Menu Plan "Monday" - Week of June 30, 2013 - Continuing the Challenge!!!

My Buddy making muffins one day - he's doing a great job!
So we're back from our "vacation"  - which included a couple of days camping, a couple of days at home and a couple of days "up North" with John preaching and leading worship at my cousin's now 3-point perish this weekend for Pulpit Supply!  Why do I always feel I need a break when I get back from "vacation". I've also really decided that it's not a vacation if I have to cook - just sayin'! :)  

In any case, we had a WONDERFUL TIME and it was so nice to see my cousin and her family.

We are sticking with our $20/wk grocery budget for the month of July.  We had planned to go down to first $15 per week with $5 going toward our CSA share for next year and then calculated that it would actually be $12 per week with $8 to the CSA (the price is going up next year).  With grocery prices the way they are, I'm not quite comfortable doing that yet so we're sticking with the $20/wk for now and will take the remaining $80 budgeted for this month toward our CSA instead. With $40 from last month we have $120 toward our CSA.  Maybe after we've been at $20 for a while I can figure out how to get it even lower - since we have next year covered it's the following year we'll need to cover.

In our CSA last weekend we got kale, rhubarb, garlic scapes, strawberries, peas, lettuce, dill, cilantro, and broccoli.  I don't have enough of anything to blanch and freeze yet (unless we don't eat the broccoli before it starts to go limp) so I'm waiting to start that.  Last year we had an overabundance of beets and peas so we'll see what we get this year.  We'll probably have to buy a few things at the Farmer's Market to make it all work out - darn those kids that grow and eat more food! :)  - but we'll make it work!

So we started the month with $80 for groceries for the month and spent $18.12 at one store and $26.22 at the other, so we have $35.66 for the rest of the month, or approximately $11 per week.   Why did I spend so much this week?  Well, my in-laws are coming up for the 4th and that means feeding teenagers for 2 days!  I'm hoping that we have some food leftover, but I'm not very optimistic. :)  I also bought chicken for $0.79/lb so I stocked up on enough for at least 4 meals (or two while my in-laws are here!).    So we have chicken in the freezer again, a few staples and a ton of fruit!  Hopefully that will hold everyone.  I'll post a photo this weekend when I get a chance to upload all the photos from my camera for this last week (yep - I finally bought a new battery).

We were also "paid" with 5 quart jars of canned venison by one of the church members at my cousin's church this weekend.  We love venison and were very grateful for this gift!  Thank you Mr W!  We really appreciate it!

Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday, June 30:
   Breakfast; Waffles with Oranges
   Lunch: At my Cousin's (Fish and Chips and Fruit - yum!)
   Snack: Leftover chips
   Dinner: PB&J Sandwiches, Plums

Monday, July 1:
   Breakfast: Toast with Peanut Butter and Bananas
   Lunch: Leftovers from the freezer
   Snack: Cheese sticks
   Dinner: Venison, Noodles, Strawberry-Raspberry-Apple Salad

Tuesday, July 2:
   Breakfast: Cereal and Milk
   Lunch: Leftovers
   Snack: Cheese Sticks
   Dinner: Salad with Chicken, Strawberries and Blueberries

Wednesday, July 3:
   Breakfast: Oatmeal with Almonds and Craisins
   Lunch: Sliced Apples with Peanut Butter, Carrot Sticks
   Snack: Cheese sticks
   Dinner: Pot Luck at Church: Bring Sliced Watermelon

Thursday, July 4:
   Breakfast: Pancakes with Strawberries
   Late Lunch/Early Dinner:  BBQ Chicken Legs in the Crockpot, Chips, Pasta Salad, Homemade Coleslaw, Sliced Watermelon and Cantaloupe, Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles
   Late Dinner:  Ate a Friends for a 4th of July Party: Bring Popcorn Balls with 4th of July Sprinkles

Friday, July 5:
   Breakfast: Oatmeal Muffins with Strawberries and Bananas
   Lunch: Pulled Pork, Homemade Rolls, Leftover Pasta Salad and Coleslaw, Sliced Fruit
   Snack: Leftover Popcorn Balls
   Dinner: Oriental Chicken Wraps, Sliced Cantaloupe and Pineapple

Saturday, July 6:
   Breakfast: Buttermilk Crumble Coffeecake, Sliced Fruit
   Lunch: Salad with Salmon and Strawberries
   Snack: Popcorn
   Dinner: Homemade Pizza and Breadsticks

What are you eating this week?

Popular posts from this blog

Frugal Friday - The End of 2016

Image
Another spectacular sunrise - we were so very spoiled by these this year!  I enjoyed every one of them! Nothing like completely forgetting I had a blog for month, right?  I didn't forget about everyone - I promise.   December ended up being ridiculously busy and very spare moment was spent with family and friends and on grading, as the term ended not that long ago.    My parents were visiting for 3 weeks (they returned home to sunny and slightly warmer Texas yesterday) and the children had their Sunday school program, their school Christmas program, and a school fun-day to end the term and John had 3 funerals and two graveside burials.  Then there's always the rush of Christmas and all the services that comes with being a Pastor's family.  I am very, very ready for a quiet start to the new year! I have some New Year's posts already planned and partially written, so look for those next week.  In the meantime, here are som...
Read more

Menu Plan Monday - Week of January 17, 2021

Image
Peas from my garden last summer.  We are cold and snowy with a lot of ice right now!  Not my favorite weather.  So, to cheer myself up I am starting to plan my garden for next summer!  I am hoping that I will be able to grow at least enough tomatoes and cutting flowers for both my parents (who are moving 1 1/2 blocks away from us in about 2 months - hurray!) and our house as well.   I am so grateful that we have 1/5 acre lot for our home that we can grow vegetables flowers and (currently) a single tree.  It makes me so happy and provides some very fresh produce for our family.  I love the physical act of gardening, both flowers and vegetables, and I love the taste of vegetables fresh from the garden.  A win-win in my book for sure! The name of the game this week is to eat up as much of the fresh stuff as we can so it's easy to move the refrigerator downstairs for our remodel.  They start knocking out walls and cutting holes in the outsid...
Read more

Menu Plan Monday and a Little Shopping

Image
Our CSA boxes have looked pretty much like this the last two weeks - though in varying amounts and this last week we got green onions too.  Here we have in the front row: Broccoli, raspberries, green & purple beans, and peas.  Back Row: Lettuce, cucumbers, cauliflower, a mutant cross between a zucchini and a patty pan squash, green and purple kohlrabi and a clove of garlic.  We'll see what we get this week!  I blanched and froze the peas since we have a ton of those and we can't seem to eat through them fast enough.  I have a whole head of cabbage leftover from a few weeks ago in the crisper drawer too.  Two weeks ago we got 5lbs of cherries - they're all gone now (I was hoping to freeze some) having been eaten by my parents and my children!  I can't eat cherries so I was okay with that! I went to the store this weekend with a gift card and spend $22 on milk, peaches, apples, carrots (those aren't ready yet in the garden) and some fr...
Read more