Menu week of April 18th

This week is a challenge week. We all run into the more "month than money" scenerio, that is us this week. This is when I rely on my stocked pantry and freezer!

Breakfast Options
cereal
pancakes
french toast and scrambled eggs

Lunches:
kids eat at school
I will eat leftovers or soup at home

Dinners:
Sunday- BBQ ribs and potatoes, green salad
Monday- spaghetti, homemade french bread and salad
Tuesday- Tacos
Wednesday- Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans
Thursday- Tilapia, rice veggies

All meals are from whats currently on hand in the fridge, freezer and pantry no shopping list this week. I did pick up 2 gallons of milk over the weekend for $4.38.

Constant Changes

Ok so sometimes the best of plans do not work. Last night I had roasted chicken with wilted greens and croutons on the menu. My daughter had baseball practice right at dinner time. I put the chicken in the oven at a low temperature mid afternoon to cook and it should have been perfectly cooked by the time we got home from baseball. I have done this a dozen times. This time, it didn't work. The chicken was not done nad needed a good 35-40 minutes more. So we improvise. This is where having a stocked pantry comes in handy. Last nights dinner became Chili and tortilla chips. I now have a perfectly cooked chicken that will be come chicken salad for sandwiches!

Today we head to Childrens Hospital in Seattle. My youngest daughter (9) has been having migraines for several years. They are hereditary and she has unfortunately been the one out of 4 who seems to have inherited them. We saw the pediatrician last year who told us that if they increased they would do more testing. They have sadly, been increasing. So off we go to the neurologist. We are praying they can find something to help her and help her have a normal childhood without this constant interruption. As a mom I can't help but worry that something else is going on. The pediatrician assures me that she shows no symptoms of anything other that textbook migraines but that hey have to rule out anything else before they can treat her with any medication. UGH. I will be glad when this is done. The hardest part for me as a parent is not being able to help one of my kids when they need it.

Grocery Shopping Week of 4/11

My goal this month is to stay under $400. Not an easy task with 4 kids trying to eat us out of house and home! I did stop at Winco for an unplanned stock up trip over the weekend. No picture of those items but I did spend $73. That added to the $100 I spent for last week put me at $173. This week I spent (between 2 stores) $69.49. My total spent so far this month $242.49.

I did not take a picture of my Winco purchases but below are the purchases for this weeks menu.



GROCERY OUTLET
baby carrots .99
beef & broccoli 1.99
sesame chicken 1.99
hashbrowns 2.99
local crusty bread 1.50
marinated chicken 5.32
red pepper 1.50
lemon .50
honey 1.29
half & half 1.89
It also came with a $3 off coupon for my next trip!

COST CUTTER
sour cream 1.69
2 yogurt $4.58
baby spinach 2.00
2 small white beans 1.98
2 corn muffin mix .98
hotdog buns 1.29
4.60# bananas 2.71
.92# yellow onions .91
romaine hearts 1.79
2 Life cereal $3.98
Thyme 2.99
ginger root .19
2 BC potatoes 1.98
blue cheese 3.89
turkey dogs .98
rib eye steak 12.81 (we ate 1/2 the pkg and froze the other 1/2 for another week)
2 gallons milk $4.78

To see how others did this week check out the GROCERY CART CHALLENGE

Week of 4/11

We are off with sports in full swing. Currently on our calendar is fastpitch, soccer x 3, jazz band and marching band, dance and church activities. That ontop of work, school and regular household things. This makes menu planning VERY important to staying ontop of things.

This weeks menu:
Sunday- grilled steak, baked potatoes and salad
Monday- Roasted chicken w/croutons & wilted greens, buttered noodles
Tuesday- Hamburger Helper (I will be gone ODS will be cooking), carrots w/ranch
Wednesday- Lettuce Wraps and rice
Thursday- White bean/chicken chili, cornbread
Friday- fish w/mango salsa, rice and green beans
Saturday- cobb salad w/poached eggs, mac & cheese

Monday 3/22

Today was my oldest sons 15th birthday. Hard to believe he is 15, where did the time go? He was very excited to be able to mow lawn today, something he loves to do. His hard work this past week also paid off. We live on a farm run by an older man who has had a stroke and has limited use of his left side but boy it sure doesn't slow him down. Over the past week my son has gone out to help him several times when he would see him struggling to try to do something on his own. Today he offered him a job on the farm! Just helping here and there but the opportunity for him to work and earn some of his own spending money.

I also talked to the farmer about our garden. We are going to be able to have a large garden here. In exchange for him tilling up the spot and fertilizing it, I will share the produce with him. He was very excited about that! Its a win win for all.

On a funny note, had to chase a cow again today. This time a calf. I was out hanging the sheets on the clothes line and saw something move out of the corner of my eye. She was peeking at me around the corner of the building so cute. Got her back inside the fence and the gate closed without any problems, much easier than the very large cow that got out a few weeks ago and I had to chase all over the yard!

My youngest daughter started fast pitch today as well. I wasn't sure how this was going to go, she is new to sports. She is the ballet dancer. I was quite surprised at how well she can throw! She needs to work on her catching a bit, but managed to get thru a 1 1/2 hour practice and only get bonked in the head once. She had a few tears but NO DRAMA which is huge for her! We will be spending quite a bit of time in the back yard working on grounders and catching the ball.

Dinner tonight was to be BBQ ribs. I didn't have enough time to put them on the grill so I popped them in a low temperature oven (225) and let them slow cook for a couple of hours. Then upped the temp to 400 and smothered in BBQ sauce for the last 30 minutes. They turned out perfect! Definitely going to try that again.

All in all, a great day here on the farm!

Grocery shopping week of 3/21

This weeks shopping trip was a little more fun. My oldest daughters math homework was to go to the store and find 20 items, get the item price and individul unit/oz price etc. It was fun teaching her how to read the tags in the store! (Yes I am strange)

To see how others did this week go to GROCERY CART CHALLENGE
This weeks groceries came from Safeway.
Total spent $56.98
2 cheerios $2.98
BBQ sauce $1.25
refried beans .99
veg oil $3.00
2 brown gravy mix $1.98
24 pk dr pepper $6.99
shredded cheese $1.49
half & half $1.99
milk $2.99
2 butter $3.98
bacon $2.50
whole chicken $3.58
pork shoulder roast $6.98
porkback ribs $10.41 (didn't want to pay this much but it was a birthday dinner request)
4 heads garlic $2.00
coleslaw mix $1.79

Menu 3/21 - 3/27

Sunday- Part leftovers (sandwiches/chips)
Monday- BBQ ribs, baked potatoes and veggies (Bday boys request)
Tuesday- Garlic chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies
Wednesday- pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, mac & cheese
Thursday- Tacos
Friday- Meatloaf, buttered noodles, veggies
Saturday- Spaghetti, garlic bread & salad