Winding up 2013

  This being the very last day of 2013 it seems fitting to spend some time reflecting on the past year. I have had so very many blessings. Three new grandchildren top the list of all that was good with the year. My youngest daughter graduated from high school, was accepted into a local college with a terrific financial aide award, and also came to work with me! The news that 2014 would bless my oldest son and daughter-in-law with their first child. I was also blessed in that I found an additional job right at the school I already work at so that I am able to get myself in a state of financial readiness for the coming year.
We continue to have a roof over our heads and food on the table and reliable transportation. Family and friends to support and love and laugh with us. And of course a continuing relationship with my GF.
2013 wasn't all good. We had to say goodbye suddenly and unexpectedly to a dear family member. There was bad news concerning the health of yet another family member and a few very scary days when youngest grandson was born 9 weeks ahead of schedule.  We had a tree come down in the storm that the repercussions of could mess with my delicate financial state yet. We had water flood the cellar not once but twice.  One of my daughter's is fighting a difficult battle with addiction.

But even most of the bad had its silver lining. My BIL with cancer continues his fight and so far things look ok there. My grandson was a real trouper and came home way sooner than any of us expected and is thriving. We are hopeful the owners of the house next door will allow us to fix the problems with the fence ourselves for a minimal cost. And yesterday we had the city out again and this time they had no troubles snaking out the drain from the street and all the water is finally gone and the hot water tank is lighting so there is hope that once it is dry it will stay lit and if not a new thermocouple is under 20 dollars and GF can show adult son how to replace one.  And my daughter is working the program, staying clean and sober, and really making positive changes in her life that will be a benefit to her. I am so proud that she has been able to pick herself up and get the help she needed and be so honest about it with everyone.

My prayer on this last day of 2013 is that God will enter our homes and our lives and help to take away the worries and the illnesses that have darkened our lives this year. May we all have the strength to deal with whatever bad comes our way in 2014 and also the joy to celebrate all that will be good.
Happy New Year my friends.

Comfy Sunday Supper

  I decided yesterday morning to go off the menu plans and make a dinner we hadn't had in a really long time: Shepherd's Pie...well technically Cottage Pie since I wasn't making this with lamb.

I took a package of ground round and browned it in a skillet, adding chopping onion, parsley, and Worcestershire sauce to it. Once totally browned I added a couple heaping spoonfulls of flour, mixing it well. Then I poured in two cups of milk to make a pan gravy. A well drained can of corn went into the skillet and I poured the entire mixture into a casserole dish:

 

Meanwhile I peeled and cooked four medium sized russet potatoes in some boiling salted water, I used my  ricer to press the cooked potatoes back into the pan, added some smart balance and milk and beat it all together with a large spoon to make mashed potatoes. I added the potatoes on top of the meat mixture, dotted with additional smart balance and sprinkled the top with parsley before putting it into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

 

Hot and filling , it was the perfect one dish comfort meal for a wintery Sunday supper.

Off the December Menus meals

 The day after Christmas the GF started to feel pretty bad, headache, body aches, sore throat, cough it all added up to what sounded like a nasty cold/flu bug to me. Of course being the slightly stubborn cuss that he is ::wink wink:: he has refused to call in to work. BUT he did call of bowling (his major passion) so that clued me in to how badly he was feeling. Dinner (sadly beans and weenies) and then right to bed that night.
Friday we'd been invited to middle daughter's home for dinner but GF went straight to bed after work again. I and youngest son who have been staying at GF's house headed out to daughter's and had a very nice time. A soup (pasta fagioli) and salad (Caesar) meal and a good visit.
Yesterday was my morning to clean at GF's company and afterwards despite feeling under the weather he insisted we needed to get to BJ's to pick up some supplies for his work plus a few food items for his house. I decided what he really needed yesterday was some good hot homemade chicken soup. I picked up a big fat roaster since the fryers that had looked a bit skimpy.
Once back to his place I put the roaster, celery tops I'd saved in his freezer, a few baby carrots, some chopped onion and a whole lot of garlic into a pot, topped with water, and let it simmer for the next three hours. Once I removed the chicken and skimmed out the veggies I brought the broth to a boil added some carrots and egg noodles from Aldi that were in his cupboard and let it go for ten minutes. In the meantime I cut up all of the dark meat and part of the white meat and returned it to the broth. The remainder of the white meat (about one and half breasts worth) I put in a ziplock baggie to create another meal with.
Once GF awoke from his long nap (four hours) I served him up a huge bowl of this healing soup.  While at BJ's we also picked up a large package of ground round. I divided it in half, freezing half of it for another time, and put the remainder in the refrigerator. My plan is to make a shepherd's pie (technically cottage pie with ground beef) for today's dinner. Not on my menu plans but something we have not had in a really long time and which sounds mighty good.!

January Dinner Menus

I have to confess that I spent today for the most part in the recliner in GF's living room. With the hot water tank not working at home (we are giving the thermocouple a couple of days to dry out and see if the tank will stay lit) youngest son and I are temporarily staying with the GF. College age daughter preferred to stay home and shower at her GF's house (as per her invitation to do so offered by his mom) and of course adult son stayed home with her as well (he told me quick cold showers don't bother him a bit..nice to know) to take care of the pets and guard both the house and his sister. While GF went off to work I did a couple of loads of laundry here and picked up around the house to earn my keep. LOL. Other than that I indulged in my favorite activity of reading. I finished up an excellent murder mystery, caught up with my favorite blog (CT on a Budget),and did a bit of blogging myself. I also put together our dinner menus for the month of January. Anticipating having two very small paychecks due to the two week holiday break plus college age daughter's tuition bill coming due for second semester I am trying to use up what we have on hand and do very little shopping. As a matter of fact I am setting myself a goal of no more than $175 for the entire month including health&beauty/cleaning/paper products. I did a mental inventory of the freezers at home and then sat down and came up with the menus. At the end of the month youngest son will have his 18th birthday and we will take him out to dinner and then celebrate jointly with his soon to be 10 year old cousin whose birthday is the day before son's is. I will get together with my niece to plan the party menu for that.
This month I decided to make every Tuesday soup night utilizing my crockpot. Sundays are for large cuts of meat. I have planned a meatless meal one night each week and on work nights I am alternating between quick cooking and crockpot meals. Two Fridays GF has volunteered to take on dinner duty. I am going with tried and true recipes this month and not taking on anything new.
New Years' Day dinner is the only one designated for a specific day. Recipes using planned overs are indicated with an *, meatless meals are in bold, meals using items already on hand are underlined.

New Years Day: Baked country style spareribs with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, carrots
Honey glazed chicken, steamed rice, Brussels sprouts
Mom's Chicken paprikash, Mom's kniffles, beets
Spaghetti & Meatballs, salad, garlic toast
Herb crusted eye of round, mashed potatoes, corn
Beef and Noodle soup*, fly off the plate rolls
Skillet Lasagna, salad
Mediterranean Lentil soup, crescent rolls
Balsamic glazed chicken breasts, basmati rice, peas
Crockpot New England style dinner using cottage ham
Chicken parmesan, penne with sauce, salad
Stuffed pork tenderloin, au gratin potatoes, beets
Ham & Swiss Panini*, garlic roast potatoes
Coffee rubbed eye of round steaks, parsley potatoes, herbed broccoli
Crockpot macaroni and cheese, salad
Pineapple Rum pork chops, rice mix, green beans
Tuna and sun dried tomato penne, salad
Baked Ham, scalloped potatoes, candied carrots
BBQ baked chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw
Ham and bean soup*, corn muffins
Creamed chipped beef on toast, salad
Pork adobo, rice, green beans
Welsh rarebit over English muffins, peas
Broccoli-Cheese soup, Hawaiian rolls
Horseradish encrusted tilapia, hash browns, coleslaw
Crockpot Ham and cheese bowtie bake*, peas

Christmas Eats

As has been our tradition for the last five years GF and I hosted my children and their significant others to Christmas Eve dinner. Middle daughter K and her husband and sons were unable to join us but 5 of my children plus my DIL were there. I did our traditional meal of Pork Tenderloin Balsamico, white and wild rice pilaf, salad, candied carrots, crescent rolls, and this year for dessert offered up a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. That pork tenderloin is one of GF's favorites and it couldn't be easier.
You take lemon zest from one large lemon, 1 tsp. of chopped fresh garlic, salt and pepper and a tsp. of rosemary and combine them. Rub them on three pork tenderloins. Heat 2 tbl. oil in a large ovenproof skillet and then brown the tenderloins on all sides. Place skillet in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes until pork reaches 145 degrees. Remove pork from skillet, add 2 cups of beef broth, 1 cup of balsamic vinegar and 2 tbl. butter to the hot pan, bring to a boil and cook until liquid is reduced by half. Serve sauce over the pork. Yum.
After dinner we played a new board game: SmartAss which resulted in much laughter and fun by all. Then we exchanged gifts ( I received two books, a complete illustrated Sherlock Holmes anthology and the history of Betty Crocker from oldest daughter who shares my love of reading, a Keurig Cup drawer storage center to go under my coffee maker & new potholders and kitchen towels from oldest son & DIL; a mini fridge from adult son who lives at home, new red Toms shoes from youngest son & college age daughter, and new slippers, hand soaps, kitchen towels, a new infinity scarf, and new gloves from college age daughter. Quite a haul and all of loved and appreciated)  we had dessert and then played the second new board game I bought Logo.

Christmas Morning was at GF's house for myself and two youngest kids. Adult son chose to stay home and make sure the pets were well cared for. After exchanging gifts I made  us all a breakfast of from scratch pancakes and sausage links. Clementines from our stockings were on offer as well. Our Christmas dinner tradition since they bought their own home is for my oldest son and DIL to have both families to their home. This works out nicely for GF and I since he is my DIL's uncle as well as my GF. Twenty of us gathered together and everyone brought something. I made a herb crusted eye of round this year and tried a new cooking method. I heated the oven to 500 degrees. After seasoning the roast I lowered the oven temp to 475, put the roast in the oven and cooked it for 7 minutes per pound (56 minutes in this case) then turned the oven off completely for 2 1/2 hours. After wrapping the roaster tightly in foil and transporting this to son's house it was perfectly done when it was time to carve it! I also made green bean casserole and a cherry pie as well as putting together an assortment of cookies. Son made two turkeys with heavenly sausage-apple stuffing and the mashed potatoes. DIL's mom brought corn, pickles and olives, two pumpkin pies and an apple pie. DIL's Aunt brought cranberry sauce and the rolls,  DIL's other uncle and my oldest daughter brought all the beverages and DIL's second aunt and uncle brought even more cookies! It was quite a feast. And another wonderful day/evening spent talking and laughing and just generally having a wonderful holiday together. It is quite a blessing that our two families have truly become one. And next year there will be a new little face joining us as oldest son and his wife expand their family this June!
Tomorrow night will be another family dinner at middle daughter's home, but in the meantime  just to bring us down to reality tonight's dinner was the ever popular hot dogs and baked beans!

2013 Financial Report

  I sat down with my Microsoft Money program and ran the yearly financial reports for Dec.2012-Dec.2013.  A few things struck me immediately. As expected our two largest expenditures are for mortgage and auto loan. Two things I can do nothing about at this point. As mentioned I am upside down in the mortgage so refinancing is not possible and I still need that car to get to and from work. My plan is to finish paying it off ( 2 1/2 years to go), then drive it until it is too expensive to keep then trade it in and get something more economical.
 Gasoline came in 5th but there just isn't much I can do about that. I already keep an eye on the stations with the lowest prices, use fuel perks discounts from the regular grocery store when they add up enough to make a difference, limit my driving on weekends and take the shortest route to and from work. As for auto maintenance/repair I did have to spend $800 on new tires for my SUV, an expense I won't have again for another 3 years judging by how long the first set of tires lasted me. GF does all my regular maintenance and any small repairs that may be needed so the cost there is just parts.
Real estate taxes was my third biggest expense. Also something I am at the mercy of others to control. The one benefit of the recent real estate fiasco is that my property taxes have gone down significantly for the year.
 Our grocery expenses came in fourth. We spent $4231.71 for the entire year, an average of $352 and some cents per month. A mere $2 over budget per month. I am happy with that. I will continue to shop alternate sources for food, plan menus (including weekly menus that are meatless), use planned overs, cook and bake from scratch.

 Insurances. Auto came in 7th ($1868 for the year includes mine and adult son) and homeowners ($740.58 per year) came in 16th. I regularly price compare with other companies on these and although my homeowners went up by two dollars a month for the coming year (the whole tree thing I'm sure) we are still getting the best rates on these. Son's auto insurance portion actually went down this year after he turned 25. And we get the auto/home multi policy discount.

 Utilities: Electric came in 12th. We spent $ 1253.02 for the year. I'm sure this is due to the number of months last fall that the electric company was charging me 'estimated' amounts. Now that we are seeing actual bills the amounts have gone way down. We use energy efficient bulbs, all my appliances are now energy star rated, we use motion detector lights in the basement and the exterior lights so that these lights only come on when needed and then turn themselves off (my kids had a terrible time remembering to turn out the cellar lights). We unplug small appliances and don't leave phone chargers plugged in all the time to save on ambient power usage. And I air dry all laundry except undies and towels in the warm months outside.
Natural Gas:  Came in 14th.We spent $1051.67 for the amount. This is for our heat, stove, and hot water tank. I am actually pretty pleased and surprised by this amount which works out to only an average of around $89 a month. We have a programmable thermostat set for 60 degrees from 10 pm to 6 am and then again from 8 am until 2 pm (when youngest son arrives home from school). The rest of the time it is at a comfortable 68 degrees from 2 pm until 10 pm and from 6 am until 8 am (when the whole family is gone to work and school). We have a wood burning fireplace that we use occasionally, lots of throw blankets, warm polar fleece hoodies, and fleece lined slippers . And in the coldest months our Keurig gets a workout with hot chocolate and tea to warm up the insides. I also have window film over the windows, storm windows, storm doors, draft dodgers, and a curtain hung over the top of our cellar stairs to block cold air from the side door hitting the furnace. We do laundry in cold water with a cold rinse (except for whites which are washed in hot rinsed in cold), run the dishwasher four times a week, and take short showers. In the summer I cook a lot outside on the grill, in the cold months the crockpot gets a workout and I also utilize my microwave and our new Panini/indoor grill more often than the stove and oven.
Water and sewer: $470.44 for the year. I am very pleased with this amount. Short showers, limited dishwasher use, water saving toilets are all money saving steps we've taken. I also refuse to water my lawn in the summer time. It just looks like money going down the drain to me.
Cable: Last year we spent $ 1,011.50 an average of $84 a month with Direct TV.  I am always keeping an eye on this bill and am quick to call when a discount expires and renegotiate to either get it extended or another one applied. We have four receivers, one of which is a DVR, and are big tv watchers. This is actually our main source of entertainment. And since adult son chips in for half the bill each month I am satisfied.
Internet: Here is an area in which I am going to shop around and see if I can do better. Right now we have Time Warner and have the second to the slowest internet speed and still paid $381.53 a average of $31.79 a month. But since they recently increased this cost to $46.46 per month I am determined to do something to save money here.
There are several areas in which I see room for vast improvement. Clothing expenses have been VERY high this year. I admit to guilt in this particular department since I love clothes. It is true we had several special occasions this year which required dressing up and I did invest in a nice suit for youngest son as well as new winter coats for two of us and I did replace several worn out and stained items of work clothing but still this amount is way too high.  A yearly cost of $ 1517.26 is ridiculous. Self control and staying away from Dress Barn and Famous Footwear are the remedies that are
needed.
Gifts were also another area that was pretty expensive this year. We had a couple of weddings (one which included having to travel out of town) and a christening in addition to the regular birthdays and Christmas. Our Christmas spending both last year and this year were exactly what we budgeted but I think that this coming year will have to see a reduction in this area.  I will have a new grandbaby this year which means chipping in for the baby shower (plus gift) and youngest son will graduate in June (another party plus gift). I am starting to save for these now.

Cell phone cost. My cell phone came in 13th. I actually spent more on my cell phone than I did on natural gas. I am taking steps to change this. My plan expires at the end of this month and adult son and I are going to his company, adding me to his family plan, and hopefully transferring my number from my current provider. This will save me $65 a month. I keep seeing those AT&T commercials about unlimited talk/text and 300mbg of date for $49 a month and I laugh. I've been paying over $100 a month for that exact plan once the first year deal was done. They sure make up for that introductory price by sticking it to you later on.

In summary my costs for the last year were mostly on track or under budget on the important things but way over on the others. I will be tweaking this and clamping down starting today.

Update: Just wanted to add how glad I am that I do not have any lingering expenses for gifts/parties etc. since I no longer use a credit card for these purchases. Cash (via my cash back debit card) on the barrel head.

Busy life: The Ups and the Downs.....

  I cannot believe it has been 18 days since I last found time to sit down and share life here. Amazingly busy between work and getting ready for the holidays is all I can offer as an excuse. I am still struggling with the long work hours and the need to get things done at home and balancing these with my weekends at the GF's house. To be honest there are so many days when I just feel so pulled in so many directions that I feel stretched to the breaking point. And other days when I am so weary that I feel as if  I cannot continue to keep on and want to admit defeat.
Then there are those days like yesterday and Christmas Eve when it all comes together in a magical way and all the hard work pays off.
I hope all of you had a wonderful and joyous and blessed  holiday. My favorite part was the hour I spent at Mass on Christmas Eve. The voices of the youth choir were like those of the angels. The feeling of joy and goodwill in the standing room only crowd were a balm to the soul. The sermon touched me in so many ways. How often we hear the story of the Christ child and yet have stopped listening to what it is saying to us. It certainly made me think and I do believe it will figure in my list of New Year's promises to myself.
The greatest gift my family received this month though was a new addition. My stepdaughter whose hubby is in the military welcomed a new son several weeks early at the beginning of December. Our gift was this newest little one coming home from the NICU on Christmas Eve!! Many prayers helped this little guy over a rough start and my stepdaughter's one wish , to have him home for Christmas, was granted. God is good. All the time.

Over the last busy weeks I have not only worked both school  jobs as well as the twice monthly cleaning job I also managed to clean house, keep up on laundry and dinners,  shop for gifts and decorate for the holidays:

 

 

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On Sunday the 15th we had a beautiful day of softly falling snow. It was almost like being in a snow globe. GF and I got into his pickup and headed out into the countryside to try a new-to-us tree farm for our Christmas trees. We couldn't have asked for more holiday-like weather. And it didn't take us long to find two terrific trees. I ended up with the Canaan fir that I preferred and after giving the tree a day for the branches to relax my college age daughter and youngest son and I decorated her up :

 

I also managed that day to bake a batch of Christmas cut out cookies. Unfortunately I was laid low in the energy department by catching a cold. Not surprising given the number of students at school who were also stricken and willing to spread the joy around.  This meant that I did not get any more baking done until last weekend when I went into 'deadline' mode and managed to get everything I wanted to bake finished! This cookie tray went with us yesterday to my oldest son's house for our celebration:

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GF and I also managed to finish up our shopping and stay in budget as well.

Our holiday celebrations are not quite over though. Tomorrow night we will go to my middle daughter's house for dinner and gift exchange with her, my SIL, and my two grandsons who live here in town. And we do have plans to go out to the casino with GF's brother and sister-in-law on New Year's Eve for the dinner buffet and some penny slots .

On a more practical note while I am off of work until January 6th I will be reviewing my last year's spending and tweaking my budget. I've spent two months pondering a possible move after youngest son graduates but have finally decided that although I am upside down in my mortgage due to the recession and the real estate crises of the last few years (the number of foreclosed homes in my area that are now rentals have really impacted my home's value) it is in my best interests to stay put. I weighed the advantages of being a homeowner with the risks, considered the advantages of renting versus the risks and home-owning came out on top. In the last 6 weeks we have had a couple of  minor disasters (a tree from our yard came down in a storm and landed on the power lines over the neighbor's yard taking out a section of fence and pulling the lines connected to the neighbor's house off the house (amazingly neither of us lost power, adult son living at home took care of repairing the fence temporarily and got rid of the tree himself and has offered to repair the neighbor's siding although since the house is occupied by renters and the owners are a group that has not contacted us that is still up in the air) and last weekend we had another horrible rainstorm that dumped so much water into the city's storm system that we had about 6 inches of water back up into our basement. Again. Second time this year. And this time it is draining very slowly, we still have about an inch on the side of the basement where the drains are located. The pilot on the hot water tank is out and we are just praying that once it dries out it will re-light. In the meantime I'm holding off on doing any grocery shopping in case a new hot water tank will need to be purchased. I don't even want to think about the possibility that my washer and dryer have been killed as well. The city came out in the midst of the storm only to tell college age daughter (who was the only one home at the time) that they couldn't snake the drain from the street to the basement because of a faulty t-joint. Of course that was nonsense since we replaced that joint only a few years ago and the reason they couldn't snake probably was the fact that the street was under water from curb to curb at the time they were there. Nowhere for that water to go. Son and I talked about having them come back out (there is no charge for the service) but finally decided he would borrow a power snake from a friend and do the job himself working from the basement drain towards the street. I will be spending a day or so washing down the floor and the appliances with bleach water as well as the few items on the floor at the time of the backup. Son was smart enough to grab his power tools and move them to the dining room when he saw the flood warnings on tv.

Life is messy is the lesson here. But I have worked very hard since my husband died to hang on to my home and I am not ready to give it up yet is the bottom line. The only thing left to do is look to the future, make a sensible savings and spending plan, and keep on keeping on.

 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

  We had the most wonderful snowfall last weekend that left us with about 2 inches of snow on the ground out at GF's house although we only had a dusting of snow up against the lake where I live. I have been struggling for some reason with my holiday spirit this year and seeing the snow out of the window is helping slightly. No particular reason for the holiday blues, I've budgeted enough for gifts, I am looking forward to the bustle of shopping and baking , and hoping to 'hire' my college age daughter for most of the wrapping (one job I just detest). I've been listening to holiday music and even decorated my kitchen at work and had a nice time this week helping the aftercare group with holiday crafts. We even did a service project for homebound parishoners and yet I still feel a bit blah. Perhaps it is time to sing for all to hear? LOL.
We did a bit of Black Friday gift shopping and a bit more on Saturday. That Sunday we had a birthday party for a young nephew that was quite fun. And it was back to work on Monday. Tuesday night I figured since college age daughter was going to her boyfriend's house, youngest son was going to his girlfriend's house, and adult son was working his second job I'd skip making dinner and get those outside Christmas decorations hung up. I was pleasantly surprised when adult son altered his work schedule to be home to help me with this task.
As it turned out he did most of the actual hanging while I sorted out the decorations, directed him where to place them, tested the lights, and unknotted some of the tangles. I still do not understand how when we are so careful when we take them down and store them in the bin they still get tangled up. I also don't get how lights that work fine the year before refuse to light up the next year. Most of our lights were ok but a couple of strands of net lights had half a strand out, we wove these together to make it look like an entire lighted strand!
After we finished I still needed to get to Lowe's to pick up two timers and two indoor extension cords for the upstairs bedroom window lights as well as D batteries for the snowmen ground lights. None of us like heights so all the 'high' decorating gets done inside. Thursday night college age daughter, youngest son and I hit Lowe's  (and then Chipotle for a dinner treat) and purchased the timers and cords (and forgot the batteries). I have yet to do those lights but I am sure I can accomplish this tomorrow night after work.
In the meantime here is our holiday house:

December Grocery shopping trip

  I had that entire week off the week of Thanksgiving and after accomplishing the cleaning that I really needed to get done I also managed to do a grocery shopping trip for December. I limited myself to a smaller than normal amount of money because I want to free up as much cash for gifts and unexpected extras. The freezer is still nice and full as are the pantry shelves so I knew this trip would be heavy on snacks, dairy, juice, and fresh produce. I was 'assigned' brown sugar mashed squash and a veggie tray for Thanksgiving so I picked up those items as well.

I went to three locations, a local farmer's market, a small Italian deli/grocery store, Aldi, and BJ's wholesale club. I had a nice companion this time, my oldest son as he had taken a couple of vacation days and my DIL was working still so the two of us spent a couple of hours schlepping around while we both shopped.

Our first stop was BJ's. I spent $96.81. The only nonfood item I purchased was a case of toilet paper for $21.99. The remainder of the money went for food. I brought home a container of tabouleh salad, a four pack of pork tenderloin, a gallon of organic 1% milk, a two pack of Smart Balance, a case of Chobani fruit yogurts, a bag of snack sized Vermont cheddar cheese, a large box of Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers, a 3 lb. bag of baby carrots (for Thanksgiving veggie tray), a container of organic spring greens mix, a pound of hard salami, and a box of 4 cans of crescent rolls.

The next stop was Aldi. I spent $123.21 and the only nonfood item I purchased was a box of aluminum foil for $2.43. The remainder was for food. I brought home 4 English cucumbers (Thanksgiving veggie tray), a box of pierogies, a 3 lb. bag of boneless skinless chicken breasts, a 3 lb. bag of chicken tenderloins, 2 packages of cheddar brats, 4 boxes of 'rice a roni' (one beef, two chicken, one Spanish), 1 bag frozen garlic cubed potatoes, a container of hummus, two packs of Neufchatel cheese, 1 pint sliced baby bella mushrooms, a bag of clementines, 1 pack Welsh cheddar cheese, 1 quart of strawberries, 3 lbs. granny smith apples, 3lb. bananas, 2 bunches celery (Thanksgiving veggie tray), 1 can mandarin oranges, 2 packs kielbasa (thinking ahead to New Year's Day dinner), 1 pint sour cream, 1 bottle 100% cranberry juice, 2 bottles 100% apple juice, 2 bottle ruby red grapefruit juice, 1 bottle cranberry-pomegranate juice, 1 pack string cheese, 1 bottle chili sauce, 2 containers caramel dip, 1 bag shredded cheddar, 1 bag shredded mozzarella, 1 package sliced muenster cheese, 1 pack sliced swiss cheese, 1 pack deli ham, 1 bag pita chips, 3 lbs. lemons, 1 bag bbq chips, 1 bag Hershey kisses, 1 bag mini Reese peanut butter cups, 1 box Andes mints (candies are for stocking stuffers), 1 bag tortilla dipper chips, 1 pack individual mixed fruit cups, 2 packs individual chocolate pudding cups, 1 quart grape tomatoes, 2 blocks white NY cheddar, 1 box honey graham crackers,1 jar nacho cheese sauce, 1 box saltines, and 1 tub pretzel sticks.

At the Farmer's Market I spent $22. I bought 6 large red bell peppers (for Thanksgiving veggie tray),  3lbs. of ruby red grapefruit, two large butternut squash (for Thanksgiving), a spaghetti squash, and a salami rolled in herb de provence.

At the local Italian deli-grocery store I spent $14.37 and I brought home a half pound sliced Italian blend  cheese, a pound of sliced pepperoni, a package of almond biscotti, and a loaf of Italian bread with seeds, and a bag of ciabatta rolls.

Total Nonfood household expenses: $24.42. Total food expenditure : $231.97,  $118.03 under my usual budgeted amount of $350 for food only. Money that can be used for the holiday. And I got some stocking stuffer candy.

December Menus

  Once again I have been so overwhelmed by life that I have not had any time at all to blog. I put together these menus for December and so far we've stuck to them. Menus using the slow cooker are in bold. Menus that are quick cooking are in italics. Menus using planned overs are underlined. I haven't planned out menus for several days. On Christmas Day we go to my oldest son's and we all bring something. On New Year's Eve we will  be going out with another couple. I have a holiday party to attend one Friday night so no menu there. On the 1st we attended a birthday party so no dinner that night.  And on two Friday night's my GF has volunteered to make dinner so those menus will be a surprise to me (he already made dinner this last Friday and we had Tuna Noodle casserole, so one more surprise night to go!). What was also nice about this menu planning was that when it came time to grocery shop I only needed to purchase the Christmas Eve pork tenderloins, a couple bags of chicken, and a package of cheddar brats. The rest of the meat/poultry/seafood was already tucked away in the deep freezer!
Since I am so late sharing this we have already eaten the steak menu, the cheddar brats menu, the garlic baked chicken menu, and the kids and I went out to Chipotle one week night, and I had cereal on another night instead of cooking for just myself.


Steaks
Beefy rice a roni
capri blend veggies

Chicken Picatta
spaghetti squash
broccoli

Crockpot Mac and Cheese
salad

Steph's Chicken Stew
crescent rolls

Herb crusted eye of round
mashed potatoes
candied carrots

Spaghetti with Meatballs
garlic toast
salad

Pork Adobo
steamed rice
green beans

French dip sandwiches
hash browns
mixed veggies

Lamb chops
Israeli couscous with parmesan and sun dried tomatoes
tabouleh

Ham Steak and Apple skillet
parsley potatoes
green beans

Vermont Maple Chicken
Winter roasted vegetables

Cheddar brats
chicken rice a roni
cauliflower polonaise

Homemade chicken strips
garlic potatoes
peas

Swedish meatballs
egg noodles
capri blend veggies

Grilled pork chops
buttered basmati rice
creole cabbage

Heather's Garlic baked chicken
white and wild rice pilaf
green beans

Country pork stew
crescent rolls

Homemade pepperoni pizzas
salad

Christmas Eve Dinner:
Salad
Pork tenderloin balsamico
white and wild rice pilaf
green beans almondine
fly off the plate rolls

Mom's chicken paprikash
egg noodles
green beans

Beef stroganoff (using planned over roast beef from Christmas Day)
steamed rice
Harvard beets

Shrimp Orzo skillet
salad

Spicy Meatloaf
au gratin potatoes
corn

Tuscan chicken Panini
Parmesan oven potatoes