Chicken Haul

 We bought a bulk box of chicken quarters. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I think we got our moneys worth. We didn’t know how they would be packed. Im glad they didn’t come prepackaged so i could package them up myself. There was a total of 25 leg/thigh quarters. I packaged then in zipper bags. I got 6 bags of 4 quarts and an extra quarter.

I put 1 bag in the refrigerator freezer and 5 bags in the big freezer.

The odd quarter I put in the crockpot . It will make some delicious homemade chicken noodle soup for next week.

First Time Making Bread in Forever

 So the other night I decided to make some homemade bread. It has been forever since I’ve made bread and longer forever since I have made a successful loaf of bread. I used to make homemade bread all the time when my boys were young, but thats been several years back.

I don’t like the idea of the time and energy involved is making bread completely by hand, so I got out my trusty bread machine. I don’t like bread baked in the bread machine, because I have a vertical loaf pan. I bought my current machine second hand about 5 years ago and it has just been sitting collecting dust. Anyway, I used my machine to make my dough. It does excellent mixing and rising it.

I found a bread recipe in an old bread cookbook that called for shortening instead of butter for oil. I was excited about that for sure. I did my best to half the recipe because I didn’t want 2 loaves.

I have had my yeast stored in the freezer for about as long as I have let my bread machine collect dust, so wasn’t sure if it was still good.

I think the yeast is just fine. 😊

I didn’t bother forming my loaf roll i just pulled the dough out of the machine and plopped it in my bread pan and into the oven. 40 minutes later and this was my results

Nice and soft and almost the perfect loaf of homemade bread. It needs a bit more salt and sweet and it would be perfect.

I’m looking forward to making bread again very soon. This loaf won’t last long that’s for sure.

Monday Supper, Tuesday Supper, and Prep For Wednesday Supper

 

Oven baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and a cheddar bay biscuit  all from scratch  

Chicken Alfredo 

Cheddar bacon ranch potatoes  cooked and cooling  just need to reheat it tomorrow night  

I Got Busy

 Once again I disappeared. Life got busy.  Menu planning has been sporadic but it has kinda been necessary, especially for lunches. I have had the privilege of watching my grandson every morning. It has been a bit since I had a baby to watch. I am getting better at it and I think we have things figured out.  Anyway I’m back, until I forget or get busy again. 

Today before we headed to church I put some chicken legs in the crockpot. Not for a meal but for Hubby to snack on.

On the way home from church I picked up some things i needed for Lunch today and tomorrow and supper tomorrow. 

Lunches are Johnsonville jalapeno and cheddar sausages on sandwich bread and sun chips.  I picked up some potatoes and some extra sharp cheddar cheese. 

I have some more chicken legs that i am going to make oven fried chicken with. I am going to serve that with mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade cheddar bay biscuits. 

My DIL brought us a couple big slices of chocolate cake. We will share one for dessert. 

To help the process go quicker tomorrow evening i am going to get my flour and spices mixed in a zipper bag so it is ready to go.  

Until next time………..

What did we eat June 9th to 12th?

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We are now on week 7 of the "eating out" ban. We did good this week and resisted the urge to eat out 😂. 

I am posting after we have had our meals for the week instead of trying to “plan ahead”.  That doesn’t always work here lately because of prices being higher than expected or lack of inventory at the grocery store and having to replan on the fly, which is never good for me. 😂

Lunchs:

M: frozen burritos

T: bologna sandwichs and a sausage (for hubby)with chips

W: sausages and chips for hubby [homemade] beef n barley soup and carrots for me

TH: hubby: had the last of the sausages and leftover roast n taters. I had a bologna sandwich and chips

Suppers:

M: Roast and taters in crockpot (i also used the broth from the roast and taters and made myself some beef n barley soup for future meals)

T: (date night) fixed hubby a steak and we both had mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy

W: made quesadillas using leftover roast from Monday.

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. Let me know if it has helped you as well. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

What We Ate June 2-6, 2025

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We are now on week 6 of the "eating out" ban, and we always seem to find a reason to eat out 😂. 

I am posting after we have had our meals for the week instead of trying to “plan ahead”.  That doesn’t always work here lately because of prices being higher than expected or lack of inventory at the grocery store and having to replan on the fly, which is never good for me. 😂

Lunchs:

M: frozen burritos 

T: me leftover burrito from last night. Pork sandwich for

Hubby

W: pork sandwich for hubby and i ate the last of the beans i cooked last week

TH: hubby: had the last pork sandwich and me: can of beef n barley soup that i added left over green beans from last night to

Suppers:

M: went to taco mayo cause we had our grandson til late. 

T: (date night) we made a random trip out of town to get somethings for our restaurant. 

W: hubby had some of the pork fried in the skillet, i made some mac n cheese, green beans and some biscuits for both of us. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. Let me know if it has helped you as well. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

Menu For May 26 to May 29

We are now on week five of the "eating out" ban.  I think I will put up this post after we have had our meals for the week instead of trying to “plan ahead”.  That doesn’t always work here lately because of prices being higher than expected or lack of inventory at the grocery store and having to replan on the fly, which is never good for me. 😂

Lunchs:

M: Memorial Day cookout at sons house

T: Leftovers from last week

W: Alfredo over mashed potatoes 

TH: lunchmeat sandwiches and chips

Suppers:

M: grilled chicken sandwiches and sun chips 

T: (date night) Frozen pizza and orange crush cupcakes for dessert 

W: Grilled Chicken Sandwich and green beans that I cooked on the hot plate 

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. Let me know if itbhas helped you as well. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

Menu plan May 19 to May 22

We are now on week four of the "eating out" ban. While we did eat out last Monday, it was less than $20, and was included in my grocery budget.  Did we cheat?  I say no.  It was also a Mother’s Day treat.  This week we are taking sister, and going to see mom for a late Mother’s Day, and we will be taking her out to eat.  That will also come out of the grocery budget for hubby and my lunch.  Is that a cheat? No because we planned it in advance.  

Sorry this is a bit late this week. Its been a busy one for sure. 

I do want to add that the beef tips & gravy I made last week……definitely 👍👍.  I want to make it again some time.

Lunchs:

1. Taking mom out to eat

2. Leftovers from last week

3. Burritos 

4.burritos 

Suppers:

1. Ate out again cause we were gone all day

2.boxed chicken and mashed taters and gravy 

3. Hamburger helper

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. Let me know if itbhas helped you as well. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

Menu plan May 12 to 15

We are now on week three of the "eating out" ban. We were invited out to eat by hubbys parents last week, so I still have the beef tips for this week. I also had the baked potatoes because we had leftovers the day after we went out with hubbys parents. The good thing is they paid. ❤️

Lunchs:

1. Loaded baked potato 

2. Meatball subs for hubby potato salad for me 

3. Same as above 

4. Hopefully some leftovers. If not I have some

Mac n cheese I can cook up. 

Suppers:

1. Hubby is taking me out for Mother’s Day. We will eat locally and I have included that “meal” into my grocery budget. 

2. Beef tips n gravy over mashed potatoes, salad

3. Steak & shrimp fajitas for hubby and bean burritos for me (lettuce, tomato, cheeses, guacamole, and sour cream on the side)

Here’s my grocery haul today. Darn Cash Saver wasn’t accurate with prices tonight. 😥 this is $49 in groceries. Eating out only cost us $20 and I have $1 left over.  I think I did pretty good. 

And here’s pictures of my fridge after putting groceries away. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Honestly this weekly menu post has helped me a little bit. 🥰 I must continue on. 

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

Menu Plan May 5- to May 8

We are now on week two of the "eating out" ban. We never made the "special sauce" for the quesadillas last week. 😢

Lunchs:

1. 2 meatball subs (for hubby) Toast and Gravy for me plus leftovers from last Tuesday night. 

2.  Jalapeño popper pinwheels 

3.  Spaghetti with butter and garlic salt n parm

4.  Loaded Baked potatoes 

Suppers:

1. Chicken quesadillas with sour cream on the side

2. BBQ beef ribs (for hubby) corn on the cob and cottage cheese . I’m having potato salad instead of the beef ribs. 

3.  Beef tips n gravy over mashed potatoes, salad, rolls

Wednesday night church is over until school starts back up. Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

$12 Date Night Steak Dinner for Two ~~ Cook With Me

I shopped only at my local grocery store for these ingredients. The price is only for the bought ingredients and the portion used. It doesn’t include what we have left over or the basic pantry ingredients, which were butter, margarine and salt & pepper, which I already had on hand. Here’s my prices at my store: Bread 28¢ (4 slices) have leftover bread Corn 71¢ Have leftovers Gravy 46¢ have leftovers Cottage cheese $1.29 have leftovers Potatoes $1.02 have leftovers Steak $7.67 $11.43 for the entire meal or $5.72 a plate Time to prepare: about 30 minutes

Meal Plan April 24-28 ~ This Starts the First Week of the "Eating Out" Ban

Well this starts the first week of the "eating out" ban. (I wonder how long we will make it last LOL)  I'm sad.  I will get over it.  We, Hubby and I, can make some pretty amazing food (at least we think so anyway), but we just get lazy.  It's so much easier to go out to eat.  No meal prep and no clean up or dishes to worry about.

Lunchs:

1. sandwich and chips (left over from last week)

2.  sandwich and chips

3.  sandwich and chips

4.  sandwich and chips

Suppers:

1. chicken quesadillas (we gonna make some "special sauce" that i seen on a video for these.  If it's good I will share the recipe link next week)

2. Steak. mashed & gravy, cottage cheese, corn, bread & butter

3.  eat at church before bible study (last one until school starts back up)

Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

Meal Plan April 21 to 24

 

I’m reassessing my meal plan thinking this week. I have never been good at meal planning but I keep trying. Honestly it’s getting harder these days to find a place to eat out (in my area) that has good food, decent portions, and a decent price.  There are a couple but hubby and I  always find something to complain [to each other] about the experience.  😂. So keeping at trying to find something they resembles meal  planning and the ingredients I want at a reasonable price seems to be the current best option. 

So what am I thinking this week?  Settling designated dollar amounts for meat, produce, fresh fruit, and extras and trying to make meals with what I buy. It’s very hard for me to think on the spot, in the store for meal ideas, but meat wise, or anything else for that matter, I never know what’s going to be available or exactly how much it’s going to cost. As I mentioned in a previous post “ Shopping at our local grocery store stresses me out.  The prices on their website and products don’t always match the in-store available products and shelf price and the shelf price doesn’t always match the price at checkout and I am pretty positive that different checkout lanes charge different prices on certain items.”  My grocery store doesn’t have an app and they also charge an additional 10% above the shelf price plus local sales tax. It’s considered a “cost plus” store.  Here is their explanation on their buying theory per their website:

“COST + 10% FORMULA

Every item is priced at our cost to get the product from the source to the shelf, then we add just 10% at the checkout. The result is the guaranteed overall lowest prices in the area and you don’t need a shopper’s card or have to pay a membership fee to save.”

Sorry I don’t buy their savings theory. Most local people don’t either. Even though it’s posted in the store everywhere you look it seems deceptive.  Why can’t they be like normal stores and just post the actual full price of the item on the shelf?

 I only have a Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar General to shop at as well, and to save time I prefer to get everything at the same store. Doesn’t always happen though.

Ok enough of the rant on my dislike for grocery shopping locally.  On to this weeks Menu Theory.

Monday lunch we will have some Mac and cheese and orang and some blueberries.  Monday supper we have been invited over to someone’s house  

Tuesday lunch sandwich and chips

Tuesday supper hubby is taking me out  

Wednesday lunch sandwich and chips

Wednesday supper we are going out for our anniversary.

Thursday lunch sandwich and chips 

So much for trying to implement my new plan 😂  I’ll try again next week  

Meal Plan this Week April 7th to 12th

 Not many items on hand this week except pantry staples.  

These are pretty much in order by day this week. 

Lunches

1. We were out of town and had pizza buffet 
2. Thank goodness for some leftovers 🤣. We had leftover chicken nuggets and cottage cheese from last week and a couple egg sandwiches. 
3. Bologna sandwiches and chips. 
4. Bologna sandwich and chips

Supper

1. Was still out of town and ate at McDonald’s   It wasn’t very good.
2. Spaghetti with sauce with  some bread and butter and a salad. Dessert will be graham crackers with homemade buttercream frosting to dip them In, both of which I already have on hand. (Tuesday is date night. Always try to something a little extra special)
3. Eat at church 

Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

I also bought a couple boxes of Mac n Cheese and some canned corn and a couple fresh oranges. 

I didn’t have near the grocery budget this week due to going out of town so I had to plan a lot harder. I spent  about $22.52 on groceries and we will have a few leftovers and some extra for future meals.

This week there’s no room to be over charged at the grocery store this week.  I will be double checking bar codes and taking pictures of shelf tags.   

I picked up a few extra items that have really good digital coupons.  The Best Choice canned veggies, 4 cans for 56¢ and 2 best choice pastas 90¢ Both after the digital coupons. Those are a steal 🤣.  There was an issue with claiming the digital coupons at the register so i had to visit the customer service booth after I finished paying. Both the cashier and the manager in charge stated there was issues with the digital coupons. There’s always issues with them. Most people won’t persue them but I usually do, as well as pushing for shelf price when it’s less than the register price rings up.  Im probably one of thier least favorite customers, but they are my least favorite store. 😁

Another New Hat Started and Finally Frozen Pizza Success

 

Hey friends happy Thursday.  Today was pizza day 🍕 for us, but more on that in a bit. I started another preemie hat yesterday.  Previous I have made 3 with some worsted weight yarn.  Here’s what they look like. 

Here’s the current preemie hat WIP.  I am using some Yarn Bee Soft Secret. Its nice and soft. I have started the body of the hat. I am a couple rows in.  I can’t wait to finish this one amd make some more. Finally a project for my Yarn Bee yarn.

Now for thr pizzas.  They were much better than usual.  My regular oven tends to burn them before the cheese is melted.  This time I cooked the cheese pizza exclusively in my toaster oven. The other one i started in the regular oven and finished in the toaster oven. Much improved for both of them.  Hubbie commented that he wishes the crust on his was a little crispier. I will try to improve on that next time.  I think I will be doing the frozen pizzas this way in the future.  Note I did thaw them before baking. They each took about the regular time to bake.

Tonight we went to Braums so I could check thier fresh market prices. Thier app and website don’t seem to be working for any of my devices.  I made a list on my phone withnthe item, size, amd current price.  At least now I have a better idea what they have available, that I would purchase, and the approximate prices for those items.  Hopefully using thier little grocery section will help with my stress level when grocery shopping. 🛒  Some items I will still need to go to the regular grocery store for, but the less I need from there the better.  The local farmers market is due to start back up soon.  I need to try and support local farmers as well, unless thier prices are higher than i can get at the grocery store or Braums.

Hopefully tomorrow I can have a finished crochet project or two to share with you. 

❤️🧶

What’s on My Menu this week? 3-31 to 4-3

 

I need to be more careful with my meal spending money aka grocery budget.  I know I’ve said this before, and obviously failed to keep up here, but I am going to try harder this time to be more diligent on sharing for my records and hopefully to help you with new ideas. I won’t say this is low budget cause I allow $70 for 7 meals each week. Thats $10 a meal or $5 per person per meal.  Eating out also comes out of our grocery budget most of the time unless its a preplanned special occasion. Ive noted the on hand items and the preplanned dining out in this week’s plan. 

These are pretty much in order by day, the only difference is lunches #2 and #3 may be swapped, depends on which we want to eat first. 😂

Lunches

1. Copycat KFC Chicken bowls with grilled chicken (meal left over from last week’s shopping)
2. Grilled cheese and ravioli
3. Chicken nuggets and Mac n cheese 
4. Sandwich and chips 

Supper

1. Taco mayo (had a $20 gift card and spent an additional $15)
2. Steak, grilled onions, baked tater, corn, cottage cheese, crescent rolls (already had the taters and onions)
3. Boxed Pizzas

Thursday supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work.

I spent about $67.43 of my grocery budget. I was over charged about $3 at the grocery store, which is a common thing. Shopping at our local grocery store stresses me out.  The prices on thier website and products don’t always match the instore available products and shelf price and the shelf price doesn’t always match the price at checkout and I am pretty positive that different checkout lanes charge different prices on certain items. Its always a hassle to try and get an incorrect charged  item corrected. I have started shopping Dollar General and Dollar Tree more but neither have fresh meats or produce. I plan to check our local Braums Fresh Market for meat and produce. It may mean spending a bit more but if it causes less stress for me it will be worth it. 

This was a game changer for me!

Last year some time I was given some split peas.  I have never had split peas and wasn't sure what to do with them.  This past weekend I decided to try and see what I could do with them besides split pea soup.   Split pea soup just doesn't look nor sound appealing to me.  I have tried cooking them in the microwave and that just didn't work as well as I thought it should have.  I was looking for crockpot recipes for cooking them as that is the easiest way for me to make things that require a longer cook.  Every recipe I found said to rinse and soak them for 6+ hours.  Perfect! I could soak them overnight.  I found recipes for stir frying them and making pea and pasta salads.  So that was my plan, soak them and make some sort of pea salad with some ham I have in the freezer and whatever else I could add in.

Fast forward to the next morning.  OH MY GOODNESS! I drained and tasted those soaked peas and was instantly in LOVE with them!  No added flavor needed.  They taste just like fresh peas from the garden, when I was a little girl.  YA I finished the first batch off and soaked another batch only bigger.  I bought some carrots from the store and now I have raw carrots and peas.  MMMM! Just like fresh from the garden.

WE have also been trying to eat healthier snacks.  This week we bought some blueberries on discount, then went back the next night and got some black grapes and a few apples.  This bowl of grapes and blueberries are our snack tonight.  The apples will be my snacks this weekend.  I may even have some peanut butter with them.  The blueberries and grapes were hubby's request, and he may have some apple too, providing they don't have too much of a chemical taste.   I don't like the chemical taste but can tolerate it.  Hubby on the other hand chooses not to eat them.  I don't want to waste the food. LOL!

 

What Did We Eat This Past Week Sept. 9-12

Monday lunch we had some Big Salads

Supper we went out of town to check out Halloween decorations and ate out.

Tuesday Lunch Egg salad sandwiches and the last of the salad  

Supper we had some yummy homemade sweet and sour chicken 

Wednesday lunch we had leftover sweet and sour chicken.

Supper we ate at church (they serve a meal before Bible Study).  They had Spaghetti and meatballs with garlic toast and salad and chocolate cake.

Thursday Lunch we had Johnsonville Brats  and sun chipd.

Thursday for supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work,

What Did We Eat This Past Week Sept. 2-6, 2024

 Monday lunch we had Knorr Alfredo Noodles over instant mashed potatoes

Supper we ate out with out youngest son and his wife.

Tuesday Lunch Hubby had a Fast Fixins Burger and a Meat Trio Party size pizza.  I had  a PB and honey and a PB and Marshmallow Cream sandwich.  we had fresh blueberries and some leftover chips.

Supper we had big yummy salads.

Wednesday lunch we had grilled cheese sanwiches, an apple and hubby had a salad.

Supper we ate at church (they serve a meal before Bible Study).  They had Nachos

Thursday Lunch we had Johnsonville Polish Sausages, some blueberries and a salad for hubby.

Thursday for supper through Sunday supper we will be eating at work,