Food Spending June Week 3 & Meal Planning?.....Maybe Not

One way to save money is to plan a menu and buy what you need, shopping from a list.  Planning your meals and food purchases also aids in eliminating food waste.
We had no food waste last week.

This is what we actually ate last week......

SUNDAY--Spaghetti with Sausage and Vegetable Pasta
MONDAY--Taco Bell

TUESDAY--Burgers on Roll, COC

WEDNESDAY--Barbecue Chicken, Grilled Asparagus
THURSDAY--Domino's Pizza, Tossed Salad
FRIDAY--Leftover COC, Chinese Food, Spaghetti, Pizza
SATURDAY--More Leftovers COC, Salad, Hot Dogs with Sauerkraut

Thursday's dinner was changed to Pizza, due to the 50% off code for Domino's.

I must say I REALLY don't like Domino's pizza now.  This is the first time we'd had it since they changed it.

It is TOO GARLICKY!

And somebody told me it's "spray on garlic??"  yuck.

I scrapped Friday and Saturday's menus as we had so many leftovers from earlier in the week.

I think it's because the teens weren't here for some meals, so we just ate the leftovers.  Hubs could have heavier food and I could eat lighter since it was hot and I didn't feel like pasta and hot dogs.

And I got a break from cooking.....go me! ;-)

Food Budget matters....
I've been a shopping fool this past week, doing the deals at the Weis Grand Opening Sale in my town.
I spent on food/toiletries this week....$179.02
(That includes a couple receipts from last week I just found, $14.39 worth.)
I did buy 3 Lysol toilet cleaners on Saturday's trip to Weis, which I will submit for a $3 rebate(making those $1 each after rebate).  That purchase/rebate brings my weekly spending total down to $176.02.

Reg. shelf price for what I bought....$520.46
That's a 65.60% savings rate.


Now granted I DID buy 12 12-packs of soda, 4 6-packs of vitamin water, 6 bags of cookies, 6 bags of chips, muffins and pizza rolls at the Grand Opening Sale at Weis over the course of the week.
But last week, I also got....6 lbs.of local honey, flax seeds, quinoa, 6 loaves of bread, 12 lbs. of coffee, asparagus, toilet cleaner, laundry detergent, corn, potatoes, other produce, 6 lbs. of ground beef, 2 lbs. of shrimp, a 3lb. bag of potstickers, seltzer and a box of cereal.

I just have to take all that junk food and hide it before #2 Son comes home and figure out how I am going to dole it out to him.  If you've been reading here for some time, you KNOW #2 Son has little self-control when it comes to soda and cookies.  I have to limit it or he'd have it all consumed in days.  I'm going to see if I can make the soda last until October.  The cookies?....I'll be lucky to get through August before the only thing left are crumbs.

I've given myself $400 for food this month. I have spent to date $306.91, so I have $93.09 left for June.

The Human Eating Machine(#2 Son has left the building for the rest of June so I should be able to keep the spending on target.

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

This week's menu.....

No Menu this Week

Me and Scarlett will think about that another day.

Fiddle-dee-dee.

So what is everyone else eating this week?
C'mon.....make me jealous with your awesome cooking and food choices!


Sluggy

What Up!......Happy Father's Day to Your Favorite Thug

Everybody and their brother are making copies of "The Dad Life" Rap.
Remember that?

Check out the original HERE if you somehow missed it all these years.

The only thing about that one?
When the old guys starts talking about his "manscape" it sort of creeps me out. ;-)

My eyes are bleery from watching 23 versions of this video.
But it still makes me laugh after all these years.

Go give the Dad in your life a hug and then go make him watch this with you.......



Word to ya Fathah.....

Sluggy

Friday Music

Here's some music for your Friday afternoon.

If you don't watch Craig Ferguson's show, you should start.
If you can't stay up that late at night, CBS reruns them online the next day.

Enjoy!  This band is from Scotland and Craig promoted them on his May episodes they did in Scotland.

Sluggy

$16 more in Free Food

Back to Weis......I should just pitch a tent in the parking lot, shouldn't I?

3 bags of 8 o'clock coffee=$6.19 *I have now switched from ground to whole bean coffee because it keeps longer and I already have 9 bags of ground.lol
2 bags of Oreos=$3.76
2 containers of store made muffins 50% off=$4.49
3 12-packs of ginger-ale at $1.88=$5.64  *not pictured
1 6-pack of Vitamin Water=FREE wyb 3 12-packs coke products  *not pictured

Reg. shelf=$57.99
OOP=$20.08 + .34¢ tax=$20.42
65.37% savings rate.
And I got a $2 OYNO Catalina.

Then I bought another Lowe's gift card(paid for out of the money set aside for the home renovation)=$50.00

I received a $4 OYNO Catalina and the $10 OYNO Catalina.

My guess that these small, non-identified triggered Cats are a special promo at our store.  The sale this week is due to the new gas pumps they opened at our store.  These Buy1/Get 2 Free promos are only good at THIS Weis store.
Whatever, it's all good.
I spent $20.42 from my food budget this morning and got $16 back in Cats plus I got another 10 gas points for the gift card purchase.

This last lot gives me a total of $51 in Weis Cats/$5 in Weis Gift Card/$20 in R-A +Ups. $76 in future free stuff.

I'm hoping to do the Gift Card Deal 3 more times between tonight and Saturday.  Maybe some more coffee......
Come on up Judy and I can push you around Weis while you shop....

Sluggy

Just Throwing Money Around Like There's No Tomorrow!

This week has been all about spending money.
It's SO not me! lol
But it's spending with a purpose.

We are putting in hardwood floors in the dining/living room this summer.
Well "WE" aren't since we can't, but the guy we are paying to do it is.
We need to buy the wood so I can use all the Lowe's gift cards I can get with this $10 OYNO Cat Deal!
It's stuff I have to purchase anyway, so why not get free groceries when I buy them at the grocery store, right?

I went back to Weis PMITA Markets Thursday morning and got another $50 Kohl's Gift Card....which meant another $10 Catalina in Free Groceries for later.  I also picked up another 3 bags of coffee.  3 bags for the $6.19 price of one bag.....good deal!

After going through #2 Son's clothes, we figured we needed a bit more in new clothing than I had hoped so we went armed with $100 in gift cards.
And we got everything he needed and spend $100.34.
Great!
And I found a t-shirt for #1 Son on sale and picked that up with my cash.  His 21st birthday is next month and I won't see him then, so I'm bringing a gift bag of presents since we'll see him when he drop of #2 son this weekend.
I spent another $10 on underwear at KMart for the teen, and $4 on sundries at the $ Store(eyeglass repair kit, eyeglass cleaner, batteries for his flashlight, and a laundry bag).
The teen spending is done and just the packing is left to do.
No wait!  He still needs bug spray and I forgot to pick it up at Rite-Aid last night so I am going back on Saturday morning. ugh.

I went to Rite-Aid after dinner on Thursday to pick up 2 of the $50 "Home Improvement" Store Gift Cards.  This is my first time into Rite-Aid since the Load2Card thing started loading +Ups onto Wellness cards instead of printing on the receipts.  I came armed with the instructions to "opt out" of loading them onto the L2Card but it was not needed.  The +Ups printed on the receipt as usual.  But I'll keep the instructions in the car just in case I need them at a future point in time.
So another $100 in gift cards good at Lowe's/Home Despot to buy the hardwoods for the guy to install in the living room.
And $20 in +Up Rewards as a bonus to spend in the next 2 weeks.
I guess this means I am back on the Rite-Aid merry-go-round.
meh.

Then I trotted back to Weis PMITA Markets.
I had a Spend $45, get $3.50 oyno Catalina, so I wanted to get my order over $45(before coupons, but after sale prices).
I bought $106.73 worth of stuff.

Everything was on sale except the milk.  Some of the things were on deep Grand Opening discount like the soda, coffee, bread and Oreos.

Sale prices applied made my order $47.53.
Then the $3.50 Cat was applied=$44.03.
I had free item Qs for the Pizza Rolls and the Honey Bunches of Oats cereal(Thanks Frances!).
I had $1 Qs for the Polar Seltzer and a .75¢ Q for the Jimmy Dean Sandwiches(which doubled to $1).
One of the packages of Oreos had a $1 off wyb a gallon of milk w/the cookies(which I planned to buy anyway), so one of the Oreos was .88¢ after sale and Q.
Then I used a $2 OYNO Cat, a $3 OYNO Cat and a $7 OYNO Cat.
Altogether that's another $21.18 off my total....$44.03-$21.18=$22.85 OOP.
That's a 78.59% savings.
And I got another $5 OYNO Catalina.

I bought another $50 in gift cards and received yet another $10 OYNO Catalina for that.

I now have $35 in Catalinas(plus the $5 gift card for NOT buying the Bounty last week lol)to spend at Weis and $20 in +Ups to spend at Rite-Aid.
$60 in free food/toiletries at Weis and Rite-Aid for spending money on stuff I had to get anyway and gift cards for spending I have to do anyway.

As soon as this Gift Card Deal is over(I plan to get a few more before it ends on Saturday), I'll be on vacation and spending money wantonly next week.
Between motels, dining, gas and a few sights that are NOT free, I'll be shelling out about $1K.
At least that is my soft budget limit.
The trip is being paid for out of my Savings Challenge money I saved in 2011.
We haven't touched a penny of that $34K yet.
All paid for in cash.
Anything put on a credit card(for convenience)will be paid for out of this cash when the statement cuts.


I think I'll go lay down for awhile.
This money leak may give me a nose bleed or something! ;-)

Sluggy