Thrifty Thursday: And the Beat Goes On

 

Friday:  I went into the local store this week.  I haven't been in two or three weeks now, having shopped at Publix or Kroger.  But I really wanted to NOT spend my weekend grocery shopping and truly needed a handful of items. I'd also noted meat was getting low in the freezer and I wanted to check local prices against what was available via ads at the other stores.  

I was really pleased overall.  I'm fairly sure of some prices at the other stores, like what Caleb's lactose free milk runs. It was a good bit higher, by almost $1 at the local store, but since I asked them to carry it, I do feel obligated to go in and pick up a half gallon now and then.  However, the cost was offset by the good prices I found on other items today, namely in the meat department.

I'm experimenting and buying less boneless skinless breasts as a rule and subbing in other cuts of chicken, like boneless skinless or bone-in thighs, whole chickens, drumsticks or wings.  What I've found to be fairly consistent thus far is that the local store has really good quality meat.  I had priced several chicken cuts in the ads this week and so I went in ready to compare.  Today I bought thighs, drumsticks and wings.  I picked up a package each of reduced cubed steak and chuck steak.  I'll end up stewing the chuck most likely as I do recall it's a 'chewy' sort of steak.  Sausage was comparable to the big-name stores, unless Kroger has their store brand on sale.  They didn't so I experimented with the store's own sausage blend to see how well that tastes.   later note: the main seasoning seems to be salt and nothing else.  It's not overly salty, is lean as can be, but if I'm going to pay the full price per pound, I'll just go for the Kroger store brand when it's on sale and save $1.50 per pound.

There's still a guessing game as to what some prices might be.  I don't know if the items are just so changeable that they don't ever bother to price them or iffy as to whether they can stock so they don't take time to create the shelf label.  This is mainly on things like produce, especially fruits and vegetables.  note:  I found the same thing at Kroger this week on Thursday.  It must be because the stores themselves are never sure of what prices will be week to week.

I got some good items off the clearance rack (shredded coconut which I usually keep in the freezer anyway, orange sauce for chicken, baking chocolate which I also store in the freezer) and the cost of the things that were a little higher were balanced out by the things that were a good bit cheaper.  I came home with five well packed bags.  I asked John to guess how much it had all cost, even though he didn't know what I purchased.  He guessed in the low $200's.  It was $163.  And for that, I bought produce, Caleb's special milk, lactose free ice cream, and 8 packages of meat in addition to cereal, canned goods, baking needs, and extras.  I was blown away by how low it all was because I was thinking it was going to be nearer $300.

At any rate, I feel that I might well shop locally more often and only buy the really deep loss leader items at the other stores.  The fact that I'm supporting our local economy in my own small way and that I'm saving having to drive out of town every time I have an outage of any sort are good bonuses to this plan.   My sole frustration is that I must go into the store to see what is on sale since they don't have ads and only post the meat specials on their Facebook page.

I had a small sum come into our account today.  I set some aside to help cover a semi-annual fee, some to cover an upcoming fee and the rest went right into savings.  I am happy to report that I have made my goal of saving $125 this month.

The Dia.com subscription box arrived.  Yes, I did cancel the service but they sent the box on anyway. I had to open it to return the items, but I couldn't resist seeing what they had to offer.  I was not impressed in the least.  The quality is there but the stylist paid no attention whatsoever to my style profile.  None.  It was easy to put every single item into the paid postage return envelope and seal it up.  Total amount spent, $0.

I forgot to share last week that one of the coupon/sale sites I get daily emails from featured $5 Halloween costumes.  Two of those happened to be two things Caleb had told his mom he wanted to be this year.  I ordered the one he indicated he was most interested in having and it arrived today.  

Saturday:  We ate lunch out today, which we normally do on Saturdays.  I have a budget for this.  My goal is to be sure we stay within that budget each month. 

We didn't spend any other money today.  We enjoyed the long ride and talked all the way over and back.  

Sunday:  We were going to run to the grocery after church, but today was a chatty day.  So many people we know wanted to stop and talk and so we did!  We decided as time went on to just skip the grocery.  I determined that those really good sales I didn't want to miss out on could wait until later, since the sales don't end until Tuesday anyway.

Kate picked up fried chicken on her way home this morning, so we didn't even need to go in for that.  

I reheated hash brown casserole from last week that I'd frozen, then thawed and made the children boxed mac n cheese which is their chosen side dish.  I had picked up a bag of coleslaw for $1 at the local grocery on Friday and decided to make up a quick slaw to add to our meal.  It tasted really good.

Stupid move on my part: I laid my bare hand on a hot skillet I'd taken from the oven moments before. I had presence of mind to run cold water over while Katie grabbed mustard from the fridge.  John bandaged it up pretty quickly and then I held an ice pack all through lunch.  After lunch, my hand was cleaned and dried.  Katie had an aloe vera gel with lidocaine in it and that was slathered on my hand and then John wrapped it with gauze and Kevlar.  I'm glad we had first aid supplies on hand.

We had senior supper tonight.  I came home with a plate of leftovers as I usually do.  This week there were loads of potatoes left and that's what I brought home.  These will become hash browns later this week.

Monday:  I went out to plant this morning and discovered that I've not nearly enough soil.  Sigh.  It's one delay after another but I shall not let that bother me.  I was pleased to note that the bell peppers and the tomatoes are looking refreshed with the cooler air and all the rain.  The potatoes, both sweet and whatever white potatoes I'd planted are all looking well.  I was thrilled to discover that the Lenten roses Angela sent me this past spring are budded and preparing to bloom.

For today's lunch, I sorted out the fridge quickly and discovered rice and chicken.  It wasn't hard to figure out that Fried Rice would make an acceptable lunch for us three.  It doesn't take much rice if you take time to figure out what you can add in to stretch it: onion, carrot, some of the coleslaw mix bag I'd used yesterday, egg, etc. all went in and stretched that small amount of rice and chicken into three generous servings.

I did not stop for a coffee or soda on the way home.  I didn't go into any store.  This is always a temptation to me because I'm out on my own and can do these things to suit myself.  But I stuck to my resolve to cut down on calories and spending.

I took my package from Dia.com to the post office for return.  I missed the open hours on Saturday.

After I'd been to my chiro appointment today, I decided to start supper while I felt well.  I wasn't anticipating that I'd feel bad later (I did), but I just feel so good afterwards that I have energy and to spare.  

My plans were Chili and Rice, but we had Rice for lunch.  I looked at options.  I could make Chili Cheese Fries, could have made burritos or enchiladas, but I decided to make a Tamale Pie.  I haven't made Tamale Pie in the longest time!  I cooked the chili down until it was thick and not so soupy.  Then I made up that Mexican cornbread that is more like a corn pudding of sorts.  I had all the ingredients on hand, but I opted to use the regular cornmeal mix instead of a box of muffin mix.  I spooned that on top of the chili and boy did that turn out nicely!  Unlike the traditional Tamale Pie, it was not topped with a dry cornbread but a lovely moist, well risen topping that was light but substantial enough to fill one up.  I'll never make a Tamale Pie any other way in the future!

While the oven was heating anyway, I mixed up the Almond Poppyseed muffin batter and baked that in the same oven.

Tuesday:  The time had come to do a proper grocery shop, not just a run in and grab sales and the one or two other items most needed.  I had my lists, both the sales lists and my list of things that I needed to replace. I can tell you right now that there are things I didn't get, and some I can think of that weren't on the list but never mind.  They shall just have to wait.

First let me say that one of my main reasons for going shopping today was to catch the last day of an excellent sales cycle at Kroger.  They had boneless skinless chicken breasts and chuck roasts on a pretty good sale, as well as cheese, milk, juice, fruits.  But I also had that list of things that weren't on sale but necessary: pet food, foil, bread, etc.

We spent a chunk.  I mean it was a chunk but there was none of this walking out with three bags and shaking our heads.  I had 10 or 11 shopping bags (the reusable sort not plastic) and they were all full.  I had plenty of digital coupons, too.  I saved 21% of my total which kept my balance due to well under $300, the sum I'd more or less determined I'd probably end up spending.  

We had a few splurges, yes.  Caleb got super excited over an Avengers fruit snack box.  He'd asked for nothing the whole shopping trip but when he saw that box, he got so excited and said, "Please Gramma, get that one!"  Now I'll share that when we got to the yogurt aisle, he saw another branded product and asked for it, but we told him, "Nope.  You got your Fruit snacks.  One special item per trip!"  and the little boy said, "Okay."  He wasn't happy but he didn't make a fuss over it at all.

We came home to eat lunch even though it was late.  We had bottled water with us and washed and ate fruit and drank juice on our way home to help tide us over.

I scraped together a supper tonight, having forgotten to set out anything to thaw and not finding items I had expected to find on sale.

Wednesday:  I went outdoors this morning and added a bag of shredded paper to my raised bed planter I've been trying to fill.  I mixed that in thoroughly and then went to check the potato 'harvest'.  Two potatoes about the size of a cat eye marble from all those plants.  Phooey!  I pulled them all out and took that pot of soil around to the front to dump it into my planter.  Planter was filled.  

I grabbed seeds and started planting.  I currently have Sugar Snap peas, Green Beans, lettuce, and carrots in that bed and various pots that already had soil in them.  I also planted Parsley and Cilantro seeds in with the herbs.  When it comes time to plant the garlic in about four weeks, I'm planning to put that in with the roses.  I've heard that garlic is a good companion plant for roses.  We shall see.

I then collected seeds from the Touch Me Not (Balsam) and harvested from the marigolds I'd pulled up as well as a seed head or two from the coreopsis.  I have a new flush of plants from seed heads I'd dropped into the pot as I deadheaded, so I hope that they will bloom here in a few weeks' time.  

I failed to take anything out to thaw for supper.  Ran over my list of what I had left on the planned menu, chose an option and set that up to cook in the slow cooker.

I know that John prefers sandwiches or salads for lunch meals, but I had some leftover lasagna in the fridge that I very much wanted to finish off today.  It was the perfect amount for two and a half folks.

After lunch, I made Oatmeal Cookies.  I plan to make two batches this fall but this one is my usual recipe with raisins and dates in them.  I had to sub in half butter for the shortening because Caleb was down for quiet time, and I didn't want to disturb him by going into the pantry closet.

Thursday:  I don't think I said but yesterday's cookies made about a 4.5 dozen.  I've just sent Sam home with a dozen or so for them.  I hope to have some to take to Coffee House tomorrow evening, but we shall see.  I never plan on anything until the day of because my family often will enjoy a treat that I've made, and I'll not deny them.

We had Millie today which makes for a long day of refereeing.  What we see clearly is that Caleb is very social, and he is right there ready to play.  Millie is not.  She will play briefly but she quickly has enough and wants alone time.  Caleb has his own limit but his is at the end of the day.  Come 6:15 he is ready to shut the door and lay in bed, often asleep within the half hour if that.

The water table was entertainment for well over an hour, and playing outdoors took up about two hours.  It was cool, but the children didn't seem to mind.  

I prepped the main portion of tonight's supper while I was cooking last night's dinner.  I'm very glad I did.  

Millie asked for pizza for lunch, so I made a thinner crust pizza and put half the dough in the freezer for another day.

What we really ate this past week:  I thought you might like to compare the week's menu against what we actually ended up eating for our supper meals this past week.  You'll see that usually the planned menu is basically a starting point for making meals.  After I've planned meals, I will often switch things up because I haven't done my fridge organizing and the find leftovers and such that I would like to use and not waste.  

Saturday:   We ate out for lunch.  For supper it was just John and me.  We opted for BLT's because yesterday when I was bringing in the grocery bags, I dropped the one with the tomatoes and split one of them.  I didn't want it to spoil.

Sunday:  Gramma's Fried Chicken, Hashed Brown Casserole, Macaroni and Cheese, Coleslaw

Monday:  Tamale Pie, Salad, Pineapple as a side instead of in salad.

Tuesday:  Pan-fried Burgers, Hash Brown potatoes and sliced tomatoes for us, Salad for raw tomato hatin' Katie.  We picked up the burgers at Kroger today on clearance and we chose to eat them without a bun. The potatoes I used to make hash browns were from church supper on Sunday and the tomato was the last of the two I purchased on Friday from the local store.

Wednesday: Sour Cream and Onion Pork Chops with Mushrooms, Wild Rice, Steamed Green Beans.  John asked for dip to go with chips yesterday and this recipe was so good last time I made it that I decided I'd just double up on my dip and make it again.  I added in some mushrooms that were in the fridge, using about half of them for this meal and chopping half to go into a meal later this week.

Thursday:  Mongolian Beef Noodles, Steamed Broccoli, Pickled Carrots, Mandarin Oranges