Tag: what we eat

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Every Day

Meal Planning

I never meal planned. I would just look in the pantry or freezer and determine what meat I would cook that night and add sides to it.

But in the past 30 years, I have come to enjoy meal planning. I do it on Saturday night for the following week. Before I even think about a meal, I check my calendar to see what appointments we have for the week and when. Then I plan my meals around those things. For example, I had a long dentist appointment yesterday and a long day out of the house so we went out to dinner. We hadn’t been out in well over a month so it was a treat. When I had kids at home, we planned meals around their activities. They played sports in junior high and high school so my crock pot got used a lot.


On Saturday night, I ask Hubby if there is anything special that he would like to eat this coming week. Sometimes, he will make a suggestion and sometimes he won’t.

Then I come up with 6-7 meals for dinners that I will make during the week. Each week I try to have at least one meatless meal. Because I knew we were going out to dinner last night, I penciled that in for Tuesday night. Next I checked my pantries, refrigerator, and freezers to see if I had the ingredients for those meals. I had all the ingredients this week so I needed no food at the grocery store to make them. If I did need an ingredient, I would put it on my grocery list. However I did shop for a few things this week. I purchased the liquid dish detergent pictured above at Walmart for $ 5.96(stockpiling for the winter). It is the cheapest dish detergent that we like. So I just buy it and pour it into a smaller bottle.  I also went to Dollar Tree and picked up 6 packages of Jennifer’s Garden Spring Rolls for a $1.00 each. We rarely buy food at Dollar Tree but when I find something we really like, I stock on it. When I saw these a while ago, I purchased one package to try. They are vegetable spring rolls. I deep fry them or air fry them.  They are delicious! My store doesn’t always have them so when I see them I snag a bunch. They will make a nice snack on Sundays during football season. I also picked up 2 lbs. of butter for $ 2.36 each at Aldi’s.

Here is our menu this week:


Sunday – Homemade chicken vegetable soup, crackers with butter
Monday – A repeat of Sunday night
Tuesday – Dinner out
Wednesday – Chicken with Orange Sauce on rice, green beans
Thursday – Hubby’s meat chili on rice, tomatoes, and cucumbers
Friday – A repeat of Thursday night
Saturday – Meatless spaghetti, side salad


I find that meal planning saves us money because our leftovers get eaten and I can work food that needs(think produce) to be used into our meals. We have very little waste in this house.

We always have many choices of breakfast food in the house – cold and hot cereal, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham slices and I make pancakes, waffles, various muffins and quick breads. This week I have been eating a bowl of plain yogurt, fresh blueberries, and granola sprinkled on top for breakfast every day. It’s easy to grab what we feel like eating when we get up.  Lunches are usually sandwiches, peanut butter on English muffins, salads, fruit, cheese and crackers or leftovers. Sometimes we even skip lunch if we know that we are having a heavier meal like stew for dinner.


So if you haven’t tried to meal plan at least your dinners, give it a try. It only takes a few minutes to do. We save money not running for takeout or going out to dinner two or three nights a week because I forgot to thaw something or I don’t know what to make. I keep my menu on the side of the fridge so we always know what we are having that day.

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Every Day

Cutting The Grocery Bill

The most expensive grocery item that I buy is meat. Hence when I want to cut back on this bill, I look for great sales. One of those “WOW” sales was in my Sunday flyer this week. It also said that the quantity was limited and the sale started on Wednesday.

Since sales like this don’t last long in my markets, I made sure that I was at the store when it opened at 9AM. Many times I have missed out because the sale item is gone the first hour. There were about 12 people waiting in a line outside the store for it to open.  I hightailed it to where I knew the chickens would be. 

These were roasting chickens that were on sale at Aldi’s for $ .79 a lb. I got 6 of them for roasting in the autumn months. They should last us until turkeys go on sale in November.

I had 20 lbs. of chicken that I purchased early spring but it is now all gone. So I was waiting for a good price to stock up. I love the smell of chickens roasting in the oven. Since my oven is a convection oven they don’t take as long to roast as a regular gas oven.  So that saves me about 25% of the energy.

Plus there are only two of us and I can get 5 meals out of each of them especially if I make chicken rice soup.  We usually have a roast chicken dinner for the first meal. Then some kind of chicken casserole that will last us two days. Then if I make soup, we have that two nights and sometimes we have leftovers for lunch. That is why they call them “rubber chickens” because they stretch.   


I will be mentoring two people who have asked me to starting in September not individually but by blogging. Today’s advice is just a little sample. That way everyone can benefit from my advice. And since I don’t put ads up the advice is free of charge. Use what you can and pass over what you can’t.


One of the things I want to do is teach these people how to shop on the cheap by cooking from scratch. The main component of this is buying when things are at rock bottom prices. If you track when prices are at their lowest during the year, you will know what time of year to buy any item. Turkeys will hopefully be under a $1.00 per lb. this Thanksgiving season. These past two weeks I have seen my lowest prices on pork chops at $ 1.49 so I purchased 10 lbs.


This chicken has never been this low at $ .79 a lb. in my area. So if you need chicken and have an Aldi’s, stock up. You can do what I do by roasting it and making a # of meals. Or you can cut the roaster up into parts – breasts, legs, thighs, wings, and use the back meat and little bits left on the bone for soup. This is a whole lot cheaper than spending $1.99 a lb. for chicken breasts when they are on sale. 

BTW, my Top’s and my Dollar General already have their Halloween decorations and candy out and we are only half way through August. I find it kind of ridiculous! This and Christmas decorating get earlier every year. I am planning on staying out of the stores as much as possible. So I will just ignore all of it.

Tonight we are going to try the jarred Tikka Masala, with chicken and peppers, that I purchased to see if we even like it. It we do, I will make it from scratch and put it in our menu rotation. I will let you know what we think.

Till I post again, have a wonderful end of August!  
  

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Every Day

So Many Things Going On

It’s been a busy week and it seems to be getting busier. Yesterday, I went and picked up my Zaycon Fresh chicken order. I was so impressed at how organized they were.

I went down about 1/2 hour early because my pickup was at 5:00PM which is the middle of rush hour here and it was a 40 mile+ round trip. Before I left I set up the food saver and bags, cutting board, and all the bowls that we would need.

When I got there, I found that they were all set up early. I pulled up to the tractor trailer truck and gave a man my name. They put the 40 lbs. of chicken in my trunk and I was on my way home. I had put a large blanket on the carpet in my trunk in case anything leaked but it wasn’t necessary. The chicken was packed in a heavy duty cardboard box and inside was a huge heavy plastic bag. Inside that were 4 bags each with 10 lbs. of chicken. I kept this box because it has a nice cover, was very clean inside, and will work perfectly for storage in our basement. 

On the way home, I stopped and picked up Subway subs so that we could eat sometime before or after we got all of the chicken prepared. Being it was dinnertime, we were hungry.

Hubby put all of the chicken on a tray in the refrigerator and then we ate. Then I started draining a bag of chicken. It was my job to trim the chicken and then Hubby food savered it all. It only took us about an hour and a half to get it all done and in the freezer. Lastly, I sanitized the kitchen and all of the utensils we used. 


As you can see in the picture at the beginning of this post, it fit beautifully in the freezer with lots of room leftover. This morning I will get it into a larger bag so that I can easily find it when I need it. We need to use up the 14 lbs. that we already had first though.

I have to thank my DIL for helping me out by telling me how my son did up all of their chicken last week. Her tips really helped us. She also said they ate some last week and it was good.

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you how big the chicken breasts are. They are huge. Hubby decided to only put one in a bag after doing a few with two. They are more than big enough for a meal for two of us. I had very little trimming to do. No more than when I buy it at the market. I think this chicken should last us at least 6 months, if not more. 

The chicken cost me $ .79 a lb. with the use of a coupon code. I don’t think I have paid that price in at least 40 years. Our on sale price here is $2.00 a lb. The total was $ 31.60 and was taken out of my grocery budget of $ 75.00 a week. You can see from prior posts that I don’t use all of my grocery budget each week so that I can save for big orders like this. I have 20 lbs. wild Argentine red shrimp coming in July. 

With the chicken and shrimp orders and hopefully getting a great price on ground beef and steaks, we should be set for the entire spring, summer and fall. Of course, I always have to pick up bacon and sausage because of our Sunday family breakfasts.


Once we have eaten some of the chicken, I will let you know how we like it. If it is good, we will continue to purchase our chicken this way if the price is right.

The other day I cooked the last turkey in our freezer that we purchased at a rock bottom price last Thanksgiving. I don’t like heating up my house once it starts getting warm outside which should be soon. That is when the grilling begins. We have been enjoying all of the leftovers and I will make turkey soup today. I usually put rice in it but Hubby has requested noodles this time. 


Today will also be grocery shopping day. I will post my trip tomorrow. I don’t need that much.

Have any of you purchased chicken from Zaycon Fresh? Have you purchased any other meat or seafood item from them? I would love to hear of your experiences.

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Every Day

How Is Your Sunday Going?

Mine is wonderful! It is a beautiful cold, sunny day. I was up at the crack of dawn this morning enjoying my coffee and then going out to run errands while everyone else was sleeping. Seriously there was no one on the roads. 

I stopped at Top’s to fill my gasoline tank up using my $ .60 per gallon discount paying $ 2.08 a gallon. I ran into the market just to get a Buffalo News so that I would have an extra set of inserts.

Then it was off to Rite Aid to pick up a prescription and a 100 ct. bottle of Tylenol on sale for $ 9.03 and  I used my $ 8.00 RA Bonus Cash that was loaded to my card to defray the cost to $ 1.03. 

So I spent $ 4.03 including the newspaper out of my  $ 75.00 grocery money so far this week.

Last stop was at Burger King to purchase 2 Sausage, Egg and Cheese Croissan’wiches and 2 Hash Browns. I had a BK gift card in my wallet that I thought only had a couple of dollars on it. It paid for breakfast and still has $ 9.77 for next time. That made me happy!

After breakfast I had to quickly get my beef eye round roast into the crock pot along with some onion, beef broth, and an au jus packet. I will be cooking that all day to have sliced beef on a weck for dinner. I have made this recipe before and Hubby loves it. It is not very appetizing looking right now so I will take a picture after it cooks.

Then I checked my e-mail and did some computer work, one of which is this blog, while also watching the soccer on TV. 

So far so good. Now it is time to re-organize the stuff under my kitchen sink. I want less under there and more in my stockpile. I just need the essentials. So I am off to do that.

Here is the results from my organizing under my sink. Nice and neat and simplified. All I have to do is put the recycle bucket back on the left hand side in front of my grease jar. Right now it is soaking.


The rest of the afternoon was spent watching a few You Tube videos.

Dinner turned out to be delicious. Here is one of the beef on a weck that we had. 

The au jus that you see on the roll was so scrumptious. I have a crock pot full because I cooked the eye round roast in it. Eye round is a tough meat so it needs cooking in the crock pot to tenderize it. It was melt in our mouth good.  

The au jus is so good that I am going to use it for the base of a crock pot beef barley soup for tomorrow night’s dinner. Hubby and I will team up tomorrow morning to make that from scratch.


I am tired tonight. I feel like I am in a fog. Perhaps the daylight saving time is affecting me. So I am off to bed early.


Did you all have a good day?

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Every Day

The Best Thing I Have Ever Purchased at Aldi’s

Someone told me how good the Never Any Apple Chicken Sausage at Aldi’s is. So I bought three packages this week. It sells at my Aldi’s for $ 2.99 a package. One package makes enough in this dish that we had for dinner tonight to give us some leftover. Sorry that I didn’t take a picture before we ate but the leftovers will have to suffice. 

The chicken is already cooked and just needs to be warmed up. I sliced it up and cooked it right in the pan with fresh apple slices and cranberries. I added a little butter and just a touch of chicken broth to cook the fruit. These sausages have such a wonderful apple flavor. We both loved them. So I thank my friend for telling me about them. They will be on our menu regularly.

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Every Day

A Busy Day

It is so cold here that almost everyone in my neighborhood is hibernating. The temperature when I went out early this morning was  12 degrees. It is now 20. But it feels much colder than that with winds blowing 30-40 miles an hour. The blowing snow was a hazard when I was out driving. 

I had to go out to pick up Hubby’s medicine which cost  $ 3.68.  It had been sitting in the drugstore since last Friday when it was ordered. I was lucky to get out of my driveway because Hubby has been sick so the snow has been piling up since Thursday. So I drove a little over 7 miles to go to the drugstore and back. We had not used any gasoline yesterday.

I had planned on going to the market but after looking at the ads, I decided there was nothing that I really needed today.

So I came home and did some organizing after lunch. Lunch everyday is usually a salad with whatever veggies we have in the fridge at the moment. Today it was spring greens, onions and peppers with a little lite Italian dressing. 

I was tired of my coupons inserts, binder, and ads being either in the closet in the master bedroom suite (where they were stored) or on the kitchen counter where I would cut what I needed from the inserts. My computer is on my kitchen desk and I needed a place for them that I could quickly grab it all and make my grocery list and cut my coupons. So I emptied the two cupboards to the right of my desk. They have built in pull outs. That is where they are stored now. I can pull out what I need without even getting up from my chair.  In the basket, I have this week’s ads, my coupon inserts in a pile filed by date so that I can quickly find the one I need at the moment, and my coupon binder and envelopes that I put this week’s grocery coupons in. My planner with my menu and grocery list is always on the counter to the right of my computer. This will work beautifully for me. BTW, my inserts and coupons are all up to date. All the expired were tossed last Saturday.

I also keep my Entertainment Book and planner stickers in this pull out so they are handy for me. 

In the cupboard next to it in the pullout, I keep the scissors I need to cut coupons and other office related supplies that I use.  

While I was working in this area, I decided to clean out my desk drawer. So now everything is clean, neat and ready to be used efficiently. 

We have all of the energy efficient shades closed up tightly and the snakes on the bottom of the doors where they are needed. It has been very cold the last 10 days and is going to continue into next week. The weather service is saying that we will not get above 0 Thursday through Saturday. The next electric and gas bill will be horrendous but we have done all we can do. We have to stay warm.

Since I have everything I need for my trip, I doubt that I will go out again until I go to the airport this weekend for my Disney trip. I can’t wait to feel the warmth of the Florida sun on my face. So we will not be using much gas and most days will be spend free.

I pulled a package of ground chuck out of the freezer to thaw last night. Hubby and I will be having a tossed salad and a hamburger with cheese and carmelized onions for dinner. We rarely eat beef anymore but I was craving a hamburger and we have to use up what we have in the freezer.


Tonight Hubby and I will watch a movie on Netflix together. We just haven’t decided which one yet.

I hope you all are having a good and frugal day. Tomorrow I will be back with a frugal things post covering the last week or so. 

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Every Day

Errand Day

I usually run my errands on Thursday but I did them today since I seem to be a day ahead on everything this week. 

We needed just a few grocery items so I decided that Top’s was the best choice this week. They had bacon( bought 5), turkey pepperoni, yams, and eggs on sale that were all on my buy list. I also picked up a cottage cheese cup with a free store coupon. The lettuce and tomatoes were a necessity. I also purchased a 6 pack of Flying Bison Rusty Chain beer which is not in the picture. The total for all was $ 45.13 including tax and bottle deposits.

My next stop was at Super Walmart to pick up a Christmas gift that I had shipped to the store. I love how easy it is to get a pick up there. I have been doing some of the Christmas shopping already. I need to have it done by Thanksgiving so my family can take it home with them. Shipping has gotten very expensive. 

Then I went to the library which has become a regular stop every 8-9 days. I borrowed 3 more James Patterson books. I am able to read one book in a about 3 – 4 hours depending on interruptions. I am enjoying his Murder Club series but I am reading it backwards. The reason is that the newest books are hard to come by so when I see them, I grab them.

Last stop was the drug store to pick up a prescription for Hubby. That cost us $ 50.00.

Dinner tonight is leftovers from last night. I made spaghetti and meatballs for Hubby. For me I made alfredo sauce with broccoli and chicken. I can’t eat red sauce so this a meal where I really have to cook two different meals. Most times I just eat spaghetti with butter. My leftovers are pictured.  
 

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Every Day

The End To A Very Crazy Busy Week

I know that a lot of you can’t wait every week for TGIF!  When you are retired and have a crazy busy week, you can’t wait for it to be over with and start a new week on Sunday.

I had so much anxiety this week because we had so many things to do or oversee. I don’t do well on a time schedule. I like setting and controlling my own day.

We started the week out going to a birthday party which was a lot of fun. Then the next morning I spent hours at the dentist getting some major work done.  As you all know, I hate going to the dentist. UGH! For some reason, I had an earache when I came home so I went to bed to rest.

Hubby went for a haircut the next day. Lately when Hubby goes to the barber, it is jammed packed. So he was gone a very long time waiting his turn. I was getting worried which again gave me anxiety. 

I got a surprise the same day. My son, DIL, and my grandchild in the Eastern part of the
state had this beautiful bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates
delivered by the local florist. This picture was taken today so it is 5 days old but doesn’t look too much different than the day it was delivered except for the  some of the missing lilies that bit the dust. Of course, I am enjoying the chocolates – one a day.

Later that day, I got a long distance telephone call from my sister and my anxiety disappeared for a while.

Realizing that Christmas is coming and Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away, I spent most of Wednesday out Christmas shopping. I like to have my gifts purchased early and then wrap them to go home with some of our family on Thanksgiving. I was exhausted when I got home but managed to cook a nice dinner as I had all week.

On Thursday we had workmen here all day that we kept an eye on. The landscape company that takes care of our yard all spring, summer and fall were here for their last appointment this year. They did their usual weeding and weed whacking but also cut down all of the perennial flowers, trimmed all of the bushes and trees cleaned up the beds and anything else we wanted done. The yards are now ready for winter. Then around dinnertime the company came who blows out the lines on our sprinkler system. So that took about an hour and is all done for the winter.

On Friday, we had to take the SUV to the tire place to have the snow tires put on for the winter. We went a little early this year because they gave us a 50% off coupon. Hence it only cost $30. instead of $ 60. for the changeover. Every dollar counts!

It was a long week and I was beat. And Hubby knew it so he asked me to thaw 2 lbs. of ground chuck. He said he would make dinner tonight. He made this delicious pot of chili that you see at the top of my blog. He also made a pot of rice in the new cooker that came this week. His chili is so yummy. It’s all meat. We will have it again the next couple of days and then freeze any that is left to put on hot dogs or use for a baked potato bar. 

I was very happy to eat this bowl of chili on rice for dinner. I even said don’t bother with a veggie tonight. He had enough to do and he gave me the day off so I definitely was happy eating just the chili and rice. 

I wanted to let you know that I have barely done any grocery shopping. I think I have picked up just 6 things that we needed since I purchased the 11 stock up onion soup mix. We are still eating down our freezers and pantries. The inventories that I did has really helped me with the menu planning.

Anyhow, I am so glad that this week is over with. I am looking forward to a new week tomorrow. You all know that my son and grandson come to breakfast every Sunday morning. Ninety percent of the time I cook a very large breakfast for us. I decided to give myself some grace tomorrow morning. So I purchased this assortment of muffins, donuts and coffee cake for our breakfast. I am frugal most of the time but because of that I can splurge on a luxury when I need to. It isn’t the healthiest but my grandson will be delighted and I will enjoy not having to cook.

Here’s to a great week for all of you too!