Triple Clicks

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Grocery Shopping March/April

I bet you're wondering what happened to me.. It's usually not this long between meal planning and shopping posts. 

Well. Snow. 

Then Rain, snow and sleet.

Then floods.  

Thankfully our house is not near a major river, but there are major rivers between us and town and in town... So we went from being snowed in, to being rained in... To FINALLY being able to go SOMEWHERE ANYWHERE.   

We still have plenty of snow on the ground, but the birds and squirrels are saying spring is finally on it's way. 


So how'd we do?  

Hubby was shopping and we were getting low on provisions... Need I say more? 

Aldi
Almond milk, butter, eggs, chicken breast (on a discount!!), ground beef, pork chips, chips, cereal, cheese, sugar, tortillas,  Syrup, dark chocolate of course.  Salsa-I love their salsa variety.  Pudding, jello.. Hubby loves their pita chips.  Spinach, snacks and supplies for the trail mix.  
Gave us a total of $184.39

Sam's 
flavored water, sweet peppers, tator tots, hot pockets, pita bread, more cheese, hoagie rolls, chicken breast tenderloins, chicken nuggets, chicken strips, chicken patties, teriyaki chicken.  (We hate chicken, can't ya tell? 😝) Flour, sugar, cinnamon rolls, ketchup, pepperoni, more cereal.  
On saver was Lucky Charms, ketchup, chips.. we saved $8.50
Total $305.15
I did have that total down to $250... but... well.. yeah.. 

Dollar Tree
After two months I FINALLY made it to Dollar Tree!!.. And I forgot stuff. :/  
Bag clips, hair stuff, root beer water flavor (hubby likes it), popcorn tubs-SORELY needed,  organizer for the desk and calendars for the kids.  We only spent $23.43

Walmart 
Non food
Bleach, Hangers, Butt Paste, coffee filters, duct tape, bath duck, teether, baby wipes, Glade Plug Ins, food scale.. $52.45
Food..  
Supper, frozen broccoli, breaded okra (ah man I forgot the ranch!!), salad kits,.... more cheese?... pizza sauce, chocolate covered pretzels and m&ms for trail mix.  Smithfield pork loin-so good y'all!!!  Yogurt out the wazzoo, yogurt covered raisins, sesame seeds, water flavoring.. and we splurged on donuts.  Total of $121.48

That makes for a total of $611.02.. $152 a week. $25.46 a person, a week..   We were talking about the uptick in our grocery bill, it's because we are doing other meals besides peanut butter and jelly for lunch for the kids.  Which is good, but it also costs more. 

Have a great week y'all! 

~Tabitha  

Friday, March 8, 2019

Meal Planning March/April

It feels like we have been snowed in for a month. 

We've gotten a lot of snow this month.. Making for the van getting stuck three times in the driveway and me walking to a few meetings in single digit weather so I didn't have to reschedule AGAIN.   

Let's put it another way...  Typically we get out twice a week for church and a few other times for miscellaneous things...  So.. probably 3 times a week.  This month, we've gotten out 4 times. 4 times.  FOUR.  The kids can't get in the back yard (literally.. it's snowed in)...  We are on break from formal school waiting on books.  We literally CANNOT LEAVE THE HOUSE much at all.  

This is our backyard.... That's a five  foot chain link fence


Hello cabin fever, how are you this year? 

Dennis and I have been staying busy with business training and regular housework.  Elijah is teething which makes for an interesting time doing anything else.  I really do miss teething tablets.  The big kids are feeling it and have been sorry when they utter the words "mom, I'm BORED".

It's become apparent this month that the kids are big enough that cereal just won't cut it anymore.  So we're going to try a few different things breakfast for them.  On the plus side, we can get $10 in animal crackers at Sam's and get snacks for all of us for the month..about 3-4 days a week... That's not too shabby. Too bad they aren't the iced ones. 

Through our business training, I'm learning how to utilize my computer more...  Now ask me how much I remember.  lol  So I'm switching from paper to computer for many things.  I'm learning Google calendar along with the Word Office Suite...  So my meal planning has been switched to Google Calendar, which also syncs with my phone.. so I'm finally able to use my painted chalkboard again. Woohoo!!  

Ok so.. Meal Plans
Breakfast... eggs, bacon, juice, oatmeal cups, muffins, waffles, farmers casserole, omelets, cinnamon rolls... 

Lunches
Weekdays-chicken sandwiches with avocados, hot pockets with chips, PB & J with jello cups or pudding cups, mac and cheese. 
Weekends-sloppy joes, sandwiches and trail mix, chicken strips and tots

Dinners
Pork Tenderloin, broccoli, potatoes
Spasagna
Pizza
crunch wraps
fish, broccoli and rice
teriyaki chicken sandwiches and potatoes
chili
pork chops, broccoli and potaotes
chicken parmesan bake
honey sesame chicken, fried rice
stuffed lasagna shells

Now.. Do I know how to take a screen shot with everything I have on the meal plan this month  like I did last month?...No.... no I don't.  Because I changed how much stuff I have on the calendar......


Part of our business training has been time management...  I mean, learning how to manage your time, what easier goal could there be to getting everything done and not feeling like you're drowning? Not to mention living simpler....

Clearly the guys doing the training don't have kids.  😂😂

Now, on the plus side, I have made it through the kitchen cupboards, we have a desk put up in the living room (the office is uninhabitable)... My computer's new home is on the desk, so I only have certain time frames I can use it unplugged... And my battery is starting to get low.  

Our desk.. Two filing cabinets.. one with extra height from miscellaneous boards because the new filing cabinet was smaller than the old.  The top is an old closet door.. I have since added quite a few things for organization.. but as soon as I can I'll hit up Dollar Tree and see what else I can find. (don't worry, that's a clean diaper)

I have baking days, cleaning days, catch-up days and sewing days on my calendar... We'll see how that works out.  lol  Along with a to-do list that integrates with my calendar... and gives me notifications when I don't get anything done.... When do I get anything done?

Have a great week! 

~Tabitha