I sort of fell off the wagon a bit. Obviously, I haven't posted in a while, but we also cut loose a little bit recently. But that's okay. There's no use in beating yourself up over something like that. You learn, regroup, and move forward. Life is about moving forward. :-)
So... Today we went grocery shopping. We have a trip coming up this weekend, but we still went shopping to stock up. My hope is that I can make a bunch of food for us to take with so we don't end up eating out or buying a ton of convenience foods. If nothing else, we can always freeze what I make and eat it next week.
Our total for this week, thus far, is $39.12.
This is what we bought:
1 box (12 packets) Yamamoto instant green tea*
1.42 lbs broccoli rabe
1.75 lbs broccoli crowns
3 cans pinto beans (15.5 oz each)
3 cans coconut milk (13.5 each)
1 jar thai chili mayonaise (12 oz)*
1 can chick peas (1 lb 13 oz)
1 container white mushrooms (10 oz)
1 bag whole frozen tilapia (3 lbs)
0.23 lb fiddlehead fern greens*
2.24 lbs large purple eggplants
1 bag masa harina (4.4 lbs)
1.95 lbs zucchini
*splurge purchases... but sometimes it's the small splurges like these that help keep us from eating out or buying junk food.
Doesn't sound like much but it's for one week of food. Not bad to be honest and it will definitely feed us. We have a bunch of stuff in our cabinets, freezer, and fridge that we need to use up too. There were some really good prices on meats at the market, but we really would prefer to wait on buying red meats and poultry until we are sure we don't have some sitting in the freezer. We also didn't dig through all the sales flyers that the various grocery stores around here have. Right now, we don't have much time. I figured that I have a general idea of what I want to cook (mainly sauted veggies and curries), so we might as well get ingredients that can be used in several ways and just be done with it. At least that will cut the temptation to buy convenience items or go out to a restaurant or fast food joint... which would be a sad waste of money.
This weekend we are going to Maryland to attend the Faery Festival and to see people we haven't seen in years. It will be interesting. We are checking on hotel costs and availability and will see if I can get an extra discount on the side. The first weekend of the month, my hubby and I (with baby in tow) helped my sister vend at Rakkasah Caravan, and my husband is planning to help her vend at another event that is taking place the last weekend of May. We also have our son's birthday coming up on thursday and the family celebration of his birthday next weekend. Mind you that my mother's birthday was also the same weekend as Rakkasah Caravan (she was helping us vend but my hubby and I got her a cake and gift, which we gave to her after we all returned) and mother's day was last weekend and her Cinco de Mayo family dinner!
May is and has been a busy month!
Showing posts with label meal plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meal plans. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Corn Tortillas... and Grocery: Week Four
Nothing much to report here. We haven't gone grocery shopping since last week. We were going to pick up some food stuffs, but I don't think we actually did. I'll have to ask my husband. (And so parenthood-onset senility looms it's dreary head once again!) I really need to be more diligent in posting, especially grocery totals and such. It's been a hectic couple of weeks! Anyways...
Last week, I made some corn tortillas. What a thrill! No really, I was very excited by the results.
Gluten free corn tortillas have been increasingly hard to fine, especially ones that actually had a good taste and texture... and price. The corn tortillas I made are the best I've ever tasted. Great texture (almost like flour tortillas without being gummy), great flavor, and made for only a few cents. They were also incredibly easy and fast, especially when you get the hang of it. I was able to make my second batch after a long day at work, with my son clinging to me, without any difficulty.
Here's the recipe.
Ingredients
2 cups masa harina*
1.5 cups water**
1/8 tsp baking soda (optional)
Directions
Put masa harina in a bowl; mix in the baking soda, if using. Add water and mix for no less than three minutes. If the dough seems too dry, add some water. If too wet, add more masa harina.
Roll dough into balls, approximately golf ball sized. Press flat with a rolling pin, tortilla press***, or both. (I first use the tortilla press and then use a rolling pin to make them just a bit thinner. Takes just a few gentle swipes and very little time to do so.)
Heat a griddle or shallow pan to medium-high heat. (Don't add oil; don't grease the pan.) Add one tortilla and cook for 30 seconds. Flip and cook other side another 30 seconds. Flip and cook both sides 15 seconds longer. Take out of pan and place on a plate. Place paper towel over it to keep it warm. Repeat cooking procedure until all tortillas are cooked.
Once you get the hang of making these, you can really cut down the time. I cook a couple tortillas while pressing the next few to cook. Takes little time, little effort and the results are much better than the stuff you get at the store. These were bouncy, flexible... almost like flour tortillas without the gummy texture. What's better than tastier food that's healthier, better, and far less expensive than the store bought stuff?
*Masa harina is a very fine cornmeal that was treated with lime. You cannot substitute regular cornmeal, cornstarch, or corn flour for masa harina. You can find masa harina in grocery stores, though it is more available and better priced at ethnic food stores. (Make sure to follow the package cooking directions first, and then adjust the ingredients accordingly. I added baking soda the first time, but followed everything else. Adjustments to the package I used are already included the directions above.)
**Baking soda adds "bounce" to the tortillas. It is not required and may be left out.
***You can find tortilla presses in a number of grocery stores, though the best prices are found at ethnic food stores.
Last week, I made some corn tortillas. What a thrill! No really, I was very excited by the results.
Gluten free corn tortillas have been increasingly hard to fine, especially ones that actually had a good taste and texture... and price. The corn tortillas I made are the best I've ever tasted. Great texture (almost like flour tortillas without being gummy), great flavor, and made for only a few cents. They were also incredibly easy and fast, especially when you get the hang of it. I was able to make my second batch after a long day at work, with my son clinging to me, without any difficulty.
Here's the recipe.
Ingredients
2 cups masa harina*
1.5 cups water**
1/8 tsp baking soda (optional)
Directions
Put masa harina in a bowl; mix in the baking soda, if using. Add water and mix for no less than three minutes. If the dough seems too dry, add some water. If too wet, add more masa harina.
Roll dough into balls, approximately golf ball sized. Press flat with a rolling pin, tortilla press***, or both. (I first use the tortilla press and then use a rolling pin to make them just a bit thinner. Takes just a few gentle swipes and very little time to do so.)
Heat a griddle or shallow pan to medium-high heat. (Don't add oil; don't grease the pan.) Add one tortilla and cook for 30 seconds. Flip and cook other side another 30 seconds. Flip and cook both sides 15 seconds longer. Take out of pan and place on a plate. Place paper towel over it to keep it warm. Repeat cooking procedure until all tortillas are cooked.
Once you get the hang of making these, you can really cut down the time. I cook a couple tortillas while pressing the next few to cook. Takes little time, little effort and the results are much better than the stuff you get at the store. These were bouncy, flexible... almost like flour tortillas without the gummy texture. What's better than tastier food that's healthier, better, and far less expensive than the store bought stuff?
*Masa harina is a very fine cornmeal that was treated with lime. You cannot substitute regular cornmeal, cornstarch, or corn flour for masa harina. You can find masa harina in grocery stores, though it is more available and better priced at ethnic food stores. (Make sure to follow the package cooking directions first, and then adjust the ingredients accordingly. I added baking soda the first time, but followed everything else. Adjustments to the package I used are already included the directions above.)
**Baking soda adds "bounce" to the tortillas. It is not required and may be left out.
***You can find tortilla presses in a number of grocery stores, though the best prices are found at ethnic food stores.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Car thoughts and grocery stuffs
Monday, I started relearning how to drive a manual. Given my previous experience (though there isn't much), I'm finding that I'm picking up pretty quickly.
I'm still debating back and forth about our car situation. Actually, that's part of why we are *finally* getting me to relearn stick. I've been tossing around different ideas on how to best manage our cars. Mine is now, by my definition (and my mechanic's), a "clunker". It's only going to get worse too. That's the trouble with a car that gets stuck in a flood, no matter how short lived that flood was. Here's some of the options I was debating previously.
So, all in all, it feels like I have a few weights lifted from my shoulders in my decisions on the cars. I do have to say that I do have my eye on getting a 2008 Hyundai Elantra. The guy knocked it down from $17,500+ (I'm sure it was closer to $17,900) to under $14,000... and that's before any haggling and such. I wonder how low we can actually get it. We have pictures of the VINs and package information, so we can do more pricing research. Knowing that the beginning cost for a "manual" gear shift is typically cheaper than an automatic by over $1000 does make it tempting to go in that direction, but that would take some more though, as my husband and I both feel that it's nice to have one car with and one car without. This is so we can choose the better option depending on the expected driving conditions. (A manual in NYC is a huge pain!)
Groceries this week was definitely more than the $50 allotment, but with good reason. There are amazing sales on whole chickens and corned beef at the local A&P, which I plan to stock up on. The weeks that we use those items will be lower in grocery costs as I will deduct them from those totals. All in all, that's how you save money. Find the truly good deals and take advantage if you can. We can, so we will. Besides, chicken is such a good deal when you use is in as many ways as possible (down to the bones, baby). We might also grab more cabbage. At $0.09 a pound... well... it's definitely worth living off of for a while. We haven't gone back to the grocery store yet, but we'll see. Our two whole chickens have been boned, the meat separated, and the bones boiled to make a broth. Did I mention my new found love of making broth?
Oh... and we haven't been following our menu too strictly this week. We were going to have Corned Beef with potatoes and cabbage (which we did have), Lime Chicken tacos, and stacked tortillas. Oh well. Fortunately, we can make these next week and save money that way. There's nothing wrong with not following your menu if it's more suitable and just as practical to hold off on certain items. Carry over can be a good thing.
No grocery shopping rundown for now and maybe not for the week. I just didn't have the time yet and probably won't for a bit. Next week I'll start up again.
I'm still debating back and forth about our car situation. Actually, that's part of why we are *finally* getting me to relearn stick. I've been tossing around different ideas on how to best manage our cars. Mine is now, by my definition (and my mechanic's), a "clunker". It's only going to get worse too. That's the trouble with a car that gets stuck in a flood, no matter how short lived that flood was. Here's some of the options I was debating previously.
- Retire the car all together, buy a new one immediately with a substantial down payment with a loan from USAA or a 0% interest loan from the dealer, make the necessary changes with my insurance company, and deal with the costs of two car loans.
- Pay off my husband's car and make all outstanding repairs to it (using the $5k for that), retire my car, donate it, cancel the insurance on it, and have only one car for my husband and I to share while saving up for a new (brand new or used) car.
- Hold off on a new car, run mine into the road (using it only for driving to work, no driving the baby in it unless it's an emergency), pay only liability on it, pay off and fix up my husband's car (with the $5k), and save up for a new car for me (because I want to pay it with cash, if I can). I'd put the money that we would have been paying monthly on his car loan and on the car insurance into a bank account, which should add up pretty well.
Now I'm also debating:
- Hold off on a new car, run mine into the road or until August (no driving the baby in it unless it's an emergency, driving to work only on bad weather days), pay only liability on it (until I retire it), fix up my husband's car (with the tax refund), buy a bicycle to ride to work (again, with the tax refund), and save up for a new car for me (because I want to pay it with cash, if I can) while paying off my husband's car asap.
So, all in all, it feels like I have a few weights lifted from my shoulders in my decisions on the cars. I do have to say that I do have my eye on getting a 2008 Hyundai Elantra. The guy knocked it down from $17,500+ (I'm sure it was closer to $17,900) to under $14,000... and that's before any haggling and such. I wonder how low we can actually get it. We have pictures of the VINs and package information, so we can do more pricing research. Knowing that the beginning cost for a "manual" gear shift is typically cheaper than an automatic by over $1000 does make it tempting to go in that direction, but that would take some more though, as my husband and I both feel that it's nice to have one car with and one car without. This is so we can choose the better option depending on the expected driving conditions. (A manual in NYC is a huge pain!)
Groceries this week was definitely more than the $50 allotment, but with good reason. There are amazing sales on whole chickens and corned beef at the local A&P, which I plan to stock up on. The weeks that we use those items will be lower in grocery costs as I will deduct them from those totals. All in all, that's how you save money. Find the truly good deals and take advantage if you can. We can, so we will. Besides, chicken is such a good deal when you use is in as many ways as possible (down to the bones, baby). We might also grab more cabbage. At $0.09 a pound... well... it's definitely worth living off of for a while. We haven't gone back to the grocery store yet, but we'll see. Our two whole chickens have been boned, the meat separated, and the bones boiled to make a broth. Did I mention my new found love of making broth?
Oh... and we haven't been following our menu too strictly this week. We were going to have Corned Beef with potatoes and cabbage (which we did have), Lime Chicken tacos, and stacked tortillas. Oh well. Fortunately, we can make these next week and save money that way. There's nothing wrong with not following your menu if it's more suitable and just as practical to hold off on certain items. Carry over can be a good thing.
No grocery shopping rundown for now and maybe not for the week. I just didn't have the time yet and probably won't for a bit. Next week I'll start up again.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Preparing for Week 2 grocery shopping
I'm not exactly sure why it's so difficult for me to figure out meal plans. Okay... that's not exactly true. I have my suspicions as to why. I think I tend to plan too many meals. The idea that each night should have a different dish is what so many people seem to do. Some plan the cook once, eat twice method, where they cook an item and then cleverly make it into a seemingly unrelated dish later that week. Maybe I'll do that one day, but it's not necessary right now. We likes our leftovers. :-)
I know corned beef is definitely on our list. Some time, we might brine our own beef to make into corned beef, but not likely this week. Not with the pre-brined corned beef is going on sale in preparation for Saint Patrick's Day.
We have a lot of other financial concerns on our minds... mainly having to do with my car. Not fun stuff. I think once I settle the baby to sleep, I'm going to bury my nose into Simple and Delicious magazine for more recipes and idea. Oh, sweet therapy...
I know corned beef is definitely on our list. Some time, we might brine our own beef to make into corned beef, but not likely this week. Not with the pre-brined corned beef is going on sale in preparation for Saint Patrick's Day.
We have a lot of other financial concerns on our minds... mainly having to do with my car. Not fun stuff. I think once I settle the baby to sleep, I'm going to bury my nose into Simple and Delicious magazine for more recipes and idea. Oh, sweet therapy...
Week One: End of week grocery total
Our final total for grocery shopping this week was $47.86. My dear, sweet husband noticed that there were gluten free noodles on sale at Foodtown. $1 a bag. That's a damned good price. We bought 6 bags total: 1 regular flat noodle, 1 thin flat noodle, 2 elbow noodle, and 2 spiral noodle. Some of these will be put to use this upcoming week. It was tempting to buy all the bags, to be honest, but that wouldn't have been very responsible. What if we don't like it? Besides, we lose nothing if we end up really liking them. They'd have just been an unexpected treat. Nothing wrong with that. (Of course, if we do like them and Foodtown still has a bunch, we will get more on next week's budget.)
I'm a recipe fiend. I love looking at them, reading over them, looking at the pretty pictures, and copying them down. I have a ton. My mother buys a bunch of magazines and such, so I tend to thumb through those and pick out the recipes I could see myself possibly making. I tend to write down more than I'll probably ever make, but that's okay. Libraries are also good sources, if you have the time to go. My office has a cubicle dedicated to books and magazines people bring in for others to look through or take home. I take full advantage of this (returning the items that I'm through with unless isn't an absolute keeper).
So I have a few recipes from one magazine my mother is loaning me that I might make this upcoming week. (The magazine is called "Simple and Delicious.") It's really dependent on what sales are going on and what we already have.
Well, it's late and I have a full work day tomorrow. Off to bed with me.
I'm a recipe fiend. I love looking at them, reading over them, looking at the pretty pictures, and copying them down. I have a ton. My mother buys a bunch of magazines and such, so I tend to thumb through those and pick out the recipes I could see myself possibly making. I tend to write down more than I'll probably ever make, but that's okay. Libraries are also good sources, if you have the time to go. My office has a cubicle dedicated to books and magazines people bring in for others to look through or take home. I take full advantage of this (returning the items that I'm through with unless isn't an absolute keeper).
So I have a few recipes from one magazine my mother is loaning me that I might make this upcoming week. (The magazine is called "Simple and Delicious.") It's really dependent on what sales are going on and what we already have.
Well, it's late and I have a full work day tomorrow. Off to bed with me.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Week 1
Last week was when I decided to have our family start a very strict budget for food. My thoughts are, I'd rather start too strict and adjust than be too lenient to begin with. This includes a number of other areas of our budgetting system we are setting up.
Last Saturday (2/28/09), we did our first grocery trip with these limitations. $50 for the week, to feed 2 adults and one baby.
Our total was $41.86.
This is what we bought:
1 (16 oz) bag frozen broccoli
2 (16 oz each) bags frozen mixed vegetables
2 bottles soy sauce
huge container ground coffee
2 small cans of tomato paste
2 large cans of whole tomatoes
a small amount of raw squid
1 large bag raw shrimp
2.5 lbs bananas
2 korean green peppers
4 lb bag oranges
10 lb bag potatoes
3 bunches scallions
2 hefty heads of cabbage
The main dishes we plan to make with these items are:
*Spicy shrimp bokkeum (stir fry) with a little squid for flavoring. (This is based off the Korean dish Ojinga Bokkeum)
*Shepherds Pie
*Tomato Soup
*Chili
Considering each of these makes quite a bit of food, and we have no problem eating leftovers, we should be set for the week. If not, we still have $8.14 dollars left for last minute supplies. Also, we have food in the freezer and cabinets that we can use from previous purchases. I don't consider this cheating since we all have to start somewhere and I'm not about to let those items go to waste. Also, since this isn't a short term 'experiment' (as in 1 month or so long), I don't see any reason to view anything of this sort as "cheating."
So far, we've made the Spicy Bokkeum (on Saturday night, still enough left for two meals) and the Shepherds Pie (last night, enough left for quite a few meals). We'll see how the rest of the week goes. It's very possible some of the entrees can be saved for next week.
Last Saturday (2/28/09), we did our first grocery trip with these limitations. $50 for the week, to feed 2 adults and one baby.
Our total was $41.86.
This is what we bought:
1 (16 oz) bag frozen broccoli
2 (16 oz each) bags frozen mixed vegetables
2 bottles soy sauce
huge container ground coffee
2 small cans of tomato paste
2 large cans of whole tomatoes
a small amount of raw squid
1 large bag raw shrimp
2.5 lbs bananas
2 korean green peppers
4 lb bag oranges
10 lb bag potatoes
3 bunches scallions
2 hefty heads of cabbage
The main dishes we plan to make with these items are:
*Spicy shrimp bokkeum (stir fry) with a little squid for flavoring. (This is based off the Korean dish Ojinga Bokkeum)
*Shepherds Pie
*Tomato Soup
*Chili
Considering each of these makes quite a bit of food, and we have no problem eating leftovers, we should be set for the week. If not, we still have $8.14 dollars left for last minute supplies. Also, we have food in the freezer and cabinets that we can use from previous purchases. I don't consider this cheating since we all have to start somewhere and I'm not about to let those items go to waste. Also, since this isn't a short term 'experiment' (as in 1 month or so long), I don't see any reason to view anything of this sort as "cheating."
So far, we've made the Spicy Bokkeum (on Saturday night, still enough left for two meals) and the Shepherds Pie (last night, enough left for quite a few meals). We'll see how the rest of the week goes. It's very possible some of the entrees can be saved for next week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
