Menu plan (2/27/12)

I want to use up some leftovers in the freezer, so we'll be having leftovers a few nights this week.

Monday:  lamb and potato green curry leftovers. This got hotter than I remembered when we ate it last.  After dinner, we tossed the remaining leftovers out.  I know that I don't like to waste food, but I also don't want to eat something that is too much for me.

Tuesday:  French onion soup.  Jaimie suggested this.  I think it's a great idea for something warm and healthful.  It's made with onions, homemade broth, croutons, and cheese.  I've always loved eating French onion soup but gave it up for quite awhile because I could never find it unless it was made with beef broth.  It's so nice to have it homemade because we know exactly what's in it.

Wednesday:  leftover squash risotto

Thursday:  a noodle salad with leftover turkey

Friday:  pizza, with our homemade dough, sauce, and mozzarella

Saturday:  Eating with friends at their home (and a seed exchange/ordering party)

Sunday: Probably a chicken, with roasted potatoes and a veggie from the freezer.  We're having company.  I love having company.

Week 8: $25 in groceries

This week we had some traveling to do, so we wanted snacks for part of our budget.  So far, we bought:

Sweets & Beets chips: 2 bags for $5
Coconut oil (for both body use and cooking): $5.84
Potatoes (with coupon): $.99
Apples: $1.71
Parmesan cheese: $3.29
Kefir: $2.79


We're at $19.62 and that leaves us enough for onions and bananas.  Since we were over a couple of times and under other times, I figured what we actually spent for the total amount, and after 8 weeks we should be at $200.  I want to make it so that we are at or under that $200 figure.  That means I have $3.74 to spent for this week yet.

[We totally busted our budget this week.  We went to Milwaukee and there are a lot of cheese shops along the way to and from.  As everyone knows, WI has the best cheese.  We stopped at a cheese shop and got a brick of 4-year-old cheddar (not the kind with artificial orange coloring) for $9.56 and a small brick of Swiss cheese for $4.55.  They totaled just under $15.  We also bought sorghum for $6.99.  All of it was local. I know there's the feeling you get, just like when people say they get when losing weight, that, since you went overboard that you just feel like going way overboard, but I will reign in that feeling and get back on track for next week.  I do realize that with a $25 a week budget we really can't afford really good aged cheese, so that's one thing I'll be looking forward to again when we're done with our challenge.]

[Onions and bananas were $1.20.  Jaimie then bought Fair trade organic Ethiopian coffee for $6.99.  We are so over budget this week.]

Week 8 total:   $48.91.  Since we were already $1.64 over when we started the week, we certainly went a bit overboard.  Even without buying any groceries week 9, we would start week 10 with a budget of $24.45 for the week.  I am uncertain as to whether we want to go without this coming week (I do love fresh fruit), or whether we're just going to call this week a bust.  We'll see what the coming week brings.  Honestly, over the past several weeks, I have thought that we don't even need all $25 in groceries and was buying stuff we already had just to stock up.  This week, though, was the first time I was irritated at the challenge because it's nearly impossible to buy something I really look forward to getting on rare occasion (the good aged cheddar).  Then I told myself to get over it.  It is a challenge after all.

Menu plan (2/19/12)

This past week, each meal seemed to make much more than we'd anticipated, so we had leftovers more often that planned.  So, again, we're repeating things that have shown on previous menu plans.

Sunday: steak, homemade focaccia, butter beets (a jar from a friend and so good), cauliflower

Monday: tortellini and alfredo sauce (sauce from Creatively Domestic).  We don't have parmesan, so we're using our homemade mozzarella instead.

Tuesday: leftover curried potatoes and lamb from the freezer

Wednesday:  chicken and squash risotto

Thursday:  leftovers

Friday:  probably leftovers again if we need too, or homemade pizza

Saturday:  We'll be eating at my parents'

Sunday:  On the road, so out to eat

Cordials

We were making smoothies with berries from our cordials so I figured I'd write something on making cordials.  It's a very easy process.  There are a lot of recipes that call for odd additives, but only three ingredients are needed: fruit, sugar and liquor.

We generally use an 80 oz jar.  Put in one pint of your choice of fruit (berries, peaches, even rhubarb), add one cup of sugar, and then fill it up to the top with either vodka or brandy.  We tried rum once, but it turned out a weird almost greasy taste, so we'll be sticking with vodka.  Don't bother with the flavored stuff, because you're flavoring it yourself.

For about a month, stir it daily.  After that month, you can either leave in the fruit to take it out as you want to use it, or strain it out through a cheese cloth.  The fruit will be soaked with alcohol.  You can use it in smoothies, in ice cream, or even in pie (my mom tried this and said that it doesn't all burn off when baking, so beware).

Week 7: $25 in groceries

It's the first date into our week, and we've spent almost all of our $25.

This is what we bought:

$1.99 yogurt (normally we make our own, but sometimes it's good to have a fresh starter batch).
$1.51 flour
$1.99 oats
.49 baking soda
$6.19 goldfish crackers.  I didn't want to really get them, but that's the hazard of shopping with a toddler
$1.12 ketchup.  Again, shopping with a toddler
$1.35 tea
$2.33 cocoa powder.  We needed more chocolate ice cream (some of which we just ate, and it was delicious)
$3.59 heavy cream

That adds up to $20.56 so we have enough for milk for $2.29 and eggs for $1.75, which will bring us under budget!

[We didn't get milk, but we did get Parmesan cheese for $3.29, so that put us $.60 over].

Butter

I love butter.  I loved it even when it was supposedly bad, because it's got fat or some other goofy reason, and then margarine ended up having that trans-fat problem.  Thankfully, our family didn't care about the health benefits of margarine and we stuck it out with butter.  Yummy, tasty, creamy, delicious butter.  It's not because we were anti-health food.  It's because we are German, and butter is a food group for Germans. 

On another website, I saw this WI creamery that has rolled butter.  Then, I realized that I've had their butter, and it was delicious.  I mean, I wouldn't eat it like my sister's cat used to by just licking it as is, but I like butter in almost everything.  I like to drench my pancakes in it.  I like to drench my potatoes in it.  I know that there are plenty of creameries in Wisconsin, being the dairy state, but rolled butter is just divine.  I think I'm going to have to add rolled butter into our budget.

Week 6: $25 in groceries

The last two weeks we went over, by .62 and $2.   The previous three weeks, though, we were under budget, with $24.76, $24.32, and $24.53.  I was determined to make it under budget this week, and we did.  We said we'd do 3 months, which is about 13 weeks, so we're almost halfway through the challenge!

This is what we bought:

$4.78 for two gallons of whole milk, with coupon
$3.99 for clementines.  Lily loves these and knows how to open them on her own.  It's not local, but it's Real.
$2/2 bags of flax, on sale
$2.99 for wild rice, on sale
$2.99 for semi-sweet chocolate chips, 24 oz.  I didn't really need these for a recipe, and, of course, they are not Real, but it is a good price and I know I'd use them.  Since it's not Real food, it is taxed, and that comes out to $3.05.
$3 for 5 boxes of pasta, with coupon
$5 for 3 packages of cheddar cheese, on sale

That comes out to $24.81, and we're under budget.  I wanted to get cocoa powder, just because we're out but not because we needed it for anything.  We'll wait for next week for that.  Jaimie also wants heavy cream, which we use in so many things, like creme brulee, ice cream, scones, etc.