Shopping This Week....A Swimming Good Deal!

I went up to Weis(PMITA)Markets yesterday and bought a few things.

Unlike most of my grocery shopping trips I didn't only buy items that were on sale....shocking, right? lolz

Sometimes the things you need(like the largest head of cabbage known to man and a 1/2 gallon of milk)just aren't on sale.
But I did find a killer Deal on Salmon so check it out........

I know I've been trying to eat down the freezers and haven't been looking for frozen food stock-up opportunities but I just had to bring that salmon home at that price......wouldn't you?

I spent $35.07 but I saved $46.17 on $81.24 worth of food or 56% over regular retail overall.

I'll take that any ol' day.  :-)

Sluggy

Advice Needed on Pricing

Since this weekend will be nice(finally!)I am getting things ready to list on my local F/B tag sale site.

Among what I want to sell are all these diaper packs..........

I was going to keep these until one of my kids needed them but that doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon.
Plus we now need to make room around here due to events happening later this Summer so they have to go.

Mostly I have size 3(with some 2, 4 & 5 also).
I haven't had a kid in diapers since about 1999 so what should I charge for a pack of these?
I know I'll be charging less than they sell for in the store but I can't go by what Rite-Aid regularly charges for these, which is an insane $12.49 per package.
So I need to know from you moms out there who buy diapers now, what do you pay for a package this size?

I was thinking $5 a package.....or should I go $6?  Thoughts?

I will also be offering some toiletries on the tag sale page too but I have a good handle on what to charge for those other items as I have sold them before.

Thanks in advance to anyone who offers a suggestion. 8-)

Sluggy

Reducing Sodium in Your Sloppy Joe Sauce

Manwich and other brands of Sloppy Joe Sauce contain the equivalent of 430 mg of sodium per 1/4 cup(which is about how much you'd consume eating 2 Sloppy Joe sauced sandwiches).  That's equivalent to 18% of the recommended sodium consumption per day for a healthy adult.

The American Heart Association recommends we all take in 1 teaspoon of sodium or less per day. That's about 1,500 mg for the entire day's sodium consumption.

If you make your own Sloppy Joe Sauce you can lower how much sodium is in your sauce.
There are many sites with lower sodium SJ Sauce recipes.  Most of the lower-salt recipes use ketchup or tomato sauce but those ingredients contain sodium.  I found this one using tomato paste instead and liked it.  I found this recipe 3 years ago and don't recall where, so as to give credit, sorry.
.

Lower Sodium Sloppy Joe Sauce

1 6oz. can tomato paste(100mg)
1 6oz of water(use empty paste can to measure)
1 tsp. garlic, minced
4 TB. brown sugar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce(167mg)(or use reduced sodium version-65mg)
1/2 tsp. mustard powder
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. cumin(you can substitute fresh cilantro but double the amount)

Brown your meat and onions and/or other veggies you put in your meat mixture. (I use red or yellow bell peppers and sometimes grated carrot.)
Add all ingredients above and mix well.
Wait 5 minutes until hot and serve.

This sauce can be made up double or triple batches and frozen for later use.

This recipe comes in at about 267mg per 1/4 cup(or 165 w/LS Worcestershire Sauce) so saves you about 50% off the sodium in the canned sauce.

To lower the sodium in this recipe even more you could make your own Worcestershire Sauce too.  I don't take that step as I find making Worcestershire Sauce too tedious.

If you aren't this concerned with lowering your sodium intake this much you could substitute ketchup for the tomato paste(but cut out the brown sugar from the recipe as ketchup has sugar in it already).

If you substitute no-salt ketchup(Heinz makes one)for regular ketchup instead of tomato paste this would save you about 160mg of sodium, as no-salt ketchup contains 5 mg while reg. ketchup contains 165 mg per serving.  But on the other hand, no-salt ketchup does contain a salt substitute(containing potassium chloride, L-Lysine Monohydrochloride).

Now making your own version with so little sodium in it might not appeal to you and your family's tastebuds at first.  If this is the case with you, I'd recommend trying the reg. ketchup ingredient version of the recipe, then when they "get use" to that version, stepping it down to the no-salt ketchup version of the recipe and then when they "get use" to that version, stepping down to the tomato paste version.

Reducing sodium intake is always good for you but some people need to gradually lower the sodium in their food intake to make it stick as a lifestyle change.

Sluggy

Giveaway Winner

The giveaway winner was picked at random from all the valid entries.
I have already made contact with them.

The lucky winner is.............

Sara Rai!

Congratulations Sara and I'd like to thank everyone who came to the blog and played along.
I'll have another giveaway coming up soon so stay tuned.....

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Can't Do Anything" Edition......
Have you ever had so much to do that it paralyzed you so much that you couldn't even take the first step to finishing any task on your list?
That's been my life lately.  Though I do have some uncertainties going on that are keeping me from accomplishing items it shouldn't be stopping me from working on other items.
I just have no "mojo" maybe?  Feeling like "what is the point to trying to do anything?" lately.
sigh.
At least I can do a meal plan though, right?  ;-)

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week.......
1. Sunday--Meatloaf, Leftover Easter Veggies, Baked Potato
2. Monday--Leftover Tacos/Taco Salad
3. Tuesday--Hubs Birthday meal Out
4. Wednesday--Tandoori style Chicken Thighs, Rice, Harvard Beets
5. Thursday---Beef Bourguinon, Bread
6. Friday--Leftover Ham on Rolls, ?
7. Saturday--Pork Chops w/Apricot Glaze, Sugar Snap Peas

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Meatloaf, Leftover Easter Veggies, Baked Potato
2. Monday--Leftover Tacos/Taco Salad
3. Tuesday--Hubs Birthday meal Out
4. Wednesday--Hamburger on Roll, Leftover Potato Salad,Baked Beans
5. Thursday---Tandoori style Chicken Thighs, Coconut Rice, Harvard Beets
6. Friday--Chicken Parmesan, Grilled Asparagus
7. Saturday--Beef Bourguignon(Hubs had his over rice, me had a baked potato)

 6 meals cooked at home.
 5 new meals, 1 night of leftovers, and 1 night of Eating Out(Birthday meal).
Pork chops got bumped off the rotation again last week.  I am just not a fan so that's perhaps why they get bumped so often? lolz

I tried a new dish last week, Tandoori style chicken Thighs.  It's a recipe I saw on a PBS food show where the chef made Tandoori style chicken wings but I changed the chicken to thighs as they have more substance to them.
I figured with a curry spice blend and hot sauce they might be too spicy for me but I knew Hubs would like them and I could just substitute a chicken pot pie for myself from the freezer if the dish was too much for my gullet.
But sadly(or is that happily for me?lol)the "heat" of the dish was negligible and I ate of it heartily.
It was very disappointing however that there was little to no heat.  I am thinking my bottled yellow curry spice blend is not up to snuff on the Scoville scale?  Perhaps or the fact that I grilled the thighs and the fat flare-ups burnt the skin and all the spice out of the meat?  I don't know.

I do know it had good flavor even though so we'll make this again, perhaps pre-baking it and then finishing it off on the grill quickly.

As for my grocery spending...... Hubs made 2 quickie trips last week, we made a trip to Weis together and I went to Dollar Tree and Maine Source,, spending a total of $112.24 last week.
I have spent $130.24 in all for April so far and have $119.76 left of my food budget with 19 days to go.

Leftovers going into this week.......meatloaf(2 slices), coconut rice, harvard beets, asparagus, and a lot of Beef Bourguignon(4 helpings?).

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

1. Sunday--Ravioli(freezer)in Mushroom/Meat Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread
2. Monday--Leftover Meatloaf, leftover asparagus, leftover beets
3. Tuesday--Sloppy Joes made with beef/turkey, using homemade low-salt sauce, Rolls, Sugar Snap Peas(freezer)
4. Wednesday--Leftover Beef Bourguignon, Cuke and Tomato Salad
5. Thursday--Kielbasa(freezer) on Rolls, Collard Greens(freezer)
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY(Fend For Yourself)

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 3 meals of leftovers(re-purposed into new dishes or not) and 0 meals Out/Take-out.

What I need to buy for this menu.....a head of Cabbage.  Not much I need to buy and I don't see much in the Deal Department at the stores this week.

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