This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Back from Vacation and I Don't Want to Do Anything" Edition--

Back home and I just have no "umph".  Not many photos taken this week nor did I go anywhere except 2 stores for groceries so the photo is of a beer I had Saturday night.  A coconut porter from Maui Brewing I bought while in Fredericksburg, VA.  I must say I was not impressed and there was no coconut evident in this brew.

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week.......

1. Sunday--Cheese Ravioli with Meat Sauce, steamed Mixed Veggie
2. Monday--Fish or Shrimp, Butternut Squash, Cole Slaw
3. Tuesday--Pork Chops, Harvard Beets, Garlic mashed Potatoes
4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(Hubs request), Collards
5. Thursday--Chicken something, Roasted Veggies
6. Friday--Tuna Noodle Casserole, Leftover Veggies
7. Saturday--Leftover Pork Chops, Corn Casserole, ?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Cheese Ravioli with Meat Sauce, steamed Mixed Veggie
2. Monday--Potato crusted Cod, Butternut Squash, Cole Slaw
3. Tuesday--Dinner out at TGIFriday's(I had a big salad)
4. Wednesday--Pork Chops, Harvard Beets, leftover Cole Slaw
5. Thursday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(Hubs request), Caesar Salad
6. Friday--Chicken Parm, Stir-fry Veggies
7. Saturday--Broiled Salmon, Corn Casserole, leftover Butternut Squash

First week back from vacation so there were no leftovers starting out.
I'm on a mission to make room in the freezer presently so I wanted to pull meals from frozen stuff last week.
I only made 2 pork chops so didn't have chop leftovers for later in the week.  The Tuna Noodle Casserole also didn't happen but I broiled some Salmon instead.

As for my grocery spending last week......Maine Source and a small(free)trip to Walmart saw my food spending last week come to $45.30.  This brought the October grocery spending to a total of $237.64.  Quite low for a whole month and I'll gladly take it! 8-)

Leftovers going into this week....cheese ravioli w/meat sauce, harvard beets(I made double for planned-overs), spaghetti and meatballs and corn casserole.

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

1. Sunday--Leftover Ravioli w/Meat Sauce, sauted Cabbage(leftover from the Cole Slaw head)
2. Monday--Pan Grilled Chicken w/sauce, Spinach Salad, leftover Corn Casserole
3. Tuesday--Leftover Spaghetti w/meatballs, Caesar Salad
4. Wednesday--Kielbasa on Rolls, leftover Beets
5. Thursday--Tacos or Taco Salad
6. Friday--Tuna Noodle Casserole or Broiled Rock Fish(depending on my mood), Tossed Salad, ?
7. Saturday--Leftovers of some kind

What I need to buy for this menu?.........nothing.  I have or bought everything needed for this menu last week at the store.
Not much so far I want in Loss Leaders at the stores except some eggs on sale for $1.67 dozen.  Don't know yet what the Weis ads will have starting Thursday.

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

November 1 Net Worth Snapshot

We are $13,411.70 up from last month's net worth(only liquid cash/investments, as I don't count housing or car values).  Over $6K of that if due to savings put away in November from our household accounts.  The other half of the uptick is from our retirement/investment accounts.

We are also $136,670.49 up from one year ago, the November 1st of 2014 net worth.


Sluggy

Drunk Fish.......Our Trip to IL PART 2

Since we got more than halfway to our destination on Day 1, Friday, Day 2 was taken at a more leisurely pace.

I realized that our timing was impeccable by the way, staying overnight on a Thursday rather than a Friday.  Our hotel room was about $70 before all sorts of taxes were added but had be stayed there on a Friday night the room would have cost $200 before taxes...Yikes!!

I guess the rate zoomed up because of Notre Dame playing a football game that weekend.  What a rip!

Here's a couple shots outside of the hotel in Michigan.........

Nothing too exciting....

We drove down back toward the Indiana Toll Way to South Bend.
Anyway, on the way out of the Michiana area we stopped at a....you guessed it!.....liquor store.  8-)

You knew you were in a college football playing town right away in this store.


I love the sense of humor some of these craft brewers have when naming their beers.

Hipster Repellant IPA

Kentucky Ryed Chiquen, complete with a chicken feather under the top seal. lolz

I am so not commenting on this label..........

Space Station beer giving the middle finger salute.

After buying of few things we headed west into the "Land of Lincoln".
There was a stop at a World Market to buy a few things, mostly Christmas gifts.  Alcohol may have also been purchased but I'll never tell.

Then feeling puckish we found a nearby café for lunch in the shopping plaza where the World Market was located.

Hubs got a turkey sandwich and I got a roast beef sandwich.
Take a look at the difference in sizes between those 2.......

I was going to suggest we get 1 sandwich and split it before we ordered.  Well it's a good thing I didn't say it out loud in regard to getting my selection and splitting it! lolz

If we had done that, we would have had to stop again for another lunch before hitting Sonya's house.

We hit a little local traffic after having lunch but we pulled into Sonya's driveway a little after 4pm.

I got out of the car and when she opened the front door I yelled across the yard wanting to know if she had found me a FISH FRY for dinner.

Yes, I was all hyped up on wanting to have FISH on Friday up here in IL.  Two years ago I had the BEST Fish sandwich of my life on a Friday after we left Sonya's house and drove down to Mendota IL to have lunch with Pam and Robin(online friends from my beanie days). 
We had Walleye that Friday and it was the first time I'd ever had it and man, was it good!

Since we were coming into town on a Friday I told Sonya to look up some places for dinner that have a fish fry.  She seemed kind of lukewarm on the idea on the phone so I did some research and found a place that served a fish fry just over the border in WI near her town.

So after downing a drink that was thrust into my hand after I got inside the house(why does this always happen at her house?!?lol)we set out with Den driving to go eat some fish.

Well here is where we ended up at.........

Remember how I nearly got 3/5 of my family murdered in a biker dive bar back in July in VA?
Yep, this would be another great dining choice.....
I just seem to know how to pick 'em, don't I?

This place was a hole in the wall locals bar and we sure got the once over by the clientele sitting at the bar when we walked in.  I thought for sure I heard banjos playing in the distance too.

I thought Sonya was going to bolt back out the door until she spied gaming machines in the back corner.  Unfortunately they were "play" machines and you couldn't actually win money on them so her glee turned to despair right quick.

So we ordered our meals and chatted and laughed before the repast hit the table.

I swear this is the only photo I got of Den the entire time we were visiting!  The man had an uncanny knack for avoiding my camera.
Sonya Ann was not to be so lucky however......much to her chagrin.

This is one of the lovely pictures adoring the wall at Grumpy's Pub and Grub.

The food arrived and we wolfed it down.  Den unfortunately chose the only "All You Can Eat" fish option(cod)and it turned out to be the premade/frozen/breaded type.  Hubs and my fish plates were freshly prepared however and were very good.
so what did Sonya Ann order in the land of fishy goodness?
A BLT.

Ok, so that's why she said, "We don't go out for fish." on the phone when I requested a fish fry and she didn't seem too thrilled with Grumpy's(after the gambling was a no-go).

Some woman(the owner, bartender, patron....who knows?)came over after we were done eating and offered us each a cookie out of the box she was holding.
So we got free chocolate chip cookies with our meal....score!

Then the bill came and Den tried to give the waiter his credit card.
And then this happened........
 

Figures! I'd pick a place that was seedy and only took cash....lol

So we go back to their house and as they say, "the hilarity ensued".

Just one of the beverages imbibed that evening.

I should have filmed Sonya Ann taking out the recycling the next afternoon.  It looked something like this.......

Next time we should try this with all our empties....
 

Or this.....



It was a long pleasant evening, however I can't share anything else that happened mostly because I can't remember anything else.
Let's just say that "What happens in Sonya's house stays in Sonya's house" and leave it at that. ;-)

Sluggy

2015 Food & Toiletries Spending.....October Update

Onward to October's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for OCTOBER 2015.

I have posted October's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2015 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.  I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in September.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 3(2 at home this month). No kids under 19. 

******************
BIG LOTS
OOP  $30.76
Value  $47.70
Savings 35.51%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $5.00
Value  $7.50
Savings 25%

GROCERY OUTLET
OOP  $16.96
Value  $27.16
Savings  47.55%

JEWELL
OOP  $18.61
Value  $25.78
Savings  28%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $45.30
Value  $80.61
Savings  43.80%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/gift card $126.67
Value  $126.67
Savings  100%

 

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $19.37
Qs/Ads $11.85
Value  $31.22
Savings  38%

SURPLUS OUTLET
OOP  $28.57
Value  $52.04
Savings  45.10%

WALMART
OOP  ($6.72)on free gift card
Value  $8.87
Savings  100%
 

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $73.07

Qs/Ads  $103.78

Value  $176.85

Savings  58.68%
 

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid and Walmart(tied) at 100%, Weis at 58.68% and Grocery Outlet at 47.55%.  My WORST savings rate was Dollar Tree at 25%.

I shopped at 10 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket........ $237.64

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$346.76

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$584.40

TOTAL Savings of...................................59.34%
TOTAL Savings without Rite-Aid...........48.08%

This closes out the October food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into October wanting to do a $300 food budget for the month and I only spent $237.64, leaving me with $62.36 leftover in the budget.

The monthly savings percentage went down by 1.43% in October to 59.34% compared to September's high 60.77% savings average.  Still a great savings rate though for October.

The savings rate for the whole year so far now stands at 59.21%.  That's a .01 increase in savings over September's YTD total(59.20%).  It's still hanging in well over a 40% savings rate for the year so it's all good. 

I have spent a total of $3,723.41 on food/toiletries in 2015 so far at this point in the year. That averages out to $372.34 per month.  That's still under $400 per month average for the year.

LOOKING AHEAD To NOVEMBER.........

We'll try for a $300 food budget for NOVEMBER again like I did in October, since it's just Hubs and I at home now.  No pets either.  But College Boy will be coming home for Thanksgiving for a few days this month.  And there is that behemoth food Turkey Day this month.  Even so, I've already got some of the foods and ingredients in the house for that meal, including a large turkey breast, pumpkin, various squashes and veggies, potatoes, pie and roll making ingredients too.
Plus the freezer and pantry are PACKED otherwise with foodie goodness.  8-)
$300 food budget for November is very doable.
 

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

 

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in October?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?
*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?
 

Sluggy

2015 Garden Harvest Total

Well I spend a good chunk of this week picking, washing, cutting, processing and freezing Collard Greens.
And I am so happy to say that I am finally DONE! lolz

This gardening thing is a lotta work but I gladly do it so we eat well, not to mention cheaply. ;-)

I weighed everything I grew this year and my Grand Total for this season was 23.88 pounds of food from my garden.
Most of that total was yellow squash and collards.  The green beans were mostly a bust this season and the deer liked my tomatoes a little too much unfortunately.  The Japanese Beetles liked my collards but they don't eat nearly as much as the deer. lolz

This year wasn't nearly what my garden produced in 2010.  That was my best year at just shy of 94 pounds of food grown.
But we had a few glitched this year....like chipmunks eating our seedlings(and planted seeds), the rabbits, the deer, not growing nearly as many foods as in years past, etc.

I am happy with how things turned anyway.
And now we just had to chop up the plants, turn the soil and cover with some mulched leaves and grass and wait for Mother Nature to do her thang over the Winter.

Did you grow a garden this season?
How did you do?

Sluggy