This Week on the Dining Table

 The "I Know You're in There!" Edition.....

If you've ever lived or been in a manufactured home you'll notice that there is a rather large gap under the doors, between the bottom of the doors and the floor.  This is for air circulation purposes, especially when the a/c is on.

I snapped this picture of Chester's nose the other day.  He can wedge his nose under the door so every time I go into a room and shut the door I get to look at this. lol

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned.......

1. Sunday--Chicken and Dumplings w/Carrots

2. Monday--Salad, Spaghetti and Meatballs

3. Tuesday--Chicken Parm, leftover Collards

4. Wednesday--Teriyaki Chicken w/Stir-Fry Veggies, Rice

5. Thursday--Salmon, Veggie TBD

6.  Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And here's what actually happened........

1. Sunday--Chicken and Dumplings w/Carrots

2. Monday--Salad, Spaghetti and Meatballs

3. Tuesday--Chicken Parm, leftover Collards

4. Wednesday--Fend for Yourself, ate out Lunch

5. Thursday--Chicken Salad Sandwiches using leftover chicken

6.  Friday--Salmon, Shells and Cheese, Spinach Souffle

7. Saturday--Leftovers(I had meatballs and pasta, Salad)

Not able to stand much and cook here yet.  Everything happened except the Teriyaki Chicken stir-fry dish.

I've still got some chicken pieces left.  I'll probably put them in the freezer for chicken enchiladas at some time in the future.

What got put into the freezer last week....

*  1 bag of Chicken Tenderloins

What got taken out of the freezer and used...

*  1 whole Chicken

*  1 bag of Meatballs

*  1 bag of Salmon

*  1 Spinach Souffle               

Hubs & I hit Walmart and Kroger for various items to the tune of $187.32 last week.  We needed fresh produce and milks, I stocked up on a few loss leaders and we got some "wants".

This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $280.75 for January.  

There are 15 shopping days left in January.

I've earned $69.54 on Ibotta in January.

I've earned $1.82 on Checkout51 in January.

I've earned $9.50 on Coupons dotcom in January.

I've earned 1,424 points from shopping on Fetch in January.

I earned 1,160 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in January.

I've earned 624 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in January.

That's $80.86 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $280.75

 in grocery spending so in reality it's $199.89 in food spending after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 32.04% and the monthly savings total for January comes in at 32.78% so far.  

Leftovers going into this week.....Chicken and Dumplings, Spaghetti and Meatballs.  Hubs will finish these for lunches.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--leftover Chicken and Dumplings

2. Monday--Teriyaki Chicken w/Stir-Fry Veggies, Rice

3. Tuesday--Beef Pie

4. Wednesday--Leftovers or ?

5. Thursday--Catfish, oven Steak Fries, Slaw

6.  Friday--Shrimp Scampi w/Linguine, Salad

7. Saturday--It's my Birthday!! so ?

I am still not suppose to walk a lot.

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  All I need is slaw mix which I'll have Hubs pick up when he goes out later in the week.

The ads starting Tuesday aren't very thrilling so other than produce/salad/fruit we may skip this week mostly.

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 last week?

Any deals on food at your stores this week?  

Sluggy 

Frugal Friday 2021.....the September 10th Edition

 I've been gone all day running errands and I am bushed!  So this will be a brief Frugal report.

*  We cooked/ate at home all week, except for Labor day.  Tried to use a gift card for Subway but they had the nerve to be CLOSED on Monday! humph  So Hubs got us Burger King and forgot to use the gift card.  #fugalfail

*  I did a teeny tiny bit of shopping to finish off some Ibotta rebates this week at Walmart and Rite-Aid(as always the R-A stuff cost me "nada").

*  I got a bunch of food bank stuff gathered but didn't get it up to the church where it's housed.  I suppose I'll dump it all into Hubs car before I take off for Virginia next week.

*  I jumped on a great deal with NCL and Hubs and I are off on another cruise in December to the Caribbean mon!  Ok, so it's not that frugal but we did get 4 extras and the flights to Miami thrown in so I'm calling this a win. ;-)

*  We only needed to use the a/c 1 day last week, and all laundry was done during off peak hours so the electric bill will be lighter in September(maybe). 

* I found money!

Last Friday these 3 pennies were next to my car in the parking lot of Walmart.

On Tuesday I found this dime under my self-checkout at the Walmart in the town South of here and the penny in the foyer as I was leaving the store.

Money Found This Week... .14¢
Money Found This Year.....$15.13

What frugal wins did you have this week?
Let us know what went down in your world this past week!

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.......the January 19th Edition

Since I didn't leave the house much last week there isn't much to report in on, out of the ordinary(cooking meals, free entertainment at home, etc.)but here goes anyway.........

*  I finally went to Weis on Wednesday and got a couple of grocery store deals.......

Weis now doubles all coupons up to .99¢(so anything .99¢ or less doubles fully).  I got 8 cans of Campbell's soup, on sale for $1 a can.  I used 2 x .80¢/4 Qs(which doubled fully to $1.60 off each).
8 x $1=$8.00-$3.20 in Qs=$4.80 for all or .60¢ a can.
Of course I had a problem with the cashier(she usually works in the pharmacy and doesn't now how to deal with coupons when they don't scan, so we had to get a manager involved so I got my full value on those Qs). lolz

The other good deal was San Giorgio pasta was on sale $1 a box.  I paired 2 x $1/3 Qs and got 6 boxes of assorted pasta for .67¢ each.

* I did the Mix and Match/Buy 6 Items, Get $3 off Instantly Deal once, buying 2 bottles of dish soap, 2 bags of frozen veggies and 2 packs of Klondike bars(we were out of ice cream).  On sale that all came to $12.94.  The $3 didn't come off so I had to go to CS and get $3 cash.  Then I got $1.25 back from Ibotta for these 6 items so $12.94-$4.25=$8.69 OOP or $1.45 each.

*  But the best deal I got this week was this...........

Leftover bags of Xmas Lindt Truffles at Weis(PMITA)Markets.  Reg. price of $6.59 each.  The sign in the bin said $3.09 each.  I had printed off $1/1 Lindt truffles bags coupons from Coupons dotcom(NLA)and had them with me.
I got two and figured $2.09 per bag of 20 truffles was a decent price for something I could tuck into a giveaway box or two.
The cashier rang them up and $6.09 came off, making them .50¢ a bag OOP!!!
I rang back and got the other 6 bags in the bin.
$6.59 x 8=$52.72-$48.72=$4.00-$2 in Qs=$2.00 for all 8 bags or .25¢ per bag.
Woot!

* I dug 2 old whole chicken breasts out of the chest freezer this week.  After sauteing them up I diced up the meat and split the resulting amount for two meals.  I also found an old bag of mixed frozen veggies in the freezer as well as a 2 pack of store bought leftover pie shells, both of which needed to be used asap.

I used 1 of the pie shells, the frozen veggies and the diced chicken(along with 2 cans of chicken soup, an onion, some spices and a hand rolled second pie crust to make a big chicken pot pie.  There was a serving of veggie/soup/spices/chicken filling leftover but into the fridge that Hubs will most likely have over rice for a lunch this weekend.

The other pie crust was used to bake a sweet potato/pumpkin pie, using extra filling mix from Thanksgiving that I had put into the freezer, as the recipe I had used made more filling than usual because I added in canned sweet potatoes that I wanted to use up.
I was going to make College Boy this pie at Christmas but we had so many other treat foods I decided to wait.  An extra pie during the Winter doldrums is a pleasant surprise, right?  ;-)

* On Thursday Hubs and I went to have my Free birthday burger at Red Robin.

I had an old Red Robin gift card to use for Hubs meal.  Between the burger and the steak fries it was enough food for me and I had water to drink so no charge for that either.  I couldn't believe how much the price of the burger I usually get there has gone up!  It was over $11.  I remember when this area got a RR and that burger was under $8.
Hubs decided to get a large expensive beer with his burger. Hmmmm  I am such a frugal hard-ass that I made him pay me $5 out of his WAM to reimburse me partially for that beer as I didn't want to spend more than 1/4 of my gift card on a beer and it wasn't HIS birthday after all! lolz  Unless we are specifically going out to drink alcohol I don't "spring" for drinks.  Buying liquor at a restaurant is so pricey and goes against my grain, ya know? ;-)

*  Tonight's dinner is that free ham I got at Christmas time from Weis(PMITA)Markets.

I'm going to put it into the slow cooker before I go out to Weis for a few groceries.  This 10 lbs. of ham will give us more than one dinner.  Sliced again into ham steaks for meal #2, diced into quiche meal #3, into omelettes meal #4, etc.  The bone will go into soup eventually too.
I don't buy/serve ham often(maybe twice a year since the sodium content is so high)but every now and again it's on the menu.  That being said, if I spy a leftover ham shank on clearance this time of year I'll pick it up for cheap and throw it into the freezer.  8-)))

That's about all this week at Chez Sluggy.
What frugal things have happened at your house lately?

Sluggy

February Food Spending Week 3, Meal Plan February Week 4

*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 kitchen of 1945.....

 With the war over, the US saw a flood of servicemen coming home and a rise in the marriage rate and the numbers of new households being formed.  It ushered in a time of economic growth and innovations having to do with domesticity and the home.
While this kitchen in many ways is stuck in the materials and design of the 1930's(the lino patterned floor, the color scheme and the lack of coordinating cabinets, appliances-color and fabrication, etc.), there is a VERY domestic feature this one showcases--the "Baking Center".  This was a large cabinet/door-ed area that combined tool and pantry storage and work space.  You closed the door when not in use and your kitchen looked neat as a pin with nary a spatula or tea towel out of place or showing.  Your kitchen could look ready for a ladie's magazine photo shoot at any time.

I am liking this design idea enough to consider it for our next home.  What do you think about it?

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--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--leftover lasagna or tv dinners in the freezer(these are old and need to be used up)

FRIDAY--leftover spaghetti or burritos and leftover corn  *I had a PBJ sammie & strawberries.

SATURDAY--Quiche, Salad

Maybe not on the night it was suppose to happen, but we pretty much had what was planned, except the Roast Chicken and Veggies, since I couldn't find whole chicken for a good price last week.  *Sunday the local store had it for .88¢ lb. so I bought 2 yesterday morning....this trip goes under Week 4 food shopping spending.

The weekly food spending was $35.12.  1 trip to the local grocer where I mostly stocked up on OJ concentrate and then bought celery, strawberries, chicken breast, pie shells, ice cream and a cherry pie for Hubs.  Hubs picked up 2 dozen eggs at Price Chopper on sale for $1 dozen.

3 Weeks in and I've spent $155.75 of my $300 February food budget.  $144.25 left for the month plus $92.32 leftover from January that didn't get spent.

Going into February Week 4, we have an entire quiche leftover.

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--Toasted Chicken with Veggies, Stuffing(boxed)

MONDAY--Quiche, Tossed Salad

TUESDAY--Pork Chop with Maple Glaze, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sugar Snap Peas

WEDNESDAY--Red Robin Free Meal for #2's birthday

THURSDAY--Leftovers(quiche or chicken or pork chop or ?)

FRIDAY--Fish, Rice, Teriyaki Veggie Melange
SATURDAY--Not sure yet....maybe Chinese take-out or Breakfast for Dinner

This menu gives us 4 or 5 new meals, 1 or 2 eating out and 1 night of leftovers.

Items needed to buy for this menu are...the whole chicken which I bought Sunday.  I have all the other ingredients on hand.  I'm using up a bag of potatoes, carrots, celery, older box of stuffing, a rice mix, 2 bags of frozen veggies which are getting "long in the tooth".

We'll be buying milk as usual. The only stocking up opportunities I see so far are some jarred mandarin oranges(I can't stand the ones in metal cans), more whole chickens and flounder @ $3.99lb.

I might go hog wild and spend $60 this week...yikes!lol

So what is everyone else eating this week?  

Sluggy