Mom has been in the hospital for the past few weeks. She entered Hospice on Friday. She’s back in her apartment for the duration.
My posts are going to be sporadic for a while.
We’ve spent some time streaming the Golden Girls on my iPad.
Originally, when I started this blog I had 3 growing kids at home and I shared tips on saving money at the grocery store and cooking from scratch. I stopped doing that as the kids moved out, but now, with the shortages and high prices we are seeing at the grocery store I thought I'd get back to my roots. I still cook from scratch most of the time. But instead of having 3 growing kids at home it's just me and my husband. And I now work full time, so meal planning and prepping in advance is key to our getting a healthy dinner on the table in a timely manner. Years ago, I rarely had leftovers. Now, I have leftovers that I can turn into a meal for another night or we pack them up for lunches.
I did a fairly big grocery run last night. My last really big trip to the store was back in December, just before Christmas. I've been popping into the grocery store to buy a few things here and there since then. I've tried to keep those trips down to once a week and under $30.
I did well until Tuesday night. I had to stop by the store to pick up snacks for the staff meeting on Wednesday. It was late. And I was hungry. I picked up 3 bags of Snickers and 1 bag of Reese's. And a 4 pack of Coconut Milk Yogurt. And 2 bottles of Vitamin Water. Really, I didn't get that much. It filled one plastic grocery bag. It cost $36. That's a lot of money for not that much stuff.
This trip was mostly about restocking the produce. Back in December I bought a meat bundle from our local butcher. We are still slowly working our way through the bundle, and I do not need to restock any meat at this time.
Potatoes - both sweet and russet
Onions
Celery
Winter Squash (uncut) Butternuts and Acorns
Baby Kale and Spinach mix
Broccoli
Cabbage
Brussels Sprouts
Apples
Oranges
Bananas
Lunch meat
GF Sandwich Wraps
DF Cheese
DF Butter
Eggs
Coconut Milk
Corn Flakes
Peanut Butter Chips
1 can of full fat coconut milk
*Note - the produce section at my grocery store has a seconds display where you can purchase produce that is "on the edge" of going bad. If I find anything on my list here, we tend to eat it fast or freeze it so we can eat it later.
All told, I spent close to $85.
I bought the biggest bag of apples, sweet potatoes, russets, and onions that I could find.
I bought a very large container of lunch meat and froze half for later.
An 18 pack of eggs.
I put as many Brussels Sprouts as I could possibly fit into a bag. I really love roasted brusels.
I found 2 uncut butternut squashes, but I couldn't find any acorn squash.
When I checked the seconds display, I found a HUGE bag of lemons on sale for $1.50. So I picked those up, too. Stay tuned, because I'll share what I do with those next week. I have very big plans for those lemons later today!
Hopefully, the produce will last us through most of the month and any trips that I have to make to the store will continue to come in under $30.
How'd you do with your groceries this week?
Because sometimes, you just need a picture of a cat sitting in a grocery bag.
Hope you have a very happy Wednesday!
How are you doing on your Resolutions? I have a list of 12 things I wanted to accomplish this year. Just 12. That's one per month. There are some big goals on here, but I think that we can manage them!
1) Post 1 book review a month on my YA blog.
I have kept a YA Book Blog since I was in grad school. Circumstances have prevented me from publishing anything to that blog for the last year or so. My goal is to review at least one book a month this coming year. There are so many good books out there!
This hasn't happened this month. Considering that I haven't posted anything on this blog in over a year, I will need to rethink what and how I am doing this. It's an excellent platform for sharing books. But, am I reaching any teens with this platform? There's something I need to evaluate.
2) Renovate the Master Bedroom & Bathroom.
This is a huge goal many years in the making. There have been issues with that bathroom since we bought the house. 16 years later, and we are finally going to get it fixed!
3) Find good homes for the books
I've been on a committee that has gifted me with thousands of new children's books. While my work on the committee will soon be finished, I need to find a home for all of the books. There are children out there who need good books.
4) Go explore 2 new to me places
Who doesn't love an adventure? I have a list of places that I want to go see. I'm going to put out a map, and get some darts, and see where we end up.
5) 40 Bags in 40 Days Lenten Challenge
Have you done this challenge before? For the 40 days of Lent, you get one bag of junk out of your house. I've done this challenge before. Sometimes, I don't get the last bag out of the house until June, but wow.... it really does feel good to get 40 bags of junk out of the house. I'm thinking that some of these boxes of books will be counting up in the total count. I've got a lot of books.....
6) Get together with 1 friend each month
I don't think I should have to write this down, but you know, it's been a weird couple of years. I want to make seeing people we love a priority. Doing this around COVID Restrictions is going to make this an extra special challenge.
January - Jim & Kathy! We had a fire outside in the firepit and got to catch up over a couple of hours!
The Mission Trail in San Antonio!
8) Landscape Front Yard
This has been on the list for several years now. I really want to get this checked off this year!
9) Clean out the Garage
If you've read the blog for any length of time, you know that we bought this house 16 years ago from my in-laws. And you also know that they were borderline hoarders. We've made progress in the house, and while there is still clutter in the basement, I believe that we will have the last of it out by the end of this year. (See the 40 bags in 40 days challenge.) But the garage is another story. 16 years, and we have not yet been able to park our cars in the garage because of the amount of their stuff. Our goal is to be able to park a car in the garage by the end of the year.
10) Get the kayak out in the water once each month during May, June, July, August, September, and October.
Seriously, we have a kayak. Why aren't we getting out in the water with the kayak more often? What is our excuse? The kids have moved out. We don't have to worry about finding a sitter or getting an extra kayak for them.
11) Get my Bike fixed and get out for some bike rides.
I bought my bike over 30 years ago. I rode it a lot before the kids got busy in high school. Now that everyone is out of the house, it is time to pull out some of the things I really used to love. The top of that list is riding my bike. In order to do that, I need to get the bike fixed. The tires are dry rotted, and I'm sure it's got a host of other issues going on.
12) Visit My Cousins in Texas (a trip postponed from 2020)
Done! We made it down over a long weekend in January! It was so good to see my cousins and my aunts and uncles! I even posted a few pictures from the River Walk in San Antonio. It's been 10 years since I last got down here. I can't wait another 10 years to get back. Family is too important. And time is fleeting.
Breckinridge Park! We met up with my cousins at the same outdoor pavilion where I had my 5th birthday party! That pavilion is just off to the right from this picture.
Other Goals:
I’ve got a couple of other goals I would like to accomplish this year, but I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to get to them. If I do, I’ll be thrilled beyond words. If not? I’ll add them to the list of things I want to get to in 2023.
This is going to be so much fun!
In my quest to go to the grocery store as little as possible, we made bean bowls this week. Some of you might call them Protein Bowls.) Whatever you call them, I call them a quick and easy dinner to put on the table on a weeknight.
I started with the Tejano Beans we had made earlier in the week.
We cooked up some rice, and sliced up an onion. I had leftover Vegan Cheese Shreds in the fridge, along with salsa and some guacamole. If I'd had bell pepper in the fridge, I would have added that, but I really am working on staying away from the grocery store.
When everything was layered into the bowl, we had a pot of warm and comforting goodness that was perfect for a winter night. Since we were using leftovers, our total time to put this together was the time that it took us to cook the rice. 20 minutes.
The Tejano Bean Recipe - this is not my recipe, but it is as close to what I remember my Mom making as I've ever gotten! https://thefoodcharlatan.com/traditional-tejano-pinto-beans-slow-cooker-recipe/
Other Stuff:
1 cup of rice, uncooked
Vegan Cheese Shreds
Onion
Salsa
Bonus Items I found in the fridge:
Salsa
Guacamole
Feel free to mix this up however you want. If you've got some incredibly wonderful variation you'd like to share, post it below!
When I began this blog oh, so many years ago, one of the things I regularly highlighted was stretching a food dollar and eating healthy. I had 3 growing kids (2 boys, 1 girl) at home, and a husband who still eats like a teenager. I got away from that as they moved out of the house and this was no longer a huge issue for me.
And then, I went to the grocery store and did that eye pop thing that cartoon characters do when I took a good look around the store. There are empty spots everywhere on the shelves. Even the meat section is wiped out. And the prices? Holy cow, the prices are unbelievable.
I still cook like I'm cooking for an army of teenagers. And I feel like I can squeeze pennies until they pop. So I figured, why not get back to my roots and the origin of this blog and share that with you?
There are currently 3 of us living at home: me and the husband and our oldest child. (He's with us until this weekend.)
I went grocery shopping last week and spent $39.50.
Here's what I bought:
1 chuck roast, on sale for $15
1 5 pound bag of russet potatoes
1 5 pound bag of sweet potatoes
1 pound bag of carrots
2 pound bag of onions
1 bag of celery
1 bunch of bananas
1 carton of coconut milk
1 bag of lentils
1 box of mushrooms
2 pounds of Italian Sausage (on sale) for dinner next week
Here's what we made:
Mississippi Pot Roast with roasted sweet potatoes and frozen vegetables from the freezer.
How do you make Mississippi Pot Roast?
You put a chuck roast in the bottom of a crock pot. Cover it with a packet of ranch dressing and au jus mixes. Add 1/4 butter, cut up into cubes over the top. Add 8-19 pepperocini peppers and 1 can of diced jalapenos. Cook over low heat for 8 hours. (Husband really likes the pepperocini peppers!)
*Mississippi Pot Roast calls for dry au jus seasoning and ranch dressing mix and butter. All of those things are laden with all kinds of things I can't eat. I used these recipes to make safe alternatives for me:
https://40aprons.com/au-jus-recipe/
https://www.wickedspatula.com/homemade-ranch-seasoning/
I used Miyokos plant butter.
I didn't have any canned jalapenos, so I used a fresh one I had in the fridge.
Please note that I already had the peppers, jalapenos, and fake butter in the house.
Beef Stew
Leftover pot roast
Beef broth left over from the roast
Carrots
Russet Potatoes
Celery
Onions
Ethiopian Lentils
Note: I did not have fresh tomatoes. I used canned tomatoes that were in the cupboard.
I also couldn't find spinach at the store, so I didn't use it. It's still good anyway!
https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/spicy-ethiopian-lentil-stew/
Black Beluga Lentil Mushroom Stew
recipe here: https://rainbowplantlife.com/creamy-mushroom-and-black-beluga-lentil-stew/
Pinto Beans
I used the ham bone leftover from our Christmas Ham and made this recipe, which I really love!
https://thefoodcharlatan.com/traditional-tejano-pinto-beans-slow-cooker-recipe/
Enchiladas
I used the leftover pinto beans to make Enchiladas, with corn tortillas I had in the fridge and homemade gluten free enchilada sauce.
Baked Potato Soup
I skipped the tempeh bacon since I didn't have any in the house.
https://ilovevegan.com/vegan-loaded-baked-potato-soup/
With 3 of us living at home, that was 4 meals. (Not counting leftovers for lunch.)
So, we came out to $5.64 per meal. With 3 of us, living at home that came out to $1.88 per serving. (Again, not counting the leftovers we ate for lunch.)
The biggest problem with cooking like this is that you are cooking from scratch, and that means that you have to plan your meals out well in advance and do some serious meal prep on the weekends so that pulling something like this together on a weeknight is easy.
What are you doing to stretch your dollar at the grocery store?
