Saving My Pennies

I MOVED!

2011-04-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

I moved over to Choosing Better.
It's new and I'm still getting my bearings. Plus, I'm not technologically savvy. Like at all.

But check it out! :)

3 day meal plan

2011-03-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, I tried to write my meal plan for the week (yes, my weeks start on Thursday) but after a few 'days' I gave up. Here's what I did.

Friday: ham and pineapple mcmuffin and grapefruit
   Roast beef sandwich, yogurt and plum
   shrimp, rice and green salad

Saturday: cinnamon cheerios (yum!) and banana
   baked potato and apple
   black bean tostada w/ leftover rice

Sunday: eggs
   "B"LT (because the B is vegetarian)
   chicken, haricots verts and quinoa
   and for dessert- my new fav food: pears, goat cheese and honey

I'm back

2011-03-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile, because honestly I wan't inspired by anything. I've been in a rut lately but something made me laugh today when I went to the grocery store. (Warning: This may be a TMI posting).

As soon as I stepped out of my car, I had to pee! And here's a fun fact about me: I hate going to the bathroom in public. I have absolutely no reason behind it or any kind of explanation, I would just rather go at home. So if it's possible, I will hold it. I'm a pro at holding it.
And this is what I've learned: when you have to pee, you don't buy as much! Hahaha! You get in, get what you came there to get and you go home. I don't know if I would recommended this little "trick" but I sure did spend less than I usually do!

Plus, here's what I ate for dinner.

I'm posting this for a number of reasons but the big one is that I'm constantly trying to better myself. Not only financially, but physically as well. I really do try and eat healthy and eat whole foods. And unhealthy people (like the people on The Biggest Loser- one of my FAV shows) claim that healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy. There is a tiny kernal of truth in that, for example 85% beef is cheaper than 93% and way cheaper than ground bison. And a box of mac n cheese are like a buck, twinkies are like what $2.00 for what 6? 8? It's been SO long since I've even had a twinkie I don't even know! Heck, Top Ramen is like 15 cent!! That's cheap, my friend. And hard to beat.
BUT! Let's think about this. Today at work my friends ordered take out. Jenn ordered Cafe Rio and that's usually 8 bucks. Tyler ordered Dominoes and you have to order $10 before they'll even deliver.
This is a common occurrence at my work. Can you even imagine ordering lunch everyday? I spend approx $3 on lunch every day by packing healthy meals. I save myself a bunch of money and even MORE calories and grams of fat. ick!

Back to dinner: I ate steamed rosemary chicken, red potatoes and asparagus.
I threw all of this in the steamer my sister gave me ;). All I had to do was sprinkle the chicken and potatoes with all the seasonings I want: salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion salt and dried rosemary. and throw them in the steamer. 14 minutes later I threw in the asparagus. another 6 mins later- done! no extra fats or oils and it's SO easy. Plus, there's something about asparagus that I think I'm getting addicted to. It's almost spicy or something, you know what I mean. I pick them up and eat them with my fingers!

How much did all of this cost, you ask? The chicken was about 1.50 (rounded up). The asparagus bunch was 2.06 and I used it for 3 meals so...about $0.69 and the potatoes were $0.43. That's a grand total of...
$2.53!!
Wow, even I'm impressed haha. Dinner was healthy, it was delish and it was cheap! Seriously, go make this!

ok, here we go

2011-01-27T17:25:00.000-08:00

I've laid out a new budget for me and I've GOT to stick to it! I've GOT to pay off my debts and save up for a new car! I'm seriously running out of time.
I've only allowed myself a grocery budget of $160 a month. That's $6 a day. Thats $1 breakfasts, $2 lunches and $3 dinners.
Breakfast today was free (a friend brought me breakfast) and lunch was about $3.19. Too much, but I brought it all from home. Dinner was a foil dinner. One of my fav dinners. I should've kept my receipts (I knew it) so i could calculate it all together. I know the meat was $1.75. I splurged for the "healthy" 93/7% fat.
Then there's the worchestershire sauce, olive oil, and seasonings which pretty much come to pennies.
Then there was red onion, yellow pepper, carrot and mushrooms. If that equals less that $1.06, I've made it. I think it's close. I did use some things that I bought earlier that I had splurged on including the meat at dinner and my burrito at lunch.
The rest of the week will kind of go along those same lines. I want to use up EVERYTHING. I made a list and posted it on my fridge. These are the things that I need to eat before I can go grocery shopping again. There are some 'splurge' items on there, as well as cans of soup and top ramen. I'm not going to be super worried about that each meal "cost" but I am going to be on the lookout for meals that cost less than $2/$3.
(Breakfast I think I've got down. a piece of 0.50 fruit, and pair w/ 0.10 oatmeal or 0.50 granola bar. I have poptarts and but I can't remember what I paid for it. They're probably and .75 a packet. Maybe I'll have to eat that w/ a small banana that I can get for under a quarter.)

Ok, back to meal planning

2011-01-25T16:17:00.000-08:00

I'm in serious disarray here! I need to get my life back in order. Here's my plan:

breakfasts will be steel cut oats, granola bars and bananas
lunches will be burritos, lean cuisines, soup and leftovers

Tuesday: Dinner w/ parents
Wednesday: Tofu stir fry (probably...I might have dinner out. TBA)
Thursday: Steamed chicken and lemony quinoa
Friday: Foil dinner
Saturday: Baked cod
Sunday: chicken and zucchini fries
Monday: leftovers as necessary

Meal Plan

2010-12-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

Here's the meal plan. (I'm a little late)

Monday: Pita pizza and zucchini
Tuesday: Turkey burger and salad
Wednesday: Stir fry with brown rice
Thursday: Tostada Salad
Friday: White chicken chili
Saturday: Potstickers
Sunday: bbq chicken sandwich, carrot and broccoli mix

Breakfasts will be cinnamon bread , oatmeal, Canadian bacon
Lunch: soup, sandwiches, salad, frozen meals

Following the meal plan

2010-10-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

K, here's the thing. I try to follow the meal plan. I made quesadillas last night and had so much leftover I had another one for lunch today. And I switched the stir fry for tonight and it was SUPER yummy. (break: I just threw a bunch of ingredients in a marinade for the chicken and then cooked up some broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, yellow peppers, red onions and pineapple chunks. All over a BIG bed of rice. yummy! And so pretty with every color of the rainbow! Love it!)
So I have leftover rice from tonights adventure- and I still have yellow pepper left and I still haven't cooked up the ground turkey in the fridge SO instead of doing the follow dinner tomorrow night I'm doing stuffed peppers!

I'm gonna mix up the rice with some salsa, corn, and red onion and the ground beef. Saute it all together while the yellow pepper is roasting in the oven. (YUM! It matters!) Then throw the mixture in the middle of the cooked pepper- top it with some of that Monterey jack cheese I gotta use up, and throw it in the oven to melt the cheese.

That uses up the rest of the pepper and the rice. Gotta do something w/ the rest of the turkey and the cheese (how hard can that be?).

I have leftover stir fry for lunch tomorrow. So the sandwich for today got boosted and the lean cuisine meal for tomorrow can wait!

OH! And I have like 2 stalks of broccoli left, about an 1/8 of a carrot and bits of pieces of red onion that I chopped but didn't want to put in the stir fry. Of course I don't want to throw it away. I figured now is the time to a trick I've heard of for so long and never tried. Puree the leftover veggies and mix it into the spaghetti sauce. More veggies, more sauce, no waste. I just hope it tastes good so it's a win/win/win.

I have ravioli in the fridge that I'm waiting till Fri to cook. (Next on the list...haha) and so we will try the spag sauce trick then.

Still gotta use:
mushrooms (I do have a plan- I guess I'll cook these on Sat)
chicken (I have a plan on this too- red beans and rice burrito. This will use some tortillas too)
tortillas*
the rest of the ground turkey
All my fruit: mango, peach, strawberries

I don't want to waste a single thing!!

Crackin' Down

2010-10-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, I gotta get serious now! I need a new car ASAP, unfortunately ASAP is...a long ways away. I need to save every last penny I can in order to afford something decent and pay off these loans.

I suspended my Netflix account and yes I miss it, but I think I'm good to cancel it for good. (Savings: $10)

Food- I was to eat through my pantry and freezer. There's a bunch of food in my kitchen- I just need to kind of take inventory of everything in my freezer and pantry.
Along, with this- no wasting food! I cleaned out my fridge yesterday for the first time in a very long time and was shocked by what I found in the back of there. It was gross, but it also added up to a lot of money in just waste. I know better than that! Gotta keep my eye on this and not let it happen again.

My gym membership is up at the end of this year and I can cancel that. I am kind of nervous for this because I am training for the marathon and like having a treadmill, but I can always run on the trails outside, the college track and the Rec center for free. (Saving: $30)

No clothes. I DO NOT need new clothes. In my head, I know this is true. But I like to shop. It's fun. I need to do other things that fill my free times that are still fun. (puzzles, baths...)

I did make my own laundry detergent. I don't know how much that saves me though.

I also want to get back to walking to work. I used to walk to work, but I HATE waking up early to do so. If I do walk, not only will it be better for my health, I can save that in gas. It may be little but it can add up.

Lower my energy bill. I've always kept my A/C at a high temp, but now that the days are cooler, I've turned it off completely. However, I left a lamp on all day while I was at work! NOT good. I've left my fridge a jar, my kitchen light is almost always on. I need to do better. Turn EVERYTHING off! I've even unplugged all the appliances I don't use very often (i.e TV). On average, my bill is $75. Last month, it was $70 so that's better. I want it down to $65 next month.

I just gotta evaluate every purchase I make and really think, do I need this item more than I need a new car?

Meal Planning

2010-10-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Dang it! I had whole plan but something happened to it didn't get saved! Now I'm trying to remember what it was...

Monday: cereal
   soup
   ravioli

Tuesday: waffles
   salad
   quesadilla

Wednesday: granola bar
   sandwich
   foil dinner

Thursday: toast w/ peanut butter
   lean cuisine
   stir fry

Friday: trail mix bar
   salad, strawberries
   ravioli and zucchini

Saturday: yogurt
   burrito, mango
   stuffed mushrooms

Sunday: toast
   chili, peach
   leftovers

Meal Plan:

2010-10-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

Alrighty. I did it backwards this week, and it's already biting me in the bum. I went shopping first, and then sat down to make meal ideas out of what I got. Rookie mistake.

Monday: waffles
   fruity tortilla wrap
   soup
Tuesday: cereal
   salad
   Lean cuisine
Wednesday: smoothie
   soup
   chips & salsa
Thursday: Lara bar- carrot cake!
   burrito
   mac n cheese
Friday: Fruit and yogurt parfait
   quesadilla
     Lean cuisine
Saturday: granola bar.
   Lean cuisine
   soup

Snacks: popchips, applesauce, fruit, yogurt, celery & pb (or apples)

P.S. I really gotta take inventory of what's in my freezer! Hopefully I get to that sometime this week.

Step 1: Meal Planning

2010-09-26T01:18:00.000-07:00

Do I need to preach on the importance of meal planning? I didn't think so.

Sunday: granola bar
   soup & plum
   hamburgers (I really pushed the limit on the ground beef in the freezer. I've gotta use it tomorrow, or it's going in my food waste pile...yikes!!)

Monday: eggs
   salad & nectarine
   lean cuisine

Tuesday: yogurt and granola
   stir fry
   chili

Wednesday: granola bar
   kabobs
   SmartOne

Thursday: powerbar
   soup & carrots
   burrito

Friday: cereal
   salad
   roast beef rolls & yogurt

Saturday: fruit
   lunch out w/ the family at Mexican Restaurant!
   dinner? Who knows? Hopefully something light and healthy after that lunch. Haha

time to buckle down.

2010-09-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking lately. Not being as careful as I should be about my money. I've been making all my payments and all that, so I thought I was good. But now I'm really starting to feel it.

My car is busted.

I absolutely HATE my car. I have for a long time and I've been wanting to get a new one. But now it's really on it's last limb and I have NO money to replace it. None. Nada.

Now I'm really wishing I had been saving more and spending less.
So I'm going to get back on track

Back to meal planning, food waste etc...

I've already put my netflix account on hold. Course that only saves me $10. But hey, that's $10!

Meal Planning

2010-07-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

I got my bountiful basket on Saturday and I can't wait to eat all those yummy fruits and veggies. I also have absolutely no money left in my grocery account so I have to be super diligent about my meals this week. So I've decided to plan my breakfasts too. Why? Because it's so important and yet I hate eating it, so I don't. Well this might save me money, but it's unhealthy. I also hate waking up early enough to eat breakfast, so I eat it at work. At my job, it's tough to eat at work though. We're constantly talking and typing, so breakfast has to be cold and portable, hopefully bite sized. These factors make breakfast even more of a challenge...

(Today was pretty weird because it was Russ's birthday and we went kayaking! Luckily, I did pack a picnic of peanut butter and honey sandwiches, peaches. Yum. It was a great day.)

Tues: pancakes and jam
   tuna sandwich, plouts, carrots
   bbq chicken, corn,
Wed: grapes and a granola bar
   Salad, peaches
   foil dinner
Thurs: Almonds and banana
   hawaiian ham sandwich, grapes, yogurt
   broc-potato soup
Fri: peaches and ...
   chicken fettuccine, pineapple
     ravioli, green salad
Saturday: banana yogurt parfait
     leftovers,
     chicken potato broc bake, corn
Sunday: granola bar and whatever fruit is left
     pb and honey, banana
   I'll prob have dinner w/ my parents

Lunch for tomorrow

2010-07-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

I could probably eat for a dollar a day if I ate nothing but junk. I really think I could. It seems the healthier I want to eat, the more expensive it is. It's a balancing act, I guess. What really helps is meal planning. No one can say it enough. Here is my lunch for tomorrow. I have a tuna sandwich on arnold thins I got on sale. Some cucumber slices and carrots, some cheddar cheese and a plout. I honestly can't say how much this cost me because well I don't know how I'd figure out how the plout and cucumber cost me since I got it with the whole bountiful basket package. I bought the tuna so long ago I don't know what I paid. The bread was 2.50 for 8 'buns' so thats...$0.32. The cheese- I can't remember probably 0.33. The carrots came in a huge package of like 3lbs. I just don't know how to do that math. Anyway, I can tell you it's cheper than eating out and it's way healthier for me. I'm kind of excited to use this container too. My sis gave it to me a long time ago and it's been sitting in my cupboard. I've been reading all about these bento boxes and such. I saw this today and decided to pull it out. It kinda does help see the components: the main sandwich, the veg and the fruit, and keep it balanced. I'm pretty excited.

The rest of the week's meal plan is coming soon...

Bountiful Basket Pickup Day! Day 2

2010-07-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

I am really digging this bountiful baskets deal. Today was pick up day- bright and early at 7:00! I raced over there this morning and back to be at work at 8:00. It's so worth it.
In case you've never heard of them before- it's $15.00 for a regular order, $25 for all organic and then you can get extras like blueberries and bread. I just stick with the basic basket and then it's $1.50 for tax. It comes in 2 laundry baskets 1 full of veggies and 1 full of fruit.
So for a total of $16.50 I got all of this.

Here we have:
3 english cucumbers
1 bunch (I think of 6 or 7) bananas
1 head of romaine
5 lbs yukon potatoes
7 ears of corn
1 mini watermelon
1 pineapple
1 bunch of red grapes
1 head of broccoflower
6 peaches
3 tomatoes
9 plouts

I definately think it's worth $16.00. In the weekly ad at my favorite market, mini watermelons are 2.50, pineapple is 0.78/lb, grapes are 1.98/lb, and peaches are 1.18/lb. If I bought this there, it would add approx $11.00!
Now, I don't buy cucumbers or lettuce for more than $1 ea so that's another $4. Or ears of corn for more than 0.25/ea. Add that to the total above and I'm already at $16.50!

That doesn't include the potatoes, broccoflower, plouts or tomatoes!
Even if they were a dollar each, that'd make my total over $20.

Plus Bountiful Baskets are kinda fun because you never know what you're going to get. I've heard of broccoflower and plouts before but I've never had them before. I tried a plout and they're quite yummy. I probably never would have bought them otherwise! I'm pretty excited to try them!

NOT a frugal week for me!!

2010-07-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

I've spent quite a lot of money this week!
1. It's R's birthday next week and we're going kayaking (i'm super exciting) but it was $65 just for the kayak rentals. Luckily it was cheaper than I thought and I had a coupon
2. I got new glasses. This I knew would not be cheap because I already got my contacts a few months ago and so insurance wouldn't cover a single penny. But luckily I did have my Flex Benefits card. BUT they came to just under $300! Technically, I didn't pay anything for them (and getting new glasses was a big reason I got the card) but if something happens to me health wise, I cannot rely on this money for deductibles of anything anymore.
3. I got a new phone. I've had this old phone for a while now and I finally went to get one today. I wanted a nice new one and these are not cheap! I paid about $100 for my new phone. (if it helps, I do love it)
4. I had to get my car re-registered this past week. That was about $120

HEAVENS!!! I REALLY need to buckle down and stay within my budget!! I think that I have so much disposable income and that is just very not true. Sometimes it gets so overwhelming!

This week's plan

2010-07-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

I still quite haven't figured out my schedule yet, and now it's changing! Isn't that how life works? This is my last week at 2-10 and then starting Saturday, I go to 8-4. I absolutely cannot believe how fast these past few weeks have gone by. But there are going to be some pluses with this change, which makes me excited, but I haven't had a full time job working 8-4 in quite some time! I don't know how people do it. How do you get all of your errands done?
And for some reason I'm having a tough time thinking of meals for this week. Here goes:
Monday: big salad
   herb chicken and mashed potatoes
Tuesday: bean tacos
   bbq chicken
Wednesday: soup
   breakfast for dinner
Thursday: chili
   pita pizzas
Friday: honey mustard chicken
   dinner with my parents
Saturday: loaded baked potato
   hawaiian ham sandiwch

Yeah, these meals will probably change only because I really couldn't think of anything better, and if I do...well then that's what I'll eat.

Meal Planning...

2010-07-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I went to my parents to celebrate the holiday and we BBQed some ribs- well, my dad did and they were delicious! But they made a ton, so I came home with leftovers. Plus, they made some of my dad's famous taco burritos earlier and made extra for me! Love them! So that, plus all of my produce from bountiful baskets, is what I'm going to be eating this week!

Monday: soup and salad
Tuesday: tuna sandwich, yogurt, apple
   taco burritos
Wednesday: big salad
   ribs, corn, beans
Thursday: chips and salsa, fruit salad
   chicken and roasted Brussels sprouts
Friday: Roast beef sandwich
   ravioli and broccoli

Bountiful Basket Pickup Day!

2010-07-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

My sis in law told me about this co-op called Bountiful Baskets, so I decided to try it. It was $15.00 plus a handling fee for fresh produce. This morning I went to a local elementary school parking lot where it was all set up. You have to bring you're own bags (or baskets, or boxes...) and for every order they had 1 basket of veggies and 1 basket of fruit. Here's what I got:

In this picture:

1 small watermelon

1 stalk of celery

1 bunch of bananas (I gave 2 to my mom, and 1 found left in the bag)

some Brussels sprouts

2 things of broccoli

3lb bag green apples

4 ears of corn

some nectarines

1 head lettuce

3 tomatoes

1 pinapple

AND I gave my parents:

1 cantelope (because I don't like them)

3 ears of corn (because 7 ears for 1 person is too much!)

1 stalk of celery (because, again, 2 stalks is a lot and my mom loves celery)

2 bananas because they wanted them. haha.

All in all I was pretty impressed with the whole thing. It was really a lot of produce and well worth the cost I think. You don't know what you're going to get until you show up. Sometimes you get crazy things- last week my sis in law got a lot of bok choy. I'm not sure what she did with it all. And I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Brussels sprouts but I'm kind of excited about it all.

Meal Planning

2010-06-20T23:48:00.000-07:00

I did pretty well this week concerning lunches and dinners. I ate at home a lot (or brought food from home to work) there was one day at lunch where we all went out so I went with them and ate the lunch I brought the next day. I really do need to keep a better track of my grocery budget though! I think that's my biggest weakness. Hopefully, I don't spend a lot on groceries this week. There's not a lot I need, really.
Here's my plan:

Monday: pb and honey sandwich, yogurt w/ berries, crackers,
   marinated chicken and grilled veggies
   these veggies were so yummy! I made them once before but it had been quite some time. tonight I made them w/ zucchini, yellow squash, leftover mushrooms, red onion and yellow pepper. Delish!
Tuesday: I'm thinking soup, but I like to eat at the park across the st. from my work so don't know how that'll work. hmmm
   loaded tortillas (I'll prob omit the bacon)
Wednesday: Big salad, grapes
   chicken/ veg kabobs with Asian dip sauce
Thursday: Roast beef sandwich
   I'm probably going out to dinner w/ friends that night
Friday: sub sandwiches

The rest of the weekend I'll be in Vegas with my sis!! Can't wait for a mini vacation. I need one!!!

Meal Planning Monday

2010-06-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Today is the start of my new schedule. M-Th 2-10. Then on Fri 4-12 for the next three weeks. Then the next 3 weeks, Fri 8-4. So, I'm not entirely sure how I want to do my meals. My schedule is kinda inconvenient, really. The thing is, do I want to eat lunch before work, eat dinner at work, and then come home and go straight to bed? Or do I want to wake up later (I always want to wake up late!) eat lunch at work, dinner when I get home and stay up later. I'm not sure yet. This is going to have to be a bit of a learning time.
But whenever I eat them, here are my lunch and dinner plans this week.
Monday: roast beef sandwich, cherries
   stir fry
Tuesday: Big salad (I might take my parents out to lunch, in which case I'll move this to Friday)
   Quesadillas
Wednesday: soup
   mac n cheese
Thursday: chips and salsa
   grilled chicken and veggies
Friday: leftovers
   Chicken marsala
Saturday: chili
   breakfast for dinner

Food Waste

2010-06-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

I really need to get into the habit of doing food waste posts again.
My excuse this week is getting settled in my new home.

I wasted almost a whole head of romaine lettuce.
It seems to be lettuce week. Mom's plans and the Frugal Girl both wasted lettuce. I went to make taco salad for lunch and pulled out the lettuce went I saw how it was all brown and wrinkled. I tore off the parts in the middle that were still passable but unfortunately the rest goes in the trash.

Good leftover week!

2010-06-11T23:58:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a foil dinner? I love them. My dad, who's a huge boyscouter, traditionally makes them on camping trips but every now and then he would make them for us at home. And like I said, I love them. They're super easy and super versatile. My favorite combo is:
potatoes
carrots
yellow pepper (any color will do of course)
Red onion (or white or sweet too)
mushrooms (brown, white, portabello)
and protein cut up into chunks, ground beef, stew meat, chicken. (I used 1/2 lb ground beef)
Add a few pats of butter, lots of (my fav!) worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic and onion salt. Wrap in heavy duty aluminum foil and wrap VERY tightly. Make sure there is No leaks. Cook in 400 deg oven for about 50 min. TIP: make sure you cut your potatoes and carrots pretty small, because they take a while to cook and if you cut them the same size as your meat, either the potatoes are under done or the meat is too done. So I've found that small potatoes and carrots and bigger chunks of meat work best.
Plus, once you open up the foil packet, you can't really cook it anymore.

Now, I used about 1/4 the pepper, 1/4 onion and 1/4 package of mushrooms. What to do with the leftovers?
Tonight I made fajitas.
On the Foreman grill I grilled some chicken strips, and the pepper/onion/ mushrooms. I sprinkled taco seasoning over everything and let them cook. Add the mix to warm tortillas and sprinkle with cheese. YUM. Same veggies, very different flavors.
And tomorrow: Stir fry!
I'll toss everything in the pan with some ginger and soy sauce and serve over rice.

And the next day: Taco salad!
With the rest of the 1/2 lb ground beef, I cooked it up already with some chopped red onion and taco seasoning. I'll heat that up and top it with salsa, lettuce, cheese and the rice I precooked for the stir fry. If I'm feeling up for it, I might even bake a tortilla into a taco shell.

I'm just loving how I can reuse everything! And I'm not having to eat the same thing, or even the same flavor day after day. This plan should surely prevent against having too much food waste!

This week's meal plan

2010-06-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a big crazy week! Last week I moved! Got a brand new place all to myself! So now I'm learning to cook for one. Moving, of course, is crazy and stressful and I haven't really cooked here yet. I still don't know how to use my oven. But none of that excuses me from cooking dinner or meal planning.
So this week:

Wednesday: breakfast for dinner.
Thursday: foil dinners
Friday: fajitas
Saturday: spaghetti and salad

Big news!

2010-05-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

I'm planning on moving somewhat soon and I've been trying to figure out all the details. One of those details weighing on my mind is my chest freezer. I LOVE that freezer. I think it was totally worth the investment and I've loved it pretty much every day I've owned it. But here's the thing, it's big and it's packed. I mean there is SOOO much food in there and it's going to be hard to move all of that food. So I really need to start 'cleaning out' my freezer and eating all of that food! The little food in there, the better.
So I'm going to have frozen meals for lunch.
( herb roasted chicken, lasagna, sesame chicken, buffalo chx snacks, pizza...)
Monday: Italian pot roast, corn, tomato wedges, (some kind of carb...not sure yet)
Tuesday: Ravioli, french bread, salad
Wednesday: Teriyaki chicken, rice, frozen asian veg blend
Thursday: Frozen pizza and garden salad
Friday: chicken pot pies
Saturday: Fish fillets, ched broc & potatoes, peas

Other options:
honey garlic pork
chicken marsala

We also need to eat:
The popsicles and frozen fruit bars
ice cream
pancakes,
frozen gogurts

Menu Planning

2010-05-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

Just got back home after a long but very fun weekend with my family! My sister came to town, and whenever she does we all just bunk at my parents house. Even though I live in town, it's fun to stay there so we're all together. On Friday we got to see Brian Regan live and then on Saturday we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday!
So today we're having leftovers

Monday I work late (till 11)
Tuesday: Italian pot roast, mashed potatoes, (we HAVE to eat this, they're going to expire at the end of this week!)
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes, baked beans
Thursday: ravioli lasgana and green salad
Friday: I work till 9:30, but I'll prob still have to make dinner. It'll probably be a pizza or something
Saturday: grilled chicken, rice

I don't think I have a single veg left in the house. So veggies for each dinner depend on what's on sale this week and what I get from the grocery store.

Under $5

2010-05-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

This week I actually have been cooking what I've planned this week. I love when that happens because it is so rare!
I want to cook at home and save money and everything but it's hard for me because 1) I hate my kitchen. It's small and limited and I hate it and I hate being in there. So I don't like to cook in it. 2) I'm too lazy. Honestly, when I've worked a long day and I'm tried, its soooo much easier to go grab food than cook and than clean it all up. So I wuss out.
But Monday and Tuesday, I made dinner and it was what I planned. Yay me!
My goal when I do cook at home is to get the cost of the meal under $5.
Monday I made pasta with salad and zucchini and it came to $4.77!
Last night I made bbq pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, salad and snap peas. It came to right around $5. I can't remember quite what the meat cost, but it was right around $3.
Either way, I'm happy!

Menu Planning

2010-05-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

Now that I have all these groceries, I have quite a menu planned out for this week

Monday: Rotini pasta, salad, garlic bread
Tuesday: Italian pot roast, mashed potatoes, carrots and snap peas dipped in ranch
Wednesday: bbq pork sandwiches, baked beans, salad
Thursday I work late late
Friday Russ and I are going to see Brian Regan! SO much fun!
Saturday my sis comes to town and we're celebrating my dad's birthday. Then we're probably going out with friends.

Grocery Shopping Day

2010-05-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to the grocery store.
Here's what we got:
Gogurt 2.25-1.00Q
FiberOne yogurt 2.00-.55Q
Red Baron Pan pasta 4.98-1.00Q
Pickles 3.00
Bbq sauce 1.68
Red baron 'by the slice' pizza 3.00 -3.00 Rebate
snap peas 2.58
Doritos 2.48 -2.48Q
1 jar banana peppers 1.68
1 bag fruit slice candies 3.88
1 pk crumb donuts 1.00
1 magazine 2.69
Dole Tropical fruit salad 2.32
Hamburger buns 1.12
Walmart brand pop tarts 1.25
2 cans grilling beans 1.48 ea -1.00Q
2 bottles of Vitamin water 1.00 ea -1.00Q
Otter pops (yum! it's that time of year!) 3.56
24 pk bottled water 2.48
2 apples 1.29
grapes 3.14
pear .84
zucchini .77
baby carrots 1.48
1 lb strawberries 1.88
-5.00 Walmart gift card
Total: 46.90 (Before I get the rebate for the red baron pizza)

At Smiths:
1 pkg bagged salad 1.99
1 cup mango chunks 1.69
Rolaids
Gas Relief pills
Water bottle 1.79
Total there was just over $22

Ugh, it's food waste friday.

2010-05-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

I say ugh because I don't even want to tell you how much I've wasted this week.
1 zucchini ($.80)
1 red bell pepper ($1.00)
1/2 bunch cilantro ($.40)
2 cups yogurt ($.50)
2/3 bag of snap peas ($1.72)
1/2 block monterey jack cheese ($4)

that's a total $ waste of $8.42.
Just plain awful

Menu Planning

2010-05-02T13:18:00.000-07:00

Is it menu planning or meal planning? Anyway...

Monday: Bbq ribs, corn on the cob, green salad
Tuesday: Italian pot roast, mashed potatoes, zucchini (this needs to be eaten soon!)
Wednesday: teriyaki chicken, rice, asian veg blend

Thursday: taco salad

Friday & Saturday depend on whether Russ is going out of town or not. He had planned on it, but now his car needs a new transmission! So we'll see how it is running and then he'll determine if he can go on his trip or not.

Menu Planning

2010-04-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

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.

Menu Planning Monday

2010-04-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

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.

I love free stuff!

2010-04-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

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.

Meal plan

2010-04-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

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

Food waste Friday

2010-04-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

...and lunches

2010-04-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

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!

Meal Planning

2010-04-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

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

Food waste Friday

2010-04-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Meal Plan Update

2010-04-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

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!

Meal Plan: Lunches

2010-03-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

So, as you know, I've been working today on planning Russ's lunches. Inspired by my last post, I decided to quickly write up some ideas for the following week for Russ's lunch.

Wednesday: Tuna sandwiches, orange slices, cheese stick. approx total: $1.50
Thursday: Ham sandwiches, strawberries, carrots, fruit roll up $2.86
Friday: Turkey sandwiches, snap peas, yogurt $2.41

Yay, that's like a savings of $18! Hopefully, Russ eats everything and we're able to keep up with this new plan.

Russ's first lunch

2010-03-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

K, I haven't packed a lunch since I packed my own for elementary school and I've never packed a lunch for someone else. I really struggled (am struggling) as to what to pack. My main focus is that it's healthy, secondly filling and thirdly, cheaper than going out. Russ's main focus is that it's not gross.
I packed him two turkey sandwiches (because 1 apparently is not enough!), a peach cup and some cottage cheese, and snap peas. I didn't calculate the calories/ fat or anything, I just wanted to get all the food groups in there.
The cost:
bread .05 x4= .20
The turkey .40
the cheese .30
The lettuce .06
the tomato .18
The peas .85
The cottage cheese .40
the peach cup .50
total: 2.89

Wow! The average Russ spends when he buys lunch is $7.00, so that was my goal, to get it under that number. So that this is under 1/2 that, makes me quite happy.

Grocery Shopping Day

2010-03-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've been at my sister in law's house all weekend but now I'm back and it feels so good to be home! Russ and I decided that he should start taking his lunch to work instead of him buying lunch every day. So I went to the grocery store to buy lunch supplies along with the rest of the things we need for dinners. Luckily we have a ton of stuff in the freezer, so I mainly just needed 'sides.'
I also want to buy more organic produce. The funny thing about being frugal is sometimes I want to get something for as little as possible, even if that sacrifices some of the quality. Yeah chili dog dinners cost like $2.00 but they're not as nutritious as say grilled chicken and veggies. So I went to a local store called Natural Grocers where they have all organic stuff but it's at a very affordable price. If you live in the St. George UT area, check out this store; I love it.

Natural Grocers:

Romaine .89 (At Walmart, the regular romaine was 1.68!)
4 Golden Delicious 2.34
3 Fuji apples 2.03
2 Pears 1.18
Panda licorice (not pictured 'cause I ate it!) .65
Fage Greek yogurt 1.75
Total: 9.11

Albertsons

Claim Jumper meal (I'm going to split this and serve for a quick dinner one day.) 1.88
10 Fruit roll ups .69 ea (expensive but they're so yummy!)
2 navel oranges .87
2 tomatoes 1.43
Total: 11.43

Walmart:

2 boxes of cereal 2.50 ea -1.00Q
1 jar salsa 1.92
2 Dannon 4 pk 1.87 ea -1.00Q
Cottage cheese 1.62
Sliced American cheese 2.63
5 String cheese .25 ea
Turkey Lunch meat 3.00 -.55Q
6 yoplait yogurts .50 ea -.40Q
Philly cream cheese minis 1.46 -1.00Q
Chocolate milk 1.08
Ham lunch meat 2.28 -.60Q
1 box of stuffing 1.00
Peaches fruit cup 1.98
Snap peas 2.58
Pkg salad 2.50
Carrots 1.48
1 can chili 1.50
bread .75
Total: 35.70

Final Total: $56.22

Menu Planning Monday

2010-03-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

This week is going to be somewhat crazy for me. My sister comes to town on Thursday and then I leave for my sister-in-law's on Friday. And of course there's a lot to do before I leave!

Monday (tonight)- Easy dump and go chicken with salad and garlic bread. (*the chicken was only so so. It made a lot so I put some in the freezer. This might be one of those meals we eat because there's nothing else and we're too poor to go out!)
Tuesday- Chicken oreganato, zucchini and seasoned rice
Wednesday- honey garlic pork chops with corn, tomato slices and...probably white rice. Not sure.
Anyway, the rest of the week I'll be gone. Not sure what I'm going to do about meals then! I may have to pack snacks haha.

Food Waste is back

2010-03-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't done food waste in quite some time. Frankly I'd put it off for so many weeks I got too nervous to start back up again and see what was still in the fridge! And I was right to be scared! We wasted a lot of food!
In this picture is:
1 yellow pepper (which I was planning to use for dinner tonight, rrrgh!)
1 orange
4 plums
4 gogurts
1/2 lb polish sausage
1/2 lb bacon
1/4 yellow onion
1/2 full jar of zesty bean and cheese dip (which is really delicious. Don't know how this got wasted!)
In the Tupperware on the right is the leftover salad that's way gross now.
And in the top round Tupperware on the left is leftover mushroom and pepper mix from when we made quesadillas a while a go
and the Tupperware under that is leftover shredded chicken for a way long time ago.
Just gross and a big waste of money. Not good. Not good at all!

Fage coupons!

2010-03-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you've ever had Fage Greek yogurt, but it's delicious! I love it but it's kind of a splurge for me to buy it. It can be expensive but today I stumbled upon a coupon! I've dreamed about such a coupon. Haha, I may be dramatic here but I'm very excited. I do love this yogurt. I did have to download a coupon printer thingy. (Seems like I have to have a new printer thingy for every site!) If you haven't tried this, print out your coupon and do!

Menu Planning

2010-03-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Monday: tortellini with alfredo sauce and a garden salad (meatless!)
Tuesday: Chicken oreganato with snap peas and tomato slices
Wednesday I work late
Thursday: pineapple chicken kabobs with rice.
Friday: Easy dump and go chicken with noodles and whatever veggies need to be eaten.
Saturday I work late.

And I think I've devised a plan as to how to motivate me to follow my meal plan. Defrost meat in advance. If the meats defrosted then if I don't cook it, it'll go to waste and meat is expensive so I really wont want to waste it. You know? So I can take out my chicken drumsticks on Monday so they'll be defrosted on Tuesday and I'll also take out my chicken breasts of the kabobs as they need to defrost so I can cube them and then they need to marinate. So on Wednesday they'll be ready and I won't be able to put it off and give myself an excuse not to cook. A big part of my problem (besides my awful kitchen) is that it will take So Long. When I think that I'll have to defrost chicken, prepare something and then cook it for like an hour...I get exhausted just thinking about it. So if at least one step is done, maybe I'll be more inclined.
It went pretty well last week. I made 4 of my planned dishes- bbq chicken sandwiches, teriyaki burgers, steak salad and chicken and stuffing. I think that's a record for me!

I won!

2010-03-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

I won Budget Confessions Almost Meatless giveaway! I'm super excited! Check out her blog for her own meatless recipes!

Dinner tonight

2010-03-11T22:11:00.000-08:00

Once again I am reminded of how much I just love my slow cooker! Today before I went to work, I put some chicken in the slow cooker covered in bbq sauce and tonight, dinner was practically done! It's SO nice to some home to done (or almost) dinner! So when I got home, I just had to shred the chicken and the bbq chicken sandwiches were ready. Then I just heated up some baked beans and cut up some carrots and dinner was done and done! I'm not really into doing the math right now, but I'm pretty sure this dinner came to less than 2.00.

Dinner and frugality.

2010-03-10T17:45:00.000-08:00

(So none of my pictures will upload. Don't know why. I'll probably try again later)
So I think I've stumbled on a plan. On Tuesday I took out my ground beef to defrost for dinner that night and I had the idea to take the steak out too, for Wednesday's dinner. So I made teriyaki burgers on Tuesday which cost me about oh... $2.50. And then with the juice I made a marinade for the steak and let that marinade overnight, so tonight they were ready to be grilled. And because I had already defrosted the meat and had already let it marinade, I just had to make dinner. I couldn't tell myself any excuses. I had to execute this plan. So I grilled my steaks kinda early, so they could rest and cool, then be sliced up and put in my salad.

And then Russ called. He wanted us to go hang out with a friend for a while tonight. K, perfect, we'll eat right after and the steaks will already by grilled so we'll have to eat them! So while I waited for the steaks to cook, I already chopped my veggies so when we do get home later tonight everything will be ready, well almost ready.

So in here, I've got sugar snap peas, mushrooms, radishes, carrots, and cucumbers.
I didn't chop up the tomatoes, because I didn't want them to get gross sitting in the fridge for a couple hours. And I chopped the onion, but didn't want to add them to the rest of the veggies because I didn't want all the other veggies to smell and taste like onion.
And I didn't slice the steak because I didn't want it to lose all it's yummy juices. But those are quick fixes and then dinner will be quick and easy tonight. And it should cost about... maybe $6. The steak was more expensive than I'd like but I bought it a while ago, when I'm still (and I'm constantly) learning.

Oh, and another frugal thought. I used 2 pineapple rings on the burgers last night, used the juices in the marinde and ate the remaining 6ish rings today for lunch. I've never eaten rings alone like that, but why not? It's still pineapple and it didn't get wasted. yay.

PS. So we're back and we ate. Here's the finished product.

It's kinda pretty. I cooked the steaks too long tho. Too bad. I'm still kinda proud.

I went shopping today.

2010-03-10T17:40:00.000-08:00

Last night I couldn't fall asleep so I daydreamed (you know what I mean) about all these delicious vegetables I should add to my salad for tonights dinner. So this afternoon, I couldn't help go to the store to pick up said veggies. I bought a smidge more than I planned.

Before I left, I looked in my freezer (which is slowly and slowly depleting in inventory!) and saw that I didn't have any frozen meals for lunches at work. I try not to eat them, but when I'm late for work they're pretty handy to grab and go for lunch. So I bought some. And then I might as well get what I needed for dinners next week. I'm already planning ravioli in Alfredo sauce and so I picked up that. Actually, I bought tortellini because it was cheaper. Then I wanted garlic bread to go with it. Then I wanted a pkg of frozen rice because so often I want to make rice but chicken out because of the time and the skill (I'm really bad at cooking rice. Don't know how I screw up so much!) so I thought I'd give this a try since it was only $1. Then I got my veggies: a carrot, snap peas and some button mushrooms.
The half the carrot will go into tonights salad and half I'll chop up for veggie sticks in another dinner. and 1/2 the mushooms will go to veggie kabobs later in the week too (which should also use up the red onion and yellow pepper in the fridge) and the snap peas, Russ will eat later.
Oh, also I really wanted some pop tarts. I know they are so not good for me, but when you have a craving... you know.
My total came to $19.60

by the way, I bough the Healthy Choice Lobster Ravioli meal and it was gross. gross gross gross! Don't even bother.

Meal Planning Monday

2010-03-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

I'm so not in the mood to do this so here's just a quick idea.

Monday we had potstickers and finished off the bag from the freezer.
Tuesday: burgers and chips
Wednesday: asian steak salad
Thursday: bbq chicken sandwiches and baked beans
Friday: chicken and stuffing
Saturday: stuffed chicken breasts and garden salad

Meal Plan Update

2010-03-05T23:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, so as you know, this week I didn't do the standard meal plan. Instead I listed out a bunch of meal 'ideas' that we could choose from. Well, I'm not sure how it worked. I still had that 'what in the world do I want to eat tonight?!' feeling. I really do hate food, you know. I do. I wish I never had to eat again!!
When I do make a meal plan, I'm not super strict about following it out, that's why I thought this new plan would work. Not so much. We did eat at home every night this week....except tonight. I just did not want to! So we went to del taco. I know I know. Plus it turned out to be super expensive! $16! For del taco! I wasn't too happy.
I'm gonna have to keep trying the meal plan thing and figure out what works for me!

Constantly learning!

2010-03-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

I'd like to think I know more than the average person about being frugal. I mean, being a checker I see about 500 people a day (not an exaggeration) and I see how they spend their money. And let me tell you, I sometimes see someone impress me with their frugality and "finagling" but WAY MORE often I see people buy things and think to myself, really? You sure you want to pay that for that?! Anyway, I know a lot, but I am still learning. I read some of Amy Dacyczyn's Tightwad Gazette, (I browse through this, not quite up to her level!) and she explained that yeah a box of cereal might be cheaper than this other brand of cereal, but is it cheaper than eggs for breakfast? That never donned on me! Why go with the cheaper of the more expensive? Does that make sense?
Anyway, so Capri Suns were on sale at work. I like capri suns, they bring me back to childhood and they're good. Plus they're portion controlled which with something sugary like that is a big bonus. So a box was on sale for $1.25, which is a pretty good deal considering they're normally $2.40. But are they cheaper per oz than a big bottle of juice than I can pour out 6 oz for myself? So I did a little recon and yes, actually per oz they are cheaper than any other kind of juice. And ok, they're not cheaper than water outta the tap, but that gets old! I've recently given up my 3 can a day diet coke habit (not cheap and not healthy!) so I've been relying on water for my HUGE thirst. So, I bought 4 boxes of Capri suns.
They're cheaper than any other juice, they're cheaper than bottled water, they're cheaper than soda and energy drinks.

Dinner tonight

2010-03-01T21:13:00.000-08:00

I made dinner tonight and while I didn't love it, Russ sure liked it which is nice. I just made a Jennie-O turkey loaf because I got a mail in rebate so it was free! -sales tax and the stamp it took to mail in the rebate haha.
I served it with corn and a salad.
The corn was .60
The salad was um.... 0.50 maybe. the lettuce was .16 the tomato was .10. The cucumber was .50 but i used like maybe a 6th, that's .08. That's 0.34 and then the cost of dressing I don't even know how much that costs.
So total that $1.10.
None too shabby.
Plus there's leftovers. While there might be leftovers. Russ is thinking about finishing it off. If he doesn't I'll have it for lunch tomorrow with the rest of the tomato and cucumber that needs to be used up.

I made smoothies!

2010-03-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to make and freeze smoothies for a while now. 1 reason is because I have a HUGE bag of frozen berries I got at costco a long time ago and am still trying to find uses for all of it so I thought this would be a good use for a big chunk of them. The second reason is breakfast is a big struggle for me. I grew up not eating breakfast. I just didn't do it! And now that I'm realizing how important breakfast is, I am trying to eat better, but it's still so hard for me. I have a lot of 'digestive issues' so there's a lot of things I can't eat in the morning, plus
I'm a picky eater, plus I'm not in the tiniest littlest bit a morning person, so I'd way rather sleep in an extra 15 minutes than get out and eat. hands down.So breakfasts are hard for me.
So I've been wanting to make these for a while, and the other day I accidentally bought a pk of vanilla yogurt which I can't stand on it's own, so I thought to myself, Perfect for smoothies! I made smoothies today. I didn't really have a recipe, I just kind of threw things in the blender. I used:
4 cups of berries (i haven't the faintest clue how much it cost because I bought this so long ago, I can't remember what I paid for it!)
4 cups of yogurt 1.00
honey FREE (this was a christmas gift from Russ's mother. Yup for christmas she gave us food storage!)
Bananas .70
pinapple 1.00 I just used a little less than 1/2. I'll eat the rest tomorrow for lunch, so I'll say .50
Total: $2.20 + price of berries...
This made 4 smoothies plus 4 Popsicles.
That is definitely not too shabby!

ok, I officially have swagbucks

2010-02-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

I've heard about swagbucks for a while now, but resisted signing up mainly because I didn't know what in the heck it was! But I signed up today. What can it hurt, right? Plus! I ran over to Restaurant.com before the discount code: SAVOR ran out. I've never used this site before either, only because they've never had a restaurant I've been willing to go to before. Today they only had 2 options for where I live but they had a Japanese restaurant they sounded pretty good so I got a $25 gift certificate for only $2! Now, we have to buy $35 worth of food to use this coupon, plus tip, so we'll spend about $15 but that's still a pretty good discount. Plus at a Japanese restaurant, I'm pretty sure we'll meet the $35 threshold. It should be fun and I'm excited!

No Meal Plan

2010-02-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

I'm going to do something that I know is dangerous and I'm sure some of you are thinking I've gone crazy but I promise I'm still frugal.
I'm not writing a meal plan this week for 2 reasons.
1) I'm not very good at abiding by it anyway and
2) There are SO many meal options here at the house that I can choose from I don't really 'need' to plan. I work late both Wednesday and Thursday so I don't have to cook those days and for the rest of the week, if I do get off my bum and make dinner I can easily cook up:
-sausage and beans
-stuffed peppers
-pizza
-fish fillets
- stuffed chicken breasts
-bbq chicken
-soup and grilled cheese
-orange chicken
whatever we're in the mood for. I have tons of veggies in the fridge and the freezer, and I have grain options like bread, pasta and rice in the pantry.
Tonight I didn't even make dinner! Russ and I had a very lazy morning and then went to lunch at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. Well, it was a late lunch and we weren't even a little hungry come dinnertime. Only...now we're starting to get a it peckish. hmmm....

random thoughts

2010-02-26T19:59:00.000-08:00

So as far as dinner tonight, well... I was supposed to be at work at noon today so I was going to throw chicken in the crock pot. So I set my alarm for 10:30 this morning and well, I work up at 11:30! So I had to rush off to work and didn't get the food ready. So Russ ate his leftovers from lunch and I got some soup and salad from work that were FREE because I won $10 at work, so I bought dinner for me and some chicken that was on sale, 3 lbs for $5.00. And on this topic, I realized something. My receipt says I saved 5.00 because the chicken is normally sold at $9.99. But I would NEVER pay that! So I didn't save $5.00! Normally I would by chicken for 1.88/lb. I really only saved like $0.64. Not quite as impressive but it's more realistic. Anyway, I got it for free, so I'm happy.

What we ate for dinner today

2010-02-23T20:22:00.000-08:00

Today was a weird day. On the menu was bbq chicken sandwiches but I didn't have the buns or the bbq sauce and since I didn't make the red beans and rice yesterday I thought I'd make that.
But I didn't.
Instead I made orange chicken. much easier. Russ just ate a big ol' plateful but I made sure he got some corn and I had some with top ramen and cucumbers.
I'm not quite sure how much the orange chicken cost. The chicken was just popcorn chicken we got at Costco. The bag was about $7 and if we used 1/7 of the bag which sounds pretty close really, it would be 1.00
And the sauce, we got at costco a long time ago and have been slowly using it up. I think it was 3.50 but we've used it at least 10 times and it's not even 1/2 empty so...i dunno what that equals.
The corn was .40
The cucumber was .50 and I ate about 1/4 of it which is I dunno less than .15
(I'm not in the mood to do math here. Can you tell?)
The top ramen was .15
That's cheap I don't care what you say. If we went to Panda Express it would easily be over $10. The dinner was cheap and easy. Not quite sure how healthy but we got some veggies in there.

Meal Plan and Meal Plan Update

2010-02-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

K well, I forgot to put the chicken in the crockpot this morning so I didn't make what I'd planned. Instead we got some fried chicken (I know, so bad, but I had a craving!) and it only cost about $10. Not the best but not the worst really. Plus it was a ton of food and it was yummy!
Wednesday I didn't make texas rice skillet, but I did make dinner, I made Potatoes and Sausage, which used up more of stuff from the freezer, as is my goal. And I worked late on thursday so I didn't have to worry about that. Then last night I made my spaghetti as planned and felt very proud of myself.
It's a progress.
Next week:

Sunday: chili and chips
Monday: Sausage and red beans and rice
Tuesday: Italian chx in the crockpot and salad.
Wednesday: 'unstuffed' peppers
Thursday: Teriyaki chx - I think this is my last try!
Friday: Stuffed chx breasts
Saturday: Honey dump chicken

Not entirely sure what sides I'm going to pair with what. It will kind of depend on what needs to be eaten.

I actually followed my plan!

2010-02-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

I made spaghetti tonight! I asked Russ what he wanted for dinner and he told me to just make a decision and stick to it. So I said, okay. and I stuck with my first decision. yay me. While cooking, I started to worry that it was turning out to be expensive. But I was wrong.
The spaghetti:
ground beef was 1.95
spaghetti sauce was .79
pasta (I didn't have spag noodles so I just used bow tie which I bought for a dollar and this was the second meal I've used them for. I used about 1/4 the bag the first time and 3/4 the bag this time) .75

The zucchini was .33
The garlic bread was 2.20 for 8 slices and I used 4 so that's 1.10
Total: $4.92
Just under my goal of $5.00! Plus, there's a ton on leftovers. easily lunch tomorrow and Sunday.
Plus Plus, Olive Garden's Spaghetti cost $9.95. And that's just for one, not counting drinks Russ and I would order if we went there. Score.

So my meal plan is really a template

2010-02-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

I write a meal plan (almost) every week, but I never actually follow it. I mean sometimes I make what I planned to on the right day, but really this is more of a coincidence. I do try but things get in the way, you know, and I give up on cooking pretty fast. I'm working on it.
Anyway, today I planned to make texas rice skillet but I didn't. I made sausage and potatoes. Not sure where I found this recipe, but I had potatoes O'Brien in the freezer since forever! and they needed to be used up, so I googled a recipe that used them and that's what I made. It's a simple recipe.
I got 1/2 lb of smoked sausage (froze the rest) and browned it in a skillet. Then I took 1/2 bag of potatoes O'Brien that I defrosted in the microwave for 5 min and threw it in the skillet with a little bit of olive oil and cooked till crunchy. I topped it all with cheddar cheese.
I served this with a garden salad because my lettuce was on the way out. I had to use it up quick and the corn can wait.
The salad cost about .50 cents.
The sausage was 3.00 used 1/2 so that 1.50
The cheese I bought for 1.00 and I used less than 1/2 so that's...about .40
The potatoes I have no clue. I'm thinking they were 3.00 so that would be 1.50
If my memory and math are correct, that's $3.90.
Not too bad.

Now that my focus is on the freezer, I'm realizing I don't remember what I paid for something I bought 4 months ago. Not really sure why I thought I would!
Now I've started labeling things. I always put what the item is and the date, but now I've been writing what I paid for it. Like today I froze the rest of the sausage. I labeled it:
Smoked Sausage
2-17-10
$1.50
So when I pull this out in a few months I won't have to guess. I'll be able to add that in to the cost of the meal.

Meal Planning

2010-02-16T15:10:00.000-08:00

Oy! I feel like I've been hit by a train. in a good way. is there a good way?
On Friday my sister and her best friend came to town and we all stayed over at my parents house all weekend and went to Parade of Homes which was a blast!
During this whole time, Russ was in Vegas visiting his bro, sis in law and little nephew. So since my sis was driving right through there anyway, I had her drop me off at their house, so I got to visit with them too. We went to dinner and bowling and had so much fun, but Russ and I didn't even get on the road till about 10, so we didn't even make it home till 1 and by then we were SOOO tired and exhausted and I had to work at 7 am this morning and Russ at 8. So I'm still feeling that exhaustion!
With all that said, I'm not quite sure what to do about dinner tonight. I'm not feeling up to cooking (and cleaning) but on the other hand I don't want to spend any more money and a home cooked meal would be really nice after a weekend of fast meals.
I'll figure something out. but for the rest of the week:

Wednesday: Texas rice skillet and corn
Thursday: I'm at work all night
Friday: spaghetti, zucchini, garlic bread
Saturday: Teriyaki chx, rice, asain medley. (Yup, still haven't made this yet!)

update

2010-02-07T22:42:00.000-08:00

So I realized I don't have all the ingredients for tomorrow nights dinner so I'm changing it.
I have SO much food in the freezer I'm going to use some of that.
Monday: Spaghetti with garlic bread from freezer and veggie mix from freezer
Tuesday: Frozen pizza and garden salad (still)
Wednesday: fish fillets, tater tots, corn (all from freezer!)
Thursday: Teriyaki chx from freezer, rice, and Asian veg mix from freezer
Friday and Saturday- at my parents house

Hopefully I stick to this and it clears up more space in the freezer.
Plus for lunch I'll have
pot stickers
popcorn chicken
and 2 frozen meals like the healthy choice meals
Should be good to go!

Meal Planning

2010-02-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

K, this week is going to be one crazy week. But at least I have a warning (unlike this past week).

Sunday: We're going to my parents house for Superbowl Sunday
Monday: Sweet chili popcorn chx (not quite sure what to pair this with yet)
Tuesday: Frozen pizza and garden salad
Wednesday: sausage and fried potatoes with corn
Thursday: Teriyaki chx and rice (how many times has this been on our menu? I still haven't made it)
Friday: At parents till the rest of the weekend

Meal Plan Update

2010-02-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

This week did not go AT ALL like I planned. I had to go to the dr on Tuesday and have an procedure that pretty much wiped me out for the rest of the week. They said it wouldn't hurt. They LIED! I've been pretty much bed ridden all week and did not want to cook anything. So I didn't.
I can't quite remember Tuesday night, let alone what we ate.
Wednesday Russ made the orange chicken! What a good guy.
Thursday- Russ went to a friends and another friend brought me ravioli.
Friday- I worked late (yep in pain)
Saturday- We went to Red Lobster. I know, I know we should have eaten at home (would've saved a lot of $) but I still just couldn't bring myself to. We did have a coupon tho)

Next week should be better. It'll be a crazy week but at least I know it'll be crazy.
Plus Russ and I stopped by the grocery store.
Red Baron Pizzas were on sale for 2.50 each and Dryers for 2.50. I had a 1.00Q for 2 pizzas and a 1.00Q for 1 pint of ice cream. Pretty good deals. Pizzas make quick (maybe not super healthy but...) dinners or easy lunches when Russ and I are both home, like this afternoon.

Freezer Inventory

2010-02-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

One of the things on the forefront of my mind lately is the freezer. It's stuffed so I've been wanting to use up the stuff in it. It seems like more goes in than comes out and actually gets eaten. I spend all this energy trying to save and get good deals, but what am I saving if all I do is buy more stuff?

So in order to use up my stuff I have to know what's in there. Here's the list.
~~1 basically full almost empty bag of popcorn chicken [chx] (like costco sized bag)~~
1 1/2 full bag of pot stickers.
2 Full bags of fish fillets (like 10 fillets in each bag)
1 full bag of Green Giant [GG] peas
1 Pepperoni and Peppers pizza
1 box GG corn in butter sauce
1 box GG Immunity blend
1 box GG Cauliflower in cheese sauce (I bought this before I found out I shouldn't eat cauliflower-not sure if I should just toss it now or what)
2 1 lone Creamie
1 nearly full box Skinny Cow fudge bars
about [~] 6 Homemade Poptarts
Toaster Strudels- like 4 boxes
Ground beef ~ 5 4 1lb packages
~4 gogurts
~ 10 2 of Russ's breakfast sandwiches (these will go fast!)
SmartOnes Swedish meatballs
~~Michelinas Buffalo chx snacks~~
Marie Calendars Honey chx
Teriyaki Chx ready meal
pkg of 2 tilapia fillets
1 full bag tilapia fillets
Honey Ginger pork ready meal
Chx and rice pilaf ready meal
1/2 full bag (and i mean HUGE bag) of mixed berries
almost empty bag of chx nuggets
1/2 full bag tater tots
Lean Cuisine [LC] Cheddar broccoli and potatoes
LC lasagna
LC Chx fettucine
Michelinas Shrimp egg rolls
NY box of Garlic bread -4 slices
burritos -1/2 empty bag
Italian Pot Roast
Asian Veg blend
Yogurt smoothie mix
watergate salad mix
Kraft Mozzarella pkg
Kraft Mexi blend cheese
Kraft cheddar
Healthy Choice Bacon and Cheese chx
Healthy Choice Beef tips
Smart Ones 3 cheese ziti
LC sesame chx
~~LC thai chx~~
LC Roasted Chx w/ lemon pepper fettucine
Garlic bread (that I made and apparently forgot about since I bought more!) 4 small slices
French bread pizza
Chx breasts 1 pkg of 2
1 pkg Hot dogs
taquitos ~6 left
~~1 200 cal digionro pizza~~
Taco skillet ready meal
Pancakes 1/2 full box
chimichangas full bag
Eye of Round steak 1 pkg of 2
Italian sausage -1 lb
Enchilada casserole
Potatoes o'brien
Morningstar pkg full
2 Red baron pizzas
Dryers Ice cream pint
2 stuffed chicken breasts

THAT'S A LOT OF FOOD!
That's about 28 breakfasts
23 lunches
14 meals straight from the freezer
plus about 12 pkgs of proteins for other meals
That's dinner for like a month w/o having to go to the grocery store!
I'll probably go for things like milk and fresh fruit, but even still, I have MORE stuff in the pantry. Canned fruits and veggies. Things like that.

Goals

2010-02-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

I've been reading everyone's blogs about review last months goals and setting new ones and I decided to do this myself. Not sure why I've been resisting but no holding back now.
1. Spend $75 on groceries this month. (so far I've spent just about $15- so $60 left)
2. Save up for a new camera by my birthday- July
3. Don't go out to eat more than once a week and don't spend more than $75.
4. Make room in the freezer. This one is pretty vague, I just want to use up some of that stuff! When I bought my big freezer, I was super excited- it was so big and I could stock all kinds of things! but Russ knew I would fill that thing up and he was so right. It's stuffed! I just want to use up that stuff!!

Didn't I already post this?

2010-02-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

I couldn't remember what I said we'd have for dinner tomorrow night, so like I usually do, I checked my blog, but couldn't find the post. I guess I never did. I could've sworn it. Anyway.
Tonight we had BBQ chicken, corn, and cheesy broccoli and potatoes. I had chx drumsticks that I threw in the crockpot this morning and smothered in bbq sauce. It was easy and not particularly amazing. The broccoli and potatoes were from the freezer. They, too, were just okay. Not the best dinner I made, but the total cost for both of us was under $2.50 so I feel pretty good about that.
Tuesday: Meatballs in mushroom gravy over rice, carrots (need to use up those carrots before they go bad!)
Wednesday: 'unstuffed' peppers
Thursday: Orange chx with seasoned ramen noodles.
Friday: Teriyaki chx, rice, asian veggie blend

Saturday: Fish and tater tots

You've probably noticed some of these things in my last menu, but I never got around to making them. I really need to use up that stuff in the freezer!

More groceries

2010-02-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't save as much as coupon gal, but I think I did okay. I needed cheddar for tomorrow's dinner and what do you know, Smiths was having a sale. This is what I got:

4 8oz bags Kraft shredded cheese. 1.49 ea. -1.00Q -1.00Q (one goes into the fridge. The rest into the freezer)
2 Toaster Strudels 1.99ea -1.00Q
1 Rice Quakers snacks .49-.75Q (woot)
1 Fruity pebbles 1.99
1 FiberOne bars 2.49- .40Q
1 Arrowhead 24 pk Water (not pictured)
1 Rock star (just cuz I needed it)
Total: 14.38
Total savings: 19.80

shopping day

2010-01-30T16:49:00.000-08:00

Russ and I just got back from Costco and again I didn't think about taking a picture (again). Anyway we spent just under $90 and we got:
breakfast sandwiches and coffee for Russ's breakfasts for 2 weeks
apples
plums
popcorn chicken and Panda orange sauce. Russ loves(!) Panda and so we thought we'd try to make it ourselves. Well, mostly ourselves, than go to Panda and spend over $12 each time.
Oreos
Real Fruit fruit roll ups
and chocolate macadamia nuts! Couldn't help ourselves! =)

Meal Plan Update

2010-01-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

So I said I was going to be more vigilant about my meal plans and give a report. Okay here goes.
Monday I did really good. I make the greek chicken, green salad and we ate the left over rolls.
I switched Tuesday for Wednesday so that day I did make the quesadillas. Russ wasn't too sold so he ate some soup.
Thursday Russ worked really late so he grabbed a burger. Can't remember what I noshed on.
Friday Russ got paid and we were feeling 'splurgy' so we went to Chili's.
Tonight I have leftover meatballs in the fridge that need to be used. The other meals will wait for next week.

Good deals.

2010-01-27T20:11:00.000-08:00

I went to the DI today to pick up some books. I got 4 for a dollar each. There I found a cute shirt for only $4 and I got Disney Scene It for only $2! That's right. I couldn't believe it. Everything's there. Every single piece, the DVD, everything. I looked through it before I bought, skeptical. Surely something must be missing. Why would so many people walk by this and not want to buy it? I still can't believe it. On Amazon, its over $30! I got everything in this picture for $10 even. I'm happy.

Really? No grocery shopping...at all?

2010-01-25T17:44:00.000-08:00

Just 1 day after I made my valiant proclamation that I'm not going to go grocery shopping at all this week, I wavered. Working at a grocery store has many pros but many many cons. So when I went to work today I saw that ground beef in one sale. It's a good deal too. And ground beef is a staple really. I can throw it into the freezer and make next week or next month. Plus, I only have 1 lb of g. beef in the freezer, that I know of. There might be one hiding-goodness knows how easily is it for stuff to get lost in there. So I'm debating. It's not like g. beef will never go one sale again.
There's another good deal. Progresso soup, Hamburger helper, Green Giant frozen veggies, and something else...anyway it's 10 for $10. And I love soup, and the other stuff can really come in handy you know. And normally I have tons of progresso soup coupons, but it seems I'm currently out. At work I was daydreaming about all the coupons I could pair with this deal and the savings I would earn but then...I don't need any more soup. I have lots and even though they last for eons, it will go on sale again. Or another brand will go on sale. And i'll get that at a good price. Plus I don't need the other stuff. I didn't buy anything. I'm proud of that progress.
Still not sure about that g. beef tho.
thoughts?

Anyway, I made that Greek chicken like I planned. That makes me happy. and considering the chicken was 3.76 which will last 2 meals, the rolls were leftover and the salad we established is mere pennies, I'm quite happy. I think the total comes to around $3.40.
Pretty good. pretty good.

Last Week's Plan

2010-01-24T21:48:00.000-08:00

So every week, or almost every week I make a meal plan concerning what to serve for dinner. In the beginning this was more of a guideline and I didn't stick to it word by word. But then I started to have a change of heart/plan and I've been wanting to follow my plan closer. Now I want to give an honest account for what we did have for dinner last week.
Tuesday we had the pot stickers as planned.
Wednesday I planned to make pineapple pork chops but I didn't have any more boneless pork loin chops in the freezer, but I did have Lime pepper dump pork chops in the freezer. Since I've been wanting to use up the stuff in the freezer, so I made those instead. The recipe wasn't that good. I won't make it again. I did make seasoned rice, but while it was cooking it smelled funny, so I made garlic bread too. The rice turned out fine, so we had a little of each. (I ate the rest of the rice for lunch the next day.) And I served it with corn and tomato slices.
Thursday I didn't plan anything because I thought I'd work late, but I got off earlier than I thought. So I made lasagna, garlic bread and salad. See previous post about that.
Friday: I had taken out a whole roasting chicken from the freezer a few days earlier and it still wasn't thawed all the way which made me too nervous to cook it. So I switched the plan and made Honey glazed dump chicken instead which was delicious. I served it with rolls and broccoli and cheese mix from the freezer.
Saturday's plan depended on the leftovers from friday's dinner. So Russ and I went to Panda Express.

Hopefully I do better this week.

Meal Planning

2010-01-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

Ok. I have goal this week and that is to NOT GO GROCERY SHOPPING at all! I have SO much food in this house. I don't need anything. I often get anxious about not having enough produce in the house but I need to be honest with myself. I have frozen veggies in the freezer, cans in the pantry and fresh in the fridge. I also have fresh fruit and cans of pineapple, pears and peaches. That can for sure last me 1 week. And I have so much protein and frozen meals in the fridge. I don't need anything from the grocery store.
Here's the plan:

Tonight: I had dinner at my dad's
Monday: Greek chicken, green salad
Tuesday: Quesadillas with leftover chicken
Wednesday: I work late. Frozen meal for me. Russ is on his own.
Thursday: Chicken and Rice Pilaf, peas and carrots
Friday: Teriyaki chicken, rice, Asian veggie medley
Saturday: Fish fillets and tater tots, corn.

Grocery Shopping Day

2010-01-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

So I really do plan to take a picture of my groceries but I usually forget until after all of the groceries are put away. Anyway. Today I worked late and didn't plan anything for dinner, but when I did get off work, I was starving and Russ hadn't eaten. I was planning on picking up some groceries anyway so I picked up some stuff at the store for dinner tonight. Lasagna, Garlic bread and salad (which I was going to get stuff for salad anyway.) I went with lasagna because I could microwave it in ten minutes so it'd be quick and Russ and I both agreed to it. I went to get the Stoffers microwaveable lasagna, you know that little box but it was 7.99! So I said no to that. But then I saw Claim Jumpers lasagna. It was a smaller box, which was actually better for Russ and me because then we'd eat less and save on calories. That was only 3.50. Less than 1/2 the price. I also got the pre-frozen New York Texas Garlic bread that was 2.69 and I had a .50Q. So I grilled two of those for dinner tonight and we'll have more for later dinners. I also bought:

Toaster Strudels 1.66
Toaster Strudels 2.50- .55Q
FiberOne yogurts 2.00-1.00Q
2 healthy choice meals 1.67 ea -1.00Q= 1.17 ea
Soup at Hand Soup 1.50- .50Q
Chicken drumsticks 3.76 (can't remember who many lbs this is, I'm pretty sure it was 1.19/lb)
Romaine lettuce 1.00
2 Roma tomatoes .48
Orange .79
Pear .46
Total: 24.09
Total savings: 14.32

I don't think I did too bad. I did go over budget by just over a dollar, but I did buy dinner that I didn't plan on, and I think we're set grocery wise (except for produce) for the next three weeks.

Here's why I don't think I did too bad. Like I mentioned, I work at a grocery store and I was checking this ladies groceries today. She mentioned to be something about this is what's for dinner tonight. Here's what she bought:
French bread 1.99
Rotisserie Chicken 7.99
Salad bar 12.51
Total: 23.82

Really? Gayle at the Grocery cart challenge was just taking about paying for convenience when buying packaged salad. At Harmons where I work we do have a great (very overpriced) salad bar that can make a great lunch option every now and then and I mean every now and then. But I would never buy it as a side dish to dinner. Ok, my salad tonight wasn't as fancy. I didn't get all the trimming like she did, but really it's salad. It can only get so fancy. Our salad consisted of: Romaine, tomato, green onion, cucumber, and banana peppers.
The lettuce was 1.00 but I literally used 2 leaves, and there's like what 20? that's .10
The tomato was .12
the green onion was maybe .20
The cucumber: .20
and the peppers were not even .50.
Total: 1.12
And I'm pretty sure I rounded up. Okay and that doesn't include dressing. Add another .50 for dressing and it's still $10.00 cheaper than her salad!! Yes I had to chop up the veggies and tear the lettuce. I did that while the lasagna cooked. How could it have been easier?

AND the chicken. 8.00 for a chicken. I got a roasting chicken the other day for 3.49. Yeah,I'll have to add in the cost of the seasonings, but it's sooo minimal I won't even do that math. Plus it's not like its too hard to cook. I'm going to plop it in my lovely crock pot and go on with my merry way.

I thought I was frugal...

2010-01-20T17:19:00.000-08:00

I think of myself as a frugal person. I use coupons (on the stuff I would buy anyway), I shop at more than one store, I shop by what's on sale. All of those rules. But here's the thing: I ran out of chicken. Normally when I run out of something like that- a staple in my kitchen. I run right out and replace it. But this week I didn't. I don't really have any and I mean any room in my deep chest freezer to put more chicken in. I don't know. I mean, if there's so much stuff in my freezer, why don't I eat that? I don't need to go out and buy more when I have SO much already. Am I rambling? I feel like I'm rambling. My point is, I think I don't have any chicken, but when I did go through my freezer I found:
a roasting chicken- I'm going to make a roasted chicken one day, shred up the rest and make quesadillas the next day.
Teriyaki dump chicken and
Chicken and Rice Pilaf- these are freezer meals I made a while back . I didn't really forget they're in there, but for some reason I keep wanting to 'save' them for times when I 'need' them. Well, I need them now. We'll eat these next week.
AND I found another packet of chicken breasts. Haha. So I found enough chicken for five meals! I don't need to go out and buy more chicken for two weeks.

Meal Planning

2010-01-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

Boy this week is going to be crazy.
Russ and I were in NV all weekend helping his brother and sister in law move. We got back late last night so I didn't plan anything till today.
Plus- our freezer is packed to the max. And I ran out of chicken last week which is my go-to protein.
So I'm going to have to be a little creative.

Tonight we had: Pot stickers from the Cook This Not That cookbook. It was yummy!
(The pot stickers were from the freezer. All this recipe really is btw, is Boil pot stickers for 8 min. Then saute mushrooms- I used shitake- in some oil. The recipe calls for peanut oil, but all I had was canola so that's what I used. Saute them for 2 minutes or so then add the cooked pot stickers. Leave them alone to brown for 2 minutes. Then turn them over and add snow peas. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in 1 Tbsp soy sauce and 1 Tbsp rice vinegar. Cook for 1 min more. Can top with sesame seeds and scallions. voila.)

Wednesday: Pineapple pork chops from slow cooker, seasoned rice, veggie mix from freezer.
Thursday: (i work late, Russ is on his own.)
Friday: Roasted Greek Chicken (from Kraft recipes), corn, carrots, rolls
Saturday: Quesadillas with leftover chicken from fri

dinner tonight

2010-01-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

For dinner tonight I made BBQ chicken sandwiches, and this has got to be my favorite thing to make for dinner. and Russ loves them, so it's a win-win. It's the simplest recipe ever. All you do is put 1 chicken breast in a slow cooker and pour the bbq sauce all over it. I don't measure I just dump it. Let that cook all day and after or 7 hrs or so come back and shred the chicken and pour more sauce over it. Cook that for like 1/2 an hour more or so. butter your hamburger buns and toast them in a frying pan till nice and toasted. This is important because otherwise the bread can become too soggy. Then just top the buns with the shredded chicken. That's it. I served it with corn and some Sun chips. Easy peasy and yummy for a fun casual dinner.

Meal Planning

2010-01-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

I make plans every week and honestly, I don't follow them too well. I mix up the days a lot and only make about 50% of the things I plan. So this week, I'm really going to try and follow it all the way!

Sunday: Potstickers and snow peas
Monday: shrimp spinach salad w/ garlic bread
Tuesday: BLT's and chips
Wednesday: BBQ chicken sandwiches and veggie sticks
Thursday: Pineapple chicken kabobs and rice
Friday: Stroganoff and green salad
Saturday: Nachos (the recipe from Cook this not that)

Spending Update

2010-01-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

Oy! Spent a lot of money today! Some of it was need; some of it was want.
It's case lot at Harmons this week, which means I stocked up on some stuff.

Harmons:

English Muffins 2.99
2 Chili .99 x2
2 Tuna .59 x2
9 Progresso soup 1.25 ea - 1.10Q -1.10 Q -.25Q -.50Q
Taco bell .79x2
Fage greek yogurt 1.99
Skinny Cow ice cream bars 3.00
Marie Callendars 2.00
Annies Hot and Sour soup 2.50
Baby wipes 1.00
3 Cream of chicken soup 1.00 ea
3 Tangelos 1.85
3 bananas .82
2 roma tomatoes .50
Hot house cucumber 1.00
Mums plant 4.99
2 Nestle Pure life water 24 pk 3.50 x2 -1.00Q
Total: 54.08

Walmart:
Starburst gummies (just for fun) .64
100 Calorie packs cookies 1.98
Crystal light 2.50- 2.00Q
4 Buffalo chicken snacks 1.07 ea
Draino 4.97
Shoe organizer 7.60
hair clips 2.50
Hair dye 4.97 -1.00Q
2 Eyeshadow 4.94 ea
Mascara 5.00
Armband (for my mp3 player when i run) 9.00
2 Red bows .25 ea (leftover xmas decorations)
Total: 53.88

Boy it adds up fast. That's ok. I shouldn't need to go to the store for a while. Well...I shouldn't need to.

Menu update

2010-01-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

So, when I wrote out my meal plan for the week, I forgot I got a turkey. Last week I got a free turkey and I almost didn't even pick it up because I'm gonna do with a turkey? That's a lot of turkey for two people and I don't know how to cook a turkey. I could look it up and try to figure it out but I wasn't sure how much it was worth it. But it would be free. Then my friend Darla said she's cook it for me! What a sweetie! So she's cooking up my turkey and then it's up to me to find ways to use it other than sandwiches.
This means...I'll probably need to make some adjustments to my plan to add turkey meals. Haven't decided what that is yet though.

Meal Planning Monday

2010-01-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

(It technically is Monday, but I figured I wouldn't have time for this tomorrow, so tonight it is.)
Monday I work late. Russ can fend for himself.
Tuesday: Dinner with mom.
Wednesday: BBQ chx sandwiches, corn, tomato slices
Thursday: Hamburger Helper, zucchini
Friday: Chicken potstickers with snow peas
Saturday: fish sticks, rice, salad

Grocery Shopping Day

2009-12-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

Well I forgot veggies. Not sure what were's gonna eat veg wise this week. I'm sure I can find something in the bottom on my freezer. I went to three different stores today, and I think I did pretty good.

From Store 1:
14 Dannon Yogurts .33 ea -1.00 Q -.75Q
4 Lean Cuisines 1.67 ea.
2 limes .40
Cook This Not That. 14.99 (I LOVE this book series! Had to have it!!)
Total: 26.28

From Store 2:
Freschetta Brick Oven Pizza 3.99 -1.00Q
Knorr Rice sides 1.00 x2 -.60Q
Gushers 2.00
2 golden del apples .64
1 gala apple .35
1 Lean Cuisine 1.78. I couldn't find this flavor at the other store.
Total: 9.48

From Store 3:
Turkey- FREE!!
2 Twix bars .59 ea-B1G1 Q (hey the Q was gonna expire tomorrow!)
3 Luna bars 1.00 ea -B2G1 Q
Total: 3.38

Final Total: 39.14
Total Savings: 52.54
Not too bad. And part of my grocery bill was a book that doesn't come out of my grocery budget!

Meal Planning Monday

2009-12-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas is officially over! New Years is right around the corner, but that is much less of a hassle. I do love Christmas, but... I'm glad it's over. I don't have much left in my budget this month, so a lot of our meals will come from the pantry/freezer.

Tonight: Russ made sandwiches

Tuesday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, zucchini

Wednesday:Chicken Cordon Bleu, salad,

Thursday: Honey Ginger Pork chops, rice, corn, tomato wedges

Friday: Dinner at a friends

Saturday: Stroganoff, rolls, veggie sticks

Food Waste Wednesday

2009-12-23T22:36:00.000-08:00

Today I cleaned out my fridge and took an honest look at what was in there, and what I would eat, and what was really was waste. Then I started going through the cabinets and pantry and made the same tough decisions. Sometimes it's just easier to leave in the pantry (or the fridge) and tell yourself that you will eat it eventually.

I did take a photo but for some reason it won't load.

I was going to take inventory to list all that was gone but it made me depressed, so I didn't do it. Now I wish I had, since I don't have the photo.
I remember there was applesauce. It was a 6 pack, and I ate two of the cups and thought it was gross both times. I know I'm never going to finish the other 4, so even though they technically weren't spoiled, I knew I need to get rid of them. There were 2 half boxes of cereal. I bought them and didn't like them, but kept them around thinking I would get to them some day, but I also have other (yummy) cereal I keep eating instead. I'm never going to eat yucky cereal. Out they go. There was a lot of stuff in tupperware at the back of the fridge- scary. some moldy cheese. a protein shake that was gross but decided to put in the fridge instead of the trash. Just gross weird stuff. I'm not going to eat it, and I have TONS of food in the house, so it's just better than I throw them out than hang out to them (and feel guilty whenever I see them.)

Meal Planning Monday

2009-12-21T18:38:00.000-08:00

This week is going to be really crazy/busy. Then Christmas. So I'm going to try and make really simple meals this week.
Tonight: Chili dogs and salad
Tuesday: Honey ginger pork chops (from freezer) with rice and veggie sticks
Wednesday: Linguine with alfredo sauce and chicken. garlic bread (and probably more salad)
Thursday: Not sure if I'll be here or gone yet, plans are still tentative.
Friday: Off to California for Christmas
Saturday: Still in CA

Not quite meatless

2009-12-18T18:54:00.000-08:00

One of the first budgeting tips you'll find is to go meatless at least once a week. And I really love reading Cate at Budget Confessions chronicle her meatless meals. I'm really bad at planning meatless meals. Mainly I switch between either French toast or soup and grilled cheese. Honestly, we don't go meatless very often in this house. But this week I've tried another tactic. I made One pan taco dinner with one pound of ground beef. The recipe says it feeds 4 but it really makes a TON on food. Not only did I freeze half of it, I had leftovers! To those leftovers, I added diced can tomatoes and stuffed the mixture in roasted red peppers and topped with cheese. Yum! So it may not be meatless but it's only 1 lb a meat that made (at least) 2 dinners to feed 2 people. Then tonight I made BBQ chicken sandwiches. I put 1 chicken breast in the Crockpot and poured BBQ sauce on it and let it cook. So simple and the smell brought me right back to an annual work party/picnic at my dad's work that my family and I LOVED! When it was cooked through, I shredded the chicken and added a bit more sauce. Then I served it on hamburger buns with homemade potato wedges. Probably the easiest dinner ever and since we only need 1 chicken breast (instead of the usual 2) it was frugal too.
The whole point? It may be hard for me to go 'meatless' but that doesn't mean I can't stretch out the meat! I'd normally use 2 chicken breasts or 1 lb ground beef per meal. By cutting those in half I saved approx 2.85. K, not a fortune, but everything adds up, right? Isn't that why we do this?

Food Waste Wednesday

2009-12-16T17:38:00.000-08:00

Not the best week for me. I cleaned up my kitchen earlier in the week and honestly didn't want to make dinner and mess it up! I've learned my lesson. This week waste:
Packaged salad- about half is left
2 tomatoes
1 lemon
1 pk thyme- I bought this specifically for a chicken recipe and never made the chicken!
I gotta stop doing that!
Not in the picture is 3 green onions that I thought I could just peel off the top skin part and use, but when I went to do that for a salad I was making, I saw that they were too far gone.
I gotta stick to my meal plans!

Meal Planning Monday

2009-12-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

K this week my goal is to use up what's in the freezer/ pantry and to buy as little as possible.

Monday: Chicken fettuccine with salad and garlic bread

Tuesday: Chili dogs

Wednesday: Teriyaki chicken, rice and corn

Thursday: Fish fillets, broccoli and cheese

Friday: Honey Garlic Pork chops, rice pilaf, veggie sticks

Saturday: soup and grilled cheese

Food Waste Wednesday

2009-12-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

So the only food I wasted this week were the 4 chicken thighs I had to throw out after my Spicy Honey chicken fiasco and then some leftovers of a foil dinner I had for lunch that didn't turn out that good. I ate half of it, and then just threw the rest away. I feel pretty proud of this actually- especially compared to last week. Next week is gonna be tough; we have a lot of things that could go bad, so I'm gonna have to be pretty watchful. Lots of dairy products that need to be eaten.

P.S. I FINALLY organized my freezer! I have a deep chest freezer that I absolutely love but it gets so messy and disorganized and everything gets lost in the bottom. So now it's nice and organized and it turns out I have SO much food! Next week, I'm really gonna try and use up a lot of that food.

Meal Planning

2009-12-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so last night I finally made spicy honey chicken I've heard everybody raving about, and I don't know if I messed up major, or if everyone else is crazy but it was awful! It tastes super weird and made a HUGE mess. So I wasted 4 thighs and I'm not happy about it! Plus, I was so concerned about the chicken I forgot about the rice, which turned into a soggy mess. We gave up and went to In and Out.
My goal is to find a good oh 20 recipes that I can just rotate, cuz right now I'm pretty much scouring the internet for a recipe that sounds good and sometimes it is. Sometimes it's just ok, not 'rotate worthy' and sometimes it ends up like last night. So here's the plan
Monday: Chicken/ bacon swekers
Tuesday: Biggest Loser Finale!
Wednesday: (I work till 8 so it's gotta be something quick...haven't quite thought of it yet)
Thursday: Sweet and Savory steak
Friday: (ok I had a whole plan for this, and bought all the ingredients, and just went to look for the recipe to know the title and I can't find the recipe!)
Saturday: chicken and rice pilaf

Food Waste Wednesday

2009-12-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

This was a bad week for us! It all started when I got sick on Tuesday night.
In this picture:
1 apple
just over 3/4 of an onion
almost a whole yellow peper
2 greek yogurts
1 yoplait yogurt

The onion, pepper, and one of the greek yogurts was supposed to me made into a dip for thanksgiving, but I was too sick to make it. I haven't made dinner at all in these past 2 weeks, and I really haven't been eating much of anything, so a lot of things went bad. I'm almost back to normal, so hopefully next week won't be so bad.

Meal Planning

2009-11-30T11:20:00.001-08:00

Over this Thanksgiving holiday, I got the flu!! I'm still really woozy and icky and so I can't even think about food, let alone what to eat and make all week! Russ is on his own tonight, I'll probably have some soup. The rest of the weeks just gonna be touch and go till I get better.

Meal Planning

2009-11-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

No meal plan this week. I work late Mon and Wed. Tues I go straight from work to my parents house where we'll have dinner there. Then, of course, Thursday is Thanksgiving at my parents house, where we'll stay the rest of the week and munch on leftovers. I just need to pay close attention to all the produce in the fridge and make sure to eat it all before I leave. I'll use the citrus fruits in a virgin sangria like drink for the holiday. The onions I'll make into a French onion dip, and some of those veggies will be great with it, like the yellow peppers cut into strips. Now I just gotta find the time to make all these things!

To-do before the thanksgiving madness

2009-11-21T23:33:00.000-08:00

This is going to be one crazy week! Russ and I, both, need to be in two places at once! I work every day till Thursday, but then I have the rest of the week off to enjoy the holiday. But before this little vacation, I have a BIG list of things that need to get done. Here's the (tentative) plan: On Tuesday, my grandparents are coming up and before he rushes of (hopefully hopefully) Russ will meet them. Then his brother Brian and his sister-in-law Ashley and super cute nephew Corbin are coming in to town and they will pick up Russ and go to their sister's house up north for the holiday. Then my sister comes up, my aunt and uncle come down and maybe a family friend will come in. After I get off work on Thursday, I will head straight over to my parents where we're having dinner. So before this parade of family comes through, I need to get this house in order.
1. Write thankfuls
2. Do every dish in the sink, that's been piling up for.......
3. Take out the trash
4. Clean the bathroom
5. Wipe down the kitchen counters and clean up the clutter and piles of old mail
6. Pack (probably for both me and russ)
7. Make the fruit salad and dessert for my family's dinner.
8. Use up all the produce in the crisper before it goes bad during the long weekend we'll be gone.
9. Deep condition hair and paint nails so I look fabulous to the fam.
10. Pick up the towels off the floor and FINALLY find a place for them

Food Waste

2009-11-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to take more pictures, but apparently my camera is dead. This week I wasted:

1 FiberOne strawberry yogurt. I bought these because they were $2.00 for a 4 pack and I had a dollar off. The Key Lime ones are good. The strawberry ones aren't as much.

A few leaves of Romaine. We were out of bread all week, so I couldn't make sandwiches like I planned. Dang!

3 strips of bacon. A while ago (not quite sure how long ago) I made BLT's. These few strips surfaced today and I'd rather not risk these. Besides, I have a fresh pack of bacon in the fridge that needs to be eaten.

Ah! I'm so mad my lettuce is gross. We finally got bread, and no lettuce for BLT's. Isn't that the way it goes.

Help!

2009-11-17T10:43:00.000-08:00

So I bought a whole package of tortillas with the best intentions of using them up. We had quesadillas for dinner last night and I planned to make fajitas later in the week. So I'm talking to Russ about whether he wanted fajitas or fish tacos and he tells me he doesn't like either! So now I'm trying to find a way to use up the tortillas before they go bad. Can you freeze tortillas? Any suggestions? Thanks!!