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 

This Week on the Dining Table

The "It's Nice to be Home Again" Edition........

This will be an oddball edition of TWOTDT since I have been away from home for 2 weeks(+ a few more days).
Hubs didn't make a plan for eating while I was away, nor did he keep track of what they did actually eat. 

All I could get out of him was--
*They finished up the leftovers(Lemon Chicken w/Zuke, a massive pan of Lasagna).
*Hubs made pasta at least 2 nights.
*They bought a pizza one night and Burger King another night.
*Hubs thought he defrosted BSCB but it turned out to be pork chops, so they ate chops one night.

 

Hubs ate what was here basically for 2 weeks.  He made 1 trip to the grocery store and spent $36.24 on $45.26 worth of groceries.
That was it.

So I stopped for groceries on the way home on Friday and spent $29.23.

Then Hubs and I hit Wegman's and the restaurant supply store on Sunday because the fridge was practically bare by then.  This trip added $165 to our grocery spending total for July.  I could have done less damage to the food budget if I hadn't bought that 15 lb. piece of brisket to make some barbecue with in my smoker later this week. 
But it was calling my name, and my name is "Sucker for a nice piece of meat". 
I'll smoke the whole thing up and then freezer 2/3rds of it for eating later on this Fall.


Going into this week, in leftovers we have.........not much of anything except for a leftover tub of pasta Hubs cooked while I was gone and 3 bananas he bought and never got around to eating.  (I see banana bread baking in my immediate future.)

On my big shopping excursion Sunday we bought--cabbage, chicken, romaine lettuce, corn on cob, carrots, green beans, brisket, shredded cheese and will be incorporating those items into the meal plan.

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

1.  Chicken Cutlets in black pepper sauce, COC, Caesar salad
2.  Zucchini and Carrot casserole, Green bean casserole
3.  Tacos or Taco salad(had iceberg)
4.  Barbecue brisket, leftover casseroles
5.  Fish(had), Coleslaw, mixed veggies(had)(I'll have salad instead)
6.  Burgers on rolls(had), leftover COC, baked beans(had)
7.  Leftovers of some sort

And that takes us up to next Sunday.

 

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

Monday Food Spending/Meal Planning on Friday...Who Cares!?

 

 

Time to get back to the mundane tasks of my life, like food spending and meal planning.

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

Sunday--Burger King Whoppers(BOGO 55cents Deal), Broccoli

Monday--Beef Pie leftovers

Tuesday--Salmon(Crab Cakes for #2 son),Green Beans

Wednesday--Stuffed Shells, Tossed Salad

Thursday--Hot Dogs, Beans, Potato Salad

Friday--Leftovers or Fend for Yourself Night

Saturday--Hubs bought take-out Pizza

 

I don't recall the Potato Salad happening tho.

Between the Bread/Bakery Outlet load up and 3 small trips to the local grocery stores, the food spending last week(through the 22nd)came in at $92.37 for 8 days.  The big honking rib roast trip will be on this coming Monday's post.

As of the 22nd, food spending for December was at $328.41, leaving $71.59 of my $400 food budget for the month.
As of 12/24, I am $11.66 over for December.

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Here is what got/is getting served this week.....

Sunday--Chicken Enchiladas

Monday--Christmas Eve dinner at Chinese Restaurant

Tuesday--Ravioli w/Marinara Sauce, Standing Rib Roast, Roasted Vegetables, Green Beans, Rolls, Pies

Wednesday--Leftovers

Thursday--Pork Chops, homemade Mac and Cheese, Broccoli

Friday--Pizza, a green veggie from the freezer

Saturday--Kielbasa on Rolls, Caramelized Onions, Beets

I had made up Sunday through Tuesday's meals beforehand. Add in that the day after Christmas is always Leftover Day here, so I was good through Wednesday.  The one item that didn't get mostly consumed on Christmas was a bowl of green beans, so I took the leftovers of that and made a green bean casserole on Wed. and we now have no more green beans. lol

#1 Son wanted Thursday's meal that was served and I was able to cobble the ingredients together from items I already had here.  I used a bunch of partial blocks, shredded bags of cheese that were opened for the mac and cheese and an opened can of evaporated milk from making pies got thrown in with the fresh milk too.  After making the mac/cheese I have a container of cheese/bechamel sauce extra for the freezer. That sauce will make a dinner for two of more mac/cheese, or pasta alfredo or carbonara style noodles.
I also boiled down the carcass/skin on Sunday when I made chicken filling for the Enchiladas and have 2 containers of chicken stock in the freezer ready for Chicken and Dumplings or Chicken Soup sometime this Winter.

I've spent $83.25 to get this menu pulled together, though not all of that spending was used for this menu.  There were some seasonal stock-ups included.  I've got a $5 voucher to spend before Jan 1 at the local market so I'll pick up a few things before the month is out like eggs, pineapple, milk.

#1 son left this morning so the food cooking/spending should return to the humdrum, boring stuff soon.

January will be belt-tightening time(like everyone else I see online!)so we will be cleaning out and using up stuff lurking in the dark corners of the pantry and freezer that have been hanging around much too long.
I'll also be re-evaluating, in the coming weeks, my food budget and what and how much I've been cooking(or not)this past year.

Is 2013 going to be the year you start planning your meals out ahead?  How about food budgeting.....are you going to put one into place and try to stick to the plan?

Sluggy