Okay, so I've been absent for a bit.
I got discouraged.
And I had to do taxes.
These two are unrelated, and yet....
Quick summary: I discovered that I could purchase groceries to feed the four of us for ~$50/week. However, teens being teens and wanting pizza, sodas, dates, candy at the movies, bring a dish to the potluck and so forth, I could not claim to "feed the family for fifty bucks". I mean, I suppose I COULD have, but it would've meant saying No a great deal more often, not going to parties where a bottle of wine and/or a dish to share was the "done" thing, and birthday meals would've been meager and cakeless.
Doing taxes is unrelated to food purchases, but related to fiscal responsibility. I do my own, or rather, I do OUR own, as both Mr. Gomez and I are and have been self-employed, and (in my case) self-un-employed. Taxes with two Schedule Cs is not a task for the faint-of-heart. Mr. Gomez's filing system is random receipts stuffed in tissue boxes (no separation of categories) and a stack of logbook sheets, which he's inclined (after a month of reminding) to thrust into my arms on April 11th saying, I think this is everything.
I have dropped the ball on some of the years, but have caught up and only 2010 is outstanding. I intend to rectify that.
I also dropped the ball on budgeted grocery purchases, and we were spending ~$80-120/week on food supplies, plus "extras" like our Stupid Costco Dates (total: ~$8-12, not bad for a family date, but seriously? 25% of our total food budget?) These spendings, I am sad and embarrassed to report, included Sofa Merge snacks. Sofa Merge snacks are akin to Snowceries, only there doesn't need to be any weather warning. Yes, every year (partly due to SAD, but also depression in general- it's a constant wrestle with the Black Dog) I wear an ass-shaped hole into the sofa, eating cookies, drinking cocoa, and staining my fingers with orange cheezy dust.
The sub-adults were damaged by this, and Mr. Gomez doesn't eat very well anyway, which led to our June Family Diet. Mr. Gomez and I used to go on this diet every several years, until we had children. It's too hard to do a diet this restrictive while still preparing regular kid food. The one we use isn't in any significant way different from any other 'fad' diet, except that we can stick with it and it works for us. He usually loses 12-15 pounds in a week, and I usually drop about 5. It's called the Sacred Heart Hospital Diet, though Sacred Heart hospital disavows any association with it. It's been around for the longest time, though... I used it a few times as far back as 1980, and I know the Mr. and I were on it before our wedding in '89, and at least once again before '95, which is when Pugsley was born.
The basic plan: Day 1: fruits, except bananas, especially melons
Day 2: vegetables- no legumes, and one potato for dinner- with butter
Day 3: fruits & vegetables, no bananas or potato
Day 4: milk and bananas
Day 5: beef and tomatoes
Day 6: beef and vegetables
Day 7: vegetables and rice
There is a vegetable soup to go along with this- any time you wish, as much as you like. The trick is to feel full all the time on these high-water, low-calorie foods. Nutritionally, it seems sound. Drink plenty of water. No alcohol, no carbonated beverages, but fruit juice and unsweetened tea and coffee are fine.
Notice that this eating plan includes NO pasta, NO bread, NO beans, NO eggs and NO cheese. Whoa.
It's not cheap, either. But it's effective. As a family, we are down 38 pounds. And we are making an effort to not revert to old habits- easier in the summer, when a smoothie for dinner feels just fine, and delicious melon is plentiful. Salads feel almost filling, and a broth-based soup is filling enough.
Wednesday designed an eating plan that weds this diet into our weekly Meal Plan. It required some creativity on my part, but I came up with at least two dinner options for each day. Some of the recipes are as yet untested, like the fruit strata- I floated the idea of fruit quiche past Wednesday. It was received with skepticism and a hairy eyeball.
But here's the basic plan:
Monday: CORN
Tuesday: Fruit
Wednesday: Vegetables
Thursday: Fruits & Vegetables
Friday: Vegetables & Starch
Saturday: Meats & Rice
Sunday: Fish & Leaves
Here are my meal ideas (I'm'a leave them right here, as I've lost Wednesday's notebook twice already).
M: CORN
T: fruit smoothie, fruit strata, tomato soup & fruit salad
W: steamed veggies, giant salad, harvest soup
R: tropical salad, veggie soup, super smoothies
F: Veggie mac, CornYamBeans, White Pasta, Spaghetti
S: Green & Yellow Chicken, Fajitas & rice, Jambalayah
N: salmon steak & collard greens, tuna salad salad, salmon cake & Brussels sprouts
As I've mentioned, I don't object to rearranging. But it's so much easier to eat well, and cheaply, if you have a Plan, a Budget, a List and INGREDIENTS.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Stocking Up The Pantry: A Caution
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!
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!
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, February 20, 2014
Premise #8: CORN For Many Reasons
CORN For Many Reasons has nothing to do with actual corn. Well, it could, maybe. Sometimes. If you have leftover corn.
The idea of Clean Out Refrigerator Night is to Use What You've Bought and to Know What You Have. It is also to eliminate accidental science projects. I like to have CORN on the night before Garbage Day. It just makes sense.
This is intrinsically different from Eating Leftovers. I've nothing against that, naturally, but if I let them, the kids will just Eat Leftovers without actually doing CORN. CORN involves pulling All The Things from the fridge and setting them on the counter. Little bits of stuff are judged to be Something or Not Anything. Moldy things go in the trash. Dried out things might go in the trash, or they might go in soup stock, if I'm planning soup stock. They might INSPIRE soup, if there are enough of them.
Tonight is supposed to be CORN (it's Monday) because Garbage Day is Tuesday, which is tomorrow, if memory serves. However, the family believes itself to be Off The Hook because a) they Ate Leftovers yesterday, so they think their weekly CORN has been fulfilled and b) Gomez wants to make Beanie Weenies, using real-for-sure-expensive Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans and the Nathan's hot dogs he tossed in the cart while we were at Costco. (It seems no one likes MY baked beans- "It's like eating clown," Pugsley said. "They taste funny.") He hasn't purchased them yet, so who knows what will happen. There are enough leftovers that they could all Eat Leftovers again without even making a half-assed pass at CORN.
But anyway, CORN is supposed to also provide a surprise meal. When we were doing the $21/week grocery plan, on Monday nights I would go through, find bits of Something and create a surprise meal of them, and all the little bits and bobs of stuff that weren't going to be Tuesday Surprise were consumed as CORN or thrown away as Not Anything, spoiled or both.
People who simply Eat Leftovers are missing out on two-thirds of the tri-pronged point of CORN.
Another little bonus of CORN (in my opinion) is that it's a meal I don't need to plan or cook.
Once in a VERY long while, there isn't enough in the fridge for CORN, (usually when we've been out at mealtimes more than once during the week, or when Gomez hasn't been home, because when he's home I cook for 8 or 12 or 170, but when he's not home, I've more or less gotten the hang of cooking for 3), so when there's nothing to eat for CORN, we have soup and cheese & crackers. Because Easy! No Thinking! is another of the many reasons for CORN.
Here is my universal sample template of mealplans:
Sunday: Something I think of, crock pot
Monday: CORN
Tuesday: Tuesday Surprise
Wednesday: Something I think of, meatless
Thursday: Pugsley's meal
Friday: Wednesday's meal
Saturday: Something I think of
On the advice of a few wise friends, I'm instituting a new thing: teen cook nights. Starting next week, Pugsley is responsible for making Thursday's dinner and Wednesday will cook on Friday evenings. They'll make something they already know how to do, be limited either by an $8-10 ingredient budget or what we already have in the house, feed all four of us and not use EVERY utensil in the kitchen.
Because it isn't just the refrigerator that needs a cleaning.
The idea of Clean Out Refrigerator Night is to Use What You've Bought and to Know What You Have. It is also to eliminate accidental science projects. I like to have CORN on the night before Garbage Day. It just makes sense.
This is intrinsically different from Eating Leftovers. I've nothing against that, naturally, but if I let them, the kids will just Eat Leftovers without actually doing CORN. CORN involves pulling All The Things from the fridge and setting them on the counter. Little bits of stuff are judged to be Something or Not Anything. Moldy things go in the trash. Dried out things might go in the trash, or they might go in soup stock, if I'm planning soup stock. They might INSPIRE soup, if there are enough of them.
Tonight is supposed to be CORN (it's Monday) because Garbage Day is Tuesday, which is tomorrow, if memory serves. However, the family believes itself to be Off The Hook because a) they Ate Leftovers yesterday, so they think their weekly CORN has been fulfilled and b) Gomez wants to make Beanie Weenies, using real-for-sure-expensive Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans and the Nathan's hot dogs he tossed in the cart while we were at Costco. (It seems no one likes MY baked beans- "It's like eating clown," Pugsley said. "They taste funny.") He hasn't purchased them yet, so who knows what will happen. There are enough leftovers that they could all Eat Leftovers again without even making a half-assed pass at CORN.
But anyway, CORN is supposed to also provide a surprise meal. When we were doing the $21/week grocery plan, on Monday nights I would go through, find bits of Something and create a surprise meal of them, and all the little bits and bobs of stuff that weren't going to be Tuesday Surprise were consumed as CORN or thrown away as Not Anything, spoiled or both.
People who simply Eat Leftovers are missing out on two-thirds of the tri-pronged point of CORN.
Another little bonus of CORN (in my opinion) is that it's a meal I don't need to plan or cook.
Once in a VERY long while, there isn't enough in the fridge for CORN, (usually when we've been out at mealtimes more than once during the week, or when Gomez hasn't been home, because when he's home I cook for 8 or 12 or 170, but when he's not home, I've more or less gotten the hang of cooking for 3), so when there's nothing to eat for CORN, we have soup and cheese & crackers. Because Easy! No Thinking! is another of the many reasons for CORN.
Here is my universal sample template of mealplans:
Sunday: Something I think of, crock pot
Monday: CORN
Tuesday: Tuesday Surprise
Wednesday: Something I think of, meatless
Thursday: Pugsley's meal
Friday: Wednesday's meal
Saturday: Something I think of
On the advice of a few wise friends, I'm instituting a new thing: teen cook nights. Starting next week, Pugsley is responsible for making Thursday's dinner and Wednesday will cook on Friday evenings. They'll make something they already know how to do, be limited either by an $8-10 ingredient budget or what we already have in the house, feed all four of us and not use EVERY utensil in the kitchen.
Because it isn't just the refrigerator that needs a cleaning.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Premise #7: Convenience, Carryout and Fast Foods
Premise #7: Convenience, Carryout and Fast Foods
This week's premise is dedicated to the Anonymous commenter who challenged me on the issue of taxing prepared foods. The popular idea is that people who are on restricted budgets can't afford to eat well because "good" food is expensive, and since low-income people may work more than one job or live in a food desert, they have little alternative to reliance on prepared foods. This would unfairly levy a Prepared Food tax on lower income folk who are least able to afford the increased expense.
I have no desire to see lower income people paying more for their food. This blog is all about investigating the possibility of eating well for less.
The problem with 'convenience' foods is that they are expensive, offer mediocre nourishment and often leave the consumer still feeling hungry.
I'd like to suggest that eating 'real' food doesn't need to require a huge investment of time. I mean, I think I've made it pretty clear that cooking is one of my least favorite activities. I therefore spend as little time doing it as I can get away with while still feeding the family.
The other night, after I taught a theater class downtown, I washed some sweet potatoes, put them in the microwave, opened a couple of cans and had dinner ready to eat in 15 minutes. This includes washing, can opening and spooning things out onto plates. We had black beans, corn and sweet potatoes with lots of butter. I have no idea about the caloric value of this meal, the amount of fiber or fat or, really, anything other than that it's nutritionally sound, delicious and filling. It's also colorful on a plate.
A frozen pizza takes 7 to 12 minutes in the oven, not counting the 9 1/2 minutes it takes me to wrestle the plastic packaging off of the stupid thing. An hour later, everyone is looking for something else to eat.
The food advertising industry has conditioned us into a state of 'learned helplessness'. We have grown, as a community, to believe that cooking for our family is time-consuming, costly and for gourmet cooks only. I call bullshit. Eating is something so simple any idiot can, and through the centuries, has, managed to do it for himself and often his family.
Rice doesn't take very long to cook and is dead cheap. Even the Uncle Ben's boxed rice isn't terribly pricey, but Wal-Mart sells brown rice for about 77 cents for a one-pound bag. Frozen veggies aren't expensive, though they're sometimes harder to find in food deserts. Cans are heavier to carry, but three cans of veggies at under a dollar each, plus a can of beef or chicken broth, with or without rice, is a nourishing soup, much cheaper than prepared tinned soup ($1.79/can? what the hell, man?) feeds several people, and doesn't take much longer than the canned version. I mean, yeah, you're operating the can opener four times instead of one, but the actual heating in a pot on the stove is about the same. Slice up some cheese and open a package of crackers- or toast some bread, whatever- and you've got yourself a meal.
The food advertising industry has conned us into believing that your meatloaf NEEDS two veggies and a starch, plus a sauce on top, to be a 'real' meal. This is not true. One veg with that meatloaf is FINE, and if it comes from a can or a package, there is nothing wrong with that. Tomato soup and grilled cheese for dinner? Go for it. Actually takes about twice the time of YamN-BeansN-Corn, but is still quick. Boxed mac and cheese is WAY more expensive than it needs to be, but in a pinch, it's quick and cheaper than drive-through.
I can't imagine ever being convinced that soda, marshmallows or Doritos qualify as food ("food" = nutritive substance, all others being, in my opinion, "edible matter") and so I'm okay with those things being taxed. If people wish to eat those items, they, like smokers, should be prepared to admit to the non-health-enhancing nature of their personal preferences.
Okay. I will step down from my soap-box now.
(Probably not really.)
This week's premise is dedicated to the Anonymous commenter who challenged me on the issue of taxing prepared foods. The popular idea is that people who are on restricted budgets can't afford to eat well because "good" food is expensive, and since low-income people may work more than one job or live in a food desert, they have little alternative to reliance on prepared foods. This would unfairly levy a Prepared Food tax on lower income folk who are least able to afford the increased expense.
I have no desire to see lower income people paying more for their food. This blog is all about investigating the possibility of eating well for less.
The problem with 'convenience' foods is that they are expensive, offer mediocre nourishment and often leave the consumer still feeling hungry.
I'd like to suggest that eating 'real' food doesn't need to require a huge investment of time. I mean, I think I've made it pretty clear that cooking is one of my least favorite activities. I therefore spend as little time doing it as I can get away with while still feeding the family.
The other night, after I taught a theater class downtown, I washed some sweet potatoes, put them in the microwave, opened a couple of cans and had dinner ready to eat in 15 minutes. This includes washing, can opening and spooning things out onto plates. We had black beans, corn and sweet potatoes with lots of butter. I have no idea about the caloric value of this meal, the amount of fiber or fat or, really, anything other than that it's nutritionally sound, delicious and filling. It's also colorful on a plate.
A frozen pizza takes 7 to 12 minutes in the oven, not counting the 9 1/2 minutes it takes me to wrestle the plastic packaging off of the stupid thing. An hour later, everyone is looking for something else to eat.
The food advertising industry has conditioned us into a state of 'learned helplessness'. We have grown, as a community, to believe that cooking for our family is time-consuming, costly and for gourmet cooks only. I call bullshit. Eating is something so simple any idiot can, and through the centuries, has, managed to do it for himself and often his family.
Rice doesn't take very long to cook and is dead cheap. Even the Uncle Ben's boxed rice isn't terribly pricey, but Wal-Mart sells brown rice for about 77 cents for a one-pound bag. Frozen veggies aren't expensive, though they're sometimes harder to find in food deserts. Cans are heavier to carry, but three cans of veggies at under a dollar each, plus a can of beef or chicken broth, with or without rice, is a nourishing soup, much cheaper than prepared tinned soup ($1.79/can? what the hell, man?) feeds several people, and doesn't take much longer than the canned version. I mean, yeah, you're operating the can opener four times instead of one, but the actual heating in a pot on the stove is about the same. Slice up some cheese and open a package of crackers- or toast some bread, whatever- and you've got yourself a meal.
The food advertising industry has conned us into believing that your meatloaf NEEDS two veggies and a starch, plus a sauce on top, to be a 'real' meal. This is not true. One veg with that meatloaf is FINE, and if it comes from a can or a package, there is nothing wrong with that. Tomato soup and grilled cheese for dinner? Go for it. Actually takes about twice the time of YamN-BeansN-Corn, but is still quick. Boxed mac and cheese is WAY more expensive than it needs to be, but in a pinch, it's quick and cheaper than drive-through.
I can't imagine ever being convinced that soda, marshmallows or Doritos qualify as food ("food" = nutritive substance, all others being, in my opinion, "edible matter") and so I'm okay with those things being taxed. If people wish to eat those items, they, like smokers, should be prepared to admit to the non-health-enhancing nature of their personal preferences.
Okay. I will step down from my soap-box now.
(Probably not really.)
Last Night
Everyone (read: the rest of the family) wanted chicken pot pie. I was going to make it. We bought one from Costco instead. I probably never need to make pot pie again. It was ~$16, and we only ate half of it.
So, one of those serves 8. We did not even bother with salad.
So, one of those serves 8. We did not even bother with salad.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Food, Fast (ish)
Red Beans And Rice, February 13
1/2 bag brown rice, .50
olive oil
2 cans red beans, ~$2
1 onion, chopped (the whole bag was ~$2)
3 slices turkey bacon, diced (I have no idea how to calculate this)
bacon grease
black pepper, sage, parsley, chives, bay leaf
Salad- Romaine lettuce $2, sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, croutons $1.50, Ceasar dressing $2.00
So, I cooked the rice like I cook rice. (I told you about this already, right?) Then I put a lump of bacon grease in a large saucepot with the onion and the turkey bacon. When that got all cooked, I added the beans and the seasonings. Except bay leaf. I seem to be out of bay leaf. But I'd've included it if I'd had some.
Serve with cornbread, garlic bread, salad, whatever. Season with hot sauce (like Tabasco) to taste.
Fed the four of us, with leftovers, so we'll call it six (maybe eight).
Oh, and... the turkey bacon is tasty and cheap and I buy it in bulk at the Costco. But it has almost negative fat content, so I neeeeeed the bacon grease. Besides, I LOVE bacon grease. It's tasty and it's a free byproduct of pork bacon, and adding fat to a meal makes it more satiating. I am a big supporter of fat, the good 'food' sort of fat, like olive oil, bacon grease, butter, fish oils and so on. Without enough fat, you feel hungry enough to put just any junk in your face. Whatever the grease is that's in cheez poufs, that can't be 'food'.
~$4.00 for beans and rice
$5.50 for salad, but we only ate half, and didn't finish the croutons or dressing
Total: $9.50ish
Prep time: half an hour on the rice, ten minutes on the beans, but no one was hungry so it all sat around for an hour before we ate. The rice stayed warm, but the beans needed to be warmed.
Pasta Bake, February 14
11/2 1lb.box of pasta- ziti, bowtie, rigatoni @$1ea = $1.50
1 3/4 jar red pasta sauce @ $1 ea =$1.75
Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, if you have it
Italian Seasoning, $1 (I didn't use all of it, of course.)
Shredded Mozzerella cheese (ok, after 3 attempts I give up on spelling that) ~$3?
(not sure, bought it in bulk @ Costco)
Olive oil
Cook pasta til al dente. Drain, then toss with olive oil and Italian seasoning. Place a layer of pasta in a large glass baking dish. Dust with Parmesan cheese. Layer red sauce on top of pasta. Cover with shredded moz. Repeat. Bake at 350*F for 35-45 minutes. Serve with garlic bread and leftover salad. Fed the four of us. I didn't put away dinner, but I think there were leftovers for lunch for 2, so 6ish servings.
Garlic Bread
1 stick butter ~.50
I Tbsp garlic powder or minced garlic
Italian seasoning
loaf of Italian bread $1.50
Total cost: ~$10.
Tonight I plan to make chicken pot pie. I'll post that soon. Well, soon-ish.
1/2 bag brown rice, .50
olive oil
2 cans red beans, ~$2
1 onion, chopped (the whole bag was ~$2)
3 slices turkey bacon, diced (I have no idea how to calculate this)
bacon grease
black pepper, sage, parsley, chives, bay leaf
Salad- Romaine lettuce $2, sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, croutons $1.50, Ceasar dressing $2.00
So, I cooked the rice like I cook rice. (I told you about this already, right?) Then I put a lump of bacon grease in a large saucepot with the onion and the turkey bacon. When that got all cooked, I added the beans and the seasonings. Except bay leaf. I seem to be out of bay leaf. But I'd've included it if I'd had some.
Serve with cornbread, garlic bread, salad, whatever. Season with hot sauce (like Tabasco) to taste.
Fed the four of us, with leftovers, so we'll call it six (maybe eight).
Oh, and... the turkey bacon is tasty and cheap and I buy it in bulk at the Costco. But it has almost negative fat content, so I neeeeeed the bacon grease. Besides, I LOVE bacon grease. It's tasty and it's a free byproduct of pork bacon, and adding fat to a meal makes it more satiating. I am a big supporter of fat, the good 'food' sort of fat, like olive oil, bacon grease, butter, fish oils and so on. Without enough fat, you feel hungry enough to put just any junk in your face. Whatever the grease is that's in cheez poufs, that can't be 'food'.
~$4.00 for beans and rice
$5.50 for salad, but we only ate half, and didn't finish the croutons or dressing
Total: $9.50ish
Prep time: half an hour on the rice, ten minutes on the beans, but no one was hungry so it all sat around for an hour before we ate. The rice stayed warm, but the beans needed to be warmed.
Pasta Bake, February 14
11/2 1lb.box of pasta- ziti, bowtie, rigatoni @$1ea = $1.50
1 3/4 jar red pasta sauce @ $1 ea =$1.75
Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, if you have it
Italian Seasoning, $1 (I didn't use all of it, of course.)
Shredded Mozzerella cheese (ok, after 3 attempts I give up on spelling that) ~$3?
(not sure, bought it in bulk @ Costco)
Olive oil
Cook pasta til al dente. Drain, then toss with olive oil and Italian seasoning. Place a layer of pasta in a large glass baking dish. Dust with Parmesan cheese. Layer red sauce on top of pasta. Cover with shredded moz. Repeat. Bake at 350*F for 35-45 minutes. Serve with garlic bread and leftover salad. Fed the four of us. I didn't put away dinner, but I think there were leftovers for lunch for 2, so 6ish servings.
Garlic Bread
1 stick butter ~.50
I Tbsp garlic powder or minced garlic
Italian seasoning
loaf of Italian bread $1.50
Total cost: ~$10.
Tonight I plan to make chicken pot pie. I'll post that soon. Well, soon-ish.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Jambalayah and My Mother's Rice Pot
Jambalayah is one of those dishes which is nearly impossible to do "wrong". Okay, start with rice. Broth is good. Whatever bits of meat you have, unless you don't want meat. Yes, it's possible to have Jambalayah without bacon fat, though my Inner Deep Southern Woman shudders at the idea. Y'all do yours however you want. Here's how I did mine last night.
1 can chicken ~$3
1 tin smoked oysters ~$2 (I think. I bought them intending to just eat them on crackers, then didn't.)
1/2 package turkey sausage ~$2.50
1 can diced tomatoes ~.80
1 chopped onion
bacon grease
rice
sage
seasoned salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper
olive oil
In my kitchen is yellow crock that has been mine for 20 years, but which I still refer to as "my mother's rice pot". When I was a little girl, she cooked rice in it. Occasionally other things, but mostly rice. When I was a teen or young adult (still living with her), she bought a replacement. It's an enamelled iron thing with a lid on it, I guess Dutch Oven is its actual name. I claimed the old one. Over the years, I've cooked Frito Pie, Spaghetti Pie, Ravioli Bake, stew, roast, soup and spoonbread in my mother's rice pot. It's still my mother's rice pot, and I never cook rice in anything else. Well, for awhile I tried: Gourmet Sister gave me a rice steamer. It was supposed to cook rice "perfectly every time". It made the rice soggy and was a pain in the ass to clean and after about six months, I went back to using my mother's rice pot. I'm not great at everything, but I'm finally pretty good at cooking rice.
I have no idea if anyone else puts olive oil in their rice pot and heats it before adding the rice. I don't watch cooking shows, generally, and when I go to people's homes, it's usually potluck, so things are prepared already. But my mother always heated olive oil, added rice, sauteed it awhile, then added water, a lot at first, and more gradually as the rice needed. So that is what I do, too. Except this time, I opened my cans first, and added the liquid from the can of chicken and the can of tomatoes before adding water. The recipe books said I should use broth, but I didn't. You can. I save my broth for things that NEED broth, and this doesn't, really.
While my rice was cooking, I chopped the onion and the turkey sausage (three fat bratwurst-sized things) and browned them together with bacon fat in my large iron skillet. When they were cooked, the rice was about halfway done, so I added the chicken, they oysters and their liquid, the tomatoes and the spices along with more water.
When the rice was nearly done, I added the onion and sausage and some more liquid- I rinsed the cans, rinsed the skillet, dumped that water into the pot. I turned the heat off before all the liquid was absorbed, gave the pot a few good stirs and let it sit, covered. Then I steamed some broccoli.
The four of us each had 2 servings, and there are leftovers for the boys to have lunch.
Roughly $9.50 for the meal divided by 6 (where is my division symbol on this keyboard??) so that's what, $1.90 per serving or so.
1 can chicken ~$3
1 tin smoked oysters ~$2 (I think. I bought them intending to just eat them on crackers, then didn't.)
1/2 package turkey sausage ~$2.50
1 can diced tomatoes ~.80
1 chopped onion
bacon grease
rice
sage
seasoned salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper
olive oil
In my kitchen is yellow crock that has been mine for 20 years, but which I still refer to as "my mother's rice pot". When I was a little girl, she cooked rice in it. Occasionally other things, but mostly rice. When I was a teen or young adult (still living with her), she bought a replacement. It's an enamelled iron thing with a lid on it, I guess Dutch Oven is its actual name. I claimed the old one. Over the years, I've cooked Frito Pie, Spaghetti Pie, Ravioli Bake, stew, roast, soup and spoonbread in my mother's rice pot. It's still my mother's rice pot, and I never cook rice in anything else. Well, for awhile I tried: Gourmet Sister gave me a rice steamer. It was supposed to cook rice "perfectly every time". It made the rice soggy and was a pain in the ass to clean and after about six months, I went back to using my mother's rice pot. I'm not great at everything, but I'm finally pretty good at cooking rice.
I have no idea if anyone else puts olive oil in their rice pot and heats it before adding the rice. I don't watch cooking shows, generally, and when I go to people's homes, it's usually potluck, so things are prepared already. But my mother always heated olive oil, added rice, sauteed it awhile, then added water, a lot at first, and more gradually as the rice needed. So that is what I do, too. Except this time, I opened my cans first, and added the liquid from the can of chicken and the can of tomatoes before adding water. The recipe books said I should use broth, but I didn't. You can. I save my broth for things that NEED broth, and this doesn't, really.
While my rice was cooking, I chopped the onion and the turkey sausage (three fat bratwurst-sized things) and browned them together with bacon fat in my large iron skillet. When they were cooked, the rice was about halfway done, so I added the chicken, they oysters and their liquid, the tomatoes and the spices along with more water.
When the rice was nearly done, I added the onion and sausage and some more liquid- I rinsed the cans, rinsed the skillet, dumped that water into the pot. I turned the heat off before all the liquid was absorbed, gave the pot a few good stirs and let it sit, covered. Then I steamed some broccoli.
The four of us each had 2 servings, and there are leftovers for the boys to have lunch.
Roughly $9.50 for the meal divided by 6 (where is my division symbol on this keyboard??) so that's what, $1.90 per serving or so.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Back, With Recipes
7 February 2014
My apologies. I got discouraged.
What I discovered was that while I can buy groceries for $50.00 a week, "feeding the family" is another story. The teens want money for pizza and chips. The husband buys 7-11 hot dogs, and spends about $2.50 every day for those Giganto-Gulp cups. Once in awhile, I ignore my wincing and spend $7.50 on a cafe au lait and fancy pastry in a frou-frou internet coffee shop.
However, my intrepidididity (? ,) wins after all. I will post recipes and their corresponding costs. You can figure out for yourselves (if there are any of you left at all) how to budget your grocery money.
OH! AND! Super tip: adding refried beans as a thickener also adds fiber, extends the 'meat' of the meal and is Very Nearly Invisible to the eater.
For example:
Shredded Chicken BBQ
2 cans chicken ($3 each)
1 bottle BBQ sauce ($3)
few tablespoons pineapple salsa, mango chutney, other fanciness, or not, if you don't have some
1 can refried beans (.80)
1 bag Torta rolls (Costco, $5.50)
Slice the Torta rolls. Set aside, or heat if you wish.
Heat wet ingredients together in crock pot. Make sure chicken is well shredded and beans are well blended. It sort of gives it away if there are lumps of grey-brown goop in the sandwich. Scoop onto rolls and enjoy.
My goal always is to serve a salad with this meal. It rarely happens.
So, total meal cost: Roughly $12.50, which sounds high to me, except it feeds the 4 of us (2 teenagers, remember) WITH leftovers for lunch. And my husband has occasionally walked in the house with a bag of fast food just for himself that bears a receipt in that very neighborhood. We'll say ~$2/serving and call it good.
Michael's White Bean Soup
2 cans Lima beans
2 cans White Northern beans
2 cans Butter beans
4 cans Cannellini beans
2 cans refried beans
(.80 each, x 12 =$9.60)
3 cubes Knorr's vegetable bullion, or 3 Tbsp Better Than Bullion, Vegetable (no idea)
1 Tb chopped garlic (from a jar)
1 Tb ground tumeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground sage
1-3 Tbs ground black pepper
parsley
chives ($2)
Serve with hearty rolls, shredded cheese, pumpernickel croutons, blue tortilla chips or whatever. And a salad.
I made this to take to a SuperBowl party, where my friend Michael, who has allergies to many common ingredients, would be a guest as well. I tried calling it White Chili, but that was weird: Michael's allergic to chili powder, so it had none in it. I'd say it served 6 to 8 people at the party, then the kids & I had it as CORN on Monday, and then I froze about 4 servings of it. We can call that 14 servings. That seems right. If I was to halve the recipe, I'd guess it would serve 6. Considering that I had most of the seasonings and didn't buy any of them special for the recipe except the chives (which, to be honest, I wanted as garnish anyhow), I would say this meal cost $~12.00, and certainly is under $1/serving.
Okay. More of these, but later.
My apologies. I got discouraged.
What I discovered was that while I can buy groceries for $50.00 a week, "feeding the family" is another story. The teens want money for pizza and chips. The husband buys 7-11 hot dogs, and spends about $2.50 every day for those Giganto-Gulp cups. Once in awhile, I ignore my wincing and spend $7.50 on a cafe au lait and fancy pastry in a frou-frou internet coffee shop.
However, my intrepidididity (? ,) wins after all. I will post recipes and their corresponding costs. You can figure out for yourselves (if there are any of you left at all) how to budget your grocery money.
OH! AND! Super tip: adding refried beans as a thickener also adds fiber, extends the 'meat' of the meal and is Very Nearly Invisible to the eater.
For example:
Shredded Chicken BBQ
2 cans chicken ($3 each)
1 bottle BBQ sauce ($3)
few tablespoons pineapple salsa, mango chutney, other fanciness, or not, if you don't have some
1 can refried beans (.80)
1 bag Torta rolls (Costco, $5.50)
Slice the Torta rolls. Set aside, or heat if you wish.
Heat wet ingredients together in crock pot. Make sure chicken is well shredded and beans are well blended. It sort of gives it away if there are lumps of grey-brown goop in the sandwich. Scoop onto rolls and enjoy.
My goal always is to serve a salad with this meal. It rarely happens.
So, total meal cost: Roughly $12.50, which sounds high to me, except it feeds the 4 of us (2 teenagers, remember) WITH leftovers for lunch. And my husband has occasionally walked in the house with a bag of fast food just for himself that bears a receipt in that very neighborhood. We'll say ~$2/serving and call it good.
Michael's White Bean Soup
2 cans Lima beans
2 cans White Northern beans
2 cans Butter beans
4 cans Cannellini beans
2 cans refried beans
(.80 each, x 12 =$9.60)
3 cubes Knorr's vegetable bullion, or 3 Tbsp Better Than Bullion, Vegetable (no idea)
1 Tb chopped garlic (from a jar)
1 Tb ground tumeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground sage
1-3 Tbs ground black pepper
parsley
chives ($2)
Serve with hearty rolls, shredded cheese, pumpernickel croutons, blue tortilla chips or whatever. And a salad.
I made this to take to a SuperBowl party, where my friend Michael, who has allergies to many common ingredients, would be a guest as well. I tried calling it White Chili, but that was weird: Michael's allergic to chili powder, so it had none in it. I'd say it served 6 to 8 people at the party, then the kids & I had it as CORN on Monday, and then I froze about 4 servings of it. We can call that 14 servings. That seems right. If I was to halve the recipe, I'd guess it would serve 6. Considering that I had most of the seasonings and didn't buy any of them special for the recipe except the chives (which, to be honest, I wanted as garnish anyhow), I would say this meal cost $~12.00, and certainly is under $1/serving.
Okay. More of these, but later.
Friday, April 12, 2013
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
Premise #6:What You DON'T Buy
Wendesday
There's a lot to be said about what we leave on the shelves. For example, $2 buys a lot of oatmeal and a fair amount of frozen veggies, but only one box of Saturday cereal. Since we're coming out of winter, I'm hoping to convince the Giant Obnoxious Ones that Saturday Cereal stays on the shelf. I bow to the power of Comfort Foods (witness my sugar spree this week) and am myself powerless in the face of hormonal sugar/salt rampages and actually eat Pork Rinds much more frequently than I care to admit. HOWEVER.
Leaving chips, cookies, danish, tinned pasta, seasonal treats and so forth on the shelf at the supermarket is a Really Good Idea, because dayum, that crap's ezPENsive, yo. I bought sugar last week, in order to make an Easter treat for Gomez's family. His Aunt Jean used to make no-bake cookies that are sugar, chocolate and quick oats, and his sisters LOVE them. They require two cups of sugar per batch. But usually, I don't buy sugar. I don't usually buy lunchmeat. Bacon is a special purchase, as are bread (that's right, I don't have bread in the house as a 'staple'), ice cream, bagels and fruit. Yes, I like fruit, and it's nice for the kids to have fruit in their lunch coolers. But I've had fruit go bad. I'd rather have the family say to me, Hey, could we have some fruit? than say to myself, Aha- so that's why those wee flies have invaded the kitchen. Doing without for a day or two doesn't kill anyone, and a week is shorter than it used to be. Okay, maybe it just SEEMS shorter than it used to be.
I don't buy paper towels or paper napkins unless there's a special reason for them. I use dishcloths, cloth napkins and washrags for just about everything that Most People need paper towels. We have garbage day and recycle day once a week each in my neighborhood, and I hate HATE purchasing something that is DESIGNED to be thrown away in the trash (don't get me started on garbage bags), so I do it as little as possible. No, they don't count as groceries, and wouldn't even if I were buying them, but consider what you might save by not buying paper towels, or at least not buying them as often.
I don't always buy milk. I like to have half & half for my coffee, but if I don't, I don't. One carton generally gets me through two weeks, or almost. I've had the "other half" of a gallon of milk go bad often enough that I'll check with the kids to see if they want milk this week. For cooking, I keep a can of evaporated milk on the shelf- nobody notices the replacement when I make mac & cheese. Cheddar cheese is kind of a staple, but I don't always buy Swiss or other sorts. I don't buy eggs every week- since I buy 3 dozen at a time, I shouldn't need to- and I don't buy muffin mixes anymore, since the bug incident.
I also don't buy bottled drinks. When I do, I buy glass bottles so that I can reuse them, sometimes mixing my own iced coffee, lemonade or fruit-tea drinks. I don't buy fruit juice unless Wednesday pleads for apple juice, but since the apple juice I bought last week went off before it was gone, it will probably be awhile before I buy it again.
Packaged snacks (oops, typed 'snakes' first; packaged snakes? hmm.) are an on-again, off-again basis. I do like to keep granola bars and boxes of raisins around, but pretzels, chips, and things that come in 'one serving' packages tend to remain on the shelves. It irks me to purchase an over-abundance of packaging, so I'd rather buy a large bag of pretzels and put them in little reusable containers for lunches. We make popcorn in our stovetop Whirly-Pop when we want munchies with a movie. Super-cheap, and no weird chemical pretend butter stuff.
I try to not buy cookies. Cinnamon graham crackers are wonderful and substitute nicely, and at $1.80 or so a box beat the heck out of the $3.69 Oreo cookies, pricewise. I do buy brownie mix and use it to make cookies sometimes. Also shortbread, but I did that so often this winter that I won't do it anymore until the guest pounds that have accumulated on my sit-upon have vacated my trousers.
Meal Plan
Wednesday: Salmon Cakes & green beans
Thursday: Hot Dogs w/The Works
Friday: Red Beans & Rice or Yams, Corn & Black Beans
Saturday: Burgers
Sunday: Lasagne Crisp
Monday: CORN
Tuesday: Cheesy Beef Casserole or Beans & Rice
List
Happy Hour Cupcakes $6
Hot dog buns $2
Hamburger buns $2
Burgers or burger meat $9
tomatoes, lettuce, catsup $6
saurkraut (shaddap, SpellCheck) $3
croissant rolls in a tube $3
Ricotta cheese $4
Mozzerella cheese (again, shaddap) $3
cheddar cheese $6
sausage roll $5
wish list:
Tang
fruit
cocoa
raisin bread
Swiss cheese
pesto
maple syrup
granola bars
This 'wish list' idea of mine is so that if I have some wiggle room in my grocery budget, I can purchase some of the 'want' items without them technically being impulse buys. But if I don't have room in the budget, I'll leave things on the shelf.
There's a lot to be said about what we leave on the shelves. For example, $2 buys a lot of oatmeal and a fair amount of frozen veggies, but only one box of Saturday cereal. Since we're coming out of winter, I'm hoping to convince the Giant Obnoxious Ones that Saturday Cereal stays on the shelf. I bow to the power of Comfort Foods (witness my sugar spree this week) and am myself powerless in the face of hormonal sugar/salt rampages and actually eat Pork Rinds much more frequently than I care to admit. HOWEVER.
Leaving chips, cookies, danish, tinned pasta, seasonal treats and so forth on the shelf at the supermarket is a Really Good Idea, because dayum, that crap's ezPENsive, yo. I bought sugar last week, in order to make an Easter treat for Gomez's family. His Aunt Jean used to make no-bake cookies that are sugar, chocolate and quick oats, and his sisters LOVE them. They require two cups of sugar per batch. But usually, I don't buy sugar. I don't usually buy lunchmeat. Bacon is a special purchase, as are bread (that's right, I don't have bread in the house as a 'staple'), ice cream, bagels and fruit. Yes, I like fruit, and it's nice for the kids to have fruit in their lunch coolers. But I've had fruit go bad. I'd rather have the family say to me, Hey, could we have some fruit? than say to myself, Aha- so that's why those wee flies have invaded the kitchen. Doing without for a day or two doesn't kill anyone, and a week is shorter than it used to be. Okay, maybe it just SEEMS shorter than it used to be.
I don't buy paper towels or paper napkins unless there's a special reason for them. I use dishcloths, cloth napkins and washrags for just about everything that Most People need paper towels. We have garbage day and recycle day once a week each in my neighborhood, and I hate HATE purchasing something that is DESIGNED to be thrown away in the trash (don't get me started on garbage bags), so I do it as little as possible. No, they don't count as groceries, and wouldn't even if I were buying them, but consider what you might save by not buying paper towels, or at least not buying them as often.
I don't always buy milk. I like to have half & half for my coffee, but if I don't, I don't. One carton generally gets me through two weeks, or almost. I've had the "other half" of a gallon of milk go bad often enough that I'll check with the kids to see if they want milk this week. For cooking, I keep a can of evaporated milk on the shelf- nobody notices the replacement when I make mac & cheese. Cheddar cheese is kind of a staple, but I don't always buy Swiss or other sorts. I don't buy eggs every week- since I buy 3 dozen at a time, I shouldn't need to- and I don't buy muffin mixes anymore, since the bug incident.
I also don't buy bottled drinks. When I do, I buy glass bottles so that I can reuse them, sometimes mixing my own iced coffee, lemonade or fruit-tea drinks. I don't buy fruit juice unless Wednesday pleads for apple juice, but since the apple juice I bought last week went off before it was gone, it will probably be awhile before I buy it again.
Packaged snacks (oops, typed 'snakes' first; packaged snakes? hmm.) are an on-again, off-again basis. I do like to keep granola bars and boxes of raisins around, but pretzels, chips, and things that come in 'one serving' packages tend to remain on the shelves. It irks me to purchase an over-abundance of packaging, so I'd rather buy a large bag of pretzels and put them in little reusable containers for lunches. We make popcorn in our stovetop Whirly-Pop when we want munchies with a movie. Super-cheap, and no weird chemical pretend butter stuff.
I try to not buy cookies. Cinnamon graham crackers are wonderful and substitute nicely, and at $1.80 or so a box beat the heck out of the $3.69 Oreo cookies, pricewise. I do buy brownie mix and use it to make cookies sometimes. Also shortbread, but I did that so often this winter that I won't do it anymore until the guest pounds that have accumulated on my sit-upon have vacated my trousers.
Meal Plan
Wednesday: Salmon Cakes & green beans
Thursday: Hot Dogs w/The Works
Friday: Red Beans & Rice or Yams, Corn & Black Beans
Saturday: Burgers
Sunday: Lasagne Crisp
Monday: CORN
Tuesday: Cheesy Beef Casserole or Beans & Rice
List
Happy Hour Cupcakes $6
Hot dog buns $2
Hamburger buns $2
Burgers or burger meat $9
tomatoes, lettuce, catsup $6
saurkraut (shaddap, SpellCheck) $3
croissant rolls in a tube $3
Ricotta cheese $4
Mozzerella cheese (again, shaddap) $3
cheddar cheese $6
sausage roll $5
wish list:
Tang
fruit
cocoa
raisin bread
Swiss cheese
pesto
maple syrup
granola bars
This 'wish list' idea of mine is so that if I have some wiggle room in my grocery budget, I can purchase some of the 'want' items without them technically being impulse buys. But if I don't have room in the budget, I'll leave things on the shelf.
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.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Story I Promised
This is not actually the first time I have done comparison shopping. Try to contain your gasps of shock.
A couple of years ago, I was working with parents of young dancers, teaching them how to make their students look good for performances. I'd been doing Wednesday's makeup for years, and had a wee moment when she was three or four of worry that I was headed down the Jon Benet path. Then I saw the photographs and got right over it. Studio photography and stage lighting are not kind to skintones or, really, anything. It was my job to convince parents of performing dancers to put on makeup, and in many cases, to purchase makeup especially for the show. The dancers also needed a basket to hold their things, wipes for cleaning up, hair brushes, pins, and so on.
I had already discovered that many parents were completely daunted by the prospect, never having worn cosmetics themselves, or not wanting to sexualize their child-daughters (sons was a whole OTHER kettle of fish), or not knowing where to purchase supplies and so forth.
I've been a 'dance mom' since my son was five. This stuff is as natural as city parking to me. But I can't catch a cab to save my soul, so I tried to lead gently by example and instruction with physical examples and store receipts. I bought a 'kit' at Target, one at Rite Aid and one at Wal Mart. The kit was a laundry basket, wipes, hairpins, a brush, eye colors, eye liner, mascara, lip stain, blush, hair nets, elastics, cotton swabs, tissues, brushes and a puzzle or book of coloring or crosswords.
I don't remember the totals of these items precisely, but the total I expected was in the $25 to $40 area. I do remember the figures did NOT match my expectations at ALL. For one thing, I came in over $32 every place I shopped. I shopped at Target first (I like shopping at Target) and then at the Rite Aid (it may have been Walgreen's) and lastly at Wal-Mart. The drug store, I was surprised to note, came in a few (five, eight, something) dollars higher than Target. I thought the drug store would be cheaper. Surprise! I expected Wal-Mart's prices to be higher than Target's, because Wal-Mart hollers about how much cheaper they are than everyone, and if they really WERE that much cheaper, they wouldn't need to do all that hollering, in my opinion. Plus, they have things specially packaged in weird sizes so it's mind-bendingly difficult to compare prices on identical items. I figured Wal-Mart would be higher than my other totals by five or seven dollars, maybe. I actually was hoping to be surprised, that they'd be competitive, or lower, even. HAH! My Wal-Mart receipt was almost fifteen dollars more than the one I had from Target.
This is significant if you have to scrape for bus fare.
I thought people should know about this. I still visit Wal-Mart more frequently than I'm comfortable doing- curiously, their pharmacy rates are by far lower than any other in my neighborhood, but I have to remind myself to leave the shelves alone.
A couple of years ago, I was working with parents of young dancers, teaching them how to make their students look good for performances. I'd been doing Wednesday's makeup for years, and had a wee moment when she was three or four of worry that I was headed down the Jon Benet path. Then I saw the photographs and got right over it. Studio photography and stage lighting are not kind to skintones or, really, anything. It was my job to convince parents of performing dancers to put on makeup, and in many cases, to purchase makeup especially for the show. The dancers also needed a basket to hold their things, wipes for cleaning up, hair brushes, pins, and so on.
I had already discovered that many parents were completely daunted by the prospect, never having worn cosmetics themselves, or not wanting to sexualize their child-daughters (sons was a whole OTHER kettle of fish), or not knowing where to purchase supplies and so forth.
I've been a 'dance mom' since my son was five. This stuff is as natural as city parking to me. But I can't catch a cab to save my soul, so I tried to lead gently by example and instruction with physical examples and store receipts. I bought a 'kit' at Target, one at Rite Aid and one at Wal Mart. The kit was a laundry basket, wipes, hairpins, a brush, eye colors, eye liner, mascara, lip stain, blush, hair nets, elastics, cotton swabs, tissues, brushes and a puzzle or book of coloring or crosswords.
I don't remember the totals of these items precisely, but the total I expected was in the $25 to $40 area. I do remember the figures did NOT match my expectations at ALL. For one thing, I came in over $32 every place I shopped. I shopped at Target first (I like shopping at Target) and then at the Rite Aid (it may have been Walgreen's) and lastly at Wal-Mart. The drug store, I was surprised to note, came in a few (five, eight, something) dollars higher than Target. I thought the drug store would be cheaper. Surprise! I expected Wal-Mart's prices to be higher than Target's, because Wal-Mart hollers about how much cheaper they are than everyone, and if they really WERE that much cheaper, they wouldn't need to do all that hollering, in my opinion. Plus, they have things specially packaged in weird sizes so it's mind-bendingly difficult to compare prices on identical items. I figured Wal-Mart would be higher than my other totals by five or seven dollars, maybe. I actually was hoping to be surprised, that they'd be competitive, or lower, even. HAH! My Wal-Mart receipt was almost fifteen dollars more than the one I had from Target.
This is significant if you have to scrape for bus fare.
I thought people should know about this. I still visit Wal-Mart more frequently than I'm comfortable doing- curiously, their pharmacy rates are by far lower than any other in my neighborhood, but I have to remind myself to leave the shelves alone.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Recipes
Friday
You may have noticed I'm rather haphazard with this 'recipe' idea. There are certain things for which specific measurements are more ideal than not (cornbread, quiche, cookies), but many other things have a lot of what I call "wiggle room".
I'm kind of a 'dump' cook: Dump it in, stir it together, plate and serve.
I'd like you to think of my recipes less as specific project instructions and more as general how-to, like a You Tube video.
Cheating Chili
1 large can stewed or diced tomatoes
2-4 cans chili beans
2 cans kidney beans
1 envelope taco seasoning
1/2 -1 onion, chopped
additional seasonings as desired
Dump all ingredients into crock pot, liquid and all. Cover and cook at Medium all day.
Serve with shredded cheese, chopped onion, sour cream, salsa and cornbread or tortilla chips. It's Taco Salad without the Salad part.
Bean Pot
1 can each kidney, pinto, green, Lima and white or Great Northern beans, liquid included(substitute others if you prefer; I usually avoid Black beans in Bean Pot, as they make it look grimy.)
bay leaf
dried minced onion
fresh ground black pepper, plenty of it
garlic powder or minced garlic, 1 teaspoon or so
Dump everything together in the crock pot or slow cooker. Cook on Medium-Low all day, or at Medium High for two to three hours. Serve like soup with bread and butter, or over leftover rice or cornbread.
Corn Bread- Preheat oven to 450*F
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1/3 cup milk
1 can corn or creamed corn
2 Tablespoons bacon grease
Melt butter in iron skillet. Pour off into medium bowl or measuring beaker. In separate bowl, blend dry ingredients together. In bowl with butter, add milk and egg. Beat well. Add corn. Melt bacon grease in skillet. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, scraping wet bowl well and folding gently to combine. Pour into hot skillet. Cook on stove ~3-5 minutes to create crispy crust, then put in oven ~20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with solid crumbs clinging to it. Cook 3-5 minutes before slicing into wedges.
White Bean & Chicken Burritos
2 cans white beans (or Great Northern, if there's a difference)
~1 cup chicken, shredded
~1 cup diced tomatoes
hot sauce
pepper
salt
thyme
sage
cheddar cheese, sliced or shredded
tortillas
Drain beans.Dump in large-ish bowl. Stir in spices, chicken and tomatoes, and salsa, too, if you wish. Onto each tortilla, plop two large spoonfuls of bean mixture. Top with cheese. Add a small bit of cheese to the edge of the tortilla, to glue it together when you roll it. Place all burritos (I made 8) in baking dish. Top with additional cheese, if you wish- it doesn't change the flavor, but makes them reel purdy. Bake at 350*F for 20-30 minutes. Serve with salsa & sour cream. Pitcher of margaritas optional.
You may have noticed I'm rather haphazard with this 'recipe' idea. There are certain things for which specific measurements are more ideal than not (cornbread, quiche, cookies), but many other things have a lot of what I call "wiggle room".
I'm kind of a 'dump' cook: Dump it in, stir it together, plate and serve.
I'd like you to think of my recipes less as specific project instructions and more as general how-to, like a You Tube video.
Cheating Chili
1 large can stewed or diced tomatoes
2-4 cans chili beans
2 cans kidney beans
1 envelope taco seasoning
1/2 -1 onion, chopped
additional seasonings as desired
Dump all ingredients into crock pot, liquid and all. Cover and cook at Medium all day.
Serve with shredded cheese, chopped onion, sour cream, salsa and cornbread or tortilla chips. It's Taco Salad without the Salad part.
Bean Pot
1 can each kidney, pinto, green, Lima and white or Great Northern beans, liquid included(substitute others if you prefer; I usually avoid Black beans in Bean Pot, as they make it look grimy.)
bay leaf
dried minced onion
fresh ground black pepper, plenty of it
garlic powder or minced garlic, 1 teaspoon or so
Dump everything together in the crock pot or slow cooker. Cook on Medium-Low all day, or at Medium High for two to three hours. Serve like soup with bread and butter, or over leftover rice or cornbread.
Corn Bread- Preheat oven to 450*F
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
1/3 cup milk
1 can corn or creamed corn
2 Tablespoons bacon grease
Melt butter in iron skillet. Pour off into medium bowl or measuring beaker. In separate bowl, blend dry ingredients together. In bowl with butter, add milk and egg. Beat well. Add corn. Melt bacon grease in skillet. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, scraping wet bowl well and folding gently to combine. Pour into hot skillet. Cook on stove ~3-5 minutes to create crispy crust, then put in oven ~20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with solid crumbs clinging to it. Cook 3-5 minutes before slicing into wedges.
White Bean & Chicken Burritos
2 cans white beans (or Great Northern, if there's a difference)
~1 cup chicken, shredded
~1 cup diced tomatoes
hot sauce
pepper
salt
thyme
sage
cheddar cheese, sliced or shredded
tortillas
Drain beans.Dump in large-ish bowl. Stir in spices, chicken and tomatoes, and salsa, too, if you wish. Onto each tortilla, plop two large spoonfuls of bean mixture. Top with cheese. Add a small bit of cheese to the edge of the tortilla, to glue it together when you roll it. Place all burritos (I made 8) in baking dish. Top with additional cheese, if you wish- it doesn't change the flavor, but makes them reel purdy. Bake at 350*F for 20-30 minutes. Serve with salsa & sour cream. Pitcher of margaritas optional.
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.
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