Skip to main content

meal plan wednesday… and further ramblings…

oh grocery shopping! i am so glad to be DONE with you for another week.

  • wednesday: pork roast; mashed potatoes'; corn
  • thursday: homemade mac & cheese; peas and carrots
  • friday: pizza; green beans
  • saturday: burgers; fries; carrots
  • sunday: egg-potato-bacon scrambles
  • monday: creamy italian chicken; noodles; salad
  • tuesday: pork roast sandwiches; fries; green beans

NEXT wednesday: leftovers!

thanks to the recent addition of sophie to our household, i had to buy dog food today. that kind of ticked me off. not because we have to feed her, but because 1) i have to squeeze that out of my grocery money somehow, and 2) safeway only sells the small bag of the kind she eats, which means it’s more expensive.  so i’m going to have to work that out somehow.  does anyone happen to know the cheapest place to get iams dog food?

this whole $100 weekly food budget is good, as far as keeping that spending under control, but the limited amount of cash i carry keeps me from taking advantage of some good sales. today, for example, the bread i buy was on sale, 2 for $5.  that’s a good deal, and this kind doesn’t go on sale very often. i only bought one loaf though, because i had to keep the rest of my list in mind. i find myself having to buy a smaller package of something, just to keep my #’s low, even though the bigger one is cheaper in the long run. so i need to look at that. i’m thinking it might be more advantageous to shop monthly, except for produce and buy bigger quantities. i’m also wanting to take a kid-free trip to costco, to have a look at the prices of things i buy regularly, and see if it’s a better deal to buy it there. i’ve never, in my life, paid attention to how much different things cost at the grocery store. i really have no idea what is a good deal and what isn’t. meat, for example. is meat cheaper at costco? what about diapers? when shane was a baby, i bought huggies at costco because it was convenient. when layla was a baby, there was no costco and no target, so i bought luvs at walmart. (i didn’t even consider luvs when shane was a baby because they had barney on them, and i wasn’t going there!) i’d save huggies or pampers coupons i got in the mail, but it was rarely worth it, because, even with the coupon, luvs were still cheaper. after we moved back here, i was thrilled to have costco again, but since dave was working at target at the time, it was still cheaper to get the luvs at target with his discount. so now we have no discount, and i’ve been buying the costco brand, which i’ve discovered is the same price as the huggies there, but i really don’t care which brand i buy because they’re basically identical. but i guess i need to price the ones at target again since i just got a bucketload of coupons in the mail. then i wonder if all this is really worth it. actually, with the weather getting nicer, i’m using our cloth diapers more and more. it’s just a stupid personal thing, but i hate using the cloth ones with pants because the covers we have make the fronts of the pants look really fat and stupid. i don’t mind the butt bulk, but front-side bulk is more than i can handle. i know, it’s stupid, but in the summer, i just have him run around in a shirt and a diaper, usually with no cover. so i guess the diaper debate is really irrelevant. hope you enjoyed reading it!  HA!

this is just me, embracing being poor! wish me luck!

Comments

  1. LizMay 13, 2009 at 4:07 PM

    I buy costco's frozen chicken breasts for $17 and their frozen alaskan salmon for somewhere around $20. Once a few months ago, I ran out of the costco chicken and just got some from Fred Meyer w/o looking at the price - $10 for 3 breasts! Holy crap! Needless to say, we only get costco's now - plus, it never seems to have gross parts which is a plus!
    I like costco diapers, and get them when I can - I get sticker shock though, so most of the time we get huggies. We loved Target brand until H started crawling, and the few times since we've used them it's been wasteful since they would tear, leak, etc so much - their side panels just don't have quite enough give I don't think.
    About prices at grocery stores - I never used to look either. I just would get what we liked and it was fine - until about 6 months ago, I had to just pick up a loaf of bread and I ran in, picked up our usual, and when it was rung up it was like $5.50 - holy crow! Now, I struggle, but have taught myself to look at other bread, etc for prices.... being a grown-up is so fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BrendaMay 13, 2009 at 4:49 PM

    Try a farm co op for dog food. There might even be one in Woodinville or maybe Bothell. I know there is one in Marysville. If that isn't an option, a place like Petsmart usually has decent prices on the premium dog food. I think Costco carries Iams too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LindseyMay 13, 2009 at 7:08 PM

    I have to run to Denny's Pet Store tomorrow, since we're OUT of Dog food too...poor girl is getting extra treats today! (BAD puppy mom, BAD!) We don't get Iams, Collie's have freakin' "sensitive stomachs" and she gets sick if she eats it...damn thing! We pay through the nose ($45 for 40#) for some fancy lamb and brown rice crap...if it wasn't for the mess with anything else, she'd get something cheaper...but SO not worth it!!! But luckily a 40# bag lasts her about a month and a half....anyway...I'll look and see what Iams is at Denny's and let you know!

    I have been wanting to buy meat at costco because it is cheaper...but since I would need to buy a freezer to store it in it won't pay off for awhile...we don't eat THAT much meat in this house! HA HA

    Good for you being budget minded, I'm always amazed at people who are that organized and can stay to a budget and meal plan like you...I try and always fail (mostly because I'm to lazy to cook what's planned for one night and it screws everything up!)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

all comments are moderated. unkind comments will be deleted.

you may like...

for my not-so-american friends

i didn't have an actual roll w/ the green plaid on it, but i found a refill and an empty roll in my junk drawer (yeah, i know, that should tell me something).  but even the empty one says 'scotch' on it.  there you go!  SCOTCH TAPE!
8 comments
read more »

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2!  i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical.  we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice.  allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before grilling. remove f
Post a Comment
read more »

tater tot casserole recipe

i realized i forgot to post this last week when we had it.  i actually like it a little better than the hash brown one, but both are good.  it’s VERY similar. once again, this is something i’ve made so many times that i just kind of wing it now, although i do have the recipe that kate sent to me after she made it for my family when micah was born. i like to keep the recipe because it has some little ‘britishisms’ throughout, just like kate! ;-) who, by the way, rocks, having called to check up on me the other evening when she saw that the power in our area was out AGAIN!  thanks kate, smooch smooch! but now i’m getting distracted… big surprise. here goes. you will need: 1 lb or so ground beef (or ground turkey) 1 chopped onion a bunch of veggies (kate’s recipe calls for a ‘tin’ of mixed veggies, but i use fresh carrots & celery if i’ve got’em, frozen beans, peas, corn, whatever).  maybe 2-3 cups. 1 can (or tin) of cream of something soup (i use celery usually
2 comments
read more »

the swimsuit rant

i’ll forewarn you that most averaged-sized women will probably not appreciate this post very much. i understand. i’ve been (either directly or indirectly) the object of various hatred more than once. i am not an average-sized woman. i’m only 5’1” on a good day, and i’ve never donated blood because most of the time (when not pregnant – and therefore not allowed), i don’t weigh enough to do so. i do not ‘diet’, so to speak, nor do i work out compulsively. i try to eat healthy food, for the most part, and i try not to sit on my butt all day. this is just the way i am. our current culture views me as ‘lucky’ to have this body type. whatever. a couple hundred years ago, people would have considered me ‘unhealthy’. i am what i am. i am small woman. as the Lord has seen fit, i am a small woman who has given birth to 3 children. as i see fit, i am a small woman who wishes to exercise a bit of modesty, even when swimming. unfortunately, the swimwear industry, seems to think that the only
3 comments
read more »

adjusting my attitude

this is something i tell shane to do all the time and i really needed to tell it to myself this morning.  although i go through phases where i'm diligent and consistent about getting up early and taking care of pertinent chores, getting dressed, etc. i've been REALLY bad lately.  and it's not just the christmas break thing because i've been throwing myself and the little kids into the car in our jammies to take shane to school for a while now.  it's something that's really been bugging me, but it's just so easy to sleep as long as possible and then turn on the tv for the kids while i drink coffee and surf the internet wake up for 3 hours a little while.  i am aware that i really need to have some sort of a schedule and i need to adhere to it. so after staying up past midnight reading a book about scheduling getting motivated, i vowed to get up early - before the kids - this morning and be all dressed and have some time to myself to take care of mornin
1 comment
read more »