First the P*rn.....
Cucumbers, the gift that won't stop giving!
These cuke vines seriously think they are the mops in The Sorcerer's Apprentice movie.
Remember them? Mickey keeps splitting them with an axe and they keep dividing and growing legs.
Well, I keep picking these cucumbers and the vines keep spitting out new ones!
The above photo is what is left of one week's crop after salad making, cucumber slices in vinegar making, tzatziki sauce making and filling a ONE GALLON jar with pickles!
I know I'll regret cursing these babies come January when I am forced to pay $1.50 for ONE half shriveled CUKE!
But come on......this is getting comical!lol
Not much food shopping last week. Hubs picked up milk and pita bread early in the week.
I used the leftover smoked London Broil to make Gyros last week so we needed the pitas. I was able to use up some cucumbers when I made the Tzatziki sauce for the Gyros.
Yay me!
On the way home from our adventure on Thursday(more on that later), we picked up some 'loupes and corn at a farm market. Sunday I bought 3 dozen eggs at Kmart since they were on sale for $1 a carton and I was there already with Daughter college shopping.
Then on Monday, Hubs and I stopped again at the local independent grocer for fresh produce(g beans, squash, celery, peaches), more milk(geez!), OJ and I got snuckered into buying frozen pizzas for the teens. That was almost $20 spent.
Altogether I spent $33.15 in Week 2 on the food shopping.
My savings percentage ran a pitiful 33.27% this week.
Besides the milk, everything was on sale.
I used no Qs because, besides the pizzas, nothing was "couponable".
bleh.
As for a Meal Plan....last week was very free form, meaning, I had some sketchy ideas but Hubs would want to get take-out or go out for lunch(while the teens were still asleep). After a big lunch I wasn't about to make a big dinner, so the teens would have to make their own "food". I say "food" because though they ate at 2 in the afternoon, it was really their breakfast and then #2 son would snack/graze again around 7pm(while Daughter would go with her friend and eat while out), and then Daughter would break out a bowl of cereal around midnight and #2 son would end up banging around in the kitchen around 1am again, making another meal for himself.
I just said to heck with plans and let everyone do their own thing last week. When Hubs and I weren't out lunching it, we'd scare up some scrambled eggs or sandwiches or just throw some leftovers together for ourselves. The day we came home with the corn on the cob from the farm market, I pulled some steaks out of the freezer and we did grilled corn and steaks on the spur of the moment that evening.
I'm still working on this week's Meal Plan.
Sunday was TacoHell Bell since Hubs was still on vacation and I spent all day with Daughter collecting college things. Monday was leftovers since Hubs and I used a gift certificate at a local restaurant for a late lunch so I wasn't cooking dinner.
Dishes I am definitely making this week: Squash Casserole and fresh Green Beans with Bacon.
In the leftover department, I have two ears of corn which will make an appearance in Clam Chowder, and a steak which will become Beef Stroganoff with the addition of mushrooms, onions, sour cream, a lot of paprika and other spices.
Depending on if/when Daughter will be home for meals this week and if #2 son wants dinner when he gets home at 9pm after Marching Band Camp each night, I'll try to just fill in the gaps with something from what is already in the house.
I've spent $174.15 of my $250 food budget with half the month left to go.
I have $75.85 left in my funds.
Is it me, or has the price of food gone up so much for what we normally buy that it's getting very difficult to stay under our old food budgets?
I don't drink coffee and I have quite a large stockpile of it for Hubs currently but I've heard that this item has dramatically increased lately in a very short time frame. Is this true?
I have heard that the drought in much of the country, it is leading to cattle and poultry being taken to slaughter early. The cost and availability of feed grain is making it hard to keep herds/flocks at their current sizes. This is going to make for some cheaper prices in these food items short term, but will eventually lead to higher prices the next year or two since there will be less animals for market.
This makes me want to load up on meats now.
What do you think?
Sluggy
These cuke vines seriously think they are the mops in The Sorcerer's Apprentice movie.
Remember them? Mickey keeps splitting them with an axe and they keep dividing and growing legs.
Well, I keep picking these cucumbers and the vines keep spitting out new ones!
The above photo is what is left of one week's crop after salad making, cucumber slices in vinegar making, tzatziki sauce making and filling a ONE GALLON jar with pickles!
I know I'll regret cursing these babies come January when I am forced to pay $1.50 for ONE half shriveled CUKE!
But come on......this is getting comical!lol
Not much food shopping last week. Hubs picked up milk and pita bread early in the week.
I used the leftover smoked London Broil to make Gyros last week so we needed the pitas. I was able to use up some cucumbers when I made the Tzatziki sauce for the Gyros.
Yay me!
On the way home from our adventure on Thursday(more on that later), we picked up some 'loupes and corn at a farm market. Sunday I bought 3 dozen eggs at Kmart since they were on sale for $1 a carton and I was there already with Daughter college shopping.
Then on Monday, Hubs and I stopped again at the local independent grocer for fresh produce(g beans, squash, celery, peaches), more milk(geez!), OJ and I got snuckered into buying frozen pizzas for the teens. That was almost $20 spent.
Altogether I spent $33.15 in Week 2 on the food shopping.
My savings percentage ran a pitiful 33.27% this week.
Besides the milk, everything was on sale.
I used no Qs because, besides the pizzas, nothing was "couponable".
bleh.
As for a Meal Plan....last week was very free form, meaning, I had some sketchy ideas but Hubs would want to get take-out or go out for lunch(while the teens were still asleep). After a big lunch I wasn't about to make a big dinner, so the teens would have to make their own "food". I say "food" because though they ate at 2 in the afternoon, it was really their breakfast and then #2 son would snack/graze again around 7pm(while Daughter would go with her friend and eat while out), and then Daughter would break out a bowl of cereal around midnight and #2 son would end up banging around in the kitchen around 1am again, making another meal for himself.
I just said to heck with plans and let everyone do their own thing last week. When Hubs and I weren't out lunching it, we'd scare up some scrambled eggs or sandwiches or just throw some leftovers together for ourselves. The day we came home with the corn on the cob from the farm market, I pulled some steaks out of the freezer and we did grilled corn and steaks on the spur of the moment that evening.
I'm still working on this week's Meal Plan.
Sunday was Taco
Dishes I am definitely making this week: Squash Casserole and fresh Green Beans with Bacon.
In the leftover department, I have two ears of corn which will make an appearance in Clam Chowder, and a steak which will become Beef Stroganoff with the addition of mushrooms, onions, sour cream, a lot of paprika and other spices.
Depending on if/when Daughter will be home for meals this week and if #2 son wants dinner when he gets home at 9pm after Marching Band Camp each night, I'll try to just fill in the gaps with something from what is already in the house.
I've spent $174.15 of my $250 food budget with half the month left to go.
I have $75.85 left in my funds.
Is it me, or has the price of food gone up so much for what we normally buy that it's getting very difficult to stay under our old food budgets?
I don't drink coffee and I have quite a large stockpile of it for Hubs currently but I've heard that this item has dramatically increased lately in a very short time frame. Is this true?
I have heard that the drought in much of the country, it is leading to cattle and poultry being taken to slaughter early. The cost and availability of feed grain is making it hard to keep herds/flocks at their current sizes. This is going to make for some cheaper prices in these food items short term, but will eventually lead to higher prices the next year or two since there will be less animals for market.
This makes me want to load up on meats now.
What do you think?
Sluggy
You know what? I can't remember the last cuke I had! That sounds SO good!
ReplyDeleteHubs, Loupes, Cukes... Honestly, the language on this Blog!
ReplyDeleteYour Friend, m.
McVal--Come on over and get you some! I just pulled 2 more ginormous cukes out of the garden while weeding. ACK!!!lol
ReplyDeleteMark--Well you know what they say Mark....first p*rn, now bad words. My blog is going to heck, isn't it? ;-)
Sluggy, I stopped by to see the cuke p*rn. You should photo shop the cukes on SonyaAnn's HOT male photos LOL
ReplyDeleteTeddy will take them off your hands too!
ReplyDeleteYou can whizz them in your food processor, drain the liquid (a strainer with a coffee filter over a bowl does the trick). Give the pulp to the dog (mix it with some chicken broth and any dog will eat it!). Add a little witch hazel to the strained liquid, and you have a very cooling skin toner. Freeze some for winter, but label it so you don't forget what it is!
Coffee that was $3.98 is now $10.98. The $3.98 price is what WM used to pull in customers. Then, instead of it going back up to the regular $8.98 or less, the price shot up to the $10.98 mark. NO, I don't drink coffee but watch these things.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that the Fiber One granola bars that I love and rarely purchase because I am a pig and just eat the whole box in one day is now almost $3 where it was $2. I was eyeing a bag of Ruffles. When I saw the $4.29 price, I choked and backed off.
Fruits and vegetables at the grocery and at the farmer's markets have not budged upwards one bit. I keep wondering why.
Cucumbers in vinegar will be good in January. Can you keep a couple of quarts in the refrigerator?
Ooops, about meat. I had not heard this about the meat going to market sooner or anything about prices of meat. But, Just this week, I decided to start canning meat. Yeah, and I need a proper pressure cooker/canner for it.
ReplyDeleteOn my blog a few days ago, I posted a video about canning bacon. It apparently can be done! Canning meat would have several advantages--1)take advantage of sales, 2)store without using electricity, 3) have meat at a lower price when meat prices do rise. Of course, bacon canning is not my goal. I would freeze it in smaller than 1.3 pound amounts. Maybe use a pint instead of a quart.
I am not going to mention as an advantage the possibility of TEOTWAWKI and the fact you will have meat when those around you don't...lol.
If the electricity goes off for so long like it did after the tornado, I would not be stressed about my meat stores. Plus, other than the cost of a proper pressure canner, it sounds doable for anyone.
I agree completely that the prices are going up. I don't think this is a spike, I think this is just the new norm. And I think that the really great deals are going to fade away just like the credit card points. When the interest rates go up, it will really hit.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed grocery prices inching up. We are not spending more, but we are getting less for the same money.
ReplyDelete