This Week on the Dining Table

The "Belated Father's Day" Edition................

Since Father's Day was the day before we left town for a week I didn't make Hubs a cake until this past weekend as Ex-College Boy would have eaten it all before we got home or worse yet, he would had forgotten about it and the cake would have gone stale.

(Bonus points because I waited until a cooler day to bake it off and used off-peak electric rates too.)  ;-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--leftover turkey sandwiches

2. Monday--leftover Corned Beef turned into hash, eggs

3. Tuesday--leftover Stuffed Shells, Caesar salad

4. Wednesday--Chili(I'll have something else)

5. Thursday--BLT sandwiches

6. Friday--Grilled Cheese sandwiches, Tossed Salad
7. Saturday--Hot Dogs on buns, Beans, Something Green Veg from the freezer

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--leftover turkey sandwiches

2. Monday--leftover Corned Beef turned into hash, eggs

3. Tuesday--leftover Stuffed Shells, Caesar salad

4. Wednesday--Chili(I had soup)

5. Thursday--Teriyaki Chicken Breast, Corn on cob

6. Friday--Chinese take-out
7. Saturday--Hot Dogs on buns, Beans

Last week saw 3 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 1 night of Eating Out/Take-Out. 
I was able to use up the leftover corned beef and turn the leftover taco meat into chili.  The remaining stuffed shells(after dinner 1 night)went into the freezer for later.
The grilled cheese sammies didn't happen(Hubs wanted Chinese)and the BLTs did happen but at lunch not dinner.

What got put into the freezer last week.....

* 2 tubs of ice cream(Ex-CB had eaten what was here)
* 4.5 lbs. of B/SCB
* 1 meal of Stuffed Shells in Meat Sauce
* a bag of turkey meat(from the turkey I roasted awhile back)

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* Some hot dogs

A small trip to Ocean State Job Lot($27.35), the Bread Outlet($10.28), Ollie's($4.52), the Shursave Market($12.99), Malacari's Produce($52.15)and Weis($20.49) brought the weekly spending to $127.73 and my June grand total to $335.54.
I didn't plan to spend that much this week but.....
* we were out of fresh fruit totally(having been gone for a week)
* I found a good deal on chicken tenders and B/SCB
* we were out of bread
* OSJL had a great price on seltzer/soda and maple syrup
* I found my fav cream cheese/red pepper spread aat the produce market so loaded up
* I hit a clearance at Weis on kitchen bags
All the above expended my $50 cheap spending week into $125+ in food costs.  Luckily I was waaaay under bueget so far for June so it turned out Aok.

My savings percentage last week was 51.08%(without Rite-Aid trips)and June's monthly savings total comes in at 53.09%(w/out R-A). 

I have 0 more food shopping/spending days in June.  Let the July food games begin! lolz

Leftovers going into this week.....chili.  That's it..

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

1. Sunday--tv dinners lurking in the freezer

2. Monday--Chicken Parm, Broccoli

3. Tuesday--Meatloaf, something green, Rice

4. Wednesday--BLTs

5. Thursday--Hamburgers on buns, Pasta/Veggie Salad

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 4 new meals cooked, 3 nights of leftovers/FFY/tv dinners, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.

It's not an inspired meal plan but it's something I can put into place and it's highly do-able(read easy).  It empties the freezer a bit(tv dinners bought for Daughter she didn't eat, and a bag of frozen veg)and due to the weather I'll be using the crockpot to cook the meatloaf and the grill or stove top for other foods. (I'll nuke the bacon for BLTs too.)

What needs buying for this menu? I need onions and ground beef(Ex-CB DID find my stash of burgers in the freezer while we were gone so we don't have any burgers for the 4th to grill).
I'll go to Maines restaurant supply on Tuesday to get ground beef and onions after taking Hubs to his eye Dr. appointment as it's just around the corner.

I also plan to hit Target after the 4th and pick up some drinks and meat, figuring the meat may have marked down stickers since they'll be reducing stock on grilling meats and utilizing the Qs for target gift card back on drinks and meats in the weekly ad and using some of my Target gift cards to pay.

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  

2019 Food & Toiletries Spending...........the June Edition

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JUNE 2019.

I have posted June's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in June.  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 5(3 at home this month). No "kids" under 23.
*****************

ALDI
OOP  $7.26
Value  $18.64
Savings  61.05%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $15.17
Disc.  $42.12
Value  $57.29
Savings  73.52%

CVS
OOP  $0.00
Ads/Qs/ECBs  $28.88
Value  $28.88
Savings  100%

MAINES
OOP  $64.13
Value  $128.83
Savings  50.22%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $52.15
Value  $87.94
Savings  40.70%

MARDEN'S
OOP  $3.74
Value  $10.98
Savings  65.94%

OCEAN STATE JOB LOT
OOP  $51.84
Ads/Qs  $62.02
Value  $113.86
Savings  54.47%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $28.65
Value  $79.50
Savings  63.96%

RENY'S
OOP  $21.22
Value  $32.47
Savings   34.65%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC/Visa Prepaid Rewards  $161.65
Value  $161.65
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKETS

OOP  $53.89
Qs/Ads $29.98

Value  $83.87

Savings  35.75%

WEIS
OOP  $37.49
Qs/Ads  $35.60
Value  $73.09
Savings  48.71%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, CVS at 100% and the Bread Outlet at 73.52%.  My worst savings rate was at Reny's with 34.65%.

I shopped at 12 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for June.........$335.54

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$379.81

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$715.35

TOTAL Savings of ................................53.09%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for June w/R-A.............$335.54
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A...................$541.46
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$877.00
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items.....................61.74%

This closes out the June food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
We spent well under the $400 mark but not as low as I had figured it would be.  All that grocery shopping on the vacation and Weis trash bag clearance kept my spending higher than planned but still well under my $400 mark.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 11.73% in June 2019 to 61.74% compared to the May 50.01% savings average.
I found quite a few clearance deals at various stores on stuff we can use.


With 6 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $2277.29 on food/toiletries in 2018.


2019 Yearly Total Spent To Date....................$2277.29

2019 Yearly Total Value of Items To Date....$8970.12

2019 Total Saved To Date...............................$7028.37

2019 Yearly Savings Total To Date of............78.35%

The average per month amount spent so far is $379.55 in 2019.

LOOKING AHEAD To July 2019.......

Let's see....Nothing planned for July other than staying home and working on home projects. Eldest son and GF may be coming to visit mid month so I am sure we'll either go out or splash out on food at home.  As for grocery shopping, I don't plan on doing a lot of that.  We'll continue to eat down the freezers.  I foresee some produce buying....a big sack of onions plus when green beans come into season and are inexpensive and fresh I'll be buying a few pounds of those to freeze.
$400 is the grocery budget for July.

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 June?

*  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?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the June 28th Edition

Not a lot of frugalness happened at Chez Sluggy this past week.
No Weis freebie because we weren't anywhere near a Weis(PMITA)Markets last Friday.
Here are the few wins we had............

*  I booked our motel in NH through Booking dotcom and got a "genuis" secret discount price.  The motel is old and surely has seen better days but we were there just to sleep so it worked out fine.  I've booked other lodgings through them, including a great one on the Outer Banks of NC so they do have a wide range of lodgings choices if you are more "high maintenance" than we are.  ;-)

For the place in NH I paid $407.12 w/taxes for 5 nights, which came out to $81.42 per night.
We did have to also pay a $5 per person day pass for PorcFest since we didn't stay at the campground so another $40 makes it $447.12 for lodgings on this trip.
The motel rooms at the campground were $120 per night(plus taxes)and from what folks said on par with the motel we stayed at, so even with the cost of the day pass we saved $206.88 staying in town.

If anyone wants to try making reservations through Booking dotcom if you book and stay, using this link, we'll both earn a $25 reward(as a credit on the cc you use to book the stay).

https://www.booking.com/s/52_6/arcure57


*  I found money!

A penny on a picnic table under one of the tents at Porcfest.

And then on Sunday coming home.............

A dime on the floor of the diner we stopped to have lunch/dinner at.


*  We were in that particular diner to meet a fellow blogger I've never met in real life, Carol.

Being a frugalista herself she brought along a coupon to use.  Well played Carol, well played.....

*  A trip to the Bread Outlet happened on Monday. $10.28 OOP for 5 packages of bread items and 6 boxes of cookies and doughnuts regular retail of  $40.81.

*  I did a little grocery buying on vacation............

Just a few stockpile items bought at Reny's and Marden's while in Maine at prices that were lower than I pay for this sort of thing here in PA.

*  We took food and snacks with us to New Hampshire.  We only ate out for dinner in Maine on Monday(my cousin paid for that), a lunch on the way to New Hampshire on Tuesday, a lunch out in Littleton, NH on Thursday, some pastries on Saturday we took to the campground, breakfast in Whitefield NH on Sunday morning and stopping at the diner to see Carol later that day.  The motel furnished a VERY sparse breakfast each morning.
I bought various food gift cards but we didn't get to use any of those.

All other food we bought at the grocery store or food we brought from home,including some Hormel Compleats we still had in the stockpile thanks to Ex-College Boy.

These breakfast scrambles were nasty....no doubt about that!!!

But we've had some that were ok.......

Hubs ate a Chicken Alfredo w/Pasta one that he liked and we've had a Manicotti in Sauce type that's not bad at all.  We also took these Pulled Chicken in BBQ Sauce(bought some rolls to make sandwiches)and Chicken Breast w/Stuffing and ate them without a problem.  The only thing weird about the stuffing was it has diced up water chestnuts in it(I guess that's cheaper than putting celery into it and gives it some crunch).
If it was just me, I would have bought a loaf of bread and some cold cuts and just eaten a sandwich every meal but Hubs, if you've read my recent post about Living with a Retired Spouse 24/7, won't eat sandwiches but on rare occasions.  I didn't want him blowing even more cash on meals than we did so taking these along kept him happy and kept our budget in check.  We had them and they needed to be used up so why not?

*  We came home to lots of leftovers that Ex-College Boy didn't eat while we were away.  I was able to salvage a hunk of corned beef by cutting it up into bits and adding diced onion and potatoes and making corned beef hash.  A couple of eggs over easy and that was dinner on Monday night.
We had a whole large pan of stuffed shells in neat sauce leftover too.  We ate on that, along with a Caesar salad from romaine lettuce that was still ok on Tuesday and then I bagged the rest of the stuffed shells and put them into the chest freezer to use next month. 

That's about it from here.

What frugal wins did y'all have this week?
Let us here all about it!

Sluggy

Shopping Lately on Vacation & At Home

**Still waiting on Little Penpen to contact me about her giveaway box and time is running out!**

So I hit some stores on our vacation as is my want to do.
Rite-Aid in Wells Maine for some better than free make-up brushes.

We also hit Reny's in Wells and I picked this up..........

2 large jars of roasted red peppers for $3.29 each and 2 bottles of sesame oil for $3.79 each.  I noticed that the sesame oil went up .80¢ there since buying it a couple of years ago, but it's still cheaper than buying it locally here in PA.

Then on the way out of Maine we hit a Marden's in Sanford.  The only foodstuffs I bought there were 2 bottles of chili sauce for $1 each and 6 cans of Tasty Kitchen(from Quebec) brand tomato soup for .29¢ a can.  Never had or heard of that brand of soup but for .29¢ a can why not!  And if it's not so "tasty" I can always use it in my Beef Pie recipe. lolz

After we got home I went to our local Ocean State Job Lot on Monday since they put a $5 wyb $25 Q on my Insider Card.  It expired that day so I had to go have a look  if there was anything worth getting with it.
And there was!

These quart jugs of pure maple syrup, regularly $14.99(still a good price)were marked $8.99 for Insiders Only so I got two.

Jars of spices regularly $1 were priced at .79¢ each.  The olives were $1, on special as well.

For the Grand Opening of the store here they had pallet upon pallet of Polar soda and seltzer 6 packs on special.  I guess they didn't sell as much as they had thought they would so an Insider Special last week with no limit evidently was Polar 6 packs for $1 each.  I got 11 x 6-packs(even though it put me well over the $25 I needed to spend that $5 off Q because duh! It was an awesome price!!! lolz
I got 5 packs of seltzer and 6 packs of soda.  We are having family over the middle of next month so this will come in very handy then.

Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)is have their Bonanza Days this week so everything in the store is 15% off for Ollie's Army card holders, no Q needed.  Hubs and I will be heading over there later today to see if anything is priced low enough for us to pick up.
I have yet to darken the store at Weis(PMITA)Markets before leaving for NH(6/14 to be exact)so I know a trip there tomorrow for the freebie item is in my future.

But I am happy to report the freezer is looking less full these days and we have been able to eat it  down a bit even with a week away thrown in.

Have y'all gotten any good grocery deals lately?
Tell us all about it.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "I Can't Even!" Edition.............

When Ex-College Boy had to take everything out from under his bed when the Daughter took that bed frame to Louisiana with her he found a box of food I had sent off to his college apartment with him his first semester of his Senior year.  Among the foodstuffs were two Hormel Compleats breakfast meals.
Hubs and I took the 2 breakfast ones with us to New Hampshire last week for options if the motel breakfast was sad and/or as a change for the motel continental breakfast since we were going to be staying there 5 nights.
Well we broke out these Compleats on Wednesday.  You can see in the photo above the package "art" compared to what the bacon breakfast scramble actually looked like.  And let me tell you for the record that it tasted WORSE than it looked! lolz
I knew it would be over salted.  I tried to eat it with my eyes closed so the nasty look wouldn't prejudice my taste buds but GAWD!......the texture was just something I couldn't get past!
So breakfast was just the toast you can see in the right bottom corner as this nasty Compleats went directly into the trash can.
Amazingly Hubs ate his all up......*shudder*.  I've always said Hubs will eat anything, anywhere and at any time and this just proved I was correct. 8-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Grilled Steaks, Corn on cob, Mac and Cheese

2. Monday--Eating out w/my cousin

3. Tuesday--?

4. Wednesday--?

5. Thursday-?

6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--(everyone else here not me after Tuesday)

1. Sunday--Grilled Steaks, Corn on cob, Mac and Cheese

2. Monday--Eating out-Chowder, Haddock, Cole Slaw, Fries

3. Tuesday--I had an applesauce cup and pretzels(Had a big lunch)

4. Wednesday--Turkey w/Stuffing Compleats, applesauce cup

5. Thursday--Chowder, Burger for lunch, no dinner for me(Hubs had a turkey sandwich)

6. Friday--Pulled Chicken Compleat on Buns, applesauce cup
7. Saturday--Manicotti Compleats, pretzels w/peanut butter

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

Eating was sort of strange(as in not normal/regular)last week at PorcFest.  We either ate turkey sandwiches for lunch(we took bread from the free breakfast at the motel and bought sliced deli turkey from Shaw's), ate from food vendors at the campground, or we went out for lunch(Thursday).
Dinners were either leftover turkey sandwiches at the campground, pastries we bought in Lancaster during the day or Hormel "Compleats" and fruit cups we brought with us from home.  Dinner when we ate it was around 10 or 11 pm as that's when we got back to the motel(except Thursday when we got in before 8 pm as it rained ALL day and I wasn't feeling very well).

What got put into the freezer last week.....

* nothing what so ever as I wasn't home

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* nothing what so ever as I wasn't home

A small trip to Ocean State Job Lot as they opened the weekend before we left and 2 small shops at Reny's and Marden's in Maine on the way to NH brought the food/toiletries spending last week to $49.45 and my June total to $207.81.  

My savings percentage last week was 47.08%(without Rite-Aid trips)and June's monthly savings total so far comes to 54.25%(w/out R-A). 

I have 6 more food shopping/spending days in June(counting from this past Monday).

Leftovers going into this week.....a little corned beef, a whole pan of stuffed shells(Ex-CB didn't eat), a container of taco meat(Ex-CB didn't eat)and a container of leftover sliced turkey(which I put into the freezer on Monday).

We had lots of food waste while we were gone.  Ex-College Boy didn't seem to eat anything(I left him Domino's gift cards and he just seemed to get pizza and didn't touch any food here).  I threw out corn on cob, Cole slaw, cabbage, zucchini and rice but was able to salvage a couple of things for the freezer.
So unhappy about it.  If I'd known he'd just eat out or eat pizza I'd have frozen or had Hubs eat stuff before we left.
Oh well.....sometimes you loose the game. 8-(

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

1. Sunday--leftover turkey sandwiches

2. Monday--leftover Corned Beef turned into hash, eggs

3. Tuesday--leftover Stuffed Shells, Caesar salad

4. Wednesday--Chili(I'll have something else)

5. Thursday--BLT sandwiches

6. Friday--Grilled Cheese sandwiches, Tossed Salad
7. Saturday--Hot Dogs on buns, Beans, Something Green Veg from the freezer

This week will see 4 new meals cooked, 3 nights of leftovers/FFY, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.

What needs buying for this menu? We are out of milk and tomatoes and that is all.  I'll need to get fresh produce, lettuce, onions, etc. later this week or early next week. I am hoping to keep the food spending to $50 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