-Menu Plan - 9/28/22 to 10/3/22: Feeding the Family

 I'm late on this for the week.  I had the meal plan done since Tuesday, but sometimes life gets in the way of posting.  

It has been a busy week, but a good one.  Friday, the little one had two friends sleep over.  Three 10 year olds is the most 10 olds I can handle for a sleep over.  They sure are active.  And one child kept insisting that they watch Scream.  Nice try child, but I don't let 10 year olds watch rate R movies at my house.  He actually got a little mad, but luckily the attitude changed quick enough.  Sorry, but this is not my first rodeo.

They had a nice time.  Saturday was a 10-year-old friends birthday party.  Sunday was Puppy Kindergarten and our neighborhood Trick or Treat.  Because we have teacher conferences tonight, we went to All Saints Day mass last night.  And after teacher conferences, there is basketball practice.  Whew!  It's a lot.

Trick or Treat was nice.  We actually got 25 kids this year.  Usually, we get 3-6 kids.  All of the kids aged up with my older boys.  But recently several new young families moved into the neighborhood.  It was so nice to see so many little ones. 

Halloween 2022

 

This week's menu:

Friday:  Take and Bake Aldi pizza

Saturday:  Baked chicken tacos

Sunday:  Tomato and Feta pasta (also known as Tick Tock pasta)

Monday:    Grilled turkey burgers and hot dogs with frozen fries

Tuesday:  Breakfast for dinner:  Bacon, egg, and cheese sammys and hash browns

Wednesday:  Greek Chicken Skillet

Thursday:  Clean up

Last week I shopped at our local discount store Marc's and then at Aldi.  Marc's has really good prices, but you get what they have so you can't be brand loyal.  This week I'm doing a Walmart pick up because the end of the week is VERY busy, but I made the mistake of looking at the Marc's flyer and many things that I have on my pickup are actually cheaper at Marc's.  It's painful, but I just can't add in another store this week.  Hopefully I can go back to Marc's next week.  I will try and post some of the things that I am saving on.

Last week Marc's had turkeys for 87 cents per pound.  They were Butterball or Jenni-O.  I got a Jenni-O because I needed a smaller one for frying and that was the smallest one I could find.  Aldi had Butterballs for $1.59 per pound.  Clearly, Marc's was the better deal.  

I also got my Christmas cards ordered.  We always do photo cards and this year I used Snapfish.  They have a code that will get you 70% off your cards.  Use code OCCRD70 to save.

Happy Feast of All Saints!!

Have a blessed week ahead!!  

Meal Plan 10/7 to 10/13: Feeding the Family

Well, hopefully last week was the last week of football.  They are playing right now, and if they win, they may go to play offs.  I'm home with the dog since she can't stay home alone that long.  I'm torn.  Part of me hopes they win.  But part of me hopes that football season is over.  Don't tell him that I said that.

This week I tried to do a Walmart pick up.  When it came to my pickup time, I received a text that said my pickup was delayed.  I was already on my way there since I made my pickup time for right after school.  We went anyway since we were almost there, and we waited 45 minutes.  I didn't receive any updates, so I cancelled the order and just headed home.  I could have just gone into Walmart and shopped, except that I had the puppy with me and couldn't just leave her in the car. Yesterday, I shopped at Heinen's instead.  I spent more than I would have at Walmart, but I really do love the selections of produce, meat, and high-end products that Heinen's has.  

This week's menu plan:

Friday:  Mrs. T's Pierogi's and fruit.  These were such a hit a few weeks ago, I thought I'd take the easy way out again.

Saturday:  Pizza Night:  Traditional pepperoni, and white pizza with portabella mushrooms, green pepper, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, parmigiana, Romano, and asiago cheeses.

Sunday:  Cheesy Chicken with Spinach, roasted veggies, salad, and rolls (chicken recipe from the Food Nanny Saves Dinner Again cookbook)

Monday:  Turkey Tacos

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Beef Stew.  I was scheduled to make a Meal Train meal for a church family on this day, but the person who was scheduled for last week, requested that we switch due to her having some sick littles at home.  I made my Meal Train slow cooker beef stew last Thursday, but I'll be keeping our schedule for beef stew today.

Wednesday:  Clam Chowder, rolls, and salad.  At least I think this is what we are having.  The recipe is from the Food Nanny Saves Dinner Again cookbook and it only calls for one can of clams.  That doesn't seem enough to me, so I planned on buying two cans.  But the grocery store was completely wiped out of canned clams.  The clams were on the very top shelf and standing on tip toes, I managed to find one can knocked to the very back of the shelf, so I bought it.  I'm just still not convinced that one can will be enough, so we'll see.

Thursday:  Cleanup day or Poor Man's Meal

Have a blessed week ahead!!

XOXO

This Weeks Menu and a Missing Family Member

 We are missing someone this week.  Sunday we took the oldest back to college.  We all miss him and it's going to take some time to get used to family life without him.  I feel like we are just not complete.  But I know he's where he needs to be.  

Last weeks menu included all of his favorite meals and some take out that he requested.  It certainly wasn't the healthiest of eating plans.  I feel like I need a detox.  Since we are down a family member, I am truly trying to cut our grocery bill.  It was really getting out of control.  I'm embarrassed to write down what it got up to.  So I am making some changes.  2 in private school and 1 in college means money is very tight.  It's up to me to do a better job being a steward of our finances.  

This weeks menu:

Fri:  Pierogi's (from a Cleveland bakery) and baked cod (sprinkled with lemon juice and fish seasoning. Baked at 400 F until done)

Sat:  Take out Pizza (per son's request)

Sun:  Left overs/sandwiches after our 8 hour trip

Mon:  Dirty Rice (I used venison and used this recipe from Grandbaby Cakes as a guide)

Tues:  Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup (from Baked By Rachel)

Wed:  Mini venison meat loaves,  mashed potatoes, vegetable (mashed potatoes in the slow cooker from Made It. Ate It. Loved It.)

Thurs:  Honey Sesame Chicken in the slow cooker over rice (from The Gunny Sack)

I spent a lot less at the grocery for this week than I had been.  But we bought the pierogi's, pizza, and lunch on the road Sunday so the savings wasn't as much as I had hoped.  There's no eating out next week so hopefully I can see a bigger savings.  One thing I am going to try to do more is soups.  Soups with rolls can be filling, healthy, and cost effective.  

Hop on over to Orgjunkie.com for more menu planning inspiration on her Menu Plan Monday post for this week (and yes, it's Tuesday.  I'm a day behind).