This Week on the Dining Table

The "Morning Glory" Edition................

Last week saw the first morning glory flower arrive in my garden patch.  The next day we were up to 5 flowers blooming.  Today I can't even count the number of blooms as they have exploded into color out back.
The return of the morning glories always makes me happy.  Now if I can keep Chester and the Japanese Beetles off of the leaves.....ugh!

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Caesar Salad

2. Monday--Leftovers, Spinach Souffle

3. Tuesday--Beef Pie

4. Wednesday--Fish, Cole Slaw, Sweet Potato Wedges

5. Thursday--Hot Dogs on Buns(or not), Pasta/Veggie Salad

6. Friday--Risotto w/Chicken and Veggies
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Caesar Salad

2. Monday--Fish, Cole Slaw, French Fries

3. Tuesday--Chicken Parm(I had leftover meatloaf), Spinach Souffle

4. Wednesday--Chicken Fajitas

5. Thursday--Chinese Take-Out(too sick to cook)

6. Friday--Fend For Yourself
7. Saturday--Beef Pie

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 nights of leftovers/ffy, and 1 night of Eating Out/Take-Out. 

Some stuff planned was cooked/eaten.  The Risotto and Hot Dogs didn't happen.  Might happen this week.  I had lots of haddock leftover and planned that another night(or two)but then Ex-CB took it out of the fridge to get to something else and left it sitting on the chest freezer all night(sigh)and then my back got out of whack so the plan went out the window toward the end of the week.

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

* 1.5 lbs. of Haddock
* 2 lbs. of Flounder
* 2 bags of Green Beans

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* 1 huge Chicken Breast
* 2 hand fulls of Red Bell Pepper Strips
* 1 Spinach Souffle
* Breaded Chicken Patties
* 1 bag of Green Beans

About the same amount got used from the freezer as got put in there last week so we didn't make any space in there last week.

A small trip to the Shursave Market($9.36), cherry picking the deals at Weis($14.87), a rare trip to Price Chopper($41.01)for 5 lbs.+ of on sale fish, a few loss leaders and drinks for Ex-CB, and a trip to the produce markets($26.83)for deli meat/produce/.99¢ a pint blueberries,etc., brought the weekly spending to $92.07 and my July total to $132.69 so far.

My savings percentage last week was 42.82%(without Rite-Aid trips)and July's monthly savings total comes in at 55.97%(w/out R-A). 

I have 16 more food shopping/spending days in July.  

Leftovers going into this week......beef pie and chicken fajita mix.
We had a bit of food waste--a spoon or two of pasta/veggie salad and a few chunks of watermelon.  Not being very mobile last week I just couldn't stay on top of things in the fridge. sigh

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

1. Sunday--Chicken Sandwich from BK

2. Monday--Risotto w/Chicken and Mushrooms and/or Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Roast Chicken, Broccoli, Some Carb thing

4. Wednesday--?

5. Thursday--?

6. Friday--Hot Dogs on Buns(or not), some sides TBD
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 3 new meals cooked, 1 night of leftovers/FFY, and 1 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out and 2 nights of ?.  Company is coming Tuesday and I don't know beyond that evening what we'll have/eat.  After they depart I've got easy stuff Hubs can do if I'm not up to cooking yet.

What needs buying for this menu?
Nothing.  If we do a cook-out while company is here I'll need ground beef for burgers. Other than running out on Wednesday for needs I don't plan on doing much grocery shopping this week(if I am able to).
We did make a run to Big Lots($60.16)over the weekend for the 20% off quarterly sale and that will be reflected in next weeks report.

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  

I Won't Be Posting for Awhile

I probably won't be posting for awhile due to what I am typing out below. 
When I recover from this episode I'll be looking for a new doctor and medical system to go to.
*********************

I currently sit here in pain(level 6 at the moment down from a 10 last night)with back muscle spasms so bad they woke me from a sound sleep.
After trying my Rx for muscle spasms, which did nothing, off to the ER we go at 4 am.

I was seen by the ER doc and given 2 Percocet(which did nothing), then a bit later, Toradol in an IV(which also did nothing)and then finally a Valium(which finally helped the pain down to a level I can bear the ride home on the pothole riddled roads around here).

ER doc wrote me a script for Percocet(6 pills)and wouldn’t give me what actually helped(the Valium)as it is “addictive”. Last I heard Percocet was also addictive?  Why give me a narcotic that didn't help?!?  Hubs took me home.

I finally get through the the doctor's office and find out I can’t be seen by my regular doctor's practice until Monday-that’s 4 days away from the ER visit.
My doctor's practice won’t write me a script until they see me and the nurse wished me to, “have a nice day” before hanging up. I seriously doubt I’ll have a nice day until sometime after Monday when the dr. sees me as I’ll be out of the Percocet by Friday night(not that it helped anyway).
At this point I lost it.  I am vacillating between crying my eyes out and being so FURIOUS I can't see straight!!!

Evidently Doctors and medical entities that thems belong to around here don’t want to heal their patients it seems, as they are more concerned with covering their asses, legal speaking. They crank out substandard care and just keep sending the bills.

So if anyone needs me during the next 4 days, dollars to donuts look for me at my local ER first. where I will be a frequent visitor until Monday(and paying co-pays out the nose for the pleasure of using it when ONE Rx for Valium may have avoided the horrendous amounts of $$$ I'll be paying out to visit the ER multiple!).

The government and fucking trial lawyers who have brought on this insane situation where a doctor won’t/can’t/is too afraid of legal repercussions to prescribe an Rx that a patient needs to heal, can all go kiss my lily white ass!


Sluggy, feeling helpless, depressed and in a lot of pain

Rite-Aid Shopping This Week

I went to Rite-Aid yesterday and did the freebies to roll the Bonus Cash on my card.........

Various Oral-B, Crest items are on sale for $3.00 each this week.
There are digital Qs on Rite-Aid you can clip to your card, as well as Qs in the P&G insert from Sunday's paper.
These on sale items also give back $2 Bonus Cash.  If you use a $1/1 Q to pay this makes them free.

The best deal is a double pack of Indicator Oral-B toothbrushes on sale for $3 among all the single pack Oral-B brushes that are part of this sale(if your store carries this item).  Use the $1/1 Q available and earn $2 BC which makes them free.

The best toothpaste deal is the Crest Pro-Health Sensitive & Enamel Shield type pictured.  The 4.6 oz. tube is part of the $3 sale and gives back $2 Bonus Cash.  There is a $2/1 digital Q on R-A  you can clip to your card for $2/1 off this product.

$3-$2 Q=$1 and gives back $2 BC so a $1 moneymaker.

Or you can do the other $3 on sale toothpastes and used the $1/1 digital or P&G insert Q, pay $2 and get $2 BC back making it "just" free.

Limit of 2 of these deals per card/account so don't try to get a toothbrush, toothpaste AND mouth wash.  Just 2 of the 3 will give you the Bonus Cash.

I thought I'd mention this early in the week so everyone has enough heads up to go get some dental needs for free or better.


Sluggy

Target Shopping

I decided it was time for a rare trip to Target last Friday.
Basically I had a fist full of gift cards(some free from other Target deals, some from c/c points and one was a discounted gift card I bought last December).

There were two food Qs last week......a get a $5 Gift Card when you spent $15 on beverages and a get a $5 Gift Card when you spent $20 on meat/seafood.
Sounded like this could be a good deal to me!

Here is what I bought........

On the drink deal I got--
3 x Pepsi brand 12-packs
1 x Gatorade 8-pack
2 x Target brand bottled water

Regular prices were 4/$12 Pepsi, $5.29 Gatorade, $3.58 but there was additional 25% off the Pepsi items(Cartwheel)so that's why I bought over $20 instead of $15 worth so I qualified for the $5 gift
card.

On the meat/seafood deal I got--
2 lb. Ground Beef $7.99
3 lb. Ground Turkey $8.99
1.50 lb. Perdue sliced Chicken Breast $7.52
Then Turkey and Chicken each had a $2 discount sticker on them so my $24.50 worth of meat came to $20.50 so I qualified for the $5 gift card.

I also bought a gallon of milk($3.53)and a bag of Doritos for Ex-CB($2).

And this is where the wheels flew off that bus.
I was busy loading and unloading everything from the cart so I wasn't watching the cashier/register fully.

Near the end of the order he scanned and put a Target gift card on the counter for me but I didn't see another $5 gift card for the second deal.  So I mentioned I was suppose to get 2 gift cards(1 for drinks/1 for meat). So he took out an ad, flipped through it and started looking at what I bought on the register screen.  He then said, I'm just going to take $5 off your total as "the Cartwheel was already applied".(In lieu of giving me what I thought was a second $5 gift card.)  Sounded fair to me.

In the end my total was $41.35 with sales tax and I used all my free Target gift cards to pay plus $4.91 of the discounted Target gift card too.  That $4.91 cost me $4.41 w/the discount when I bought the card so I am putting $4.41 OOP in my July food tally for this Target trip spending.

I can never make heads nor tails out of Target's receipts. I've tried before to reconcile them and they are always just off, something under $1.  It is something I have accepted in my life but I still go over the receipts and try to make sense of them. lolz

So I am reading over the receipt and I get down to the store coupons applied and see that the gift card the cashier gave me is for $10 not $5.  He never said, "I've combined the 2 $5 deals and am giving you 1 $10 gift card which contains both", when I questioned getting 2 gift card/doing 2 Target gift card deals.
I double checked online the amount on the gift card and yes, it is $10 not $5.

So it looks like he gave me an extra $5 discount on the bill.  This cashier looked really tired and haggard so I guess instead of talking to me he just wanted me out of his line and gone and just gave me an extra $5 off.
Ok, if that's how it's going down I'm fine with that. 8-)))

Total Savings of $24.12 off regular price according to the receipt and plus the $36.94 paid on free/discounted gift cards gives me a savings of $61.06.

A nice little break from spending our regular income on foodstuffs.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "12 Boxes of Open Crackers" Edition................

As mentioned in my To-Do List post, here are 10 of the 12 opened boxes of crackers I found lurking in the kitchen pantry.
Who opens three more Ritz cracker boxes when there is already one open?!?
A "not-paying-attention-because-their-mind-is-elsewhere-20-something" would be my answer. lolz

Besides repurposing crackers, since getting home we are back on top of the food waste issue. ;-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

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

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--tv dinners lurking in the freezer

2. Monday--Chicken Parm, Broccoli

3. Tuesday--Meatloaf, Corn

4. Wednesday--Hamburgers on buns, Pasta/Veggie Salad

5. Thursday--Fend For Yourself

6. Friday--BLTs
7. Saturday--Pizza(take-out)

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/ffy/tv dinners, and 1 night of Eating Out/Take-Out. 

Everything planned was eaten but not on the day planned sometimes.
We got pizza on Saturday too and that wasn't planned.  I hurt my back so I tried to do things easy last week(or had Hubs help with dinner).

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

* ground beef/turkey meatballs

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* 2 TV dinners
* a bag of corn
* Breaded Chicken Patties

More got used in the freezer except the 3 bags of meatballs took up the same amount of room that was made in there last week. lolz

A small trip to the Bread Outlet($5.50), onions and ground beef at Maine Source($30.71)and a trip to Target(using gift cards $4.41 OOP)brought the weekly spending to $40.62 and my July total to $40.62 so far.

My savings percentage last week was 71.06%(without Rite-Aid trips)and July's monthly savings total comes in at 71.06%(w/out R-A). 

I have 23 more food shopping/spending days in July.  

Leftovers going into this week.....chili, meatloaf, pasta/veggie salad and pizza.  That's it.

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

1. Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Caesar Salad

2. Monday--Leftovers, Spinach Souffle

3. Tuesday--Beef Pie

4. Wednesday--Fish, Cole Slaw, Sweet Potato Wedges

5. Thursday--Hot Dogs on Buns(or not), Pasta/Veggie Salad

6. Friday--Risotto w/Chicken and Veggies
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.

What needs buying for this menu?
Fish(for 1 meal)and carrots(for Cole Slaw and Beef Pie).  Price Chopper has haddock on special this week so I'll be going there on Tuesday to do some shopping.
Since I'll spend at least $15 on the fish I'll pick up the loss leaders/PC coupon items too if they are something we can use.  If carrots are too high there I'll either hit Malacari's produce or Weis(PMITA)Markets as well. I want to stay between $50-$70 this week on grocery shopping.

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