Mini Vacation

Having a little mini-vacation this weekend. First weekend all to ourselves in what, five years? Really wishing I wasn't sick with bronchitis and laryngitis, but still having a very fun time.

Week Two Wrap Up

Spending for week two $5.65! We bought quite a few freebie groceries, but only had to pay for half and half and soyoy bars. So we're now $25.16 under budget for the challenge. On to week three.

Freebie Shopping

So, I am doing the pantry challenge to clean out our excess supply of food, but couldn't resist picking up FREE stuff at the store. Believe it or not, we have just about used up the yogurt and we only got it three days ago. It's AWESOME! So I will be getting quite a bit more of it this month. :-) It's great because the Greek yogurt is so thick and tangy, you can use it in place of sour cream as well. Actually, I think it tastes better!

Another Pantry Meal Plan

So, we have a lot of leftovers and we'll be eating a lot of those for lunches. Also getting a bunch of delicious Greek yogurt free after coupons, so we'll be eating that for breakfasts. I LOVE Greek yogurt. And I made homemade granola yesterday to top it with. YUM!

Breakfasts: fruit, greek yogurt, homemade granola, waffles

Lunches: leftovers, tuna, PB&J, out on Wed

Dinners
Sunday: "Leftover Buffet"
Monday: Shrimp Pasta (ended up getting a free pizza instead)
Tuesday: Chicken Cordon Bleu, Collard Greens, Homemade Pear Sauce
Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner
Thursday: Asian Pork Tenderloin, Steamed Veggies, Rice
Friday: Fried Rice
Saturday: Leftovers or Baked Potato Soup

School

Autumn working on her math activity book today. I'm trying to figure out what we're going to be doing for school next year, but I have a feeling the decision is going to take me a couple months to make. There are a lot of things I DON'T want to do, but still not sure what I DO want to do. If you have any curriculum suggestions, especially for math, I would love to hear them!

A Pic For Tonight

Autumn and Miriam the night before Tristan's wedding

Week One Wrap-Up

Week one of the pantry challenge was a success! We spent a total of $9.19 this week on groceries.
What did we buy? Dairy: milk, half and half, organic greek yogurt. Produce: pears, apples, shredded cabbage, big tub of baby spinach, and a tomato.

I can see that the pantry stockpile is dwindling, but the freezer is actually filling up more! Not what I expected. But as we've been trying to make the most of what we have, we've been ending up with lots of leftovers. We now have baked potato soup, vegetable soup, lots of collards, and pizza sauce all added to the freezer this week.

I'm going to be cutting the budget to $20 a week for the rest of the month and rolling over the extra from this week into next week, since there are some extra things we will need to buy next week like dog food.

While we had been planning on not doing the pantry challenge at all while we go on vacation later this month, I think we will try to take enough food with us that we only go out once a day. Hopefully will have a free breakfast at the hotel and I will plan either lunch or dinner from our pantry, with the other meal being out.

Pantry Update and Menu Plan

So, only a few days in, but so far so good! We've spent a total of 1 cent so far on groceries (soyjoy bar deal at CVS). And the food so far has been great (if I do say so myself). I will have to do a little shopping either tomorrow or Tuesday so we have milk and produce, but here's the simple menu plan for this week:

Monday
(B) oatmeal/smoothies
(L) tuna and veggie wraps
(D) homemade pepperoni pizza

Tuesday
(B) homemade toast or rolls with preserves
(L) baked potatoes with steamed broccoli
(D) Indian-spiced turkey burgers with veggie dippers

Wednesday
(B)toast or soyjoy bars and fruit
(L) out for playdate? or PB&J
(D) pasta with homemade marinara sauce and meatballs and salad

Thursday
(B)cereal
(L) "snack tray"
(D)barbecue chicken sandwiches

Friday
(B) waffles
(L) potato and kale soup
(D) broccoli cheese quiche

Saturday
(B) cereal and fruit
(L) leftover quiche
(D) tacos

Happiness Is...

A morning spent thrifting with the best husband in the world.

Happiness Is...

...a surprise birthday cake made from clay and the sweetest "happy birthday" song ever.