Can you read my chicken scratch? This is what my grocery list looks like, or at least that's what it looks like when I actually stop being a lazy heifer, sit my behind down, and come up with a menu plan.
Again, it's not a difficult prospect. I simply look about the kitchen to find out what ingredients I'm sitting on then dig out my myriad of cook books and "ladies" magazines and try to work at least some of those ingredients into my recipe choices. The key to the last part is some of those ingredients. If I worked them all in, I'd only spend $60 for the week. However, I'd end up spending $200 the next week replacing them. There's probably some deep thought I'm missing that would keep this phenomenon from occuring but this works.
So here's what we're eating/have eaten.
Sunday: London Broil aka my mama style, sour cream and herb potatoes, and garlic greenie beanies (yes, I call them that. I also call pinky greenie beanie.) There was also a Tandy Cake involved which may or may not be 2/3rds decimated already. Look, a dessert that tastes like a Tagalong is a dangerous thing, mmkay?
Monday: Steak Salad featuring leftover London Broil, feta, grape tomatoes, cucumber, romaine, and balsamic vinaigrette
Tuesday: Grilled Pork Chops and Spanish Rice
Wednesday: Vegetable Beef Soup with cornbread. This is one of my favorite recipes as I can usually make it on the cheap using tidbits from other meals. The half a box of chicken broth that remained when I made the pinto beans, leftover meatballs/manwich/meatballs, or in this case, a quarter pound or so of ground beef nicked off the meat I'm using for sloppy joes. Add a can of crushed tomatoes and a bag or two of frozen veggies and you're golden. You can also clean out leftover veggies this way.
Thursday: Sweet and Tangy Chicken with barley and peas, recipe courtesy of an issue of Recipe.com magazine. It's my first time trying this and if it tastes decent, I'll post the recipe. If not, we'll forget this ever happened. LOL Ooo, it just occured to me that I can put some barley in my soup. I adore double duty.
Friday: Sloppy Joes, Parmesan Oven Fries, and yes, MORE BROCCOLI SLAW!
Saturday: Possible leftovers/Undecided
My grand shopping trip total was $135.00, a number that doesn't exactly please me. I prefer to come in at about a hundred or so, leaving me $50 for more milk and stupid items I managed to forget (like the queso fresca that is responsible for the return trip to Kroger mere hours after the big shopping trip.) However, when you need diapers, charcoal, batteries, paper towels, and toilet paper all in the same week, these things happen.
So there you have it. At the end of the week, I'll update with how it went and if we spent any extra money.
At our house the supermarket circular arrives on Monday or Tuesday. We put it on the dining room table. All week, H and I look at it during dinner and talk about how to buy cheap food for the following week. You might say we multitask.
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