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Weeks 9-12

Week 9:  $30.78

My goal? Feed my family of 10 for $2, per person, per day. ($140 a week).

I’ll admit it – we are scraping by this week until Friday (payday!)

Now, the amount I spent was a little complicated. That pork roast from the store I buy produce – never meat -from had to go back, because it spoiled before it’s sell-by date. Yeah, that’s why I never buy meat there… but it was such a good sale and it looked so nice on the shelf…

So I got a refund of $6.93 from last week’s receipt.

I spent:
$37.71; take away $6.93 that was already accounted for last week, and the total is $30.78
Average per week – $92.81 (watch for this to go waaaayyy up next week, the pantry’s bare and we’ve eaten through my stock of food!)

I got:
4# green cabbage, 5# carrots, 3# onions, 10# potatoes, 2 heads Romaine, 2# strawberries (wash them well!), 9 golden delicious apples, 12 red pears, 3# tomatoes, 1 large cantaloupe.

2 doz. eggs, 2 gal. milk,

8 cans Hatch picante sauce, 42 oz. oatmeal, 18 oz. peanut butter, 1# chickpeas

14# ice, a Butterfinger bar.

We ate/are eating: (for more menus than you can shake a stick at, check out Laura’s Menu Plan Monday!)

Saturday, Feb. 28: b- oatmeal
l – leftovers
d- Green chile pork chops, spanish rice, salad

Sunday, March 1: b – pumpkin “cake” (it’s baked in a bundt pan, but I use applesauce, whole wheat flour, and half the sugar in the recipe so it’s actually somewhat healthy!)
l- taco beans and rice (another surprise kid hit – pintos, rice, tomatoes, taco seasoning cooked up and topped with cheese)
s- popcorn, chard (had to thin the garden!)
d- Chicken soup w/ onions, potatoes, carrots, and alphabet noodles

Monday, March 2: b – oatmeal
l – chicken soup
s- red pear, sprouts w/salt
d- curried bean stew (minus tomatoes) – HEB, your “hot” curry powder is shamefully mild!

Tuesday, March 3: b- chocolate malt-o-meal
l – egg fried rice (3 c. rice, 3 eggs, 2# asian style veggies)
s- strawberries
d- whole wheat pizza w/fresh tomatoes and peppers, salad

Wednesday, March 4: b- oatmeal
l – peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples
s – carrot sticks w/ sesame garlic yogurt cheese
d – chicken tortilla soup

Thursday, March 5: b- corn muffins
l – hummus on pitas (again, but the kids love chickpeas), sprouts
s- cantaloupe slices
d- colcannon (bacon, cabbage, and potato casserole type dish)

Friday, March 6: b- oatmeal
l- macaroni and cheese
s- uh, hmmm, well… dunno. But it’s payday so I’ll hit the store for more fruit)
d- vegetarian gumbo (didn’t eat it last week due to lack of planning on the beans. We had spaghetti with white beans last Friday instead).

Week 10: $90.00 (about)

My goal? Feed my family for $2 per person, per day. ($140 a week)

Last week husband dear did most of the shopping and lost the receipts. He used his debit card, so I do have amounts, I just don’t remember a lot of what we bought!

For week 10, we spent $90. I did get some sesame oil, mung beans, nori wrappers, and spring roll wrappers at the Asian store. Kroger had some awesome over-ripe produce deals – I got 16 nectarines for $2, 10 plums for $1, 3 artichokes for $1, and two bags of vine ripe tomatoes for $2. I bought 4 heads of lettuce for 88 cents each (wish I could really stock up on that, but it goes bad too quickly!) We also bought oatmeal, and eggs, and some premade meatballs… it gets fuzzy after that! Randall’s had some deals, and I got 40 lbs of potatoes for $8 (and a bag of Oreos for $1.29!)

At the Mexican grocery, I got 8 lbs. of dried pintos for $4 and 8 lbs. of white rice for $3. I cannot eat white rice, but I still have some brown in the pantry that I’m making for myself. One night we spent $29.00 on rotisserie chickens (3), macaroni salad, and tortilla chips (my birthday!) and that amount is included in the $65.00 total.

Basically, we ate everything that was left in the pantry and our meals weren’t planned, either.

We ate: spaghetti and meatballs, homemade pizza, cream of potato soup with whole wheat bread, pancakes and eggs, white bean pasta salad, and had a meal of rotisserie chickens, macaroni salad, and tortilla chips. We ended up with a chicken left over (we bought 3) and also made chicken tortilla soup.

Today I’m going on a major run to the stores. My goal is buy a month’s worth of staples to restock our empty pantry, and I plan to spend $300 on food. You can see a nifty calculator here, to see how much they calculate your family needs for a year. I had to laugh to see that for my family, they recommend I lay in a store of 45 lbs. of KoolAid and 10 lbs. of Jell-O!

This is why I keep a running total of food costs. I did not start out with empty cupboards, but I *will* have to replace what we use. Over the course of months, everything will even out, and pantry stock accounted for. Yes, we ate some bulgur that was in the pantry before I started tallying the food; but when I replace the bulgur we eat, the cost will show up in the totals (even if we don’t eat it that week or month).

Week 11 $221.30

My goal? To feed my family of 10 for $2, per person, per day.

Well, I didn’t manage to buy a full 30 day supply of staples. WalMart is where I buy most of them, and they were out of powdered milk, salsa, brown rice, the pasta I like to get, and unsweetened applesauce. We’ll try again next week.

I spent $221.30 on food this week. My receipts are very complicated this week, because our tax refund arrived and I spent a lot of money on non-food items (such as pencils, erasers, 20 pairs of socks, a new trashcan, and more…)
Our new weekly average is: $104.24

I got:
18 boxes of whole wheat pasta, 15# AP flour, 25# whole wheat flour, 5# cornmeal, 4# brown sugar, 1 box vital wheat gluten, 2 cans salt

4# popcorn, 4# navy beans, 3# garbanzo beans, 1# pearled barley

2 bottles spicy brown mustard, 1 large can diced tomatoes, 1 large can crushed tomatoes, 3 small cans tomato paste, 2 jars spaghetti sauce, 130 oz. creamy peanut butter, 1 jar grape jam, 2 cans black olives, 1 can sauerkraut, 1 gal. white vinegar, 16 oz. salad dressing

100 tea bags, large can Folger’s coffee, 1 bag mini-marshmallows, 4 loaves of whole wheat bread (still no oven), 8 large cartons (42 oz.) oatmeal, 1 bottle pancake syrup, 1 box raisin bran, 1 box frosted mini-wheats

4# butter, 5 1/2 doz. large eggs, 4 gallons milk, 2# cheese

17# corned beef (we froze some!), 3# pork tenderloin, 1 frozen pizza

3.3# onions, 5# bananas, 11.5# cabbage, 3# asparagus, 12# apples, 10# frozen veggies, 1 large cantaloupe

75 cookies from the bakery, 1 box of Rice Krispy treats

What we’re eating:

Sunday, Mar. 15- ate out after spending a fortune at Ikea. Does it count as stimulating the economy if all the money goes straight to Sweden?

Mon., Mar. 16 – oatmeal, apples
taco beans and rice
Spaghetti, broccoli

Tues., Mar. 17 - oatmeal, bananas
peanut butter sandwiches, milk
Corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, and cookies for dessert. St. Patrick is one our
family’s patron saints, and I still don’t have an oven!

Wed., Mar 18 – cold cereal with milk
egg sandwiches, green beans
White bean pasta salad with black olives and chard, salad
*** Update – we had angel hair with white beans, caramelized onions, and asparagus. I *forgot* that I had bought a ton of asparagus this week! Also added a pound of frozen peas so it would have more “green” than “brown”. Served with balsamic vinaigrette. I double the white beans in my portion, and finally ate a bowl of pasta that didn’t make my blood sugar go crazy!

Thurs., Mar. 19- oatmeal, cantaloupe
macaroni and cheese w/peas and carrots
***Update – we ate leftover pasta instead. I made 2 boxes of angel hair with 3# of veggies and it created a giant pot o’ stuff that I might have to freeze before we get sick of it!
Pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli blend
*** Update – making this in crockpot – still don’t have an oven! Pineapple/apricot jam on the pork is really, really good (even if husband dear prefers green chile anything on it instead.)

Fri., Mar. 20 - oatmeal, misc. fruit
Lunch? Hmm… we’ll see how much bread we have left. We might end up with deviled eggs and veggie sticks (Love deviled eggs, hate DEVILING 2 doz. eggs for the hungry masses!)
vegetarian chili, corncakes, salad

Sat., Mar. 21 – oatmeal
sandwiches, leftovers
Pizza if we have an oven, if not… dunno…

Week 12: $217.46

Big plans this week! My parents and sister are coming for a visit, so our plans are a little out of the ordinary. Also, I’m still stocking up the pantry/hurricane stash after eating everything last month!

I spent $217.46

I’m down to one store for meat – I had to return a vacuum packed pork tenderloin to Kroger! (I subtracted $6 from this week’s total to reflect a more accurate account of what I spent last week)

I think they leave their meat out for too long before wrapping it. I’ve had to return meat (more than once) to both Mexican groceries and Kroger; looks like HEB is my one-stop meat shop right now. I usually shop late at night so butcher shops are out for me, and we looked into ordering half a cow but it was much too expensive, averaging $4-5 per pound of meat.

I got:
4# small red beans, 2# lentils, 8 # pinto beans, 2# black eyed peas, 2# black beans, 1# split peas, 8# brown rice, 4# white rice, 28 oz. alphabet noodles, 4# white sugar, 7 oz. mesquite barbecue seasoning

24 oz. light sour cream, 4 gallons milk, 2.5# shredded cheese, 10 qts. powdered milk

12# pork ribs, 4# hamburgers, 14 oz. jalapeno smoked sausage, 32# beef brisket, 2 pkg hot dogs

4 cantaloupes, 6# oranges, 2 heads red leaf lettuce, 2 bunches fresh spinach, 6 bunches green onions, 5# carrots, 6# apples, 2.6# Roma tomatoes, 1 bunch cilantro, 2 jalapenos, 3 2/3# zucchini, 2# bananas, 6 mangoes, 3# strawberries, 4# bananas, 1# eggplant, 2# calabacita, 1 1/2# green cabbage, 4# green grapes

28 oz. can whole tomatoes, 1 lg. jar dill pickle slices, 1 jar Chili Garlic sauce, 1 bottle oyster sauce (MSG free! Yay!), 3 cans crowder peas, 3 cans picante sauce, 4 cans Ranch beans, 2 large jars unsweetened applesauce, 1 gallon white vinegar, 5 bottles (2 qt) apple juice, 48 oz. canola oil, 1 bag mini marshmallows, 3 cans corn, 18 oz. ketchup

1/3# sliced jalapeno cheese, 1/2# roast beef, 12 slices cheddar, 16 ct. fried chicken, prosciutto wrapped mozzarella cheese ball (see why I shop alone?)

1 bag Texas shaped pretzels, 1 bag pretzel twists, 16 hamburger buns, 200 corn tortillas, 2 loaves whole wheat bread (I have my oven back! Hopefully the bread expense will go down. After baking our own for a while, bagged bread doesn’t taste as good, either!)

We’re eating:
Sunday, 3/22:
Oatmeal
peanut butter sandwiches, apples, milk
hot dogs, ranch and navy beans, broccoli/cauliflower mix

Monday, 3/23:
Oatmeal
egg salad sandwiches, cantaloupe
Red beans and rice w/ okra mix (It’s not jumbalaya, it’s not red beans and rice – it’s Louisiana casserole, I guess!) (I also ate 3 oz. roast beef and two slices of cheddar)

Tuesday, 3/24:
Grape nuts with milk, apples
Gumbo
Eating at sister’s house w/ parents

Wednesday, 3/25:
Oatmeal, oranges
Pintos and cheese, corn tortillas, salad
Eat out at restaurant (probably)

Thursday, 3/26:
Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns
Pasta salad – olives, white beans, chard, whole wheat penne
Cookout – hamburgers, ribs, grilled zucchini, salad, pretzels, cantaloupe

Friday, 3/27:
Oatmeal, cantaloupe
Apples w/ peanut butter dip, roasted chick peas, or maybe eat out.
Lentil enchiladas, refried beans, pico de gallo

Saturday, 3/28:
Oatmeal
Macaroni and cheese w/ broccoli, oranges
TBD