Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Yay!!! Tentative dinner menu done for the month

So, I made up a tentative menu for the month, subject to be switched around, but this pretty well looks good to me.

11/6/07 - Spaghetti, French Bread, Salad
11/7/07 - Cheesy Enchiladas
11/8/07 - Broccoli pasta with Garlic and Pine Nuts
11/9/07 - Baked chicken in cream of mushroom soup and rice
11/10/07 - Having dinner out at my mom's, no cooking
11/11/07 - Beef Stew
11/12/07 - Tortellini Alfredo
11/13/07 - Cheeseburger brownies (basically cheeseburger pie, but have to make double)
11/14/07 - Breakfast for dinner
11/15/07 - Chicken with Shelby's Asian sauce and rice/veggies
11/16/07 - Burgers
11/17/07 - Potato soup
11/18/07 - Grilled cheese sandwiches and leftover potato soup
11/19/07 - Chicken Sandwiches
11/20/07 - Microwave ravioli casserole
11/21/07 - Pork chops and homemade Mac & Cheese
11/22/07 - Thanksgiving, going out to my mom's, but I need to make my Baked Potato supreme casserole
11/23/07 - FFY (Fend For Yourself)
11/24/07 - Chicken and Dumplings
11/25/07 - Pot Roast
11/26/07 - Burritos
11/27/07 - Tuna Noodle Casserole
11/28/07 - Hot dogs, fries
11/29/07 - Homemade chili, with venison burger
11/30/07 - FFY
12/1/07 - Chicken with Shelby's Asian sauce, rice/veggies
12/2/07 - Beef Stew
12/3/07 - Steak, baked potatoes, salad
12/4/07 - Baked chicken with cream of mushroom soup and rice

So, there's my menu until R's next GI Bill check comes in. We'll see how well we stick to it.

Edit to add: Went grocery shopping for part of the menu, only bought what was on sale. Spent $96.00 on about $150 worth of groceries, left me with 26 items to buy except for milk and soda for the month. I waited until the ads for Albertson's and Safeway changed over, and 18 of the items I need for the rest of the menu is on sale, mostly for 1-2 dollars per unit. Finishing off the grocery shopping tomorrow night, will post the final tally for the month when I get home. That figure above doesn't include roomie's portion of the bill, if he helps with groceries this month.

Also, got the prescription for Chantix, and a "quit kit" from the doctor. I now have neon orange Playdoh. I miss how this stuff smells. 4 weeks until I start the Chantix, 5 weeks until my quit date.

5 comments:

HS @ Our Debt Blog said...

Who cooks?? your or the man? You just gave me a lot of ideas for recipes!! I love the stuff you eat. Are enchiladas popular up North?

Shelby said...

I do most of the cooking. I'm not sure if enchiladas are popular or not, I just know the recipe I use is fast, easy, and tastes fantastic.

Living Almost Large said...

I think your menus look well planned. Not entirely healthy but not bad.

I was contemplating it still, that eating healthy is ridiculously expensive isn't it? To buy only fresh fruits and veggies.

It's impossible to coupon if you only eat from scratch foods. Any advice? I've also noticed a huge increse in food since the beginning of the year.

Shelby said...

Think it depends on what you consider "from scratch". When I cook from scratch, at least for me, that means I'm not using pre-mixed items.

I've noticed a bit of an increase on food, mostly dairy products, milk went from $2.99 a gallon to $3.85 here. Definitely cuts into the pocketbook when you consider how much milk we (I) drink.

No, the menu isn't entirely healthy, but I do try to use the healthiest methods of cooking, for example I don't deep-fry my fries, I bake them, and most of the meat is cooked on my Foreman grill or baked. Fresh fruits and veggies are incredibly expensive for us, so typically I'll use frozen unless I can get a really good deal, like for the potatoes I bought, I got 20 pounds for just under 4 dollars, and the celery/carrots for my stews and such were 80 cents for a huge package.

Hope that helps!

Living Almost Large said...

Definitely back in February I started coupon shopping and I use coupons for health/beauty and cleaning supplies. But I have so much trouble finding it for food.

I posted my exact grocery list just like you did and I said I'm looking for coupon shoppers to help me cut my costs. I shopped from the ad so I bought fruit/veggies/meat whatever was on sale. NOTHING.

That and I live in an expensive area so my food cost were high in general. I have trouble finding good cuts of steak under $6, or fish under $5.

I consider the fact you don't use premixed items A LOT healthier than average. I do not buy stuff like betty crocker, instant cookies, etc. I do make it occasionally but because of my diet I don't.

My huge indulgence is soda. And I haven't seen it at $1.99/12 pack since February.

Also I've just noticed price per lb of peaches, apples, pears, have all gone up about 20 cents. Also the cost of cheese and milk too. I pay at Costco $3.29 for a gallon, less than a year ago it was running more like $2.39. Plus the organic hormone free is $4.99/gallon. Also soy milk which I like has gone up almost a $1.

We used to cook more from scratch like making pasta, bread, etc. But now I buy it more. I like whole wheat pasta and whole grain bread only. Again I noticed the bread has gone up about 30 cents. Ugh.