Food Spending NOVEMBER Week 3, Meal Planning Week 4

Happy shining teen faces, ready for pie.

Ok, so ONE of them is visibly happy.....call me shocked......

Well I am thankful THAT is over with.....aren't you? ;-)

Seriously, I am at that age where my kids should be grown(if I had birthed them sooner), have partners(hopefully be married) and be making me grandkids.

Along with that comes matriarchal status and being invited to their homes for Thanksgiving, where I sit on my fat ass and someone else slaves in the kitchen and SERVES ME Thanksgiving Dinner!

But alas, we are still many years away from that happening.......if EVER......lol

Now it's onward to the next Holiday and keeping all the plates in the air and spinning.

I.

Can't.

Wait.

Can you? lol

***********************************

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

Sunday--Chili, Cornbread

Monday--2 people Taco Bell, me that leftover chicken in a homemade Quesadilla, Corn

Tuesday--Everyone found their own dinner(take-out or made something from what we had on hand)

Wednesday--Leftover Chili,or What You Can Find

Thursday--Turkey Dinner, Pie

Friday--Subway Sandwiches

Saturday--Leftovers

The food spending last week was $142.39 for $361.37 reg. retail worth of goods. And all but $8.16 of that $142.39 was spent AFTER Thanksgiving. 8-))

Yes Friday and Saturday I was burning through the food budget money grabbing those Holiday deals, wasn't I?
I have gone through $344.93 of the food money for November and have $55.07 left to get through until Saturday.

***********************

Going into this week, I have leftover Thanksgiving foods still and a big pot of chili.  The chili will go into the freezer now as everyone is sick of eating it.lol   I'll move the Spaghetti that didn't get served/made last week to this week.

This week's menu....

Sunday--Tacos

Monday--Leftovers

Tuesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Green Beans

Wednesday--Chicken and Dumplings

Thursday--Pork Chops with Apricot Glaze, Mashed Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes, Beets

Friday--Pizza, Salad

Saturday--Leftovers

This week I need to use up only a couple of Thanksgiving leftovers.  The turkey will be gone tomorrow when Hubs makes a turkey sandwich to take to work.  What is left of the carrots/parsnips are very overcooked now, so I'll mash that up and add to the dogs' dinners.  I am finishing the cranberry as I type this. ;-)  The rolls are being eaten in the mornings and the pies, well the pies lived a very short while.

R.I.P.  pies..... 8-))

The only things left are stuffing and the potatoes that I halved and baked in foil.  I'll use the taters on Thursday and I'll serve the stuffing with the pork chops that night as well.

Left to buy this week for this menu?.....Salad greens.  We have certificates for 2 free pizzas at a local shop so we'll use one of those, or both if everyone is home on Friday and is extra hungry.

I haven't looked at the ads this week yet.  I do have a $5 certificate to use at the Shursave Market(got it on Friday when I bought General Mills brand flour and frozen veggies).  Besides the greens, we'll need milk later in the week, but I think I can stay under $55 this week.

Do you have lots of leftovers to eat through still?  Or are you back to making fresh meals again?

Sluggy

It's Countdown Time....

It's almost time!
Time for what?
Time to eat!

The Rutabagas are boiling.....

The Carrots and Parsnips are glazed.....

The Potato Rolls are rising.......

And the bird is browning nicely now....

Off to do the Taters and pop the rest of the Stuffing into the oven......

Sluggy

Food Spending NOVEMBER Week 2, Meal Planning Week 3

Doesn't that look yummy?

It's a picture from when I made French Onion Soup a few weeks ago for dinner.  I'll be sharing some more photos and the recipe I use after I get Thanksgiving out of the way here.


***********************************

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

This week's menu....

Sunday--Halushki with Bacon

Monday--Chicken Pot Pie

Tuesday--Tuna Casserole, Beets

Wednesday-Pizza for some, Leftovers for others

Thursday--Lasagna, Caesar Salad

Friday--Pizza for some, Leftovers for others

Saturday--Leftovers

The food spending last week was $.11 for $51.11 reg. retail worth of goods. And if you don't believe me, go look HERE.  I've spent a total of $202.65 so far in November on $396.59 retail price of food.  This isn't counting my Rite-Aid purchases.

Last week, I used all but $10 in free food certificates/gift cards/catalinas I had accumulated to spend only 11 cents this past week of groceries.  I'll be heading out to spend my last $10 free food chit today to pick up the last of what I need to prepare Thanksgiving Day's meal.  We are down to 5 for dinner since #2 Son's sometimes job called him into work on Thursday-it's a restaurant.
The Daughter also has to work Thanksgiving....her retail job, thanks to all you Black Friday people! 8-( ....but she gets to eat because she goes in late and works through the night so people can buy MORE tvs, small appliances, pajamas and electronics that they don't need to fill up their empty lives and their already overstuffed houses!
But hey!, who am I to judge, just because in order to keep her job she is forced to work when she should have the option of being home with her family on a National Holiday. ;-)

***********************
Going into this week, I have leftover NOTHING!  Every blasted leftover got snarfed up. Ok, I misspoke...I have a bit of grilled chicken breast that wasn't used for the pot pie.  I made 2 lasagnas last week.  We ate one and the other went into the freezer for later.  So 1 single serving of a leftover item to use this week.

This week's menu....

Sunday--Chili, Cornbread

Monday--2 people Taco Bell, me that leftover chicken in a homemade Quesadilla, Corn

Tuesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(stockpile and freezer), Green Beans(freezer)

Wednesday--Leftover Chili, Cornbread

Thursday--Turkey Dinner, Pie

Friday--Subway Sandwiches

Saturday--Leftovers

This week I want easy.  The big pot of chili they can eat on multiple meals.  I'll throw the leftover of that into the freezer after 2-3 meals.  Spaghetti meal items are all here and I'll only make enough for 1 full meal because between the chili and turkey leftovers, that's plenty!   I'll use up the leftover chicken for myself tonight and Hubs & #2 Son will get Taco Bell on the way home from son's music lesson.

Left to buy this week?.....4 items for Thursday's Thanksgiving feast and milk.  I'll be spending right around $10 this week but it won't cost me anything because of my $10 certificate.  But come Friday?....I'll be hitting some sales and the Bread Outlet and be back to spending the food monies!lol
I still think I'll end November with a surplus of $$ in the food budget.  That will be sweet....

Are you cooking the Turkey Day meal this year or are you lucky enough to have family/friends to visit and let them do the cooking?
How about the rest of the week.....are you cooking the whole week or making it a simple meal plan or eating out?


Sluggy

Turkey Day Prep is in Full Swing!

The photo above is for SonyaAnn.  It may not be a naked Santa but it's pretty racy, funny and a tad bit irreverent just like you.lol

Daughter is home and we are in full swing with the Thanksgiving meal prep.
*Turkey marinating...check.
*Cranberry glop in the fridge to chill...check.
*Pie filling made.....check.

Now I'm off to deal with the pie crusts.
Also on deck is toasting bread, chopping aromatics and sautéing them for stuffing, making a salted caramel apple pie(nomnomnom) and cubing the rutabaga for the crockpot.

I'm just hoping I can get all this done without having to run to the grocery store again. ugh

Here's hoping your meal prep is going well!

Sluggy

Let's Talk Turkey & T-Day

I so love Thanksgiving!
Of all the holidays we celebrate this is about the only one that is basically secular.  Everyone, no matter their religious beliefs(or lack thereof)can/will celebrate it on an equal footing.  It's all about thankfulness and appreciating family ties and those pretty much transcend the ideological differences that our chosen religions possess.

I have a confession to make....
I am not a big fan of turkey as a food myself. 
Ok, I DO love fresh hot roasted turkey slices right from the bird.  But once it has sat for awhile or has been refrigerated, I don't want it.
Now, it's not about having an aversion to leftovers.

It's the smell of turkey.
Maybe it's just me and my strange sense of smell but "not-just-out-of-the-oven turkey" has an odor to it that I can't abide.
So every year I pack off as many turkey leftovers  as I can  get away with to the BIL and I eat some other protein or just eat the side dishes whenever I have to serve the leftovers from Thanksgiving.
But another funny thing about me, while I can't abide " NOT fresh hot turkey from the bird", I can eat SMOKED TURKEY until I burst!
Maybe it's the southerner in me....loving a food smoked that I can't stand not smoked.lol

I continue to prepare/serve turkey at Thanksgiving because well, it's pretty much expected and traditional.  And the family likes it.
And it's the most frugal meat protein around at the Holidays.

I would much prefer having "Chinese Turkey"(aka duck), like the family in "A Christmas Story" have on Christmas....minus the head.

With Thanksgiving right around the proverbial corner I was curious about everyone else's Turkey Day meal and traditions.
So I have a little survey for y'all.  Please leave a comment with your thoughts on today's topic.

1. What is your preferred menu for Thanksgiving dinner and why?
2.  Do you cook/host the meal or do you gather at someone else's house for dinner? If you cook, how many will gather around your table to eat?
3. What time do you generally sit down to eat?
4. Do you have any traditional dishes you serve/have served and what are they?  (These can be regional dishes or family traditions or what you feel are the national dishes everyone eats.)
5.  Do you have any non-food Thanksgiving traditions?
6.  If you could only have 5 food/beverage items at your Thanksgiving meal, what would they be?
7.  What was your worst and/or best Thanksgiving day and why?

Next time I'll give you my survey answers.

Sluggy