Early January Grocery shopping

Yesterday morning the stress of the holidays finally caught up with my body and I woke up with a dry scratch throat, a cough, and clogged sinuses. Ugh. My blood pressure is on the higher side of normal so when buying cold medications I keep this in mind. Of course I was totally out of Coricidin HBP which meant a trip to the store.
Not wanting to be wasteful of fuel while I am home on vacation I considered some other items we were out of (honey, steak sauce, pastas, fresh produce) and sat down and made a small list of things I could also purchase from the cash in my purse. My goal is to not touch the money in my bank account unless necessary (gas for the car) until January. My oldest daughter phoned as I was doing this and said she was tired of staying indoors and looking for somewhere to go so I invited her to go with me. She liked the idea of getting a head start on her January shopping and offered to drive. A done deal.

We went to Aldi, where I spent $51.10. I brought home a loaf of bread, a box of elbow macaroni, croutons, grape tomatoes, granny smith apples, bananas, spinach, spring greens, baby carrots, celery,  Orange juice, two Arizona green tea ice teas, sliced muenster, three bags of chips, a package of hard salami, bread crumbs, string cheese, ranch dressing, honey, two bottles steak sauce, half gallon of eggnog, a dozen eggs, roasted garlic 'triscuit' crackers, and a dozen eggs.   Our next stop was a little local Italian grocery store where they carry a lot of items I cannot find anywhere else as well as having an awesome deli. I spent $23.76 there and brought home a loaf of Italian bread, a pound of sliced pepperoni, a jar of sundried tomato pesto, a jar of pizza sauce, and three bags of locally Amish-made (Mrs Miller's brand) egg noodles in various sizes. Our last stop was at Marc's where I spent $16.81 and brought home a gallon of Arnold Palmer Lite, a bag of fresh sauerkraut, a cucumber, a jar of pineapple preserves, a bag of broccoli slaw, a bag of Ricolla throat/cough drops, and a box of Coricidin HBP.
I now have all the salad ingredients I need to take a nice salad to my middle daughter's house for tonight's dinner, as well as what odds and ends I needed for New Year's Day's dinner and some extras besides. I spent a total of  $91.67, $8.05 from my nonfood household item budget and the remainder of $ 83.62 from my food budget. This leaves me $266.38 in the food budget for future January purchases.

Our holiday

Once again it has been several busy weeks since I lasted blogged anything. The month was filled with work, occupational therapy appointments, and lots of holiday fun and shopping. Christmas expenses were kept to a reasonable minimum. Our tradition has been three gifts per person. My gentleman friend and I share the expense and this year we chose to keep gifts to under $30 per gift. The only gift we purchased that exceeded this limit was one that was given to both my son and daughterinlaw so in essence it met our limit goal. Decorations were ones I have used for years, the tree was an expense since we cut down our own but well worth it and budgeted for. This year we did not do Christmas cards but agreed that next year we will go back to this tradition and split the cost.
Food expenses were worked into the shopping trip I made at the beginning of December and I have been able to avoid any further grocery store shopping since that trip. I baked homemade cookies
   and we have a ton leftover so treats for the next couple of weeks are taken care of. I even made a holiday tin full of santa hat pretzels as a gift for my youngest son's girlfriend's parents.

My contribution to Christmas Day dinner was a 23 lb. turkey gifted to me at Thanksgiving by my single neighbor who does not cook and the 18 lb whole bone in ham he received at Christmas time from his company. We sent him two large plates of food from our dinner and I will send over soup that I will make from the turkey carcass and the ham bone.

The day after the holiday I divided up the turkey carcass and half went into a big pot with carrots, onion, garlic , celery, and black pepper


 which after I made a batch of homemade noodles became a big pot of Turkey-Noodle soup.  The remainder of the carcass I wrapped up and put in the freezer along with ham bone from yesterday's ham. I also brought home a sizeable baggie of ham that I will dice up and add to Ham and Cheese Bowtie casserole for Thursday night's dinner.  We will end up with several dinners and probably at least one or two lunches from these leftovers! A wonderful holiday and lots of frugal leftovers to extend our food budget, so a gift to myself!

December Grocery Extravaganza

Having done a very small shop in November in order to get my financial house in order we were in need of some major shopping for December. Keeping my budget in mind of course.
I set myself a goal to attempt to do all of our shopping at BJ's wholesale club and Aldi, and to get not only nutritious foods for meals but all the items I wanted for my holiday baking. I was successful on all counts. I also spent more money at Aldi than I ever have before, leading me to beleive that if push came to shove I could easily feed my family with only items from this store.
My first stop was BJ's Wholesale club.  I have a cash back membership there and it came in handy as I received an $86.62 gift card in rewards to use towards my December purchases. My bill totaled $188.67 but after deducting a $3 coupon and the gift card my out of pocket expenses were only $100.06. Toilet paper, paper towels, paper napkins (free after coupon with purchase of paper towels) tampax, and a holiday jar candle came from the household budget and the remainder was food. We brought home 1 6 pack of Chunky Chicken Gumbo soup ( a favorite of my teen daughter who arrives home early enough from school to eat lunch here), 10 lbs. Gold Medal flour, 1 large can hot chocolate mix, 2 chuck roasts, 1 lb. hard salami, 1 large eye of round roast, 3 lbs. organic bacon, 1/2 lb. proscuitto, 1 whole boneless pork loin (which I cut into a large roast for New Year's Day, 6 pork chops, 6 schnitzel, and 1 lb cubes),  a 4 pack of Pork tenderloins, a wedge of imported parmesan cheese, 1 jar of spreadable port wine cheese, and 6 lbs of clementines.
Our final stop was Aldi. I spent a grand total of $250.05!!! I stocked up on some specialty items for holiday entertaining and the needed baking items for cookies, fruitcake, and quick breads. From my household budget I spent $ 21.05 and got trash bags, storage bags in two sizes, toothpaste, shampoo, and a couple of new cloth shopping bags. The remainder of $229 was spent on food. I came home with a loaf of bread, a bag of tortilla chips, 4 bags assorted potato chips, 1 pck plain bagels, 100% cranberry juice, 100% red grapefruit juice, 100% grape juice, 2 100% apple juice, 1 bag frozen shredded hash browns, 1 bag mini marshmallows, 1 bag holiday marshmallows, 1 box rice krispies, 2 3lb bags boneless skinless chicken breast, 1 bag crispy chicken strips, 1 bunch celery, 3 lbs. granny smith apples, 1 bag fresh cranberries, 2 pomegranates, 3 lbs bananas, 1 pint baby bella mushrooms, 1 seedless cucumber, 3 lbs. red grapefruit, 1 pck. muenster sliced cheese, 1 pck. sliced provolone, 1 bag mini chocolate chips, 1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips, 1 bag white chocolate chips, 2 cans pumpkin, 1 jar pesto sauce, 3 cans cream corn, 3 cans evaporated milk, 1 100% pomegranate-cranberry juice, 1 can fire roasted tomatoes, 1 can Italian seasoned tomatoes, 4 cans beets, 1 box baking soda, 1 can baking powder, 1 can condensed milk, 2 Cornish game hens, 3 cans chunky beef soup, 1 can pineapple chunks, 1 pint grape tomatoes, 1 pck roma tomatoes, 3 multi colored peppers, 2 cans potato corn chowder, 2 bottles steak sauce, 1 can crushed pineapple, 2 cans green beans, 1 bag egg noodles, 2 boxes au gratin potatoes, 2 boxes rice a roni, 1 bag sliced pepperoni, 3 lbs lemons, 3 lbs.sweet potatoes, 2 lbs powdered sugar, 1 pck corn tortillas, 2 lbs brown sugar, 1 bag parsnips,  1 box buttery snack crackers, 2 jars bread and butter pickles, 1 bag coconut, 1 box onion soup mix, 1 box elbow macaroni, 1 pck fresco cheese, 1 box cream of wheat,1 box granola bars, 1 bottle ranch dressing, 1 jar mild salsa, 2 pcks colby cheese, 1 ball fresh mozzarella, 2 pcks cheddar brats, 1 corned beef, 2 pcks turkey kielbasa, 2 pcks imitation crab, 2 bags baby carrots,1 bag regular carrots, 2 lbs butter (I have 5 lbs in the freezer), 1 container french onion dip, 1 quart lowfat cottage cheese, 4 assorted fruit greek yogurt, 1 bag shredded Italian blend cheese, 1 pck neufchatel cheese, 1 pint light sour cream, 1 cabbage, 2 blocks NY cheddar, 1 pck american singles, 1 box golden raisins, 3 heads garlic, 1 bottle honey mustard, 2 bags chopped dates, 1 bag string cheese, 1 container caramel apple dip, 1 bag 'oreos', 1 bag dried apricots, 1 bag dried cherries, 1 bag dried pineapple, 1 pck. English Double glouscester cheese, 1pck Red Leicester cheese, 1 jar con queso, 1 container pumpkin spice creamer, 1 jar peanuts, 4 cans mandarin oranges, 1 jar cinnamon applesauce, 1 log summer sausage.

December Menu Plans

  December Dinner Menus

To say I am glad to see the back end of November is an understatement. I am hoping to close out the year with a much better month in December and have already acheived one goal I set myself, I made my final payoff payment on my credit card! I have a month's worth of dinner menus and have done a major grocery shopping trip. Some of the meals are carryovers from November and the ones with the asterik are based on planned overs.
Here are the menus:
December Menus

1. Broiled pork chops, au gratin potatoes, green beans, applesauce

2. Roast chicken, stuffing cranberry sauce, Harvard beets

3. Creamed chipped beef on toast, Capri veggies

4. Chicken and noodles*, salad

5. Pan fried whiting, hash browned potatoes, coleslaw

6. DDN: Heather's Garlic Baked chicken, pasta with garlic & parmesan cheese, salad

7. Pork Stir fry, basmati rice

8. Incredibly tender beef stew, dinner rolls

9. Pizza and Farmpark

10. Kielbasa and sauerkraut, pierogies

11. Cheese ravioli with marinara sauce, salad

12. Crab cakes, mashed potatoes, broccoli

13. DDN: Pomegranate glazed Cornish Hens, rice , salad

14. Valeries' party

15. Cranberry Pot roast, oven roasted potatoes, corn

16. Shepherd's Pie, candied carrots

17. Corned Beef, creole cabbage, parsley potatoes

18. Honey Glazed chicken, egg noodles, brussels sprouts

19. Corned beef hash*, corn

20. DDN: Pasta with tuna and sun dried tomatoes, salad

21 Tacos, spanish rice

22. Pork Schnitzel, German potato salad, red cabbage

23. Herb encrusted eye of round, Duchesse potatoes, salad

24. CE: Pork Tenderloin Balsamico, white and wild rice, Christmas salad, green beans almondine

25: Christmas Day: Roast Turkey, Brown Sugar glazed Ham, all the trimmings

26. Williamsburg Turkey soup*, rolls

27. DDN: Beef stroganoff*, egg noodles, peas

28: Spaghetti with Meatballs, salad

29: Ham and Cheese bowties*, green beans

30. Turkey enchiladas*, yellow rice, refried beans

31 New Year's Eve: Plans to go out.

Hardships

It has been almost a month since I've had time to chat. Just as we were recovering from being without power I had a fall down some steps and dislocated my elbow which put my typing abilities to a slow and painful pecking  with my right hand. Using only my right arm/hand made my carpal tunnel flair up and my hand go numb almost constantly. Not the best the situation to blog in.
Once the plaster splint came off it was time to travel. We spent a week with family in Kansas for the holidays and had a wonderful, if slightly more expensive, time than we'd planned on.
I had originally planned on a brief run down of my financial picture for October but will skip that in favor of November. November has not been kind, we had a deep reduction in income which I immediately got a handle on by cancelling some memberships that were luxuries and reconfiguring other adjustable budget items. I was just getting started looking at additional job options when the accident happened. I now need to focus on getting the arm back to 100% before pursuing an additional job. In the meantime all the bills got paid, my car had gas, we had plenty of food, and due to the generosity of my gentleman friend we still spent the holidays with out of town family. A reminder to me that God is good, all the time. I have a plan in place for the holidays and the next couple of months. The job search will start again in January dependent on how my arm is coming along.
This last week of November will focus on December menu planning and shopping . I barely spent anything in November but was lucky enough to be gifted with a fairly large turkey from a neighbor who does not cook and with yet another turkey from my gentleman friend's company which we will donate to the extended family Christmas dinner at my oldest son's house. The turkey that was already in my freezer is slated for this Saturday's dinner with leftovers already planned out.
Looking ahead at other finances for December I am going to be making a final payment on a credit card I have not been using but only paying off and then closing this account. I am very happy about this situation and will use that additional money to pay down a loan that I hope to pay off in February. Once that is accomplished I will be left with house and car payments, utilities and insurances, all standard expenses.

November Menus

Despite losing power for five days to the recent storm I was extremely fortunate that the bags of ice I shoved in my deep freezer and refrigerator freezer kept almost all of my supplies from going bad. We lost a small bag of fish and two half gallons of ice cream. The milk, eggs, and sour cream in the fridge also went bad but the cheese and condiments all look fine. A small victory. Due to some recent financial changes this is really good news since it means I can spend about $100 for the entire month for groceries.
I based this month's menu plans on mostly items we have on hand already. We will be visiting family in Kansas for the Thanksgiving week so menus for meals while we are there are going to be discussed with my daughter later on. And because we will be incurring expenses from traveling we are doing Dinner Date Night at home this month. I have special recipes for each of these nights.
In the meantime I carried over a few dinner ideas from last month that I never used.
So far this month we have eaten : Roast beef, wild rice, green beans
Spaghetti with meatballs & salad
Pork goulash, kluski noodles, & corn.
Today's Sunday supper is going to be Pineapple Rum Pork Loin roast, roasted potatoes and candied carrots.
I am having two special weeks of menus this month, one week will be our "Victory Kitchen" week with menus based on meals from one of my favorite cookbooks: Grandma's Wartime Kitchen: WWII and the Way we Cooked.    These meals consist of:
Shepherd's Pie & minted peas;
 Adirondack Chowder with homemade honey wheat rolls;
Creamed chipped beef on toast with mixed vegetables;
Salmon cakes, mashed potatoes, scalloped spinach and tomatoes;
Steaks, parsley potatoes, and coleslaw (dinner date night meal)
Chicken fricassee, white rice and carrots 
Salisbury steaks, buttered egg noodles and Harvard Beets.

Our other theme week is International Week and these menus are:

Mexican: Chicken Enchilladas, yellow rice, corn
Thai:Pad Thai, Thai cucumber salad
Filipino: Pork Adobo, white rice, asian green beans
Vietnamese:Pho Bo (Vietnamese beef soup) with homemade rolls
Italian: Chicken Parmesan, rissotto, salad
French: Beef Bourguignon, Belgian carrots

The final week of menus that I put together doesn't have a theme, just homestyle cooking.  
Battered pan fried whiting  ( a carryover from October)
oven fries
coleslaw

Beef veggie soup (using planned over roast beef)
homemade fly off the plate dinner rolls

Spinach Quiche
dinner rolls
salad

Balsamic glazed chicken breasts
twice baked potatoes
pomegranate and pear salad

Tacos
Spanish Rice
Corn

Pork Stir fry
Basmati rice
basmati rice

You don't know what you've got till its gone

Living on the north coast of Ohio I tended to take the local weatherman's dire predictions of Superstorm Sandy's impact on my area with a grain of salt. After all 98% of the time the predictions of impending doom don't pan out. I made a few small arrangements just in case, I borrowed a camping lantern from a friend and made sure we had candles  
 and working flashlights available. I have a gas stove and knew I'd be able to still light it the old fashioned way with a lighter if I needed to, our gas hot water tank would continue to provide hot water and we had a full box of Duraflame logs for the wood burning fireplace. This time turned out to be the 2% of the time the weatherman got it right. Our power went out Monday night just as we pulled into our driveway. Since it was late we grabbed the flashlights, took care of the dogs and went to bed. All schools in the area were cancelled the next morning which meant no work for me so the kids and I piled in the car to charge our cell phones and check out storm damage. A trip through the local Dunkin donuts that still had power for coffee was a lifesaver. High winds meant not taking a chance with a fire but the temperatures weren't too horrible so we bundled up in sweaters and grabbed throw blankets and snuggies. To keep warm I made a big pot of homemade beef vegetable soup

 and lots of cups of tea. It has been a long week. Here is the reason we had no power 

 and this is some of the mess in our back yard left by the storm  

. Our power was restored after a long five days and I am so grateful. I didn't mind the candle and lantern light but I have to confess that I missed the central heating.