Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $160.56

I did my major grocery shopping last week before the stores(and me) really started getting very busy with the holiday rush.  I was planning on just needing to stop in the stores long enough to keep milk in the house but found out that I was going to be hosting the family Christmas day dinner at my house.  Which meant that my plans of no more shopping until the beginning of the new year was not going to happen!  I made a stop at Gordon Food Service rather than going to a local grocery store and spent $20.15 after my 5% discount($1.01) to grab a 7.37lb spiral ham at $1.61/lb, 3lbs shredded hashbrowns, 2lbs baby carrots, and 500ct muffin paper liners that I needed to make it through the holidays.  I didn't include the Gordon's run in the totals below because I am not sure how much(if any) of it will be reimbursed by my family.

Not only did I make to my regular grocery stores but I went to the bread outlet and made my monthly run to Sam's Club.

Here is the breakdown of the last major shopping of 2009:

Aunt Millie's Bakery Outlet:

• 2 pkgs brown n serve rolls $1.58 (reg. $1.89 each)
• 6 pkgs 8ct. hamburg buns $4.14 (reg. $1.99 each)
• 2 pkgs 12 ct powdered sugar donuts $1.49 (reg. $2.89 each)
• 4 loaves sandwich bread $3.56 (reg. $1.69 each)

Total OOP: $10.77

Total Savings: $17.49

Total without going to the outlet: $28.26

Meijer: 

• 5.68 lbs split chicken breasts $5.62
• 23.05 lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts $38.95
• 2 pkgs cream cheese 88¢
• 4 dozen eggs $2.97
• 2 lbs cheese $3.96
• 1 lb shredded cheese $1.98
• 2 bottles apple juice $2.34
• 2 jars applesauce $2.34
• 1 box toaster strudel 89¢
• 1 pkg Pillsbury Simply cookie dough 99¢
• 2 pkgs Pillsbury cookie dough $1.98
• 2 bottles Ocean Spray juice $3.56
• 1 bag pretzels $2.49
• 1 bag Reames egg noodles $2.24
• 3-12 pk Dr. Pepper $11.22 (with bottle deposit)
• 2 bags Lays potato chips $3.98
• 1 box popcorn shrimp $3.99
• 2 bags dark chocolate M&Ms $3.00
• 2 bags peanut holiday M&Ms $3.00
• 1 block Velveeta cheese $3.74
• 4 boxes brown n serve sausage links $4.00
• 2 pkgs lil' smokie sausages $4.00
• 4lbs boneless skinless chicken tenders $7.99

Total OOP after $1 off shopping order cpn: $115.05

Total Savings: $82.23

Total without sales and coupons: $197.28

Family Fare: 

• 6 Totinos pizza $7.00
• 1 family pk. Gortons fish fillets $5.59
• 4 bags frozen corn $2.61
• 1/2 gallon buttermilk $2.59
• 4 tubes Pillsbury crescent rolls $5.28
• 4 tubes Pillsbury cinnamon rolls $5.26
• 16 cans DelMonte veggies $8.04
• 6 boxes Kleenex $8.54(with tax)
• 2 bags Betty Crocker cookie mix $2.53
• 2 pks Chi Chi snacker salsa $2.58
• 4 boxes Jello instant chocolate pudding $2.40
• .68 lbs thin cut top round steak $2.47
• 9.46lbs ground beef $16.93
• 2 boxes Pillsbury cake mix $1.76
• 16lbs potatoes $2.99
• 2 gallons milk $4.00
• 2 containers Breyers icecream $4.54

Total OOP after $3.90 bottle refund: $81.21

Total Savings: $60.84

Total without sales and coupons: $142.05

Grand Total OOP: $207.03

Grand Total Savings: $160.56

Grand Total without sales, bread outlets, and coupons: $367.59

This post is linked to: 

• Shopping Round Up at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

1 Corithians 13---Christmas Version

I was looking through my archives and found this poem that I posted a couple of years ago when I was just getting my blog started.  It really still speaks to my heart, so I decided to repost it and share it again with everyone. We can bake cookies, cook extravagant meals, decorate the house inside(every room!) and out for the Christmas and totally forget what our focus should be not just during the holiday season but all year long! We need to keep our focus on the real Reason for the season! Christ came as a baby so that He could give us the ultimate gift of love by dying on the cross for our sins! Merry Christmas to you and your family!!

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,

strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,

but do not show love to my family,

I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen,

baking dozens of Christmas cookies,

preparing gourmet meals and arranging

a beautifully adorned table at mealtime:

I’m just another cook.

If I work at a soup kitchen,

carol in the nursing home,

and give all that I have to charity;

but do not show love to my family,

it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels

and crocheted snowflakes,

attend a myriad of holiday parties

and sing in the choir’s cantata

but do not focus on Christ,I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love does not envy another’s home

that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way,

but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love does not give only to those who are able

to give in return; but rejoices in giving

to those who cannot.

Love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

and endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break,

pearl necklaces will be lost,

golf clubs will rust,

but giving the gift of love will endure.

~~~~Author Unknown~~~~

Home Looks Like Christmas!

Welcome to my home!!!!

This is a fresh swag of greens and berries that is gracing my front door. 

Here is our nativity set.  We have it on shelf over our window in our living room.  It is one of the first things someone would see walking into the room.  

Here is a poinsettia flower arrangement that I put together myself that I have setting on my desk.

Here is our fresh cut tree.  We get a fresh cut tree every year. We decorate it with white lights and various silver, red, and gold ornaments.  We also have several special ornaments, like Hallmark's baby's first Christmas that are adorning our tree.

We have snowman that are starting to appear on our tree too!  The snowman ornament on the left is a snowman family that we got when we just had four kids!  The snowman ornament on the right is a glass ornament and it came in a set with five others and they are scattered around on our tree. 

Here is another swag that we have setting on our entertainment center.  Also on the entertainment center is our stack of Christmas CDs that we listen to often during the holidays.

Phillips, Craig, and Dean's Christmas CD is one of my favorites while hubby loves the Ray Coniff singers!

I love having the simple decorations around the house! The basket of pine cones and the winter scene tins are just few of the simple decorations that you will find around my house.  These decorations are such that I can leave up through the winter months without feeling like they are just "Christmas decorations".

This year I add a few things to my decorations in my living room.  These items are on the top of a bookcase.  There is the ceramic Christmas bell that I made with my Grandma, who has passed away, when I was five. There is a bunch of poinsettia flowers and snowman.  The ceramic church in the picture was my hubby's Grandma's, who also has passed away and it was given to us because we were the only other ones in the family that actually went to church. The picture of the man in uniform is my hubby's Grandfather who served in World War II.  This picture was taken back during the war. I love having this picture part of the decorations because it reminds me to pray for our current men and women in the armed forces that are at home and abroad!


Thank you for stopping by my home today!  I hope that you enjoyed your visit!

This post is linked to: 

• Christmas Tour of Homes with the Nester  at Nesting Place!
• Home for the Holidays at Southern Hospitality!
• Holiday House Tour  at Hooked on Houses!
• Christmas Tree Party at Thrifty Decor Chick!

Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $37.96

This week, I did something unintentionally! I forgot to take my coupon folder with me when I went shopping!  I only needed a few items and there was only a couple of things that I needed with my coupons so it wasn't too bad.  However, not having my coupon folder made me think more on whether I really needed to get the item or if I just wanted it to stockpile.  I guess you even could say that I saved myself more money than what I actually did on paper by not getting items "just because".

Also with my pantry looking like this...
and my upright stand alone freezer looking about the same, I figured there wasn't much to get this week in the grocery department in order to have enough food to feed the family for the week.

So with that picture in mind, here is what I purchased this week to finish stretching what I already have on hand:

Meijer:

• 2.28 lbs bananas $1.00
• 1 lb baby carrots $1.29
• 4 dozen eggs $4.46
• 2 gallons milk $4.58
• 2 lbs shredded hashbrowns $5.38
• 3 boxes markdown bakery donuts $7.75
• 3 loaves Aunt Millie's bread $2.00
• 1 container Dean's moose track ice cream $2.79
• 4 pkgs Eckrich smoky links $9.16
• 2 loaves Coles garlic toast $2.00
• 3lbs apples $1.00
• 4 boxes pizza rolls $4.00
• 2 bags sandwich bags $2.00
• 2 cans Campbells tomato soup $1.18

Total OOP: $48.71

Total Savings: $21.19

Total without sales: $69.90

Family Fare: 

• 2 pkgs flour tortillas $3.48
• 1 gallon milk $2.49
• 6 lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts $9.99
• 1lb Kraft Mozzarella cheese $2.19
• 2 bottles(64oz) Indian Summer apple juice $2.59

Total OOP: $20.74

Total Savings: $16.77

Total without sales: $37.51

Grand Total OOP: $69.45

Grand Total Savings: $37.96

Grand Total without sales $107.41

This post is linked to:

• Super Savings Saturday at MoneySavingMom!
• Shopping Round Up at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

Menu Plan Monday 12/6-12/12

Last week’s menu plans went well!  We had friends, who are unemployed, over for dinner on Friday night.  I made homemade pizza!  I made my dough in my bread machine.  Oh was it good!  I made it with half whole wheat flour and everyone enjoyed it!

I did grocery shopping this past week!  I finally was able to find some pork that actually looked good!  We like to have a variety of meat and we haven’t pork for over a month because I was just not finding any that didn’t look all fatty. I also was able to snag some meat that was markdown by 80%!

This week’s meals are some of the family favorites.  We are having a new furnace, A/C unit and water heater installed on Monday and Tuesday so those meals might end up getting changed due to having gas available to run the stove or not.  It will be nice to have heat all the time rather than 25% of the time.

For this week’s lunches that are for the kids and me! Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or carrot sticks along with fruit juice or water.  Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch so I don’t take the time to plan his lunches.  

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 300 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 (12-6)

Breakfast: eggs, sausage, hash browns, and jiffy muffins

Lunch: leftover spaghetti dinner with garlic toast

Dinner:  Arby’s

Snack: snack basket

Monday (12-7)

Breakfast: cereal and muffins

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: creamy chicken served over egg noodles and green peas as a side

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (12-8)

Breakfast:  waffles and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  pork chops, served with rice, green beans and crescent rolls

Snack: snack basket

Wednesday (12-9)

Breakfast:  bagels and cereal

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  Taco Bar

Snack: snack basket

Thursday (12-10)

Breakfast:  Pancakes (from freezer) and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: chicken rice soup served with homemade bread

Snack: snack basket

Friday (12-11)

Breakfast:  cereal and toast

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: beef gravy served over egg noodles and peas as a side

Snack: ice cream night

Saturday (12-12)

Breakfast:  Your Choice

Lunch: ????

Dinner: chicken club sandwiches served with fries and carrot sticks

Snack: popcorn

Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $100.21

I did my shopping this week on two different days due to my schedule.  Because of my previous shopping a couple of weeks ago, I didn't actually need a whole lot other than some meat to last me through until payday on the 15th.

Now that winter is here, I like keep a good stockpile so that if the weather is too bad to go out shopping I can put it off for a couple of days.

I found some awesome deals on a couple of cuts of meat! The London Broil had a regular price of $12.48 and I got the 2.50 lbs for $3.12  I also got a .88 lb of Boneless thin cut Top Round Steak for $1.60 instead of $4.57!!!  It ended up being like 80% off the original price and the main reason for markdown is that it needed to be sold that day.  Well I bought them and stuck in my freezer right away.  The London Broil will make a great beef gravy and noodle meal and the Top Round Steak will be a great item to cut for making breakfast steak for hubby.

Other than the markdown meat, here is the breakdown of the other items I purchased this week:

Save A Lot: 

• 3.69 lbs bananas $1.23 (on sale 3 lbs for $1!!)
• 4 cans cream of chicken soup $2.36
• 1 can light kidney beans 59¢
• 6 jars pizza sauce $5.94

Total OOP: $10.12

Total savings: priceless! :) 

Family Fare: 

• 1 carton Spartan Moose Track ice cream $2.00
• 2 bag Gorton's fish fillets $9.73
• 1 box Gorton's breaded shrimp poppers $3.22
• 2 bottles 64 oz Spartan Apple Juice $2.98
• 2 boxes(25 1/4 oz) Honey Nut Cheerios  $5.67
• 2lbs baby carrots $2.29
• 2.50 lbs beef london broil $3.12
• 2.77 lbs pork loin chops $5.51
• 7.31 lbs ground beef from chuck $13.09
• .88 lbs thin cut top round steak $1.60
• 4.75 lbs pork loin $9.45
• 2 gallons Hawaiian punch $4.67
• 10 lbs sugar $3.98
• 2 gallons milk $4.00
• 1 Spartan self rising crust pizza $1.88

Total OOP: $73.19

Total Savings $48.39

Total without sales & coupons: $121.58

Meijer: 

• 2 bottles kids vitamins $16.94
• 1 gallon bleach $1.79
• 2 pkgs Eckrich smoky links $5.98
• 10 boxes Kraft Mac & Cheese $4.40
• 2 bags Fritos $3.18
• 2 boxes Frosted Mini Wheats $2.26
• 2 boxes Kelloggs cereal $2.76
• 4 bags Sargento shredded cheese $7.01
• 1 bottle Miracle Whip $2.49
• 1 lb bacon $1.94
• 2 bags Tyson breaded chicken $7.98
• 2 gallons milk $4.00
• 15 cups Yoplait Yogurt $6.70
• 8 lbs boneless/skinless chicken breast $15.98

Total OOP after $2 off shopping order cpn: $81.41

Total Savings: $51.82

Total without sales & coupons: $133.23

Grand Total OOP: $164. 72

Grand Total Savings: $100.21

Grand Total without sales and coupons: $264.93

This post is linked to: 

• Super Savings Saturday at MoneySavingMom!
• Grocery Shopping Round Up at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

When Winter Comes to the Midwest!

My area of the Midwest received about 12 inches of new snow overnight!  This is our first measurable snow of the season!  It was beautiful this morning to look at but not to drive around town!  It took hubby over 45 minutes to get to work that is 15 minutes away on dry roads!

my backyard!

the trees across the street!

the view down the street into the cul-de-sac!

Crockpot Roast and Veggies

As we get into the holiday season, I love making meals that are simple and easy to prepare or fall under the "fix and forget it until dinnertime" category.

Crockpot Roast and Veggies falls under both of those categories and is enjoyed by the whole family!  The other thing about this dish is that if I fix it and end up having unexpected guests there is still plenty to serve up for dinner.

When I make this dish, I use a beef eye of round roast from Sam's Club that is usually between 4 and 5 pounds.  I get one this size because I know that it will work for two meals for my family.

I cook the whole roast along with 9 or 10 potatoes and at least 1 pound bag of carrots. I have several kids that do not like cooked carrots of any kind but will eat crunchy fresh carrot sticks so I serve those with this dish as well.

As for spices that I put on the roast, I use a packet of onion soup mix,  about 2-4 tsp. garlic powder and shake on about 1-2 TSP black pepper.  I also put 2 cans of beef broth in the pot.

I put all the ingredients in my crockpot on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Lately for this dish I have been using my small roaster at 225° for about 5 hours.

Once the roast and veggies are cooked, I drain the liquid off and use it for making up some homemade beef gravy to use with it.  I drain the liquid into another pan.  I put it on the stove and bring it to a boil.  Once the broth is boiling I add thickener (flour, cornstarch and milk mixture) to it.

When I make this meal, I try to make sure that there are leftovers, not just the roast but the veggies so that I can make a second quick meal.  If there are meat and veggies leftovers, then I make my veggie beef stew. If there is only meat leftovers, then I make my beef gravy and noodles meal.

This post is linked to:

• Food On Fridays at Ann Kroeker’s!
• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge!
• Friday Feasts at Mom Trends!
• Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum!

Menu Plan Monday 11/29-12/5

Last week’s menu plans went well!  We ended up not having anyone over for Thanksgiving but that was okay as it was nice to just sit down as a family and enjoy our simple Thanksgiving meal and go around the table sharing things to be thankful.  I fixed the 12 lb turkey and was able to get not only our Thanksgiving meal out of it but also a turkey pot pie!  There was also enough meat for the kids to have some turkey sandwiches for a lunch. I love the fact that my $4.38 turkey gave my family 2 dinner meals and 2 lunch meals (the second lunch was the leftover pot pie)!

This week’s meals are simple meals and I am using what I have on hand in the pantry and freezer. I wasn’t planning on doing grocery shopping until later in the week. I might be able to make it until next week without doing any grocery shopping! However, I don’t want to run my pantry and freezer too low as I prefer to keep it stocked with the weather becoming cold and snowy.  I don’t want to end up doing grocery shopping in a snowstorm!

For this week’s lunches that are for the kids and me! Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or carrot sticks along with fruit juice or water.  Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch so I don’t take the time to plan his lunches.  

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 300 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 (11-29)

Breakfast: eggs, sausage, hash browns, and cinnamon rolls

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  Long John Silvers

Snack: snack basket

Monday (11-30)

Breakfast: cereal and poptarts

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: turkey pot pie and leftover homemade rolls

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (12-1)

Breakfast:  waffles and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  roast, carrots and potatoes

Snack: snack basket

Wednesday (12-2)

Breakfast:  bagels and cereal

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  spaghetti and garlic toast

Snack: snack basket

Thursday (12-3)

Breakfast:  French Toast (from freezer) and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: chicken, fish, and shrimp, served with pan fries and corn

Snack: snack basket

Friday (12-4)

Breakfast:  cereal and toast

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: burgers & hotdogs served with fries and carrots

Snack: ice cream night

Saturday (12-5)

Breakfast:  Your Choice

Lunch:

Dinner: Taco Bar

Snack: popcorn

Fried vs Baked Bacon

The last time I went to fix bacon I decided that I was going to try baking it rather than frying it.  I heard and read of many people baking their bacon and the reviews were making me start to think twice about frying it.  However, I am have been a die hard bacon frying person only so making the change seemed so hard to do! I have picky eaters to worry about and just the thought of "change" seemed to haunt me. But I pressed on and made the effort to trying to bake some bacon!

In order to make the change over to baking the bacon,  I decided that I would fry half of a pound of bacon in my skillet.

I baked the rest of the pound of bacon in the oven at 400°on my Pampered Chef large baking pan(jelly roll style pan with edges to catch the grease).

(fried on the left, baked on the right)

Here is the results:

Fried:

• more greasy
• more crispy
• cooked to smaller pieces
• more wavy--not really flat for putting on a sandwich!
• had grease to clean up all over my stove!

Baked:

• thicker pieces
• flatter pieces that fit better on a sandwich
• crispy yet chewy
• less greasy
• less mess
• took less time and less watchful eye

Overall Results: The baked bacon got rave reviews from my family! My "picky eater" hubby raved about the baked bacon!!  He told me that he would appreciate it if I baked the bacon from now on because he enjoyed it so much.  He said that it tasted more like how the restaurants cook their bacon. My kids even could tell a difference between the cooking styles. They enjoyed it as well.

So this Momma is making a change in her kitchen!!  I am switching to baking the bacon!

This post is linked to: 

• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!
  
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace!
• Tuesdays at the Table over at All the Small Stuff!

Menu Plan Monday 11/22-11/28

Last week’s menu plans went well!  I was able to do my grocery shopping on Wednesday last week so I could finish my menu planning. It feels good to have a stocked freezer and pantry again so that meals are not so hard to plan.  

This week’s meals are simple meals aside from turkey dinner on Thursday.  As it stands right now it will be just my immediate family (hubby & my 5 kids) here for Thanksgiving.  Since it is just the seven of us, I will not be going to great lengths for a big spread of food but just what we would normally do for a big dinner.  I will also do a special dessert/treat on that day that I normally wouldn’t do if it was just our simple weekly dinner.   Things could change though as we talked to one of our pastors at church who is in charge of the college ministry.  We told him if there was any college adults that needed a place to go for Thanksgiving, our home was open for them to come and enjoy a home cooked meal!  If we have anyone come it will be just a matter of changing the amount of potatoes I mash and the amount of veggies I do because I have a 12 lb turkey that I am cooking!

For this week’s lunches that are for the kids and me except for Thursday and Friday! Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or carrot sticks along with fruit juice or water.  Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch so I don’t take the time to plan his lunches.  Hubby only has to work through Wednesday so lunches at the end of the week will be a little different from the usual fare.

I went shopping at the grocery stores and Sam’s Club on Wednesday!  I have enough food now in the house that I will make it through the next two weeks without too much trouble. I am really beginning to love this shopping every two weeks rather than the weekly trips.  Doing these every two week trips will be beneficial through the winter months because of the not knowing when I might not be able to make it during a week.

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 300 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 (11-22)

Breakfast: eggs, sausage, hash browns, and donuts

Lunch: pizza  

Dinner: Wendy’s (after church)

Snack: snack basket

Monday (11-23)

Breakfast: cereal and donuts or banana bread

Lunch: homemade lunchables or sandwich and chips

Dinner: beef gravy served over egg noodles and peas for veggie

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (11-24)

Breakfast:  waffles and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  chicken clubs served with fries and corn

Snack: snack basket

Wednesday (11-25)

Breakfast:  bagels and cereal

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner:  saucy chicken served with rice and green beans

Snack: snack basket

Thursday (11-26) HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Breakfast:  Pancakes and sausage

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: roasted turkey, mashed taters & gravy, sweet potatoes, corn, homemade bread and easy pudding pie

Snack: snack basket

Friday (11-27)

Breakfast:  cereal and toast

Lunch: sandwich & chips

Dinner: pizza & fries

Snack: ice cream night

Saturday (11-28)

Breakfast:  Your Choice

Lunch: turkey leftovers

Dinner:  oven fried chicken, fries and corn

Snack: popcorn