Food Spending OCTOBER Week 4+, Meal Planning NOVEMBER Week 1

Another wartime food waste poster.  From everything I've heard about Army food during the 1940's, the word "style" doesn't pop up too often. if. ever.  But yes, leftovers can taste AWESOME!

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If you read last week, you know I planned out being able to stick to my Meal Plan even if we lost power for a few days as a result of Sandy.  Luckily for us, we didn't lose power for very long.  This mostly meant that we didn't have to eat 3 cartons of ice cream in a very short time.lol

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

 

Sunday--Pot Roast, Carrots, Potatoes, Mushrooms, Onions

Monday--Sloppy Joe on Onion Rolls, Corn

Tuesday--Chinese take-out

Wednesday--Salmon, Kraft Mac&Cheese, Green Beans

Thursday--Beef Stew(used leftover Pot Roast), Bread

Friday-- more Stew or leftover Sloppy Joe or Chinese take-out

Saturday--Cheese Burgers(used up leftover onion rolls), leftover Green Beans

 

The food spending last week was $106.24 for $188.44 reg. retail worth of goods.  I also earned a $5 Cat Q last week.  Most of the spending was buying ahead so I could qualify for the Thanksgiving gift certificate at the local Shursave market.  Only about $15 of what was spent was for immediate needs.

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Going into this week, I have leftover Sloppy Joe(1 serving), so nothing really to incorporate into my new meals.  If I don't eat this for lunch this week, I could mix it into the spaghetti sauce on Friday.  Viola-no waste!

This week's menu....

 

Sunday--Steak on grill, Salad, Roasted Potatoes & Onions

Monday--Rueben Sandwiches

Tuesday--Grilled Pork Chops, Halushki(a cabbage & noodle dish), cinnamon apples

Wednesday--Honey Mustard Chicken, Rice, Broccoli

Thursday--Kielbasi on Rolls, Onions and leftover Sauerkraut, Corn

Friday-- Ravioli with Sauce, Spinach Salad

Saturday--Leftovers

Last week I hit upon a deal on sliced corned beef at Weis.  They had 8oz packs of Freidriech pastrami, roast beef and corned beef, regularly $5.99 pack on sale for $3.99.  Some packs had $2 instant discount Qs on them as they were nearing sell by dates, which made those $3.98 lb. for high end deli meats.  I scarfed up some roast beef to tuck into the freezer and enough corned beef to make Ruebens for dinner.  I already had Swiss cheese, 1000 Island Dressing and Sauerkraut, so I bought a loaf of Jewish rye bread on Sat.  Had I planned on this for a meal?  No, but as soon as I saw that deal the end of last week, I changed things up.   We'll be knoshing in style tonight for dinner! ;-)

 

What do I need to buy to serve this menu?  I bought the bag of salad on Saturday as it was on sale last week....ditto the deli meat for Ruebens.  Left to buy is a head of cabbage, kielbasi rolls, fresh spinach.

Also needed milk, and maybe fruit, though we still have many apples left from last week.

I will be buying a frozen turkey this week, as well as some good buys this week, along with getting items ahead that I'll need for Thanksgiving dinner.  This is the last week for purchases to qualify for the gift certificate at the local Shursave market so besides the $15 I need to spend for this week's meals, I'll be shelling out around $80 more dollars of food items.  Luckily the end of this week the Shursave market is having their semi-annual Meat Sale, so I can stock up on some meats....the ones they don't jack the price up on right before the sale and then lower them. lol  Spending this targeted amount means I get $20 in free food vouchers to spend the following 2 weeks.

 

So what are you cooking at your house this week?


Sluggy

February Food Spending Week 2, Meal Plan February Week 3

*I am taking part in Precious' MONEY SAVING CHALLENGE again for 2012.  You can find her blog FRUGAL MAKES CENTS and a list of other participants and their blogs  HERE.

Check it out.  You might find some new ideas for incorporating frugality into your life there!*


I love searching around for old photos and advertisements featuring kitchens from years gone by.  These are mostly the kitchens from my youth in the 1960's or earlier. 

This week I give you the 1940 Polka Dot nightmare.....

Love the linoleum floor with the black line design, hate the pink color on the metal cabinets but at least it's not as intense as the pink on the chair covers.   It's got a good  working "triangle" layout(the stove/oven is behind the black desk thing/opposite the sink and the fridge is just off the left edge of the picture).  A large chunk of the space is taken up by that clunky black desk and area next to it where you can see the sewing machine too.  Our neighbors at the first house I was born into had a kitchen table and chair set like that, minus the polka dots.  The table was metal and could be folding in upon itself or unfolded to make it larger and there was a drawer in the table like in the picture where they kept their flatware.
My most favorite part of this kitchen?  All that glass block!  Glass block became popular back in the 1930's at the end of the Art Deco period(notice the Deco design on the floor too).  When I was growing up and well into my adult years, having glass block in your home was very unpopular and dated your house as being old and unstylish.  The first apartment Hubs and I shared was a basement dwelling in Baltimore.  One entire wall in the bedroom was glass block.  I suppose in order to legally call it a bedroom, it had to have that block since there were no windows in the room, as 3 sides of the room were underground.
I think it's about time for a resurgence of using glass block in home design. ;-)

Enough of that, onward to the Meals and Food Spending. 8-)


Last week's meal plan is in the books.  Here is what actually happened....

SUNDAY--Subway Sandwiches(Hubs Super Bowl request)

MONDAY--leftover pizza or grilled cheese and soup

TUESDAY--Lasagna(with some shredded veg), Tossed Salad

WEDNESDAY--homemade Boston Baked Beans, Cornbread, Green Beans

THURSDAY--Enchiladas, Mexican Rice w/peppers

FRIDAY--Hot Dogs on rolls, Carrots and Cauliflower
SATURDAY--Leftovers

Pretty much had what was planned.
I talked about what I bought at the stores last week HERE.

The weekly spending was $36.26.

2 Weeks in and I've spent $120.63 of my $300 February food budget.  $179.37 left for the month plus $92.32 leftover from January that didn't get spent.

Going into February Week 3, we have leftover Lasagna(1 large portion), a small helping of BBBeans and leftover Enchiladas(a meal's worth). I froze a portion of the Lasagna and the extra enchilada sauce I made, to use/eat at a later date. 

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--Burger King burgers(in celebration of an excellent report card, at #2 son's request)

MONDAY--leftover Enchiladas

TUESDAY--Hubs is taking me out to local Asian restaurant, I'll make cheese steak for #2 son

WEDNESDAY--Spaghetti & Meatballs(homemade meatballs leftover in freezer), Spinach Salad

THURSDAY--Quiche, Green Bean dish

FRIDAY--Roast Chicken and Veggies
SATURDAY--Leftovers-from spaghetti/quiche/roasted chicken

This menu gives us 1.66 meals out/take-out, 2 nights of leftovers and 3.33 newly cooked dinners.
I plan on using up some frozen items.....homemade meatballs, a pie crust and some swiss cheese that's been hanging around.  I'll see what veggies I have languishing in the freezer that I can throw into the quiche too.  We'll also use up the leftovers from last week plus the bags of salad still left(2 bags) from what I bought a week ago Saturday.

Items needed for this menu are...eggs for the quiche, and a whole chicken.  Since I don't have a chicken in the freezer whether I buy a chicken will depend on the prices I find this week...if it's more than .88lb I'll go to Plan B.  I don't usually plan a meal around a protein I don't have on hand but I'm just craving roasted chicken right now!  If the prices are too high, I'll go with Pork Roast or Chops or Baked Fish instead of the Chicken.  Hey, when you are frugal you CAN have what you want to eat but sometimes you just can't have it WHEN you want it immediately!lol
I have the crust, filling veggies, cheese for the quiche.  I don't plan on buying cream though.  I'll use a combination of 2% milk, evaporated milk and dry milk....all items on hand.

Besides the needed food items, we'll be buying milk as usual. The only stocking up opportunities I see so far are cans of frozen OJ at $1.66 at the independent grocer.  I do plan on buying eggplant(.79.lb)and strawberries(BOGO-if they are FL or CA ones).

I'm figuring on $40 or so for this week's goodies. 

So what is everyone else eating this week?  

Sluggy

Meal Plan Monday.....March 1st Edition....Spending Breakdown & Cheap Good Food

Before I get started, HAPPY MARCH Everyone!!


Last Week's Menu Postmortem...
Everything but the Sloppy Joe's make an appearance at our house, due to 1 night of leftovers as I wasn't feeling well.  The kids told me they don't like Sloppy Joes anyway, so we are NOT putting it on this week's menu.  Gee, I kind of liked them.....

2 Straight days of steady S-N-O-W did keep me home and out of the stores for a bit last week.  I did get out to use my expiring Catalinas plus a bit more food/toiletries shopping in spite of the weather.

Here's what I will be serving our family of 4 this Week.....our household presently consists of 2 adults and 2 teens at home.  No children under 13.

This week is all about using what I have and incorporating leftovers as well. Since alot of what I am serving is stockpiled, I'm putting what  I paid for the ingredients that are on hand so you can see what I spend w/stockpiling & sales versus buying it weekly when it might not be on sale. If I use a leftover ingredient I won't add that cost as it was already figured into the previous meal's cost.

MONDAY--Free Bday meal out at Red Robin for #2 son(if some choose to stay home, it's 'make your own dinner' night)...eating out comes out of the entertainment money, not food money
TUESDAY--Beef Enchiladas(3.47), Refried Beans(.89), Salad & Dressing(2.00)
WEDNESDAY--Baked Ziti(2.50), Salad & Dressing(2.00)
THURSDAY--Shrimp & Grits(4.00), Collards(need to buy)
FRIDAY--Tacos(4.05), Fiesta Corn(.30)
SATURDAY--Crockpot Chicken cooked in Salad Dressing marinade(3.50), Garlic Noodles(.25), Creamed Spinach(.50)
SUNDAY--??  Not sure yet....maybe Leftovers if we have any, if not there is always Sloppy Joes!lol
SNACKS/DESSERTS--Cantaloupe(2.00), Cheesecake(leftovers), Ice Cream(2.50), Pineapple(.80)

Adding up what has already been spent and what I need to spend for this week's menu, I can serve this menu of 5 meals including desserts/snacks to a family of 4 adults/teens for $33.76. Since I'm not sure what people will actually eat for leftover nights, I didn't add in those costs.  If you divide the meals and snacks cost by 5 nights, you get an average cost per night of $6.75.  That's $1.69 per person per night.  And this is mostly a cooking from scratch menu.  The only 'processed foods' are the Knorr's noodles with powdered sauce and the Salad Dressings.  Who says you can't cook healthy on the cheap?

LAST WEEK'S FOOD SPENDING
$33.55 was spent on food/toiletries last week. $22.47 at Weis on Catalina spending trips, $7.49 at WAGS on Toiletries only, $2.85 at Price Chopper on paper products and $.74 at Rite-Aid on bunches of stuff both food and not-food.  Some of the Weis items bought qualified me for $20 in prepaid Visa card MIRs so a very inexpensive shopping week once those come in.

The only item I need to purchase for this week's menu are eggs and collards-I'll make a big pot of collards that will stretch for at least 2 meals.  I'm figuring on spending $5 on the greens(making them the most expensive food for the week) as I am not waiting on a great sale to get them.  If they cost more than $5 this week, I'll substitute a cheaper option that I find at the store or dig around in the freezer for something we already have here. I am almost out of eggs, milk was replenished last week and we are ok on bread until next week.

FOOD WASTE REPORT
We were successful in eating ALL the leftovers last week!  Nothing went bad.  We have 1 pork chop leftover from last night and the meatballs that are being reinvented tomorrow night as Enchilada filling....that is it!

Check out ORGANIZING JUNKIE to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week.

Sluggy