This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Cook Once, Eat Eight Times" Edition--

No photo but I cooked Peanut Thai Chicken, a pan of Lasagna and a Meatloaf on Sunday.  I used up some odds and ends of shredded cheese bags, a jar of premade sauce, a box of lasagna noodles, a canister of bread crumbs, a jar of parsley, an old container of cottage cheese and 1 whole skinless boneless chicken breast and ground beef from the freezer.  These 3 dishes should give us the basis of 8 meal or so when all is said and done/eaten.   I'll probably have to throw some lasagna into the freezer too because we'll get tired of it(at least I will, Hubs could eat pasta 24/7).
I am loving doing a sort of batch cooking on the weekend when the electric rates are lower here. It frees up my week a bit and avoids that "it's 5 o'clock already and I don't have anything prepped for dinner" trap.

Onward to the meal planning!

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

1. Sunday--Bourbon Salmon, Mixed Veggies, Mac and Cheese
2. Monday--Chicken Parm, Veggies(Spaghetti for Hubs)
3. Tuesday--Chicken Fajitas
4. Wednesday--Bacon Mushroom Quiche(or another frozen pizza augmented with goodies)
5. Thursday--Shrimp, Cole Slaw, TBA?
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Bourbon Salmon, Mixed Veggies, Mac and Cheese
2. Monday--Chicken Parm, Veggies(Spaghetti for Hubs)
3. Tuesday--Chicken Fajitas
4. Wednesday--Shrimp, Cole Slaw
5. Thursday--Frozen Pizza(dressed up)
6. Friday--Bourbon Salmon(again), leftover Mixed Veggies, leftover Cole Slaw
7. Saturday--Turkey Club Sandwiches

We needed to eat the frozen pizza as it wouldn't fit into the freezer so the quiche was nixed(besides, I used the mushrooms in the Fajita filling).  And we really didn't have anything leftover to reheat or repurpose as a meal so I ended up cooking every night.

7 meals cooked at home(7 new meals-if you count frozen pizza as a new meal).

As for my grocery spending so far for February.....
Added spending of $45.96 this past week.  That makes a running total of $288.24 spent in February and we have 6 days left in the month.  Between more cheap coffee and more Compleats for College Boy I know I'll go over $300 at this point, unless I advance myself some cash from March's budget.

Leftovers going into this week......Mac and Cheese and Chicken Fajita filling(enough for 2 Fajitas).
The Mac & Cheese came out dreadfully(a quick crockpot recipe using only 4 ingredients I tried) so I'll attempt to "fix" it this week. It was just a big gloppy mess so I'll make a roux and try to sauce it up.  If it can't be fixed it will get pitched.....I hate to do that but, like I said, it is dreadful!  The only other way I can think to "save" it is to breadcrumb it and make fried mac and cheese nuggets which will just make it more unhealthy(if that's possible lol).

And besides, who throws away mac and cheese??  lolz

I also have leftover smoked Pork BBQ too but that will get divided into two Ziploc bags and is going into the freezer for later as we are "bbq-ed out".

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

1. Sunday--Thai Peanut Chicken, Rice, Broccoli
2. Monday--Meatloaf, Brussels Sprouts, maybe dreadful Mac&Cheese fixed up
3. Tuesday--Cheese Lasagna, Tossed Salad
4. Wednesday--Kielbasa on rolls, Saute Cabbage
5. Thursday--Fish, Potato Salad, Veggie TBD
6. Friday--Leftovers(Meatloaf)
7. Saturday--Leftovers(Lasagna)

This week will see 5 new meals cooked and 2 meals of leftovers(re-purposed into new dishes or not).
I cooked 1, 2 & 3 on the menu on Sunday(lower electric rates)and will reheat 2 & 3 on their days.  That just leaves 2 meals to cook fresh the rest of this week and they are quick and easy ones.

What I need to buy for this menu? Cabbage and Salad Greens.  We are also out of sour cream.

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

2015 Road Trip.....More Day 10

If you want to catch up on this Road Trip Series use these links--
Part 1 PA to WV
Part 2 WV to KY
Part 3 KY to TN
Part 4 TN to AR
Part 5 AK to LA
Part 6 LA Sights
Part 7 More in LA


Let's back up to Tuesday(Day 10) as I forgot to mention that Hubs and I visited a couple of manufactured home dealers in Bossier City, LA.
One of our retirement options is to buy land and put a modular home on it.
So we viewed two different dealers/brands of homes.

The first dealer had quite reasonable prices and a wide variety of homes/floor plans/models in the approximate size we were considering.

There were both open floor plans and traditional floor plans.
I kind of liked this one.....

Dark inside as there were no lights on....

Kitchen with a bar on the island.

I liked this bank of windows in the dining/kitchen areas.....

Laundry area off the back door....

The central bathroom/guest bathroom.

Then after lunch we visited another dealer/builder nearby.  This salesman was so full of himself and tried to make us believe that "his" modular/manufactured homes were far superior and should be priced as much as a stick built home on a foundation.
Riiiiiight......

So we viewed a couple......

The flooring looked cheap.....

And they had construction materials laying all over the place which you had to dodge when walking through......

More scrap wood and trim laying around..

One home had a built-in/on deck.  These models cost more due to them having to hand build the deck part onto the home, yet the square footage they showed for these decked models included the square footage of the deck, so you were actually getting less "house" for the money.

And the decks were narrow as it had to fit under the homes roofing.  I guess down in LA you'd want your deck shaded most of the year due to the heat.

Same cheap looking laminate flooring in the bathroom......

Nice closet though.

The kitchen finishes all looked so generic, not my style.....

I did rather fall in love with this walk-in pantry in one of the kitchens there.....swoon!

Finally! A put together room. lolz Still too expensive for what it is.

Before we left to go back to the hotel we hit one of these stores.........

Thrifty Liquors is a chain of adult beverage stores in this part of LA.  Between the liquor stores(not state run here like in PA), the Grocery stores and Wal-Marts that sell beer and wine and the Drive-Thru Daiquiri Stands on just about every corner this is a place I'd find easy to live in(in this regard).
Add in the multiple Casinos and I'd say I'd have a pretty easy time of convincing Cousin Sonya Ann to move down here too.  8-)

It's a good thing we aren't moving down there for the schools either.
While sitting in the car waiting for Hubs to finish up in Thrifty Liquors I noticed this sign they had over the door........

Suitecases?
Hmmm.

Ok,, I promise to finish up this Road Trip Report this week.....I am long overdue!

Sluggy

This & That & Something Else

Up to Weis(PMITA)Markets to get this stuff yesterday.......

This week one of the "Loss Leader Deals" is Hormel Compleats for $1.67 each(limit of 6 per transaction).  I paired that sale price with $1/1 IPQs so paid .67¢ each.
College Boy likes these things when he is at school to augment his meal plan.  I found some breakfast ones too so he can give those a try.
6 x Compleats at .67¢=$4.02

Weis also has Eight O'Clock Coffee BOGO this week so I picked up 2 bags for $5.49.
I used a $1.50/1 Catalina Q the register spit out a few weeks ago making my 2 bags cost $3.99 for both.

Grand Total OOP was $8.01.

I'll go back for more Compleats this weekend and maybe do the Mega Sale Buy 10/Get $5 Off after the new Qs come out on Sunday.

Also in the Frugal Hacks Department--yesterday I went to K-Mart and transferred 2 rxs and got these........

$60 in free gift cards.
Add this to the $20 I got in January in Weis gift cards(for transferring 1 rx to their pharmacy)and that's a total of $80 so far in free food in 2016.

The next two rxs that need renewing at the dr. office will go to K-Mart and then I can transfer them later on in the year to Rite-Aid and earn $25 in Plenti points for each one but I'll count that when it actually happens.

While at K-Mart I got this too........

12 sugar-free drinks for free using Shop Your Way Points on my card.  I still have more free Points left on that card too.

And in the Proud Momma Department--

My eldest son was given the New Teacher Award at his high school yesterday!
Out of 20 new teachers in his high school he got this honor.
I guess he can stop worrying about getting fired when the term is over....lolz

So proud of him and his hard work! 8-)

Sluggy

Finally Got to the Food Bank

The sun came out yesterday and I was up early enough to take my food bank donation in finally.  Here is what left my house........

4 x Star-Kist Tuna pouches
7 x Horizon Mac and Cheese boxes
6 x Purex Laundry Detergent jugs
4 x Dinty Moore Stew cans
5 x Hellman's Mayo jars
3 x French's Mustard bottles
2 x French's Ketchup bottles
4 x Hormel Chili cans
9 x Barilla Pasta boxes
8 x Finesse Shampoo bottles
4 x Assorted Deodorants
8 x Oral-B Toothbrushes
8 x Colgate Toothpaste tubes
9 x Feminine Pads boxes
2 x J&J Baby Wash
4 x Vaseline/Keri/Jergens Lotion

It took up the whole backseat of my Sonic.

And afterwards I realized that I had forgotten to take the Progresso Soups too. sigh.

All this cost me about $37 out of pocket between deals/sales/coupons and mostly free toiltries.
A nice little donation for just a little extra work and pocket change really.
The money spent really doesn't impact our budget but it helps my community at large.

And I don't do this for the tax write-off either anymore.  Seeing as we haven't had a mortgage deduction for the last 8 years(seeing as the house is paid off)we just don't have enough other deductions to itemize them so we just get to take the standard deduction on our taxes.  This means any charity we give either in cash or "things" we see no side benefit....other than feeling good knowing we are helping someone out there, get through another day.

Feeling good about ourselves is our selfish pleasure in all this.  8-)

To find a food pantry in your area go HERE.
Most can use volunteers.
If you don't have enough time in your schedule to volunteer or your local food bank doesn't need volunteers like mine doesn't(we have a small army of elderly women running ours), I am sure they would accept cash and/or donations of food and personal healthcare items/toiletries/tp/etc.

Sluggy

Money Pouring Out for Medical Stuff & Weis Trip

The beginning of a new healthcare year and the high deductibles are yanking money out of my wallet like a creek on flash flood steroids.

This is why I keep a piece(about half)of what I save in my yearly Savings Challenge in the month of December and don't put it into the Savings Challenge totals for that year.
I saved $3323.77 last December from our various incomes that month but only put $1548.21 toward the Savings Challenge, reserving $1775.56 of what we didn't spend in December to put toward medical bill deductibles in 2016.

We got to February 9th and we have already racked up over $3K medical charges for 2016.
And for once it is NOT all me! lolz
Hubs has an issue and the dr. ordered a whole battery of bloodwork tests for some pretty pricey and offbeat issues it might be, just to narrow down some causes.
8 tests that cost $2,761.
EEK!
Our insurance got a discount so we only owe $1,510.27 of that.
Gee, I feel soooo much better now! haha!!
And of course those tests didn't turn anything up which makes me even happier to shell out that kind of cash. not. (Though I am happy Hubs doesn't have any of these medical problems.)

So that $1775.56 will cover these medical tests plus a little leftover to cover what the February regular income won't.
I know we have plenty of cash in the bank/invested to cover the $3K in deductibles we wouldn't be able to cash flow with regular monthly income.  But being as these medical bills all came in the first 5 weeks of the year there is more medical bills than money that has come in in the first 5 weeks of 2016.
Add in that in March I have real estate taxes due as well. 8-(

Not having that $1775.56 set aside would have severely bolloxed up our cash flow for February, March and April, making me have negative cash flow and I would have had to have pulled money out of the Savings Challenge rather than put money into it, until sometime in March or April.
I just hate my cash flowing being screwed with, that's all.  ;-)

And on the lighter side of things I ran into Weis(PMITA)Markets yesterday afternoon and did a Deal twice.........

The last 2 weeks they had a deal when you buy 3 Gorton's fish products you get an instant $2 off, plus all the Gorton's has been 50% off reg. retail price.
There are/were assorted $1/1 Gorton's IPQs on coupons dotcom so I printed 6 out and got 6 items, these 3 x 2.
They all totaled $59.94 and 50% off brought them down to $29.97.
$6 off in Qs and $4 off in Instant Discounts got all 6 down to $19.97(which is 2/3rds off) or $3.32 for each package.  Not bad for shrimp that is reg. $10.99 a box!
That fish is sold at Walmart for $5.08 locally so that price was jacked up at $7.99 but with the deal and Qs it was still $1.76 less with this Weis Deal.

So I've spent $19.97 so far this week on groceries, taking my February spending to $269.25 so I am over my $250 target and have passed into the "I can spend an extra $50 this month if there are good deals" territory.  I'd call 6 boxes/bags of fish deal worthy.  I've got $30.75 left to spend on food this month and about 11 days left.
Gonna be tight but do-able.

Sluggy