This Week on the Dining Table

 The "Your Hair Looks Marvelous!" Edition.......

We kept one of our old recliners for the dogs to lay in when we got the new reclining loveseat.  Dixie will scratch on it to make it "soft" before she lays down as dogs will do.  Hubs snapped this photo of her one cold night after she was scratching on the chair.  Just a bit of static electricity, no? lol

Onward to the meal planning!

Moving On-

This is what was planned....

1. Sunday--Fend for Yourself

2. Monday--Rigatoni w/Meat and Mushroom Sauce, Caesar Salad

3. Tuesday--No Clue yet!

4. Wednesday--Halushki
5. Thursday--Chicken, Veggies TBD(Hubs is cooking)

6.  Friday--Tempura Shrimp, Cole Slaw, Sweet Potato Wedges

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what really happened.......

1. Sunday--Fend for Yourself

2. Monday--Rigatoni w/Meat and Mushroom Sauce, Caesar Salad

3. Tuesday--Take-Out Chinese(Eggplant in Garlic Sauce for me)

4. Wednesday--Halushki
5. Thursday--Leftovers

6.  Friday--Tempura Shrimp, Cole Slaw, Sweet Potato Wedges

7. Saturday--Baked Chicken, leftover Squash Casserole, Alfredo Noodles

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/planned overs or FFY, and 1 night of Take-Out/Eating Out. 

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

*  10 servings of Coho Salmon(great sale at Weis!)

*  2 Sirloin Steaks

*  1.5 lbs. Stew Beef

*  1 lb. Ground Beef

*  4 frozen Chicken Wrap sandwiches

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

*  2 lb. of Shrimp

*  1 Large Chicken Breast

We spent $60.53 on food/toiletries/HBA/paper goods last week-1 trip to Ocean State Job Lot(Zero OOP), a trip to Target(Zero OOP)a medium trip to Weis($53.12)and 1 small trip to the Discount Outlet($7.41). This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $60.53 for April so far.  A lot of meats went into the freezer last week.

There are 25 shopping days left in April.

I've earned $54.60 on Ibotta in April.

I've earned $0.00 on Checkout51 in March.

I've earned $5.00 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in April.

I've earned  points from shopping on Fetch in April(haven't submitted any receipts yet tho)

I've earned 0 point from food shopping on Shop Kick in April($)

I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Swagbucks in April.

Only 5 days into April and my Ibotta is over $50 for the month already! 8-)))

My savings percentage for last week was sn incredible 70.76%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for April and the monthly savings total for March comes in at 70.76%.(w/out R-A).  Mostly it's so high due to using free gift cards at Target and OSJL.

Leftovers going into this week--Beef Stir-Fry, 2 helpings of Squash Casserole, lots of Rigatoni and Meat/Mushroom Sauce, lots of Halushki, 2 servings of Tempura Shrimp, 2 helpings of Cole Slaw, 1 helping of Sweet Potato Wedges, 1 helping of Alfredo Noodles.  I also have 1/4 of a head of cabbage to use up this week.

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

1. Sunday--Lasagna, Roasted Brussel Sprouts

2. Monday--Dinner out(Hubs' birthday)

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Hot Dogs, sauté Cabbage
5. Thursday--Leftovers

6.  Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--Leftovers

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Not a food item but we need napkins. Most of the week will be leftover nights since we have so many of them!  No cooking mostly....yay!  A week off from that chore. ;-)

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 great deals on food at your stores this week?  I haven't seen the new sales at for Weis(PMITA)Markets yet which come out the end of this week so who knows around here. Maybe I'll stick to the Discount Outlet.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Something I've Never Seen in a Grocery Store Here Before" Edition--

In case the signage is too small or you don't recognize these, they are Jackfruit from India.
And they are ginormous!  I read that a jackfruit can get up to 120 lbs......geez!
My question is--why are they in a grocery store in podunk PA( very small town a half hour west of my town with no Indian/Southeast Asian population)?!?
Has provincial small town PA suddenly developed a taste for something more exotic than pierogi and halushki?  Lololz
I am still shaking my head over this one.......


Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Beef Stroganof, Rice, TBD Veggie

2. Monday--Halushki

3. Tuesday--?

4. Wednesday--?

5. Thursday--?

6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--FFY(Fend for Yourself)

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Beef Stroganof, Rice, TBD Veggie

2. Monday--Halushki

3. Tuesday--Leftovers at Brother's house

4. Wednesday--Fried Shrimp, Salad, Mashed Taters

5. Thursday--Pizza, Salad

6. Friday--Beef Brisket, Sweet Potatoes, Cole Slaw, Banana Pudding(Hubs and I shared a platter)
7. Saturday--Fend for Yourself(I had an English Muffin)

Last week saw 2 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 3 nights of Eating Out.  We were in VA and NC for a large part of the week so there was a bit of eating out.  Tues. we had leftovers the night we got to VA(had lunch at Chick Fil-A on the way down). Wed. we had breakfast out, no lunch and a dinner out. Thurs. we had breakfast at the motel, a late lunch at Pizza Hut and munchies in the room for dinner. Fri. we had breakfast at the motel, lunch at a BBQ joint and a burger at BK after going to the movies. Sat. we had Micky D's for breakfast on the road, lunch w/older son at Chili's and dinner was FFY at home.

1 big trip to Weis, a Bread Outlet trip and a trip to Maines restaurant supply for mostly produce-all before we left town last week-brought the weekly food spending to $123.76 and brought the monthly total to $153.61.
I have 9 days left in my shopping month for October.

My savings percentage last week was 48.93%(without Rite-Aid trips)and October's monthly savings total comes to 48.55%(w/out R-A)so far.

Leftovers going into this week......beef stroganof, halushki, cheddar broccoli soup.  The kids didn't seem to have eaten any of the leftover foods....gee, what a surprise. lolz

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

1. Sunday--Cheese Lasagna

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Chicken Strips, Sweet Potato Fries, Veggie TBD

4. Wednesday--Beef Stew, Biscuits

5. Thursday--Rigatoni, Meat Sauce, Salad(Hubs will cook this)

6. Friday--Chicken and Chilies Enchiladas, Beans, Rice
7. Saturday--FFY(Fend for Yourself)

I made a big pot of pasta sauce w/meat on Sunday to use on the Lasagna.  Leftover sauce will be used on Thursday so Hubs can give me a night off from cooking(He can boil pasta and add the sauce and open a bag of salad aka as "cooking" in his world. lol)

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 night of leftovers/FFY, 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.  Between the trip to Maine and the trip to VA/NC I have had my fill of Eating Out for awhile. ;-)

What needs buying for this menu?  Nothing really except salad greens and milk.  Should make for a cheap grocery week, right? ;-)

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 great deals on food at your stores this week? 

Sluggy  

Frugal Friday....the April 27th Edition

Let's see what frugal wins we had here at Chez Sluggy this past week.......

*  Assorted Deals and discounted meats at Weis(PMITA)Markets this week.....

I spent $87.28 at Weis this week and earned back $3.15 in cash rebates this week.

*   4 transactions at Rite-Aid bringing home items we can use(and/or can be put into the giveaway boxes).

 Spending down Plenti Points, earning Bonus Cash..............

All the while trying to make heads or tails of the transition from the old reward system to the new one.

*  I found more money laying on the ground again...........

A lowly Tom Jefferson coin but hey!.....found money adds up!

*  I used up leftovers from last week, incorporating them into new dishes this week.........
--The leftover rigatoni I cooked up for a pasta and fresh sauce dinner a week ago Sunday got baked with cheese and sauce and served on Tuesday with a Caesar Salad. I also put about 4 Tablespoons of pizza sauce leftover from when I made pizzas into the sauce I made for the baked pasta dish.
--This past Sunday I took some leftover pork 'cue, 2 tubes of crescent rolls dough, some cheddar and a bit of bbq sauce and made a BBQ ring(like a taco ring).  Used up a leftover and some rolls tubes that needed to get used.
--On Thursday, Hubs took most of the extra meatloaf I made last week and turned it into taco filling.

*  I got this flyer in the mail from an online store I buy clothing from on occasion........

I have a $10 reward for them I earned this past Winter that expires in May.  I'll make up a list of items worth picking up/that are needed and be sure to use my reward and do some shopping during this sale.  Maybe I'll get lucky and find a free shipping code to boot!  And I'll be sure to go to the site via a cash back savings portal too.  8-))


*  On Monday we had a hankering for Chinese Take-Out so I got everyone's order that morning and I went to the restaurant before 3 pm and got 3 dinners for us.  Before 3 pm you can get the Lunch prices/amounts which cost $2 less per entreé.  Hubs went ahead and ate his early but the rest of us heated up our entreés at dinner time.  I find that the reg. dinner time quantities are too much(I can generally get 3 meals out of my single entreé).  Nobody here likes the same thing so sharing an entreé between us isn't going to happen.

*  I am so glad I picked up a 5 lb. log of Cooper sharp cheese a couple of weeks ago.  It is saving me scads of money buying it this way!

This product runs $7.99-$8.99 per lb. at deli counters in the grocery stores here and sometimes I can find it on sale for $5.99-$6.99 per lb.
The restaurant supply store has it sliced, prepackaged(in plastic wrap on a styrofoam tray)for $4.99 sometimes but I hate buying that because of all the packaging waste and because they wrap it so tightly that the slices get stuck together and you can't get them out singly for a sandwich.

So I invested in a good cheese slicer awhile back and now I slice about a lb. at a time and store the slices in a ziploc bag(which is washed and reused).  I just have to make sure to wrap whatever is left of the cheese log well so it doesn't dry out.  Buying a block of cheese costs me $17.99 for 5 lbs.(unless I find it on sale for $15.99)so it's costing me $3.60 lb. when I do the slicing myself(or $3.20 lb. if I find it on sale).

And those pesky bits and pieces of slices that come off the bottom end of the log when slicing?

I use them along with a heel of a loaf of bread(which nobody eats)and make myself a cheese toast breakfast after slicing!  Add in the turkey sausage patty I cooked up and you have a filling meal.

Or if I slice cheese and it's not meal time, I put the bits in a baggie because someone around here is likely to have nachos, tacos, a salad, etc. where they want shreds/bits of cheese on/with it. ;-)

*  I didn't get the Weis Friday Freebie last week because it wasn't something we'd eat/use.  It was a reusable grocery bag in homage to Earth Day rolling around this year.  I really don't need MORE reusable grocery bags so I didn't get one.  Just because something is free, if you can't/won't use it/have enough, you don't have to take it.

*  Monday saw me back at the dentist's for a filling replacement................

I got a few toothpaste Qs($1/1 Colgate)and asked for more sample size freebies.  Two more tubes of Sensodyne for Hubs and 2 bottles of Listerine.  Always ask for dental freebies because you never know if they have them if you don't ask!


*  But the best frugal buy this week was this.........

5 lbs. of matzoh for a quarter.


A good week of frugal wins here.....how about you!
How has frugality helped your personal economy this week?

Sluggy