Discount Grocery Shopping

I am still navigating the world of getting my phone and my computer to cooperate and talk to each other so I can stop taking paper lists to the store... 

On top of that, my printer decided to be a pain in the rear this morning and not print my list. So there's that.  

We made the trip to S&E this morning in Huron.  

$223 dollars later..

We have realized we need to pay a bit closer attention... They had candy on sale lol.  So... what did we get for $223.  

Orbit gum (4 of them!)
Lemon Juice
Ketchup-5
Raisin 6 packs-2 (gives us 3 snacks of raisins)
Hershey baking cocoa
Refried beans-3
Coffee Mate (not a deal, but we needed it)
Salsa
Baking Spray-3
Mustard
Belvita Breakfast Crackers-2
Reese's Popped Snacks-3
Ghirardelli Minis-3 ($1 a bag!)
Nestle Toll House Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips-12 for a total of $3!
Mayo-2 (Honey!, don't let me buy ANY MORE MAYO lol)
Maple Syrup (not too much of a deal)
Tomato Sauce 8 oz cans-8 for $2
Fruit Bars (like fig newton-type)-2
Twizzlers Minis
Breast Milk Storage Bags 
Lucky Charms-3
Skinny Girl Dark Chocolate ($1 a bag!)
2" 3 ring binder (questionable deal..)
Raisin Bran-3, $.50 a box!
Froot Loops
Mio 4-$1 a bottle... It's Strawberry Orange, but the kids love it.
Cafe Bustelo, 10c a can, so we grabbed all they had..17 cans I think
Tator Tots (definitely not a deal..but we needed it)
Lindt Lindow Chocolate ($1 a bag!)
Black Licorice Twizzlers
Baking Chips...various seasonal (Christmas) flavors.. 75c a bag
Cream soda $1 a can
Wheat flour 5lb for 1.50
White flour 5lb for 1.50
Pretzels $1.50 for 4 lbs!
Pinapple Coconut sparkling water.. (not a deal, but hubby wanted to try it)
Angus hot dogs
Cheese filled hot dogs (hot dogs were .75c a package, typically $4 each at Walmart)
hashbrowns (maybe a deal?.. the patties aren't what I typically buy and the bag isnt labeled for size)
Ranch $1 for 40 oz
Ground beef 85/15, 1.99 a lb, we grabbed 12 lbs
Juice, $1 a container, typically $2-$3 a container depending on store and brand. 


So.. adding it all about we would have spent around $300 in the store for it all.  

So yes.. We did get some junk, but it's a place we can go to get snacks we wouldn't have otherwise.. Things like the baking chips will last for months. The ground beef is enough to last for 2 months, same with tomato sauce and gum will last quite awhile.  

Grocery Shopping January

Honestly I'm a bit worried about totaling this up this month. My list seemed so much shorter.. but it feels like we spent more.  We weren't able to make it up to Huron this month, so I know we spent more on juice and canned goods.  

On a side note. Elijah did great.  He was happy and awake most of the time, so on that note it was easy. 

Sam's
We spent $325.29
Non food items $69.99  Batteries, Fish oil pills, Trash bags
Instant saver gave us $12.25 in coupons. 
Food we spent $259.57

Walmart
We spent $155.63
Supper was $26.63
Non food was $38.30 storage tote, heel balm, glade oils, furnace filter
On regular groceries we spent $90.70

Aldi
We spent $168.87

So on regular groceries we spent $584.86.  That's over 5 weeks this time, so $111.97 a week. Or $19.49 a week per person.  so I did do a little better this month than last month.  The batteries were a last minute expense and per battery were cheaper at Sam's.  The heel balm and storage tote were also last minute expenses.  The furnace filter was waaaaayyyy more than I thought it was going to be.  

We did pick up an extra at Aldi-dark chocolate and peppermint covered pretzels thins.. But those were $0.69 a bag and I grabbed 3 knowing the kids would want to try. They are good!!! We are getting points back on quite a few things through our apps, also.  

Have a good week!!

~Tabitha

Meal Planning For January/February

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

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

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 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

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

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