Sunday, April 25, 2010

Menu Planning

Ok, well. Last week I was a bit crazy. I made dinner on Monday (i think it was) Tuesday Russ worked late and then I went to my parents. Wednesday I worked late. Thursday I burned my left hand! (yeah, not fun. everything's healed now except one big blister on my left hand, which still makes it hard to use my left hand.) Friday- dinner at my parents and Saturday- dinner out with friends. So needless to say, I didn't cook much.
So this week, I'll cook all the stuff I didn't last week.
Monday: Italian pot roast, mashed potatoes
Tuesday: Fish fillets and tater tots
Wednesday: chicken and rice pilaf
Thursday: Honey garlic pork chops,
Friday: teriyaki chicken, rice
Saturday: tortellini in alfredo sauce, salad

I have practically NO veg in the house, so I'll have to do some grocery shopping and see what's in season/ on sale.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Menu Planning Monday

I really want to keep my grocery cost down this next couple weeks, so I'm going to be cooking out of freezer a lot this week.

Monday (tonight): chicken cordon bleu and green salad.
Tuesday: Italian pot roast, mashed potatoes, corn and carrots
Wednesday and Thursday I work late.
Friday: Teriyaki chicken, rice and Asian veg blend
Saturday: chicken and rice pilaf, salad, garlic bread.

Friday, April 16, 2010

I love free stuff!

My mom calls me the queen of free stuff. I get tons of free samples in the mail! I know there's a bit of a debate in the frugal world about free samples (the frugal girl wrote something on this) and I guess I get her point but the only one I agree with is the packaging. However, packaging has yet to deter me. For dinner today I had 2 Jack in the box tacos, an order of fries and a Vitamin water. I paid a total of $1.06 for this! I got a coupon for a free vitamin water and today Jack in the Box gave away an order of free small fries all day. You didn't have to purchase anything extra or anything. My favorite site I've found is mysavings.com.

Yes, sometimes you only get a small amount, but often it''s perfect for travel size! I used to fly a lot (haha, I used to be able to fly for free since my mom works for a airline.) And I've gotten TONS of shampoo and toothpaste. And when you think about it, travel sized things are much more expensive per unit price, so this worked out for  me quite well. Even still, if you don't travel, the one use bottle of shampoo is still good for one whole use. It doesn't save a bunch of money but it all adds up in my book.
Plus I have gotten whole granola bars, sodas (and vitamin water), bags of chips, packs of gum etc.

Is filling out these forms an inefficient use of my time? Maybe. But it's all part of my computer time. You can't be productive 100% of the time, and when I'm on the computer I just pop open a site or two and peruse. I don't spend hours of time on here, searching and researching. Maybe 15 min. Honestly.

And I just love getting free stuff! I've also gotten samples of laundry detergent, cereal (yeah for portion control in those little boxes they send) TONS and I mean tons of tampons and pads, body wash, lotion, even paper towels. I literally accumulated so many samples of diapers and formula and gave then to my sis in law for her baby shower gift.

One tip I have is make another e-mail address. I set up a separate e-mail account because you have to give your e-mail address in the sign up forms and they SO OFTEN send you junk mail. LOTS of junk mail. You do need to be able to access the account because sometimes they send you confirmation e-mails, but this way   it doesn't clog your 'real' e-mail account.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Meal plan

Russ and I are going out of town on Sat morning, but until then our dinners will look like this

Monday: sizzling ginger pork, rice and Asian veg blend
Tuesday: Chicken cordon bleu, garden salad, garlic bread
Wednesday: Teriyaki chicken, seasoned rice,
Thursday:  Tostada salad
Friday: Pita pizza, salad

Since I've started packing Russ's lunches, I've found it helpful to plan those too.

Monday: Turkey sandwich, snap peas, kiwi slices, cheese stick
Tuesday: Tuna Sandwich, yogurt, berries
Wednesday: Ham sandwich, carrot sticks, peached and cottage cheese
Thursday: Roast beef sandwich, grapes, fruit roll up
Friday: Chicken salad sandwich, snap peas, orange slices

and My lunches will be:
Monday: roast beef wrap, carrot sticks and yogurt
Tuesday: soup and garden salad and an apple
Wednesday: sweet pepper chicken sandwich,
Thursday: Avocado and apple chicken salad
Friday: Chicken pita sandwich

Friday, April 9, 2010

Food waste Friday

It's funny how just tracking your progress about food waste really helps reduce it! My first week back, I had a lot to report and a lot of waste. This week, while yes I did have waste, it's so much less!
The reason there are two pictures is because I found the orange earlier in the week. That's right, found it, in the trunk of my car. It must have rolled out of one of my shopping bags one day. And that's part of a yellow pepper. Russ has recently decided he doesn't like peppers so I was all alone on this one.  
The orange was probably .70 
The pepper was 1.50 and I used about 1/4 of it, so that's about .40
total $1.10

Monday, April 5, 2010

...and lunches

Now that I'm making Russ's lunch, I can plan those too.

Monday: Turkey sandwiches, deviled eggs (made of those eggs we dyed!), carrots and ranch, cheese stick
Tuesday: Russ ate out today. Now that it's not so often, I'm ok with it!
Wednesday: Ham sandwich, grapes, snap peas and nuts
Thursday: Tuna sandwich, kiwi slices, yogurt, fruit roll up
Friday: Chicken salad sandwich, cottage cheese, peach cup, orange slices.

will he ever get sick of sandwiches??
Also, I'm starting to worry about the sides. I put together this long list, but since he needs about 2 sides each lunch, there's a lot of repeats. Hopefully he doesn't get too bored!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Meal Planning

I still  don't know my schedule this week!! My sis in law had her baby on Fri and I really want to go up and see him this weekend, but I was scheduled to work on Sat. So I'm trying (!!!) to switch with someone but so far...well I'm trying to be optimistic. So if I do manage to switch I get whatever day they don't want and whatever hours they don't want. So, I have no idea when I'll work this week and what nights I'll be home to cook. It's a really annoying, horrible feeling. So instead of planning day by day what to cook, I'm just going to plan on a few meals I can cook up if I am home.

1. Stuffed chicken, salad, biscuits
2. Teriyaki chicken, corn, rice
3. Ravioli Lasagna, zucchini, garlic bread
4. Fish sticks, veggie sticks, tater tots 

Friday, April 2, 2010

Food waste Friday

I really did do food waste earlier in the week, but forgot to post it so I'll do it now.
Here's the waste:
Well, it's not good but not as bad as last week. It's 3 radishes, 1 grapefruit, 3 green onions, 1 stalk of celery, 2 carrots, 1/3 a carrot and a little bit of (like less than 1/8 cup) of cheddar cheese.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Meal Plan Update

Oh gosh. I didn't (and won't) make a single dinner this week! Shameful. Sunday night I was out of town. Monday Russ got home late so I just picked up some food for myself and Russ picked up food on his way home. Tuesday I worked late. Wednesday Russ came home from work and crashed and went straight to bed so I just ate some chili. Tonight when Russ came home, his high schooler little sister called and asked us to come see her in her high school play. She lives about 1/2 an hr away so we just picked up some food on the way to her school. And then tomorrow and Sat I work late. Just the worst and I mean worst diet this week. The good thing is, I've made lunch for Russ three times this week. (It was supposed to be 4 but Russ forgot on the first day so he ate it the day after.) So not only did that save some $$ but I know he got some fruits and veggies in his diet. I'm not sure on the schedule next week, plus his older sister went into the hospital tonight to have her first baby, so sometime soon we'll have to take the 5 hr drive up north and visit her and her new baby boy!