Randomness on a Sunday

*  I am still editing photos from my road trip last month.  Eventually I'll get them finished and be able to blog more about my trip.

*  We are in the final weeks of getting #2 Son ready to pack off to college.  We are ALL ready for this day to finally arrive.  I am down to my last 6 items to procure before he heads off.  So glad I never have to do this again! lolz

*  I'm happy to report that the net worth went up $6,500+ for August.
Most of that gain was from interest on the retirement accounts.  The September 1st Net Worth snapshot will NOT look as rosy I fear.

*  I need to get some more sewing done.  I also need to get more tubs of fabric out to measure, photograph and list on Etsy.  Unfortunately we are heading into the hot/muggy days of Summer here and that gives me no motivation to get any of this done. bleh.

*  I just discovered that there is bus service from #2 Son's school to a nearby town so for those short holidays he needs to come home, I don't have to drive out to get him if I pay for a fairly inexpensive bus ticket.

*  I figured out my gas expense for my road trip--$309.26.  Taking into consideration how many miles I drove and that gas expense, I got just over 37 miles per gallon.  Add in the fact that my car was loaded with glass bottles of booze for most of those miles and I'd say I got pretty good gas mileage. lolz

*  It's August and I still haven't finalized a 2014 Goal List.  I guess I need to give up that this will happen this year. 8-)))

*  My poor neglected garden is chugging along.  The critters dug up everything we planted from seed, save 2 bean plants which survived their mayhem.  I came home to one of our cauliflower plants gone.....plant, roots and all....wtf?  Something big surely dug up that monster plant and hauled it away.  The only thing we've managed to grow successfully this year are tomatoes, cauliflower and morning glories.

*  I smoked that 15 lb. brisket yesterday and am finishing it off in the oven today.  Fresh made potato salad and roasted carrots will complete our dinner tonight.  I'll freeze some of the brisket we don't eat today so we'll have bbq in the coming months too.

What's going on in your world?

Sluggy

Company, Meals, Shopping, Gardening & Other Foolishness This Week

My week hasn't gone as I had planned.
First off, the Nephew has been staying with us since Tuesday.
He's not a big imposition but I've had to be more structured with him here.
I just chased him off the tv for the 2nd time this week.  He has a penchant for those MTV and VH1 shows I can't stand.....you know, the Jersey Shore, Mob Wives, Celebrity Rehab, Sweet 16, Cribs, etc.  All those unreality shows where he can sit and be a voyeur into other people's lives...other people who aren't living "real lives", and dream that he'll be just like them when he grows up.
Yeeesh.....

He's 17 and still doesn't have a learner's permit and blames it on other people in his life.
So the first day I drove him to the DMV to get a permit book so he can study and go take his permit test.
He put the book down about an hour after he got it and hasn't studied it since.
Somehow I think those 'other people' in his life aren't the ones keeping him from getting his license.....

I hit the Bread Outlet....9 packages of bread and rolls and 2 boxes of chocolate doughnuts and $10.67 poorer later we stopped for gas at Sheetz before heading home.  I tried to use my .70¢ a gallon points discount from Weis Markets but it didn't take.  The gas station cashier said I had to take my receipt up to Weis and get my refund there.
Bleh.  Another thing that doesn't work right.  Doesn't life just seem to be filled with stuff/procedures/routines that just don't work right?

Having the Nephew here necessitated me hitting Weis Markets again this week for some provisions so we combined the gas points refund trip with our shopping excursion to the grocery store.
The gas points malfunction seems to be a known issue and they have a 4 page instruction sheet at the CS desk to get you a cash refund without alot of fuss and muss.  I had my $10.83 cash refund in my hot little hand in no time flat.

As for the groceries....I had planned to get a Watermelon(on sale for $3.99), 2 blocks of Cabot Cheese($1.50 after Qs),2 packages of cream cheese($1.25 on sale) and a bag of onions for $2 this week.  They had nice red peppers for $1 each so I picked up 2(since I had to rethink my tentative meal plan this week with an additional mouth to feed) and I got a quart of whole milk for the quiche I was planning on making and added in a couple of bags of salad(BOGO sale) so I could offer some salads for lunches this week.  I needed something to make a quick late lunch that day, so I found some discounted fresh ground beef for just under $2 lb. to make some burgers on the grill for the 3 of us at home for lunch.

Here are a couple of deals I found as well.....

Turkey Kielbasa for $1 a package(near sell by date).  I bought 3 to put into the freezer.

I also had 2 $2/1 Hatfield IPQs to use by 7/30.  Last Saturday they had Hatfield bacon marked down to $2.99 and Ham Steaks for $2.50 but I didn't have those Qs with me, rats!
The marked down bacon packs were long gone, so I got 1 package of Scrapple for $2.99 so $.99 after Q.
Then I got this....

Over by the Ham Steaks they still had the 2 for $5 sign up, though it expired on Saturday.
So I threw a ham steak in my cart.
I went through the check-out and paid my $33.41 total, including the ham steak which rang up full price at $3.99.
I then headed to the CS desk since my ham steak didn't ring up the sale price hanging off the shelf tag.
Weis has a policy that if your item rings up incorrectly(not the sale price)you get your money back and get to keep the item for free.  They also give you back your money if an old sale hangtag is still on the shelf....I thought they just gave you the difference back between the current regular price and the old sale price sign but getting it for free is better, right?lol
So basically they gave me the ham steak for free AND they gave me an additional $2 off the rest of my order, for the Q I used on it's purchase.  Somehow that seems so wrong but they didn't deduct the Q since they will get that $2 back from the manufacturer when they turn it in.

So I spent $29.41 at Weis which turned out to be a 54% savings rate off of regular retail. 8-)

We started out the Meal Plan for the week....
SUNDAY--Ravioli, Garden Salad
MONDAY--leftover Pork Loin slices, Fried Yellow Squash, Mashed Potatoes
*Then things got rejiggered with the additional of the Nephew at meals.*
TUESAY--Rueben Sandwiches
WEDNESDAY--Chicken Fajitas
THURSDAY--Chicken Cheese Broccoli Rice Casserole
FRIDAY--Boston Baked Beans, Cornbread, Pickles
SATURDAY--Leftovers

So my quiche didn't happen this week.
Late Monday night, I cooked 2 small corned beef briskets in the crockpot and put in the fridge to cool Tuesday morning.  Then before dinner I took them out and sliced/shaved them on my mandolin slicer into deli slices for the sandwiches.  I also had the swiss cheese already and the 1000 island dressing.  I bought a loaf of rye bread for .89¢ at the Breat Outlet.
Wednesday I thawed 2 chicken breasts, used some old red bell pepper strips from the freezer, threw in 2 small leftover yellow squash I hadn't used on Monday, along with some of the onions and 1 of the red peppers I just bought Tuesday.  I also added 2 banana peppers from the garden to the mixture.  I used an opened bag of shredded cheddar and opened a package of multgrain organic tortillas I bought for .49¢ at the beginning of the month at Price Chopper.

I'll put some yellow eye beans on to soak in a bit for Friday's dinner.  That night's dinner is totally from the stockpile/pantry.

I did some more picking from the garden the last few days....

The 1st photo was from Sat. and the 2nd photo was from Wednesday.
Hubs picked 2 more cukes Wednesday evening.  Because of this mountain of cukes, I have a gallon jar filled with this.....

Bread and Butter Pickles anyone? lol

Due to the 2 weeks of early humid and hot weather here, I also have this....

The First Turning Tomato of the Season!!
BLTs and 'Mater Sammiches are in my near future......

And I found the garden planting diagram last weekend shoved in behind my recipe sheets on the bookshelf.  Indeed yes, Hubs planted melons...I am guessing that means WATERmelons in the bed on the side of the house.  I have found cucumbers places that are NOT indicated on the planting diagram, so I am taking said diagram's voracity with a grain of the proverbial salt.
Wouldn't you? ;-)

Yesterday after I got out of the pool and did a bit of weeding on the back garden bed I saw this....

And then this, tucked waaaaaaaaaaay back by the deck railing....

2 more melons....in the back garden bed.....where there is NO indication of said melons being planted back in that bed.
?!?!?

I think Hubs is trying to gaslight me......
Well maybe not, at least until the kids are grown and outta the house.lol

Ok, I am off to debone some chicken, throw some rice into the crockpot and maybe take a quick nap.
I have already washed dishes, gone to Rite-Aid and used up my expiring +Ups, picked up #2 son's friend so they could hang out here for the day, run the Nephew off of MTV/VH1/LALA land, gotten Chinese food for everyone for lunch(and not a thank you from any of them...grrrr)and posted this.  I'm beat!

What frugal stuff is happening(or Not!)in your world lately?


Sluggy

Goals for 2011.....Halfway Point Check-Up

 Every January on my blog, I post a list of Hopes or Goals for my year.  HERE's the post from earlier this year where I talked about what I hoped to accomplish in 2011.

Since we are halfway through the year......let me say that again.....halfway through the year!......I thought it would be a predictable time to check-in and see how I'm doing or how I'm NOT doing at this point in 2011.

1. Put more Money Into Savings.

PASS-We are slightly ahead of our Savings Goal at the halfway point from 2010.  I only upped my Savings Goal 2 thousand dollars in 2011 since food costs have been rising this year and with another teen starting college in August, we have more expenses to cover.  We are on track as of now to meet our savings goal. 8-)

2. File all the Paperwork that needs filing  and completing it on time.

PASS-We got all the college and income tax paperwork completed with time to spare earlier this year.  I also tackled a huge pile of papers that needed filing in May(was it?)  Going forward I am going to try to file every 2 months so the pile doesn't get too unruly.


3. Declutter my entire house and garage, and storage unit(and then stop renting the storage unit).

PASS(so far)-This goal is ongoing throughout 2011.  I had the storage unit down to half-empty.  Then I had to temporarily put a large load of boxes from the garage into the unit so I could stage for a garage sale this month.  Besides just the moving of crap around in this way, I have decluttered at least 6 loads(off hand I think it's 6, I might be wrong) so far from the house and unit.  After the garage sale is over, more loads will begin leaving again for Sallie's.
This Goal is my largest, ongoing, physically challenging one for 2011.  It may just kill me by December. ;-)

4. Read 30 books this year, with 75% of them being non-fiction.

FAIL-I am STILL on Book #6(this one is a 'difficult' read) plus I pitched Book #5 before finishing it because it was just horrible!  So technically I am on Book #5 with 25 more to go. 
bleh.
I am just not feeling much like reading yet.  Maybe next month when the weather turns beastly hot I'll want to do nothing but sit still and read in the a/c.

5. Finish ALL in progress sewing projects and alter ALL clothing that needs it or give it away.

FAIL-I hemmed some pants and worked on some PJ pants for my Daughter but haven't finished them.  Hubs bought 4 pairs of pants for me to hem so the pile has gone UP not DOWN. 
bleh. bleh. bleh. 
I just can't seem to get into a sewing zone.  This is worrying me.  People are going to start thinking I really can't sew.lol

6. Cook more foods from scratch and phase unhealthy options out of my stockpile.

PASS-I was doing very well on this earlier this year.  I was cooking much more from scratch and we were down to a small number of cans of soda(of which I was only drinking 1 can per week if that)and I only had 2 tv dinners in the freezer.....no frozen pizzas, no 'snack' foods like Pop-Tarts or Toaster Pocket thingies, Froot snacks, only a few Helper type mixes.  Ok, I still had a ton of cake mixes and breaded chicken products.lol  Then school ended and I caved and bought some pizza rolls, pizzas, chicken strips, ice cream and more soda for #2 son.  The kid has to eat lunch, right?lol  And unless I want to spend ALL DAY cooking this summer, I'm giving him easy things to make for lunch(rather than spend a fortune buying Taco Bell and Baconators at Wendy's)and I'll give him healthy foods for dinner.  It's the compromise I'll make to get through until school starts again.

And I promise I shall NEVER buy Pop-Tarts again....Nasty!

7. Grow more of the food we eat or source our food from non-grocery chain stores.

 FAIL(so far)-With the wacky weather and being super busy in May/June with the impending Graduation and all that entailed I was sooo not 'into' my garden this year.  We did get it planted but not everything I wanted.  I don't feel we will have as much to eat from our garden this year as we did last year.  As for sourcing from non-grocery chain stores, we are just getting into the season where we can buy from the local farms.  I am determined to get to the farm stands this summer and put up produce for 2012.  I am still looking for a local source for meats.  The closest is over an hour's ride away so not very economical.

8. Use my skills to step up what I do for Others.

 NEUTRAL-Ok, I can't say Pass or Fail on this one.  OTOH, I have done on par with last year in terms of family and food bank donations so far this year.  As soon as the garage sale is done I have another donation to take to the food bank.  But since I have not been 'extreme couponing' this year(due to the lack of deals locally, not traveling where the deals are because of the price of gas and wear and tear on the minivan AND the lack of good value coupons this year, due to the tightening up on coupons by manufacturer's in part because of "That Couponing Show Which Shall Not Be Named")I haven't had as much to donate as in past years.  It will take me MORE money in 2011 to donate the same amount of food as I did in 2010.  I just don't know if I can come up with enough money this year to put toward this goal to "step up" what I give. 
I may have to look at other ways besides monetary/food donations to do for others.

9. Be more "in the Moment" for my Family.

PASS-I feel that, so far in 2011, I have been more 'there' for the family.  I have tried to limit my time on the internet by blogging less(ok, not MUCH less!lol), and spending less time deal hunting.
See?....crappy coupons and local deals give me more time to be with family, so there is one good thing about the dirth of deals!lol  With less of a stockpile I spend less time organizing it.
Of course, the teens don't actually want to spend time with me when they are home, unless I have cooking them food or handing over cash....oh, the blessings of having sullen, eye-rolling teens! ;-)
Now that #2 son is home from camp, I'll be offering to drive him places and do some things for him so he can hang out with people that aren't his family. 

10. Organize the running of my Home.  

How to score this one?.....
I guess I'm on my way to a PASS with this one.  With 2 less kids home things are running fairly smoothly.  With less clutter in the way, it's easier to keep what is here organized and clean.  But with so many projects pending or in progress(garage sale, cleaning out the storage unit, sewing, home repairs/remodeling)it seems like everything is at 6's and 7's and just a moment away from flying off the tracks.  Since the older 2 kids don't have a car while working across the state this summer(due to the car wreck in May), I'm having to deal with business stuff for them like driver's license renewals, dr. appointments, prescription refills, college papers/forms, scholarship forms/requirement, ordering books and tuition bills.  This is stuff they should/would be taking care of but since they don't have transportation or bank/credit card access it's all falling on me.  I haven't screwed anything up yet, knock on wood.lol

So how about you?
How are your goals for 2011 panning out?
Are you on track to accomplish what you want to this year?
Have your goals changed significantly since the beginning of 2011?

Sluggy 

Store Bought VS Home Made....Finding a Balance

It's an age old debate.....which is better--to buy from a store or to make it yourself?

My feeling is, it depends.

In our mother's and grandmother's generations, you either had to make it yourself or you did without. Buying ready made anything was not an option or it was an expen$ive option. Women use to make everything from scratch....meals, cleaning products and even their own clothing. If you had an income producing job(or your husband did), you had the option to hire someone else to make your meals, clean your home/make the cleaning products and make your clothing.

When technologies took off after WWII, companies began marketing more convenience food/HBA products to the American public. Those items were NOT cheap! Being able to afford Swanson TV Dinners & Cokes & Mac and Pizza Kits in a Box were a status symbol of their day.
Can you imagine.......being able to afford Kraft Mac & Cheese being a status symbol?!?lol

As technology advanced & factory farms grew, the relative price of those new processed foods came down to where it was cheaper now to buy those than to make food from scratch using farm fresh ingredients. People over the last few generations have gotten disconnected from the earth, from growing food.
People moved away from the farm and rural areas.

Nowadays it's not uncommon to find urban children who have never seem a farm animal or food growing in the ground in person.
And if you were to survey American adults you would find that a surprising number of them don't know how to cook at all.....even the basics!  Their cooking skills span from "open the box and remove item" to "press the ON button on the microwave".....or even sadder, "pick up the phone and make a reservation".

People don't know how to prepare food from scratch and the really sad part is that they don't care to learn! They would rather buy processed foods they can stick in a microwave and eat NOW, because god forbid they have to wait 30 minutes for something to cook in a 'real' oven. And even sadder, the fact that they don't use coupons or wait for sales to at least get their food for the best possible price.

Enough of my rant.....basically I believe that home-made anything gives you more control over your life. Yes, it takes more of your time but it's time well spent.

You can make food just how you like. Leave out ingredients you don't want or like, put in healthier ones. High Fructose Corn Syrup is hidden in so much processed foods nowadays, as are other unhealthy chemicals. It's difficult to avoid the bad stuff unless you diligently read your product labels.

I think you can balance using Store Bought & using Home Made things. Both have their place in my life. Some processed foods are ok and even better when you can get them cheaper w/coupons. And anyone should & can teach themselves basic cooking skills.

We must go back to previous generations' times, when being self-sufficient was important. The more life skills you have, the better you are equipped to handle situations that may come up in your life.

Personally, we garden each year and raise as many vegetables as we can. We freeze &/or can what we don't eat and share with our neighbors. We also either join a CSA and/or frequent farmer's markets for what we don't grow ourselves. We buy some local farm meat/dairy as well when the budget allows, as we aren't in a place where we can have chickens or cows. We buy from the store when we can't obtain food from these other sources. And we use coupons whenever possible.

I don't use many commercially made cleaning products. You'll find few scented this and that sprays/etc. in my home. Ok, I do have a few candles and simple deodorizers(Renuzits)but that is all.

Why pay all that money for chemicals when you can clean most anything without all the 'fragrance air pollution' using baking soda, vinegar, bleach and lemon?

And most of the new 'green' cleaners are just water, baking soda & vinegar anyway! You are paying a premium price for those pretty colored plastic bottles it comes in. Save the bottles and refill them with your own homemade cleaners!  You'll cut down on the cost to you and the amount of plastic that needs to be manufactured and then dealt with when the product is gone.

Sluggy

Some Thoughts on Thanksgiving & Cooking

This is where I ramble on about Thanksgiving and Cooking....

After having hosted and cooked as many Thanksgiving dinners as I have(yes, I am older than dirt!), there isn't much novelty or thrill left in the task for me.  It's just become another big chore in the big list of chores I need to complete each year.
What I wouldn't give to be a kid again and have an older, more experienced cook in the family handling the Big Holiday Cookfest instead of me.

It use to be sort of fun years ago, planning and cooking for Thanksgiving, back when we were first setting up our household and traditions and when the children were younger.

As my enthusiasm waned a few years back, Hubby talked me into having the Holiday meal at a restaurant.  As I use to be a professional waitress at one time in my life, I really hated the thought of eating out on Thanksgiving.  I know that most of those servers would much rather be home with their families than working in the insanely stressful environment that Thanksgiving Day dining is for them.  Not only that but the amount a restaurant charges for a "special holiday meal" is alot more than you pay for a meal during a non-holiday day.  They use the holiday to pick your pocket a little more.  Plus the food is generally not up to par as their usual dining fare, the ambience of the place is sub par as well, and the owners try to cram more diners into the space and are anxious to get you out as soon as possible so they don't lose a single customer. This also holds true for the other big special eating-out holdiays like Easter, Mother's Day and Christmas(if the place is open for that one).  Holiday meals are the cash cow of restaurant owners.  But I digress.....

The Thanksgiving out was a nice change for 1 year(not having to cook or deal with leftovers) but not something I want to do again.

When #2 son was a bit younger, he had a burning passion for cooking and wanted to be a chef.  Those couple of years that flame burned, I had a ready helpmate in the kitchen for the Thanksgiving meal prep.  A little cooking, a little instruction(not much though, after all, this was crunch time!) and a little bonding.
Ok...a little stressing out too and raised voices when things didn't go well.lol
What did #2 son take away from those holidays in the kitchen?
He can cook enough to feed himself if he ever has to, unlike #1 son, who at 18 yr. of age, STILL needs refresher instruction to make a grilled cheese sandwich.
And #2 son can whip up some awesome real mashed potatoes!

Last year at Thanksgiving, I truly hit the cooking wall.  I don't even recall what I served and I am sure it was thrown on the table without a thought on my part.
The guests shoveled the food in without a word.
Two of my teens(or preteens)ate small portions and quickly left the table to retire into their bedrooms again.
#1 son was in training for wrestling season so I don't even think he ate a full plate.  In years past, #1 son would have been mistaken for a professional Competitive Eater in training at the Thanksgiving table.  I was left with tons of leftover food to deal with in a house full of people who don't necessarily like leftovers.  Even sending the guests home with full plates of leftovers didn't make much room in my fridge.

So this year I am trying to make peace with the Holiday and my approach to it by making some changes to our celebration of the day.
We still will NOT be going out for dinner.  I won't do that.
We are having guests again, like every year, but daughter will be working at her restaurant job and won't be eating with us.  #1 son isn't coming home for the holiday either, so it will just be 5 of us including the company.  I refuse to make a ton of food this year!  The 3 dogs are sad to hear this....

I have been waffling about even making Turkey this year.  I am NOT a big fan and it's hard to do the turkey thing and not have leftovers, even if you do just a breast.  I had bought a small boneless leg of lamb last month and was going to make that instead of poultry.
But I got a great deal on turkey at Price Chopper on Saturday, so it's a fowl meal again this year.  Albeit, a small turkey at barely 14 lbs.  I purposely chose the smallest one they had.

I considered cooking the bird ahead and just reheating/serving it already cut up.  This would take some of the pressure off of Thanksgiving morning but I really don't care for the smell of reheated turkey.  Maybe it's me but turkey has this odor that I can hardly bare.  As it ages, it smells gamier to me.
So freshly cooked bird thursday morning it will be.

While Thanksgiving is all about tradition and traditional foods, I've decided that you don't have to make ALL of them.  Growing up, Turkey day always included my Aunt Ollie's homemade Potato Rolls, Rutabagas(Turnips to you Northerners), Sweet Potato Casserole, Pumpkin and Pecan Pies. The rolls were a 2 day production alone and were started the day before when the pies & stuffing were made. 
I will be paring down the amount of food I cook this year so the rolls will have to wait until Christmas(IF I do them then), the Rutabaga will not be happening(hubby is the only one who eats this & you can't make just a little rutabaga) & 1 kind of pie has to go....the pumpkin wins, hands down.
I have store bought rolls is someone feels they really need them.

Wednesday will be stuffing and pumpkin pie making day.  We are divided in this family on the proper way to prepare Sweet Potatoes.
Growing up it was the nauseatingly sweet Casserole with the marshmallows(more calories than the pie!). I started making a more grown-up version of the casserole when we started our own family traditions.  It involves sliced sweet potatoes(not mashed), butter, brown sugar & maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and chopped pecans.  Not a marshmallow in sight!lol  It's still sweet but not requiring an insulin shot to eat it. 
My yankee hubby grew up eating sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving prepares as you would a baked potato....just roasted in the oven, served with salt, pepper and butter.  The kids have taken to eating them this way but without the salt and pepper and the addition of a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon.
So I've had to fix 2 versions of sweet potato every Thanksgiving dinner.

Our usual Thanskgiving meal use to include....
Turkey
Stuffing with sausage(sometimes with nuts)
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes-2 verions
Rutabaga
Potato Rolls
Green Beans
Carrots
Cranberry Sauce
Gravy
Beets(in the last few years)
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Apple Pie(sometimes)

This Year's Menu....
Turkey
Stuffing
Sweet Potato 2 Versions
Vegetable Melange(Carrots/Broccoli/Cauliflower)
Cranberry Sauce
Gravy-might do an Au Jus instead to lighten it up on the calories
Pumpkin Pie
Store bought Rolls if needed

I'll put more of an effort into the Table Setting instead of into churning out too much food.

And hopefully, I'll keep more of my sanity this year....

So what are your traditions at Thanksgiving?
Do you have any Must Have Dishes?

Sluggy

 

Meal Plan Monday....October 5th Edition Eating from the Freezer/Stockpile

Last Week's Menu Post Mortum...

Everything was served as planned except for the Salmon/Crabcake meal on Thursday.  This will go on this week's menu.  I made a double batch of the Mac & Cheese on Tuesday. The half we didn't eat that night, I assembled but didn't cook.  This portion went into 2 small casserole dishes and put into the freezer to be cooked fresh as side dishes for 2 meals in the future.
The Beef Bourguignon was a smash hit!  I took photos while making it and will be posting 'my take' on this recipe.

Here's what I will be serving our family of 4 this Week....it's a mix of double batch cooking items in the freezer, easy prep cooking, cooking from scratch & take-out.

MONDAY--Smoked Kielbasa Sandwiches(freezer), Sauerkraut(leftovers)
TUESDAY--Roasted Turkey(freezer), Stuffing(stockpile), Cranberry(stockpile), Green Beans(freezer)
WEDNESDAY--Manicotti stuffed with Ricotta & Spinach(freezer), Ginger Carrots(root cellar)
THURSDAY--Salmon in Ginger Teriyaki Sauce(freezer), Crabcakes(freezer), Rice(stockpile), Squash Casserole(garden)
FRIDAY--Leftover-Lots of Turkey!!!
SATURDAY--Pork Chops(freezer) with Apricot Glaze, Mushroom Noodles(stockpile), Summer Veggie Mix(freezer)
SUNDAY--Take-Out Chinese Food & Sushi

Last week I spent $75.68 on food counting 2 trips to Weis and all the food purchases at KMart that cost me anything out of pocket after doubled coupons($25).  A full $15 of that amount was candy for handing out at Halloween.  Chocolate is getting so expensive that you need a second mortgage on your house to give it out at Halloween.lol  About $10 was money out of pocket on 'real food' at KMart after doubled coupons. $50 was spent at Weis on the few things I needed for my weekly menu last week and on 11 packages of meat & seafood.
This week's menu shopping list contains steak rolls....that's it besides the usual milk purchase.  I have a $7 OYNO Catalina that expires tonight for Weis, so I will be picking up a few other things in order to use that coupon.  I'll get the steak rolls, yogurt and ??
I won't be buying lunch meat this week for daughter.  She wanted turkey this week so I'm roasting a turkey and she can take leftover from the bird for her sandwiches at school.
I'm going to try to stay out of the grocery store this week after spending that $7 Cat today.  Wish me luck!

Food Waste Report....We had 2 failures this week.  A couple of sausages that got pushed to the back of the fridge and got too old to eat and a small bowl(1 large helping)of spaghetti that turned into a science experiment.lol 

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

Sluggy