Grocery Bill - Sunday February 21, 2010

We really did not need too much this week, just the basics of fruits, veggies, milk, juice and snacks. I was at about $80 but the grocery store was offering $10 off for any order of of $100 or over. So I bought 2 pork roasts ($7 each) that were on special as well as some Italian sausages (pack of 12) that were on special for $6.00. Brought me to $102 less $10, so $92.00 for the week. This also included some hosehold items like dish soap, toilet paper and paper towels. I think we really have this down habit now. There is truly NO PROBLEM in keeping our bills within budget. It is all about choosing and buying the deals and not being in love with something regardless of price. For example today Macintosh apples were $.69/lb and Granny Smith were $1.79. Guess what we bought? Green and Red Peppers were $3.99/lb but greenhouse tomatoes were $$.99/lb. We will have tomato salads this week and no peppers.

Our Sunday dinner was a slow cooked tomato sauce on spaghetti with a deboned chicken stuffed with Italian sausauge. I defrosted a whole chicken on Saturday and deboned it. Stuffed with a mixture of Italian sausage and chopped chicken left over from the deboning. Slow roasted for 3 hours plenty of leftovers for lunch today!

Big Mac

Makes 6 Big Macs
1-1/2 lbs Lean Ground Beef - Make 12 super thin patties
Cheddar Cheese
Buns - Make an extra cut about 1/3" thick on the top portion

Sauce
1/2 Cup Mayo
1/2 Cup Ketchup
2 Tablespoons Relish
1 Taplespoon White Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Toppings
Thinly Sliced Lettuce
Thinly Sliced Pickles
Finely Chopped Red Onion

To Prepare
The only way to make the burgers thin enough is to roll up 12 balls of equal size and roll out on wax paper or plastic wrap. I put 6 at a time on a sheet of wax paper and then put another sheet on top. With a roller flatten the balls until they are about 1/4" thick. It should be a little wider than your standard bun (burger will shrink a bit in cooking). On a lightly oiled fry pan cook on medium heat about 2 minutes per side. When you flip over the burger add cheese.

While burgers are cooking mix up the sauce ingredients and warm the buns in the oven.

On bottam half of bun add lettuce, onions and a tablespoon of sauce. Add a patty then middle bun. Add another patty, pickles and another tablespoon of sauce and Voila! your homemade Big Mac.

Tell me its not perfect and by the way at $.99/lb we are talking about 6 Big Macs for $1.50 of beef. If you calculate all the ingredients at most $8.00 for the meal. Cheaper and healthier. Served with a side salad instead of fries you cannot go wrong.

VEGGIE VERSION
Makes 8 thin patties

1 Can Chickpeas(can sub lentils, kidney beans etc...)
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Flour
Salt and pepper
1 Tablespoons Ketchup
1/2 Tablespoon Grainy Mustard
Splash Worcestershire Sauce

Crush all ingredients together to make a coarse paste. Roll out burgers on wax paper with roller. The best way to keep the burgers together when cooking is to put the rolled patties in the fridge for 1/2 an hour to cool. Keeps them firmer and they won't break apart while cooking. Cook on a lightly oiled frypan on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes per side.

Still Alive!

I'm still here! Sorry I haven't been posting this week but have been swamped at work, home, kids etc... and haven't had a chance to sit down. Also with the Olympics going on I have been spending all my free time with the kids cheering on those awesome Canadians! FWIW we are so darn good at moguls and snowboard cross, the boy can't decide what his sport is going to be. Now hockey is starting and I think we're in trouble!

I did my shopping again on Sunday and broke the budget a bit. It came to $125.00 this week but there were some super sales on pork chops and lean ground beef at $.99/lb so stocked up for the month. We won't need to add those to the grocery bills for a few weeks for sure, so I should be able to get back on track.

Last night on the way home I couldn't get the old McDonald's song out of my head, "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun" (showing my age here), and decided to try and make some Big Macs for dinner. I had all the ingredients on hand, and guessed at the sauce and it turned out AMAZING! Blind taste test and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I'll post the recipe, if you like Big Macs, you won't believe how easy and good this is! I even made a chickpea burger version of this for Michele.

With a salad on the side we sat down and watched Canada trounce Norway in hockey and had a great night.

Go Canada!

Grocery Bill - Sunday February 7, 2010

Week 4 is done and this week came to $99.49. So 4 full weeks of shopping for my family of 4 and we did it for a grand total of $410.72. Slightly over budget but I have to say we ate extremely well, did not miss out one bit and even had a dinner party in there as well. To me it is quite clear that we are able to do this without changing our diet or lifestyle drastically. what it takes is simply smart shopping and avoiding secondary runs to the grocery store. Have a well stocked freezer and pantry and avoid any prepared and junk foods. You have to be willing to cook, you have to be willing to experiment and you have to be willing to eat the meats or veggies that are on sale this week. The well stocked freezer helps alot in this department becuause once you have it filled up it will be on rotation and you really can have everything in there.

I am going to change up the posts a bit becuase I am finding it all a bit repetitive. I will continue to post the grocery bills weekly and then the recipes of merit. But I think the daily menu postings is getting a bit much.

Thanks for keeping up and all your comments and emails are appreciated and encouraged. I would sill love to get more ideas on snacks and any recipe or cost saving ideas are always welcome.

Thursday's - 2/04/2010 - Menu

Made my absolute favorite simple pasta tonight. A 5 minute fresh, easy version of an Aioli. Extra virgin olive oil, olives, garlic and onions. I add a cut up fresh tomato and some dried herbs. Serve it on a Gemelli type pasta. It doesn't sound like much but the mix of these ingredients is so flavorful you won't believe it. I also made with it a Chicken Parmesean. Was spectacular.

Breakfast
$2.50

Lunch
$2.50

Dinner
Aioli - $3.00
Chicken Parmesean - $3.00

Snacks
Fruit - $.50
Veggies - $.60
Granola Bars - $.50

Today's Total - $12.60

Wednesday's - 2/3/2020 - Menu

No Leftovers last night, had to buy a shish-taouk at the local food court. Added $5.00 to my week. 1st mis-step yet! Kids had soccer tonight and Michele was teaching so did a quick burger with a side of corn, and some of the coleslaw from Monday.

Breakfast
$2.50

Lunch
$7.50

Dinner
Burgers with corn and coleslaw - $5.00

Snacks
Fruit - $.50
Veggies - $.60

Today's Total - $16.10

Chicken Fried Rice with Veggies

Easy baby! Even the boy ate it, little skeptical mind you, but ended up enjoying it.

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts, cut into cubes
1 Medium Onioin, sliced
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Lb Frozen Asian Vegetables
2 Cups Cooked Rice
2 Eggs
1 Tablesppon Peanut oil
Soysauce (low sodium preferred)

To Prepare
Heat oil in wok to high, stir fry onions for 2 minutes. Add garlic and chicken and stirfry until done (2-3 Minutes) then remove to plate. Add veggies to wok and stirfry for 3-4 minutes. Add cooked rice and continue to stir for 3 minutes. Push All ingredients to side leaving a clear place in center of wok. Crack to eggs into middle and beat and cook until scrambled. Add chicken back to wok mix all together, add a few squirts of soysauce (to your taste), keep mixing for another minute.

Ready to serve

Tuesday's - 2/3/2010 - Menu

Tried to be as sodium free as possible today after reading (see previous post) about the sodium content we digest. Made a quick and easy fried rice with chicken breast and frozen veggies. We had rice left over from Sunday's dinner and I used low sodium soy sauce so should be ok. Only problem was that I had no leftovers!

Breakfast
$2.50

Lunch
$2.50

Dinner
Fried Rice with Chicken and Veggies - $6.00

Snacks
Granola Bars - $.60
Fruit - $.50
Veggies - $.60
Yogurt - $.40

Today's Total - $13.10

Too much of everything!

You know one of the things that I keep finding since I have been paying attention to the our food costs, is that we, society in general, really have no idea of what we put in our mouths day after day. I was looking at our Tropicana orange juice this morning and see 120 calories a serving. The serving size is 250 ml (one cup). I then, of course I did, took my measuring cup and filled up one of our drinking glasses. You knows what? 3 cups fit in one of our glasses! 1 glass of orange juice is 360 calories!!!! According to pediatrics.about.com my kids need between 1400 and 1800 calories a day. So drink a couple of glasses of juice a day and they've had 1/2 their daily intake of calories?????? And this is pure, fresh, 100% orange juice. What about when they go to their friends house and have a glass or 2 of the pure sugar crap?

Then I'm sitting here reading an article about sodium intake on canada.com about how the daily sodium intake in some kids food is equal to that of 2 servings of fries at Mcdonalds.

Want to improve your health, lose weight, not have heart attacks? Stop buying anything premade, understand a serving size (hard for me, believe me) and start making simple meals with ingredients you control.

Btw you will save money too!

That's my rant for this evening, I'm gonna go make my dinner.

Monday's - 2/01/2010 - Menu

Sometimes my German side kicks in and I have a craving for standards, tonight a simple Knackwurst with a good dijon mustard and a homemade coleslaw. Simple but fulfilling. A good beer on the side doen't hurt either!

Breakfast
$2.50

Lunch
$2.50

Dinner
Knackwurst - $4.00
Homemade coleslaw - $1.00

Snacks
Granola Bars - $.60
Fruit - $.50
Veggies - $.60

Today's Total - $11.70

General "Love you long time" Tso Chicken

This is SOOO GOOD, so easy, and quite inexpensive. You can use chicken breast, but I prefer to buy drumsticks and take the time to debone and skin them. I find the meat more tender and tasty. I sometimes make the sauce myself, but if tired and lazy, will use a bottles General Tso sauce. To me the Presidents Choice is the best, VH also good.

Serve 4 easily.
1 package of 10 chicken drumsticks - deboned and skinned. Cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch green onions, finely sliced into 2" long pieces
1 large carrot, finely sliced into 2" long pieces
Peanut Oil

Batter
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup cornstarch

Sauce
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons ginger, finely diced
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
3/4 brown cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup chicken stock
or buy a bottle of premade General Tso Sauce - almost as good.

To prepare
Sauce
Place sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk. You can make this ahead of time just refrigerate until needed, mixing again ready to use.

Batter
In a large bowl mix inredients. It will be thick. You might need to add a touch of water, but you want to keep as thick as possible. Add chicken pieces to bowl, coat well. Heat oil in wok to 350 degrees. Add chicken 5-10 pieces at a time and fry until crispy. If you put too many in it lowers the heat and they don't get crispy.
Place cooked pieces on a paper towel on a plate. Keep warm in oven (150 degrees) until all chicken is fried.

Drain almost all oil from wok and, on high heat, cook carrots and green onions for 1 minute. Add sauce cook until thick. If it gets too thick add water. Add chicken, cook until all is boiling hot. About 2 minutes.

Sunday's - 1/31/2010 - Menu

Today we had a big dinner. Was Micheles dad's birthday and had the whole family for dinner. He love Chinese, so we made a General Tso chicken, a Beef and Broccoli, a vegetable stirfry and served with rice. Everyone loved it. The best part is that we served 9 adults and 4 kids for a serious bargain. We used $6.00 of chicken drumsticks, that I deboned, $3.50 of flank steak and about $10.00 of fresh vegetables and condiments (oil, soy sauce etc...). Had more than enough for a group of big eaters, plenty of leftovers (except no more of the General, was too good to leave any) for lunch today. And all for under $20.00. It is crazy how well you can eat, and how much you can make on a budget if you pay attention to what you buy and plan ahead. I dad bought all the meats the week before and froze them for this meal. Saved about $10.00 than if I had bought it today last minute.

Breakfast
$2.50

Lunch
$2.50

Dinner
General Tso Chicken - $8.00
Beef and Broccoli - $5.50
Stir Fried Vegetables - $5.00
Rice - $1.00

Snacks
Popcorn, Cheese and Crackers - $2.00
Fruit - $.50

Today's Total - $27.00

Grocery Bill - Sunday January 31, 2010

$99.51 - Couldn't be much closer. When I am doing the groceries I always try to keep a running total in my head to keep myself within budget. But got all the staples needed, milk, fruit, fresh orange juice, vegetables. Enough bread for sandwiches for the week. Also managed to get a whole chicken for under $7.00. That will be a nice roast this week. So the menus are starting to be thought through and will try to maintain the direction. It seems to be working quite well so far.

Thanks for your ideas and comments they have been very helpful.

Week 2 Total - $96.70

Well it looks like we made it under the wire again. Weekly total came in at $96.70. We generally have been eating well. I think our dinners have been varied, healthy and fulfilling. We have enjoyed them and usually we have enough that there are leftovers for lunch the next day. This has been a major factor in making budget. Not having to make something special for lunch, or having to buy lunch, has been a very positive factor in the budget.

Breakfasts are quite easy. Between hot and cold cereals, eggs, berries and yogurt and fruit, we have filled ourselves enough to get through the mornings easily.

I am still struggling a bit with the snacks. It has not been easy to find enough variety in healty snacks. Fruit, carrots and celery, granola bars, yogurt and popcorn have been the main snack staples this week. I will try to find more options before we all get bored!

Saturday's - 1/30/2010 - Menu

Skipped skiing today, was too cold, -30 with the wind. We still had a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast with jam and berries with yogurt. We buy The Europes Best frozen berries when on sale (can usually find them on sales for $2.99 instead of $4 or $5 and stock up). Lunch was tuna sandwiches with carrots and celery on the side. For dinner tonight we made a version of a Moroccan Harreira chicken recipe I found in the local Saturday paper. Had almost all the ingredients on hand so gave it a shot. It was a really nice, hearty meal with chicken, lentils, chickpeas and spices. Good to warm up with on a cold day.

Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs and Toast - $2.00
Berries and Yogurt - $1.00


Lunch
Tuna Salad Sandwiches - $2.00
Veggies - $1.00

Dinner
Moroccan Chicken - $7.00

Snacks
Popcorn - $.40
Fruit - $.50

Today's Total - $13.90

Friday's - 1/29/2010 - Menu

Pizza Night, homemade pizza, like most Friday's. Same basic recipe, just different toppings for the adults today.

Breakfast
$2.50

Lunch
$2.50

Dinner
Pizza - Pepperoni (Kids), All Dressed (Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Green Peppers) (Adults) $6.00

Snacks
Granola Bars - $.60
Fruit - $.50
Popcorn - $.20
Veggies - $.60

Today's Total - $12.90