Food Spending August Week 3 & Meal Planning Week 4

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And here is the "meal plan" that actually happened last week.....

Sunday--Salmon with maple glaze, Stir-fried mixed veg, mashed potatoes

Monday--BLT sandwiches with tomato from our garden...slurp!

Tuesday--tuna helper, Caesar salad

Wednesday--Leftover Rigatoni, Broccoli

Thursday--Meatloaf(leftover), Mashed Taters, Snow Peas

Friday--Taco Bell

Saturday--Leftovers

 

The weekly food spending was $9.91.  I was tempted to do the Kimberely/Clark Cat Deal at Weis(which would have stocked me up on a few things but would have meant spending alot more OOP) but in the end I resisted.  I used $12 in Cats to pay last week for the few needs we had which is why I spent so little.

I didn't stay within the $8 limit I set but it was close. None of what I spent was for items needed to make dinner.....it was all milk purchases and items for the Daughter's work lunches.

I have $82.02 left of my $400 food budget for August and 11 days left in the month.  I think we can make it to the end of the month before the end of the money. ;-)

Going into the new week I have the following leftovers to use up.......a portion of snow peas(I'll polish those off for lunch one day).

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This week's menu.....

Sunday--Son's belated Birthday dinner out-Steak

Monday--Pulled Pork BBQ sandwiches, Cole Slaw, Birthday Cake

Tuesday--something Chicken, Rice, Green Beans(from garden)

Wednesday--Taco or Taco Salad

Thursday--Leftovers

Friday--burgers, baked beans, cuke salad

Saturday--Leftovers again

 

 

What I need to buy this week to serve this menu?.....rolls, cukes, maybe more lettuce.

So what are you cooking at your house this week?

Sluggy

Food spending JUNE Week 1 & Meal Planning June Week 2

Yes, we survived the "Guess Who's Coming to Stay?" Meal Plan Week here at Chez Sluggy.

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I thank you for all your input and concern over my dinner guests and their, dare I say it?.....bizarre/narrow..... food habits.

I asked for some input from said guests and then just cooked what I wanted anyway.

Because that's how Sluggy rolls....lol

And here is the meal plan that actually happened last week.....

SUNDAY--Chinese Take-Out
MONDAY--BLT sandwiches

(These 2 nights were easy, no guests yet!)
TUESDAY--Ham, boxed mac&cheese, yellow squash
WEDNESDAY--Chicken Fajitas
THURSDAY--Dinner Out
FRIDAY--Salmon with Bourbon Maple Glaze, Green Beans, Sweet Potato Fries

(All gone so Sat. was easy too.)
SATURDAY--Steak, Baked Beans, Spinach Salad, Sweet Potato Fries

Company was here from Tuesday to Friday.

I waited to go shopping for the week until company arrived on Tuesday and then I took them to the store with me. 

For Tuesday I pulled leftover ham slices from Easter out of the freezer.  I knew they'd eat boring, bland ham. Their favorite food in the whole world is boxed Mac&cheese.  

Do you see what I am saying?lol

So I fixed 2 boxes of that with the ham.  It took a few tries in the fresh produce department with them on Tuesday afternoon to find a vegetable that they would eat/that I could fix a way they would eat it, thus we got sauted yellow squash.

Tuesday dinner....check!

I decided to just go with Chicken Fajitas for Wednesday.  1 of the company loves Mexican so at least 1 would eat.  I didn't make it spicy at all so the other company hopefully wouldn't have digestive issues brought about by the dinner. 

Fresh mushrooms and red bell peppers were purchased, as well as onions and I slivered up the leftover squash I didn't cook for Tuesday to put into the Fajita veggie mix.  I spent about $13 on Wed.'s meal including a big bag of onions, container of sour cream, tortillas, all of which I have leftovers of for another meal. (I had chicken and cheese in the freezer already.)

On Thursday we ate out.  Nobody even thinks to offer to pay for their meals when we go out as a group.

The company all thinks we are millionaires.  I guess they don't see the tens of thousands of dollars a year we are paying out for college.  I scrimp and pinch every nickel, do without the niceties of life, and Hubs works a highly stressful job, working hours above and beyond, we consider driving to Columbus, Ohio for a few days a stylin' vacation while his colleagues cruise around Europe, so that we can drop $100 for their plates of meatloaf, taters and gravy at Bob Evans.

But I digress....

On Friday, down to 1 company again, I dug salmon fillets and a bag of sweet potato fries out of the freezer, and the company picked the veggie du jour--a bag of green beans....*yawn*....one of the few green foods they will eat.  The company doesn't "do" accents like sauces, glazes, butter, most any condiment so the bourbon maple glaze was only well received by Hubs and I.  It was FANTASTIC!!

Daughter turned her nose up at dinner when she came through the door after work.

I cooked an expensive piece of salmon for her(her favorite type of fish)and she wouldn't eat it.

So I made a note to stop cooking for her altogether and I ATE that FISH for lunch on Saturday.

Salmon is too pricey and wonderful to let it go to waste!

 

So that is how I survived the Food Week.

The weekly food spending was $116.94 this past week.  Go look HERE if you want to lowdown on what was bought and my rationalization for spending so much.lol

I've given myself $400 for food this month so I have about $283 left.
Once #2 Son goes to camp next week the 2nd half of June's actual food expenses will plummet.  This will leave me tons of cash to restock the pantry, IF some good rock bottom price deals come along.

We shall see if they do.....

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This week's menu.....
SUNDAY--Spaghetti with Sausage and Vegetable Pasta
MONDAY--Taco Bell

TUESDAY--Burgers on Roll, COC

WEDNESDAY--Barbecue Chicken, Grilled Squashes
THURSDAY--Hamburger Helper type meal, Tossed Salad
FRIDAY--Baked Potatoes with Toppings, Brussel Sprouts
SATURDAY--Shrimp(maybe with Grits, maybe grilled with Garlic), whatever else is leftover from the week

6 home cooked meals this week and I night of take-out.

Things I need to purchase this week to serve this menu.....Rolls, COC, 1 or 2 Squash(to go with the 1 squash leftover from last week), Ground Beef(I am totally out!), Salad Greens, Shrimp, Potatoes.

The only leftovers going into this week are the fajita mix, tortillas and a slice of ham.  I'll have the fajitas for lunches(2 or 3 tortillas' worth)and probably make a ham garnish for the dogs' dinner with the ham because fresh ham is boring and bland but leftover twice heated ham is akin to ham jerky.

So what is everyone else eating this week?


Sluggy

May Food Spending Week 3, Meal Plan Week 4

I had toyed with the idea of titling this post "This Week, It's All About the COC!"

I knew that title would get the attention of the more....uh ummm....bawdy and/or satirical regular readers.  But it would also get the attention of an unsavory element crawling the web for salacious items to fill their lascivious appetites.

And try saying THAT 10 times!

 

So I took the higher moral ground.....now STOP that laughing!!.....and didn't lead with my COC.

;-)

 

COC you see, stands for Corn On the Cob around here.

 Memorial Day kicks off the COC days.

 

Whether you like yours dark(roasted), dripping(with butter), 2 toned, super sweet or plain and hot,

Summer is all about the COC.

Who's day isn't just a little bit brighter with the addition of some Corn Porn.....

 

 

Now if this little snippet doesn't generate some comments, I don't know what will! 8-))

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 And here is the meal plan that actually happened last week.....

 
SUNDAY--Beef and/or Elk burgers and/or dogs, potato salad, baked beans, pumpkin pie

MONDAY--Leftover Stroganoff or something else they can scrounge

TUESDAY--Chicken Enchiladas

WEDNESDAY--Out to Eat

THURSDAY--Chicken Pot Pie which Daughter made
FRIDAY--Chinese Take-Out
SATURDAY--Leftovers

 

3 nights of new meals and 2 nights of leftovers and take-out/eat-out for 2 nights.

We had leftover elk burgers/dogs from the cook-out on Sunday and leftover Stroganoff from last Saturday.  We went out to eat on Wed. partly to celebrate #2 Son's French Honor Society ceremony that evening AND to celebrate #1 Son's birthday since he'll be away working at summer camp when his birthday rolls around.  Then I hurt my shoulder(AGAIN!), so Daughter made dinner on Thursday(had to buy pie crust), we had take-out on Friday because I still couldn't cook and plenty of leftovers still so Saturday's meals were just reheating stuff already here.

The weekly food spending was $50.49 this past week. I went to the Bread Outlet and then I had Daughter do the Catalina Deals at Weis Markets for me(the Kimberly-Clark $7 OYNO WYB $21, the $3 Instant Discount WYB 4 Nestle items, the $5 Instant Discount WYB $15 Unilever).  We paid $37.96 w/the Instant Disc. on the "deal" items(reg. price of $58.49),  plus we got a $7 Catalina to use next trip.

Value of food bought was at $103.16 so my savings rate was 51.06% for the week.   Total spending for the month to this point is $198.14.  With $201.86 left, it's not very likely I'll go over budget for food this month, huh?lol

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In terms of leftovers, I'm going into this week with half a Chicken Pot Pie and a couple of Elk Burgers, which were NOT a big hit here.  There might be 1 helping of Stroganoff left but it might have turned the corner by now. 

The Sloppy Joes never made it to the table last week, so it's back again.

 

Half the craziness is gone now but the hot weather is here so I'm trying NOT to run the oven.  That leaves too few meals that the whole family will eat....unless of course, we want to have tacos every. single. night.

bleh....

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--Baked Tilapia, Stuffed Clams, Mixed Veggies

MONDAY--TV Dinners from the back of the freezer....uh, oh.....

TUESDAY--Sloppy Joes, Corn on Cob(or COC as it's known around here)

WEDNESDAY--London Broil and Pineapple on the grill

THURSDAY--Sausage or Chicken patty Sandwiches, Harvard Beets
FRIDAY--Grilled Chicken Alfredo, Sugar Snap Peas
SATURDAY--Leftovers

 

This menu gives us 5 new meals and 1 night of leftovers and 1 night of tv dinners.
 
As for items I need to buy for this week......ground beef, pineapple, COC, London broil and maybe Chicken if Daughter used what was left in the freezer.

We'll be buying milk as usual, along with some fresh fruit and Daughter wants some Morning Star fake meat Burgers.

No Deals I can see so far I need to do....maybe some more frozen fruit bars.

So what is everyone else eating this week?

Sluggy