oh, i'm becoming a penny pincher. and keeping track of every cent we're spending on food. and not doing very well on the omnivore venture. but, on a positive, we are hanging tough on the SNAP challenge. we've learned a few tricks, we're shopping smarter, i think (i hope!) and trying to expand our repertoire of dishes.
for instance, we made a MESS of fried rice today. a huge batch. we have two meals left in the fridge! and we only used on chicken breast. i've finally (FINALLY!) succeeded in getting my family to accept that meat should be viewed as more of a condiment or side dish, rather than the main dish. for the leftover fried rice, i'll toast up some peanuts, add some more cilantro (growing on the kitchen counter) and a bit of thinned down peanut butter (with fish sauce, 1 teaspoon peanut butter should do the trick) and make a more thai influenced fried rice. no one says leftovers HAVE to be boring!
and we're breaking down our purchases into meal size portions for freezing immediately. for a family of three, two pork chops (yes, pork again. i know, i know. i said i wanted off the piggie, but it's inexpensive, and we can stretch it in so many ways) are a meal. a very filling meal. and two pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs? four meals, at the very least. and it's not a big expenditure. so what did we purchase today? today's shopping trip was to Food 4 Less, and we used no coupons.
staples were:
butter, 2 pounds
eggs 1 dozen
canola oil, 48 ounces
flour 5 pounds
sugar 3 pounds
milk, 1 gallon 1%
carnation condensed milk, 2 15 ounce cans (on sale, .68 each)
juicy juice 2/5.00 on sale (plus double box tops for school)
oatmeal (we had to buy the smaller store brand, the larger store brand was sold out)
produce
cilantro for fried rice (ours isn't quite mature enough to pick yet)
green onions for fried rice (saving a few of the roots and starting a bunch hydroponically, so we'll have them when we need them
splurge purchase
vodka, 1.75 litre (this is not for drinking. this is for vanilla extract, cleaning products, laundry and to kill the tricking aphids that are eating my lovely green garden plants on the patio. at (9.98 it seems like a splurge, but it will last us about 6 or so months. really quite a bargain.)
we forgot a few things, so we had to stop on the way home to pick up:
frozen peas
stocks (beef, chicken and turkey)
these items were picked up at Albertson's on our way home, literally around the corner from our house.
total expenditures for the day $72.44
remaining budget $130.56
i didn't include the 64 ounce carton of yogurt we picked up, as that's for the dogs. our pet food expenditures are separate, as they are not allowed under SNAP.
tomorrow we have to inventory the freezer, and the remaining kitchen cabinets, we're keeping a running list of what we have, what we're using, what we need and what we don't seem to like or need. i know that it's getting to bread baking weather, so we're going to have to invest in nonfat dry milk and active yeast, not inexpensive items. but the per ounce or per use cost of each is quite small in comparison, so they do pay off in the end. we've taken stock of our flours, and fortunately i'm sitting in a good position for the start of bread baking season. i've got a lot of white bread flour, some rye, a bit of rice flour, some garbanzo flour (which also makes a great veggie frittata! a great way to use up leftover veggies in an open face omelet-type meal. you just have to be careful of the proportion of flour to water, or you'll have a rather explosive and slow cooking mess on your hands. i even found a bag of pastry flour that i didn't know was in the house. BONUS!
so i'm hoping, if we do well, and we save enough that possibly we can get a new vitamix and retire my beautiful vintage, but not so effective model. it would be fabulous for making some highly nutritious soups, "ice creams and smoothies for little one. one more way to use up that produce that is just about to be thrown out.
hubby felt pretty good about the amount spent, i felt it was much too high for what we got. like i said, i'm really tightening the belt. there is going to be little to no waste in this house. i have to figure out a way to set up a compost bin because i just cannot stand seeing items that can help the earth go to waste. my garden is going to be my refuge. and that's one thing i'm going to need is healthy soil. i'd rather make it than buy it.
so that's our day. i still need tips/suggestions/ideas. i'm looking for good lentil/legume and rice recipes, as i have a husband that has an aversion to lentils. he'll eat beans and rice, but i need something AMAZING with lentils in it to get him to eat them. so if you're out there reading this, please give me an idea. i'll be ever so grateful!
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