We took the last two weeks off from school... I told the kids we HAD to take that long so I could catch up on housework.
Stop laughing.
No, I haven't come near to catching up on housework. Although I DID get through Elijah's clothes and pulled out the 6-9 months sizes(little man is only 4 months old).
Today's list includes taking down the Christmas tree and decorations and making Eva's cake so I can ice it tomorrow. Thankfully it's FREEZING outside so I can store it outside. Honestly... that's all I've got besides the normal housework. I really need to and want to finish Elijah's suit... But I've learned not to put too many things on my list or they don't get done.
So anyway.
Meal Planning
Breakfast:
Eggs, bacon, omelets, cowboy casserole, waffles, cinnamon rolls, yogurt, cereal, juice, coffee....
I also want to try donuts again, my last attempt was less than successful.
Lunch:
Mac & cheese, chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, peanut butter and jelly, chicken pot hand pies
Sundays-sandwiches and trail mix
Saturdays-hamburgers or sloppy joes and tator tots
Wednesdays-chicken strips and tator tots
(Can you tell I now have Dennis hooked on tator tots? 😏
Dinners:
Elk loin with mashed potatoes and broccoli
Spasagna
Chicken parmesan bake with homemade noodles
Chicken fajitas
Swedish meatballs with homemade noodles
Pizza
Fish, broccoli and rice
Tacos (or taco bowls-basically a taco, except everything is piled on rice instead of in a shell, calories are about the same)
Chili
Pork Loin with potatoes and broccoli
Teriyaki Chicken sandwiches with broccoli
Cheesy Chicken tortilla casserole
Sloppy joes
Everything is repeated at least once.. The pizza is every Wednesday night-because I need to fill the kids up for church and that's something they all eat.
Wow my list seems REALLY short this month but I think I'm starting to see the benefit of shopping in Huron. As we've been seeing food up there, we get a bunch of it if we can.. Like canned food, coffee, ground beef.
I still feel like I'm missing things on my list... because it's half the size it usually is.
Well, that's all I have for now... Have a good week!!
~Tabitha
Triple Clicks
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Grocery Shopping December 2018
Our grocery shopping was a little discombobulated this month.
In order to go to a friend's Christmas party, I had to go by myself with all 5 kids. 😱
So... I'm more than a little disorganized writing this post... I wrote down everything we bought at the discount store...then threw the paper away I wrote it down on. So.. There's that.
We spent $80. That much I can tell you.
It also dawned on me that's it's been awhile since I've done a detailed post about what exactly we buy... so guess what you get today.
Aldi.. we spent $167.32
Case of water 2.49
Frozen Broccoli 1.19 6
Almond Milk 2.29 5
Eggs 6 dozen at .79 each
M&Ms 3 at 1.99 each
Margarine 5 at .84 each
Kerrygold 2.85
Sausage 2 at 2.99 each
Chicken sandwich meat 3.99
Ham sandwich meat 2 at 3.99
BBQ Sauce 2 at .99 each
Dark Chocolate 4 at 1.99 each
Mini Muffins 2.29
Mac and Cheese 24 at .49 each
Dried Fruit Medley 1.69
Salsa 1.89
Grape Jelly 2 at 1.69
Salsa Con Queso 2 at 1.89
Banana Chips 2 at 2.19
Honey 2.99
Iced Coffee 3 at 1.19
Pretzels 2 at 1.49
Flour Tortillas 2 at 1.19
Sesame Sticks 2 at 2.89
Pita Chips 2 at 1.99
Hamburger buns 4 at .85
Peanut Butter Wafers 4 at 1.39
Green Onions .89
Deli Rolls 2 1.89
Honey roasted peanuts 2 at 1.89
Cashews 4.79
Spinach .99
Romaine Hearts 1.99
Pecan pie 4.99
Pumpkin pie 2 at 5.99
Sam's.. For the groceries we spent 219.03
Sparkling Ice 14.64
Saltines 5.97
Chicken Tenders 3 at 12.98
Vinegar 4.62
Propel 9.98
Hamburger Patties 26.98
Bacon 3 lbs for 10.98, bought 2
Tator Tots 2 at 7.28
Walnuts 11.76
Colby Jack shredded cheese 11.52
Naan bread 2 at 4.98 (they were out of pita)
burrito size taco shells 6.28
Avocado 2 at 5.48
Hawaiian Rolls 4.98
HOagie Rolls 5.98
Vanilla 4.97
Avocado oil 7.99
Sweet Peppers 6.98
For the non groceries we spent 123.53
Paper Towels 18.24
Paper Plates 12.48
Laundry Soap 15.82
Diapers size 5 32.98
Diapers size 2 35.98
Walmart we spent 142.55 15.19 was non grocery so 127.36
I used the Walmart pickup.. I'm pretty satisfied with it. A lot more put together than it was a few months ago when we used it.
Water Flavor (Strawberry Kiwi) 2.48
Water flavor (Pineapple Coconut) 3.78
Water Flavor (Strawberry Watermelon) 3.98
Yogurt 16 at .60 each
Goat Cheese 3.98
White Cheddar Popcorn seasoning 1.98
Hair clip 4.23
Notebook 1.98
Water bottles 3 at 1.00 each
Baby Wipes 8.98
Chunky Peanut Butter 2 at 2.48
Sweet Golden Mustard BBQ Sauce 1.88
Wild Rice 3.34
Salmon 5.94
Tilapia 13.48
Almond M&Ms 2.98
Reese's chocolate covered pretzels 3.24
Hershey's chocolate covered pretzels 2 at 3.24
Dill Pickles 5.97
Maple Syrup 2 at 5.98
MOM Cereal Tootie Fruities 4.98
MOM Cereal Peanut Butter Cups 5.98
MOM Cereal Marshmallow Mateys 5.98
Wheat Flour 3.48
So On groceries we spent $593.71. That's $143.43 a week... or $24.74 a week per person.
All of the non grocery should last us more than one month except maybe the baby wipes.
Hopefully I didn't bore you too much. ;)
Have a great week.
~Tabitha
In order to go to a friend's Christmas party, I had to go by myself with all 5 kids. 😱
So... I'm more than a little disorganized writing this post... I wrote down everything we bought at the discount store...then threw the paper away I wrote it down on. So.. There's that.
We spent $80. That much I can tell you.
It also dawned on me that's it's been awhile since I've done a detailed post about what exactly we buy... so guess what you get today.
Aldi.. we spent $167.32
Case of water 2.49
Frozen Broccoli 1.19 6
Almond Milk 2.29 5
Eggs 6 dozen at .79 each
M&Ms 3 at 1.99 each
Margarine 5 at .84 each
Kerrygold 2.85
Sausage 2 at 2.99 each
Chicken sandwich meat 3.99
Ham sandwich meat 2 at 3.99
BBQ Sauce 2 at .99 each
Dark Chocolate 4 at 1.99 each
Mini Muffins 2.29
Mac and Cheese 24 at .49 each
Dried Fruit Medley 1.69
Salsa 1.89
Grape Jelly 2 at 1.69
Salsa Con Queso 2 at 1.89
Banana Chips 2 at 2.19
Honey 2.99
Iced Coffee 3 at 1.19
Pretzels 2 at 1.49
Flour Tortillas 2 at 1.19
Sesame Sticks 2 at 2.89
Pita Chips 2 at 1.99
Hamburger buns 4 at .85
Peanut Butter Wafers 4 at 1.39
Green Onions .89
Deli Rolls 2 1.89
Honey roasted peanuts 2 at 1.89
Cashews 4.79
Spinach .99
Romaine Hearts 1.99
Pecan pie 4.99
Pumpkin pie 2 at 5.99
Sam's.. For the groceries we spent 219.03
Sparkling Ice 14.64
Saltines 5.97
Chicken Tenders 3 at 12.98
Vinegar 4.62
Propel 9.98
Hamburger Patties 26.98
Bacon 3 lbs for 10.98, bought 2
Tator Tots 2 at 7.28
Walnuts 11.76
Colby Jack shredded cheese 11.52
Naan bread 2 at 4.98 (they were out of pita)
burrito size taco shells 6.28
Avocado 2 at 5.48
Hawaiian Rolls 4.98
HOagie Rolls 5.98
Vanilla 4.97
Avocado oil 7.99
Sweet Peppers 6.98
For the non groceries we spent 123.53
Paper Towels 18.24
Paper Plates 12.48
Laundry Soap 15.82
Diapers size 5 32.98
Diapers size 2 35.98
Walmart we spent 142.55 15.19 was non grocery so 127.36
I used the Walmart pickup.. I'm pretty satisfied with it. A lot more put together than it was a few months ago when we used it.
Water Flavor (Strawberry Kiwi) 2.48
Water flavor (Pineapple Coconut) 3.78
Water Flavor (Strawberry Watermelon) 3.98
Yogurt 16 at .60 each
Goat Cheese 3.98
White Cheddar Popcorn seasoning 1.98
Hair clip 4.23
Notebook 1.98
Water bottles 3 at 1.00 each
Baby Wipes 8.98
Chunky Peanut Butter 2 at 2.48
Sweet Golden Mustard BBQ Sauce 1.88
Wild Rice 3.34
Salmon 5.94
Tilapia 13.48
Almond M&Ms 2.98
Reese's chocolate covered pretzels 3.24
Hershey's chocolate covered pretzels 2 at 3.24
Dill Pickles 5.97
Maple Syrup 2 at 5.98
MOM Cereal Tootie Fruities 4.98
MOM Cereal Peanut Butter Cups 5.98
MOM Cereal Marshmallow Mateys 5.98
Wheat Flour 3.48
So On groceries we spent $593.71. That's $143.43 a week... or $24.74 a week per person.
All of the non grocery should last us more than one month except maybe the baby wipes.
Hopefully I didn't bore you too much. ;)
Have a great week.
~Tabitha
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Freezer Cooking
I've been dabbling in freezer cooking for awhile. It's an awesome way to have a convenience meal that's healthier and cheaper.
I have been doing pizzas for awhile, but I think I finally have it figured out (according to the family, I can't enjoy pizza right now). I tried thin crust for the first time this week, it prebaked ok, so we'll see how it turns out when it comes to eating.
I did cinnamon rolls and pizza this time. I was able to get both done and frozen within 2 hours thanks to my gadgets. My hubby bought me a stand mixer this year and I've had my bread maker for awhile. So I did the pizza dough in the mixer and the cinnamon roll dough in the bread maker. Although clearly I do need to add more flour to the pizza recipe I make. But I'll dabble in that..
Anyway. The pizza came from Jamerrill over at Large Family Table, the cinnamon rolls came from Money Saving Mom. With a little tweaking from advice from Amy at Plain and Not So Plain.
The pizza
I have been doing pizzas for awhile, but I think I finally have it figured out (according to the family, I can't enjoy pizza right now). I tried thin crust for the first time this week, it prebaked ok, so we'll see how it turns out when it comes to eating.
I did cinnamon rolls and pizza this time. I was able to get both done and frozen within 2 hours thanks to my gadgets. My hubby bought me a stand mixer this year and I've had my bread maker for awhile. So I did the pizza dough in the mixer and the cinnamon roll dough in the bread maker. Although clearly I do need to add more flour to the pizza recipe I make. But I'll dabble in that..
Anyway. The pizza came from Jamerrill over at Large Family Table, the cinnamon rolls came from Money Saving Mom. With a little tweaking from advice from Amy at Plain and Not So Plain.
The pizza
I made the dough and let it rise (recipe). This time I made a recipe and 1/2...so I probably did the math wrong which is why I needed (or is it kneaded? *snare drum*) to add flour at the end. Then I took half the dough and did one crust. As I'm trying to stretch the dough out by hand, I have the pizza stone in the oven warming up.. When I get the dough close to the size of my 16" stone, I pull the stone out, spray it with Pam (well.. off brand Pam), sprinkle on some corn meal and finish stretching the dough out to fit the pan. Prick it all around with a fork to keep out the air bubbles. Then sprinkle all over with garlic powder and dab 2 tablespoons of butter in small chunks all around the crust. Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes or until you see brown on top.
Cool completely. Now, to freeze it you have to get it off your stone... If you use aluminum pans, you can freeze those if you have enough. I saved the cardboard rounds from Walmart deli pizzas and use those. Transfer the crusts to whatever you are going to freeze them on and top with desired toppings.. After it's done, you have to mummify that pizza in saran wrap to keep out the frost build up. I do 4 layers with a label in there somewhere of what it is if it's going to be in the freezer more than a couple days. You want to freeze it as flat as possible so your toppings don't go everywhere, but after it's frozen you can stand it up on end to save space.
To cook.. set out a few hours before so it can thaw, then bake 425 for about 15-20 minutes.
The Cinnamon Rolls
Ok, so I thought I got this from Jamerrill, but apparently I got it from Money Saving Mom.
I let the bread machine do the work. Then roll it out. I melt a stick of butter (1/2 cup)and spread it on the dough. Sprinkle on sugar, brown sugar (then spread it out), then sprinkle on cinnamon. Roll it up and cut it. I got 22 rolls out.. Put them on parchment on a cookie sheet and flash froze for 20 minutes. (Now here is where the recipe from Plain and Not So Plain takes over.) Then they go in a ziploc bag. I will have to add some more toppings to the two end pieces when I bake them.
To bake, I pull out the night before and thaw to let them rise. They are ready to go in the morning. While they are baking I'm making this yummy caramel frosting, eggs and bacon. They take about half an hour in the oven so just perfect timing.
I am going to try something new, I saw on a YouTube video by Bon Apetit to use a muffin tin to make the cinnamon rolls rise better... so I'm going to try that this time.
So that's my freezer cooking I was able to get done. Enjoy!
~Tabitha
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Dealing with Sickness With a Big Family
Let me first say that part of this is going to be sarcastic... but part of this is actually how we deal with sickness.. which.. isn't all that well.
Having a big family, germs spread fast... Exponentially fast.. Almost faster than the "I'm bored bug" or the "I'm hungry bug"... (cue snare drum)
It seems like no matter what I do, we're sick ALL THE TIME.
It dawned on me watching everybody through this bout of colds how different we all act when we are sick..
First off, we have Andrew. He's our 8 year old and the stereotypical male... Makes sounds like a dying animal whenever he gets sick. Now, I love my boy, but I am SSSOOOOO thankful he is beginning to understand the importance of staying in bed when sick.
Next comes Eva. She's 6 and our "typhoid Mary". Eva is a very touchy-feely person (drives me crazy), so she's always picking up germs, always patient zero in our house. Once Eva gets sick, I know we're all gonna get. She's also the person who MIGHT be sick for a total of 12 hours max...you know, just long enough to spread the germs. :/
Grace. Grace is four and still tries to deny when she's sick. She can be coughing so hard it sounds like she's going to throw up but "I'm fine mom!!"
Hannah. Hannah is 2 and has always been our cuddle bug. So much as a cough from getting a whiff of pepper and you'd best be cuddling that child. So you can imagine how she is when she's sick.
Poor little Elijah. He's so congested but there's only so much I can do to help him. Lots of cuddling happening with him so he can sleep.
Now onto the love of my life...The one I've been trying to figure out how to word this so I don't put him down... Because a wife shouldn't do that. Dennis. When it's just Dennis that's sick, or Dennis and one kid, I can handle that. I can deal with that. Just give me some extra chocolate and all's well with the world. When our own personal Typhoid Mary gives everyone else the germs, THEN daddy...and daddy is the last one to get sick. Oh boy. On comes the dreaded "man cold", much like the "man flu"-but it's a cold.. Now I do have to say this about my hubby-the worse the sickness, the better the patient my hubby makes. When his shingles flare up, you wouldn't know unless you were told. When he has a cold... Lord, give me patience to deal with this man. Now I also know that he is the last one to get sick so I'm exhausted from dealing with everybody else... But I have to confess, I'm having a hard time this go around. Some days, he's the stereotypical male "I coughed, the world must stop"... Some days I wouldn't know he's got a cold if it wasn't for the lower voice.
Now, I suppose since I'm telling you about everybody else.. I'd better add me into the mix. I guess you could say I'm the typical mamma... Or so I'm told... I keep going until I can't get off the couch... And when I can't get off the couch, hubby knows it's serious. I've been sick for nigh on a month now...Mastitis, sinus infection turned cold and now I think the sinus infection is back again... The only thing that got me down for a few days was mastitis. But between Elijah and every one else, I feel like I'm losing it a bit.
So..now onto the more serious part. What are we doing to help it?
Preventive. Lots, and lots of vitamins. Hubby and I take extra vitamin C and echinacea. The kids get their multi vitamins.
When we get sick.. I really try to stay away from the typical cold medicines, but if the kids can't sleep we give them some to calm the cough so they can sleep. During the day, I have eucalyptus, peppermint and Plant Therapy's Germ Fighter going on in the diffuser. The kids don't like my homemade chicken noodle soup...so that's usually out. :/ We of course wash hands and are continuously after the kids to not cough or sneeze in each other's faces... Especially little miss Eva. We also take extra vitamins when we are sick.. Right now we have elderberry syrup so I've been dolling that out..but it's almost gone. I feel like there's more I could be doing, but I have no idea what.
Have a good week!
~Tabitha
Having a big family, germs spread fast... Exponentially fast.. Almost faster than the "I'm bored bug" or the "I'm hungry bug"... (cue snare drum)
It seems like no matter what I do, we're sick ALL THE TIME.
It dawned on me watching everybody through this bout of colds how different we all act when we are sick..
First off, we have Andrew. He's our 8 year old and the stereotypical male... Makes sounds like a dying animal whenever he gets sick. Now, I love my boy, but I am SSSOOOOO thankful he is beginning to understand the importance of staying in bed when sick.
Next comes Eva. She's 6 and our "typhoid Mary". Eva is a very touchy-feely person (drives me crazy), so she's always picking up germs, always patient zero in our house. Once Eva gets sick, I know we're all gonna get. She's also the person who MIGHT be sick for a total of 12 hours max...you know, just long enough to spread the germs. :/
Grace. Grace is four and still tries to deny when she's sick. She can be coughing so hard it sounds like she's going to throw up but "I'm fine mom!!"
Hannah. Hannah is 2 and has always been our cuddle bug. So much as a cough from getting a whiff of pepper and you'd best be cuddling that child. So you can imagine how she is when she's sick.
Poor little Elijah. He's so congested but there's only so much I can do to help him. Lots of cuddling happening with him so he can sleep.
Now onto the love of my life...The one I've been trying to figure out how to word this so I don't put him down... Because a wife shouldn't do that. Dennis. When it's just Dennis that's sick, or Dennis and one kid, I can handle that. I can deal with that. Just give me some extra chocolate and all's well with the world. When our own personal Typhoid Mary gives everyone else the germs, THEN daddy...and daddy is the last one to get sick. Oh boy. On comes the dreaded "man cold", much like the "man flu"-but it's a cold.. Now I do have to say this about my hubby-the worse the sickness, the better the patient my hubby makes. When his shingles flare up, you wouldn't know unless you were told. When he has a cold... Lord, give me patience to deal with this man. Now I also know that he is the last one to get sick so I'm exhausted from dealing with everybody else... But I have to confess, I'm having a hard time this go around. Some days, he's the stereotypical male "I coughed, the world must stop"... Some days I wouldn't know he's got a cold if it wasn't for the lower voice.
Now, I suppose since I'm telling you about everybody else.. I'd better add me into the mix. I guess you could say I'm the typical mamma... Or so I'm told... I keep going until I can't get off the couch... And when I can't get off the couch, hubby knows it's serious. I've been sick for nigh on a month now...Mastitis, sinus infection turned cold and now I think the sinus infection is back again... The only thing that got me down for a few days was mastitis. But between Elijah and every one else, I feel like I'm losing it a bit.
So..now onto the more serious part. What are we doing to help it?
Preventive. Lots, and lots of vitamins. Hubby and I take extra vitamin C and echinacea. The kids get their multi vitamins.
When we get sick.. I really try to stay away from the typical cold medicines, but if the kids can't sleep we give them some to calm the cough so they can sleep. During the day, I have eucalyptus, peppermint and Plant Therapy's Germ Fighter going on in the diffuser. The kids don't like my homemade chicken noodle soup...so that's usually out. :/ We of course wash hands and are continuously after the kids to not cough or sneeze in each other's faces... Especially little miss Eva. We also take extra vitamins when we are sick.. Right now we have elderberry syrup so I've been dolling that out..but it's almost gone. I feel like there's more I could be doing, but I have no idea what.
Have a good week!
~Tabitha
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Grocery Shopping and Meal Planning for November/December
I had my meal plan all made with some favorites.....then I looked at the sale ads. And one of the grocery stores had a fairly good meat bundle... Now, it is a sale for the meats they have in the bundle... but it's still the amount we spend on meat a month.. so it's just some different things. So.... I re-made my meal plan.
Thanksgiving Dinner... we plan on ham with pineapple slices (because my hubby is weird), shrimp (because it's coming in the meat deal), sweet potatoes (because I can, and they will be candied), corn, broccoli, Hawaiian rolls, black beans and rice, pumpkin pie and pecan pie.
We are also making a pan of sweet potatoes for a potluck... Needless to say, Thanksgiving week my hands will be orange.
Lunches, breakfasts, kids' lunches... yeah.. we're boring there. Nothing is changing. Chicken Sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets.
For dinners.. To make sure I could make the amount of meat we'll be getting work for the entire month, I went on Pinterest... We're getting 2 roasts.... so BBQ and tacos.. Not in the same meal lol. That's AT LEAST 4 meals... along with leftovers for lunch-and I should be able to eat it all WOOHOO.
Anyway.. It's pizzageddon this month at our house..
Pizza on Wednesdays and Sundays..
Chicken fajitas
Crunch wraps
Chili
Ham and potato casserole (I make this every year when we get tired of ham leftovers.. super yummy)
Swedish Meatballs
BBQ Pork
BBQ Beef
Tacos carnitas with pork and beef (I'll pull the meat out before I put the bbq seasoning on it)
Chicken parmesan bake
Pork chops
The Shopping (cue Jaws music... because that's what it feels like with 5 kids in grocery stores)
A friend told me about a wholesale grocery outlet about 90 minutes away from us.. so we took a drive and went to check them out. I was not prepared. Not at all. And I'm currently kicking myself repeatedly for not picking up more... However, we spent $70 on stuff that would have cost us about $200 at Walmart.
6 pounds of ground beef for $11.40
Tator Tots (looking at the receipt.. not a great price.. I remembered the Sam's price wrong)
Chicken nuggets $2.50 a bag (those bags at Walmart that are normally $10)
Cafe Bustelo K Cups $3.50 for an 8 pack
~Now, those were the most expensive thing we picked up~
Cocoa Rice krispie treats 2
fruit snacks
fiber one bars
fig bars
Lemonade (64 oz jugs for $.90)
zero bars
Hershey's Popped Snack Mix 2 (oh my goodness!! THE YUMMINESS)
Hershey's Baking Chips 2
Halls Breezers 2
Crispy Wheat Crackers
Kraft Mayo (32 oz for 1.00!!)
Mayo 2
Texas BBQ Sauce (normally $4, paid $1.50)
Cream of Mushroom soup 2
Torani Caramel Syrup
refried beans 2
water flavor 2
Cold brew coffee .25 each, we got 4
cold brew coffee (a different brand) .50 bought 2
Now, I fully know if I had my wits about me I would have been better prepared and had given Dennis a list of things to look for.... But I wasn't that prepared and I'm KICKING myself for it. We are definitely going back next month... But after that it might be every other month simply because it's a long drive and an extra weekend. Also keep in mind if you're a stickler for expiration dates, stores like this are not for you.
So... $70 for S&E Distributing..
Fareway
We were careful about what we picked up at Fareway because we always seem to go over...no matter what we do... So we only picked up what was on sale.
$60 meat bundle
A 12 lb turkey we paid $4 for after the discount from spending the money on meat.
Yogurt was only $.50 a container instead of $.65
Steamable vegetables, 12 oz, were $.68.
We had a coupon for the yogurt (YAY, they took store a printed at home coupon)...so we saved $14.36. We spent $81.42.
Sam's
Kleenex was sale at Sam's, along with Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.. You know I can't pass up a chance to not make cinnamon rolls. lol We grabbed a bunch of tortilla shells and hoagie rolls to help eat all the roast.. Along with the Hawaiian Rolls to go with Thanksgiving Dinner.. because those are YUMMY. Instant Savings saved us $6.75. We spent $204.40
Aldi
Not much different at Aldi. We grabbed our Thanksgiving pies there (because I have two shallow pie pans, neither one with a lid...) $5.99 for an 8 inch pumpkin and $4.99 for a 6 inch pecan. Hamburger buns were $.85 for a 8 pack... I grabbed unsweetened almond milk to make maple lattes (SO GOOD). We spent $148.98.
And Walmart
Can't avoid Walmart can we?
Now, to use the Savings Catcher you have to use Walmart pay... So.. kind of a pain, but the app does go through a lot faster than a card.. Also, you don't get a paper receipt... You can weight that on the pro/con scale yourself.
Original Cool Whip-for the pies!! $1
Ready Whip...One almond one coconut.. So I can have some. $3.38 each
We needed diapers and wipes (we usually use cloth, but the ladies in the nursery appreciate the disposable and it's nice to have a break from the cloth diaper laundry). We spent $188.73.
So complete total.. $693.53 We spent $134.01 on household goods. So.. $559.52 on groceries for 5 weeks. $111.90 per week.. or $18.65 per person in the house (6 of us eating food) per week.
So.. Not too bad.
Now. Ever wonder was $600 of groceries look like?
Now you don't need to wonder.
Have a great week!
~Tabitha
Thanksgiving Dinner... we plan on ham with pineapple slices (because my hubby is weird), shrimp (because it's coming in the meat deal), sweet potatoes (because I can, and they will be candied), corn, broccoli, Hawaiian rolls, black beans and rice, pumpkin pie and pecan pie.
We are also making a pan of sweet potatoes for a potluck... Needless to say, Thanksgiving week my hands will be orange.
Lunches, breakfasts, kids' lunches... yeah.. we're boring there. Nothing is changing. Chicken Sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets.
For dinners.. To make sure I could make the amount of meat we'll be getting work for the entire month, I went on Pinterest... We're getting 2 roasts.... so BBQ and tacos.. Not in the same meal lol. That's AT LEAST 4 meals... along with leftovers for lunch-and I should be able to eat it all WOOHOO.
Anyway.. It's pizzageddon this month at our house..
Pizza on Wednesdays and Sundays..
Chicken fajitas
Crunch wraps
Chili
Ham and potato casserole (I make this every year when we get tired of ham leftovers.. super yummy)
Swedish Meatballs
BBQ Pork
BBQ Beef
Tacos carnitas with pork and beef (I'll pull the meat out before I put the bbq seasoning on it)
Chicken parmesan bake
Pork chops
The Shopping (cue Jaws music... because that's what it feels like with 5 kids in grocery stores)
A friend told me about a wholesale grocery outlet about 90 minutes away from us.. so we took a drive and went to check them out. I was not prepared. Not at all. And I'm currently kicking myself repeatedly for not picking up more... However, we spent $70 on stuff that would have cost us about $200 at Walmart.
6 pounds of ground beef for $11.40
Tator Tots (looking at the receipt.. not a great price.. I remembered the Sam's price wrong)
Chicken nuggets $2.50 a bag (those bags at Walmart that are normally $10)
Cafe Bustelo K Cups $3.50 for an 8 pack
~Now, those were the most expensive thing we picked up~
Cocoa Rice krispie treats 2
fruit snacks
fiber one bars
fig bars
Lemonade (64 oz jugs for $.90)
zero bars
Hershey's Popped Snack Mix 2 (oh my goodness!! THE YUMMINESS)
Hershey's Baking Chips 2
Halls Breezers 2
Crispy Wheat Crackers
Kraft Mayo (32 oz for 1.00!!)
Mayo 2
Texas BBQ Sauce (normally $4, paid $1.50)
Cream of Mushroom soup 2
Torani Caramel Syrup
refried beans 2
water flavor 2
Cold brew coffee .25 each, we got 4
cold brew coffee (a different brand) .50 bought 2
Now, I fully know if I had my wits about me I would have been better prepared and had given Dennis a list of things to look for.... But I wasn't that prepared and I'm KICKING myself for it. We are definitely going back next month... But after that it might be every other month simply because it's a long drive and an extra weekend. Also keep in mind if you're a stickler for expiration dates, stores like this are not for you.
So... $70 for S&E Distributing..
Fareway
We were careful about what we picked up at Fareway because we always seem to go over...no matter what we do... So we only picked up what was on sale.
$60 meat bundle
A 12 lb turkey we paid $4 for after the discount from spending the money on meat.
Yogurt was only $.50 a container instead of $.65
Steamable vegetables, 12 oz, were $.68.
We had a coupon for the yogurt (YAY, they took store a printed at home coupon)...so we saved $14.36. We spent $81.42.
Sam's
Kleenex was sale at Sam's, along with Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.. You know I can't pass up a chance to not make cinnamon rolls. lol We grabbed a bunch of tortilla shells and hoagie rolls to help eat all the roast.. Along with the Hawaiian Rolls to go with Thanksgiving Dinner.. because those are YUMMY. Instant Savings saved us $6.75. We spent $204.40
Aldi
Not much different at Aldi. We grabbed our Thanksgiving pies there (because I have two shallow pie pans, neither one with a lid...) $5.99 for an 8 inch pumpkin and $4.99 for a 6 inch pecan. Hamburger buns were $.85 for a 8 pack... I grabbed unsweetened almond milk to make maple lattes (SO GOOD). We spent $148.98.
And Walmart
Can't avoid Walmart can we?
Now, to use the Savings Catcher you have to use Walmart pay... So.. kind of a pain, but the app does go through a lot faster than a card.. Also, you don't get a paper receipt... You can weight that on the pro/con scale yourself.
Original Cool Whip-for the pies!! $1
Ready Whip...One almond one coconut.. So I can have some. $3.38 each
We needed diapers and wipes (we usually use cloth, but the ladies in the nursery appreciate the disposable and it's nice to have a break from the cloth diaper laundry). We spent $188.73.
So complete total.. $693.53 We spent $134.01 on household goods. So.. $559.52 on groceries for 5 weeks. $111.90 per week.. or $18.65 per person in the house (6 of us eating food) per week.
So.. Not too bad.
Now. Ever wonder was $600 of groceries look like?
Have a great week!
~Tabitha
Friday, October 26, 2018
Snack Mix
We've been doing sandwiches for Sunday lunches for a few months now... We decided to do trail mix with the sandwiches.
Right now I'm making two different trail mixes because mine has to be Elijah friendly... but I forgot to get a picture of mine...
Raisins 3.98
reese's covered pretzels 3.24
hershey covered pretzels 3.24
almond m&ms 2 4.86
Protein Granola 2.99
sesame sticks 2.89
banana chips 2.19
We also had walnuts, but we bought those last month so I don't have the price.
Raisins 3.98
reese's covered pretzels 3.24
hershey covered pretzels 3.24
almond m&ms 2 4.86
Protein Granola 2.99
sesame sticks 2.89
banana chips 2.19
$23.39 for that much.. Plus less than two dollars for the walnuts as the whole bag was only around $8.
So.. $4.16 for 6 people for one week of snacks to go with our sandwiches... Sure, chips are cheaper, but this has some healthy stuff to it instead of flavored potatoes and air fried in oil.
That's it for now.
Have a great week!
~Tabitha
Right now I'm making two different trail mixes because mine has to be Elijah friendly... but I forgot to get a picture of mine...
Raisins 3.98
reese's covered pretzels 3.24
hershey covered pretzels 3.24
almond m&ms 2 4.86
Protein Granola 2.99
sesame sticks 2.89
banana chips 2.19
We also had walnuts, but we bought those last month so I don't have the price.
 |
| So here's everything all ready to go.. The only thing I measured was the walnuts because the rest just gets the entire bag dumped in. |
 |
| We found this at Aldi. It's pretty good. |
 |
| We usually get plain sesame sticks, but we saw these and said "yum" |
I have to mix stage by stage or I have problems... I just don't have anything big enough to mix it all at once.
 |
| A few months ago we decided we wanted something different...but still sweet.. So upon looking at Aldi and then at Walmart, we found these yummy creations. |
 |
| Just keep mixing, just keep mixing, just keep mixing, mixing, mixing.. |
 |
| Whew! Done. |
 |
| All done and bagged... The kids get 1/4 cup each, Dennis gets a cup... and I get something minus the yummy pretzels. But at least I can have almond m&ms again! |
 |
| I was spotted by this little beauty. For some reason, watching me making snack mix is fun? |
So usually our snack mix changes from month to month.. but I think we've finally found a combo we like-at least for now... Apparently I added too many walnuts (oops).. Now, if you are keeping track of calories... well, this is definitely NOT low calorie friendly... BUT, for the most part, the majority is actually healthy for you. What I added:
6 cups of walnuts
12 oz (1 bag) banana chips
11 oz (1 bag) Protein Granola Oats & Honey
7.5 oz (1 bag) Honey Sesame Sticks
22 oz (1 small container) Sun Maid Raisins
2 bags 15.9 oz each almond m&m's
8.5 oz Reese's Dipped Pretzels
8.5 oz Cookies N Creme Dipped Pretzels
That gave us 13 1 cup servings... Or for us, 6 weeks of Sunday snack mix. As for the price..
reese's covered pretzels 3.24
hershey covered pretzels 3.24
almond m&ms 2 4.86
Protein Granola 2.99
sesame sticks 2.89
banana chips 2.19
$23.39 for that much.. Plus less than two dollars for the walnuts as the whole bag was only around $8.
So.. $4.16 for 6 people for one week of snacks to go with our sandwiches... Sure, chips are cheaper, but this has some healthy stuff to it instead of flavored potatoes and air fried in oil.
That's it for now.
Have a great week!
~Tabitha
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Grocery Shopping and Meal Planning October November
Is it nap time yet?
I have been trying to type this out for 4 days now, it's currently the 15th, we went shopping the 13th.. The baby is finally asleep for now so I'm taking advantage while I can. Now, let me tell you... I've got AT LEAST 8 loads of laundry to do... I don't want to think about how many dishes are out there.... but I just want to sit for a bit. My hubby is doing his school.. he's currently in an IT class and every sentence is WWAAAAYYY over my head. So here I sit... lol
Meal Planning.. Things are a bit different this month, because for some days I am planning more than one meal.. Because I can't eat cheese. So not only do I have food I can eat, but I am also making some extra snacks or freezer meals for me that are healthy and packed with protein.
We have a massive amount of apples we're trying to get through.
My plans for baking throughout the month... apple chips, granola, granola bars and lots of things for breakfast.
The meal plan seems really simple to me... but hey, we need simple some months.
Breakfast-eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, juice, coffee, breakfast burritos (from Plain and Not So Plain), waffles, monkey bread, apple crisp coffee cake.
Dennis' work lunches haven't changed since last month-chicken sandwiches, pickle, nutty bars and avocado.
The kids will rotate through mac and cheese, peanut butter and jelly and pancakes.
I'll rotate with breakfast burritos, tuna salad and salmon patties.
Saturday lunches we'll do hamburgers and tator tots.
Sunday lunches are sandwiches and trail mix.
Wednesdays are leftovers (maybe.. I do have a leftover day this months) or chicken strips and homemade fries.
Dinners
Chili (my hubby is excited for chili season)
Pineapple chicken and mashed potatoes
Ham and Hashbrown Casserole
Spasagna (a friend from church made this as an after baby meal-everybody loved it... but judging from the results of the ham casserole... they won't like it when I make it)
Chicken Fajitas
Pizza
Fish
Grilled Fajita Boats
Crunch Wraps
Teriyaki chicken and potatoes
swedish meatballs
Ok so shopping. Now I have to confess. We were doing GREAT budget wise until we got to Walmart. It's all Walmart's fault.
Elijah is getting a little better with the shopping... But he ate through...all the stores I think lol. Right now, mornings are his cluster feeding times lol, but thankfully he's light enough to feed and walk.
So. Sam's. Chicken, tator tots, sub bread, taco shells, bacon... Pretty much the usual food. Nothing special. We spent 219.57
Onto Aldi. We did pick up an extra, a pedal exerciser. When we were looking into exercise equipment last year, there wasn't anything in our price that could fit my husband's weight.. Ironic isn't it? One thing we did see was a little pedal exerciser you can put on the floor and use like a bike, or put on a table and exercise your arms. Most of what we were looking at was around $90... this one was $30. And both of us can use it. So we grabbed it... We also picked up some fun things for the kids-Danimal smoothies and cookie dough. Total at Aldi was 203.31, minus the 30 for the exercise machine, Makes food total 173.31.
Now I told you Walmart was the problem. But that's nothing new. We ggrabbed a few things to try since wehad a coupon... Chocolate whipped cream was one of those. We also had a coupon for free Raisin Bran with banana.. Sooo...non food items.. Hangars $2.88, Diapers 24.27, a infant to toddler rocker for Elijah 37.87, batteries 6.24, benefiber 19.87. $91.13 in non food.. There were some cleaning items in there-but I can't decipher the receipt. Supper was an 8ish dollar pizza and two salad kits 7.66 so 15.66...SO total at Walmart was 319.71. We had a gift card to help with that, coupons saved us 18.50 (that was before the 319)... Total out of pocket was 307.17. So after the non typical purchases, we spent 216.04.
We also made a stop by Dollar Tree this month.. Mostly miscellaneous things.. Coloring books, the big kids needed new coloring pencils, kleenex, I grabbed some Mr Cleaning sponges while we were there.. Little containers for our dip for our chicken (we use a few different things every time.. the kids got some sectioned trays just for meals like that... because we thought they'd like them and lotion because we couldn't find it at Walmart... We spent 23.43
Total for the month of food was $608.92. We're going to break that down by 7 people for the month because I'm eating more with the breastfeeding, that makes it $87 a person for the month... not that bad. We've certainly done worse.
Lots of cuddling going on today. Elijah hasn't slept that much unless he's on me today. So I'm slowing down and cuddling.
Have a great week!...or however long it is until I get another blog out lol.
~Tabitha
I have been trying to type this out for 4 days now, it's currently the 15th, we went shopping the 13th.. The baby is finally asleep for now so I'm taking advantage while I can. Now, let me tell you... I've got AT LEAST 8 loads of laundry to do... I don't want to think about how many dishes are out there.... but I just want to sit for a bit. My hubby is doing his school.. he's currently in an IT class and every sentence is WWAAAAYYY over my head. So here I sit... lol
Meal Planning.. Things are a bit different this month, because for some days I am planning more than one meal.. Because I can't eat cheese. So not only do I have food I can eat, but I am also making some extra snacks or freezer meals for me that are healthy and packed with protein.
We have a massive amount of apples we're trying to get through.
My plans for baking throughout the month... apple chips, granola, granola bars and lots of things for breakfast.
The meal plan seems really simple to me... but hey, we need simple some months.
Breakfast-eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, juice, coffee, breakfast burritos (from Plain and Not So Plain), waffles, monkey bread, apple crisp coffee cake.
Dennis' work lunches haven't changed since last month-chicken sandwiches, pickle, nutty bars and avocado.
The kids will rotate through mac and cheese, peanut butter and jelly and pancakes.
I'll rotate with breakfast burritos, tuna salad and salmon patties.
Saturday lunches we'll do hamburgers and tator tots.
Sunday lunches are sandwiches and trail mix.
Wednesdays are leftovers (maybe.. I do have a leftover day this months) or chicken strips and homemade fries.
Dinners
Chili (my hubby is excited for chili season)
Pineapple chicken and mashed potatoes
Ham and Hashbrown Casserole
Spasagna (a friend from church made this as an after baby meal-everybody loved it... but judging from the results of the ham casserole... they won't like it when I make it)
Chicken Fajitas
Pizza
Fish
Grilled Fajita Boats
Crunch Wraps
Teriyaki chicken and potatoes
swedish meatballs
Ok so shopping. Now I have to confess. We were doing GREAT budget wise until we got to Walmart. It's all Walmart's fault.
Elijah is getting a little better with the shopping... But he ate through...all the stores I think lol. Right now, mornings are his cluster feeding times lol, but thankfully he's light enough to feed and walk.
So. Sam's. Chicken, tator tots, sub bread, taco shells, bacon... Pretty much the usual food. Nothing special. We spent 219.57
Onto Aldi. We did pick up an extra, a pedal exerciser. When we were looking into exercise equipment last year, there wasn't anything in our price that could fit my husband's weight.. Ironic isn't it? One thing we did see was a little pedal exerciser you can put on the floor and use like a bike, or put on a table and exercise your arms. Most of what we were looking at was around $90... this one was $30. And both of us can use it. So we grabbed it... We also picked up some fun things for the kids-Danimal smoothies and cookie dough. Total at Aldi was 203.31, minus the 30 for the exercise machine, Makes food total 173.31.
Now I told you Walmart was the problem. But that's nothing new. We ggrabbed a few things to try since wehad a coupon... Chocolate whipped cream was one of those. We also had a coupon for free Raisin Bran with banana.. Sooo...non food items.. Hangars $2.88, Diapers 24.27, a infant to toddler rocker for Elijah 37.87, batteries 6.24, benefiber 19.87. $91.13 in non food.. There were some cleaning items in there-but I can't decipher the receipt. Supper was an 8ish dollar pizza and two salad kits 7.66 so 15.66...SO total at Walmart was 319.71. We had a gift card to help with that, coupons saved us 18.50 (that was before the 319)... Total out of pocket was 307.17. So after the non typical purchases, we spent 216.04.
We also made a stop by Dollar Tree this month.. Mostly miscellaneous things.. Coloring books, the big kids needed new coloring pencils, kleenex, I grabbed some Mr Cleaning sponges while we were there.. Little containers for our dip for our chicken (we use a few different things every time.. the kids got some sectioned trays just for meals like that... because we thought they'd like them and lotion because we couldn't find it at Walmart... We spent 23.43
Total for the month of food was $608.92. We're going to break that down by 7 people for the month because I'm eating more with the breastfeeding, that makes it $87 a person for the month... not that bad. We've certainly done worse.
Lots of cuddling going on today. Elijah hasn't slept that much unless he's on me today. So I'm slowing down and cuddling.
Have a great week!...or however long it is until I get another blog out lol.
~Tabitha
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)