I like the idea of stocking up, even though the phrase bothers me because of the preposition at the end.
But you need to do your research.
Stock Up! Save! Low Prices! is all very well and good, IF it's a savings, IF it's things you usually use, IF they won't be wasted waiting for usage and IF you have room to store them.
I 'stocked up' on some tinned fish once upon a time, in roasted tomato sauce and spicy mustard sauce. The dog ended up eating most of it, because the kids wouldn't and I got tired of it. One of the Low Prices! displays featured canned goods at half again what I customarily pay for them. I have Save!ed boxed mixes (cornbread, biscuits) long enough for them to become inhabited and unusable. I think you know what I mean.
However, on a recent trip to the market (which we had to ourselves and managed to NOT buy Snowceries), there were items that appealed to me. For example, the boxed pasta at $.99 each- that's what I pay at the Aldi, and sometimes more for the fancy shapes like spirals and bow ties. I chose 2 each of 4 varieties- not angel hair, because the Aldi always has that, but the fancy word that means "little mustaches" and ziti and the fancy word that means "spiral". I bought several cans of stewed tomatoes. There were jars of red sauce for $.95 each. If it had been my usual brand (Priano, $2.79 at Aldi), I would have bought MANY jars, but it wasn't, so I limited myself to 3, in case they weren't very good. (They're not. Too sweet.) When I see Ragu displayed at 2/$6, I pass. On sale it's more expensive than my usual stuff, and the family doesn't like Ragu.
Another caution about Stocking Up: I tend to keep X cans of This, Y boxes of That, and Z frozen packages of The Other. BUT (it's a big but) if I get out of the house with the Meal Plan and a list of Out Ofs, and I did NOT check my stock first, I usually will buy all the needed ingredients for the meals on my Plan. I tend to end up with X + 4 cans of This, Y + 2 boxes of That, and Z - 1 frozen packages of The Other. For example, I use red beans very often. So I keep red beans in the house. I buy them whenever I think to. And they pile up. They pile up so much that I say to myself, "Self, stop buying red beans until you use most of these," and I do that, because sometimes I listen when I give myself advice. Then I forget that I have Used Most Of These, and I plan a meal that includes red beans. Like chili. And I find out when I'm about to put stuff in the crock pot that I'm down to ONE lonesome can of red beans and that's just not enough to make chili. I recently planned to make chicken pot pie (yeah, remember that?) and didn't, partly because even though I had a can of cream of chicken soup, I had no cans of chicken meat. Whoops. The other part, well, you remember. So yeah, Stocking Up can cut you both ways- if you usually have it, you may forget that you don't, and if you keep buying it, you'll soon be keeping it in your coat closet.
If you'd like to Stock Up, here are my Guidelines:
1. Know what you usually pay for your basics, so you can recognize a Real Bargain! from a "Real"! "Bargain"!, if you catch my meaning
2. Take Inventory. Even if you don't have Red Beans on your list for this week, try to notice whether you have some, and how many.
3. Do not believe your Labor Force when they say "we have some of That in the downstairs freezer" or "no, we don't have any of The Other, and need to buy some." They did not actually check, and (they'd deny it) their memories aren't that much better than yours. Try this: ask them when was the last time they changed their bedsheets. I bet you know, and they don't.
4. Keep a 'backup meal' on the shelves, for days when nobody (even you) wants what's on The Plan, or in case you didn't do Inventory, and find yourself without a crucial ingredient. My go-to is ravioli in a box and a jar of red sauce.
Happy Stocking, y'all!
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Monday, March 24, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
Meal Plans for the Non-Planner
Look, I hate planning things as much as the next guy, or maybe more. Because things are going to go all wonky anyway and nothing will go according to plan, so why even bother? Yeah. HOWEVER.
Even more, I hate the pressure of being stumped on the question of What Shall We Eat. HATE IT.
So I do meal plans so that I can have in the house ingredients for a week's worth of dinners. That's all. If things Go Sideways, I'm okay with that. The tuna in the cans will sit quietly for next week. The red sauce in the jars won't fuss about not being used on Thursday as I'd marked on my schedule. The veggies in the freezer won't storm out of the house in a huff, though maybe the chocolate chips did when I didn't make cookies as I'd planned. At any rate, I can't find them.
Everything else, though, remains pretty much where I put it. As far as meals other than dinner, I just need to remind myself to remember to replenish the oatmeal and eggs from time to time, as well as non-meal things like tea or Tang. I keep a running list on a magnetized pad on the fridge. Well, I MEAN to keep a running list on a magnetized pad on the fridge. What I mean is, I USED to have a magnetized pad on the fridge in order to keep a running list of things we ran out of (white vinegar, milk), things we needed to replenish (salsa, chicken broth, cream of mushroom soup, pasta) and things we wanted that we don't usually buy (sausage links, waffles, cake mix, lettuce). The pad has wandered away, as such things tend to do in my home.
This is an ongoing problem, a manifestation of the Too Muchness that stuffs itself into my Life. Those people who claim they 'have no life'? I wish they'd take some of mine, as I seem to have more than I can handle. I could whinge about this all day for a series of months, but even I'm tired of listening to me, so. One day, my home will be organized and tidy. Until then, I can at least make the food in the kitchen behave itself.
This week's shopping list:
White vinegar (you thought I was kidding? It's a cleaning supply.)
Eggs
Red sauce
Shredded moz cheese (remember my issue with spelling that word? ...I give up.)
Frozen mixed veggies
Frozen stir-fry veggies
Salmon
Carrots, loose if I can find them (I only ever use 2 or 3 carrots. The rest go limp, moldy or mushy.)
Onions
Ground turkey or turkey sausage
Italian loaf or maybe two
and a Wish List item is seaweed in some form.
Rough approximation of this week's Plan:
Sunday: Chicken stew in the crock pot and maybe noodles; I won't be home much on Sunday
Monday: CORN, or we might go out because it's Pugsley's birthday on Monday
Tuesday: Tuesday Surprise. I have no idea.
Wednesday: Tuna Melt or White Pasta or Salmon Cakes, depending on what I feel like cooking.
Thursday: Pugsley's Pasta Bake
Friday: Wednesday Salad and Soup (she wants to make borscht, but won't EAT borscht, so maybe not.)
Saturday: Burritos or one of the things I don't make on Wednesday.
So you see, my Plan, it's not Rules or anything. It's really more of a Guideline.
Even more, I hate the pressure of being stumped on the question of What Shall We Eat. HATE IT.
So I do meal plans so that I can have in the house ingredients for a week's worth of dinners. That's all. If things Go Sideways, I'm okay with that. The tuna in the cans will sit quietly for next week. The red sauce in the jars won't fuss about not being used on Thursday as I'd marked on my schedule. The veggies in the freezer won't storm out of the house in a huff, though maybe the chocolate chips did when I didn't make cookies as I'd planned. At any rate, I can't find them.
Everything else, though, remains pretty much where I put it. As far as meals other than dinner, I just need to remind myself to remember to replenish the oatmeal and eggs from time to time, as well as non-meal things like tea or Tang. I keep a running list on a magnetized pad on the fridge. Well, I MEAN to keep a running list on a magnetized pad on the fridge. What I mean is, I USED to have a magnetized pad on the fridge in order to keep a running list of things we ran out of (white vinegar, milk), things we needed to replenish (salsa, chicken broth, cream of mushroom soup, pasta) and things we wanted that we don't usually buy (sausage links, waffles, cake mix, lettuce). The pad has wandered away, as such things tend to do in my home.
This is an ongoing problem, a manifestation of the Too Muchness that stuffs itself into my Life. Those people who claim they 'have no life'? I wish they'd take some of mine, as I seem to have more than I can handle. I could whinge about this all day for a series of months, but even I'm tired of listening to me, so. One day, my home will be organized and tidy. Until then, I can at least make the food in the kitchen behave itself.
This week's shopping list:
White vinegar (you thought I was kidding? It's a cleaning supply.)
Eggs
Red sauce
Shredded moz cheese (remember my issue with spelling that word? ...I give up.)
Frozen mixed veggies
Frozen stir-fry veggies
Salmon
Carrots, loose if I can find them (I only ever use 2 or 3 carrots. The rest go limp, moldy or mushy.)
Onions
Ground turkey or turkey sausage
Italian loaf or maybe two
and a Wish List item is seaweed in some form.
Rough approximation of this week's Plan:
Sunday: Chicken stew in the crock pot and maybe noodles; I won't be home much on Sunday
Monday: CORN, or we might go out because it's Pugsley's birthday on Monday
Tuesday: Tuesday Surprise. I have no idea.
Wednesday: Tuna Melt or White Pasta or Salmon Cakes, depending on what I feel like cooking.
Thursday: Pugsley's Pasta Bake
Friday: Wednesday Salad and Soup (she wants to make borscht, but won't EAT borscht, so maybe not.)
Saturday: Burritos or one of the things I don't make on Wednesday.
So you see, my Plan, it's not Rules or anything. It's really more of a Guideline.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Because
Thursday
Hello, and welcome to Thursday.
I did Shoppings today instead of yesterday, because, well, Things. I went to Save-A-Lot, which I'd mistakenly remembered as being spelled Sav-A-Lot and therefore have been pronouncing it Salve-A-Lot, because. I don't holler Bill when Bill isn't around, and I don't pronounce a Silent E that isn't there. But it is there, after all. Whoops.
In many ways, S-A-L was competitive with the Aldi, and had different (better? mmmaybe. More variety of some types of items-brown rice!-, but no pesto at all, which was disappointing.) things on the shelves, more of much, but the checkout wasn't as pleasant as Aldi. More prolonged, and grumpier. The bag-it-yourself area was smaller and had a Butt Brush zone. However, it did open at 8 rather than 9, so I went just after dropping Pugs and Wednesday at the light rail station.
I bought (I'm pretty sure) all the things on the List, many of the things on the Wish, plus a few things not even on Wish but that had been nibbling at the back of my mind for awhile (lunchbox snacks, mostly). I managed to hold to just one true Impulse Buy. Today's Sum Total: $51.60.
If only I can be more disciplined this week and not purchase 'extras', I will be pleased. I mentioned that I might be hustled into a Cupcake Happy Hour, but I might could shove that off to next week.
I did say right at the beginning that keeping to this strict a budget was difficult if there were holidays or birthdays, and Easter candy... well. But it serves me right that I have a cold sore at the end of my tongue and a Zit Of Misery inside my left nostril. Sugar does dreadful things to me.
Once I've done Pretend Shopping (tomorrow seems likely) I'll post my price comparisons. I might go back to Target, just to see if last week was a fluke.
Question: Lovely Gourmet Sister said that my comparison figures are hard to look at because they don't line up nicely, and that I ought to put them on a spreadsheet. I have a hazy memory of spreadsheets from BC (Before Children), so that information, if I can even retrieve it, is WAY old and possibly useless. Also, I don't know how to plug a spreadsheet into Blogger. She said my articles are too long and wordy, and that I need to break up my entries into just one thing or another: JUST Meal Plan, JUST Recipes, JUST Premise, and so on. She said I ought to use links in the body of the blog. (Yes, fine. It does take longer, though.) She said exactly nothing about the actual content, so I am guessing she looked at it, but didn't read it. Oh, hey. The question part of the question: do you agree? Would you enjoy this adventure better were it to be more topically segregated, more aggressively edited, less wordy? Is there some other factor that would enhance the experience for you?
If you agree with Lovely Gourmet Sister, I assume you haven't read this far, and leave it to you dogged, intrepid, hip-booted individuals to offer critique, suggestions, or even (gasp) praise.
Not that I'm fishing. Dude, that's like, work or something. Hook, bait, wait, wrestle, scale, gut, cook... I'd rather run after a rabbit.
Hello, and welcome to Thursday.
I did Shoppings today instead of yesterday, because, well, Things. I went to Save-A-Lot, which I'd mistakenly remembered as being spelled Sav-A-Lot and therefore have been pronouncing it Salve-A-Lot, because. I don't holler Bill when Bill isn't around, and I don't pronounce a Silent E that isn't there. But it is there, after all. Whoops.
In many ways, S-A-L was competitive with the Aldi, and had different (better? mmmaybe. More variety of some types of items-brown rice!-, but no pesto at all, which was disappointing.) things on the shelves, more of much, but the checkout wasn't as pleasant as Aldi. More prolonged, and grumpier. The bag-it-yourself area was smaller and had a Butt Brush zone. However, it did open at 8 rather than 9, so I went just after dropping Pugs and Wednesday at the light rail station.
I bought (I'm pretty sure) all the things on the List, many of the things on the Wish, plus a few things not even on Wish but that had been nibbling at the back of my mind for awhile (lunchbox snacks, mostly). I managed to hold to just one true Impulse Buy. Today's Sum Total: $51.60.
If only I can be more disciplined this week and not purchase 'extras', I will be pleased. I mentioned that I might be hustled into a Cupcake Happy Hour, but I might could shove that off to next week.
I did say right at the beginning that keeping to this strict a budget was difficult if there were holidays or birthdays, and Easter candy... well. But it serves me right that I have a cold sore at the end of my tongue and a Zit Of Misery inside my left nostril. Sugar does dreadful things to me.
Once I've done Pretend Shopping (tomorrow seems likely) I'll post my price comparisons. I might go back to Target, just to see if last week was a fluke.
Question: Lovely Gourmet Sister said that my comparison figures are hard to look at because they don't line up nicely, and that I ought to put them on a spreadsheet. I have a hazy memory of spreadsheets from BC (Before Children), so that information, if I can even retrieve it, is WAY old and possibly useless. Also, I don't know how to plug a spreadsheet into Blogger. She said my articles are too long and wordy, and that I need to break up my entries into just one thing or another: JUST Meal Plan, JUST Recipes, JUST Premise, and so on. She said I ought to use links in the body of the blog. (Yes, fine. It does take longer, though.) She said exactly nothing about the actual content, so I am guessing she looked at it, but didn't read it. Oh, hey. The question part of the question: do you agree? Would you enjoy this adventure better were it to be more topically segregated, more aggressively edited, less wordy? Is there some other factor that would enhance the experience for you?
If you agree with Lovely Gourmet Sister, I assume you haven't read this far, and leave it to you dogged, intrepid, hip-booted individuals to offer critique, suggestions, or even (gasp) praise.
Not that I'm fishing. Dude, that's like, work or something. Hook, bait, wait, wrestle, scale, gut, cook... I'd rather run after a rabbit.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Disclosure
Tuesday
Saturday, I gave Pugsley $10 for food with his friends after his Lion Dance practice. He used all but $1.14 of it. At the fabulous Asian market, where Pugsley spent $55.00, $45 of it for a school culture project, I spent ~$3 on coffee-flavoured candies that I haven't found anywhere for forever, and which I still LOVE.
And then on Monday, we spent ~$21 on soda and Easter candy. It's embarrassing to admit, but it was my idea. Also, the kids did not like the Mary Sue Easter Egg, dark chocolate filled with white buttercream. I only love them once every five years or so, but this was one. It's a locally made treat, and I remember the cheesy TV jingle from my childhood. The jellybeans were a disappointment. I've grown to love the black jellybeans, and there were hardly any at all.
So $47.50 for actual food, $24 on sweets we didn't need and $9 on "outing" snacks. That's $80.50. I am NOT doing very well at this. I mean, obviously it CAN be done, but I evidently lack the self-discipline to do it properly.
I just narrowly avoided spending even more at Cupcake Happy Hour (what evilness IS this??), but I will probably get muscled into it sometime this week. Sigh.
Saturday, I gave Pugsley $10 for food with his friends after his Lion Dance practice. He used all but $1.14 of it. At the fabulous Asian market, where Pugsley spent $55.00, $45 of it for a school culture project, I spent ~$3 on coffee-flavoured candies that I haven't found anywhere for forever, and which I still LOVE.
And then on Monday, we spent ~$21 on soda and Easter candy. It's embarrassing to admit, but it was my idea. Also, the kids did not like the Mary Sue Easter Egg, dark chocolate filled with white buttercream. I only love them once every five years or so, but this was one. It's a locally made treat, and I remember the cheesy TV jingle from my childhood. The jellybeans were a disappointment. I've grown to love the black jellybeans, and there were hardly any at all.
So $47.50 for actual food, $24 on sweets we didn't need and $9 on "outing" snacks. That's $80.50. I am NOT doing very well at this. I mean, obviously it CAN be done, but I evidently lack the self-discipline to do it properly.
I just narrowly avoided spending even more at Cupcake Happy Hour (what evilness IS this??), but I will probably get muscled into it sometime this week. Sigh.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Premise #5: Meat Is For Creatures Who Run
Wednesday
So here it is Wednesday again, and I did not do my due diligence and take inventory on Monday, make a meal plan on Tuesday morning and a shopping list on Tuesday evening, so I had to do it all today. Blah.
Also, (alas), I must report that I did not do so well with food dollars this week.
We went out. More than once. The kids had $16 for snacks in the food court. Mr. Gomez and I spent $27 at Johnny Rocket's (including tip) for a burger that we shared, onion rings, fries and two milkshakes. I bought two teas and an apple fritter at a Wawa for $4. I spent $30 all by myself at Ram's Head for two ciders, a burger, an order of fried pickle chips (could've been good, but weren't) and some fries I didn't want. HOWEVER, because I was out with friends and they didn't want their fries either, I brought home half a burger and an abundance of fries to some very grateful teenagers.
So that's $77 worth of crap food, which I count more as entertainment than nourishment.
In the You Need Less Than You Think department, sharing a burger at Johnny Rocket's is something Mr. Gomez wouldn't have considered were we not on a restricted budget, but as it turned out, we were both stuffed, and saved ourselves ~$10 on not ordering two burgers. One of the teas from Wawa is in the fridge- I didn't drink two on the road. Last year at Ram's Head with these same friends, I had soup and a beer and called it good, spending only ~$12. I'll know better next year- order just an appetizer and save both $ and calories for beverages.
Premise # whatever it is, Meat is for Creatures Who Run is blatant heresy against the meat marketing industry. However, I am a daring sort, and will dare to say that we don't need nearly as much meat as we consume. We certainly do NOT need bacon at breakfast, sliced beef at lunch and roast turkey at dinnertime, nor do we need to clutter our salads (leaves! in a bowl! to eat!) with crumbled bits or whole slices of animal product, we just don't. We don't NEED meat every day. We may have become accustomed to that, but our ancestors, (not that long ago, in the scheme of things), did not get meat every single day because why? Because they had to CHASE it. And then they gorged on meat, had to gnaw sticks and walk a lot to avoid constipation, then went back to eating nuts and berries until the next bit of meat ran past. We contemporary Western humans just barely walk from our sofas to the car, from the car to the supermarket (and back, yes, back), and then we return to our natural state of mitigated stasis. Certainly we don't have to run to get a meal. Also (and I think this is important) unless we've strayed very far afield, there is nothing chasing US. By and large, running away (or after) and climbing trees are no longer part of our everyday activities. We don't traipse through dense forest in search of sticks before we can be warmed by a fire, nor do we shiver in icy streams or cold rains when we bathe. Our human and pre-human ancestors, they burned some calories, man. But we? Not so much.
(This is the part where I decide to not complain that the seat heater in my car isn't working.)
Look, a cheetah needs meat. But it doesn't get an antelope every day. If it did, it would soon be too fat to chase one, and then it would starve.
Meal Plan
Wed- Asian stir fry & rice, w/chicken? (from last week)
Thurs- chicken soup (still haven't made it yet)
Fri- tuna casserole
Sat-spaghetti & garlic bread
Sunday- Easter Dinner with Gomez's family
Mon- CORN
Tues- yams, corn and black beans
Wed- salmon cakes
Okay, so I just made that meal plan and haven't even hit Post, but already rearranged the order 3 times. Problem is, I don't know when Gomez will be home.He likes tuna casserole but not salmon cakes. Yams, corn and beans is not his idea of a real meal. I'm not even going to bother making spaghetti if he's not home- if I need a meal, I'll make Stupid (cook the pasta, heat the sauce, throw on a handful of cheese, DONE.) but I just can't bother with cooking meat when the kids and I don't care very much.
Speaking of which, when we were at the grocery today, I found I had a surplus of a few dollars. Like, seven. I told the kids they needed to agree on how to spend it, but they could choose how it was spent, since I'd found all the things I needed. They could choose Saturday cereal and candy, or, hey, here's the meat case.
"Eh," says Pugsley, "we had meat last week. Also, we'll have meat when we're at Auntie's for Easter. Let's have junk."
Alrighty, then.
Shopping has been done, and also Pretend Shopping, which I did first, so there are a couple of items that don't appear as "hard" figures. Based on other Pretend Shopping trips, I can estimate.
List: Target Costco, Aldi
Milk 3.89 2.99 (Costco)
Butter (2.50 x 4) 10.00 7.50 "
Baugettes 5.00 5.99 "
Sugar 2.99 1.89
Cream 1.69 1.49
Tuna 1.35 x3 =2.05 .79 x 3 =2.37
Angel hair 1.22 1.69
Peas 1.14 .95
Green beans 1.14 1.49
Penne 2.00 1.00
Salmon 2.79 x2= 5.59 2.69 x2= 5.39
Saltines 2.54 .99
Shaky Cheese 2.99 2.39
Saturday Cereal 2.50 1.99
Candy 1.45 .69
Sweet Potatoes 2.15 1.19
Estimated Food Total @ Target: $47.24 Actual Food Total: $47.50
Yogurt 2.39 1.99
Dog Food 11.00 8.99
Hmmm. Unless my estimates are off by more than a 'few' cents, it might've been simpler just to shop at Target this time around. Hmmmm.
So here it is Wednesday again, and I did not do my due diligence and take inventory on Monday, make a meal plan on Tuesday morning and a shopping list on Tuesday evening, so I had to do it all today. Blah.
Also, (alas), I must report that I did not do so well with food dollars this week.
We went out. More than once. The kids had $16 for snacks in the food court. Mr. Gomez and I spent $27 at Johnny Rocket's (including tip) for a burger that we shared, onion rings, fries and two milkshakes. I bought two teas and an apple fritter at a Wawa for $4. I spent $30 all by myself at Ram's Head for two ciders, a burger, an order of fried pickle chips (could've been good, but weren't) and some fries I didn't want. HOWEVER, because I was out with friends and they didn't want their fries either, I brought home half a burger and an abundance of fries to some very grateful teenagers.
So that's $77 worth of crap food, which I count more as entertainment than nourishment.
In the You Need Less Than You Think department, sharing a burger at Johnny Rocket's is something Mr. Gomez wouldn't have considered were we not on a restricted budget, but as it turned out, we were both stuffed, and saved ourselves ~$10 on not ordering two burgers. One of the teas from Wawa is in the fridge- I didn't drink two on the road. Last year at Ram's Head with these same friends, I had soup and a beer and called it good, spending only ~$12. I'll know better next year- order just an appetizer and save both $ and calories for beverages.
Premise # whatever it is, Meat is for Creatures Who Run is blatant heresy against the meat marketing industry. However, I am a daring sort, and will dare to say that we don't need nearly as much meat as we consume. We certainly do NOT need bacon at breakfast, sliced beef at lunch and roast turkey at dinnertime, nor do we need to clutter our salads (leaves! in a bowl! to eat!) with crumbled bits or whole slices of animal product, we just don't. We don't NEED meat every day. We may have become accustomed to that, but our ancestors, (not that long ago, in the scheme of things), did not get meat every single day because why? Because they had to CHASE it. And then they gorged on meat, had to gnaw sticks and walk a lot to avoid constipation, then went back to eating nuts and berries until the next bit of meat ran past. We contemporary Western humans just barely walk from our sofas to the car, from the car to the supermarket (and back, yes, back), and then we return to our natural state of mitigated stasis. Certainly we don't have to run to get a meal. Also (and I think this is important) unless we've strayed very far afield, there is nothing chasing US. By and large, running away (or after) and climbing trees are no longer part of our everyday activities. We don't traipse through dense forest in search of sticks before we can be warmed by a fire, nor do we shiver in icy streams or cold rains when we bathe. Our human and pre-human ancestors, they burned some calories, man. But we? Not so much.
(This is the part where I decide to not complain that the seat heater in my car isn't working.)
Look, a cheetah needs meat. But it doesn't get an antelope every day. If it did, it would soon be too fat to chase one, and then it would starve.
Meal Plan
Wed- Asian stir fry & rice, w/chicken? (from last week)
Thurs- chicken soup (still haven't made it yet)
Fri- tuna casserole
Sat-spaghetti & garlic bread
Sunday- Easter Dinner with Gomez's family
Mon- CORN
Tues- yams, corn and black beans
Wed- salmon cakes
Okay, so I just made that meal plan and haven't even hit Post, but already rearranged the order 3 times. Problem is, I don't know when Gomez will be home.He likes tuna casserole but not salmon cakes. Yams, corn and beans is not his idea of a real meal. I'm not even going to bother making spaghetti if he's not home- if I need a meal, I'll make Stupid (cook the pasta, heat the sauce, throw on a handful of cheese, DONE.) but I just can't bother with cooking meat when the kids and I don't care very much.
Speaking of which, when we were at the grocery today, I found I had a surplus of a few dollars. Like, seven. I told the kids they needed to agree on how to spend it, but they could choose how it was spent, since I'd found all the things I needed. They could choose Saturday cereal and candy, or, hey, here's the meat case.
"Eh," says Pugsley, "we had meat last week. Also, we'll have meat when we're at Auntie's for Easter. Let's have junk."
Alrighty, then.
Shopping has been done, and also Pretend Shopping, which I did first, so there are a couple of items that don't appear as "hard" figures. Based on other Pretend Shopping trips, I can estimate.
List: Target Costco, Aldi
Milk 3.89 2.99 (Costco)
Butter (2.50 x 4) 10.00 7.50 "
Baugettes 5.00 5.99 "
Sugar 2.99 1.89
Cream 1.69 1.49
Tuna 1.35 x3 =2.05 .79 x 3 =2.37
Angel hair 1.22 1.69
Peas 1.14 .95
Green beans 1.14 1.49
Penne 2.00 1.00
Salmon 2.79 x2= 5.59 2.69 x2= 5.39
Saltines 2.54 .99
Shaky Cheese 2.99 2.39
Saturday Cereal 2.50 1.99
Candy 1.45 .69
Sweet Potatoes 2.15 1.19
Estimated Food Total @ Target: $47.24 Actual Food Total: $47.50
Yogurt 2.39 1.99
Dog Food 11.00 8.99
Hmmm. Unless my estimates are off by more than a 'few' cents, it might've been simpler just to shop at Target this time around. Hmmmm.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Chicken Stretch
Thursday
Let me begin thus: I don't like chicken. I don't like to eat it, and I sure don't like to cook it. Those of you who are willing to buy a lovely raw chicken and roast it yourownself have my blessing and admiration and probably three or more additional dollars in your pocket.
For me, a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket is a gift from the universe. There it is, already cooked, smelling nice, in its own little plastic capsule, ready for liftoff from the shelf, transport through the space-time continuum, landing on the dinner table to be consumed by ravenous aliens over an extended period of time.
The first night is chicken and veggies. The next night, a vegetarian meal. Another night incorporates some big-ish chunks of chicken, another vegetarian meal, then small bits of meat, then stew, then soup. Presto! Week of meals. This works for me, and we did it a lot when the kids and I kept ourselves to $21 a week, but I'm trying to demonstrate as much variety as possible. Also, I don't really like chicken.
Shopping went well. I made only one true 'impulse' buy, and that was Spaetzle noodles that I saw on the Aldi shelf. Sure, I could've used some of the pasta that I had in my cupboard, but I was curious.
And now I don't need to buy Spaetzel again. Nobody loved it.
All the other 'non-list' items I purchased were on the 'wish' list.
Oh, and when we went to Big Lots! for toilet tissue, there was a jar of Not-Tella (fake Nutella) for $1.00, so I bought it, even though we weren't out of it.
I haven't done pretend shopping yet, though. Maybe I should wait and post all my pricings together?
And now I have done pretend shopping. The Shoppers in my neighborhood has had a facelift, and it looks nicer, and it has a lovely assortment of international food staples, but it's still in the same crappy neighborhood (mine) with the same trailerpark patrons, so not really much of an upgrade, in my opinion.
Item, Estimate Aldi Costco Shoppers
chicken, $5 4.99 6.49
milk, $3 2.99 3.99
cheese, $3.80(16oz) 5.60 (32oz) 8.99
eggs, $4 4.69 (3doz) 6.78
fruit 2.49(bag of clementines) 3.99
cocoa 1.20 1.49
white beans 1.18 1.54
chili beans3.60 3.60 6.00
green beans x3 1.50 2.10
corn x3 1.50 2.10
cream of chix soup 1.18 1.78
frozen veg$2.30 2.20 5.00
sour cream, $1.50 1.29 1.59
taco seasoning x2 .70 1.80
Saturday cereal, $2 1.89 (frosted flakes) 2.50
buttery crackers, $1.80 1.80 2.39
biscuit mix, $3 2.00 2.79
Spaetzle (impulse buy) 1.99 2.49
bread, $1.50 1.30 1.89
tortillas, $2 2.00 Big Lots! 3.20
Hazelnut Spread 1.00 3.79(Nutella)
Totals:
Aldi, Costc & Big Lots!: $47.11 Shoppers Total: $72.69*
Stupid Lunch Date: $ 3.00
Total Food Spending: $50.11
Stupid Lunch Date is Gomez and me going to the 'restaurant' area of Costco after we've shopped and buying a hot dog & soda combo for $1.50 each. The sodas include free refills, the dogs are all beef, and you can get sauerkraut with them if you ask for it.
* I'm not sure it's fair to include the real Nutella in the Shoppers' total, as I'd never have bought it if it hadn't been only $1. If we disallow it, the Shoppers Total becomes $68.90. That's a $21 difference, but ~$70 is still pretty good for a week of groceries that feeds teenagers & a truck driver.
Dinner on Wednesday evening was lovely: I used 1 1/2 bags of the frozen California Medley, 1/2 bag of Spaetzel and some of the chicken. We will count the whole prices of All The Things, and the rest of the week, those things count as Free! Chicken, $5. Pasta, $2. Vegetables, $2.40. All told, $9.40 for a meal that gave dinner to 4 of us, and lunch to 2, which breaks down to ~$1.60 per serving.
And we still have chicken for the rest of the week.
Let me begin thus: I don't like chicken. I don't like to eat it, and I sure don't like to cook it. Those of you who are willing to buy a lovely raw chicken and roast it yourownself have my blessing and admiration and probably three or more additional dollars in your pocket.
For me, a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket is a gift from the universe. There it is, already cooked, smelling nice, in its own little plastic capsule, ready for liftoff from the shelf, transport through the space-time continuum, landing on the dinner table to be consumed by ravenous aliens over an extended period of time.
The first night is chicken and veggies. The next night, a vegetarian meal. Another night incorporates some big-ish chunks of chicken, another vegetarian meal, then small bits of meat, then stew, then soup. Presto! Week of meals. This works for me, and we did it a lot when the kids and I kept ourselves to $21 a week, but I'm trying to demonstrate as much variety as possible. Also, I don't really like chicken.
And now I don't need to buy Spaetzel again. Nobody loved it.
All the other 'non-list' items I purchased were on the 'wish' list.
Oh, and when we went to Big Lots! for toilet tissue, there was a jar of Not-Tella (fake Nutella) for $1.00, so I bought it, even though we weren't out of it.
I haven't done pretend shopping yet, though. Maybe I should wait and post all my pricings together?
And now I have done pretend shopping. The Shoppers in my neighborhood has had a facelift, and it looks nicer, and it has a lovely assortment of international food staples, but it's still in the same crappy neighborhood (mine) with the same trailerpark patrons, so not really much of an upgrade, in my opinion.
Item, Estimate Aldi Costco Shoppers
chicken, $5 4.99 6.49
milk, $3 2.99 3.99
cheese, $3.80(16oz) 5.60 (32oz) 8.99
eggs, $4 4.69 (3doz) 6.78
fruit 2.49(bag of clementines) 3.99
cocoa 1.20 1.49
white beans 1.18 1.54
chili beans3.60 3.60 6.00
green beans x3 1.50 2.10
corn x3 1.50 2.10
cream of chix soup 1.18 1.78
frozen veg$2.30 2.20 5.00
sour cream, $1.50 1.29 1.59
taco seasoning x2 .70 1.80
Saturday cereal, $2 1.89 (frosted flakes) 2.50
buttery crackers, $1.80 1.80 2.39
biscuit mix, $3 2.00 2.79
Spaetzle (impulse buy) 1.99 2.49
bread, $1.50 1.30 1.89
tortillas, $2 2.00 Big Lots! 3.20
Hazelnut Spread 1.00 3.79(Nutella)
Totals:
Aldi, Costc & Big Lots!: $47.11 Shoppers Total: $72.69*
Stupid Lunch Date: $ 3.00
Total Food Spending: $50.11
Stupid Lunch Date is Gomez and me going to the 'restaurant' area of Costco after we've shopped and buying a hot dog & soda combo for $1.50 each. The sodas include free refills, the dogs are all beef, and you can get sauerkraut with them if you ask for it.
* I'm not sure it's fair to include the real Nutella in the Shoppers' total, as I'd never have bought it if it hadn't been only $1. If we disallow it, the Shoppers Total becomes $68.90. That's a $21 difference, but ~$70 is still pretty good for a week of groceries that feeds teenagers & a truck driver.
Dinner on Wednesday evening was lovely: I used 1 1/2 bags of the frozen California Medley, 1/2 bag of Spaetzel and some of the chicken. We will count the whole prices of All The Things, and the rest of the week, those things count as Free! Chicken, $5. Pasta, $2. Vegetables, $2.40. All told, $9.40 for a meal that gave dinner to 4 of us, and lunch to 2, which breaks down to ~$1.60 per serving.
And we still have chicken for the rest of the week.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Premise #4: No Food, Only Ingredients
Wednesday
I stole that phrase from a young friend of mine, who was quoted by his mother. He wanted frozen pizza. She had cheese and tomato sauce. He wanted chicken nuggets. She had frozen chicken breasts. He wanted hamburgers. She had ground beef. He complained, "Mom! We don't have any FOOD in this house, only INGREDIENTS!"
Which, so, okay. I mean, yes. We like the convenience of hastily prepared meals, like frozen burritos, frozen fish sticks (I'm afraid I can't even TYPE that phrase without thinking of South Park and snickering- sorry.), pizza kits (Ah, Joe Corbi! How I miss thee!), packaged cookies, sliced cheese, Lunchables... but we begin to wander into the territory of what Michael Pollan refers to as "edible food-like substances". Some of these (cheese puffs? Velveeta? Slim Jim?) I'm not sure even rate the term "food-like", as they really are not. I do not kid myself when I'm consuming half a bag of puffed corn product covered in orange dust that this is "food". It's not. It's cargo, and I'll be carting it around or physically offloading it later.
What was my point, here? I'm distracted because the kids and I were talking the other day about food tax. Which items do we tax? I'm in favor of a soda tax, and a tax on chips and cheese curls. So we were talking, the kids and I, about how food is currently not taxed, even the dubious food-like products, but dog food and baby wipes are taxed. So where's the line? Pugsley said "prepared foods. Like Lunchables should be taxed, but not lunch meat."
"From the deli counter, right," I agreed, "but what about, say, tuna salad at the deli counter? Clearly, we don't tax tuna in a can, but tuna salad at the counter, is that taxed?" Pugsley thought it ought to be. "It's prepared," he said.
Where's the line? Do we tax pastries, but not bread? Or do we also tax bread, but not flour or yeast? Do we tax crackers, pudding, yogurt? I see where legislation could get very sticky, and Nabisco has plenty of lawyers to tie the whole thing up for decades.
Here's my shopping list for the week:
Aldi Costco
astronaut chicken*
eggs
butter
milk
fruit
apple juice
cheese x2
cream of chix soup
frozen California medly veggies
sour cream
tortillas
canned beans: 1 white, several chili
canned veggies
biscuit mix
Wish list: Yams, crackers, piecrust, cocoa powder, saurkraut, hot chocolate, Saturday cereal, peaches, shaky cheese, salmon, tuna kits, pesto sauce, pineapple and cottage cheese
*This refers to a rotisserie chicken, already cooked and packaged like an astronaut in a plastic capsule. I wish I'd come up with the term, but it was Stephen King in Duma Key. I must content myself with having coined 'snowceries'. It'll catch on, I'm certain of it.
"So what did you have?" I asked my friend, owner of the 'no food, only ingredients' offspring. "Pasta," she said, "like we usually do."
Pasta. Yep. Brown that ground beef, dump a can of soup on, open a can of green beans, boil the pasta, call it done. Boil the pasta, heat the sauce, top with shredded cheese. OR... and we've done this... take the Ingredients, warm them and serve them together like a meal. OF COURSE you can. I have baked sweet potatoes in the microwave, heated a can of corn and a can of black beans (separate pots), spiced up the beans with some pepper and cilantro, dropped a generous pat of butter on each finished potato, and served up plates of sweet potato, black beans and corn to happy eaters. It's a warm, nourishing, comforting colorful meal that is always more filling than I remember- I usually have something left. I have been known to give cinnamon toast and half a yam as breakfast, with no complaints.
I may drop Saturday Cereal from my list this week and buy raisin bread instead. French Toast is food, you know.
I stole that phrase from a young friend of mine, who was quoted by his mother. He wanted frozen pizza. She had cheese and tomato sauce. He wanted chicken nuggets. She had frozen chicken breasts. He wanted hamburgers. She had ground beef. He complained, "Mom! We don't have any FOOD in this house, only INGREDIENTS!"
Which, so, okay. I mean, yes. We like the convenience of hastily prepared meals, like frozen burritos, frozen fish sticks (I'm afraid I can't even TYPE that phrase without thinking of South Park and snickering- sorry.), pizza kits (Ah, Joe Corbi! How I miss thee!), packaged cookies, sliced cheese, Lunchables... but we begin to wander into the territory of what Michael Pollan refers to as "edible food-like substances". Some of these (cheese puffs? Velveeta? Slim Jim?) I'm not sure even rate the term "food-like", as they really are not. I do not kid myself when I'm consuming half a bag of puffed corn product covered in orange dust that this is "food". It's not. It's cargo, and I'll be carting it around or physically offloading it later.
What was my point, here? I'm distracted because the kids and I were talking the other day about food tax. Which items do we tax? I'm in favor of a soda tax, and a tax on chips and cheese curls. So we were talking, the kids and I, about how food is currently not taxed, even the dubious food-like products, but dog food and baby wipes are taxed. So where's the line? Pugsley said "prepared foods. Like Lunchables should be taxed, but not lunch meat."
"From the deli counter, right," I agreed, "but what about, say, tuna salad at the deli counter? Clearly, we don't tax tuna in a can, but tuna salad at the counter, is that taxed?" Pugsley thought it ought to be. "It's prepared," he said.
Where's the line? Do we tax pastries, but not bread? Or do we also tax bread, but not flour or yeast? Do we tax crackers, pudding, yogurt? I see where legislation could get very sticky, and Nabisco has plenty of lawyers to tie the whole thing up for decades.
Here's my shopping list for the week:
Aldi Costco
astronaut chicken*
eggs
butter
milk
fruit
apple juice
cheese x2
cream of chix soup
frozen California medly veggies
sour cream
tortillas
canned beans: 1 white, several chili
canned veggies
biscuit mix
Wish list: Yams, crackers, piecrust, cocoa powder, saurkraut, hot chocolate, Saturday cereal, peaches, shaky cheese, salmon, tuna kits, pesto sauce, pineapple and cottage cheese
*This refers to a rotisserie chicken, already cooked and packaged like an astronaut in a plastic capsule. I wish I'd come up with the term, but it was Stephen King in Duma Key. I must content myself with having coined 'snowceries'. It'll catch on, I'm certain of it.
"So what did you have?" I asked my friend, owner of the 'no food, only ingredients' offspring. "Pasta," she said, "like we usually do."
Pasta. Yep. Brown that ground beef, dump a can of soup on, open a can of green beans, boil the pasta, call it done. Boil the pasta, heat the sauce, top with shredded cheese. OR... and we've done this... take the Ingredients, warm them and serve them together like a meal. OF COURSE you can. I have baked sweet potatoes in the microwave, heated a can of corn and a can of black beans (separate pots), spiced up the beans with some pepper and cilantro, dropped a generous pat of butter on each finished potato, and served up plates of sweet potato, black beans and corn to happy eaters. It's a warm, nourishing, comforting colorful meal that is always more filling than I remember- I usually have something left. I have been known to give cinnamon toast and half a yam as breakfast, with no complaints.
I may drop Saturday Cereal from my list this week and buy raisin bread instead. French Toast is food, you know.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Planning Again
Tuesday
It feels as though I've just barely finished shopping for one week when it's time to plan for the next week. This is an illusion. Or it's me, not keeping track of time very well. Anyway, it's planning time again.
CORN last night was successful- no additional cooking, no science projects, and two lunches, plus I know what I have/don't have on hand.
I'm out of: salmon, shaky cheese, bananas, Saturday cereal, bacon, white sauce, angel hair pasta, and corn.
I'm nearly out of: cocoa, eggs, milk, butter, tortillas and bread.
Assets include frozen stir fry veggies, envelope of Asian noodles (remember those from Week #1?) canned tomato products, two cans of kidney beans, rice, one can of white beans, half a bag of apples and some boxed pasta.
Some of what I buy will be based on what's gone, but mostly it will be based on what I need in order to cook this week's meals.
Tuesday: (teach downtown, date in DC): Beanie Weenies (this is leftover Last Week planning)
Wednesday: Rotisserie Chicken, vegetables & pasta
Thursday: (gig in DC) Vegetarian Crock Pot Chili
Friday: Stir Fry veggies & rice & noodles
Saturday: Chicken & White bean burritos
Sunday(volunteering all day at yarn event): Chicken Crock Pot Stew
Monday: CORN
Tuesday: Free Chicken Soup
I'll post my shopping list later today, or maybe tomorrow. I'll go Pretend Shopping at... hm, maybe Shoppers? this week. I was surprised by Giant's price difference being smaller than Food Lion's. Though I have a Wal Mart story that I'll share with you later that illustrates pretty clearly the difference between What Is and What You Think It Is.
It feels as though I've just barely finished shopping for one week when it's time to plan for the next week. This is an illusion. Or it's me, not keeping track of time very well. Anyway, it's planning time again.
CORN last night was successful- no additional cooking, no science projects, and two lunches, plus I know what I have/don't have on hand.
I'm out of: salmon, shaky cheese, bananas, Saturday cereal, bacon, white sauce, angel hair pasta, and corn.
I'm nearly out of: cocoa, eggs, milk, butter, tortillas and bread.
Assets include frozen stir fry veggies, envelope of Asian noodles (remember those from Week #1?) canned tomato products, two cans of kidney beans, rice, one can of white beans, half a bag of apples and some boxed pasta.
Some of what I buy will be based on what's gone, but mostly it will be based on what I need in order to cook this week's meals.
Tuesday: (teach downtown, date in DC): Beanie Weenies (this is leftover Last Week planning)
Wednesday: Rotisserie Chicken, vegetables & pasta
Thursday: (gig in DC) Vegetarian Crock Pot Chili
Friday: Stir Fry veggies & rice & noodles
Saturday: Chicken & White bean burritos
Sunday(volunteering all day at yarn event): Chicken Crock Pot Stew
Monday: CORN
Tuesday: Free Chicken Soup
I'll post my shopping list later today, or maybe tomorrow. I'll go Pretend Shopping at... hm, maybe Shoppers? this week. I was surprised by Giant's price difference being smaller than Food Lion's. Though I have a Wal Mart story that I'll share with you later that illustrates pretty clearly the difference between What Is and What You Think It Is.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Price Comparisons
Thursday
I promised to pretend shop for my groceries at 'regular' stores, because there are people who have no access to budgetary godsends like Aldi and Costco. What is a realistic amount of money that someone without Costco or Aldi might spend?
We shall find out. Meanwhile, I have done sufficient comparison shopping to implore you to never ever ever buy groceries at Wal Mart unless it is an urgent situation (like Snowfall! Accumulation! Scary! on the news), because Target has some actual competitive prices on food items, but Wal Mart is another story.
And this is another situation in which You Need Less Than You Think can be useful. How much DO you spend on groceries every week? Do you even know? I didn't. When I checked my checkbook register, I was regularly spending more than $100/week, with the occasional $300 week. Now I look at those totals and think, WHAT was I buying?
Do you know the price of a gallon of milk? Dozen eggs? Pound of butter, bag of sugar, box of cornflakes? When you start paying attention to what each of your food items costs, you can know for sure whether the Great Value! sign is lying or not.
Item Estimate Aldi Costco Giant
Milk, $3 2.95 3.99
Frz Veg, $7 6.70/80oz 7.17/106oz (32oz bag x3)
garlic bread, $4 3.99(olive cibiatta) 2.50(Italian loaf)
granola bars, $12 1.98 12.70(didn't buy) 2.49 (bought)
tortillas, $2 1.98 4.22
beans, $2.40 2.38 4.00
cheese, $7.20 7.16 10.76
salsa, $1.80 1.69 2.89
taco spice, $2 1.05 3.00
fruit, $4 6.04 5.69
red sauce, $2 3.60 4.00
Ovaltine 3.99 (bought)
cream, $2 1.49 2.39
sour cream, $2 1.29 2.10
crackers, $2 1.69 2.69
yogurt, $2 1.99
Totals: Aldi Costco Giant
27. 77 $13.64 $61.88
$6.48
Weekly Grocery Total: $6.48
13.64
27.77 = 49.88
There's a very good reason that this experiment was begun in March rather than earlier. December is holiday foodstuffs. January has family birthdays at each end. February is Pugsley's birthday month, and I will tell you that I spent $60 at the Italian pastry shop because he wanted a surprise assortment from Pedigrota rather than a cake. So it's March, and other than the odd wish to cook corned beef and cabbage in my slow cooker this Sunday (odd because I'm not Irish, and Gomez, who is, isn't fond of corned beef OR cabbage), there's no holiday food purchasing to be done. Oh, wait... When's Passover?
Hm. Better budget for some matzoh.
I promised to pretend shop for my groceries at 'regular' stores, because there are people who have no access to budgetary godsends like Aldi and Costco. What is a realistic amount of money that someone without Costco or Aldi might spend?
We shall find out. Meanwhile, I have done sufficient comparison shopping to implore you to never ever ever buy groceries at Wal Mart unless it is an urgent situation (like Snowfall! Accumulation! Scary! on the news), because Target has some actual competitive prices on food items, but Wal Mart is another story.
And this is another situation in which You Need Less Than You Think can be useful. How much DO you spend on groceries every week? Do you even know? I didn't. When I checked my checkbook register, I was regularly spending more than $100/week, with the occasional $300 week. Now I look at those totals and think, WHAT was I buying?
Do you know the price of a gallon of milk? Dozen eggs? Pound of butter, bag of sugar, box of cornflakes? When you start paying attention to what each of your food items costs, you can know for sure whether the Great Value! sign is lying or not.
Item Estimate Aldi Costco Giant
Milk, $3 2.95 3.99
Frz Veg, $7 6.70/80oz 7.17/106oz (32oz bag x3)
garlic bread, $4 3.99(olive cibiatta) 2.50(Italian loaf)
granola bars, $12 1.98 12.70(didn't buy) 2.49 (bought)
tortillas, $2 1.98 4.22
beans, $2.40 2.38 4.00
cheese, $7.20 7.16 10.76
salsa, $1.80 1.69 2.89
taco spice, $2 1.05 3.00
fruit, $4 6.04 5.69
red sauce, $2 3.60 4.00
Ovaltine 3.99 (bought)
cream, $2 1.49 2.39
sour cream, $2 1.29 2.10
crackers, $2 1.69 2.69
yogurt, $2 1.99
Totals: Aldi Costco Giant
27. 77 $13.64 $61.88
$6.48
Weekly Grocery Total: $6.48
13.64
27.77 = 49.88
There's a very good reason that this experiment was begun in March rather than earlier. December is holiday foodstuffs. January has family birthdays at each end. February is Pugsley's birthday month, and I will tell you that I spent $60 at the Italian pastry shop because he wanted a surprise assortment from Pedigrota rather than a cake. So it's March, and other than the odd wish to cook corned beef and cabbage in my slow cooker this Sunday (odd because I'm not Irish, and Gomez, who is, isn't fond of corned beef OR cabbage), there's no holiday food purchasing to be done. Oh, wait... When's Passover?
Hm. Better budget for some matzoh.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Premise #3: You Need Less Than You Think
Wednesday
You Need Less Than You Think proved itself to me over and over. Until we tried an extreme eating plan (for example, $21/week for three of us), we really had no clear idea how much we usually consume. Nor how much we consume because we need it versus how much we consume Because It's There. In just the two weeks we've been at this so far, we've carried over AT LEAST one planned meal from one week to the next. This means fewer required meal purchases for THIS week, leaving us room for a 'luxury item", like the round buttery crackers instead of salted squares, or (in my case) a quart of cream.
Three dozen eggs have lasted four weeks. One gallon of milk (usually) is enough for a week; sometimes half a gallon is plenty. If we're not baking, we usually don't use more than one stick of butter a week. Two cans of black beans with rice serves 4 people, or three for dinner and two for lunch the next day. One box of Saltines usually lasts two weeks. One can of peaches can be divided into two (generous) portions, or stretched to six, in wee containers. The box of pudding that 'serves 4' usually gets me 6 wee pudding cups, (though I'm not yet convinced this is a moneysaver when I can get a 4 pack of pudding for .90 cents; the math escapes me) and a box of instant oatmeal may last a month.
A word about portion sizes: When you make a limited amount, everyone takes less . If each person gets one decent sized serving, it's enough. I have been know to offer to cook more when there was only Enough, and almost always been told, "No, that was fine. Really, it was." Impressed? No? But what if I remind you that this is from the mouth of a 17 year old boy, how about now?
When you're eating simple, good food, less is more filling. Sure, a second helping is nice, and I usually try to plan for second helpings AND leftovers to be lunch, but it's not REQUIRED. Most of us are putting into our bodies a lot more fuel than our bodies will burn. Many of us also regularly consume empty calories, and those aren't fuel, they're cargo to be carried as extra pounds.
When I make burritos, if it's just the teens and me, I can get away with using only one can of beans and half a block of cheese. This makes 5 burritos. If the kids are very hungry, they'll eat 2 each, and I have one. Usually, Wednesday wants one, Pugsley has two, I eat one, and there's one left that I'll divide in half for their lunches the next day. When Gomez is home, I double everything, everyone eats as much as they wish, and I usually still have one or two burritos left.
What are you buying that you don't need to buy? What are you eating that you don't need to eat? How many things can you not keep in the house with little to no impact?
So it's Shopping Day, and I need to make my list. I need to make my Meal Plan first, though. Before that, I ought to do Inventory, except what with last week's Whoops Snowceries and so on, I have a pretty good idea what I have.
One thing I have is the makings of Mock Beef Stroghanoff, which I put off making twice last week, so there it is. That's tonight.
I also have in the freezer many hot dogs, ground beef and at least one piecrust. The fridge has a bit less than half a gallon of milk, one block of cheese (not cheddar), half a block of cream cheese, plenty of Romaine, half a loaf of bread, most of one celery, a bit of leftover red sauce, a fresh bottle of Caesar dressing, half a jar of salsa, almost no sour cream and one (maybe) glass' worth of apple juice in a giant bottle.
When I made Psyche last week, Wednesday was disappointed. She wanted Beanie Weenie. That's a can-do. Gomez is sad if he doesn't get to eat spaghetti at least once a week, so that's a third meal. CORN is a fourth, and since I've explained about the burritos, I'm suddenly sort of craving them. That's five. Six could be quiche (I even have 2 slices of bacon left from Giant Snowday Breakfast), and I've just heard a request for soft tacos. (I asked Gomez what he'd like this week, and his first two requests were spaghetti and burritos.)
Meal Plan
Wednesday- Mock Beef Stroghanoff and green beans
Thursday- Bean & Cheese Burritos
Friday- {Pugsley may be going to a party}Quiche
Saturday-{morning tech duties, evening poetry reading}Spaghetti- sauce in the crock, salad & bread
Sunday-{friend's home for party, may not even need dinner}Soft tacos
Monday- CORN, or Stupid
Tuesday- {teach class downtown} Beanie Weenie in the crock pot
You see already that I may be planning more meals than are necessary.
Shopping Lists
Aldi
tortillas, 2 pkg, $2 dog food, $9
beans, 4 cans, $2.40 yogurt, $2
cheese, 4 blocks, $7.20
Salsa, 1 jar, $1.80
Sour cream, $2
Cream, $2
raisins, $2
taco seasoning, $2
fruit, $4
red sauce, $2
TOTAL ~$22.00
Costco
milk, $3 cat food,$12
frozen mixed veggies, $7 cat litter, $15
granola bars for lunches, $12 razor blades for Gomez $30 (?)
bread for garlic bread, $6
TOTAL ~$28.00
If my estimates turn out to be a bit high, I want to also buy crackers, graham crackers and bagels.
But I don't NEED them.
You Need Less Than You Think proved itself to me over and over. Until we tried an extreme eating plan (for example, $21/week for three of us), we really had no clear idea how much we usually consume. Nor how much we consume because we need it versus how much we consume Because It's There. In just the two weeks we've been at this so far, we've carried over AT LEAST one planned meal from one week to the next. This means fewer required meal purchases for THIS week, leaving us room for a 'luxury item", like the round buttery crackers instead of salted squares, or (in my case) a quart of cream.
Three dozen eggs have lasted four weeks. One gallon of milk (usually) is enough for a week; sometimes half a gallon is plenty. If we're not baking, we usually don't use more than one stick of butter a week. Two cans of black beans with rice serves 4 people, or three for dinner and two for lunch the next day. One box of Saltines usually lasts two weeks. One can of peaches can be divided into two (generous) portions, or stretched to six, in wee containers. The box of pudding that 'serves 4' usually gets me 6 wee pudding cups, (though I'm not yet convinced this is a moneysaver when I can get a 4 pack of pudding for .90 cents; the math escapes me) and a box of instant oatmeal may last a month.
A word about portion sizes: When you make a limited amount, everyone takes less . If each person gets one decent sized serving, it's enough. I have been know to offer to cook more when there was only Enough, and almost always been told, "No, that was fine. Really, it was." Impressed? No? But what if I remind you that this is from the mouth of a 17 year old boy, how about now?
When you're eating simple, good food, less is more filling. Sure, a second helping is nice, and I usually try to plan for second helpings AND leftovers to be lunch, but it's not REQUIRED. Most of us are putting into our bodies a lot more fuel than our bodies will burn. Many of us also regularly consume empty calories, and those aren't fuel, they're cargo to be carried as extra pounds.
When I make burritos, if it's just the teens and me, I can get away with using only one can of beans and half a block of cheese. This makes 5 burritos. If the kids are very hungry, they'll eat 2 each, and I have one. Usually, Wednesday wants one, Pugsley has two, I eat one, and there's one left that I'll divide in half for their lunches the next day. When Gomez is home, I double everything, everyone eats as much as they wish, and I usually still have one or two burritos left.
What are you buying that you don't need to buy? What are you eating that you don't need to eat? How many things can you not keep in the house with little to no impact?
So it's Shopping Day, and I need to make my list. I need to make my Meal Plan first, though. Before that, I ought to do Inventory, except what with last week's Whoops Snowceries and so on, I have a pretty good idea what I have.
One thing I have is the makings of Mock Beef Stroghanoff, which I put off making twice last week, so there it is. That's tonight.
I also have in the freezer many hot dogs, ground beef and at least one piecrust. The fridge has a bit less than half a gallon of milk, one block of cheese (not cheddar), half a block of cream cheese, plenty of Romaine, half a loaf of bread, most of one celery, a bit of leftover red sauce, a fresh bottle of Caesar dressing, half a jar of salsa, almost no sour cream and one (maybe) glass' worth of apple juice in a giant bottle.
When I made Psyche last week, Wednesday was disappointed. She wanted Beanie Weenie. That's a can-do. Gomez is sad if he doesn't get to eat spaghetti at least once a week, so that's a third meal. CORN is a fourth, and since I've explained about the burritos, I'm suddenly sort of craving them. That's five. Six could be quiche (I even have 2 slices of bacon left from Giant Snowday Breakfast), and I've just heard a request for soft tacos. (I asked Gomez what he'd like this week, and his first two requests were spaghetti and burritos.)
Meal Plan
Wednesday- Mock Beef Stroghanoff and green beans
Thursday- Bean & Cheese Burritos
Friday- {Pugsley may be going to a party}Quiche
Saturday-{morning tech duties, evening poetry reading}Spaghetti- sauce in the crock, salad & bread
Sunday-{friend's home for party, may not even need dinner}Soft tacos
Monday- CORN, or Stupid
Tuesday- {teach class downtown} Beanie Weenie in the crock pot
You see already that I may be planning more meals than are necessary.
Shopping Lists
Aldi
tortillas, 2 pkg, $2 dog food, $9
beans, 4 cans, $2.40 yogurt, $2
cheese, 4 blocks, $7.20
Salsa, 1 jar, $1.80
Sour cream, $2
Cream, $2
raisins, $2
taco seasoning, $2
fruit, $4
red sauce, $2
TOTAL ~$22.00
Costco
milk, $3 cat food,$12
frozen mixed veggies, $7 cat litter, $15
granola bars for lunches, $12 razor blades for Gomez $30 (?)
bread for garlic bread, $6
TOTAL ~$28.00
If my estimates turn out to be a bit high, I want to also buy crackers, graham crackers and bagels.
But I don't NEED them.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Whoops
Last Week:
Tuesday evening, I picked up the kids from a school function and brought them home. Because only Pugsley and I had been home to eat Sunday night meatloaf, and Monday was CORN, we had Meatloaf Redux on Tuesday evening.
And then the news came on. It was channel after channel of Snowstorm! Accumulation! Be Frightened!
So, okay. Wednesday is my usual Shopping Day, and I hadn't really planned my week, but we slapped together a list so that Gomez and I could go out Tuesday night, Just In Case We Couldn't On Wednesday Because Of The Snow- I believe it was past ten, and we needed cat food, so really Wal Mart was the only option.
We did not do great shopping that evening. In fact, what we did was buy (and I've coined a new term here) Snowceries. Yes, not groceries, but snowceries. Snowceries are what you buy when the forecast makes you suspect you'll be housebound with the people who know you best and don't bother to wash their feet or brush their hair for you. For many people, this includes giant packages of toilet paper, three or more loaves of bread and four gallons of milk. Everyone's needs are different. Our family requires bacon, cocoa and cookies, apparently.
Our list included milk, breakfast goodies (bacon, cinnamon rolls, cheese, something like that), Saturday Morning Cartoon cereal, cat food, cocoa, sour cream, cookie ingredients, laundry soap and apple juice.
Our cart included those things, plus a bag of cheese puffs, a package of Chips Ahoy! cookies, mini marshmallows, corn meal and a bag of tangerines. And came to $50, not including the cat food and laundry soap.
See? Snowceries.
Tuesday evening, I picked up the kids from a school function and brought them home. Because only Pugsley and I had been home to eat Sunday night meatloaf, and Monday was CORN, we had Meatloaf Redux on Tuesday evening.
And then the news came on. It was channel after channel of Snowstorm! Accumulation! Be Frightened!
So, okay. Wednesday is my usual Shopping Day, and I hadn't really planned my week, but we slapped together a list so that Gomez and I could go out Tuesday night, Just In Case We Couldn't On Wednesday Because Of The Snow- I believe it was past ten, and we needed cat food, so really Wal Mart was the only option.
We did not do great shopping that evening. In fact, what we did was buy (and I've coined a new term here) Snowceries. Yes, not groceries, but snowceries. Snowceries are what you buy when the forecast makes you suspect you'll be housebound with the people who know you best and don't bother to wash their feet or brush their hair for you. For many people, this includes giant packages of toilet paper, three or more loaves of bread and four gallons of milk. Everyone's needs are different. Our family requires bacon, cocoa and cookies, apparently.
Our list included milk, breakfast goodies (bacon, cinnamon rolls, cheese, something like that), Saturday Morning Cartoon cereal, cat food, cocoa, sour cream, cookie ingredients, laundry soap and apple juice.
Our cart included those things, plus a bag of cheese puffs, a package of Chips Ahoy! cookies, mini marshmallows, corn meal and a bag of tangerines. And came to $50, not including the cat food and laundry soap.
See? Snowceries.
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