Too Good to Pass Up

We always try to keep a little extra set aside in my grocery funds so that if a “too good to pass up” opportunity comes along we can take advantage of it.  Like a lot of areas, our local Aldi upgraded, but for some reason it feels as if their produce and general stock has gone down.  Also of concern to me is that a lot of labels have changed.....perhaps different distribution centers?

This week Lidl mailed out coupons for up to $40 off of $200.  I decided to take advantage of it and restock some of my pantry items while I was picking up this week’s produce and fresh items.  I also picked up somethings for my daughter.  Since I was by myself I didn’t try to photograph everything.

The cookies and toaster strudels are to go to my daughter’s place.  The canned and jarred items are for the pantry.  She can have any she wants.  The large box has various items like rice, pickles, applesauce, olives, roasted red peppers, chips, rice cakes, oils, foil, freezer bags, etc.  I also bought some herbs and seasonings, extracts, and a few items like that.  

What I did not get photographed was the refrigerator items.  I bought milk, eggs, cheeses (multiples of various kinds) lemons, apples, spaghetti sauqsh , potatoes, onions, mushrooms, bacon, kielbasa, and chicken.

Grocery Fill In for the Week

My daughter needed to run to Aldi to pick up a few things so I tagged along with her.

I went ahead and picked up what we needed to round out any gaps. 

I spent $25.17 to round meals out for the upcoming week, so that wasn't too bad.

I have used up the last of my homecanned string beans. From this point until the next canning (which I don't think I will be doing this year because if all goes according to plan I will be packing this house up and heading back to my home town) I will use either frozen or store canned beans.  Obviously I won't use these all in a week, but my general method for Aldi veggies is to buy a flat at a time and keep them on hand. 

In addition to those beans I needed:

2 cartons of milk

1 bag of zucchini (has 3 in it)

1 bag of green bell peppers (has 3 in it)

a package of Philly cheesesteak meat (We are trying a new recipe.)

a package of taco shells

a package of Provolone cheese

a package of riced cauliflower (frozen)

Trying Walmart’s Pick Up Service

Our son and his family are visiting for the weekend.  They’re combining some time with her family for graduations and Mother’s Day and some time with us.  I knew I would have physical therapy just before they would arrive, and I didn’t know how I would feel by the time they’d get here.  I made the executive decision to try Walmart’s grocery pickup service.

I had some gaps in my pantry and some items I needed for this weekend.  I also picked up some convenience items. Right now my focus is on taking care of what I can do and on healing.  While I am not out to blow the budget, we have decided that making some allowances is well worth it right now.  As always, my philosophy is that even convenience foods at home is less than sending people out to pick up take away.

I was pleasantly surprised with how easy the process was.  I placed my order online and spent just under $175.  A good portion of that being items for the family visit this weekend plus our Mother’s Day breakfast.  I also planned a big meal that included $22 worth of beef, and I bought a turkey roast.  The actual pantry and true “household groceries” really weren’t that horrible.

I checked in on the phone when we left the house and when we arrived they brought the groceries out and loaded them into the car.  I did not have to even get out.  I signed the “reader” in the car, and we came back home.  Everything was exactly as I had ordered, the produce was in excellent shape, etc.  I don’t know that I will use this service all the time, but I will definitely consider it again in the future.

Motivational Monday -- Untraditional Shopping Sources

We ordered from Amazon Prime Pantry for the first time.  Normally this isn't a source I consider, but with the cost of gas going up and the need for some items for my daughter.....I decided to give it a try.  (We've been back and forth with medical for her stomach and mid-May she has more tests.)  I don't believe this is necessarily more frugal than shopping in a regular grocery store.  However, we could not find the items that are working well for her locally.  I know compared to driving to Raleigh this was the more frugal option.

Finishing off March and Plans for April

I've finished off my shopping for the month.

(I'll be sharing a recipe and a canning session later this week.)

The plan for April is to work on using what is on hand and to only fill in as necessary.

Since I am doing that, I am not going to make a monthly menu.

I'll do it week by week and see where we stand.

Second Grocery Shop of the Month

I went slightly over my budget on this one, but when I take out the pantry items and a special meal I was pretty good.  (My sister just got engaged, and I wanted to have one of her favorite meals.....read that as I needed an excuse to have her come over so I could see that beautiful ring of hers.)

March Menu Plan and My Sam's Club Grocery Haul

Small Grocery Haul

This is a small grocery haul of those items I cannot find locally.  

February's Once a Month Shop

I'm trying something new. It isn't perfect, and it is a little outside of my comfort zone.  I've created a video of my grocery haul.  I did a Sam's Club pickup and an Aldi pickup.

I'd appreciate it if anyone has any feedback.

I've already noticed I need to be careful about background noise and the tapping.  I also didn't think about the black frame when I was filming.  Next time I will.

Household Shopping Expenses

My area rugs have seen their better days.  

I was able to pick up 3 kitchen rugs — one goes in the kitchen, one by the entryway, and one in the half bathroom.

(We have an open area and I like for them to match.)

I went with kitchen rugs for all three because of the price difference.

A “bathroom” rug for the half bath (which didn’t need a shower rug) was $24.99.

I replaced all three of these for $29.97

The soap holder was a need because I have finally converted all of our stuff over to supplies bought in bulk. ($16.99, which I felt was pricey, but the lower priced ones did not feel like they had last power and this one does.)

The sponge holder was to replace my current system, which just wasn’t working for me.  ($6.99)

This was my biggest expense.  

It was originally $59.99, but I was able to get it $10 off.

After almost falling backwards down the stairs vaccuuming the other day I decided enough was enough.

(My last fall down the stairs resulted in 6 months in a wheel chair.)

I’ve already tested it, and it works great.

(My regular vacuum is an upright.)

These are to replace dwindling supplies.

Bandaids were $8.99.

The Downy was $19.98, but I received a $5 gift card towards my next purchase.

Shopping Day Food Items

 

For the office my husband requested canned sodas and bottled waters.

These are for offering to clients.

Sodas were $3.99 each for a total savings of $3.96 so almost got one package free.

(The water was $1.79.)

These are for my daughter’s lunch box.

The protein bars were on sale for $6.99 (a savings of 80 cents).

Cookies were $2.89 and a special request.

I also bought 3 bottles of Skim Fairlife Milk and 1 bottle of Chocolate Fairlife Milk.

Total for milk was $13.69.

Store Sales Papers

I took half an hour to go through all the local stores weekly sales.  (I do this online.). I’m really disappointed in general.  Makes me glad I know we are covered for a bit.

Aldi basically has a lot of processed foods on sale.  Pineapple and white mushrooms are at a pretty good price.  

Foodlion again mostly boxed/bagged items.  A lot of which I can’t use.  Plus their prices tend to be higher and I can usually find the same item less by shopping around.

Harris Teeter has eggs on sale for 97 cents a dozen with a limit of 4 dozen.  This is worth considering, but they don’t have anything else worth making the trip for.  

Publix had a lot of items I don’t use on sale.  They also tend to be on the pricey side.  A second downside with them is that I also have to send someone else in to shop for me at this store. Lidl didn’t have anything grand either.  A few things I would pick up on impulse if I were in the store, but nothing worth making a speical trip for.

Amusingly the best store around over all was Piggly Wiggly.  However, I would drive almost 45 minutes one way to get there....negating any savings since I don’t need to be in that town anyway.

Walmart has their Great Value canned veggies on sale for 38 cents per can.  Not a bad price at all, but I am well stocked. I feel comfortable in saying that I was okay with waiting on all but two of those items and really considered simply not buying anything.

However, my daugther pointed out that she needed cookies or something of the sort to take to school.  I decided if I was going to buy those I would go to Aldi.  When I was at Aldi I saw that their eggs were only 99 cents per dozen, so I picked up 3 dozen.  I also picked up 8 cartons of mushrooms to dehydrate.  

Not bad.  The eggs will carry on into next month, as will the mushrooms.

The cookies will also, but even if she and my husband munch on them I am okay with that.

I’m not sure I could make them for much less and even if I could I just don’t have the time right now.

As for the mushrooms, 8 packages filled the entire dehydrator.

The finished product:

 

Freezer Inventory

We finally managed to inventory the two freezers.  I'll continue to work on these items this month, but I am also thinking we will have enough to go into next month with me just supplementing.  I really want to do a complete rotation on this food.  With that said I may not plan February totally in advance, but instead rely on this list and pick meals that use these ingredients as I go along.  I may do my menu for a week at a time as a result of this.  I also know I have one week that we will be gone.  I'll need quick stuff for my daughter to prepare for herself that week.  This freezer inventory does include the stuff we purchased this month.

So this is what I have in addition to my canned and dried items:  (I realize the term box and bag doesn't mean much to you, but that is how I determine my serving sizes, so it means something for my planning.)

Fruit	Blueberries	1 bag
Fruit	Mixed Fruit	4 bags
Meat	BLSL chicken breast	11 pounds
Meat	Turkey burgers	24 patties
Meat	Hamburger	5 lbs.
Meat	Pork loin	1 medium sized
Meat	BLSL chicken thighs	6 pounds
Meat	BBQ Chicken	3 meals
Meat	Beef patties	20 patties
Meat	Turkey Mignon	4 patties
Meat	Turkey sausage patties	1 bag
Meat	Ground turkey	4 lbs
Meat	Italian links	5 links
Meat	Sausage (loose)	3 pounds
Meat	Popcorn chicken	2 bags
Meat	Sausage coil	1 large
Meat	Veggie burgers	4 patties
Meat	Kansas City Steaks	4 steaks
Meat	Chicken, whole	1 large
Meat	Pork loin, cubes	1 bag
Meat	Pork sausage patties	1 bag
Meat	Chicken tenders, GF	1 bag
Meat	Chicken tenders, Italian	1 pan
Meat	Beef sausage	7 links
Meat	Pork sausage links	13 links
Misc.	Pizza rolls	1.5 bags
Misc.	Hamburger buns, GF	2 bags
Misc.	Lasagna	1 pan
Misc.	Hot dog buns, GF	1 bag
Misc.	Fried Rice	1 meal
Misc.	BBQ Pork (pulled)	1 meal
Misc.	Italian bread	2 loaves
Misc.	Cool Whip	2 tubs
Misc.	Buns (sesame seed)	1 bag
Veg	Mixed Veggies	6 bags
veg	Green beans	3 bags
Veg	Veggie Tots	1 bag
Veg	Sweet potato tubs	2 tubs
Veg	Broccoli Blend	1 bag
Veg	Kidney beans	2 cups
Veg	Corn	2 bags
Veg	Asparagus	3 bags
Veg	Kale	1 bag
Veg	Spinach	1 bag
veg	Hash browns	6 pounds
Veg	Tater Tots	2 gallon bags
Veg	Sliced bell pepper	1 gallon bag
Veg	Chopped broccoli	1 box
Veg	Baby Lima	1 bag
Veg	Cauliflower, riced	1 bag
Veg	Broccoli	1 bag
Veg	Okra	3 bags
Veg	Chick peas	2 cups

January's Groceries

I previously shared my menu plan for the month.  (Menu Plan)  My goal was to shop once this month and not shop again until February. 

This is a breakdown of what I purchased from Sam's Club.  Some items are food, some are school/travel related but still food, and others are household/pet care.  The biggest bonus was that I had rewards points built up with them -- $100 worth.  My cart total was $382.83.  Then I saved $15.75 in coupons and they applied my $100.  My total was $267.08.  Not bad.  Because I picked up some supplies on December 30th, I am counting that in my running total for the month so that total comes to $373.03 for January. 

My numbers worked out like this:
Household Supplies  $33.09
Pets.                           $49.90
Medical OTC.           $29.94
Taxes                        $16.57
Food.                       $243.53  

Produce : 50 pounds of baking potatoes, lemons, oranges, grape fruit, zucchini, pink lady apples

6 bottles of milk and 3 dozen eggs

Refrigerator items:  2 packages of cheese sticks, half and half, 3 packages of turkey bacon, mango salsa

Meats:  5.5 pounds of lean ground beef, 24 turkey burgers, 10 pounds of chicken breasts

(The chicken was cheaper frozen than fresh and since I would have froze it anyway, I went with this.)

This is our emergency stash.  Daughter can grab either of these and have them ready in a jiffy.

It’s amusing, but if she isn’t feeling bad she loves the pizza rolls despite refusing to eat any tomato sauce for me.

However, when her Crohn’s is flaring up the saltiness and starch from the Ramen settles her stomach some.

These were pantry supplies to replace things I had completely used up.

(I find the rotel is just as cheap as buying my tomatoes and chilis separate.

I normally buy stevia, but this wasn’t an option.  I’ve used Splenda in the past so for this month and the next it will do.)

I had also used up completely all of these that I had.  

These are for quick snacks, emergency meals, or whatever.  

Sam’s Club had them on sale this time and we were down to a partial box in the pantry.

I don’t know whether to count these as medical or as food.

Per doctor’s instructions I drink them between meals to help keep my blood sugar stable.

For now they’re in the food category.

This is more sodas than we will need for a month.  

My daughter takes them to school because she cannot carry opened water bottles into some of her classes.

This is the cheapest I can buy them with any regularity.

We also offer them to guests from time to time.

2 large bags of cat food and not shown 84 pounds of cat litter 

This is to be split between our two places.

I did not photograph the items I bought at the end of December.

Basically what I have left of those items is:

Coffee creamer

Turkey sausage patties

1/2 carton of milk

Mozzarella cheese

Pepperoni

GF Bread crumbs

I'm also expecting some of these items to carry over in part to February.

Planning Ahead and Using Up

In planning ahead for the month, I did an inventory of the pantry.  It hasn't really warmed up enough for me to do the freezer, but I do have my basic list of what I believe is in there.  (Hoping I was kind of diligent in marking things off.)  While I was in the pantry I tidied everything up so that is a nice feeling.  When I finished I made our grocery list out and placed an order with Sam's Club. (The original goal was for this to be the only shop for the month, but sometimes plans change.  Due to a death in the family, I have out of town guests coming to stay.  I think we will still be fine for the month based on what I have ordered, but since this was decided after I placed the order we will just have to see.  Either way, I am not worried about it.  Life has a way of working out.)

We started the morning out by making waffles.  I had put together several "bagged mixes" for pancakes for our beach trip, but we had only used one.  A few quick additions and I had waffle batter.  I cooked 10 waffles with plans for my daughter to have some to go with her breakfasts for this first week of classes.

Lunch was simply using up the leftover taco meat, which we rolled into flour tortillas, added a quick sprinkle of cheese, and microwaved. Since I knew I had a Sam's Club order coming I cleaned and straightened the refrigerator.  I have been being diligent about using things up, and I didn't have much in there to take out.  However, I did have leftover rice that needed using up.  Since I knew I had some BLSL chicken thighs that I am trying to use up and some stir fry veggies, I decided that a stir fry would be perfect.

Please send up prayers and positive thoughts for my extended family -- my aunt has passed away.  Also prayers for safe travels for us as we head that way.  We are leaving on still icy roads.  (I'm grateful that my sister and her fiance are letting me ride with them because they have a four wheel drive vehicle.  I don't live in an area where we get a lot of "snow driving" in and as such we don't keep vehicles prepared for it.)

12 Days of Pintos

Obviously we aren’t going to eat pinto beans 12 days straight, but I thought for the months of December and January I would try to share 12 meals that use pinto beans.  In preparation for this, I bought this huge bag of beans at Sam’s Club.  I also bought 12 pounds of black beans, too...so maybe that will be a future post.

Stock Up for Thanksgiving Week

We had a wonderful week with our grandson.  I had forgotten how lively a four year old makes life.  He and I spent some time watching some cooking videos.  Afterwards he decided he wanted to try one of the recipes — sweet potato carbonara.  We did, and he even tried the results.  He said they were “okay, but not his favorite”. LOL. Soooo grown!  I, on the other hand, loved it.

This is the recipe we used.

Sweet Potato Carbonara

Saturday we met his parents halfway, and he headed home.

I miss him....but I must confess I went to bed early Saturday night.

Sunday I went ahead and picked up groceries for the week.

I forgot to photograph it, but I picked up four things from Aldi:

A ham (my contribution to our extended family Thanksgiving Dinner)

A box of candy canes to go with hot cocoa

A pie plate ($6.99 to replace the one I broke and in my favorite red)

1 box of Aldi brand sodas for my daughter

Total was $19.45

Then I did my stock up for the week at Lidl.  

2 cartons of milk

Coffee creamer

Ricotta cheese

Shredded Parmesan cheese

Cottage cheese

Red onions

Celery

Spaghetti squash

Eggplant

Bananas (organic because the others looked riper that I like)

Zucchini

Avacadoes

Cauliflower

Bella Mushroom Slices

Kiwi

English cucumber

Mint plant — a splurge for myself.  I love fresh mint.

Watermelon

In my effort to use down things, over the last few weeks I had used up every freezer/storage type bag I had.

The freezer bags are for portioning items out and for freezing leftovers.

The sandwich and snacks bags seem to be the most convenient way to pack my daughter’s lunches.

For lunches for daughter:

Chocolate oreos (I make her snack pack sizes in the bags)

Turkey for sandwiches

For the coffee lovers and pantry storage:

2 bags of mocha and mint coffee

4 boxes of stevia

1 can of decaf coffee

Total spent $70.38

My family will be home for 5 days straight and that means larger meals.

I had plenty of meats, grains, pastas, and canned items.

I really wanted plenty of fresh items on hand, too.

(We already had apples, carrots, broccoli, and bell pepper.

I have plenty of fresh eggs — a gift from my brother.

Plenty of popcorn and snack type items.

So basically I think we are set for the week and into next week.)

Garbage Pizza and Crust Review

This mix came from Lidl.  

It was by far the least expensive pizza crust mix I have seen, and it was the best I have tried.

It requires the addition of an egg, olive oil, and warm water.

It reminds me a little of a more biscuity type dough, but it was excellent.

Two of us wiped out the entire pizza.

On the grocery front, this was a “garbage” pizz.

I used up the last of a jar of Dollar Tree mushrooms, a lingering onion, some olives from an open jar, the remainder of some pepperoni in the fridge, and a mix of leftover cheddar and mozzarella.

GF Flour Tortillas Review

A couple of weeks ago I tried the Aldi gluten free tortillas.

I honestly wasn't overly impressed with them.

They were dry and kind of chalky.

I rarely throw away food, but I ended up tossing the remainder of the package.

When I was in the Neighborhood Market (Walmart) I found Mission Gluten Free Tortillas.

I had heard a lot of good things about them and was actually excited to see them in our local store.

I have tested these pretty thoroughly.

I've made tacos with ground beef, used them as wraps for chicken and veggies with cheese, and used them to make breakfast wraps with scrambled eggs and bacon.

The final test was to see if they would make a good cheese quesadilla.

They do!

I've been very pleased with how well these taste.

Since they lend themselves to a variety of meals I feel like they are great for me to keep on hand.

The only downside I can see (and it isn't a big enough one for me to not recommend these) is that they are thin and one or two did tear easily.

I am sure it is due to the nature of the flours.

However, the taste and texture are quite good.

Stock Up for the Week

Such a big stock up for the week; huh?

This was all we needed.  

Well actually that isn’t quite the truth of the matter.

I needed the cheese, the eggs, the onion powder, and the milk.

The hot dogs we bought for lunches for this week.

I know they aren’t great for us, but sometimes I crave one.

The gum is because we were out....daughter keeps one package in her backpack for school and I keep one in my purse.

The chocolate chips were almost an impulse item, but not quite.

I’ve actually used up most of mine, and since Lidl’s don’t have nut issues I decided to go ahead and pick up some more.

So:

2 cartons of lactose free milk

1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese

1 bottle of onion powder

2 packages of gum

1 package of beef hot dogs

4 bags of chocolate chips for baking

Not a bad total for the week.

Although I feel as if I should confess and say we have already deviated from the menu.

Daughter wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want bean soup.

No worries though because we just ate other things we had on hand.