Monday, July 28, 2014

This Week on the Dining Table

The "It's Nice to be Home Again" Edition........


This will be an oddball edition of TWOTDT since I have been away from home for 2 weeks(+ a few more days).
Hubs didn't make a plan for eating while I was away, nor did he keep track of what they did actually eat. 

All I could get out of him was--
*They finished up the leftovers(Lemon Chicken w/Zuke, a massive pan of Lasagna).
*Hubs made pasta at least 2 nights.
*They bought a pizza one night and Burger King another night.
*Hubs thought he defrosted BSCB but it turned out to be pork chops, so they ate chops one night.
 
Hubs ate what was here basically for 2 weeks.  He made 1 trip to the grocery store and spent $36.24 on $45.26 worth of groceries.
That was it.

So I stopped for groceries on the way home on Friday and spent $29.23.

Then Hubs and I hit Wegman's and the restaurant supply store on Sunday because the fridge was practically bare by then.  This trip added $165 to our grocery spending total for July.  I could have done less damage to the food budget if I hadn't bought that 15 lb. piece of brisket to make some barbecue with in my smoker later this week. 
But it was calling my name, and my name is "Sucker for a nice piece of meat". 
I'll smoke the whole thing up and then freezer 2/3rds of it for eating later on this Fall.


Going into this week, in leftovers we have.........not much of anything except for a leftover tub of pasta Hubs cooked while I was gone and 3 bananas he bought and never got around to eating.  (I see banana bread baking in my immediate future.)

On my big shopping excursion Sunday we bought--cabbage, chicken, romaine lettuce, corn on cob, carrots, green beans, brisket, shredded cheese and will be incorporating those items into the meal plan.

Here is the plan for this week......

1.  Chicken Cutlets in black pepper sauce, COC, Caesar salad
2.  Zucchini and Carrot casserole, Green bean casserole
3.  Tacos or Taco salad(had iceberg)
4.  Barbecue brisket, leftover casseroles
5.  Fish(had), Coleslaw, mixed veggies(had)(I'll have salad instead)
6.  Burgers on rolls(had), leftover COC, baked beans(had)
7.  Leftovers of some sort

And that takes us up to next Sunday.

 
What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?
Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten that week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?
 

Sluggy

24 comments:

  1. Green grapes--$.99/lb.
    Cherries--$2.50/lb.
    Pineapples--$0.99
    Vidalia onion--$0.69/lb.
    There were other similar prices on lots of produce, but since I only have $2+ dollars to my name, there is no use even looking in the Wed. paper again. I forgot to buy a paper this Sunday!

    A friend gave me tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and squash. Someone else gave me two cucumbers. I like those prices.

    AND, I just received a $130 refund from AT&T, and I have no idea why. This is after cutting off the UVerse TV. ??? I received $33 after getting rid of the home phone.

    School supplies are a good price. Spiral notebooks with 70 sheets were $0.25 at Office Max. Sharpies were also $0.25. Crayola crayons--$0.50 for a big box. The box of 8 crayons was $0.87. ???

    I have no idea what I am going to eat except it involves chicken breast and salad greens, corn I cut off the cob.. Except for the steak I need to marinate right now for Thursday.`

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hopefully after your check arrives some of those goodies will still be on sale. I'd love to get Vidalias for .69¢ lb here......
      I came home and had to restock on all my fresh produce.

      Delete
    2. I had the $130 AT&T check in my hot little fist last night since I went out to check the mail after I started the comment. Those items were just the ones I bought. There were lots of other deals. I have until tonight to get more of these deals. And, the cherries are $1.99.lb. I misspoke.

      Did they eat the produce or let it sit there and go to waste? How much are VIdalias up there?

      Delete
    3. I didn't leave much produce when I left for my trip b/c I knew they'd let it rot. They did ignore a bag of salad greens to death however. lol

      Vidalias are usually over $1lb. here at their lowest.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. lol....me neither. You have to know I did NOT buy that! I could paint one just as good or better. 8-)

      Delete
    2. So could I! I often wonder why buys those things.

      Delete
  3. No store sales yet, but enough free fruit to last forever and as long as it is free I will process it! Apricots, peaches, plums oh my!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lucky you having a source for all that free fruit!

      Delete
  4. No good deals. But I'm a sucker for a good piece of meat too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes you are.....and you know where to go for the good stuff. lol

      Delete
  5. Hello from the other side of the pond. Found your blog a few days ago. I am curious. How are the grocery spending costs calculated? Do you subtract the value of the coupons etc that you use?
    I try to use coupons and vouchers over here but they are no way as plentiful as over in the USA. But I still keep a tally of how much they save me each week.
    Very best wishes,
    Blodwyninexile

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Blodwyninexile. Welcome to my blog.
      I use very few coupons nowadays(use to be the coupon queen), unless I am buying toiletries, paper or cleaning products, as the food Qs nowadays here are for things I don't buy.
      I use a price book so I know when to buy in the sales cycle and I rarely buy anything at full retail price. I wait for sales and stock up and eat seasonally/locally too. I shop at non-reg. grocery stores--like restaurant supply stores, dollar stores and Amish-run discount food outlets(with dented cans, overruns, items near/past sell by dates, that sort of thing). I also garden and go to farm stands and buy direct from farmers in the Summer/Fall.
      I home can relish and tomatoes each Fall. I don't do jellies and jams tho as we don't really eat much of that. I prefer veggies frozen to canned too.

      I figure out the reg. retail price of what I purchase at discount and that gives me my savings rate.
      I also try to stay at or under $400US for a food budget each month.
      I don't actually put my grocery savings into my bank account. But I do live below our means each month(and saving on food plays into that)and I bank whatever cash we have leftover at the end of each month as a part of my yearly Savings Challenge(separate page linked on top of the blog is tracked there).
      Thanks for reading!

      Delete
    2. Thanks for that.We try to shop around by using a price comparison site together with my price book.

      We garden but not as well as we could - improving year on year and we do manage to trade some food from our garden for other friuts and veg from a neighbour. We freeze excess fruits and love to make jams and jellies.

      Very little food gets wasted as I try to purchase only what I need and know we will use.

      How many folk does your monthly food budget feed and do you include toiletries/cleaning stuff etc in the $400?

      Delete
    3. We have 3 home fulltime right now, which will drop to just 2 next month when our son goes away to college. I will be dropping our food budget to $300 in September since it's just 2 of us then. My $400 includes all.....dog food, people food, cleaning supplies, toiletries and paper products. It doesn't include eating out or take-out food--that is counted on our entertainment budget.

      I've been a food waste watcher since 2008 when I was in The Compact Group. We do fairly well at avoiding waste unless I go on a trip for 2 weeks and am not here to make sure things get used. lolz

      Delete
  6. Hi Sluggy!

    What is BSCB an abbreviation for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI Tami!
      BSCB=Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

      Delete
  7. I'm loving the "defrosted chicken, found out it was pork chops". That would definitely happen in my house as well. ;-) Welcome back!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. lol...that's what I get for not labeling frozen assets....nobody knows what's in them but me!

      Nice to be back.....I think......hehehe

      Delete
  8. I would get a shrug out of my boys and then I would have to sort through a bunch of receipts to try and figure it out.
    Hope that getting back into the swing of "real life" isn't too hard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well that's what happened here....only I had to hunt down the receipts myself. lol

      Delete
  9. I have to ask, when you freeze meats like that so that they're edible a few months from now, do you do anything special? Me and my dad have had horrible luck freezing things... most of it becomes freezer burnt and with a very offputting flavor and ends up being thrown away. I like that sign, by the way. It's very funny and makes me wonder what sort of place had it up...
    The store had a good deal on beef too, but all the pieces left had too much muscle on them. I REALLY wanted to buy some, but I couldn't justify the price with the quality. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always double wrap meat, cooked or raw when I put it into the freezer. Make sure there isn't excess air in the bag or wrapping either. And don't let the meat sit for longer than 6 months in the freezer. Doing those things helps.
      If something does get burn, you can always hide it in chili or cover with sauce sometimes to hide the change in texture.

      Delete
  10. Isn't it good to be home? LOL! I imagine your family really missed you. Especially when they had to figure out their own meals.

    ReplyDelete

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