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.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Russ's first lunch
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.
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
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
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:
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
10 Fruit roll ups .69 ea (expensive but they're so yummy!)
2 navel oranges .87
2 tomatoes 1.43
Total: 11.43
Walmart:
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
Monday, March 22, 2010
Menu Planning Monday
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.
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.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Food Waste is back
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!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Fage coupons!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Menu Planning
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!
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!
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