at a low price stock up within reason on that item. For example, whole chickens were on sale at one of the stores that I shop at for 59 cents/lb. Instead of getting other cuts of chicken that week I got 3 whole chickens to use in my menus.  This holds true also for in season fruits and veggies---when they are in season is when they are the lowest prices. Discipline yourself not to buy something unless it is available for your 'target price' or less. To determine target prices you need to pay careful attention for six months or so to what items cost, so you know what is the lowest price for which you are likely to get any particular item. If you have a hard time remembering, write information down in a notebook. If I can't get something for my target price, I will do without or substitute unless it's a special occasion or I have extra money anyway that week.

8. Buy store brand items rather than name brand. Do you have an Aldis or Save-A-Lot near you?? You might want to give them a try for your shopping needs.

9. Do a garden and can it! I used to garden all time but I am not able to now because of limited space.  I have thought about doing a container garden but for now I'll just stick to going to farmer's market!

10. Buy items in bulk from Sams/Costco. I go to Sam's on a monthly basis and get only certain things(baking supplies, cheese, cereal, snacks,etc.) WATCH your prices though, because sometimes buying in bulk may NOT be cheaper than buying the item in the grocery store.

11. Make a grocery list and stick to it! The only exception that I make to this suggestion is if there are unadvertised specials or manager markdowns that I was unaware about and I am able to use it over something else on my list. 

12. Don't be afraid to serve leftovers. We have 'smorgasbord' at least once a week. I pull everything that is hiding in the fridge out and tell the family to help themselves. I do require that they choose from each major food group, otherwise at least one person would have rice, potatoes and pasta and not a vegetable in sight on his plate. Leftovers can also be used for lunches or in makeover dinners! I use them mostly in dh's lunches but if I make more than just one extra serving it is fair game for the kids to have for a lunch.

13. Learn to identify convenience foods and eliminate them. A good example is popcorn. I buy it by the 50 pound bag for way less than it costs to buy microwave popcorn. Sometimes though this concept/lesson is a hard one for me because I find that convenience foods can be a meal-saver! Even with planning menus, life just gets too hectic and dinner gets forgotten or something happens where having convenience foods to use is ALOT cheaper than heading out to eat at a restauraut.

14. Learn to recognize if a food has been prepared in a way you could do yourself. Any time you buy something like that, you are paying someone else to do something you could do. You may decide it's worth paying someone, but lots of things are so easy and inexpensive to do yourself it doesn't make sense to pay someone. 

Now a look into my shopping experience....

I feed my family of 7 for $525/month(that does not include the WIC)! However, it does include even non-food/household items like shampoo, toothpaste, cleaners, and paper products.  I shop at least 3 stores when I go. I try to do shopping every two weeks. I also will not shop a store if there is not at least 1/2 dozen "loss leaders" in their ad. I figure that if I am going to waste gas to go to that particular store than it better have good sales! I usually can get my shopping done in about 2 hours and go during a non-busy time of the day. 

I used to take all five kids with me when I shopped but I now have a teenager in the house so I can leave the kids for a couple of hours to get my shopping done. I still involve my kids by allowing them to help make up menus, putting the grocery list together, and then putting the items away when I get home. 

So is there anything else to learn??  Am I missing anything that is important?

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Household Responsibility System

Let me first say that out of all the things to do in life doing chores (or at my house we call them "responsibilities") is not one of the top things on my “to do list”! Personally, I would rather read a book or bake some cookies than clean! But after growing up in a home where my parents are "pack rats" and deciding that when I had my own house and family that I was not going to follow in their ways, I strive to have a decent, clean, and relatively(hard to have it totally with having kids!) clutter free home. Also I am married to a man, who I love dearly, and is a perfectionist, so everything has to have a place, even if that means that things are in piles.

Before we had children, dh and I had decided that we were not going to allow the kids to "play" or have toys in their bedrooms. We were going to have a place in the corner of the living room or basement that would be their playroom. The rule is that the bedrooms are for book reading and sleeping, basically they are kept as a "little quiet getaway" for everyone. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that we have done that! It makes the cleaning of bedrooms so much easier. AND it actually makes picking up the toys easier too!

So with those things in mind, let me tell you what I have come up with for a system for those daily responsibilities that works well for us.

I have broken down the responsibilities into 3 groups--morning, afternoon, after dinner. This way we are not taking all day and we have time for other things (like school work!)

The morning responsibilities are:


make beds

vacuum bedrooms and living room

clean up kitchen--this is a quick clean after breakfast making sure that the dirty dishes are in the dishwasher and the floor is swept.

clean the bathrooms(sweep floor, clean sink, mirror, and toilet) >

start a load of laundry


The afternoon responsibilities are:


pick up playroom

take care of clean clothes in laundry baskets--this only happens on laundry day.

set table for dinner

clean up kitchen--another quick clean and lunch dishes

change load of laundry from washer to dryer

The after dinner responsibilities are:


clean up kitchen-- I love waking up in the morning to a clean kitchen!

sweep

eating area/kitchen floor

quick pick up of the playroom(if needed)

take care of trash and recycle

take care of laundry load in dryer

The above list is what is done on a daily basis. I delegate the majority of the chores listed above to my children. I work along aside my younger ones to help train them to the job correctly. The kids are old enough now that I am more of a trainer/overseer of the responsibilities rather than doing everything myself. I take care of my bedroom, the laundry, and the mopping of the kitchen floor.

On Saturday mornings, you will find the whole family works together as a team and does a deep cleaning of the house. Which means that the toys in the playroom are moved around so vacuuming can be done, and toys are put together rather than little pieces of things under the couch or thrown in the cabinets. The kitchen gets a floor mopped and cabinet fronts wiped down. All the rooms get a good vacuuming. Saturdays is also when the ceiling fans, furniture, and knick-knacks get dusted.

As a part of this family, the children have a responsibility to help us work together as a family to have a clean, healthy, and orderly environment. My desire is that I don't want my kids once they have their own place not knowing how to keep a place clean and orderly. They are learning now that helping to do the mundane every day responsibilities is a way of life. On the home-school front, I classify it as "Home Ec class"!

I have found this system to work well for us. With doing our system on a daily basis, if we are going to have company on a certain day, it only takes us about a 1/2 hour on that day to go thru the house and do a quick pick-up and sweep to clean our "hot spots".

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Camp Wannalaffalotta

Are you looking to take a break from the school books this summer or maybe just looking to keep the kids busy with activities so that you don't hear "Mom, I'm bored!"???

I have just the place to go every Monday starting on May 25th!!!  Head over to Life as Mom, where Jessica will be posting activities to do with your kids. They'll work around a theme and include crafts, storybooks, activities, games, and food.  She is planning on having more activities than you can do in a day so pick a few or pick them all and stretch it over the week until the next theme is posted!

She will be posting Camp Wannalaffalotta every Monday until Labor Day!  So make sure you stop by her blog to find fun summertime activities to do with your kids!

Creamy Pork Loin over Noodles

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a 5lb boneless half pork loins from the grocery store when it was on sale for $1.79/lb with thoughts of trying to get at least two meals out it for my family of seven!


The first meal was roasting the pork loin in my small roaster pan at 300° for 4 hours with a can of cream of chicken soup and one packet of onion soup mix and one soup can of water. I served the pork with boiled potatoes and gravy from the pork loin along with a couple of cans of green beans.


Once we were done with the meal, I made up a lunch container for hubby's lunch. Then the rest of the pork loin I put in a container in the fridge. Usually with leftover pork loin I just take the fat off of it and then add bbq sauce to make bbq pork sandwiches but this time I was looking for something different to do with pork loin.


So after much thought, I decided to make a spin-off of my creamy chicken dish and the results were good! My kids and I loved it and the hubby decided to just eat some plain skillet pork chops that I had done because I wasn't sure there would be enough of the creamy pork! So I am not sure what he would have said about it had he eaten the creamy pork.




Here is what I did:



2lbs pork loin, cooked and diced

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

1 tsp. garlic powder*

1-2 tsp. black pepper*

2-3 tsp. onion powder*

1/2 soup can milk



Put all the ingredients together in a pan and heat throughly. If it seems too soupy/thin, mix together 2 heaping tsp. flour with enough milk to make the mixture pourable and pour into the meat mixture. Bring to a boil to thicken. Serve over egg noodles.
*spice measurements are approximate!

There ended up being enough leftover of the creamy pork that I will be able to do up some more egg noodles and serve it to my kids for a lunch.

So the end results of getting a 5lb pork loin with the intent of making at least 2 meals was a succuss!

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Monday, May 18, 2009

Queso Dip aka Spicy Cheese

I love to have ingredients on hand for quick appetizers to make up for those last minute get togethers/summer picnics or those pitch-in lunches at hubby's work that  he needs to bring something and hubby forgets to tell me until the night before or those times when I just don't feel like cooking much but the family has to eat!  

One of those appetizers is Queso Dip!  This dip is quick & easy and is loved by all!!  It is a versatile dip in that you don't just have to use only tortilla chips. You can use crackers, and pretzels.   

All you need is a can of diced tomatoes(like Rotel), velveeta cheese, some cooked hamburger(if you so desire) and of course items to dip in the dip! 

If you want this as your light meal, add hamburger to it!  If you are wanting just to use it as an appetizer or do not have any hamburger on hand, skip the hamburger and just use the tomatoes and cheese. It is good either way!  My favorite way to use this dip is making a copycat Taco Bell Nacho Supreme!

The big funny about this recipe is that I can use diced tomatoes aka small tomato "chunks" and my hubby and kids who do NOT like "chunks" of any kind of veggie esp. tomatoes in their food will gobble this dip up like there won't be anything tomorrow to eat!

Here is the main recipe that I use to make up this yummy dip!

Queso Dip 

1-2lb cube Velveeta Cheese, cubed
1 can Rotel tomatoes or diced tomatoes, undrained 
½ pound of hamburger, cooked (approximately)

Slice up the Velveeta cheese in to a big bowl
Add ¼ cup milk 
Melt in the microwave

Add ground beef and Rotel tomatoes
Stir and put in crock pot on low for 2-3 hours

Serve with the tortilla chips!

To make for large get-togethers I make 2- 2lb Velveeta Cheese, 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes, and 1-1 ½ pound of hamburger.

Notes: This recipe works well on the stovetop. Also I do not add the milk in until the cheese is totally melted and the cheese appears to be too thick!  I use the milk to "thin" the cheese out!

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Menu Plan Monday 5/17-5/23


Last week's menu plan went pretty smoothly! I made enough of a couple of meals that we will be utilizing the leftovers for a couple of meals this week! I found myself scrambling to find lunches for hubby but his boss was in town for the week so hubby enjoyed a couple of lunches out with him (boss’ treat!).

For this week’s shopping trip, I only had a $100 to work with again and I was determined with calculator in hand that I was not going over that amount. I did it and still have some change leftover. Sara over at Learning the Frugal Life is having an Eat from the Pantry Challenge during May and you can read a glimpse of the positives and negatives of the week here.

This week’s menus are using leftovers to create leftover makeovers and also some more family tried & true dinners.

Lunches listed are for the kids & me. Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or baby carrots along with fruit juice or water.  Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch.

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 400 other delicious meal plans that have been linked at Laura-Organizing Junkie’s site or look down in my right sidebar for my menu suggestion lists! 


Sunday (5-17)

Breakfast: eggs, sausage or bacon, hash browns, and biscuits

Lunch: spaghetti (leftover from last week)

Dinner: McDonalds (celebrating a job well done in AWANA this year!)

Snack: snack basket

 

Monday (5-18)

Breakfast: cereal, and a bag of cinnamon donuts

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: pork loin gravy served over hot mashed potatoes and corn (leftover makeover meal)

Snack: snack basket

 

Tuesday (5-19)

Breakfast:  waffles and sausage

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: chicken nuggets served with French fries and a fresh veggie tray

Snack: snack basket

 

Wednesday (5-20)

Breakfast: bagels, and cereal

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: Taco Bar (beef & chicken), chips and spicy cheese dip

Snack: cookies & milk 


Thursday (5-21)

Breakfast: Pancakes and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  saucy chicken served with rice, peas, and homemade rolls

Snack: snack basket

 

Friday (5-22)

Breakfast: cereal and toaster strudel

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: grilled cheeseburgers served with pan fries

Snack: ice cream night          

 

Saturday (5-23)  

Breakfast: “Cook’s Choice”

Lunch:  chicken nuggets

Dinner:  grilled chicken served with potato pockets and corn or broccoli

Snack:  snack basket  or popcorn

 

 

 

 

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Singing Sunday

**This week this song has spoken to my heart on several different occasions! It is one that I have not been able to get out of my head today after hearing on the radio on the way home from church! I hope this song's lyrics will speak to your heart today!

I Will Rise
by Chris Tomlin

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well"

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"Worthy is the Lamb"
[x2]

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise