November Food Spending Week 3, Meal Plan Week 4

Last week's meal plan is in the books.  Here is what actually happened....

SUNDAY--Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
MONDAY--Spaghetti & Homemade Meatballs
TUESDAY--Teriyaki Salmon w/ Veggie Fried Rice
WEDNESDAY--Leftovers
THURSDAY--Kielbasa, Potato Salad, Cabbage
FRIDAY--Chinese Take-Out
SATURDAY--Take-Out Pizza *at behest of Hubs and #2 son

No Breakfast for Dinner night, Chinese take-out instead.  No Squash casserole night because I never got to the Product market last week for said squash, so we had leftovers instead. And I was out voted on Saturday and a pizza was ordered(using a gift card).

Last week was all about many little food shopping trips revolving around....say it with me!....GRAVY!

8 transactions at Weis Markets(aka Evil Empire)and 1 trip to the RSS(aka Restaurant Supply Store)for blue cheese dressing(aka PRECIOUS).

 
Total for all the food shopping last week came to $91.07.

 

That sure sounds like A LOT of $$ to me, but look at what I got for that amount.....

93 cans of gravy

21 cans of soup

1 bag stuffing

4 bags of croutons

6 bags of frozen potato/onion rings

2 bags of salad

2 cans of pineapple

4 bags of cheese

8 containers of sour cream

2 cans of cranberry sauce

5 3-packs of yeast

11 single packs of yeast

2 boxes of broth

1 applesauce cups

2 boxes of pie crust

2 bags of green beans

1 gallon of dressing

1 14-cut cheesecake

1 turkey

The only thing missing is a Partridge in a Pear Tree.....

If I saw it all sitting out together I'd think I did good.  I need my visuals people!lol

My savings percentage was 72.40% last week, as the reg. retail was $329.84 on the groceries I brought home. 

My running total spent for the month is now at $213.52, which leaves me $36.48 to stay within my $250 monthly food budget.  Ok, I "really" have $39.48 since I have $3 in rebates this month to throw into the food kitty....which is how I handle rebate $. 8-)

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--Pot Roast, Carrots, Potatoes, Onions w/Gravy
MONDAY--Tilapia, Squash Casserole, Sweet Potato Fries
TUESDAY--Chicken Parmesan, Pasta, Salad
WEDNESDAY--Tacos, Veg.
THURSDAY--Turkey Thanksgiving Dinner
FRIDAY--Chili or Leftovers
SATURDAY--Leftovers

Items needed for this menu.....Yellow Squash, Bell Seasoning, Rutabaga, Sweet Potatoes, Celery and Milk.  I have $20 in store Rewards I have to spend by Saturday or lose them, so I'll get as much of this as I can at the ShurSave store.  

This is the last food shopping Week in the month.  Between the free $20 rewards and the $39 I have left, I think I'll be able to stay under budget for November...yay!

 

Unless of course, I start jonesing for some more Gravy! lol

So have you run out of food budget yet this month?

Or do you have lots of cash left?

Sluggy

Gravy Impossible or The Final Chapter of The Great Gravy Caper

Well, I still needed 13 cans of gravy for the FB as we headed into Saturday.
So Hubs took me up to the Evil Empire(aka Weis Markets)after he went to the Bank.
We sneaked up on the PF/Campbell's/Swanson Display and as I reached for the first of 22 cans I planned on getting(have to buy in lots of 11 to get the $5 discount), I saw a NEW little sign hanging on the shelf that said, "LIMIT 8 CANS".
I channeled my dear dead pet chihuahua, Mango, and muttered, "Crap!".
The cashiers probably wouldn't enforce this limit if I had Hubs do 11 cans and I did 11 cans PLUS we were buying other stuff so the gravy wouldn't be obvious.

And frrankly, when I want to, I can charm the pants off the Pope(not that I'd want to do that, have you seen His Holiness?lol)so limit of 8 didn't put me off of gravy procurement at all!
But as Hubs was in attendance(and he likes to play things safe and boring), I decided not to push the limit.

I handed Hubs 7 cans of gravy & 5 cans of soup(to get the $5 discount), 4 strips of yeast, a handful of coupons and told him to go get 2 sour creams and a bag of shredded cheese and checkout.

I turned and grabbed 8 cans of gravy(this last 15 would give me the 13 I needed to fulfill the FB request + 2 extra)& 5 cans of soup(to get the $5 discount).  Then I picked up other goodies to the tune of $17.21 OOP after sales/Qs.

Hubs order came to $7.30 OOP


All totaled, 83 cans of gravy bought at reg. retail would have been $115.37.  Even on big discount sale at .50¢ a can, it would have cost upwards of $41.50. 
I was able to get it all for around $5 OOP.

All these last 35 lovely cans are headed to the Methodist Church tomorrow morning.

And about the photo above?
Yes, it is true!.....you can bathe in gravy!!
Check it out HERE.

Sluggy

What If?.....

What if Jim Morrison had been hired to replace LaVar Burton on PBS?
It might have gone something like this.....



Sluggy

2 Things......More Gravy Talk and PW Fallout

I trotted over to the local Food Bank this morning as planned.
Of course, when I get there, there is a hearse pulled up to the back door where I needed to go. Did I ever mention that the FB here is located inside the local Methodist Church? lol

So I peek in the door to see if the FB is even open today, given that there is a funeral service going on inside. Not 10 feet away in the vestibule, the pastor was doing something with the casket before wheeling the departed one into the chapel.
I have great timing, don't I?

There was a new to me FB lady who came out and got the 4 bags. I told her it was 48 cans of gravy(no, I didn't make another gravy run that morning before I headed up).
She said, "Great! We won't put this away. We'll leave it out and we can put a can in each Thanksgiving Box!" I expressed pleasure to see that they hadn't made up/given out the Holiday food boxes yet, as I had hoped to get the gravy to them in time to be used for Turkey Day.
The FB lady went on to say that they have 83 boxes to pack.
Wow! Last time I was at the FB they were running about 50 clients a month. 83 families in my teeny tiny town is massive!

I told her that I only had 48 cans but if she'd like me to get 83 cans I would. She said that would be great if we had 1 can for each box.
So after I left, guess where I went??lol
I got 22 more cans and Saturday Hubs will assist me in getting the last 13 cans so I can drop them off on Monday, in time to pack into the boxes going out on Tuesday.

And as for my previous post of today......
The fallout from my ranting was felt immediately! Not 10 minutes after revealing I just don't get this whole Pioneer Woman fascination, I lost a Follower....ACK!!!
Thank you Follower, whoever you are were....you have wounded me deeply.....or maybe not.....

Sluggy

Brain Dump....Random Things on My Mind

Ok, if MARK can do a Photo Dump on his blog, I am allowed to do a Brain Dump on my blog.
Yes, I said Brain Dump....deal with it!
You know....just putting all the random crap that bounces around in your head out on cyber-paper so you can stop thinking about it.

*I woke up this morning and my teeth all seem loose.  I don't know WHAT I was doing in my sleep(grinding, clenching?)but they seriously hurt!  I take pretty good care of my teeth and have regular check-ups.  Heck, last time the dentist couldn't find a speck of tartar on my chopper and I have no gum disease.  But today they hurt like a bitch and I am waiting for the Tooth Fairy to be making an appearance.

*You know what irritates me?.....Ok, that's a very long list....but something recently.
Mormon mommy bloggers.
Let me say first off, I have nothing against Mormons....unless they are on my front doorstep trying to give me literature.  (But then again, I don't want ANY devoteé on my front doorstep selling me religion.)
I believe everyone can/should believe what they want.  But please, keep it sacred and to yourself, much like your genitals.  Don't be whipping those or your religion out in public to beat anyone over the head with it to prove that yours is better than mine.  Ok, bad metaphor but you know what I mean.

Mormon mommy bloggers are fascinating.  So domestic and so uplifting and perky all the time most of the time on their blogs.  You can't tell me that even the most patient Mormon mommy blogger doesn't have moments when their brood drives them stark raving mad and they don't want to throttle their kids....C'mon!
And this NieNie person?  I want to know what her husband does for a living to afford all the money they seem to be dropping on airplane tickets, trips, stuff, etc.  And he must have one heck of a flexible schedule to be jetting off everywhere at a moment's notice.  And she needs to lay off the proselytizing and Mitt Romney links because she is driving folks away with that. My advice?....Stick to photos of your kids and telling your survivor story cuz those rock!

*And since we are on the subject of Mormons, it's but a short step to my next BD topic.....those Sister Wives folks on the TLC channel.
I confess, I have watched that show from the beginning.  I really like some of them though I do think that Cody guy is full of himself and tad bit narcissistic.
I woke up earlier this week as I was coming out of a vivid dream.  The dream was about the Sister Wives.  In the dream I was worrying about the IRS implications of the Sister Wives family.  I know.....I have too much time on my hands even when I am asleep.
But you have to admit, that come tax time, being part of a polygamist family has to be a nightmare!
Wife #1 is legally married by government standards and they have 1 kid & 2 incomes.  So they take a tax hit.
Wife #2 also works and has 6 kids.  Not legally married, does she file as Head of Household or Single?
And she makes out with 6 tax deductions.
Wife #3 is the problem for me.  She also has 6 kids but doesn't work so has no income to claim.  What must the IRS drone who gets her return think?  7 deductions and no visible means of support.....
Wife #4 has 3 kids from a previous marriage....who takes the deduction for the kids?  She must get some form of child support.

*I have had my eBay Store reopened for almost 2 weeks now and I am already having problems with stupid people. 
I had someone send me a Question to Seller asking the specific size of a miniature doll, as well as asking me to take the doll out of the sealed package and to email them more close-up pictures of the doll.  First off, if they had actually READ the listing it says that the doll is 1" tall.  There are 3 close-up pictures of the item where you can see that the said doll is visible.  And if I opened the sealed package it would no longer be New in Package as the listing states.  They also did NOT give me their email addy so I could email them the photos that they can already see in the listing.

I have had someone forget to pay me for 1 week though this was not a deadbeat but an eBay regular who just lost track of their dealings.  I quick nudge rectified the situation.

The worst has to be the people who don't know how to negotiate.  On occasion I put the "Make Me An Offer" feature on listings.  If you are unfamiliar with that, it allows potential Buyers to offer you less than what you have listed the item for.  You can then accept, decline or counteroffer them.  I believe they have 3 bids or chances to make an offer on any item before the system automatically rejects their dealings with the Seller.   When you make an offer to a Seller it is a good thing not to piss them off by offering them some outlandishly low sum.  And if you are in a counteroffering/bidding situation with a Seller, you need to man up and meet them halfway...or at least that is my take on things.  I had someone this week offer me $15 on an item I listed for $30.  While not outlandishly low, it was pretty insulting.  And seeing as I had just listing the item 1 day before, I was not about to sell it for that little.
So I made them a counteroffer by knocking $5 off the item, making it $25.
And guess what price they came back with?   $15.50.
I come down $5 and they come up .50¢.
As Suze Orman would say.....Denied!
So I send back a new counteroffer......$30. LOLOL

*And now I know I will piss off many of you with this one......
What is this fascination with the Pioneer Woman?
I just don't get it.
Ok, she cooks.  She takes photos of cattle and cowboys' rear ends.  She's written a book.
Can somebody please explain to me why I should care?lol  I've seen her recipes.  Not impressed.
And no, this does not come from some kind of jealousy or blog envy.   What she has works for her but it's not what I want.
I just don't get whatever it is everyone else sees.  If you put shots like the one above on her blog I might be easier to convince that I need to read her. ;-)

I see it as something similar to all this Oprah worship women do.  We get fixated on people and then can't get enough of them.  I think I am missing some female gene thing.

Whatever......
Ok, I guess my brain is empty enough now for some new thoughts.

So tell us.....What is on your mind?

Sluggy