This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Cooking From Scratch A Lot" Edition.............

I've been doing a lot of scratch cooking this past month.  Above was a meal eaten sometime in June-salmon(breaded fillets for 2 of the diners), roasted Brussels Sprouts(with bacon!)and mac and cheese.

The Daughter had to work until 9 pm that night so she had to reheat hers and missed being the first person to dig into that pan of mac and cheese.  I sent her this photo above at work and told her dinner was ready.
She messaged me back that I was a brat.  Well, yes, yes I am! ;-)

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Leftovers or FFY
2. Monday--Cook-Out Foods
3. Tuesday--Chicken Parmesan, leftover Risotto(for those who want it), Salad
4. Wednesday--Pork BBQ, Cole Slaw, Buns, leftover Cook-Out sides
5. Thursday--Meatloaf, Sugar Snap Peas, leftover stuffing(for those who want it)
6. Friday--Shrimp Dish(Shrimp and Grits or Garlic Ginger Shrimp Stir-Fry or Shrimp Scampi)
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Leftovers or FFY
2. Monday--Cook-Out Foods
3. Tuesday--Chicken Parmesan, Salad(nobody wanted leftover Risotto)
4. Wednesday--Pork BBQ, Cole Slaw, Buns
5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Meatloaf, Leftover cook-out Corn, Spicy Mac and Cheese(leftover stuffing was added to the meatloaf)
7. Saturday--Leftovers

7 meals cooked at home, 2 of them nights of leftovers.

As for my grocery spending..... I spent a total of $161.87 on 6 trips to 3 different stores. I have $145.04 left of my $450 food budget with 20 days to go in the month.
Yah, this doesn't bode well for staying under budget this month. 8-(


Leftovers going into this week........Pork BBQ.  That's it.  Everything else got eaten.  I live with eating machines evidently!

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

1. Sunday--Chicken Spaghetti(don't ask!lol), Sugar Snap Peas
2. Monday--Breakfast for Dinner(Daughter is cooking)
3. Tuesday--Reuben Sandwiches
4. Wednesday--Lemon Pepper Chicken, Rice, Zucchini
5. Thursday--Shrimp Scampi, Salad, Garlic Bread
6. Friday--TBD
7. Saturday--TBD

This week will see 5 new meals cooked and 2 nights of NO CLUE yet.

What I need to buy for this menu.....small shrimp, rye bread, 2 bananas, sauerkraut, zucchini, French bread.

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

Grocery Shopping This Week

Well this week is turning out to be a spendy one as far as groceries go.
2 trips to Weis(PMITA)Markets, 1 trip to a small regional chain store in the town South of us, plus I sent College Boy to buy bottled water at Weis as it was 50% off this past weekend.

Here are the deals I got that are worth mentioning............

6 boxes of Nabisco crackers and was paid $2.88 to take them home. ;-)
3 boxes of Jolly Time popcorn for $2.39(Buy1Get2Free Deal)
3 bags of Emerald nuts for $3.99(Buy1Get2Free Deal)
2 boxes of Ronzoni Manicotti shells for $1.14 each(half price clearance deal)
3 boxes of Ronzoni Pasta for $2.50(half price clearance deal)
3 boxes of GM cereal for .88¢ each($1.88 ea. had to buy 3 plus $1 off each box Qs)
2 cans Hormel no beans chili for .74¢ each (after sale/Buy6Get$3Off Deal/Qs)
2 packages of Chi-Chi's flour tortillas for $1.29 each(part of the B6G$3Off Deal) + I also had a Chi Chi's Q for $2 off Eggs wyb2 Chi Chi items, so I got 1.5 dozen free eggs too
2 packages of Perdue breaded chicken cutlets for $1.50 each(after BOGO sale and Q)
1 jar Hellman's olive oil mayo for $1.47(after sale and Q)
1.5 lbs. of ground beef for $1.97 lb.
30 breakfast sandwiches for $21.85 *
3 tubes of Grands! biscuits for $1 each on clearance
6 dozen eggs(besides the 1.5 dozen listed above) for $4.00 total

*The breakfast sandwiches are $42.71 regular retail.  On sale 30 those bad boys were suppose to be $29.97.  The cashier screwed up and when I tried to let her know she was ringing things up the wrong price she got snippy and copped an attitude like, "bitch you don't know". lolz
So I let it go and let her ring stuff up wrong and save me another $8.12, spending $21.85 on $42.71 worth of sammiches.  I will attempt to be honest if you aren't charging me enough, but if you give me grief for it I'll just live with your mistake. ;-)

Grocery spending this week?
$160.68
Yikes!
Savings rate varied from a low of 48.81% to 55% off so it's not so bleak if you look at the deals I got over regular prices.  $160 but I got a LOT of food for that.

There seemed to be lots of deals around the 4th Holiday so why not take advantage of them, right?

Next week's ads aren't so great so I may stay out of the grocery stores next week.....or at least try to because I am over halfway through my food monies for July and it's only the 8th.
Ack.

Sluggy

Eating Out Totals....June Update

We spent $120.82 on eating out in June.  I like to keep it at $100 or less so we are over some.
We had Father's Day in June so that accounted for the bulk of it at $98.14.
Just a little Chinese take-out and a couple of subs from Subway otherwise.
No trips in June so no trip eating out.

We have spent $998.24 so far in 2016 on Eating Out.  That averages out to $166.37 per month.
Hopefully we can keep the last 6 months of the year at this level and keep the yearly amount spent at $2K or less.

My Eating Out Log can be accessed HERE.
For some reason the tab for this page is not visible on my home page.

Sluggy

July 1 Net Worth Snapshot

We are actually up $19,552 from last month's net worth overall(only liquid cash/investments, as I don't count housing or car values).  The retirement accounts were up a mere $4K+ for July 1.

We are up $86,423.90 from one year ago, the July 1st of 2015 net worth snapshot. 

Once Hubs retires I will miss these little monthly look backs, when we move from acquisition mode with money to spend-down mode. ;-)

Sluggy

June To-Do List Update

Here's the update on my June To-Do List.  I post a To-Do list on the side bar of my blog's homepage every month.
Let's see how ol' Sluggy did this month on her list, shall we? ;-)

* Pay Bills  DONE  
Everything got paid and on time, as per usual.

* Bike Something DONE
Well it was something.  The bike finally got set-up on June 30th and I think I biked 1 mile total for the month. lolz  I need to get use to this bike AND get my knees use to using it again as it's been 2 months. bleck.

* Declutter DONE
I used June and having Daughter and the BF here with all their stuff as an excuse to to pitch more of my own things.  Decluttering will continue into the near future as well.

* 1 Load to Salvation Army DONE

Hubs and I took 1 car load to Sallie's.  Some was Daughter's stuff too. 

Plus all that large furniture type stuff Sallie's was suppose to pick-up, we otherwise got rid of in town by giving it away to those who wanted/needed it.

* Read 1 Book DONE
I didn't finish the book yet as I only read at night before bed and it's a thick book.  I am more than halfway done with it so will have to find another one to read by next month.

*  Plant Something DONE

We finally got a dozen tomato plants and 2 zucchini plants mid June into the ground.  That's the extent of our garden for this season.  I just put in stuff that the chipmunks and rabbits will leave alone as we couldn't come up with a way to keep them out of this area without going to Herculean efforts and spending a large sum of cash.
This is how the plants are doing as of June 30th.....still smallish but looking healthy and they all have blooms on them already.  Perhaps we will get some veggies from them eventually.

* 1 Doc Appointment DONE
Had my every 3 year pap smear done in June.  All my lady parts are well and in good working order.  Yes, I felt you needed that critical update. lolz

* Vacuum and Shampoo Bedroom Carpet DONE

Cobwebs also cleaned up, room cleared out and a/c unit put into window.  The room was ready with days to spare.

* Clean Ceiling Fans in Bedrooms DONE
With assistance from College Boy we got this done.  He is taller......

* Put Shelving in Bathroom DONE

Got the shelving moved to the bathroom, scrubbed down and vinyl liner  sheets put into it.  It is now filled up to the brim with their personal care products so it's not all just piled under the sink cabinet in the dark.

* Buy/Replace Ceiling Fan/Light in Kitchen PARTIALLY DONE

It has been purchased but is still in a box sitting in the kitchen waiting for the weekend when the menfolk will be here and available to install it.  It will be so nice to again have lights over the kitchen table. 8-)
It has been soooo long!

* Clean and Seal Deck DONE

It finally got done the weekend before July 4th! rah!!!  Though I didn't personally do this chore I did have a large hand in the nagging/pleading/begging for it to be done.

* Clean Out Shed FAIL
I DID drag out two old bicycles to give away and a bike helmet to toss while Hubs was at work but the bulk of the shed still needs cleaning/clearing out.  The shed is Hubs "kingdom" and I dare not go there, so I am left with begging/pleading/nagging about it.  Besides just finally getting it cleared out of all the junk in there we need a place to put a large car jack and other car type items the BF brought with him so we aren't tripping over them in the garage.  If for no other reason, making space for BF's "manly" stuff is a reason to tackle this job.
I don't know.....if Hubs isn't careful Daughter and I might just decide to get in the shed and "have at it" one of these days.......

So there you have it an almost perfectly completed June To-Do list.  But then again, it wasn't very extensive or strenuous, was it?
And I had help with some of the items on it.

I think the fact that I stayed sane in June and am not a stark raving lunatic at this point indicates I survived June well and am doing AOK.
On ward and upward to July!

How did you do with your To-Do list for June?

Sluggy