This Week on the Dining Table

The "WTF? Happened to the Weather" Edition ........

It hit -2.5F degrees last night at 11pm.  The blowers on the new heating system flew the white flag and gave up the fight at that point.
I went to bed with a nightgown and sweatpants on, 2 heaters on and I didn't fall asleep because of being cold until after 2am.
Hubs was outside early this morning with a hair blow dryer trying to warm up the compressor unit to get the blowers to come back to life.
It must have worked because by noon the den was back up to 66F degrees and the blowers were working again.

 

 

Here's the forecast for Thursday here.....

 

-8F degrees!
We might have to go to a motel to stay warm.

Here's what was planned last week.....................

1.  Spaghetti w/meatballs & homemade sauce, Green Beans
2.  Pork chops, Potato Salad(leftover), Carrots

3.  Garlic Ginger Shrimp w/Stir-fry veggies, (rice for Hubs)

4.  Ham & Bean Soup, Salad
5.  Chicken Marsala, Asparagus, (noodles for Hubs)

6.  Leftovers
7.  Leftovers

 

And this is what actually happened--

1.  Spaghetti w/meatballs & homemade sauce, Green Beans
2.  Pork chops, Potato Salad(leftover), Carrots

3.  Garlic Ginger Shrimp w/Stir-fry veggies, (rice for Hubs)

4.  Fried Shrimp, Collards
5.  Eat-Out

6.  Leftovers
7.  Leftovers

Most of the plan happened except for the bean soup and chicken Marsala.


Last week I made multiple trips to grocery stores(can you say CATALINA DEALS?), got some foodstuffs at Ollie's and also went to the Bread Outlet.  I spent  $151.04 OOP on $288.19 worth of groceries.  I went to Rite-Aid on Wednesday and spend .31¢ OOP on $63.07 worth of toiletries, so $151.35 spending last week.


My spending for February so far on food/toiletries is $151.55 for $360.84 worth of food/toiletries.
I have $98.45 left in my Feb. budget and 12 days to go.
If I put the $6.96 I spent on laundry detergent for the food bank last week I have $105.41 left in my budget.

Leftovers going into this week are risotto w/chicken and extra alfredo type sauce from when I made the ravioli but that will put into the freezer for later. We also have 2 pork chops, collards, green beans and small portion of carrots and small portion of spaghetti sauce left.

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

1.  Leftover spaghetti meatballs
2.  Leftover risotto, pork chops, green beans

3.  Boston Baked Yellow Eye Peas, Yellow Squash

4.  Ham & Bean Soup, Bread
5.  Chicken Marsala, Asparagus, (noodles for Hubs)

6.  Chicken Fajitas
7.  Leftovers

Since it's so cold here this week I am all about the comfort, hearty foods.....soups, baked bean pot meals, pasta.

 

What I need to buy for this menu......mushrooms for the Marsala and Fajitas, eggs and milk.

I don't need to buy much for this week's menu BUT the ads this week are pretty good(another Kraft Catalina Deal for coffee!)and I have $30 in Cats to spend. I may spent the rest of my monthly food this week...... or I might not.
 

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

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Please Make it Stop Snowing Because I am so Tired of Talking About Snow!" Edition.......

 

 

We got 3 storms within 48 hours late last week.  You can just make out a sliver of the top of the car parked on the roadside, behind that snow bank.  The driveway is turning into a tunnel configuration with walls 4 feet high on either side of it.  Nowhere left to put the snow here....bleh. 

 

Here is what was planned last week---

 

Sunday--Broiled Cod, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Onions, Coleslaw
Monday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Sugar Snap Peas w/Red Peppers
Tuesday--Chicken in Wine Sauce, Noodles, Broccoli
Wednesday--Hot Dogs w/Coleslaw, Red Potato Salad, Beans(for Hubs/#2 Son)
Thursday--Quiche(freezer), TBD Veggies
Friday--Mushroom Parmesan, Salad
Saturday--Breakfast for Dinner or Leftovers

 

And here is what actually happened---

 

Sunday--Broiled Cod, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Onions, Coleslaw
Monday--Beef Stroganoff, Rice, Sugar Snap Peas w/Red Peppers
Tuesday--Chicken in Wine Sauce, Noodles, Broccoli
Wednesday--Pizza from the freezer
Thursday--Breakfast for Dinner
Friday--Chinese Take-out
Saturday--Hot Dogs w/Coleslaw, Red Potato Salad

 Everything served as planned except the Quiche and Mushroom Parm and the last half of the week dinners were moved to different nights.  Since #2 Son & Hubs didn't leave town on Friday this changed the configuration of meals.  We got take-out to celebrate Valentine's Day since Hubs wasn't suppose to be home that evening so nothing had been planned.

 

I spent a total of.....*sit down for this one!*....$2.42 on groceries last week.  Hubs bought milk when he got gas on Saturday and I spent $.53 at Rite-Aid when I picked up a case of water and 2 bottle of peroxide(using up a $5 +Up Reward).

So after the week's spending, I am sitting at $290.82 spent in February with 11 more days in the month to go.  I seriously doubt I'll stay under $300 at this point for the month but I'll try to keep it as close to that mark as possible.

Going into the new week here are the leftovers we have.....
 Beef Stroganoff and rice, Chicken Fajita fixings and that's about it.

 

Here is this week's meal plan----let's dig deeper into the freezer and pantry---

Sunday--Leftovers
Monday--Dinner Out using gift card
Tuesday--Cheese Steaks w/peppers and onions
Wednesday--Rigatoni w/Meat Sauce, Mushroom Parmesan, Asparagus
Thursday--Fish, Sugar Snaps, Roasted Potatoes
Friday--Chicken Risotto, Salad or Leftover Asparagus
Saturday--Leftovers Again

That makes 4 new meals, 1 meal out and 2 leftover or planned over meal.

I have fish, chicken and roast beef lunchmeat in the freezer and I *think* I might have a small package of ground beef in there too.


What I need to purchase for this menu?.......Deli Cheese(for the cheese steaks), Salad Greens(I'll go on Wed. and find some reduced containers), Asparagus(on sale this week) and maybe 1 lb. of Ground Beef if I can't find any in the freezer.  We are also out of Sour Cream(something I like to have around)so I'll pick that up because it's on sale this week here.  One store also had Welch's Grape Juice on sale and I like to have some of the purple kind on hand. This should run me around $20 depending on whether I need Ground Beef or not and what it's going for this week/if I can find a reduced package.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

 

Sluggy

Using Those Leftovers

We got 7 inches of white stuff today/last night.
Plus it was bitterly cold & windy despite the sunny day earlier.

Ok, who do I contact to get this snow stuff discontinued?
I don't remember subscribing to this weather!  Take my name off that list please.....


As per my post earlier in the week, here was the Meal Plan for the rest of the week(after we got back home NYE).....
Wednesday--Chicken Parmesan
Thursday--Cod
Friday--Lamb Chops
Saturday--Pork Chops

We had the Parm Wednesday and Pulled Pork(leftover pork roast and coleslaw I made) Thursday.
(I put all the Cod I got on special in the freezer because we had to use the pork.)

Today I went digging in the fridge and found 1 slab of rib roast plus the ribs Hubs had sliced off that had tons of meat around them.
I totally forgot about that leftover from Christmas dinner!

So instead of chops tonight, I boiled the bones down, did a sauté of onions and celery, added potatoes, green beans from the freezer and had Hubs pick up a bag of frozen carrots(sliced).  A little flour to thicken and some browning and fresh ground pepper gave us Beef Stew for dinner.....

We had leftover homemade rolls from Christmas dinner to sop up the juice.

No additional food cost except for $1 for the bag of frozen carrots.....everything was sourced from provisions already here.
And there is enough for 4 more servings, so at least 1 more meal's worth.
A great filling, rib sticking and warm meal for a beastly frigid night!

Tomorrow either lamb or pork chops are on deck with stuffing, apple sauce and Brussels sprouts.

Then I get to make a menu for next week.....oh, the thrills of my life just never end. lolz

We've got Stew and Pulled Pork leftovers, Cod and either Pork or Lamb(depending on what we eat tomorrow night)already here for next week.  Only 3 more meals to go for next week's plan to be completed.  If the cold & snow continues and I don't want to go out in it, I have 2 hunks of lasagna and quiche in the freezer I can thaw out for meals.  That just leaves 1 more meal to thunk up and buy supplies to prepare.

It looks like next week will be a light grocery shopping week.  Sounds good to me!  8-)

Sluggy