Food spending June Week 3 & Meal Planning June Week 4

You will recall that I did NOT do a meal plan in last week's installment of Food Spending/Meal Planning.

The reason?

We were out of town for 4 days and I didn't want to think about what to serve when we got back.

So I made it up as we went along.

Plus, since Hubs was still on vacation, even though we were home the last 3 days, I didn't want to have to cook if I could avoid it.

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And here is the "meal plan" that actually happened last week.....

SUNDAY--McDonald's  for breakfast, PF Chang's for dinner
MONDAY--Bob Evans for breakfast, Raising Cane's chicken for lunch, Skyline Chili for dinner
TUESDAY--Free Hotel breakfast, Arby's for lunch, Chef Ernie's for dinner
WEDNESDAY--Free Hotel breakfast, The Dragon Chinese Restaurant for lunch, Arby's for dinner
THURSDAY--late breakfast, Bob Evans for early dinner
FRIDAY--late breakfast Christo's Greek Restaurant for dinner

SATURDAY--Chinese Take-out lunch, Pork Chops and Asparagus for dinner

Lots of meal out and away from home.  1 meal cooked at home this week.  While I was glad not to have to cook for a change, spending the added money to eat while away from home doesn't sit well with me.

The weekly food spending was $24.58.  It was 2 trips to Weis. You can see what I bought HERE.

The short version, I did the Weis Dairy Month Instant Savings Deal twice, bought 11.75lbs. pork loin(to cut into boneless chops), a few more dairy items and some store-made muffins.  

Reg. retail was $97.84 for all so we saved 75% for the week.

I've spent $331.49 of my $400 food budget for June.  I have $68.51 left to spend this week.

Since I have $59 in expiring Cats to use this week, I hope to spend very little actual food budget money.

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This week's menu.....
SUNDAY--Kielbasa on rolls, grilled Squash
MONDAY--Salmon w/maple bourbon glaze, crudite plate(radishes,celery,carrots)with dressing dip

TUESDAY--Spaghetti with Meatballs, Salad

WEDNESDAY--Potato and Toppings

THURSDAY--Zucchini Chicken, Rice

FRIDAY--Hamburger Helper type meal, leftover veggies

SATURDAY--Homemade Pizza, Salad

What I need to purchase for this menu?

Zucchini, Squash and Salad Greens is all I need to make this happen.

We need fruit too this week.

I've got some leftover veggies in the fridge to incorporate, a bag of taters in the root cellar, as well as a hunk of pizza dough in the freezer from the last time I made pizza to use up.


So what's on deck for your menu this week?

And how is your food spending going this month?

Sluggy

The Trip to OH"HELL"IO--Chapter One

Now before I say another word I want to make it perfectly clear that no, I don't make shit like this up!

Everyone knows already that Hubs and I attempted a small vacation after dropping #2 Son at summer camp about a week ago.  We were already out on the opposite end of the state, so why not hop over the border into Ohio and meander around, eat some food and see some stuff we don't see everyday over here in our part of Pennsylvania.
No dogs, no kids, no schedule and no cares.
Sounds good, doesn't it?
Hubs had the week off so we were ready to go!

 So let's begin this saga the week previous....the week that the nephew was suppose to graduate from high school.(Totally not getting into THAT again here!) *If you feel you need the back story on that before proceeding, go read it HERE.

The previous week.....ah yes!....The week my Hubs siblings were here, being all up in our business and family-like.
Before hub's sister left town to go home, one evening, I made motel reservations at 2 different motel chains for our Ohio trip.
1 night at one, 2 nights at another.
I made the reservations online.
On secure web pages for each chain since they require your personal info.(like name, address)and your credit card number.  *Ah!....I see you know where I am going with this, don't you?

This is the first time I had used my credit card to purchase anything online in months and months.  I usually use Paypal to pay for anything online and I don't fund that with the credit card, ever!

A few days later, on June 10th I went to our credit card's online site to check whether the statement for our account had cut, so I could record the statement amount and plug in when I wanted to pay it(in full)online, within the next 3 weeks before it was due.

I found a charge on the bill that was highly suspicious for a large online music downloading site that will remain anonymous, called the iTunes Store.

The charge was 3 figures.
Neither Hubs or myself download music or anything else from there.
I asked if any of the kids had gotten our credit card number(highly unlikely)and had done that.
Nope.....no one had.
So I opened a dispute for that charge and made a note to pay the statement(less that charge)when we returned from Ohio.

And then the UPS man showed up at our door on Friday the 15th....less than 2 days before we were slated to leave.
And he had a package for us.
A package in a plain brown box that Hubs and I opened.
A package with a sex toy in it.

And no, I am not going to show you a picture of a sex toy here.


At this point, all the bells and whistles went off in my head.

And I ran to the computer to check our credit card account again.

And that's when I saw that the 3 figure bill at the iTunes store was just the beginning of our woes.
The account had been billed since the 10th for another 3 figure charge from the iTunes Store, for a Groupon and there was the bill for our new "adult" toy also.

This scumsucking loser didn't change the shipping address to himself when he billed us for the "toy".
Or he had it shipped to us on purpose, as his way of telling us he was "dicking" around with our credit account.

Well, we immediately had to put in a call to the credit card company and they shut down the account.
So with a day and a half to go until we left town, we had no credit card and even overnighting us new cards, we wouldn't get them before we left town.

I spent Saturday morning, before the bank closed arranging for a prepaid Visa card so we didn't have to cart a sack of cash to Ohio with us to pay for motel rooms, meals, gas, etc.
I have a debit card but it isn't hooked up to our primary account so it didn't have access but to a couple hundred dollars.  I don't use ATMs and I don't like to use debit cards so we never activated the ones the bank sent us.

So we worked around this complication but it put us on a tight budget for the trip.

We filed the appropriate fraud forms with the credit card company and the wheels of justice are moving slowly to resolve the situation.

Someone working at either of the corporate online reservation centers who would have access to our credit card info. when I booked those motel reservations is the obvious person responsible for some criminal skipping through the online world with our account number.  Since the credit card company shut the thief down I doubt the credit card company will follow through, apprehend and prosecute them.

Be assured that I will be writing to the corporate customer service of both motel chains to let them know that either of them has a possible theft ring operating within their walls.
And that unless they make the appropriate noises and convince me that they are taking this seriously,  I'll never reserve another accommodation with them...EVER!
Plus I'll name names...*cough*Clarion.......*cough*Best Western..... and let all my readers and twitter followers know. ;-)

So we are not even out of the driveway and have already been put through this credit card fraud and sex toys.
Oh, this trip just gets better and better!

Part 2 tomorrow......

Sluggy

Sunday Night Chit-Chat with Carla

It's time for another episode of Sunday Night Chit-Chat, sponsored by CARLA.
Go see her and then post your answers to her Chit-Chat questions.

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* Reading.... I read my new ALL YOU magazine this week.  Took very little time.  Won't be renewing that!lol

* Watching... Later tonight I'll catch the Season Finale of SISTER WIVES.  It's a train wreck I can't help but watch.

* Cooking/Baking... Kielbasa and onions on the cast iron skillet on the stove top.  Too hot to bake here.

* Happy you accomplished... I got out of bed.  Yes, my goals are low today.lol  I did work on future blog posts for later.  And I'm happy we got home from our trip in one piece.

* Looking forward to next week... getting back into my "at home" groove.  1 less teen around is good too.  And going forward with the home improvement plans.

* Thankful for today... That even though we faced some unforeseen financial challenges last week(trip problems and car repairs), that we had the money to take care of things.  And that Hubs actually seemed to relax on our trip.  He works hard and has trouble destressing on vacations.

* Listening to... the dog snore and cars flying down the road next to the house.  Later Hubs will put on some sports thing and I'll be forced to listen to that as background noise.lol

* BONUS QUESTION  What is the WORST movie you've ever seen and couldn't be paid to watch again?... Oh there are SO MANY contenders for that one!lol  As for recent candidates....it has to be "Amelia"  They actually took a woman, Amelia Earhart, who had an amazingly thrilling life and turned it into a 2+ hour snoozefest.  ick.  Full price movie tickets AND a piece of my life I'll never recover.

Sluggy

Sluggy's Boring Blog Giveaway Week #1......Come and Enter!

Time for another......

Sluggy's BORING BLOG BOX GIVEAWAY!

Here's how it works.....

I put things in the box(mostly what I have gotten for free or almost free)each week and when the box is filled we draw a winner from all the entries received.

Here is what went into the Box today.....

1.  1 bottle of Herbal Essence Shampoo "Tousle Me Softly"
2.  1 Glad Soy Candle "Lotus Bamboo"(or something like that)
3.  1 tube of Colgate Toothpaste
4.  1 more tube of Colgate Toothpaste
5.  1 sample of Cottonelle Wipes

If this is your first time, please go read all the rules for these Giveaways HERE.

***Time to enter.....You can enter on this Giveaway post until I close this post to entries.

1 entry per person per day on THIS POST.
Leave your name/email addy and a COMMENT on this post.  

This week I want to hear about vacation plans.....are you taking a vacation or will you be "staycationing" instead?  Do go/do the same thing every year or do you like to go different places each time and do different things? Is there someplace you want to go before you die and where is it and why?

You can come directly to this blog post or find it through the link on the right side bar to leave 1 comment per day.  The current Giveaway Post will be linked right at the top of the side bar.

Please NOTE--You MUST be a follower to enter the Giveaway.  If you aren't one, just click on the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog to become a follower.

There are 2 ways to get 2 EXTRA entries on this and each new Giveaway Post.......

1. Put my blog on your blog's Blogroll.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST with the URL of your blog so I can go check it out. **If I'm already on your Blogroll, say so in an extra entry comment once on each new Giveaway post.

2.  Blog about this Giveaway on your blog or on your Facebook page with a link to this post.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST with a link to your blog post or your Facebook ID so I can go view it.  You can do this extra entry once on each new Giveaway post.


Any questions?  Just email me.

Happy Entering!! 

Sluggy

The Weis Dairy Month Deal.....Not So Great But OK

Weis(Pound Me In The Ass)Markets had an Instant Savings Deal this past week, while I was on vacation.

It was a "June is Dairy Month" Promotion.  When you purchased $12 in selected "dairy" items, you got an instant $3 Off your order.
Let's not even get into that one of the items in this DAIRY Promo was ICE TEA.
WTF?lol

Now in the past, Weis Promos(Catalinas and Instant Discounts)have worked off of regular shelf price....meaning your total before Qs and sale prices had to hit the $12 mark, but you didn't actually have to "spend" $12 in goods to get the discount.
IE--The reg. shelf price was $12 or more, but the sale prices made the order $9.50 and the Qs added on brought your order to $7.00, but you still got $3 off your order, so you paid $4.00 OOP for the items.

So when we got back to town, Hubs and I went up to Weis PMITA Markets and I tried the deal by purchasing....
2 x Friendly's Ice Cream reg. price of $5.99/sale price $1.99
1 x Yo Crunch Yogurt Cup reg. price of .89¢/sale price .60¢
Reg. Shelf Total of $12.87/Sale Price Total of $4.58
With $3 discount the OOP should have been $1.58 for all 3 items.

But the $3 Discount didn't come off.

So I sent Hubs back for more items.....
2 x Daisy Sour Cream  reg. price of $2.29/sale price $1.50
1 x 18 ct. Eggs  reg. price $1.79/sale price $1.69
3 x Yo Crunch Yogurt cups reg. price .89¢/sale price .60¢

With a reg. shelf price total of $22.01 and a sale price total of $11.07 the $3 came off.

I sat for an hour trying to figure out what went wrong here.  Neither reg. price or sale price was at the $12 mark.
And Hubs was none too happy to be send back to get more stuff and I got an earful for that!!! 8-(

Then I read comments from some deal blog readers on this Weis Deal and how there was no rhyme or reason to how this Deal was being applied to folks orders.

And then I figured it out Friday night.
It is/was working off the sale price....you had to actually spend $12(before Qs)on the items to get the $3 discount.

And here is why my sale prices of $11.07 DID trigger the discount....
Our Weis is still having special pricing on some items, due to the Grand Opening of the gas pumps in my town. 
The Friendly's Ice Cream was on sale for 2/$5 chainwide but in our store ONLY it was $1.99 each.

So if you figure my whole order at sale prices and use the 2/$5 price instead of the $1.99 I paid per carton, my OOP before discount, on the sale prices comes to $12.09 and NOT the $11.07 I paid.
That was enough to trigger the $3 coming off.
(I guess there was not a way to make the computer figure our ice cream at $1.99 for the deal ONLY when in all the other stores it was $2.50 each.)

So with the 2 4-packs of muffins I bought with this stuff, I am OOP $13.65.


After having figured out how the Deal was working, I would have loved to have made Sonya Ann super jealous with all the ice cream I wanted to buy!
But seeing as my freezer is mostly full, I nixed a boatload of ice cream and sent Hubs back to Weis on Saturday afternoon for this....

First the $3 off Instant Dairy Deal....
1 x Friendly's Ice Cream=$1.99 *not pictured*
2 x Smart Balance Margarine stuff @$2.99=$5.98
2 x Cabot Cheese @ $2.00=$4.00
SubTotal of $11.97, but using the REAL price of $2.50 for the ice cream, the SubTotal was $12.48
And the $3 Instant Discount came off...$11.97-$3.00=$8.97

Coupons I used....
1 x $1/1 Smart Balance Spread ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1.10/1 Smart Balance Spread IPQ=$1.10
1 x $1/2 Cabot products IPQ=$1.00

$8.97- Coupons of $3.10=$5.87 for my 5 Dairy Items.

The Greek Yogurt was not part of the deal, but I was out and had a $1/1 IPQ.
$4.19-$1=$3.19+$5.87 dairy items=$9.06

I also had Hubs pick up a Pork Loin at the rock bottom price here of $1.69lb.
My 11.75lb. piece was $19.87.

My order came to the grand total of $28.93.

I gave Hubs $28 in Catalinas to use, so his OOP should have been $.93¢
But the cashier only let him use 1 of the $10 Cats(instead of the 2 I gave him), so he got $18 off in Cats and not $28, leaving a Grand Total OOP of $10.93.

I made a note to myself that I have to do a separate transaction for each $10 Catalina this coming week in order to use them all up.

So everything pictured above plus the ice cream(not pictured)cost me $10.93.
$65.96 worth of food for a savings rate of 83%.
And I have $59 in Cats left to spend this coming week.

So this Dairy Deal was ok but not great, since it worked off of the sale and not the shelf prices.
I did get some things I needed(like eggs, cheese, sour cream, margarine stuff)and the ice cream was a really cheap want.  If I had known the deal was working off of sale rather than shelf I sure wouldn't have bought those single serve cups of sweetened yogurt.  What a waste of money!
But understandable as I had to think fast and I hadn't brought the calculator with me to the store.

Live and learn I guess....
At least the 4 I bought didn't put our food budget into jeopardy or anything.

I'll be running to the store alot this coming week, since I have to use those 5 $10 Catalinas in separate transactions.
Plus I have a ton of +Up Rewards expiring at Rite-Aid so stay tuned for some Rite-Aid trips again.


Sluggy