Meal Planning Feb. Week 4 & Food Spending Feb. Week 3

Here's our family kitchen circa 1973.  The sink is on the back wall in the photo and the dishwasher is where you see it.  The fridge is behind where my mother is standing just out of frame on the right side.  Next to the fridge was a butcher block counter where we kept the toaster.  This had shallow doors and storage under it and on the other side of it running along the wall was the stove top(with storage doors above it(and next to that was a set of wall ovens, one on top of the other.  The only prep space was that small 2 ft. long butcher block top and the counter on the left in the photo.  We lived in that house about 7 years and my mother spent a lot of time in that dinky little kitchen, churning out delicious meals.

And here is what actually got served last week......

Sunday--Hot Dogs, Grilled Asparagus

Monday--Ham and Bean Soup, Green Bean Casserole, homemade Bread

Tuesday--Halushki + leftovers-- Ham Soup/GB Casserole, Bread

Wednesday--Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Cauliflower

Thursday--Ravioli, Sausage Sauce, Creamed Spinach, Garlic Bread

Friday--Leftovers

Saturday--Chinese take-out in lieu of Date Night

I served everything planned, though not on the night it was going to be served.  I didn't eat on Wednesday and I had just a half a slice of garlic bread on Thursday, as the toothache was bad those nights.

The food spending last week?

I spent $86.53 in 3 stores: $59.16 at the local Shursave affiliate, $6.80 at Weis and $20.57 at Ollies(the outlet store).  Reg. retail on what I bought was approx. $151. I splurged $6 on Cannoli for Vday, bought on sale chopped clams for a dinner this week, 4 bags of frozen veggies, a bag of salad greens and a small pack of ground beef for lunch fixings.  We will be out of bread this coming week, so the BOGO sale on Arnold's worked for me, and 3 cartons of OJ were had, since it was on sale.  Using Qs, I got a very inexpensive bottle of pancake syrup, 2 containers of Smart Balance w/Olive Oil, and then assorted GM products like whack rolls, flour tortillas, beans and sacks of flour.  The GM items also got me a $5 Cat to use this week at the Shursave market.   I used the $10 Cat from 2 weeks back at Weis and bought 2 bags of fresh spinach, a 4 pack of bagels, 1 dzn eggs, a bag of clementines and Hubs wandered off and added an overpriced bag of tortilla chips to my $2.31, making it a whopping $6.80.  I tried to tell him to wait ONE DAY and put it back and he could buy TWO bags on sale on Sunday for what he paid for 1 bag Saturday, since next weeks ads came out and they are on sale then.  It's not like he ATE the chips on Saturday anyway, so why not wait 1 day and buy it on sale?  He gave me that sad puppy dog look, like I had just kicked him for asking him to wait 1 day so I didn't push the issue. 

But honestly......why do I feel like the bad guy here?

I had a 15% discount card that expired Sunday for Ollie's for we went in the see if there was anything food we needed for a good price.  For $20.57 we ended up with....
2 Spanish Olive Oil
2 Parmesan Cheese cannisters
2 large bottles of Paprika
2 Dijon Mustard
1 Yellow Mustard
1 Pack of Applesauce cups
2 boxes of Cheez-Its
1 Fudge making Kit
We paid half the reg. retail including the added 15% off.

I've spent $279.61 and I am left at this point with $120.39  in my food budget for 9 more days.

As for leftovers rolling into this week--we have soup, one helping of ravioli and sausage, 2 pieces of chicken parm(from Sunday night) and some of the homemade bread left.

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Here is what is getting served this week.....

Sunday-Chicken Parmesan al fresco, Spinach Salad, Lemon Cake

Monday--Pizza, Clementines

Tuesday--Pulled Pork on rolls, Coleslaw

Wednesday--Stuffed Shells, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread

Thursday--Kielbasa, Beans, Coleslaw

Friday--Clam Chowder, Fish fillets, Coleslaw

Saturday--Leftovers

I will also be preparing random veggies dishes this week and paying for some veggie and fruit for Daughter's juicing.  More on that when I report in next week. ;-)

Needed at the store to serve the meals I am making this week?  Rolls for the pork, Cabbage for all that Coleslaw, Romaine lettuce.  I have all the proteins already in the freezer(or canned-the clams).  I might buy some clam juice to boost the clamminess of the chowder or see if I can get some fish heads at the fish counter at the grocery store to make some fish stock.

I'm figuring $30 to complete this menu and the random veggie dishes.

What's on your menu for the week?  

Any good deals at the grocers this week?
Did you have any food waste this week?

Sluggy