This Week on the Dining Table

The "Looking Better" Edition--

Chester was looking a tad "scruffy" so I groomed him on Saturday.  No people want me cutting their hair but I did ok with the dog and besides, he doesn't care and won't give me a bad review on Yelp. lolz
He'll get a bath this week too.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Hamburgers and leftover Cook-out sides

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad

4. Wednesday--Eggplant w/Garlic Sauce, Rice

5. Thursday--Mushroom Parm(and Chicken Parm for someone), Salad

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Something w/Pasta

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Hamburgers and leftover Cook-out sides

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Steak, Salad

4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, more Salad if wanted

5. Thursday--Stuffed Chicken Breast Florentine, Mixed Veggies, Mashed Taters

6. Friday--Stromboli, Wings, Pizza, Salad
7. Saturday--Chinese Eggplant in Garlic Sauce, Rice

The Parm didn't happen because I got those stuffed chicken breasts(meh) on discount and had those instead.

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 night of leftovers/fend for yourself, 1 nights of Take-Out or Eating Out.  

A trip to each of Big Lots, Wegman's and Weis brought the weekly food spending to $156.68 and the monthly total to $235.64. I bought a lot of pantry staples last week as well as 4 lbs. of cheese and a pork butt to smoke this week.
I have 15 days left in my shopping month for July. 

My savings percentage last week was 39.95%(without Rite-Aid trips)and July's monthly savings total comes to 46.07% so far.

Leftovers going into this week......3 slices of pizza, a small portion of each Eggplant w/Garlic Sauce, Spaghetti, 1 Meatball and tons of Rice and Spaghetti Sauce.  The small meatloaf is going into the freezer. No real leftovers to serve just bits and pieces Hubs can dine on for lunch.

The spaghetti sauce will be used in the Mushroom Parm this week and I might make a pan of Lasagna as I have Cottage Cheese to use up.  I also have cheese sauce to use up so I'll make a pan of mac and cheese as well.

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

1. Sunday--Leftovers

2. Monday--Mushroom and Chicken Parm, Salad

3. Tuesday--Pork Chops, Sauteed Squash, Mac and Cheese

4. Wednesday--BLT sandwiches

5. Thursday--Lasagna or Fish?

6. Friday--Steak, COC, Salad
7. Saturday--BBQ, Coleslaw

This week will see 6 new meals cooked, 1 night of leftovers/FFY and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.
Tuesday should be cooler so I'll run the oven then for pork chops, mac and cheese and will make the lasagna(if I decide on that).

What needs buying for this menu? Corn, Coleslaw mix, milk and eggs also(though not needed for these meals).

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

Did Someone Say Giveaway??

July means it's time for the eighth Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2018. 8-)

Back to our regular giveaway mode, I pick the goodies!
This one is chock full of Summer time essentials....razors, electrolyte tablets, protein bars, hair elastics and M&Ms!

A nice box of goodies will head to whomever's name is picked from the entries.
Somebody has to win and it might just be YOU!

Here is what you can win if your entry is picked.

1 x Playtex tampons
1 x Suave shampoo
1 x Cetaphil baby body wash(don't have to be a baby to use this)
1 x Lil Critters Gummy Vitamins(kids)
1 x Colgate toothpaste
1 x Hydralyte tablets(orange)
1 x Schick slim twin razors
1 x Oral-B toothbrush
1 x Listerine dental floss
1 x Rimmel lip balm(Keep Calm and Lip Balm)
2 x Muscle Milk protein bars
1 x Scunci hair elastics
1 x M&Ms candy(1 milk choc./1 peanut butter)


Over $70 in regular retail of goodies.
Closeup shots of the goodies up for grabs......

Within reason I'll also let you swap out something here for something else(if I have it).

I'll leave this giveaway open until Monday, July 23rd at 11:59pm Eastern Time, so that gives everyone a full week to enter this one.  On July 24th I'll mark all the valid entries and use Random dotorg to pick a number and that corresponding person's entry wins.

*Please note the rules*
I'll post the name/Id of the winner on this blog and that person has 48 hours from then to contact me privately via email(my email addy is listed on my "About Me" page).
If I am not contacted via email I'll attempt to contact the winner via the email they supply with their entry and if that email is not responded to within another 48 hours I'll pick another winner.

There will only be ONE way to enter this time by leaving a comment on this post.  Tell me what you like about Summer, if you go away on vacation and why you go there, what you did during the Summer as a kid, or the thing you most want to win.....those sort of comments.
You may enter once each day by leaving a daily comment on this post before July 23rd at 11:59pm Eastern time.

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.
As the cost of postage to foreign countries has gotten to high I am sorry to say I can no longer afford to mail boxes outside the US.  These giveaways are not sponsored by any companies, I pay for it all(cost of items given away and the postage to mail it all)out of my own pocket.

***PLEASE NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.

If you're not a registered Blogger User with your contact information on your User page, please put your email addy in your comment or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get a hold of you. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one with those Google Circles nonsense I CAN NOT CONTACT YOU as Google Circles doesn't show your contact info.

If I can't contact you then you can't win.  I am still having to disqualify entries due to this issue and I sure don't like doing that.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy

Garden Veggies and an Easy Recipe

Here's what we've harvested so far from our garden.........

* 4 pickings of salad greens-8.1 ounces
*  2.5 cups of basil-2 ounces
* 1 Japanese eggplant-2.4 ounces
* 1 zucchini-24.9 ounces
* 2 yellow squash-17.4 ounces

So what to do with your basil other than use it fresh or dry it?  I made tomato sauce and used some basil in it this week.
And then I made pesto for the first time!

Super easy to do.
You need basil leaves(remove the stems), EVOO, garlic, parmesan cheese and nuts(pine nuts or walnuts work best)and a food processor or blender.

Put basil, garlic and nuts in processor, whiz up a few seconds then with the power still on slowly add the olive oil until smooth.
Add the cheese afterwards and just pulse the machine to blend it in.
And that's it!

This will keep for 1 week in the fridge or throw it into the freezer.  I bought smallish containers at Dollar Tree for putting this into the freezer.  This makes enough for one large meal of pesto for 4-5 people.
I don't like pesto so I had to have Hubs taste test it for me.  It's a frozen asset now and can be warmed up some night I don't have a plan and someone wants pesto and pasta.

Garden Output so far......54.8 ounces or 3 lbs. 42.5 ounces
Not much but once the tomatoes kick in the total weight will escalate. ;-)

What's growing in your garden?
How is it doing?

Sluggy

More Rite-Aid on Friday

Went back to refill an Rx and decided to roll/spent a few BC on son's card.........

2 x Gliss 'poo and conditioner on sale=$10.00
4 x Snickers special flavors on sale=$3.00
SubTotal.....$13.00

Coupons Used
1 x $4/2 Gliss ManuQ=$4.00
1 x $1/1 Gliss PeelieQ=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$5.00

$13.00-$5.00=$8.00=.30¢tax(conditioners are taxed in PA)=$8.30 paid with BC.
I earned back $6 in new BC($4 Gliss wyb2, 2 x $1 Snickers wyb2)so spent down BC by $2.30

One of the Gliss have a PeelieQ on it, I told the cashier I was using a Q already but the register took that one too so an extra $1 off the bottles, making them .50¢ each(plus tax).

I then did the Snickers special bars on both the other cards.......

$3 per card spent, $2 earned back in BC.  These are being put away for Xmas stockings so shhhh, don't tell my family.  ;-)

I also forgot to share the freebie samples I got on Wellness Wednesday.......

Not much this week, 3 assorted Olay samples(2 with Qs on the back)and a couple samples of Hydro-seal Band Aids.
eh.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....the July 13th Edition

It's been a slow week here at Chez Sluggy.
Not a lot going on other than some food and toiletries shopping.

Here are the frugal wins this past week.........

* Weis last Friday's Freebie

A bottle of ketchup(or catsup).  We can always use this, if not as is, then in making some sauces.

*  We finally got the balance of the water service deposit from Louisiana this past week.  They charged us a $2.50 late fee for one month of service out of it.....late fee for a bill they NEVER SENT US!!  And they also sent the refund to the LA house and not here and those morons who bought the house sent it back to the water company even though they have our PA address and could have forwarded to us.  Hubs is so over everything having to do with that house and LA so we aren't going to fight them for that $2.50.  Washing my hands of that whole episode of my life. ;-)

* Getting paid in Bonus Cash to bring stuff home from Rite-Aid........

*  Big Lots haul plus 20% off prices, restocking some staples plus a splurge on clearance of hot cocoa mix and a sleeve of cookies..........

* Weis haul.............

Cheap meats(steak, good hot dogs, stuffed chicken and bacon)and a cuke, almost free yogurts, plus 6 containers of ice cream(not shown).

* I earned back $1.75 in cash rebates this week on the yogurts(Saving Star), Halo top ice cream(Ibotta) and the Ice drinks(Checkout51).  The Ice drinks rebate was especially sweet since they were free already.  ;-)

* The Wegman's haul which I didn't photograph.  The 6+ lbs. of ground beef became burgers on Day One, then I made 42 meatballs and a small meatloaf.  We had half the meatballs on Day Two.  The meatloaf and other half of the meatballs went into the freezer for future meals.  The pork butt I got will be smoked this week and be turned into a LOT of pork bbq by next weekend when eldest son is slated to come visit.

*  Gardening.........

I picked more lettuce this week as well as basil.  I also gave Brother in-law and Nephew some of both when they stopped by on Thursday.

Been staying home otherwise and enjoying the yard and doing a bit of gardening.  Here's the front bed with our jungle of tomato plants.  The flowers haven't done much filling in this season yet.

We planted petunias and coleus.  The only petunias that are really blooming are the magenta/purple ones though.  These striped ones we put in this year are pretty fabulous.

*  Already paid for food........

Tonight we'll use these gift certificates for food from a local restaurant.  These were won at a Church auction last fall so I paid well under what they are worth and it doesn't add to this year's spending.

That's about it for us this week.

What frugal wins did you have this week?


Sluggy